Tom's Notes—Morning Metabolics

I'm a night person.

And the corollary is true: I'm not a morning person. It takes my unconscious at least an hour to negotiate the hand over to my conscious. And then another hour or so for my conscious to calculate the upside in getting out of bed.

The opposite process happens at night. My unconscious has to peel my consciousness's fingers off the controls one groaning digit at a time. My conscious will scrabble for any excuse to keep going: I find myself, at midnight, arrow-buttoning through the telly guide—give me something, anything! At gone 1 with a book, Another page, then promise I'll sleep; repeat. Staring at online newspapers and waiting for an update at 2. When all else fails going to Wikipedia—2:20 prayers for something interesting in "on this day."

I'm better than I was. Thanks to Nana.

But even Nana can't wash away my difficulty with mornings. Is it just that some people aren't wired for waking up with an eye-popping "shing!" and the thrust of "it's a new day!" get-up-and-go? It must be.

So, I remain a night person.

(Though I was up at 7 today)