It's 4:16am, and I'm about to start writing a paper on Aristotle and Political Friendship. I always write this late at night, but I guess there are a few reasons for that. I remember a Calvin and Hobbes strip, where Calvin talked about why it's scarier at night time- because there are so few distractions. That coupled with a sense of the unknown, and I think he's pretty right. However, for me the loss of distractions finally works in my favor. I don't remember how that strip ended, though I'm pretty sure it was happy.

Really, I'd prefer to write at any other time of the day. There is a certain stigma attached to people who stay up all night. For the most part it's true, and for the most part that have to do with laziness and insomnia. And in some way I'm ashamed of both of those. Ironically, night time is when I'm most productive. I'm laziest during the day time when I'm pushing things back or napping. Excessive napping is a sign of depression, but I'd think it could also be a sign of people who like to nap. I've always enjoyed sleeping when I'm tired. Besides, my brain cooks at night.

Another thing that struck me about Calvin's (de Hobbes) soliloquy, was that if what he said is true then there is some kind of underlying fear within us. If the daytime didn't present so many distractions, we would live ever present in that fear. It's hard to imagine what that would be like, especially in the daytime, but I think if you recall some memories of being alone in the dark you can guess at what that fear is really like. I know it's somewhere in the chest. And I know there are certain things you can do to either harness that fear or lose control. Harness isn't the right word, it's too gutsy, bravado...the kind of word a country boy with "no" fear would use. Something more along the lines of "deal with", in the sense that you can strike a deal between your rational conscience and your terrified conscience. Like if every fear you have is some sort of illogical abberation, then you have nothing to fear. But then again, what if that abberation becomes truth?

I've always thought it's the smaller things you have to be scared of. They present the possibility that you could get away. And the fact that that's only a possibility, but not a likelihood is scary to me. A huge monster will just eat in one bite, and then you can just go on your own way.

Anyways, I'm supposed to be working on my paper. That means it's time for me to strike a deal with my own fears. And while these fears have different kinds of teeth- insecurity, plain incompetence, whatever etc.- they're still there in the daytime.

**The comic ends- Things are never quite as scary when you've got a best friend.