arbor vitae

Hey, remember when we used to exist?

Yeah…good times.

I love most of the teachers I’ve had, but I have to say at this moment:

Ms. Amini. She is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet in your entire life, I swear. Also, she is probably the funniest teacher I’ve ever had. I can never not be happy whenever I’m in that class with her. She just has that bright personality that people can’t help but absorb. Her happiness is contagious! And she’s really taught us a lot about life in general. I think, by example, she taught us how to be better people, along with being better students.

Hm…I’m surprised I’ve gone all four years without a detention. Or a tardy detention thing. I don’t want to sound like a goodie-two-shoes or anything, but I really don’t handle punishment very well. The first time I got a “pink-slip” in elementary school, I was bawling to the teacher, saying I didn’t mean to speak while she was speaking and yada yada. BAWLING. It was pathetic.

But anyways, I’ve been marked absent a few times without being excused for it, so I had to go to the counselor to explain that I was there and that the teacher marked me absent by mistake, and yada yada. Also, I’ve had to talk about some pretty personal friend business with a counselor, but it wasn’t like I was in trouble or anything.

That’s it, I guess. Pretty lame, huh? I’ve always wanted a Breakfast Club type punishment, where I go in, show my true self to people I don’t know and didn’t get a chance to know, and end up befriending them, but that never happened. And I’ve made plenty of good friends just by being myself, without getting in trouble, so I guess that’s good.

GRADUATION, FRIENDS, HIGH SCHOOL, LOVE, EVERYONE, I LOVE YOU ALL.

Every song, I swear, is getting me going.

Homecoming, traditionally, is when the students who graduated the high school just recently come back home (thus the term ‘homecoming’) to their high school for a little mini recent reunion. Since our school was spankin’ new, homecoming didn’t really apply until this year, and it was nice seeing some of the already graduated students come back.

Other than that, homecoming football games were always fun, especially with friends. The food was good, so that’s always a plus. Also, the rallies are amazing, so that’s always fun. As for the dance itself, it was okay. I thought sophomore homecoming had the best songs, but I liked my dress for junior year homecoming.

That’s all, I guess. That’s it.

Meeting my first friend of high school, Catherine.

It was my second day and I didn’t know anybody, yet. I was walking to P.E. and I saw Catherine just sitting by herself, trying to figure out her schedule, so I just went up to her and said hi. I saw that we both had P.E. first period and we walked to the locker room together. We started talking about Harry Potter and we both found out that we loved it, so we discussed the 7th book and the new movie at the time, Order of the Phoenix. And ever since that, we’ve been very close friends.

I tend to remember the most the moments when I started becoming friends with the people I’m still friends with today. I remember I became friends with Claryn when she first turned around to me in Biology and just started talking to me. Ever since, we’ve been friends. And then she introduced me to her group of friends, which at the time were mostly Madison and Nikki H., and I remember befriend them when I made them laugh about something while they were eating Chinese food from the school cafeteria.

It’s nice remembering details like that.

So here’s what happened today.

During one of the senior project presentations, our classmate was explaining this experiment pertaining to altruism. He asked for two volunteers to demonstrate it, but it didn’t really work out. He was saying how they couldn’t really test it on humans, since the ending result would most likely lead to death, so instead, they tested it on puppies, and it turns out that most of the puppies ended up dying.

So, Mr. Bowen, being the witty and sarcastic teacher he is, said, “We should have just brought a puppy!” And me, being stupid and not thinking before speaking (and loving puppies and all), yelled, “SHUT UP, MR. BOWEN!” and some classmates, being the instigators, were like, “OOOOoooohhhh.”

AND I FELT TERRIBLE. So, I apologized in a quite rough way out loud in class, and he was like, “I was asking for it.” And that was that. BUT THEN I STILL FELT BAD.

So, after class, I went up to him with a frowny face, and he looked at me and said, “Puppies?”

And I gave him a tearful (not really, I just had a stuffy nose) apology for being so rude.

He said he was asking for it and said it was okay, since he was sarcastic so he could get sarcastic responses from his students to make it more fun and all. And he said the apology was unnecessary and that it was perfectly fine and that I should stop apologizing.

I kept apologizing while walking outside the room, and I heard him say, “Nikki, shut up.” hahahahaha.

BUT STILL. :( I felt so bad.

I signed up for G.E. classes just recently and I can’t say enough how excited I am. Communications class, Anthropology, Classical Mythology, oh my gosh. So many exciting courses, and this isn’t even the start of it! Once I start focusing more on the bioengineering aspects of it, I will be so stoked. I find my major extremely beneficial to others and I think it’s interesting and beneficial for me. I just can’t wait to get in and experience college-life. Making new friends, meeting my new roommate, being on my own, everything. It’s just such a brand new experience and I can’t wait for it to start.

I’m a bit scared, though, of being on my own. I don’t know if I can do it. I’ll be close to home, which is good, but the whole aspect of being on your own, having to do all these things yourself, it’s scary. I think I’ve been a pretty independent person, even if I’ve lived a sheltered life. Even though independence doesn’t really go with being sheltered, I never really had to rely on my parents to do things for me. I’ve always filled out my own forms (they only signed it with a little summary of what it was for), I’ve always signed up for the right classes for me on my own (they never forced, pressured, or even influenced me to take certain classes), I’m fine going to places on my own, but I’m used to being with them a lot because I like being around my family. I like living at home. I like doing things at my own house. I don’t know how I’ll be able to deal without them, but I think I’ll be fine. But then again, that’s what I think. Maybe it isn’t true. Maybe it’s just what I think.

Basically, I’ve been making decisions on my own for a while, now. And, in my opinion, I’ve been responsible enough to make the right decisions for me. And it’s not like I’m leaving my parents out of anything. They’re busy enough as it is and they trust me enough to make good choices, and I’m so grateful for that trust they place in me. I’m not stupid enough to lose that trust. And I have no desire to do anything outside of that trust, y’know?

Okay, that’s all, I guess.

1. First thoughts on going to college
2. First memory of high school
3. Homecoming- what it meant to you and your memories of it
4. The most trouble you’ve ever gotten into
5. Your favorite teacher and how he/she has impacted you
6. The best dance you ever attended (pick a specific day, not just ex. “sadies is my favorite dance”)
7. A time you cried (or felt like crying) at school
8. Favorite book you actually read for English class
9. Most fun class 
10. Something you never expected you’d do and ended up loving
11. How you spent your most memorable lunch hangout
12. Hardest you ever legitimately studied
13. Favorite group project
14. The teacher you hated the most 
15. Four favorite pictures/pictures that represents each of your four years the best and why/how
16. Most surprising friend
17. Oldest friend who you’ve kept
18. A memorable job, summer camp, or internship
19. Biggest regret
20. Favorite place to be on campus
21. A song that brings back nostalgia, and why
22. Your thoughts on your romantic life in high school
23. Upperclassmen who affected you
24. Underclassmen who you’ll miss
25. What you’ll miss the least
26. A memorable, spontaneous hang out
27. A word of advice to your younger self/underclassmen
28. Your parents
29. What you’ll miss the most
30. Final word- Your “thank you“‘s, “good-byes”, and final reflection