Alarm Rules
How strange is it to have rules to set your alarm by?
It strikes me I've only ever met one other person who I know has alarm rules, but the fact is that it's not a typical thing you talk about, the set of considerations that goes into making up how you set your alarm, so maybe there are more.
So, I'd like to poll you guys. Do you have alarm rules? Certain times that the alarm must or must not be set to? If so, what are they? What would happen if you disobeyed them?
I do have alarm rules. The result of not following them ... it wouldn't be the end of the world. I wouldn't die in my sleep or anything. But I feel like something terrible and ostensibly unrelated, like a plane crash, would happen because of it. Which, I grant, makes no sense whatever. And it's not that I'm afraid of that happening, so I have to obey the rules and then check and recheck or whatever. It's just a vague feeling that I have.
And this is the first time I've tried to put them down. In my head, they're amorphous. I know if a time is acceptable or not, and I've figured out some ways in which. In descending order of importance:
1) The time must never end in 5.
2) The time must never begin and end with the same digit.3) The time must never end in 0.
4) The first two digits must not add up to the third digit.
5) All digits must not be odd or even.
6) The digits must not sum to 10.
7) The tens and minute digit must not be the same.
8) The first two digits must not subtract to the third digit.
So, to take these rules out for a spin, lets say that I want to wake up around 7:30.
7:30 is out by rule 2.
7:31 is out by rule 5.
7:32 is acceptable.
7:33 is out by rules 5 and 7.
7:34 is out by rule 8.
7:35 is out by rule 1.
7:36 is unacceptable for some reason I can't figure out.
(Maybe because choosing a 6 is like breaking the spirit of rule 1? Or that it falls between the two most important rules? I dunno.)
7:37 is unacceptable by rule 3.
7:38 is acceptable.
7:39 is unacceptable by rule 5.
So tell me: what do you think?
I think you're nuts. If I want to wake up at 7:30, I set my alarm to 7:30.
Posted by: Susan Price
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September 12, 2007 09:20 AM