Graduation Issue: Misses the good old summer fun

Inside Opinion:

VOL. VII, NO. 121

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, LONG BEACH

MAY 24-26, 2000

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Misses the good old summer fun

I remember the first time somebody wrote "Have a bitchin' summer" in one of my yearbooks. His name was Willie and we were in the sixth grade. He was a pretty funny guy and when he wrote that I thought, "Wow, what a rebel!" At the time I thought "bitchin'" was a bad word.

Now I am older and a bit wiser, but I still miss the good old days when the last days of school consisted of watching movies, eating junk food, cleaning out lockers, and most importantly, signing yearbooks. Sure, most entries in a yearbook were generic. You usually could get away with writing the same message in many yearbooks simply by adding specific details:

Jennifer Umana

Hey (insert friend's name)! Wow! Can you believe the year is finally over? I had so much fun in (insert class name) with you. (insert teacher's name) is such a lame-o! Remember that time we (insert funny incident/inside joke)? That was crazy! Well, I gotta go. Have a (adjective) summer! Keep in touch!

This is my eighth semester at Cal State Long Beach and I still have not gotten used to the ritualistic-free nature of the final days of the semester. During the last day of class you find out what is going to be on the final. On the day of the final you do the best you can on the test and go home. Every semester I can't help but feel that there is some unfinished business. I need closure!

I don't know what I can do to help me gain this closure I so desperately need. My younger brother and I watch the camp movie "Meatballs" starring Bill Murray to start off every summer, but this is not enough. Maybe I can tell someone to "Have a bitchin' summer!" But I don't think that will help either. I need to know that other people are performing end-of-school rituals also. Think about how great the last day of school used to be.

In addition to taking finals, try to find some time to throw your notebooks in the air, take pictures with your friends, give someone your phone number and tell them to K.I.T. (keep in touch). Watch "Meatballs", "Dazed and Confused" or some other camp or last day of school movie.

Tell someone to "Have a bitchin' summer!" It will make you feel good and make me feel even better.

Jennifer Umana is a staff writer for The Daily Forty-Niner.