It's funny what you end up missing...

Well, as I've lately been working longer shifts, and getting an extra day off in exchange, as well as the fact that I should be getting transfered to a department that works first shift (read: daytime), as well as various other small factors, I seem to be sleeping more and more at night, and being up during the day. (at least on my days off)
Now that I've got that horrible Dickensian length sentence out of my system, let me get to the point.
I realized earlier that I miss waking up just after dark (or in the summer, a bit before it) on my nights off, and spending the whole night in my apartment doing nothing much. Listening to audio books while playing vido games, long pointless games of Heroscape (with me playing as both (or however many) sides), taking the time to actually cook a decent meal, and then eating it while I watched a movie, or tv show on dvd or anime, or just putting some music on and lying on my couch to read a book...all things which I still do on my days off, of course, but the key difference is that waking up at four or five or six in the morning, when it's still dark and doing these things into the day and during the day just isn't the same as doing it all night in the strange half light achieved by a large window that lets the night in and only one small light fixture on the far side of the room, and a lamp you bought to help it out a little to stave that night off. Seeing the sun come up and thinking, not "Oh, the day is starting", but rather "Oh I should eat something and then start winding down to sleep in a few hours..."
Oh I like the day well enough, and I'm probably healthier for having more exposure to the sun... But somehow, hanging out with just myself and my toys (no social distractions, like the internet, or being on a busy college campus with people still wandering in and out even at four am) never got old, and I sometimes wonder why I don't do it anymore.