Friday, May 28, 2010

A reflection on Cathedral Catholic High School after 4 years

I haven't made a post in awhile due to internet problems (which I'm on my last nerve with) and school, which is coincidentally ending next Saturday. Ah, yes, graduating from high school. Well, I've taken it upon myself to complete one last, long assignment: a reflection of my high school days. I'm going to be editing this as I go along, or just making a whole new post if it gets lengthy....

I'm not even sure where to begin. I even contemplated writing a satire, but it's better just pouring out my feelings. I'm pretty sure it's no surprise that my experience at Cathedral is largely negative, because of all sorts of things. I do have some positive things to say, though. First, here's how it changed me the past 4 years (and all the bitching that composes it):
  • Affirming my atheism. Before going to the school, I didn't give the issue of religion too much of a thought but a few years of witnessing fanaticism and disgustingly narrow beliefs from the school's religious education department had the opposite effect that was intended. I'm actually glad for the experience, as I know have better knowledge of the idiotic beliefs held by the Catholic Church, as I previously thought Christian fundamentalism was reserved to evangelical Protestants. I also thought more deeply into such matters and finally concluded that the idea of an omnipotent being is ridiculous and a bad crayon drawing of what human beings cannot explain.
  • Conditioning me to cope with superficiality. A number of people who go to Cathedral, such as myself, are of a higher economic background than the average American and the stereotype of apathetic spoiled brats doing nothing but gossip all day is absolutely true. I swear, I wish I could fucking punch the bitches I sat with in a number of classes who spent the whole fucking time talking about who's fucking who, who got together and broke up, and OMGZ MYSPACE (Facebook after mid-junior year). I had no escape. My "friends" weren't much better (I'll go into detail later). These people create drama just to spice up their lives, living out reality TV without the slightest inkling it's fake (oh, and the only other topic discussed was The Hills). Now that I've been exposed to this stupidity firsthand, I now know that I'm leaving American when I get older. These idiots are America's "future" (note again their improved economic standard), and worst of all, they're going to be breeders. From firsthand experience, and my parents' testimonials, their own parents are scarcely better, mostly the anal type A kind that also get involved in their child's drama. Oh, and also materialism and entitlement. No wonder there's so many stupid, fucked up people in our country aka the lowest common denominator, and it's not going to change since they're having kids. Bonus: most of the girls I mentioned are having their parents pay $12k tuition a year for them to become housewives. No wonder the feminist movement is a fucking joke (and the butt of them)! Of course, since I have to pay for it too.
  • The most reliable person in my life is myself. I've been in a few severe conflicts with my parents, and either by unfortunate circumstance, or perhaps my own behavior (which will be covered shortly), I know a total of three people I can confide in. And none of them come from school. In fact, as the school year closes, this apathy is even more apparent. I try my best to be the nice, caring friend who teases sometimes, but it's pretty goddamn clear that none of these people care about anyone besides themselves, their things, and a couple of people they consider to be bffs with. Outside of the friend sphere, there's also academics. A number of teachers have no fucking clue what they're doing and they "teach to the top of the class". Example: I remember a story Ms. Kressel (who is being fired from what I hear) told us in which a new hire was forced to hire Spanish despite not knowing anything about the language. If she couldn't, she'd be fired! Bam! As for the latter, I'm not going to name any names, but they operate on the "I'll still get my paycheck even if you fail" attitude and don't seem to care whether you understand the material or not. Needless to say, I was often on my own.
  • Be a real individual and enjoy yourself. If you get shunned, embrace it! I'm not a social leper, but I was far from being popular in school. And you know what? I was goddamn proud of it. Let everyone know that I love Pokemon. Let them know that I collect stuffed animals, I like spontaneity, to dance and sing to different (and better) music that they listen to, joke around, to be random and enjoy myself even when I thought I might embarrass myself. I think that this was probably one of the most valuable lessons to learn in life, and I'm fortunate to have learned it. This is of course within bounds of decency, and I didn't infringe on others' personal rights while doing it, yet certain people still thought the yak hat was embarrassing, and oshit I'M ASSOCIATED WITH YOU, IT'S THE FUCKING END. I didn't care about one bit of it, and I hope that fellow eccentric people know that as long as you don't harm someone else and the action won't affect your chances of getting a job, it's ok to do it. Don't be afraid to do what you please. Judgmental people can go fuck off and wallow in their own superficial sorrows; those people who think it's embarrassing aren't really your friends. Both of those have held true for me.
  • Fight authority when it steps over the line. Ah, I have a number of choice words for Mr. Tubbs and the Teletubbies that comprise the administration. Like the government in real life, it exists solely to protect the interests of themselves, the rich (the people who contribute to the school; my mother will contribute money to the alumni society against my will) and the privileged (the honors students who either sit inside all day and study or cheat on everything and the athletic students). Even if you belong to one of these groups, you sign away nearly every conceivable right: for instance, the right to property, the right to open and free expression, and the right to go to the damn restroom (though I'm aware a number of these are common American schooling practices). They tend to overreact over the slightest thing: expulsions for honest teenage mistakes, dress code detentions, and all kinds of excused and unexcused bullshit. If something gets taken away, your parents have to waste valuable time to get it, or it simply gets taken away for good as what happened to a sweatshirt that cost $50 (which is considered theft, but because of "legal age" bullshit I can't speak for myself). The teachers are beaten into paranoia by the ever looming administration that can fire them for not noticing a student text, alternate teaching methods, and expressing an opinion contrary to their will. This is why the utterly incompetent, universally hated Mr. Jancsi keeps his job (if you haven't had him, sit in for a class), while Ms. Kressel gets fired and Ms. Z barely escapes the axe.

to be continued

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Go to your senior prom.

For all of you who think prom is superficial, stupid, and excessive....well, it is.

Just enjoy it for one night, and I promise you you won't regret it. Go in with the thought that you'll have lots of fun, and you will. Go on the dance floor, get your ears blasted out, and dance as badly as you can to shitty music. It will be lame if you sit around with your friends the entire time or wander around aimlessly.

I almost didn't go to mine, and if I didn't I wouldn't know what I was missing out on. The people who didn't go to theirs regretted it, and you might too.

And yes, they did play the dreaded song.

Friday, May 7, 2010

The lowest common denominator has a really bad (yet fickle) taste in music

I fucking hate the song "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha. I just had to get straight to the point. And it's shaping up to be the most overplayed song of 2010. Seriously, I hear it no less than three times a day through daily life, the internet, and TV. I recently got a text from my friend containing the most overplayed lyrics of this overplayed song, albeit much improved as he was heavily drunk and by some miracle I was able to read his text. Now, people are free to enjoy their music, as long as they don't cram it down your throat and torture you with it, as is the case with this song being played in almost every imaginable crevice in the world. What annoys me most is when the song is stuck in my head, and a single line uttered by someone's mouth continues the painful cycle, like a PTSD for music.

Ok, so maybe my hatred for this song is greater because people's obliviousness to good party music infuriates this dedicated hardcore (as well as hhc, psytrance, dnb....the list goes on) fan. And it's really no surprise that the top 40 hits that people blindly listen to just because it's "popular" is complete garbage. It's quite sad, as for every hundred garbage hip-hop, pop, and rap acts (please correct my assumption that these are the most ravaged genres of music if I'm wrong), there is probably one good one overlooked, then disbanded because the members can't pay their rent. This is true for a number of metal bands in my collection I wish I had more of (i.e. Antithesis), and probably would be true for more popular genres of music.

No one's going to give a shit about Ke$ha in a few years. She better enjoy it now, because once people get over that stupid pile of shit, they'll move onto some other stupid pile of shit that I might not have my iPod available to save me from. I'm sure that intelligent people know the cycle of popular music, so I need not explain it. Sure, it's nice to discover new things, but it's also nice not to fucking forget artists after one song if you are particularly fond of their music. I can't speak for the lowest common denominator as a whole, but for people I regularly mingle with, there is very little artist loyalty to speak of. They just keep downloading the Billboard top 100 (and paying for that crap to people who don't deserve or need the money), and idly listen. Very different from "OH MY GOD THE NEW THUNDERDOME IS OUT!! I CAN'T WAIT TIL THE NEXT ID&T RELEASE!!!!!"

Well, I suppose that being set off by the latest Nostalgia Chick video, ranting, and then mentioning Thunderdome and wanting to find a good release to play at prom tomorrow really cooled me down, until the next time I hear the dreaded song. Undeniably. >.< That's the power of good music: it really calms and enlightens the soul. It makes you feel good, and the experience isn't forgettable as dime a dozen "hit" shit is. So until next time, peace.

"REBELLION" einhander remixes album | octet*



Album: REBELLION (リベリオン)
Release: 2007
Artist: Various
Comments: My first music upload! This thing is pretty hard to find, and I thankfully was able to rip the audio from a bunch of Youtube videos until AVC and my Wi-Fi decided to go bust on me.

This is a nice arrangement from possibly one of the best SHMUP OSTs in existence, from the game Einhander. As a kid, I never got past stage 4 of this game. I suck, I know. The music is quite good, and while it is pretty accurate arrangement, a few of the tracks have twists on them. For example, Badlands on this album has a very, very different feel from the original. Take Off, my favorite track from the original (so much so that I set my alarm clock to play it every morning), is a little bit more mellow in this take.

Wow, I talk way too fucking much.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2POZOJU7
http://www.octet.biz/octet/discography/osla0003.htm <- Track listing

Note that the track names in the .zip file are messy, as they are unchanged from my ripping session. This can easily be rectified by renaming the files in any audio playing program, like iTunes or WMP. The tracks aren't any less recognizable though, so you'll know what's what.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

The shitlist of internet problems I currently have.

In the unlikely case I forget, or an attempt to write exactly what I'll be telling the incompetent fools at Time Warner. Everything worked fine before we got the new TV.
  • Unable to connect to Nintendo Wi-Fi via DS or Wii.
  • Unable to upload files to file sharing sites like Megaupload or Mediafire. Downloading files off them works, however.
  • Unable to connect to multiplayer games on Gameranger or via Steam.
  • Unable to use Softonic, Any Video Converter, or other such programs that connect to the internet.
  • Unable to use iTunes. I can't play my music due to not being able to authorize my computer to play it. (psssst: Apple sucks)

Yes, Windows firewall is off. Because of the DS and Wii not being functional, the origin of the problem lies not in the computer, but in the modem. And the modem provider should thus help me.