'i like the dark part of the night, after midnight and before four-thirty, when it’s hollow, when ceilings are harder and farther away. then i can breathe, and can think while others are sleeping, in a way can stop time, can have it so - this has always been my dream - so that while everyone else is frozen, i can work busily about them, doing whatever it is that needs to be done, like the elves who make the shoes while children sleep.'  (A Heartbreaking Story of Staggering Genius - D. Eggers)