Exams?

So it's NCEA exams. Actually, it's been that way for a while. I've had 6 of them, 3 more to go. Of those 6, 4 have been my subjects, which leaves only calculus that really "counts." Did I feel stressed for these exams? Yeaaaaah. No. I've been waiting, waiting for that *moment* to kick in, but it never did.

On Saturday, I'll be a free man. No more stress until MARCH next year. Jokes, I have to prepare for my interview at Monash and deliberate whether or not I'll apply to NYUAD. Isn't it crazy how your mindset can change so drastically over a short period of time, as a result of some seemingly coincidental and perhaps not so overtly influential incidences?

Last week, after my bio exam, I went to Jason Mraz's concert. To say that it was amazing would be a cruel understatement. Not only did he play for two and a half hours of favourites, and unreleased music, he delivered uplifting messages to the audience, leaving us feeling... Happy.

He said:

"I don't have expectations. Because when expectations fail to follow through, you fail.
Instead, I have possibilities.. Because when these don't come to be... Then you are just left with... other possibilities."


After the concert, Samantha and I managed to stick around for when he came out from the stage door to meet fans and sign stuff and take photos. He did this for a legit 40 minutes, happily meeting every fan, receiving generic comments of appreciation with an amazing humility, and having cameras flashing in his face every second. All of this, even though I bet he was ridiculously tired and jetlagged.

So that was my November. Nothing exciting, nothing profound. But still all good :)


Danny.

An end. A new beginning.

It's here. The moment at which we leave the safety of obligation and regulation, and cross the threshold into the unpredictable, the unchartered, the unknown.

The last few days of school flew by in the blink of an eye. Was it really only 3 days ago that we were still actually doing work in class? The last few hours of school are forever held in my mind, in comforting detail. It is not until you think about what no longer is, that you wish it were still there. Albeit mundane and still ordinary, I wish I had appreciated it more. 

If I met my third form self, I would be in disbelief. I really travelled, I really succeeded, I really did everything that I did? Did I really do all that? 

Now, all these moments are just memories. They lie in the past, only living inside of our heads. Slowly, these too will fade, becoming obscured by new memories, new experiences. 

We've finished at Rangitoto College.

In third form, my form class filmed ourselves in our English class. This is a tradition that our teacher still carries on now. We just sat there, talked about ourselves, what we liked, what we aspired to be. 

At the start of this week, our last week, the same class met up again, to watch this video. 20/27 of us had made it to the end. So much has changed since then. How innocent and impressionable we were. We had so much to learn, so much to experience. We were our undeveloped selves. Still the younglings of the school, we were yet to form our opinions, set our goals, choose our inspirations. 

Ryan came on. I still remember that day in 5th form so clearly. The shock, the disbelief. Although I didn't have the privilege of being very close to him, I remember fragments of our encounters. When I bused home with Debbie from the city, and he pulled me aside and asked me if she were my girlfriend. When he brought fancy bluetooth headphones to school. His characteristic bandanna, his easygoing attitude. May he rest in peace.

The video rolled on, and gasps and awws echoed through E13, as our 13 year old selves popped up on stage. I mentioned my love of cheese and my desire to make money. I don't think I knew what I wanted to be back then. 

We've all gone on to be different people, going different paths, but this history pulls us together.  We'll still remember the days of Social Studies, peer support and rebellious gangsters.

So now we carry on. Time doesn't stop. It's almost cruel how paths cross and diverge so quickly. But our five years at Rangitoto remains a part of us as we venture into the world. 

End of an era. 

Rangitoto College. 

Class of 2011.