The bio and psych tests were easier than I expected. The bio test really wasn’t the torture it was made out to be, though it was still difficult. The psych had a cinchy multiple choice, but the essays were a lot tougher. In particular, I remember being asked what a locus of control was. I wrote: “I have no idea what a locus of control is, but I know you’re having a boring day, so I’ll write this joke: What’s brown and sticky? A stick.” I won’t get any points for it, but I’ll have brightened the reader’s day. I hope I get good grades on all these. The only other AP test I’ve taken is the US History test last year; I got a 3 on it. (Top grade is a 5; 3 is the lowest passing grade.) Time will tell. Results arrive in July.

After that, all the AP tests were done. Because my classes this year were five AP classes and one joke class (econ), my year was effectively over. I came to school Wednesday and here’s what we did: in psych, we watched Awakenings. In bio we played rummy. In econ we watched Roger & Me. In English we watched Breaking Away. In Spanish we watched Spanglish. In math we watched an obscure film about quantum physics called What the Bleep do We Know?!. Apparently Devin Judge’s aunt was involved in its production somehow. The rest of the week followed a similar pattern. It didn’t hit me until the weekend that, after the coming Tuesday, it would all be over.

I realized something that I probably should’ve realized a while ago: that I had been building up to next Tuesday for 12 – nay – 13 years. That’s over 2/3 of my life so far. It seemed like I should be doing something extraordinary. The best thing I could come up with, though, was something I’d thought up months ago – to come to school without shoes. Actually, I didn’t even do that. I copped out and brought flip-flops. But I mostly didn’t wear them. I don’t think anyone even noticed. So much for making a bang. At least I didn’t have to touch any of the bathroom floors or the lunchroom floor. I didn’t even notice when the math bell, the last bell of the day, of the year, of Finneytown Local Building District, rang. I left the room with everyone else. Before I finally biked off the campus, I chatted briefly with Aaron. After I finished, I said: “Well, here I go.” And I turned my bike around and left.

Of course, it wasn’t that definitive. On the next day, Wednesday, I biked up to the compound to tutor Patrice, and today I had to bike up to print out my econ final (a 3-to-5-page essay). Additionally, there’s a Senior Banquet tonight (eating real, catered food in a fake lunchroom – innovative experience), and, of course, graduation on the 31st. But I don’t have to go to any more klasses. I don’t have to bike up there at seven in the morning anymore when I’d rather be doing almost anything else. I’m done.

DONE

What to do this summer? Well, for starters, I’ve got several books lined up to read. The Sound and the Fury, My Name is Red, Independent People, Reasonable People, and I want to check out something about the unconscious. The last one is for a book that I want to start writing over the summer, and possibly even finish. Incidentally, the third and fourth books are by completely different people: Third, an Icelandic Nobel Laureate by the name of Halldór Laxness; fourth, a Grinnell English professor named James Savarese. Besides these endeavors, I seriously need to get a job. I’m thinking Borders, if I can swing it. If not Borders, what else is there around here? Let’s see: Hader Hardware, Walgreens (they’re moving across the street into a bigger building, which is being constructed currently, but I doubt if the move will be finished before I leave to the cornfields, so it’s mostly moot, I’d say), Kroger, – actually, there are a lot of establishments in Finneytown, but a lot of them are the type I just would not work at: Sally Beauty Supply, SimplyFashion, Brooks’ Bar, Snow Nails, Curves. Ruling those out, I still probably have a reasonable pool of places to apply to. Though, I don’t want to work in foodservice. Too stressful, and I doubt I could even get accepted, given my warm reception at Subway. And, as well as reading books, writing a book, and getting a job, I want to tone up so I can start doing parkour. (That video is by no means the definitive parkour video; many others are way more entertaining, but this one is informative as well. Long, though. Finish reading this first, probably.) I can’t even do a handstand right now. I can do at least twelve pullups, but apparently among traceurs 30 are a warmup. Part of a warmup. I want to be able to do decent parkour, because, simply put, it looks like a lot of fun. And, as if those four things weren’t enough, I want to finish at least one of my fonts and get it selling. It’s looking like a busy, terrific summer. Let it not be said that I’ll be lazing around doing nothing. You people have no idea.

Because you weren’t going to go back to the previous paragraph: parkour.