A Traumatic Tuesday

Hello friends! I hope your year is going as swimmingly as mine.  Actually, I hope your year is going far more swimmingly, as I have been riding a roller coaster of epic proportions.  Don't get me wrong: I love my life, and everything that comes with being a busy college student with a social agenda as long as my to-do list.  However, my life is anything but stable.  Random meetings, surprise assignments, and invitations to fancy events seem to befall me at any moment.  If there's one thing I've learned so far, it's that life is beautifully unpredictable.  If there's another thing I've learned, it's that when everything goes wrong, sometimes all you can do is laugh.  This principle was proved to me on the morning of April 1st, which in retrospect, is funny in a "slip and fall on a banana peel" kind of way.  To set the scene, I had an enormous research paper due this day in my Art and the Catholic Tradition class.  Side note: Who assigns a paper due on April 1st? That is asking for trouble, and at least a small degree of heartbreak, in my opinion.  But that was the day we had to turn in our 12-14 page paper with bibliography and a list of illustrations.  I had a lot going on in the time period proceeding this sad misadventure, and had been working tirelessly in my random pockets of time to complete my research paper.  Which means I spent a lot of time on Facebook and watching Youtube videos. Monday night, I was on page 11, and I felt like this was good enough to warrant a peaceful slumber.  In the morning, I set to work to finish my paper.  This included the classic college slacking techniques of font manipulation and adding block quotations.  I had to turn in my paper at 1:00 PM, at the beginning of class.  I finished working at 12:33, threw on a hoodie, and ran off to print my paper.  Unfortunately, and I suppose this makes problem #1, the printer in my apartment has rejected the color black, forcing me to seek printing services from the big bad library.  The rest of my day went as follows:

12:45: Get to the IC (library), out of breath from running, slighting panicked about being late for class, yet still optimistic that it might work out.
12:46 Log onto desktop computer.  It is frozen.  Log onto new computer after several failed attempts to type in my password.
12:47 Pull up email.  Panic at absence of research paper in my inbox.
12:47 Pull out laptop and try to send email again.  Laptop is crashing at the weight of 100 million tabs, applications, and documents open.  (I have no self-control when it comes to my laptop)
12: 49 Still loading. Apprehension ensues.
12: 50 Finally my email inbox pops up, and I quicky resend the email with my paper attached.
12:51 I receive three emails containing my paper on the desktop computer.  Great.
12: 51 After opening the email, I realize that I do not have a title page.
12:52 I pull up Microsoft Word and come up with a really basic title like Mary and Art. Creativity takes time; I can't always have fun titles like "The Secret Life of a Gossip Girl in the City"
12:54 I accept defeat and send the paper to the printer.  I realize I have no printing funds.
12:55 I go online and deposit money to my ID for printing.  Intense panicking leads to many struggles in this department.  I enter my credit card number numerous times, and cannot understand why my card keeps getting rejected.  After some reflection and prayer, it dawns on me that I never specified my card was Visa.  Oops. Finally I have enough printing funds to pay for a paper that I know will cost about $570,000 dollars because of its massive size.
12:57: I run over to the printer to print my cover page and research paper.  I am about to scan my ID when I remember that I need to send my paper to the color printer because the list of illustrations need to be in color.  After receiving the cover page, I return to my computer to send the paper to the color printer on the second floor.
1:02 I run up the stairs to print my paper.  More panicking.  Why won't my password work?  The horrible realization that I had put in the wrong password sunk it.  Back to the computer.
1:04 I return to my computer (thank God nobody had taken it) and sent it to print for the third time.
1:05 I run upstairs again, and have success with the colored printer.  I incorrectly believe that I can relax, and that a sigh of relief.  I go to the help desk to use the stapler.  It is defunct.  Several failed stapling attempts later, I am a bit of an emotional wreck.  My beautiful paper is severed by multiple awkward metal accoutrements, none of which are actually holding anything together. I remember my professor specifically pointing out how essential staples are.  The poor desk receptionist recommends I use the first floor stapler.
1:06 Downstairs I go, and the first floor stapler is less than ideal.  A couple of staples in (My paper is beginning to look like a middle schooler with some serious orthodontia) and finally it is somewhat secure.
1:07 I run to class, hugging my paper like a sick child in need of hospital care.  The wind is enough to blow me over and take "Mary and Art" with it.  But I prevail.
1:11 I am late to class, but at least I showed up.  I am disheveled, to put it nicely.  To put it accurately, most dogs and babies would be fearful of my sleep-deprived style.
1:12 Professor asks me to comment on the architecture of the Sistine Chapel. Unable to form coherant words, I tell her it "looks dark in there" Awesome, Katie.
1:12- end of day.  I honestly cannot remember what happened after this.


Even though this past Tuesday was one of the most unpredictably traumatic days of my life, I am still so glad that it happened.  The only reaction I could muster up after such a literal series of unfortunate events was to laugh.  And I truly believe that, amidst all of my struggles, God was laughing too.  It is days like Tuesday that teach me to always be thankful for my wonderful life, regardless of the road bumps or dysfunctional staplers along the way.