Summer. It comes and goes, and then we count down for months and weeks and days until it comes ‘round again … and then, just like that, it goes again. It’s short — way shorter than you might be expecting. Don’t waste the few precious summer days that we get!
1- DON’T put off the work out. The Student Recreation and Wellness Center on campus is open during the summer. Sure it closes a tad earlier than it does during the semester, but hey, you probably don’t have class anyway. Students attending summer courses have a membership through the summer, and for the lucky ones who won’t see a classroom until September, it’s just under $100 to stay fit at The Beach. So there is no reason to keep saying you’ll work out tomorrow … you can start gettin’ swoll right now!
2- DON’T spend all your summer earnings at the movie theater — check out the Long Beach Playhouse’s collection of stage performances as well as the Garage Theater. The prices probably aren’t any cheaper than the movie theater, but it’s a lot more engaging than watching the Avengers spit awkward one-liners between action sequences.
3- DON’T get too involved with the tech-crazy, 2015, gotta-have-it-now mentality. Dip into the classics a few times this summer with books by authors like Steinbeck or Vonnegut; re-watch the classics like “Gone with the Wind,” “The Wizard of Oz” or “The Outsiders.” Twitter CAN wait … if you miss something the first time it posts, you can catch it when it gets re-tweeted/shared/liked/etc. later on. Take a day or two, go off the grid and enjoy.
4- DON’T forget to tell your family, friends and co-workers that you are going to do what number three says and go off the grid. It is summer, but your boss still needs you to show up for work, your mom still wants to know you’re alive and your friends still want to know what’s good. Don’t leave anyone hanging when you’re taking some you time.
5- DON’T blow up. Independence Day is coming, and fireworks are still illegal in the City of Long Beach. Be safe (and sane), have fun and keep an eye on your younger siblings with those sparklers — they could get seriously hurt!
There are so many things you could do this summer. You could find an internship, start a blog, commit to reading all of the Lord of the Rings books, eat your weight in fro-yo, drink your weight in beer or do all of those things!
But the bottom line is DON’T sit on the couch, binging Netflix for three months and then wonder where your summer went.
(And DON’T forget to check out Morning 49er News on KBeach Tuesday mornings and on twitter @Daily49er #49ernow).