No more procrastination for me

It is 6:45 on a Monday morning. I am rudely awakened by my annoying alarm playing the same old song of 8 o'clock class misery. Somehow I drag myself out of bed, board the Stadium Express and begin my hour and 15 minutes of macro-economics hell.\nAfter more than enough supply and demand, I return to the comforts of my bed and turn on the TV hoping to get the breaking news on J-Lo and Puffy or maybe some preview for the Killer February on "Days of Our Lives," but all I get is an amazing story about Derrick Seaver.\nYou are probably thinking he is some washed-up celebrity still basking in the days of what used to be, or maybe some loser from "Survivor" who is already kicked out of the Outback -- actually, Seaver is an 18-year-old high school graduate who is now an Ohio state representative.\nSeaver spent his senior year campaigning to be the youngest lawmaker in Ohio history. Considered a long shot by everyone, including his over-the-hill Republican competitor, Seaver is now representing the 85th District near north Dayton. He still lives with his parents. He is just a teenage guy who has decided to put college on hold for politics.\nNormally I don't get all sentimental about these kids who make it big. I don't cry when I hear the voice of Charlotte Church or feel awe at the 7-year-old child prodigy who is graduating from college Doogie Howser, M.D. style. But this Seaver guy has inspired me for some reason or another.\nI have a hard time making it to my classes. I put off papers until the night before. I cram for every test. I would probably choose Kilroy's Sports over business law any night. I built my schedule so I wouldn't have Friday classes. I am the definition of procrastination and for some reason I can't do anything to change it. \nI used to think I might be alone in this inability to always be prepared and to put work before play, even when the play seems like it will be really, really fun. But the faces have grown more regular on Wednesdays at the Bluebird and many seats remain empty in classes of mine that aren't even in the morning. I know there is a band of slackers just like me who would rather chug a 15-cent draft than do some extra credit math problems.\nDerrick Seaver wakes up every morning at a time when I am more often than not still dancing or talking the night away. He puts on a suit and goes to his 9-to-5 job as a state politician. Granted he does not feel the wrath of calculus or the pain of political science, but he has a real job, a job where a tye-dye Long Island would probably cost him reelection.\nHis dedications to the brutal world of politics inspired me to get out of bed for almost all of my 8 a.m. classes this week. His initiative has challenged me to begin to reevaluate this endless party I have been living that some call college. From his immense amount of responsibility, I have decided to try to take a second glance at my priorities that so many times have taken a back burner to the keg waiting next door.\nI doubt I will ever run for any form of political office -- I have way too many skeletons in my closet for that. But I have learned from this young politician that maybe it is about time I start taking a little more responsibility in my life and spend a little less time with my best friend Miller Lite. \nI also doubt that I will become a regular at the library's Saturday night club, although I have been known to make a guest appearance from time to time. But I do plan on finding that balance between work and play, where a lot is accomplished and fun is still maximized. This is a balance that all the time management and study skills classes in the world could probably never teach me. Which reminds me, I have a communications law assignment to get started on, so I better quit blabbing. I have to start somewhere, right?