The Wait is Over

It's been over three months since my last update, the longest hiatus yet, and ironically it started just as I was finishing up my college apps and the first semester of senior year. I thought once those two things were done, my life would be free and full of new opportunities. But really, my life hasn't been any less hectic or busy than before, if not more hectic and busier. I guess it really is true that life is all about the process and not the end product. Kind of depressing since I like the end product. Anyway, here's a recap of some interesting events that happened over last three months:

-Science Bowl Competition: For some strange reason, competitions have been some of my most treasured memories in high school. The academic decathlon award ceremony can't be topped, but Science Bowl was just as fun. Each of us specialized in a subject: Edwin and David Tran covered physics (Edwin also specialized in all other sciences), Joaquin Astronomy, David Le Biology, and I got Math. And despite finishing 3-2, we really rocked it. We answered a lot of questions and showed great improvement from last year. I truly believe if Santa Monica, last year's National Champion, weren't in our group, we would've gotten a lot farther in the competition. But it was good nevertheless.

The best part of it all was the study sessions prior to the competition. We took turns hosting the party (it really was) on Friday nights, practicing with sample question sets online and then usually eating afterward. I got to know the members much better, and it was just fun to make science jokes with people who understood.

-Journalism competition: Thanks to Meloche not checking his old e-mail after his departure, we nearly missed registration for our annual competition. Actually we did miss registration but by an incredible series of events, we managed to locate the contest organizer and register a week after the deadline. And we ended up winning first place overall for the first time ever, with the majority of our writers placing in the Top 10. It was really an amazing showing, and I couldn't be prouder of our staff. I mean Troy had won something like six out of the last ten years, and there were lots of other tough competitors in Division I including Sunny Hills and El Toro. But we triumphed!

-Regular journalism stuff: For me, The Gamut this year could be best described as frustrating. It's sad because I had so much anticipation for our paper, so many ambitions. I thought I would have a lot of time in my senior year, and I could work more closely with writers to improve their skills, help them create compelling work. I feel I am not spending enough time to do these things yet I am constantly fighting for time. I am not sending edits back quickly enough, and I am also letting the writers struggle with stories instead of offering detailed suggestions and advice... Really frustrating but I don't know if I could've done anything differently. Overall, I really enjoy interacting with our staff and from this point on, I just hope we could bond more.

-Playing basketball with Ashish: Ashish decided to get rid of the swimming pool in his backyard and move his basketball court there. His backyard is pretty spacious and now he has a decent court. On weekends I've had more time to play basketball with him, and it's been good just catching up and talking while shooting hoops. It's actually a pretty scenic spot, and we can see the sunset, though you know, that kind of moment is better spent with your soulmate.

One interesting incident, though, was when Ashish and I decided to go play basketball at Miller Elementary one evening. It was getting really dark so that the rim was almost impossible to distinguish, and then we saw this girl approaching us from the back. She was a Latina, which was an intriguing fact at the time, but as she came closer, I noticed she looked about 12 or 13. She said, "Hey guys, how are you doing?" and at that moment, I was thinking two things: 1) she wanted to play basketball with us 2) she wanted to buy/sell/do something else with weed. I don't know why weed came up as an option, but after the girl left, Ashish said the same thing so maybe it was not such an irrational thought.

Anyway, it turned out that her slightly out-of-shape younger brother was stuck in the kindergarten playground. He had jumped over the fence (lol) to enter the playground but after playing for hours, he had apparently exhausted his energy and could not jump back. The siblings wanted to go home but the brother was stuck. I found this pretty fucking hilarious, especially because the youngest sister was climbing the fence back and forth to try to teach her brother. But technique or no technique, 9.8m/s^2 was relentlessly pulling him down. So I came up with the brilliant idea of removing the youngest sibling from the stroller, raising the stroller over the fence to the other side, and letting the brother use it as a step to climb over. It worked, we all had a good laugh, and I saved the day.

-Turning 19. My birthday passed uneventfully as I grew another tree ring. It's really hard to wrap my head around how old I am. I mean in another year, I will be 20. 20! In a couple years, that won't be young enough for Dominican baseball prospects. Meanwhile I have to start worrying about paying my bills, preparing grocery lists, eating healthy, and all that stuff. Oh and I have to get married, for god sakes. All I want to do right now is settle down and raise me a family. Or at least start cohabitation. Oh, and I'm also ready for a divorce.

There are many more things I want to talk about, but since this post has already run too long, I will briefly talk about the movie Watchmen before I forget. If you haven't watched it yet, don't read further.

I have never been too comfortable about superhero movies carrying didactic or philosophical statements. To me, the two just don't go together. I watch superheroes to see their awesome mutant powers and superhuman abilities. I don't want the movie to lead me to questions about who is really the good or the bad guy or whether the superhero should continue using the powers. I have reality to pose those questions on a daily basis. And to be honest, I haven't seen any good superhero movie that manages to deliver both good action and philosophical material. That's because you can only go so far with a false premise, a plotline already so detached from the reality that those bigger picture musings just sound downright silly or ludicrous.

That's precisely the problem with Watchmen. The ending was maddening. You let a mass murderer go free because why? Because he cared about the overall good? First of all, it's a shaky assumption that just because the society can place the blame for its problems on someone (Dr. Manhattan), it will be able to maintain a long-term stability and peace. But even if that were true, it is still inexcusable to let Ozymandias go free. Mass murder is not something you can condone, something you can "compromise" in Rorschach's words. You cannot justify the Holocaust. You cannot justify child rape. There are hard and fast rules governing criminal behavior in today's society, and thank god they are there. Unfortunately, the only character who seems to agree with me, Rorschach, gets blown up by the multi-penis god.

The Watchmen seems to suggest that if you have a honest and believable reason for doing something, it's justified. The Comedian wanted to satirize life. He understood that human nature is savage, and thus he lived as the hyperbolic representation of human savagery. He killed the Vietnamese woman who bore his son and nearly raped Silk Spectre's mother because he understood! He knew better than anyone else how evil humans could become! So does that justify his behavior? No. Imagine if today's society tolerated such actions. Who can say what is for the overall good of the human race, and at what cost? Giving the human race too much credit can be very dangerous.