I tend not to remember too much from my junior high school days. I was the youngest in my class in 5th grade. I went to a different middle school before that. I liked my teachers. I remember the very first time we had choir auditions. It wasn’t really an audition, but I was too timid to volunteer to sing at first. Since 2nd grade, I had always had solos are large roles in school plays. I can’t believe I was ever so good at memorizing lines. Anyways, I sang. In high school, I’m only really known for my nerdiness (although I wonder how nerdy I am). I’m known for being a perfectionist, and in general, I’m always the person that others have to compete against to get the highest score. In junior high, my classmates and my friends… seemed to be a better community. Everyone liked each other, for the most part. Sure, I wanted to be the valedictorian, and in the end, I did get my wish, but there was more of a nature of friendly competition. I really admired my friends. I had fun (admittedly, I probably still don’t like English as much as I should because of the gruelling… um… workload that I had in my junior high English class). Well, enough of that. I actually remember my first day of school. One of my best-friends-to-be had left the school to go to a public elementary school, and that was pretty much the talk of the day. A week later, she came back. I remember when another one of my best-friends-to-be (she later transferred to the local public school too) thought I was Korean. On the first day of school, everyone was telling me the horror stories about our 5th grade teacher, but I must say he’s probably one of my favorite teachers. I remember the 2000 elections. I can’t remember if it was Oscar or Martin. We sat next to each other. I think it was Oscar. We had taped little cards to our desk in support of Al Gore. Haha. Wow. Then for Open House, Oscar was sick, and when I was writing his namecard in his stead, I accidentally misspelled his last name. I felt so guilty. ._.; Ahh, those were the good days, even though I had to adjust my life… because I think it was from that point on that school became so tiring and stressful. I had to change piano teachers midway through the year because I could no longer balance studying for gigantic vocabulary tests and going to hour-long lessons late during Thursday nights.
I remember asking some silly questions in my first week. I’m not very good at making friends, but I try to make myself fit in. My friend and I transferred to the same school that year, so at least I had someone to hang out with. She already knew people… so it was nice. I actually remember sitting on a bench the summer before (I was part of the school choir then too… and we had an important performance, so we had to stay the first week into summer to practice) and sharing popsicles and apple juice. Those were the days.
I haven’t spoken to any of my middle school friends in a while. Some go to the local high school. Others have moved far away. I remember playing my friends’ Game Boy and Game Boy Pocket when Pokemon was all the rage. It’s funny how my friends introduced me to Pokemon. I was so happy when my mom bought me my Pokemon special edition Game Boy Color and the yellow version. I was actually disappointed that Missing No. wasn’t in it, but I would borrow my friends’ games and gameboys, get to Cinnabar Island, and use the infinite rare candies and master balls to get all the Pokemon I wanted. I kept on looking for a way to get Mew from some “cheat” by the S.S. Anne dock (or whatever the name of the ship was). I remember my friend Matthew, who I met on Halloween because he was dressed up as a Bulbasaur. We became good friends… 
I remember running around the lot playing Sailor Moon, pretending to be Gundam and Dragon Ball characters. I used to be more outgoing way back when. In kindergarten, I’d compete with this one friend (we were just starting to really “read”) to see who would finish our series of mini-books first. I remember being so far ahead of the rest of the class and so proud of finishing my first book with more than 10 words to a page. Cute. XD; I remember nap times. (I actually remember some of the open house performances in preschool. I remember being bullied by 2 guys. I think both of their names were Brian. I remember catching a lizzard. o_o And random clean ups. I remember my old teacher, and my best friends, one of whom I recently Facebook-friended. I remember going to his house and playing this one computer game. I think he was my first crush. Like whoa. o_o I remember being so scared when he had that one asthma attack. Or wait, it was actually that time when the teachers gave him cheese crackers even though he was allergic. It was from that point on that I wanted to become a doctor. Now, I’m kind of too afraid of blood. Haha.) I remember going to McDonalds for one of my birthdays. Woooow. The building was so tall, and there was something about the cake that left an impression on me. I used to love dressing up in random costumes and singing on my toy karaoke machine. I liked stuffed animals too! I remember the wrapping paper of a present I got on my 4th birthday. I remember my old swing set and two family friends that would always come over, even though they lived an hour away. They come over once a year now… *sigh* I remember my grandpa and the old house. I remember watching my second uncle getting married at a Buddhist temple. He and his wife sipped wine from a shoe. Things sure are different.
I remember going to the pumpkin patch every year, and milking this one cow before Halloween! And I was a bit sad I never had the chance to go to this one place where all 4th graders went to get rocks and minerals. T_T
I remember washing the tables with everyone, thinking it was the right thing to do, then getting bored and wandering off. When I came back, everyone was on a time-out… and I felt so horrible that I sat in the sand box by myself and put myself on time out. Ahh… I remember breaking my brand new Hello Kitty calculator! I was SO SAD. I remember going down one of those poles for the first time (by the slide). Annnd getting hit in the head really hard by something when I was playing house in the sand box. I remember that one other Chinese person who actually spoke mandarin. I remember this teacher who was Japanese (it never made a big impression on me…) I remember being kicked in the chest and fighting back, even though it was a complete accident. ~_~ I remember when my friend found a double-tailed quarter and was about to use it for coke machine money! Woooh! I remember getting my first kiss on the cheek. It was so weird and nasty. D: My best friend liked me. Ahhh…. and he did it right in front of my mom, and I felt so disgusted that I ran into the bathroom and washed my face with soap. D: I remember running really fast during PE. xP I remember my music teacher and this one time I tried playing the recorder. But it was too lame, so I quit. 
Haha, I remember the first week of 1st grade. It was kind of strange. My dad always made me do summer homework problems. He taught me double digit addition/subtraction/multiplication/division before we covered any of it in class. I learned basic algebra before junior high, although my understanding of it was kind of messed up. Haha. In those days, he was so strict. One time, I was frustrated with piano, and he was angry at me, so he pushed the chair backwards as I was about to sit down. I started crying. My summers were filled with reading. I loved Nancy Drew books. I read a lot up until high school started. After finishing all 50 some original books, I moved onto other mystery novels and the such. *sigh* My dad made me draw every day during the summer. I’m actually still quite proud of a few drawings I made. Anywho, because of it all, I got to skip the rest of 1st grade. I kind of wish they let me skip 2 grades. I think they were considering it. *sigh*
I miss everyone.
Then back to 5th grade…. wooow. We had to memorize so much! I had to memorize the Gettysburg Address and other random things, but now I wonder why. We’d get quizzed on Christmas songs, because our teacher was the music teacher. By the end of the year, I had memorized all the states and their capitals from doing States and Capitals (punishment?) too often and writing spares that I never used. I remember getting my FIRST A- IN 5TH GRADE. And it was because of Spanish. I still don’t think I deserved it. Our principal replaced the original Spanish teacher… and I just disagreed with the way she taught. ~_~ It’s not like I ever got anything lower than an A anyways. I remember working with my best friend on the science fair project. It was about making a radio. We didn’t win… but we did get the highest score in the class (in terms of grade). I remember losing to my friend’s red pill v. blue pill speech when I ran for 5th grade class president. Haha. I never ran again, even though I helped out with the student council.
I remember winning a ton of fish during the Halloween carnivals and helping to set up our version of the Haunted House.
I remember having the hardest math teacher I had ever had in 6th grade (up until I met my current calculus teacher, whom I’ve had for the last 3 years). She totally nailed us when we didn’t show all of our work, but she really understood me. She’d always give us timed multiplication quizzes. Gosh, how fast do you need to be? We had to finish 100 problems in a minute, and I was always around 96. I remember being always fiercely competitive, so I felt like such an idiot when I lost to this one other person in a mini speed competition.
I actually remember my first 6th grade literature project. It had to do with a story about some shoe emporium. Yep. Those were the days. I had a wonderful science teacher too. She’d invite people from JPL over and she encouraged us to watch lunar eclipses and meteor showers. I remember my science fair project. I ended up growing pinto bean plants with my leftover “seeds” after it was over. Too bad they dried up in the summer.
7th grade… you know what? I think my favorite teacher ever was my social studies teacher. She was awesooome. Aside from that, I guess I was only majorly disappointed when I received one A- in English… so I ended up having a 3.96 GPA while this one other girl (who I have little respect for)… got a 4.0.
Because that same girl slacked off in her 8th grade year, but because the classes that she got B’s in “didn’t count for her GPA,” I complained. And her mom got all over my case. Wow. Epitome of helicopter mom.
>_>;
Hmmm… in 7th grade, I liked a guy. We’d talk on the phone a lot (when I actually talked on the phone – I think I got my first cell phone that year, even though I never really used it.) I started playing Magic with him and another friend, and we’d go to random concerts every so often with our parents. It was weird because he would send me letters. >_o That time when Yahoo deleted all of my e-mails… I was sad because most of my e-mails were from him. Haha. Then he changed. And boy… what a bad change that was. But still! He’s so incredibly smart and eloquent. His commencement speech was on mango nectarine!
I used to go over to friends’ houses a lot. I used to go to sleepovers every now and then. Now I do nothing. Seriously, where did my life go?
Ironically, I became closer friends with a junior high friend after high school started. o_o Maybe because he just really got into anime around then.
Haha, I remember drawing Tohru and Kyou and Sakura after school. I remember reading Tenipuri and Tsubasa and Furuba. I remember bringing my manga–the first issue of Shounen Jump–to school on the last day before summer vacation.
I remember the random pool parties… and going to the firefighter’s something or another for having the best yellow book, even though I was the only one from our school that didn’t win anything. From then on, I think I started to believe I just had really bad luck *coughraffle*
I remember having a lot of friends in younger grades and being teased by the 8th graders. >.<
I remember going to dances, and saying an embarrassing thing... I was only trying to complement this guy's voice and people started laughing - I had no idea about the implications. x_x
I loved Disneyland. I'm still too freaked out to go on Splash Mountain, but I keep the photographs from that day in my special drawer. ^_^ Even though I spent the week prior, feeling depressed because one of my friends felt she wasn't included.
I remember that same friend making a special birthday card for me.
And I remember our 8th grade tea ceremony. My friend brought up the time where I accidentally leaned onto the fire alarm in the elevator. x_x *n00b*
Then graduation came and went. *sigh* We had a dance at my friend's house, and some neighbor called the police because it was too noisy. I remember dancing with one of my best friends. Haha, he was so sweet.
Maybe I'll update this entry whenever I think of junior high.
Ironically, I'm always hating the school I'm currently at, but then I look back on my experiences with a lot more nostalgia than I would have expected to.
I guess I wrote this entry to compensate for all the entries I lost after Furuba Forums died. *shrug*
Edit: July 11, 2008
I remember crying when we gave our parents flowers during commencement. I loved Michael's mango nectarine speech, and I was realy proud of my own speech.
I remember going on Thunder Mountain, too, and freaking out because I heard someone died on it. I was the only one who didn't go on it a second time. Fireworks were awesome. My parents came, but I got to hang out with my friends the entire day, and we got to go on a tour bus. It was a cloudy day!
What else?
I had yearly trips.
Yellowstone is such a fantastic place to go. I loved the multi-colored hot springs and the crazy geysers. I liked the Grand Teton National Park, and I think it was Bryce or Zion Canyon, where we had to climb down this winding and rather narrow path, but it was thrilling! I need to go to the Grand Canyon.
I liked going to Vegas with my cousin. I remember having a pretty bad cold that time. x_x I liked going to Disneyland with my cousin too. He loves Poker! Haha, I liked Excalibur, and the games~ And winning a Pikachu! I liked Bellagio and the fountain, and the one magic show we went to. Circus Circus was okay...
Although Yosemite and San Francisco were rather boring, getting to see the giant sequoias was interesting! And I met Vincent and Alex.
I loved my trip to the East Coast. Too bad we only could stay a day in Boston. I loved Niagara Falls~ And visiting the NYC Kinokuniya (and also the Pokemon Center! And buying the movie with Latias >o<). Going to Pennsylvania and Washington DC was also exciting. Mmm… infamous theatre and cherry trees… Various memorials too!
I read Uncle Tom’s Cabin, thinking my teacher made it a requirement. Turns out it was only a suggestion. I couldn’t stand that book.
To Kill a Mockingbird was my favorite book!
I also liked the Phantom Toll Booth, which our math teacher (6th grade homeroom) would occasionally read to us. And the Little Prince was cute.
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