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North Branch Land Trust plans Winter Picnic at Bear Creek Camp

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‘No Shave/Nail Polish’ campaign at credit union raises awareness

<p>You don&#8217;t know what you have until it&#8217;s gone.</p><p>That is a special problem, because you also don&#8217;t know that you don&#8217;t know what you have until it&#8217;s gone, until you lose something, and then realize that you had it.</p><p>I just confused myself.</p><p>Anyway, I&#8217;m started to notice one thing I have, and that is friends from school.</p><p>I&#8217;m not really the type to go to parties or have a list of people I can text to have lunch with. I find that I spend a lot of time by myself at school, and if I go out, it&#8217;s with a few longtime friends of mine from my hometown that ended up in Wilkes-Barre with me. Most of them live with me. It&#8217;s like my life has built-in friends.</p><p>However, with all of the extra free time I have since break began, I&#8217;m noticing that those friends are not in the same boat as I am. They work a lot, and our schedules often don&#8217;t match up.</p><p>So I am often alone in my apartment, with only the sounds of my hissing radiator and the soundtrack from &#8220;Legend of Zelda&#8221; to keep me company.</p><p>Why does not being in school have me so lonely? I didn&#8217;t think I had that many friends.</p><p>I think I&#8217;m missing small talk. I might not have a lot of close friends, but what I do have is a whole lot of acquaintances that I enjoy as people, but don&#8217;t spend time with off campus. That&#8217;s a recipe for small talk.</p><p>I never, ever think about small talk. I&#8217;ve never come home and thought to myself, &#8220;Ah, I got a lot of small talk in today.&#8221;</p><p>I don&#8217;t even think I like small talk that much. I always thought it was less than genuine, and I never agreed with the convention that everyone must always say they are fine when asked. If I am a big, sleepy mess, and you ask me how I am, I am inclined to tell you that I am a big, sleepy mess.</p><p>Despite my regular disdain for it, now that I don&#8217;t have as much of it, I&#8217;m starting to notice.</p><p>I&#8217;m an extrovert, which means I have a low level of baseline stimulation, and I need to do things and talk to people to feel anything but loneliness and boredom.</p><p>As it turns out, small talk and class discussions have been keeping me stimulated. Who knew?</p><p>I suppose that gives me one more thing to look forward to once next semester starts.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Toni Pennello</p><p>tpennello@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Toni Pennello is a Wilkes University senior who works in the Times Leader newsroom.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

College Life: Missing small talk during break from classes a new sensation