A Case for Watches

Minus a hamburger dinner with my roommate, I spent two and a half days in solitude.  (It really wasn't long enough.  I could spend another week completely alone, and I think I'd be happy.)  I wrote and edited, spent two hours trying to connect my desktop to my wireless network, and listened to The Bends.  On Friday night, I went to Nordstrom Rack and bought this little gem for $24.99:

I sent a picture to my sister to get her opinion.  This was her response:

It's funny that you wear watches. I always like the idea of it and tried in middle school, but they just kind of bother me and seem useless because clocks are everywhere.

To my sister I say:  Useless?!?  Useless?!?  Indeed, they are not!  Clocks are not everywhere, unless you count cell phones as clocks, and in that case, you can't see all of them, anyway.  You could use your own cell phone to check the time, but sometimes it's a hassle to get your phone out of your purse or pocket, when all you'd have to do with a watch is quickly look at your wrist.  And if you own a smartphone, the chance of getting distracted when you check the time is probably pretty high.  Also, what if you want to be cellphone-free for a little while?  (It's a shock that anyone would want to, I know, but it does happen from time to time.)  A watch would help you gauge the time.

But these things are all secondary, really.  In my opinion, the best reason to wear a watch is to "see" time.  It's so easy to forget about time because we can't see it.  I, myself, waste hours on the Internet, watching videos and reading articles that probably aren't that important.  I'll look at the time after a few of these videos and be amazed (and disgusted) at how much time has passed.  Sure, that probably still happens to people who own watches and analog clocks, but I wonder if it happens less.  The ability to visualize chunks of time makes me, at least, more aware of it.  In as concrete as time can be represented, a watch shows me how much time has passed, and how much time is left.  If a watch-wearer is very observant, he can even hear time pass; each tick of the second hand serves as the watch's voice, which seems to say, "Are you spending this time wisely?"

It's been years since I wore a watch, mostly because the last watch I had broke and I never got around to getting it fixed.  At the same time, cell phones were becoming ubiquitous, and I thought maybe I could save money by using my own phone to tell time.

It's been two days since I bought this orange watch at Nordstrom Rack, and I feel better about that purchase every time I think about it.  I daresay it is the best purchase I've made this year.  I wonder if it will help me use time better.  We shall see . . .


Thing I'm thankful for: my comfortable bed