Tests bring out the worst in me. Not an understatement. But testing should actually bring out the best in us right? It should assess our current level of intelligence and we should do our best to make the result as best as possible. And when the actual paper test is in front of me, I almost always do well. With pencil (or pen) in hand, I surrender my brain to the inevitable and get it over with. All in all, I have always been considered to be a good tester. But the preparation for the tests? That always brings out my bad side.
Back in high school, I used to trash the whole basement whenever I had finals. My excuse that it was finals and I was too stressed to worry about having to pick up after myself. But the truth? I find it extremely relaxing to be able to throw my stuff wherever I want to throw it. I don’t feel at home until I can throw a piece of paper on the floor and be able to leave it there for a week or two, or until whenever I decide that I want to pick it up. Yes I know. My roommates inform me that I am a nightmare to live with, and now I am attempting to improve on that particularly horrible aspect of my personality. I will even throw the skirt and jacket under my desk in the laundry tonight. But whatever. Different topic.
Unfortunately, the increase in my sloppiness is not the only one of my negative traits that increase while under the duress of preparing for a test. I usually sit in front of my computer while doing my homework, and somehow, during the week before a test, I begin checking my facebook/twitter/google reader/google+ at least 3x more than usual. I also tend to write more random and unnecessary blog posts to procrastinate on doing any real work (see current blog post as proof). But things start getting pretty insane whenever I get plugged into my computer. I blast my music (w/ my headphones so as to not disturb my roommates. See? I’m not that bad!), I get on some site like www.zmovie.tv and stream and watch movies to procrastinate on doing work, I decide that NOW would be a good time to have a Chuck/Smallville/HIMYM/The Office marathon (a hint? It’s not. At all). I used to watch old celebrity interviews on YouTube to “de-stress”. And that is always my excuse. I have to “de-stress”. Before my calculus exam, I chowed down on six twix bars in two days. And I don’t even know what else I ate. Today I managed to down a half a carton of vanilla ice cream (it really helps with stress if you eat ice cream out of the carton with a spoon). If I actually decide to get out of the house to “de-stress”, I usually end up at the mall spending money.
Whatever. Hopefully I will be more productive tomorrow. Test is on Monday and I really have to concentrate tomorrow. There is so much to do. Way too much time for me to waste.
Tonight, at least, I am proud to be a procrastinator! Tomorrow, probably not so much. Especially because I just wrote a blog post about all my personality traits that I personally despise the most. What’s that future Joy? I’m an idiot? Thanks!