The title of this entry definitely states the obvious: I am a night owl. I’m pretty sure it kicked in during my middle school years. Despite having to be up by 6:00am, I was routinely going to bed at 10pm, 11pm and on some nights, 12am and even 1am. I pushed through my days at school, but you better believe that when I came home I crashed for an afternoon nap!
I think the whole night owl thing runs in my family — at the very least, it comes from my grandfather. I can tell you stories of how on the weekends and in the summer my mom and I would routinely tag along with my grandparents to “go out”. We’d have dinner at my grandparents’ house at 6:00pm, and then rush out the door by 7:45pm in order to make it to the bank before they closed at 8. Then we’d hit the mall, and perhaps K-Mart (and later Walmart, when one opened up outside of Philadelphia). There’d be a stop for a late dinner/snack — either Burger King, McDonald’s or a diner. And on some nights, we’d press on to do some late night grocery shopping. And there was almost always a stop at Dunkin’ Donuts (my grandfather and uncle loved their donuts; sometimes my great-uncle would meet up with us there as well). And on a few occasions, we’d be out until 3-4am on a Saturday morning, and decide to have breakfast at Denny’s or some other 24/7 diner that served breakfast, and then check out a flea market before going home to crash.
I have memories of those particular outings when I was 10, 11 and 12! But in most cases, we’d be home around midnight or so, 1:00am at the latest.
Crazy, huh? But I got used to it, and used to staying up late even during the school year. And when I turned sixteen and got my second job at Burger King (my first was McD’s, half of the employees there — me included — quit and got hired at BK when it opened just down the road), it only made sense to agree to closing shifts on the weekends. More hours = bigger paycheck, and I was already up pretty late, so why not get paid for it?
Closing shift entailed working until the restaurant closed (back then it was 11pm Sunday-Thursday, and 12am on Fridays and Saturdays), and then sticking around until all of the clean up was done. When the restaurant first opened and we were all new to the closing process, it would take us 2-3 HOURS to complete everything. So I wasn’t dragging my ass home and to bed until 2am or 3am. But as the weeks went by and we got better at pre-closing, we whittled the close time down to an hour. Within a year, that was down to 45 minutes. And before I quit in 2005, on a BAD night we’d be there for 45 minutes. Our average night? 20-30 minutes. Whoo!
And of course Dan worked the closing shift, so he got very used to the whole second shift thing, especially since we would hang out after we were finished work. We watched so many late night movies, and made so many late night runs to Walmart, and thought nothing of it…
Dan still works a lot of second shift, and old habits die hard, so even though I don’t have to be up late, I am. Check out a lot of my blog entry timestamps and Twitter updates — a lot of them are later at night and on through the night. Geez, even our sex life is most active during the “early morning” hours, as Bedpost so tactfully puts it.
For a while in May/June and then again in early July I was doing good — asleep by 1-2am. But I don’t know… there’s just something about summer that gets me all turned around, just about every single year (the worst was the summer of 2003 — I was so messed up that I was going to bed at NINE IN THE MORNING!), and now here I am, routinely up until 2, 3, 4.
I don’t like it… but old habits die hard. I only go to sleep before midnight if I’m very sick. If I try to go to bed sooner, it just doesn’t happen. I’ll toss and turn for hours.
And to add insult to injury? Because I’m going to bed so late and then getting up between 9:30am-10:30am with the kids (though on some mornings I get to sleep in a bit longer), I get very sleepy and drowsy around 5pm, and then usually again around 7pm-8pm. The one time I gave in and went to sleep at 8pm I was up and wide awake at 2am. That sucked, to say the least.
When the kids were in preschool last year it was pretty brutal, and I was quite fond of taking an afternoon nap while the kids were napping or while Dan was home with them. But I hate breaking up the day with a nap, and waking up all fuzzy and bleary-eyed, so I’m going to try my best to turn myself around in time for when the kids go back to preschool on September 14th. I’m not expecting to be a suddenly crack-of-dawn person like a lot of people around here, but I am going to do my best to bed in bed by 12:30am-1:00am every night. Wish me luck!
This blog entry brought to you by my current sleep-deprived state (I fell asleep around 3:30am and was back up by 7:15am). Check out the bags!
Whoa late night, I can stay up to midnight when I am not a uni but when I am at uni it normally 11pm…
.-= Damita´s last blog ..Oh gossip gossip =-.
oh sweetie just be glad you don’t kick it like i used to… stayed up ALL night two days in a row and only get 4 hour the next day and then crashed in the weekends.
.-= Chantal´s last blog ..In The Spotlight: Fagget Fairys =-.
I’ve always been a night owl too and with Randy on 3rd shift it’s a kind of ‘have to’ now. I’m not even going to TRY getting on a ‘normal’ schedule. It’d be useless with a newborn.
.-= Amanda´s last blog ..Wedding playlist =-.
I am a night owl as well. I think it started back in middle school. I was always on the internet or something. So I know how you feel. Everyone in my family is like that as well. My family and I used to be up playing games at like midnight, lol.
Haha. I know exactly what you mean Jenn. I’m so bad for staying up way later than I should. Even on days when I have to get up for work in the morning, I’m still only getting into bed around 1-2am. It’s nothing for me to stay up all night long. I do it a lot more frequently than I would like. Once your body is on a schedule like that, it is extremely hard to break, so I wish you the best of luck in turning yourself around in time for the kidlets to head off to school.
I was like that once. And even about 7 months ago I was still fine with 12 or 1. But now I like to be in bed by 9 or 10. But I think that’s mostly because of being prego and having to get up at 6:30am for work. I’m not much of a morning person as it is. Even going to bed early I still don’t want to get out of bed at 6:30am.
Too bad they are not letting just anyone join yet. 
Anywas..bedpost sounds like an interesting site.
Oh, and did you know that your sidebar is below everything else?
I’m the complete opposite, I’m such a day person! I love getting up early because I feel like I can make more out of my day. It could be that most stuff closes early here so there’s not much to do late at night!
.-= L.´s last blog ..Alchemy Issue Two now available~! =-.
I actually thought you looked really refreshed, bright, and pretty in those pictures.
.-= Leslie´s last blog ..Ride =-.
@Leslie: aww, thank you Leslie! I appreciate that. I think a lot of it is the silver shadow that I wear. ;)
I love the new layout!
.-= Mika´s last blog ..Amazing Still It Seems… =-.
Love the new layout! So pretty!
.-= Damita´s last blog ..Happy Thursday =-.
Completely off topic.. but, I love the new layout. Like, love, love, love. I think this one is by far my favorite & I hope you don’t get sick of it too soon
I’d rather work a graveyard shift then a normal 9-5 job. Not just because the pay is greater but less idiots are on the roads, there is something about waking up then heading to a practice then work which seams so peaceful then racing from work to head to practice.
I’m sure you’re able to get a new route/ good sleeping pattern going once school starts.
.-= Kimm´s last blog ..Happy Friday =-.
I’ve been a night owl since I before I started school. It was just me and my mom back then, and she worked 2nd shift, so we both lived on her schedule…Getting up around noon so she could be at work by 2-3pm, her getting off at 11pm, and us staying up until 2-3am watching TV. It definitely sucks now that I am back in college, as I have to be up at 6:15am most mornings…and I’d don’t like to go to bed before midnight either!
.-= Kecia´s last blog ..End of Week One =-.