Nocturnal

There was once I couldn't fall asleep, not just because I wasn't as tired-out as I'd usually be by bed-time. The hamsters were running on their wheels, the squeaking and creaking soft, but very audible. The rabbits, though mute, contributed to the breaking of the silence of the night by gnawing on goodness-knows-what, and hopping noisily around in their cages. The fishes' repeated attempts to leap out of their watery home included distinctive splashing in the symphony of sounds. Add to that the dogs' occassional barking and howling, and the incessant ticking of the clock, I did not wonder why I couldn't fall asleep. It wasn't always that I had to sleep surrounded by so many nocturnal creatures, so until then, I had never fully appreciated just how active they get at night.

It did strike me as odd, that I had never felt so disturbed by nocturnal pets, though at one time in university, we had a rabbit and a hamster in our room. I never remembered them having ever disrupted my sleep at all. Chip Chip, the rabbit, only made noise whenever her food ran out - she would take her food bowl between her teeth and scrape it against the metal cage. Baby, the hamster, slept all day and well, ate all night. And it wasn't just me - I had never heard any of my roomees complain of having their sleep disrupted by our nocturnal pets. Thinking it further though, with all the Sims-playing, last-minute studying and assignment deadlines chasing, we ourselves were nocturnal most of the times.

Well, that was then. Now is now. Good night.