the sun slowly setting. the breeze swaying the colors. an army unite together in uniforms one last time as horns blare around them. training was smooth but did not produce perfection. fingers pruning and bodies shivering. it was known as... Graduation.

but let me back up to the beginning of the day. 8 o clock in the morning everybody had to be in the auditorium for practice. somehow the seats got rearranged so that now i was sitting in row D instead of E ( there wasn't a row A for some reason). beechum (the senior sponsor aka the english teacher almost everybody had or at least knew) calls out names that need to see mrs williams immediately. and she calls out my name! i didn't kno what i did wrong, people were saying it was the obligations list but i never had any obligations all year. so i check and it turns out i supposedly didn't turn in both english books that i was supposed to. but i did! at that point i was thinkin, aah evil beechum! what's she trying to do to me?? but i just went up to her, told her i turned them in, she wrote a note, and i gave that to williams, and my name was cleared. weird. i just wasted 15minutes of nonsense. practice was okay, short but VERY HOT. we spent most of the time in the auditorium (yay). okay so fast forwarding now... we had to meet in the auditorium by 6, i gladly gave Holly my remaining tickets (yes, for free), i woulda felt like i wasted them if she didn't call and ask. oh yeah at around 4:30 it started POURING down "cats" and/or "dogs". and we figure hey this is florida, the rain usually comes and goes quickly. so by the time we get to school it had stopped.i went and met my friends, took pictures, etc. i started to get a lil bored of sitting in my seat by myself so i started thinking about how this step is going to make us grow up a little... then i saw the ends of my cords looked like heads and started playing with them. they were rocking out cuz they had long hair. :) then i imagined they were voodoo dolls. muhahaha... that was interesting. not really blunt or fascinating but interesting. lol. we march out @ around 7 down the middle of the football field JROTC officers on each side, it was really nice. now we had practiced going into our seats, who was going to be on each end, but SOMEHOW *someone* messes it up! the row behind us had two people that didn't have a seat. eventually i guess two people in my row realized they messed up, or someone just didn't scoot all the way to the end and, magically, there were now 2 seats. everything was going well as the wind kept blowing clouds over us... until the Apopka Singers performed. poor them! first jeris' mic didn't work or he was just too tall to be heard on the shorter mic so we couldn't hear his solo. oh guess what they played dhs people! "525,600 minutes..." thats rite Seasons of Love. wasn’t it the northview chorus that *always* sang it?? lol i still liked it tho, it 's a gosh darn good song. the apopka singers are the juniors and seniors (?) who especially sing well. all but 5 or 6 were seniors. so anyway, near the end of the song, the music cuts off! but they kept going. i swear the audience was convinced they were at a football game. they were obviously still performing but they drown them out by cheering and rattling noisemakers... and those stupid horns... iono what they’re called but my gosh! it’s something u’d use to start a race or celebrate a goal/touchdown... NOT TO CHEER AT A CEREMONY. so after the singers had finished, we really applauded them. amber, valedictorian, goes up to the podium but she doesnt say her speech. we find out the sound actually went out, the music didn’t just cut off. kids in the back rows kept trying to start chanting “03!” and everyone else would go SHUT UP!! lol as soon as it got to the honors rows it quickly died out. but gratefully the sound resumed. i like how she quoted people but...antoine st-exupery... did she have to quote the lil prince dude?!? oh well it had a good message. and i liked her story about the carrot, egg, and coffee. she didn’t say what the egg meant tho... do people just eat the eggs? i wanna be coffee! all of the speeches were meaningful and i started to feel all mushy inside. then finally the principal and board and all that confirm we were eligible to graduate and people were getting their diplomas! as soon as i start walking towards the stage we can hear rain coming and it starts POURING... again! haha it felt so unreal i couldn’t believe we were in the rain soaking wet, waiting in line for our diplomas. i think on my website i said i wanted to absorb every second of my graduation... what was i thinking?! nevertheless i just kept marching, shook everyone’s hand with a positive attitude, and i can’t imagine how i musta looked in the picture the photographer took with my hand shaking dr. edwards and taking the diploma. oh i know, WET! i think the other pic is messed up cuz the wind was hard and the tassle was going in my face. i, just as everybody else, went back to our seats. and sat there. wet. parents were going crazy, getting on the field, some grads actually left! everyone else stayed because of the “well i’m already wet anyway” reasoning. by the time my mom came to get me a plastic bag, i wasn’t exactly sure how she wanted me to use it, it had finally slowed down and eventually stopped. i put the diploma in da bag thinking i’d rather get me wet than it. the cap and gown packages said not to get them wet...but they stayed together quite nicely! loved how my cap expanded. we sang the alma mater, switched our tassles, some thru their caps, vp tucker came up to lead the last “word of inspiration” aka prayer and that’s the end! craziness. oh i ceased to feel sad and mushy once it started raining, all i could do was laugh. my mom said she has my expression when it started raining on camera.

after, i went friend-hunting, finding molly, gabriela, nicole (aww she said she cheered us on that lil future senior), stacy, and diana. or...stacy and diana found me...one of those! :-P i’m glad i took pix at bacc cuz it was impossible to find everyone. family and i went to eat at orlando ale house, i wore my cords and medal to show off. haha... well people noticed! i dunno when else i’ll get to wear them...

BE COFFEE.