time warp.

credit google images

Have you ever noticed that on weekends, the time seems to move much faster and much slower at the same time? On a school day, it's the same thing, you wake up, rush to class, come back, eat, nap, do homework, hang with friends, crash, repeat. It's all rushed, you're body is aching, the slow moments only happen in lectures when the enigmatic words of your professor turn to mush and slide together into a sweet drone that lulls you to sleep. But on weekends, it's different. It all happens the minute you end class on Friday afternoon (or Thursday, for those lucky people who get Fridays off, although I still consider it a pseudo-Friday if that's the case), that one hour right after, you feel as if you are totally free. There is literally nothing to cram for. That midterm on Monday is three days away and you are free to do whatever you want. This may or may not linger onto Friday night, where you'll either be partying with your friends or chatting online, both equal time wasters in homework's eye. And so Friday passes.

Saturday comes and you wake up all too late (probably around 2pm?) and already half the day has gone by. On any normal weekday waking up at 2pm means you have missed lecture, lab, recitation, and a good hour of studying, but on a weekend it is almost a crime to get out of bed before noon. The feeling of freedom that you had on Friday has not yet disappeared (though the hangover from the cause of Friday may come into effect) and you wake up to brunch, a well loved meal by all people who wake up late, and Saturday morning television. What was once cartoons for my youth, is now infomercials, I just can't get enough of the Magic Bullet (insert dirty joke here). Of course brunch is over and you head over to your computer, pull out your homework, and tell yourself "I'm going to get started early today". But of course, just because your books are there, doesn't mean anyone's using them, especially when Facebook is there for you as well. You open all your Power Points and you make sure everything is ready...only to start about six hours later after you have told your friends that you are finally going to start on homework. This is the time when I think most people who like to get started on stuff early start homework, either that or it's something that requires long term commitment like an essay or a final. So you're up late Saturday night because you know Sunday, you can wake up late anyways.

Sunday arrives and it's the feeling you get when you wake up Sunday, that pulls everything into perspective. It's the day before Monday. That's what we all know it as and what we all dread, might as well rename it. So depending on your religion, you'll either be pulled up way early to church, or just pulled up early to clean the house, either way, there's always something to ruin a good late rise on Sunday. If you're still on campus, the late rise becomes a guilt trip. No time for brunch this morning because you realize that tomorrow, MONDAY, you have a paper due. Although that still isn't enough to really kick your butt in gear, because in your mind it's still technically a weekend. So you pull everything out and get back on Facebook. Hours go by and it's time for lunch. You stop and eat only to realize that you are out of food or out of something crucial that requires you to leave the house. This is the most dangerous step in procrastination, leaving the area that you need to be in. Leaving the house, the obligations of homework and duties don't weigh as heavily. So maybe you stop at the mall or shopping center for food, then Starbucks for dessert. Of course you can't just go home, you have to pick up some stuff and a little walking after food never hurt anyone. Two hours and forty-five dollars later, you're waiting for the line to the cash register with what you actually needed in the first place, checking your phone of the time. You start calculating. Ok, I have a test tomorrow and reading and an essay. Which one should I do first? I'll write the essay and take a break and study. I'll finish the essay and read until I pass out. Time is slowly becoming faster. No time for infomercials, it's crunch time. It feels like eternity getting home, you hit all the red lights, there's an accident on the highway, you are plagued with bad drivers. Finally you're home and you block Facebook for the rest of the night.

Monday rolls around and you skip your first hour lecture, despite needing to know the information, rush to your test (fail mildly), turn in your essay, finish the last of your reading (totally unabsorbed), try to discuss it, eat, nap, study, repeat.