Random Politics Test

You are a Social Liberal (75% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (26% permissive) You are best described as a: Strong Democrat Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

I'm liberal. Suprise! :)

Tick, Tock

What I should be doing right now is either Hi-Q, Bio, or English. But, hey, I felt like writing. So why not.

This year has been incredibly busy. Amazingly so. And I'm not complaining. I've felt more alive in the past few weeks than I've felt for a year. And I love it.

I know that part of the aliveness relates to my constant motion. A person in motion doesn't have much time to be introspective. And let's be honest, being introspective / contemplative can get depressing. Some of the time.

Running from life's problems isn't really a great solution. But I have to admit, it's fun! Work hard, play hard, right? And not it's time to play hard.

On the note of running from things, I'm really getting freaked out by all the questions that are popping up of "What do you want to do when you get out college." I don't know, okay? Isn't that cool. Freakin' tyranny of choice. Annoying as hell.

Yeah, that's right, I'm bitching about having too many options. High five for me!

Well, I should really get to all that work I have. Really. Honest. I'm going.

Really.

:)

Yippie!!!

Since power is out at the high school, a whole evening all to myself suddenly popped into existence. Can you say score?

Quick Disclaimer: Yes, I know we, the band, need the practice. But come on? A free night!

Anyway, this is just one of those transient awesome moments that really makes life funny. Like, today in physics, I created a "paper puppet" (you know, like a sock puppet) and just kinda played with it all of physics. And that's what made physics fun.

But you know, a normal person would just enjoy this normal good day. But you know me, I have to write about it.

Plus, I figured I'd better put something up here. So, here it is!

Peace!

The Declaration of Independence and Me

After all these years of reading the Declaration of Independence in school, one of the lines finally hit me. You know, the one that goes something like:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

All humans are endowed with those rights. The last one being the pursuit of happiness. Now, luckily, the founders figured out that you can't catch happiness. Good for them. But they also hit on something a lot more important (for me at least): the fact that all humans pursue happiness. If you ask someone what the point of life is, you might get a lot of different answers. But most, if not all, of these answers will point to finding happiness in life.

For the past two years or so, I've been so holier-than-thou, thinking that my purpose in life couldn't possibly be that base. Now don't hate me, please. :)

My point is, I finally get it. Everybody, in some form or another, is just looking to be happy. I know that most of you picked that up intuitively, so all this babbling on my part seems like a giant waste of good interweb space. But something moved me to post this epiphany.

But realizing that we all want happiness, one must also realize we all go about getting it in different ways. And that, basically, is what makes the world go around. Some of us find it in other people, some in accomplishments. A great many find it in television, in drugs, in pills, and in alcohol. Some find it in a party. Others in a good book. But they all find it.

Maybe.

Because some ways of finding happiness are better than others. Drugs, not so good. But then again, I've never used them, so I really should withhold my judgement. However, I can say that a good book, good company, or a good time are awesome methods for inducing happiness.

All that just to say that I've realized I want to be happy. Wow.

But don't worry, I want you to be happy too. For some reason, I do that just out of habit. I want everyone to be happy. And no matter what Dave says, I think it's possible. :)

Editor's Note: And after posting this, I'm forced to think of something I read yesterday. It was from a worksheet in AP English called How to Read a Book. It was remarkably profound, considering the lame title. It said something to the effect of, "It's not how many books you get through, but how many books get through to you." And I was like, wow. How many books have actually gotten through to me? I'm ashamed to say very few.

The point being I have this tendency to come up with / find an idea, and then completely ignore / forget it's real world applications. I need to work on that. Thought I'd share. :)

The Razor's Edge

You know, it's true. We humans really do live on a razor's edge. All of our lives.

Life is a constant shift between Stasis and Chaos. Between Eros and Agape. Either differentiation or integration. But never just one of them. They always work in unison.

According to evolutionary biology, the only cause of change is external stress on a system. When something outside a living system kicks it, the living system changes. And that's pretty much all there is to evolution. The magnificent theory is this: hit something, and it'll change.

And the really cool thing about humans is that we can apply the external pressure to ourselves. If you want to change something about yourself, just apply an external pressure. Get a friend to help you. Talk to someone. Or just choose for yourself that you've had enough. And suddenly, evolution is on your side.

And all humans are is some silly microcosm (and this'll be the only time I'll ever use that word, ever) of the universe. From day one, whether you think that was five thousand years ago or eleven billion, the universe has been evolving. Things have been kicking ass, forcing all the other things to change. And this simple, elegant little mechanism has created the plethora of existence that is our universe. Holy shit.

Yep, that's what life is. A giant trapeze act. Right there on the edge of existence. Chaos is always so close. Death is always so close. But you just don't see it.

Until you open your eyes.

Memento mori.

Er, Um, Hm,

As I realize I'm slowly losing all of my readership, I make you a promise. I will continue to post at least weekly, no matter what [barring some sort of world cataclysmic event / my apathy].

Nothing much has gone on in this neck of the woods.

I've managed to write down a list of "goals" that I want to achieve. Unfortunately, most of them are short term, which means they're really not going to help me navigate the river of life. BUT, they will help me to do something on a day to day basis so I don't just float there.

I have band today. So I might post again today. Might not. I'll try to. Maybe put up a post not about me? Wouldn't that be a novel idea!

In the meantime, have fun!

Taught Me a Lesson

That'll teach me to ever say I'm going to plan out my future.

So, yesterday, all was well until about 7th period. Then a big wave of not feeling good hit me. So I came home around 3ish and went to sleep until 9. Then I watched House (how I love that show!) and went to sleep again.

I'll leave all the nice details out. Just think of being sick with a fever. A fever of 102 F (wait, wait, wait... Mr. Hagan would want me to say 38.9 C). And that's how fun it was.

Then not eating any food today didn't really help.

Don't really know why I felt like posting this. Some sob story. But I just thought I'd share.

Sharing. It'd make the world a better place.

That's all folks.

A Thought

I was in Mrs. Neeson's room today. And I realized that I really have no honest idea what I want to do with my life. I mean, I say (half-joking, but mostly seriously) that I want to go into the Peace Corps when I graduate. I say that I'm going to go into Science. Alternative energy sources, of course. I say that I want to change the world.

But half of the things I say I want to do are just pipe dreams. Things I concocted during random spurts of inspiration. And the other half are mostly pre-ordained plans that I had little to do with planning. Not that anyone forced them on me or anything. They just seemed like givens in this world.

And this leaves me in quite a predicament. If I strip away the pipe dreams and the pre-given plans, I'm left with no plans for the future. None. Other than the most basic of: graduate from high school; go to college; go into the real world; make some sort of living; die. But the details are missing. And you know what? Life is in the details.

So, I guess I really should sit down sometime and figure this all out. Not like that should keep you up at night or anything. It's my problem. You all have your own lives to figure out.

This leaves me thinking of an article I read in Scientific American. The gist of it is that some choice is good, but at some point, you get diminishing, and eventually negative, returns. And I find that to be a problem for me. I see all the possibilities out there, and I don't want to choose just one. I could be a scientist. But wait, I could major in Poli. Sci. Or no, maybe I could just go to Africa and work to help peace a country back together. Or maybe write a book?

And under all this weight, I feel, well, crushed.

All the more reason to sit down and plan it out. Nothing quite like rushing down a river without a map. Especially when the river is traveling about 10x faster than I could ever possibly swim.

And back to reality. Life's good. School's good. I don't feel all that adultish. But that's cool too.

Enjoy life.

Just Figured...

I'd post something since it's been so long.

Chichester High School had its first marching band competition yesterday. We got a 63.something. We did pretty good. I watched the show. Looks like a pretty normal first competition show. We have plenty of time (well, 2 months) to make it better.

I've become infatuated with Switchfoot. I don't know what it is. Well, yes I do. I love their lyrics. They seem to sing about all the things I think about. How the world can be so ugly and yet so beautiful. All at the same time. They seem to voice all the thoughts that I've ever had. It's crazy.

And best of all, they're not the usual bitchy type of alt-rock band. You know, the ones that go "Man, my life sucks. My girlfriend left me, and I'm a loser. Let me think about killing myself." No, they acknowledge that life sucks sometimes, but then they dare you to move.

And on that same theme, why listen to a song about killing yourself? Especially if it's over something little (aka ANYTHING that happens to you in your teenage years)? I mean, come on. The world's a big place, and there's more than enough to keep you entertained for a long. Ass. Time.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Tell that to me about 7 months ago. But I've grown up a little since then. Just a little though. :)

Well, I've now checked in. Hope you all enjoy this beautiful Sunday. And it's supposed to get more beautiful. Yay!

Namaste.

September 15th

I'm feeling profound right now. Maybe it's because it's my birthday. Maybe it's because I turn 18 around 11:45 tonight. Maybe it's because of that piece of pizza I just ate. I don't really know.

I'm told I'm an "adult" now. Funny. I don't feel any different. I still feel like the same kid. The same kid that sits around wondering "why?" Always why. Whether it's, "Why did I get sick today?" or "Why am I here?" The same kid that worries about how he can be his best self. Worried about how he can help the world the most.

But it's cool. I think I get it now. Because now I'm allowed to think these thoughts. Because now I'm an "adult." Before now, I was just a dumb kid, right? I'm not supposed to think these things. That's for the aaaadults. They know everything. Yeah, well, now I'm one of the aaaadults.

So watch out.

Don't expect much of a difference. It's funny how the most profound moments of our lives just kind of happen. Maybe it's my own fault. Maybe it's because I'm not paying attention. But my life just seems to fly by. Always flying by.

So, I'll take this moment to capture it. Though I know how silly that really is:

I'm eighteen. I'm a student at Chichester Senior High School, a senior. I'm an American. I'm a brother, a son, and a friend. I'm here. And I'm going to make a difference.

And today's my birthday.

Happy Birthday!! So you’re what now? 16? Haha, just kidding. My baby brother’s all grown up and turned 18. Enjoy the benefits, little buddy, ‘cause your next two birthdays won’t be as special. Well, the last time I saw you, you looked at least decently happy, and your hair has started to look a little more acceptable, thank God. I hope you’re enjoying your senior year more than I did. Make sure you make it count before you enter the real—at least a little more real than high school—world.

- From my bestest brother

Thanks Jon.

Very Cool

The latest studies suggest one form of elephant grass would make a productive "energy crop" to be burnt in power stations to generate electricity.

Scientists told a Dublin conference the 4m-high Miscanthus needs little fertiliser to produce very high yields.

A breeding programme would improve its economics still further, they said.

"There's no reason why in 10 years' time this shouldn't be widely exploited," commented Professor Mike Jones, an Irish expert on plants and climate.

"If we grew Miscanthus on 10% of suitable land in [the 15-member] Europe, then we could generate 9% of the gross electricity production," he told the British Association's Festival of Science.

Genius idea. Thank you responsible science. We need something to replace fossil fuel.

"When I was a kid, we drove 20 miles up hill both ways in the snow."

:)

Note: Don't mind me. Fossil fuels / a need to replace them is my new "thing." So, anytime I find something like this, I just want to share it.

Intertia is a Property of Matter (and Life)

Today in Academic Physic we talked about inertia. And the discussion got me to thinking.

As we all know, "intertia is a property of matter" (thanks Bill Nye!). It's something (scientists don't know what) interlinked with mass that creates a tendency for objects to remain doing what they're doing. Pretty much, they'll keep moving or not, depending on whether or not something happens to them. That's why if I were to - say - eject you out of a spaceship in space, you'd keep moving. Indefinitely. Until you reached some force (whether field or contact).

That's great. Inertia is a property of matter. But the more I thought about it (okay, there's a LOT of time to do this sort of thinking in Physics :) ), the more I realized that intertia is a property of just about everything. More specifically, I was thinking of how it's a property of life, or more specifically, how one lives ones life.

Think about it. How often do people get stuck in ruts? I guess I shouldn't be making generalizations. Let's say, think of how many times I've gotten into ruts. Feel free to apply this to yourself, if you so see fit. It's so common for me to just get into a habit or a pattern of thinking. And that thing just gets stuck. It seems like nothing will move it. Or stop it. Whatever the case may be.

But that's the funny thing. Life, which consists mostly of changes, big or small, requires some sort of inertia-less-ness. A life well lived is a life free to move, or to stop, as appropriate. Therefore, just sitting on your butt, or conversely running around like a mad man, won't get you by 100% of the time.

Life's one big dance with inertia. And the best way get down with this dance partner is to stay light and free. Shake off those nasty thought patterns. Boogie away those habits. Literally, get yourself moving. That PHYSICAL movement will help to fix the MENTAL and SPIRITUAL blocks that you might be feeling.

Or if you're feeling overwhelmed, just sit down. Take a few breaths. Take some time to just sit. Don't think. Don't worry. Be happy. Just by sitting.

Try a mix of these two. Who hasn't just sat in their room, turned up the music, and let it wash away their worries? Or gone out and just walked, for the sake of walking?

And this is just another strike at "effing the ineffable." Another metaphor that you can use to describe the undescribable that is life.

Thanks for getting through this post. I've found more and more that I enjoy writing. And reading. Just for the beauty of the medium. So, hopefully I'll post more often.

I might even post again today. If not, enjoy today. And tomorrow. And that day after tomorrow.

:)

I Don't Have the Words

I feel obligated as a member of the human race to put up a post simply stating that today is September the Eleventh.

And that is all that I think I can / should say. You do not need me to feed you emotions / thoughts / beliefs about a moment in time that we all remember. That is not my place.

May all the victims of this tragedy find peace on this day.

Namaste.

Hiya Folks

Don't have anything much to say. One week down of school, and it feels like I've been there since forever. But then again, I have spent three years of my life there.

I read this discussion of philosophy that called it an amalgam of love and wisdom. I like that idea. It gels with how I feel about it. Wisdom by itself is great and all, but unless mixed with loving action, it's not too cool. If something seems loving but not wise, don't do it. If something seems wise but not loving, don't do it. By this simple tenet, one can base a life.

Football game tonight. Excitement. Yeah, that was sarcasm (we did an exercise in AP English where we did tone, and I was supposed to be sarcastic. Nobody thought I was. :) )

Enjoy your first weekend off. And remember to dance with life.

"And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh."
–Nietzche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Free Write!!!

That's right, folks. I'm gonna write whatever happens to come to mind.

First thought. I've ended up "taking" AP English Language and Composition with Ms. Shulman. Now, I know some of you are thinking, 'Why would you subject yourself to something like that.' Subject myself? Dude, I get to have Ms. Shulman for another year. I get to read great works of non-fiction AND fiction. AND I can only do the work that interests me! How is that for a winning combination?!

Second thought. The band is in all sorts of disarray. Just see Kenny's post for more on it. I wonder what the solution is? Yet another Gordian Knot. The last one just kind of unravelled on its own. Maybe this one will too. Hope springs eternal... until the spring gets blown up.

Third thought. I have free time for the first time since Monday. Score! That means time to do what I want to do, like put up this post. Amongst other equally entertaining tidbits. Yay!

I hope everyone is having a great Senior / Junior / Sophomore / Freshman year. I haven't heard how many days it is 'til we graduate yet? Shouldn't someone be keeping a tally? :)

Enjoy this upcoming weekend. I'm sure all marching band members will. Because it's our last one until Competition Season begins. And we all know what that means.

Namaste.

School Daze

First day of Senior Year today. I must say, this year is looking to be a good one. Better than last, at least.

After 3rd period, my day is over. And from that point on, it doesn't even feel like I'm in school. I essentially go off and do my own thing 4th period and 8th period, 5th is Academic Physics (super easy), 6th is AP English (also super easy), and 7th is Gym / Senior Seminar. I am not going to feel like a student at all this year.

Speaking of not feeling like a student, I don't even feel like a Senior. I still very much feel like a Junior. In fact, I feel like this year is somehow just a continuation of last. I know, they're all that way. But this one feels especially so. It's hard to explain.

I hope everyone else is enjoying their return to school. At least, enjoying it as much as one can enjoy a return to school. :)

Namaste, all.

P.S. Thought I'd add this picture just for kicks. It's a lot more recent than my profile one (which is from May of 2005), and it sports my new glasses. Yeah, I know, I'm damn sexy. That's why they call me Sexy Dave Darmon. :)

Me (9/6/2005)
Originally uploaded by David Darmon.

Random

Keychain
Originally uploaded by David Darmon.

So, I was thinking back to the Community Day of last year. And I realized that after Community Day last year, Laura gave me this really cool L.A. Keychain. Don't ask me why this thought came up. I don't know. But I just thought I'd post it and say thanks.

Yeah, I know I'm weird. :)

But it's always fun (for me at least) to set things in terms of previous things. Anyone who knows me well knows I'm crazy with my remembrances of dates and occurences. This being a case in point.

Anyway, continue on with your enjoyance of summer.

Community Day, etc.

Had my last Community Day as a Chi student today.

Did anyone else feel old? I mean, all the kids there were pretty much Juniors. And I just thought, wow, I'm a Senior. I'm ready for Social Security. :)

Speaking of old, apparently the new Spanish teacher is Val Seasons (though Seasons is spelled some really weird way with lots of consonants [suckas that have her as a teacher, though I'm sure she'll just go as Ms. C.]). She was the valedictorian of my sister's class. The class of '01. That places her at 23. But still, that's just crazy. Someone my sister's graduating class is teaching at Chi.

Wow.

And if I haven't made you feel old yet, the universe is now about 15 billion years old or so.

Enjoy your last day off from school for the summer.

And smile.

Memories and Life

Just some random thoughts. I remember reading (hearing?) something a while ago that said whenever we remember something, we are actually creating the memory again, essentially from scratch. As in, you're not actually remembering what happened, you're remembering what you think happened. You're reinterpreting it from your current stage of cognitive development.

That's why "eye witness" accounts are so iffy. Because one could easily rework the witness to think something happened that didn't.

Anyway, that wasn't the point of the post. The point of the post is to state the mutability of the human psyche. Yes, there were certain, empirical things that happened in the past. But a whole lot of the human experience is in how you, personally, interpret the past. And you can't truly interpret the past empirically.

So, if you can't trust how you remember the past, and the future hasn't happened yet, what is a poor schmuck to do? If the past is dead, and the future not yet born, what is there?

And then you hear echoing off in the distance...

Live in the Present

I'm Not Alone

Check out Kenny's blog to see more info on our Marching Band and it's... deficiencies. Good to know I'm not alone in my agitation.

Marching Band, Anger and Guitar

I don't really have anything interesting to report. But I just felt like it's been too long since I've posted, so I have to put something up.

I was going to put up an angry post about marching band. But the anger's kinda vanished. But I suppose I'll elucidate on my previous angry state. Today in marching band, we didn't get as far as we "needed to." I don't know what "needed to" means, but I suppose someone does. Anyway, I personally thought we didn't get far enough just because we didn't. No one really to blame. It's just what happened.

But instead, the blame was placed on "us." We were apparently talking too much. Well, I'm with the brass, and we tend to behave. So from where I was standing, there wasn't all this "excessive talking" going on. But I realize there is a lot of room for error here.

Anyway, I just don't like random blaming of things, as you could see with my post about Katrina. Same thing here. I don't see why someone had to be blamed for us not getting something done. It's just what happened. And mad yelling won't make it better.

Heh, well, I guess there was still a teeny-tiny bit of pent up anger there. :)

On a completely different note, man does playing guitar hurt your fingers. Like, seriously. I need to build up some callouses so that it doesn't hurt as much. Not like I'm a guitar playing fiend or anything. I can just barely play the intros to two Stuart Davis songs. But I'm working on it. And it's fun. I think I like non-wind instruments more than the t-bone. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love the t-bone. But you can't just whip it out and start jamming on a toon. Doesn't work that way.

And somehow I managed to throw something half decent together. How about that!

Well, come see the Chichester Marching Band tomorrow at the football game. It's at Chi High (I don't know the time)!

Peace.