The Ego Killing Machine

They should call Governor's School the "kill Dave Darmon's ego" school. This place is really humbling me. I mean, I've always known I'm not a "genius" but rather just a slightly above average person that has an excellent ability to remember stuff. Now I'm meeting the geniuses.

And the really cool thing is that these aren't people who are just geniuses cognitively. They're also social, seem to have common sense, and in general are awesome people. It's scary. There are a few "geeky" ones (like me).

So, how do y0u know you're a genius. Draw Pascal's Triangle to ten rows. Now, can you find a pattern to tell me how many odd numbers are on the nth row? Assume that the first row is row zero. If you want to know that answer, feel free to leave a comment and I'll explain. Don't worry, only like one person figured this one out.

Well, I'm off to a meeting with Barry. I'll see you all later.

AP's

Well, I was a loser and found out what my AP scores were early (really early... before July 1st even). I got a 5 on all three, which is a major shocker. I was expecting the English, hoping for the Chem, and the Gov was completely up in the air. Well, I have to go soon, so if anyone wants to tell me what they got, feel free to leave a message. I'm sure you all did awesome.

One Day Down...

Though it's really not that bad.

We had the square dance last night. It's the only "mandatory fun" of the program. It actually was fun, suprisingly. It's one of those things where if you just do it and realize that everyone else is doing the same dumb thing, it's not so bad.

Had Math and Physics so far today. I think this is going to be one of those things where I won't remember the stuff come next year, but my mind will be "stretched" and as the saying goes, a mind that's been stretched doesn't go back to it's original dimensions.

A long day still ahead. We have computer science and chemistry left today, then we pick our electives, and then we go to our lab. I met the Chemistry lab head again. I think his name is... something with an R. I wrote it down. He seems nice. There's something about chemistry teachers that just makes them inherently nice or something.

Well, that's all for now. Once again (this is probably getting redundant), have a great summer.

Keep on keepin' on.

Reporting from Carnegie Mellon

Well, I'm here. I guess you probably figured that part out.

Sunday was a very long day. I met my roomate, Ben, who's a pretty cool kid. He's the captain of a drumline from a marching band around Pittsburgh. He's interested in Physics. He's considerate of my introvertedness as well. A really nice guy.

Dave, you have to meet our Math instructor!!! You would absolutely love him. He told us about how when he was a kid, he was a slob and what not. Then in college he was introduced to math and logic, and it changed his life. He now bases most of his life on logic. He's "diesel" on top of all that. A really amazing dude. And he loves his Diet Coke.

Well, the only class I'm not really digging so far is the Bio. It's about HIV, and it's really not all that interesting. All the others have been really amusing.

Well, I really should get to socializing with people from around these parts, I suppose. Square Dance tonight! Woot!

Well, leave a comment if you like. And have a great next day. I'm kinda living one day at a time, just to get used to it. It's really not all that bad.

Peace!

D-Day

Well, tomorrow I leave for Governors School for the Sciences. I'll be there for five weeks. Then I leave from there to go out to visit my Grandmother in Indiana for a week. And then I come home and get a week all to my lonesome before Band Camp. Busy, busy, busy.

Here's to an exciting five weeks at Governors School. Don't have too much fun without me here in Chi. I know, I know. The excitement's just dripping off your screen. Well, go on, have that fun.

In the meantime, I'll be at Carnegie Mellon. Hopefully I'll be able to post from there. If not, I'm sure you'll all breath a giant sigh of relief. :-)

Peace!

Two Days and Counting

Well, two more days until I leave for Carnegie Mellon. Then it's off to a whole new life for 5 weeks. Well, I guess that's a little exaggeration right there. But it will be more or less a "new" life, because the only person I will know there will be Ed. Everyone else will be a blank slate. And that's a little scary I guess; no one knows I'm "Dave Darmon," but I suppose that's a blessing.

Went to University of Delaware yesterday. Very nice place. I guess I could see myself going there. But at the same time, I can't really see myself going anywhere right now. I guess I'm just in a rut because I'm in a sort of limbo between summer and Governor's School. Or at least, that's the excuse I'm going to use for now.

Well, if anybody has any advice for me before I go, feel free to leave it. And I'll be around.

Peace!

UC, What!

Went to Ursinus today with my brother, Ms. Shulman and Kate. As my brother put it, "Well, I don't think Kate wants to go there, but Ms. Shulman will!" It was fun times.

Well, one week from now I'll be in Carnegie Mellon. AAAAAaaaaaah... Okay, not really. It'll be fine.

Why do my legs suck below the knee? I mean, really? My shins are bad, and my left foot is killing me. Are the running gods trying to tell me something? Yeah, well, screw you running gods!!

That's all for now.

Scripts

Disclaimer: This post is random musing on my part and gets into things that you might not find all that interesting. But, read on anyway.

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts..."

Or so says William Shakespeare in the play As You Like It. Now, if you take the literal meaning of this passage (that we all have roles in life), then this is most definitely true. We all play the part of the son or daughter, mother or father, student or worker, etc. Throughout our life, we will play most, if not all, of these parts and more.

But in another way, when you think just a little more figuratively, Shakespeare sheds light on a fascinating psychological concept. We all play parts in everyday life and therefore we all have scripts in our head. These scripts as a collective we call the ego. Now, the ego has it's place; it tells you what happened yesterday, and therefore what you might need to do tomorrow. But sometimes, the ego can get out of hand. It can perpetuate useless stereotypes about yourself and others: I'm no good; I'll never be as good as him/her; Nobody likes me; I'm not social; I'll never understand this. All these thoughts are logical fallacies (that one's for you Dave) that really hold no value in the present. They're all just part of the "script" that we make up for ourselves.

Now, if we have no choice but to live out these scripts, wouldn't it be a good idea to write our own? To say, "Hey, screw you guys, I'm gonna do what I want!"? That seems to be what the most important figures in history did. Must be something to it.

Obviously, this looks only at the psychological and social factors of life, which is actually made up of psychological, social, physical, and cultural factors. If you don't have a high IQ, uncanny athletic ability, or brown hair, no amount of script writing will change that. But still, since it's one half of the story called life, it's something important to consider.

If anybody out there found this interesting, cool! If not, then at least I entertained you for a brief part of this very long summer. I'm just personally proud that I finally wrote a semi-profound entry.

And Happy Father's Day!

Batman

So, I went and saw Batman Begins last night. If you haven't seen it yet, go right now! Okay, maybe not right now, but as soon as you possibly can; or you could wait until it comes out on video. But see it. It is just that great a movie.

I found one of the ideas proposed in BB quite interesting. Bruce proposes that as a person, he can be killed, maimed, or defamed but as a legend, he lives forever. This is a brilliant idea. As a legend, or ideal, nothing can touch you. If you find something to believe in, and then stick to it no matter what, you become unstoppable. Brilliant? I think so. And people say Pop Culture is valueless. Ha!

One more week until Governors School. I'm excited / scared / apathetic all at the same time! It will be fun, once I get the hang of it.

That's all for now, folks. Keep it real!

Un Día Más

Sorry, I'm not gonna be using Spanish for a while, so I figured I'd get it out of the way. Well, literally one more day of school left. And it's not really a day, it's more like a time for "losers" like me to go and visit teachers before I leave them for three months. Oh well. If I'm a loser, at least I'm a happy loser.

Well, a whole big summer ahead of me. Lots to do, but most of it will be preplanned for me with Governors School. So, yeah, any suggestions, feel free to leave them.

I'm going with Ms. Shulman, Kate, and my brother to Ursinus this Monday. Fun times. Though I've been there about 5 times already. But what's another time, right?

That's all for now. I'll see you later!

Graduation

That's right, it's that time of year again. The Class of 2005 is out. And now we're Seniors. Wow.

Anyway, I really liked Ryan Chominski's graduation speech. I hope that mine can be equally good. I have no idea what I'm going to say, and I know that I have a year left to think about it. And don't give me that, "Wow, you're really conceited to think that you're going to be Valedictorian!" crap. Okay. I'm sorry, but with the luck I've had with schedules and the bad luck others have had, I win. Whether I deserve it or not. If that insults you, feel free to end my day. You'll make a good number of people happy.

Well, one more final and then "we out." I hate that phrase, I really do. Well, I'll be seeing some of you over the summer, others next year, and a few never. So, 'til we meet again, "there's always time / on my mind / so pass me by / i'll be fine /just give me time." Bye.

Junior Year

Well, Junior year is unofficially over. I could look back on it and give you a brief synopsis, but I don't know if you'd really enjoy it that much.

Now Summer is upon us. Wooh! That means lots of free time, and lots of boredom once the novelty of free time wears off. But that's okay. Sometimes it's nice to be bored.

Everybody enjoy your weekend. And I'll be seeing you in September!

Cha Cha Cha Changes

Well, the last real day of Junior year is tomorrow. Thank God is all I can really think to say!

And all this can't but help me think about changes. No big change for us this year. We'll all be back next year at Chichester High School, although Seniors this time. That's right, real seniors, the head of the school. Shiver.

But then comes college, before we even know it. In fact, I can see me a year from now formulating my Graduation speech, thinking about leaving Chi and striking out on my own. Heck, I already am, in a strange, metaphysical kind of way.

And who's that kid gonna be? Who are we all going to be? Will s/he (that's for your, Ms. Shulman!!!) really be anyone different? I know that s/he'll be "different" in the experiences s/he's had, but other than that, not really. We'll all be basically who we are now, because that person doesn't change.

So, isn't it amazing that the more things change, the more they stay the same?

Boredom...

I often find that I get really bored really easily. I guess it's one of those annoying consequences of being in the goddamn technological age. The dialectic of progress: with each new advantage, there also comes a disadvantage.

Anyway, yeah, if you couldn't tell, I'm bored. Which is really lame, I'm not gonna lie! I mean, I have no reason to be bored - WHATSOEVER! So, bad Dave, bad!

So, if you've made it this far, then I've accomplished something: I've made someone slightly less bored than they might have otherwise been! And that, my friend, has made the world a better place.

Well, time to accept this moment as it is. I know, Zen, bleh... But really, if I was any good and actually did what half of the stuff I read about says to do, things would be less, well, boring.

So, that's all for now. I'll see you all 6th period tomorrow, 1st period! Wooh, I hope nothing got damaged in terms of peoples stuff.

FIRE

Well, I got out of school early today because of something fire related at our school. The good part, I'm out of school. The bad part, well, there isn't a bad part.

So, only two more real days of school. And we get yearbooks tomorrow! Excitastic!

I need to come up with more profound things to say here...

Bye

Mediocrity

A brief post before I watch House, a great show, I must say. So, after watching The Incredibles, I can't help but think how much our society pushes for the "status quo." Being "incredible" is no longer looked upon as a great thing. Instead, we ask for everyone to be "average", although by definition that is just impossible. Anyway, I think we should all ask ourselves how we can be just a little bit better, how we can use our skills a little bit more. And if you can't come up with anything, then look harder.

Well, that's all for now. I hope that those of you out there that don't hate me / think I'm a crazy stalker maniac (you know who you are! :-) ) enjoyed this. I plan to put up more great thoughts as they come to me!

And remember, be INCREDIBLE!!

Hmm...

Well, I like this. It's all pretty looking. And now I can talk to at least myself (maybe others... :-) ). Um, still no thoughts! I'm gonna go running now. Nothing quite like running in 90 degree weather! Wooh. So, if I don't come back tomorrow, it's cause I died from heat stroke. I know, that'd be far too easy for you guys!

Well, I'll see you all tomorrow, unless I get real bored and decide to post.

Oh, and may I suggest a musician to all of you! Damien Rice is an AWESOME artist. Or, at least, I think so...

This is just a test...

Hi everyone. I figure since I'm going away to Gov School, some people that still give a whoot about me might want to know what's going on! (I know, my pessimism is ever so lovely, isn't it!!). I'll keep you all posted on the ongoing life and times of Dave Darmon (NOT "Dave Darmon") at Carnegie Mellon. I'm sure it'll be SO exciting! :-)

Anyway, I don't know what to say now, so, um, bye!