Just a rambling, free-form riff about being a "night owl".

Let me tell you about my mornings. They're the worst! I have my alarm set to go off with the radio volume turned all of the way up. It's enough to wake the dead...but most days it takes about 3o minutes to rouse me from my sleep. Once the noise has brought me to my senses enough to be annoyed I will drag myself out of bed, walk across the room, hit the 10 minute snooze button and then lurch back to bed where I will immediately go comatose until the alarm blares again and the cycle repeats. You know what time it is when this happens? Between 11am and 1pm. Welcome, my friends, to the start of another beautiful day in the life of Charles Pratt, Jr...Night Owl extraordinaire!!

Why am I so tired?? Know what time I crashed out? Usually between 6-8am! Give or take, I run on 4 hrs a sleep a night (day-whatever!). Once I've actually committed to waking up and getting myself into the shower the day slowly becomes better and better. Ok, so-I'm 40 years old. Imagine what life was like for me in grade school! Hell, half the time I couldn't stay awake in High School either!

As far back as I can remember, the latter the hour the better I felt. Better, smarter, stronger, more creative...even happier. Yes! I feel the happiest deep into the night.

I didn't choose to be this way. I was like this from the day I was born, I'm sure. And now, of course, I'd never have it any other way.

What would you do if when you were feeling your very best and wanted to go out and just have some fun, all of your friends were yawning and checking their watches? What would you do if all of the places you dearly loved going to were always closing before you could get there and enjoy yourself? Oh yeah, I know...go EARLIER! But you're a night owl, remember? So you're either working all night or all evening and couldn't go anyways.

You know what one of my favorite phrases is? OPEN ALL NIGHT! And believe me, being born and raised in a small town with nothing but other small towns all around, I didn't get to see that sign much! Drive-ins (Thank God for Drive-Ins, may they rest in peace!), truck stops, Wal-marts and sometimes the occasional all night grocery store were/are about it, man. Oh, and the lake! Can't forget that. I've made some liberal and creative uses out of the Lake in my time :)

When I was a kid my choices were even MORE limited. Play with my toys as quietly as I could, watch one of three stations our rabbit ears allowed us to tune into-or...read. I read a LOT! It was around 5th grade that I started whittling the nights away with books. I fell in love with classic literature-Alexander Dumas, Mark Twain, Emily Dickenson, Bram Stoker, Poe, etc. and so on. Comics were something else I devoured. Comics and pulp novels. Actually, just anything I could get my hands on. It transported me away to other places and other times. It made the hours of the night melt away. Unfortunately, I'd be good and wasted when dad came in to wake me up at 630 or 7am for school. Oh, then the misery began....Ohhhh mannnn.

High school opened up a few more options. I could at least be out with a friend now and again that shared my peculiar proclivity (say that three times!) for nights.

There's a song sometimes that runs through my mind. Night Life by Willie Nelson (Don't snicker at me, damnit! It's a good song: