11:50 p.m., Thursday.

There's a blank computer screen staring ominously back at me. It sits there, screaming, "Hope you weren't planning on going to bed anytime soon." I want to pick it up and throw it across the room. That would cost me a grand or two, so I probably shouldn't.

I am in the midst of what some people might call "writer's block." However I don't consider myself to be smart or literate enough to have "writer's block." Instead, I perceive that I am having a case of increasus homeworkis boredumus, or what scientists have termed, "procrastination." It is a horrible disease that tends to hit college students during certain time periods, generally from Monday morning to Sunday evening. There is no cure; although some speculate that managing one's time and keeping track of your work can vastly reduce the infection.

They don't know what they're talking about.

Therefore, I believe if I sit here long enough, something inspiring will come into my head and I'll be just fine.

12:40 a.m., Friday.

Well, I've written a couple of paragraphs. This includes my name, the date, and the section of my class. So I think I'm off to a pretty good start. Right now the song "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey is on loop, but I'm too busy thinking of a catchy title to open up iTunes and change it to something else.

Maybe I'll quickly check Facebook and see what my friends are up to.

2:10 a.m.

Okay, so I got a little distracted. But I did get a catchy title down, so there's some progress...

... My God this is going to be a long morning ...

If you were to ask me to think back to the first time I ever procrastinated, I'd probably tell you to give me a couple minutes to think about it. Then about an hour or two later, I'd finally respond with, "I have no idea." That's because in this day and age, asking a college student if they procrastinate is the same as asking if they ever skip class.

About 99 percent of us do, and the one percent who doesn't generally end up a lot better off.

The funny thing about procrastination is that it's something I always told myself I would get over. For instance, when I first entered high school I remember saying, "Okay Eric, the next four years will decide the rest of your life, so don't screw it up." But as soon as I realized that I could put off work, and still get good enough grades to not have to attend WSU, I stopped caring. I began to put off work till the last minute, and even attempted to try those 3-minute cramming sessions before the teacher would pass out the test.

By the way, those sessions don't work. Trust me.

Then I arrived at the UW. At that point I had a conversation with myself that followed along the lines of, "Alright, so you got lucky the first time. But these next four years will determine whether or not you succeed in fulfilling your wildest dreams, so stop fooling around and get to work."

And I did keep on top of things, until I became conscious of three very important ideas; 1. You don't need to get a 4.0 in every class to get a degree, 2. A small percentage of people end up actually using their degree in their careers and most notably, 3. I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my life.

So here I sit, twiddling my thumbs and coming to terms with how I got myself in this situation. A lot of people make the connection that procrastination is another way of saying you're lazy. I like to think that procrastination is a lack of motivation. Or a bad case of ADD. I'm not entirely sure which one it is, but if I had to take a guess ...

Hey, five more people changed their status on Facebook.

3:00 a.m., I'm pretty sure it's still Friday ...

I know I have to get this done sometime soon. If I even contemplate falling asleep now and waking up in the morning to do it, I know the first thing I'll say when I get up is, "What the hell was I thinking?" Some people have the ability to get up in the morning and do work. I am not one of those people. I find it hard enough to pay attention and think in my morning lectures, but to spit out a paper or math assignment sounds ludicrous.

8:00 a.m.

... What the hell was I thinking?

Reach columnist Eric Uthus at opinion@thedaily.washington.edu.