In May I made the switch from days to nights. The transition, as far as sleep patterns go, was not difficult. In less then a week I was sleeping soundly. Most days I am done with work by 7:00am and it's lights out within the hour. However, eight months worth of graveyard shifts under my belt and I still can't figure out what to do on my days off. More specifically that time between 11pm and 7am when the rest of the city is asleep.
My schedule changes week to week, with the majority of my days off falling somewhere mid-week. What exactly is a person supposed to do at 3am on a Wednesday? Stores are closed,the Bars closed at 2am, and my friends have either work or class in the morning. So I sit quietly on the couch or at my desk. Trapped in the 400 square foot living room of my one bedroom apartment, my girlfriend fast asleep in the next room.
The first month I played video games all night. 8 hours of uninterrupted gaming is a beautiful thing. And even better--it was guilt free. It's not like I was going to vacuum the apartment or do the dishes at 4am, right? Unfortunately, like most things done in excess, video games lost their appeal. In the summer I could go for a run, but with temperatures dipping well below zero recently my off nights are filled with fruitless internet searches and infomercials. I find myself volunteering for overtime just so I have something to do on those nights where my off day doesn't fall on the weekend.
Tonight I thought I would try some free-writing but I am getting hungry so this writeup will be cut short--Not that I expect anyone to really read this anyway. After all, that wasn't the point. The goal here was to occupy my time for a bit, and to that end it has served its purpose. Only seven more hours to go...