Yes, I have to wait until I'm 21 to legally drink in the US (notice the additions to that) but I'll be able to vote once I turn 18. Which will happen the day after my graduation. My brother's graduating from college as well, which means we get three parties. Yay!

I'm holding out for some real great graduation presents, since my brothers both got some, not to mention the computer I'm guaranteed to get when I graduate (it's only fair, since they both got new computers at graduation too, and since I'll need something better than a hand-me-down when I'm going to what will most likely be an out-of-state college).

When do you graduate, anyway?I will be 18 on the 8th of August this year. I'm not in any hurry to get there. Being 18 doesn't seem like such a big deal to me, except being able to get inot over eighteen Music gigs. I hate that!So what are ze plans for next year? Trip to Japan? Trip to Australia? Hehe. I'm still keen to meet you, ay. That'd be schmick.You get graduation presents? That's such a weird thing...over here I guess we don't really have a big thing like "graduation day". The last day of school is celebrated in a formal assembly way, in front of the whole school, and we're presented with shit yaddayadda. But that's before we sit the major exams. So, that's the last time we really appear as a year, apart from the Formal (I guess it would be your prom). Which leads me to my second question. Do you have prom? If so, are you excited? Have you picked out your dress yet? It's such a chick thing to do ay. Do you have a date? Prom is another one of those weird American school customs that are fascinating, particularly since only encountered through movies.Buh yer. Following the exams, there's another assembly celebrating the best acheivers, i.e. dux and the rest. But the rest of our year don't attend.

Hey! How's my favorite aussie doing?

Tim 'Maul' Schein replies: "Aw, come on! Surely Steve Irwin's your favourite Aussie! Hehe.I'm well. Ekeing out my existence in between school. Such is life."

If I do go to Australia, it won't be til probably my junior year of college. That's like the traditional travel year or something, dunno why. I might go to Japan or France or Australia, I haven't decided yet, and there's no reason why I can't go to all three (eventually).

We get graduation presents from friends/relative, etc. It's pretty much just adults that give them, and it's different things - fun stuff, sometimes, but mostly things like gift certificates to Home Depot and stuff like that, so you have money to buy stuff for your dorm/apartment, etc. Stuff.

We have exams before graduation. And the night of our graduation, at our school (and a lot of other schools have a similiar thing) there's a senior lock-in type thing called "Pro Grad." It's an overnight at the school with fun stuff like concerts, food, sumo wrestling, indoor rock climbing, sports... there was a big senior handout poll thingy where you said which ones sounded best. Oh, and movies and stuff too. It's organized by seniors and a lot of the fund raising is done by seniors - like the prom fashion show, which I'm going to be a model in. Fun stuff.

Yes, we have prom. I live in Texas, what did you expect? It's not till May for our school, though. I haven't picked out a dress - I'm going, though most likely stag (w/o a date). A lot of girls I know are going stag; it's pretty much a given that seniors go to prom. You don't really find that many outcast-type people refusing to go like in the movies. And even if you don't go to prom, there are a lot of after parties (ie. excuses to get drunk and go wild) that happen after prom.

It's not really very fascinating or foreign or something; it's just a dance, and depending on the school and how much school funding they have it could be in the gym, at a fancy ballroom in a hotel somewhere (like ours) or on a yacht or something. There are just a few things that are prom traditions, like that it's seniors only and their dates, girls get corsages and guys wear tuxes (though that's changed some depending on the guy) and most girls go for elegant, long dresses. It's still the same crappy rap music and cheesy slow dance songs as always, accompanied with gross dancing that looks like sex with clothes on. I'm mostly going to hang out with my friends and make fun of people, and so I can flaunt my beauty in front of all the guys one last time. That, and the after parties. They are the stuff of legends.We have a similar thing to prom, I guess, except we call it the formal. And its a bit more laid back than the name would suggest, heh. Same after parties though. I think we're actually planning on doing a crawl after the formal, where we just cruise drunkenly down the road from house to house, stealing things in our wake. And then schoolies. SCHOOLIES!!! You're almost finished school, hey. I gotta while to go yet, heh...Oh! And you'll be Eighteen soon! Which I spose doesn't mean as much to you guys over there as it does here, but ZOMG!!How do you get the money to travel to all those places? I mean, university is expensive enough...I'd love to go overseas sometime, but.Hey, isn't like, Harvard, Princeton and all that the best universities to go to? How hard are they to get into? And what are the SATS? Tests? What are they like? Standardised American tests?

At eighteen, you can buy porn, cigarrettes, vote and no longer be considered jail bait

Harvard and Princeton are good for some things, but not everything, and yeah, they are both extrememly difficult to get into. F-in Ivy League schools...

SAT- Standardized Assessment Test. They're used mostly on the east coast by colleges to test prospective students on Reading, writing and arithmetic. They're stupid and biased and a some schools are actually starting to not use them. The west coast has a different set of tests that I can't think of right off the top of my head right now >.> But there you go ;P

Tim 'Maul' Schein replies: "School, the ultimate gift/curse."

Hello Tim. ^^

Happy 1st of May! There's got to be something special about the first day of May.

Good to see your page is still alive and going strong!

*cookie*Hehehe, it is now first of July. I am so fast comment reply meme.

You need comments. But I need comments even more on my story The Unknown, as well as other pages... Speaking of which, although Ivy League schools are great, I heard that some of them are not as great as they claim to be... So I'm going to a small private school in VA where I've got a full ride. i.e.-I don't have a pay a penny on tuition, books, and housing!!!How'd you swing that? Parents? Scholarship?

OMG Tim, we never keep in touch anymore. This must be rectified! I know you must get e-mail notifications of your comments. Find me on AIM: picassoinblue. Or, hell, just e-mail me with the address on my profile. We both need to be writing more.

And: I'm 18 now! Have been for a while, technically, but oh well. I'm going to art school in the fall. And, obviously, I have graduated.

How you been? And how's the girl, wow, I just realized I haven't had much of an update about her in a while.

How did I swing it? Scholarships! Lots and lots of scholarships... My parents would never be able to afford it without them.

Hi Tim this is a little on the personal side I'll, try to make it short. I gave a baby up for adaption years ago, and have been trying to find my child. I am a dreamer. Most of my dreams have come to pass and in one of my dreams I was told to contact a Tim Mall or Tim Maul (the spellng of the last name was not given to me so I tried all that has that sounding)and he would help me find my son. The other clue about my son is that he was a football player and he is about 25 years old now. I'm not crazy or anything like it> Just a mother trying to find her son. I was 15 yrs. old when I had him and my mom made me give him up.You may be that Tim Maul and you maybe not. And if you are not sorry to have bothered you. May God Bless you.

D'oh. >.<