ASFA's community of procrastination
Posted Friday, December 02, 2005 @ 02:27 PM
I spent the morning clutching my coffee mug and the day shaking my feet while sitting in desks, drumming on books with my hands, and chewing gum every other class period in a dire attempt to stay awake. Despite all this, three times today I have walked from one end of the hallway to the other with the imprint of my sleeve, my watch, or a coat button on my face. I fell asleep while writing in economics, the word "Keynesian" sloping down off the page like the line of a polygraph. I slumped closer and closer to the lab table in environmental science, lulled by the poorly-written narration of an oceanography video; we have been watching videos all week. Between shifting positions on the floor of my history class, my coat crumpled beneath my head as a makeshift pillow, I drifted in and out frequently enough to miss much of the narration, which I suspect we may be tested on. After only two and a half hours of sleep, I am surprised I have done this well. Just the other day Flynn (my creative writing teacher), in one of his many tangents, applauded the ability to pull all-nighters and still attend class the next day--a skill, he said, that would serve us well in college.
I am not the only zombie wandering the hallways today, not the only limp body pressed against the dirty carpet in Mr. Leonard's room. Even as a write this from my cubicle in Flynn's room, Peako is asleep on the floor behind me, wrapped in a sheet Shaina brought to school, and Carolyn is dozing in her swivel chair at the other corner of the room. During lunch, the four of us arrived in Flynn's room--our home base amid a slew of study halls and classes we don't care about. With two under the table sleeping, one on top, all wrapped in blankets and coats, I sat to the side and did history homework due the next period. We talked sleepily with low, slurred voices about how late each of us had been up while I tried hard to make my writing legible.
Today in philosophy, sixteen of us (all seniors) had to turn in a fifteen page philosophical autobiography for our final exam grade, since the class only extends to the end of the semester, and true to form, fourteen of us didn't start writing until last night, many of us not until after ten o'clock.
The community of procrastination at ASFA, while a horrendous influence on my work ethic, makes me extremely happy. The night before a big assignment, everyone is online, furiously procrastinating or writing, periodically IMing the others to see how much progress they've made. "Is someone as far behind as I am?" we all ask ourselves, and frequently the answer is yes. Away messages of "0/15 pages" appear. A window pops up as someone writes that they've been asleep for the past four hours, unintentionally, and now there is drool on their keyboard. We share paragraphs and make jokes about the assignment--who can include the most applicable web comic, whose similes outdo all others, whose paper the teacher will enjoy grading the most. We are a community of paper writers who wait until the last minute, who exchange stories of our labor the next day.
Today, Peako and Shaina won the unspoken contest of Who Had the Most Bizarre and Ridiculous Night. Last night they drove to Huntsville where Shaina lives (they are both dorm students), and got locked out of Peako's car, had to call a locksmith, had to find an ATM for money, all at 2:30 in the morning. After an hour or so of sleep, they got up at five in time to get ready and drive back to school in Birmingham, an hour and a half away (an hour if you're Shaina). All this while Peako was writing her philosophy paper on Shaina's laptop. Missy didn't sleep at all, and has been awake for two days excepting her two hour nap yesterday. She checked in late this morning around 10:30. After only four pages by 1AM, Carolyn went to bed, woke up violently ill, and came in by 11AM, paper and coffee in hand. I got up early to take my dad in to work after finishing my paper around 3:30, half of it brilliant, half of it the worst shit I've written in a long time.
I hope losing sleep in college is as communal an experience, and as much fun.
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computer labs make procrastinating as a group ever so much more possible. also, that damn dinosaur comic has been plauging my existence for about two, three weeks now.
03 Dec 2005, 10:31 AM.
Just hope you never fall asleep in the middle of dissecting something. Ick.
03 Dec 2005, 12:00 PM.
Re: Delicious
I have Giraffes? Giraffes! and I may or may not sleep with it at night, I love it so much. God bless exboyfriends who are obsessed with McSweeneys.
Re: Procrastinating
My college procrastinating pales in comparison to my high school procrastinating. I think it's because I don't have classes before 11, so even when I stay up until 4 am writing a paper, I still get a few hours of sleep. Mmm...College...
03 Dec 2005, 2:11 PM.
and Mark, in an incredibly unexpected turn, started his paper on Monday and finished at a reasonable hour on Thursday evening.
04 Dec 2005, 1:05 AM.