The magical covering of the night.

I have a theory about people. In reality, I probably have several. But we'll focus on one for now.

I am convinced that the best time to hang out with people is at night. The later, the better. And if you can make it to sunrise, that's even greater.

Why do I think this?

With or without other people, interesting things happen at night. Spoken like a true nocturnal creature, which I consider myself to be. The night carries an unexplained magic.

Its this that I think comes over people and creates a nighttime behavior that is distinct from their daytime behavior. There's also exhaustion, which can have a profound impact on a person. We can't forget that. But, based on my own experience and observations, I don't think its just exhaustion.

This nighttime behavior is often much more entertaining than daytime behavior. It's also much more honest, candid.

Introversion is one of the characteristics I possess, and it translated into intense shyness for many years. I don't feel like I'm so shy anymore, but I'm reserved enough most of the time that it may seem like I'm really shy. Back when I started formulating this theory, I still considered myself to be severely shy. But I noticed that when I was up late with people, particularly good friends, I would find myself doing things that I didn't usually do in the day. I felt much more relaxed. And people increasingly started to say things to me like, "I never thought I would hear you say those words," or "what are you doing?" I also was much more ready to share the deep things of my heart, because there's something vulnerable about nighttime. I'm sure in many cases exhaustion was mixed in there, which would undoubtedly muddle my presence of mind and persuade me to abandon pretense. But I have a history of being up late, so on many occasions I would have slept at least half the day before, and, therefore, I wasn't tired. When night came, I felt like a light came on inside me.

And I noticed this in other people. I would meet certain people whom would catch my attention as being interesting, someone I figured I would like to get to know, but I couldn't really get a full grasp on their personality and there wasn't much opportunity to get to know them, which is always a sad thing for me. Then, we would finally share a late night, and a bond would form. We would act goofy together. Or have a serious discussion about very personal things, and I would finally feel like I got a view of who that person really is. A view that I could at best glimpse in the daytime. Similarly, I felt like I was actually able to give them a good representation of myself.

So when I want to spend time with people, although I don't ever tell anyone this, I really want to do it at night. Always.

I mentioned earlier that the night seems to have a vulnerable quality. After saying that, it got me to thinking. Why is that? I believe it's true, but I haven't considered what makes it so.

Perhaps it is because it is night. Night is characterized by an absence of light. Light exposes things, whether you want them to be exposed or not, and there's little to do to escape it aside from hiding or covering yourself. Maybe people don't want to be forcefully exposed, so they hide in the day. But at night, there's not an inescapable brightness glaring in their face. They feel comfortable there in the darkness, so they can let go. They can expose themselves on their own terms, which is important. But also, in a way, it doesn't feel like exposure, because the darkness still provides a sense of covering, even though you may consciously understand that you're exposing yourself.

I certainly don't feel entirely like myself during the day. So even if my theory doesn't apply to everyone, I think it applies to myself. You should talk to me at night.