I’m like an old lady, the way I’m always trying to get to sleep (me and you)

Fall Out Boy reference, anyone? No? Ok.

My friends like to call me an old person, because generally my bedtime falls between 9pm and midnight at the VERY LATEST, and averages out at about 10:30. Even weekends don’t alter this pattern. Gimme a break, I’m usually tired by like 4pm. I’m still a teenager. It’s practically in my biology to be perpetually lethargic. Whatever.

Anyways. Lately, I’ve decided to stop being such a boring person. Because let’s be honest- I’m kind of boring, all things considered. I don’t really get out much. The reason my most recent blogs haven’t been about my life is because, well, I don’t do anything. Most of my time is spent either in class, doing homework, eating, sleeping, watching Scrubs on Netflix Instant Play, and going to Blockbuster with Ellen and Colton.

So as I told my friend Jackson the other day, I’ve decided to start saying “yes” to more things, regardless of the time of night. And this has led to me having a myriad of late-night adventures that I thought I should share, just to prove that I’m evolving as a person. Because I totally am. Evolving as a person, that is.

About three or so weeks ago, I was on Facebook at around 10:30, my usual bedtime, if you remember. My friend Jackson was also online, and somehow we decided to watch a movie. Although I was already in my pajamas, I figured it couldn’t hurt, so we watched Borat together until 12:30am, and then talked until well after 3. I had to get up at 8:30, but I had a great time.

Three days after that, he found his way to a cafe just off campus where Ellen and Colton and I were finishing up dinner, and I ended up following him back to his room to watch a movie, Equilibrium. Awesome movie, by the way. We hung out from about 9-3:30am, watching YouTube videos, listening to music, and just hanging out.

And then just two nights ago, Saturday night, my friends Dion and Michael (who I’ve never actually really talked to in real life… hah) were hanging out and asked if I’d like to join them. Again, I was already in my pajamas, and halfway through a Ricky Gervais movie, but gosh darn it, how often do these opportunities come up? It wasn’t like I had to get up early the next morning. So I met them in Dion’s room, and we took an hour long walk around Forest Grove, just talking. After that we went back to Dion’s room to watch an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and two episodes of some other show on Adult Swim. I ended up back in my room around 3am.

The point? Well, really, the point is that I’m making friends. After I met Ellen it didn’t seem like I really needed any more, but that’s kind of a pessimistic way to see the world. Why not try to make as many friends as I can? They can’t all turn out to suck, like most people in high school.

I used to think growing up was comprised of taking on more personal responsibility and entering into a serious, long-term relationship. But it’s not really about that, is it? Not entirely, at least.

Saturday morning Colton, Ellen, and I were having a conversation about how much middle school sucked. Colton claimed that if he ever has kids, he’ll homeschool them for that period of time, but I disagreed with his fix. Middle school sucked, but then so did high school. They’re useful, though, those years of torment and passive aggression. They teach you to depend on yourself, and how to discern between good and bad people.

But I can see his point, too. Because middle and high school have hardened me significantly. I now have something of a “trust quota” in which I can only handle having so many people in my life at a time before I start getting paranoid. Losing friends to ridiculous and unexplained circumstances will do that to you.

That sucks. That sucks a lot. Why should seven years of school ruin the rest of my life? Why should Craig, Mia, Kelli, Zach, Dylan, Sean, and Taylor’s actions limit the number of friends I’m psychologically able to have at a time? Why should the crap they put me through set the precedent for the rest of my life?

So you know what? Screw sleeping. I can sleep when I’m dead. I have friends to make.