Very nice punishment, funny response.
It reminds me of the most effective punishment my father ever gave me. I don’t remember how old I was, but I was sat down in a chair in front of the kitchen clock. “When the minute hand touches the number ’5′, you can get up.” Watching that hand made it seem like it was a lot longer than the five-minute punishment!

As a kid I heard people speak of a unit of time known as the “hour.” I decided one day to sit and stare at the clock to find out once and for all how long this would be. So I did. That was a long hour. It was between 7 and 8 PM on a fall day in 1972.

Rock, It seems like you describe my very own nightly ritual while at work. Hmmm…eerie.

The light side:
Rock and Patrick remind me of what it was like when piano practice was an enforced hour. I do wish I’d tried to get into the music more; it’d have helped.
The dark side:
Can you imagine what eternity is like if you’re not on God’s side? No one but you, no touch of God or anything else, nothing to do, but tick…tick…tick…. That’s why, to me, hell is literally almost unthinkable. There’s just too much horror.

Oooh good illustration. Digging through my archives?