I love this time of day. 5am. The half-hour or so before the sun comes up, when the horizon is pink, the birds are singing, and there's a fine coat of dew on all the cars and plants. The world changes dramatically when the sun comes up. Suddenly there's traffic on the streets, the air heats up, the din of the city drowns out the sounds of nature, and, worst of all, there's the fucking sunlight. But right now it's quiet. People are still asleep. It's like my own little world; my own little chunk of paradise.

When I was little, my brother and I both had paper routes. On Sunday mornings, before the sun came up, my mom would pull up the station wagon, and we'd load the stacks of papers sitting on our lawn into the back. The Sunday papers came in plastic bags to keep them from getting damaged by the dew. We'd sit in the back with the tailgate down, and drive around our routes, tossing the papers onto people's doorsteps (and around the dorms at Chapman University, which was Chapman College back then). After our routes were finished, we'd go by the donut shop nearby (it was called "In N Out Donut," but the neon was burned out on some of the letters, so it spelled "I ............. nut"). We'd get donuts and chocolate milk, and I'd play arcade games (Super Mario, R Type, Twin Cobra, Gauntlet). We'd get back home just in time to catch the last couple minutes of CBS Sunday Morning, when they'd show some idyllic setting, with all the natural sounds no voiceovers, no music for a full minute. Then we'd watch cartoons.

Later, when I was in high school, I ran cross-country. We'd get up at 5am to go running, and run through the hills above Orange, or drive down to the trails in the hills by the coast. Those were always my favorite runs, because by the second or third mile I'd lose myself in the scenery and the smells of sage and the ocean, and the next 3-7 miles would fly by. By the time we finished, the sun would be up.

I think that's part of the reason I'm such a night owl. I've always hated getting up in the mornings, but I really like being up before the sun. I'd much rather stay up all night than get up early. Sometimes I forget how much I love this time of day. Then I step outside for a smoke and it all comes back to me.

Crap. The sun's coming up. I have to get to bed.



bean!