When I entered my senior year, I found everything about classes to be basically the same except for one major difference: while I carried my backpack home with me every night, I never opened it.

Instead I would walk home, exhausted from school and sports practices, throw my gym bag and backpack into my room and plop down in front of the TV. I had enough free time at school and had learned to manage my schoolwork so that I no longer had “home” work.

Of course, for things like papers and, sometimes, English readings, I had to take some time away from my precious television shows to complete the assignments. Yet even this happened only maybe a handful of times.

This major difference between my senior year and the rest of my high school career led me to watch more TV than I think most people would consider normal. I was an official couch potato, and there seemed to be nothing stopping my slow descent into zombiedom.

Fortunately, I realized that I could hang out with my fellow seniors who had a lot of free time in the evenings because they had three free periods as well. I also got a job, which helped to snap me back to the real world.

However, I am not saying that I don't still watch ridiculous amounts of trashy television and don't still love every minute of it. I have stumbled upon little-known and very under appreciated shows that I find to be some of the best because the writers try so hard.

I also look at it as an education. I have absorbed lots of random little facts and even vocabulary words that I apply in my everyday life. So even though I don't really do my schoolwork at home (although I dutifully bring my backpack home every day), I still manage to learn something.

Best of all, I no longer stress out about my homework. That leaves all of my stressing capacity for my college decision. I only have 28 (!) days left, so I need all the room I can get.