It’s December. The holidays are officially here, and cheery decorations have spread around campus. Despite Starbucks holiday flavors, winter weather, and nonstop Christmas music, my inner Scrooge is out in full force.

This is probably because of the hefty workload we all have right now. Some of us have twelve papers, one for every day of Christmas. Others have tests scheduled for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday so professors can squeeze out the last dredges of motivation just in time for finals. And let’s not forget foreign-language presentations, a treat for both presenters and their audience. What fun it is to listen to a hapless student mumble and stumble through a 10-minute Power Point, trying your hardest not to fall asleep.

Besides the impending doom of finals, snippy behavior has saturated the campus. Most people tend to exhibit said snippy behavior through terrible driving. It is not acceptable to drive at ten miles down the boulevard. Some of us have places to be. Get out of your car and walk. On the other hand, it is not acceptable to mow down would-be pedestrians. Crosswalks exist for a reason, just like stop signs. Lastly, it would be nice if we could all agree to just take one parking spot when we park our cars. It would be to everyone’s advantage if nobody parked in two spots anymore.

For those of us who live on campus, dorm issues only encourage Scrooge-like behavior. Moore Hall students found their belongings festering in overheated rooms upon returning from Thanksgiving break. Luckily for most students, the high heat abated the next day. Unfortunately, I am not one of those students. I do not enjoy sleeping with the windows open, while the street cleaners are noisily working away at 2 a.m. Would it be too much to ask to have a heat-regulated room on campus?

We all have our finals-fueled rants at this time of year. Yes, it’s the holidays. But it’s also two weeks of a high-stress environment, resulting in grumpy behavior. On Dec. 17 (because of course I have the last final. I always, inevitably do.), I will revert back to normal. In the meantime, I’m going to try to calm my nerves with good, old-fashioned retail therapy. That is, if I can find a parking spot.