Posterous theme by Cory Watilo

Fall Break: The Aftermath

A bank of ominous dark clouds glared at me from their place in the sky as I stood puzzled on the top of Southern’s trademark stony steps. Something was missing. Cars were still lined up in the parking lot, buildings still stood in place, and trees were still hunkered into the ground, but everyone had gone. The campus was empty.

I was alone.

I stopped for a moment and listened to the eerie silence, which was broken occasionally by the rustle of leaves in the wind.  I felt like I was the brave protagonist who stays behind in one of those movies where everyone has evacuated a city due to some impending danger. This would be the calm before the storm – the moment when I whispered the clichéd phrase: “It’s quiet… too quiet…” The only thing I was missing now was a jaw-droppingly gorgeous female co-star who would chose to follow me into any form of danger, despite the fact that we’d probably only met a day or two earlier.

A cold breeze woke me out of my daydream, and I continued my journey down the lengthy steps, knowing full well that there were no fast-paced car chases or fiery explosions in my future. The only thing I had to look forward to was studying for hours under a dim light, hoping to get a head start on all the assignments yet to come.

From the moment I found out about fall break, I had planned to use it as a study period. Unfortunately, as everyone has figured out sometime or the other, things don’t always go according to plan. When my exploration of the deserted school had ended, I decided to check up on my friends before I got to work. I walked into their room and plainly stated that I was only staying for a few minutes. I left a little after midnight.

The next morning, I woke up determined to make up for the time I had lost the day before. I stuck my nose in a book, and got a decent amount of work done. Sometime around lunch, however, I got the deluded idea that I could visit my friends without getting stuck in their room again. As you can probably guess, history repeated itself.

This should be the end of the story. Yes, I procrastinated, but it was fun (as procrastination usually always is) and I didn’t have anything serious to do. The story could have ended here – should have ended here, but it didn’t. Unfortunately, the plot thickens. As I was hanging out with my friends in the room that was way too familiar to me by now, I remembered that I had gotten homework that was due on Monday. I was about to push the thought to the back of my mind when I remembered that I also had a quiz the same day. All of a sudden, everything that had to do with school came flooding back into my brain. I realized for the first time that I was way behind, and had I left right then and there, everything would have been fine.

Instead, I ensured myself that everything would be fine and decided that I should relax for one more night before I confined myself to my room. Alas, the plot gets even thicker. The next morning, I forgot all about the previous night’s realization and spent the better half of the day unknowingly procrastinating. I probably would not have remembered my massive workload if I hadn’t seen some guys in the dorm working on their own projects for the first time in days. Apparently, I’m not the only one who forgot.

Anyways, it’s just about time to cue the music and roll the credits. For all of you who engaged in skydiving, crocodile hunting, or any other dangerous activity during the break, it’s great to see you back in one piece. I hope you all enjoy what remains of the semester.

[Cue Music]

[Roll Credits]