"Happy" Guy Fawkes Day, Pt. II

So my friends, it seems as if we have come full circle.

Normally, people tend to reflect on the past year of their life at holidays that are by consensus viewed as significant, like New Year's or a birthday. I, however, choose Guy Fawkes day.

I shall now attempt to remember my life, month by month, in the past year. I do not care if this is profoundly boring for you.

November: Washington, D.C. At the risk of sounding melodramatic [Me? Melodramatic? haha!], a general loss of trust occurred during this month.

December: Did you know that Egg Nog+Pepsi=golden?

January: All I can remember at this point is that I got full marks on my French final. How sad is that? The memory part, not the grade, mind you.

February: The month sans meat. You can read about it. Somewhere. I'm thinking about repeating this. Albeit, when it's not Chinese New Year, so I don't have to go another year without the Firecracker Chicken of Panda Express. Priorities, man.

March: I cannot recall anything specific, but that was the era of "In the Spirit of Full Disclosure," hyperlinked for your convenience.

April: The Friday of empty classes, due to Coachella and Portland JEA. Euro review sessions.

May: AP test! And then God knows what. I discovered "Pan's Labyrinth" was actually brilliant, "The Graduate" ensured that Simon and Garfunkel trotted around my head the whole day, and most appropriately for this date and post, I finally got to see the entirety of "V for Vendetta."

June: A pretty good month. World cup! World cup! World cup! The last week was intensely stressful and very, very bittersweet. Closed out this month in Bombay.

July:Calcutta. In all sincerity, I've realized that a post on my time in Calcutta is ridiculously long overdue. This is one aspect of myself that irritates me to no end.

August: Calcutta, Dehra Dun, Delhi. Family reunions, full houses,c cold coffee, short tempers, psychopathic dogs, there's-never-such-a-thing-as-too-much-Chinese-food, and nail polish.

September: At this point, I hadn't talked to anyone my age, forget people in LA, in two months. I remember brimming with excitement to go to school and get my schedule, which actually ended up being the most glorious 1-6 schedule imaginable. School has a different vibe this year, methinks. But I think it's for the better. I have classes with people I haven't had classes with in years, whilst I have no classes with people who have been in at least one since fifth grade.

October: The busiest month of the year.

November: It's five days old. As for expectations, I can't sense anything about Kansas City next week, which is making me really impatient.

Looking back, I'm disappointed. I turned 16 one month and a day ago. It all happened so fast. There were things, some superficial, some...not, that I wanted to accomplish before I hit that mark. I need to get cracking. I turn 17 in 11 months [holy shit], and as everyone knows that means I can do magic outside of school and am therefore a legal adult.

In the Spirit of Full Disclosure

With the recent crop of political scandals and resulting resignations, I felt it would be appropriate to divulge certain information that has haunted me for the past seven years, in the event that I pursue a political career.

This sordid saga has its roots in 2003, involving xanthophobia and, it pains me to say, a bribe.

Yes, a bribe. Perhaps even more ignobly, the exchange took place in a classroom setting. How can I bear myself, knowing that I allowed, even initiated, such a heinous act to permeate a room intended for the molding of our nation's youth.

It all spiraled from the christening of our table groups in the classroom, with a 'wild' or 'horror' theme. As my group was unique in that it consisted of two people, we felt naturally superior and therefore named our table after the most illustrious of supernatural creatures, the [true] vampire.

Meanwhile, a rather large group, who incidentally consisted of some good chums, gave their table a rather plebeian, rather unnecessary long [four words] name.

This drew the laughter and scorn of certain members of the class, including, I am loth to admit, myself.

How could I have participated in this breakdown of civility? Where does that leave my moral compass? How can I profess to want to help the world? This is why I take the story to you, my loyal...loyal...um. You get the point.

As we stood in line by the door, eager to escape to glorious nutrition, ahem, sorry, recess, my teacher, who was actually a very pleasant person, swooped down upon a fellow mocker, and instituted what was to me the most horrible punishment of all: "Change your card!"

He, whom I believe was no stranger to the yellow card, went off to do so, leaving me standing in line with bugged-out eyes that anyone who saw me do French dialogues in eighth grade would be familiar with.

Upon his return, I frantically begged him not to rat me out. I pegged him as one of those kids who would not consider 'niceness' as a mantra. And quite honestly, if I had done the same as him, why should I not receive the same consequences?

You have to see, a yellow card [this ain't soccer] would be an unsightly and horrific blemish on my card score sheet. I prided myself on the fact that my last changed card was in 1999. I strived to be the perfect child in school! Each day we remained green meant we could color our score card green. A month of green=teacher lunch [in school] and usually green Powerade [disgusting]. Neither may seem all that appealing to you, but it was. For some reason.

Anyway, I digress. He stood there with a smirk on his face, stubbornly refusing to cover for me. But then I realized I held immense power between my two hands.

Who could resist the power of the mighty Oreo?

I offered him two of my three Oreos in return for his silence. Perfect.

But not really. This lapse of moral judgment and character has haunted me for years. Only in 2007 did I begin to slowly come to terms with my youthful mistake. But I cannot blame it solely on my youth. What kind of monster was I, committing such evil at such an early age?

That is why I take this to you, in the spirt of full disclosure. I cannot keep this unconscionable act to myself any longer. I do not want this incident to torpedo any future career, but of course, that is definitely not the reason I'm sharing this with you. I know you may it find it hard to forgive my indiscretion, but please, in your hearts, find some room.

Mea Culpa.

Chapter III

I neglect this place.

There is a feeling of trepidation when I see this bookmark in Safari.

'Oh no, I have to think of a WHOLE NEW post!'

Zut!

But,

I need not think of anything special to post, because...

We have a new president-elect, ladies and gentlemen.

Barack Obama makes history as a young man who will become the first mixed race president in the history of these United States of America.

Whether or not you like/agree with him, you have to admire the fact that in forty years, we have overcome extreme racial prejudice to elect a half-black, half-white candidate.

However, I do not think race should be focused on. You should not see colour, you should see the person, which is basically one of the tenants of the civil rights movement.

I can't help but feel sorry for John McCain. I hope he continues to serve as a senator.

In fact, I was close to neutral in this election.

It was interesting to see reactions to the news last night. I prefer the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and I was watching the Daily Show/Colbert Report Election Special, and when Jon Stewart interrupted Colbert to announce that Barack Obama is the president-elect, you could see how emotional he was. There was a hush in the audience, who was taken aback, and then erupted into cheers.

Charlie Gibson was also visibly emotional. Though whether in joy, regret, or mixed feelings, I do not know.

It humanizes suave and serious anchors.

Fox, of course, was as grim as Hades.

On the State of California front...

As many say, it is a sad, sad day.

Proposition 8 was passed.

This was a state constitutional amendment, correct me if I'm wrong, defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. This would overturn the State Supreme Court's ruling.

The 'No on Prop 8' effort was large and many supported it, yet the Yes effort was also huge. You might be surprised that something like this would pass in a state considered to be so liberal like California, but you would be surprised. California is actually largely conservative, yet the way the districts are drawn up, the populous areas are mostly liberal, thus the electoral votes usually go to the Democratic presidential candidate.

But for state purposes, California has a strong Republican and conservative [the two are not the same] faction. Look at our governors-many were [and are] Republicans.

So people should not be too surprised, but it still is sad.

I mean it doesn't affect them. Why should they care? Just give them equal rights. I feel sorry gay people in that they are persecuted so heavily.

Based on today's LA Times [tis may have changed], Proposition 4 was trailing, which is good, in my opinion.

Proposition 2 has a sizable lead, which would interest my history teacher, who made it clear to our class yesterday..."YOU CAN'T COMPROMISE ON MORALITY!!!!!"

I think we know what she voted. :D

November 4, 2008.

This day should go down in history.

In eleven weeks, the worst president in recent times will have to step down. The nation collectively hopes that things will improve.

Welcome to Chapter III of the Millenium Years.

*Millenium Years- mid 90s-00s[ Clinton [yay], Bush[boo], Obama(we shall see)]