This scrapbook is by no means a complete chronicling of my 12th grade experience. Much has been duly left out for one reason or another. Some things I don’t want to necessarily remember, and other things I want to remember, but only in legend and without the assistance of a diary.

They say highschool changes people. I used to think that was an overly-dramatic view of normal teenage psychological and emotional development. I’m now reconsidering. While I do think that highschool just happens to intersect life at the point where you’re making discoveries about yourself and the way the world works, I also think that it helps accelerate things along. The different instances of “drama” that can be created act like little self-contained situations to test your abilities to deal with stress. You will come out of this changed, one way or another. For better or for worse you will not be the same naive freshman that walked in bright and bouncy on the first day of class.

Just don’t change for anyone but yourself. Don’t let other people tell you how you need to be. Find friends who enjoy you and become close to them. Though that doesn’t mean you need to shut yourself in. Senior year for me was a time to expand myself. I started highschool with fewer than 5 real friends, and as a member of the super-nerdy clique. This year however, due to the small amount of real work to be done, I’ve put myself out there. I’ve integrated into an entirely new circle of people, and I’m amazed at myself.

About relationships; the simplest and purest advice I have is “don’t freak out”. Something to remember is that this is just highschool. Whatever you may think, if the girl you’ve been dating for 3 weeks breaks up with you, it is not the end of the world. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get your ass back out there. You live and you learn. I’ve done my share of both, and it’s the only way to keep your sanity. Another piece of advice is this; if you find someone you are attracted to, go for it. Don’t ask yourself if you should, don’t debate the consequences, none of that is necessary. Just go for it. If you don’t, one day you’re going to look back and wish you had done something. Trust me on this one.

Also, you can’t worry about the little things. It’ll kill you if you do.

It’s just highschool.

I was invited to be in a 16 person group. We did the big thing; limo, dinner in dallas, after party. It was extremely expensive, and I would have been much less willing to spend all the money and go through the whole thing if my parents hadn’t offered to pay for everything. Tickets for 2 people were 70 bucks, the limo ride was $75 per person, dinner was about $30 per person, and my suit probably cost about $200.

The afternoon of May 9, my date and I went to take pictures at Colton’s house. It took way too long; they’re just pictures… You take one and you move on. But not on prom day. We had to spend two hours standing around taking pictures. That’s about 115 minutes too long.

After the pictures were done, everyone drove to Tanglewood so we could get picked up by the limo and head to Dallas for dinner at Maggiano’s Little Italy. It showed up, a few more pictures were taken, and then we were off. It was a nice limo ride (no less would be expected for $75/person).

The group

We made it to Maggiano’s and began with dinner. Dinner was served “family style” (something apparently common for large gatherings in Italy, I don’t really know), which meant that all 16 of us had to agree on two appetizers, two main courses, and two desserts. After much deliberation, decisions were made and food was ordered. The food was quite good, and the “family style” thing actually ended up working out alright. Dinner ended and it was back to the limo.

Another hour and a half limo ride and we were back at Tanglewood for the dance itslef (oh yeah, there’s a dance too… so much effort was put into the pre- and post-dance activities that the actual dance itself was a little overshadowed; something which I was willing to overlook due to it being my first and last senior prom ever). The dance, as to be expected, was pretty fun. I’m not much into commercial rap music and the dancing that accompanies it, but I figured this was the last dance of my highschool career, so I could do what I wanted.

The after party was nice as well; there was blackjack, poker, ping-pong, etc.

While it was super expensive and logistically complicated, when I look back on it, I’m glad I went.

It was me, Ben, and Caleb. We left Sherman at about 4:30, stopped for a meal somewhere, and made it to the Door by 6:15. The doors opened at 7 and everybody went in.

The first act was Scale The Summit. They’re an instrumental metal band from Houston. Their set was pretty good; they played well and had a good presence, even though I didn’tmuch like the actual music.

Second was The Number Twelve Looks Like You. The Number Twelve is a very hard band to define in terms of a genre. The closest I can come is “progressive jazz metal.”

Rody of Protest The Hero

They’re extremely technical and very obscure. They bill themselves as “mathcore” which basically just means “time signatures and musical keys are to be experimented with.” Their songs are a journey. There is no hook and no chorus. The first time listener would undoubtedly turn their music off… it can be seen as sounding grating or harsh. Though if one gives enough time to them, there’s quite a bit of legitimate musicality in there. Anyway, The Number Twelve’s set was insane. The lead singer has an awesome stage presence and really knows how to control a crowd.

Third up was Misery Signals. I didn’t much care for this band because it was just your everday chugging metalcore riffs with screaming overtop. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great for when you’re angry or you just want to mosh (quite a bit of which was going on at this particular concert), but I tend to look for more complexity in the music I listen to.

Last was Protest The Hero. Protest’s sound is a good mix between Misery Signals and The Number Twelve; they’re just technical and experimental enough to be interesting, but they’re also just straight-metal enough to be super intense. At one point during the set, there were some technical difficulties. This forced the lead singer of Protest (Rody) to ramble on about anything and everything he wanted for a good 20 minutes. When the issues got resolved, the music was back on. I moshed, I stopped a fight, I had a good time… It was a great show.

I decided, after reasoning that free time plus no money equals “I need a job,” that I did in fact need a job. Thus I began the application process.

I applied lots of places; Office Depot, Best Buy, Starbucks, TJMaxx, and the Jalapeno Tree. The only place that called me was Jalapeno Tree. I’m still confused as to why I wasn’t offered a job at either Office Depot or Best Buy. I have technological skills; I sold and fixed computers at my last job and have been doing freeleance repair work for

Jalapeno Tree

years. I just don’t quite understand it. Not to sound indignant or too full of myself, but I’m fairly sure Jalapeno Tree does not even come close to fully utilizing my particular skill set.

So now I have a job at Jalapeno Tree. Does it suck? It can. Can I stand it? Most of the time. Do I want a different job? God yes.

I’ve since re-applied to Office Depot and TJMaxx. I also put in at application with the new Walgreens in the hopes of being a pharmacy technician – something at least a little more scientific than bussing tables at a mexican restaurant.

Mae had 3 openers before they went on. The first was an electronic pop band with lyrics in Japanese and English (the lead singer of which I used to work with) – they were alright, especially for it being one of their first live shows. The second was a downtempo instrumental band that was actually pretty good. The third opener was a band

The bassist, keyboardist, and drummer for Mae

called Union Specific; they had a really really nice folksy-rock sound that was so good i even bought one of their CDs. Actually purchasing music is unusual for me, so when I do, the band has to be awesome. Luckily, Union Specific was.

After those two bands, It was Mae’s turn. They started out strong, kept it strong, and ended amazingly. Their set was comprised of mostly popular songs from the album “The Everglow” (the best of theirs yet, in my opinion). They also played some of the songs from their newest project, which consists of them releasing one songs every month for download in order to raise money in support of Habitat For Humanity.

In all the concert (and Kangapalooza in general) was great and I hope I get to see some of those bands again sometime soon.

This year, due to my being admitted to AC, I was invited to attend Roo Camp. It started on the 18th of April and went overnight into the morning of the 19th. After getting there around 10am on the 18th, I was given a nametag and told to go into the banquet room and meet some of the other 400 students. After a half hour or so of awkward conversation consisting mostly of “Oh you’re from Sherman!? What’s the town like? Why aren’t you going away to college?” and “Sherman’s not bad; the metroplex is only like an hour away. I just like Austin College, I’ve always wanted to go here” everyone was ushered into Wynne Chapel to listen to a lecture on the college transition. The guy giving the lecture made some good points about parents and new students and the newfound sense of overwhelming freedom (and the ruin it could bring if not kept in check).

About to go through an obstacle course

The lecture ended and we were told to have lunch in the cafeteria. The food was actually quite good, as surprising as that may sound. After lunch, everyone was given some free time to do whatever they wanted on campus. I found some people i met at the brunch banquet and we walked around for a while and sat at the fountain to kill time. The next thing on the day’s agenda was “Kangapalooza”

Kangapalooza is a fair type thing that conincides with Roo Camp every year. There were blow-up obstacle courses and a mechanical bull and a concert at the end of the night (more on that later).

After Kangapalooza ended, “dorm parties” were scheduled – which was really just time for the possible students to get to know how the dorms worked and meet present students and learn about dorm life in general.

The parties ended, I went to sleep, woke up and had brunch, and then made the arduous 6 minutes drive home.

If actual life at AC is anything like Roo Camp was, then I expect the next 4 years of my life will be quite fun.

Mount Vernon is done, on to Arlington. Arrival. Spirits are unusually high for it being a cemetery. It seems almost disrespectful; disrespectful to even think of joy in such a somber place. Though I would guess that the memories of these fallen soldiers are meant to be celebrated and cherished. They gave their lives for their country. Not much is nobler. Not much has more selflessness. Not much exemplifies more heroism. I change my mind; it goes from sadness to thankfulness. Thankfulness for something I could never even think of doing.

We move through the cemetery to see Kennedy’s grave. Everyone is quiet. This is not one of those heroic deaths. No silver lining here.

The tomb of the Unknown Soldier is next.

We make our way to the white marble monument that is a temple to those who, remaining nameless nonetheless died in honor; doing a job not many others have the constitution or will to do. I watch the military man pace back and forth. The ceremony is about to begin.

The guards

Another man in uniform approaches. He and the first do a little march. A third man approaches. The switch is to occur between the first and third man, the second (named “Tim” if I recall correctly) is just the overseer. The first man steps off the long carpeted walkway, and without missing a beat, the third picks up where he left off. Constantly patrolling, and always on guard.

After the guard is switched, Tim holds a ceremony to dedicate a few wreaths; wreaths from schools or organizations around the area. Out of respect, I stay to observe this.

When this concludes, I make my way back to the rest of the group, ready to leave this place for one more uplifting.

We wake to an early breakfast at the hotel; the standard continental – nothing special. After said breakfast, we occupy the lobby waiting for Clark, Wilson, Cunningham, and the tour guide to herd us like eager sheep to the day’s events. The leadership assembles and we flock to the chariot. The day begins.

Our first stop is Mount Vernon. We arrive at the grounds of what would be a late 18th century Disneyland. Off in the distance, we see a huge house completely with even larger facilities. We all file into a line that looks like it’s leading to the house. After ten minutes of boredom in a line going straight to God-knows-where, we realize that our

George Washington's house

day will be wasted waiting to get into the house. About half of us, with Cunningham at the helm, decide to just try our luck at line jumping. It works for a bit; we get decently close to the house when we notice that the surrounding area – the grounds of the estate – seem much more interesting than whatever could possibly be on the other side of those faded white bricks, at which point we decide our day would be much more worthwhile if we were to tour around the house instead of inside it.

It was a good choice.

On the other side of that brick and bright red edifice is the most amazing view of the Potomac one could wish to come upon; an arboreal border, preceding a peaceful platform of frozen wintry water.

Potomac river

After a time spent at the river, we move on to the wharf and Washington’s original grave; both of which are quite picturesque locations.

We then retreat back to our chariot, awaiting the rest of the day.

We land, get our baggage, and board our “Chariot For Hire,” on which we meet our tour guide for the trip. She tells us that there’s been a change in the schedule for the day and that our visits to the National Zoo and National Air and Space Museum would be switched. This meant that instead of the Zoo being the first thing we did in D.C., it would be the last. Everyone on the bus was mildly bummed at this, because we were all excited to get to see the pandas.

We arrive at the National Air and Space Museum, and the guide tells us that we had this time to ourselves, but to meet in front of this huge statue in an hour and a half. We all acknowledge her request and go in different directions.

Lunar lander

I had been interested in space for a really long time. I’ve done 3 years of space camp, and taken vacations and been involved in a bunch of different programs all having to do with space. This interest has since worn off. I realized that my time at the NASM wasn’t as profoundly enlightening as it would have been, had I still been as interested in space as I was. No doubt it was interesting, but I didn’t have the level of intellectual connection that would have occurred 2 to 3 years ago.

Something else:
Since this was the first thing (quite literally) we did, all of us still had on our big winter gear. The museum was HOT; unbearably so. The combination of an 85 degree building and full winter dress (under armor, long-johns, undershirt, shirt, fleece liner, and a waterproof shell) made me overheat and just ended up pissing me off… not that that has anything to do with space exploration, but it definitely sticks out in my mind when I think of the NASM.

Capitol Building

I told my parents, and they both agreed to at least hear more about it. There was a meeting at Mrs. Clark’s house to discuss the finer points of the trip – the tours we would be going on, where we would be staying, and most of all, the cost – and about the possibility of witnessing the inauguration. As soon as my parents realized that we would be there to see a president sworn in, they were more than on board with it.

I had pretty much forgotten about it over the summer and during the first part of senior year when media coverage of the election started escalating, and I remembered that I was going to be there. As soon as Obama won the election, it really hit me; I was going to witness the swearing in of the first black president of the United States of America. It was a pretty big deal.

The trip was approaching. I was getting more and more excited as it got closer. I wasn’t only excited to be in Washington D.C., but just the act of travelling is fun for me, so that was also something I looked forward to. That and the fact that I was going to have 4 days away from school with people I enjoyed being with and one person I had yet to meet.