Night People

I find myself in a weird haze this morning. Perhaps it is due to the fact that I have not slept since 7 am the previous day and I'm on my way to work for a 1 am start but who knows. While driving into work at this ridiculous hour I'm noticing that the commute has a strange feeling to it, almost as if things are moving in slow motion. The cars on the road seem to march forward in a lackadaisical manner with no real commitment to get to their destination. Their drivers seem calm and absorbed into whatever talk radio or music station stimulates their brain matter, even I now realize that I myself am in no real hurry. There is no pressing need to steamroll through the non existent grid that is rush hour traffic, no blaring horns or sirens to mark the passage of raised blood pressure.

Wondering what other differences I might find in these modern day vampires I decide to take an alternate route through the city. It's weird to think that while the majority of the population is sound asleep there is another city that is bustling to and fro in it's own manner, almost as if there are two different versions of Seattle. As I make my way through the city streets I'm amazed to see that stores are open, coffee houses are serving and businesses are going on as if the sun and the normal calender week have no meaning to them. I see that with everyone I pass there is a reoccurring trait, nobody seems hurried or stressed. Perhaps the reduction of people continuously pushing forward has a positive effect on us.

What quality of life does one who lives in the dark hours of day have? How does the social interaction differ from that of the average person? What kind of a psychological toll would reintegration to the normal daily grind have on these individuals?

While tossing these thoughts back and forth in the back of mind I begin to wonder if we are packing ourselves in too tightly, are we so accepting of the cattle like mentality that we are losing the focus on our basic needs? Do we as a species need more space and time then we are allowing ourselves to keep a level head?