Now is the time of year when minds wander and life keeps you interested for a limited amount of time. This of course means spring is almost here and seniors are in their last stretch at NIU.

If you look around, you can see it. There’s a dazed look in the eyes of those seniors halfway between not caring about school and becoming so stressed about getting a job that they don’t know which way is up.

But be careful, these are a dangerous breed. Why, you ask? Well there’s no way to tell which half of the thought process they are undergoing at any one time.

When a senior is in the “school-matters-not” thinking phase, he or she is relatively harmless to all but themselves. You see, people can do just about anything they want to them and they will take little notice.

For example, if one of these seniors was walking out of Reavis Hall, they wouldn’t notice three Huskie buses being driven at them.

Luckily, this phase also makes them impervious to injury, so when they fly through the air into the Kishwaukee trickle and begin playing with the ducks they barely notice their wet locale and some new friends with feathers.

However, when a senior is in the “If I don’t get a job, I will drop out of society, become a lowlife and die some horrible death in some sewage plant” mode, then there is trouble.

To use the former example, instead of flying 40 feet into the river, the Huskie Bus Line will be in need of three new buses. There is another danger to these seniors: they have no desire to speak about anything related to careers and will cause serious damage to all who begin to talk on such subjects.

In other words don’t mention the words job, career, employee, employer, resume, cover letter, interview and any particular career, such as accountant, lawyer or garbage collector. Those who do will know the true meaning of how a human pretzel feels.

Try this for an analogy. Recently the Wizard of Oz was on TV. Remember how Dorothy, Toto and the Scarecrow go into the dark, dismal woods where they find the Tinman and then the Wicked Witch of the West cackles and throws fire at the quartet?

That is what the job-facing senior thinks they will be coming up against.

But the scene where the heroes walk through the poppy field and fall asleep hoping never to wake up is how the senior feels who gives barely two bits about the world in general.

All along we are hoping everything will work out in the end even though we’ll always know “there’s no place like home.”

But until that time when we all live happily ever after or at least semi-jovial ever after, other students should be wary.

And the best way to deal with these confused and possibly deadly seniors is to simply ignore them and let them do whatever they please.

Remember, a dazed look is the only warning you’ll get so be alert. This way we will be happy and you will stay in one piece.

Good luck seniors, and all you others—it’s best to stay in groups of no less than five, otherwise get out of the way!