Day 160

Daylight Savings time; who would have thought it'd be so difficult from 7,000 miles away? When we first arrived in theater, we were told that there is a nine hour difference between where we were and Central Time back home. In trying to figure out what time it was in the States, I looked at a clock, added three hours, and changed the 'm'. If it is 6 am here, then that meant it was 9 pm back home. If it is 6 pm here, then that meant it was 9 am back home. That worked fine until you started getting closer to the twelve o'clock mark. Using the original formula, then 11 pm would be 2 am, but it is in reality 2 pm. (I think that thought just gave me a nose bleed.) Now we throw daylight savings time into the mix. All you all in the States, with the expection of Arizona and Hawaii, switched to daylight savings time yesterday. We all remember the rule; Spring ahead/fall back. However we here in Iraq don't go on daylight savings time until the 29th of March. Since all you all sprung ahead an hour, that means that for the next three weeks I am only eight hours ahead of you, instead of nine. Not that this isn't confusing enough, but my worry is that if I were to begin calculating your time as an eight hours difference from my time, then just about the time I got used to the change in time it'd be time to revert to the original nine hour difference in time and I'd have to re-learn my time change all over again, and that'd just be a waste of time. I think what I'll do it keep calculting the time difference as a nine-hour seperation, and then subtract one hour. I know this makes it an eight hour difference, but if I think of it as a nine hour difference with a one hour adjustment, I'll be able to function for the next three weeks. I have to stop writing now; this is giving me a headache.