The Good Times: High School

In light of the current status of the world in conflict and global economic collapse, a good friend of mine asked the question: What was the best year of your life? The group around seemed capable to answer without hesitation... I, the other hand, had no answer.

At first, I thought it was depressing that I couldn't identify a single year as my best. But in the end, I realized that the good moments in my life were distributed throughout the years rather evenly so there's really no good year per se... In less than 24 hours I turn 28. It's not necessarily a milestone age, but it's that much closer to 30. And I thought I might reminisce a bit and try to highlight some of the better times of my life.

High school was a blur, but it was dominated mostly with my involvement in Journalism and the Band. I was 2nd chair trumpet player as a Freshman, and then placed as 1st chair for the following three years. In Journalism, I participated in FSPA--a statewide journalism competition held in Orlando. I can't remember specifically what my teams and I won, but I know I got at least an individual award for ad-design.

The trips associated with both band and journalism were always a good time . . . My senior year I brought my father's camera to FSPA. I was off drawing a portrait of a girl (this was the year Titanic was out--needless to say, DiCaprio's portrait session was way more fun than mine) when there was a big group of kids hanging out in the room I was sharing with the other guys on the trip. Even at adolescence I knew leaving a fully loaded camera in a room with a bunch of high schoolers is never a good idea. I left it undeveloped for years out of fear that I might be arrested for the contents of that roll until finally out of curiosity I took it in. I explained to the lady before I dropped it off I had no idea what was on that roll. And she explained to me that only one of the pictures came out and it violated some policies they had on the types of images they could develop and distribute. I said that's ok, and told her it was from years ago and I was just curious. So she showed me the picture, asking if I wanted to keep it: Michael Morrette giving a full moon. "Um. No, thank you," I said, immediately regretful that my curiosity got the better of me.

Aside from band and journalism, I was able to partake in things like the Prom. My Junior prom date was awesome--and I'm not just saying that because I know she reads this. There was also this thing called "Physicstock" where our hippie physics teacher basically gave us all an excuse to go out to the beach and perform acts--whether it was a choreographed dance while lipsynching (ahh....cheerleaders), or actual musical performances. I played and sang Imagine by John Lennon in front of a crowd of a couple hundred. I don't know how many people who were there remember, but it was one of my most memorable experiences of my life. I think it was the first time Jenny heard me sing. And I was fucking good.