What I hear in the middle of the night: And what I’d love to holler back

If you ever see me and think, “That poor girl looks exhausted. What happened to her?” allow me to explain. I live in the dorms, and many nights the girls on my floor party l-a-t-e into the night. Because of this, I tend to be kept awake with them. Occasionally, however, I won’t hear a full conversation. I’ll simply hear a sentence out of context. I’ve been dying to respond to a few of them, and I thought you, my dear readers, just might be interested to hear a little bit of what gets yelled at 2:00 in the morning.

-        “You need to dump that jerk!” I agree wholeheartedly. There are three basic parties you should listen to when they tell you to dump your significant other: your family, your friends and your pets. If they don’t like your other, there’s a reason. Unless you’re in a situation where you know you can’t trust them, listen to your people (and pets, they really know everything). Go dump the jerk now!

-        “I thought you were dying!” I am. But only on the inside, so it’s fine. I’m just trying to get through my mountain of homework and have suddenly realized I hate everything. What about you? How are you doing?

-        “I love you!” I love you too, but you make it very difficult to like you when you’re yelling at me while I’m trying to sleep. Like, I appreciate the sentiment, but can you wait until an appropriate time of day to dole it out?

-        Singing: Believe it or not, I do appreciate a free concert. You sing so well and it’s beautiful. I just can’t appreciate the true beauty of your voice so late at night. Please, keep singing, just wait until I’m up and moving. I want to love it, but it’s hard to love anything that prevents my precious sleep from coming.

-        Shrieking: That was amazing! I know you’re fine because I heard your roommate laughing, but wow! That sounded like it came right out of a horror movie. I am really quite impressed with your ability to scream with so much vigor.

Hearing things out of context can really stretch your imagination, and give you an opportunity to practice your improvisation skills. Even though I wish I heard these things throughout the day instead of late at night, I do appreciate the fun I have with your fragmented conversations.

Lacey Stecker is a sophomore

communication major from

Noblesville, Ind.