Summer Schooled

Being a teenager is all about buckling down in the summer months. It's time for people to get jobs, get young adult savvy in internship, and take summer classes. For the few of us who literally have nothing to do other than live in the lap of luxury, like Kardashian style (minus the fake attention-whoring) it's about time, we get it together and do something with our summers. For me that's studying/preparing for the MCAT (God help me), planning and coordinating RHA stuff and (hopefully) starting my next book. Let's get summer schooled (said no one ever).

*But seriously, I'll probably have to dial back my use of social media (aka my entire life) and subsequently will most likely be blogging less frequently - so I'll try to do shorter posts, or videos when I'm crunched for time.

So, now that summer is in full swing and you're actually busy with doing things it's about time you make good on your self-promise to do something worthwhile. I think it's worth mentioning here that most friendships either go on hiatus (if they're not that important), or die altogether (you know I purposefully let a lot of them dissipate). Let's be real, if we're not friends over the summer, there's a reason, and we will not be reconnecting in the fall #sorrynotsorry. I currently talk to my closest friends on a weekly basis, and my best friends still everyday, and everyone else periodically, just to make sure they're doing okay. Do your part and initiate conversation, or Skype or snapchat if people still matter to you. Let acquaintanceships perish and move on with your summer. When you're at work, or studying (ewe) you can't have all these things going on. Limit your contact, and most of all it's pointless if you're not nearby as in my case. I go to school far enough away that I will never see anyone from school (unless they make the trek ... and it's a real voyage) to come and see me. I keep my worlds separate. Just like in your summer work you compartmentalize your social life, and your work life. Sometimes things shouldn't mix or intermingle, and it's better that way. Leave your work at work, and the fun at home. Know the time and the place. Summer has this effect of making us lazy as all-get-out and incapable of doing anything if you let it take over. Forgetting how to write, losing vocabulary, and that drive to actually do things - yup, that's the perpetual summeritis. Combat it by waking up earlier, going to bed at reasonable times, doing something useful everyday and writing (it's necessary).  Get summer schooled!

*In other news, Teen Wolf came back and it was ah-ma-zing and will forever be that perfect summer show. Season 2 of Continuum premiered and it went so hard, I just want Kiera and Carlos together - screw the future family. Awkward is great as always, except Jenna's sabotage of her own relationship is kind of annoying and is/did Sadie get with Boo Radley aka Shane Harper (check out his music Shane Harper YouTube Channel  - literally why aren't we best friends). ABC Family comedy Wednesdays stay flawless, Men at Work & the Goodwin Games are both worth also checking out. VH1's Hit the Floor is bringing the sexy drama behind the scenes of (scripted) professional basketball (Logan Browning could get it) and Tyler Perry's Have and Have Nots is taking soap to a new level (Tika Sumpter's performances >>> everything, that girl can act) on OWN. Oh, I watched Forward Unto Dawn, the Halo 4 miniseries and it was absolutely epic if you enjoy the Halo universe, it's well worth watching on Netflix. Summer songs to watch out for - Nikki Williams "Glowing" and Ariana Grande ft. Mac Miller "the Way" - your pop culture rundown, oh summer school.

Summer School Rules:
1) Turn off your cell phone or you legit will get nothing done. Don't put it on vibrate, dim the brightness, turn silence on, or even dare place it in do not disturb or airplane mode (team iPhone FTW); turn the damn thing off, and get serious with it. Social media is the biggest distraction, hands down.
2) Play some music but do not let it overpower the task at hand. Headphones in, but that doesn't mean blasting it so loud even Stevie Wonder could hear it, or that you'll be doing all that extraness. No singing, dirty dance seat grinding (my personal specialty), or humming. It's the background soundtrack not the main event.
3) Reward yourself with a break when you've truly earned it. If you haven't focused and got anything done, then you're undeserving, lazy ass deserves nothing resembling a break. I like 30 minute segments, partitions the time well and let's you make moves, and then go ham afterwards. Knock your work out and then gorge during your break (because that's healthy and normal ... right?)
4) Get into the right mindset when you're studying or working. That is, block everything else out. All the unnecessary drama, the irrelevance and those wandering thoughts, leave them away from your workplace. Treat your space like your life depends on it and be conscious that you're there for a purpose.

Being a teenager is all about getting productive with your summer. You've got all this time off and you know what those NAACP people - "a mind summer is a terrible thing to waste." Get it in gear, lock it down, and get ambitious. Cross stuff off your huge to do list, get a job or its less scary counterpart, the internship (BTW, that movie looks dumb as hell - really Owen Wilson, you've stooped this low ... Dylan O'Brien for the win), and do something with your summer. Summer schooled it is.

My blog post question for the day is ... how are you spending your summer? Oh, you know just with my heads buried in the books ... literally, on that MCAT grind.