“What do young people do these days? It must be all about binge-drinking and selfies, right?” I’m sure there are some young people doing that on their average Saturday night, but I can guarantee I’m not one of them.
As a pretty average 23-year-old, I thought I’d share a breakdown of my pretty-average Saturday night.
7:15 PM
I get home after a couple of hours in town. I unpack my bag that carries all my crap and re-pack it into another bag that I think I’m more likely to use tomorrow. I’m trying to break away from the student image that accompanies using a backpack, but they’re just so much more useful than handbags!
7:19 PM
I consider what I’m going to do for the evening. I already know that Netflix and unhealthy snacks is the mostly likely option, but it’s nice to pretend I have a varied lifestyle by considering alternatives.
7:21 PM
I sit on the couch and take my shoes off. My feet hurt. These shoes are so uncomfortable, but I paid good money for them (because they’re supposed to be the most comfortable brand on the market) and I refuse to let them sit unused in the back of my wardrobe. As soon as I sit down, the tiredness hits me and I spend half an hour scrolling social media on my phone to get my energy back up.
7:55 PM
I change into my pyjamas. Honestly, I don’t know why I didn’t do this sooner. Sometimes I try to stay in my daytime clothes until a certain time, but today is not one of those days. It’s been a long week, and I’ve built up a tension that can only be soothed by Batman pyjama bottoms and the absence of a bra.
8:05 PM
Dinner time. God, I hope I have some meat de-frosted. I do! Great! Chicken salad it is. I would treat myself to a takeaway, but I’ve already done that twice this week. The great thing about making the same meal every other day is that you can make it taste different by using a different sauce each time. Today’s champion is garlic mayo. Yum.
8:42 PM
I “casually” make my nightly pilgrimage from the dinner table to the couch. This is strictly a horizontal position- sitting up is reserved for when we have guests over. Another phone scroll.
9:01 PM
The wine is opened. Only €6 in the corner shop- not bad, right? Tastes pretty good! Oh, get the snacks out of the treat press, would you? I’m not going to move once I have this first sip and- oh, look, I’ve already had it. Guess you’ll have to go get them for me.
9:08 PM
Time to decide what to watch on Netflix. We hear people outside, slightly drunk and on their way to pubs and clubs. You’d think they’d have the decency to keep it down, we think. There are people trying to drink in peace in here!
9:16 PM
We binge-watch a series on Netflix, which is somehow less emotional investment than watching a film, despite it being at least twice as long. Maybe it’s because its more casual format allows us to chat about how we’d react in those situations. Better than those characters, I’ll tell you that much.
11:32 PM
Is there no wine left? Aww. We really should keep a reserve somewhere. I guess we should go to bed. One more episode while we drink some water (and maybe eat a few more snacks we found in the back of the cupboard)? Sounds like a plan.
12:03 AM
We pride ourselves on staying up later than a week night but not being unreasonable with our bedtime. We discuss online articles about weird things we’ve read that day, trading novel information. At some point, we fall asleep.
Our dreams don’t make sense, but they’re filled with the contentment we garnered from a night of small pleasures within a life of chaos.
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