Move Over, Girl: A Novel - Brian Peterson - Hardcover

Tameka The digital clock has got to be one of man's greatest inventions. To think, you can just glance over at it, read the red numbers and know the exact time any time of the day. There's no approximation or calculations necessary. All you have to know is the number system and the difference between am and pm, and the sun can usually help you with that one. I think time even moves faster on a digital clock. I've never done any tests on this, though, it's just a theory. I mean, when you think about it, it makes perfect sense. If you look at a digital clock, then look away for a little while, then look back, it's almost guaranteed to have changed time. But sometimes it can move too fast. Like when you're sleeping, in that good early morning sleep, dreaming about Halle Berry and trying to forget that you've got someplace to be in less than an hour. You hit the snooze button one more time for those final nine minutes of precious sleep, but the next thing you know the alarm is ringing again, making your nine minutes seem more like two and a half. Other times, like in the middle of a Sunday afternoon when you're waiting for a Bulls-Knicks game to come on, a digital clock can seem like it's not moving at all. Tip-off time will be one-thirty, so you'll grab some nachos, a soda, and a comfortable spot in front of the TV about ten minutes before, because you can't miss the pregame for the Bulls-Knicks. That's like missing the sermon at Sunday service. So you're staring at the clock on the VCR, waiting on the game, but it seems like forever before it changes from 1:20 to 1:21. You're sitting there thinking to yourself, "There are still sixty seconds in a minute, right?" That's the only good thing about an old-school clock-it's got that second hand on there that lets you know time is actually moving forward. It's not nearly as easy to read as a digital, and actually requires that time-telling skill that was supposed to be a part of your kindergarten curriculum, but at least with the second hand you can visually chart time's progress. You can even stare at it while it's spinning around if you want, just to make sure that everything is in order, but that can get boring after a while. That's probably why I'm thinking about some stupid shit like this now, cause the second hand just ain't moving fast enough in this piece today. I always come to class planning on paying attention for the full fifty-five minutes, but about twenty or thirty minutes into the show, depending on the day, I start drifting. And I mean drifting. Spanish is one of those classes that's a fast starter, but a brother can get tired of the same routine over and over again. Repeat this word, read this paragraph, tell your partner about your favorite TV show. Come on, now. I'm trying to go to sleep, for real. But you can't do that in Spanish, 'cause there isn't anywhere to hide in this little-ass room and Senorita Samuel is liable to throw a workbook at you if your head even looks like it's about to nod off. Who was the genius who proposed classes should be fifty-five minutes in the first place? This is college. We're supposed to be the best and the brightest, you know, the future of America. You'd think we could speed things along a little bit at this level. Forty-five minutes seems like more than enough time for a lesson. You can do a whole lot in a half-hour, too, if you have a well-planned agenda. We used to run about a dozen different drills at basketball practice in a half-hour, and that was on a slow day. There's really no reason to still be here. Senorita Samuel already put the homework assignment up on the board, and she's announced that there's yet another quiz coming up on Monday, so why is she still talking? Why can't the damn clock spin any faster? I'm trying to get up out of here before this girl remembers that it's Wednesday. I glanced over at her to see if she was still paying attePeterson, Brian is the author of 'Move Over, Girl: A Novel - Brian Peterson - Hardcover' with ISBN 9780375504020 and ISBN 0375504028.