done with high school

I've officially graduated from Los Altos High School. It's hard to believe how fast time goes. Class of 2004 forever!

Graduation report

The commencement was held on the athletic field. The band played "Pomp and Circumstance" as we filed in. The school officials and valedictorians then spoke about our achievements and our future. After everything was said and done, the seniors were called to the stage to collect their diplomas. This was the moment we had all been waiting for.

Of note is that there was no senior prank this year. Because some past pranks have gone too far and resulted in disciplinary action, our class decided to play it safe and ditch the idea altogether. Though several people blew up a beach ball and passed it around during the speeches, the commencement was overall uneventful.

Looking back

On the whole, my favorite part of high school was Mr. Shaull's choir class. I never knew it could be so much fun. One of my regrets is being so reluctant to take it when I first had the chance. I'll also miss our physics teacher Mr. Randall and his sense of humor. He certainly knew how to lighten up a bad day and make a difficult subject enjoyable.

Another great memory was when our English class threw a surprise party for Ms. Bang in 9th grade. Some of the girls had found out her birthday and decided to bake her a cake. Everyone then wished her a happy birthday as she walked in the door. She still gave us homework afterwards. Go figure.

Outside of academics, the dances were pretty fun too. Though I only went to the non-formal ones, they were always something to look forward to. The back-to-school dance in August was my favorite. There better be dances in college. :-)

One nice thing about LAHS is that bullying was rare. Even the guy who picked on me all the time at Egan generally left me alone. I'm guessing it was just a phase for him. To be fair, teenagers don't always have the best judgment.

Speaking of which, I got in trouble myself on more than one occasion. During my freshman year, Mrs. Roth sent me to the office for saying "shit" one too many times. The assistant principal said I could have been suspended but only gave me a warning as we knew each other fairly well. It's good to have friends in high places. *grin*

Another time was when I showed my friend Scott a complaint generator during a world literature workshop. In my infinite wisdom, I entered Mrs. McClelland as an example. The timing was unfortunate as she just happened to walk past us. Awkward.

There was also an incident with the net send command. I was bored after finishing an online exercise and decided to advertise RuneScape to my chemistry class. But what I didn't realize is that the message went out to every computer on the network and not just those in the classroom. Imagine my surprise when Ms. Bradley told me what happened. I still can't believe I only got a stern warning from her. Good times.

Perhaps the worst thing that happened was getting kicked out of Spanish III during my junior year. I was afraid I wouldn't get into a good college, but things turned out otherwise. It's nice to know schools don't just look at grades.

All in all, my four years at Los Altos High School went extremely well. I'm going to miss everyone for sure.

The obligatory celebration

The day ended with a school-sponsored party called Grad Night that runs from 8 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. I decided not to go as the tickets were about $100 per person. Instead, my family had a nice dinner at Sundance the Steakhouse in Palo Alto. I loved the Australian lobster tail that Mom ordered. It was very expensive - $42 to be exact - but turned out to be the best part of the meal. I definitely can't complain.

Currently listening to: Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition soundtrack - "Departure" by Lee Jackson

Historical note: Our pictures from the commencement are on Flickr. The official pictures have been removed from the LAHS website but are available at the Internet Archive.