Sleep
I like to sleep, but only in the morning, or maybe until noon. You wouldn’t know it from the routines I keep. I shall explain. My most productive hours are those between roughly 10 pm and 3 am. Others are generally sleeping between those hours and (justifiably in their minds) think that I should be too. I am berated, harangued, beset, and goaded, prodded and shouted to get to bed, whereupon I often spend many hours staring at the ceiling where ideas come unbidden and flashes of near brilliance (in my opinion) run through my head. Often, I will open my digital notebook to record these gems before they are consigned to that deep well of useless information and forgotten dreams. Just a few words to remind myself that I need to pick up that thread, run with it and see where it leads. Another tactic that seems to drive my family crazy is to sneak out of the bedroom, down the stairs and secure myself in my “Fortress of Solitude”, a corner of the basement I call my own. Here are all the tools I need to run amok. Model cars, model planes, other assorted toys, vinyl records, CDs, stereo equipment, my tools and that most vital tool of all, my computer with access to the wide and wild world of the internet. I am constantly surprised and amazed at the universe that opens with a few words typed into Google. That idea that I sketched last night unfolds into a universe of possibilities. So many paths to run down. So many dazzling choices. I don’t consider it plagiarism, just research. Does any idea come unbidden, save for the seeds that were planted by others over the course of my lifetime, or the lifetimes of uncounted generations before? That original flicker of an idea blossoms, expands into what I consider a Finished Piece where, by chance or by luck, it will be added to the stream that I tapped into with those few Googled words. Pride? What can I say that hasn’t been said before. What can I think or do that hasn’t been thought or done. All I can do is rearrange the pieces in my own fashion and then move on. The time best suited to that activity is late night or early morning when solitude promotes exploration, and it irks me that so much effort is expended to deprive me of that. No harm to anyone but myself. Those golden hours between 10 and 3 are precious to me. During that time, I can build what might be my only lasting legacy. Preserving the past, building for the present, saving for the future. That is what I am about and that is why I don’t like going to bed.