When you're furloughed in Frisco, you discover the glory of the 5 o'clock coffee

During my normal life, working in an office, I have a very delicate relationship with coffee. Too much, and the day's filled with jittery stress and a great deal of toe tapping. Too little, and I'm pretending I'm not asleep when my boss walks by (just kidding, Brian: I hardly ever sleep at work!).

On furlough, coffee is an entirely different animal. I still drink coffee during the day, although it rarely matters how little or much I drink since I have very little of consequence to accomplish. (And sometimes, let's be honest, I've switched to beer well before I'd normally be out of work.) The great joy of this new relationship I've found with coffee is the 5 o'clock coffee. This is unthinkable in my working days: maybe I'll squeeze in a late-afternoon coffee at the office if it's a particularly rough day, but a coffee after work? I have to be to bed soon so I can get up in the morning and go back to work! Drinking coffee at 5 o'clock is crazy.

Of course, on the furlough, there are no pesky responsibilities that require one to wake up early....or at any time, for that matter. Nightlife has become much more interesting than in my former life. I almost never turn down an invitation to go out these days. Why should I? I'm not doing anything else. The 5 o'clock coffee keeps me going right when I'm thinking about a nap, the productive hours of the day gone, and the party just getting started.

Maybe I'm a little late to the 5 o'clock coffee game. Maybe everyone else has already figured this out. But I feel the obligation to share the wealth for anyone who hasn't yet experienced this. I used to be glad that bars closed at 2, because it meant I would get to go home. I used to dread nights out in New York (well, not wholeheartedly) because I knew I'd be out until the next morning. I used to be the one at a party who, around 1, was ready to go. I used to be such an old lady. With the help of the 5 o'clock coffee, I have, on a number of occasions over the past month, been the one who couldn't believe that the party was ending so early when people started to leave around 2:30 and the hostess was brushing her teeth. I'm the one who always wants to keep hanging out, go somewhere else, see who else is still awake.

I'm telling you: the next time you have plans to go out, drink some coffee at 5. It's amazing.