I Graduated.

I put off writing this post but I guess I should do it now before I forget everything.

Well, the day of my graduation started out pretty miserable. It was raining. My mom was trying to do my make-up but it wasn't working. I got make-up on my cap because it wouldn't stay on my head. And I was almost late to get to the place of the graduation.

When I got there, I found out I had been changed from Row 3 Seat 3 to Row 4 Seat 12. They had arranged the girls in the Row of Distinction by GPA. 4.0s and then, the 3.9s. I guess the 4.0 I finally achieved this year didn't count...?

Luckily, I got a seat right in front of my friend who's last name is right in the beginning of the alphabet (her last name begins with 'Aa'). So she was basically my cap superintendent. Every time it fell off, she put it back on for me. It fell off SEVERAL times.

Graduation wasn't as sentimental as I thought it would be. Every thought I had that day was so superficial.


"God, I have all these dirty make-up marks on my cap."

"How long are we gonna wait before we start walking?"

"Finally!"

"Why is one section of the stadium so empty?"

"Do not trip."

"My seat!"

So after we walked in, as the band played Pomp and Circumstance. We did all the rituals: said the Pledge of Allegiance and listened to the choir sing The Star Spangled Banner. I put my hand over my heart like you're supposed to do. But I really wasn't soaking it in. Both the band and the choir sounded nice though.

I didn't get much sleep on that night though. I woke up around 4 and didn't get back to sleep until 7. And I slept for an hour before I got up to start getting things ready. And so I was prepared to sleep at graduation.




The first speech was made by this woman. I don't know who she was but her speech was pretty boring and generic. The next speech was by this pastor and I was also prepared to listen to another boring speech but his speech was actually amazing. He basically related selfies to our life. He's an inspiration in that, even though he dropped out of high school, he was able to get his GED, go to Duke, and then Oxford University. And made a person out of himself. I thought that was really cool and everyone else did too.

After that, we heard speeches from the salutatorian and valedictorian. And then a speech from our administrator. And then a speech from our class president. There were a bunch of tears on stage. I just watched, waiting to just freakin' walk the stage already and leave.

Okay, I wasn't that cold-hearted. But I can't say I was having all the feels in that moment.

A whole bunch of people who did better than me in high school were called out. Which sucked. But I got over it.

It was finally the time to get our diplomas. We filed up before the stage and when it was my turn to get up there, I gave this man a card with my name on it. He said my name, I got my "diploma", I shook hands with a bunch of people who were telling me 'Congratulations', I took a picture with my diploma, and I sat down. Then, I waited like 15 more minutes for everyone's name to be called.

And more stuff happened. It was a blur, to be honest. Everyone took selfies. And then, it was time for us to leave. I passed by a few of my friends as we were filing out. I got my real diploma and I met up with some friends.

This is when things got bad.

I wanted to wait around for the rest of my friends to take pictures and everything but one of my friends wanted to use the bathroom and wanted me to go with her. The security guard prevented my friend from using the bathroom in the building so we had to go out in the rain to find a bathroom. I had to stuff my diploma under my gown and put my cap over my head to cover my weave.

We ended up just wondering around in the rain, looking for a building where she could just use the bathroom. It suuuuucked. I eventually had to abandon her to look for my family. I saw everyone ELSE'S family. But not mine. I really wanted my friends to meet my family members but that didn't happen because I didn't find anyone until basically everyone was gone.

So yeah, graduation wasn't the best time of my life.

AND WHY THE HECK DOES IT ALWAYS RAIN WHENEVER I HAVE SOMETHING PLANNED OR SOMETHING IMPORTANT?!?!?!??! WHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYY?!?!

We went to Sakura where a whole bunch of high school graduates were with their own families. I met a bunch of people I knew. I stuffed my face. And I went home to sleep before Grad Night.

I wore the t-shirt I design because that was basically our ticket in.

It was still raining when my dad dropped me off 10:40 PM and I was a little late. A few sets of buses had already been off with the first groups of people. But some of my people were still there. In fact, my main people were late OF COURSE. So I waited in the rain for them.

The Guy showed up just as I had gone to the back of the line to see them. This will be the absolutely last post I talk of him. There should be no other reason for me to talk about him because I'm done with everything related to my high school. EVERYTHING.

ANYWAY, after checking-in and getting our bags checked, we boarded a school bus to the community center where Grad Night was being held.

When we got in, were were greeted with leis and glowy bracelets and a bunch of free-stuff. But to be honest it looked lame from the start. As I had predicted, Grad Night was kind of like the senior picnic. There was music and a bunch of blow up things (a blow-up Twister, a blow-up fighting thing, a blow-up something else). (The only good thing about the blow-up things was that there was this guy that I'm guessing is one of the people in charge of looking out for them and he was hella cute. He was at the senior picnic and he was here again at grad night. I just wanted to abandon all the childish kids and go talk to him.)

There were people drawing caricatures. I wanted to get one but the lines were too hella long.

There was a ratchet "photo booth". Basically a bunch of blankets strewn over some chairs to make a tent and a webcam set up with a woman on the other end taking the pictures.

There was bingo going on somewhere and there was a swimming pool. Other stuff was going on, I think, but that's all I feel like mentioning.

I ended up dancing for most of the time. I went into the swimming pool. Tried to playing water volleyball but it was being held in the 4'9" part of the pool. Being 5', I have to stand on my tippy toes just to make sure I don't inhale water. So it was hard to move.

I got my weave wet, even though I told myself I wouldn't. I swam a bit and raced a bit. But really, weave sucks. You can't do anything you want to do with it on. In fact, the past few days have made me realized how much I hate all this artificial stuff girls use. Like, I currently have acrylics on and I can't use them as I would my proper nails. They make scrolling through my phone difficult and picking at things difficult. And stuff gets stuck under there so easily and it's so hard to get it out. Gross, I know. But I'm just telling the truth.

AND MAKE-UP. Gosh. They are the bane of my existence. I got this really good foundation that's easy to put on and looks good on my and whatever. But it gets on everything. I think it makes my face get oilier faster than usual. It's just a big struggle.

But back to Grad Night.

I mean, I thought it was fun because I basically danced with my friends almost all night. I realized that I still don't like a bunch of the popular songs played these days (which were played). But I f***ing love when the Spanish/Carribean/Nigerian/African songs come on because that is MY SH**. Everything else can f*** off.

But I did something I'm really not proud of. It still concerns me now. It's not too serious but I won't go into it. I really just want to forget it.

But even so, I really want to go clubbing. I mentioned this before but I really didn't think I would be the type of person to want to go out dancing. But things have definitely changed. Very soon, I'll be dancing with my parents at the African parties. That's where I want to work up to. Maybe I will when I come back from college or something so that it seems like I made a great change or something.

ANYWAY...

At Grad Night, I won a gift card to Barnes and Nobles and this coconut cup thing that I lost. I think my friend has it but it's cool. It looked like trash to me.

But as lame as some things were, I really commend the parents and staff that put this all together. I think it was nice for what it was. I got to hang out with my people in a "school setting" for one last time (even though I know I'll see them all through summer again). I had fun, nevertheless.

Remember that white boy that talked to my friend and I at prom? Well he talked to us at the end of Grad Night. It was painfully obvious that he was more interested in my friend but it was whatever.

A few of my friends and I got on one of the last buses back to school. And before that, we had been just talking and The Guy and his girlfriend were close by. I was sitting on this table and out of nowhere, The Guy comes and sits on the same table right near and starts writing something. And I guess that was the our last encounter.

Of course, we couldn't just depart FOREVER without him giving me just one last tease. That's okay, though. I get it. It's over.

Whether I like it or not, it's over. And one day, he'll be an after thought. I can't wait for that day.

I went home at 6 AM with a green towel with ERHS on it and a full box of pizza. Which was good because I didn't eat anything except a piece of pink Laffy Taffy that was on the ground. And I drank a bunch of water and Capri Suns.

So yeah, I graduated. Time for life to begin.