Finals. College Finals. High School Finals. NBA Finals. The Stanley Cup Finals. So many finals.
Like in the puppet Lebron James commercial "Why are they called Finals when they are every year? What's so final about that?" Haha
Here we are. June 11th 2009. The end of my freshmen year in college. How weird is it to say that?
I finish all my finals at around 2pm. I want to get out of here and make it on time for Monta Vista graduation. So being smart, I planned ahead and packed up all my stuff and moved it away the day before. So all I have left in my room is a few personal belongings and pillows. I also drink two of those Starbuck Frapps and two Vitamin Waters this day. And I still did not use up all my swipes. I looked at my little swipe counter thing on the machine and made a funny noise like "AGH" and the cashier laughed. Then I get a phone call from a very familiar voice. Help me move my refridgerator. Let me cut this short. I didn't only move the fridge. I moved her life into that dinky Honda CRV. No offense to you CRV drivers! And she has SO much stuff. She has literally 10 pillows. Lamps! Random stuff. Just a lot of junk. And this mattress thing. Dang. I was sweating like crazy when I was moving stuff between the car and the room. Oh. And sometimes I would enter the room ready to go get some more stuff and there she is just standing there looking at her stuff. What does that even mean? Counting her belongings or something. Haha. Anyways it was all good fun and it was a pretty uncomfortable drive down. The entire car was packed full. I had bags and boxes at my feet. At first I had like no breathing room and could not put on my seatbelt. And the driver put pillows on her seat and it looked like she was sitting on a high chair. HAHAHA. We should have took a picture of that. In all good time we were able to make it to the end of graduation even though I had to take a bathroom break because of the copious amount of fluids and the bags that were crushing my bladder.
Taking pictures and all that was really fun. Dang. I never thought finding people and then taking pictures could be so exciting. Especially when they are all starting to leave and you have to catch them. I also somehow lost my voice but that's cool.
This topic brings me to my main topic of this post.
Graduation. High School Graduation.
Today I stand here on the Monta Vista Football Field looking at the bleachers. It says Matadors in gold letters at the back of the bleachers. One year ago on this day I was sitting up there. I was staring out into the crowd. I was wearing that Purple Cap and Gown. I was walking down those aisles. I was receiving that diploma. I was shaking that hand. I was taking those pictures. It has been a year already. Imagine that. Seeing all the SANP decorations and the noise just made me think even more of the past. Dang I miss high school.
I definitely remember this time of year last year. Everything was all happy except for a last minute math problem. Dang. But it is all good. Senior Ball just flew by. I was looking through pictures the other day and apparently they still have those little butter balls this year too! Let us just say that I ate one last year. Haha. But with a little bit of music the night was over. Before I knew it. I'm Off a Boat. Senior Picnic got me a really memorable sunburn. I also remember the night after the Variations concert back at home. The worst night of sleep in my life! Before graduation too. Sunburn. Itching. Hurting. Aloe. More itching. I did not know what to do. Graduation. Crazy stuff. Things just fly by. You know it is like a milestone in your life but that is not how it feels. You just are there at the moment and you live it as it is and then for me at least I look back and it feels like I don't even remember what I was feeling at all.
This makes me wonder. What was I like back then? What did I have back then? I remember there was this one night. Friday. The day after graduation that me and my buddy were driving back home and I started feeling hecka sad. Maybe one or two tears but thats beside the point. I guess all of it just hit me. Thinking about what would happen next. Its so unclear and so scary. I guess I just thought about all those things that I held close and how much I am going to miss that stuff. Dang.
A good friend once told me. "This is just the beginning..." I can honestly say that I did not believe that at first. I thought I was the king of the world. I knew everything. I graduated from High school. I experienced quite a bit of stuff. I am ready for college. I am ready for the real world.
Guess what? Man was I wrong.
I know nothing. I was humbled at college. Bam bam bam bam bam. I was hit with stuff left to right proving to me that I got nothing. I have no experience whatsoever. Indeed it is the beginning. I have still so much to learn. And I am definitely not talking about academics and whatnot. I'm talking about experiences and stuff that you have to go through. New feelings. New surroundings. New whatever. New situations.
I figured out there is no solution manual. No book to read. No answers you can receive. No cheats you can type in. Haha. "Power Overwhelming"
Trust. Faith.
That's how you learn to get through things. Thats what I believe in.
My pride was pretty high after high school. I thought I could solve problems that come my way. Fix little cracks up right away. I dont even know what I am saying anymore.
To any High School seniors who may somehow come across this. Congratulations!
You are now moving on to a the beginning of a new phase. Have an open heart and learn! Don't just focus on school learning but focus on learning of life. I know that sounds so cheesy. But that is just how it is.
This little entry isnt even about the Finale. It is the Finale of my last year. Haha. To be continued. I shall talk about my Finale of my freshmen year in later posts. I have a lot of time this summer to think and reflect. It should be interesting.
UC Davis graduation tomorrow. Congratulations Bro. Wow. College Graduate... what the heck.
