You know, I was going to use this little column to complain.
Shocking, right?
I had this whole schtick planned, too. I was going to commiserate with all of my fellow woe-begotten Geneseo brethren about the misery that is these last few weeks of school, taking the time to mention the three vertebrae I think I broke dragging around research materials and the rainforest deforestation my 60 million printed essay pages caused. Heck, I even had a metaphor or two buzzing around my brain – something involving macaroons, maybe, or zombies.
Geneseo does love its zombies.
But, alas, I have since had a change of heart. You see, I was sitting in the health center, awaiting my study abroad physical, when I spotted it: a de-stressing poster. Bathed in the glow of fluorescent lighting, it looked like an omen.
So I read it and on the poster, somewhere below the creepy smiley face, was a tip to "stay positive." Its reasoning (and I paraphrase): Putting on a thin façade of joy and optimism will somehow induce a feedback loop within the cerebrum that actually makes you happy. For realz.
After fighting my initial reaction (which was to burn that mocking sucker down for daring to imply that a light exists in this dark abyss of torment known as college), I couldn't get the darn thing out of my brain. Call me crazy, call me naïve … actually, you can just call me sleep-deprived, but whatever. Point is, I'm going to roll with it and give this whole "happiness" thing a whirl.
Ahem.
Geneseo, the last weeks before summer are not, in fact, one giant soul-crushing vacuum; they can be fun. I mean, sure, not according to the traditional definition of the word, which requires one to actually derive enjoyment from something, but you know, they're cool. They give you plenty of opportunity to study the effects of severe caffeine addiction on a widespread scale. That's good, right? And I'm sure all those hours staring at a laptop screen glaring at tiny fonts and diagrams are good exercise for the eyes. Oh! And they give the seniors something to do before they're forced into the real world and realize that life only goes downhill from here.
Ummm … sometimes, it's also sunny?
Yeah, forget it. Someone get me out of my dark corner once the semester's over.