All the News That's Fit to Blog

2004-11-10T01:20:00.000-08:00

Despite the dubiousness of the IQ-vote chart that's been circulating, here's a more solid piece of evidence of the stupidity of people (who just happen to mostly be Bush supporters).

http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Pres_Election_04/html/new_10_21_04.html

2004-11-03T23:18:00.000-08:00

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and consciencious stupidity." -Martin Luther King, Jr.

2004-10-22T13:50:00.000-07:00

Oh if I had more time...

Jake posted a very solid argument, and a refutation is actually going to take some research on my part. So, I will only respond to parts at a time.. once again.

This post deals with the unemployment rate. The key flaw in Jake's argument is that he looks at specific points of unemployment rates instead of trends. In November 1994, Unemployment was 5.6 percent. This rate decreased steadily to 3.9 percent, until January 2001, when it began to rise to 5.6 percent by January 2002. The rate rose more to 6.3 percent in June 2003, and has dropped to 5.4 percent as of september 2004.

Now think about who was president during these intervals. Clinton went from 1993 to 2001. Thus it would be fair to say that Clinton certainly contributed to decreasing the unemployment rate by a third of what it used to be. It took him six years to do this.

Now bush took office in 2001. In just one year, the unemployment rate went back up to 5.6 percent. One might then say it took Bush one year to reverse Clinton's work. How is that success?

This was way too short, but i'm out of time. All of my data is from the US DOL bureau of labor stats.

Vote kerry, because it's the economy, stupid.

2004-10-21T18:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'll update, but this blog is now in political mode.

Here is the first installment of a brief issue-by-issue justification of Kerry's superiority, most facts have been obtained from Wikipedia:

1. Economy
Kerry supports balancing the government's budget, raising minimum wage and linking it to inflation, as well as creating barriers on businesses that move overseas. Balancing the budget means no more stupid deficit spending, and probably less government spending in general. This equates to less government interaction into our lives, which is what you (Jake) want. Minimum wage is clearly not a livable wage right now; linking it to inflation would be a step in the right direction. And as Jake said, there needs to be some regulation of businesses so that they don't swindle people. After all, Adam Smith Capitalism works pretty well generally, but look what happens with Enron, Halliburton, etc. Besides, keeping jobs in the US helps the US economy, and I think lessens the neocolonialism that our businesses do (Remember Jihad vs. McWorld?). Not to mention it's really hard to understand some of those Indian tech support people.

Kerry would also roll back the tax cuts for the rich. This of course involves the income tax, which is not as bad as Jake makes it sound. If you want the government to do anything at all, it has to have some money. It gets that money from taxes, and frankly a tax based on your earnings is an appropriate way. The rich are more capable to give to the government, and thus they pay more. And taxes aren't the same thing as the government making your decisions. It's more flexible in that you can write-off taxes by donating to the charity/npo of your choice. Thus you either give to the group of your choice, or let the government distribute it. Remember, everything the government provides must be payed for eventually. Bush doesn't seem to understand that.

Anyways, that's all for now, because I have a math midterm tomorrow.

Vote Kerry, this election is going to be way too close.

2004-07-05T09:39:00.000-07:00

For those who didn't know, I was gone the past 2 weeks on an east coast tour with the Portland Youth Philharmonic. Overall it was lots of fun visiting and playing in Boston, New York (Carnegie Hall), Vermont, and Portland, Maine. We really kicked ass in Jordan Hall and Carnegie, the other concerts were mixed. And in the great words of Forrest Gump, That's all I have to say about that. I might post pictures later.

The Fourth of July was awesome. At the airport on Saturday, my friends and I from PYP decided to go to the Fort for the Fourth, as sort of a last get together since we are all going our separate ways. So on Sunday, after sleeping in for the first time in two weeks, I did some much-needed laundry, and then some family friends came over. I grilled burgers, hot dogs, and salmon - all cooked to perfection by yours truly.

At a quarter til seven the real fun began when Zach picked me up. He hasn't had his license for very long, and I could kinda tell by the way he drove, but we got to Claire's house alright. At Claire's we met up with Allie and Brianna.

Even though we were in the same orchestra for two years, I never really knew Allie until on the tour. But that happens when there's 90 people in the orchestra. On the third day of the tour, when I had pretty much just met Allie, Claire apparently found out that we were both interested in each other and decided to make it her quest to get us together. Her attempts provided much of the humor and good-natured embarrassment of the trip, but in the end I must say I'm grateful, as she succeeded.

Anyways, back to the fourth, we were dropped off at the Fort and met up with some of Claire's friends. The fireworks were nice, but the best part was just being with Allie. Afterwards, we all looked at Claire's pictures from the tour, then went to Safeway and picked up some Ben & Jerry's. It may not sound like much, but that night was great - a mixture of fun and sadness, as it will probably be the last time we're all together. Zach's going to Indiana, Claire's moving to Ohio, Brianna's staying here, Allie's going to USC, and I'm going to UW. It was great to get to know all these friends, and I'll miss them.

2004-06-06T01:22:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. It's been awhile... again.

Some highlights since the last episode:

Recorded a new song with Rick, Ken, Chris Larson, and Ben Perry

Got a 100 percent on the UW math placement test

Threw a party for Ms Hattan and got most of the math team to fence

Had some good times at a concert/overnighter at The Resort

Finished presenting my senior project, once and for all

And that was that. Let's go into detail about recent events.

Yesterday was the senior breakfast at the quay. For 5 bucks we got some good eggs and bacon at the fancy joint. They showed the senior video, also known as the Megan Leverenz video, which was basically 30 minutes of still shots of most of the seniors, and 5 minutes of offkey singing Wide Open Spaces. Good for watching once, but definitely not worth 15 bucks. The Man wanted us to go back to school after the breakfast, but we seniors collectively decided to screw that, and I bet about 3 seniors went back. Me, Jake, Jerry Sims, Gus, and Flieder treked the long and arduous journey to Jake's house where we played ping pong, monopoly, gamecube, and ate pizza. Good times. I keep telling myself I should relearn ping pong, because I used to be good, but now I'm just average. I completely suck at putting spin on the ball, and can only slam it half the time; at least I can still play decently using my innate Asian abilities.

Jake and the others went to see Harry Potter 3, but I had a senior celebratory dinner at church to go to. It was actually quite enjoyable though. Noelle and the Graef twins were there - Tim was at his Prom - along with some other seniors. After the dinner, we went into the sanctuary and they showed a slideshow presentation of each senior, from baby pictures to senior pictures. There were lots of sighs from the parents and the girls. Then a message from each senior's parents was read, and there were even more sighs and some tears. Heck, even i got sentimental, it's something to think about, seeing our past and how we've grown and changed.

This brings me to my thoughts on graduation. A big part of me is sick and tired of this daily high school grind. I'll be glad to have more control over my education, and at a new school. A part of me is glad to start anew, make new friends, have new good times. It'll be great to live on my own, by my own rules.

But then another part of me regrets leaving. There are so many people I'll probably never see again. Some I've known for the past four years, some for the past 12 years. I'll miss being a senior, on the top. I'll miss the weird semi-popularity I've got. I'll miss walking through the halls and always seeing someone I know. I'll miss being The Violinist. I'll miss doing songs with Rick and Ken. I'll miss the girls I like.

In the end, I'm looking forward to graduation, but I haven't lost sight of this great senior year and the awesome people that have made it so fun.

2004-05-13T22:05:00.000-07:00

Well hello there.

Let's travel back to last Saturday. Ah yes, Prom. As I said, it was great; I'm glad I went with Stephanie because she was very fun and utterly gorgeous. After picking her up from her MYS concert we headed to Il Fornaio for dinner, which turns out to be an expensive version of the olive garden (with valet parking, and very very good bread). At the restaurant we meet up with Erik's friends. Afterwards, we show up late to the dance (fashionably, of course), just as they're calling my name for prom court. Luckily, I suppose, Jeff Talbot and Casey won, and they played Kiss From a Rose by Seal, which I found kind of ironic. So we enjoyed what was left of the dance, and then decided to go with Tyson and his date to play pool at this place in downtown vancouver. He'd still probably be lost in Portland if I hadn't led him out, and it took him quite some time to find the place in vancouver. Either way, we eventually got there and had fun because we all sucked (even Tyson for some reason).

We left around 2 am, and I took Stephanie home, who lives all the way out in Hockinson. Getting to her house was pretty straightforward, but getting back to mine wasn't. So for the first time that night, I got a little tiny bit lost and ended up going back home through Battleground. Still, it was fun, only a 10 minute delay.

Sunday was fun in that it wasn't really fun at all. I woke up early to recieve the church scholarship that I won - then I studied. That's about it.

Monday was fun too in the same way. AP bio was decent, considering I hadn't studied at all. The MC was moderate and I had some extra time for the free response, so I wrote a poem:

There once was a guy named Matt Wu
Who with his test was quite through
With the time left remaining
He sat there complaining
While writing a poem or two

AP Physics sucked, mainly because I had just taken the bio test. The MC was way too difficult, and I think the Kaplan review helped very little for it. The free response was nice though, but i didn't get a huge amount of free time at the end.

Tuesday and Wednesday - stuff happened. Comp gov test was pretty easy, had some extra time in which I composed a violin/cello duet.

Thursday, ah yes thursday, that's today. I just got back from the talent show, and I must say I am very pleased. Chris was awesome, in all 3 of his acts, very stylish. Rick and Ken were great as usual, no surprise there. And Ben Perry pulled through wonderfully. He was nervous, and I could relate to it, because not too long ago I remember being a classically trained violinist struggling to improv. It's hard at first, but once you get it you're gold because your classical skills give you a huge advantage. After spending two hours working with him on the intro to Back at One, I believe that Ben Perry will be very good at improv. We played excellently and the crowd loved us. Knowing that you did a good job and that the crowd appreciated it, makes it all worth it.

I'll leave you on that happy note.

2004-05-09T22:32:00.000-07:00

AP physics and AP bio are tomorrow - that's two tests in one day. In case I don't make it out alive, I'd like to say that prom was awesome. Best dance of the year.

If I do survive, I'll be sure to write more. Until then, enjoy the new site flavor.

2004-05-04T19:55:00.000-07:00

I think I'm sick. Or maybe it's just allergies from hell. Either way, my immune system has picked the perfect time to fuck up.

Tomorrow's AP Calculus and a concert at Forest Grove. Thursday's AP English and a violin lesson. Friday's prom court assembly, and I need to figure out what i'm doing for that. It's also another concert at the Schnitz. Saturday's prom, Sunday's church, Monday's AP bio and physics (God save us all). Tuesday might be practice with Rick/Ken white and Ben Perry. It might also be a school orchestra concert. Wednesday's AP Comp gov and rehearsal. Thursday's the talent show and violin lesson. And that's that. Enough whining for now.

While I obviously have a shitload of stuff to do, it won't be all bad, most of it's fun. AP tests aren't that bad (except for bio and physics on the same day. Why God, why?). And rehearsing is fun. The only problem is the lack of sleep i'll be getting.

And now for some very good news: I just earned a $2,500 scholarship from my church. And some more good news - Chris's blog reminded me to put up some music that I did with Rick/Ken White. So here's just one track in tasty mp3 format: White Lies. Talk to Rick White if you're interested in purchasing some of this fine music.

2004-04-24T21:55:00.000-07:00

Hey. Wow it's been awhile. Lots of stuff has happened, but too bad if you missed it, because i'm not blogging it all.

Instead, today's entree will consist of my weekend. As you probably don't know, Friday and Saturday were State Solo and Ensemble at Ellensburg. Ah, Ellensburg, the tiny town in the geographic center of Washington. Its location is pretty much all it's got going for it; there is nothing to do in "Historic Ellensburg." Ellensburg is also the location of Central Washington University. This school is really unique in that every Hall and Dorm looks like either a forboding fortress or an ugly relic of the 60s. My word of advice is to not go to CWU.

Anyways, the contest itself went pretty well. My Quartet played better than ever on Friday, even though the acoustics were terrible. We then listened to two groups after us - the first was a violin/bass duet which was awesome. The second was a quartet that happened to play the same piece as us, and ironically enough they sucked pretty bad. So it was amusing in a way to hear them stumble through the song.

When we were done we had to take pictures. So we spent the next 15 bloody minutes doing just that. Inside and outside. And I think the 30 mph wind helped give the pictures that extra something.

I had to stay for both Friday and Saturday because I was playing a solo too (solos are on Saturday). Everyone else in my quartet left Friday. But before Stephanie left, I asked her to prom and she said yes. For those who don't know, I wasn't really planning on going to prom at first, but since I'm now on court, I might as well. I'm glad Stephanie said yes with only two weeks until prom, since it seems that the average girl needs 3-4 years to get a dress.

Back to Ellensburg: with everyone gone the only things I had to do were practice violin, and study for AP calculus and physics. I did a decent amount of both, thinking to myself that I was really having about as much fun as one could have in Ellensburg. On Saturday, I played my solo, Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole, and it went very well. Luckily, the girl before me wasn't very good, but the girl after me was a little better than me. She was actually the same girl who played the violin in the violin/bass duet on friday. Interestingly enough she played a hell of a lot better on her solo than in that duet. I haven't gotten the judge's comments for my quartet yet, but I got all I's (the highest :D) for my solo. Even though I didn't place in the top 3 I did pretty damn well.

I saw Chris got first in mallets, so give him some applause. It's too bad I didn't get to hear him, but he was way too early in the morning. Other people from Skyview like Alex Berg and Dave Warner were there, but I didn't get to see how they did - I'm sure they did well though.

I left kind of early on Saturday to visit UW since it's on the way back to the 'couv. Ironically enough, though I'm going to UW, today was the first day i've visited the campus, and I must say it is very nice. It reminds me a bit of Stanford in that it's big enough to be a city itself. Heh, and UW's pond is bigger than Stanford's pond; we all know what that means. The Paul Allen CSE building looks so good: like a futuristic castle, a mix of postmodern and gothic. So now I am glad that I'm going to UW. I looked for Cy and Andrew (since it was Greek weekend) but it's no surprise I couldn't find either of them.

All in all, it was a pretty productive weekend, luckily it was enjoyable too, as productive and enjoyable rarely occur in the same sentence. Tomorrow however, I have to do the stupid NHS baby food drive from 2-4 at Albertsons. Why do I even bother? What is the point of being in that disOrganization? Oh well, I think it's just because I'm afraid of the NHS advisor. That woman is the most annoying embodiment of stress and frustration I have ever seen.

AP tests are going to suck. More on that later.

2004-04-03T23:54:00.000-08:00

Thank God this week is over. Let us have a moment of silence.

Ahhh. As you all know this week has been a week from hell, namely because of senior project and scholarships. It also didn't help that I got rejected from both Caltech and Stanford, and waitlisted by Harvey Mudd. And while each nice rejection letter said that I was well qualified, they didn't have the room for me. C'est la vie, the more I think about it the more I think Jake is right in that it really doesn't matter which school you go to, and in the end it's a lot nicer to be debt-free. So as of now, it looks like I'm going to UDub, but with full tuition scholarship, Honors Program, early admission to the Computer Science college, and a load of credits from AP tests. I also found this wonderful editorial that everyone should read because it's so true.

So, if you're done reading that, I'll talk a little about Friday. Friday was NWSE at PSU, which I'm kinda glad was at PSU because I know the campus fairly well. To sum it up, it was an okay experience that was too boring and I wouldn't do it again unless I was really trying for one of those nifty awards. Though my project wasn't that great at all, I still got second place in my division for the regional section (whatever the hell that means). Either way it's something to put on my resume for all those scholarships I still have to apply for. The best part of NWSE had to have been when we walked to Pioneer Place to watch Eternal Sunshine, which is an awesome movie that apparently some people just don't get. Andrew understood it, but for some reason it drove him perfectly insane afterwards - that's right, he engaged his obnoxious mode where he becomes the quintessential loud (oh so very loud) jackass. Oh well, the awards ceremony kinda shut him up. Once the whole thing was through, Gus lost his wallet so we went around Portland looking for it to no avail, in the end we ate dinner at a Carl's jr.

And the highlight of the night happened as we were leaving Cecka's house in our seperate cars (cecka's house was the meetingplace for our carpool). So Jake, who has been (understandably) driving like an old lady all day long because he got a ticket recently, suddenly decides to drive like a jackass again. So he starts going 20 in the 35 mph zone. Andrew doesn't want to take this crap, so he passes jake on the wrong side of the road. I, on the other hand, decide not to drive like an idiot, so I just go slow behind him, following close but not too close. Unfortunately jake never speeds up, and instead slows down further, so we're going 15-20 for the whole mile from Cecka's house to HB Fuller Park (2nd ave). Now I have to turn at the light at HB Fuller, and Jake doesn't, so I turn on my signal and get ready to turn, and right as I start to turn - as Jake's in the middle of the intersection - Jake hits his brakes and bam my left headlight runs into his bumper and his bumper wins.

Now, I'm really fucking pissed because I decided not to pull an Angie and recklessly try to pass Jake way back at Cecka's house. Noooo, I'd gone along with Jake's stupid game and went 15 under the speed limit for a mile. And just as I start to turn, Jake decides not to keep going but to test me one last time by slowing to a near stop in the middle of the intersection. Well, we get out of our cars and I'm pissed, so I yell at Jake and say he has to pay for it. Jake clearly didn't mean for me to crash, but I yell at him, and he gets defensive. So eventually he gets exasparated and says he'll pay for it. Well a day later, I still think it was fully his fault, but I know he didn't mean to do it, and besides, it was just the headlight. So Jake take it easy, you don't have to pay me anything, I was just pissed off at the time. Still, I hope you realize that this "game" is really stupid, and shouldn't be played with anyone but Andrew, because he doesn't mind crashing.

Have fun vacationing everyone, I get to stay in the couv.

2004-03-28T13:43:00.000-08:00

First off, senior project is a pain in the ass.
Secondly, scholarships are pains in the ass.
Third, I have too many pains in the ass.

So what have I been doing the past week? Glad you asked, have a seat and I'll tell you. Dammit I said take a seat! That's better. Now then, Rick White was nice enough to invite me to play with his band. Since it was Portland's spring break I had no orchestra rehearsals, so it worked out. Rick's group is pretty darn good and it was fun practicing with them, mainly because I just improvised the entire time and it sounded good. Now, on Friday there was this Battle of the Bands concert that we were to play in. Some of you might have heard of it, it was in Stevenson, a town in the middle of nowhere with a downtown smaller than Skyview's parking lot. It was at the community center, so it was pretty controled, no drugs/sex/alcohol. Well, we went there expecting to win, based on the group's past experiences. Sure enough the other bands ranged from okay to please-get-off-the-stage-my-ears-are-bleeding. I didn't notice it at first, but one big reason everyone sucked was that the soundsystem was more fucked up than a two-dollar whore. Unfortunately, these egregious sound guys fucked our group too. So when we played there was, a) terrible balance, b) more feedback than Thomas Chen's tagboard, c) Tim's distortion pedal broke, and d) I couldn't hear myself and doubt anyone else could half the time, because a violin can't really compete with that much feedback. So even though I knew we played well, it probably sounded mediocre. Still, there was no way those other groups sounded better than us, yet just to show that the night could go worse, we didn't even place in the top 3. Of course, looking at the judges explains some, I actually saw one of them dozing off.

Besides our performance, the concert itself was alright. For one, there was this kid, Rick's friend, who was funny as hell. Second, Rick's brother Ken kept hitting on all the mainly fat/homely middleschool chicks. It was really funny watching him because he was so damn shameless. On the other hand, the majority of the chicks there WERE fat/homely middleschool chicks, so that sucked. However, it was still fun signing autographs on shirts and such, so apparently some people heard me. And there was this one really cute chick (not a middleschooler) in a schoolgirl uniform whose arm I gladly signed. Then she bought one of our CDs and i signed that too, but as Rick put it, she'll be "pleasantly surprised" when she listens to it and finds that there's no violin on the recording (they recorded it before I joined up with them).

The ride back was fun, I like long drives, provided I'm not driving. We sold enough CDs to buy dinner for all of us at Muchas, which was nice. Afterwards, I went to Jake's house and we slept after some ping pong. The next day we went to state knowledge bowl at Camas High school 2. Go read Jake's blog to see how what happened. After that I went home, but the drive back was worth mentioning becaus we were all (me, flieder, and Angie) being asses to each other, blocking each other on Jake's driveway. Anyways, Flieder got in the lead so it was me blocking Angie. Then angie tries to pass me on this downhill straightway, but I keep swerving in front of him so he can't get in front of me. At the bottom of the hill, there's a stop sign and we have to turn left. So I slow down a bit to make the turn and andrew tries to speed by me on the left. Unfortunately the idiot doesn't know how to drive right, so of course he doesn't pass me but ends up side-by-side, taking the turn too fast so he's moving farther and farther to the right in order not to drift. So my choice was to let him a)run into me, b) slide into me, c) pull to the right off the road, or d) hit the brakes hard then ram him behind his rear wheel causing him to spin clockwise and run off the road to a fiery death. Not wanting the liability, and knowing that he owes me already for countless things, I pull of the road a bit and let him go by. Now that might have been dramatized a little but the point still remains, Andrew is very good at almost killing himself in auto accidents.

Wow you read all of that? You deserve a break, go watch these two flash movies. They're deep.

2004-03-24T22:54:00.000-08:00

After reading Jake's post on MSPaint, I must say I agree with much of his paintosophy. However, Photoshop should not be dissed. You see, Paint and Photoshop are tools for completely different things. Paint is for painting, photoshop is for image editing. So while photoshop ain't good for drawing, it sure as hell is the best for any image manipulation. And, yes there is art and creativity in photo manipulation, but mainly skill. If you don't believe me, go to Worth1000 and see for yourself how wrong you are.

I think i'll continue to link to flash movies when I post. So this post's featured movie is .Los Dias Sin Dias. Now the movie is about as abstract as the title, so just because its likely you won't understand the movie (abstract thinking is really too much for some people), go watch it anyways and at least appreciate the music.

2004-03-22T17:47:00.000-08:00

Wow. It sure has been a long time since i last blogged. But you know what? I don't really give a damn. In fact I have only one thing to say: My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.

That's right, I've been catching up on some classic movies that I should have seen a long time ago, but I didn't because I lived a deprived childhood. Little did I know that the empty feeling deep inside me was not because I hadn't eaten dinner, but because I had never seen these cinematic masterpieces. Take Braveheart for example, where brutal warfare and gore is used artistically, like in cutting British soldiers into two British half-soldiers. Or exacting righteous vengeance upon a traitor by mashing his head into a figgy pudding with a mace. And while there was a lack of violence in Princess Bride, the fencing alone made it worth it.

In other news, this week is Portland's spring break, so naturally I damn them all to hell. At least there are no rehearsals for me this week. Oh and today, we had a biology test that sucked because calcium ions diffuse into the depolarized presynaptic terminal, and not sodium ions, and Fleck refuses to believe me. It'll be interesting to see if i got that one right, because I will fight to the death over it if he marks me wrong. That's right, there'll be duel challenging tomorrow if things go awry. But while waiting to be cut down, be sure and watch how it will end.

2004-03-09T19:38:00.000-08:00

I am so tired, and I don't know why. When I try to think why I might be so tired, I just get more tired. Everything I do is making me tired, especially school. Yes, not doing anything in school is probably the biggest thing that's making me tired. At least two tests tomorrow will spice things up, but thinking about that makes me tired.

So before I fall asleep, I will post this link to the Oregonian's review that shows PYP kicks ass. Go read it now, it's good for you, like low-fat milk, or cheerios, or low-fat milk and cheerios. Or sleep. MMmmm sleep.

Goodnight.

2004-03-07T21:54:00.000-08:00

Finally, all my concerts are done... for awhile. I would've had 4 concerts this week, luckily one got cancelled, but still, 3 concerts is very tiring. Now the first concert was dumb: our quartet played for the 8th grade open house at skyview. It consisted of me showing up late, our quartet playing our piece once, and me leaving 10 minutes later. Overall time wasted: 20 minutes. Not that long, but I had to stop what i was doing, drive there....

The second concert was on Wednesday, our PYP preview concert at Pacific University in Forest Grove. Now its an hour drive there, but the drive was pretty nice, no real traffic and lots of open space. I sometimes forget what open space is, you know, when you can actually see for more than 500 feet in one direction. For all you suburbians, I suggest you try to find some open space. I hear it's going quick. Anyways, the concert itself was very nice. It started off well enough, nothing spectacular, but quite good. Dvorak and Mozart sounded good, especially in that nice hall. Damn, if i get rich i'm building a hall like that - not too big, not too small, but sounds awesome! Perfect amount of resonance and reverb so that dynamics and articulation really matter, unlike the huge dry Schnitz. But anyways, Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps (french for "the sacre du printemps") was the main course and it started very nicely. As it went on it got even better though. There's this one part where the whole orchestra plays this same note intersperced by rests in a rhythym that's nearly impossible to follow. Now, we'd never gotten this part perfect in rehearsal (and we rehearse a buttload) as someone always played in a rest. But this time... no audible mistakes. That right there made the whole drive out there worth it. Then as we approached the end, it was like heaven. Nothing has ever sounded so right, with everything fitting in perfectly - especially the percussion which was louder than Angie's big mouth. That last section I became one with the music, i wasn't even concentrating on what I was doing, just letting my subconcious play, and i made no mistake. It was fucking incredible, like an aural orgasm or something. Once-in-a-lifetime surely.

Saturday's concert was much the same, unfortunately the acoustics weren't as good, but our performance was about as good. The only problem was Thomas Chen's super-ultra-uber-secret birthday party happened at the same time. If only I were there to see Thomas Chen have an anyeurism of joy as he was surprised by like 16 people. Apparently they partied until midnight, so I could've gone for an hour - darn. Still, I got thomas a book from barnes and noble (like everyone else, though I didn't know that), i'm giving it to him on monday, so i'll tell what book it is then.

Until then, happy birthday thomas, and good job PYP.

2004-03-02T22:51:00.000-08:00

Today was pretty ho-hum, except for one little part that made today a good day. It all started at lunch. Gus, Tyson, Jake, and me are going to Wayside (2 dollar pizza = good), Gus is driving. So we get there, and in a rush of stupidity, Gus leaves his keys in the car. With the doors locked. With the engine running. With our stuff in it. With his AAA card in it. With his fucking common sense left in it too. So, we had a nice long lunch while we waited for the AAA guy to come. We used Tyson's AAA card and my phone. Of course what made this really funny was that Jake had done this exact same thing last year, so he knew exactly what the AAA people would ask for and would shout it out a second before they asked for it. Just as we were about to buy this 99 cent fly swatter to disassemble and use as a lock pick, the AAA guy comes and pops the door open in 2 seconds. But by now 5th period is half over, so we just go to Tyson's house to play pool and butterfly knives. After I bitched a lot about not wanting a truancy we come back at around 1:47:26.63 to get admits. First Ms. G thinks we're dumb and doesn't give us them. So we go to the other Ms. G, (ms grier the head attendance lady), and she thinks we're funny because she did the same thing a month ago. But then we have to go to Ms shultz who thinks were dumb again. In the end, it was all very dumb, but we got completely excused, so it was good times.

Now it's Tyson's turn lock his keys in his car with the engine running. But I think we'll wait at least a month.

2004-02-29T21:59:00.000-08:00

IT IS FINISHED!!! As of 15 minutes ago, I have finished my first, and hopefully last, draft of my smt senior project. Yes, thank you, thank you. I'd like to thank the idiots who thought up the idea of a senior project, which has turned out to be the most unrewarding, time-wasting, and mentally scarring experience since PDP. But while seniors complain every year about this extra pile of crap we have to dig through, no one up in the academic chain of command ever seems to take notice. It's like Edward Flaherty said, "they couldn't get a clue during the clue mating season in a field full of horny clues if they smeared their bodies with clue musk and did the clue mating dance." I realize I'm starting to sound like Thomas Chen, but senior project is such an astoundingly pathetic excuse for actual curriculum that it makes me cry, deep down inside. Senior project has killed the inner Matt Wu.

On the lighter side, last week was pretty fun. I finally saw Jake's house, which is a mansion on top of a mountain that makes my pitiful abode look like a yurt. He has the greatest home theater - ever. Anyone who disagrees, I challenge to a duel right now. We also played ping pong, which Jake is pretty good at. Luckily I had my innate asian ability to play ping pong decently even though I hadn't touched a paddle for like 3 years.

Saturday was good fencing. Lots of people there, and I did pretty well. Ryan and I did leave a bit early though on a quest to buy some butterfly knives. First we go to Andy & Bax's in downtown Portland, which is a military surplus store that made me feel dirty and redneck just by walking through it. Their cheapest butterfly knife was 160 bones, so we passed, although we considered buying a bazooka or gas mask. So then we go to Lloyd Center, but the cheapest we find in Excalibur's Cutlery was 50 bucks. So we pass again. Luckily we notice this magic shop kiosk which happened to have some knives. The original price was 50 bucks, but it was half off. Ryan was smart though and bartered until we got it down to $30 for two (15 bucks for each one, you math-impaired monkeys). Butterfly knives are cool, but i shall now refer to them as balisongs, which is their real name. Originated in the Philippines, y'know. They're bloody cool, and I mean bloody because as I got some tricks down I stabbed my finger. Still, what better way is there to stab your finger than while flipping your balisong out? Besides, it didn't bleed too much.

And to finish, Chris Larson, percussionist extraordinaire (including piano), has caught onto the blog epidemic. So go see his insane ramblings. I would've turned that last sentence into a link, but I'm too lazy, so just scroll up and click the link.

2004-02-26T22:45:00.000-08:00

After reading Jake's post/transcript of his debate with andrew, I decided to call Andrew a retard an argue with him myself. It ended as usual, him not admitting to being wrong, ever, and dodging questions like a politician:

Matt: i saw your little dispute with jake
Matt: and you are undoubtedly retarded
Andrew: lol,. why?
Matt: the way you argue
Matt: you always dodge questions by saying everything's arbitrary
Andrew: lol, THAT WAS MY ENTIRE ARGUMENT
Matt: but it's flawed
Andrew: 1+1 can equal anything, cuz 1, 1, plus, equals, 2, are all arbirtrary
Matt: but you see, though the original assignation was arbitrary, 1 + 1 has been acceptedly equal to 2
Matt: and likewise everything else has been built off of the original arbitration
Andrew: but its still arbitrary
Matt: so really, the fundamentals are arbitrary
Andrew: which makes everything else arbitrary
Matt: even though they no longer change
Matt: indirectly arbitrary
Matt: the point that the fundamentals do not change makes your point insignificant
Andrew: lol, the point is that everythign is arbitrary, and teh fundamentals can easily change, cuz they're not fundamentals
Matt: oh really, if you can get a majority of the world's population to agree that 1 + 1 does not equal 2, then i'll say you're right
Matt: otherwise, no they cannot easily change
Andrew: lol, ok, deal
Andrew: goto to china
Matt: first of all, that's not the majority of the world, second what about going to china?
Andrew: lol, it is if you use majority in teh sense of the largest single group, not 50% + 1, and furthermore, what's teh chinese characer for one? is it 1? cuz somehow i doubt that...
Matt: first of all you're an idiot, majority means >50%. Second, if you went up to any chinese person and wrote down 1 + 1 != 2 they'd say you're an idiot too
Andrew: lol, so a chinese person who doesn't understand english and has never been exposed to western influence would know that? wait, who's the idiot here?
Matt: first, there are no chinese that have not been exposed to western influence
Matt: second, all educated chinese understand the arabic numerals
Andrew: The greater number
Andrew: that's not more than 50%
Andrew: lol, all educated
Andrew: all educated using the same arbitrary system
Matt: exactly, all the same system
Matt: and as long as it is, it doesn't change
Matt: and i know what you're going at
Matt: language differences are an example of the arbitrary assignation of things
Matt: but within each language it doesn't change significantly
Matt: and because it doesn't change within the system, arbitration matters none
Andrew: lol, but eveyrthing that determines language, or math, is arbitrary
Matt: and once again, that doesn't matter at all
Andrew: oh, and becky says she loves you
Andrew: lol, matter? nothing matters
Matt: okay that's nice
Matt: and here we go again, you being unable to accept defeat so you spew nonsensical "arguments"
Andrew: lol, howis that nonsensical?
Matt: okay if you truly believe nothing matters
Matt: you wouldn't care about going after girls
Matt: you wouldn't care if you died
Matt: because nothing matters
Matt: you wouldn't be arguing right now
Matt: because nothing matters
Matt: why did you even say that in the first place?
Matt: did it really mattert?
Matt: no of course not, nothing matters
Andrew: ah, but its amusing
Andrew: and if its amusing, its worth doing
Andrew: which doesn't change teh fact that nothing matters
Matt: no it doesn't
Matt: it can't have worth because it doesn't matter
Matt: unless you just contradicted yourself
Matt: oh darn
Matt: at least it doesn't' matter
Andrew: lol, who said anything about worth?
Andrew: nothing matters, but its amusing
Matt: Andrew: and if its amusing, its worth doing
Andrew: oh, and becky thinks you're dead sexy
Matt: she must be outta coffee or something
Matt: an object that has worth by definition matters
Andrew: lol, nope
Andrew: it can be teh worthiest object in teh universe, and still not matter
Andrew: brb
Matt: matter: To be of importance
Matt: worth: The quality that renders something desirable, useful, or valuable
Matt: they're synonyms my friend
Andrew: lol, no its not
Andrew: it can be desirable, useful, or valuable iwthout being important
Matt: matter, worth, value
Matt: in either case, these specifics are moot, your statement that nothing matters is absurd
Andrew: of course nothing matters, which is just a special case of everythign matters :)
Andrew: but they mean teh same thing
Matt: once again, you deliberately make no sense
Andrew: lol, once again, you don't grasp my point, and thus fall back on accusing me of making no sens
Andrew: e
Andrew: (H)
Matt: your statements have no merit whatsoever, it's as simple as that, if you have a point, you apparently cannot expressive it in a logical manner
Matt: express
Andrew: lol, i express it in a perfectly logical manner, which you fail to get
Andrew: that's not my fault
Matt: Andrew: of course nothing matters, which is just a special case of everythign matters :)
andrew: but they mean the same thing
Matt: that's antithesis
Andrew: not that i believe in fault, but it is useful for these purposes
Andrew: k, for instance, if you say "all girls are pretty, some are just prettier than others' is that any different from syaing 'there's ugly girls and pretty girls?'
Andrew: semantics, yes, wrong, no
Matt: that isn't analogous to your previous statement
Matt: and the quip about girls is a form of humor
Andrew: i was giving you an example that gets you halfway there, in teh apparently vain attempt to get you to grasp the other half
Matt: not meant to be taken to the utmost literalness
Andrew: and i was not making a quip...in all seriousness, all girls are pretty, some are just prettier than others
Matt: oh how i don't believe you
Andrew: which is another way of saying 'ugly' and 'pretty' is it not?
Matt: and once again, what does that have to do with your antithesis?
Matt: not necessarily
Andrew: lol, once again, if you can't grasp it from that, you never will
Matt: Andrew: of course nothing matters, which is just a special case of everythign matters :)
andrew: but they mean the same thing
Matt: that does not make logical sense
Andrew: of course it does
Matt: no it does not
Matt: and flieder agrees with me
Matt: and jake would too
Andrew: lol, does history record ANY case where the majority is right?
Matt: yeah
Andrew: oh?
Matt: right now the majority of the world believes the earth is round
Matt: are you saying they're wrong?
Matt: thomas chen agrees with me too
Matt: c5hanst123: WHAT THE Hell
c5hanst123: IS HE SMOKING
Andrew: ah, but its not strictly round, now is it?
Matt: see here we go again, failing to admit you're wrong
Andrew: Being such that every part of the surface or the circumference is equidistant from the center
Matt: i have to admit, you become startlingly predictable
Andrew: the earth bulges at the center...so its not strictly round
Andrew: lol, see? arbitrariness
Matt: as soon as you lose an argument, you move to argue either specifics or less abstractness
Matt: er... more abstractness
Matt: the point is
Matt: round as opposed to flat
Andrew: lol, all the arguments are interconnected, and nearly everythingis abstarct
Matt: no shit, but you always change levels of abstraction when you've lost
Andrew: ah, but who agreed on using that defintion?
Matt: i guess i'll just have to settle for that though
Andrew: lol, no i don't, you're merely not paying attention
Matt: since i won't get any other sign of defeat from you, coward
Andrew: lol, who said i was defeated? i mean, i don't think you grasped a single point i made :)
Matt: you fail to realize that my "not grasping" was the whole part where i shot your point down
Andrew: lol, how could you shoot it down when you don't even know what it is?
Matt: oh i know what it is
Matt: you just don't realize that i can "grasp your point" while still being able to show you how flawed it is
Andrew: oh really? then what is it? ther'es only one? then how many do you think you missed?
Matt: you assume that grasping the point is when i agree with you
Matt: of course you've made several nonsense points
Andrew: lol, no, i assume graspong the point is when you can acutally argue the point, instead of somethign else entirely
Matt: because you can never stick and argue about one
Andrew: several? before yo u said one
Matt: you always dodge to another one
Andrew: make up your mind
Matt: dude, i'm typing
Andrew: lol, do i really? now, can you name a point i made, and then a point i dodged to?
Matt: oh and another person agrees that it makes no sense
Matt: okay then
Andrew: lol, so you can't name one
Andrew: very nice
Matt: no here hold up
Matt: first argument
Matt: everything is arbitrary
Matt: right?
Andrew: no, not everything...but all langauge and math is
Matt: you never specified, but okay yes you argued more or less exclusively about that
Matt: so apparently i did grasp that point
Andrew: ah, but you din'dt
Andrew: jsut the fact that you said argument#1 shows that you dind't
Matt: oh really, do explain
Andrew: that's implying i made more than argument, when in reality i just showed you pieces of a argument, all of which were teh same argument
Matt: perhaps my saying "First argument" was just an arbitrary way of organizing my rhetoric
Matt: it's all arbitrary after all
Andrew: ah, very good
Matt: so anyways, unable to refute my points that clearly show your arguments to not matter at all....
Andrew: oh wait, what arguments?
Matt: you move to argue that it doesn't' matter, because nothing matters
Matt: your arguments that everything is arbitrary
Andrew: nothing does matter, as everything matters...two opposites that are in reality equals
Andrew: :)
Andrew: think about it
Matt: two opposites cannot be equals
Matt: if by equal you mean the same
Andrew: of course they can
Andrew: and i can prove that one mathematically, using arbitrary rules :)
Andrew: -0 = 0, after all, and yet, they are opposites
Matt: no
Andrew: lol, yes
Andrew: butr i'm off to bed, its my bed time
Andrew: night
*** "Andrew" signed off at Thu Feb 26 22:37:31 2004.
Matt: there is no such thing as -0

And about that last statement, zero is defined in math to be neither negative nor positive. Therefore -0 does not exist. Of course if andrew heard this statement, one can only wonder what he'd change the argument. It'd probably go back to zero is arbitrary... and then we're back at step one of Andrew's unlogic.

2004-02-20T23:32:00.000-08:00

For those who may have been wondering, yes I am still alive. I have simply been too lazy (the first week) or too busy (this week). And while blogging can be a fun way to express myself, so can sleep. But now that this week of hell has gone by, I have a little extra time for blogging.

Since I don't care to remember what happened last week, I'll relate the highlights of this week. On Tuesday we did nothing in school. Afterwards, Tyson, Ryan, and I went to Ryan's dad's office's downstair's basement's gun room to fence. Since his dad hasn't moved his stuff in yet we had a nice big area to ourselves. Wanting to spice up things a bit, we decided to fence in complete darkness. Now that was fun, trying to track your enemy by sound and feel of the blade, though I can't stress enough the importance of masks in these situations. As we fenced I ended up impaling my foot on a tiny nail. Of course no one saw the nail but once I pulled it out of my foot we noticed the floor was covered with about 20 of them. Lucky me, I was the only stabbed by one. But a floor littered with sharp objects was no deterence to us, so we brushed them aside and continued fencing. Aside from all the nails, the room was pretty good for fencing, until i started sneezing. Because once I started I couldn't bloody stop. There must've been some pretty fucked up mold in there, it was like ODing on pollen or something. That's when we left, but I was still sneezing for hours.

On Wednesday we did nothing in school again. But lunch was fun, or at least the drive back to school. As we were approaching the school zone, we see these dumb Juniors in a green honda tailgate a car in the left lane. Now we've seen these juniors before, they're always driving like idiots, and I've come to the conclusion that they're incalculably maladjusted, sheep-molesting air-polluting mediocrities. They're stupid like freshmen and yet more arrogant - intolerable overall. So these juniors don't like going the speed limit so they pull in behind us figuring that we'd go faster (I really have no idea what they were figuring or if they even posess the mental faculties necessary for figuring). Just to spite them we go the speed limit, crusing at a heart-pounding 20 miles per hour. Fitting right in oh so predictably with our plans they tailgate us and honk their horn, since that'll definitely make us go faster! So as we turn right heading towards the parking lot (at a safe and sensible 10 miles per hour) they cut around us on the left side of the street and shoot past us. Oh darn, fun's over - at least we got them to brake several traffic laws, right? Well the fun wasn't over. We pull into a parking spot as we notice them getting ready to back into the spot right in front of ours. So what do we do? Damn right, we pull right through and steal "their" spot. After hesitating for a moment, most likely to admire how elegantly we fucked with them without violating a single traffic law (while they broke at least 3), they drive off to find another parking spot. Acting so pitifully predictable again, the juniors come up to me and threaten to deck me in the face the next time I do that. But as all of us already know, they have no balls, and so they go away with stern looks of constipated humiliation mixed with anger. Ah the simpleminded are so easy to manipulate.

In other news, yesterday was way too much homework and today was way too much testing. We tried to start a fencing club but found out you have to start it before novemeber, and it'd likely get shot down because of "safety" issues. Even though football, wrestling, hell even basketball is probably more dangerous than fencing. Nevertheless, we found out that lots of people would join the fencing club (including possibly Ms. clark and Mr. Brands - think of the possibilities). Vanessa suggests we organize everything now so we have a strong case for next year, but I won't be here and Tyson is too lazy. So I think we should focus on simply advertising Mr. Lee's fencing class through ads or maybe even demonstrations (that would seriously kick ass).

Time for sleep. I'll try to blog more regularly. Really. I'm serious.

2004-02-10T21:24:00.000-08:00

Today was the AMC test, so we got to skip 3rd and 4th. The test was pretty good, particularly since we could actually use our calculators, but in the end we all know Pavan will win, which is fine with me. Nothing really happened in any other class, I mainly passed time by doing the NYT crossword. I didn't mention this before, but Zack Thrasher has joined orchestra. He'd played for 13 years but quit for the last two, so it's sorta interesting talking to him - I haven't really talked to him since freshmen year (those were the days). Wonder what it'd feel like to pick up a hobby you've done all your life after taking a 2 year sabbatical.

In other news, I am feeling very restless lately. Maybe it's a residual effect of finals week, but I'm finding myself with too much free time, which is leading to too much pondering and thinking, usually about girls. Thinking about what I might or might not do doesn't help with the whole restless thing. So today with my short attention span I found a few fun timewasters on the web. First, I found out that cows will take over the world. Then I had some fun googling. I'm sure everyone knows that the "I'm feeling lucky" button takes you to the first hit. Well, here are some fun queries to use, you've probably seen some of them: "French military victories", "Miserable failure", "Weapons of mass destruction", "anti-war peace protesters".

And finally, the most entertaining bit today was reading the transcript of Bush's meet the press interview. That man gots him no grammar. "There is a lot of investigations going on about the intelligence service, particularly in the Congress, and that's good as well. The Congress has got the capacity to look at the intelligence gathering without giving away state secrets, and I look forward to all the investigations and looks. Again, I repeat to you, the capacity to have good intelligence means that a president can make good calls about fighting this war on terror." But we can forgive him right? Some people just suck at public speaking. The big problem is him repeating the same bs and idioms over and over and over (and over) again, and trying to dodge questions but usually ending up confusing himself and the audience. Here's a good tidbit: "I'm a war president. I make decisions here in the Oval Office in foreign policy matters with war on my mind." Sorry Bush, that don't sound none too good. I especially like "I believe I owe it to the American people to say what I'm going to do and do it, and to speak as clearly as I can, try to articulate as best I can why I make decisions I make..." Well he's doing an admirably horrific job, like this:

RUSSERT: You were both [John Kerry and Bush] in Skull and Bones, the secret society.

BUSH: It's so secret we can't talk about it.

RUSSERT: What does that mean for America? The conspiracy theorists are going to go wild.

BUSH: I'm sure they are. I don't know. I haven't seen the (unintel) yet. (Laughs)

Entertaining yet depressing... If anyone wants to debate this or any politics with me, I'll be glad to oblige.
Brush up on the interview here.

2004-02-08T21:11:00.000-08:00

I am proud to say that I have accomplished absolutely nothing today. With finals and solo/ensemble over, I have finally been able to practice my doing-nothing skills, which, quite unfortunately, have gotten very rusty from disuse. Every once in a while my brain would spark up searching for something to due, so used to having deadlines to procrastinate for. Luckily, I was able to beat my brain into submission with a hefty dosage of McDonald's and Mountain Dew Code Red. In lunch alone I must have consumed more artifical chemical-laden crap than a uh... giant... artifical chemical-crap processing plant. Every time I eat McDonalds I feel dirty. And it didn't help this time that my fries had enough salt on them to prevent iodine-defeciency disorder in a small african country for twenty years.

Anyways, yesterday was Solo and Ensemble as everyone should already know. My solo went very well, I felt, with no real mistakes; overall very effective. Even better was that everyone seemed to agree, including the judge. Our quartet did quite well, and our large ensemble didn't fuck up, so that was a big plus. Unfortunately, there were several problems that tarnished an otherwise fun experience. First, they didn't have real pianos. While most people won't understand, a piano and a keyboard are completely different. It's like real food and McDonalds - one's satisfying and the other leaves a plastic aftertaste. It was really annoying to run through this incredibly fast, difficult, and otherwise impressive passive, and then have the keyboard come in with all the passion and volume of a toy. Still, my accompanist is damn good and she managed to wrench some music out of the damn thing. The second problem with the competition was the delays. The string ensembles got behind like 40 minutes, so I spent all day there. Luckily there were people to talk to, but it did end up in making me miss my friend's performances.

The third and final problem with solo and ensemble deserves its own paragraph. I feel shallow to admit it, but I am a little bitter about getting 1st alternate (2nd place). Somehow, a freshman from Mt. View won state (1st place). Now the reason this irritates me is that this freshman is in PYCO (the middle orchestra), whilst I am in PYP (the top orchestra). The difference between the two orchestras is quite a bit - having been in both I would know. I can respect people who are better than me, because I know that they are better than me. I wasn't surprised when Lydia got state last year, because I knew she was at least as good as me. But this year, Lydia is in college, and Zach - the only other high schooler above my level in Vancouver - was auditioning for college. Now there was Ellen Kim, a 2nd violinist in PYP, and it wouldn't have surprised me if she won state. But never in the seven hells did I expect what happened. Now there is a very very small chance that he is actually better than me, even if he is in PYCO. But if he was, someone surely would have heard of him before. For example, Andy Liang is only in 8th grade but he's probably the best violinist the portland/vancouver area. Still, he's in PYP and he's been in the newspaper several times - he's played with VSO and the oregon symphony, etc. For now, I'm telling myself that the judge let him go to state because he is younger than me. I guess i'm just disapointed because it's my last year for the competition and I really can't see how this freshman could have done better.

But enough ranting. What's imporant is that I played better than I ever did before, and overall, it was still fun. That's more than enough thinking for one day.

2004-02-06T22:47:00.000-08:00

Well I've been getting a bit lazy on blogging recently, but I blame it on finals and society. Finals aren't so bad by themselves, but it just so happens that solo & ensemble (a big music competition) happens to be this saturday, which means extra practicing. Luckily I caught up on sleep by skipping first period yesterday.

Physics was the only final for today, but it was enough. In the typical ap physics tradition, it was open book, too many questions, and not enough time. Maybe I should have studied, but I still got a 48 (out of 65), and it was the highest score so far, excluding Pavan's (61), of course. Cecka got the same score as me, which is suprising; even though he's a smart kid, he certainly knows how to fuck up on tests.

Our hour-long lunch was nice - I'll miss that - we went to pizza schmizza, and so did everyone else in skyview. Because of the nice crowd it took us 40 minutes to get a pizza and 5 minutes to eat it. Still, I thought it was good pizza, but cost more than it was worth. Got back and found out they had the winter formal pictures, but I didn't want to be late to sixth (teacher can be really pissy) - guess i'll pick them up monday.

Found out I got an A in bio and comp. gov, which is very good (need to send 1st semester grades to colleges). I also found out that Abby Zarosinsky got the high score on the bio final, which was completely unexpected. Abby's nice and all, but she can really be slow. She's been in my math class every year since 7th grade I think (ugh), but she seems to have gotten better this year. Still, this was one of those instances where you think you have things figured out and then Luck comes up to you, pokes you in the eye, and says "you're fucking wrong." Anyways, kudos to her.

Everyone wish me luck for tomorrow's competition, my biggest issue is probably forgetting the music (memorizing 6 pages can be difficult). My solo's at 1:20, so I should be able to listen to my other musical friends (ie Chris and Dave).

2004-02-03T21:19:00.000-08:00

Today was for the most part, same as usual. We took Thompson's comp. gov final (part 1) today, which was supposed to consist of multiple guess for political theory and russia. Instead it was on the "Soviet Union" and "Political Theories No One Really Cares About: especially if i didn't know jack squat about politics till about 4 years ago." Keep in mind, the Soviet Union and Russia are NOT the same thing at all. It's like regular bread and that new low-carb bread - they both look like bread but the low-carb shit is anything but bread (just taste it). The point is, Russia and low-carb bread are two very different things, which sucks when you take a test. Fortunately, I could narrow down most choices, and in one of those strange twists of luck that happen every month or so, I managed to set the curve with 15 out of 17. I hear the rest of the class didn't do so well, and am now dodging death threats, which is all in good fun. Still, an angry Kate Peterson pumped up on double-mocha-latte-whatevers is very un-supertight.

Not much else happened, tomorrow's one of those wednesdays where I have absolutely zero free time. And part deux of Thompson's test, which I may very well fail in accordance with Murphy's law. And if anyone wants to exact righteous vengeance upon me, look me up in the phone book under my supersecret alias: Chen, Thomas.

2004-02-02T21:20:00.000-08:00

Today started innocently enough. Did nothing in Thompson, though we got most of the Oregonian and NYTimes crosswords done (crosswords are the only good thing about mondays). English was boring as usual. Biology looked like it'd be boring too, but then Jake had a wonderful (not really) idea. Apparently wanting to spice things up, he bets Andrew for a whole nickel that he can get Christina to go to the movies with me. Of course he didn't know I liked Vanessa, so he gave me an ultimatum: I'd ask Vanessa to the movies or he'd ask Christina for me - Not that I would mind going with either girl. Somehow this ended up being frustrating and yet very funny, but resulted in a whole lotta nothing. So for now I think I'm supposed to ask Vanessa out, but while that'd be very nice, I have that whole "asking" part to do.

In other news, KB kinda sucked, with too many damn math/literary/geology questions. And I really need to get those physics labs done...

2004-02-01T22:00:00.000-08:00

Today was pretty restful (boring), but everyone needs to rest every once in a while. I'm thinking I won't get any more rest until next Sunday, with finals, homework, sr. project (gotta start that), and solo & ensemble coming up. Add to that my mom nagging me to get scholarship money and you have a forecast of my week. Oh well, I'll squeeze some fun into it somehow.

Continuing with the unevents of today, I got up late and practiced. Then I practiced with my piano accompanist. Then I got home and practiced some more. I was going to practice at church too, but the choir director suddenly realized it was superbowl sunday and cancelled it. So I practiced some Adobe Illustrator, then I practiced listening to catch 22, and finally I practiced doing nothing. All i did today was practically practice practicing.

2004-01-31T23:56:00.000-08:00

Heya

Woke up nice and early today to go fencing, and as I'm leaving I see these new red construction signs in my neighborhood saying speed limit 20. That's when I figure out that they're gonna put in speed bumps. This wonderful idea, in addition to closing I5 to blow up an overpass, results in the most egregiously fucked up traffic plan I've ever seen. It's not enough that the I5/205 intersection of hell already takes longer to get through than driving to portland.... nooo there's no fun in that. It makes much more sense to blow up the only other overpass to HWY99. This way, even more people can enjoy being stuck in the middle of the intersection of hell. But wait, that's not enough, let's build a new hospital right next to the intersection! Now there's a capital idea: once you fall comatose from waiting in the intersection too long, you'll have immediate access to the hospital via an ambulance that's stuck right next to you! But don't worry, I5 is being widened, because we've always had such traffic problems on I5 vancouver; maybe SUVs will fit now. In short, one would have better chances crawling naked across I5 than getting through the intersection of hell. But I digress...

Fencing was pretty fun, but I didn't do as well as usual I think. Maybe I was too tired, but I felt sluggish and couldn't think fast enough - ran into a lot of stupid points. At least I had my awareness for the d'artagnan, where I did pretty damn well. I've got a very nice wound on my side, thanks to Garron.

The rest of the day was pretty boring. The dentist sucked, of course, and who the in the hell actually flosses regularly? Rehearsal was pretty good, lots of people missing though, probably Oregon's Solo & Ensemble. Dinner at Applebee's and that's about it.

Hmm how much to divulge in this blog? Talking with Paul brought up an interesting point, maybe I'll take his "advice" and ask Vanessa to the movies. It seems like I've always got stuff to do, but maybe I'm subconciously using that as an excuse. Mainly I wish I could talk to Vanessa more, but she seems kinda distant. Why can't she use AIM like normal people? Well, that's all for now.

2004-01-30T21:22:00.000-08:00

So, my first real post... here we go.

Today was an overall good day. The SMT sexathalon was a hell of a lot better than last year. No goddamn legos in sight, instead we had a load of other things to not do because I'm a senior. Whoever thought of making the Seniors "judges" should get a promotion. Of course, it probably wasn't too bad for the underclassmen. Jake, Gus, and myself were in charge of the jellybean catapults, which looked dumb at first but became pretty entertaining as it started raining jellybeans. Hope the custodian gets a bonus though. It helped that we played risk throughout the entire thing. The other activities looked alright, but how would i know, I didn't have to do them.

Just as we were getting bored we went and played with liquid nitrogen, which is kinda like playing with fire, only better, and... a hell of a lot colder. Skoog was "in charge," but luckily we were just messing around, which Skoog is quite an expert at. The liquid nitrogen ice cream was damn good. Ohh so sweet and creamy.... i could feel the sugar coursing through my veins. Once we finished all the ice cream, we decided to go eat more, so we snuck out (ie walked out in full sight) and went to carl's jr. for an hour lunch. Having been sated, and instinctively wanting to waste more time, we decided to see what movies were playing - we meaning me, of course, under the logic that Gus was twice my size and could shove me out the door, still I put up a good fight. But as luck would have it, the theater wasn't open yet, so we went back to school.

The rest of the day we pretty much wasted time. Made Tyson do wall flips... bugged Thomas and Vanessa in the auditorium (who were taking this whole sexathalon thing too seriously)... played cards. But the biggest waste of time would have to be the Batwoman professor. It was without a doubt the worse part of the day. Why would we want to learn about bats? I found it about as interesting as filing taxes. But then we got candy at the end... so it was alright. All in all, the sexathalon went pretty well, so congrats to the SMT council.

Afterwards, fencing at Tyson's house... and fencing tomorrow to look forward to. Unfortunately I've got to get new tabs for my car, and I've got a dentist appointment. Frankly, I'd rather poke myself in the eye with a sharp stick than go to that dental pit of doom, but c'est la vie.

2004-01-29T22:41:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

Since it's the cool thing to do now, I've jumped on the bandwagon and gotten me a blog. We'll see how long this lasts.

Oh, and I'm hoping the New York Times will sue me for copyright infringement because of my title.