Rage, rage against the dying of the write
My site lives on... THROUGH THIS ARM!
I've probably said many times that my sites have always been totally inactive during the summer. Today, I try to change that.
Phrases that have defined the junior year experience... I realize that it's formless and effortless, but I actually had a brainstorm last night. I promise nothing but well-formed HTML and consistent punctuation. It's a great way to fill the white space. Now make way for the big bad senior's sappy recollections.
Harvard teachers - Jane Reynolds, Robby Donaldson, Andy Crick. Three classic Harvard stereotypes: Geek, badass, jackass. Three solid people.
College - So shoot me. I actually began to think about college. Fortunately, Jiang has no indication of doing the same yet, so some sanity remains in this world. The application process begins in three months, and there is no way in hell I'll be ready in any way, shape, or form... but I look forward to it.
Driver's Ed - No, there is no hope for the under class.
Fanfic - I s'pose that I didn't do very much of it; I told everyone on the internet who'd listen that I'd be writing a stratospheric amount of fanfiction. I... er, I didn't quite deliver, but hey, I did do some.
Standardized testing - PSAT, SAT, SAT2, AP... They have all come; they have all passed. Each had its own associated "stress," and each took its toll on me, but I persevered, for better or for worse.
Failure - Science team, math team, FBLA, Ashdown Chem, piano competitions, academic awards... None of them yielded me any tangible result this year. I came up entirely empty-handed this year...
Math - In class, out of class, math has been incredible. This year saw me as a regular on the math team, finalist in the Olympiad, semi-finalist in the American Math Contest. Granted, none of the above really meant anything in the end, but each was some solace and extra stress to my life.
Censorship - On the more macroscopically significant level, the Spectrum weakened one article and ruined the other. On a more personal level, I learned this year above any year before to hold my tongue, repress my verbal and textual diarrhea, consider and refine my thoughts before spitting them out. It's indirect, but it's censorship, I believe.
BC Calculus - The culmination of my math life finally came, and with it much unexpected emotion. Seventh grade saw arrogant immaturity, eighth grade competitive immaturity. In my freshman and sophomore years, scheduling separated my math from those of the class of '07, and as a result, I finally began to know the upper class. And this year, everyone came back in the biggest and best math class I have ever taken, full of a totally new kind of immaturity. BC Calculus did, in fact, become the life that Bill threatened it would become, and I enjoyed every moment of it thoroughly. Wild Bill also proved himself a great guy on a personal level. The class forever ingrained memes and phrases to my memory... "Jesus," "God help me," "Son of a gun," and so many more. Can the fantasy please continue? Please?
AP Chem - The volume of the phrase is incredible. September precipitated the tradition of wearing lab coats and running through the hallways, and never will I cease to find amusement in the shrieks that running elicits from student and teacher alike. The enthusiasm in Chem was analagous to that in Calculus, with a small class of elites. Chem tests brought with them excitement but no connotation of fear, and the labs, despite the constant four-letter words that they caused every other Sunday night, always managed to moderate the average with a 95 or so.
AP Freedom - I've said it before, and I'll say it again: As of today, May of 2006 was the best month of my life, due in no small part to the associated freedom. The Calculus and US History APs were the most imposing tests of my life because of their weighty judgment, but the school rewarded me amply: No finals, no classes, no work for a solid month in any classes; overwhelming extravagance. Only such redundancy and abuse of powerful words can express the fantasy that was my life in school.
Anime and manga - With a lack of games and motivation to play them, I turned to this pasttime, and torrents became pivotal to my life. Bleach, Mugen no Jyuunin, Elfen Lied, Cowboy Bebop, Monster, and Azumanga Daioh in bursts and in moderation lent me dozens of hours of amusement and an equal amount of time in frustration with torrenting.
Ballade in A-flat Major - God help me... God help me. Never shall I perfect the piece, but I can continue to approach perfection forever. I played it an exorbitant number of times, and it has truly been the musical, pianistic anthem of my junior year.
Writing - This year saw the proliferation of text and only text in my Internet escapades, and I've taken some pleasure in inflicting the text upon others. Hopefully, I shan't bore of it soon, and it will continue to entertain me and others.
Cards - At first it was Spades. My friends and I played the game to a thorough demise, and even so, it still provides marginal entertainment. Along with BC Calc, Weekly Spades Night on Friday and Saturday became integral in my life. The tides turned, and then there was Hearts. MS Hearts is probably the single most frustrating, most rewarding program that anyone has ever written. The venerated "Four Shot Club" defines "elitism" to its core, and Yahoo! Hearts will rise.
Music - To state any one aspect of music that has defined this year is extremely difficult outside of the Ballade, but DSL opened to me the gateways of MP3-downloading, and my iPod has therefore gathered more than it can accept.
British literature - I genuinely loved Remains of the Day, Macbeth, and Lord of the Flies, even if my recommendation request looked like total BS. This year's English curriculum blew away any other year, and that meant a lot in a class with so many irritating faces and voices.
Eighth Econ - A predominantly senior class amused and exasperated me throughout the year. No high school student should go without seeing the legendary MJR, but at the same time, said student probably shouldn't withstand a year with MJR, either. In any case, I fall into the latter group, and the relaxation of Eighth Economics fell right in line with previous years' Eighth Band and Eighth AE Bio in thematic and academic terms.
French - A fairy tale story from crown to toe-top. It is a class run by an overenthusiast, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. The inability of the students to commit themselves hurt the class a lot. However, my own tale carried me from a 69 to a 73 to an 82 in the first term, and from there I managed to work my way all the way up to a B+. I didn't quite produce the A-... but it was enough.
Scott Chen Time - Lingo, Jargon, Memes of junior year. This phrase is probably the most powerful representation of all the expressions that composed the culture of junior year. "Shit negro," "Punk bitch," "Fucking man"... Do you speak it?
Decreasing sleep - This year saw the advent of the midnight hours. Before this year, to sleep at midnight or later was a rare event. During my junior year, sleeping before midnight became uncommon. Gotta love how the Internet sucks up time from sleep. Doesn't help much with procrastination, either.
Emerson Hospital - God help me if this is what the "real world" will resemble. Actually, working there has been a pretty good experience, not to mention an amazing way to kill time. The atmosphere also faciliated studying and writing, the value of the latter of which one might bring into question. Whether I continue transport work in the coming autumn is undetermined, but I value what work I did this year.
Cooking - If you've read my small monologue on making tofu, you probably know my feelings toward this.
Max Tomachevsky - He drove me to piano "weekly." Rather, he drove me to piano on Mondays when he felt like driving me, but I still appreciated the effort of a lazy-ass senior. In addition, he was the living mockery of Albert: Taking Algebra I in the fourth grade and producing a 4 on the BC Calculus AP. Man among men.
Mortal Kombat - The Smosh video of the Mortal Kombat theme song is probably the definitive clip of live action that has captivated me for so many weeks. There is something damn appealing about the revelation that somewhere out there, there is hope for the white race. And of course the theme song is kick ass on a superficial, retarded level.
Projects - I had a set of semi-academically related projects this year, none of which came to total fruition, but all of which were ambitious and rewarding. The Fantasy School project found a strong following, but its overhead and maintaince overwhelmed me. Probability and Statistics managed to gather large enough a class size for next year to succeed, but it will result in the splitting of us seniors. Patrick to Prom drew a huge backing, but Patrick's mom turned it down before it could realize its full potential. However, I made great strides in gaining Sofac's confidence. Look out next year for FS07, P/S07, and P2P07. All will succeed next year.
24 - Rarely do I say that watching something has made me a better man, but it is the truth. Jack Bauer, by his actions on television, completely transformed the life of a sixteen-year-old suburban internet addict. "GET IN THE CAR"? Yes, sir. To explain Life of Mondays is hard, and I shan't embarrass myself in the attempt, but for four months, I had powerful drive in my life... and life was good.
Internet. Serious business. - There was a fair chunk of unsolicited drama this year. It took its mental, physical, and emotional toll, but I'm over it and glad for the experience.
That ... is a long list. Again, memory exists to me as isolated, powerfully fragmental images and feelings on the genetic level, but the final remnant that I take from my junior year far exceeds the sum of its parts. With glistening generalities and cliches, I could describe an arc of fulfillment and happiness throughout the year, but to do so would betray the unpredictable sforzandos and the hairpin dynamics of the song's fabrics. Justice demands the full ballade.
SD
June 18, '06
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