Ya know what’s so great about sport? It transcends politics and hatred. We have a World Cup go off with few incidents (Turkey and South Korea linked arms and bowed to the crowd together after their match yesterday). The US and Iran, political enemies, played a soccer match in ‘98 without problems. But here’s the best story: Israeli Amir Hadad and Pakistani Aisamul Qureshi are playing doubles together at Wimbledon, and have made it thru to the third round. Despite this, the Pakistani government is outraged. Don’t they realize they no matter how much they hate the country’s politics, there are still decent people there? Who cares about Palestine when you’re playing tennis? Sheesh louise.The World Cup reminds me some of Harry Potter (and not only because of the Quidditch World Cup). For instance, they’re giving out the “Golden Boot” to the best player. I can see some guy like Dumbledore coming onto the field to give Ronaldo the trophy while Miroslav Klose tightens his upper lip. Now, you might be saying, Kev, what do you know about Harry Potter? I ended up reading the 2nd and 3rd books in the last couple days and I’m starting on the fourth one now. They’re damn good! I highly recommend them - first of all, you can read at least 100 pages an hour cuz of the way it’s written, so they fly by. Second, the characters are really well developed. Basically, it rocks in every way. Go buy them!

So while I hate to talk about the courts again this time, the Supreme Court actually did make an egregiously bad decision the other day that affects people our age. They said that, in a 5-4 decision, drug testing of random students is allowed by schools. Have they heard of the Fourth Amendment or does that not matter anymore? “The right of the people to be secure in their persons…against unreasonable searches and seizures…shall not be violated but upon probable cause.” It’s clear as day - they can’t search you or arrest you without a reason. And by nature, a random drug test is not a reason. This whole thing came up because of an Oregon school, too, I believe.

The majority opinion said that the school has “an important interest in preventing drug use.” They do. But they are not police. They are there to educate. Testing athletes for steroids - fine. Testing drama kids for pot - why? Are they less able to act if they get high on the weekends? I’d say that drug testing at work is just as bad. For one, urine tests don’t notice alcohol, cocaine or steroids. Two, wouldn’t it be easier to look at performance records to see bad performance than looking at what an employee does off the clock? Quite frankly, what you do off the clock or outside of school is your own business - not theirs. For the same reason that I don’t check racial boxes on forms, I would never submit to an unnecessary drug test. Protect your privacy. (And I’ve never done a drug in my life - it’s the principle that matters!)

As an aside, I saw an article yesterday that 9.4 percent of teenagers have done cocaine and that 4.8% have in the last 30 days. What the hell? I’d be amazed if that were true. One in ten? I’ve never heard of a single teenager hitting the lines, but then again, maybe I run with the wrong crowd. Or maybe the right crowd, as the case may be.

And since I’m on a clip about the courts, I did a little more research about the Pledge of Allegiance flap. I still stand by my conviction that it was the right decision. Here’s some more info: The mentions of God in Congress and the Supreme Court were also added during Eisenhower, along with “In God We Trust”. Mentions to God on money did exist on some coins from the Civil War until Teddy Roosevelt, but he (a very religious man) felt the use of God on money was sacrilige. I wonder what he’d think about the use of God to garner votes (ahem). Herbert Hoover, well-known as a model conservative leader, wouldn’t say “swear” at his inaguration (he used the alternative “affirm”) because of swear’s religious connotations. These guys understand what I understand - religion is for yourself, not for others. In fact, I would argue that if you really followed the Bible, Matthew 22:17-22:20 and Luke 20:21-20:25 clearly state that money should not be interlinked with God. “Give to Caeser what is Caeser’s and to God what is God’s.” I’m glad my future BU teacher Mr. Brudnoy has put the whole pledge scuffle into context.

Here’s my new Pledge of Allegiance:

I pledge to uphold the Constitution of the United States
to protect its freedom, its liberties and the pursuit of happiness
a shining beacon, e plubirus unum

Here’s why: The word “allegiance” comes from the word “liege”, which was a peasant that served a king or feudal lord. Sorta undemocratic, huh? If anything, our leaders should be pledging allegiance to us. So it’s gone. We’re pledging now to a Constitution, which has meaning, instead of a flag, which is a hollow symbol. The whole “liberty and justice” is changed into the second line of my new pledge. I added “a shining beacon” to echo the common sentiment in American history that we are a “shining beacon on a hill” - that is, an example to the world in everything we do. Finally, I put in the Motto of the United States. It’s not “In God We Trust” - it’s “E Plubirus Unum”, which is Latin for “One Nation out of many parts.” We are many states, many beliefs, many backgrounds forming a seamless quilt from many threads. It replaces the “Indivisible”, “Under God” and “Republic” parts of the old one. Better, huh? I would proudly say this pledge if it were at school.Hey, I got a job? Tight. It’s wac - I have to serve crazy old people at Churchill Estates. But a job’s a job, right? I find out if the arcade will hire me next week. Please hire me, arcade!

Was Rachel Carson a fake? My high school has (I guess it’s “had” now - that seems weird, huh?) an Environmental Studies school called the Rachel Carson center and I saw a thing about her life. She truly did a lot to get chemicals banned that were killing many raptor species (like bald eagles). However, it turns out a lot of her science was bad. She claimed humans were dying of DDT, which the National Institute of Health and most researchers say is not true. DDT also had the little effect of killing mosquitos, and it’s nonuse since Carson has allowed malaria to come back to many areas, killing literally millions a year. Perhaps next Spring will be Silent only cuz all the people are dying of mosquito-borne diseases.

So the SAT is changing for 2005. Bad idea, I say. They changed it cuz the whiny Cal system wanted a test to test actual knowledge, not simply “aptitude” or reasoning. So the SAT axed analogies, quantitative reasoning and added an essay. Does Cal realize that they could simply make applicants take the SAT 2 writing and it’d be the same thing as the new SAT? For me personally, it wouldn’t have mattered - I did wicked good on the SAT 2 Writing (I woulda had at least 2340/2400 under the new scoring), but I still like the old SAT. Quantitative Reasoning is a skill, not something from a curiculum. Knowing how to decipher meaning from words you don’t know is a skill. This stuff is important. Essays are too easily subject to the whims of the grader and are also subject to biases. For instance, a family that immigrated from Mexico might answer a question about history different from Joe Q from Brooklyn. I thought they wanted to get rid of biases. It’s wac, in an ycase.

Ok, world cup time. Go Brazil!

Gah! Sprained ankles! Work soon! Family problems! Film at 11, heh.So it’s been pretty stressful recently. First of all, my dad’s side of the family and my mum’s side were both in town for graduation, which is prob’ly the first time that’s happened since my mum and dad divorced when I was five or six. Now, the two sides of the family don’t really get along the best. So we had a lunch with everyone here the day of graduation and there was some wierd stuff going on. It seemed like everyone was getting along, but I guess not. Ah well, they won’t have to see each other again, right?

Better than that, though, I got a diploma! Yay! College, here we come! The all night party was bomb too. It was at the DAC (of course). I blew tons of money gambling, was wicked close to beating this kid that went to State in swimming in the raft event, and almost beat Koke in hoops. Too bad close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. It’s sorta sad to think about all the people I won’t get to see again from my class. I got a grip of pictures of my buds, but it’s a bit of an ending. Ah well. Lots of those in life, huh?

My record is over! I lasted 18 years and 5 months without taking any painkillers, but I sprained my ankle pretty bad in a game of hoops with TJ, Eric and a few hippies and needed a Motrin to sleep. I woke up after sleeping for two hours and it hurt so, so much. Ouch. So now I’ve sprained my left ankle twice and my right ankle once (this is the first time). At the start of summer, too! Those painkillers work pretty well. I don’t like swallowing pills, so I chewed it and then swallowed. Not recommended. It coats your tongue and tastes terrible for a half-hour, heh. It’s sorta like the taste when you pop an Altoid and then drink water right after (try it, it’s disgusting).

Jakob Nielsen is right-on on his comments about Flash. Y’know Flash - it’s that wierd plug-in that all movie sites seem to think they need to use. It’s the worst. Don’t use Flash. Those sites cut off tons of their audience and make their sites unreachable in decent time to almost all of their viewers (those with dial-up). Even worse, they don’t add much to the site. ESPN uses Flash well - that is, you can’t tell it’s being used. I’m learning Perl/cgi this summer so I can do some freelance next year - much more useful than Flash.

So when family was here, I drove sooooooooooooooo much. One day to Crescent City, CA and back. Up to Portland and back the next day. Up to Mt. St. Helens and back the next day. Gah. That’s a lot of driving. My Aunt had a GameCube in the back of her van, so I guess that third trip wasn’t all bad, mwahaha. I picked up a few cheap videogames, speaking about that. Fred Meyer has a bunch of PS2 games for 16 bucks. I got Dave Mirra 2, Dark Cloud and Midnight Club, all new. Sweetness.

Still no job. I thought I would get the one at Hollywood, but no dice. Blimpie is interviewing me tomorrow, which is tight, and I’m working for a week, breakfast lunch and dinner, at the U of O next week with TJ and Mike, so that’s at least a little bit of money. Justin’s mom might hook me up at symantec, which would be tight too.

Oh, so on one of those road trips, we were in a traffic jam and the country station said “In 5 minutes, updates on the traffic situation” so we kept it there. Damn, country music is strange. There was this song “Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)” by Toby Keith (known for his hit, I kid you not, “You’re not as Much Fun Since I Quit Drinkin’”) which is one of the most strange/offensive things I’ve ever heard, heh. “We’ll put a boot in your ass, it’s the American Way / You’ll be sorry you messed with the US of A / And when all hell is raining down on you / You’ll know that it’s courtesy of the red, white and blue.” Hmm. Peter Jennings hates the song and it’s gotta be cuz he’s Canadian and not cuz the song is garbage.

So the State Department has set up rewardsforjustice.net. It’s sorta corny, but they do get my respect for having terrorist posters for guys with no relation to the United States (such as former Rwandan leader Felicien Kabuga) on the front page. There’s actually no mention of Al-Qaeda on the front page, but instead pictures of wanted terrorists from Rwanda and the Phillipines. My respect for that.

Actually, the Govt. has done two things I heavily agree with this week. Remember Johnny Boy Ashcroft’s missive about how a man with a nuclear weapon plan was at O’Hare (that Padilla guy) and was arrested? Ridiculous. He didn’t have the complete plans, nor the means, to construct such a complex weapon. Apparently Bush and Wolfowitz thought the scare tactic was ridiculous too, so they clarified exactly what they had, which was that a man was planning to use such a weapon if (and that’s a big if) he could figure out how to make one. And in any case, a “dirty bomb” would cause very few casualties compared to a nuke or even a truck bomb.

So the World Cup has been amazing so far. If I woulda told you before the Cup started that niether France (the holders) and Argentina (the odds-on favorite) would win, you might say “Wow, that’s a surprise.” If I told you that neither team would make the second round, you probably would have said “Kevbo, what are you smoking and may I have some of it?” So far, the two favorites are gone, Italy was inches away from being sent packing, Brazil has scored on a tremendous bicycle kick, and both my teams, Ireland and the States, are looking solid for the 2nd round. There have also been some reaaaaaaaaaaaaly bad teams in the tourney so far. Saudi Arabia went home after 3 losses, 8-0, 1-0 and 3-0. Ouch. France failed to score a goal. China lost 4-0, 2-0 and 3-0 and were sent back home. So far, Poland has 4-0 and 2-0 losses with only the US left to be played. Good times.

I think I’m gonna go do that free trial at www.emusic.com. If only the major labels had thought of this idea. For 10$ a month, you get unlimited song downloads, in mp3 formats, from the emusic server (so the songs are always great quality and quick download). They have something like 100,000 songs and editors picks to help you find new stuff. Tight, huh? I would pay 10$/m in an instant for a service like that that included all the major label and electronica songs.

“Pumpin (Alex Konrad Mix)” by Headquarter. Boomin’ rollicking fast, hands-in-the-air trance. I’m making my summer CD (I’m 42 minutes into the first draft, it’ll be like 65-70 total) and this isn’t on it b/c it’s more of a night track, but it’s tight. The CD is chill, downtempo and house for the first 20 minutes, then it goes trance for 20 minutes, then into hip-hop for 20 minutes. It’s gonna be sick. CJ Stone’s “The Sun Goes Down” is more vocal trance from this man who can do no wrong. Lots of piano interludes. “Tainted Love (Garage Edit)” by Middlerow Crew is a garage-ified remix of the classic punk song.Also “A Little Less Conversation (Junkie XL Remix)” by Elvis Presley. This is on that Nike World Cup ad. The song is absolutely off the hook. This one is on the CD. It’s got Elvis’ unique voice and Junkie XL sick scratch work. So good. In no particular order, try the hiphop hits “The Groundbreaker” by Fallacy & Fusion and “Stand Clear” by Adam F ft/ MOB, the new female vocaled, R&B ish garage hit “Dirty Cash” by El Nino and the raggae inspired hip-hop cut “Put a Cut On It” by Aphrodite ft/ Rah Digga. Finally, the house selections include the Tupac-sampling “Shake It Baby” by DJD ft/ The Hydraulic Dogs and “Backfired” by Masters at Work ft/ India.

Ohmigod! I can’t believe that high school is over. That’s nuts. And tons of family here too. My stepbrother (he’s 29 and just got a Masters from Tulane but doesn’t have a job yet) is staying in my room, my grandparents are down the hall, my dad, my aunt, 2 cousins and my other grandfather are all staying in town. Whew. And so many parties to turn down. I missed *5* different things yesterday! Pobre mio! Ah well, there’ll be bomb parties all summer.It’s been a while since I’ve updated cuz of all the stuff happening and the fact that old, early-sleeping people are staying in the computer room. So here’s the rundown (interspliced with political commentary, of course):

There was a wicked tight dance last Friday. It’s the Aloha Dance. Every last Friday of the year, the school puts on this dance outside on the volleyball courts with a wicked good DJ, tons of girls in bikinis and tons and tons of drunk people. It’s good times, heh. I’d say a good 30 percent of the people were drunk before the dance even began, and tons more afterward. This one runner was totally stoned, and right after the dance ended, he whipped out his John McDermott and took a whiz right in the middle of the volleyball court (sand) while everyone was watching highly confused. Interesting, heh. Eyal tried to steal one of the tiki torches, but Laura Shaver caught him and he hadda bring it back.

The Word Cup got started in earnest last weekend. I’m stoked. No one gave America a piss’ chance in hell of beating the Portuguese, and then we had 2 of our best players (Claudio Reyna and Clint “Cleatus” Mathis) injured for the game, but we still put in 3 goals in the first 35 minutes and got a 3-2 victory over one of the world’s top teams. The Irish got two ties against Cameroon and Germany, which means all they need is a win against a terrible Saudi side to qualify for the second round. Best of all, the French scored zero goals in their first two games, and now need to beat Denmark by 2 goals without 2 of their best players (Petit and Henry were suspended) to make the second round. And a bad French side should make us all happy. I’ve learnt the Argentinian side are an ugly bunch, too.

Monday was the IHS assembly and graduation. I busted this sick rap with Naddy R singing the chorus, but I guess it was sorta hard to hear in the back rows (the mic sounded kinda garbly to me on stage, but it was hard to tell, since the stupid sound check was set up so that we didn’t use mics at it). A buncha people I don’t know said stuff to me about it, though, which is wicked tight. It had a few sweet verses, like “We risin’ up like Hillary on the summit of Mount Everest / All the kids behind me shining golden like a treasure chest”. Naddy R did a great job singing too. Sweetness. I got this cool award from IHS, also, so that’s cool. I’ll put it on my resume, heh.

At the graduation, I sat next to Chris Ware. We were enemies, but we’re buds now, as we spent the whole graduation pointing out the bomb girls at our respective schools. This girl to my other side (Shannon Skinner, maybe? It’s Brad Simpson’s gf, I remember) was so totally bomb, but I’m told by other girls that she’s wicked fake. Ah well. I don’t trust girls judgments, anyway, heh. (Just joking, you guys know me)

Tuesday, we got our yearbooks. I guess Sheldon and South don’t get the books till the fall, which I think is wac. Like, all we miss is final reports on spring sports and graduation, but we get all the signatures and comments from our friends, which are infinitely more valuable. Jamie C decided that old yearbooks are the best ego boost, cuz everyone says only nice stuff about you, hehe. Totally true. People are actually a lot more honest in yearbooks (I know I usually am) - like, there’s no jealousy or anger or anything like that. It’s really nice. This year, I tried to write at least a few sentences for everyone, even people I don’t know that well (heh, a couple people that wanted to sign yearbooks I’d forgotten the name of…prob’ly not a good sign, huh?), cuz it’s the senior year and all. I think I’ve got almost everyone taken care of, though I gotta get a few more that I missed like Mel T and Ethan at the all night party. In any case, everyone is smiling after reading their yearbooks. It’s like Christmas - prob’ly my favorite part of the school year.

Also, I have like thirty senior pictures. Please take them! They’re just sitting in my room! I don’t want pictures of myself, heh. I can look in a mirror anytime I want, right?

Stupid babes? Former Maxim Editor says magazine a creative wasteland.

Wednesday (er…yesterday) was the last day of school. Sooooooooo nice. The back parking lot was roped off with bouncers to keep the Juniors out. Y’see, they’ve been parking there (the “Senior Lot”) all year, and we were tired off it by now, heh. So we kept it to ourselves, TP’ed the juniors whose cars had snuck past the blockade and had a mini-BBQ. Right after last period, a loud roar erupted as the Seniors celebrated in the halls. It hasn’t settled in yet (I think at the end of the All Night Party tomorrow night I’ll be pretty sad knowing I won’t see a lot of these people ever again), but it’s still so, so exciting. I wrote a ton of raps for people in yearbooks. The one for A-Money McQueen was sick cuz it used every letter of the alphabet in the rap: “A-Money McQueen be (B) the best at tennis, see? (C) / DDR (D) skillz come so E-sily for he / In-F-abble levels of talent for this G /” etc etc etc. So then I needed one for Amber cuz she wanted a rap, too. I wrote like Andrew’s, but going backward from Z to A: “Like spacemen in Z-ro gravity, horizons Y-denin’ X-ponentially” etc. It was soooooo sick. Tons of alliteration and all that. Wicked tight. It’s like my best written freestyle ever.

Y’know the Kyoto Protocol? A prominent environmentalist actually did the math (unlike Greenpeace) and figured out that the Kyoto Protocol would only lower global warning by .15 degrees at a cost of 150 billion dollars to the US economy. Totally worthless, since adapting to the global warming would cost far less. And that’s exactly what the Bush plan recommended last week (paying to adapt rather than wasting the money to keep things the same). Warmer weather only means a degree or two say all but the most radical researchers, and there are both good and bad benefits. Cut global warning, sure, but only when it’s feasible. Congrats to Bush for taking the high road.

So yearbooks are also fun because of the funny comments. Here are the best so far this year (names left out to protect the innocent):

• “I know you’ll find a trophy wife to cook you dinner while you make the dinero.”
• “I never believed white guys could rap until I heard you.”
• “Pimps up, hoes down.”
• “Dawg, you are a true thug. You are one of the biggest pimps I know.”
• “Your ‘Buddhist Tennis’ has taught me more than you’ll ever know.”
• “From tennis to flows, you da Most Valuable Playa.”
• “If I haven’t made millions by 27, I plan on calling and joining your harem.”
• “You are honest, real, funny, smart and above all else you like Seinfeld, which is what’s really important in life.”
• “When I establish my nudist colony, I’ll see you there.”
• and of course “Don’t stalk Natalie Portman!”

What would I do without these insightful nuggets of wisdom?

If you eat like no food, you could probably live to 150 years old. Then again, you wouldn’t have as much sex drive and couldn’t eat Mac & Cheese, so what would be the point of living anyway?

Heh, I guess I won “Most Likely to Be President of the United States” in the senior voting. Good times. I thought I had Best Body locked up, but Marcus won. Dunno how that happened, hehe. I got a cool mug and a certificate, though. Sweet. Someone said they introduced me as “You all know him as The Cure…” Word. A bunch of us hit up Studio One cuz it was cheaper than the official breakfast, though.

Damn, this took 2 days to write. No time! I might get a job after all, too! Symantec and Hollywood are both looking good right now. Props to Caitlin for reccomending me to her manager. Sweet! I have no time…it’s time for graduation and the bomb all night party where they’re giving away 4000 bucks in cash!

“Firewater” by BT
Damn, this song is much hated by reviewers, but 6 minutes in it has the most intoxicating singing ever. The song was in a dream I had over at Tyler’s last weekend. Wierd, huh?Also “Without Me (Garage Mix)” by Eminem.
Sorry, I have more good new songs, but I hafta leave like right now. This is a tight remix, pick it up. Peace!