Mirror, mirror

I don't recognize myself anymore. For the last 2-3 years I've been mostly working what most people would refer to as a swing shift. I went into work at 2 in the afternoon and worked until 11 or midnight every night.

It was not great for the social life (and may have contributed to a broken engagement). And while single, it was damn hard to meet anyone. Who keeps those kind of hours? Bartenders maybe.

So now I'm working 8 to 5, and its messing with my whole stay-up-until-4-a.m.-nocturnal life. Now, some days the alarm is going off at the time I used to drag my ass to bed after a bout of insomnia.

In my old life, I'd usually grab some lunch on my way to work. I guess I'm sort of doing the same thing now, except it's breakfast, and it's about 6 hours earlier in the day. This morning my butt was dragging and I substituted my normal orange juice for coffee.

That's so not me. I haven't been a coffee drinker much in my life. I'm just not much for hot drinks. The last time I drank much coffee was about 10-plus years ago, when I was working for a paper on the Oregon Coast and had to be at the office at the ungodly hour of 7 a.m. or earlier. My girlfriend at the time would send me out the door with a Thermos full of java each morning. But even then, I would switch to Diet Coke by 10 a.m.

I'm not sure that this morning is the start of a trend, but it is a little unsettling none the less. But I have been eating three meals a day too (and I've never been a breakfast eater, but I just can't get through the morning these days without some sustenance). Well, I didn't quite make the three-meal thing yesterday. For some reason I never got out of the office for lunch, so I made it through the day thanks to some Pop Tarts out of the vending machine. That doesn't quite count as lunch does it?

So in spite of the new schedule, the new meal routine -- even a new computing style as my new employer uses Macs after I've been working for more than 5-plus years exclusively on Windows-based PCs -- my body still rebels at going to bed before 11 p.m.

Well, except for on Friday nights, when my ass is dragging so much I can't keep my eyes open after about 10 p.m. How am I going to ever find the hot clubs in the Mid-Willamette if I'm too tired to hit the town on a Friday night?

So, tonight I'm going to try (I think) to go to bed early, so I've got some energy for the 3-day weekend. So tonight. Going to bed. Early.

Well, unless there's something good on TV. Have you seen what's on HBO and Cinemax late at night?

New life