With finals week quickly approaching, it is important for students to identify three mental states during a study session:

"I need to do something other than study for a while."

"I'm falling asleep and cannot look at my notes any more."

"I will do anything but study for this exam."

But have no fear, the Web has three perfect outlets to alleviate your pain.

For mental state one, try www.neopets.com. Yes, it's a bit childlike, but really, aren't we all at this time of year?

This site lets you create a virtual pet, engineered to your specifications. You collect neopoints to spend on pet food, games and exploration through "Neopia." Procrastination possibilities with your new pet are endless. According to the site, there are currently over 9 million Neopet owners. Could this many bored web surfers be wrong?

If you've progressed to mental state two, check out www.reflexgame.com. On this site, you select a color change for the screen and click "start."

As soon as the color changes, you click "stop" and you are shown your response time, accompanied by messages like "Keep practicing!" and "Better than most, but not as good as you could be. . ." Such encouragement will be all you need to continue this pointless endeavor.

Finally, if (and only if) you've progressed to mental state three, stop by www.stairwell.com/stare where you will be instructed to stare at the creepy image of a woman with huge, randomly blinking eyes.

If you can keep from blinking longer than "Sally" can, you win.

Good luck on finals. . .

— Reviewed by Rennie Dyball