Below are the 19 most recent journal entries recorded in Phil Burns' LiveJournal:

Saturday, October 30th, 2004
7:53 pm	To anyone who might be reading this: ------------------------------------------- I dont want to sound vain, but my Princeton application demands that I supply two adjectives my friends would use to describe me. So, what do you think? Please comment. (Plus, I'll know that you exist because I dont actually have any friends on my list!) Current Music: Social Distortion - Footprints on my Ceiling (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, October 29th, 2004
8:53 pm	remember to post weird similarities timeline stina election draft Taco Bell Boycott (Comment on this)
8:53 pm	remember to post weird similarities timeline stina (Comment on this)
Sunday, October 10th, 2004
11:44 pm	An Excellent Week: 10/1 - 10/9 ----------------------------------- 10/1: Spencer has a party for his 18th birthday. In driving from baseball practice to the Promenade, where his parents own a restaurant, Mario's, I drove down Topanga Canyon. I was amazed by how country it felt, and then, I was amazed by how long the light at Topanga and Sunset is. It was a really nice relaxing drive, a respite from a hard week. Arriving in Santa Monica well before anyone else, I needed to look around to find a present for him from me, Jena, and Stephanie. Finding Bernini's, which I thought I would regret because I would probably agonize over buying $150 shirts, I walked in and found a $175 shirt marked down to $50. It was awesome and I wanted to buy it, but I only had $30, so I decided to make it our present. It actually caused a problem because as Adam said, I was too good at shopping. Madeline wanted in on this present, but divvying it up 4 ways would make it only a $12.50 present each, so it caused somewhat of an issue. I don't remember how it was resolved. Anyway, the party was good because people actually danced. Most importantly, this included Ruby dancing a little at the end after a LOT of encouragement from Jena. But I guess she was OK with dancing with me, even if I tried several times and she went away. At the end we got to dance together for one song and that was definitely cool. I was definitely attracted to her, but I had not a clue about her vis a vis me. 10/2: This afternoon the Dodgers had one of the most amazing comebacks in baseball history. Down 3-0 in the bottom of the 9th, they rallied against the Giants with the help of several walks, an error, and a couple hits. Jayson Werth had the big, game-tying hit and Steve Finley hit the game winning grand slam that I didnt see go over the fence. 7-3 final, the Dodgers clinched the N.L. West for the first time since '95. Tonight I held my casino night 18th birthday party. About 40 people were supposed to show up, about 35 did. It was awesome!!! We had roulette, poker, craps, blackjack, novelty sodas, Elvis, Wayne Newton, Juanes. Lots of people dressed up. Adam was awesomely Elvis, hair, glasses and all. Steph was a cocktail waitress and actually did carry around drinks for a little while. Jeff was the sweetest of all, dressed in his Miami Vice 70s suit. It was pastel blue with a pink shirt underneath unbuttoned to his sternum and very tight pants. Jena and Madeline came wearing furs; Jena was wearing a really low-cut shirt that I was shocked to find out belonged to Ruby. As for Ruby herself, she looked amazing in a red dress(haha all the cliches) and then she put on the $1.29 hat I bought from PartyAmerica and it was the best thing ever. Why I have no idea but certainly it made an impression. She also came with Lots and Lots of balloons that she had blown up and written on. Many props for that. This was the second time she'd blown up balloons for me; on my actual birthday, she brought a cake, balloons, and bubbles. Beside being really nice to me all the time. Of course, I didnt connect the pieces of the puzzle together but I did feel that I was starting to like her, perhaps because of all the things she had done. I acted on it, actually to sidetrack again, I had been hitting on her some: a couple things I remember were saying her moving her toes around on Madeline was hot, I remember making comments about her being the best looking girl not on Spencer's dance floor or something like that, whatever it was, I was hitting on her in a limited fashion and today I gave her $100 in plain sight of everyone so that they probably gave me a double take to say whoa. Madeline definitely mentioned it later. The 3 of them stayed for a good 45 minutes after the party ended, and got to socialize with Gabby, Jeremy, and Amy, which was nice. Other awesome things from the party: Doug had a good time and won the last prize with $702 over Adam who had $700. I tried to spend a little more time with him since he didn't have anybody there that he normally hung out with. But at the Texas holdem table he really enjoyed himself and learned the game. Brooks and Bryan showed up high, as I expected, and didnt cause any trouble because they were pretty out of it. Especially Brooks. When he walked in the door, I said hi and he just zoned out for about 10 seconds before saying hi. Being harmless, it was really funny. Bryce and Christine unexpectedly brought Adam Esparza and some guy I'd never met, Stephen Legrasso. It was ok, though, since I like Adam and Stephen was really quiet. They didn't stay more than 45 minutes. Ronka loved Tony (surprise surprise). Madeline and Ruby kept saying taht I had really nice friends, why couldn't everybody be that nice? I was flattered, but I'm sure the fact that a substantial percentage of the people were from church had something to do with it. The only people that were antisocial at all were Bryan, Brooks, Zac a little, Allison and Olivia. The cake was awesome too!! It was a replica of my 5th birthday train cake. There is so much more to say, but so long for tonight. Current Mood: jubilant Current Music: Juanes (Comment on this)
Monday, September 6th, 2004
12:34 am	Which one is Sami McGowan? Is he the tall one in the polo shirt? Giaochino finds a sophomore girl that is in love with him - it's good to be a senior. (Comment on this)
Friday, July 30th, 2004
1:45 am	Best Speeches of the DNC ----------------------------------- 1. Bill Clinton, Monday 2. Barack Obama, Tuesday 3. John Kerry, Thursday 4. Al Sharpton, Wednesday 5. David Alston, Monday 6. Wesley Clark, Thursday Current Mood: optimistic Current Music: All Falls Down - Kanye West (Comment on this)
Saturday, July 17th, 2004
12:03 am	YADs at the 216th General Assembly of the PC(USA) --------------------------------------------------------- On the flight to Atlanta which left at 6:00 AM, I met Megan Grieshaber (Santa Barbara). She goes to a Christian college in Santa Barbara that might be a girls school. She told me about dropping by UCSB parties and stuff like that and acting in a Christian manner to attract a few students to become / rediscover Christ and join a church group. Later in the week she spilled her beans about her family situation: her father died when she was young and she and her sister eventually set up their mother with a nice guy from their church that went out and eventually married. It's a very nice story although at the time, it was used to justify the power of "one man, one woman" or something like that. It was nice to stay friends with her throughout the whole trip while she was a big-time social conservative who spoke up often in committee. Kristin Contreras (San Fernando) lives in Sylmar. She just graduated from Village Christian and is going to Oxy next year. She was nice to talk to on the trip down, on our heavily Presbyterian flight, especially from Atlanta to Richmond and also on our first bus ride to the hotel. I never quite figured out what side of the aisle she was coming down on, although I figure she was leaning to the left. In the hotel I met Dustin Stovall (Salina, KS) who is disabled, although I never found out how. He's a little slow too and didn't find out that he would be coming until the week GA started. He also skipped a day of plenary because he slept in too late. Dustin had problems, including an early tendency which I spoke to him about to speak too often and turn people against him, yet I really enjoyed hanging out with him over the course of the week. He was one who I spent a lot of time with, especially at night in the hotels and during one of the last group meals (Friday lunch). Ron Rahaman (SE Missouri) was a guy who I sat next to in the first YAD caucus. He's an Indian guy that goes to U Chicago and he definitely fit the stereotypes of U Chicago students. He was studying something in biology but told me that the physics and chemistry departments were amazing as well as the research opportunities. He was kind of dorky, but very nice and not in a sheltered kind of way. I was always glad to talk to him or sit next to him on a bus because he was always smiling and willing to talk. One thing about him did annoy me though: he spoke against the YADs during plenary debate, I believe even to take away our vote in committee. He also spoke on a moderate-conservative position on other issues. Matt LeVan (Dublin, OH) was one of three guys who seemed strangely attracted to Melissa Barnes. The other great thing about him is that his uncle played on the PDGA Tour! He can throw a frisbee well, as I saw when he, I and Ron played some catch while boring seminary presentations were going on. Anna Rose King (Beverly Farms, MA) lives in a suburb of Boston. I called her RoseAnne for a long time (not really fitting at all because she turned out very anti-gay, was slim, and good-looking), which annoyed her slightly but not enough that we wouldn't say hello every time we passed each other in the halls. She is an interesting person. She really gave the impression (and I think she did it truthfully) to listen to both sides of the aisle. She attended both OnebyOne and Covenant Network. Coming from Boston, I assumed that she would be liberal, but she turned out to say really conservative things, including one terrible speech about gay marriage, then what? polygamy? I hate that stuff (obviously). To her credit, though, after 05-07 came down, she did not duck and hide from the crushed liberals. She went and spoke to Dan Murphy-Cairns, telling him, "I dont know what to say," to which he nodded. I had a great talk with her at Denny's one night we didn't want to go to caucus, explaining to her about H-W and stuff. She told me that she got rejected from most of her top choices (Amherst, etc.) and had ended up at Oxy for the fall. She doesn't really seem like the stereotypical Oxy girl, but it's good for them to have some white conservatives around, there's such a lack of them. (Maybe it'll convert her.) I'll try to help her get used to L.A. and I told her that I'll be around to show her around and that she could come visit our church. In the end, she's another nice person with "misguided" beliefs. I met a lot of them at GA. Current Music: Usher / Kanye West (Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2004
9:24 pm	On Egotism -------------- Slowly, halfheartedly leafing through the amalgam of the previous year's fashions, I saw shirts of red, blue, purple, and yellow fade into varying shades of gray. I moved slowly up one aisle, down the next, up another, and down again. Somewhere far away my mother drifted among the discounts, merely an afterthought. Nothing looked good; at this point and time, nothing could look good. People passed by, waited for me to get out of the way, perhaps even spoke, but I showed no signs of response, nor even recognition of their existence. My ears had ceased to function; my head had expanded to three times its normal size: the extra had seemingly made a wall around my brain, eyes, ears, and nose so that I could not see, hear or smell the store around me. My head held just one memory but a thousand currents, swirling, one peeking out above the surface every now and then. Another world held me: a world where I could decide to buy more fashionable clothes, a world where I did everything I was supposed to and received everything in return, a world where she would not want to tell me anything at all. When I was a young boy, my parents would go to work and my sister and I would be left in the care of our grandparents. We would walk up the long entryway to the front door adorned with lion door knockers and wait outside their mammoth house: three thousand square feet in reality but ten thousand to a five-year-old. While my grandmother sat on her plush, twelve foot couch, I sat on the Chinese rug that reminded everyone of our cultural heritage and our values and yet, with its detail and soft feel, recalled all that 30's and 40's China was not - a land of wealth, economic opportunity, and security. She leaned back against the back massager she used because of her years of work on the assembly line at General Instruments and further years bagging groceries at Johnnie's Market. She would tell me, "You go college, ee? You be doctor. You get good grade, you get good education, you make lot of money, you get good wife, children to take care you when you get old." Knowing and accepting like any good Chinese boy, I would nod my head, understanding the nature of the game of life and the reward of winning it. Evidently, my friends had also picked up on it. Two friends of mine were arguing over who was going to grow up to be richer, debating their relative strengths: "I know how to get people to like me. They just do what I say. And I may not work like Phil, but look at my grades. Almost as good." "Yeah, but you're too moral. I would just take money from anyone anyway I could." "Whatever, man. I'm going to get in to Wharton, then find an easy way to make at least $20 million. There's nothing you can do about it. It's just going to happen." I shook my head in disgust at their egotism and apparent certainty of their futures, but then one reassured me: "You're such a good person, Phil. Way too good. You're going to end up making, I'd say, $250,000 every year, being a really good father, having nice little Asian kids." I grumbled, resenting the condescension but not the assertion that I would live a good, well-off life. That fact only seemed to strengthen the lifelong iron truths in my backbone: they were saying, yes, you get good grades, yes, you're going to college, making lots of money, having a nice family. My grandmother would have been proud. There was something uneasy in the Los Angeles air that night. The heat wave had cooled off, leaving a perfect September night from Pasadena to Manhattan, and there was a quietness outside that seemed unsettling, if anyone had bothered to pay attention to it. Inside, my room's walls, newly painted a manly shade of blue, stood blank, expanding the room beyond its mere ninety square feet. My bed, now located next to a new wood nightstand, seemed one big plush cushion on which I sat inspecting the cell phone I had just received earlier in the day. Games, numbers, all kinds of people to put in the address book, and a single button with which to control every conceivable function lay ready for my summons. What better way to break in the new phone, I thought, than to call my girlfriend Christina. I pressed that ingenious all-function key to begin the call. "Hey," I said with a smile that I hoped could be heard over the phone, "How was your day?" Unusually, there was a pause, considering she could be one of the most excited people around. "I want to tell you something." Her voice was a little lower and more detached than normal. My eyebrows furrowed and I began to have a feeling that my sternum was regressing into my back. Intuitively, I feared what was about to happen. "What's the matter?" "Well, with being in our new schools now and everything?you know, I'm going to be busy in choir and so?" She fumbled for a second. My sister walked into the room. I whispered to her, my face composed although my body wanted to hide under the covers, "I think she's going to break up with me." We shared a look before Christina's voice faded back in. "It's not you, it's me, I just?I just think we should break up." I sat down on the bed, which now seemed lower than it just had. My ears started ringing. It was as if she had sent a searing ball of energy across the street to my house and it had locked in on its target. After some fumbling around, saying that I didn't think that we needed to talk on the phone every day and we wouldn't be that busy, we could tone it down a little, and an offer from me to take a break, the ringing was gone, although my stomach was beginning to drop. Soon enough the phone went click and a chapter of my life was closed. I stood up and stared at the banister for a moment. I was devoid of energy and yet acutely aware of every second passing by. 10:48:51. 10:48:52. I opened and closed my eyes to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Then I picked myself up and began the long walk downstairs. As I heard her words echo in my head for the hundredth time, my hand curled up into a fist, I made a grimace, and looked up underneath my eyelids, taking a hard step forward, only then realizing that there was a man standing an inch ahead searching the Medium rack. I sidestepped him, passing a white T-shirt with a dragon breathing fire on it. I could almost feel my own nostrils heating up. After all I had done for her, six months of being an extremely nice guy, being the gentleman all the time, paying for her food, going to her house at night, spending time with her at school, defying my friends' criticisms, making friends with her parents, hugging her, kissing her, telling her I loved her - she repays me with this. "I want to tell you something." The next shirt was a red sweater that was sure to keep me hot in the fall. I bought it, and then lost it a week later. Girls were so goddamn fickle. Love you one day, out the next. Always playing little games, keeping their thoughts secret. Showing you no signs whatsoever. Escorting you out the door, then dropping a piano on you from the fifth-floor window. I could hear her laughing now, laughing like the crowd laughed at Robin, laughing at my utter helplessness. I bought a blue T-shirt that said "Hi" on the front. "It's not you, it's me." Bullshit. Not to mention unimaginative. Of course it was me. Obviously I had done something wrong. Had I called too much? Or maybe too little when she went away? Had I pushed her to someplace where she was uncomfortable. Perhaps moved too slow? When I said I would be repulsed if she got a tummy ring, was I signing my own death warrant? "It's not you, it's me." The shirt was tie-dye. Maybe it was her. Maybe it was just her dumb female hormones deciding they wanted something different. Maybe she had grown too disaffected with our old school to have me around anymore. I looked at the off-white ceiling. "I want to tell you something." It seemed to recede. "I want to tell you something." I saw shirts of red, blue, purple, and yellow fade into varying shades of gray. "I want to tell you something." I looked at my watch. 9/10/01 it said. 9/10/01 and the world would never be the same. This world is plagued by war, disease, starvation, and terrorism. Innocent people are often caught up as victims. While there is some truth to the saying "What goes around, comes around," there are also times when something only "comes around" and whatever comes cannot be expected. You never know when a girlfriend might dump you, you might be rejected by Wharton, or the economy might tumble. You never know when you might suffer a heart attack, be hit by a drunk driver, or be trapped in a burning building. As the saying goes, shit happens. We Americans have fallen into the lie that the American dream guarantees us success. It does not. As Jay Gatsby could tell you, it guarantees nothing but the pursuit of happiness. In writing The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald stops short of saying we will reach any goal; he leaves it at "And one fine morning-." Insulated even in the city from the poor by miles, freeway sound barriers, and border patrol agents, we forget this often. We hear of our accomplished students - nine to Harvard, no dropouts - and, fret though we may, assume that everyone will successfully navigate college and life. In this climate, where squabbles are often reduced to who can make the most millions, everyone is willing to assume that they are God. Nothing truly frightening threatens us daily and we need no help, so we place all the credit on ourselves, never once considering our blessings, our luck to live in the United States, to have money, food, a home, an education. Though people like my grandmother may have raised themselves up by their own bootstraps, even her success or failure is due in part to someone or something else. We need to never lose sight of that, never forget those who lifted us up, who washed our feet; we need to never forget that we are mercy to something bigger, something out of our hands. All we can and should do is tap into that current of knowledge and ride it as far as we can. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 1st, 2004
11:18 pm	At the beach Thursday I had a lot of attention put on me. Stephie and I swam out into the ocean away from the shore. We got to about where the first bouie was located and Spencer went in. Later we found out that that bouie was the limit for swimmers from the beach, approximately 200 yards. After a lot more swimming we had gotten close to the end of the pier and were deciding whether to keep going to some rocks that looked enticing but rather far away. The peacefulness was intoxicating, however, and the view was stunning - down to Manhattan Beach. Even the swim was fun and exhilarating. It was slow, but not terribly hard. So, though we were about to turn back, we kept on going because it was calling our names. They seemed to approach more quickly than expected and we were almost there when we heard a voice of a man. We turned around and saw he was coming on a board to come get us. There were cars with flashing lights on shore. It was quite embarrassing. I had to be dragged in kicking for most of the way. When we got back, I wasn't admonished, which I was happy about, but I wasn't spoken to. The lifeguard and lifeguard leader were very nice, thankfully, and when I returned nobody made a real big deal about it, which was nice (I did get a picture though). People didn't act as if they were drawing any conclusions and I was able to have a real good time afterward.I can surely laugh about it now and remember the real nice view, the swim and the look of the rocks, yet there's something a little unsettling still. In other news, hooray hooray, tomorrow is the last day of the year! This being the worst year ever, I am extremely pleased. Current Mood: chipper Current Music: "Pass the Dutchie" (Comment on this)
Thursday, April 15th, 2004
11:43 pm	Weird stuff happening this past week. Stina came back in my dreams. Probably as an extension to my remembering the good feelings we had back then. What Uncle Victor said, "After it all fades away, you'll only remember the good parts." In one dream I was doing this other girl and she was there watching and I was talking to her. I do have a desire to talk to her and to ask her what was it that we had then that I haven't been able to capture again? I think she has, but they're probably all weirdos now...I would hate to think that she's a whore now or something, that would be awful. But great news! Finally something to celebrate (other than Easter)! Out of nowhere I absolutely crushed a double off the net today against Brooks from Malibu. It was over halfway up the net a little bit to the centerfield side of 315 sign. It came on a 2-0 pitch after a curve in the dirt and a fastball outside and low. The pitch itself was right down the middle and a straight 75 mph. The kind of stuff I dream of. Considering that I had never even reached the wall at Franklin or one-hopped it even in BP, this hit caused such a shock and a little hope that it might go out that I trotted quite a bit and had to slide into second. I think I earned a lot of respect today from the guys. I got the game ball and everybody's congratulations for a while afterward. It's great to have that good feeling of success for a while. Also another success: 1500 on SAT (700V, 800M). Probably won't take it again. Current Mood: pleased Current Music: all Usher (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, April 9th, 2004
11:05 pm	Patience / will power / doing something over even # of times, where has it gone? Especially now when I feel supposedly more against the instant gratification culture? (Comment on this)
Saturday, November 29th, 2003
12:10 am	SAT Prep: The Rich's Answer to Affirmative Action I KNOW this is not a popular answer among H-W students or among Asians, judging by last week's Chronicle which told us that at least 1 in 4 students have outside college counselors, as if the seven we already have are not enough. I've got to imagine the number of juniors taking SAT prep has got to be 75% or so. But it's absurd. They give you homework! as if we don't have enough already! I have to admit, it does help people that are not good test takers. And if you study '000s of vocab words, there's a decent chance one will pop up on the test. But still, finishing homework would be a better use of time, considering grades are the #1 criteria for college admission and your recommendations are going to be written by guess who? those teachers whose homework you've been skipping, not to watch the O.C. but to do other homework! People assert that the SAT is racist or biased toward the rich, priveledged establishment. Do they know why that is? Because of SAT prep! Can the poor black or Latino family afford to send their kid to $50+ per session SAT tutoring after school every day or every week? Of course not. If you're like Billy, you work (or picket, in his case) after school. But no matter what they're doing, I'll bet that the percentage of students in prep courses at Wilson isn't 1/10 that of Harvard-Westlake. But while those students can't do prep courses, they do score on affirmative action. Ah, so it is fair and square, right? No. The rich improve their SAT scores more and more. Then when they get a 1440 and are rejected and some kid from South-Central gets 1250 and gets in, they complain more about the system, building political pressure (of which they yield a lot) against the system. Then they hope to topple affirmative action forever. Thank God the judiciary is appointed for life; if this matter was up to the President and Congress, affirmative action would be gone. Yet in my mind as long as there is SAT prep, affirmative action must remain. It is obvious now that a affluent suburban teen's 1500 is not the same as an inner-city or farm kid's 1500. Sucks for me: those admissions officers will see my score and think, Asian, Harvard-Westlake, probably spent 100 hours on SAT prep, when I'll have done maybe 1 book. Oh well, it's a matter of principle, and I want to be a man of principle. (Comment on this)
Friday, November 28th, 2003
11:41 pm	Cynicism Why does no one want to believe anything anymore? Is this true or is it only my experience? What I hear recently disturbs me: "People only do things to gain money or power." "All the world is is survival of the fittest." I take exception to the assertion that people only do things in their own self-interest. I don't think I'm being self-righteous when I say I do things sometimes that actually help other people. According to the world, I'm not doing it because of their benefit, I'm doing it because I am enriching my own future power over them. I'm doing it because I will get something in return later on. Does this explain the man that helps a guy with a flat tire on the side of the road? Does this explain the people in Ireland my aunt met and who were willing to help her along her journey for no particular reason? It does bring up an interesting debate about salvation by faith or by works. While Protestants generally believe in salvation by faith, I have generally sided with faith by works as well as faith. I feel that Buddhists, Jews, Muslims are not necessarily wrong in what they believe. Jews and Muslims, at least, have the same basic concept of God as Christians do, and the same thematic moral teachings. If people don't get the part about Jesus, that's OK if they do good works, right? There are many roads to the top. And yet, if one does good things merely to score something in return (heaven in this case), it is not being done for the right reasons. Of course, we hope one does good works for good reasons and then as a bonus gets to have a nice afterlife. But enough with that tangent: good things are being done; that's the bottom line. Yet what many tell us today is why even do good things? All that matters is your own success, power, prestige. But that's not true. They are just living as children, occupied only with themselves, with the analytical qualities of adults - how much can I get out of this person? That's even the focus of our English class - in Mr Schrode's words: manipulation. I would even reluctantly acknowledge that there can be benefit in being able to articulate a point well, but I would call it persuasion, not manipulation. Is everyone afraid to live under something higher than themselves, whether it be some god or a moral code? Will they not lift up any ideals? Young people are supposed to be idealist, aren't they? I certainly feel an idealist surge in me, and one of those beliefs is that there is something supernatural working through human relationship that gives us great opportunity and protects us from the dog eat dog attitude to which we are all supposedly predisposed. That's my belief, and I respect others, but I don't think anyone should lift up the belief that survival of the fittest is the way it ought to be - in economics, a free market is good, but not in humans. I've gotten those Whitmanesque brain currents flowing, and that's nice, but enough for now. Current Mood: disappointed (Comment on this)
Friday, August 10th, 2001
3:06 pm	Friday hey hey It's Friday, the last day of the week. Today Brian, Mario and I killed some ants. We didn't have Raid so we had to resort to other common chemicals like shampoo. It was fun. I've been hanging out with new people today. Weird, isn't it, for the last day? Anyway I still have the rest of the time to hang with my camp buds. I went to the bookstore with some peeps and stopped by the fountain. I have some really good stuff on my web site. I like my Flash things, but the rest of it is not too good. Hopefully Seth will get me Flash ( u listening?) and I can continue it and adapt it to my new website. Unfortunately I don't have any real good ideas for the content of the site. For the moment, though, I have to fulfill the requirements. If this is my last journal entry here at camp, I want to say bye to all you guys. Peace. (Comment on this)
Thursday, August 9th, 2001
9:38 am	Thursday 2 more days. I haven't really been home in 4 weeks so I'm ready. But I dont want to leave with nothing either. Yesterday was a fun day. The Exploratorium was fun. We had a pizza party at rec last night and watched an old episode of the Simpsons. In honor, I'm wearing my "Just Donut" Homer T-shirt today. I accomplished a lot in Flash yesterday too. OK, that's all for this morning. We've been writing too many journal entries recently. There's not that much interesting stuff to talk about. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 8th, 2001
6:42 pm	Wednesday night The Exploratorium was interesting today. It had all kinds of cool things there. The bad thing was that the food was no better than cafeteria food :( :( I dropped my chili dog which was covered in black bean chili because they didn't have regular chili! Anyway, the whole thing was very interesting, especially the infamous condom incident...The sound and light demonstratoins were especially interesting. I finally got my girlfriend's address at camp! I have 2 postcards to send, so I am very happy. Peace everybody until manana. (Comment on this)
9:05 am	Wednesday, the middle day Last night was interesting. For rec time I played B.S. with some of my friends and it was messed up, but funny. Then I was waiting for pizza after rec time. It never showed up even though we stayed outside with Seth for an hour waiting for it to come. Seth stayed even longer but it never came. Maybe they didn't believe us when we said we would pay, or maybe they gave it to somebody else, I don't know, but whatever their excuse, it was crap. That was disappointing, although I can't complain too much since I didn't pay anything for it. Jake came out in a blue hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants and tried to chase us all away with a squirt gun. We wouldn't go upstairs until he came back again at 10:15. Jake looked very scary and weird in that mask which he was wearing with all sorts of weird dots and such. It was probably supposed to be an animal of some sort, but I don't know. He came into my room later, too. He had a cloth and pretended it was a baby. When I touched it, it bit me. It was a 3-minute bit of silent comedy acting. Maybe computer camp is not only one-faceted. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, August 7th, 2001
9:35 am	Tuesday a.m. Hey. It's Tuesday, Aug. 7. I slept in until 7:30 today since I realized nothing matters until breakfast ends at 8:30. As long as you're there by then, it's ok. I brought my headphones here. I made the font big so it would seem longer. This journal is ok, but not something i would do at home. Oh well, at least I'm not in public speaking. Reviews are mixed about public speaking. Some say it's cool, but they haven't learned anything. It should be interesting to see. Other thoughts: For my birthday I want to go to Las Vegas. Maybe I can take some friends. I can stay free in Vegas cause my grandparents have a condo there. I want to go to the new ESPNzone there, which opened a week or so after I was last there in July. It will be the final weekend of the baseball season. I'm sure there will be some races going down to the wire. All the N.L. races are very close. GO DODGERS!That's all for today. Bye everyone. (Comment on this)
Monday, August 6th, 2001
7:29 pm	Today I don't have much to say. Seth's talk on binary and hexadecimal system was interesting to a math guy like me. Played basketball at rec time in the afternoon. I lost my g/f's camp address, so friends: please get it to me if you have it. It's all cause of dumb AOL. I hate AOL. It's craap. Hopefully I will get cable soon. It's about time, considering the rest of my family has it and all we need is a simple home network. I played Quake III for the first time and Worms Armageddon too. Current Mood: working Current Music: Linkin Park (Comment on this)