Wrapping Up the Decade

Before I take the time to reflect back on the past decade, I want to take a moment to look back at this past year. 2009 will probably go down as my most eventful year as well as my favorite year of the decade. Some highlights of 2009 involve going to New York with a few friends, seeing B.B. King live, and watching Michael Ian Black perform. My biggest highlight of the year, however, is undoubtedly having the opportunity to study abroad in Dijon, France for two months. Although I have traveled to Europe before, this trip in particular will never be matched because of the freedom and the time spent with a new family of friends that I will never forget. 2009 wasn't all happy-go-lucky though. This past year had a tragic abundance of celebrity deaths, including the notable King of Pop, Michael Jackson. In lighter 2009 news, James Cameron's event film Avatar will make history currently being the most expensive film ever produced for it's visually stunning special effects. I have personally seen this movie twice in theaters just because I know there won't be another epic theatrical experience like this for a long time.

Double Rainbow. View from my dorm room in Dijon, France.

The past ten years has definitely impacted my life to a great extent. I did most of my growing up within these past ten years physically and mentally. Although I did have vivid memories in the 90's, the beginning of this decade was when I started to retain persistent memories which has allowed me to reflect back on the different stages I have gone through. Some of these stages are pretty amusing, in which I still poke fun at myself today.

2000:
Y2K was the craze. This was the year all computers were suppose to crash, which scared people into stocking up on food and supplies because they actually thought we were going to be set back to the Stone Ages. Who were the geniuses that fell for that one? Well, a lot of us did actually, and the ones that didn't still stocked up on water. Don't try to deny this one Mom and Dad. I remember. I remember.

In the summer of 2000, my family traveled to China, which was quite the experience that I vaguely remember. The memories that stand out the most to me were walking the streets of Hong Kong as well as climbing the Great Wall of China.

I'm gonna try to blend in here in China.

I don't know why, but I still remember this distinct Disney World commercial with this little girl telling her Grandma who looked 100, "This is my first millennium." The grandma pauses, looks at the girl, and says, "This is my first one too."

2001:
2001 was a pretty big year for me. I attended a private school called World of Life Christian Academy from 2nd to 6th grade, and this was my last year there. I played on the middle school basketball team and the varsity tennis team. I was also voted class clown for my middle school superlatives. (6th grade was considered middle school here.) Though I knew I was going to miss my friends, I remember being excited about going back to the public school system because of the freedom I would be getting.

They were smitten by my Jewish sense of humor.

When fall rolled around the corner, I attended Francis Scott Key Middle School, and since middle school integrated a bunch of elementary schools together, it was pretty easy making friends not being an outcast. Here everybody was considered a new kid.

2002:
2002 was definitely an interesting year. I moved away from my childhood home to a way bigger house not too far away. It was a bit sad for me and took some time to adjust. This year birthed a phase of mine that I am not proud of that fortunately lasted a brief stint. This stage, my friends, was called AzN pRyDe. Definition: Spiked hair, a superiority complex that predated Jersey Shore, and the inability to type like a regular human being. How kooL wuz i becuz I culd type lik diz? Not very. It takes very little skill to find clever ways to look and sound retarded. I was also very into cars and breakdancing until I realized I didn't know a thing about either.

In 2002, my family also got a Pomeranian, we named Teddy.

He asked me to de-tag this picture of him on Facebook.

2003:

In the fall of 2003, I still remember walking the halls of high school for the first time. In my eyes, the vast hallways were maze-like, in which I found myself lost in. It took some time to adjust, but I adapted pretty quickly.

2004:
In the spring of my freshman year, I joined the Tennis team. I also created a two man jam band with my friend Billy called, Victims of Life. Yeah, pretty hilarious band name right? The band just consisted of us jamming in my basement or Billy's garage, covering Maroon 5 songs, and me wearing long T-shirts.

Long T-shirt achieved.

Over the summer, I got my first job working at Smoothie King. It was a trudge to get there because it was located in Arlington, and I lived in Springfield. I worked there for a few months until My family and I traveled to Hawaii. I absolutely fell in love with Hawaii, and I knew I would go back there again someday.

Dude, I'm totally shredding this nonexistent wave.

2005:
2005 was another big year for me. During the school year, my friend Kevin and I placed first in the school science fair under the category of computer science. Sure, we were the only one in that category, but we were still good enough to go onto regionals. This is also the year I switched from playing Tennis to Lacrosse for the school. Furthermore, I was one of the first of a few in my class to get their license, which brought forth my "Party Car" days.

2005 was additionally a very big traveling year for me. After my sophomore year of high school, which I enjoyed almost as much as my senior year, my family traveled to Thailand and Vietnam. I thoroughly I enjoyed Thailand more than I did Vietnam probably because... oh I don't know... because I rode on a fucking elephant.

Okay, Okay. I took ONE peanut.

Another amusing stage in my life was when I went through my magic phase. Card tricks more specifically. In Vietnam, I remember showing my relatives some card tricks, in which I got my mom to translate, as I explained the steps in English. They were sold that I was a wizard blurting out spells as I blew their minds with the simplest sleight of hand.

2006:

I believe that 2006 was the year my creative juices got flowing the most. Film and music are two words that sum up this year completely. This was the year that my friends and I really started to show our love for film by making sketches that we still sporadically make today. On the musical side, another group of friends and I created a band called F.O.B. It started as a jam band until we started to record our own tracks using professional software with amateur equipment. We even hosted our own F.O.B's Freestyle Friday occasionally, which was a lot of fun to do.

Stereotypical Band Picture.

Being in the school's guitar ensemble, I was able to attend the String's Spring Trip to Orlando, Florida. We went to the beach as well as Universal Studios: Islands of Adventure.

I found Captain America at a fast food restaurant.
How much more American can that get?

2007:
Senior year was pretty much my favorite year of high school. Although I took all IB classes and had a strong case of senioritis, I made the best of it. For my String's Spring Trip of 2007, we went balls out and flew out to Hawaii. Yep, I got the opportunity to revisit one of my favorite places. It was an awesome trip because of the shenanigans that went on, as well as the freedom we had there.

Chill.

Looking back, there were a lot of good memories in high school that I have easily forgotten about until now. High school was a big part of my life that I sort of pushed aside in my memory. To wrap up high school, here's a performance that I got to be part of with the Remotes and Hillswerve at our Baccalaureate.

Word.

In the fall of 2007, I started attending Virginia Tech.

2008:

Having the opportunity to attend college away from home has been unbelievable. There is so much freedom and so much you can get away with that you just can't at home. Here I went through another stage in my life that I wish I hadn't. It was none other than my hair growing phase. It was more of an inconvenience than anything. Soon after, I decided to cut my hair short until I went back to shaving my head.

Last known picture of my long hair.

To wrap things up, I want to leave you guys with a cliche metphor. These last ten years have been quite the roller coaster ride. Over the past couple of years, I have changed a lot, but at the same time, there are some characteristics from when I was younger that I haven't lost. I can only hope the next decade will bring me as much fun as it did this past one.

I want to take a moment to thank those of you who have actually visited or read my blog this year. I truly appreciate it when people stop by or even tell me in person that they read my blog. I want to wish you guys and everybody else a Happy New Year and let's hope that 2010 brings us a lot of 10ish things!