Another topic that came up during study group yesterday was the topic of "stupid crap that you do that seemed like a good idea at the time, but really wasn't."
For example:
Somewhere along the line I picked up this insane routine where I would study/write papers until 4:30 AM and sleep until class at 10 AM. Sometimes it was for a legitimate reason, like if a 10-page midterm paper was due 1-2 days after several science midterms, and no way in hell was I going to sacrifice precious time writing a stupid paper. MOST of the time it was out of pure stupidity. I would sleep at 4:30, wake up at 7, walk around the corner for a triple shot latte, walk back to my room and sleep until 9:30 to study. Then, I would take a nap from 4 PM-7 PM. Sleeping a full 8 hours and then studying the rest of the day didn't occur to me. I don't know how I survived...Actually, that whole quarter/year was a blur. I have no idea what the hell I was studying for at the time. I didn't do this everyday - only during midterms and finals. The problem with that was that professors didn't understand the concept of the MIDterm, so we actually had thirdterms in addition to finals, which means that I followed this routine for a week every three weeks.
Another time, I was forty minutes late for a two-hour midterm because I overslept. Luckily, this was an Environmental Horticulture class, another student was a full 60 minutes late AND I did well on the midterm, so other than being embarrassed it all worked out.
In freshman year, I joined a sorority because I was full of optimism and wanted to do something different. I also thought, "Hey these girls seem unique and ethnically diverse, which means that they're open-minded and kewl and not the stereotypical sorority." NON! After a while I felt like I was in middle school all over again, helplessly flailing and being sucked into a pit filled with hormones and angst...like quicksand. If it was possible, I would smack my freshman self with a stinky wet slab of rotting tuna and tell past-me to get a job or something. From a positive standpoint, I did make a few lasting friendships out of the whole experience, but aside from a few select individuals, the others were poisonous.
I started to notice an "us or them" mentality that wasn't healthy. Meetings lasted hours because they couldn't decide on a color for some stupid banner. ("I want navy blue" "Nooo I want royal blue" "GAH. TAKE THIS PRISM. YOU CAN MAKE ALL THE COLORS OF THE FRICKIN' RAINBOW!!!") My friend and I got a lot of crap for not having the energy for "study group" in the library when we had literally just finished a five hour lab and had not been home since sun up. No, W, the "OChem for non-science majors" that your friend took is not even frickin' 20% as hard as "OChem for science majors" and no, I'm not sleeping on my book. It's called osmosis and if I plug one ear with my earphones, the knowledge will stay in my brain.
I was relieved when I left. I picked up another internship on weekends, and also found a job at the campus gym. Working the 9PM - 1AM shift in a gym that smelled like B.O. for $7.25 an hour felt like paradise.
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