The Cloak of Night
I've been a "night owl" ever since my parents stopped making me to go bed by a certain time. For me, the night was always the time when things got done. In college, our Engineering Council hosted a leadership conference entitled "Carpe Noctum," seize the night, with the tagline "Engineers do more after midnight than most people do all day."
Aside from the fact that "after midnight" is technically equivalent to "all day," this has pretty much been the way I work since I can remember. There are a lot of reasons for this, not all of which I believe are related to circadean rhythms and biology. Frankly, the night has always been more tranquil to me, much easier to concentrate. There is a safety that I identify with the night. I know this sounds counter-intuitive to a lot of people, who see the night as something to be feared and where they can't see what is out there.
But it is precisely that knowledge: that I can disappear in the night, that makes it so welcome. The places which are so packed with people during the day have a peaceful respite to them at night. I do everything I possibly can at night: shopping, driving, working, paying the bills, whatever. Certainly part of the allure of night to me has nothing to do with night itself, but rather simply the fact that most other people don't like the night and thus I can have more of what's out there to myself at night, be it the road, the store, or the restaurant.
I know many of my friends are the same way. We are somewhat outcasts in this society because of it, but if being an outcast means that I can enjoy my nights in relative peace and get what I need to get done without the world distracting me as it is during the day, so be it. I am an outcast of the night.