January 14th, 2007
 High school is often said to be some of the best four years (five if you're on the "extended plan") of your life, and whoever first said that couldn't be more correct. I started my high school journey way back in 2000 and for some reason, I was very optomistic about the next four years of my life, oddly thinking it would all play out like "Saved By The Bell" or something you'd see on primetime WB television. Well, if you read The Gripe Files section, then you know my experience with high school wasn't exactly stellar by any stretch of the imagination. Ranking it on a score of one to ten, I'd say the whole thing was a 5. I had a very extra-average time at Spring Valley and Richland Northeast up until 2004 when I finally got out of there.
I'm sure I have either covered this stuff in the gripe archive or will in the future in further detail (so don't ask me about this stuff), but just for the record, a) I never got a girlfriend (I asked one girl out but got the shaft in 10th grade, girls didn't come up and tell me I was "cute" until junior year, and I was way too busy with classwork senior year to worry about girls) b) I didn't even go to the prom c) I got expelled junior year, making the 11th grade entirely pointless and d) I didn't graduate on time! Among other things, I still can't legally drive (Oh, I know how to drive if you needed me to take the wheel while you puked in a drunken stupor, but I don't have my license... long story..) and I never got my class ring either. I'm basically stuck in the mindset of a 10th grader (a revelation that came to me a few days ago, that's very disturbing lol).
That makes it sound like I had a really shitty time and wouldn't miss anything about it, but since I've been out of school for two years now (I just recently started going to college lol) and have grown up a bit (I'll be 21 in May), there are a few things that I enjoyed about the experience that I sort of miss. This top 5 list (the very first one on the site since 2004!) will cover the things I pathetically miss about my high school days... but cut me some damn slack, I missed out on like 75% of the normal HS experience.. I feel HELLA incomplete lol..
5. The Homework
Call me crazy, but I sort of miss the homework deal. Yeah, I fully understand there's plenty of homework to do in college, but that's totally different. Looking back, I kind of wish I put more effort into it. I mean seriously, I slacked to the extreme after my freshman year was over and there's no excuse as to why I put off/procrastinated everything until midnight when I'd be so damn tired I'd just say "fuck it, I'll do it in the morning", then wake up from not getting enough sleep and be like "ah fuck it, I'll do it before class". Then I don't have any time to do it because I underestimated the length of the assignment, so I just take a zero for it.
This was a major problem I had, so I felt really good when I actually *did* the homework. You know how you used to dread showing up to class when you knew your homework was crappy and half ass or you just failed do it in the first place? I miss that lol. You remember how you had a little extra pep in your step when walking to class when you had your homework done? I miss that, too. I miss having an agenda book, dammit lol. I miss having an agenda book and not writing anything down in it, then getting home and forgetting the damn assignment after you told yourself you'd remember it!
I also miss bull shitting with myself when I used to say "Alright, I'm gonna do this homework when I get home -- first thing!" then I get home, watch tv, surf the 'net for about 2 hours, then grab my bookbag in a half ass attempt to make myself believe I'd actually crack a book open, then be like "You know what, I'm hungry.. I need some food first". So then I'd HAVE TO get some food... but not just any food -- it had to be something like a frozen pizza that would take around 20 minutes to prepare. In this time of cooking did I ever start on my hw? Nope. I sat there watching tv and wasting time. Then I'd finally eat it and be like "you know what, let me watch this show first.. then I'll start" (and even sadder is that 9/10, the show I was watching was a re-run of a series I've seen every episode of, like Fresh Prince). So of course I'd be a couch potato and continue to watch tv and be online for hours. Like I said earlier, this usually stopped at around midnight when I brilliantly said "Oh shit, it's midnight!" then get mad at myself for not doing it earlier.
Yeah, I miss that vicious, idiotic cycle lol. I think I'll get reaquainted with it as my college career contiues, though. 4. The Daily Grind
 "The Daily Grind" consisted of everything that made up your day, starting from when you woke up to when you went to sleep to start the cycle all over again. I remember when I was starting the 9th grade and I had to be at school at 8:45 after being so used to 7:30 for middle school. I thought I had the sweet life getting to sleep in for a little while longer. Waking up for school was always a challenge for me. It's not because I go to sleep late, because even when I got an ass of sleep, I never wanted to get up at 7. I'm really not a morning person. (Lately for college I find it easier to get to class in the morning if I just STAY UP all night so I'm already up and about at 6..)
I'd usually start the day off by watching The Today Show on NBC to get the top news stories and flip to MTV on commercial breaks since the morning is the only time they play videos lol. In this time of watching television, I'd grab a bite to eat. Either left over pizza, a hot pocket, cereal, muffins, or something else fairly quick. By the time I was finished eating and sitting around, it was around 7:45. Next, I'd brush my teeth and begin getting dressed. Typically, I would spend more time in the mirror making sure that I was "on point" than I would eating breakfast lol.. I'd be finished with this process by 8:20 nearly every day because it took me about 10 minutes to get to Spring Valley. The only variant in this was when I went to Richland Northeast. For those in Columbia, SC who don't know where I live, I live literally 1 minute away (driving) from RNE lol. Somehow, I was late nearly everyday, but I griped about RNE in detail in the archive and I'll leave my complaints and stuff for that gripe.
Anyways, school was pretty much the same deal everyday. There were little things that made some days stand out, but the avg. high school day was very routine. After school was over, I'd go home and put off homework lol. These days, my days are all the same.. even when I do go to work, and I miss that routine a lot. I don't get angry when Mondays come around now. I don't feel a sense of relief everytime Friday hits, either. The summer is all but meaningless to me as well. If I'm not working random days of the week, I'm sitting on my ass at home watching television, playing my PS2, or working on this site. Life's a big blur of slackness now... but alteast I have paq-land.com to show for my massive amounts of downtime recently.
College isn't going to replicate it because I only go two days a week. I like my life to be in order, so I oddly enjoyed how organized the Navy was lol. Everyday was the same shit -- I knew what to expect. Fuck this flying by the seat of my pants B.S. haha.
Coming up on the next page, the rest of the countdown and some extra "goodies" hehe
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