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 |
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Darren's
Uncle's Wedding - Though this event may seem like it does not
belong
on the events page, it had a much bigger impact on the past year than
just
Darren's uncle Jim becoming a married man for the second time.
Around
the time that Darren left for the wedding, he was already relatively
good
friends with Cassie. He had found himself talking to her on the
phone
quite a bit, often late into the night, with school the next day.
For the wedding, Darren left Phoenix for California, where it would be
held. The wedding itself was boring and uneventful, side from
Darren's
mom forcing him to do the twist with her. He stayed in California
for a few days, and during that time, he and Cassie had emailed each
other
about twice a day. Most of the emails contained messages of "I
miss
you," "I can't wait for you to return," and the like. One of the
emails caught Darren's attention more than the others. Cassie
informed
him that she had found a temporary substitute of him in Cameron.
She had been calling him and talking to him, though not as much as she
talked to Darren. Darren took this as good news, because Cameron
had never had any female contact like this before, and he might have
been
heading in the right direction. What did this event
trigger?
Instead of just Darren and Cassie being friends, a triangle was
completed
by adding Cameron. These three were inseparable for a time; a
great
friendship that changed the entire year for Darren. It can even
be
said that this even could have been the event that lead to Cameron and
Cassie dating for the short period of time that they did. The
unity
of Cameron and Cassie led to many of the heartbreaking events later in
the year. Some of these events are ones many want to forget, but
they can never be forgotten.
The
Jog to Erica's House - After I attempted to get my permit and the
DMV
hassled me, I decided to spend my Saturday night at Darren's
house.
When I arrived, he was wearing his glasses, something I had never seen
before. During the night, all we did was play really stupid
Shockwave
games, until I got hungry and I asked Darren for food. We looked
into his refrigerator and we found generic desserts. When I mean
generic, I'm talking about desserts in plain white boxes with black
writing
on top of them. Regardless, the treats were very good. They
were so good that I had around six, and my stomach was hurting a little
bit from eating that much mini luxury desserts. After the
desserts,
we found ourselves chatting on the Internet with Erica George, a female
in my English class and our History class. She was apparently
bored
and suggested we visit her. Darren informed me that she lived
really
close by, and we could jog there if we wanted to. I did not have
much time, so I called up my mother and told her to pick me up half an
hour later than I had previously told her. That gave us roughly
forty-five
minutes to go to Erica's and come back. We quickly printed out
the
direction to her house and we were on our way jogging. It was
quite
a long jog for someone that is not in shape, but we made it there with
around thirty minutes to spare. This was the first time either of
us had seen Erica outside of school, and she seemed different. We
showed her Raccoon Man, and took pictures of it with her. Then
she
brought her stuffed animals that we also took pictures of. Before
we left, she brought out her fat cat, which I found amusing because it
was large. She sprayed the Raccoon Head with a vanilla scent so
it
smelled good and then we noticed we did not have much time. We
started
to run back to Darren's house, so we could reach there before my mother
came to pick me up. On the run home, I dropped the camera, and it
did not seem to function anymore. That was the death of the
camera.
For the next three months, I would be without a functioning
camera.
This is one of the impacts of this night. Without the camera for
three months, memories could not be saved, and a whole lifestyle seemed
to go down the drain. It felt like all we did when the camera was
around was just play with it, but now that it was not there anymore, it
seemed like we were missing out on some great pictures and great
fun.
Other than that, the obviously trigger from this night was our
friendship
with Erica. We had not previously seen her after school before,
and
realizing she lived near Darren and jogging to her house was a great
way
to get to know her better. And hey, she probably would not have
been
able to spray the Raccoon Head and make it smell good (it kind of
smelled
like Darren) if we never jogged over there.
History
Review Sheet - At the end of the first semester of Sophomore year,
our History teacher gave us a review sheet that all exempters needed to
complete if they wanted to exempt. He made it clear that you
would
take the final if you showed up the day of the test and you did not
have
a complete packet of answers to the review sheet. A bunch of my
friends
and I thought we could get together and share what we had, so we asked
him if it was okay, and he said just as long as we were not turning in
the same work. I first talked to Jacques about how he did not
have
an Internet chat program so it would be hard for us to communicate with
each other. Then I thought we both could post what we had on my
newly
acquired forum, because he had access to it. Soon, we had about
five
or six of our friends visiting the forum to post what they had.
Later,
I passed out a slip of paper to everyone in my History class to visit
the
forum and to contribute, if they had anything. Julia was the
first
person to ever post anything regarding the History review sheet, but
she
never posted afterwards. In fact, many people visited the forum
but
never actually contributed. By the time the finals came by,
everyone
who needed a copy of the review packet had one, and they were all more
or less the same. Not exactly the same, because that was against
the teacher's rule. After the finals, Winter Break passed and
then
the second semester started. The forum started to become a place
for where answers to homework could be posted, and I am thinking that
it
really all goes back to the History packet. The forum had to have
spread from some people in school, and the only logical way would have
been through the people in my History class. That is why the
packet
is a quite influential homework assignment, if not the most. It
indirectly
started the Scandal, one of the most troublesome days of the rest of
the
school year.
Buddhism
Video - In our History class first semester, we were required to
complete
a presentation about a topic we picked at the beginning of the
year.
Darren and I both picked the Buddha, so when the time came to create a
presentation, we banded together to make a joint effort. The
teacher
let us do this, and he said that we would get one grade for the both of
us. When Darren and I started to plan out what we were going to
do
for our presentation, the idea of making a video came to mind, because
we both found the Chronicles of Raccoon Man amusing, and we wanted to
make
something a little bit funny, but educational. We told each other
that we would record on a Friday, and that we would have a few guest
appearances
by Raccoon Man himself. On the coming Friday, Darren got a ride
home
with me, and on the way back to my mother's house, we stopped in the
Burger
King drive-thru. I had borrowed a costume from Jacques for use in
our video, but I decided to wear it when we proceeded through the
drive-thru.
The attendant either did not see me, or did not care at what I was
doing,
so they did not acknowledge the fact that I looked like the grim
reaper.
But anyway, we returned to my mother's house to pick up the video
camera,
and then we went back to my father's house to film. We slowly
started
to plan out our video, and then we found it easy if we would just read
off of my book review (that got 100%, mind you) while the other person
acts out what I am saying. In our first scene, we tried to depict
a priest, and the best way to do that was to have Darren wear a
sheet.
His right hand was not able to function when he wore the sheet.
During
one scene, we showed a glimpse of Raccoon Man, just ot live up to what
we had said before. Each scene had its unique costume or set, but
something that was catchy to the eye was the use of stuffed
animals.
Because of the low budget of the movie, stuffed animals were used to
take
place of second and third actors. Once we were getting close to
finishing,
it was already around eight, and Darren needed to leave to go pick up
his
friend Ronnie at the airport. He was visiting for the first time
since he left Arizona. Before Darren left my house, he stuck a
stick
under my top bunk, which I kept there in remembrance of that day.
It is known as the Sup Stick, because SUP is written on one side of
it.
Later, I recorded the video on to a VHS, which was used to be shown in
class. The teacher told us not to be funny, but we were naturally
idiots when it came to this stuff. I showed up to class wearing
olive
drab, the costume the Buddha used in the video. The set of our
presentation
was that Darren was a researcher that had interviewed me for a few
months,
and in that time, he had created a video to help students better
understand
Buddhism. When we played the video, we tried our hardest not to
laugh,
but it naturally came out, because there were so many inside
jokes.
Regardless, the teacher still liked our performance, especially when we
got the crowd to meditate with us. This presentation was the
first
time Darren and I worked together on a school project, something we
would
do many more times in the future. Also, it was the first time he
came to my house by himself, another thing that would happen often in
the
future. I mark this as the first time Darren and I really showed
that we could be friends sometime in the near future and that it would
change a lot of things between us. Beyond that, this video was
always
referred to whenever we needed to laugh about something, perhaps
creating
a whole new video for History. Many aspects of the second History
video were modeled after the first. A lot of jokes were taken
from
the video itself, and now are used a lot just for laughter. And
also,
if Darren never showed up that day to make the video, my grandmother
would
have never met him, which means that she never would have said that "he
is big build."
Greg
Pohlmeier and Kyle Gerlach - Finally we come to the first people
on
the countdown. I decided to add people to the page because there
are a few dynamic individuals that have changed so much. Anyway,
on to the two individuals I have put on this page. These two
friends
of mine were once just acquaintances when I was hanging around John
Cloud,
but when he left, I started to become better friends with them.
Everything
either of us did, the other two were usually there to hang out.
It
was kind of odd because we never really become best friends, but rather
just hanging out because we all felt like we could be friends. We
never did though, and we parted ways. There is one thing that is
certain, if I never knew these two individuals, 
The
Chronicles of Raccoon Man - Late into last summer, Vinay left his
video
camera at my house after a band practice. John came over the next
day, noticed the camera and told me that we should make a movie.
We started talking about what we could possibly make a movie about, and
he said something about Raccoon Man. It was a stuffed animal that
I had in my room and he thought it would be funny if we used that as a
"costume" and that the main character would be a serial killer.
We
planned out most of the things we wanted to do that night, but we
pretty
much forgot everything. All I remember is that I told him to come
to my house the next day morning. So, he did, but he told me that
before we started to make the movie, he had to go to Albertson's Wells
Fargo to cash his paycheck. There, I bought a donut, while he
bought
a bunch of cookies. When we went to the Wells Fargo, we waited in
line for around forty minutes until they finally decided to help
us.
The guy was a very giddy man, and he ended off the conversation by
saying,
"A-Team, I love that show!" John wore an A-Team hat, but it was
not
referring to the show, rather the skate group, so the guy's line made
us
chuckle. Once we were ready to leave Albertson's, we headed back
to his truck. While he was entering his vehicle, he noticed that
he had a toothbrush in his pocket. We both found it odd to have a
toothbrush in one's pocket. Regardless, we made our way back to
my
house, where I had the hardest time eating a donut (I had spacers, and
they are not fun). John ate most of his cookies until he had the
idea of using the cookies for a part in the movie. We decided
that
the first scene would be the intro of all the people Raccoon Man had
killed,
serially. We hung Bart, squished the Vikings' bear, and
suffocated
Pinky. Actually the bag that was used to suffocate Pinky was the
cookie bag John got from Albertson's. The intro scene carried on,
and then we went outside to shoot everything else. Raccoon Man's
victim ate a cookie (hence the reason for saving cookies), and the
stunt
double was Sylvester. During one part of the movie, we used
John's
toothbrush that was in his pocket. I guess I could not ruin the
scene
for everyone, so I will not tell what we did with it. The movie
was
honestly completely stupid, but it got many laughs out of a lot of
people.
It is the favorite movie of all that I have made, and it probably is
the
trend-setter. When we were done, we watched it a few times, and
congratulated
ourselves on a job well done. The movie became a hit instantly,
when
Vinay saw it. It inspired the movies we made later that summer,
and
definitely inspired the Buddha video. Other than just videos, the
Chronicles gave a name to the Raccoon Head, and without it, there are
so
many stupid things that are lost. The Chronicles also inspired
some
random acts to happen, mainly first semester happening, but those are
long
gone. The Raccoon Head is a prized item now, and all because of
that.
But beyond all, the Chronicles of Raccoon Man is a link to the past.
The
Light Hits AJ - Oddly, there is not much to say about this,
because
there is not much I can tell. Over the past school year, I saw my
best friend change from one person to another. The cause of this
is somewhat unknown, but I sometimes think that it may have been his
schoolgirl
crushes that changed him. I do not know how that could be better
explained, but I think that it was when he was actually looking forward
to a possible future, he became softer. At the beginning of the
year,
he was the normal partygoer, having the attitude of sliding school and
having fun. By the end, instead of just having fun, he was being
responsible, something that I was laughing at because it sounded
funny.
But really, it was hearing something like that from him that really
made
me realize that he actually does think about his actions. And
yes,
maybe more than any of us now. Seeing him mature over this year
was
maybe something that I was able to witness more than anyone else, just
because I had been there through everything. Standing here at the
conclusion, I am definitely proud of his maturity, and definitely proud
of him. I do not know what else I could elaborate on, because
there
is much I cannot share. I can leave the story part at this, he
has
excelled to a higher level than he was at. On influence, it may
be
nothing to most people, but to me, seeing him the way he is now, is
much
better than what he was months ago. The thing that hits me is
that
I was seen that he can solve problems, and that he knows how to make
decisions.
It really showed that he could do what he put his mind to, instead of
half-assing
the important assignments at the end of the year. Beyond all, I
realized
that he can be a deep person when he needs to, and he can express what
he feels if he has to. I know what he has been through, he knows
what I have been through, it is a mutual friendship that I am proud to
have. And to you AJ, it has been five hard years, comrade, but it
always gets better.
The
Closure of Misled Johnny's Really Lame Webpage - Very late into
Freshman
year, John started a webpage that was like a journal. It was the
funniest page I had been to for a long time, just because he had a
sense
of humor different from everyone else I knew. The page was not at
all hard to program, but it had content that kept its five visitors
coming
back. He vented every secret he had onto the webpage, it was his
way of getting things out. After a while, he realized people that
he did not want knowing his secrets were visiting his site. He
made
up some weird, lame excuse for closing down the site, and he said that
he would keep it up if five people told him to. Because his
visitors
were devoted to his site, they responded to his request right
away.
So four people told him to keep his site up, and the last person left
was
me. The problem at the time was that I was literally dead and I
could
not use the computer (see 
Rhonda
Tubbs - At one time, just a person in my Freshman English class,
she
became a recurring theme throughout Sophomore year. At the
beginning
of the year, she was just a face in Biology, and I would sometimes talk
to her. She had connections with one of my good friends, and so
that
is why I talked to her a lot during those few weeks. By the time
November had reached, she was erased from the whole tableau. I
did
not really see an instance of her scratching at the slate until
February
of the next year. I hate to admit it, but she was a really
bothersome
character during those few weeks, but she really did turn out to be a
good
friend. In fact, I learned so much from her, that I decided to
talk
to her about everything. Yes, and that is the reason why she is
on
the events page. There are two totally unrelated events that led
to the final outcome. Both events have been listed here and are
above
fifty, at least. I would not tell which ones they are because
that
would infiltrate some secrets I want to keep confidential. But
anyway,
other than what she did, she gave me tips on life (which, mind you,
helps
a lot), and started to turn the Phoenix Soap Opera into a positive
situation.
Maybe it is hard to see this from my point of view, but if I did not
meet
her, there would be a few gaps in the timeline of the year we call
Sophomore
year. And what exactly would those gaps be? I guess the
Autobiography
is waiting to tell you.
Joining
FBLA - During the first week of
school
Sophomore year, I was looking for a way home on Wednesdays, because my
mother would leave to Las Vegas and she could not pick me up. I
had
one friend that could drive, and that was John, so I asked him if I
could
get a ride every Wednesday. He told me that Wednesdays were FBLA
days, and he would not be able to drive me home. I dropped the
idea
then, but a few minutes later, he tried to convince me to join FBLA,
because
a lot of math was involved. Apparently, they took tests to see
how
well you place among other FBLA members. One of the tests was
strictly
math, and John knew that I could do well on those tests, because he
placed
third at the last convention. At first, I did not want to join
just
because I did not want to put up with all the things I would have to
deal
with when it came to clubs. I do not remember why, but John then
said something that got me to join FBLA, and it had to do something
about
how I could pick up an officer spot almost instantaneously. I
thought
to myself, if I could be an officer that would be cool, but there would
be a lot more work involved. John then told me he does absolutely
nothing for FBLA and that he just slacks off. I think that got
me,
because I did not want to do any more work. Later, we started to
campaign for Gomez to be FBLA's mascot, but that failed when Mrs.
McNealy
(the sponsor) thought John was insane. During the first meeting,
we discussed possible official positions, and I campaigned for all
four.
It was slightly sad when I lost all of the four elections. John
really
wanted me to get an office, so he begged Mrs. McNealy to make another
officer
spot that I could fill. To my surprise, she agreed, and she
opened
the Parliamentarian spot. I easily won that election, because by
that time, everyone who wanted an official spot had one. Or
everyone
felt bad for me, because I had lost all the pervious elections.
Anyway,
the first few meetings showed absolutely no work for the
Parliamentarian,
so the meetings were fun and easy. Once John left town, FBLA
became
a good way to waste time and I started to become more and more attached
to the meetings. At one point, I was literally falling in love
with
them, so to speak (see