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Health & Fitness

My Dog Ate My Summer Homework

Procrastination strikes once again. With the looming threat of school commencing, I struggle to complete my summer work in time.

My summer has come and passed, and I must now face the worst part of this vacation; the end. During the past three months, I have accomplished more than any previous summer. I lived with a family in France, ate at Bread Co., saw a performance at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, ate at Bread Co., attended journalism camp at Ball State University, ate at Bread Co., dropped my younger sister off at Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, ate at Bread Co., worked on the Back To School issue of The Kirkwood Call, ate at Bread Co., spent copious amounts of time with my friends and, you guessed it, ate at Bread Co.

At 7:50 on Wednesday morning, I return to Kirkwood High School to begin my junior year. I won't pretend like I won't miss the freedom (and the late curfew) that comes with summer. However, I feel ready to begin the most important year in my high school life. This is the year when the college searches begin, when I sign up for ACT and SAT classes and when my grades matter more than anything. However, I'm ready for it. My schedule looks awesome, my teachers are phenomenal and I look forward to starting this year with a clean slate.

Too bad I'm already behind.

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Unfortunately for me, during my many adventures in and out of town, I completely disregarded the summer assignments I have known about since late May. With two days left, I must read two 300 page books, write an essay, discuss the relevance of the title of one of the books, develop three 50 word papers about three good sentences from the other book, and complete a 100 page packet, which includes another three essays.

Here comes the panic attack.

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It seems impossible that this summer slipped away from me so quickly. And yet it happens every year. I'm a smart kid, but I've always had difficulty with procrastination. For several weeks, the incessant nagging of my parents of, "Don't you want to finish your summer work before you go out?" drove me up a wall. Now I'm kicking myself for not listening to them.

Nonetheless, I fail to see the reasoning behind summer assignments. For most teenagers, the gap between May, when hallways are emptied, and August, when we file back in, is enormous. We continue to think, "I can do that later," or, "I have time." Unfortunately, we don't. The last week of summer therefore is a miserable one, full of catching up and copying, completely defeating the purpose of summer assignments. It's impossible to assess anything about Lord of the Flies when you read it through teary, sleep-deprived, stressed out eyes.

My friends are packing up and heading off to college now, most with nothing to do to prepare for their upcoming classes. Several have to read a book. Yet I am forced to spend my last few days of freedom in front of my computer with Microsoft Word open, trying not to rip out my hair and pausing for nothing but bathroom breaks. The irony is all of my summer work is for college-level courses.

Yes, I'm a little bitter. It's my fault, I'm well aware, but it still sucks. But at this point, there is nothing else to do but grit my teeth, face the music and get it all done.

Just after one more trip to Bread Co.

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