Sitting in the library cramming for an exam has become a commonplace for my daily life over the past three years. I am sure many students can identify.There are study guides masking the table with shuffling hands trying to find the answer to one practice problem – the problem that will decide whether I pass or fail the exam the following day.

The idea of spending hours in an enclosed building that houses countless works of literature and research, written by men and women in the same spot that I am now, makes me nauseous.

I will eventually begin to stare out the window, after 15 minutes of hardcore studying. I look at the parking-meter attendant.

He grimaces as he further enforces the law and makes another student hate the prospect of his existence. Then, I begin to ponder how someone like that would even want to sign up for that job.

The possibility of an MBA for time keeping in parking lots begins to manifest. I imagine a group of like-minded students sitting in a room with a teacher who orders them to repeat the parking enforcement credo.

These “monitors in training” are meant to control the order of the lot and not to show emotion for the slightest bit. They are to be cold-blooded like Reggie Miller in the fourth quarter or Ben Roethlisberger at a nightclub.

My thought process leads me back to the wooden chair in the library where I sit. I have now spent 30 of my 45 minutes in the library thinking about things that have nothing to do with monetary economics or anything that will aid myself in being a productive member of society.

I turn to the computer to begin looking over material online.

Soon after, my mouse finds a way to make a new tab and YouTube appears on the screen. Suddenly my mind fixates on watching trailers for every movie coming out in the next five to 10 years.

Along with this, I am checking out highlight tapes of Barry Sanders from middle school and bringing up new tabs to find music that would go along with him working his way down the field.

As I begin to come back to the original purpose of opening up the laptop, I see that if I liked the video of Ronaldo scoring from 75 yards away from the goal, then it recommends that I watch pugs dancing with baby polar bears.

It is an amazing collaboration of the coolest furry creatures on the earth and this eventually leads me to an hour long documentary on how the emergence of seals on the west coach of Mozambique can actually help save Mother Gaia, as it is called in the Sundance Channel film.

I now have about two hours until the library closes.

As I pick up a homework assignment to look over, I feel the urge to check my e-mail and I have 78 new notifications because two people are having a conversation about one of the pictures that I commented on earlier on facebook.

Naturally, I have to check to see if what they are talking about is dealing with Monetary Economics.

I’m lead back to my home page in discouragement, but there is so much more going on that studying does not have to offer.

So, from replying to wall posts to seeing what kind of new planets people are buying on solarville, Facebook allows me to break free from the confines of studying for a few moments.

Those moments turn into an announcement that the library will be closing in 30 minutes.

A sigh of disappointment fills my mind like a Japanese cartoon as I look up and a friend has sent me a message via chat.

“It’s ‘make a mockery of yourself Monday,’ you down?”

I have another 16 hours until my exam.

The books will still be here when I get back. I guess I will partake in some non-study activities before I get on the right path and make something of myself.

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