9-5

I recently made a commitment to being on time for work. For 2 years, I was able to bend the will of management to my schedule, and come in at 10:30. I'm not exactly sure how. Still, it worked for me. I am a noctournal creature by nature. My mind and body truly wake up around 11PM every night. My most creative hours are definitely when it's dark outside, as many all-night editing sessions would attest to. And back in my party days, the breaking of dawn was cause for great disappointment. I didn't want to go home!

But ever since I took on the mantle of permanent government employee, the demands to come in on time have increased exponentially. I am exhausted. It's killing me. I am not designed for this! However, I have decided to stop fighting the establishment on this. I have been putting too much of my energy into something destructive, rather than constructive.

Still. It burns me. As far as I'm concerned, we live in a 24 hour world. I wonder when cultural norms will catch up to our technological capabilities? Why can't I work from home? As long as the job is getting done, why should I have to sit at a desk killing time? Is it so that all the timeservers in the world can feel better about the absolute monotony of their lives? What a waste of resources. It probably takes me 2 hours a day to do all the work I need to do. Some days, I do NOTHING. If we all had the freedom to serve the world with that extra time, what kind of changes could we create?

And if you really think about it, society would run much better on a 24 hour clock anyways. Traffic would decrease, people would be less stressed, and we wouldn't feel paralyzed, exhausted and depressed all the time. Instead, we'd be able to contribute in a way that's real.