Senior Graduation

As I already put on the previous post in a little inset about graduation and senior all night party. Here it was, the longest night I've ever had in my high school career.

It was the tenth of this month (June), ten o'clock in the morning when we, the Seniors, had a practice for our graduation. Yeah, that is our final year in our public school career and school as the home for us to gain any knowledge, formulas and also "drama", celebrated our final moment with having such a wonderful graduation. That was pretty much what our principal told us three weeks prior to the Seniors to encourage us to get so much things and works done.

Walking on the stage, rehearse the march in and out, and the ceremony itself were pretty much pictured what we've been doing in the Allen Park Municipal Building to prepare us for the a beginning of a new journey that will start in about seven hours. The rehearsal went for two hours, with the whole practice from the beginning of ceremony until the end of it. Thank God, the video presentation about our four years journey (mine was a year) kept us entertained in the end of the rehearsal.

Five o'clock in the afternoon, my exchangee friends came from Ohio to attend my graduation yet they coming earlier to hang out a little bit at my house and went to the place where the graduation held. Pronto, I was changed in another form of me. Yeah I was covered by white shirt + black tie and black pants, a requirement if you willing to be graduated. Then I was packed my cap and gown in my drawstring bag. All my bag is packed, I'm ready to walk on the stage. Woohoo.

Those blue and gold sets of cap and gown colored every corner of the building when our name be called to fetch our "fake" folder of diplomas. My family and I were split, they were going to the front of the building while I went for my crowd and clique at the back (side actually) of the building. Oh the ceremony went very delicious and way very legit with three speeches from the valedictorian, which is a who get the highest cumulative grades on four years. Then there was salutatorian, which is the second highest GPA holders among other graduates. Those were Justis Cummins and Alicia Sevon. There was another speech also from our class president, Chelsea von Pagels. The rest of the speeches from these guys were hell boring.

Every touching speech always said our greatest-hearted buddy who already left us in this harsh world to face the Owner of this Universe. He is James Bartle, if you wanna know who he was, simply click over here. I always remember him with his great smile in front me every school day on MP2 until the unexpected Sunday night which just used up our days in grief and deep tears afterward. He was supposed to celebrate this breath-taking moment with us, ya he was supposed to.

Speeches done and the time for walking on the stage, it's not a problem if you're not a model, singer, actor, or anything that appertain to act-staging professions. Diploma on right hand, the other pair shook with our principal's and superintendent's. Almost half an hour ended with diploma handing and with little speech from Mr. Scott, our principal, the tassel that hung on our cap could be officially moved to the left side. How relieve!

As we marched out from the building, crowd bursts into laughter, tears, excitements, smiles and even something that you think it never showed until this 'moment'. Flashes showering among us and I don't know for how many yotabytes used up for pictured this event.

John Tamas lifted me up :o

At last, I thanked Annapolis High School for the hospitality for this entire year, or even less. This place witnessed my journey from being a timid lonely student, to be at least stand out among the crowd for little message so-called 'peace' within warm company from teachers, beloved friends and everybody that I couldn't really mention one by one. Though it never crossed my mind at all, I should say. Farewell, we finally made it :)

La Beau Family with the brand new Grad

My exchangee buddies

Justis, I and Chelsea vP lifted me up as well

Annapolis should proud having us this year :p

Duh-rama

We are the bosses

Hey, I just found myself really obliged to update my drama thingy (I mean, not "drama") goes, so you'll stop thinking that the drama would last forever. Seriously, it was from a month ago approximately, way before my graduation party was held. As I posted here that I was performed the play two days in a row (5/14-15). So umm.. after couple days of another "drama" with our director and set people against the actors, we stayed cool and try to build a better relationship between each other in order to make the play a real success.

I know my part wasn't that long, probably just 15 minutes or so upon stage, but people said I was a good actor actually. I was really flattered and glad because they still appreciate my deeds thought it wasn't that big. Then, after second day performance (5/15) we went Applebees to celebrate our play. It's gonna be sad, because the Seniors actors and crew would be leaving Annapolis HS including me and hopefully they (Seniors) can still help the play in the future. For me, I just wish.

LOL

In regards to the Seniors that would leaving the Annapolis Drama Club, the officer made the cast party to for us, seniors. Actually that was a lot of fun, not to mention in the end we ended up having a little fight between two actors, but actually we had fun with improvisations, ate bunch of foods (Jessica made me and Kortnie tanned sandwiches, because we're the only two colored participants. LOL). I always had a good time with my drama club. I wish I can pack them in my suitcases and bring 'em home so they can still talk and play with me.

Those are need to be packed on my suitcase

*Tonight is my graduation. This is just overwhelmingly awesome because it would be followed by Senior All Night Party, though I know it would be our last event ever. Hey no goodbyes allow whatsoever!*

Graduation Party

Sebenernya ini udah lebih dari dua minggu yang lalu pengen di update di blog, but seriously PARDON MY LAZY BUTT NOWADAYS! I don't know where do I get this symptom anyway, so keep it shut and don't bring it up unless I said so. So, kronologi graduation party dimulai kira-kira bulan April, perjalanan pulang dari Banana Reeves ke rumah (I'm gonna post about Banana Reeves too, maybe later). Di Amerika, yang namanya graduation itu adalah hal yang sifatnya gede-gedean, dan harus dirayain besar-besaran juga.

Lalu hostparents gue merencanakan graduation party sebelum bulan Juni. Kenapa? Alasan pertama karena udah summer, most of Americans will go at least for couple days to go somewhere to fill their summer break. Yang kedua, habis wisuda (6/10) pasti semua orang bakal ngadain hal yang serupa -graduation party- dan banyak kemungkinan beberapa dari mereka punya hari dan jam party yang sama. Maka dari itu kita buatnya sebelum bulan Juni untuk menghindari hal-hal yang sangat tidak diinginkan.

Sekitar seminggu gue pribadi mikir tanggal berapa yang pas buat grad party, sampai akhirnya gue dan hostdad gue menentukan kalo tanggal 22 Mei, mempertimbangkan kalu seminggu setelahnya 29 Mei bakal ada Memorial Day yaitu libur panjang dari Jum'at-Senin yang kemungkinan bakal sedikit tamu yang dateng. Well yeah, at first I felt uncomfortable with the date because that was still too early to having a graduation party since I'll get out from school two weeks afterward and graduate a week after we get out.

Setelah tanggal dipersiapkan, gue buat maneuver dengan buat invitation di facebook. Tentu aja. gue yang pertama buat di facebook di antara anak-anak lain di AHS. Untuk formal invitationnya gue buat di kelas printing dan ini kebetulan banget. Jadi project kita waktu itu greeting cards, tapi kata Mr. Kvamme gak apa-apa kalo seniors buat grad party invitation. Great project in decent amount of time. gue buat sekitar 100 undangan dan kira-kira disebar ke sekitar 70an orang mulai dari keluarga, temen dan guru-guru.

Snapshot of my Grad Party's page on world's biggest social network

Actual invitation that I made in Printing Class :)

Hari yang ditunggu-tunggu dateng. My graduation party is about to roll, though I don't have my cap and gown yet or even my diploma either. Alhamdulillah tamu yang dateng lumayan banyak dan tergolong sangat banyak mulai dari temen-temen gue, Indonesian friends nya hostmom gue, my wholly hostfamily, tapi sayang gak ada guru yang dateng kemaren, tapi itu gak mengurangi hecticnya party kemaren.

Gue sempet dikerjain DUA KALI, yang pertama pas lagi ngobrol sama temen-temen gue, tiba-tiba hostbro gue sama temennya nyemongin muka gue pake kue. Yang kedua, ini sih udah kerasa banget sama gue, karena awalnya randomly ada temen gue minjem kamera gue, hostmom gue minta iPod gue dan hostbro gue minta hape gue. Gue ada firasat ga enak tuh. Eh terus ketahuan di bawah meja ada dua ember air. Akhirnya gue dengan rela, ngasih barang-barang itu dan byurrrrr....... I was wet like a hippo. But that was really cute slash annoying. haha.

1st Prank

2nd Prank with two buckets of water

Partynya dimulai jam dua siang dan berakhir jam sebelas malem. Semuanya sesuai dengan rencana yang ada. Ada performance dari Joe dan Chris, dua kawan Amerika saya yang piawai bernyanyi. Hehe. Mereka nyanyi Weightless - ATL, Nine in The Afternoon - P!ATD dan Dear Maria Count Me in - ATL. Semua lagunya adalah pesenan dari gue. Alhamdulillah dapet banyak kartu ucapan dan hadiah dan ummm.... dollar. Sebenernya kartu ucapannya mau gue foto, tapi udah masuk koper dan gue gak mau ngerombak koper gue lagi buat nyari kartu-kartu ucapan itu. Haha. I put some pictures so that I hope your gonna enjoy :)

Those were us


My American fam

My drama family :)

Indonesians

Tableful of presents. greeting cards and slide show


Joe and Chris sang for me.

Seconds do matter

Hey, gue kembali dari panjangnya rutinitas di sini. Can't you see this is the last month that I have left? Well, you may understand my circumstance that I'm in right now. Gue gak bakal ngitung berapa hari lagi gue akan berada disini, karena worthless kalo ngitung hari tanpa seize the sconds you make here. Who knows it would be my last time ever been to USA.

Sekolah gue officially bubar tanggal 3 Juni kemarin dan dilanjutin prom malemnya. Promnya, too good to be poured into words. Tapi intinya sehari semalem kita menari dan bersenang-senang merayakan kebebasan kita dari sekolah. Well, I personally don't celebrate it as I suppose to be, hey dudes I have to redo my senior back home! But anyway, I please for myself and my friends as well. Congratulation to make it through these four years guys, you deserve what you've struggled with. You guys'll be missed ;')) ANYWAY.........

Karena udah lama gak catch up sama blog gue apa aja yang udah gue lakukan dari sekitar 4 minggu yang lalu, approx. sebulan yang lalu. Here's the recap, only for wonderers :

1. Chicago-Indiana Trip

Finally, I went to one of the greatest downtowns in USA, Chicago *wink*. That was alright though the crappy weather was chasing us on the day we explored the city. Downtownnya keren banget, kita explore ke millenium yang terkenal dengan Big Beannya -monumen besar dari besi/kromium/aluminum/apalah yang bentuknya kayak kacang-, terus ke Navy Pier walaupun kita gak masuk dan cuma keliling-keliling aja. Alhamdulillah jadi pas pulang gak bakal ngeces gara-gara gak kesampean ke Chicago.

It reminds me of the magnificent Jakarta. I think that's close. LOL

Tapi tuh yang fatal dari Chicago, PARKIRANNYA, gak nanggung-nanggung $25 setiap kali parkir. Jadi daripada gue sekeluarga ngabisin duit di parking lot, mendingan kita jalan di sekitar Michigan Avenue. Satu hal lagi sih sebenernya yang ngeganjel dalam perjalanan kita ke Chicago yaitu mahluk putih yang suka menggonggong milik hostfam gue, ya, anjing kami, Jose/Jozie/"whatever you call him". Rata-rata taman atau tempat khusus disini gak menerima anjing, apalagi di Millenium Park lagi ada festival waktu itu. Jadinya hostparents gue tuker giliran buat jagain anjing dan sisanya hunting tempat dan foto-foto.

I love Jozie, but he sometimes drives us nuts

@ Millenium Park

The windy city breezes me out!

Besoknya kita pulang dari Chicago setelah menikmati indahnya downtown hari sebelumnya. Terus kita buat rencana mendadak buat ke dunes/pasir putihnya Indiana, masih tetep di pinggir Lake Michigan. Setelah nyasar akhirnya kita sampe di Indiana Dunes.

When I can't stand still, I jump. Common pose.

Little retard tried to explain something for you

2. Grad Party

Well, I will tell you guys later about this event. That was ecstatic, though I’ll describe it in details on next post.

3. Last days at school

Hari hari terakhir di sekolah cukup asik. Rangkaiannya dimulai last pep rally buat Seniors, kita semua gandengan masuk ke gym, sambil lari. Well, gue jadi inget pas masih jadi calon anggota / anggota PK saat haru bayar seri dengan lari gandeng. Both were sweet memories with their own laughs and bruises :)

Beberapa hari setelahnya, Seniors melakukan final exam. Kita (seniors) diberi waktu final exam lebih cepat dari underclassmen, because we’re gonna get out of there earlier obviously. Jujur aja, di final exam gue tidak merasa akan mendapat nilai bagus, kecuali di math class. Untuk kebanyakan mata pelajaran selain math, gue tidak belajar. But I glanced on some papers once at least, though I wasn’t really that focused on it, but hey I try my very best!

Anyway final examnya dibagi jadi tiga hari. Untuk 6^th Hour, finalnya hari Selasa, (6/1). Buat 5^th dan 4^th Hour, finalnya Rabu (6/2) dan 1^st-2^nd Hour Final hari Kamis (6/3). Kenapa gak ada 3^rd? 3^rd gue adalah MP2, alias kelas senang-senang. Hari terakhir MP2 kita potong kue dan merayakan keluarnya kami dari Annapolis High School. Ms. Gratton-Clark, guru MP2 kita, ngasih masing-masing anak 2 GB flashdisk. Simply because she wants everybody to use it for college, saving their files and stuffs. How sweet of her! sama 4 Hour? Iyap, 3

The frosting was good.

Malemnya Ms. Gratton-Clark ngadain dinner di Mongolian Grill. That was a great delicacy for us. Kita membahas banyak hal mulai dari kejadian-kejadian dari 4 tahun yang lalu saat mereka (not me) masih freshman sampe wisuda. Jujur gue akan rindu sama MP2 class. Karena disana kita gak perlu mikir ruwet-ruwet, karena kita emang ga belajar yang serius. Kita lebih banyak sosialisasi di sana dan kadang-kadang di formal day kita belajar table manner, cara mengikat dasi (haha), nulis cek dan segala hal yang gak akan kita dapet di kelas lain. Umm… I already miss it.

Our MP2 Dinner

Ms. Clark's MP2 Class of 2006-2010

3. Prom

Ya…ya…ya… ini mungkin klimaksnya perjalanan murid-murid Annapolis High School selama empat tahun ke belakang, buat gue sih setahun ke belakang. Sharp tuxes, pretty dresses, shutters clicking, flashes blazing, luxury limousine, and dance ‘till drop. Mungkin itu yang bias gue gambarin dari promnya Annpolis High School. At last, I had no date, though it was a blast and a bless at the same time because I had big opportunity to dance with everybody with no exception. Haha. See the picture, tell whadya think!

Yeay, that guy was me!

Mikol, Jessica and I

The guys, oh Mikey (the very right one)!

This is the best one!