Night time is the right time

January 23, 2006 12:04 PM

How do you insomniacs socialize?

I got transferred to the morning shift (8:30-11:00, 2.5 hours a day, it's a pretty sweet gig (kindergarten teaching)) and since I am incapable of waking up early, I've had to turn nocturnal. I wake up at 10pm and do whatever. I'm not all that boring, kind of geeky, but I'm fun. Let's assume I want a social life. How do I track down other late-night freakies who share my schedule, and then what do we do between the hours of 12-6am?

posted by saysthis to Human Relations (12 answers total)

Well, the thing is: are you going to go to work after going out? Because if you rule out drinking, you pretty much rule out socialising at that time.
posted by bonaldi at 12:06 PM on January 23, 2006

And you're in China?
posted by bilabial at 12:10 PM on January 23, 2006

Pool halls, man. I spent many an all-nighter at a pool hall in my youth.
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:24 PM on January 23, 2006

There is usually a bar or hang out where local kitchen staff and chefs hang out after hours. Also, journalists keep oddball hours. Both groups are fun to talk to at 5 am.
posted by zaelic at 1:03 PM on January 23, 2006

You might re-revise your schedule. Socialize in the early and late afternoon, then go to bed very early and wake up super early, so that work is still the first thing you're doing during the day and you're not trying to socialize before work everyday.

In other words, decide how long you'd like to be awake in the morning before work in your ideal world, then put your required hours of sleep at the appropriate time before that.
posted by JekPorkins at 2:23 PM on January 23, 2006

Talk to taxi drivers to see what kind of after-hours spots are available in your city. If you lived in Boston, you'd be pretty much out of luck for the most part, however... here are the few types of midnight to six AM spots I'm aware of, maybe you can find similar in your city:

There's a couple of 24 hour diners -- some folks hit these after hitting the clubs and bars, so be prepared for some happy drunks... (Want to earn some extra money and socialize, become waitstaff at one of these places.)

There is one dance club open until 6am... it's legit, but a "members only" type deal and they don't serve alcohol... (all bars/clubs in Boston have to stop serving at 2am).

Become a bartender.

I'd check the local movie theaters to see if they do any midnight screenings.

Any chance you're near a 24 hour bowling alley?

Once a month or so, volunteer at a homeless shelter type place that goes around in vans late at night handing out blankets and soup or coffee.

What time is your gym's earliest class offered? Some here are at 6:00am... go to a gym class and meet the people there.

Is there another sport you're interested in that might have early morning practices? I know crew teams are usually up practicing first thing in the morning...

Short of that, find some online gaming sites that include chat features... I don't necessarily mean playing online poker for money, but at least you'd have interaction with other people and I think the internet is always on...

Just some suggestions...
posted by jerryg99 at 2:40 PM on January 23, 2006

Short of that, find some online gaming sites that include chat features... I don't necessarily mean playing online poker for money, but at least you'd have interaction with other people and I think the internet is always on...

jerryg99 is onto something here. If you're in China, awake at night, and you've got a net connection, then you're awake at the same time as most Americans are during the day. You're in China--do you know Chinese? Can you tutor online? Chat with friends in the States? Don't limit yourself to people who are awake and near you, look at people who are awake and anywhere.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 2:57 PM on January 23, 2006

"Well, the thing is: are you going to go to work after going out? Because if you rule out drinking, you pretty much rule out socialising at that time."

You have to drink to socialize?
posted by litlnemo at 4:15 PM on January 23, 2006

At 4am litlnemo? You may not personally have to drink, but you'll be around people who are drinking at the least
posted by bonaldi at 4:41 PM on January 23, 2006

Yeah, but if you don't care about being around drinkers, that's not a problem. Now if you rule out being around drinkers at all, sure. That does limit things a bit.
posted by litlnemo at 5:10 PM on January 23, 2006

You may not personally have to drink, but you'll be around people who are drinking at the least

I don't necessarily agree with that. Plus, if saysthis is teaching kindergarten at 8:30, he probably shouldn't be drinking at 4:00...
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 5:11 PM on January 23, 2006

Response by poster: if saysthis is teaching kindergarten at 8:30, he probably shouldn't be drinking at 4:00...

Saysthis agrees. A beer or two, ok, but we don't want Van Down by the River moments in class until they're 10 or so.

Some good ideas here are the pool halls and bowling alleys. One beautiful thing about China is that they're everywhere. I also haven't checked the gaming sites, so that's a good idea. I normally would have already gone bar-crawling, but kindergarten teaching makes that difficult, and I've already started to use the internet where I can. I've only started this schedule this week, so I haven't had a lot of time to think about where to go, what to do... This is good stuff. Thanks!
posted by saysthis at 10:40 AM on January 24, 2006