the study distractions

Yes Oh Yes. Its that happy time of year once again. Of course, I am referring to finals! I always found it to be painfully ironic that "Fall Semester Finals" come at the same time as the "holiday season." It seems that the rest of the country is constantly buying presents, decorating trees and houses, and going to special concerts and shows---while students are locking themselves in libraries and pulling all nighters over and over again. Something about this dichotomy strikes me as quite unfair. Nevertheless, I guess at the end of the day, we students will be able to cash in on all these long hours, and enjoy our holiday season with the rest of America. Nevertheless, it sure is bad right now.

Actually, I remember when I spent 3 years and 6 semesters in YU, that all the secular schools had finals, while we just did nothing at all. I would laugh as I read all these people's away messages that said things like "FINALLLS OMG!!!" or "3 down, 1 to go" and other gay things like that. Then I would wonder why I was taking up a significan portion of my day reading other away messages. Then I would get depressed. In any event, YU decided to start finals later than everyone else in the world so that they could give us a "reading week." Its very unclear what the purpose of this week was. Its very bizzare that the one school that does not need to give extra preparation time for study, gives an entire week. I know that in law school, we aren't getting any such "reading week", and I sure could use one right about now. Which brings me to my next point - all the distractions that I am battling today.

Mom- I know you want me to study hard and do well, and even I must admit- I also want to do well. So I knew that this day was going to be a non-stop study marathon. I have planned a strategic break at 6:30-10 to play basketball and fulfill everyone's favorite halachah of "U'shmartem es nafshoseychem". Other activities that can fulfill this Halachah include: 12 hours of sleep (b/c u need your sleep), watching a few hours of tv (mental health break), and not smoking. That was a fun list, except for the non-smoking part. Anyway, I decided that I would study in the "Graduate Student Lounge" in the Hillel. This is where I have been studying for the past few weeks, and the room has proven to be quite the study-conducive enviRONment. Besides having desks, wireless, and comfy chairs, there are also couches for me to pass out on when I cannot take this anymore.

But today just isn't going the way I planned. It seems that everytime I get a nice flow going, some weird distraction thwarts my efforts. I've only been here for about 5 and a half hours, and I have already encountered the following weird s:
1) Angry black janitor: My encounter with this fellow started after shacharis when someone asked me the date, and I said the 14th. The janitor yelled out: NO- its the 13th!, and then glared at me. It might be his birthday or he might just hate me b/c i am a small white man. Later on, I was eating an everything bagel and lox spread (tradition..1 person gets that) when I was treated to a lecture from this man about not eating in this room, and cleaning up after myself. For the remainder of the day, the janitor has hovered around menacingly outside the room and has mouthed obsenities at me.
2) Girls studying near me: Impossible to focus b/c get stuck staring at the attractive or even the semi-attractive ones. Seems like studying environment somehow lowers standards and suddenly I find 900 pd. girls to be very beatiful. Also, whenever I put my head back in my books and highlight away, I always keep thinking "maybe the girl is looking at me right now...I gotta look cool here with my highlighter...cool, yet dilligent...maybe if i tilt my cap a little...maybe if i pretend the highlighter is a cigarette and smoke it...wait, girls don't think smoking is cool...crap, did she see me use the highlighter as a fake cigarette?
I really wish I was making the above "thought process" up, but I promise it occured earlier today. I need to check into a mental hospital.
3) The most inconsiderate lady ever and her nerdy little kid: You won't even believe me if i told you what is going on right now. Earlier, at around 10:34 a.m, some nerdy looking lady and her clone-kid walked in here so that the kid can watch the t.v. (oh yeah, there is a t.v in here also, which might be why I like this room-seriously, i should just live here). Anyway, the T.V was thankfully locked, so they went away. But they returned with another lady who opened up the cabinet and the kid has been here watching T.V. ever since. Was I studying in here before your damn little kid wanted to watch t.v???? The lady did not even glance in my direction, she just threw the kid on a chair and he has been here ever since. Am i invisible? To make matters worse there appears to be a "Steve Harvey Show" marathon on right now, and for some reason a nerdy little jewish kid has picked this as the thing he wants to watch. How am I supposed to study tax law when the amazing Steve Harvey show is on???

The moral of the story is to study in the library where none of this can happen. And thats where I'm going right now. Actually, there are still girls to stare at there. F, I gotta get one of those booths where all you can do is stare at the wall. I gotta go, another great show, the Drew Carey Show is coming on.