According to an on-line article on the UK Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=454090&in_page_id=1773) 140,000 tickets for Prince's concerts in London sold out in a mere 20 MINUTES.  6 more shows were quickly added but those are probably sold out too by now. 

 

Also, according to his 3121 web site on July 7th, 2007 he will have a 24 hour charity event and performance by Prince.  This is introduce his new 3121 fragrance that goes on sale at the same time, with 7% of the sales proceeds going to various charities. 

Glad graduation is over!  It was good but the venue was so large it was hard to get a good/close seat.  It was held at the Florida State Fairgrounds...not sure how long they have been doing it like this but no one has graduation at their actual high school anymore (in Hillsborough County anyway).  The schools are so big and there are so many of them that they all have them at either the Florida State Fairgrounds or the USF Sun Dome (of course we got the cr#ppy location!).  The graduations end up being spread out over an entire week.  Hers was Tuesday, May 22 2007.

 

The photos (see photo album) are from before and after the ceremony.  There is only 1 taken during the ceremony, of her walking down the aisle, but that should give you an idea of how far back we were.  The medallion that she has is just a Blake HS graduate medallion.  The blue 'stole' that she has is for National Honor Society (NHS).  She graduated in 'white' which means that she was an HONOR GRADUATE (GPA of over 4.0 or top 20% of her class).  Her actual GPA was 5.2 (might be higher since that didn't include last semester classes), and she graduated 24th in the class.

 

The graduation ceremony last 1 1/2 hours and there were seven (yes 7) speakers.  There were also 'professional' photos taken before they walked on stage, while getting their diploma on stage, and then after they got off-stage (with their diploma, standing in front of the American and Florida State flag). 

 

Of course no parents were allowed on or pretty much near the stage itself to get any decent photos.   The whole thing from ordering the cap/gown to the event itself is all one big money maker.  I don't know how the lower-income families afford it.  The cap and gown was $70 (don't think there was even any option to rent it, or if there was the cost wasn't really worth it).  We didn't have to pay for tickets to the even, just $5 parking, which was the only cheap thing!  The DVD of the ceremony (yes, they video tape it now and sell it), $35.  Not sure how much the professional photos are going to cost though....I'm sure over $100.

 

HOWEVER....seeing your first child graduate from High School......PRICELESS.

Rachel's best friend, Joey, was involved in a very serious car accident last week (Thursday, May 17th).  The car he was driving (see photo) hit another car head on while he was driving on the local highway (I-75).  The other car that he hit had spun out (for an unknown reason) and was facing on-coming traffic, Joey didn't see him and hit him head-on doing 70 miles an hour.  Here is a link to the local news article about it: http://www.abcactionnews.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoId=1466@wfts.dayport.com

 

Joey was wearing his seat belt, the other guy wasn't (the other driver died at the scene).  Joey will be ok....eventually.

Well, May 1st was the deadline to make a decision on which college to go to.  Rachel had applied to and was ACCEPTED to the following schools: DePaul University (Chicago), Rollins College (Orlando), Florida State University (Tallahassee), University of South Florida (Tampa), Loyola University (Chicago), some small bizarre college in Pennsylvania that she didn't even apply to but was accepted!, and University of Central Florida.

 

After much discussion (and bribery), she decided on the University of Central Florida (UCF).  She has the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship that pays 75% of her in-state tuition which really helped make the decision.  Her 2nd choice was DePaul but they only offered us $6,500 for a $40,000 a year school.  She will be majoring in Digital Media at UCF.  EA games is in Orlando as well and she hopes to get an internship there at some point.

Great review of Prince's 3121 show in Vegas (April 2007); from my friend Mya Bocca.  Check out her myspace web site at: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=23523566&blogID=256944581&MyToken=e23b9c9b-b095-42d9-8e2d-a7d1d11c43ff  (or just go to http://www.myspace.com/myabocca and select "My 3121 Las Vegas experience".  Some great photos too (which I'm trying to steal/borrow from her and put on this site!).