Wow. No more high school. What a weird, empty feeling I've got.

Graduation was incredibly boring. It was getting there that was exciting!! My dad was in a pretty bad mood as he tried to navigate his way to the Compaq Center. I had two guests, other than my family--Stephanie and Megan (hi guys!). Anyway, at one point in the car ride, I actually had to say, "Chill out, Daddy, it's only a graduation."

It was really hot today. I was baking under that gown and my black clothes. I was also thinking that I should have gotten the size 8 shoes when I had a chance. Hee hee. Some interesting moments from graduation: when I nearly tripped as I was walking across the stage, when the professional reader called Brad "Brad Andrew Simons," and when Ms. Nordt hissed "Stop that!" at this one guy who was swaggering idiotically across the stage.

I wish that I had been smart like Andy Betenbaugh, who brought a book to read. I was incredibly bored, and I felt sorry for the people who got called near the end...no one was really clapping anymore. Michelle told me later that her class had over 1,000 people. I can hardly imagine what her graduation must have been like. We only had 584. I started eavesdropping on people's conversations. Boring. Well, at least my parents took us for Marble Slab ice cream afterwards. That was pretty cool.

Later on, I went to Monica's party. Oneika was there, and we got a chance to catch up with Michelle after all these years. There were also a bunch of band people. I took a photo of Victor's reaction to Daniel Zeve's 5th grade picture. Then Monica, Michelle, and Victor pretended to be Charlie's Angels. I'm sort of annoyed because the photos didn't come out. Nummy eats, Monica!

When it was almost midnight, we all headed for the high school so we could attend the Pro Grad party. The Laser Tag really sucked. I was kind of annoyed because I had so many different friends at the party; I kept losing people. I watched Judy get her caricature done. I thought it made her look like Alice in Wonderland, but she insists that it doesn't. Oh well. We had this really stupid hypnotist. On the plus side, the food was great!! And I got this remote headphone thing! Mrs, Perrin, my old elementary school principal was there. (Well, she's called Dr. McAllister now.) The whole thing was pretty fun, though I was exhausted near the end (around 6 a.m.), so I was acting drunk. I gave all of my friends weird new names. Don't ask. Everyone was supposed to get a mini cooler as we left, but I was the second to last person to leave--and they had run out!! Grrr.

As we were walking down the hallway past the gyms to leave, I had this nervous, gut-wrenching feeling--because this was the very last time we would all walk down that same hall together. Even though I was totally out of it, I tried my best to immortalize (not immoralize! not immoralize!) the moment. This is very cliché, but I could sort of picture all of us at a crossroads, looking in different directions and getting ready to take the first step forward. I got a chill because I pictured myself taking my first step and plunging into a neverending chasm. I think I have some issues with falling.

Helen