At least I've noticed that my calendar says FRI above the date, which leads me to believe thusly.
That said, for me there is absolutely nothing else that distinguishes a Friday night from any other night of my week. Sure, I don't have class the next day, but that doesn't affect my schedule much, considering I spend most of my Saturday hunched over my desk, studying til I'm blue in the face. Make that purple.
But tonight, oh, tonight was different. I went ALL OUT.
It started with the list I'd written on the back of my hand. It read:
Print Extremities NotesTrader Joe'sSunglassesPens
I pondered my options as I left class for the afternoon. I'd already printed notes, so I walked right on past the library. I didn't really feel inclined to grocery shop, so I ignored that item too. But I did notice myself squinting on the sunny trek toward my car, and suddenly had a brilliant inspiration.
I would go to TARGET.
A spring in my step, I hustled to my car, cranked up some tunes and sped away from school toward the land of endless possibilities, otherwise known as Target. I smiled to myself, thinking,
"Nice work, Self! You're going for an outing on a Friday afternoon! You deserve this, and it's going to be great."
And it was.
I browsed to my heart's content, ending up with an armful of items at the cash register instead of the two things on my "hand-list." This always happens at Target.
Whistling a merry tune, I strolled back out to my car with a bag full of goodies: three pairs of socks, new yoga pants, a pack of gum, highlighters, pens (a 3-pack each of colored and black), and sunglasses. All was well with the world.
Upon my arrival back at the homestead, I found out that Mr. and Mrs. Sytsma would be gone for the evening, so I was on my own for dinner. Figuring that I was on a roll with my fun Friday night, I walked over to the nearby Emperor's Kitchen, scoring a small order of cashew chicken in less than 10 minutes. This I enjoyed while flipping thru channels (and sitting in front of the heater), happy as a clam.
Of course, after dinner things rapidly took a turn toward the mundane as I spent the next 4 hours studying such topics as Osteochondritis Dessicans and the Open/Closed chain kinetics of the hip joint. But for a brief, shining moment, I had a fun Friday night.
And if I really think about it, sometimes its nights like these that make me thankful to be a student. Sure, many of my working friends are probably out on the town, meeting new people and letting loose because they have a whole weekend of nothingness ahead of them. But somehow that pales in comparison to the simple pleasures of my somewhat-boring Friday night. Who else besides a poor graduate student can truly cherish a half-hour spent wandering the aisles of Target, or a 5 dollar box of rice and veggies? Being one who is easily annoyed by cliches, I still can't deny the fact that sometimes the little things in life are the best. The everyday grind makes that brief moment of "out-of-the-ordinary" shine like a pearl in a sea of pebbles.
Maybe it is lame-sauce. Maybe my life is every bit as uninteresting as popular culture would have me believe. Maybe I'm growing more and more boring by the minute.
But I kinda doubt it.
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