It sounded like a great idea at the time. Your Counsellor convinced you taking Summer School would actually make it possible for you to graduate a whole semester earlier. Freedom, six months before everybody else. So maybe it cuts into your Summer, for now – but next year . . .
So you sign up for History, Geography and Algebra – your Counsellor is thrilled. So are you . . . after a while.
But you forgot one thing – YOU may be in Summer School, but none of your friends are. Your friends are hanging out at the Beach or hanging out on the Strip, or taking road trips up the coast or to Yosemite or going to concerts every night. But not you. You have to be in bed by 10 to be up at 7 to be at Geography by 8. Think: Graduating Early.
After about a week of life passing you by you decide sleep is overrated and you dive into Summer with a vengeance – life is short. You can do two things at once. People do it all the time. The whole world does it – nobody sleeps; ever.
By the middle of the second week you’ve noticed a few things; Days look very weird – people act very strange and you can’t keep your eyes open for more than 10 minutes in class. You bolt upright, out of a deep sleep and everyone is staring at you – your teacher strikes a face that has “Fail” written all over it. It’s the dead of Summer and there’s no air-conditioning at school. Your head is full of smog and your mind is full of noise from sitting too close to the amps the night before. Blue Cheer IS louder than God.
But you did get to hang out in front of Canter’s till two in the morning – you have a pocket full of phone numbers – you have worn out your copy of Sgt. Pepper and suddenly you think Geography is way overrated.
On top of that, this summer is going to stay glued inside your mind for a very long time.
Especially if The Real Don Steele has anything to say about it – here’s an hours worth of KHJ from July 3, 1967.
