Dog Days of Summer in Full Swing at Last

This is not just the "summer-is-wonderful" column; it's the "summer-in-Chapel-Hill-is-better" one.

Part of the annual changing of the guard occurs here as Chapel Hill goes from a busy town of 25,000 students to a quaint small town waiting to be refilled in the fall by ex-C-TOPSers.

For now, we can ignore those C-TOPSers because they are in and out before they can even be noticed ... and rightfully so.

Chapel Hill is now left to the glory days of the summer. To quote my roommate and social philosopher, Jason Keever, "Good times!" (Don't confuse this with my last column, in which that would have been a Jimmie J.J. Walker allusion.)

Uptown on any evening in the summer is like a small gathering rather than a debacle of more people than you can imagine on a Thursday evening during school.

Sure, the overhyped ratio decreases, but the girls are more friendly and, therefore, more attractive. That counts for everything, but perhaps I have touched on a column for another day.

It's not just the cute girls in summer dresses who are more friendly. The dynamics of chilling in the summer make everyone more enjoyable.

Without as many activities on campus, summer gives us the time to relax. I'm finding that stressed-out people are the ones causing all the tension in the world. Maybe they go into hiding for the summer.

I've narrowed it down to say that there are only a few types of people who remain here throughout the summer.

There are the slackers -- the laid-back, fun people -- who didn't work as hard during the regular school year as their folks would have liked.

There are the studious ones who are trying to get ahead in their course requirements by taking summer school. Athletes also fall into this category because they have two full-time jobs.

Finally, there are people from small towns who enjoy the sprawling metropolis of Chapel Hill. This is just the place to be.

Regardless of why a person is in Chapel Hill for the summer, is there ever a reason to go to sleep before 3 a.m.?

During the school year there are all those pesky early morning classes when the work starts to pile up. Going out when the unread chapters and book work mount up like dirty laundry is a daunting task.

I'm not the most studious person, but nothing compares to three papers and an exam in one week of classes.

No, this is not a challenge to my media law professor, but it does happen to everyone two or three times during the fall or spring semesters.

This is my second summer in Chapel Hill, and I realize just how much fun and how laid back it can be to be here. It is even worth working 40-plus hours per week at the Yogurt Pump in order to afford it.

It's worth being around Chapel Hill just to bargain down some poor smuck who will inevitably pay you to sublease an apartment. And I'll note that rent is the only thing that comes remotely cheap around here.