Four years gone by... How many highlights were there?
- Freshman year
- MJ's trumpet section
- Exposure to jazz
- Antenore's world studies
- Philosophizing of reality
- Smirl's stories
- Jeremy, John, and Dave visiting
- Keith Dunton coaching
- San Francisco trip
- First Scioly regionals
- Morgan Jones at Reno
- Making Wind Ensemble
- Barry Perkins clinic
- Sophomore year
- Jacob's guitar/bass videos
- Jacobs' jokes and trumpet playing
- Freed's eccentricities
- Peck's cynicism
- Sadnik's trumpet section
- Keith Dunton coaching and lessons
- Jeremy, John, Dave visiting
- Best Jazz II ever
- Junior year
- Struggling through AP Physics
- Sewell's detailed lectures
- My trumpet section and fuckups
- Keith Dunton, Trumpet Corner coaching
- Washington Middle School at Reno
- Jeremy, Jesse, Dave visiting
- Senior year
- COSMOS
- Funny Spanish class
- Poker in stats class
- Getting shafted in Jazz I
- Jayne's trumpet section...
- Garfield HS at Reno
- Eisloffel's videos
- Everything mentioned at the beginning
That's what I'll remember of high school. I'll also remember my friends and classmates of many years, people like Adrian, Andrew, Yassi, Jenny, Janine, Ryan, Kevin, Tarun, Alex, Alec, Neeraj. I'll remember people I haven't known very long, people like Andrea, Keith, Deep, Katie, MJ, Russell, Haran.
Staying in touch will be much easier now that we have internet networking like facebook. Still, it's going to be really weird not being in the same class as Jenny or Adrian, or the same band as Ryan and Alex.
Looking back, middle school was a complete waste of time. It somewhat influenced my freshman year, but I went in a completely different direction. My personality in high school was very much influenced by my freshman year. With inspirational leaders like MJ and Sarah, friendly upperclassmen like Sophia and Carly, and amazing talents like Keith and Johnny, band had the biggest role in shaping me. Overall, it was a total blast; I did so much more than I ever had before! Field tournaments, San Francisco trip, Reno trip, Scioly regionals, Barry Perkins. These were trips I am glad I took. And world studies with Antenore was awesome, especially since we had the best class ever--Kelly, Kevin, Brian, John, Ryan, Adrian, Tarun, Christine, Ashley, Yassi, Lynne, Vincent. That was the year I found my first epiphany, regarding perception and reality, although now it seems that this truth I realized was available and known by everybody... Still, freshman year was when life became interesting for me.
Sophomore year, in hindsight, wasn't bad at all. Sure, I found Peck a dull teacher who tested us before giving lectures. Sure, Jacobs didn't teach, just showed us notes to copy. Sure, Freed graded really strictly and gave tons of homework that didn't help our grades. But each of these was in itself fun. Peck's class was great because I was there with friends: Marc, Alex, Brian, Ranjan, Marc, and we got to watch weird movies like Gallipoli. Jacobs was hilarious, always making fun of Steven Wang with Sameer and Brian Beard. Freed had her funny moments, and it was fun being in that class with Ryan, Christine, Jennifer, Melody, Brian. Plus there was Spanish with Wexler and Rundle and math with Jacob, which were loads of fun. Unlike freshman year, most of my experiences were not derived from band, but from academics. Band was still pretty fun, but I had to deal with bob-o in wind ensemble. Our jazz band was great, though, I'd say the best Jazz II I've ever seen come out of Irvine. Good times, eh?
Junior year was alright. Harwood was the nicest teacher ever, and Sewell was the smartest teacher ever. Sacks was an interesting teacher, and although I despised that physics class, I'm glad I took it. Langevin was pretty annoying though; only Raam and Neeraj made calc a fun class. Spanish with Schram had its moments. Helping Russell with his algebra kids wasn't that bad, and Sheila and Melissa were pretty nice. Band was getting boring, espeically with bob-o leading jazz I. But wind ensemble was really fun with V and Justin and Keith.
I consider COSMOS as the beginning of senior year. It wasn't worth $2K but it was still loads of fun. I got to meet awesome people like Andrew, Brandon, Desiree, Wade, Ish, Hugo, Surya, Chris, Beau, and Griffin. I worked with Mike and Carol, who were really cool people. Band was a bust, with jayne getting all this favoritism. Bad enough that she took my section leader spot, she also took a spot in wind ensemble and won the stupid medallion, the most undeserving winner ever, worse than chrissy. The only positives from band were the newbies: Andrea, Dustin, Roy, Julian, Francisco, Katie, Rithwik. They're the only reason I'll ever return to see the band perform. Regarding classes, all my teachers were even better than last year, except maybe Sewell, who I still favor over Gray and Eisloffel. Still, it was a blast. Coupled with brawl, weed, and harmonica, it was a great year.
High school was great, and college can only get better. As long as I stay in touch with everyone I've met, and as long as we have internet networking, saying goodbye will be easier. Nevertheless, it's quite daunting that in about three years, I will never hear from most of these people again.
" This is our moment
Here at the crossroads of time
We hope our children carry our dreams down the line
They are the vintage
What kind of life will they live?
Is this a curse or a blessing that we give?
There will be miracles
After the last war is won
Science and poetry rule in the new world to come
Prophets and angels
Gave us the power to see
What an amazing future there will be"
"And so it goes, and so it goes
And you're the only one who knows"
"This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end"
Goodbye, my friends, and good luck.
