Finished

The year has come to a close. It is finished. Kapish. Really? All done? High school. Gone? Royal High School. Complete. How? Flew. When? A year, supposedly. On Sunday, we celebrated graduation. I held an "open house" at my house for a few hours and many people came, many more than I had anticipated, many more than I possibly wanted due to my personal disgust of parties revolving around me (I have my reasons/stories). Nevertheless, I appreciated everybody who came. It really was a celebration (Why? More on that later) and I thank each and everyone of you who came: Thank you! That same night, my church held a special service honoring the high school seniors, kind of like a baccalaureate, but, eh, not quite. There were five seniors graduating from my church, at least five that participated, so it was extremely personal and turned out a beauty. Our youth pastor Jimmy Nelson brought the heat, drilling us with encouragement. It was great. What was crazy to me is that my whole extended family, the Hietts, the McMahons, my Grandma, my Oma, my "aunt" Lorraine, and even my cousin from Germany, Linda, showed up to support me (why is this crazy? More on that later). Quite the group, I'd say.

So why the hard feelings about graduation? Just a warning: this might be a little offensive to some, it might sound like I'm conceded, it might sound like I have no heart, it might sound really lame, it might be spot-on..........you decide.

I honestly do not know why high school graduation is such big deal. Why is it? If you finish 12th grade, this means that you have finished Kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, 6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade, 9th grade, 10th grade, and 11th grade beforehand. Now, you might say, "We are celebrating finishing mandatory schooling!" This is true. However, why do we celebrate that? We went through the same "finishing" mode 12 times before this, why the massive celebration now? This is where I may be a little bit conceded, and I apologize in advance. I have never had a problem with grades. I do not know why; it could be hard work, good parenting, motivating teachers, or just smarts. Whatever the reason, I am blessed and am grateful. Now, because of this, I have never had a problem passing classes or worrying about if I graduate, and with that, neither has my family. So, because of this, graduation is going to be candy-coated, just another year of success. I need to commend some of my peers now. I know there are some students who come from families of high school dropouts. To these students, graduation may be a HUGE deal. Prove to the whole family that you are worth something, not just another dropout. To this student, the diploma is much more than a piece of paper, it is a declaration. So this is where my argument flawed, where I show my bias. I just know for me, school is not over, so why celebrate now?

Now onto graduation (anti-climatic?). I was involved with graduation. Why? I honestly don't know. To open up the ceremony, the Senior Brass played the Olympic Fanfare. This went surprisingly well, and even if it didn't, it probably would have beaten out last year's fanfare. Last year's was horrendous, so that was encouraging. We played decently well though and received quite the reception. Then we took off to our lines and waited for the epic "Pomp and Circumstance." Mr. Kelii Miyata and I led the pack on the east side of the stadium. Graduation had officially begun. Now for speeches. Following the valedictorian party, I had my cue to make my way to the stage. There was a problem, I did not have a chair, and neither did he. However, Mr. Kelii Miyata used his valedictorian smarts to share a seat with one of the other student speakers. I, on the other hand, stood on the ground next to the stage, next to Mrs. Donohue, under the "California Republic" flag that threatened to knock my "graduation cap" off. You can see my stance in the video. So here is the story:

I'd say a month ago, my buddy Mr. Kelii Miyata came up to me with this idea. He was going to tryout for the graduation speech and he needed me to beatbox for him. Yes, he was going to rap. I thought it was a joke, I thought it would never have a chance. Let's just say it did, and let's just say he got the speech. Absolutely insane! He was pumped, I was pumped, the leadership class was pumped, and a "few" administrators were pumped. After a few revisions, the speech would start serious, then change drastically into a bumpin' rap. Mr. Houghton, the lion he is, was told Mr. Kelii Miyata's speech was "creative"...and that is all. Our principal Mr. Houghton, with the flick of his wrist, could summon the sound guy (who was AMAZING *he worked with Obama's sound guy) to immediately cut the mic. That is power you can't buy. Mr. Kelii Miyata was in an interesting situation: should he throw some potentially controversial rhymes? It was up to him. I was just setting the beat. Here is the result:



This "skit" could not have gone better. The crowd (at least the first few rows of the graduates) immediately gave a standing ovation. Mr. Kelii Miyata confesses he did not know how to react. Couldn't have gone better and Mr. Houghton did not withhold our diplomas, which is always a plus. Following the ceremony, Mr. Ferguson, famous for his Richard Nixon impression, exclaimed Mr. Kelii Miyata's speech will be talked about for years and years and years. I guess we'll have to see.

The rap pretty much brought instant fame. People swarmed and proclaimed their spiels about the genius of the rhymes. Following the graduation ceremony, I went to a few parties with the rapper himself, and people were coming up right and left. I was astounded, Mr. Kelii Miyata was mystified. Whoda thunk?



Now I'm going to change it up a bit. Class of 09. What? I'll never see most of my "class of 09" ever again. This saddens me. We celebrate it up, enjoy it. We talked all night about the rest of our lives, where we're gonna be when we turn 25. I keep thinking times will never change, keep on thinking things will always be the same. But when we leave this year, we won't be coming back no more hanging out cause we're on a different track. The brilliance that is Vitamin C felt this way. To think that some of the people I sat and laughed with, I will never, ever see again.

"And as our lives change, from whatever
We will still be, friends forever"

Time to move on?