For as long as I have remembered, I have been a perfect student. No procrastination whatsoever. I put much effort and thought into my assignments. My academic schedule runs smoothly.

Okay, I am a serial procrastinator. However, I am a motivated student (in a paradoxical way). When I have only mere days until a test, I study passionately until I study all the material. Like a coal turning into a diamond, I work under pressure.

And so I have continued to exist in this extremely stressful state of mind, until a month ago. I had just lost an eBoard election for a club and was feeling upset when I realized that I was given the opportunity to fulfill my dream. Ever since I started being in high school choir, I had loved a capella and dreamt of making an a capella club. I never started in college because I was intimidated, but I thought, “better to fail than do nothing”. In that very hour, I applied to club orientation.

The adrenaline of doing what I have wanted to do for so long kept me from procrastinating. I immediately began making flyers, a sign-up Google Form, and a Facebook page. Many people signed up with their emails within a few days. Relieved that enough people were interested and I still had a few weeks until orientation, I felt content and relaxed.

Orientation rolled by. For an hour, I was taught most of the regulations, financial arrangements and other school resources. It was quite intimidating, knowing that I had to remember everything on that Prezi slide. Not only that, there was an application folder that I had to fill out once I received an email. Because I thought to myself that there was nothing more to do until I received that email, I once again felt content but with a twinge of foreboding doom.

A week of doing absolutely nothing later, I received an email. It contained an innocent zip folder. I downloaded and opened the folder. I died.

Yes, there were documents. Many documents. A Club Constitution that I had to write, a Club SSC card, a website guideline document, etc. I may be exaggerating a smidgen but I was still doomed. I realized that in order to complete to complete those documents, I needed an eBoard and a club advisor. Both of which I did not have. I had emailed a potential advisor a few days before, but he had responded with “I need to know more about your club members and their vocal types”. Shit. I hadn't even scheduled the first meeting with them. I rushed to create a Google Form so that everyone could submit information about their voices and another Form so that interested students could apply for eBoard positions. After finishing both, I had emailed every interested student a smorgasbord of announcements in one Lord-of-the-Rings-long email. At that moment, the world knew chaos and chaos alone.

Luckily, I had two weeks left, so I am, by definition, not procrastinating. However, the club not being able to pass registration simply because I was not on top of things terrified me. Thus, I have learned many lessons.

• Don’t relax. Ever.
• Write down every single thing I might have to do in the future.
• If things seem too calm, they actually aren't. Shit will hit the fan.
• Always do things ahead of time.

I will not change completely, but I believe that I have learned the importance of being more responsible. I vow, as the club president, that I will not drag down the club with me. As a student though… I plead the fifth.