So, how is the book revision coming, you may be wondering? S-L-O-W-L-Y. You'd think after gaining an entire day through the marvelous mechanism of Leap Year, losing an hour through daylight savings time wouldn't matter. It matters. It's Tuesday, the time change occurred Saturday, and everyday since then, time has been flying past me. I'm trudging behind it, trying to catch up. The weekend is coming, though, and once fortified by some excellent corn beef and cabbage in honor of my Irish heritage, I expect to make solid progress. Short of getting kidnapped by leprechauns, it's a plan!
I feel like I am running out of time. It's odd that I feel that way because just last week we had an extra day added to the year, but it didn't help. Clearly, there is a problem with Leap Year.
To refresh your memory regarding the Leap Year concept, it takes the earth 365 days and roughly 6 hours each year to circle the sun, so every 4 years we acquire another day. The problem is that the powers in charge of the extra day put it in February. February is a stubby month and adding an extra day doesn't give it the stature of a real month, like August or May. No one is running around saying "Hey, it's February, I need another day." There are already two holidays in February: Presidents' Day which doesn't require any preparation, gifts or meals, and Valentines Day which requires preparation, gifts or meals if you are in love, or none of that stuff if you're not in love, but then you generally don't think it's such a great holiday. The problem with Leap Year is that we aren't getting the extra day when we really need it. Doesn’t it make more sense to get to December and say "Hey over the last 3 years we acquired some extra time – lets't just add a day to the end of the year – December 32nd! Or how about adding an extra day after the SuperBowl, or decreeing that a random weekend have 2 Saturdays - who couldn't use that! I've calculated that we've got 360 days and 18 hours to get this fixed. Who do we need to call to get this done? |
AuthorCeline Boyle is a writer living in Maine. She is a member of SCBWI. Archives
September 2013
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