At year's end

At 11:55 A.M. EDT today, my junior year of high school ended.

The first exam I took today was for Precalculus. I had been studying my brains out for the past two nights. I was looking at the stuff I was supposed to study and I was like, "Whaa?" I had to refresh my memory for just about everything, but I'm glad I did. I think I did pretty well on the test. There were a few things I forgot how to do, but since it was a multiple choice test, I just plugged in the answers to see which one was right. But he always checks to make sure you've actually done the work, so those will be marked wrong. Oh well. The majority of the questions I answered quite easily.

After that was the last period of the school year: American History. We were supposed to get in groups and make a Windows Movie Maker video about a decade in recent history. Naturally, Andrew and I chose the 1960s. So all we really did was watch people's videos. When it came time for Andrew and I to present ours, there was a problem: the sound didn't work. That was pretty much an embarrassment. We took to fixing it (well, Andrew did, anyway -- he did all the work), and all logical troubleshooting methods failed us: creating a new file, deleting the music and adding it back, and so on. Then he cut off the first few seconds of the music, and for some reason it worked. By that time every group had presented its video, so we just gave it to the teacher, Mr. Weigel, to watch for himself. Then, after continuing to watch Forrest Gump, it came time to stand and wait for the bell. Then it rang, and we were free to go.

Mr. Weigel shook hands and gave hugs as we filed out of the classroom. Luke and I headed directly across the hall to see Mr. Miller, who had been our European History teacher until yesterday. We wished each other a good summer and talked about what we were going to do. Mr. Miller said that he's going to carry himself back to old Virginny and see the friends he's got in Pennsylvania. Apparently next year he's going to be a part-time teacher because of the new schedule. I'll be sure to stop by his class and say hi, though. It's a good thing he's staying. I was afraid he wouldn't.

So, this has been my junior year. To carry on a sort of tradition, I'd like to thank my old friends: Alberto, Andrew, Autumn, Brian, Cassie, Dan C., Ipek, Gilbert, Jarian, Jeff, Justin, Katherine, Kim, Kevin, Kristen B., Lisa, Mandi, Mark, Megan, Michelle, Mike, Nacole, Nick, Omar, Sabrina, Sacha, Sean, T.J. B., Vivian, and Yamilée. I'd also like to thank the friends I've made (or at least gotten to know a little better): Alexandra, Allison, Axel, Dan W., Fabiola, Gabby, Jennifer, Jonathan, Jordan, Julie M., Julie T., Kara, Kelsey, Luke, Richard, Ruan, Scott, Sivan, Susann, T.J. S., and Tyler. If I didn't name you, don't blame me. Blame my subconscious.

I declared my 2004-2005 school year to be "The Year," during which I would improve my life in all kinds of ways. It ended up being my own version of the Great Leap Forward. Example: I pledged to "win the girl of my dreams." Haha, yeah right. I was talking about a specific someone, after all. I didn't pursue that goal until a few months ago, and that ended in disaster.

Now I only have one year left of my life as a child. And let's face it: I have some serious catching up to do. Catching up to preparing for the rest of my life, that is. You know, all the usual things I haven't done: gotten a new job, started learning to drive. No, seriously. I wish I had started learning right when I was able to. It's easily the biggest mistake I've ever made. Think of the consequences it'll have a year from now when I'm going to some college hardly able to drive a car.

With that in mind, I've decided to declare the period from May 25, 2006 to May 24, 2007 (which I believe will be graduation day) to be The Year II. I also wrote myself an abusive letter to be opened on May 25, 2007. In it I ask myself how my progress was, basically. I'm keeping it in a secure place: in my room, next to the large envelope that's been empty for a year because I haven't had a job. Let's just hope that The Year II isn't anything like the Cultural Revolution.

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Two years ago: "Well, making up a country isn't as easy as I thought it would be, especially because it has to be realistic."