just before dawn
I can't sleep. The birds have started to sing outside.
I have a very strong memory of a time like this in college, walking back from the computer lab at 4am in the pre-dawn chill and hearing the birds. Sometimes it feels like I'm there again—
...I don't look back on that time with fondness. I was always cutting it close, pulling all-nighters and scrambling to keep up. The feeling of holding onto a branch, but you know your hands are getting tired.
This is my fifth month of unemployment.