Dong! My family’s old cherry-wood grandfather clock struck 1:00 a.m. Jerking awake, my laptop fell from my lap and hit the carpeted floor with a clatter. Sighing, I picked it up and looked at my half finished essay, which happened to be due at the beginning of my English class the next day. Procrastination had become a weekly ritual for me.

This ritual especially true applied to my English class. This is also especially applies for my best friend Sarah, who took the course with me. This routine has slowly developed into our weekly “ritual”. We would wait until Sunday or Monday night to work on the enormous load of homework that had been assigned by our English teacher, who’s class we only attended once a week.

Honestly, procrastination is not a healthy ritual to partake in. It involves spending late Monday nights, often later than 10:30, working on assignments due the next day. Sarah and I often message each other every few hours to perform check-ups to see how much we have progressed in our workload.

For example, due to previous engagements on Monday nights, I would be unable to work on my homework until after 8:00pm at least. From there, I would frantically type up every assignment- an essay, journal entries, response to literary questions, and other projects, all the while attempting to do adequate work. I would be putting the finishing touches on my three page essay around 12:30pm, sitting all alone at the computer located in the long deserted living-room. I would print it, hopefully discovering no overlooked errors, and staple it into a neat little packet.

As I continue to type this essay frantically, in attempts to wind it up, Blip! A new e-mail appears in my inbox. It is from Sarah! Actually, as it turns out, I’m not the only one up at 1:00 at night. And so continues our weekly ritual.