What a difference a few hours make...

I have never been a morning person. It has always been easier for me to stay up late than it is to get up early, which is why I remember the early days of "Saturday Night Live" so well. It's not like I had a late-night social life when I was up until the wee hours in my early adolescence...

So it's always been amusing to me -- and quite torturous -- that for nearly my entire professional career, I've had to get up in the middle of the night.

Literally. For about eight and a half years, I got up at 1:30 a.m. to start work at 3 a.m. That's why it felt like such a big deal when I got to sleep all the way until 4:30 a.m. for several years after that, to be at work at 7 (this was in my public transit days, which accounts for that extra time). In the middle of the night, three hours makes a huuuuuuge difference.

But that difference didn't last long. I've still had to battle my circadian rhythms to fall asleep at a decent hour, and then to get up in the dark. But mine is a 24-hour business, and I knew that going in, when I was still young and bounced back easily from sleep deprivation.

Since starting the new job last summer, my wake-up time has been 5:30. Still far earlier than my body would like, but the latest since 1991.

Until now. I'm now starting work at 9:30. 9:30! My GOD. It's so strange to wake up for work AFTER sunrise. If I go out at night, I don't spend part of my evening fretting about how much sleep I'm going to get, because I don't have to get up until 7:30. 7:30! I can't tell you how amazing that is. That's almost... normal!

I've actually managed to get up early a few times to go for walks before work. That, though, is a challenge, because I just don't wake up quickly. You'd think that once I'm out the door and the blood is pumping, I'd be fine... but I still feel all bleary and lame for the entire walk. It's a struggle, but it's a necessary one.

Now, though, I'm doing that stupid adolescent thing of staying up as late as I can... so I'm still running the risk of shorting myself on sleep... especially since many times, I've awakened earlier than I have to -- it's much noisier later in the morning than I'm used to -- and can't get back to sleep. I think my brain is still having trouble adjusting to the notion of being able to sleep after sunrise on work days.

It's weird not being the first person in my building to get up in the morning.

ABRUPT TOPIC CHANGE:

Hey, remember a couple of weeks ago when I mentioned a visit from my friend Cindy, her daughter, her niece, and her hubby? I never said anything more about it, did I?

They were doing the college tour around the state (I can't believe the girls are about to be seniors in high school), and that's why they ended up in my fine city, even though Cindy and her husband don't actually want them attending school so far from home.

So even though it was raining, we took our mandatory trip to Ghirardelli Square for sundaes, and then dragged Cindy's hubby to the Haight, which he just loooooved. (hah.) Then off to Coit Tower, where we watched Cindy's niece Lindzey take a boatload of pictures of herself. I wish I had one to show you here, but apparently, she takes a lot of self-portraits -- with the camera above her, on an angle -- for her MySpace page.

Below is our attempted homage to Lindzey's photographic style, when Cindy and I got together in her hotel bar on that rainy night:

Yes, we look like freaks. Nice cleavage on Cindy, though.

The overexposed look is always flattering. So glad I have just a few grey roots showing.
Blurry and dark is good too. (I hadn't even had a drink yet).
Overexposed AND freaky!
I'm not sure the bartender understood why we turned down his offer to take our picture. I don't think he understands great art...