Late night thrills?

I've had my first 4:30 a.m. last Friday, and I don't think it will be my last one.

Yesterday, my friends nonchalantly told me that they would probably sleep around 3 to 4 a.m. That late night will probably not be their last one either.

I'm not sure why, but it's so much harder for me to wake up early (10 a.m. classes what?) and so much easier for me to stay up later (You slept at 11 p.m.? Are you nuts?)

Could it be that our sleeping schedules correspond to our preferred class times or that we think that the later we sleep, the more we are "getting done." Could it be that we don't feel like Duke students until we've pushed our REM cycles to the limit.

Even though it's ridiculous, I think that it's something of a combination of the two. I think there's a moment of proud for us when we can say, "Man, I slept so late yesterday. I was up until 4 a.m. finishing my math XXX homework." We like to push our deadlines, and then feel accomplished when we beat the system by waiting until the last possible minute to complete it. We might make quiet resolutions at the end of our last minute endeavors, but it will more likely than not NOT come into fulfillment.

So as we perpetuate bad habits for ourselves, we become a bit too comfortable with the thrill of almost not getting things done. I don't know about you, but I kind of did that myself as I was writing this column. It's not 4 a.m. in the morning, but I was pushing the envelope. And to the tell you the truth, I'm sick of it. The thrill is bland now and then guilt of having something to do is like a piece of spinach stuck between two stubborn teeth.

We all know the solution to our age old problem. It's just a matter of dealing with it.

My suggestion? Well as an economist, I would recognize the greater benefits to the unworthy costs of procrastinating. As a realist, I would recognize that it's easier said than done. As a Duke student who eventually gets things done, I know that if I put my mind to it, it will get done. It might not be now, but slowly but surely it will.