The ever so famous Greg Young.
As he is the one that will guide you
through this convoluted mess.
Joke or Stupid Thought of the Day
Pictures From Various Locations
|
The ever so famous Greg Young. As he is the one that will guide you through this convoluted mess. Joke or Stupid Thought of the Day Pictures From Various Locations |
|
|
Unfavorable
School Schedules - For my Sophomore year, my schedule was not the
best
I could have possibly received, because I had absolutely no classes
with
my good friends. Wait, actually I had English with AJ first
period
and then math and computer programming with John. On the same end
of the spectrum, John did not have any classes with his good friends
either,
other than me. Likewise, Darren had the same problem; none of his
classes were the same as his good friends' except for World History and
Biology, which he had with Ronnie. The irony arises when the year
comes to a close. The only good friendships really retained are
that
of mine and AJ's and Darren and Ronnie's (the only ones that had
classes
together). I think that the schedules tended to influence this
outcome,
and allowed more people to become friends with me. The way I look
at it, if I had classes with all my good friends, I probably would not
have talked to all the new people that I know now. I met a lot of
people because I was bored in class and I needed entertainment. I
would definitely never get bored in a class that contained a bunch of
people
I knew. So, I came to the conclusion that my crappy schedule did
something to influence the fact that I made a lot of friends over the
past
year. On another scenario, the same has happened to Darren.
There were some people he knew very well, but he did not have any
classes
with him/her. Soon, he was barely even talking to him/her and
later
he did not even communicate with him/her. If, perhaps, he did
have
a class with this mysterious person, he says that a lot might have
changed,
just because he would have him/her in his class to talk to
everyday.
This event was a stem to many others that should be mentioned on the
events
page, so the best idea is to wait until an event references the
unfavorable
school schedules. 
Goparty
#1 - On the first Saturday of Spring Break 2001, I invited a few
friends
over to watch movies or hang around. About two hours before the
actually
get together, I did not know that I was going to host a place where
people
can chat. Everyone that planned on coming (Candice, Robin,
Darren,
AJ, and Chris) confirmed that they could go. We told Candice's
and
Robin's parents that we were going to go watch movies, so I sent
Darren,
Chris, and AJ to look for a movie and rent one before they came.
Candice and Robin arrived first and Robin's mother talked to
mine.
After a brief introduction, her mother left and we were there waiting
for
the other three to arrive. To waste time, I took them on a tour
of
my house, because this was the first time they were here. I do
not
know if they liked the tour I gave them, because they were pretty
silent
throughout the journey. Once we were done, we took a seat in my
room
and tried to start a conversation. AJ, Chris, and Darren arrived
shortly afterwards. Darren brought his bass for the first time,
and
the three of them brought Spaceballs, the movie. The party
carried
on slowly. We played music, talked about guys, tossed around a
football,
and watched the Chronicles. Robin was in love with Raccoon Man,
so
she did not like it that Raccoon Man was a serial killer. The
night
progressed really fast, because it only was around two hours
long.
Though it was a really short night, and not much happened, it was a
significant
night in the history of the Goparties. Because this was the first
time that people came over to my house to just do whatever they wanted
to, it marked the start of a saga that would continue well into the
summer.
Ever since this date, people have been enjoying just coming to my house
to play games, chat, eat food, or even sleep. On top of that, I
have
been hosting parties that needed to be held. My house had become
a centralized area during the school year because of the various
Goparties.
During the summer, the Goparties started to be further apart, so the
influence
of the parties has dropped. But even then, my house still seems
like
the place that my friends and I hang out the most. The event
would
seem quite low if it is all that it is cracked up to be, but the first
Goparty is not the most influential because it did not trigger anything
other than events in its caliber.
Ronnie's
Revisitation - Late in November of 2000, Ronnie returned to
Phoenix
to visit his friends from back home, which at the time were Cameron,
Cassie,
and Darren, for the most part. He had been gone for over two
months,
which was not very long, but it seemed that way for both Cameron and
Darren.
It probably had seemed longer for Darren, for many reasons. Both
he and Cameron were as good of friends with Ronnie as the other, but a
few other circumstances made Ronnie's revisit more important to Darren
than it was to Cameron. Darren had been going through some tough
times in his love life at the time. Cassie and Cameron had been
dating
for a while, Darren had a hunch, but he just learned officially right
before
Ronnie's visit. Just the fact that his best friend and his
subject
were then dating was enough to drive him near madness, but simply
hanging
out with the two of them was torture enough to maul his self-esteem and
it caused him to become secluded from everyone and everything.
With
Ronnie visiting, it helped Darren get back into the swing of
socializing.
He could actually bring himself to spend time with Cameron and Cassie,
because he would have Ronnie to chill with while Cameron and Cassie ran
off together. This was only a temporary fix, though.
Because
Ronnie was to not come back for a while, the Cameron-Cassie-Darren trio
did not have the click they used to. So when Ronnie made his
leave
for California again, it left Darren to the stage he was at before
Ronnie
came: the person on the side. Enough has been said about what
that
did cause, because that will be found later on the events page.
Also,
it was important to know that Ronnie ended his first (and last) visit
to
his old friends back in Phoenix. It marked the very end of an era
with Ronnie, as he would not be seen for many, many months
afterward.
Many important things were affected by Ronnie's departure as a whole;
it
was just as Darren said to Ronnie as he was leaving: "Things aren't
gonna
be the same without you, man."
Pseudo-subjectism
- The title of this event means exactly what it is inferring, a
"false"
subject. But in this case, it is not taken to the extent of
subjectism,
meaning that it is just a short phase in life. Very late into
2000
(December), there was ASU Business Skills day (see 
That
One Movie Night at Candice's - On February 9th of the year 2001,
Candice
decided to invite a bunch of friends over to watch movie and enjoy a
night
with friends. Many people attended this get together, and some
were
not even seen again. From what I remember, the people that showed
up that day were Chris Spencer, Darren, Mike, Marcus, AJ, Tori, Robin,
Brittany, Mai-Li, Cassie, Chris Wenz, and the host. I could be
adding
or deleting a few, so it might not be the best thing to rely on what I
just said. Anyway, we arrived there in the evening and started to
watch Mallrats. AJ and I were quite ecstatic that we were going
to
be watching a movie that we both loved. No one else really
enjoyed
the movie though, and people looked at us like idiots for laughing at
such
stupid humor. Food was ready after the first movie, so everyone
took
intermission and refreshed themselves with some high quality food and
drink.
Everyone switched places during the second movie, so no one really sat
in the same place twice. I caught some things quite amusing
during
the second movie, especially. Number one, Chris' random
sickness.
Number two, continuous flirting. And number three, Raggedy
Ann.
Chris was very silent during the night, and he said when he was
dropping
everyone off that he was just tired and sick. When it was just
Darren
and I in the car and we were crossing Ray Road, he said something that
contradicted everything that was to happen in the next few
months.
Darren and I were puzzled, and we did not understand that his deep
innermost
thoughts were shallow. Soon, he was to flip that around, and
"crossing
Ray Road" was some really out of place thing. He did not mean
anything
he said during that trip, which struck us odd. Also during the
movie,
there was a lot of flirting flowing in the blood of people. I
remember
seeing a handful of those ladies trying to inch those eligible
bachelors.
Some of these flirtings caused much more than expected, be it in the
next
few weeks or the next few months. Both incidents were not the
best
things to think about either. That will be explained a little
further
later, but now we come to the Raggedy Ann doll. During the movie,
I noticed, along with Mike, that there was a Raggedy Ann in the room
visible
to us. It was a very scary looking doll, and we chose not to look
at it often, because it was starting to freak us out. I showed it
to Darren, and he told me never to show him something that scary
again.
A few minutes passed and we took a look at it again. This time
something
quite unexpected happened. The doll had moved. Mike,
Darren,
and I had noticed it. No one believed us but it did happen.
That instant, I hid behind the couch, because I was scared it was going
to attack me (come on, it already moved). Everyone obviously
thought
we were idiots. And to this day, no one believes that the doll
moved.
It did, and we are not lying. After the movie, all of us went
outside
to play tag. Candice lives in a cul-de-sac, so it was easy to
hide
in a secluded area. We played for a long time until it came down
to where Darren was chasing me. It was like an ultimate showdown,
or something of the like. We did catch me, and at that time,
everyone
was tired, so we all retired to our houses. The night was
over.
But anyway, the influence of this day can be measured from one extreme
to another. It can be looked at as a transitional phase between
the
getting together of the group to the actually unity of the group.
This was one of the first group hangouts in which we were all very
familiar
with one another, yet we were not (meaning that we each knew a handful
of people very well, while there were a bunch we did not know).
Besides
that, the main deal was the obvious flirting. From this night, it
changed into much more than just friendly flirting, but something that
triggered the event known as none other than The Conspiracy of One.
The event will be further explained when it appears on the page.
But for now, hold your horses, and get ready for event number
twenty-five.
Mislededness
- Contrary to popular belief, Mislededness does not have to do
with
the title Misled that is put before Johnny Cloud. In fact, the
Mislededness
I suffered was a far different stage than what it is described to be
now.
At the time, Mislededness meant exact what it looks like, some sort of
act of taking the wrong path. Once everything went to hell in
September
of last year, I was feeling lost in a huge world. Like at time, I
would just wondering what I was trying to accomplish in life, as if
there
was nothing. I realized that I had no interior goal at all, and
that
is what made me feel so hollow inside of me. This is how the term
"Mislededness" arose. I felt like I was lost in some sea of truth
and there was no place to go, as if I had been mislead in the wrong
direction.
I added the -edness to make the word sound more like the Buddha made it
up, or something. Anyway, the time period of Mislededness started
in mid-September 2000 and officially ended in early January 2001.
This is probably the slowest period of my life. Days during these
months went by like years, probably because I was not having a great
amount
of fun. I resorted to amusing myself in the classroom; I started
to speak up and tell jokes during class. Most of these were
random
outbreaks of stupidity that most people would find annoying. To
my
surprise, most people found it to be quite a hoot. This was the
first
trigger of Mislededness. Through my boredom outside of school, I
started to make the seven hours I spent at school very fun, which
included
the act of becoming a class clown. Once I felt comfortable in
class,
I started to have more fun. I met Cassie through Darren during
this
time, and I think it might have been due to Mislededness, because if I
was not in this period, I would not have really been the isolated
person
I was. This is just a possibility, so it is not a definite
trigger.
Okay, back to the basics of Mislededness. The first real point of
it is to get yourself out of it, hence, find your path and resume your
life. I did that finally the next year. When I think of
Mislededness,
it brings me to this point. If I never reached that point, I
would
have a completely changed life. Come on, reaching your "path" and
following it changes a lot of things. I am sorry I cannot tell
everything
here, because I have to save things for the autobiography, but I can
tell
you some things that it did cause. For example, the explosion of
friends and continual chasing of butterfly (as AJ so loved to put
it).
I guess there is not much more I can say of this time, but it is
definitely
one period of my life that was not the best. Sometimes I wish I
could
forget it, but there were so many things that happened then that could
not be forgotten.
Seating
Choices in History - At the beginning of a school year, one thing
that
may not seem too important at first glance is the seating
arrangements.
But this event shows how a simple seating arrangement can affect an
entire
year, while forming a friendship. In most classes, seating is
chosen
by the students at the beginning of the school year, and changes are
made
throughout the year as necessary. In Mr. Barnes's third period
class,
the class that both Darren and I had together, the seating arrangement
stayed relatively the same throughout the entire year. Anyway,
Darren's
second period class was just one hall away from Mr. Barnes's classroom,
so he was able to snag his favorite seating position, far right side of
the classroom, second seat back. He saved the seat behind him for
Ronnie, because this was one of the very few classes that he had any of
his good friends in. In time, everyone had filed into classroom
and
chosen their prime classroom positions, including myself, who took the
exact mirror seat of Darren, on the far left side, second seat
back.
Toward the end of the passing period, a girl named Cassie made her way
into the room. Darren did not know her very well; he merely said
hello to her in the hallways the year before. They smiled and
waved
at each other, and she sat down in the seat in front of Darren.
Through
this seating arrangement, Darren and Cassie began talking to each other
before, during, and after class, thus marking the very beginning of a
friendship
that changed the entire year afterward. From the casual talk in
History,
the friendship made its way toward the Internet and then the
phone.
Soon these two would be best friends, and it was their friendship that
marked the true change of Sophomore year. Actually, around half
way
into the year, I started to talk to these two a lot, and I decided to
change
my seating position. I moved to sit next to Cassie, and diagonal
from Darren. Through this spot I became more attached to these
people,
and from that friendship, much occurred. Ah, the details are even
further up on the countdown, so hold your horses, visitors, only a few
more days to go.
Brief
Period of Realignment - This is possibly the toughest event to
write,
probably because it is all feeling, and that is very hard to express on
a webpage. The period took place after school resumed from Winter
Break, and lasted up until the Scandal. This was very similar to
the Mislededness period of life, except this time, I was not lost,
rather
just trying to click back on track. Being hindered from whatever
you had been doing for months can cause you to take a while to realign
yourself with the past. Actually, there is a reason why I put
this
higher than the Mislededness event that is number 25. It was
almost
as if I did a random drawing out of a hat to choose which one was more
influential, but then I came to the conclusion that it was this
period.
When I finally had more friends, more people to talk to, and definitely
a social life, I was able to adjust much easier than when I was in
Mislededness.
Actually, it was during this time that I really learned the key to
Sophomore
year. What is that you ask? Well, it was here that I
decided
to stick to my roots, stuff that I have had since middle school, or
maybe
even before. I think that may have been the first mistake I made
in the early part of the year: I was moving too fast and forgetting
about
things that were much apparent for the earlier years of my life.
Now the question is, how did I get to that conclusion? Other than
a jumbles mess of random emotions, it came to me as a simple light: the
reason that I was falling through holes is that I was depriving myself
from such social activities. Once I started to hang out places, I
was falling back in time to my life without high school friends.
This happened because all the new friends I had after Winter Break had
a connection with at least one of my old friends. That means that
I was always going places with a comrade. Okay, now that I think
about it, I doubt any of this event made sense, but like I said, I do
not
think it was meant for people to understand. It is a really
personal
situation, which makes it really hard to express (not that I do not
want
to tell people, but because I have no clue how I would even go about
summarizing).
Anyway, this is all I will say about the realignment, so I am not
wasting
your time. Maybe more of this will show up in the Autobiography,
but I do not know how much more, because there is not much to
say.
Yeah, I think I have said that enough times.
Transplantation
of my Sleeping Quarters - Very early into last summer, my father
informed
me that we were going to have visitors for an extended period of
time.
They were to be my aunt and uncle, and their expected stay was to be
the
rest of the summer. My father then inferred that he wanted me to
move my room into the master bedroom (the room with the
computer).
At first, I was highly reluctant to move my room. Sure, I would
have
a room twice the size than I had now, but I made my old room to what it
looked like. It was like a shrine, and it took so much time to do
what I did. I talked to Vinay about it, and he suggested that I
not
move. Then my father told me if I did not move, there was no way
I could use the computer late at night, like I usually do. This
would
be because the guests would inhabit the master bedroom (the room with
the
computer) and they might want privacy at night. Because of this
reason,
I was ultimately forced to move rooms. But good always comes from
things that you do not like, I have realized. After I took
pictures
of my old shrine, and moved everything over, I had a bunch of people
over.
It was as if having seven people in the room did not matter. More
people could inhabit my room, and that meant more friends to have over
at one time. This did not come into play until much later.
The first triggers of the new room were music making, because it was
much
easier to have instruments in my own room than in some random place
that
was not accessible all the time. Without the size of the room, I
could not have made the Chronicles, though I could have done it without
actually ever claiming the room. Wall space dramatically
increased,
so I can fit more wall ornaments. After all this nonsense, I come
to the last and largest part of the event. And that is
parties.
I think by this time, everyone knows I am some kind of party fanatic,
and
I am always hosting a party sometime in the future. Without the
room,
I would have to have people chilling in a 14 by 14 area, and that does
not make sense. For example, during the school year, I had random
people show up at my house and just sleep all day. That would not
have been possible if I was still in my old room. And besides,
the
numerous parties I have held in the past few months would not have even
been considered if I did not have a large area for people to hang
out.
The parties tend to go to another level, I mean I did invite everyone I
knew, and from that, I started to make new friends. Maybe I
should
just put it this way: could you even imagine me living in my old
room?
Or, could you even imagine people coming over to my house everyday to
play
music, eat, read, bowl, or sleep? I guess it does make you wonder.
Darren's
"Subject-Drop" - As you, the readers, have probably already
gathered
this far into the events of the past year, Cassie was a very
influential
person in our lives, Darren's moreso than my own. Cassie came
into
Darren's life and changed it immensely. But this event isn't
about
the change during the strong friendship between the two of them.
This is about the change that occurred marking the very end of not only
Darren's subjection of Cassie, but also of the very end of Subjectism
in
Darren altogether. The day of Darren's final subject drop was
none
other than the most ironic day possible, Valentine's Day itself.
He had seen it coming, but it was Valentine's Day when he officially
'let
go,' and it was Valentine's Day when he realized that girls other than
Cassie actually existed. He made Valentine's cards for all of his
best female friends (who weren't really good friends at the time), but
he received two cards back that caught his attention more than any
others.
One was from Robin, and one was from Erica. It was then that he
realized
that his whole mindset for the past few years was about to
change.
He realized that Subjectism was not the right path for him any
longer.
So what did this lead to? Of the many things, Cassie's and
Darren's
relationship declined greatly over the next few months. Just
weeks
before, he had pledged her his everything, he had treated her like a
goddess,
but it would soon all be completely backwards. Another effect of
this was a stronger crush on Robin, leading to the Conspiracy of
One.
Finally, one of the most prominent effects of this event, especially
now,
is the pretzel, and the aftermath of it since it had become slightly
untwisted.
Of course, I cannot fail to mention the growing relationship between
Darren
and Erica, something that would blossom into a true relationship later
on. If you were wondering, I did not write this, and I am not
some
sort of omniscient narrator. Darren merely wrote this in third
person
because he is a goon.