Grab your grocery carts, doomsday preppers. Canned corn is aisle 3. Ramen noodles, aisle 2. Surviving the apocalypse for dummies can be found in the book section. And if you just took the previous sentences seriously, you are probably building your bomb shelter as this is being read. No need to panic, the Mayans left a few copies of instruction tablets next to the calendars. Oh wait, those are just rocks…

No worries, though, there’s already a ton of information books on the topic that can be purchased, written by sincere individuals who definitely didn’t write them to mislead people for a profit.

There are different theories as to how the world will end; natural disasters, zombies, something about the moon aligning with the solar system to create a secret society of planets plotting to take over Earth (Pluto isn’t invited).The one thing that ties all of these crazy conspiracies together, however, is the infamous date: December 21st, 2012.

This date stems from the Mayan calendar, which interpreters believe to be the last day on the calendar itself. The Mayans were advanced for their time, famous for their astronomical knowledge. Some believe that the calendar ended on this date for a particular reason. Others believe that they simply ran out of room, which isn’t too bad of a theory, because the calendar couldn’t have gone on forever.

It seems that conspiracy theorists have just taken that random date, which could very well have no meaning, and applied it to their own predictions. And everybody has their own opinion on how the world may end.

There has been such an uproar of concern for this day, in fact, that the government even had to make a statement on its usa.gov blog stating that “scary rumors about the world ending in 2012 are just rumors.”

So whether you are stocking up on possibly your last grocery trip ever, or looking for a gas mask in your favorite color (emerald is in this year, according to fashion experts), one thing cannot be denied: The 21st will be an interesting day.

Though there are numerous signs (ex: the twinkie factories shutting down), that the world will end on the 21st, there must be awareness made of the fact that people cannot believe everything they hear.

This takes us back a year ago to 2011, May 21st, to be exact, as there seems to be a trend with the number “21”. Harold Camping, a doomsday preacher, led thousands of people astray with his prediction that the rapture would happen on this day. Many of his followers quit their jobs; many more spent or gave away their life savings in hopes of being taken up in the clouds. But when the day came and showed no signs of epic happenings, believers were shocked.

Let’s not be those people. But let us to continue on the righteous path of buying too many canned goods in hopes of there being a disaster that kills most of the population but leaves some of us alive.

You might be a doomsday prepper if…

1. Coupons for canned goods make you squeal like a little girl
2. You take notes when you watch “The Walking Dead”
3. You refer to zombie-killing video games as “practice material”
4. You choose your friends based on their survival skills
5. You thought “Zombieland” was a documentary
6. You insult people with the phrase: “You wouldn’t survive the apocalypse”
7. You thought the movie “2012” was highly unrealistic because of the lack of zombies
8. Your dream is to host a show called “Pimp my bomb shelter”
9. You are planning a “last day of civilization” party, to be held on the 20th.