For those of you that think I...

For those of you that think that I just failed this challenge by not blogging yesterday, think again. You may not know it, (actually, you probably do, since the only person that is even remotely likely to read this is the person that developed and then shared this system with me...thanks Kim) but I run on a different system regarding the beginning and ending of days.

Midnight is not the beginning of the day. Think about it. Why do we end one day and start the next at a time that is specifically referred to as an absurd time to end/start a day? The actually word "midnight" clearly implies that it is the middle of the night, not the end/beginning of the day. The thought makes reason stare!

Anyway, now that I've had my little tirade, (oxymoron?...in my case, probably just moron...) I'll explain my system. Now, I've heard countless people that don't consider it the next day until you go to sleep and wake up sometime later. (Of course you wake up later. If you wake up at all, you wake up "later". (The Incredibles...anyone?...)) This system is preposterous. What if I take a nap every afternoon? Does that mean that my calendar year has 730 days in it? Of course not!

To this people usually respond that naps don't count. How then do you define a nap? Most people would say something about sleeping for less than some arbitrary amount of time is what defines a "nap" as such. Others say that sleeping during the day is the defining characteristic of a "nap". In fact, it is neither of these. (Look Around You, Series One, Module 1: Maths...anyone?...)

Say that sleeping for less than some arbitrary amount of time, say three hours, is what makes up a nap. As my friends at Utah State University and my former employer will (well, at least "can"...perhaps not "will"...Lance doesn't like me much anymore...) inform you, there were numerous instances that I stayed in Logan until around 1:00-2:00. At that point I drove home, a 1.5 hour (shame on you, speeders) ordeal. That means that I arrived home between 2:30 and 3:30. I then slept until about 5:00 and drove to work (a ten minute ordeal) by 5:30 in order to arrive on time. Now, if you do the maths, that means that I slept for a maximum of 2.5 hours. This is less than my arbitrary amount of time, which was 3 hours.

So, this means that I took a nap. This would also mean that the day never changed over from Sunday to Monday. Thus, I am a sinner, for I worked on a Sunday. That is preposterous. Now you might argue that I returned home after work and then slept for more than three hours. Thus, that was the end of Sunday and beginning of Monday. Alas, it was not so. On several occasions, I returned home and didn't sleep at all after work. On many others, I again slept for less than three hours before waking up. (later of course...we've been through this) This would mean that the day never changed from Sunday to Monday until most people had changed from Monday over to Tuesday. This is obviously absurd.

Now, to the other argument. (Kim, if you are in fact reading this...or anyone else for that matter...I'm sorry that I'm so long-winded...er...long-typing-endurance-ed...I think you get the point.) Now, to the other argument...er...I already said that...oh, well, it really doesn't matter, because it wasn't much of an argument anyhow. To the other defining characteristic of a nap (being that sleeping during the day is what defines a "nap".) I say this: What the heck is your definition of "day"?! That's what this is all about! You argued that sleep is the parameter by which the day is defined. Now you argue that the day is the parameter by which sleep is defined? You and your paradoxical rhetoric can get right out of here!

That felt good.

So, on to my system. (...er...Kim's system that she has been kind enough to let me use...thanks Kim...ThKim. Look Around You, Series One, Module 2: Water...anyone?...) The new day begins at 4:00. That's it. Simple right? It's great. Think about all the times that you've stayed up very late...to the point where you didn't know if it was late or early. The new day has to start somewhere. And midnight is, by definition of its component parts, not it. 4:00 is perfect. It's "late" enough that it's not the middle of the night; that is, it's properly "morning". But it's early enough that even if you have to get up early, then you don't (usually) fall asleep and wake up on the same day. (As could easily happen if the day began at 6:00, for example.)

So, according to this system, (this system being the one that I recognize) I have not failed the BEDA challenge. If you don't like that, you can go shove it up in a treetop somewhere. (Actually, please don't do that. I happen to like trees and would rather not have stuff shoved up in the tops of them.)

(4:00 is also an excellent time because if you type it with the shift key held, you get this: $:)). And $:)) = money and a double-chinned (or perhaps double-mouthed?) smiley emoticon. That is another reason why the system that I use is far superior to yours...unless you also use the same system that I do...then they are equal...but mine is more equal...)

(Also, I'm very aware of the frequent (and abundant...(redundant?)) use of "("s, ")"s, and "..."s in this blog post. That is to say, I'm aware of the frequent (and abundant...(redundant?)) use of parentheses and ellipses in this blog post. Take it easy on me, it's very late, almost to the point of being very early, but not quite. That doesn't happen until $:)). )

Thank you for reading this ridiculously long post. I hope you enjoyed it, and if you didn't, there's aboslutely nothing I can do about it. (Victor Borge...anyone?...)