Four days in a row, we overslept. It was mysterious; the alarm was set, the radio functioning.
This morning, I finally figured out why.
The alarm was properly set for 6 AM.
The time was set twelve hours off.
See, what happened was, last weekend I moved some furniture.
As an indirect result of this activity (I am, to put it mildly, enthusiastic when I start shoving furniture around), the clock got unplugged. When I reset it, I forgot to check the little red dot, the presence or absence of which indicates whether it’s AM or PM.
And okay, yeah, it’s a cheap digital clock. It is arguably not the greatest design.
But the impact of that mistake also made me remember that when we change things — in our houses, in our novels, in our lives generally — there are always going to be unforeseen consequences. Huh, so with the bed against the wall, there’s more space in the room, but you can also really see that stain in the carpet I forgot about. Wait, if that character is actually working for the enemy, I’ve got a lot of rewriting to do. Hmm, using a standing desk means if I wear high heels I’ll regret it.
Which does not, of course, mean we shouldn’t make changes. But when we do, we should remember that more will be affected than we think.
