As another tribute to the disorganization of our school, Friday was rally day, with students wearing their class colors - surprisingly, it was okay to make the senior color red. And the day ran as usual, with me wondering what the hell is going through these kids' heads as both my Algebra classes decided to show up to class without papers or pencils or backpacks - nothing at all. Days like these reinforce my prediction that middle school must have been a joke for these kids to think that the teacher is going to waste an entire 45min class period simply because we have an assembly at the end of the day. Although after experiencing my first rally, I believe that I too will be distracted the entire day of the next one, simply out of anticipation of chaos.
After six shortened class periods, students were running out of their classes into the commons area where somehow the entire senior class had managed to each get a can of silly string. I did not wait to find out what would happen after that and instead made my way to the gym, where the students filled the bleachers by class level. It was hands down the loudest high school event I have ever attended; it didn't help that the entire thing was run completely by students - no administrative announcements or anything throughout the entire thing. Come to think of it, I only know it was a homecoming rally because halfway through, the football team ran out and jumped around in the middle of the gym for a while to loud music. The two girls "in charge" were apparently sophomores based on the color of their outfits, and were wearing microphones like pop singers do at a live performance. It was fitting because that's what the whole thing felt like. Oh yeah, and one of the emcees was the girl that has been skipping my 7th period Algebra class for five weeks now.
Anyway, it is clear that this demographic (or generation?) of students expresses themselves primarily through music and dancing. From an organized rendition of the Mexican Hat Dance and a four person performance that can only be described as serious dirty dancing (WAY worse than my high school!) to the dance team's version of the entire Thriller music video, there were a lot of kids enjoying the spotlight. It was the most energetic school event I have ever seen, although with that came lots of silly string EVERYWHERE and a few eggs and apparently one orange. According to every teacher I talked to, this year's was the best so far. Last year, during the parade that followed outside the school, two floats apparently ran into each other head-on and students were in the middle of the street preventing the flow of traffic. Times like these make me wonder if these students read Lord of the Flies in English class - or if it maybe hits too close to home. These kids are crazy!
Outside of school, I've finally gotten around to doing real-person things. On Wednesday I signed myself and my roommate up for a soccer team that we found on Craigslist. We lost the first 8-on-8 game and I was horribly out of shape but taking my mind off of school and feeling motivated to exercise has been like a breath of fresh air. The team is a bunch of guys like us, just dying to play soccer, so I think it's a good scenario. Likewise, friends from San Francisco came to the East Bay today to join me in hiking the 7 miles up and around Mt. Diablo. Great times and great views; I want to go hiking every weekend now. And I learned today that it is tarantula mating season in Mt. Diablo State Park, which was confirmed when I came inches away from stepping on one today! Definitely my first time seeing one in the wild. My roommate would flip if I told him about it...
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