Day 17: 2008

Senior Year! Does that mean I am now KING of the school? Hardly. I was no longer President of VOC, but the person that took over did a mostly terrible job, and so I ended up coordinating many of the events. Click here for more details.

In terms of classes, Hamamoto’s English AP class was super ridiculous, considering we had 27 open-ended questions on each 7-minute quiz every single day of class. I’m not sure the “method to his madness” really worked since I ended up getting only a 3 on the AP Test. Being a Republican at the time, I loved Ms. Dand for espousing her values upon us. Culinary Art ROP was a joke of a class with students dissing each other all the time and being quite ratchet. I recall telling someone I was Caucasian in the class. He said “I see the asian… but I don’t see the cock”. I learned nothing about cooking but manage to secure the highest grade in the class. I was a TA for Durand’s class which was fun I guess, but there wasn’t much work to be done. Calculus was my least favorite class, resulting in my only C’s in high school. Although, I felt ashamed, since both of my sisters pulled off A’s in the class and 5’s on the AP test. I recall doing a group project for the class, and DOING IT WRONG when I had to present in front of the class. I ended up crying. Environmental AP was also a fun and easy class, with the best part of the year being when we went to the elementary school to teach the other students. Needless to say, the teachers my Senior Year were clearly interesting and memorable, only because I happened to blog about them often. Senior Year 1. Senior Year 2. 

This is the year I also started working at Popeyes. Quite possibly the worst job in the world. The bosses were mean, it was hot and sweaty, I got yelled at a lot, and I didn’t feel like I fit in cause all my co-workers partied and did drugs all the time. One time I remember spinning chicken in a rotisserie, and it fell out into the ground. I sneaked it back in to avoid getting in trouble, and cooking it burns off the dirt, right?!?!?! Right?!?! Oh well, I’m glad that’s over with now though, although I can’t say the same for my co-workers…

Senior Year was slightly lonelier at home with my sisters now gone away for college, one getting her Pharmacy degree at Oregon State and the other miles away at UCLA. It was at that point that I needed to re-assert my independence. I definitely hung out with others more, not necessarily just at community service events, but at other endeavors, such as movies, the beach, going to my friend’s houses, and other school-related functions.

In preparation for college, we visited many UC campuses this year, from USC, UCLA, to UC Irvine (for mostly Quiz Bowl tournaments).

Winter Formal was an unforgettable experience, an experience I was definitely against going to at first, citing “conformity” as the reason I was against it. When my friends decided to nominate me for king, I decided to attend. I hated everything about it leading up to the dance, because I had to compete in the “lunchtime activities”, where I competed with a bunch of jocks. All they did was cheat too. What losers. I guess it didn’t really matter in the end, because I ended up winning, which was a highlight of my Senior Year (but hopefully not the high point of my life).

A few other things I went to include a nicely organized UC Dinner which resulted in a gas attack, hanging out biweekly with the newly established “Freaks and Geeks” Clique, and Saying Goodbye to everyone.

Senior Year was also the start (and conclusion) of my first real relationship. And though we didn’t talk much, we bonded over community service, helping others, and being generally good people. She was full of drama though, and we talked on the phone often. Actually, in retrospect she talked way more than I ever did, but it was an interesting relationship while it lasted, ending in of course… me being late to her Choir Concert. Sad!

Graduation was obviously the culmination of all my hard work up until this point, allowing me to escape the drama of that year.

Nothing summarizes my high school experiences better than those espoused by my friend Jonathan Elizalde. Written below, they encapsulate much of what I’ve felt up until that point:

So this is it—the end—the close—the big finish, for us, the FACT class of ’04-’05, the senior graduating class of 2008. The truth of the matter is that this had not hit me until those last two songs at Imada Plaza on Prom Night. It was then, huddled in a mass group hug, with friends and old faces—theses former strangers who were now family—theses brothers and sisters who have grown to be nearly inseparable in these past four years. It was then, as “Graduation by Vitamin-c” and “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) by Green Day” echoed into eternity, ringing into my ears, striking my nerve and soul—joined by the harmonious singing of friends, it hit me.

Memories began to flow—the sweetest memories of living— the joys and sorrows, the shared moments so deafeningly etched into our memories, moments that we hold so dear. Memories such as, the “Cold War” between John and I (that Caesar’s Square I built), slipping into the mud outside Mr. Munson’s class in an attempt to snatch at Mackenzie’s hat, tripping Huyen in Mr. Murray’s room (Bwahahaha Howard had the best burn on Huyen), my “Rejection Spree” (0 – 7 Was it? I can’t remember any more!) =], the first days in high school (boy oh, boy), the FACT Ice Cream Social, MARS RAHS FACT Projects, Stalin Day, Piggy and the Conch, FLATLAND….. everything and anything, this only being freshman year! Wowzers…. Starting to play WoW, those were the days……… “Your Mom” Jokes (Which have now evolved into “That’s what she said”).

Sophomore Year, the Euro Nuremberg Mock Trial (Admiral Karl Doenitz Lives on FOREVER!), Schirmers… erm…. Well you know (just ask Earf!), that long chain of movies we watched week after week ( Remember Erica and Judy?), the Euro Round Tables (I think because I am… because I am Descarte!), Mr. Pyle’s “Frings” (You know you loved ‘em Earf!), George and Lenny, Atticus and Mockingbirds, Lockhart, CANDIDE, the Communist Manifesto, Penis Envy (Gotta love Freud!) Our First AP test!

Junior Year! Gatsby, VOC, Discovery Science Center (Nearly getting cooked cooking hot dogs!), Aids Walk! The Second “Cold War”!, Blandford and Bunnell, AP Physics (More like Phy-SUCKS), AP US Super Hero Projects! John’s Epic Spanish Video for Jackson! Annie! Girlfriend! Winter Formal!

Senior Year! Hamamoto! Video projects (I can’t ever listen to Bohemian Rhapsody the same way again!), “I will work HARDER!”, Swing It Live! (International Week!), 50^th Anniversary! “The Horror, the Horror!” Hamlet Saga! “Get thee to a nunnery!” Watching Branagh’s Hamlet at my place with the gang! Hiep’s Surprise Birthday! Winter Formal! Sadies! Ahhhh! Hell Week! AP Test Spam! And now Prom, to come full circle—to close, yet to continue making new memories.

In these past few weeks leading up to our graduation, I have been searching for “closure”, hoping to find a sense of meaning and fulfillment in these past four years leading on to graduation, then to college, then to the rest of our lives. But, I have come to realize that in our experience here, at Rancho, or be it wherever we may be in the future—the friendship, laughs, tears—the memories never have to end, we carry them in our hearts and in our minds wherever we go. I say this to remind us that we are never alone, that in our experience as FACT students, we have become a family, united and strong. Remember the laughs we had, and the love we shared. Best of luck to all of you in the future!”

With Senior Year over, it was time to decide which college to go to. Being rejected from UCLA offered me two clear choices, UCI or UCSD, to which I opted for the farther away school in an effort to have a fresh start in life.

The Dark Knight was the top grossing movie of the year. I love that movie. The top song of the year was “Low”. I hate that song. I guess you can’t win everything.