The thing about college is that you never really get a break. You wake up on Tuesday morning, and bump into an acquaintance, and the first thing they ask you is "What are you doing tonight?" This is annoying. It doesn't really matter what your plans are; the chances are extraordinarily good that whatever you're doing, your acquaintance won't be involved or care. Plus, there are really only two acceptable ways to answer the question if you want to seem hip and suave and normal.
Either you can say:
"I have an insane amount of work. Three 17-page essays due, four quizzes and a capella tryouts -- all tomorrow before noon!"
Or you can say:
"Well, I may go to this concert downtown, and then to Smokes, and after that I have five parties I sort of have to go to." After which you kind of sigh and shake your head, as if to say, "Oh, how exhausted I am. Oh how I wish I could just watch Scrubs and then smoke cigarettes on my stoop until I pass out," while at the same time implying how awful it would be to watch Scrubs and then smoke cigarettes on your stoop until you pass out.
Because nobody ever says, "I'm planning on watching Scrubs and then smoking cigarettes on my stoop until I pass out."
The answer can never be "Nothing."
In high school, there were plenty of nights when I'd just do nothing. I mean, I grew up in New York City. I had a fun(nish) life. But most days I'd wander around uptown Manhattan for a few hours, get home at about 7 p.m., have a snack, talk on the phone with people I'd spent the day with at school, eat dinner, watch T.V., have three or four fights with my parents and then get into bed. Occasionally I'd do homework, but mostly I'd just feel guilty about not doing homework, and my knapsack would stay zipped until I draped it over my shoulders the next morning. Adventure was going out to dinner with my family. Excitement = Getting a call from a boy I liked.
The point is, I always thought my life was boring back then, and I guess it kind of was. But I sort of miss it. Sure, I like drinking as much as the next person (as long as the next person doesn't absolutely adore drinking, because if the next person is one of those than I probably like drinking a little less than the next person) and I think hitting up Continental is peachy ...
But am I alone in sometimes just wanting to watch Scrubs and then smoke cigarettes on my stoop until I pass out?
Not that I'm doing that. God. I mean, I have a life.
I'm just saying.
- Yona
