Subject: Time

Date: Fri, 05 Mar 1999 12:10:19 +0000

Organization: Bamboo Liberation Front

When I talk to anyone these days, and ask "how are you doing", I almost always get the same response: "Good, but ~ hectic. Things are crazy. I just don't have enough time". Sound familiar?

I'd like to address this issue online; create a web page or three that has insights and advice for fellow victims of time-poverty. It would be nice to have help on this project. If you, or anyone you forward this to, has any relevant time-related links, text or other items, please send them to me. I'm especially interested in folks that don't feel that this is a problem for them. What are you doing different from the rest of us? I'm in no hurry to do this. I have too many other things that I have to do first. Maybe within a year or so, I'll have the pages up and will email you again to take a look.

Thanks, all~

-- Larnie

http://www.infoflow.com/larnie

"Takin' time to make time"

+++++++++++++++++

Hi larnie, I'm too busy to answer now.

Love,

Aunt Mona

++++++

Great Idea. i hope to go mark bvk's party - time permitted. ha ha.

Lori K.

++++++++++

Great idea, but I need to run....Levi is late for demo practice...Time is very precious and we never have any...does that make anyone else feel better?

Love Cindy M.

+++++++++++++++++

Sorry Larn no time to help on any projects....late for football registration..

Tim F

++++++++++++

i would help you out, but I just don't have the time...

chicken

+++++++++++++++++

Hey Larnie Great topic! I get back with you on it just as soon as I have some Timelessly yours

Brettt

P.S. I bet your getting a lot of these.

+++++++++++++++++

:-)

Tim P.

+++++++++++

Hey L, you have been sooo forwarded to my philosophical friends...

xo, nao

+++++++++++++++++

ON TIME Most of us don't really believe that the motions of the planets affect our lives in any direct way, such as astrologers do. We are modernists and such notions are clearly beyond us. And yet we subscribe fully to a theory and practice of reality and existence, one that we structure our very lives around, that is solely and totally desrived from and based on, the motions of the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun.

I am referring here of course to none other than TIME. To me, acknowledging that time is thus derived and based, demystifies and debunks it as an idea, and leaves its only meaning and significance being in measuring the length of our lives, and in coordinating human activity.

Now I don't question time's usefulness in coordinating human activity, but I do question and I am critical of our over-dependence on it, our over-cordination, our over-conditioning and over-habituation to it, and our seeming enslavement to the regimen of time, in thought and action.

And I bemoan our obsession with measuring the length of our lives, how much has passed and how much remains, on the yardstick of time, instead of savoring the moment perhaps. And frankly, when the cosmologists speak of time and space, and about time having begun at the Big Bang that began the Universe, I seriously question their thought processes and their meaning,their conceptualization, because I regard time as a fiction.

And besides, time is relative, as Einstein instructed: if you were an inhabitant on another planet in our solar system, you would have a totally different clock, if you had one at all, because the revolution around the Sun would be shorter or longer than the Earth's, so a year would be longer or shorter than on Earth, and likewise all of the other increments of time, down to the nanosecond. And if this other planet had a moon, their month would be longer or shorter than ours, because its revolution around its planet would be longer or shorter than our Moon's.

Of course I am aware that night follows day, and that there are seasons. But to me, that is a matter of infinitely repeating cycles, not linearity.

VESTIGIALIZATION and EXTINCTION

With the increasing computerization of society, the increasing trend of those with computers being able to do EVERYTHING from their computer stations at home, that formerly required them to go out and about, there is little doubt that vestigialization will occur in human function, and probably the first thing to go, from lack of use, will be the LEGS: first they will weaken, then they will shrivel up. Perhaps science and technology will discover a solution for this. First science and technology create changes in scoiety which cause unintended and undesirable consequences, and sometimes they attempt to find a solution for it, to ameliorate the situation, sometimes not. This vestigialization of human function was poetically presaged, in the '60s song, "The Eve of Destruction," if I am not mistaken. On the other hand, however, I don't think that any of this really matters, because there really won't be time for this to come to pass, because humanity or rather, the corporate oligarchy, is warming the atmosphere and thereby altering the climate, at such a rate that humanity will not withstand the heat and the climatic disruption, that is already in evidence, and will perish from the Earth. I know that doom and gloom isn't fashionable, but being fashionable isn't my worry. My worry is the extinction of our fragile species, undoubtedly the only species on this planet that can be perfectly aware and conscious of its own self-destruction as it's happening, which will make it especially excruciating, just as extermination was for the victims of the Holocaust. But I view the prospect with some degree of equanimity. After all, there is hardly anything to be done about it. The powers that be, the corporate oligarchy, haven't the vision and the will to prevent it, to stop themselves from doing it! By the time they wake up and see the necessity to do something about it and quickly, sorry, it'll be too late. The scientists are warning, but the oligarchs aren't hearing or listening. They only worship the gods of profit and power. The gods of environment and human welfare, aren't in their pantheon, alas. And I say all this despite my being an activist against global warming! Because despite struggling against it, it is like crying out in the wilderness, and I am pessimistic about humanity surviving the holocaust to come.

Unfortunately,the latest news on global warming isn't good of course; in fact it's rather discouraging, even depressing, to say the least: the theoretical phsyicist Michio Kaku, on his weekly radio show on Pacifica Radio(eg KPFA, Berkeley), reported that a recent 2-university study of ice cores and tree rings, has revealed the rather startling but not really surprising news that 1998 was the hottest year in 128 years(ie, since temperature has been recorded), and (get this:) that the decade of the 1990s was the hottest decade in the last 1000 years or so, in other words, of the MILLENIUM! And of course there is record loss of ice shelf mass in Anartica. Any optimists out there? Or is that already passe (please accent the e in passe)? I should say so!

Pax, Miles

++++++++++

good idea.... time. buy, borrow, spend, kill. i have some good pictures of clocks.

-Kaveh

++++++++++

Larn, if you don't know of it, you need to check out the 10,000 year clock project at www.longnow.org. Very relevant to your concerns.

jim m.

+++++++++++++++++

Hi Larnie, Sorry I didn't make it to the house-warming party this weekend....it's that time poverty thing--plus I sprained my ankle and needed to stay at home with the foot on ice. I did talk to Bernie who said the place looks great. I still haven't gotten around to having a house-warming for my new place in Oakland (where I've been since August!). \

That time-thing again. You're onto something that I'm also curious about. Interested in hearing solutions too. One thing I decided to try is pragmatism as an editing criteria....and only to do things that are closer to the realm of the possible--time and money-wise.

Like the other day I had an idea for a project which required a large space to build and store, and technological tools I do not have. This frequently happens to me and then I get frustrated and feel I can't do anything and that there is no time for creative work. I decided to keep working with the ideas that inspired the project, but to limit the scale to something that would easily fit within my studio, my meager budget and that could be dissembled when completed. Record of the physical object and experience would be kept in text/photo/video formats. The piece could be reassembled for exhibition if there is a call for it. Of course, I haven't yet had the time to try this out! But will let you know how it goes. A project that led to this idea was one that I completed over the series of 3 months with a friend in my office. We collaborated on a artwork that we developed and produced during lunch hours and coffee breaks....with one or two Saturdays at the end to assemble the final work.

Ann W.

+++++++++++++++++

I think this is a worthy effort. Dr. Andrew Weil has some ideas in one of his recent books. One thing he suggests is to let go of having to know the "news". Stop reading the newspaper for a given period of time. Ditto with television. I try to prioritize what is most important to me and spend my time accordingly. Good luck with this project.

Sheila

++++++++++

hi Larnie,

I was reading in Christiane Northrup's excellent Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom and came upon this on page 310: "Our relationship to time can and does make us sick. Sonia Johnson says,"Time is a river, we all have all the time there ever was or ever will be right now.

Linear time, itself, is an addictive construct". In a materialistic, addictive culture, we learn that time is money and that we should spend each minute of our lives accomplishing or producing more and more. instead of enjoying each moment we have to live our lives fully, we are instead taught at an early age that "there is never enough time." We are always "running out of time." Far too many of us suffer from "hurry sickness". We rush around, our hearts beating faster, feeling that there is too much to do and not enough time to do it. The state of our bodies and the cells that constitute them reflect." This is a fantastic book by an MD who's very holistic and intuitive, and who writes about links between emotional states and physical ailments. The above quote was in a section on breast cancer. I really liked the Sonia Johnson quote (from her book Wildfire: Igniting the She-volution ).

I still am recovering from "hurry sickness", but am learning to see the untruth in the beliefs of the never-enough ratrace. I find myself wishing to do less and have more satisfaction, seeing the scamper as a set-up. I think the best moments are when we lose track of time, when time can expand or stand still. This usually happens when doing just one thing, not "multi-tasking"!

Congrats on your move and upcoming wedding.

Love, Nikki

+++++++++++

Hello Larnie,

Received your email about time -poverty and I would like to report that even though I have a full time job now that I still feel than I am in control of my time.

I seem to be able to do what I like when I want to.

I have plently of time foor my family.....we eat breakfast and dinner together every day....we go swimming every Monday evening. I personally am able to go into the pottery studio on a regular basis and I have been actually able to make some extra time to work on my dissertation.

I guess it a matter of choises....and i am pretty happy with the one that i have made...........maybe in reality the onlt true thing that we have is a limited amount of time. a very valuable resousre......use it wisely.

p.s. i found an old slippery rock photo of you the other day and will send it off to you sometime in the near future...maybe when i get some exctra time

Frank G.

+++++++++++++++++

Hello. Larnie, I think yr name is. Rachel K. Forwarded yr "Time" message on to me.

I find it to be quite a challange to hold on to time here at the end of the 20th century. I think we are simians in the city who are still hardwired for the village, and the few things, few people, few events that the village offers. I practice saying "no" to things, try to focus on my writing, realize thatI won't be able to do everything, so try to do a little well. So far, I've chosen to be time-rich over $$ rich. I do think that there is a social issue as well. Humans in a village only knew a few hundred ppl, tops. I meet between 2 & 5 ppl a year that I think "Wow, I could be really good friends w/ this person. This person could become family." I can't have that kind of a close relationship w/ that many ppl, so I find I actually make less new friends than I used to and focus more on my old friends. Just some thoughts. Thanx for taking the time to put the questions out here.

Adam K.

"'First they hand me over to the psychiatrists,' Win said. 'Then they send me into exile. What country is this anyway?'"

+++++++++++++++++

Hi Larnie, Liked your web page and have bookmarked it. Regarding your time ponderings, your thoughts made me look at this ad I saw differently, a woman poolside looking at a giant building-sized watch. Time as oppressive, omnipresent & inescapable architecture. I'll dig out your address & send it to you for scanning or whatever. Chris Carlsson of Cloverleaf Multimedia ("Shaping S.F.") CD-ROM, Critical Mass & ex-Processed World, published a bunch of Union of Time Thieves stickers. Visit him at 1095 Market/7th St., 2nd floor and I bet he'll give you some. And you can see my cartoon digital murals in the lobby. Coming up to S.F. to Billboard Liberation opening at Lab (16th/Capp), 6 to 9 Friday 3/12. Could be provocative.

Cheers, --Mike M.

+++++++++++++++++

Well - I would have answered this sooner but I didn't have time. Good luck with your pages!

Best, Judy M.

+++++++++++

In response to the time issue Hi there Mr. Have time- My name is Lindsay H. a.k.a. Roller Girl, and I have also been thinking of this issue in ways that relate to email which completelty exacerbates this timely problem of communication. My story goes like this. Went to Burning Man and had a blast. Made friends with those involved with the space walk of 1998 past. Left a corporate job to teach English in Thailand. Now I am writing emails to friends who write, "i don't have much time'. Interesting how you are actually in the drivers seat when you are writing an email. Much different than if you picked up the phone. With the phone, you are involved and need to be responding to the 2-way communication. So why is email used to share the same info? In Thailand we refer to this as same same. In the drivers seat of a blank page leaves us with the familiarity of how we communicate off the page.

I am beckoning everyone to heed the call to organize thier thoughts become more creative and share with those that took time to 'select enter' for the SEND button. Send anything Send how you feel about where the world is headed Send how you feel about your future, your past and your present Send a few meaningful moments you experienced today, tomorrow, or last week. Above all send something about yourself other than your too busy because in the time it takes to write I'm so busy, you could've written I'm so happy with .... I'm so mad at.... I'm so ecstatic about .... WARNING: using emotions in email is not a cause for deletion. See you all out there in communication land where the typed word has power!

Lindsay

+++++++++++++++++

Dear Larn, Yout time project sounds like a good idea. We are definitely victims of time poverty.

However we are living over here in a culture that reminds us to slow down. In Saudi Arabia the Arabs are still able to kick back and take that afternoon nap. The University setting is even more laid back with generous holidays and long vacations. They have a saying that lets them off the hook when things might not go as planned so they don't get upset when things don't go smoothly. It is "In Sha'Allah" which translates to God willing. It is a bit fatalistic and frustating when you want things to be accomplished in a timely way. But the message is clear. Don't sweat it. If it's meant to happen it will.

On the other hand their economy is beginning to fail. They interrupt the business day a few times too many for prayer Lately Richard has been especially frustrated at work. His protestant work ethic is geting a lot done at the computer lab he is coordinating. But he will not be compensated with higher pay as time goes on. The over worked and under paid Pakistanis tell him. Mr. Richard don't worry. Go home in the middle of the day. Relax! If someone pressures you just say,"I'm working on it." After working with kindergarteners all morning I come home exhausted and manage to fix lunch for Keenan and Warren.I jealously gaurd a siesta hour after lunch everyday that powers me through an afternoon of flute teaching, taking care of kids, etc.In my opinion that is the antidote to time poverty. Even a ten min. nap can do the trick.

But kids don't always cooperate. I tell them stories to settle them and have found a new state of unconsiousness. All parents must have experienced this one. You are telling a story and you drift into dream land while still speaking . You are wakening by chidren laughing uproriuosly at something funny you unknowingly said. I can now sleep through 5 minutes or so of children playing all around me. This is probably not advisable, but it wotks for me. Happy napping,

Katy

+++++++++++++++++

Hi Dear,I think I must be extremely hyperactive. I am schooling full-time, working full-time, getting stuff together to apply for a bigger and better job, and to top it all off I've voulenteered for a relief mission going to Haiti for 10 days. I do get the dulldrums every once in awhile because my whole life revolves around a very strict schedule. But I think I've learned to accept it quite well. I keep thinking "if I don't get everything in my life accomplished today, will I ever?". Maybe we could invent the 30 hour day?

xoxo charity

+++++++++++++++++

Hey Larnie. Don't mean to freak you out by responding so quickly, but this is something I've been thinking about a bit. Here's one approach to getting over the "time defecit" thing, which is, really, a man-made, largely psychological phenomenon. I really appreciate this approach to the question of time, and it's application to art, science, etc. http://www.longnow.org/

Einstein's Dream, 22 May 1905 Dawn. A salmon fog floats through the city, carried on the breath of the river. The sun waits beyond the Nydegg bridge, throws its long, reddened spikes along Kramgasse to a giant clock that measures time, illuminates the underside of balconies. Sounds of morning drift through the streets like the smell of bread. A child wakes and cries for her mother. An awning creaks quietly as the milliner arrives at his shop on Marktgasse. An engine whines on the river. Two women talk softly beneath the arcade. As the city melts through the fog and the night, one sees a strange sight. Here an old bridge is half finished. There, a house has been removed from its foundations. Here a street veers east for no obvious reason. There a bank sits in the middle of the grocery market. The lower stained-glass windows of St. Vincent's portray religious themes, the uppers switch abruptly to a picture of the Alps in Spring. A man walks briskly toward the Bundeshaus, stops suddenly, puts his hands to his head, shouts excitedly, turns and hurries in the opposite direction.

This is a world of changed plans, sudden opportunities, of unexpected visions. For in this world, time flows not evenly but fitfully, and, as a consequence, people receive fitful glimpses of the future. When a mother receives a sudden image of where her son will live, she moves her house to be near him. When a builder sees the place of commerce in the future, he twists his road in that direction. When a child briefly glimpses herself as a florist, she decides not to attend university. When a young man gets a vision of the woman he will marry, he waits for her. When a solicitor catches sight of himself in the robes of a judge in Zurich, he abandons his job in Berne. Indeed, what sense is there in continuing the present when one has seen the future? For those who have had their vision, this is a world of guaranteed success. Few projects are started that do not advance a career. Few trips are taken that do not lead to the city of destiny. Few friends are made that will not be friends in the future. Few passions are wasted. For those who have not had their vision, this is a world of inactive suspense. How can one enroll in university without knowing one's future occupation? How can one set up an apothecary in Marktgasse when a similar shop might do better on Spitalgasse? How can one make love to a man when he may not remain faithful? Such people sleep most of the day and wait for their vision to come. Thus, in this world of brief scenes from the future, few risks are taken. Those who have seen the future do not need to take risks, and those who have not yet seen the future wait for their vision without taking risks. Some few have seen the future do all they can to refute it. A man goes to tend the museum gardens in Neuchatel after he has seen himself as a barrister in Lucerne. A youth embarks on a vigorous sailing voyage with his father after a vision that his father will soon die of heart trouble. A young woman allows herself to fall in love with one man even though she has seen that she will marry another. Such people stand on their balconies at twilight and shout that the future can be changed, that thousands of futures are possible. In time, the gardner in Neuchatel gets tired of his low wages, becomes a barrister in Lucerne. The father dies of his heart, and his son hates himself for not forcing his father to keep to his bed. The young woman is deserted by her lover, marries a man who will let her have solitude with her pain. Who would fare better in this world of fitful time? Those who have seen the future and live only one life? Or those who have not seen the future and wait to live life? Or those who deny the future and live two lives?

From Einstein's Dreams, by Alan Lightman

mo

+++++++++++++++++

Hey Larnie, good to hear from you. I'd love to help you out, but things are kind of hectic right now -- there's a log going on with work, we're starting to think about a wedding, etc.. To tell the truth I didn't look at your email too closely, frankly, I don't really have a lot of time for that kind of thing these days. Don't get me wrong, things are good, you know how it is. There's just a million things going on.

Well, gotta run -- don't be a stranger,

xxxooo aaron t.

+++++++++++++++++

Hi Larnie, I was going through some old email, and came across this one. So I had some time to kill, and did a search for "time" on Altavista. And it came up with 0 (zero!) pages... Did I fall into some wierd zone where time does not exist?? http://www.altavista.com/cgi-bin/query?sc=on&q=time&kl=XX&pg=q&search.x=35&search.y=8 Annabelle

+++++++++++++++++

hi larnie , someone fwded the time-thing to me , which sounds like PRIME deconstructing territory... if only i had some time... im sure your getting lots of those. anyway thought i'd fwd this along, 'cause in my opinion the time issue is dirctly proportional to the ever-expanding playground of the neandrathal landowners: Dear Artists (That means YOU - don't deny it ), Art supporters, and anyone with even a vague inkling that LIFE is art... OK, if you are a microchip , read no further !

BENEFIT * PARTY * MUZIKA * DANCING * SOLIDARITY at C.E.L.L. 2050 BRYANT ST. SATURDAY MARCH 6 7:00p - 2:00a old story : Artists and low-income livelihoods are being squeezed out of SF by the FAT man faster than you can say SCUMLORD ! new story : S.F. Lawsuit - Property Owner Rights vs. Community Artists Rights

ea paul

++++++++++++

** THE RETURN ADDRESSES ON THIS LETTER HAVE BEEN SET TO PREVENT MAIL**

** LOOPS IN THE EVENT YOU ARE RUNNING SOFTWARE WHICH AUTO-REPLIES TO **

**INBOUND MAIL. UUNET WILL NOT SEE ANY REPLY SENT TO THIS LETTER. **

To Whom It May Concern, UUNET has received your message regarding ("Time") and forwarded it to the Internet Abuse Investigations team for processing.

To help us provide you with the best possible service, please refer to trouble ticket number IA0050546 somewhere in all correspondence (or if you should call Internet Abuse Investigations) regarding this matter. For your convenience, we have included it in the Subject line of this message, and will do so in any future correspondence. If you should need assistance in the future on a different issue, please do not re-use this same ticket number.

UUNET Internet Abuse Investigations has received your notification of a mail abuse incident and considers this a serious matter. To view UUNET's AUP: http://www.us.uu.net/support/usepolicy To ensure your issue is investigated in a timely manner, please read the following information as it pertains to your incident:

****************************************************

REPORTING INCIDENTS INVOLVING UNSOLICITED MAIL:

****************************************************

Please forward all incidents to abuse-mail@uu.net and include in your correspondence the FULL message header information. This header information is required to determine the origin of the mail message. If your system has logs showing connection information, please include them with your correspondence. If the incident is causing a denial of service (such as a mail bomb), please call UUNET at 800.900.0241, choose Option #2, Option #3, then Option #1 to reach an Internet Abuse Investigator. If you are calling from outside the United States, please call 1.703.206.5440 and ask to be transferred to Security.

Here is an example: Example: MASSMAIL HEADER

===============================

Received: from foo.com (foo.com [123.45.67.89]) by relay7.uu.net with ESMTP Mon, 13 Jan 1997 15:35:29 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <19970401111@foo.com>

From: nobody@foo.com

To: somebody@somewhere.com

******************************************

WHAT UUNET CAN DO REGARDING YOUR MASSMAIL INCIDENT:

******************************************

If UUNET identifies that the mail originated from a UUNET customer site, UUNET will take action according to the Terms of Service contract. If UUNET identifies the originator as a customer of another ISP, UUNET may forward details about the incident to the respective ISP. Generally, only the ISP of the originating site can enforce policies concerning this incident. Due to the volume of complaints we receive and the time required to investigate them, this may be the only response you receive regarding this incident. UUNET is serious about enforcing its AUP and will make every effort to resolve your issue. Applicable laws and regulations restrict what UUNET can do and the information UUNET may provide, and this message is intended to summarize some of these limitations. Thank You, UUNET Internet Abuse Investigations 800.900.0241 (703.206.5440) Option #2, Option #3, Option #1

+++++++++++++++++

hi larn, here are some pictures that sum up the murky quality of time for me.

+ + +

if you look through the memory of color there is only black - the absensence of future.

scott a.

oh, by the way or by the bye they used to say the future simply does not exist>

+++++++

I quit working, had a baby and slowed down to her time. Baby time is very in the moment. You can't hurry and expect it to work. I now work about 10 - 15 hrs a week. I have almost no money and have given up some career goals. I hang out a lot and face boredom sometimes, other times I am in a state of joy and relaxation. When I was working fulltime, going to graduate school, volunteering with a number of orgs., taking dance class, etc. I was one of those no time people. Now I am a person with lots of time--and I can't do anything in it. For example, this 5 month old is screeming so I will stop pushing my fingers into this plastic thing. So off I go to fill my time with no thing.

Virginia W.

+++++++++++++++++

Nancy P's invaluable tips for not having a hectic life:

Don't be ambitious.

Do less with more.

Create work for other people.

Make goals but let go of them without a wimper.

Go on vacation again and again.

Call in sick and do your bills.

Have sex rather than do the dishes.

Have a baby and forget everything else.

+++++++++++

There's a great essay at http://www.syntac.net/dl/humanity.html that touches on this issue in the context of how our society has come to a point where virtually all of us have this problem.

L. Turetsky

++++++++++++

I'm so ecstatic about your emailing message. Not to sound corny, but thanks for sending it out there. Abby C.

+++++++++++++++++

Larn, Your research might result in something that would fit into the new Black Rock City plan. They'll have an area for time-related art in the center of the city (the center of the clock). I don't have the URL, but the plans are on the BM site... -- j. christopher

++++++++++++ Larnie-- pretty interesting topic. Here's a small item that won't do your site any good, but might stir the pot: When i was a freshman in college (30 years ago!) i wrote a poem about not having enough time. And of course I still don't have enough time. This tells me that this isn't a new phenomena (in my life at least) and I expect not in yours either. I think the challenge is not being greedy about how much I want to do. Or in not understanding that there are a lot of things that I want to do that I will never do, and some that I won't do until later. This sounds stupidly simple, but in practice I find it very difficult. We're surrounded by lots of opportunities, many which market themselves as avenues to health, wealth, enlightenment. And in fact, we can only sort of bumble along in our human-sized packages in a not-so-perfect world. "I only want..." "I only want..." "is that so much to ask?" Yes. Probably. --gail f.

+++++++++++++++++

Too familiar. I'm convinced it's partially just a disease we've all contracted. Here I am in Japan, and I've already managed to make my life like that again! Somehow I thought this would be a more tranquil time for me, but I'm unable to allow that!

pamela z

+++++++++++++++++

I handle my lack of time in a wierd way. This year I started teaching art at the Walter Hays school through the Spectra program, in great part to learn how to make more efficient use of my time. Between the Jr. Museum, my two classes for PAPPA and the school, I am running 14 contact hours a week. It does force one to become efficient. For the first month or so it took all my energy to remember where I was supposed to be when, which the principal told me was common for new teachers.

Now I'm at the guts of it: learning how to optimize prep periods and how to handle lay-out and clean-up time at the beginning and end of classes. The teachers at W. Hays whose classes I meet have been very helpful and I learn a lot from them, not only things like class control techniques but also things like how to set out glazes for young children (Hint: put out 9 x 12 pieces of construction paper in the spectral hues, plus black, brown and white, and arrange the glaze jars on the appropriate colors. Open them and stick one brush in each. The children come up to the table, select one, use it and return it to where they got it. Works well with kinders who can't yet read the labels on the bottles. They can glaze virtually independently of adult supervision. If you make sure they return the bottles to the tables when they finish and only use one color at a time the brushes don't get mixed up, either.)

Incidentally, now that I am as one might say "overbooked" I find that I have more time than I used to and am getting back to some art history projects I had for too long on the back burner.

Linda P.

+++++++++++++++++

I sleep a lot less. And I have maintained a life style that enables me to be awake when everyone else is sleeping. That's when I do evrything of personal importance to me... I don't own a TV; I get twice as much done as almost anyone else I know.

P Segal

+++++++++++++++++

this is a great idea from a lot of different angles--= especially as millenium fever hits, and it becomes almost stupefying how much time is constructed to mean certain things, when these constructs are just as often debilitating to us as they are helpful. i have been thinking about this a lot. and for all of us having no free time, i think i see a link to capitalism somewhere in there-- even if you try to avoid the rat race, you are part of the same world. and if people slowed down, they'd get more sleep, which would probably clear up a lot. i really think people are tired. anyways, that's my tirade. i like your idea and would love to be alerted when you get anything going.

katrina

+++++++++++++++++

larnie, i dont have any weblinks for you but akire and i have been taking meditation classes at the Nyingma Institute in Berkeley. http://www.nyingma.org/ (nyingma is the oldest of the Tibetan buddhist schools) (their sites not very interesging, or organized, but their teaching is very good) it was founded by Tarthang Tulku and he has written a series of books on a theme he calls Time, Space and Knowledge. These arent traditional Buddhist texts. He simply looks at those three facets of human experience. movement through time, placement in space and what we "know" about being. very trippy stuff, with exercises and lots of direct questions like "why do we feel that time moves" more pragmatically, he also has a series of books on relationship with Work, called the Skillful means series. these also have lots of material based on time, and how we choose to use it. one thing that i learned from these recently is to simply focus on what it is that i am doing, getting done, rather than on the todo list of 10 items not getting done.

i've started keeping an hourly track of my progress throughout the day, which has been quite revealing in showing how little (or big ) gaps in concentration let time seem to leak away.

i think thats part of it. if you are very aware of what your experience is, if its vivid, like say a great vacation or a great moment when art is coming together, then time suddenly seems very useful and dense. so ironically when we do more with time, there may seem to be more time, when we are bored and wasteful, time moves very fast. sometimes they make intriguing hints to the ability to expand time-- and well u know buddhists believe in reincarnation and all, so theres that realm of time also.

its worth noting that tulku has in like 20 or 30 years written dozens of books, built a giant monastery in california, founded a publishing house and a few teaching institutes, huge achievements. i can give u direct references to the books, or call some time. oh akire's planning to make a time related webpage too soon, you can ask her about that. are you thinking of this as an art project, or just a helping-thing?

Eugene C.

+++++++++++++++++

Dear Larnie- What a fab idea ! I wish I could tell you I was among the special few who don't feel time pressure. I can't. However, I can share an online resource which has been of use to me http://imt.net/~randolfi/StressLinks.html

cheers, -Lori L.

++++++++++

Hi Larnie, I got your email about time.

One of my favorite books about time is Robert Grodin's "Time and the Art of Living". I think there are several very good published philosophical discussions of time.. if you have the time to find and read them. I've mused for hours and days on the subject of time and our relationship to it, and have decided that the problem is not that we don't have enough time (after all, we have the same amount we've always had!) but rather, how we think about and live in our own past, present, future time; how we *feel* about time; and how we *spend time*.

Is there such a thing as "wasting time"?

Are some tasks or pursuits truly a "waste of time"?

What constitutes "quality time"?

What about biorythms and circadian cycles versus the consensual construct of 24-hour days and seven-day weeks and so on?

What activities and thoughts deserve our time?

Which people and ideas are not worth us giving them the time of day?

And when are we taking the time to consider things well enough to make these kinds of decisions?

We let others monopolize or control our time, without our informed or conscious consent, too much of the time. "It's temporarily too busy at work" but it never seems to get less busy, because when it does, we reduce our productivity to match the load, unconsciously opting to use the same amount of time to do less, instead of consciously choosing that _or_ the other option: doing lots quickly and then using the extra time to do something else. This is perpetuated by the 40-hour work week, which implies that we be at work whether there is a lot or a little to do; we are expected to "put in our time". Pieceworkers, hourly workers and contractors know how to expand and shrink time better than salaried workers. They do what needs doing at the speed that suits them best to meet their short-term goal of meeting a quota or completing a project. Then they rest and reflect before starting on another round. (that intensity of focus during hard work causes time to [seem to] pass more rapidly -hmmn!) Executives learn how to do prioritize, doing only the most important things (the ones, big and small, that align with their major goals), preserving more and more time for important (to them..) life pursuits like golf, cocktails and vacations.. This seems to be the essence of corporate-style time-management theory. There is a way to interpret this theory for use in a less structured, more creative lifestyle too.

Since beginning to examine time, I have moved more and more toward rapid and ruthless prioritizing of my time. I hardly ever watch TV anymore, because it doesn't fit in with my big-picture goals, and even at a micro level, I would rather be living more directly. Instead I interact (especially verbally) with others much more, which I have realized is one of my true callings (hah!), and spend my *spare time* thinking and musing and creating.

I have discovered that IDLING is one of the very best, most decadent and satisfying uses of time! I used to worry a lot about what had already passed and what was possibly about to happen, but then I realized that I hardly ever just exist in the present. So I have been concentrating more and more on making the most of the moment. One way I do this is to choose more selectively what I do or experience. When I have chosen, I try to do things once, all the way through, with as much focus as possible on the information flooding my senses! I try to plan as much as necessary to respect my own future time (if I get there!) so I'll be ready for it when it comes. I try not to rob my own future (like by not leaving a mess, so that in future I will not find that mess waiting for the future Me to clean it up.) Because probably by the time the future gets here, I'll have thought up some new and interesting ways I'd like to use the time. thanks for your time.

Veek (time, not space, is the final frontier) toastia Time waits for no one.

A stitch in time saves nine.

Time is of the essence.

+++++++++++++++++

Sounds like a good idea. Good luck.

James M.

++++++++++

Sounds great. Keep me posted. Hope you find the time to proceed. Forbes did a special issue about six months ago on Time, with about 40 authors chiming in. Okay as far as magazines go; a website can go further. Marty M.

++++++++++

Hi Larnie! I am so glad to hear from you again. Yes, I am too feeling the effects of time - poverty. However my busyness gets things done. "busy people get things done' Include me in on this time project. its so synchronistic to the New Millennium Love,

Tod

++++++++++++

Hi Larnie,

Good timing. I'm putting together a Psy Fi musical these days and one of the songs takes the time spectacle on vacation terms. It's a schmalzy little tune which I recorded with John a couple years ago and here are the lyrics:

Spectacular Time

The time has come again to take time

Down to the shore to rest now - don't waste time

With nothing to do, we're going to feel fine

Walk in the sand and find peace of mind find peace of mind find peace of mind find peace of mind

If we can feel fre and maintain the mood We'll have a spectacular time

Cloudy but warm Sunny but cool Running around you and me and the moon.

(repeat with variations)

Have a Happy HouseWarming, yours,

jimpi

+++++++++++++++++

Oh of course, because you see time is not a constant. You just need to get a hold of a black hole and use it's gravitational force to accelerate you into the percieved future. That way you won't have to move anything. Lucky for you, Bodil is the keeper of her grandfathers antique Danish timepiece.

scot

++++++++++++

Hi, My new datebook has quotes/proverbs for each week. Here are the proverbs for the next few weeks:

"Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art of all" Andy Warhol "Everything comes to those who hustle while he waits" Thomas Edison "Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue" Roger C. Anderson

Now back to stressing!

Bodil

+++++++++++++++++

+ + + +