Late in the evening, the music seeping through

Last night, some of my mates from school took a little pause in the midst of all the holiday activities and celebrated something completely different: the end of the term. For whatever reason, a few of us had the need to kiss off this one with something special.

To that end, I threw a little party at my place, and the drinking and dancing commenced. It was a small gathering, but it was a quirky and passionate one, which may just be the best kind.

More than one of those in attendance, myself included, had some spare energy to release in dance, and with the collective power of three iPods -- YogaGirl and Erik Erikson both have some fabulous iTune libraries -- we got our groove on for a couple hours. One of my rather shy classmates totally let herself loose with the music and was fabulous to watch; a great dancer.

That and some good beer and wine -- and, upon S2's late-night arrival in a smashing Audrey Hepburn getup, a little hard liquor -- seemed to be just what was on tap. There was nice energy among those who attended, and to my collective guests, I thank you for bringing some holiday cheer to my quiet little loft.

By the way, Dr. R had, about 10 or so, raised a question about whether the neighbors, specifically the Thai restaurant downstairs, would be disturbed by the thumping beat of the music and our feet.

This evening, I talked to Chin while picking up some dinner, and asked him if he heard us dancing. He said, "Oh, yes, but we were closed already. It sounded like you were having fun, but I went outside to listen, and I couldn't hear any music. I thought maybe you were dancing without music."

That's because the windows were closed, I said.

"Oh, I thought maybe just no music," he replied. "When I was younger, we often danced with no music. But needed to get very drunk first. Then dance with no music."

I think we were drunk, but we still wanted the music anyway.

The party wound down almost completely by 1, except for this one nightowl of a classmate, who stayed and chatted (and I think was sobering up) until nearly 5.

I haven't been up that late in quite a while, and one of the first thoughts I had upon waking at 12:30 this afternoon was whether I would, in fact, make it through awake graveyard shifts working by myself at one of the Homes for the Criminally Insane. I suppose I could always call this mate and ask her to chat to keep me awake...?

Talking briefly to YogaGirl this evening, she informed me that this particular classmate, who I find to be exceptionally pleasant and sweet, is a known nightowl. For some reason, learning that made me feel better. Not because it explained her incredible social stamina, but because as a nightowl myself, regularly going to sleep around 3, it is simply nice to know that *some* of the people I know have similar habits. This makes four of us in my little in-town circle: YogaGirl and her BF and the aforementioned classmate.

It's just good to know those people are out there, because sometimes, I feel a little weird for being such a nightowl. Sometimes, as I'm shutting down around 3, I feel oddly isolated, as if I'm the only person awake at that hour for no good reason, such as working or closing down a bar.

But I have always had difficulty falling asleep before midnight, and it has never been too helpful to fight against that tendancy. For the six years that XGF and I lived together, I tended to keep her up. Her inclination was to hit the hay around 9, but she managed most nights of the week to amend that to about 10:30 or so but frequently complained about it. We were always out of sync in that regard.

As it is, I'm dreading Monday and Tuesday of this week. Even though the term is over, these may be the two most difficult days I've faced lately. I actually have to be at my orientation and training to work in the Homes for the Criminally Insane at 8:30. In the morning. That means I have to wake up at, like, 7. In the morning.

They must be testing me....

Well, on that note, I will admit that I am a bit wrecked from staying up until 5 this morning and skating by on less six hours of sleep. If there's any chance I'll wake up at 7 on Monday, I must make up for lost time.

So it is that I will go to sleep early tonight (it's only 12:30!). It might require some Ambien to make it happen, but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.

Sweet dreams, one and all, and to all a good night.