RyanHarne.com

Life is meaningless unless you share it with someone else. I read that not long ago, regarding the theme of a new movie that releases soon. For you people that know me well, you often witness my shallow attempts to be anti-social and dissembling communication. I’ve begun to realize that when I graduate from high school in a week I cannot simply forget the people I held friendships with. Several times I’ve conversed with underclassmen about the futility of relationships in high school due to their lackluster effects after graduation; I personally don’t want to have to keep in touch with three dozen people after I’m off for VT. But I suppose I can confess that there is a priceless advantage to having friends and companions in our lifetime, and even in high school. Sure they may come and go, but we all begin to learn and rephrase ourselves through each other. While it seems very attractive for me to be by my own for the rest of my life, it’s admittedly not going to the be the best choice of direction to take especially when life starts with those ups and downs. This concept of socialite is very new to me, so I consider these next months before leaving an experiment of the fancy. Ok, now I’m sounding retarded. It’s so hard to concentrate on a blog when you’re thinking about graduation.

Happy belated Birthday to Bob Hope who turned 100 on May 29. I watched some of the clips showing his comedic routines from the 50s and it was very entertaining.

Arcadetown.com I will just assume most people who are interested in online gaming would have found this sight by now, but I’m linking it anyway. Tony had some ::cough:: nice moves on this particular game involving intergalactic warfare. And no, I am not particularly interested in online gaming, but I find this one game interesting, although it’s just a rip-off of an old Encarta tutorial.

So last night was the big Spring Concert. The bands did well. The trombone quartet did bearably well, although I seriously screwed up in Lassus which threw the other three off; oh well, I think the crowd liked the songs regardless. Mr. Webb got the massaging chair we (seniors) got him. The Star Wars scenes were fine, thanks to the Pop Bottle Quartet. And congrats to Kenny and Erin for being awarded the highest honors in the JF Band program! And after the concert a dozen or so of the seniors went to Billy Joe’s where they refused to sell us anything besides ice cream. But Ryan bribed the host guy to make him a burger meal. Still, some good times even with ice cream outside in the cold rain.

And today was the Senior Awards assembly. The class of ‘03 of JFHS received nearly $1.4 million in scholarships and grants this year. Mighty Fine. The food afterwards was…swell…as well.

Wow, I am eighteen years old. This is so crazy. I can legally fight for my country, smoke, buy explicit music, and star in a porno. None of which I’ll be doing right now, or at all for that matter, except maybe the first one. But anyways, this is a new experience in my life, obviously, yet more so because I really enjoyed my birthday this year. Normally I don’t appreciate mass attention being thrown at me because I’m the Will-type and don’t enjoy that type of thing. However, today seemed different. Maybe it’s the senioritis that has really starting getting to me, but I may just be getting softer. Like the whole love thing may be making its way closer and closer to my heart. Arg, very painful; maybe that’s why I had a headache today.

But school was good. In AP Calc we flew our geometric kites. Brandon scored the highlight of the day with nearly a quarter-mile of string let out and a kite that flew approximately 100+ feet in the air before tragically losing all altitude and landing in a tree. Kite flying is awesome. That is one of my summer plans for sure. Then we had a fire drill right before I had to leave for Baccalaureate practice, so that was a nice touch. Practice went great. And then trombone quartet practice went great too. And tomorrow is the HUGE Spring Concert (7PM JF Auditorium). Life is grand.

And I promise I will have a new site by graduation. My graphics are more or less finished and I’m just putting some final touches here and there. Looks good.

And thanks to the people who made this day nice for me. Thanks.

My subject comes from how I feel right now. I realized a couple days ago that I’m not getting any strenuous physical activity that involves running or moving around very quickly. So I’ve decided to get back into some kind of sport of that type. And I’ve immediately chosen basketball because we have a court outside and it’s something I like to play, even if it is by myself. Oh well, it’ll be good.

Monday night I went bowling again, but this time our group was joined by Kenny, Rossman, and Jon. Very fun. Our lanes kept breaking down, perse, and wouldn’t drop the bar thing after the bowling ball hit the pins, so we realized we were able to get more than one shot off per throw, or whatever. So Karl managed to score a 5 shot spare. By then the back of the collision area thing was completely full of bowling balls and pins that it was starting to overflow into the actual lane part itself. But yeah. And once again the low/high people had to eat a pickled egg. To his most unfortunate luck, Kenny went from 40 to 125 in 3 “frames” due to his 4 strikes in a row, so that put him on top. Anyways, it was a good evening, especially the fighting in the parking lot.

Aahh school is coming to a close. This senior year has gone by way too fast; regrets and shame and missed opportunities. Why does hindsight have to be so immensely clear? And as this inevitable time of the year comes around, birthday, I go through yet another round of disappreciation (word?) for everything. But that’s because I’m not a gifts person, nor a big have-a-party-for-myself person. I prefer to let the day pass quietly with maybe some recognition from friends, but that’s still optional. I’m constantly asking God how I can serve Him if I don’t like being around people; how to love others if I prefer not to take the risk. This personality of mine seems to not be very compatible with that of God’s plan, but I do believe that it’s not God who is skewed from the picture but myself and there’s something I’m missing to this whole living thing. Arg. So confusing, but dreadfully exciting life is!

Oh yeah, I went shopping yesterday, GAP and Circuit City, and saw the coolest thing. At the local Chevrolet dealership they put up this huge Uncle Sam for Memorial Day (btw, Happy Memorial Day and thanks to the Vets!) that was being blown around in the wind. So it’s this huge Uncle Sam with his arms like in an upward V shape and he’s leaning back due to the wind. It soooo looked like Neo in the first Matrix. But yeah, I thought it was interesting.

So, so, so much to write about. I promise a new design is coming soon, I got inspired this weekend during my digicam frenzy.

Friday was a good day for AP Calc. While working on our random integration by parts and fractal integration problems we started rapping. And thanks to Cate and Tanya who somehow how knew every single lyric to nearly any song we came up with. But the best was me and Kenny’s version of “Wild Thing.” Good times.

So everything seems to be slowing down at school, obviously noting from the paragraph above. Baccalaureate is only a week away. My birthday is soon. The hugemongous band concert is this Thursday. Relay for Life. Senior Night. Senior Breakfast. Senior Awards. Graduation. Things are really changing around this place.

Ok, then Friday night I went to the Seven Hills Dance Academy recital, Sleeping Beauty and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Honestly, I really liked it; this was my first ballet/lyrical/jazz/pointe/all-other-types-of-dance experience and it was very nice. Notable: They used a disco ball for several scenes that needed that mystical feeling in some of the Sleeping Beauty scenes, but it looked really awkward since it was in plain sight above the stage, oh well. Also there was this one little boy, the only male besides the non-parts of the Prince/King, who did a split in the “Higher Ground” performance…oh my God… Then the hats in “UP,” they were like cowgirl hats and one by one they’d fall of the girls’ heads as they danced around and such, only a few remained the entire time, so the rest would get kicked around on the floor. Also I noticed how difficult tap dancing is; it must be a beast to keep 10+ people in perfect step for something like that, I hadn’t before contemplated that being so hard. Interesting. So anyways, I had a good time.

So we left very early Saturday morning to get up to MD. Our power was out when we woke up so that more or less slowed down our progression to getting out the door. But we made it up there and headed to the grand ole family reunion. I used my grandmother’s digital camera the entire time and took nearly one hundred shots, only a couple came out useful. This was the best one, thanks to a random turn of events including shutter delay, the guy lifting his hand so his cellphone would be in view, and someone walking behind creating a great inner focus field. Anyways, so I really like this shot of mine.

So the reunion went well and then I had plenty of whatever time during the evening. Some thoughts about my life really started hammering away after seeing all of these people and hearing their conversations. Admittedly I realized suddenly that I have no idea of what I want to do with my life. And I’m not suggesting career necessarily, but more so like a goal in life or a motivation. This has really started to plague me. Also I noticed how incredibly different I am from my family, but not like in a bad way for either side, but just how much I think differently and act different socially. That was kind of an odd revelation. So yeah, this weekend provided much thinking time for myself, including plenty of reflecting over this high school career of mine.

And tonight is the first Baccalaureate performance rehearsal/practice. Right now I’m not in the mental mood to sing/play but it’ll clear up by then. And thanks to Ryan for not actually going to Kings Dominion today.

Good last couple of days. Wednesday they went on a rampage passing out parking warnings left and right after they received enough complaints about illegal parking. I don’t begrudge them for a second; about time they actually got around to it, last year it was almost daily which kept people out of the CVGS and Honors lot, but this year they’ve let almost anything go. In my 3rd period alone 4 people were called out with others soon to be heralded upon. But every now and then they’d get a dud, when they’d call someone who didn’t even drive to school (apparently there are some people who are perfecting the act of forging parking permits with other people’s numbers). Oh well, it was a good day at school.

I’ve started practicing with Ryan for Baccalaureate. I am simply amazed at his ability to completely rule on a guitar. I’ve apparently missed out on a lot of good Savory shows in my lifetime, but that’s ok. So anyways, the first practice went really fast and I was surprised at how quickly he caught on to the song with the awkward minor key and such, and then he added his own touches at parts which really highlight the emphasis of vocals and strings. Wow, great time. Then he introduced me to DreamTheater. My life has begun! I cannot believe not a single soul has told me about this group which shows off the talents of John Petrucci and John Myung. Phenominal music. I have to say, it was a well-needed practice and ‘jam session.’

Rain. I suppose VA can’t get enough of it. But I don’t regret it, God’s apparently hosing us off from our three-year drought that ended sometime around our first winter snowfall, literally, in December. Since then we’ve gotten more than double I think of our average annual rainfall, definitely ceasing this drought and giving our reservoirs and lakes plenty to hold. Yay for God! Although, rain is cold and it is kind of getting annoying to dress warmly in late May. Oh well, we need it.

Unfortunately I will be out of town this weekend, yet again. Another annual family reunion. Not that I don’t like them, but I don’t always enjoy sitting in a car for hours upon hours and losing my comfortable computer setup. It’ll be just fine though.

My time until graduation is nearly over. My weekends are full up to the very moment when I walk. And then there’s the summer. I’m told I may have my job for part of this summer, so I’m going to start looking for work elsewhere. I suppose I won’t mind some odd job working at a restaurant or small business if I have no choice. Summer plans…yippee ::in some excited yet unsure tone::

Aah…Monday was so enjoyable. I told my opinion of Reloaded a million times while everyone reacted in shock as if I had just blasphemed God or something. Erin also understood the falacies of the movie and how poorly it attempted to attain stardom, or maybe that was the only thing it tried to do. So, Monday was spent backing myself up with as much tact as I could skillfully weave into my speech, but nothing like Rianna.

I now this is late to mention it, but I got around to reading a NewsWeek article about those highschool kids and the hazing and whatnot. I have such low tolerance for stupidity and moronic violence that I’m the type who would go rent a cop uniform just to beat up those idiots who tortured the crap out of these innocent children. I can’t stand foolishness within the highschool setting (much less anywhere else), but when seniority comes into play and initiation crap gets in there then it’s just retarded. I hope those girls, and guys, get immense punishment for their drunken fury. This is one issue that I become way conservative on.

Anyways, Monday night I went to go bowling with Karl, Emilia, Ryan, Tony, and Matt. Great fun. The first game was just us messing around more or less, but with the bet of the loser had to eat a pickled egg. Naturally, Karl ended up “whoofing” down that thing only after we had covered it in salt and pepper. I tried the pieces of leftovers to see what he had to endure and…woah…let this be a word to the wise, don’t eat a pickled egg. Then our second game was a profound increase in my bowling ability. I had 170 on the beginning of the last frame and then they cut off our lane (again) saying we didn’t pay. And that was the greatest game I had ever bowled in my life!!! So Me So Harne reluctantly gave in and retired my bowling shoes. A very nice way to spend a Monday night.

Also I purchased The Matrix Reloaded: The Album. It’s pretty good, only not as energetic as I had hoped. I would say just barely worth the money I payed, although that sounds very harsh still. But yeah, I like it. And thanks to BestBuy for the deal.