It’s no secret that hooking up can be a fun time had by all. It’s livin’ the life, baby, for we are in college — the best time of our lives! Each new, exciting college hook-up we experience with the opposite gender (or both genders if you’re particularly frisky) can help shape our college years in some usually positive way … and this holds true even for relationships.

But there’s a darker side to the sexcapades that can ensue between us college co-eds. Sometimes things don’t always go as planned with your partner. Events can unfold that are so horrifying, you wouldn’t dare tell another soul about them!

There is no exact name for them, but I usually tend to lump such incidents into a category I call The Awkward. The Awkward includes those moments where every possible thing that can go wrong during a hook-up does, be it an open zipper or tripping down the stairs. Food in the teeth, bad breath, streak marks on the undies … you name it. Furthermore, here is a list of common awkward occurrences which have devastated millions of college co-eds since the dawn of man.

1) Too much saliva and/or drool left on one or more partners’ mouths after kissing for a prolonged period of time. This issue will have the added effect of having to use your arm as a makeshift bib, only making the situation worse.

2) The dreaded “Walk of Shame” — walking back to your dorm the morning after a hookup in the same clothing you wore the night before, looking as disheveled as ever. Some might think this experience acts as a badge of manliness (or womanliness), or as a mark of being especially debonair, but all rico suave-ness is lost when you realize that the person you hooked up with the night before looks like a wildebeest … with a bad haircut!

3) Farting while in the midst of any sort of sexual act, even kissing. This is far from being socially acceptable, so any passage of gas from either party, regardless of its amplitude, will be almost entirely awkward — and stinky to boot!

4) Getting shut down while trying to round first base (i.e. the “finger tip-toe along her mountain tops”), let alone the rest of the bases. There are few things more awkward then hitting that impenetrable force field that is a girl’s sexual limits. This uncomfortable experience tends to happen almost exclusively to guys (because we have no such force field of sexual limits for you girls to hit). Nevertheless, AWKWARD!

5) Premature ejaculation, blowing your load too early, dropping your coins in front of the slot machine, the skyrocket’s in flight before the afternoon delight happens … you get the idea. There is no way around any type of premature eruption that occurs before the big show gets going, and saying “Oh baby, you’re just that hot!” will be a hard line to pull off if you’re caught in this pickle.

The reason I bring these awkward experiences (that I’m sure you’ve all encountered at least once before) to the forefront is because such events can ruin a fun time with your partner. But these embarrassing, problematic and uncomfortable experiences will never make us feel right inside unless we begin to embrace them and accept their occurrences. So deal with the saliva you spill, the shameful walks you take, the farts you rip and the orgasms she fakes. Hell, even embrace those awkward premature eruptions, for accepting The Awkward can ultimately allow us to be more comfortable with our partners and, better yet, ourselves.