| < May 2004 | Matthew Loar > Blog | July 2004 > |
My Blogger profile is now the first hit on Google for Matt Loar, even without
quotes! I am the most famous Matt Loar in all the world! Bwaa haa haa haa!
Went bowling with Mary and Chris. Bowled six games each since I had a coupon. I bowled a total of 743 pins.
Hadn't realized just how much fun it was not having to deal with Chris until tonight.
Fermilab thing tomorrow. Fun.
I finally got over to Best Buy today to buy a new keyboard. The other one had funny problems with keys not working, plus it was really dirty.
Which leads me to my rant for the day. Why can't there be a standard key configuration? I mean, there's industry standards for just about everything else, and this is a real productivity issue. My new keyboard has the backslash BELOW the enter key. I mean, it's people who work in the computer industry that actually use that key, so couldn't they decide where to put it? Honestly.
BTW, Mary's having a party tomorrow at 8:30 at her house. I can't be there on
account of orientation, but she asked me to spread the word.
How to make a Matt Loar
Ingredients:
1 part intelligence
3 parts humour
3 parts leadership
Method:
Combine in a tall glass half filled with crushed ice. Add a little cocktail umbrella and a dash of curiosity
Username:
From Go-Quiz.com
I found writing this speech very difficult. There was so much that I wanted to say, so much advice I wanted to confer, so many people I wanted to thank, and so many inside jokes I wanted to incorporate. I was tempted to turn this speech into a litany of aphorisms, like the ever-so-popular Sunscreen Song. But in the end I settled on this:
I know I am not the first person to point out the dual nature of the word "commencement," and I'm sure won't be the last. It can refer to a ceremony like this one, the capstone on a career of learning. In its more basic definition, however, it means "a beginning." For some of us, it's the beginning of a business career, for others a college or vocational school career, and for at least one of us, the crucible of American Idol.
Our futures are diverse and uncertain, but what we all share is the past. We all today leave behind the willows by the brook, Willy the Warrior, and the chameleon-like Rock. We take with us the lessons we have learned, the memories we have made, and the diplomas we will receive today. Many of us also take a large collection of Trolls. (I personally have six.)
But today is the day when our paths diverge. Today is the last time that the graduating class of 2004 will be together. We will go off to colleges all over the country, we will move to the four corners of the earth, we will forget and be forgotten. It is sad, but it is inevitable. Even our favorite teachers, four of whom graduate with us today, will not remain here indefinitely. Even those of us fortunate to have our photograph on a wall here will not escape oblivion. You can look at those photographs outside and learn that so-and-so was all-state in wrestling in 1972, but you'd be hard pressed to find someone here who knows more about them than a name, a face, and a title. The building will not remember us. While these walls may stand a hundred years, Willowbrook High School as we have known it will die today.
What can we learn from such melancholy thoughts? What advice could come of them? Firstly, this: be not like Frost's traveller, who at the end of his journey down the road less traveled reflects, "I shall be telling this with a sigh/somewhere ages and ages hence." The choices we make now affect the rest of our lives; that much we know. But what is the point of looking back and asking, "what if?" The successes and the failures that you have now and henceforth will ultimately matter to no one but yourself. Your life has many transient spectators, but in the end it is up to you to keep score. You can never know where another path might have led you, so it is useless to ask. To quote the common aphorism, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life."
Secondly, I'd like to encourage anyone who has not already done so to register with classmates.com. It's free, and it will help not to lose those few to whom you wish to hold on.
Finally, I believe I can speak on behalf of our whole class in thanking the faculty and administration for all that they have done to help us prepare for the challenges ahead.
Now as we are about to go our separate ways, we should all remember that each
of us is a Warrior, ready to tackle whatever the world throws our way. In the
words of one of our own, "The sky is our oyster."
First of all, I'd like to welcome Denise to my blog-reading community. Hi, Denise!
Well, let's see. The day started with me hiking to WB to buy a graduation video. Yay. Then I went to pick up the corsage from Jim's.
I put on my dad's tux and realized that the shirt was just a little too big, but oh well. I couldn't resist standing in front of the mirror and saying, "Bond. James Bond." Oh yeah.
My sister Aimee got off work early so I could borrow her Matrix for the night. I went over to Denise's to pick her up, and Diane and Denise's aunt took about 5000 photographs. That's when I discovered that guys have it easy. All the girls wear wrist corsages these days, so it's a lot easier to put her corsage on than for her to put the boutonniere on.
Then we went to Chris's for some more photos. We decided to just take my car since it had plenty of room. We went to Olive Garden, and of course they were busy, so we were waiting a while. Anyway, we ate, and Chris tried desperately not to spill on his rental tux. Then it was off to the dance!
By the time we got there, the only size t-shirt they had left was XL. Lucky us. About as soon as we got there, I got waylaid by Krystel, who was having trouble with her digital camera. I messed with it a few minutes, and told her that as far as I could figure out, the batteries were bad. I found out today that I was right. Anyway, I then looked up to see that Chris, Jen, and Denise had gone inside already.
The place was really nice. There was an ice sculpture of "WBHS" that everybody thought was kind of cool. We staked out a table and then went off to dance.
The music was better than some dances I've been to in that everything they played at least had a beat. Denise and I danced for a while, and then we went to get our picture taken, and then we danced some more. During the breaks we talked a bit, and that's when I learned she reads my blog. But hey, I don't have a problem with that.
Art Klatt was named Prom King and Anna Mack Prom Queen. I voted for both of them, so that was cool.
When the prom was over, we (Denise, Chris, Jen, Mary, Alcozer, and I) set out for Fox Bowl, which was supposed to be open until 1. When we got there, they said they were closing at midnight. Stupid Fox Bowl. So we went to Palace. We were joined there by Renee and her group. They were closing at 1, so we only got about a half hour of pool in. Then we all went to Denny's, which it seems is the only place open late on Thursday nights. We had many interesting discussions, and then we went home.
All in all, I had a wonderful time.
I'll tell you about the next day some other time. I'm tired of typing.
OK, so you should read Jen's entry first.
Anyway, so that was fun. Except for the getting up really early this morning, that was not fun. I would have been less whiny if there was caffeine.
No, Renee. I don't really think you're fat.
Anything else? Uh, no.
| < May 2004 | Matthew Loar > Blog | July 2004 > |