Today was the first time I stayed in the office rather late unaccompanied by Marylin.  It was just me and Goof, working away at our given tasks.  I quite liked the atmosphere, which was much more conducive to working for me than most.  For one, there were fewer distractions around – during the day, people are bustling in and out and random spurts of stories and sharing will interrupt the flow of work.  A lot of people are also online to distract me (namely, Panda, who I now get to sit and watch working as I do my own work) and the light outside makes the world itself a distraction.

After everyone else left tonight, however, it was very quiet at our little corner studio and the dark outside provided nothing to attract my attention.  I had my music playing, contributing to the background noise.  Other than that, I didn’t pause to do anything else, like check e-mails or browse links or look things up online.  Instead, a sense of calm overcame me and I just worked away.  I always knew that I perform better at night, but I think a lot of that has to do with the simple fact that I have time and space to myself.  No other people, no other sounds, and no other light to make me lose focus.  I come alive when the world around me puts itself to rest.

I really like that feeling of actually being productive and efficient, rather than sitting around all day slowly getting work done.  I do enjoy the vitality of our interactions though, so it’s a difficult balance between wanting to get stuff finished and wanting to enjoy the company I have.  I certainly don’t expect work to be a powerhouse unforgiving of human interactions and breaks and distractions.  Yet, I still can’t help but feel guilty when at the end of the day I have taken longer at a task than I could have, merely because I had fun with everyone.  So, it’s nice to have more productive days here and there, to even things out.