Crunch time at school is supposedly over, as the much trumped-up "Week 9" where all our assignments were all due at once has since been finished. Honestly, I was expecting a lot more, as I only pulled one all-nighter. And that was two weeks before. That was also the same week I discovered the joys of Red Bull ®. Nothing like the feeling of rapid heart beat, twitching fingers, and dodgy eye movement, and then trying to sleep afterwards and getting only about five minutes of intermittent sleep.

However, there still has much work to be completed. As I write this, a rhetorical studies essay (Communications 1118) still needs to be written and the related materials still have to be reviewed, so an outline can be formulated. The desire to slack off is strong in this one.

This is going to get worse, as all of the sequels to the big video games come out this month. Halo 2 (probably gonna give this a miss because I prefer to play First Person Shooters on PC), Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 2, Need for Speed Underground 2, and Half-Life 2 all come out within the next few weeks. During the crunch weeks, I've been pretty good about avoiding video games and television (before the weekend, I managed to avoid watching television for about two weeks), but I'm starting to realize what is giving video games their strong appeal: instant gratification.

For the most part, I could probably hold off until December, when I can really, really slack off. But it does lead to the questions as to why video games hold such a strong hold. Sure, November is gaming heaven for some people. But it's also gaming hell for people who are trying to get work done.

Sadly, it's really tough to find anything that can translate in a work and school environment into an instant gratification award. That is, unless your work just happens to involve the sale of illegal mind-altering substances.

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