Hello everyone! Today was a special day for myself, and my fellow classmates, and I am glad to have Steem to share my thoughts and experiences to. Today we graduated in an online ceremony. While I will discuss that later, I would like to say that I view this whole experience as quite a unique one. How many classes can say that this happened to them? While some of what has happened has been disappointing, I am really happy to have had **this experience**. It makes it so that the experience is just as, if not more, special as if everything were normal. So. . . Let's get into my day!

# My Life
I went to bed fairly late last night. When I went to bed, I brought my cat, and left the door open. He scratched me. Around 12:30am, he left. I went on my phone, and discovered a video that I had to watch. [An analysis of Beethoven's Grosse Fuge](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQcHPhYEoJY&t=983s). It is a composition unlike any other, and while I do not particularly enjoy its sound in comparison to other compositions, I understand how innovative it was (and still is), and I wanted to learn about what is going on in it. Around 1am, I actually went to bed.

When I woke up, it was 9:48am. Today I showered first thing, and then I experimented with a new client for minecraft that should make the game run smoother (the badlion client). It does indeed make the game run smoother. Around 11am, I began writing the diary post.

After finishing that, I worked until 2:30pm on a transcription of my Graduation piece. I hope to release a video of that soon enough with an analysis. The piece is pretty big, and I am only about 40 measures in. I am using 4 staves to notate the parts.

At 2:30pm, my beautiful girlfriend and I talked. We watched Avatar: The Last Airbender, and then played minecraft until 5pm. At 5pm, I had to wait for graduation at 6pm, and decided to watch [an analysis of Mozart's A Musical Joke](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df3dr3cDOfo&t=962s). It is so sad how good some sections of Mozart's attempts at composing badly sound.

At 6pm, it was time for graduation. Unlike the awards ceremony the other day, we actually watched it in real time. I will say that I found the speeches much more engaging than I have found them being at real graduations, but that might just be because I knew the people giving them, and they were directed towards my class as well as me. It was a fun experience graduating virtually, and I am so happy for all of my friends who were recognized. I am friends with the people acknowledged as best in the fields of English, Math, and Music; I am thankful to have all of them in my life!

One thing I will say that disappointed me was that the school did not acknowledge the piece I wrote for graduation. I had hoped that somewhere along the line, someone would at least mention it, but it did not happen. In addition, a midi file was used to play an orchestral arrangement of the school Alma Mater at the end of the program. That was particularly upsetting for me considering I composed a similar arrangement for the end of the graduation piece. I was not particularly pleased with the school's response to that composition, and I am a little upset at the fact that the piece is practically worthless in any other context because of its peculiar instrumentation (meant to accommodate a school ensemble), and its direct references to my school's Alma Mater. None-the-less, I am thankful for the opportunities that I have had at Rustin, and I look forward to what lies ahead at Westminster. Here is a picture of what was displayed when my name was called:


![IMG_04161.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmdHLaFJDGcJby4sCNEoWtuoCcdZ319zFNVhYQbou3jDBE/IMG_04161.png)

Here is the composition I spent six months composing for the ceremony:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0Nt7CtMo6k

After the ceremony, I went for a walk. It was pouring rain, but I needed to take a walk to think things through. I was a little bit more frustrated about the composition at first than I am right now. I got soaking wet, and I realized that what is important is that I had the chance to learn from the process of composing such a piece. 

When I got home, we ate dinner. We had porkchops, and I had mac and cheese (lactose free). We also had peas for our vegetables. I also took a multivitamin to see if a problem I am having with a finger in my right hand is due to lack of nutrients.

After dinner, my father and I watched an episode of Twilight Zone. I then realized that I had yet to write the discussion post, so I wrote that and posted it. If you want to participate, this week's topic is:

[Do aliens exist, and have they visited Earth?](https://steemit.com/science/@cmp2020/discussion-post-have-aliens-visited-earth)

I am now writing this diary entry. Tomorrow I need to read through a ton of introductions. I have slacked as a Steem Greeter this week, and for that I am sorry. I also hope to participate in more of the challenges coming up now that I am officially done school.

In short, today was not what I had expected it to be a year ago, but it is something that I will certainly remember for the course of my life. For that, and for all of the years of work that today represented, I am eternally thankful. 

It is official. I spent all four years of High School on Steem! I look forward to the years to come. Goodnight!