Sunday, February 8

#6 - hour 25


You notice that you've been feeling very well rested as of late, so you begin staying up a little later at night, which leads to an extraordinary discovery. It seems that at 2:00 am each night, time seems to halt for an hour (according to your watches and clocks). Everything resumes after this hour, but you realize you've been feeling more invigorated because you've been getting an extra hour of sleep every night.

Now, time hasn't actually stopped in the sense that everything is frozen. You observe the following things when you stay awake past 2:00:

You can still interact with your surroundings and the world at large. Traffic lights and electronic devices still operate, for example. Any object you move to a different place during the bonus hour will remain where you left it (rather than reverting back to its 2:00 am location). Your actions will not be erased as in the movie Groundhog Day, but will have any applicable consequences when things start back up.

The main change seems to be with people (and other living creatures). Anyone you come across during this hour seems to be in a very deep sleep. If you happen to be hanging out with someone, they always end up falling asleep at 2:00, waking an hour later, and unresponsive in the meantime.

So in essence, you (and you alone) have been given an additional hour each day. What do you do with it?

10 comments:

Eric Chen said...

catch up on work! or sleep :)

James said...

Interesting! First of all, this would really freak me out. When I get over the fear, I'd probably exploit it to save people or do good, but eventually be tempted to commit crimes or something like that. Then, I'd come to a point where I realize it's wrong, and then vow to never take advantage of this again. I'd just sleep through it and forget it ever existed.

Stephanie said...

"My real answer"
by Stephanie

I suck at staying up past 1:15 a.m. so on the nights I could, I think I would do a few things:

*If I felt I needed the sleep, then I would sleep
*I may take up a new hobby and use this extra hour to do it - such as playing the piano, painting etc.
*Do work that I needed to get done
*Read young adult and teen fiction
*Play pranks on Joyce - setting all of the clock in our apt back 2 hours or something else.
*Catch up on TV by watching it on DVD - depending on the show 1 or 2 episodes per night

Odds are I wouldn't make it past 1 am, so I would "lose" the extra time.

But what if I have this extra time, and you have this extra time -- and we are like at a club till 2 am - would we both fall asleep b/c we're around each other or would that cancel out and we both could stay up that extra hour? ;)

Mike said...

Is it sad that I can only think of illegal things to do w/ this... like rob banks???

Honestly, I think this gift would be wasted on me. Most likely I would just get an hour extra sleep.... or just spend an hour extra each night staying up wasting time on the internet.......

The best thing I could come up with was to join IJM and help rescue people from human trafficking. That definitely would be awesome. It will still require excellent timing and planning, but I think I could be a valuable asset to IJM. Hmmmm, except I'd definitely need to 'bulk' up in strength since anyone I'd rescue would be asleep and I'd have to carry him/her.

Maybe I could use the extra hour for the first few years to "bulk" up...

I often wonder how life would be if everyone had an extra few hours each day. Except I think that we would just work an extra few hours and be in the same spot as we are in now... perhaps its the business world making me cynical...

Anonymous said...

Yeah! This is an awesome gift. Not only do we get an extra hour, but it comes at one of the most peaceful times of the night! I would use the hour to learn new things! I would usually use the hour to either learn an instrument or develop some art skills. On some nights I would try and get ahead on work, and on others I would just go exploring. Imagine how much fun it would be to explore the world without inhibition while everybody was asleep! And of course, you'll have to get a good lock on your door Matt, because I would occassionally feel the need to draw mustaches on you 10-year-old-at-a-sleepover style.

Pietro said...

just to add fuel to the fire... What happens to electronic clocks during the extra hour? What happens during the day light savings changes? Will time reach 2AM, pause for an hour, then roll back to 1AM, and then freeze a second time, so you actually get 2 free hours once per year?

My everyday answer... I would probably just sleep through it and wake up an hour earlier as if I lived in one time zone to the East. With the extra hour in the morning I'd probably spend more time exercising, praying, and making big pancake and/or omelet breakfasts on the weekdays.
My mischievous answer… I suppose once in a while when I was awake that late on the weekends and everyone suddenly fell asleep at 2AM, I would rearrange the surroundings of the people I was with just to see their reaction when they woke up…. Dumb stuff like switching drinks for an inedible prop, allowing a tray of ice cubes to find their way into someone’s shorts, driving someone to the already in asleep in bed and take them to a public place.
I might even sneak into the White House and pull a prank on The President just to make his secret service agents paranoid, like sewing his bed sheets to his mattress while he’s asleep in his bed. (I just thought of that one while I was watching Obama’s news conference tonight.)

Matt said...

I would maybe take advantage of the opportunity for mischief, but 2:00 is late enough that I'd usually take the extra sleep.

It'd be nice to use the time for reading or prayer, things that would benefit from a lack of external distractions. But it's usually pretty quiet at 2:00 am anyway and I am rarely still awake then. Maybe I could go to sleep and then wake up at 2:00 to do those things or roam around. That hour would definitely have a different feel to it.

And I'm sure there are times I would take my car out and tear up the desolate roads without fear of police reprisal.

Stephanie said...

I think I may also study material so that I could be on Jeopardy.

Seriously.

Then that would be the "fact"I would share with Alex Trebek.

Alex: It says here Stephanie, that you stayed up every night and studied to be on this show at 2 am? Is that right?

Me: What is Yes, Alex. You are correct. For a year of my life, time stopped @ 2 am and I used that time to study to come on your show and win big.

Anonymous said...

Wow what an awesome concept. It gives people a chance to have more to time to something they might have always wanted to do. In actuality this extra hour can exist if people manage prioritize their time differently.

And equally interesting question would be the converse. What if you would lose an hour every day. What would you cut out of your day? Compare that answer with what you would do if you could add an hour and see which is more important.

I can't say I would do much different if I had an extra hour. I would probably just practice piano more.

Joe said...

Hmm...I guess my best answer would be to use it to read more leisure books. Harry Potter 6-7 and the Twilight trilogy are still sitting untouched on the end table, and there are plenty of other books that I'd love to read as well. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that I'd wind up spending the extra time studying though or playing XBOX. Mischief sounds fun, but I already commit plenty of mischief while I'm awake.