DST=Dazed, Stunned, and in a Trance?

My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk

With apologies to John Keats, the opening lines of "Ode to a Nightingale" are an apt description of how I've been feeling since Sunday, the day all of Indiana had to go on DST for the first time in thirty-odd years. Unlike Keats' nightingale, I'm not about to "singest of summer in full-throated ease." I can barely get up in the morning now, let alone sing about anything. There is something unnatrual about being thrown backward into oh, say late February in the morning and thrust forward to mid May or thereabouts in the evening. (Those are guess-timates, btw). There used to be something magical about sunlight in the spring, at least before we chucked Standard Time for DST (Dumblight Stupid Time). How wonderful it was to get up every morning during the last few weeks as the sun rose earlier, the birds chirped, squirrels and chipmunks played in the early morning light. Now, the animals still have their fun, because they don't know anything about clocks and such. I'm having a devil of a time getting up in the darkness, however. I slog through the day, doing things, but not remembering what or how, exactly. Then I end up staying at work later than I should because the sun is no longer a reliable indicator of the time.

I really hope that those yuppies in Indianapolis who want to golf until 10 p.m. and who couldn't figure out that they were on the same time as New York in the fall and winter and the same time as Chicago in the spring and summer are happy now. They got what they wanted. They will no longer be "confused" about what time it is in Indiana or anywhere else. To heck with the thoughts and feelings of those of us who actually had to live on a time zone border. Somehow, for all those years, we hayseeds over on the state line with Ohio managed to add and subtract one, two, three, etc. whenever we had to engage in business, go shopping, figure out what time our favorite TV shows were on, and so on. But that was just too difficult for the Indy professional set--or so our Gov would have us believe. Who are all of these people we kept hearing about who engaged in interstate and/or international commerce without being able to figure out time zones? How stupid can you be and still be able to run a business? I only hope the Circle City folks are having a really hard time adjusting their body clocks to the sudden shift of daylight from morning to evening. Yes, I know I sound irrational and bitter. That's what happens when my sleep pattern is thrown off.

Really, I don't hate everyone in Indianapolis. I'm actually a fairly nice person and rational on most subjects. I'm just sick of the governor and about half the legislature forgetting that there exists a whole state full of people who live outside Marion County. For rational discourse of DST in Indiana, go to Masson's Blog. Yes, that's a long overdue reference to one of the best Indiana blogs I've come across. Actually, it is a one of the best blogs on any topic, period.

I'll be adding a Hoosier Interest sub-heading to the sidebar soon.

On the bright side: I'm in LO-OVE! Click on the link and scroll down the page a little to see what I mean. :-)

Originally posted at Brand New Day.