I grajeeated!

Ladies and gentlemen, we will look back on this day when we're successful adults as the first day of the rest of our lives.

Because today we stand on the threshold. Look around you!
Our future begins TODAY.

Is that every graduation cliche in the book? I feel like I might have missed one. ;)

Last Thursday was the day that I had a little green and white tassel in my peripheral vision. I walked slowly and awkwardly to my seat with a line of other graduates. I walked up the steps to receive my diploma. My parents got to say a few things about me. I moved my tassel to the right as they announced the homeschooling class of 2012.

It was sort of surreal sitting in the front pew, playing with my tassel and listening to the speeches. Looking in the mirror at my flat hat and suffocatingly hot gown and no longer wondering what I'd look like as a "grown up." And yet I don't really feel too different.

Earlier that day I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it was awesome, and I'm glad I went through with the ceremony. It gave me a sense of finality in finishing high school (although I have some things to catch up on before the fall... *sigh*). I felt mostly relieved. I finally made it through classical literature and world history. I clawed my way out of Geometry. It felt pretty darn good.

We also got tons of pictures!!!

Mah family. :') lol

My Uncle Nathan and Grandma Beutler.

The Kaufmans. :D 

The crazy afterparty. (I made them take the lampshades off their heads for the picture. ;) haha 

Group Shot! 

Someone asked me what I'm going to do now that I've finished high school.
I just told them "SLEEP." XD

I'm gonna sleep off all the extra stress, then I'm going to PCC. What classes will I take? ..... Idunno.

"When I Was Your Age..."

...When I was a kid, we had arcades and ataris...

...When I was in high school, there was a point where it was cool for girls to wear their dads' old sweaters...

...When I was your age, we had Madonna instead of Lady Gaga...

No offense to anyone who grew up in the 80's... but sometimes I ponder how it could ever have been in style to wear spandex, tease your hair until it was taller than you, or wear acid wash jeans. I've had to listen to 80's music, in all it's synthesizer-laden glory. I've seen movies from the 80's that have made me laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of it all. ("Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"?).

But then I think of my generation, and how my kids are going to see it one day.

Then I cringe a little. o_o

Because they're probably going to see things like this:

I can envision it now: Driving my kids around in some minivan (or hovercar?), dancing along to something like "Tik Tok," with a kid rolling their eyes in the passenger seat.

They're probably going to laugh at my generation just as much as I laugh at my mom's. :P They're going to find all the fads and trends of the early 2000's just as weird as the trends of the 80's.

And aside from telling my kids about all the "lame" technology we have now, I'm probably going to wind up telling them about all the dumb trends that rose in my generation. I'm going to say the same things my mom says when she talks about her childhood.

"When I was a kid...

Practically everyone (even boys) straightened their hair.

Everyone was crazy about Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.

"Reality" TV was on practically every channel.

We thought the world would end in 2012. :P

Vampires and Werewolves were a big deal.

Not a Friday went by without somebody making a Rebecca Black reference.

We wore shirts with the store name written on them.

We had trends like Silly Bandz, Shutter Shades, Ugg Boots and baggy pants.

Everyday we were shufflin'.

Girls became obsessed with Twilight and Justin Bieber.

Guys became obsessed with Skyrim and Call Of Duty.

Pretty much every movie that ever came out, came back in 3D.

We did the "Dougie" and the "Cat Daddy."

Girls did the "Duck Face," and the peace sign in every picture they took (normally with their phone and in front of a mirror)...

...And we were COOL."

Ok, hardly. :P

Where is humanity going, anyway?

New Years and Milestones

Soooo 2012 is practically a day away (I'm starting this post at 11:30... so by the time I finish, it *will* be a day away!). I really don't know what to think about it. I think right now my brain is scrambled with several different thoughts/feelings about the upcoming year:

1. Where the heck has the year GONE?! I'm still pondering over what happened to 2010, which vanished into thin air yesterday. It seems like only a few hours ago I was chatting with a really good friend of mine on Skype for three hours to see him into 2011... (good times). :)
2. I'm going to be OLD this year. Ok, maybe not *old*, but I'll be what society considers an "adult." Old enough to vote, old enough to date a 35 year old... (Just kidding, mom). But the whole idea of being an adult weirds me out. What happened to being 10? 10 was a good age...
3. I'm going to graduate this year! :O *brain freezes* Think happy thoughts.... think happy thoughts...
4. The world is going to end this year.

*Kaboooooom!* Heheh, it's kind of easy to want to freak out over all the "end of the world" predictions. I wonder what December 2oth of next year is going to be like, with everyone thinking they have one day to live. People are going to do some pretty crazy things. But... we don't know the day or the time, no matter how much we want to try and predict it. :P

So yeah.

There are a lot of things I'd like to accomplish this year, too.

• Fix our sewing machine and finally get some use out of it! (Maybe I should learn how to sew, while I'm at it...)
• Try cooking more
• Read my Bible more
• Graduate
• Meet more people
• Get my driver's license!!!
• Get a job
• Get a tattoo of a skull on my face (once again, kidding :)
• Continue working on ASL and get this whole "college" thing figured out...

Aside from the milestones for *me* that I mentioned, Kyla will be a teenager this upcoming year, Khloe will be a decade, and Kianna will turn one, just to mention a few of them. It's so freaky for me... I don't do well with change. I'm the kind of person who can get emotionally attached to a t-shirt. So when bigger things change... well, you can imagine.

There are some milestones going on over here already.

What am I talking about?

Oh, nothing... only the fact that my baby sister is a GENIUS!

She's sitting up already! She's 3 months old. O_o

We couldn't believe it! My sister is a freak of nature. :P

She's not sitting up all the time or anything, but if you sit her up, she can sit there for quite a while. :D

I don't think we have anything extra-special planned for New Year's Eve... just the usual staying-up-till-midnight-banging-pots-and-pans-drinking-apple-cider thing. :D It's still gonna be great!