I’ve been polling my friends to see what defines midterms for them. Here are the top 10, contributors anonymous.

You know it’s week six when…

1. Your Halloween costume is stressed out student.
2. Your absentee ballot has been sitting on your desk unopened for over a week. Please, do open it.
3. The most exciting part of your social life is running into someone in the west stacks.
4. You didn’t watch the presidential debates or the playoffs. In fact, you just found out that the Giants are going to the World Series. And you’re still confused why everyone is talking about binders full of women.
5. You offer your friend a study break (read: free sex) and he says he’d rather finish his history paper.
6. The time you allocate for showering is less than the time you allocate for going to the bathroom.
7. You consider writing “inhale” and “exhale” on your to-do list for the satisfaction of actually crossing something off.
8. You just. Need. A cup. Of coffee.
9. You start getting territorial about your favorite cubicle at the library.
10. Stressing out is giving you writer’s block and the only topic you can write about is being stressed out.

Stressed? Share your thoughts with Renée at [email protected].