December 2003

this year is over.

Alright, before I reflect on '03, I'm going to talk about some of the weird phone calls I've been getting. On Christmas Eve at like 11:45 PM, some girl called me and tried to seduce me or something or another. She told me that if I could guess who she is, I could have her all night. I said "uh, 'kay" and then started to just play games with her like word association and stupid things like that. I suppose she didn't like that because she told me that I have 24 hours to guess who she is, and then she hung up.

Yesterday, when Mike was over, I got another call from someone with a fake Indian accent. She said her name was Sheena Patel and she went to BU. I don't know a Sheena Patel that went to BU. She asked me if it's true I'm not going to come back to BU next semester, and I said yeah. Then she said she was going to put her sister Reshma on the phone so I could tell her too. I don't know a Reshma either. All "Reshma" did was say "hello" in a really high voice about thirty or so times, which I personally thought was funny. Then those kids hung up. Whoever those people were knew a few of my friend's names, so it was a little creepier. But all in all, these phone calls have been pretty funny.

Anyway, on to '03.

Anyone who knows me pretty well knows that I love New Year's Day. It's been my favorite holiday since I was a kid, and even though I don't drink or smoke or whatever now, it's still my favorite holiday. There's something about how it's just a man-made holiday that really has no religious or historic affliation that makes me like it. It's just a genuine holiday; no strings attached.

I suppose when I was a kid, I really liked this holiday because I was allowed to stay up all night. I would always go to some Indian party where I'd hang out with Vinay and some other random Indians and cause trouble until midnight. Our parents were so drunk those nights that they didn't care at all about what we were doing. And after the countdown, they'd always let us go to a friend's house and sleep over. It was just perfect.

Now, it's different. I don't typically hang out with my Indian friends on New Years, except for last year, but not during the countdown, only a few hours before and a few hours after. Now I think I like this day because I'm a nostalgic person, and I like to look back on what's been going on with me the past year. I know I could look back on the past year any day of the year, but it's nice to do it when the year changes. It's like turning a page. I just like that.

So, let's look back. There's been a lot of things that happened this year that have never happened to me before ever in my life. And seriously, I could have never ever thought this stuff would have happened.

Sometime in November of 2002, Vinay and I watched the fireworks for some Indian thing, and we talked about how one of these days we'll watch it with like a special girl or something, so we're not watching it with each other or whatever. I really wanted to spend the upcoming New Year's with that special someone, but like every year before, it didn't happen.

On December 31, 2002, I went shopping with Robby and Ronnie. At the mall, Ronnie got extremely pissed off at me for no reason at all other than the fact that he was being selfish and he wanted to spend the night alone with his friend Sunny, and that could not be done unless I went to Tempe and picked up Rhonda. I didn't know if I was going to go to Tempe to celebrate the New Year, so I told him not to count on it. And he started yelling. That really was probably the last time I was friends with him.

This year was the first time that I completely disassociated with "the group" that I'd been hanging out with for two years.

I'm not going to try and sound egotistical or arrogant, but the truth is, I was a main entity in that group of friends. My house was the general hangout, and because of that, all those kids would call me and ask what was going on and stuff. And whenever I didn't want to hang out with them, it would become some sort of ordeal like I was lying to them and wanting to hang out with some girl. I was sick of that, and in some dramatic climax on February 21, 2003, I was taken out of the loop. I had pretty much kicked my friends out of my house that night so I could go do something else other than watch Halo at my house for a bunch of hours. I didn't really tell everyone that the game was going to be shut down, mainly because I have a very hard time confronting people about things that really won't please them. I was very scared that they would just get angry and complain that I was telling them to leave. I probably made it worse though by just telling them to leave anyway. But whatever the case, Darren brought up my past behavior on the forum, which was completely uncalled for, and started this huge retarded argument, and officially took me out of the loop. I actually did still care about Darren, because he has been a good friend over the years, but I could care less about Ronnie and Cameron, who at any moment would just try and find a way to undermine everything I said, and take shots at me behind my back. I really haven't talked to them since.

Anyway, the ironic thing about New Year's 2003 is that I ended up going to Tempe anyway, but not after I hung out with my Indian friends for a few hours at Sharat's house. I arrived in downtown Tempe somewhere around ninish, I think, and met up with five people--two couples and a fifth wheel. Rhonda probably felt so out of place that it was disgusting. I'm kinda glad I saved her. We just went off and did random carnival things and stuff while the other two couples did whatever. And sometime around 11, both couples left, and we were just alone on the waterfront.

It's funny, because I've always dreamed about the perfect New Year's, you know, one where I get to kiss someone when the clock strikes twelve and then get to sit down and watch the fireworks with someone special. It wasn't going to happen this year. Rhonda was just a friend. But we did watch the fireworks and talk about what the future held for us... what 2003 could possibly bring.

"We have a lot to look forward to this year, Sunil... end of high school, college, possible relationships..."
"Yeah, every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."

She wasn't talking about her relationship with Shane. She wasn't talking about my relationship with Nikki. At this time, those people really didn't exist in our lives. She had a crush on Jeff Fenton, and I had a crush on Jaclyn. Interestingly enough, those crushes ended quite quickly after New Year's, but still, it's interesting that she talked about future relationships.

This year was the first time that I've had a girlfriend, and the first time that I've ever been in love.

I've had many girl friends. And I've had many good girl friends. But I've never had a "girlfriend" before. I went on a trip to Dallas for FBLA Nationals, and met an awesome girl there who was completely interested in me. This is usually a weird thing, because I'm fairly quirky. Whatever was the case, it was to start the greatest summer ever. I told Darren before the trip, "I'm going to find a girl over there and hang out with her the whole time. Actually, wait, we're Mountain Pointe, we don't talk to other people." I'm pretty glad I actually did talk to other people, because, wow, that was one amazing summer. I've never met someone who cared about me so much and believed I was special. We fell in love. Chris asked me what it means to be in love and I told him, "I think when you can't describe how much you like someone, you're in love with them." I really don't know how else to explain it.

So I lost my group of friends this year, but I joined theatre at about the same time. A lot of the people there weren't really my type of people, but I did meet three people that I still hang out with now. The first person that I hung out with was Braden. He taught me how to sing. How cute, no? Anyway the other two people that I met through theatre were these two men of mystery. They came from Chicago last summer and have just laid down some of the weirdest things in Arizona. They honestly reminded me a lot of myself, because they too were so quirky, and somehow, someway, we started talking, and the rest was history.

This year was the first time that in four years that I didn't play video games all summer.

I played music. I drove a few hours to see my girlfriend. That's what summer consisted of. No freakin' video games. And for some reason, I'm so proud of that. At the beginning of summer, the men of mystery, Nick and Alex, would come over and we'd play music for hours and hours on end, and they'd leave at like sunrise. In just a few weeks, we had so many songs, and we clicked so well. I found out how similar these kids were to me. All three of us showed a stupidly weird side on the outside, but on the inside we all thought a lot, be it about political matters, social matters, girls, or music. We'd go to In 'n' Out every night and just talk about things. And since then, it's been a tradition. Another tradition that was created was throwing things into people's pools. I don't know exactly how this started, but a some point in time before I went to Dallas, we threw a lawn chair in a pool and thought it was the funniest thing ever. We were all easily amused. That was the best part. Oh yeah, we also made two goals for the summer: meet Michelle Branch or get famous.

This year was the first time that I met Michelle Branch.

There's a pretty in-depth story about this, but I don't wanna type it. In conclusion, Nick and I met Michelle Branch even though we didn't have a ticket to get into her intimate performance. We just used our awesome speechcraft. I can't believe that we actually met one of our seemingly unreachable goals. We're just that cool.

This year was the first time that I have been an uncle.

To make a long story short, my brother had a kid, and I became an uncle. I made him a little present for him, instead buying something. Because I had just turned eighteen four days ago, I figured that it would be appropriate if I wrote a letter to him that he can't read until he's eighteen. I thought it was cute, and I honestly don't remember what I wrote anymore.

This year was the first time that I've been an adult.

Yeah, I turned eighteen. I haven't done anything eighteen-like yet other than buy a lighter and throw it at a wall and hear it explode. I guess turning eighteen means nothing if you don't smoke, look at porn, or have sex with adults.

I've been talking about summer without talking about how high school ended.

This year was the first time I completed high school. Uh, and I hope the last time.

I really don't think that anyone else liked high school as much as me. I loved it. I made myself there, and it's the greatest feeling to go back and talk to those teachers. Some of those people I don't even treat as teachers, but as friends.

My friends and I changed district policy in our time there. Teachers will always talk about the Internet and homework because of us. My math friends and I are legends in the math department, because we pretty much blow away every math test that was put in front of us during our four years (except for that one 36-hour math contest). But you know what I think was the best about high school? Nothing mattered. The grades there were so miniscule compared to the grand scheme of life. Sure, I got straight A's, but I didn't put a whole lot of effort into it. It really was that easy. During high school I cared more about my friends and my social life than anything else. I think I learned how to deal with people more than anything throughout my years in high school. It was just all fun. College changed that a bit, because even though there's all this fun and learning, there's also a whole lot of other things one has to care about because one is living on one's own. But they've both been fun, regardless.

Anyway, I know I'll never forget my high school graduation. I don't know how I can thank Lydia enough for letting me do the closing speech when we both definitely wanted to. I know that a lot of the faculty at our school didn't like my speech because I patronized the Internet scandal by telling the audience that I got my speech off the Internet. I made sure that line was the only real reference to the scandal, beacuse I didn't want to make a big ordeal in front of everyone, but still some teachers thought it was uncalled for. I seriously think they should move on from that stuff. I know I have, and I look back at it and laugh. And I can honestly say that I'm glad it happened.

This year was the first time that I've ever been filmed by MTV.

Some lady from MTV found out about the scandal through a newspaper article and told me that she wanted to do a story for High School Scandals, an upcoming series on MTV. And so I did it, and I got a few of my friends. Some people didn't want to do it because they thought that their names or teacher's names would be degraded and what not. I know that I'm probably going to look like a cheater on the video, but I don't care at all. I could care less what the viewers of MTV think. All in all though, it was fun experience. The filmers were all awesome people and they've continuously pushed back the air date. I think it's going to be the week of February 2nd and 9th. So watch for Mountain Pointe on MTV.

So high school ended and four awesome years came to an end. But what that really meant was that I was going to go off for college. When I applied for colleges, I was all about going far for college, because I just came from a trip to Detroit that was a lot of fun. As the months went on though, I didn't feel like leaving a whole lot. I made so many new friends during the last months of senior year, and then summer was just amazing. It was almost depressing that I was leaving... leaving a freakin' heaven back in Arizona.

I'll never forget my last day of summer in Arizona. Never ever.

I woke up not too late, not too early, and went out to eat lunch with Chris. We ate at Applebee's, and overheard how some people next to us were flying really far away in a few hours. Chris decided to say "isn't it weird that because of our technology, anyone really close to us now could be thousands of miles away in a few hours?" I don't think it's really that weird, but that was going to be me in less than 24 hours. Chris needed to go to a class afterwards, so I met up with AJ, and me and him went to get more lunch at Fiesta Mall and shop for nonsense. Something really weird happened at the mall, and it was sorta freaky, but all in all saddening. We returned to the Towers and we all hung out in Mike's room. All I remember about that is that Mike was trying to tell us that dolphins are the only other animal that has sex for pleasure, and that they have large penises. Mike is a complete idiot. But whatever, I left there around 5:30 or 6ish. At home, my mom was teaching class, and she needed me to take her to see Konnor, my nephew, and the rest of my family. At some time around eight, we went over there and took a neat group picture. And then I left... left to drive to Tucson to see the last batch of kids.

I got there fairly late, like tenish probably, and went to Braden's room, where he, Nikki, Pete, and Tikon were just chilling. Pete left to go play some pool, and Braden parted to take a shower. I wished him a farewell, and Nikki and I returned to her room. We spent the next few hours together, even though she fell asleep for a while. I told her about the creepy story of when AJ and I were at Fiesta Mall. I wonder if she remembers it. I wonder if anyone remembers it.

I left there at around 3:30. I didn't want to leave. Not at all. I had no idea really what I was leaving behind. All that was left was to drive to the airport.

Keo called me on the way back up from Tucson. He and Shannon came over to my house at like 5:15 and said goodbye to me. I talked to them for a bit and told them how weird it was that I was leaving for a long time in a few hours. They left and I left for the airport.

At the airport, AJ, Chris, and Jaclyn came to see me off. And when I finally was going to leave, the three lined up to give me hugs. First was Chris, the kid that I met through high school, and had many problems with, but ended up becoming one of my best friends. I relate to him better than anyone I know probably, and we've spent many days together and had a lot of fun. Second was Jaclyn, the girl I met in my French class Sophomore year, but never really became good friends with until this year. We've spent many nights talking about our lives, but most importantly, we're both weird and easily amused. I knew she was about to cry, and she almost made me want to. Last, but definitely not least, was AJ, the first person that I befriended down in Ahwatukee. We've spent so many years together, and even though our personalities have grown apart, we're still best friends, and we've shared some of the best times together. I wouldn't be surprised if he cried, because I almost did.

I was off. I didn't see Phoenix for six weeks.

This year was the first time that I called a place other than Phoenix "home."

I went to Boston for college, and at first, it was hard to adjust. I had left way too much behind in Arizona. After enough time, I made a few friends, and life was fun. But I still made the decision to come back to Arizona for college because of some random academic problems, and honestly, that really was one of the hardest decisions I've had to make. I'm really going to miss 15A and all those kids, because it was some good, clean fun out there.

And just like how I'll never forget my last day in Arizona, I'll never forget my last day in Boston.

I made three really good friends out there: Mark (Feeney), Mike, and my roommate Ashwin. The four of us went to Anna's Taqueria, which is by far one of the best Mexican food restaurants I've ever eaten at. I miss that place already. We went back up to 15A, and I said my last goodbyes and took a group picture with all those folks there. Mike, Feeney, and Ashwin, grabbed some of my stuff and helped me down to the ground floor. And just like at the airport in Phoenix, there were three people lined up waiting to say their goodbyes. First was Feeney, the first person that I really started to talk to, a native of Michigan, who was hard-working, but still looking for some fun. We had our share of laughs, and I'm going to miss that kid and all his life lessons. Second was Ashwin, my roommate, the person who always worked unless I told him to come hang out and stuff. We really had completely opposite personalities and lifestyles, but for some reason, we got along very well, and I'm definitely going to miss bothering him all the time. Last was Mike, the last person that I met of the three, but definitely the person I could relate to the best. I don't even know where to start with that kid, 'cause he's a freakin' righteous man. I'm going to miss making fun of him and watching football and throwing baseballs and snowballs down the hall and stuff like that. I'll be back kids, I will.

I was afraid that when I came back to Arizona, everything would change and some people wouldn't be like they were. For the most part most didn't change, but there are some things that did, and definitely, I think that's what I feared the most.

We're almost to the end of 2003.

This year was the first time in over three years that I didn't have an update tied to a day.

Ever since the website started on May 17, 2000, there's been an update for every single day, even though I may not have updated every one of those days. The joke page ended on December 21, 2003, and three days later, I didn't have a main update, a joke, or a blog entry, marking the first time in over three years that that happened. Interesting, eh?

This year was the first time that we opened presents on Christmas Eve and not Christmas. It was also the first time that I wasn't the baby of the family.

Things were different in the household this year on Christmas. Instead of all the attention being on me opening presents and stuff, all the attention was on Konnor. I'm kinda glad though, because I wasn't in the Christmas spirit. I couldn't even believe that it was Christmas already. I didn't even ask for anything this Christmas, and so, I really didn't get anything, hah.

From what I'm concerned, I think I'm done with talking about '03.

Actually, wait, no.

This year was the first time that I've had long hair.

My hair's freakin' long now. I love it. And it's weird looking back at pictures of when I had short hair and stuff. The best part is that all the friends I made over the past year haven't seen me with short hair, and think it's weird that I had it, even though that's what I had for close to eighteen years.

Now I think I'm done with talking about '03.

Two-thousand four is the start of something new for me again. I'm starting a new life in Arizona, after taking a three-and-a-half month hiatus. I know what my New Year's Resolution will be, and I know the wish I'm going to make when the clock strikes twelve. I don't have as much to look forward to this year; it's definitely not like last year, but still, my optimistic self is going to look forward to this year and await the rewards and the fun that's going to happen. I'm ready to put 2003 behind me, even though it's definitely been the best year I've ever had.

And still, I haven't spent New Year's and watched the fireworks with someone special.

...

I'm listening to Rage Against the Machine - War Within a Breath
I'm feeling nostalgic
I'm constantly saying first