Good news for The Chalkboard Manifesto fans. I worked on some code today which will allow me to make future comics update automatically and wrote a script which automatically writes my RSS feed. That means less missed comics. Once I get more work done on the buffer (more drawing), I’ll be in position to work on the store.

When you spend over 8 hours plane traveling, you do not feel like writing anything substantive.

Sea to shining sea. That “to” is a lot of fucking land.

But before I leave…

I’m generally positive about humanity, but if an alien race judged us only by Youtube comments…

i dont wanna be a faggot or so but i had a research about bob marley in my school…and bob dident die by ” brain cancer ” … he had the cancer in hes foot… and he whas stupid and dident let the doctors cut off hes big toe cuz he did wanna play football with hes childs… uhhmm a nice option but verry bad… CUZ BOB U COULD BE HERE WITH US RIGHT NOW IF U WOULD CUT OFF URE FREAKING TOE!!! *** Rest In Peace Legend ***

I have a little bit of time to blog before they kick me out of my room (damn on-campus housing). Then, I’m off to Spring Break!

I want to talk a little bit about the direction I’m going to take with this blog. I like what I’m doing so far, as far as updating more regularly goes. I’m getting back into the habit. I like the guest post, and I want to get my friends more involved.

What I definitely do not want to do is engage in analysizing the psychology of any candidate. I can’t get into their minds and so, I should not speculate on that. It should be a general rule that I will not engage armchair psychology. Even if I read multiple biographies, this blog will contain no attempts to get into the minds of candidates. For example, Sullivan attempts to paint Clinton as somewhat sociopathic. I will not profess to know the general psychological motives of others.

What I can do is question judgment on certain issues. However, the lack of judgment defaults to only applying to that issue. If I want to say that the lack of judgment means a lack of judgment in other issues, even if those issues are related, I will have to give a justification for that leap.

I want to start making posts that contains links to my daily online reading. I mean, just the links and no commentary.

I also really, really want to embed YouTube videos of TV commercials and comment on them. That should be fun.

Finally, I want to migrate political and pop culture commentary onto a new blog, while cross-posting everything onto this blog and keeping personal stuff on this blog.

Just notes. Next post will be from CA. See you!

I’m picking up Super Smash Brothers Brawl today. Life is awesome.

But also, the server is down and I can’t finish my programming assignment. Eh… life is still awesome.

I wrote an Op-Ed about how much a rip-off our dining system is at Johns Hopkins University. They make you purchase Dining Dollars, which are only worth about 77 cents in real money. Kudos to whoever made the decision to make my article so prominent on the Johns Hopkins News-Letter web site.

They also have some type of weekly poll they put on the web site, and they used my article to prompt this week’s poll question. Fun.

So far, most people agree that it’s a rip-off.

Just a post for the sake of having a post.

Okay, no, a little bit more. I’m posting so that blogging becomes an addiction again.

The AP reports that America is locking up a record high number of people in prison. About 1 in 100 people are in jail. In fact, we’re the number one incarcerator in the world. (I bet Colbert does a USA chant.)

The news article is regurgitating data from a recently released report by the Pew Center on the States. I can’t criticize the Pew Center report because I haven’t read it, but I find it extremely curious that there is no mention of the “War on Drugs” in the article. It talks about the disparity between races and talks about how states want to get creative with non-violent offenders. It even talks about how stuff like 3 strikes laws have lead to the increase. Yet it does not talk about drugs.

Let’s go back to those 3 strikes laws, mandatory sentencing, and their ilk. According to Human Rights Watch: “Although these policies were championed as protecting the public from serious and violent offenders, they have instead yielded high rates of confinement of nonviolent offenders.” Human Rights Watch then goes on to state that the war on drugs has led to an increase in the number of people in prison. A lot of those non-violent offenders are in there because of drug offenses.

Want to decrease the prison population and help the fiscal crisis in our state of California (and other states)? End the war on drugs.

I was trolling through all the links in Lloyd’s weblog because I was looking for design ideas. (By the way, Cindy’s weblog is gorgeous.) Anyway, when I was looking, I found this post which briefly mentioned six word memoirs. My mind instantly came up with one, so I had to post it.

Here’s mine…

Brilliant or lazy. So far: Lazy.

—

Yeah. I’m working on changing that. The brilliant or lazy part actually comes from the way a teacher described my creative writing. My work fell into those two categories.

My cold has pretty much run its course, aside from a lingering cough. But now I’ve come down with something else: Primary Fever!

Har har.

I am sick right now. My sinuses are all clogged up and my brain doesn’t function. The only thing that’s coming out of my head is snot. Inspiration will have to wait for tomorrow.

Who can’t sleep?

I CAN’T SLEEP!!! AHAHAAHA!!!

We’ve heard it before. When Prime Minister Maliki was in, they shouted “Progress!” Saddam captured — we may be turning a corner. So many times they’ve held up false symbols of progress in Iraq.

Now this new De-Baathification law is supposedly a sign of progress in Iraq. Instead, the Washington Post points out that it’s a mess and could actually lead to a purge of Sunnis from the majority-Shiite government. Correct me if I’m wrong, but this seems like the exact opposite of political reconciliation, which was the stated strategic goal of the surge until it became inconvenient.

“This is a bomb on the road of reconciliation,” said Kareem, a former director general in the ministry. “This law does not bring anything new. This does not serve national reconciliation that all Iraqis are hoping for. On the contrary, it envisions hostility, hatred, discrimination and sectarian strife.”

I’ll remain skeptical about the surge, unlike some of the recent presidential primary debate moderators. I’ve been fooled too many times about Iraq already.

I watched an all-new episode of Law & Order on NBC tonight. I rather enjoyed it. However, I loved Sam Waterston in his old role; this new guy isn’t half as good. So damn you, Fred Thompson for changing the cast of Law & Order. You ruined it for a half-hearted run at the presidency? What’s up with that?

I think you can trust my judgment on enjoying this particular episode of Law & Order, but there’s a reason you might not find it too trustworthy. I had previously watched part of that new shitty-ass game show Moment of Truth. What a piece of trash! It’s so freaking fake! Anything is good compared to that show.

Part of the blame must lie on Regis Philbin. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire changed the aesthetics of game shows. Compare Drew Carey’s two game shows. The Price is Right is all bright and glitzy. It has a pre-Millionaire look. The Power of 10 is all dark. I blame you, Regis, for the way Moment of Truth looks, which I find really, really annoying.

Can I really blame Regis Philbin for this? After all, he didn’t design the game. I think the game wouldn’t have been half as popular without Regis, and thus wouldn’t have been as powerful an influence. It’s the same reason I blame the genius Robert E. Lee for the Civil War. (Just kidding.)

Millionaire is even partially responsible for ruining American Gladiators; you can definitely see how Millionaire affected the aesthetics of American Gladiators. The worst part of the new American Gladiators, though, is the player profiles. I don’t give a shit about how much you want to win this, or your stupid sob story. This may make me sound un-American, but I’ll take Ninja Warrior over the new American Gladiators any day of the week. Ninja Warrior is grueling; it is a true test of amazing physical ability. The old American Gladiators is great though. You can sometimes catch it on ESPN Classic.

In conclusion, Fred Thompson ruined Law & Order, and Regis Philbin ruined American Gladiators. Sorry Fred, sorry Reg, love ya both, but it’s true.

Only on Jon Stewart’s show (and Colbert’s show) will you hear someone on TV call bullshit on the presidential candidates.

Dear Jon Stewart,

Thank you for interviewing a walrus on your program last night. It was very informative.

Sincerely,
Shawn McDonald

For the record, I think John Bolton might have the best mustache ever. I’m kinda unsatisfied with the candidates on the Republican side. I have a solution: The Ultimate Mustache Ticket.

For president: John Bolton.
For vice president: Geraldo Rivera.

Alright, I know, I should’ve written about the Republican half of the debate by now. I’ve already watched it, and I have my notes sitting next to me. But I’ve been playing Madden NFL 08 on Wii. I’m addicted. I just started the franchise mode. I know you don’t care, but: The 49ers are 2-0 right now, scoring the most points per game in the league.

“‘Do not be led astray by a false sense of honor,’ said the Athenians. ‘Honor often brings men to ruin when they are faced with an obvious danger that somehow affects their pride.'” — as quoted in Robert Greene’s The 48 Laws of Power

Here’s a compilation of my facebook statuses from 2007:

Shawn is using the present continuous tense again. Facebook is so limiting.
Shawn is out of ideas for facebook statuses.
Shawn is SNOW DAY!!!
Shawn is partly cloudy.
Shawn is FUCK ESSAYS.
Shawn is super duper serial.
Shawn is finding a desire to reconnect with nature.
Shawn is badly grammers. wof,.
Shawn is going to be a moderator at the Iraq War Panel. Please come and bring all your friends.
Shawn is wearing one sock.
Shawn is the measure of all things.
Shawn is fucking fucked. Fuck.
Shawn is tickled by redundancy tickled by redundancy.
Shawn is not a dirty liar. Unlike Kant.
Shawn is going to follow this sentence with a really short one. Or not.
Shawn is desperately trying to live in a world of reality.
Shawn is updating his comic four times a week again. Yes.
Shawn is starting to get bored. There is only so much Law & Order one can take.
Shawn is making funny faces in the mirror.
Shawn is updating his status.
Shawn is good people.
Shawn is going to Vegas on Saturday. You will not be missed. Just kidding.
Shawn is in Baltimore. *sigh*.
Shawn is not going to live a boring life.
Shawn is ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring banana phone.
Shawn is a medical mystery.
Shawn is OMG LT U failed me.
Shawn is not contagious. Hooray!
Shawn is a super fighting robot.
Shawn is upset over upsets.
Shawn is finally fini– oh wait, there’s still one more essay to do.
Shawn is far too busy, being delicious.
Shawn is bored again, after a fantastic weekend.
Shawn is not in a hurry.
Shawn is hiding his girl scout cookies. No, you can’t have some.
Shawn is Scott Baio-wulf.
Shawn is a weevil in a captain’s biscuit.
Shawn is cavorting in the snow.
Shawn is staying fresh, staying cool… with Mentos fresh and full of life!
Shawn is home, bitches!
Shawn will now be using different tenses.
Shawn is no longer Wii-less.

It’s strange that I’ve seen for many years now a lack of boldness in my character. At least, I’ve seen that as a a weakness and wished to change it.

In 2005, my New Year’s resolution was “seize the day.” In 2006, one of my resolutions was “Every move is a killing move.” In 2007, my resolutions were 1) Get it done 2) Be impetuous, and 3) Live in the present. I notice a common thread through all of them: A desire to boldly do things.

But now, finally, I see a different weakness of mine that has prevented me from living fully: a lack of purpose. Bold actions mean nothing without a sense of purpose behind them. Like I wrote in my weblog the other day, “If you don’t have a strategy, you’re just moving your pieces around and you’re going to lose.” Actions should be informed by your goals. Tactics should be informed by strategy. Boldness isn’t enough. I’m reminded of the Law of Navigation from John C. Maxwell’s The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. You need vision in order to steer.

On October 18, 2007, I have a short weblog entry entitled “Telos,” where I stated that the first step to getting my life back on track, from releasing myself from feeling overwhelmed, was to set my goals. The day before, I thought the first step was eliminating my inefficient work habits. Boy am I glad I caught myself. Otherwise, eliminating inefficiency could’ve been my New Year’s resolution for 2008, and I would be back at square one. The word “telos,” though, no longer resonates with me. “Purpose” does. I will christen 2008 as the Year of Purpose. 2008 will be dedicated to the importance of goals and strategy.

So, what are my resolutions? I want my resolution to be: Have a goal in mind. Then, I need to fill out everything under it, like preparation and planning to the end. But the goal is step 1. I don’t want my goals to be my specific resolutions. I want my resolution to be to have goals in the first place. I want to accomplish things this year.

Secondly, I want a resolution to be “Keep reading.” I would not have learned the lessons I’ve learned this year if I didn’t read. Reading “Fiasco” gave me the distinction between tactics and strategy. Reading about chess made me really feel the importance of strategy. Books teach me, and then they reinforce the most important lessons about life. “Keep reading” is a reminder to keep learning and to keep improving. I want to read at least 50 books this year, including the ones I read for class.

The last thing is not a resolution, but a reminder: Brick by brick. It’s an image I want to keep in mind as I go about achieving my goals. Rome wasn’t built in a day. I must be willing to work brick by brick, and not think that I can take shortcuts and get everything done at once. I must be willing to do the small things that are necessary to my goals.

I’ve tended to think that my old resolutions were failures at the end of the year. But no aphorism can encompass all of life’s lessons. I recently read “Destruction and Creation” by John R. Boyd. No philosophy is complete, or all-encompassing. It is imperative to destroy old paradigms and create new ones. New insights lie outside old systems of thought. Our old systems of thought naturally increase in entropy; disorder increases and we must reject old systems before they become nonsensical. The decay of my resolutions’ value is natural. I must go beyond the resolutions and encompess them in a new philosophy, or I will go nowhere. So, out with the old and in with the new.

Finally, I believe that one year is too long to hold on to the types of resolutions I make. I’ll see you all in six months with an evalution and new resolutions.

For now, welcome 2008. I have great hope that I will accomplish great things.

I’ve been avoiding typing lately, and my shoulders are starting to feel really good. No pain.

I do want to write some longer entries soon, though. This means I’ll probably whip out my microphone and voice recognition software. I feel embarrassed saying certain things aloud, though, which is kind of funny when you consider that this is a public blog which anyone on the internets can see.

Games can teach you a lot about life. So can anecdotes. I’m going to give an anecdote about chess and how it illustrated the importance of strategic vision.

In high school, my friend Ryan started becoming interested in chess, so we used to play during the weird extra period at the end of the day. He would always beat me. He then recommended Chess for Dummies, so I picked it up. After I read it, I was finally able to best him. Then, we graduated and I’ve only played chess a few times since.

This year, before leaving home for winter break, I was playing chess against my friend after a raucous game of Risk. It was really frustrating because I knew there were moves I was no longer able to see. I used to have a better sense of the game and its patterns. I resolved to read Chess for Dummies again when I got back home.

I dusted off the book, gave it a quick read-through, and then challenged my sister to a game of chess. I beat her. Now, she wasn’t very good at chess, so my victory does not mean much. What matters is that I saw the game completely differently. I was able to see the game through strategic lenses.

I had some new basic principles in mind to guide me, but most important of all was that I formulated goals to accomplish. At the beginning, I wanted to attack the base of her pawn chain. I accomplished this, and then I started gaining a material advantage. One of my next goals was to start exchanging pieces so that my material advantage would be more pronounced.

This contrasts greatly with the old way I was playing. I just moved pieces around and hoped my opponent made mistakes, which I could exploit. I had no concept of how to attack beyond the basics. I had no idea that I wanted to control certain portions of the board. I just saw pieces which I had to attack. I didn’t realize that there was more to the game than the material. It was all (bad) tactics, and no strategy.

When I felt that something was missing, I was right. In high school, I used to see the game completely differently. I had an over-arching strategy. All movements of the pieces were instrumental to that strategy. When I regained that command of chess, I learned a lesson about strategic vision. If you don’t have a strategy, you’re just moving your pieces around and you’re going to lose. I need to apply this to other aspects of life.

We like to believe that memories are better preserved in our paperless times. However, this permanence is a delusion. Our feet lay on shifting sands. Things become obsolete and our data disappears forever.

I remember the old 5.25″ floppies. The old, now unused, computer sitting under my desk doesn’t even have a slot for those. The aging laptop I’m typing on now doesn’t have a slot for the newer 3.5″ floppies. My dad used to work for Syquest, and that aforementioned old computer has a Syquest cartridge in it. Syquest’s biggest competitor was Iomega. Syquest went out of business. Iomega used to make Zip disks. Remember those? Obsolete, now.

We upgrade our computers. We upgrade our cell phones.

The first cell phone I got with a camera built in it has a picture of my friend Kevin. He’s got two balloons under his shirt, making him appear very busty. It was taken at a party, but I don’t even remember whose party it was. I do remember inputting Kevin’s number into my phone. When I upgraded, his number didn’t make it onto my new phone. I haven’t talked to Kevin in who knows how long.

And I wonder when these words too, will disappear.

I’m going home today! Whooooooo!

(And everyone else is still taking finals and writing papers. Sucks to be them.)

I learned this the other day and thought that it was the most amazing fact ever:

Did you know that Family Matters is a spin-off of Perfect Strangers?

Even better, the spin-off character is Harriet Winslow.

Also, I was watching Family Matters the other day and the later seasons really, really suck.

I can’t say that I’m surprised that I saw the phrase “harsh interrogation techniques” show up on Fox News. I also shouldn’t be surprised that I heard Wolf Blitzer say it too, but I am. I am utterly shocked and disgusted that our media can’t figure out what’s going on.

First, it was coercive interrogation. Then, they figured out that that was a little too close to just being a definition of torture. Next, they changed it to enhanced interrogation. That smacked of Orwellianism, and correlated a little to closely to the old German euphemism. Now, they have switched to harsh interrogation. You’d think that someone would notice the trend. You’d think that someone would figure out that something’s a little bit fishy when they keep changing the name.

But no. Our news media is too cowardly to call it what it is: torture.

On Tuesdays, I have a class at 11 and a class at 2. I just totally skipped my class at 2. Unintentionally. I went through the entire day thinking that I didn’t have class later today, even though I knew it was Tuesday, and didn’t realize it until now.

Then again, I skipped my only class on Monday on purpose because I had to finish an essay. I didn’t go to any class on Monday, so maybe some part of me got mixed up and thought today was Monday.

I’m kind of disoriented right now, which isn’t good because I have to finish ANOTHER DAMN ESSAY TODAY! AAAHHH!

There’s some sunshine this morning, but I still can’t get myself to work. I just can’t figure out how to organize this essay.

I woke up pretty late today, around 1:30 or 2:00. Still, the sun should be out at that time and it wasn’t. It was raining all day and at around 4:30 the skies were particularly gloomy. I should have done work today, but I couldn’t really do anything because of the weather. I just didn’t feel like the day started because I got no sun.

I have about 2 weeks left of class/finals; I get home on the 14th of December. I could be off by a day or two, though.

This is going to be a very unpleasant weekend and following week, considering that I have 2 essays to finish, a book to read, and one exam to take. I thought it was two exams, but I just realized that the exam is on the following Monday. So now that I think about it, next weekend is going to be miserable as well.

But then a sweet, sweet 6 week break.

Expect updating to continue to be sparse until then.