I'm getting too old for this…stuff. Sunday night, I did what I swore I'd never do again, and that's pull an all-nighter. I had to write a 500 to 750-word book review. No big deal. I knocked that out in about 45 minutes. The kicker was not starting to read the 250-page book till 5 p.m. on the evening before it was due.
Why did I wait till the last minute? I'll admit I'm a procrastinator, but there's also that pesky thing called life that keeps getting in the way. I like to spend time with my wife. I like to play with my dog, visit my parents, and watch Curb Your Enthusiasm with my best friend. I act in plays and write columns for two different newspapers. And then there are the everyday things that have to be done while the wife is working to put me through college such as cooking, cleaning, and going to the market. Add to that commuting fifty miles and spending half the day in class three days a week, and then having to read volumes for each class. It can wear a body down quickly.
I'm thirteen years older than the majority of my classmates. That might not sound like much, but wait till you get there. It's an effort for me to stay up past midnight anymore, no matter what time I got up. After a while, something has to go on the back burner, and for me it was my book review. I'm certainly not advocating neglecting one's studies, but it was the choice I made.
When I attended ECU eleven years ago, I could start writing a major paper the night before it was due, knock off around 4 a.m., get four hours of sleep, and go to school the next day, and it wouldn't even faze me. My eyelids wouldn't droop once, and I'd at least get a B on the paper.
Monday, I felt like I was in Neverland (Peter Pan's version, not Michael Jackson's), and all my professors probably thought I was coming off a three-day drunk. I'll probably be lucky to get a Q on the book review, much less an F.
I think young college students get a bad rap. People older than I think they're lazy, and that they spend too much time partying and not enough time studying. Hey, if you can have any kind of life and then stay up all night reading a book and/or writing a paper, and still be able to function the next day and make a passing grade, then my hat's off to you because I just can't do it anymore.
© 2007 by J.D. Lewis
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