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It’s the last week before Spring Break and everyone is slipping into that Mode. Unfortunately, it isn’t the Mode referenced in “pie a la mode” or the ever-popular “beginner’s mode” in such fantastic games as “Dance Dance Revolution.” No, this Mode is far less exciting and instead involves such repetitive questions as “what are your plans?” and even more annoying conversations regarding the dreaded midterm exams without which would make this week much more endurable. Not to mention, the rainy weather has everyone wondering where that yellowish orb in the sky has gone. I hate to add to the complaints about life right now, but that just shows what the Mode will do to you.
The Mode is not related to pre-Spring Break only. This paradox of excitement mixed with melancholy can be easily felt before any big break when professors are most likely to plot against the student body and schedule every major test, project and paper on the same day.
Come to think of it, this method is very reminiscent of the cafeteria’s tendencies to prepare nacho bar, soup bowl and chicken salad for the same lunch, forcing indecisive people like me to choose between their three all-time favorites. This will undoubtedly occur during the week of the Mode. It is inevitable.
My uncharacteristically pessimistic mood confuses me right now, but it does lead me to re-evaluate a very important list in my life: my list of pet peeves. A growing compilation since its beginnings as an eighth-grade assignment, my pet peeve list has carried me through some tough times. Sure, I have a favorites list too, but who really wants to think about that in times like these. Let’s focus on the negative, shall we?
•Pet Peeve #1: getting moldy plant juice dumped on my body. You might wonder how often this can really happen to a person. I have no answer to that. All I know is that it happened to me last night and it was not pleasant. I had just gotten out of the shower and was settling down to do some studying (again, with the midterms), when I was rudely interrupted by green sludge flying toward my face and the sound of my roommate’s laughter filling the room. Chlorophyll has never been so hated.
•Pet Peeve #2: dishes. Who invented the dishwasher? I need to know so I can complain about a vital part that is missing: robot arms to load and unload it. Without these appendages, dishes pile up in the sink and the distinct smells of anchovies and molasses arise until the overwhelming feeling of hopelessness overtakes a passerby and possesses them to squirt some Dawn in its general direction. Paper and Styrofoam products are becoming more and more useful by the day. My praise to disposables. My apologies to Mother Nature.
•Pet Peeve #3: money, aka the evil, all-consuming force that drives the motivations of the world. Think about it. We do well in high school to get into a good college to get a good job to make good money. This endless cycle sickens me. When will I be free to do what I want to do?! When will I get to live my life?! On second thought, I think I’m just bitter because I have none. Maybe I’ll win the lottery tomorrow. Until then, I’ll have to continue eating frozen peas for a while, which are actually quite scrumptious straight out of the bag.
•Pet Peeve #4: looking for something and then forgetting what the something was. This has happened to me countless times and the frustration that accompanies it is unparalleled. The other day I walked in and out of my room about seven times before remembering that all I needed was a pen. A close cousin to this peeve is looking for something right in front of your face. That same day after finding my pen, I searched for half an hour trying to find a notebook that I was sitting on. Sometimes I wish I were flexible enough to kick myself in the head.
I will struggle through this week diligently, though perhaps unhappily, to “break on through to the other side” as the Doors once put it. So when this week gets me down, I’m not going to try to fight the negativity within. Instead, I will embrace it. After all, next week is Spring Break where I can have all the pie a la mode I want.
Submitted February 26, 2004
MALIBU, CA
