Before one does a workout, an ideal water and food consumption is recommended before the exercise. Class readings are my ideal food and water consumption for a good class discussion and enhanced learning. Highlighters and pens are my protein bars.

All of my readings are printed out. Every year, I start with about 3,200 printer points. Three of my classes are text-emphasized. The binders containing these texts are expected to swell up at semester’s end. A week before final exams, I ended the semester with 120 printer points. A total of 60 pages would be printed. 120 points would not cut it.

One Thursday evening I found my friend Madeline at the campus center dining hall and joined her for dinner. I had asked to use her printer points to print my Communication Arts, Political Science, and Philosophy readings. Generally the process of printing papers takes three minutes(including stapling and hole-punching for binder assembly); this session took forty-five minutes. Here is what happened.

In order for me to borrow Madeline’s printer points. I needed her username, and password to log in to a school computer. Like in the cover picture above, an ID was also required to activate the printer. She came with me on my adventure.

We were on the campus center, which houses three floors. The second floor has two school computers, and the third floor has the printer.

On the second floor, I spotted the two computers, and remembered that one of them has been rendered useless. No computer technician has fixed the problem. The other computer was already occupied by a stranger. I asked the stranger, “Can I use your printer points? I have to print something.” The stranger replied, “yes, make it fast, please.” This was good so that Madeline didn’t have to print at all.

After preparing all my readings(which opened seven tabs total), the stranger noticed and bailed on the offer. Madeline logged in to the computer. Everything loaded three times slower than usual. Frustration grew.

The files were loaded and I placed them all in the print queue. We went to the third floor to the only printer in the building, and it read, “out of service.” There was a vending machine behind me. I wondered if the hulk could be hired to pick up the vending machine and pound the printer for me.

Our next destination was the library. I had tried to push a locked campus center glass door open with my hand and not my face this time. Placing the articles in a printing queue went smoothly this time. The pile of paper packed weight. Separating the articles took a minute.

I staple my articles whereas the staple is aligned vertically on the top left edge of the paper. The staple must also be as close to the edges as possible. This is to ensure that no text is trapped underneath where the staple situates. Madeline stapled the papers horizontally farther from the edges. The day before, I watched “Inglorious Bastards;” so I said “nein nein nein nein!” to her. In the end, I accepted the staple placement.

It was raining outside. All readings were concealed underneath my t-shirt to keep them dry. It didn’t hurt to wear a half-inch thick 8” x 11” extra layer on my belly button. The return-trip to the campus center was safe and without further event. The goods were delivered to my messenger bag, and the excitement to do my college readings never sapped.