Last night we set our clocks back by an hour as part of Daylight Saving, known as Sommerzeit in Germany. The last Sunday in October marks the Ende der Sommerzeit, and obviously the hour is moved back by one hour so that we go back to Normalzeit.
As a child we learned the little reminder "spring forward, fall back," as a way to make sure we did not adjust the clocks incorrectly. I like the autumn and winter months very much, and I quite like it when it gets darker earlier, so kind of look forward to this change. Of course, this is my own preference, as I know that many others much prefer longer days when it stays light longer.
Despite my fondness for autumn and winter, I have noticed over the past years is that in the weeks leading up to the time change, I don't seem to sleep as well; I experience lots of restlessness and generally do not feel particularly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I have always assumed (and still do, to an extent) that this is just a normal part of the body cycle, and that as I got myself physically and mentally adjusted, then things go back to, erm, normal. I think normal is somewhat relative, here, since what the hell is really normal? Everyone's definition seems to vary to some degree.
With my work excitement increase in recent weeks, I also have quite a bit on my mind at any given time. This already has created some restlessness nights, but for the most part, I have done really well at finding ways to calm myself down and allow for my thoughts to slow down enough so that I can sleep. There have been a couple of exceptions, however.
Just a couple of weeks ago during my trip to Flensburg, I was comfortably (so I thought) drifting off to sleep in the cozy bed when suddenly I was thinking about my next visit stateside, about 2 months away. The thoughts I was having were positive and happy; I was thinking about Tex-Mex places I wanted to visit, people that I would see, places that I would go. (sadly, I now have to strike Preston-Royal shopping center off the list, due to the recent tornado activity in Dallas)
I always look forward to such visits, and, not unlike a child looking forward to Christmas Day ("only 2 more sleeps til Christmas Eve!"), I become giddy. But some 72 days before boarding the plane?
"Only 72 more sleeps til Dallas!" just seems a bit overeager to me, though I am starting to mark the days on the calendar.
My issue that evening was more like, "Why, tonight, of all nights, am I suddenly lying wide awake in bed thinking about these things?" when I really needed my body and mind to rest so that I could get through the remaining challenging meetings with my customer.
I am grateful that they were happy thoughts of anticipation instead of anxious thoughts and questions about work, finances, or other topics that can easily turn dark and scary. That following morning as I had a quick espresso before heading to the meeting, I kind of laughed as I thought, "Did I really need to think about what I would be wearing on the airplane in two months' time?"
This past week, I had another similar experience where I was unable to fall asleep, and found myself contemplating the elements of size. Again, I am quite thankful that the thoughts were not so disturbing, but I was a little perplexed as to why, at 2h30 in the morning, was I thinking about this? I would have much preferred to think about these things outside of my sleep time, despite the interest I was having with the topic.
Let me be clear: it was not as if I was looking for answers to these questions, but the questions just started popping up.
Packets of cigarettes for example. I normally buy a pack of 20 from my local kiosk, and when making this request, I specify the price of the packet, in this case, 7 euro. (nope, this is NOT the time for non-smokers to start commenting on the price of tobacco products). Thus, I might say, "Ein Päckchen für 7 Euro, bitte," to the person at the counter.
At the grocery store, they have a little automated machine which shows the brand, but then shows a little size. Thus, they have Marlboro, Marboro XL. Marlboro XXL. One can very quickly work out that the XL or XXL boxes would be more expensive, but how did we get to this point of using XL, etc to denote the size of the cigarette box?
During the week I was in Flensburg (dreaming about Dallas), I had stopped in a little shop to purchase cigarettes an actually saw the complexity in action. I tried to request a pack for 7 euro, only to find that they were sold out of not only the 7 euro, but also the 8 euro and 9 euro. They did have packs for 10 euro still available, which I discovered happen to be size XXXL. Such size amounts to almost 2 packs of cigarettes, based on my historic experience.
Years ago when I started smoking, they really only had one size - a packet of 20.
I do remember at some point they started offering a "big pack," which contained 25.
At any rate, the cost does not really matter, but I am looking mostly only for the packet which contains 20 cigarettes and costs 7 euro. All the other boxes are larger and don't fit so well in my pockets.
From tobacco product sizes, I moved on to coffee and drink sizes, which alone accounted for 45 minutes of my wide-awakeness. Thirty years ago, I regularly visited my local convenience stores for either a soda or a coffee. Although 7-11 was the main place, I also frequented a place called Stop N Go. Stop N Go sold something called a Stop N Go mug, which was basically a thermos that held 32 ounces of beverage, either hot or cold. It had a handle on it, so was particularly convenient when I was out and about. I actually used this mug during my time at college; it proved particularly beneficial for those days that I felt like having a mixed drink at the football game on campus (where alcohol was prohibited), or when I was at a party and didn't feel like using one of the dinky 12 oz solo cups.
The mug also proved useful for filling up on ice and water before going to tennis practice, and certainly for all the late nights where I needed unlimited amounts of coffee. The mug was ideal for keeping beverages cold or hot.
In those days, I did tend to drink a lot of soda. Because my parents did not allow us to have soft drinks at home, I looked forward to any opportunity I got to have a coke or Dr. Pepper, or whatever. In college, I was free to drink as much soda as I wanted to, and this included me regularly walking around campus with a 2 liter bottle of soda in tow. My logic was that I could get the 2l bottle at the super market for about the same price as a can of soda from the vending machine.
Yes, it was a crazy time (hopped up on soda), but I quickly lost my taste for cokes, thank goodness.
At the shop I worked at for the first couple of years after college, there was a 7-11 directly across the street. I was no longer interested in the big gulp or super big gulp cup sizes that were on offer for soft drinks, but I did drink a lot of their brewed coffee. We made frequent coffee runs in between customers, and I tended to enjoy the 20oz cup of brewed coffee. The quality was not fantastic, but the price was right, and these were days when I was still drinking drip coffee. But I always stuck with the 20oz size.
A couple of years later I moved on to espresso based coffee, lots of lattes and caps, but a fair amount of espresso as well. Because this was still kind of a new concept for north Texans, the options were few and far between, and until Starbucks came on the scene, you really could not get any kind of espresso coffee. I spent a lot of money in those stores over the next 10 years before moving out of the country, and while I do give them credit for helping to develop the coffee consuming market, I did become more and more dismayed as it became harder and harder to get an espresso or double; all the serving cups were for Grande, Venti, and even bigger. Even now, when I do make a brief visit to a Starbucks during a stateside visit, the staff tend to look at me with surprise when I try and order a "tall." After all, I didn't want to have a latte with a full glass of milk, but rather an espresso with a bit of milk...
The gradual (or is it explosive) increase in consumption we have experienced over the years certainly has led to a change in the way we look at sizes. And as I continued to lie away in my bed thinking about size, I started thinking about clothing sizes.
When I was a senior in high school, I tended to wear shirts sized XL. Back then, I think we all liked looser fitting clothing, and I usually wore layers, a long sleeved shirt over a t-shirt. The long sleeved shirt wasn't what I would call baggy, but it was certainly was not snug. I had some buffalo plaid shirts from the Gap that I absolutely loved. They were roomy without looking like they were 2 sizes too big for you. Sure, there were always a few guys in school who were a bit more slender, and sometimes the style didn't fit them as well, as they looked like they were wearing a sail rather than a shirt.
However, eventually people bulk up, or the styles change. For me, it has been a combination. I still wear XL sized shirts, and although my height has not changed in 30 years, I did sort of bulk up for a decade or two, and have sort of maintained the same size for the past 10 years or so, not without some effort.
The thing is, is that during the 90s when everybody in the gym including myself was getting bulkier, it was still only the HUGE guys that were suddenly having to wear XXL clothing, and suddenly I noticed more XXL items in various clothing shops.
Fast forward another decade, and now we are seeing XXL as almost the norm, and XXL and even XXXL are regularly stocked in the various stores. Part of me is sitting here thinking, "Gee, maybe those will be sizes for cigarette boxes one day," and part of me is a little surprised that from time to time, the XL size is actually too big for me and that I now need a size L. (Wait, is that a tall or a Grande)
I do not shop for clothes too often, so maybe the size changes come more of a shock to me since I don't keep up with fashion trends as much. Instead, I just decide on what I like, and stick with it. Even then, I experience the odd challenge. Most recently a couple of years back, I bought a couple of sweaters at a boutique, liked them a lot, and decided the following year to return and purchase a couple more similar articles. On my second trip to the shop, I found that I was no longer an XL, but now an XXL. This contradicts with my statement in the above paragraph, and I think this is why I was lying in bed unable to sleep, since I was confused as shit as to what size I actually am.
If from one year to the next, I weigh 87 kilo with a height of 1,82m, purchase 20 count cigarette packs, and order short (formerly tall) Starbucks beverages, then I should probably be the same size, right?
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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