First-Year Student Journals : Katie : Journal 12

Top Five Caffeinated Drinks That All College Students Should Invest In (And/Or Have a Very Large Stock Of)

Frappuccinos—I prefer the mocha kind myself, but really it’s whichever you prefer, except vanilla. Unless you’re allergic to the others, there’s really no excuse for vanilla.

Red Bull—Specifically the sugar-free kind. I find that it tastes much better than the regular version, which is a bit hard to drink, unless you take it in shots.

Coke—I recommend diet, mainly because it avoids those excess calories that you really don’t need. Who needs help gaining the Freshman 15? My advice: avoid it whenever possible.

Coffee—The straight stuff. Add all the sugar and cream you want, but nothing beats a couple (or 10) of coffees. There’s enough caffeine in those suckers to make your heart beat faster.

Starbucks Double Shots—Now, I know you’re thinking I’m a Starbucks junkie (well, I am), but these things work wonders. They pack the same punch as a double shot of espresso but taste infinitely better than that bitter stuff. They add cream and sugar and they taste darn good, especially when you’re too tired to care anymore. These can keep you going for hours, like the Energizer bunny.

Top Five Excuses For Not Observing Daylight-Saving Time

You don’t believe in time and therefore feel no need to observe the idiosyncratic tendencies of a strange species that runs around calling itself the “human race.”

You forgot.

Spring forward? Oh, you thought it was spring backward, fall forward.

You’re nocturnal anyway, so why on earth would you need to save daylight?

You were asleep at the time.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

So what do May flowers bring? PILGRIMS!

It’s almost that time again, y’all. Yes, that’s correct, it’s almost time for...the end of the semester

Reporting live from your local dorm room, our embedded freshman reporter Katie has some interesting developments.

Thanks. All right, well, as you can tell, it is beginning to dawn on some students that, yes, we recently lost an hour of time due to the time thief, as these crazed, often over-stressed students are running around saying. What really happened was daylight-saving time, but we try not to explain it to them...exploding heads could get messy.

Anyhow, many of them are looking stressed out as a slew of midterms and the scary, horrific three-week mark have come. Yes, there are only three more weeks in the semester and most students just realized this...three more weeks until finals and they’re beginning to think that maybe they should begin studying all the material that they didn’t really learn in the first place. Then they think better of it and continue to flip out rather than do anything about it.

But that is, of course, what goes on after dark. We are here in the daytime when things are amazingly quiet. Yes, let’s peek in this room here, and sure enough, asleep. Just returned from a hard day of class and resting in order to prepare for the long night ahead. You see, as a result of daylight-saving time and college in general, all of the students have turned nocturnal and do all of their work at night and sleep during the day, in between classes. Some might say that this is a rather unhealthy lifestyle (and it is), but despite all of their best efforts to correct it, they just can’t seem to keep their eyes from closing.

Let’s interview one student who has just awakened. Hi, yes, you! We would like to interview you, questions about your lifestyle and activities.

First of all, why have you become nocturnal?

“Noc—what? Huh? Oh yeah. Well, you know how they say teenagers work better at night? Well, we do, so I decided that I might utilize my time better if I worked at my optimal work time. Actually, that’s not true. It’s because I’m lazy and the best way to justify avoiding work in the day is to say that I’m going to stay up all night to do it. So I sleep during the day and work at night.”

So the truth comes out. Do you spend all night working?

“Well, no. The other best excuse for avoiding work is socializing, which is what I’m on my way to do right now, actually. I’m going to see if anyone is hungry and we’ll go spend about an hour eating, then come back and probably play video games or watch TV because it is TV night after all. Then, at about midnight or so, we’ll start doing work.”

And this works for y’all?

“Well, we get our work done and we’re doing pretty well in our classes. Anyway, I don’t have time to talk right now. I’ve got to eat dinner before Friends comes on.”

Well, thank you for your time.

So you see the night life of a college student is not really one of partying, but rather work, work, work. And we thought the reason they slept all day was because they were being lazy. Oh look, here’s another one.

Hi, can we interview you?

“WHAT? Are you crazy? I have a term paper and three finals to study for!”

But that’s not for another three weeks, right?

“Oh, so you think everyone around here’s a slacker? You think everyone’s a procrastinator?”

Yes, actually.

“Well, you’re right, we are. But I’m trying to change that, so I’m pretending like everything’s due in a week so that when I burn out from doing all this work ahead of time I’ll actually have something done before I start the brunt of it all a couple of days before exams. It sounded like a good idea at the time, but if I don’t run around like a headless chicken now, I’m going to burn out immediately and be no better off than if I had kept my old habits.”

Thanks for your time and have a lovely evening.

Well, it seems as though we have gotten all sides of the story. Wait, yes?

“What about the people who are good, responsible students? Have you interviewed any of them?”

Well, we’ve tried, but we can’t seem to find them. Do you know of one?

“No. Sorry. I just wanted to get on TV! Hi, mom!”

And on that note, this is Katie, signing off.



	Katie \| Profile \| Reflections \| Journal 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Fall 2002 \| Home
	Top Five Caffeinated Drinks That All College Students Should Invest In (And/Or Have a Very Large Stock Of) Frappuccinos—I prefer the mocha kind myself, but really it’s whichever you prefer, except vanilla. Unless you’re allergic to the others, there’s really no excuse for vanilla. Red Bull—Specifically the sugar-free kind. I find that it tastes much better than the regular version, which is a bit hard to drink, unless you take it in shots. Coke—I recommend diet, mainly because it avoids those excess calories that you really don’t need. Who needs help gaining the Freshman 15? My advice: avoid it whenever possible. Coffee—The straight stuff. Add all the sugar and cream you want, but nothing beats a couple (or 10) of coffees. There’s enough caffeine in those suckers to make your heart beat faster. Starbucks Double Shots—Now, I know you’re thinking I’m a Starbucks junkie (well, I am), but these things work wonders. They pack the same punch as a double shot of espresso but taste infinitely better than that bitter stuff. They add cream and sugar and they taste darn good, especially when you’re too tired to care anymore. These can keep you going for hours, like the Energizer bunny. Top Five Excuses For Not Observing Daylight-Saving Time You don’t believe in time and therefore feel no need to observe the idiosyncratic tendencies of a strange species that runs around calling itself the “human race.” You forgot. Spring forward? Oh, you thought it was spring backward, fall forward. You’re nocturnal anyway, so why on earth would you need to save daylight? You were asleep at the time. April Showers Bring May Flowers So what do May flowers bring? PILGRIMS! It’s almost that time again, y’all. Yes, that’s correct, it’s almost time for...the end of the semester Reporting live from your local dorm room, our embedded freshman reporter Katie has some interesting developments. Thanks. All right, well, as you can tell, it is beginning to dawn on some students that, yes, we recently lost an hour of time due to the time thief, as these crazed, often over-stressed students are running around saying. What really happened was daylight-saving time, but we try not to explain it to them...exploding heads could get messy. Anyhow, many of them are looking stressed out as a slew of midterms and the scary, horrific three-week mark have come. Yes, there are only three more weeks in the semester and most students just realized this...three more weeks until finals and they’re beginning to think that maybe they should begin studying all the material that they didn’t really learn in the first place. Then they think better of it and continue to flip out rather than do anything about it. But that is, of course, what goes on after dark. We are here in the daytime when things are amazingly quiet. Yes, let’s peek in this room here, and sure enough, asleep. Just returned from a hard day of class and resting in order to prepare for the long night ahead. You see, as a result of daylight-saving time and college in general, all of the students have turned nocturnal and do all of their work at night and sleep during the day, in between classes. Some might say that this is a rather unhealthy lifestyle (and it is), but despite all of their best efforts to correct it, they just can’t seem to keep their eyes from closing. Let’s interview one student who has just awakened. Hi, yes, you! We would like to interview you, questions about your lifestyle and activities. First of all, why have you become nocturnal? “Noc—what? Huh? Oh yeah. Well, you know how they say teenagers work better at night? Well, we do, so I decided that I might utilize my time better if I worked at my optimal work time. Actually, that’s not true. It’s because I’m lazy and the best way to justify avoiding work in the day is to say that I’m going to stay up all night to do it. So I sleep during the day and work at night.” So the truth comes out. Do you spend all night working? “Well, no. The other best excuse for avoiding work is socializing, which is what I’m on my way to do right now, actually. I’m going to see if anyone is hungry and we’ll go spend about an hour eating, then come back and probably play video games or watch TV because it is TV night after all. Then, at about midnight or so, we’ll start doing work.” And this works for y’all? “Well, we get our work done and we’re doing pretty well in our classes. Anyway, I don’t have time to talk right now. I’ve got to eat dinner before Friends comes on.” Well, thank you for your time. So you see the night life of a college student is not really one of partying, but rather work, work, work. And we thought the reason they slept all day was because they were being lazy. Oh look, here’s another one. Hi, can we interview you? “WHAT? Are you crazy? I have a term paper and three finals to study for!” But that’s not for another three weeks, right? “Oh, so you think everyone around here’s a slacker? You think everyone’s a procrastinator?” Yes, actually. “Well, you’re right, we are. But I’m trying to change that, so I’m pretending like everything’s due in a week so that when I burn out from doing all this work ahead of time I’ll actually have something done before I start the brunt of it all a couple of days before exams. It sounded like a good idea at the time, but if I don’t run around like a headless chicken now, I’m going to burn out immediately and be no better off than if I had kept my old habits.” Thanks for your time and have a lovely evening. Well, it seems as though we have gotten all sides of the story. Wait, yes? “What about the people who are good, responsible students? Have you interviewed any of them?” Well, we’ve tried, but we can’t seem to find them. Do you know of one? “No. Sorry. I just wanted to get on TV! Hi, mom!” And on that note, this is Katie, signing off.