During these stressful times, sit back and relax

exam. And then project, paper and/or quiz.

So now by the end of your week you have at least eight new assignments all worth seven hundred percent of your grade and due in a matter of days. "When did this happen?"

you start to think as you're headed toward your car when you see you've received a ticket. What college student has money to drop on something like a parking ticket?

Now you're going to be stressed and b{oke.

Jen Smith

I think I'm losing my mind. If so, college is responsible for taking it. I try to be a good student. I have an average course load, spend a generally reasonable amount of time staff writer studying, sometimes more than necessary, sometimes less than I should. But for the most part, things are usually going well for me in the first few weeks of the semester. I party a little, sleep a little, work a little, trying to keep an even keel in my life. And then one day it happens someone says the word midterm.

At first I shrug it off thinking midterm week must be a lifetime away. After all, I am just getting into the swing of things! I will pretend I didn't hear it and continue about my day. Without question, at this point, things begin to fall apart.

After the word midterm, always comes

Great.

Your afternoon visit to the mailroom brings you a wad of bills and your registration packet for next semester with a note from your adviser encouraging a visit to their office, "ASAP." Registration brings a headache all its own as you sit down at your desk to begin your homework.

By now, it's obviously one of those days.

"I'll just do my homework and go to sleep;' you may think as you sit in your dorm room, apartment or house. "Internet Explorer, click-click," and to your lack of surprise, the network is down once again. No homework for you.

By this point in your day it is a toss up whether you want to throw your computer out of the window or jump out of it yourself. As the tension begins to build up you can feel ·your fists clenching together in frustration, please don't take either road toward destruction before stepping back to examine the big picture.

True. College is stressful. It's also true that being halfway through the term you have a lot of academic concerns to face. However, neither are a good reason to commit harmful acts upon your computer or anything else within your reach for that matter. First, just breath.

Realize as a service to yourself that you are not alone. If you glance over at your roommate he or she might have a similar expression of helpless desperation on their face, and if not, you won't have to look far to find one.

We are a generation of young adults with a hefty workload on our plates. We have jobs, classes, families, friends, boy or girlfriends and social lives all to maintain, and are expected to maintain them calmly, responsibly and without faltering.

Take a break for goodness sake. You are only one person and you only have two

No one understands you like a sister

hands. Realize that you cannot type a paper, read a book, make your dinner, answer the phone, email your mom and schedule a meeting with your adviser all at once. Pace yourself or you will wind up frustrated and burnt out. There is no cause for adding to your stress load at this point in the semeSter.

Keep your cool at all times. If you walk around in your pajamas with the pen stillbehind your ear from last nights study session and a look of distress across your face, people will start to notice. Smile like you mean it when you see the teacher whose 17 page term paper is responsible for your disheveled appearance.

Don't ever let them see you sweat. You are going to make it through college somehow, some way. It may be a stressful ride but I promise, if you take a second to sit back and enjoy it, it will also be the best time of your life. Pace, control, breathing and laughter are the keys to getting you through even the most stressful of times. So keep going and remember, you're not in it alone!

Jill C. Hindman features editor

She is about three inches taller than me, but when she wears her kneehigh boots she is almost six inches taller. She has cascading long, brown hair with blonde highlights woven throughout.

When she walks into a room her presence is felt without her saying a word.

My sister, Marjorie, "Moe" for short, is two and a half years younger than me. Many times I am mistaken as the little sister because next to her I am a shorty. Her name is perfect for her personality because both are unique.

When I think of my childhood, she is what I think of. We would play for hours together. We would giggle and fight and pull each other's hair and giggle some more. Whenever we went to a party, or anywhere at all, it didn't matter because I always had a friend there, my best friend.

When we were little we had bunk beds. I slept on the top and she on the bottom. Every night I would hang my hand down off the top bunk and let it dangle until her little hand met mine. We would sleep holding hands thinking that if one of us was ever going to be kidnapped in our sleep the other one would have to go to. Needless to say, we did not lack imagination.

Then of course we went through the ifyou-look-at-me-even-one-more-time-1' mgonna-kill-you stage. When we thought being in the same room together was the ultimate torture. We would annoy each other so much that it was ridiculous. God bless my mom raising her two teenage daughters. Can we say cat-fight?

As we grew up, she was the more outspoken one, I was more reserved. She was more eccentric in her style, to her I was preppy.

She always said that she thought that it was so funny that I wear baseball hats and sweaters. She is always dressed up like the girls on soap operas, very trendy, even if they are going food shopping. I on the other hand I am perfectly fine in jeans and a sweatshirt.

Now that we are grown up I can see her in me and me in her. We reflect one another in so many aspects. We ·handle situations similarly. I have become more outspoken and she will wear sweatpants in public. We molded ourselves together without even realizing it.

No matter what, your sister is always there. She always bas been and she always will be. If everyone else lets you down she will always be there to understand. The friendship that you share with her is like no other. No one understands you like a sister.

No one else knows when to leave you alone or when to hug you. No one else can scream at you for no reason at all and in the same breath have the guts to ask to borrow your favorite shirt.

Being the younger sister, I'm sure, was not always a walk in the park. She always did everything second, which probably seemed less glamorous for her. Whenever I hear the song "The Wind Beneath My Wings," by Bette Midler, the first line always makes me think of her. "It must have been cold there in my shadow, to never have some light shine on your face," which is what it must feel like to be the younger of two, but what I think she did not realize was that all of the things that I have accomplished in my life I could not have done without her by my side.

Marjorie has just begun her freshman year of college and my last year will soon end. It is so strange to communicate through email and by telephone with the one that who at one point in your life you could not sleep if her hand was not interlocked with yours.

It all happened without me even realizing it. When did we stop being little girls with ringlets in our hair and become young women?

Corrections Issue 9

• The field hockey team did not defeat Eastern College in the PAC semifinals. Eastern College defeated Cabrini College 8-1

• The new website, www.cabrini.edu/itr, which students can use to find out their academic and financial information, cannot be accessed through registering on the webct. Students must register through the cabrini homepage at www.cabrini.edu/itr

Don't forget to visit the /oquitur online at www.theloquitur.com

Comments are welcomed and encouraged at theloquitur@hotmail.com

. Alexis Strizziere staff writer

Calling all of my single men

1d women Unhitched and in >hurry to marry is whom I am oking for. Now don't go and get I huffy when I say single. I mean I of you who aren't in any rush get married. That's right, I said [-A-R-R-I-E-D!

It is normal to date, it's great to 1vea boyfriend, hey who doesn't ant that special someone in their 'e at some point, but who wants husband or wife at this stage in If lives? Isn't having a inother or ther enough to handle?

Lets start from the beginning, ,lks. My partner in crime and I e debating which is better, en1ged or non-engaged. For obvi1sreasons I have chosen the non1gagedside because I am not en1gedand she however is.

The way I look at the proposed 1estion of engagement or not, is hy would you want to be en1ged?

I look in on my life right now

1d realize that I have no clue hat I am doing, where I am >ing or how I am going to get ere. Why drag someone else into y world of confusion that I call ,eryday life?

Not to be rude, but who needs e extra baggage, like are you >ing to bring your fiance out on ,ur 21st birthday? That is right, > more hanging out with the iys or going to the clubs with >urgirls.

We all know how the relationtip deal goes. Everything 1anges once you promise to arry someone. Think about it. :>ucan never date again suppos- .g the engagement lasts. Wow lhere are so many complexities and obstacles to getting married. For instance, where will you live? Where is the money going to come from to pay bills, insurance, mortgages, continued education, children and so on.

You need time to grow, to find >urself and set a life up for the 1ture.To me not being engaged is .e best thing for myself.

Forone I have no one to marry, which offers the biggest problem. and two because I have goals in life I want to accomplish before I many. I want to travel, I want to finish up my education and most essentially, I want to design a life ofmy own without anyone's help.

I don't even really know who I am let alone someone that I would want to share the rest of my life with. Think about it, the rest of your life. Marriage is supposed to last and at this age, we are not mature enough to realize how to make a marriage work. I can't even work a lawnmower.

Basically it comes down to the fact that we are just too young. Logically speaking, what do we trulyknow about getting married?

Most of us cannot cook let alone fill out income tax forms or plan a budget to run a household.

Maybe I jumping ahead of myself looking too far into the actual marriage itself, but in reality when you do finally tie the knot these are all challenges you are going to have to face. Let's think of why people get engaged, usually because they are in love and they believe they have found their soul mate.

At this age you can be in love a hundred times before you finally find the right one. Love fades and so does physical attraction. What happens then?

An engagement isn't something to be taken lightly.

Now don't misunderstand me, I cannot wait to get engaged, in like five yeru.;s,but not next year. All I have to say is live your life, go out with your friends, have fun, act like a kid again because once you marry, that all has to rapidly slow down. You can be in love, but learn from loving. Love will wait until the right moment and, if true, will stand the test of time.

Is college too early for the commitment of a life time? Should the ring be saved for later years?

Alexis

Lisa Broomall staff writer

When I announced to my friends at school that I am engaged they were excited. However, I knew what they were thinking was "why?" Some of them still think that I should not be engaged.

Yet, they know that I am old enough to make decisions in my life and how to live my life. I have never committed a crime or any act of violence that my parents could hold against me in a court of law. I have not told my parents about my engagement because I want to tell them in person. I want to see the shock that will send my poor parents to an early grave. No matter when I get married, or whom I marry, to my parents, I will always be a seven-year-old in ponytails. Yet, this engagement will last about five years and hopefully things will be cool with my parents.

Most likely my fiance and I will be out of school and living on our own. This means no more lonely nights eating Ben and Jerry's ice cream, wondering what in the world is going to happen to me. Living together will mean that I will not be waking up alone, yet instead I will be waking up next to someone who loves me. I am truly a romantic at heart. When my fiance comes to visit me, he brings flowers; I find myself just melting in his arms. Yes, girls, there are some great guys out there who will call when they are suppose to and respect you. Trust me, I know that you are reading this thinking, "why can't I find a great guy?" My answer is you will. It just takes time. If you have a guy friend he might actually be "the one" without you knowing it.

Being single might be fun but you cannot be single forever. I may be engaged but that does not mean that I have to go sit out in the pasture with all of the other cows.

If my fiance wants to go out with me he can. If he does not then that is all right with me. I still go out with my best girlfriends to a club, movie or dinner without my fiance. I am not out looking for other guys and it does not cause any harm to our relationship. Just because we are engaged does not mean I am his mother, and I will not treat him like she does.

The best thing about being engaged is that you do not have to purposely go and meet guys. I am tired of dating around and just meeting guys who do not have anything in common with me or guys that just want to get something from me. I am truly happy with the situation that I am in now, and my fiance is also. I