A night in my head

Despite what the timestamp might say under this post, it is 3:04 in the morning when I am writing this. I have always been amazed how the mind can work in the wee hours of the morning. Is it through a need to complete what must be completed, or is the mind truly just more available to pick from? I am of two minds (pun definitely intended) about this particular subject, as I am one of those students who thrives on the all-nighters when a paper is due the next day. Upon reviewing the portions of papers that I have written at the latest portions of all-nighters I am amazed at how sloppily written they can sometimes be, but yet can be among the most intellectually stimulating portions of the papers.

Though I do not claim to have any training in philosophy, I feel this is ultimately a philosophy question over a biological one. Of course, it could be that I have no education into the biology of the brain that I make these claims. Undaunted, however, I will continue with my philosophical musings (as per the title). I truly believe that it is late at night when all of the ideas that are floating around in my brain make desperate attempts to coalesce into coherent thoughts if only so they can settle down into the blissful respite of a good nights sleep. I find it interesting also that I have just completely anthropomorphized completely abstract ideals, and wonder what that might say about me (but that is most likely fodder for a later post).

Many people find me a little crazy for actually planning and scheduling for all-nighters, and going about it with a kind of gleeful abandon. Indeed, I begin this by usually purchasing a 12-pack (or in extreme cases, a 24-pack!!!) of my favorite drink Mountain Dew. Even though I seriously doubt that this high-sugar and high-caffeine drink has much effect on my anymore, it seems to do the job mentally for me if not physically. The next task for me, once I have settled down, is to crack my back about 7 or 8 times (just make myself loosy-goosy) and then, instead of starting on my paper, I spend the next half hour or so checking my email and facebook and just staring at the screen as if I am going to win some blinking contest again my unblinking screen.

I definitely didn't say that my thoughts coalesced immediately, and I am more than happy to while half the night away watching tv or catching up on inane internet banter in search of those couple of hours in an all-nighter where I get down to business and pour my suddenly cogent thoughts into my paper and suddenly I find that I am done. It is always this way with me, and the suddenness with which I decide that I am done hits me like a jackhammer at times and I feel that I am waiting for my consciousness to catch up with my inspired fingers. After this, just to placate my word-counting self, I run the spell-check on Microsoft Word and am pleased to find that my writing level is inexplicably at a level of 17.5!!! (After checking with others, I have found that my version of Word has some bug that allows it to go higher than grade 12, but I enjoy the ego boost provided by writing at such a high level.)

It is at this point that I suppose most normal people would go to bed, but since I have always had a bit of a sleeping problem I find that I am still in most cases completely awake and in no mood to say hello to the old Sandman. So, at this point I am generally content to do more inanity on the internet and read stories I've already read and watch videos I've already seen. After a little more time spent doing this I seem to catch up with myself and am suddenly almost too tired to drag my stiffening body to my bed, but I persevere!! It is at this point that I usually lay my paper squarely in the hands of the grading gods because there is no way I am waking up early enough before class to actually doing any more corrections.