Graduating High School

I started thinking about graduating high school as I was starting high school in 9th grade, as a Fresh Man, in the year 2000 - 2001, when I was 15 years old, and I started thinking about it more as it drew closer. The younger I was, the less I thought about it. The younger I was, the more I thought about more immediate things like advancing to the next year, to the next grade. I thought about advancing to tenth grade. I thought about each grade. Each grade was even bigger and higher than the last one.

For my senior year of high school, I started thinking about which college to attend and what to do for my senior project. I ended up building a Pocket Ball Table for my senior project, which is required if you want to graduate high school. Paul Walker and the Hoefts helped me build the table, which is sort of like a Gutter Ball Table or Carpet Ball Table or Pool Table.

I thought about many colleges but kept on going back to the idea of going to WOLBI, to the Word Of Life Bible Institute in New York or Florida or Canada or even Argentina. I ended up going to the WOLBI NY in Pottersville, New York after graduating high school through the air miles and plane ticket purchase of WOL missionaries Pete and Deb Steele.

I was also thinking about the high school year book. I wanted to be more featured in that book. Every year, I would look for myself in that book. I joined drama class, drama club, and even the earth club. I went to school dances, or I at least did so in 11th grade maybe. I was a girl's basketball manager. Went to their games, home and away, and recorded their games. I partly did these things as an attempt to get featured more in the year book.

I started thinking more about leaving my old life during my last 5 months of high school. You may have to leave your old friends behind. If you go to college, you may go into debt. I want to avoid and minimizes debt as much as I can. I want to minimize how often I say good bye to people. I hate saying bye to people. The older I get, the less scared I get, but I still get scared, and I still worry about the future, about making the right choices on where to go, what to do, in whether to work or to attend this college or that college, to spend money on this or that, to spend time on this or that, and the list goes on.

My uncle Jim, aunt Karen, grandpa Dick, grandma Skip, and my immediately family attended my high school graduation.

The all-night after party was interesting, exciting, but also sad. I was not sure what to do, who to talk to. I was home-schooled until 9th grade in the year 2000, when I was 15 years old. During my 4 years of high school, I started coming out of my shell. I became less shy, but I went back into my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shell.


I graduated on Tuesday, the 8th of June of 2004.

Apollo 13

Apollo 13.

Almost every year, our aunt and uncle, Karen and Jim Williams, would drive around two hours from Warrenton, Oregon USA to Forest Grove to pick one or more of us Arnold family members, and they would usually drive us in their luxury car back to their house. That is four hours for them, there and back. They would usually come sometimes for the Independence Day holiday, which is the 4th of July each year.

They would also come sometimes for Christmas each year, which is the 25th of December of each year. I actually think they did come twice a year to see us.

In the year 1995, in July, when I was ten years old, they picked up just me, Joey Arnold, and I was so excited since this was always the highlight of my year.

They asked me what film I wanted to see in the big screen and I demanded for the Power Rangers; The Movie. Instead, i was like figuratively dragged into a big screen in I think Astoria, Oregon USA, and we saw the film Apollo 13, which stars actor Tom Hanks, and I was not sure what to think then, but now, and as I got older, I began to appreciate Tom Hanks and other things in life.


I almost drown at the beach one night. I am usually with them for a weekend each year, except for one year it was like 9 or so days.

I was not actually drowning.

I was full of sand. The waves were high.

I was with just Jim.

When we got back to their house, I showed Karen how high the waves are with my hands and she gave her scared to death face.

Sometimes, I would pick up golf balls with Jim at golf courses.


4th of July, 1995
10 years oldWarrenton & Astoria, Oregon, United States
Joey Arnold, The Original Oatmeal