diff --git a/firmware/lib/timer/device/atmega32u4.c b/firmware/lib/timer/device/atmega32u4.c
index 5a91d68..75eaf77 100644
--- a/firmware/lib/timer/device/atmega32u4.c
+++ b/firmware/lib/timer/device/atmega32u4.c
@@ -29,10 +29,13 @@
 static volatile uint16_t _milliseconds__counter;
 static list__list_t *    _milliseconds__scheduled_events = &(list__list_t){};
 
+// since we won't be running scheduled events every "tick"
+static uint8_t _milliseconds__last_ticked;
+
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 uint8_t timer__init(void) {
-    OCR0A  = 250;         // (ticks per millisecond)
+    OCR0A  = 250;         // (ticks per millisecond (hardware timer))
     TCCR0A = 0b00000010;  // (configure Timer/Counter 0)
     TCCR0B = 0b00000011;  // (configure Timer/Counter 0)
 
@@ -46,18 +49,23 @@ uint16_t timer__get_milliseconds(void) {
 }
 
 uint8_t timer__schedule_milliseconds(uint16_t ticks, void(*function)(void)) {
+    uint8_t elapsed = timer__get_milliseconds() - _milliseconds__last_ticked;
+
+    // - use `ticks+elapsed` to compensate for ticks that haven't been counted
+    //   yet, but should have (if we were ticking in real time)
     return event_list__append(
-            _milliseconds__scheduled_events, ticks, function );
+            _milliseconds__scheduled_events, ticks+elapsed, function );
 }
 
 void timer___tick_milliseconds(void) {
-    static uint8_t _milliseconds__last_ticked;
     uint8_t elapsed = timer__get_milliseconds() - _milliseconds__last_ticked;
 
+    // - update before ticking: if an event reschedules itself to run in 1
+    //   tick, it should execute on the next tick without having to wait
+    _milliseconds__last_ticked += elapsed;
+
     for (uint8_t i=0; i<elapsed; i++)
         event_list__tick(_milliseconds__scheduled_events);
-
-    _milliseconds__last_ticked += elapsed;
 }
 
 ISR(TIMER0_COMPA_vect) {