Procrastination at its Finest

The end of first quarter is approaching fast, but first, a day more dreadful. Friday, October 18th, has come and past, and with that date, several components of senior projects are due. For some, this date may not be a big deal, however for procrastinators such as myself, this day brings an onslaught of heavy stress.

Senior project-- no big deal, right? Wrong. Yes, you have essentially the entire year for this one project, and once it gets rolling, it tends to come together nicely, but there is certainly a catch to this. Each quarter, there is one date on which every piece of work for that quarter is due, and if you do not have it in by that day, and F sits on your transcript until the next quarter is graded. The problem with this is, though the F can be corrected at a later date, every college you apply to will see this failed grade and it will work against you.

The biggest obstacle of senior project for the first quarter is coming up with a topic you are willing to work with for the entire year. I overcame this obstacle quickly, deciding to write a concept EP for my AOK, and soon thereafter developed my essential question: "How does one write an EP with music that focuses on one concept?" I felt great after deciding this topic and put my feet up for the rest of the quarter. This smooth sailing came to a screeching halt when Columbus Day Weekend came along.

I was reminded by a friend that I needed three pieces of research, an annotated bibliography, a journal of my quarter 1 experience, and a proposal written and uploaded on my SPOP by the next Friday right before leaving for the joyous four day weekend. I soon began to panic. It was not that much work, but knowing my normal work ethic, I knew I was likely to put it off for even longer. Even more importantly, the brand new Pokemon games, X and Y, were coming out the next day and I had planned on dedicating my four days of vacation entirely to playing that. I promised myself I would sit down and work on it Saturday before beginning to play the game.

It may come as a shock to you, but I had not begun work on senior project by the time Sunday rolled around. I knew I had no time on Sunday, for I had to dedicate my day to making my mother a birthday card. So I planned to work on Monday. Monday came and went, and I had spent the day playing video games and practicing with my friend for the talent show, and of course had not worked on my senior project.

Tuesday. It was supposed to be the day. It was my last chance to utilize my four day weekend for my incomplete work. I sat down with my laptop, opened my SPOP, and then stared at my computer screen for 10 minutes. It's only 10 am. I don't need to start until after noon, really, I thought to myself, pulling out my DS to play more Pokemon.

I woke up at 3 am on Wednesday morning in a panic. I had forgotten something, hadn't I?

Oh yes-- my Senior Project. Uh oh.

Luckily, it being my senior year, I have several free blocks. My Advanced Writing class had given me the brilliant idea to ask the librarians for assistance with research when stuck, so I did just that. Thursday morning, I went in during first block and spent the entire period with the head librarian, and together we found three valuable sources. I had now cleared the second largest obstacle. It was an easy jog to the end now.

Yes, my procrastination caused me to finish within the last few minutes before the due date, but the important thing is that I got the work finished on time. Hopefully, I have learned from my mistakes, but I can not guarantee anything. I just hope that no amazing video games are released at the same time as the second quarter due date. If any are, I can't promise that I'll meet the due date again.

Senior Project

So far, we have had two classes for Senior Project and I am in a good place. I have come up with my idea of what I would like to do for this year long project. I am doing mine on how to prepare for a football combine. I still have to do a lot of research on it as well as get an outside expert and start putting it together.

The research that will have to do for my senior project is first, I must find out exactly what events are tested, how they are tested, and why they are tested. After all of that, I have to record myself for each event and record my results.

The next step after I get all of my research done and recorded is to find out who I want for my outside expert. I already have a couple ideas of who I might want to ask to be my expert. Throughout the winter of 2012-2013, I went to a speed trainer in Hampton to help me with football and my combine testing scores. I was thinking about possibly having him as my outside expert. Another person that I could use as my outside expert would be a man that I met at a combine this summer who showed us some hints to help the athletes better their score. He has also created a video series that you can buy that helps kids train for the combine. Both men would be a great outside expert for me, however I feel that my speed trainer might be a little easier to be in contact with because he lives in Hampton whereas the other man lives in Ohio.

After all of that has been done then I can start putting together my senior project. This whole process shouldn't be to hard to do because I am very much into football and combines and have already attended many combines.