"The Definition of Insanity is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results" - Albert Einstein

Sunday, November 21, 2010

My Three Vices: Shopping, Coffee and Blogging

I'm beginning to think I have retail therapy issues. Actually, that's a lie. I've been thinking I have retail therapy issues for years, except I sort of thought it was a joke, but now I'm sure it's real. Which isn't really a bad thing because if one is going to need therapy, it is a lot cheaper in the long run to go treat themselves to coffee or a new pair of boots when they feel overwhelmed by school work than it is to spend 30 bucks an hour laying on a couch being asked how everything makes them feel.

For the record, I mean no disrespect towards anyone who is in therapy, has ever been in therapy or works as a therapist. Just not for me right now. Granted, after this upcoming week who knows if I'll need therapy or not, but I'm not gonna worry about that until a week from now.

But anyways: Retail Therapy. I'm pretty sure if this was a condition on WebMD I could self diagnose myself with it. Characterized by being stressed out by school work or impending busy-ness and solved by a trip to the mall or the use of debit card. My condition became most obvious to me this past Friday, because I was feeling stressed out by the amount of school work I had to do, and then I went to the mall with my mom and bought new clothes, and then I felt immediately better. Until I woke up this morning and realized that my trip to the mall meant I hadn't done any homework this entire weekend, so I felt stressed out again, and then I drove to the Caribou Coffee on Lane Avenue and treated myself to a Hazelnut Iced Latte while I usurped their free internet and now I feel loads better.

This could possibly by overlapping my caffeine addiction issues as well, but they are sort of linked in that I spend money on coffee, I feel better, I drink coffee, I feel better, and everyone in this situation (namely me) wins.

Also, I have discovered what the principle problem of writing in coffee shops is. Drinking coffee makes you have to go to the toilet. But when you write in coffee shops, you have your computer with you. So then you don’t want to use the toilet because you have to leave your computer in a room full of strangers, and lets be serious, it could be gone in less than 30 seconds because it is a laptop, and they are the most un-theft proof of all electronics, but you don’t want to have to pack up everything you have with you and take it to the bathroom because it’s a hassle and because someone else could steal your spot and then you’d have to set up again in a completely new spot or leave. Writing in coffee shops is a freaking Catch 22.

I can't wait for this quarter to be over. I only have three weeks left now, which is so close, and yet so far. This upcoming weekend should be a nice break, I'll just have to get through the week first. I'm working every single night until Friday, and on Tuesday there are going to be about 500 crazy drunks in my building who I will be charged with making sure don't die of hypothermia or alcohol poisoning AKA Mirror Lake Night.

For anyone who doesn't know about Mirror Lake Night, it is this awesome night of the year for everyone in the world who isn't a Resident Advisor on Ohio State's Campus, where students jump in to Mirror Lake during Beat M!ch!g@n Week to awaken the spirit of Woody Hayes so that we will be victorious over M!ch!g@n in the Saturday football game. I jumped as a freshman and it was one of the most awesome and memorable experiences of that whole year, and will probably be in my top 5 college experiences total. Just to put things in perspective, last year, approximately 12,000 people went to the Mirror Lake Jump between the hours of 8 pm and 1 am, either as jumpers or spectators. It is unreal.

Mirror Lake Jump Video From Last Year

Except that when you are the RA, you are the person actually in charge of making sure hundreds of freshman who don't know any better don't drink themselves into a blacked out stupor and then try to swim in the lake because they will catch hypothermia and die, and it is never fun to have to call an ambulance for freshman, because it is usually for stupid reasons.

But as a bonus, I won't have any classes the following Wednesday, so even though I'll be stressed out all day/night/until 4 am when I'm allowed to sleep on Tuesday, I can spend all of Wednesday at the mall, drinking coffee and shopping so that my sanity returns to me.

I hope the government never bans caffeine.

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