Friday, December 02, 2005

On all-nighters

Sometimes you go out, pockets full of speed and dance all night long.

Sometimes you go to a bar, drink your face off, and end up at some random person's house to have a one-time fuck fest all night long.

Other times you go out with the intention of having just a few beers and end up at random locations doing ridiculous things all night long.

But most of the time, when you are a student, you end up leaving everything until the last twelve hours before the due-date and end up in front of the computer all... night.... long.

But most of the time, these students, are aware of the actual due date for the assignment and spend the last twelve hours before the due date typing frantically.

Sometimes I am on time for appointments, sometimes I remember my plans and sometimes I do my laundry.

But most of the time I am late, I honestly forget what my commitments were and I rarely wash my clothes.

Most of the time I do my work during the last possible hours, usually the hours that I would rather be sleeping in my large, comfortable bed, which only seems larger and comfier when I'm sitting down the hall from my beautiful bed at four in the morning.

Most of the time, I know when my assignments are due so I can plan my schedule around them. This is very important to me. I am a woman of ritual.

example: Essay assigned October 1st, Duedate 9am November 1st. Procrastinate until 6pm October 31st. Run to library to research 7pm - 11pm. Simultaneously research and write from midnight to 8:30 am. Cab to school and hand in paper coughing from chain smoking, shaking from caffeine intake and bug-eyed from staring at the computer screen for 8 hours straight (I allotted half an hour for lighting cigarettes, refilling coffee, turning my head away from the computer screen to chug the coffee and going pee because that happens alot when you drink 2 pots of coffee in an 8 and a half hour period).

Most of the time, I get an A-range paper and I then I get ready for my next round of procrastinating.

This time, which definitely is not most of the time and I pray it doesn't turn into sometimes, I stayed up all night working on an assignment when it wasn't due the next morning. It wasn't even due the next afternoon. It was due four days later.

When you don't go to class much, the course syllabus becomes more holy and sacred than the Bible. In fact, I think it should be cast in stone. This supposed extension that was given went outside the Holy Syllabus and I was left in the dark clutching a coffee stained, softened syllabus that told me the old due date.

Thursday morning, feeling accomplished and satisfied having completed my ritual, I jolted into class coughing, shaking and much more bug-eyed than usual because I scored a Dexedrine tablet from my roommate for a touch of performance enhancement. The come down off my caffeine/Dexedrine high numbed the crushing news of the postponed due-date, so no tears were shed. That would have been embarrassing considering that most of the time students jump for joy at extensions and sometimes they simply sit in quiet relief. Crying would be extremely far from those two normal reactions, and quite frankly, I had already had enough of going out of the norm for one day.

Most of the time I feel relieved after handing in something. Sometimes I feel proud. This time I feel cheated out of what could have been a well-deserved night of sleep.

I suppose the only thing to do is continue procrastinating until the next assignment is due.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

ugh! This is absolutely my life! And an excellent account of it, too. Carry on. This is great.

Anonymous said...

Ahh yes... all-nighters! I performed many, many of those during my 6-stint at Marianopolis College (in social studies/commerce) + Dawson College (in graphic design).
Whether it was for writing essays for my English Literature or Drama classes, painting a canvas for my Color & Composition class, or designing a magazine layout for my Typography class, Mr. Procrastinate was my name and staying-awake-all-night-in-front-of-my-computer-thanks-to-coffee,-cigarettes-and-Wake-Up-pills was my game.
Of course, the next day in class would often be spend passed out and snoring on my desk, with a puddle of drool smearing the ink of my notes or sketches.
(And, oh yea - the same used to apply when it came time for studying for mid-terms or finals)
Good times... good times!

Anonymous said...

Oops... I meant to write "6-year stint", not "6-stint".
My bad.