Graduation

So, consider me... graduated.

Hasn't really sunk in yet. Had an awesome time though!

At my school we have our graduation and formal on the same night, so we get all dolled up for a night of formalities and frivolity.

Have some pictures:

This is my lovely boyfriend and me (excuse the weird expression):

I haven't mentioned him before, have I? Oh well, in this blog I shall refer to him as The Medic.

This one is of M and I:

So there you go. That was the official end of high school. It's been kind of drawn out - my last DAY of high school was more than a month ago (and it feels like a whole lot longer than that!). But there we are: it's finally over. Finito. Sudah.

It feels good.


Quote of the Day:
(regarding a photo in which M is leaning on Dippers)
Dippers: I'll always be your rock, Emma.
M: And I'll always be your paper!


Quote of the Day II: (can't believe I forgot this one!)
Fred: You can't graduate us!
George: WE QUIT!
-Hogwarts High, a fanfic by Siriusly Amused

English!

One down, two to go! How exciting.

Just a quick update to say that I'm pretty sure I didn't fail my English exam - and I'm very excited that I'll never have to write another English essay again! The questions were pretty good, including one that fitted my text absolutely perfectly (yay!).

Apparently Mr. English Teacher has been going around saying, "How banal, the questions were so banal." If you haven't guessed, intimidation through vocabulary is his thing. He even got an award on our last day to that affect, called the Pomposity award. He said, "WHAT!!? I'm not pompous!" and we were like, well actually, yes you are. Extremely pompous. Case in point, right now.

Anyway, enough about him. I never have to see him in his very scary footy shorts ever again... unless I accidentally run into him at Woolies, which I did once. I never want to again though. He's a BIG man, and the shorts are extremely disturbing, especially if you're not expecting to see them.

And oookay, I'm going to shut up now, before I accidentally declare undying love for my English teacher or something...



Quote of the day:
It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument.
- William G. McAdoo

The End: Part II

An update on my end-of-schoolness: I've handed in my last piece of work EVER (my Composing and Arranging folio and major work). That just leaves three exams and my final Music Solo Performance moderation.

I've had so many "last"s recently. My last test (matrices, five weeks ago), my last assignment for an examinable subject (a chemistry prac), my last day of classes (on which we actually did quizzes and went out for lunch), my last actual classes (a few days earlier), my last day of school... it's exciting, frightening, a huge relief and sad all at the same time.

A huge relief, since this year has been tough at best (and torturous at worst), and I really need it to be over for the sake of my mental health.

Exciting, because a new phase in my life is about to start - adulthood.

Frightening, because I don't know where that will lead me.

Sad, because there are lots of people that I probably will never talk to again... plus I'm a big softie and will actually miss school once it's over, even the hard bits, and the teachers.

As a celebration of my wonderful life at school, I'll leave you with a quote from my hysterical chemisty class of '09, the day we were learning about cleaning agents.


Quote of the day:
Random kid #1 - What's hard water?
Random kid #2 (with a totally straight face and without missing a beat) - Ice.


EDIT: Whoops, forgot to wish a VERY HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY to CC!!

The End

I have, in some ways, officially finished high school. Forever.

Please excuse me while I freak out.

Today was the last day of school, in which we took part in the usual Muck-Up Day Final Day activities - dressing up, putting on a concert, pulling pranks, and generally being outrageous (okay, I wasn't outrageous, but a lot of people were! By the way, just in case you are interested, I was Ms Pacman). It was AWESOME.

Somehow, though, I feel a little... anti-climactic. I've been looking forward to this day since I saw my first one, back in Year 8. Now that I've been there, and done it, I've already started forgetting things about it.

Sure, I won't forget the sight of the Footy Boys dancing to "Single Ladies" in leotards, or my friends dressed as Pacman Ghosts, or the feeling I got when I realised that bloke in the long black wig was my ex-boyfriend, and I hadn't recognised him. But I probably will forget most of what happened today.

In a lot of ways, this makes me sad. After all, I expected this day to be one of those Big Moments in life that you will always remember. It was the end of something huge, and I expected to feel a sense of triumph, of elation, of loss. Somehow, I don't.

I suppose it shouldn't be surprising. After all, I still have two and half weeks (yes, I'm counting) until my final exam is over. Today, in that sense, was not the end of anything.

It was, though, a day for us to celebrate the time we've had at high school, to thank our teachers and each other, to chill out and have fun before the final crunch time. And it definitely was that. Instead of taking the piss out of the teachers and the other year levels, like other Year 12 groups have done, we took the piss out of ourselves, and celebrated our school community. Despite the fact that I don't feel like this was a Big Moment, it was still a fantastic day. And hey, now we have the internet to record these moments. If I ever forget this day, I can just read back on this blog, and find the photos on Facebook.

CLASS OF '09 FOR THE WIN!!!!


Quote of the day:
"Miss Pacman, I would sex that bow right off your head. Eat those dots, you naughty, naughty girl!" – The Todd, Scrubs

Stress!

I have had the most stressful week in my entire life. Due to unfortunate timing, I was involved in three concerts (two of which required multiple rehearsals) and had two tests, plus a two-day dance workshop. The stress and exhaustion actually made me feel physically ill.

It made me wonder if any of this was worth it. Year 12 is built up as the most important year of your life, but in about two years I won't even care what my results were. I've had all this work piled onto me for one bit of paper which, in the grand scheme of things, doesn't matter a whole lot.

Also, most of the things I've learned this year I'll probably never use again, since I'll probably end up studying music. When would I ever use matrices, calculus or integration? Why would I ever need to know about redox reactions? Why do I need to be able to write analytical essays about depressing novels?

So I've asked myself, why have a put myself through this torture?

Okay, so if I dropped out of school, or I fail Year 12, I won't get into the university course I want... unless I wait a few years and enter as a mature-aged student. So that's not the reason.

I think there are lots of reasons I'm still here. One of them is that all my friends are here, and I didn't want to miss out on our last year together. Next year I won't see them nearly as often.

When it comes down to it, though, the main reason is that I didn't want to quit. I'm an over-achiever. I needed to prove that I could tough it out, and get good marks like other people.

I guess it doesn't make much sense. I'm in this for the moment of satisfaction I'll get when I open the results envelope in December? For the certificate I'll get? When you put it like that, I don't really understand it.

I think it's mostly about the fact that Year 12 is a challenge, and I could never, ever have turned that challenge down.


Quote of the day:
"Today, I figured out why my computer works better than me. It gets more sleep. MLIA."


Also, a very happy eighteenth birthday to my friend Kat!