The __:38 Phenomenon

I have noticed recently, within the last few weeks, that I always seem to look at a clock at 38 minutes past the hour. At first I thought it was amusing to look at the clock at 11:38, for reasons that are clear to anyone who enjoys the Star Wars films. But I have noticed that I do it during the day, as well. Just twenty minutes ago, I looked at the clock and it was 12:38.

Is there some strange force which compels me to look at a clock when this combination of numbers comes up? Perhaps it's my internal clock, which I never used to believe existed but which I have come to have a great deal of respect for in times of trouble. I don't know for what reason I would have set my clock to go off consistently at __:38. It's just such an odd time to go off.

I have had similar experiences in the past with looking at clocks, but in the past, it's been the following: I always look at a clock when the numbers are in sequence. There's nothing cooler than waking up at 3:45 in the morning and being just lucid enough to recognize, 'Hey, those numbers are in order!' And it seems like when I'm at school I always go to bed at 12:34 at night (one minute before Conan starts, because I know that if I am awake to hear the theme song, I will not sleep for another hour). I would gladly take this strangeness over the current __:38 Phenomenon.

And I wonder, if I were surrounded only by analog clocks, and not the more common digital clocks (and anyone that doesn't know what an analog clock is...hit yourself on the head with a hammer), would the same thing hold true? Perhaps the simplicity of reading the digital numbers is inherent to the __:38 Phenomenon. Or, perhaps, in time, I would simply become accustomed to the position of the hands on the clock. Perhaps the phenomenon itself could even becomed finely-tuned. Instead of simply looking at the clock at __:38, I might find myself looking at the clock at __:38:21, or even at __:__:21. That second would be so fleeting, would I even realize that the phenomenon was occuring?

Who knows how many of these momentary phenomena occur (or recur) throughout the day without us even realizing it? One could be happening right now, but you missed it because you were reading this.

Maybe I'm overanalyzing. I don't know who I can blame this situation on. George Lucas. The inventor of the digital clock. Some omnipotent creator of all life in the universe. Whoever's behind this, I find myself really creeped out by the __:38 Phenomenon. It always makes me stop and take notice.