Finals week/busy week

Vincent got to go for a 2 1/2-hour lunch on Wednesday - as part of the day before final exams - then stayed late Wednesday afternoon to study with his friens for finals. He had 4 1/2 finals over the course of Thursday and Friday (more than the one final he told me he had as late as Monday evening). Some of these were multiple-choice finals, and so in some cases he already knows his grades. Friday were three finals in the classes he's had the most trouble passing: Algebra 2, Western Civilization, and Integrated Science. He apparently has passed Western Civ, and - even though he didn't do at least one assignment and his mousetrap car (Speed Racer shoebox for it pictured above top)- he worked hard enough in the final six weeks to barely pass. Friday he met his friends for an early Mid-City Mall Asian buffet dinner and then went to see "Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull" with them. Today he is trying to arrange for some volunteering for the summer - which is to lead up to his Senior Project - at the St. Matthews branch library. Right now he's at Brown School graduation, at school at 12 noon - where he is ushering (asked to help out - in the pictures above - by Carrie, the Denmark trip sponsor, senior class sponsor, and one of Vincent's favoriate teachers) and - I suspect - reading aloud his senior tribute poem ("Go into the Night") which he finished yesterday - a "sisteen" - a poem with six stanzas, each with six lines, with each of the six lines ending with a different word (all verbs in Vincent's poem's case), the same six verbs in each stanza, but in different order every time (almost reminds me of Sudoku but with coherent meaning in between, instead of just numbers). Hopefully, Vincent will be walking next year. Among today's graduates are Sean, who direct Vincent in the 10-Minute Plays; Chris, who went with his sister to Vincent's 16th birthday party at Lazer Blaze last year during Thunder and who helped me with the juniors on the Main Street Math Walk; Brittany, whose West Side Sweet 16 party Vincent had fun at as a 9th grader; and Lucie, whose mother is Vincent's French teacher and who helped us out with the Walkathon fund-raiser - plus half a dozen more of Vincent's 10-Minute Plays colleagues. Vincent still must complete and take the final for his re-do on-line 2nd-semester Algebra 1 class, go back to talk with the librarians and do some of the volunteering this week, clean his room and pack for Denmark, get a gift for his host family. Also on the schedule this week: playing Paintball with his friends tomorrow, going on a Youth Group picnic and lock-in, helping his Mom out at her school's this year because of the work slowdown Fall Festival Wednesday, and going to two ACT review sessions with his math teacher, at school. Best wishes to him - and us - getting all of this done!

(Click on the poem to see it in larger print.)