Back when I was a bachelor, staying up until 1:00 or 2:00am wasn’t outside the norm for me, particularly when I was into a game. After all, I just had to get up in time to make it into work by 9:00am, so there was a lot of leeway there.
Of course, when you’re a little older, married and with kids, your schedule tends to change somewhat. Most days, I put in a couple hours of gaming from 9-11pm, then spend an hour taking care of the babies and reading before hitting the sack. If I’m not out by midnight, it’s a really weird day.
As a result, I’m terribly cautious not to commit to group activities that have the potential to stretch too long, because as we all know, once you’re in a group (moreso with friends) there’s an obligation to stay and wait it out. If everyone’s exhausted and it’s super late, then a wipe is a good of a face-saver as anything else to call it a night. Otherwise, you’re in it until the bitter end.
But strangely enough, I felt compelled to stay up late the other night to finish up Book 14 of LOTRO’s Volume 1 quest series. For one thing, I was SO close to the end I could taste it, and I knew that I’d go to bed happy if I finished. For another, I was stupid and didn’t read ahead in the quest list to see that the final quest is a slog of a mini-dungeon that’s really tough to hack out by yourself. Not impossible, just tough.
I actually wiped solo twice, feeling the urge to go to bed as midnight rolled around, but knowing that if I did so I’d sacrifice all the progress I’d made and would have to do it again. So I dug in, played loud music in my headphones, and saw the final cutscene at 12:45. Great cutscene, but I was like “C’mon, guys, fate of Middle-earth or not, I gotta get some sleep! Finish already!”
While I spent the next day a bit tired, I wasn’t complaining — it’s worth staying up late (on occasion) if you actually achieve something.
You put your babies to bet at midnight!?
What time do they get up? I’m not judging — just curious, hehe.
Dear Lord… BED not bet.
I did that a few nights ago, only it was 4:30 am that wrecked my next day. My friends and I started doing a 3v3 team in WoW, and we wanted to hit 1300 so I could get my first rated piece of gear. We were at just over 1000, so it shouldn’t have taken more than a couple hours to do. It ended up taking five and a half.
The problem was that most of our team is incredibly undergeared, even for low-level arenas, and we made 1300 through pure tenacity and skill. By the end of the night, we were delirious.
We vowed never to do that kind of night again. I’m just not sure if my old bones could take it.
@ Snaffy – My son goes down at 7pm but he needs a midnight diaper change, and we try to keep our 3-month-old up until midnight so she’ll sleep until 6am.