Lets talk about time in this entry. Time is a very important element and once the clock turns, there’s no turning back. In one of the chapters, we learnt about time orientation. The concept was first developed by Edward Hall in 1959 in his anthropological studies of time use in different cultures. There are two different orientation as to how cultures structure time.

Polychronic describes people who prefer to work on multiple activities at the concurrently. Example of a polychronic behavior include talking on the phone while driving a car. These people view time as cylical and repetitive, and is unlimited.

Monochronic is used to describe people who do one thing at a time and has a line of sequential events in its time and place. These people probably have schedules or organisers to keep track of their time and where they are supposed to be at this hour.

The moment I learnt about this concept, a particular person popped into my mind. And it was so concident that we were talking about it the very same afternoon. This person, lets call him Romeo, is always on time. He hates being late for lessons, meetings or any plans he has made.

Once, alright, a few times, on our way to school, we were still on the roads when it was time to be in class. Romeo started chanting “we’re late, we’re late.” He added that he disliked being late as he was brought up in that manner. After the lesson, he had planned to buy lunch from the Hawker near his house, then meet his friends. He also emphasized, “I hate to waste time.”

Romeo’s actually the first person I’ve met that is so time conscious. My mom once said, that youngsters nowadays do not place such importance on punctuality and I am a very good example.

I am not famous for being late. I plan to reach 15-30minutes after the meeting time because I know that my friends would be late. In a sense, I also hate to waste time and I hate waiting for others. However I am the opposite of Romeo.

I do not mind being late, I am able to plan to meet both A and B at 3PM (because I know A will be late). Time is in my control. The methods I arrange my schedules enable me to complete my tasks in time. Another example of which would be that when I am on an assignment (on the computer), I am able to have multiple windows open and do different things at a time. I might get confused at a point or another, but I will get it done.

The way Romeo and I are brought up may be similar (as my mom strongly believes in punctuality), but our behavioral patterns are quite distinct.

So, what is your time orientation?

ps I would like to apologise to as Romeo's sleeping late recently due to my influence. He has also been late for lessons as I am late. HAHA Sorry Romeo.