Excellent Adventures IT'S BETTER THAT MOM DOESN'T KNOW! Spring Break--"Master the Moment" Dan did not join his buddies in college freshman orientation activities. Without Presidential aspirations and the discipline to adapt to the campus regimen of dorm keggers, sorority mixers, and late night carousing, this suburban "Jersey Joe" decided to take a job in retail sales. Sounds nice, but reality spells "cashier" in a sports emporium. Anyway, Dan figured that he would eventually enroll in local junior college and then graduate to a nearby Rutgers campus. Unfortunately, he had not saved any money for college and didn't have a clue about what to study. Life trolling the malls seemed so much cooler. Besides, high school sophomores were so easy to impress. Dan was living at home with the ostensive goal of saving money for college. In February, several of his high school buddies invited him to drive down to Daytona Beach for spring break. Dan was ecstatic. College partying--big time--without the hassle of studying and attending classes. He jumped at the opportunity to chug beer at the pool by day and cheer wet t-shirt contests at night. Although Dan was short on cash, he intended to show the guys that he could still party hardy. Living at home with his parents was not going to deprive him of enjoying college life--spring break style. Dan's Gold MasterCard ensured that the gang would remember his prodigious partying. As soon as he got to Daytona Beach, Dan rented a limo and took the guys out to cruise the strip. Cases of cold beer were the least expensive of his extravagances. After failing to attract the attention of any lustful co-eds, Dan moved on to the "exotic" dance clubs. And there he garnered considerable attention with generous tips and expensive bottles of champagne. Dan even procured "lap" dances for his friends and "special moments" with his favorite performers--all courtesy of MasterCard. What a week to remember exulted 20 year-old Dan on the drive back to Jersey. Upon returning home, the fuzzy memories of his drunken stupors came with a shocking price tag. Dan's credit card statement arrived with nearly $5,000 in charges for the week--nearly the cost of tuition for a year! It would take him a year to save that much money. And they weren't even real blondes, lamented Dan. The moral of the story? Not everyone is college material--even with a Gold card.   Copyright Newtonian Finances Ltd. © 2000-2025 (disclaimer)