Holy freaking crap. I'm excited to go home in about an hour.

I get to see Kara Hayward, which makes me the luckiest guy in the world.

I win.


Listening to Jason Forrest and Explosions in the Sky.

I just got back from NCAA championships in Seattle. The reason I'm actually updating is because I have ridiculous amounts of work to do, and I have absolutely no desire to do it. Anyway, the meet went very well. All my times dropped:

100 Back- 55.17
100 Free- 49.51
50 Free- 22.66

Woot.

Not sure if I'm going to swim next season, or ever again for Whitman. My coach is kind of an ass, and it's a big time commitment. We'll see.

Listening to the Plain White T's and Circlesquare.

God. I'm taking 19 credits this semester. I'm an idiot.

Classes are:
Politics of Education
Introduction to Art History/ Visual Culture Studies
Introduction to Studio and Design
Introduction to Ceramics
Student Athletic Leadership
and, of course, Core in which we are reading

Discourse on Method by Descartes
Othello by Shakespeare
Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals by Kant
Candide by Voltaire
On the Geneaology of Morals by Nietzsche
Second Treatise of Government by Locke
The Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels
Wage Labour and Capital/ Value, Price and Profit by Marx
The Origin of Species by Darwin
Don Giovanni by Motzart
A Doll House and The Master Builder by Ibsen
Beloved by Morrison
The Traffic in women by Goldman


Damn. Currently Listening to The Weakerthans.

I'm coming home on Saturday! Woot! And I'd better see everyone while I'm here. Everyone. Cause I've been gone for almost three months. Yeah. So be here.

Listening to She Wants Revenge and The Lovemakers.

My parents and the most beautiful girl came to visit this weekend. They just left. I miss them terribly even though they've only been gone five hours.

Twenty-six days and counting until I'm back where I want to be.

If I could open my arms
And span the length of the isle of Manhattan,
I'd bring it to where you are
Making a lake of the East River and Hudson
And if I could open my mouth
Wide enough for a marching band to march out of
They would make your name sing
And bend through alleys and bounce off other buildings.

Ok so.
This was my night:

I saw Death Cab for Cutie and Youth Group at school for free. I sat in the middle of the sixth row. After Death Cab's set, they got a ten minute standing ovation. I am not exagerating. So they came back and played five more songs. After, I got my "Plans" vinyl signed by the band outside their tourbus. And talked to Ben Gibbard for a few minutes.

It was amazing.

Ok so.

If you didn't know, Death Cab is coming to play at my school. And my school is only 1400 or so people. I got my ticket today. And it cost me absolutely nothing.

Happiness.

You are a Social Liberal (90% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (1% permissive) You are best described as a: Socialist Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid

this place is a prison
and these people aren't your friends
inhaling thrills through $20 bills
and the tumblers are drained and then flooded again
and again

there's guards at the onramps armed to the teeth
and you may case the grounds from the Cascades to Puget Sound,
but you are not permitted to leave

i know there's a big world out there like the one i saw on the screen
in my living room late last night,
it was almost too bright to see
and i know that it's not a party if it happens every night
pretending there's glamour and candelabra
when you're drinking by candlelight

what does it take to get a drink in this place?

what does it take, how long must i wait?


I miss you.

I will ask myself, "How badly do I want this?"
I really want this
Well I can hardly wait until I get the sun and your lips both pressing on my skin
Well I can hardly wait until I feel that thrill my heart that starts inside your eyes
And a song in my head that burns so good on my tongue



You know it starts here, outside waiting in the cold
Kiss me once in the snow, I swear it never gets old



Currently listening to Alkaline Trio.

So when I was going into AP English about a year ago, I thought the reading list was intense. I couldn't see how I could be expected to understand such lofty works and actually write about them in an intelligent manner.

Ah, naivety.

My reading for this semester is as follows for just two of my four classes (Intro to Fiction and "Antiquity and Modernity"):

The New Oxford Annotated Bible
Tanakh, The Holy Sciptures (the Torah)
The Odyssey, Homer
Symposium, Plato
The Trial and Death of Socrates, Plato
The Four Tragedies, Euripides
Oedipus the King, Sophocles
Oedipus at Colonus, Sophocles
Antigone, Sophocles
The Jugurthine War/ The Conspiracy of Catiline, Sallust
Confessions, Saint Augustine
Sappho
The Aeneid, Virgil

Baumgartner's Bombay, Anita Desai
Stories, Katherine Mansfield
London Fields, Martin Amis
Great Expectations, Kathy Acker
Howards End, E. M. Forster
The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro
Leaf Storm and Other Stories, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Jude the Obscure, Thomas Hardy
Sketches by Boz, Charles Dickens
Dubliners, James Joyce

And this is for a semester. Not a year. And The Odyssey is expected to be read by Tuesday. I'm going to die.


Also, my dad left today to be home for my brother's first day of high school. I am now wholly on my own.

And I really miss home.


Currently listening to The Album Leaf.

God.

I'm at college. I'm in denial, my perception is blurred, and I'm feeling far too many new things than should be allowed.

I miss you so much it hurts my chest.

Listening to the new death cab, and being reminded of some of the older stuff:

If you feel discouraged
That there's a lack of color here
Please don't worry lover
It's really bursting at the seems
Absorbing everything
The spectrum's a to z.

As requested, here are the pictures.

(truth and beauty in latin)


Currently listening to Wolf Parade, the Notwist, M83, and The Album Leaf.

Edit: Jesus that first picture is big. How do I make it smaller?

I got my first tattoo(s)!

And it hurt like no other.

So I'm finally back, after a really long, enjoyable day of traveling, friends, and excellent music. I have quite literally about 900 pictures from the trip. I'll make a really long post about it later with the photos.

Definently a good time.

(Got the first "5" in Dublin High history on the AP studio art exam. Hooray for me.)

Also came back to find out the AAR record was released in my absence. It's damn good. Currently listening.

I dont have to miss Kara anymore!

I'm leaving in a couple minutes. For 23 days. In Europe.

I'm going to miss everyone. Most notably Kara. But I'll be back.

Currently listening to Jimmy Eat World "23." Because it's fitting.

So I graduated the other day.

I said this:


Good evening.

I would like everyone present who has at least two dollars in their pocket, bank account, or home to raise their hand.

Thank you. Roughly half the world’s population, or three billion people, earn less than two dollars per day.

We, the class of 2005, have been born into immeasurable privilege and incredible wealth in comparison to the rest of the world. At this very moment, the members of our graduating class are among the best-educated people on the planet. We have been given this education. In other parts of the world, education is not a guarantee or gift, or in fact not a possibility at all. We have been given the tools to do anything we want.

So what do we want? It seems like nearly everyone wants recognition, fame, and above all, even more money. But what use are these things in reality? How important is a new car or a bigger house? When thirty thousand children five years old and younger are dying every day from starvation, what significance does a plasma screen TV have?

The question now becomes “What do we need to do?” We need to become responsible citizens of the world. We need to become conscious of the plight and poverty of the nations around us. Most of all, we need to use the means and opportunity handed to each and every one of us to better our world.

I am not asking every one of you to become Mahatma Gandhi or Mother Teresa. However, I beg you, do not conform, do not become complacent, and do not forget your power to enact a change. Squandering the gifts that have been given to us is tantamount to suicide, wasting the potential of our lives.

I have high hopes for the potential of every student present here. We are now adults, recognized by government and society as individuals capable of making our own decisions. It is we who will create the future, our generation who will shape the world to come. We have the greatest potential: to create a just and responsible world.


And it was cool. Comments? Criticisms?

Listening to the new Motion City Soundtrack. Cause its hot.

I don't often do these things, but since I was just reading The Fall and The Stranger, and am about to read Sophie's World, I thought it was fitting.

You scored as Existentialism. Your life is guided by the concept of Existentialism: You choose the meaning and purpose of your life. “Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.” “It is up to you to give [life] a meaning.” --Jean-Paul Sartre “It is man's natural sickness to believe that he possesses the Truth.” --Blaise Pascal More info at Arocoun's Wikipedia User Page... </td> Existentialism 95% Hedonism 90% Justice (Fairness) 65% Strong Egoism 55% Utilitarianism 35% Kantianism 35% Nihilism 15% Divine Command 0% Apathy 0% What philosophy do you follow? (v1.03) created with QuizFarm.com

Currently listening to The Thermals and the new FOB.


Drink down that Gin and Kerosene,
And come spit on bridges with me,
Just to keep us warm.

My PSP is eating my soul. But in a good way.

My mom finally got our SFO/Heathrow tickets, so my own personal senior trip is now official.

My girlfriend is easily the best.

And there just seems to be a ridiculous amount of good new music coming out in the next few months, including but not limited to: fall out boy, all-american rejects, ataris, longwave, the strokes, rooney, story of the year, the white stripes, and thrice. Yeah. Plus all the amazing stuff that's out right now.

Currently listening to a lot: Rock 'n Roll Soldiers, Louis XIV, Anberlin, M.I.A., Pink Grease, Stars, and especially the new cd from Alkaline Trio, "Crimson"-- some highlights follow.

Send us back to hell, we've had our fill of heaven
Give us back our sins, the deadly one through seven
Keep us from their hearts, saving us like ashes
Cut us down with dust, never trust in anything we're told


"Sadie G. she's crazy, see?"
That's what the white coats say.
Now Ms. Susan A. is losing
every opportunity
to put us all away.