Column: Crunch time has arrived

Note: This column originally appeared in The Chanticleer, the student newspaper of Jacksonville State University, on Thursday, April 10, 2014. 

When I was growing up, Halloween was sometimes an all-day affair. More than once, my brothers and I would literally decide hours before festivities or trick-or-treating began what we would wear that night. And more than once, my mother would question why we waited until the last minute as she painted makeup onto our faces or sewed patches onto our jeans. But it was almost an adrenaline rush that came from waking up on October 31 and digging through every theater prop and article of clothing in the house to piece together a costume. We were creative and resourceful, we learned how to make something comprehensive out of the chaos in our closets, and we created lasting memories. 

Now that spring break has passed and finals are less than two weeks away, we students are feeling the adrenaline rush that comes with crunch time. Freshmen will be frantically trying to cram for comprehensive exams. Seniors don't remember what comprehensive exams are, because they're too busy applying for jobs and scheduling exit interviews to care about much else. And everyone is spending just a little too much time on Buzzfeed than they need to. 

In the midst of this rush - this working on three major projects for school, hunting for an apartment 10 hours away, managing a school newspaper and preparing for graduation - my computer crashed last week. Thus applies Murphy's Law of college: If it can happen to make crunch time more difficult, it will happen to make crunch time more difficult. This is the time of the semester when laptops crash, wifi routers stop working and you inevitably get a stomach virus. 

Before I succumbed to the idea that my work was gone forever, I called my IT guy. He calmly assured me that while he can't fix the hard drive, he can extract the data I need from it. 

Buying a new laptop is future Kara's problem, but for now, I'm able to pick up where I left off on these school projects and am not having to start from scratch. (Thank goodness!) 

So before you have a meltdown while making flashcards, camping in the library, or writing a 12-page research paper the night before it's due only to find that your printer is out of ink, take heart. Remember that it's not the end of the world; it's just intermission. At the end of this stressful road lies a glorious summer. Your reward may be parading across the football field on the night of graduation, or perhaps relaxing by the pool while you work on the tan you lost from sitting in a classroom all year. 

In other words, if you are a follower of the traditional college-kid method of procrastination, the last week of class is your Halloween. You wake up one morning and realize that time has snuck up on you and you've got stuff to prepare for. 

But it's alright. Just open another pack of Skittles, down another latte, and keep working. You've got this.