Seniors' last day

Today was the last day of school for the class of 2006. It was really sad to see them go. So many of this year's seniors I've gotten to know over the past three years. Okay, well, not very many of them, but enough of them that it made me sad. I didn't really say goodbye to any of them, you know. Prom is coming up, and then I guess graduation, and with that they'll be out of here and going off into their own lives, and I'll probably never see any of them again.

The whole thing also got me thinking about the future. A year from now, my class will be the one standing on the stage, and I'll be one of the high-school seniors walking along to receive his diploma. And then I'll move away and be in some college. I'll need to decide what I want to do with my life then. Because then I'll get a full-time job, and I'll keep working and working and working and working for decades until I retire (if I can afford to, because the way things are going...), and after that I'll die.

Today was the annual award ceremony for the underclassmen. They started, as usual, with the whole big thing: the JROTC presenting the flags, the Pledge of Allegiance, the national anthem. I was wondering why they go through all that just for an assembly, but then I realized that that's the sort of stuff that the JROTC does all the time, and this is really their only chance to show it to the school. It's sort of like the school orchestra in that sense. The orchestra got together to play a few notes before the ceremony started, and then they left.

Anyway, I got an award for being a candidate for the National Merit Scholarship, and that was the only one I was expecting because I had already been told about it. I also got subject awards for English III Honors and AP European History. After the ceremony there were a few minutes left of school, so I went back to American History, where people were finishing the final exam that the teacher decided to give today. I had taken it in the morning so that it wouldn't conflict with my going to the award ceremony. It wasn't that hard, luckily, and it was only on the last few things we've learned about (the period from World War I to World War II).

A designated survivor, according to Wikipedia, is "a member of the United States Cabinet who stays at a physically distant, secure, undisclosed location when the country's top leaders, including the president, are gathered at a single location...." So if there's a nuclear attack where the country's top leaders are, there will at least be someone left alive. That's good to know.

It's kind of scary that China, a country with such an oppressive government, is becoming one of the world's top powers. (Cold War II, anyone?) Anyway, in my opinion, an oppressive government is one that censors the Internet. Read about the state of Internet censorship in China. And here's a good article about a group of hackers who are working to circumvent it.

One year ago: "It's horrible enough that I don't, but when people in Europe have to rub it in my face..."
Two years ago: "I don't remember ever writing about reptile birthday plates (#16) or lazy Mexicans on beaches (#20)."