recapitulation pt. 1

Bienvenidos. 

I am back. From the dead. There were, unfortunately, no posts for 2023, which could arguably be my most successful year yet in terms of achievements. Well, excluding this year, 2024, I guess. 

I'm going to try to recap 2023. Or am I? Hmm, I'm not sure whether I should write first about the 2024 events that happened more recently or stick to this chronological order thing. Whatever, I'll just pile them all up and then go into detail later. 

I guess the most recent "big" thing that's happened is that after completely bombing my AP Physics C tests this Thursday, I got pulled into the principal's office one last time. Maybe it's because I'm about to graduate, or maybe it's because I can now see the flaws in authorities, or maybe it's because I'm... changed? I realized this man is shorter than I am. Well, you might be thinking, "Jerry, you're 6'2; of course, most people are going to be shorter than you". And I guess you have a point there, but I suppose that I just never had that thought run through my mind when standing face-to-face with the principal. 

Anyway, we went slightly off-track already. The point is, he was treating me a little friendlier than usual, which is quite unusual since he's usually the #1 opposition whenever our Student Council proposes any sort of new plan/activity that hasn't been done before. Oh yeah, I should also probably talk about my experience as president this past year... I'll do that in another post. So, he shook my hand and told me to have a seat, proceeded to call my parents, and told me (with my parents on the line) that I was my school's class of 2024 Valedictorian. 

(Btw, this info is technically supposed to be a secret until the graduation itself, but, my readers will always have the perks of first-hand info hehe) 

So, not to be full of braggadocio, but I've been expecting this news for a little while now. Our graduation is set for next Wednesday, May 29th, and as I am currently writing up this blog, it is 2:06 AM on May 25th. Not many days as you can see. The truth is, I don't really care much for the title itself, the big thing for me is the speech. I've always wanted the honor of being able to address my class directly one last time before we go our separate paths. I didn't want to have the whole speech written out before I was officially notified since it simply wouldn't feel right. So then, I have four days to write this speech that is supposed to somehow summarize or wrap up these past 13 years of institutional life. That is, simply put, very impossible. In fact, I don't even think a 5-hour summary or any summary of any length could put into perspective all of the people, memories, events, feelings, and emotions we've shared and experienced. So... I'm not even going to attempt it. 

I'll go down a different route. I'll definitely share that speech here when I'm done writing it. No guarantee that I won't spontaneously alter random things a few minutes before the actual speech, though, or maybe my extemporaneous performance will take over, and I'll go completely off script. The funny thing is, the principal expects me to send him my script the day before the graduation to check it because it typically works for kids who read their whole speech, but it's never once applied to me. That's because I memorize mine entirely. I don't need no papers in front of me. I'll go over my technique for that in another post. 

Mmm, I also really need to write a post on my 2024 ISEF experience. I'll do that tomorrow, then, and that one's gonna come with pictures, so stay tuned!! 

Alrighty gotta go to bed now. Tomorrow I'm hitting up the bowling alley in the morning with the rest of my AP Computer Science A class and our teacher since for one of our mini labs once, we coded up a bowling score calculator and so, it's an annual tradition for the CSA class to go bowling together after the AP tests are all over. Our teacher is really good at bowling though, I'll let you know what score he gets haha. 

Night guys