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.

Economics Class

Economics Class.

When my favorite classes at my one and only Forest Grove High School (FGHS) on 1401 Nichols Lane, in Forest Grove, Oregon, United States, was my Economics Class where I was able to officially meet high school president African-American Kari Herinckx. She taught us to Mix It Up. Try new things. Sit with different people during lunch. Meet new people. I typed out an Encouragement Article (EA) for her. I said that she has chocolate noodle hair.

In the Economics Class, we learned about the supply and demand grid. I previously took a Marketing Class with Mr. Kunkel, which has model friend Katie Dober in it.

September, 2003
Forest Grove High School
Forest Grove, Oregon, United States
Joey Arnold

Tiffany Died

I first met TIffany Rochell Cumbo (TRC) when I was about 5 years old in the year of 1990. She lived 7 houses from our trailer, and we were friends for  13 years.

Around 1998, her and her family moved to Cornelius and then to Gaston, and to possible other places, which I lost contact with her as she moved out of the neighborhood, but we reunited in 2001 and me & Bill Bailey would talk to her in person or on the phone sometimes.

Tiff may have attended my high school briefly, but then went to another high school, but I think she returned for the 2nd semester, in January 2003, which means I started seeing her again at school, which put a smile to my face.

I was looking forward to the summer of 2003 where me, Bill Bailey, and Tiffany Cumbo, were going to have adventures, or at least that was what I was hoping for. I wanted to marry Tiffany when I was eight and nine years old. I drew pictures about it, but then Tiffany started having "Other Boy Friends" with friends and neighbors like Bryan (who lived next door to me, space 164), and Juya Sa, the brother of Bhakti, who also lived next door, and Bill Bailey, and others.

My mother may have heard of some typical jealousy schemes that Tiffany was cooking with her friends, instead of being in school, at Mary's Kitchen, on Tuesday, the 1st of April of 2003, the April's Fool Day holiday. Tiffany may have been mad at her current boy friend or ex, or with friends, neighbors, class-mates, enemies, and they may have had a plan to get even with them, but I was not there and I really have no idea what was going on.

Friday, the the 4th of April, I high fived Tiff in the hallway around 1 PM as lunch was ending. That week, or that year at school, I talked to the short Tiff about her guitar, skateboard, Avril Lavigne like punk goth outfits, where she lived, and I would call her sometimes, and I was going to hang out with her more, go take a walk with her, but we seem to have schedule conflicts or I was not certain if I should bend my schedule to make something work.

That Friday night, I thought about calling her but I was instead rehearsing my lines for my church play for Sunday.

On Sunday night, the 6th of April 2003, I got praise for my partially impromptu performance during the church play that I and the youth group did, at the Community Baptist Church in Hillsboro, Oregon, USA.

Monday morning, the loud-speaker announced, during the beginning of the 7:55 AM art class that I was in, that Tiffany died on Saturday, the 5th of April 2003.

I am not sure how she died.

It may have been Tylenol overdose.

It may have been drugs.

It may have been an infected scar below one of her eyes.

It may have been any of those combinations.

I encouraged people as I spoke at her funeral that year.

Junior Year of High School

I was home schooled until I was 15 years old in 2000 when I started attending the public Forest Grove High School (FGHS) in Forest Grove (FG)), Oregon (OR), United States of America (USA). 

The older I get, the older I get. The older I get, the older I feel.

When my junior year of high school came along, I was feeling even older and more outgoing. For English 11, I had Mrs. Bennett, where I was able to sit next to the hot beautiful Katie Dober, who may have did gymnastics with my older sister, Katie Jean Arnold, or it is like Dober's aunt (who works at our high school, where we were able to see her) or relative who knows my sister as well.

I started going to school dances on Friday nights for the first time in my life.

Mexican Concert At My High School

Mexican Concert At My High School.

In the year 2002, when I was 17 years old, during the second half of my Sophomore year (grade 10: 2001 - 2002) at my one and only Forest Grove High School at 1401 Nichols Lane: Forest Grove, Oregon USA, and since I was attending a Spanish class, I was able to go to a Mexican Concert in the auditorium at our high school one day. It may have been around March 2002.

I liked some of the music. Some of it sounded familiar or likeable. Some of it was not my thing. We tried out new foods. I went on to take Spanish 2 but I think I failed or almost failed this second Spanish course during I think my Junior year.


March 2002
17 years old
Forest Grove High School: 1401 Nichols Lane: Forest Grove, Oregon, United States
Joey Arnold, The Original Oatmeal

Rediscovering Tiffany

Rediscovering Tiffany.

In 2001, when I was 16 years old, me and Bill Bailey decided to look for our childhood friend, Tiffany Cumbo. I first met her in 1990. We have not seen her since she and her family moved some years back. We looked in the yellow pages which has last names, addresses, and phone numbers. It may have taken a few days but we found her during the 2nd or so week of August 2001 I think.

I had my camcorder. I recorded our time that day, since it was an interesting reunion that I will not forget. It was the last time I caught her on my camcorder, but it turned out that the video was not working, and so you cannot see her or anyone on those VHS video-cassette tapes from 2001, since the camcorder had a broken video door. I would use duct tape to keep it close.

I was 16 years old when I found her again.

She was 16 when I lost her again, that is when she died in 2003.


August 2001
16 years
Cornelius, Oregon, United States
Joey Arnold, the Original Oatmeal

Freshmen Project

When I was 16 years old in the year 2001, for the end of my first public Forest Grove High School (FGHS) year of 2000 - 2001, us freshmen students were required to partake in the Freshmen Project, which mirrors the Senior Year (which I completed in 2004).

My project was about testing different batteries. I illustrated a poster board with my founding. The board was displayed one day along with the boards and projects of the other Freshmen students of the class of 2004. I remember Salena Willner and Marci looking and smiling brightly at my board.

I did not actually finish testing different batteries. After a while, I begin making up numbers for how long the different batteries last for powering up a walk-man or something.