Living 5 minutes in the future

Amber and Shannon "wasting time"

My watches and some of the clocks at home are set to run five minutes early. That is why I’m always early for my appointments. Because of the fact that I live several minutes in the future, I often know things before anyone else. Unfortunately, 300 seconds does not give me advantage enough to win at TOTO or soccer bets (which close when the match starts), but being on time is all I’m asking for.

As a rational human, it’s weird that one can be stressed and convinced to rush over the time showing on a clock which one has deliberately set to be fast. But it’s even stranger when the same effect can overcome an entire family, including children.

We live in a society of perpetual lateness – to the point where we would assume that others would probably be late, which subliminally gives us the permission to be late too. The other party likely thinks the same, causing this perpetual cycle.

However, when you are attending school, lateness is a not an option – which is why I had to set the clock ahead and force everyone to think it is the right time. It normally works, until someone walks in and suggests that we should invest in an atomic clock – which means we will end up being atomically late all the time!