This is a college essay? Seriously?

Tell about a personal habit. That was the prompt. Here's my answer...

When I press the button for the pedestrian crossing signal on a busy street, I always press it multiple times. Once just isn't enough. If I press it only once, I don't think the circuit within the metal pole will recognize that a 5'3"girl wants to cross the street. Two is a good number, however the machine still forgets that I am there, and it needs to be pressed a third time. Sometimes a fourth is necessary, especially if another person wants to cross the street, and I can tell that he is mentally debating whether to push the button or just assume that I already have. In that case, it is best if I press the button again. If I need to press the button a fifth time, then I worry that I have overloaded the circuit and the pedestrian crossing signal will never flash. What if I broke it by pressing it too many times? Does that mean that there will be a gaggle of men in orange vests tearing up the street tomorrow morning to fix the damage that I have done? Will there be an awful traffic jam that will make me late for school? Will I just stand here for years and years and never make it across the street, never graduate from college, just turn into a little old lady crumpled with age clinging to a metal button that won't make the signal light up? Will I die there, on the corner of University and Martin Luther King? Because I stupidly pushed the button one time too many? Will I-- no, the light just changed. That moonbeam of a man is prancing beneath the traffic signal across the street from where I stand. I take a deep breath, walk across the street, and continue on my way. With my day, with my life.

Barefoot down Central Avenue

WARNING: do not attempt to go barefoot down central ave. It's very dangerous for your feet.

Barefoot down Central Avenue
by Jill C.

Stuck to a lamp post:
Hello My Name Is (indistinguishable gang sign)
Lost Dog, $50 reward
The Death Book of My Life--on sale now
Help Wanted: University Bookstore

if anyone has time to pay attention as they walk down Central Avenue,
there is a lot of reading material available to the open mind

The hungry mind
aching for Latin
Sociology
Engineering
McDonald's
Ravishing young women...

Laden with book bags
laptops
briefcases
stolen shopping carts
filled with a bedroll
a boom box

Look straight ahead
walk with a purpose
wear nondescript clothes
get in the car immediately
then lock the doors

Don't talk to strangers
or run out in traffic
or give money to the drunk man on the corner

It's like walking barefoot down Central Avenue
A stupid vulnerability
staples and broken glass attacking soft pads of flesh
A high price for the freedom of naked feet

But everyone feels the pain sometimes
Kick ourselves for stupidity
Bring the wrong portfolio on the day it's due
And learn

Sometimes we all walk barefoot down Central Avenue
but when we do, we have time to read the lamp posts
****************************************************
Yes, I have been walking downtown much more often than usual.

You know the signs that say "no shirt, no shoes, no service"? Does that mean that no pants is okay?