2002 - 2012: Kings forever
I almost didn't even make it to my graduation ceremony.
On this day, right about this time and ten years ago, I was at the graduation commencement rehearsing exercises with all the other graduates at my high school. We were all on the football field receiving instructions from some of the school admins who told us what was going to happen and in what sequence. It wasn't a very long meeting, maybe about thirty minutes long, but at the end of it they gave us these large orange envelopes containing a small newspaper of that year's school events, booklet with the names of important teachers and administrators planning the event and a CD with theme songs hand-picked by the yearbook club if I remember correctly. After the meeting, I hung out with my fellow bandmates outside in front of the auditorium for a bit, then went back home with dad on his motorcycle so I could get a few hours rest before the ceremony. Man....I'm so, so glad I was in the band the whole four years. That was the only interesting thing about school, pretty much the class that also doubled as a club of sorts. Those classmates were kind of wild and crazy, sometimes to the point of driving our teacher to frustration. We were all kind of like the incompetent black sheep of a platoon that just barely managed to pull off a decent parade march, yet made up for it with spectacular marching shows at the halftime football games we played at. Without it, those would have been the most boring four years of high school. I don't know, maybe when I eventually go back to college, I'll consider playing in the band. Except this time it'll be with a group that has their act better put together than a bunch of us high school brats.
Like I mentioned, I almost never made it to that night, all because I had pulled an up-all-niter the night before on a senior English research paper that hadn't been turned in about two or three months prior. Gah, I remember that damn thing. I believe we were given at least two months to work on it. The topic I selected was Monty Python's flying circus. Almost not one thing got done with it because I didn't know how to do it and wasn't very good with research papers to begin with, so with extremely low expectations I decided to wing the 'F' grade and try to counter it by getting at least a 'B' on every assignment given to me. Iiiiit....didn't really work out. I pretty much 'D'd and 'F'd just about every assignment and test except for that presentation project on Aldous Huxley that got a 'B.' But even then that wasn't enough to save my grade in that Achilles' heel of a class, the only one that I was absolutely horrible at. I can kind of vividly remember the school counselor calling the house about three or four days before graduation day and saying something like "...and there is something I am concerned with about your son's grades that will complicate him being able to graduate, and I need to talk to you about this...." which caused me to go into a full blown panic inside me. I couldn't do much about it except roll with that one punch, though. So two days before, me and dad go to the school library that morning and they both start talking in his office while they make me wait outside. Fifteen minutes later they step outside with my dad knowing the god-awful reason. Thankfully he wasn't angry at all. He said he was disappointed in me instead. To make a long and agonizing story short, we head on back home on his motorcycle to get crackin' on that freaking report. There wasn't really much to say about it: a gruesome fifteen hour panic-fest behind a keyboard in front of a computer monitor, having fell asleep right next to my dad and sister a couple of times. In the end, the bloody thing got written, printed and turned in with the reference page neatly attached to it the next morning. Afterward, we both went out for breakfast at the local Carrows.
After all that had happened, I was surprised that my dad would actually buy me an admission ticket to the grad night party at the fairgrounds right after the ceremony that night. Although I didn't do too much there, the most important thing was that I spent some time with a couple of friends the entire night, particularly one from my computer programming class. One thing we did was get a free photo taken with another one of his friends by a few photographers that I still have to this day. Looking back at it, I still look somewhat the same, although a bit....well, older than my 18 year old self, obviously. And I suppose it would have been better had I not been dressed so formally for the ceremony because a formal shirt and pants contrasts very badly with the casual jeans and graduation t-shirts they are wearing in the photograph. Not to mention, most everyone else was wearing pretty much that as well. I think that was also the reason a couple people giggled at me when I decided to climb one of those fake mountain climbing walls (you know, the ones with those small foot ridges you use). Later on that night, one girl from my English class decided to dance with me to some slow music, marking the first time ever dancing with someone of the opposite gender (and a cute one at that. No, I didn't get her number or anything). Afterwards I just simply hung out with my friends for the rest of the night until everyone was let go at 6am. The last thing they told us was congratulations on graduating and good luck.
Among most of the things I don't deserve, I'm pretty sure I didn't deserve that. Yet even then, it was still given to me anyway. When I do go back to college, I'll do much, much better to make it up to them.
On this day, right about this time and ten years ago, I was at the graduation commencement rehearsing exercises with all the other graduates at my high school. We were all on the football field receiving instructions from some of the school admins who told us what was going to happen and in what sequence. It wasn't a very long meeting, maybe about thirty minutes long, but at the end of it they gave us these large orange envelopes containing a small newspaper of that year's school events, booklet with the names of important teachers and administrators planning the event and a CD with theme songs hand-picked by the yearbook club if I remember correctly. After the meeting, I hung out with my fellow bandmates outside in front of the auditorium for a bit, then went back home with dad on his motorcycle so I could get a few hours rest before the ceremony. Man....I'm so, so glad I was in the band the whole four years. That was the only interesting thing about school, pretty much the class that also doubled as a club of sorts. Those classmates were kind of wild and crazy, sometimes to the point of driving our teacher to frustration. We were all kind of like the incompetent black sheep of a platoon that just barely managed to pull off a decent parade march, yet made up for it with spectacular marching shows at the halftime football games we played at. Without it, those would have been the most boring four years of high school. I don't know, maybe when I eventually go back to college, I'll consider playing in the band. Except this time it'll be with a group that has their act better put together than a bunch of us high school brats.
Like I mentioned, I almost never made it to that night, all because I had pulled an up-all-niter the night before on a senior English research paper that hadn't been turned in about two or three months prior. Gah, I remember that damn thing. I believe we were given at least two months to work on it. The topic I selected was Monty Python's flying circus. Almost not one thing got done with it because I didn't know how to do it and wasn't very good with research papers to begin with, so with extremely low expectations I decided to wing the 'F' grade and try to counter it by getting at least a 'B' on every assignment given to me. Iiiiit....didn't really work out. I pretty much 'D'd and 'F'd just about every assignment and test except for that presentation project on Aldous Huxley that got a 'B.' But even then that wasn't enough to save my grade in that Achilles' heel of a class, the only one that I was absolutely horrible at. I can kind of vividly remember the school counselor calling the house about three or four days before graduation day and saying something like "...and there is something I am concerned with about your son's grades that will complicate him being able to graduate, and I need to talk to you about this...." which caused me to go into a full blown panic inside me. I couldn't do much about it except roll with that one punch, though. So two days before, me and dad go to the school library that morning and they both start talking in his office while they make me wait outside. Fifteen minutes later they step outside with my dad knowing the god-awful reason. Thankfully he wasn't angry at all. He said he was disappointed in me instead. To make a long and agonizing story short, we head on back home on his motorcycle to get crackin' on that freaking report. There wasn't really much to say about it: a gruesome fifteen hour panic-fest behind a keyboard in front of a computer monitor, having fell asleep right next to my dad and sister a couple of times. In the end, the bloody thing got written, printed and turned in with the reference page neatly attached to it the next morning. Afterward, we both went out for breakfast at the local Carrows.
After all that had happened, I was surprised that my dad would actually buy me an admission ticket to the grad night party at the fairgrounds right after the ceremony that night. Although I didn't do too much there, the most important thing was that I spent some time with a couple of friends the entire night, particularly one from my computer programming class. One thing we did was get a free photo taken with another one of his friends by a few photographers that I still have to this day. Looking back at it, I still look somewhat the same, although a bit....well, older than my 18 year old self, obviously. And I suppose it would have been better had I not been dressed so formally for the ceremony because a formal shirt and pants contrasts very badly with the casual jeans and graduation t-shirts they are wearing in the photograph. Not to mention, most everyone else was wearing pretty much that as well. I think that was also the reason a couple people giggled at me when I decided to climb one of those fake mountain climbing walls (you know, the ones with those small foot ridges you use). Later on that night, one girl from my English class decided to dance with me to some slow music, marking the first time ever dancing with someone of the opposite gender (and a cute one at that. No, I didn't get her number or anything). Afterwards I just simply hung out with my friends for the rest of the night until everyone was let go at 6am. The last thing they told us was congratulations on graduating and good luck.
Among most of the things I don't deserve, I'm pretty sure I didn't deserve that. Yet even then, it was still given to me anyway. When I do go back to college, I'll do much, much better to make it up to them.