It's almost summer. The sun seems hotter, the days longer, the TV like deja vu. I'd joke that the summer doesn't mean so much when you're unemployed, but, actually, the summer means much less when you do have a job. You don't get to enjoy the days because you're in refrigerated boxes, waiting for five o'clock to come around.

Summer days just beg for an afternoon of mimosas or little umbrella drinks. Of movie marathons and dazed dancing to the new Chili Peppers double CD. And, even in my desert world, a little cooling afternoon rain.

Apparently it also causes some kids to go a little batty with their common sense.

Last week, a 16-year-old girl flew to meet a man in Jericho (the one on the West Bank), because, apparently, there aren't any good men (boys) in rural Michigan. She "met" the man she was traveling to see on Myspace.

The outraged father wondered allowed where all the national security money was going in this country if they couldn't keep a 16-year-old girl from flying halfway around the world. I'm thinking the father is going to shut up sometime soon.

I'll wonder this aloud before going on: how does a 16-year-old girl get a passport, buy an airline ticket and make it halfway around the world before her parents realize something is wrong?

A 16-year-old can't do the first two things without some kind of permission (or permissiveness) from her parents. Just to stick my finger in your eye, daddy.

All this new technology we have makes us all seem just around the corner from each other--and yet, millions of miles away. A real face to face conversation takes work. An email or text message takes a joke and a little :).

I can counsel a broken-hearted friend with my whiskery-doodled ramblings in the middle of the night. She'll read it sooner or later (and, maybe reply, if I say anything of relevance to the situation). But the real healing has to happen in real time. No amount of emoticons will actually fix the problem.

Myspace is good and bad. Like all of these new fangled toys of modern society. You can say the good/bad thing about cell phones and computers and iPods and hybrid cars and oil prices and whatever. Two sides to every coin. Except war. I can't think of anything good coming from war. Might just be me.

For my band, we can invite hundreds of people to a show in very little time. And in even less time, most of them can decide there's no way in hell they are going to go see rock n' roll on a late Monday night. We put up pictures and songs and cute little sayings that point to what you might actually see and hear when you go to an Old Beans show.

I can be the stupidest guy in the world, or incredibly insightful. Usually within a few sentences. I can have pictures from a few years ago or something taken in the last week. And anyone, if they wanted to look, can see this on the web. All on Myspace.

What about the kids? This has been the refrain since the beginning of time. Don't we care about the kids? Think about this little bit from the Bible: One of two of the original children (according to Christian legend) KILLED his brother. What were Adam and Eve doing? What else did they have to do BUT look after their children? There weren't jobs back then. These two parents had the lease on the entire world and rent was cheap. There wasn't an Internet, and somehow one of their kids murdered the other.

I know, it's a cheap shot. But so is blaming everyone else in the world for your failings as a parent. Or me blaming whatever or whoever about my failings when I was a child.

One of the Old Beans songs has this refrain: You got no one to blame for the life that you choose. We sing it a few times, just to emphasize the point.

Are there bad people who use Myspace to further their badness? Yep. Should you worry about what your children are doing when you're not around. Of course, isn't that part of being a parent? Another part is actually talking to your kids about all these bad things you're worried about.

And the kids job is to shine you on when you get too protective.

Just one thing you can do: ask a few more questions when your 16-year-old wants a passport and your credit card.

Matt Worley can be found on the web pretty easily. Really. Just google his name.