I've Put This Off Long Enough

When I was a junior in high school, I enrolled in a class called the American Experience.  It was a double block class that was a combination of English and History taught by two teachers.  The assignments intertwined, and the grades were combined.  It was worth double the credits, thus it offered double the risk and reward.  The class wasn't quite advanced placement, but it was an honors course (to a degree). 

One of the most important aspects of AmEx was time management, or so the teachers would have their students believe.  I'm sure this was true for most students.  In order to prove their point, the teachers (I had Mrs. Grengs and Mrs. Peterson) created an assignment that's sole purpose was to prevent procrastination and force students to work over time.  AmEx had 7 themes.  I can't recall them today, but I'm sure they made sense at the time.  The assignment was to collect articles from the local newspaper, clip five articles for each theme, write a summary of each article and how it related to the particular theme, then write a summary of each section/theme.  All of the articles had to be bound.  250 points were possible.  No late assignments would be accepted.  If you were sick, you'd better make sure that your parents turned it in for you.  To ensure that no begging would happen, Grengs and Peterson took the day off.

I laughed at the assignment, thinking it would be easy.  I decided to wait until the night before the assignment to begin.

That evening, I worked until about 8:00.  I got home, showered to get the smell of grease off me (more about my first job later), and I grabbed the stack of newspapers my family had received over the last week or so.  After the first hour, realizing that I didn't have a way to bind my project, I brewed a pot of coffee.  I found construction paper.  I punched holes in 42 pages (5 articles times 7 themes plus 5 theme summaries and a front and back cover).  I bound the pages with shoe laces, and I began to look for my 35 articles.  After about 10 or so, I brewed another pot of coffee.  And another.

By 3:00am, I was half way through my fourth pot.  I couldn't see straight.  I was jittery.  I decided to go to sleep, if only for a few hours.  My alarm went off at 5:00.  It was a Wednesday, so I had barbershop rehearsal at 6:30.  I worked for another half hour or so before rehearsal, then I worked for another few minutes before I remembered that I had a pre-calculus exam first period.  Obviously, I hadn't studied.

AmEx was during second and third periods.  I still had a ways to go on my project, but it wasn't due until the end of third period.  The substitute put on some movie; I don't remember which, but it wasn't The Lion King (more on that later).  All I remember was asking Winnie Brodt to help me search for articles.  I handed her a stack of newspapers; she clipped, and I wrote summaries.  I wrote my last summary as the movie ended and the dismissal bell rang.  I tied the shoe laces, and I dropped my project on the cart, turning it in.

I immediately went to the nurse's office to sleep.  I was jittery and nauseous.  I missed choir fourth period.  I was fried.

I got a 245/250.  An A. 

I learned that procrastination isn't the end of the world, even if you feel like your world is ending as soon as you're done.