Irony

I feel like nights like these are what college (well, dorm life) is all about. With two weeks left before finals, we all have to mope about how much we have to do. This takes up twice the time it would actually do the work, but it makes us feel better. Besides, it's nice to know you aren't the only one who's drowning.

We've already declared a study break of cards necessary (between last night and tonight, most of us now know how to play ERS, Dutch Blitz, and BS). But for now, we slave. I'm on the couch in the lounge, drinking coffee far too late at night for my own good and reading a book I should have started a month ago. Sam is fussing at Naomi to read a play, while Naomi is insisting she can't read the print book while waiting for her e-mail to load. Another girl has slammed herself up in her room to drown out the rest of us shouting across the lounge to each other's rooms, and Linus (truth be told, the only diligent one among us) is blaring the "Last Five Years" soundtrack from our for-once-open door. (We're usually never this social after about six in the evening.)

It's like a family (a wonky, all-female, the-oldest-among-us-is-twenty-one family). For this year they've been my family. I'm part of it; I belong somewhere; after being just another face on campus, I can come back and plunk on this couch and be 1/8 of my unit. And when I feel most of the time that I don't make much of a difference anywhere...that's some small comfort.

Just got finished telling my sister what a study-conducive environment we're creating (this never happens), and here I sit splunging when I should be reading. Back to the grind.