There are certain things I have not missed about being a student. Well, ok, mostly just the guilt. I have not missed that awful feeling that I really should be doing homework instead of wasting six hours every night sleeping. I have also not really missed textbooks except as a rather effective cure for guilt inspired insomnia.
Something I’ve only just realized recently I missed is the schedule. I know people talk about students sleeping until noon and napping in the afternoon and generally just lazing about all day, and that isn’t what I mean. My alarm goes off about 7:45 (though I am usually allowed to hit snooze a couple times) and I have Things To Do now-a-days, being a Grown Up and all. I do Things for which polite society generally requires wearing real pants, like walk the dog or go to the store to acquire milk. Admittedly, I do try and avoid anything that requires real pants before noon, but I hardly keep to my uni-days hours. What I am rediscovering however, is just how much I like working at night. There is something wonderfully peaceful about starting your work after the sun goes down, a nice cool breeze in the window and lovely quiet outside. Mornings can be quiet too, but it’s different: early morning quiet is for sleeping, or reading, or practicing looking as though you are contemplatively staring out the window holding coffee cup while you are really sleeping with your eyes open.
Apparently, I still do my best work between 10pm-2am, I don’t even know why I bother trying during the day. Most of the time I spend three times longer than I should reading each article or writing anything if it’s daylight outside. The internet is too vast with too much frivolous drivel that I MUST READ RIGHT NOW, because god knows Facebook will cease to exist if my eyes aren’t on it at least three times an hour. Of course that doesn’t explain my crazy focus in the middle of the night, I can sit an write an essay for four solid hours in the middle of the damn night, but I literally can’t go five minutes without finding out which Doctor Who companion I am during the day. Maybe it’s just that I get all my distractions away in one long guilt ridden Buzz Feed quiz session during the day...or maybe cute kitten videos are reverse vampires and when the sun goes down they have to go into hiding or die.
