Night Owl
by Asia
The weather was so nice today! Too bad I didn’t actually go outdoors long enough to experience it. These days, I’m a bit of a homebody. Or, to be more honest, I sleep in way too much, and for too long. On the days I don’t need to be on campus for work, I have a bad habit of sleeping in until 12, or later, if I stay up particularly late. When the weather starts changing like it has, that’s when I feel particularly guilty about this bad habit. Try as I might, some nights I cannot bring myself to get to bed before 2. Then I spend anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour trying to get to sleep, regardless of how tired I might have felt before actually hitting the sack.
It’s almost like my brain wakes up once the lights go out! I start envisioning all these random scenarios for my drawings or writing, or thinking about my darned résumé and editing it. Again. It almost makes me wish I could draw/write in the dark. I experimented with it once, and what resulted from it was actually kind of cool, the way the lines in my drawing bent in a particular way. Unfortunately, once I got back into bed, I felt awake all over again. Creativity is my coffee.
I think the real problem is that I spend too much time on the internet, in front of this glaring screen. There’s a reason they recommend that the TV be removed from the bedroom. Something about it just awakens my creativity, but unfortunately, only once I’ve actually stepped away from it and the lights are off. It’s probably the silence more than the internet, then. All this nighttime imagination would probably be better channeled in dreams, but sadly, I rarely recollect even having one. When I do, however, they tend to be random, strangely fragmented or postmodern (surrealism!), or vividly apocalyptic. I’m sure if I remembered them more often, they might make excellent prompts for my drawings or writing.
Perhaps if I started waking and sleeping at more reasonable hours, these issues would disappear altogether. I bet regular exercise would prompt me to be sleepier earlier as well. One of these days, I may pull an all-nighter just to force myself to be awake during the day. I rarely succeed in staying awake on during those rare occasions where I wake up early because I have to use the bathroom or the cat wakes me up roaring for breakfast. Then again, I might not have to do that since for the rest of the week, I have obligations to be on campus early. This is something I really need to work on if I’m going to be more productive.
Comments
I’ve been going to bed early, lately (between 10 and midnight), even during my week off from school! I can actually pinpoint the reason: my dad started disconnecting the Internet at 10pm so I would go to bed, and it’s very effective :P
I often get inspired to work/exercise late at night because I realize I’ve wasted my whole day, so I feel the need to fit in some sort of productivity before I go to bed.
That tactic would work, were it not for the inconvenience of plugging it in again and waiting for it to load back up when I need it. Plus, I’m not the only night owl in the house.
I’m so happy to see you come back and comment on my blog again, Kaylee! Thanks for checking in on me. :)
Hey! Your site is up, finally I can return comments :)
I completely understand what you’re saying about the logo, but it is meant to be an “a” with the feel of a paint palette, so in some ways I did succeed as you knew what it was supposed to be ;) I’m happy with it, but thanks for the feedback anyway!
I used to be able to sleep in late, but now if I don’t get out of bed by at least 9am I’m screwed for the whole day :/ Definitely try the all nighter thing though, it works for me. :)