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What Grinds Our Gears: Computers that let you down at the worst possible time

I thought you had my back, man

It’s 8:30 p.m. The time has really flown by. You told yourself you wouldn’t procrastinate this hard ever again, but at least last time you started at 7 p.m, and now, now it’s 8:32 p.m. Your computer coughs to life as you boot it up.

Okay, breathe. You’re going to finish. You’ve done this before. You’re a pro at writing essays in a couple hours, and usually they aren’t half-bad! You are gifted in this sense, you tell yourself. Plus, diamonds are made under pressure, and you are a goddamn diamond.

What’s the topic again? Fish intake with low-level mercury contamination during pregnancy, and neurobehavioral effects in children. Okay, sure. Let’s get Google up in here and find some articles.

Word is open, your prof’s email with the rubric is open, Canvas is right on the submission page. Time to get 1000 words double-spaced in Times New Roman up in this Word doc! One . . . two . . . three . . .  nice you found four articles so far that are relevant. Too bad you need at least 10. Can Wikipedia count as one? Never mind. A few more tabs open won’t hurt anything. As long as you can ignore that grinding sound coming from the back of the computer.

Alright, let’s get typing. Hold on . . .  What’s this? Not responding? It’s 9:47pm now. Time to restart your laptop and find those tabs all over again. Maybe after tonight you will stop leaving your essay until the last minute? Or maybe you will just buy a new laptop instead.

 

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