Freshman year was a hard time to do schoolwork. I lived in a quad, converted into a triple, and we rarely went to bed before 4 or 5am. i actually dropped a grade in a class because i slept through it 3 times (not counting the extensive rolodex of excuses I burned through…never faked any deaths though, unlike some roommates). But this class was at 10am, which is pretty pathetic.
So to get work done, Slash and I would occasionally retreat to Mckeldin library, which was a convenient 50 feet away from our dorm. I’d estimate that I read as much in one night there as I could in a week in my room. The best nights were the ones where Slash and I would go in for Mckeldin Magic.
photo by David Byers
Mckeldin Magic consisted of a clock on the second floor that was never adjusted for daylight savings time, and thus was an hour fast. We would study until 3 or 4am, and upon leaving (only down the magic elevator, which was the smallest one that I don’t think you were really supposed to use), we would magically gain an extra hour and maybe be able to sleep a little before that exam.
Slash took Mckeldin Magic to extreme lengths, as with many things, and began “saving” his extra hour of daylight savings for when he really needed it. He wouldn’t change his clocks or otherwise acknowledge that the rest of society had shifted its collective schedule until he needed an extra hour.
This morning I woke up at 9:30, quickly regretting watching Old School late last night. I then discovered that I, too, had saved an extra hour and hadn’t changed my bedside clock yet. Needless to say I used my bonus hour and am in a much better mood now than if I had shifted clocks with everyone else.
Of course, my cellphone automatically switched Saturday night while I was out, which kind of takes the fun out of saving up hours, but you have to believe for magic to work.
What are some other things you should be able to accrue and use at your leisure like holiday leave?
