When I was young, Saturday afternoons after lunch used to drag on forever as I waited for my parents to finish work and pick me up from my Aunt's house. My Aunt always told me, "Your mom will be here when the small hand hits the 4."

Little did she know I had dreams of being a time lord.

One Saturday, as I stared intently at the timepiece, watching the seconds tick by at a glacial pace, a genius idea struck me. Mom would come if the timepiece said 4 o'clock, so why couldn't I help it along a little?

With child-like confidence in my abilities, I grabbed the device and carefully turned the hour hand forward a notch.

Victory! It now said 3:45. Only 15 more minutes until Mom arrived. I sat proudly to watch the minutes tick by, satisfied with my handiwork.

A few moments later, my Aunt walked in. The look of amusement on her face as she spotted the altered timepiece is one I'll never forget.

While my plan to bend the laws of time sadly didn't work, it gave me a good laugh and taught me an early lesson about the immutable nature of time.