Cross my Heart and Hope to Die, Stick a Needle in my... Thumb?

As many of you may know, there is a horrible illness sweeping the across the globe. It cripples your mind and body, draining all of the energy out of the infected until all they can do is sit on the couch and channel flip, the tiniest activity becoming as daunting as the prospect of climbing Everest. That's right, you know what I'm talking about:

Procrastinationitis.

No one's quite sure how the disease is spread. Researchers are working hard to develop a cure, but so far they have been unsuccessful. So, if you are unlucky enough to become infected, you're pretty much doomed.

I have been living with Procrastinationitis for the majority of my young life. I caught it in the 8th grade, most likely from another student (schools are a breeding ground for germs you know) and have been suffering ever since. Ah yes, I remember the good old days in elementary school, when I actually finished assignments with time to spare and wanted to do exceptionally well in school. Nowadays it's a challenge just to lift my textbooks, let alone open them (although that may have to do less with procrastination and more with the fact that college text books are monstrously big).

Sometimes I think that maybe I've beaten it, that I've finally freed myself from this cursed disease. However, it always turns out that it was just lying dormant, and it hits me when I least expect it.

You know how whenever New Years comes around, people always think they can cure themselves of their afflictions?
"This year, I'm not gonna have more than two drinks with a meal!"
"This year, I'm gonna get over my fear of clowns!"

Well, I figured, why not give it a go, right? I've seen those resolutions work magic in the past; maybe this was the cure I've been looking for!

So, this was me less than two months ago:

"This year, I'm not going to procrastinate!! At all!!"

...

Yeah right.

That lasted about three days. Maybe a week... I can't remember the date I went back to school. But that's not important. What's important is that, once again, the lure of Procrastination has gotten me into trouble.

Here's the situation: Each quarter, people in the Theatre department at my school are supposed to do a certain number of hours of work for the shows, depending on which classes you're taking. I think the minimum amount of hours you have to get done is 10. Not so bad, right?

...I have to do 56. Hours.

By the tenth week of school.

We're about to start week eight.

So, naturally, I hadn't done anything yet.

When this realization hit me last week, I kind of had a little panic attack. Thankfully, there was one solution. Not so thankfully, it's kind of going to ruin any plans for catching up on my sleep I had previously made (I was obviously delusional; apparently if you're a Theatre major sleep is a foreign concept).

The solution (aka punishment) is that I work in the costume shop for the next two weeks straight on the show we have coming up. Now it's not that I don't like the costume shop; in fact, I actually really enjoy sewing, and the woman in charge is really great. It's the hours that really put me in a pickle.

See, I was planning on going home this weekend and next weekend. No no, not for a leisurely visit (pft, I wish), but in order to work on my audition pieces for the auditions for the spring productions. The auditions are on March 1st. I live in an apartment with three other girls, surrounded by other apartments with very thin walls, and for some reason people don't seem to appreciate me talking loudly to myself at odd hours. I'm pretty sure one of my roommates thinks I'm insane already; I really don't need anything reinforcing that belief in her (she just moved in... I should at least pretend to seem somewhat normal for a while, right?).

So that plan is royally screwed. But I suppose that's what I get for waiting so long to get started. I did my first "shift" in the shop today (we don't actually take turns, there are only two of us so we both have to be there the whole time) and stabbed my fingers probably 30+ times (I lost track after 20 or so). I also discovered that working with velcro is a PAIN IN THE... rear.

I've decided that this is not going to happen next quarter, no sir, no way! In fact, starting right now, I'm making a ReNewed Years Resolution (...I'm sure that's allowed, right?). AHEM.

From this day forward, I will not procrastinate for the rest of the school year!

...Alright, let's see how long that lasts. I'm gonna put my money on a week.

...Well, at least if I had any money that's where I'd put it.

5 hours down, 51 hours to go.