HEURISTIC

Serena, oh gosh. What a long way we’ve both come since the glory days at Our Savior.

My favorite story would have to be the end of the year party that we had at your house at the end of 8th grade. I remember the silly little activities that our parents tried to make us play, I remember hitting each other with those floatie things on your lawn, I remember how crowded your hot-tub was and how empty the pool was except for those 3 or 4 kids.

I remember the more conservative parents freaking out because they thought that the girls and guys were sitting too close together. Most of all, I remember that party as the last time that all 50 of us were in one place, together, doing our best to do our own thing, but hindered by the excessive number of parent chaperones. 

As much as middle school was a weird time for all of us, and many of us hated it, I know that you don’t just spend 3-8 years with the same group of kids and not develop some really close friendships and good times. So while OSLS had its ups and downs, I think of the party at your house as an almost “Last Supper” for our whole group before we went off to high school. I know that sounds really dramatic, and I’m probably exaggerating. It must be because I’m a big bad senior now and I’m taking advantage of the fact that I get to feel nostalic about my “childhood.”

Anyway, that’s my long answer to a fairly short prompt. Hope you’re doing well in New Mexico. :)

I’m never too tired to do one for a former CASL bud.

The California Association of Student Leaders is a conference for ASB/ leadership kids all around California. Literally thousands of crazy leadership kids come together for one 4 day, 3 night weekend. After attending for 3 straight years, I can honestly say that you meet the most outgoing, interesting, and like-minded people. One of which was Nicole here. 

The twenty or so Granada students all walked into the first conference of the weekend, an Area Meet, where you meet students from nearby schools. The areas are labeled alphabetically and “Area B” happens to be the label for the Bay Area. Well, one of our first tasks was to come up with a “B Area” chant to show our pride in front of the other, less culturally unified areas. I didn’t know who, but some girl  in the room (read: Nicole) had the loudest voice I had ever heard in my life. I didn’t think much of it then, but I did later, when we were in the main assembly with all the other areas, we were desperately trying to get our schools to be louder (because although B Area is by far the best Area at CASL, we weren’t the largest). I hopped on top of one of the chairs and encouraged the rest of our Area to get wild and loud, which was only fairly successful. But the real change came when Nicole got up on the chair next to me, and we both started yelling and waving and frantically screaming our chant. I don’t remember exactly what that chant was, but I do remember thinking, “Huh. I guess this girl’s alright if she’s down to be up here acting like a fool with me.” Our B Area was pretty loud that day.

And that was my story. Nicole, hope you liked it. It was either this or Kababayan Fest. haha

Favorite memory of Samzilla would have to be our brodate at Quickly’s. Samzilla picked up TJ, Josh, Jon, and I one Wednesday after school, and we drove to Quickly to get boba. After that, we decided we were hungry, so we went to a nearby Vietnamese place to get our Pho fix. We ended up having a 3 hour lunch, talking and laughing about the most random things, mostly discussing Samzilla’s tumblr fame. After, we ditched Josh in the parking lot and left him running around the block for a good 10 minutes. It wasn’t the nicest thing to do, but he had it coming. And we let him in eventually. 

That was actually the last time I hung out with Samzilla. And I do miss my tumblr father.

Presley and I were hanging out at Brett and Garrett’s one night, and Presley had just come from a very intense workout and needed something to eat. Since Brett and Garrett were out getting Carls’ Jr (I think?), I took it upon myself to find something in the house for Presley to munch on, as I was fairly familiar with their kitchen. I found a stash of Chips Ahoy cookies, and Presley ended up eating 5 or 6 packs. Now every time I see Chips Ahoy I think of her.

Most memorable moment with Kaylynn Bui… I’d have to say it was a few months ago when you and your friend got in that fight, and I heard about it on twitter, and you sent me the video. That was some mean hairpulling.

haha I hate to use that as your story, but it was really quite memorable.

Yackie Garcia. Known to some as Jackie Garcia. Met this girl in my ceramics class last year. Our table would always pull pranks on each other, but my favorite was probably the day that Jackie and I had each others’ phones, and I entered my number under another name. One which, when said quickly, resembled a certain phrase that tends to make middle schoolers snicker. But when split into a first and last name, it was totally undetectable. So we switched phones, and a few minutes later, I discreetly sent her a text saying “hiiiiiiii.” She looked confused for a moment and then asked our whole table if they knew who “*phrase that makes immature kids snicker*” was. We were all laughing for a good 30 seconds before Jackie figured out what she had just said.

It remains one of my most well-executed pranks.

And ask me at school if you want to know what she actually said.

One day over the summer, Josh, TJ, and I went to Sacramento for the State Fair. Since we were in the area, we wanted to meet up with Selina and Sam. But Selina kept saying that her friends didn’t want to drive to the fair. So we ended up going to the Roseville mall because it was closer to them. But Selina still said that her friends didn’t want to go, and Sam was still driving back from San Francisco with her family. So we decided to grab some dinner at the food court. As we sat down, three girls come around the corner: Selina, Danielle (who has a tumblr, but I don’t remember her URL unfortunately), and Leandra. We were all so surprised. She did a really good job of making it sound like she wouldn’t be able to come. In fact, I’m pretty sure that I was so surprised that I put my backpack over my head and just laid facedown on the table.

Later, Sam tried the same thing. She called me acting all sad and said that her mom wouldn’t let her go. Unfortunately for her, Selina had already mastered that approach and I knew she was around the corner when she asked where in the mall we were.

We just ate, hung out, and fooled around in Forever 21 after that. It was a good day.

Too. Many. Questions.

Priority will be given to the few non-anons, the rest might be done later lol

Enriquez and I were in the same homeroom freshman year. We were also both getting started in dancing, and bonded over that. I’m proud to say that we’re both much better dancers now, and he’s one of my best friends, like the bboying Filipino brother I never had. But back in freshman year, we sucked at dancing:

I know no such kid. Every red-haired person I’ve ever met has been physically fit and beautiful and soulful.