(January 31, 2013) — A new year and a new semester is the perfect opportunity for junior Claudia Melkonian to stress less and kill her old habits of procrastination before it’s too late. “I have always been a procrastinator,” she said. “I was even born a day later than I was supposed to be born.” When almost out of time, the pressure of completing her work brings out the best of her abilities and allows her to receive perfect scores on her assigned projects. Despite this, her tight schedule does not allow her to start her work late anymore. “After school I usually eat and watch TV and start my homework at 9 pm, when I could be starting at 6 pm, ” Melkonian said. Procrastination does not just cause extra stress she doesn’t need, but also cuts her sleeping time. “I literally sleep only six hours a week, sometimes during class. My doctor said I haven’t grown since I was in the sixth grade, so I definitely need more sleep time for my health,” she said. According to Melkonian, her old habits die hard, but she is definitely trying carry out her resolution and procrastinate less for the sake of having more sleeping time. Junior Edric Mirzoian is done procrastinating and has decided that it is finally time for him to get his driver’s license. Mirzoian said once he has his driver’s license, he will be free to drive wherever he wants, whenever he wants, without worrying his parents. “It is an annoyance to ask my parents to me around,” Mirzoian said. With only a few hours of driving left with his instructor, he is fairly close to his new year’s resolution. Mirzoian said that his chances of passing the driving test in July are really high, since he considers himself to be an amazing driver. Then, the next thing on his agenda would be to save enough money to buy his own car. “I may get a summer job and hopefully be cruising in the streets very soon,” Mirzoian said. For some students it is not as important to be seen driving outside as much as it is to be seen on stage. 2013 may be the birth of a pop-star who has been singing since she was a little girl. Freshman Lusine Agesyan is looking forward to finally having a demo recorded in March of this year. She has been trying to record this demo for two years now, and once recorded, she is planning to send it to a music producer. “It would mean the world to me if a music producer noticed my talent and signed me to a record label,” Agesyan said. She says she hopes to impact the world with her incredible voice just like Amy Winehouse has, whose voice she described as “something different, like no other in the world.” Agesyan says her resolution is also to work with the famous rapper, Nicki Minaj, and dreams to perform in front of thousands of people in Madison Square Garden. Freshman Mika Stanghill does not care where she is seen, as long as she is wearing her ever-comfortable sandals. Whether she is running her dog or playing in the playground, Stanghill can be found wearing her sandals. Living in the desert as a child where everyone wore sandals, Stanghill has grown used to comfortable footwear which helps with her new year’s resolution of wearing shoes as little as possible. “Last summer I did not wear shoes once, and if I could wear my sandals to school, I would definitely do it,” Stanghill said. For her, being comfortable is much more important than being fashionable; therefore, it is a challenge to find loose-fitting shoes, especially when she wears size 11 shoes. Stanghill has had this resolution for a year now and so far she has done a great job in avoiding wearing shoes. For some people, however, it is harder to achieve their new year’s resolutions. Junior Margarita Deroyan made a daring resolution with her friend to go to Hot Wings Cafe only once a month, instead of their usual trip of once a week. “I cannot resist their curly fries,” Deroyan said. It is also very convenient for Deroyan to get to this restaurant, making it harder to succeed her resolution. However, she is more concerned about her health and is willing to make the sacrifice and stay away from Hot Wings Cafe, which she refers to as “the happiest place on Earth.” Junior Anna Hakopian is also concerned about her health and has decided to become a vegetarian this new year. “I finally got disgusted of meat,” Hakopian said. She said news about genetically engineered food, the existence of antibiotics in meat and animal abuse in slaughterhouses greatly influenced her decision. However, becoming fully vegetarian is still a struggle for Hakopian, even though she has cut most fast food restaurants out of her diet. “Becoming vegetarian has also helped me to become a less picky eater, but I still hate broccoli,” Hakopian said. For sophomore Nick Ochoa, it is less of a concern to eat less meat than to use fewer electronics. Ochoa said he is addicted with playing with his X-box, watching TV, texting and watching videos on his phone. With his new year’s resolution of using less electronic devices, Ochoa says he hopes to be less distracted from his school work and receive better grades. Now that he knows the consequences of electronics and that he doesn’t need them, he says it will be much easier to put them away and use them only when necessary. “Now I am better at keeping my use under control than I was before. It is likely that I will achieve my goal this year,” Ochoa said.