The Beginning of the End

WARNING: This post may cause you to reminisce and generally realise that maybe, just maybe high school wasn't as bad as all that.

So after my recent advance in years (that is turning 18) that I had been looking at as sort of the beginning of the end, I have now come to the point where I am ready to start to wrap up what has been a cracking 6 year period in my life. Some may say that school isn't cool, some may say that school is all about being a geek but I myself find that school has provided me with memories (an an education let’s not forget) that will last a lifetime. Now I feel that it is my duty after my last post to pull back in some of the humour that first few posts reeked of so I am going to try my best to make you laugh along the way as I try my hand at looking back over the last 6 years.

My first memory is of the induction days at school towards the end of primary 7. Now I thought I was the mutt’s nuts getting to go to the 'big school' and getting to do 'big school' stuff. As it turned out the 'big school' was a lot bigger than I could ever have imagined and so there I was, a wee boy in a building that felt like a continent. Primary school for me was where it was at for me after the 7 year stretch I did there. When I look back on what I was taught at primary, it really didn't prepare me in the slightest for what was to come. In fact when I think about it, after say primary 2 or 3, you didn't really learn that much. I still hear teachers at high school moaning about this matter saying that primary really doesn't prepare you for high school in the way that it should: it certainly never prepared me for peer groups, peer pressure or the periodical table. There was nothing in primary that I can say taught me about what high school was going to be like. When I got to high school I first thought that a bunsen burner would burn bunsen's (whatever they happened to be) and that a coping saw was some form looking at how we were dealing with the transition. So I would say that high school opened up a new world to us all - a world that was, before that closed to us.

I don't remember much of the first 4 years of high school if I am honest. If you read my 'Noughties' post then you will know that my memory is comparable to that of a common goldfish, even sometimes like the one that you just saw being flushed down the toilet after coming home from holiday to your pride and joy bobbing on the surface of the fish tank. As you can see that I had a childhood full of traumatic experiences like the dead fish(es) or the day that I broke my bugs bunny breakfast bowl. My childhood stank as a result of this trauma and so my memory took a massive hit. Ever wanted to know the reason for something and then come up with your own conclusion just to satisfy curiosity? Well I just blamed me lack of brain power on a cracked bowl so you can see that I am really clutching at straws here. The point that I am trying to make is that the first 4 years of high school were fun for me but never really a challenge. I never really had something to really get my teeth stuck into, nothing to excite me senses. It might even be said that I waltzed through these first 4 years with nothing to show except a few meaningless standard grades and a new perspective on girls. Now I mentioned back at the start that this post was supposed to be of fond memories of which there are plenty from these 4 years, but at the same time there are now that stand out. All the same I spent most of my waking life at school and not to enjoy it would have had a catastrophic effect on me, so I got on with it and in the end had a ball.

Now the last couple of years have been anything but uneventful. In that time I have discovered myself as a person, lost bad friends and made brilliant ones, learned that relationships can often kick you in the proverbial nuts sometimes and of course I have become smarter along the way as well. I like how I left the most important one until last but then again my prioritising skills have never been one of my best traits. So the last couple yours have been great fun for me. Not only am I now in a position to move onto higher education but I am also having the time of my life. Some may say that they wouldn't touch my lifestyle of studying, reading and the occasional heavy drinking session with a barge pole but those people are entitled to their own opinion and in most cases can take that barge pole place it somewhere uncomfortable. What high school has taught me is that there are a lot of different types of people in the world and yes I do believe that I can make such an assumption because at the end of the day, the people that I have been around for 6 years are the adults of tomorrow. I've learnt that you don't have to be like everyone, you don't have to make everyone laugh but as long as there is always someone there that you can trust then you know there is someone like you. There are people that I have come across in my high school career that I would not give the time of day to but then again there are people that I want to stay in contact with for the rest of my life. Being a high school student has let me sample different lifestyles and I know that I have chosen the best one for me.

Lastly I'm going to have a quick cathartic explosion about my last year at high school. Being a senior student has had its advantages and, to a lesser extent, its disadvantages as well. I have gained more confidence this year although I still have a tendency to turn red in certain situations (those of you who have seen this now have permission to laugh) but I would say that I don't do it as much anymore. I have also seen that there is a common ground between the older students and the teachers this year which has been a nice and highly enjoyable privilege this year. There of course is still the odd teacher that will speak to you as if they have just scraped you off their shoe but they are in the minority as far as my experiences have seen. The downsides to this year? Well they have actually been few and far between. I would say that the worst part of this year has been toilet duty where I will stand for 20 minutes outside the toilets where everyone that goes in will give me a dirty look; the kind of look that says "are you a pervert or do you just like the smell?". This hasn't been a highlight of the year for me really although I will look back on it one day and laugh at how wearing a prefect badge entitled me to stalk the toilets at break time without looking like a complete wally. I mean if I didn't have the badge and still did it then what would people say? But as I said the bad moments this year have been few and far between but even they will not be forgotten in a hurry.

So what has school meant to me overall? Well I would say that I now know what a bunsen burner is for and that no matter how much I frown, I will never put the fear of god into people going to the toilet. But seriously I haven’t even touched the tip of the iceberg in terms of memories and good things that I have taken from this experience. There have been so many things that I have had the privilege to do and I will always look back on this time very fondly. Now all I have left is a few months there and you know, it might just be a place that I am going to end up missing - everyone get their tissues out (and lets block the toilets!!!) - not on my watch.

Thanks again for reading and I hope that you are now thinking back to your time at the place that we all claim to hate but really love - high school.