Summer takes it’s fine fingers and runs heat up and down your arms. Butterflies somersault through the air and birds add peaceful background music. You feel the sudden urge to go bikini shopping; hunting for just the perfect top and bottom that will bring out your feminine features. And boys dash into the gym, trying to capture their summer bodies to parade across the beach horizon. Summer in all her beauty however is a notorious thief of common sense and organization. Don’t let her steal the good sense to plan ahead. With school almost out have you thought about where you will be living next semester?
Do you want easy access to a pool and a hot tub? Or perhaps your a fanatic for the gym. Either way Campus Place is the spot for Fresno State students. Its close enough for you to walk to campus and on those days were the sun has been replaced by rain you’ll be within easy steps to the public transportation system. Don’t let independence rob you of your money; Campus Place is easy on the dollar. And don’t let summer steal your sense. Go talk to an Allstar and sign that lease today so that you can enter summer fun with a truly clear head!

Myspace was the opening chapter to the book of online social network. Unfortunately for Tom though, Facebook has officially come around to kill the Myspace frenzy. The site is basically on every college student’s to do list for the day. From updating statuses on random bits of life to rsvping to parties, Facebook has taken over. The site allows for reconnection with old friends, establishing new ones and in general is a pretty lucrative source of social information. You can even join groups that make you laugh or become fans of a particular city. Yes, Facebook is the King of the Internet.

Be warned in all your Facebook loving daily activity that the web page is not without risks. Employers are now looking up possible employees to see if they meet the company standards. They look at your pictures to see if your being just a bit to rowdy on any given Saturday. They skim your statuses to see if you forgot to pay the rent at Campus Place or if you found yourself in one too many dramatic situations. Basically, it’s a free background check into your personality and a much easier way to assess if you are really ready for the job and that potentially dooming interview. Do yourself a favor, Fresno students, and watch what you see and check how you act, even on Facebook.

Everyone knows that athletes are the social highlighters to an otherwise monotone student population. You can spot a basketball player from a mile a way, and football players seem to have a certain swag about them. Women want to be with them, and men want to be just like them. Those lucky few Fresno State students who fit into the college sports world are known from one dorm to another and are most definately swarmed with friends. But staying in the bubbling pool of awesome takes more than just talent and luck. It takes a certain amount of sobriety.

Athletes, male and female, are held under a very strict code. No drugs, no alcohol, no abuse. Once a month these ball loving, track running, hard working collegiates get shoved into a bathroom and are expected to pee into a cup so that an analysis can be run. If you pass, your all set but if you fail the consequences start raining down. But what makes it worse is that these once a month drug testings are totally random and completely unannounced. It may be true that only a small population of the athletes get tested, but it’s still stressful just thinking that maybe you happened to eat too many poppy seed muffins that morning and that your drug meter might just go off. And as well as random testings, there are of course those of the scheduled variety and the kind that come up when a player is acting suspicious. Athletics may hold a certain appeal, but it’s not without hard work and a bit of Russian roulette.

Living in sunny California, basking in the ambiance of all that is wonderful and great should bring a smile to your face. But in this world of eternal sun and Hollywood glamour, there is a deep and dark drive to be better physically than the next person. And students at Fresno State are not at all exempt from the pressures. Magazines litter the stands, posters of the perfect male or female body are hung up in dorms and celebrities on television who lose weight like magic seem to be turning up the beauty standards. And it’s a particularly hard thing to swallow in the socially demanding world of a college student. And what’s worse is that just around every corner is a Starbucks, McDonalds or Inn-n-Out Burger to tempt the senses. How is one expected to be a lean, mean, learning machine when food and natural genetics are in the way? The answer is, you aren’t! The size two models with bulging bosoms and the men who ripple with steroid induced muscles are just a fraud. Learn to love the curves, bumps, dips and pleats in your own body. Though California may be known for it’s Silicon Valley, it shouldn’t be the land of the fake and fraudulent. Take pride in the reality of your body and realize that the people on the magazines and posters are inordinately lucky, have extravagant amounts of money and chefs who cater to them. Love yourself and if you feel you must improve, and no one is against personal betterment, then work out, eat right and laugh much!