Senior year has brought a lot of things for me, both on personal and academic levels. It led to the realization that this December is the end of my college journey, more questions than answers about my post-graduation plans, and to top it all off a hurricane to my home state, which will no doubt be fun times to recover from when I return home.

I like to take it all in stride; I keep myself busy rather than spend free time worrying, and my 30 hour-a-week job is helping me do that. Sometimes though, just like everyone else, I need a mental health day.

That’s where Halo 4 comes in. I’ve followed that series for a decade now, and I was no doubt excited for the newest version. I planned a day off to enjoy what is, in my opinion, the apex of this generation of gaming.

Well, you would have thought I had taken the day off to spend kicking therapy dogs. I was genuinely surprised at the number of people who took a negative stance against going to a midnight release and then playing the game I’ve waited five years for.

Why is that? Midnight book releases, midnight movie releases, even midnight music releases on itunes are reasons to stay up into the wee hours of the morning, so why is dedicating a day off to games so terrible? The reaction was far worse than it would have been if I’d said, “I was still drunk from the night before, sorry.”

Why? Why is a videogame now considered less justifiable cause for staying home than blatant substance abuse? I understand the typical outlook on gamers – believe me, it was never clearer than standing in Rutland at 11:50 at night surrounded by the cream of the crop – but people know me, and know I’m not like that. I’ve busted ass not only to graduate early, but to do it with an unprecedented major in English. I went at these last three years no holds barred, and you know what? I kept my sanity because of taking a day off every once in a while.

Don’t drive yourself into the ground over school, cause you’ll just burn out. Take a day off to pursue a passion, whether it’s reading, sports, going for a drive to Niagara Falls, whatever it is you want. Just make sure you have your affairs in order, because owning that responsibility –not what you’re spending your day off doing – is what will determine whether or not you’re actually just slacking.