For the past few days my left arm, particularly the medial head of my triceps brachii, has annoyed me; it won’t stop twitching.

At first the twitch was kind of fun, a silly distraction to alleviate the boredom of class. It was a strange occurrence; I would sit in class and wait for the twitches to begin so I could alert my classmates so they too could see the oddity that has become my arm.

The scientific term for this strange phenomenon of the human musculature is fasciculation. The twitch results from the spontaneous release of skeletal muscle fibers and is completely involuntary, which is why I am getting so angry. I cannot control the twitch; the twitch controls me.

The twitch has become disruptive to my study habits, in the past two day I have failed four tests and taken no notes in any of my classes. It distracts me, along with those around me, during class; no one near me can concentrate. I was barely able to finish my last math test I was so distracted—all I could focus on was my arm.

The math situation worsened once I showed the students around me the pulsing mass that had become my arm. We became focused on it, counting how many pulses per minute, then multiplying that to figure out how many pulses per day on average—a whopping 36,000.

I hope, with a little bit of luck, I will soon be relieved of this terrible annoyance so my life can return to normal, so I can enjoy the regular distractions offered to me throughout the day rather than be consumed by the twitch. If not, I am seriously starting to consider amputation.

Joe Kunitz, staff writer