Ellyn Sidell's blog

I just woke up. Correction- I just got out of bed. Is it strange that I simply cannot sleep past ten anymore? I mark it as a decidedly grown up thing...this being unable to stay in dreamland. It's weird. I don't like it. I want to be able to sleep until the middle of the afternoon like my friends. Instead, I am forced to kind of wander about my house and wait for them to rouse themselves so that I can have a life. Interesting huh? My life in a nutshell right now is boring. I am bored. There is nothing worth doing in Evanston. Everyone is out of town or going back to school already.

It's true, we should perhaps have written those papers that are due this week during break. We could have studied for that final tomorrow over the weekend. We probably shouldn't have gone out all weekend. We probably shouldn't have watched the finale of The Hills (oops) when we should have been reading that last Shakespeare play. But, hey, this is college and it's probably more realistic to realize that we're just not going to.

I am always losing things: my keys, my wallet, my mind. Only yesterday, my I.D. holder fell off my key chain. It contained everything-my license, my school i.d., my two fake i.d.s, and my gym membership card (which I never use, but still...) and I was hysterical. For a second, I felt like I had no identity. It is sad that I have come to rely on these tiny little rectangles of plastic to define myself. More importantly, I was embarrassed.

Last night was the first night of Hannukah (and yes I spell it that way-deal) and I was working. Again. Of course. I called my mother on break thinking that it would be a nice gesture to wish my family happy holidays. You know, simple and sweet, assuming that they were missing me while they were lighting the candles. The conversation went something like this:

Me- "Happy Hannukah!"

My Mom- "Well, we're going to go make some dinner now."

Heading home for Thanksgiving last year was an exciting event- I sat next to Jesse Jackson on the plane back from Syracuse. Yes, that Jesse Jackson. So there I am next to this living legend, and all I can think to say is- "Oh." Seriously. That's all I said. I think I laughed a few times, this nervous giggle, when he said something about it being Thanksgiving. Up until our flight took off, his phone was ringing off the hook...literally every five seconds, and then we're up in the air. Silence.