This is a good start, but it’s a bit too simplistic. Calendar flipping must be turned into a precision art form. We’re not just tearing pages here; we’re orchestrating a symphony of time and paper.
The tearing off of the previous day’s page, as you say, should occur at exactly 12:00 midnight. But, at that point, the page must be placed back onto the top of the pad so that it appears to be undisturbed. Then you must do some calculations in order to complete the slow reveal of the new day to coincide with daybreak, much like the slow reveal the sun makes as it progresses from midnight darkness, to the light of daybreak.
For this to be accurate you must know the exact time of daybreak at your location (which you can Google), and you must know the exact height of your calendar page (in inches, or better still: millimeters). Then every hour, on the hour, from midnight to daybreak, you must slide the previous days’ page downward in equal increments, in such a manner that the new days’ page is fully revealed at exactly daybreak. If you’re a stickler for precision, you could do the reveal in 15-minute increments. However, only people on the autistic spectrum should attempt it every minute.
For the sake of simplicity, let’s assume the height of your calendar is 6”, and daybreak occurs at exactly 6am. We already know that there are 6 hours between 12 midnight and 6am, so we calculate that the previous days’ page must be slid downward exactly 1” per hour (i.e. at 1am, 1” of the new day page is revealed; 2 inches are revealed at 2am, and so on and so forth, until full reveal at 6am).
The calculations get a little more complicated with non-standard calendar page heights and varying times of daybreak at your location. But, if you want to “calendar” properly, as I do, you must put in the effort.
It’d be like, “Good morning, sunshine!” as your calendar gracefully unveils the new day. You could even have it play some motivational music, like the Rocky theme, to get you pumped for the day ahead. Now that’s a calendar worth waking up for!
I pray someone will invent a calendar mechanism that will do the slow reveal automatically, like a precision Swiss watch. One can only hope. In fact, wouldn’t it be great if they developed a high-tech mobile version—whereby you could strap a tiny mechanical daily tear-off calendar pad onto your wrist?!
I also use the torn off pages for notes, so I can read them again. I get a lot of mileage out of my calendars, but now I have a desk drawer full of little pieces of paper.
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