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Right by Night.

There are times when I seriously just space out and think about how much more success I'd find in life if the accepted "active hours" were reversed and people slept by day amd worked by night.


It's after 2 AM as I write this. I wouldn't really call myself an insomniac, because I'd sleep all day tomorrow if I could. But I can't, because that's when everyone works. I've sent all the e-mails I needed to send and did all the little things I needed to do, but that won't matter if I'm dead asleep at 10 AM and somebody wants to know why I italicized certain words and didn't offer the same graces to others.

It occurs to me that I've been more or less tweaking my professional life for the past several years not so much to work less, but to allow for the maximum number of times that I can stay up all night and not need to be coherent the next day.

It's pitch black right now, and there are only three audible noises: The keyboard, the hum of the fish tank filter, and an assload of crickets outside. At least, I'm pretty sure that they're crickets. Do any other bugs sound like ambient sound effects from old Eurythmics songs? I'm pretty positive that only crickets do.

I know I'm not alone in this peculiar ideal; I just wonder why it is this way. And, if I got what I wanted, would I end up wanting to stay awake all day instead? Is this all just some alien form of anthropophobia? I can joke about hating sunlight and do an Oscar-worthy impression of eleven-year-old Kirsten Dunst's vampire death scream, but maybe the sun ain't the problem. Maybe you're the problem. You, you awake people. Sleep while I move. Let's switch off.

Posted by Matt on 09/04/2007. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 123 comments
1 2 3 … 5

I feel the same way, and when I was working first shift this summer I just forced my body to learn how to deal with as few hours of sleep as possible. I think it’s just that nighttime = Magic.

Chestnuts roasted by Zharicant @ 09/04/2007 2:51 AM

I feel the same. I am far more creative, productive and alert at this time but I’ve had to adjust to a world that runs on the sun. Does anyone know of some good jobs for insomniacs? I’ve often wondered this.

Chestnuts roasted by Shawna @ 09/04/2007 2:52 AM

I’m the same way and when I was younger I managed to base my work around it. I worked front desk at a rather fancy hotel on the graveyard shift. Easiest job ever.

Chestnuts roasted by Zoe @ 09/04/2007 2:56 AM

I can’t sleep because I know I have to. So I have talked myself into believing that sleep is just a concept.

Chestnuts roasted by Bill @ 09/04/2007 2:59 AM

sleep is for the weak.

speaking of which, I’m going to bed.

Chestnuts roasted by xero @ 09/04/2007 3:09 AM

I have always preferred night and remember vividly sneaking out of bed to watch Johnny Carson and eat spaghetti with my uncle. I realize now he came home every night with a bad case of the munchies. Those were the good ol’ days.

Chestnuts roasted by iAMYou @ 09/04/2007 3:14 AM

That picture is sweet. I almost bought a pygmy opossum today. It bit my girlfriend in the store though so we went with a ferret instead. Turns out we’re both allergic to it though, so now I’m pushing for the opossum again. Pretty awesome labor day, though, overall :D Dig the Halloween site changes, too.

Chestnuts roasted by Eddie Lightning Frog @ 09/04/2007 3:20 AM

I am nocturnal as well, which is why i became a bartender, so i could operate during the hours when i am most awake and effective. I’ve been like this as long as i can remember too, don’t know why really. Whatever though, i love it.

Chestnuts roasted by Bastupid!!! @ 09/04/2007 3:29 AM

i try to make my habits a matter life over (waking) matter. always alluding that the joys in waking are perceptively null. and id hate to scorn the rusty glow of the neighboring street lamp just before i went to bed. maybe i just need a good NIGHT’s sleep(?)

Chestnuts roasted by wwwdotcom @ 09/04/2007 3:32 AM

Man, that just doesn’t work for me anymore. Especially since I started working overnight.
I think I’m slowly turning into a vampire.

Chestnuts roasted by M.F. @ 09/04/2007 3:33 AM

I have the dream job for me. night shift on weekends. That’s when I’d be up normally anyway.

Chestnuts roasted by Jason @ 09/04/2007 3:53 AM

same thing here. At night is when I’m most active and my mind runs faster, if fast is a term I can link with my mind.

For a long period I managed to work at night, start at around 8p.m. and stop at 2a.m. and it was glory. Shame some jobs don’t seem to be so willing to let you have the habits of your every-day vampire!

Chestnuts roasted by melonian @ 09/04/2007 4:20 AM

Mmm… I love night time. All the best shows are on, you don’t have any responsibilities, and I secretly eat all the food I can find.

I think I’d like to be a vampire for a day. Not like Nosferatu vampire, but like Once Bitten/My Best Friend is a Vampire vampire. Then I’d have an excuse to wear shades and walk the streets at midnight. I can only dream…

Chestnuts roasted by Cotter @ 09/04/2007 4:31 AM

I see sleep more as time I could have spent doing something else. Large amounts of caffeine postpone the inevitable, but ultimately I can only do the four hours of sleep thing for four or five days. Then I’m worthless till I get an 8 hour stretch.

Went to sleep at 11pm, got up at 3:15am. I’m tired, but productive. Is it the weekend again yet?

Chestnuts roasted by Fungusmungus @ 09/04/2007 4:53 AM

I also enjoy being up during the nighttime. I think it’s because I can do my own thing and I can do things that I usually get judged by if I do them during the daytime. Another reason maybe is when I don’t have a job and get up at like 4 in the afternoon I get off the hook for doing anything productive. I also feel alone and most of the time I enjoy that. And I agree the tv is better too especially if you have a DVR cause there are a couple daytime shows that I miss when I sleep in. God I love DVR’s.

Chestnuts roasted by Goob @ 09/04/2007 4:55 AM

“Hello out there all you cave-dwellers. We’ve got the hi-fi high and the lights turned low so here we go.”
(A gold star sticker for whoever can name that reference).

I just can’t do it anymore. I can’t beat the night anymore. Mrs. Manimal has always been the night-owl though. Her natural default is set on nocturnal. Me? This is my time. My ideal day would be wake up at 5:30, do some work, take a nap from 3-4 and in bed by 12:00.

P.S. I could have swore I logged in before the site went all Halloweeny. I feel like I have missed out. :(

Chestnuts roasted by The Manimal @ 09/04/2007 6:07 AM

You are in no way alone in your thinking.

Chestnuts roasted by Ragnarok @ 09/04/2007 7:12 AM

You could always try farming alfalfa in New Mexico. See, if the air’s too dry, the hay just flakes apart and won’t form good bales. You end up dusting half your yield evenly across the farm instead of selling it. And the only time the air is damp enough is when the dew is falling…between about midnight and dawn.

So that’s what I’ve always blamed for my inability to stick to a regular sleep schedule. And probably my unwillingness to accept summertime. 2 AM in the desert in July is colder then some of these places get all year. Stepping outside in the middle of the night and finding it still hot makes me profoundly uncomfortable.

Anyway, screw the diurnal cycle. That stopped being useful once we hit the top of the food chain and invented the light bulb.

Chestnuts roasted by Jedoc @ 09/04/2007 7:28 AM

I tried working at night and sleeping during the day but it sucked. I’d much rather sleep at night (at least part of it). I feel like I miss out on great things if I sleep the day away.

Chestnuts roasted by the sexy armpit @ 09/04/2007 7:48 AM

if I had a sleep wish granted, I’d just want to be able to wake at the same time daily. These 3 day weekends are nice but this morning I’m beat.

Chestnuts roasted by kb @ 09/04/2007 8:00 AM

How strange that I drag myself out of bed this morning at 7:20 instead of the usual 9:30 and am greeted by this post. I’m usually a night person as well, but even though I work from home I feel horrid that I don’t actually get up early. So I go to bed at midnight with good intentions of getting up at 7:30, but it never happens.

Chestnuts roasted by Jessica Marie @ 09/04/2007 8:08 AM

Is this the first, yet very subtle, Halloween post of the season?

Chestnuts roasted by fistpittingnork @ 09/04/2007 8:31 AM

The night-shift lifestyle was never for me. I absolutely love the little things of going to work in the morning. The early morning breakfast, listening to NPR on the way, getting home in the afternoon for a work-out and a nap.

Chestnuts roasted by Jeff Mack @ 09/04/2007 8:33 AM

Wait, I totally missed out on the stickers blog, what the hell?

Excuse the ignorance, folks.

Well I’m excited because I picked up a “Halloween” (the movie) bleeding knife from Wal Mart for less than $5. If you guys haven’t seen these, I suggest you go now.

Chestnuts roasted by fistpittingnork @ 09/04/2007 8:51 AM

i’m at work. i’m incredibly tired. i want to go home. – who else hates work? (everyone!!!)

Chestnuts roasted by Andrew @ 09/04/2007 9:21 AM

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