If you’re like me, you decided to spend this beautiful summer in Eugene with hopes of finding a job. And, if you’re really like me, you are approaching the middle of July and are still unemployed. Don’t panic — there are still plenty of ways to stay productive in Eugene this summer. Try these six ideas to have the most productive summer possible in Eugene.
1. Organize
Whether you are moving into a new home or renewing your lease for another round, chances are you have a set of belongings. You convinced yourself all year that you were far too busy to clean out your room, and that in some future where you have more time, you will go through the pile of things you have accumulated in the last 18-24 years. Well — that future has come. No more excuses. You can’t appreciate what you have unless you know what you have. Try picking up “10 Minute Feng Shui Room by Room: Hundreds of Easy Tips and Techniques for Prosperity, Health and Happiness” by Skye Alexander.@@http://www.amazon.com/Minute-Feng-Shui-Room-Techniques/dp/1592331874@@ Or just follow this easy rule: Everything must have a place.
2. Make or Do Something!
What have you always wanted to do that you never had time or energy for? Play guitar? Make pottery? Build a shoe rack? Do it now! Check out the Craft Center in the EMU for a list of workshops going on all summer long. Go find dance lessons out in the community. Want to learn to make plants grow? Try volunteering on Saturdays at the community garden on campus. Whatever it is you have always wanted to make, now is the time to make it.
3. Reclaim Recreational Reading
Remember when you were young and you read books for entertainment? That was back when your parents limited how much television you could watch. As young adults of the technological era, it is time to put away your Xboxes and log out of your Netflix accounts. It is time to reclaim recreational reading. If that idea sounds terrible, start with the book that spawned one of your favorite TV shows or movies. Try “The Hunger Games” or “Game of Thrones.” Then you can move on to classic American literature and finally tackle those inspirational books your parents’ friends gave you for high school graduation.

4. Get Fit
It’s summer, and you don’t have a job — maybe you feel like now is the time to relax. Wrong! Now is the time to get healthy. You might have been too busy this year to go to classes at the gym or reserve a treadmill, but that’s the best part about summer at the Rec Center: Fewer people are there. Get a punch card and go try group classes. The equipment is always available because your friends with jobs are at work. Find inner peace in a yoga class or conquer your fear of heights at the rock wall. As you know, summer weather is amazing so try running along the river or float the river. Sitting in a crunch position for three hours on an inner tube is probably an abdominal workout.

5. Plan Your Future
Your dream summer job didn’t work out, but that doesn’t mean you can’t prepare for your future career. Free time in Eugene is the perfect time to reorient yourself and remember why you’re here. What do you want to do? You don’t know? The Career Center is open all summer. They have tests to help you at any stage of the process from choosing a major to choosing a career path. A wise publisher of the Emerald once said to find the job you want, find out who has it and figure out how they got it. Let go of mourning the job you didn’t get and start picturing the job you want.
6. Go outside
Any Oregonian can tell you that Oregon gets between two and three beautiful months of sunshine a year. That’s it. That being said, go outside. After you have organized your life and made something, feel free to reclaim recreational reading, get fit and plan your future in the sun. Spend three hours floating down the McKenzie River on a tube. Travel to Triangle Lake and enjoy the natural water slides. Explore the Cougar Hot Springs. Read outside at your favorite café. Enjoy the brief time of the year where you are comfortable in shorts and tank tops, and feel bad for your employed friends who are probably missing it in a fluorescently lit, air-conditioned building.