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Didn’t have a great time, overall, at Hayward Honor Band, but it might be just because I’m so jaded after 4 years of it. (And other current personal issues.) Yet, the conductor made the band sound so good, so I feel as if my criticisms would be moot, anyway.

Friday should be cause for rejoice. Yet, these past two Fridays, I have not gotten that “it’s Friday” feeling. It’s not too hard to figure out why, in retrospect. Last week, Thursday was a half day and I went out to lunch. This week, I have had Honor Band yesterday and Honor Band tomorrow and the day after. Thus, I did not get that proper Friday tingle.

However, understanding the problem doesn’t make me feel any better. I need that Friday feeling to break the monotony of the week, just as I need holidays to break the monotony of the year. Geeze, what would the human race do without holidays? We’d be so bored. One Friday, I remember, I just could not stop smiling because I felt so good that it was Friday. It’s disappointing to be deprived of that.

Exacerbating this is the fact that I’m on instant messenger to chat, but no one is online. (Except for the Daryl, thank goodness for him, otherwise I’d be 100% insane.) It makes me feel as if I’m the only loser not having fun right now.

I tried… I really did. Got home, played piano. Just couldn’t get into it. Couldn’t feel anything. So, I tried playing the organ. The added foot action didn’t tickle my fancy either. Already read my usual online comics and blogs. Nothing exciting there. I don’t feel like playing pool either.

My cousins were over, but they were both sick, which didn’t make for exciting enough an evening. Played chess on a whim. Meh. We did play poker, but for no money. I don’t know; I just wasn’t feeling it as great that night. It was still kind of fun. I got screwed in the end… my A-K lost to 5-7 off-suit. I mean, it was good, but it lacked the oomph of other nights. I guess I attribute it to their diseased states.

…

I apologize, folks. You probably don’t really need to hear this. But that’s the State of Shawn right now — bored on a Friday night.

Luckily, there is a remedy. I just need to hang out with someone tomorrow, after honor band. But I fear no one will want to, or they’ll be busy. In that case, I shall just have to kidnap someone.

Least enjoyable Hayward Honor Band ever. However, I’m not going to put any slander and hateful invective on this weblog. All I want to say is that I’m glad UOP isn’t on my list of colleges I applied to.

Poor Neo.

Not my dog… my half-brother’s dog. My sister took the picture.

Analyzing things economically, one can easily predict that China will soon (relatively speaking) be ahead of the US. The US is the supreme power right now, economically, technologically, militarily, but the future will be different. The US will not be as dominant.

I hope to be president one day. However, the world will be a very different place by the time that can possibly happen. Right now, I feel very helpless about the inevitable decline in US power. The challenges to be faced in the future will be very different from the ones faced now. The 20th century belonged to the US, but we are in a new century. And it just seems odd that if I were to lead this country, I would not lead the strongest nation in the world.

So, anything I can possibly think of now will probably be moot because the US is on top now, and I can’t imagine what the future will be like with the US not being the world’s hyperpower. Thought exercises can only go so far. Guess I’ll just have to keep my eye on the present.

Who else but small children would think to make a song about the Bubonic Plague?

Who else but young children would sing a ditty about Charles Guiteau?

And we wonder why there are so many weird grown-ups in the world.

Geeze, some people… Source protection a blogger’s right?.

I really like this pathetic stab: “Because of those issues, Sentelle concluded, even traditional journalists should not enjoy a ‘common-law privilege’ protecting them from grand-jury subpoenas. Thanks a lot, bloggers!” [emphasis mine].

Thanks a lot, bloggers… now we can’t pretend we have a “right” (not a privilege) to threaten national security!

From my math book, “18. (Continuation of Exercise 17) Repeat Exercise 17 with Simpson’s Rule and E_s.”

As soon as I read it, I said, aloud, “How about no.”

Your bit of hilarious stupidity for today: “Hacking” the iTunes-Pepsi promo.

After all, I am The Agnoiologist. (Yes, capital The.)

Whenever someone says, “I love you to death, but…”, the emphasis is almost always actually on death.

For my latest English assignment, I have to take two timed writes I’ve done and combine them into one great essay. Hasn’t my teacher ever heard of alchemy? You can’t just transmute gold from piles of shit, I mean, lead. It’s not taking a rough work and polishing it into a gem… I don’t have the base materials: It’s an impossible transmutation. Fortunately, my brilliant mind is its own Philosopher’s Stone.

The current pop culture trend is disgusting. Ugly baggy clothes that you trip over. Super Bowl half-time shows with indecent exposure. Offensive language is in vogue, as seen with the popularity of reality TV shows such as The Osbournes.

Some consider homosexuality to be one of these freakish new trends, but in Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, we find respite from the uncouth popular culture. Queer Eye promotes style and elegance — and general cleanliness. Inspired, my friend Daryl and I have vowed to dress in a manner that is more classy. I am currently wearing ties more often. We want to try vests.

However, classiness cannot simply be restricted to dress — it must extend to attitude. The world is coarse. The greatest novelists of our time are extremely bitter and cynical. These novels are brilliant, but the sarcastic anti-hero of the imitators are becoming hackneyed. Our world and worldviews need refining.

Thus, added to our quest is the intent to make humor more highbrow. The kinds of jokes which will provoke a chuckle from those sporting top hats and monocles. Perhaps not that far, for I’m sure we are too deeply infected with a post-9/11 cynicism, but it should at least be a level higher than what we’re used to. I tried it with a satirical piece with a historical reference.

Here, Daryl attempts his first bit of satire. I thought it was eloquently executed, and I hope you enjoy it.

John Marshall severely outstepped his boundaries in Marbury v. Madison with establishing the principle of judicial review. How can the American people accept this extreme judicial activism — creating new powers for the judiciary not defined in the Constitution? Marshall essentially gives the judiciary the power to overturn laws made by Congress. These are not powers that should be granted to the judiciary. The people did not vote for these judges. Redefinition of a law’s terms is for the legislature to do, not for a judge. Marshall has no right to legislate from the bench.

I hope you will join me in my quest to discredit the process of judicial review.

William Hung, inspired by the Special Olympics, announces plans to use the money gained from his pop stardom to start Special Idol. It will be a singing competition for all those who can’t sing. He hopes it will inspire singers world-wide so people can have someone else to laugh at.

Wow, reading all these news articles about the SOTU, and they are all so pessimistic and anti-Bush, wondering if Bush learned anything from his first term. Hey guys, I wonder if you learned anything. Look at all the change he has affected. In his first SOTU, he named an axis of evil. Now, Iraq has had free elections. Expect change in these coming 4 years. Don’t expect Bush to make these sweeping plans and not follow through. Various articles cite Bush’s low approval ratings. I guess they missed the 2004 election in which he still managed to receive a majority vote. Besides, the people don’t directly vote on these issues. It’s Congress. And guess who controls Congress! The Republican Party!

It’s shaping my own vision of how I want to be president. The title is not caretaker of the United States. The president needs to be a leader and effect positive change.

The vibes I get from the lime coke commercial would be cool if it didn’t look like that guy has to go pee.