GLOWING IN THE DARK

Graveyard shift ain't never dead. We got to work when people go to bed.
We got a tremendous work overload. The boss don't care about the dress code.
So if your hair's messed up, come on in. Nobody don't care 3 o'clock in the morning.
I'm fantasizin' about a six four, broke as hell moppin' the floor.
Graveyard Shift by AFROMAN

Okay, okay, I don't really do the graveyard shift, in the strictest sense of the term. But I'm half-way into the grave all the same... With my odd hours of sleeping, I have eyes that look like a racoon's. My back hurts like hell, blinking at a computer screen all evening (and the early part of the night). Acid's burnt its way through my stomach lining, by now, I'm sure... Par for the course for us "swing shifters" -- people worse off than I am, I'm sure, who work in hospitals or the armed forces.

Researchers say the graveyard shift causes ischaemic heart disease, cluster headaches, disturbs circadian sleep rhythms, and leads to poor mental health. All of which is no doubt exacerbated by lousy dietary habits like munching on fried snacks and guzzling cup after cup of overboiled tea through the shift.

The upshot? Power, perhaps? Creativity? The sense of doing something different? Contributing to the world around us? And of course, not having to travel during peak hours! Well, who in this world DOES work 9 to 5 all the time? There are also those who work better at night -- students, for instance, who can only absorb complex theorems at night, when all's quiet.

Besides, someone has to be the vigilant, street-smart dog. Criminal to let breaking news slip past the precious forty winks.