By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer

Surfboards on the roofs of Hondas.

Jack Johnson on the radio.

Bikinis on sale.

It's undeniable: Summer is hanging a left at the corner.

But summer isn't what it used to be, at least not to the thousands of us working in windowless offices, swapping beach time for paychecks and craving a vacation.

If we ran the world, summer would be "research" months, with "brainstorming" sessions every Friday at the nearest beachfront bar.

I've heard people scoff at the idea of summer in Hawai'i.

"It's always summer here," they say, usually prefacing elaborate explanations of snow drifts and wind chill.

But summer isn't specific to a place. It's a feeling, a moment, a lazy afternoon in July enhanced by slush floats and Super Soakers.

It's driving to the North Shore just to eat shave ice. It's using the sunroof for the first time in months. It's waking up at noon because you felt like it.

But summer seems to blur once you're out of school, as if the season was solely determined by the three months of vacation from reaction papers and pop quizzes.

There may be some truth in that.

My summers were spent playing Marco Polo in the Manoa pool, toasting marshmallows over a hibachi during sunset picnics at Ala Moana Beach, staying out late and sleeping in the next morning. I remember camping at Bellows and cruising through Waikiki. We wasted afternoons in movie theaters, at video arcades, in shopping malls.

Even in college, summer meant something: Vegas trips, martini nights, new bikinis.

But working full time has changed all that. Summer seems a beautiful but faint memory, a privilege we traded for sick leave and medical plans.

We can't unplug our alarm clocks or toss aside our irons. We can't trade in our dress pants for board shorts. Our days begin the same way it did in October — blaring alarm, cup of coffee, commute in traffic to work.

Summer has become just another season of months filled with deadlines and credit-card bills.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

You can recapture that energy, the summer that slipped away the moment you agreed to a full-time job with benefits.

Wake up an hour earlier. Turn on some mood music. Do the one thing you've always said you never have time for anymore: surf at Concessions, watch the sunrise, eat French toast at a sit-down restaurant.

Or escape during lunch. Walk along the beach, shop for a new swimsuit, drive all the way to Hale'iwa just to eat at Cholos.

Because summer isn't exclusive to teenagers without jobs or tourists in convertibles. It's about finding a way to squeeze in some fun, any way you can.

Summer is rounding the corner.

You may as well hitch a ride while you can.

Reach Catherine E. Toth at 535-8103 or ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.