HIGH LIFE : Any Tomorrow’s Much Too Soon for These Tasks
“Don’t do today what you can put off till tomorrow.”
This convolution of Ben Franklin’s sage advice seems to best apply to many of today’s teen-agers when it comes to cleaning up their rooms, doing their homework or just working in general.
Here are some responses to this week’s hot topic: “What do you procrastinate most about?”
“Writing letters and cleaning my car.”
--Cheryl Padayo, 17,
senior, Connelly
“Either reading novels that are assigned or writing letters.”
--Heather Ames, 16,
senior, Connelly
“Cleaning my room--I just don’t want to do it. I like it messy.”
--Archana More, 16,
junior, Cypress
“Obviously homework.”
--Rochelle Clark, 17,
senior, Dana Hills
“Mostly school-related stuff that’s boring. Unnecessary assignments given by teachers who think that school is life.”
--Amy Watts, 16,
senior, Dana Hills
“Getting a job.”
--Richard Hartzell, 16,
senior, Dana Hills
“Getting gas in my car. Someday it’s gonna get me.”
--Kindra Larson, 17,
senior, Dana Hills
“A lot. Mostly getting a job. My parents say, ‘You have to get your applications in, you have to do this, do that.’ And I’ll say, ‘No, I’ll get my job next week.’ I don’t want to get a job.”
--Leah Vayless, 17,
senior, Esperanza
“Schoolwork, but in general, everything I am assigned to do.”
--John Tang, 16,
junior, Estancia
“Earning money for my car.”
--Von Petrauskus, 17,
senior, Estancia
“Definitely starting my diet. It’s always put off until tomorrow.”
--Adriana Araiza, 17,
senior, Mater Dei
“Basically homework. I take books home thinking I’m going to do it, but I always get too busy and put it off.”
--Ernie Roldan, 17,
senior, Mater Dei
“Major reports when we were told weeks or months ahead, I’ll do the night before they’re due. Especially book reports, and I’ll have to read the book and do the report the night before.”
--Heidi Brienza, 15,
junior, Orange
“Probably a long-term project or a report. I know when it is due, but I’ll wait and put it off till I hardly have time left to do it.”
--Michelle Adams, 16,
senior, Orange
“Making decisions.”
--Joshua Matthews, 14
sophomore, Orange
“I always do my research paper at the last minute.”
--Tyler Wilson, 15,
sophomore, Savanna
“School work.”
--Matt Budds, 16,
senior, Servite
“Cleaning my room.”
--Gina Kingma, 17, senior,
Southern California Christian
“Studying.”
--Monica Sands, 15, sophomore,
Southern California Christian
“Doing work that has to do with school. Everyone does, though. I’ll stay up all night for a research paper, which is dumb because it would be less painful if I did it all before. Also cleaning my room because my mom screams at me for not having done it, and I just kind of put it off to get back at her.”
--Olivera Josimov, 16,
senior, Trabuco Hills
“Doing homework and projects. If I was given three weeks to do an assignment, I usually wait until the night before it’s due before I start working on it.”
--Vidal Peres, 15,
junior, Trabuco Hills
“Studying for SATs and applying for colleges.”
--Indrajit Bavan, 16,
senior, University
“I always study at the last minute for finals. But I probably procrastinate most about getting started on all of those great Advance Placements English books that Mrs. (Carol) Jackson has assigned us to read this summer.”
--Matt Keefer, 16,
senior, University
“Probably going on a diet or cleaning my room. That’s a hard question, I procrastinate on everything.”
--Stephanie Wexler, 17,
senior, University
“I always forget to clean my car, or my room or my locker. To me, schoolwork is always first, but cleaning is last.”
--Linda Filveira, 16,
junior, University
“I have no idea. There are so many little things that I procrastinate about--like doing anything that has to do with work. I always try to find other ways to get around it.”
--Jennifer Roath, 15,
junior, University
“When it comes to asking girls out that are too cute for me.”
--Charlie Amoroso, 17,
senior, Valencia
“When it comes to doing chores.”
--John Meyers, 17,
senior, Valencia
“I hate myself when I wait until the morning before school to iron what I’m going to wear, but I still do it.”
--Sara Wadhwani, 15,
sophomore, Western
Next Week’s Hot Topic: “Which shopping mall do you prefer to hang out in and why?”
Hot Topic responses gathered by Chris Bergerud, Nikki Boramanand, Tanya Diaz, Stephanie Jeffers, Lynda Kim, Rebecca Leung, Chi Mai, Michele Mitchell, Monica Neal, Hai Pham, Jana Swail.
