Awkward Situation: Bathroom Reading

After eating breakfast in the Commons this morning, as usual I grabbed today's issue of the Colorado Daily and headed back to my room. However, things turned deadly when after boarding the elevator I had a sudden and quite urgent need to use the bathroom. I was then faced with a predicament. Should I rush into the bathroom, newspaper in hand? Exiting the communal floor bathroom with reading material doesn't send the nicest message to floor mates. Or, should I just pray that I can hold it for a little while longer, unlock my door, chuck the newspaper inside and re-lock before going to the bathroom? That seems awfully strenuous in exchange for avoiding some minor embarrassment.

On a related note, how many times have you walked into a stall only to curse out the anonymous person before you that didn't flush? So you have to flush before sitting down because that's just gross. But then, you don't want to flush after you're finished because then it'd seem as though you took a really big dump and needed a courtesy flush. It's a vicious cycle. Man, I'm pathetic.