Summer plans still iffy at the moment

Over the past few years, all I've anxiously awaited for is for summer to get here. And then what? What is there to do?

"How about a job?!" a person randomly shouts.

(ignores comment)

Well, I can't think of anything right now, and that's what's really bugging me. I really need to have plans for the summer instead of waking up every morning and saying to myself, "What are we gonna do today, Sam?"

So far, my plans consist of taking a senior trip that appears to be very iffy at the moment. The peppy class president's original idea was this:

"We're all gonna go down to Panama City, get a three-room condo for the 10 of us, and have an awesome time! We'll be there for like a week!" she says excitedly.

About a month later, the plan is this:

"We're gonna still go down there, but instead it will only be for a few days and we're staying in a motel," she says as the cheerful smile is slowly being wiped off her face.

Basically, all of this will be over by early June. That leaves me with about two and a half more months before college starts. Speaking of college, I've decided to go to Southeast Missouri State University after all.

"I'll give you $2,000, a trip to California with a friend and a laptop if you go to SEMO for at least two years," my mom said to me on the way back from the visit to Mizzou.

Seeing as how I wasn't all that impressed with that big old place they call Mizzou anyhow, I happily accepted my mother's offer.

"A trip to California! That's awesome!" all my friends say.

Yes, it does sound awesome, but there's always the chance that I may be robbed or, at best, run over by Paris Hilton. Anyway, a nice long trip out of Missouri may be good for me, since I'm not a farmer and no one in my family has owned a farm since George Washington was president. That leaves me out of the "driving-a-tractor-all-summer" ring, which consists of about 90 percent of my friends.

Last summer I swam a lot and I also did a lot of swimming. Then, at the end of my summer vacation, I got my job at Target. Target was great until one day when I thought I would kill the next person who asked me if "we had anymore in the back." The $600 I had saved from there and stashed away in a drawer, have slowly dwindled down to nothing but a few pennies and a string.

I guess we'll see what happens. In the meantime, I'm counting down the 18 days of school I have left. Nothing can stand in my way, not even the 59 percent I made on my last trigonometry test.

Maybe I'll take some extra math courses over the summer to help better prepare myself. (stifles laughter)

Sam DeReign is a senior at Oran High School. Contact him at sdereign@semissourian.com.