Procrastination: A necessary evil

Rebecca Andrus -- Staff Column

I don't know about other people, but I for one am a Grade A slacker and proud of it.

Avoiding work is one of the things I do best. I have perfected the act of procrastinating. One might go as far as to say I have turned it into an art. Not to brag or anything.

Being allergic to work, I have, over the years come up with many wonderful ways to rationalize my irresponsible behavior. I tell myself that I am too stressed, that I need a break, that I deserve to treat myself with a little rest, I can finish whatever it is that needs to be done later, or that that paper is going to be easy. I have to get out of my room before I go stir crazy. After all, five hundred pages isn't that much to read in a night. Homework, cleaning, even phone calls or writing letters to friends are all secondary after I have myself talked into a good laze.

Avoiding actually accomplishing anything leaves me with a great deal of time to kick back, relax, and do whatever the heck it is I want to do, such as... stuff. Yes. Lots of important stuff that needs doing. Like... Take for instance... Give me a second. I'm sure I'll think of something. Oh, I know! I take time for me. I kill brain cells online. Warping my sense of reality with cartoons is even better. Sometimes I get ambitious and draw or write something. And stuff. Can't forget stuff.

You know you're desperate not to do something when you actually consider doing homework instead. Especially if what you are avoiding IS homework — in a different subject, of course.

The reason for all this time-wasting is probably a deep-seated psychological flaw, but I'm going to blame it all on something we can all hate: tofu. Yes, tofu is the reason I would rather watch anime than read my Sociology assignment. It is fairly obvious as to why. If you don't know already, then I'm not going to tell you. So there.

Seriously, though, procrastination isn't good. Few things strike terror into me, and one of those things is last-minute panic. Researching and writing a five-page paper in under four hours is pretty impressive, but it's not worth the near-death experiences. If given a choice, one should try to do things promptly, thus avoiding any heart-failures caused from stress the night before a term paper is due.

It still is important to relax once in a while though. Some people I've seen never seem to take a breather. It's just study, study, study all day long. You have to take time to unwind or any benefit that comes from having all your work done is lost. Sometimes brain cells need a little killing. It's like deer hunting. You have to thin out the herd. So remember to take a little time this midterm to kick back and forget you have an assignment due tomorrow at 8 a.m. After all, you deserve a break.

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