For the second year in a row, I have had to endure day light savings time coming way too soon. Instead of the regular end of March spring-forward, I have experienced the late-winter-energy-saving-60-minute-push. It doesn't have the same feeling. Being a cab driver who gets up to work by 5 a.m., I know what it's like to see the sun rise, and while most people don't care, it's just felt wrong. I don't know what energy I save by the early change (it's still chilly in March), but I do know that spring fever is now nonexistent. There is no anticipation, no excitement, no joy in spring. Mainly because daylight savings comes too soon.

DST is not alone. 2008 may be ultimately known for being in far too big a hurry for everything.

In case you missed it, Easter was last Sunday. Not only was it in March (which is slightly weird), it was the week BEFORE the last weekend in March. While I can blame the President for the Daylight Savings Time fiasco, it's the wacky lunar calendar that only certain monks understand to blame for the early early Easter. I'm not a big Christian or anything, but all those Easter dresses look a lot better when the cool winds of March have died down a little. Fat Tuesday was at the beginning February, so Lent was thrust upon us before we could even really screw up our New Year's resolution. How many changes must a man go through in the first month of the year? I switched from getting 20 oz. cups of coffee down to 16 oz. cups. I still think it was a good move on my part. I gave up nothing Lent. I was still too proud of my other resolution to start another.

Then, there's this freakin' election.

I understand, people, I really do. We are tired of Bush. We've been tired of Bush since the day after he was reelected in 2004. But you can't make the election come any quicker than it comes. Every state tried to move up their primaries to be more important. To have more of an impact. Nevada became an early caucus. Michigan & Florida won't even be counted because they moved up their primaries. Even good ol' New Mexico decided to be part of Super Tuesday. Nothing about New Mexico is important in national elections. Even in the latest close elections, it has come down to one BIG state, not a little one. We used to have a June primary, now we are lumped in with a bunch of other states. Oh yeah, we're really important now.

Even the national past time is premature these days.

A few years back, ESPN decided to have a game on Sunday night, before the traditional Monday Opening Day. It was a bit of sacrilege, especially for the Cincinnati Reds, who had been kicking off the season for decades. This year, baseball kicked off on the other side of the world in Japan, as the Red Sox and A's split a couple games earlier this week. I have no problem with Major League Baseball promoting itself around the world, having two big league teams play for a country that enjoys baseball. But why does it have to be a regular season game? Why can't it be an exhibition game? Spring training was still going on for everyone else. Why do we have to have two games played before we start. What is the hurry?

That is the question that sticks in my brain. What is the hurry? Early Daylight Savings means no spring fever. Early Easter means an empty April. Early primaries don't solve anything. Opening Day should mean OPENING DAY!

We need to stop messing with everything. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. There are plenty of broken things out there (the economy, the war, the price of gas). I don't know why we need to change the dates on so many fairly benign activities. The time is still the same. The world turns at the same rate. Just because it's a leap year and we get an extra day doesn't mean we're behind or late for anything.

As I was driving in the cab this week, I noticed a Corona billboard hyping Cinco de Mayo. That's the fifth of May. That's over a month a way. That's a little early to start hyping a quasi-holiday. Let's calm down. Let's slow down. We're all just filling up our days until death, so there's no need to be in a hurry about it.

We should just sit back and smell the roses. I hear they're coming out early this year.

Chris Jungle is now accepting presents for his June birthday.