Back to School -- whoopee.

I'm on a teeter-totter about the whole back to school thing at the moment. One part of me is totally jazzed about it starting back. Why? I actually like having a routine and knowing what I'm going to be doing from one day to the next. I also miss seeing my school friends and professors, and I'm going to be taking good classes this semester, even though my Fantasy Literature class got canceled. (Curse you, administrative scummmm!!!!!) But I think I'm going to do it as an independent study, which means three things:

1.) I get to read what I want to read on my time. This = awesomeness.

2.) I only have to write one massive paper, and I'm done.

3.) No having to sit in class.

Of course, there is the whole itsy, bitsy problem in that I have no self-discipline. However, I think Aubrey might be doing the independent study with me, so that solves that little problem. 

Now that I think about it, I'm mainly pleased about school starting back. It also means the return of having money, which is very nice. 

However, preparing for school to start back can be painful. I'm really going to miss seeing my Union friends this semester. I know we'll still work it out to see each other fairly often, but I miss them.

School starting back can also be arduous. Cleaning out my backpack alone is evidence in support of that assumption. I think I shall write about it in story form, just so you can all get the drama behind this seemingly easy chore.

Ahem.

"With the utmost of trepidation, I approach my closet, and begin to open the door, it creaking loudly and with the greatest of squeaky door sound effects. Hollywood could do no better. There, lying in a seemingly unobtrusive manner, is the Object of My Fear. It is the Bane of the College Student's Existence.

It is....the dirty backpack.

In one way, of course, the dirty backpack is quite deserving of study. It is a time capsule of sorts, a relic of all that what important or unimportant during the last four months of an individual's life. 

If some sort of natural disaster occurred and the backpack was left blanketed under a layer of volcanic dust for a thousand years only to be discovered by an archaeologist in a really stupid outfit, this great explorer could deduce that the average college student (meaning me) existed on an extremely balanced diet of chex mix, Starburst, and flavored water. He would also find that bubble gum was absolutely necessary for productive studying (which it TOTALLY is -- try it sometime, it really helps, especially the watermelon Bubblicious type), and that only a lucky few of the papers make it into the labeled folders, while the rest somehow end up in a crushed mess on the bottom of the bag. This same esteemed archaeologist-Indiana-Jones-wannabe would find that the average college student had extremely dry hands, resulting in the four bottles of lotion. (I wonder if the dry hands are a result of the higher caffeine intake?) He will also discover that movies are far more important than textbooks, as there will be an utter absence of literature and an extraordinary amount of DVDs next to the laptop. And the ipod? Without it, the 18-22 year old would surely die a horrible, painful death.

Oh, and macaroni and cheese deserves its own food group. The cheesier, the better. 

But I digress.

In any case, I managed to heave the backpack off the floor and deposit it on my bed. I undo the zippers, pray for deliverance, and tip it upside down. Out of its canvas depths fall everything from ponytail holders to folders to papers to books to dwarfs that have given up on keeping things neat for me and are therefore sitting in fits of sullen depression in the laptop's padded pocket. 

Finally, sweating as if I've had tea with the Queen in Death Valley, I finish my chore with the backpack. All of the trash is headed down the river, no more chex mix baggies remain, there are new containers of lotion, and carefully labeled folders are in place, along with extra pens. 

The hard part is over. Now, all I have to do is get through the semester. Eeek.

And thus endeth the story. 

Fin."