April 02, 2003

Holy fried rice with too many onions in it! The reality that I am a high school senior has once again dawned on me--and I cannot stand the thought of it. At the end of two days from now spring break begins and everyone will make short sojourns through random places throughout the globe--well, maybe not with the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome for the uninformed) scare going on throughout south-east Asia. This thing is really serious. I was glancing through the newspaper today, and they were saying that SARS is going to have a worse affect on Thailand than the war in Iraq. I realize that that maybe a slightly exaggerated statement, but still, it grabs your attention. They are saying that billions/millions of baht will be lost in tourism revenue due to the SARS scare. That's a mucho grande amount of money lost. I didn't realize how serious this was until I read in the newspaper that sixty-three people have died from this disease in twelve countries alone. That's serious. What really got me to read the newspaper though, was the note that they sent home from the school administration. They say that if you go to any countries that have reported cases of SARS that when you come back you are required to stay home for fourteen days, otherwise you suffer punishment by government-fines of up to ten thousand baht and six months in prison. This got me thinking, if the government is this serious about this then it must be a big deal. I realize that news had been going on about this for a while, so maybe my thoughts are already jaded and hackneyed by now, but all of this just hit me today. I have to admit, it does seem rather low to say that the SARS is worse than the war in Iraq because of the money that Thailand is going to lose, but what if this disease turns out to really be worse than the war? What if this turns out to be a modern day influenza-like plague(hey, the symptoms are quite similar to it aren't they? but i'm talking about the one...i can't remember when, but it wiped out a lot of people), that is a very scary thought isn't it? Ok, maybe I had better stop, I'm starting to think too hard and freak myself out.

Hmmm...ok. I started out writing about how I am realizing that I am a senior again until I wandered off on the SARS tangent. As I was saying, I can't believe that we are seniors. What really startled me was how one week after spring break is the senior trip, a week after that is the h.s. banquet, two weeks after that is graduation. It's all badda-bing-badda-boom-like in these last two months. It's going to go fast. I'm not ready to leave my home. I'm not ready to leave my friends. I'm not ready to leave my family. I'm not ready to start anew. I'm not ready to leave the only school I've ever really known. I am not ready. I am not ready.