While channel surfing, we caught the end of 20 Richest Women in Entertainment on E! Number one was Oprah, of course. J suggested that we write her a letter asking for help with our rent, since what we pay would be like a quarter for her. He started dictating a letter from me, "Dear Oprah, my family immigrated here when I was young. I'm the daughter of a single parent, and a hard worker..."

During this conversation, I was also heavily engrossed in a DS game. "I was on Oprah," I said nonchalantly.
"You were?"
"Yeah. Oh," I responded, realizing what I had just said.

I was on Oprah, which apparently I had completely forgotten about until just now. This would be random thing about me #31.

I wasn't on the show on the show (in person); it was a video that played on the show, but still, on Oprah. I had 30 seconds in it (or 2 minutes?), talking about the cardboard boat races we did in Physics. My high school might have been on Oprah twice while I was there. I remember a camera crew coming in to film, and I think it was a second time? Either way, I'll have to go dig up my copy of that tape now.

We had just become a charter school my senior year, and were in need of a replacement Humanities teacher ("facilitator") for the 7th-9th graders. Being on the Personnel Committee, I was part of the panel that interviewed you for the position. You were the 2nd or 3rd one that day. I immediately knew I would pick you when you walked in the door.

You were wearing a flowy white dress, and the combination of it with your hair and perky personality gave off this angelic-fairy feel. I knew you would be especially caring with the kids, and lead them in the right direction; you had the experience and the personality, which is what I thought the other candidates were missing.

I am so glad you were hired. The year you started working there was the same year my little brother started going to school there. The two of you became close – you were his favorite teacher ("facilitator") and he was your favorite student ("learner"). You were amazed at how smart and creative he was, and he has you to thank for pointing him in the right direction and introducing him to NBF Writing Camp.

I'd say that maybe all science teachers are awesome and fun because science itself is. But that's not true; I remember a few dull science teachers.

You are far from dull though, you were crazy and that's why everybody loved you. I'm glad I got to take HP Physics with you my sophomore year before you left forever. I'll never forget how I failed that test on heat and thermodynamics, and how when I told you after that I really did understand, you let me bargain for my grade and I walked away with my F turned into an A.

The best part of your class though were the projects. Who else gets to learn about physics by building cardboard boats? And not just model cardboard boats, but boats that are big and sturdy enough to hold two rowers who race against the others in the school's swimming pool. And rocket-powered cars that must go fast while keeping the passenger egg safe when the car slams into the wall. Who else can say their teacher taught them to make and shoot ballistics bullets?

Not many teachers make their students cook meals with crickets and other bugs, and then make them eat it for a grade. I didn't get to have Biology with you though. I wish you hadn't left when you did, and I hope you go back into teaching.

I knew most of these kids. They were the 7th and 8th graders I met in my junior and senior year there (since the name has changed, where I went to high school technically no longer exists now). I didn't know them well, but I knew their names and faces.

It was so weird to see them up onstage tonight, alongside my brother. In my head, they're still these little 7th and 8th graders who were running around making noise, and hogging the computers for Neopets and email when we needed them for actual schoolwork.



But onstage in front of me, it was clear that they had grown up over the last 4 years. Each one of them had transformed into a young adult - the girls in high heels and the boys with deep voices that I didn't recognize, because the last time I heard them, they were still high-pitched and squeaky.

( that was me 4 years ago. how did i become so jaded? )

most of the graduates looked the same as they did in 8th grade, when i had first met them, and others had grown up drastically - no longer the kids i remembered, but grown adults.

i miss high school. i miss youthful optimism and the feeling that i could take on the world. now i feel like all my teachers lied when they said i was going to do something great, that i'd change the world someday.

throughout high school, i was told about all the opportunities that would be waiting for me out in the "real world", but the reality is a cold hard truth - unless you have money and the right connections, you're not going anywhere.

if there's one thing i learned in high school, it's that i can push together two armless office chairs, lay across the seats, and sleep just fine.

i'm glad this is the last day for a while that i'll have to get up this early. i couldn't sleep again last night. i went to bed at 11:30 with plans of getting at least seven and a half hours of sleep. instead, i watched the numbers on my clock change again. i did get to sleep around 5:30 but by then, it was pretty pointless.

i got back my final from last week, aced it. i had the right idea to double check my answers before turning it in, because i missed a lot of obvious answers from lack of sleep. i should have triple checked it though. the questions i missed were ones i knew the answers to, but i guess being tired makes me dyslexic. i checked false when i meant true and counted numbers off by one. my teacher said she was glad i missed some though, because she gave us all some extra points, and if i had gotten any more answers right, i would have had over 100 percent.

presentations were boring and went by quick enough (yay for a small class). it's funny how people don't really talk to you till the last class, and you converse like you've been friends all along.

i was talking to the guy at id services while he worked on cropping, printing, and laminating my picture. he said he got out of student success because up until three weeks into it, he forgot he had the class. he managed to slip through a crack in the system that way.

he handed me my badge and directed me to andrew in building 1145 on the 9th floor. i caught andrew as he was on his way out of his office and told him i wanted to get out of taking the class. he asked if i had been to college before. i said i did. then i made the mistake of telling him that i didn't like the way student success left a huge gap in my schedule. he said that an inconvenient schedule was not a reason to be excused from the class. i said that that wasn't my only reason. he said that that was the first reason he heard me say. i thought i had already established that i've done the college thing when he asked if i had been to college. we scheduled a meeting for 3:00 the next day.

to test out, as the process is called, i have to submit my resume, a narrative essay explaining how i've already mastered the competencies of the class, and a letter of reference. until all of this is handed in and cleared, i'm to attend class. having gotten up early that day, i was already dead tired by the end of our short appointment and i just wanted to go home. but i didn't want to taint my perfect attendance record. and i didn't want skipping the first class to affect how my test out packet to be judged.

i looked at the syllabus i was handed, along with the list of competencies. under week 1, it read:

Lecture/Discussion: The Student Handbook, Absence Policy, Add/Drop, Change Of Address, Academic Progress, Testing out of classes, and other policies. Discuss syllabus.

Homework: Read student handbook and study policies. Mail yourself a letter, if recently moved. Retrieve copy of bill or other mail with your name and current address if not recently moved.

those things were all covered during orientation, and i thought that the homework assignment was ridiculous. i could make better, more productive use of my time than waiting around the two more hours for class, then sitting through it. i left, called clare for my high school humanities teacher's contact info, and started on my essay.

i'm supposed to explain how i have met the following competencies:

- Read printed material and summarize, analyze, and evaluate information.
- Have an awareness of professional expectations with regards to planning, behavior, communication, and product presentation.
- Know academic and San Francisco culture and apply that knowledge to create successful interactions.
- Locate school and community resources.
- Examine their own motivations and learning styles and take appropriate action based on them.
- Articulate the issues that result from living in a diverse world and take action that reflects a respect of differences among human beings.

( my essay )
i've been calling lynn at her home number and her cell all day, but haven't been able to get ahold of her. i found her email address, and sent her the short version of what i needed, but i'm not sure how often she checks her school-related address during the summer. i tried calling back a few times, and finally, her partner answered. i was told lynn would be more than happy to write me a letter, but that she's out of the country for a while. now i'm bugging my youth radio director again. if she can't write me the letter, then i'm close to out of options. i should really keep a detailed listing of people i should keep for future references.