When was the first time you stayed up all night?

[Wolf Larsen]

So I was thinking about things and realized that the first time I stayed up all night was during a summer in high school. I had gotten James Blish's Cities In Flight which was a collection of all of his stores about the diaspora from Earth when a really good anti-gravity drive was invented. (And the basic tenor is a take on the Dust Bowl of the 1930's.)

And I kept reading and realized that the sun was coming up and I had stayed up all night. It was cool, but kinda anti-climactic at the same time. As kids we'd thought that staying up all night was this big deal and it turned out not to be that big a deal.

When did you first do it?

[silenus]

According to my mother, ages 0 - 2.

[SmartAleq]

Did a few of these in high school, aided by psychedelic drugs--pretty much impossible to sleep when you're tripping balls.

I have occasional spells of insomnia when my brain won't turn off and the last white night I recall was a year or so ago when I needed to be up at 0630 when the stock market opened and couldn't get to sleep so I just stayed up for it. I'm way too old for this shit though!

[3acres]

That would have been in 6th grade. My teacher told my parents I hadn't done some big report - the ones you'd put a cover on when you turned it in. I don't remember what it was about.

Dad told me it better be done when he got up the next morning. So I was at the library taking notes till they closed. Then I spent the night in the basement writing and typing it up. The sun was rising as I finished and I was like, "ha! I made it!"

My teacher was a little surprised when I turned it in the day after she sent the note.

[Sputnik]

One of the great things about living in SoCal is Disneyland and Grad Night. Graduating seniors spend the entire night at Disneyland, with the park and rides all open for only HS grads. We boarded a bus after graduation at about 6 PM and we were bussed home about 6 AM the following day. It was a friggen blast.

[silenus]

Gods, I remember my Grad Night at Disneyland. Same deal. Still have a picture around somewhere taken about 4am. My girlfriend looks fresh as a daisy. Me...not so much.

[Pixel]

I can't even remember the last time I did that (and it wasn't that long ago). Damn if I can remember the first time.

[Wolf Larsen]

Originally Posted by silenus

Gods, I remember my Grad Night at Disneyland. Same deal. Still have a picture around somewhere taken about 4am. My girlfriend looks fresh as a daisy. Me...not so much.

Mrs Larsen and I were at the same Grad Night, but would not meet for several years. I've wondered a few times if we passed each other during the night.

[AHunter3]

When I was in 11th grade...

I think in the back of my mind was the notion that at any pot & beer party, the later it got, the more stuff would happen. And I had hit a point of frustration that certain things never seemed to happen in my life, so that back of the mind stuff was telling me to stay, stay, eventually things will happen if you don't give up and call it a night and go home.

It was an outdoor party around a bonfire (they all were, in my home town). There was a significant falloff in the number of remaining people after 2 AM. The great stuff that then happened was that conversation trickled off, people got contemplative (or so drunk & stoned they were uncommunicative) and instead of being wilder and crazier, it was more peaceful and kind of numb. Watched the sun rise. Nodded and waved at the remaining people and went home.

It kind of punctured that unspoken unconscious notion that "the later it gets the wilder things get", and alongside it the notion that if you leave, you're somehow giving up on fun stuff.

[FairyChatMom]

Some time in high school we had a lock-in. They set up some of the gymnastics equipment and opened some of the side exercise rooms, plus a basketball court was available. There was music, and assorted food in the cafeteria. It was a fundraiser for something.

I have to wonder now about the poor teachers who chaperoned the whole night...

[Zeener Diode]

At my first sleep-away camp, when I was 11. We began with Astronomy class, watching the stars until midnight, then the counselors took us on a hike around the perimeter of the campground. We ended at the dining lodge with a snack of milk and cookies before heading out to watch the sunrise. The next morning was scheduled for free activity; I slept until 10 am.

[leafrog]

To the best of my recollection, it was sometime in about 1983. I was 16, and my two best friends were spending the night. My parents were out of town, so we had the house (and the cable TV) to ourselves.

We stayed up all night watching MTV, which had just come to our cable market, hoping to see something good amongst the crap. I remember screaming to my friend in the bathroom 'It's Adam Ant!!!!' and she literally stopped peeing mid-stream.

We were so gawkward and geeky and naive in our middle-class suburban world. We sat around the dining table drinking iced tea out of whisky tumblers and holding pencils like cigarettes. Pretending to be cool.

After they went home the next day, I crashed so hard on the couch.

My favorite part of all-nighters is the loopy-ness that emerges and how hilarious everything becomes. Happens with jet-lag too.

[JackieLikesVariety]

My favorite part of all-nighters is the loopy-ness that emerges and how hilarious everything becomes. Happens with jet-lag too.

wow, I've had insomnia so long it's hard to remember such a thing. if fact, I do not remember it. since Wolf started this thread I have been trying to recall a time I was happy to stay up all night. I think our high school had a "lock in" I went to - or was it junior high - but damned if I remember anything about it.

Leafrong, thanks for making me laugh with stopping pee mid-stream and holding pencils like cigarettes to be cool.

[teela brown]

The first and only time I stayed up all night it was unintentional.

I had booked us a nonstop flight to France on a redeye. I thought we'd be able to recline our seats a bit and at least doze on and off. But I was inexperienced at booking flights and inadvertently reserved the two seats which are just in front of an emergency exit row, and our seats wouldn't recline. I spent the night wishing I could just close my eyes and catch thirty minutes of sleep, but I couldn't.

We weren't youngsters - we were both in our fifties. We arrived in France feeling ghastly. The first thing we did was to drink double espressos at the airport, as we had a long drive ahead of us. When we finally got to our hotel a few hours away from Paris, we fell into bed and slept about 20 hours. Gah. Never again.

[Zeener Diode]

Originally Posted by leafrog

We stayed up all night watching MTV,

I did that, too. I remember watching a lot of crappy music videos and lots of Martha Quinn.

[Mr. Plumbean]

I don't remember doing it until the last week of high school. My son has already done it at age, he is constantly begging to stay up late or all night (he did last night in fact, all wound up from fireworks, but he did fall asleep.)

[Dazzling White Diamonds]

I was in HS - 15 or 16, perhaps. Stayed up all night playing Atari games.

[Guinastasia]

Do sleepovers count? Because me and my cousin were always having sleepovers.

If not, probably when I was about 10 or 11. We had just moved, and then we got cable, and I kept asking my mother if I could stay up later on the weekend to watch TV (probably MTV or something like that), and after my parents went to bed, I just didn't even bother to go to sleep.

[stormie]

As far as I remember, it was the fault of a good book. Had to finish it.