My MacBook Is Very Problemic Power-Wise

At random instances in the time I've had my MacBook (since September), I shut my MacBook down, but when I close the lid the sleep light goes on, and the battery runs dry. The only way I'm able to turn it back on after one of these instances is by removing and putting the battery back in. Needless to say it annoys the crap out of me.
Even worse, since about a week ago, my computer will turn off in the middle of me using it. It then takes three to five attempts for it to turn back on and boot up.
I am really ****** because I have an 8-page paper due Wednesday for my research skills class and if I can't do it on my computer then I won't have enough time to get it done.
If anyone has any theories as to what my problem is and what I can do to alleviate it, that would be appreciated.
--Jared

At random instances in the time I've had my MacBook
(since September), I shut my MacBook down, but when I
close the lid the sleep light goes on, and the
battery runs dry. The only way I'm able to turn it
back on after one of these instances is by removing
and putting the battery back in. Needless to say it
annoys the crap out of me.
If you are pressing the power button and shutting the lid as soon as the screen goes dark, you may be putting it to sleep in the middle of shutting down, which makes it go into a state of neither proper shutdown nor proper sleep.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304121
Even worse, since about a week ago, my computer will
turn off in the middle of me using it. It then takes
three to five attempts for it to turn back on and
boot up.
Does this happen on battery only or also when plugged in? Some people have battery issues where the machine will shut down without warning while still showing 25% charged or so. Mostly this seems to be getting solved by replacing the battery (unless it's simply due to not having the battery calibrated).
There were some earlier issues with spontaneously shutting down that were mostly solved by a firmware update.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304308

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