Writing Prompt: I used to think...Check out this week's other participants here.
I used to think that my all-nighter days were firmly in my past.
In college, all-nighters rarely had anything to do with work. Those were the best nights. Staying up all night drinking. Talking. Laughing. Stolen glances and moments. Flirting. Kissing. Touching. Wanting. Needing. Taking.
Those all-nighters stand out in my memory as some of my happiest and most memorable times. The fuzzy, sleep deprived haze I stumbled around in the next day was well worth it.
In law school, staying up all night was a right of passage. I never really drank coffee until law school. By the end of my first semester, I was polishing off over a pot a day. I did some of my best work at 2 am. I wrote amazing briefs tanked up on caffeine in the middle of the night. My mind was crystal clear as I memorized flash cards on the rule against perpetuities and subject matter jurisdiction. (Believe me, that stuff could put anyone to sleep). I taught my friends an entire semester's worth of criminal procedure between the hours of 1 and 4 the morning before our final. I must have done a pretty thorough job - they all got a B+ in the class.
After graduation, as I studied for the bar, all-nighters were more a function of complete and total panic. The only way to get through those anxiety filled moments were to crack open one of the many study guides and pour over the pages.
But the all-nighters stopped after the bar. I was very happy to leave this ritual in the past. Until tonight.
I am now working on my 17th billable hour of the day. For the uninitiated, that's over 2 days worth of hours rolled into one. I'm trying to polish off a mediation statement in a multi-million dollar construction case. I found out at 6 tonight that I had some light reading to do. Nothing major - only 1,000 pages of expert reports on precast tees, bond beams and k-lines. Truly fascinating stuff. I have to do this so I can write a portion of the mediation statement someone else was supposed to prepare.
So here I sit with my laptop, my pot of coffee and bleary red eyes. And right about now, I'd give anything to be back in college enjoying one of those all-nighters instead.
14 comments:
OMG! I am so sorry that you are wrking so hard so late. 17 hours in one day...rading 1000 pages...wow. I applaud you for being able to function after doing that.
Thank you for stopping by and your nice words.
How we all yearn for the all-nighters of yore when the work seemed endless. Now it just seems like work.
ouch...I'm pulling an all-nighter myself but I'm scheduled those twice a week. (RN here)
Mine isn't bad though just a small-town hospital with one sleeping patient right now...and I'm on the 'puter.
Great post.
I can empathize completely. I am an all-night person and always have been ---even after retirement, I stay up all night, by choice. I love working on my blog overnight when it is dark and quiet and no one bothers me. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, I go outside to enjoy the silent night sky.
I wasn't in law school, but for a graduate course in journalism, I had to read the same text on journalistic law as that used by law students. I plowed through that thing at a snail's pace, usually dozing off after a few sentences ---extremely dry stuff. But then, one day I started to read the chapters on obscenity ---and suddenly it became interesting. (What does that say about my prurient interests?) Actually, most of it was rather funny. For example, a proposed obscenity law in Florida, was so explicit, that publishing a text of the law would have been in violation of the law. I guess if I'd ever been compelled to be a lawyer, I would have had to specialize in obscenity cases, because it was the only thing in that book that held my interest for more than a nonosecond.
Hope your case goes well.
Ooooh, I couldn't do what you're doing easily. I love my sleep, but I must admit to all nighters partying BK (before kids)!
I don't know how you do it. My brain stops making sense by 7 pm.
I hope your case goes well!!
Oh, you poor thing. I hope you can get some sleep sometime today! I worked late last night, too, but definitely not that late. I never really did the all-nighter thing in college. I value my sleep too much! I did have a couple of THOSE nights, though, and they were a ton of fun!
Visiting from Mama Kats...
OK ... yet another profession I am not cut out for -- law. That sounds horrific!
And I would love to invite you to play in a game I am hosting at my blog called Photo Riddles based solely on seeing your header (love it! -- took me back to college with that one). You don't have to do anything right away -- you can catch a nap first! The game runs until March 31.)
The only time I get an al-nighter anymore is when the kids are sick! I'd take one of "those" all-nighters anyday!
my blood pressure started to rise when I read "17th billable hour"
Yikes1!!
Go to bed!
And I thought bottle, vomit, poop filled sleepless nights were bad... I will take a cranky baby any day over what you are doing... carry on!!! :)
Simply: I barely functioned today but with enough coffee anything is possible!
Dan: Well said!
Numberone: I'll bet you have some intresting stories about your late nights at the hospital.
CJ: Thanks. And I don't blame you - most cases are pretty dry, except the ones about obscenity!
Son: I didn't do it easily. Lots of coffee. And right now I'm so tired it's actually making me dizzy!
Blueviolet: Thanks. My brain usually shuts down then too. But at some point adrenaline took over and kept me going
Ms. S: You should have called. We could have kept each other awake
Jenners: That nap sounds GREAT! I'll be by your blog after i catch some sleep. I can't take credit for making the header though - I guilted a friend into doing it for me
Carrin: I would have preferred being up all night because of my son. I'll still love him in the morning. This case...not so much!
Saundra: looking forward to when i can go to bed!
Nate&Jakesmom: cranky babies aren't that bad. eventually they fall asleep. this case will continue to be the bane of my existence until it comes up for trial
That's a crap load of work. Good to know you prioritized and found some "me time" to blog :)
I remember when all nighters were fun...most definitely NOT sober.
Kristen: as my eyes were glazing over, i had to take a little "me time" to do anything else!
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