Retrospective
So, I was talking with Patrice (one of the News editors) about our respective high school blogs, and how painful it is to dig them up. She inspired me to read back through my entire high school blog, which is still floating around cyberspace.
I’ve decided to take the high school blog offline. It’ll save it on my computer, but it will no longer be public. Truly, some of the attitudes I had in high school were just awful, and they come blaring through in that old blog. It’s pretty disgraceful. The worst bits were my twisted views on college admissions. My political beliefs, personal convictions, and my writing style have all changed dramatically since my arrival at Hopkins nearly two years ago. The old blog doesn’t reflect who I am today. This blog does.
However, I think the old blog did have a few high moments, as well as some low moments that are worth keeping online. And so, I present to you:
RETROSPECTIVE: A chronological blogarrific journey through my senior year of high school.
Excerpts are in quotes, full posts are left without quotes.
======================================
September 17, 2002
Welcome to my gnu blog. Yay!
======================================
October 9, 2002
“…let’s just say that it was dark and we were in love and there was nobody around and we had half an hour and yeah.”
======================================
October 15, 2002
Alix and I had a long debate about abortion which devolved into an argument. She's Catholic and is against abortion, and I'm pro-choice. I guess I just felt like she kept bringing so many facts and evidence into the discussion that I finally couldn't help but ask if she could tell me where she was getting all this evidence. She couldn't tell me, and it's not like I thought that she was making anything up, but thanks to TOK (and my skeptical outlook on a lot of things), I felt the need to see the sources. It would be so much better if she and I both could show the other some sort of evidence supporting our respective sides, rather than just flinging "facts" here and there. Without evidence, it becomes her vs me, which becomes personal, which becomes an argument and not a debate. Well, that's what it became. And now she's still mad at me.
I just don't want to ever talk about that subject with her again. It always causes her to be mad. It's like trench warfare...we just fling stuff at each other until we get tired, and then maybe one or the other has gained a mile or two...but the human cost is not worth the territorial gain. Alix, if you're reading this, I just don't want you to be mad at me for my personal beliefs. I love you.
======================================
[This is one of my favorite posts. Joe Levy is a high school friend of my older brother David.]
October 17, 2002
Words cannot describe the magnitude of the historical discovery that I have just made. The permutations for mankind are immense; entire cultures will be destroyed and new ones brought forth from their ashes. I did not discover Abe Lincoln's Last Toothbrush. And no, I did not unearth Elvis Presley's Favorite Pair of Sunglasses. What I found has far greater implications for our past, our present and our future...
Yes, that's right. I found Joe Levy's Tighty Whities.
Mind you, I did not realize when I ventured to the underwear drawer of my brother Noah (age 11) that I was on the verge of an archaeological discovery that would rock the modern view of Utopian-Fruit-of-the-Loomism. I was helping Noah to pack for our sailing trip this weekend, pulling out all the articles that he would need. Down at the bottom of the underwear drawer, shoved into the darkest recesses and forgotten by Time herself, rested the glorious piece of stitched cotton that once bedecked the brilliant bottom of The Man himself.
Captain of the petanque team.
Son of our French teacher.
Flaunter of all moral codes involving facial hair and male ponytails.
Ah yes, and when my gleaming eyes fell upon the inscription upon the elastic band, so lovingly adorned in black permanent ink—“J. Levy”—my heart soared with joy. Never mind the fact that the artifact’s presence in my brother’s drawer could not be explained by the laws of physics. Twin yellow and blue stripes roll on along the waistband, and the faded tag still proclaims: “Size 16. Machine wash warm. Tumble dry medium. Assembled in Honduras.”
======================================
November 13, 2002
“I dreamt.
“I was playing a piano in the middle of some sort of futuristic city square. It was a big grand piano that was just sitting there, so I just sat down and played it while the people walked by. Margo Litvak came up to me and stopped me from playing to say that my mouth looked funny/ugly. This sent me on a quest to find a mirror. Somehow, through a complicated series of events, I wound up attending a dinner party at Mr. Frezzo's abode in the city. It was an Italian-style apartment with some sort of mud-brick walls. I remember helping a small child from a private school push his chair into the table. I also remember going to the bathroom in a locker-room which had the same mud-brick walls. As part of the same dream, I was involved in a party with a bunch of IB people. Alix threw me a muddy football. I ran out into my backyard and threw it back at Yoni, who had just kicked Nick Salvatore in the face with the heel of his shoe. Nick had gone around the side of the house, apparently in a great amount of pain. I couldn't catch the football when it came back. I picked it up and kept throwing it back to Yoni, who was positioned dangerously close to the glass doors on the back of my house.
“My dad woke me up. He said, ‘Come on, Josh! It's 6:30, you've got to get up.’ Seeing the clock and knowing that my bus leaves the library at 6:35, I stumbled over to the closet and mumbled something about missing the bus. My dad laughed at me and said, ‘No, Josh...it's 6:30 in the evening. You've been asleep since you got home from school and went up to your room.’”
======================================
December 29, 2002
“Dad says that my essays suck ass. At least that's what he means.”
======================================
January 21, 2003
Q: What happens when there are four guys and one girl in a chatroom at 10:15 on a Tuesday night?
A: This...
P1Dawg: so what we talking about?
Nick 42160: masturbation, cause josh is here
josh9600: so....vaseline or k-y
josh9600: what's it tonight, boys?
Mcdaddy404: dudes i just watched a 50 minute porn vid from first minute to payload, it was grueling
#########################################
(10:15:45 PM) Ruchita03 has left the room.
#########################################
josh9600: lol
Nick 42160: hahahaha
P1Dawg: hahaha
josh9600: haha
Mcdaddy404: lol
Nick 42160: that was brilliant
P1Dawg: yep
Mcdaddy404: teamwork
josh9600: heh..."payload"
P1Dawg: high five
Mcdaddy404: high five
josh9600: sweet.
======================================
February 13, 2003
After four months of persistent effort against an administration that, it seemed, would not budge...”The Challenger” has been approved for distribution. No teacher or administrator may review it before it is produced, no person may censor it or prevent its distribution to each student. We can print just about anything we want.
Three cheers for the freedom of speech!
[Indeed, the paper was aptly named…it barely got off the ground, then it disintegrated.]
======================================
April 27, 2003
Johns Hopkins '07 ! I'm filling out the deposit form now.
======================================
May 5, 2003
Shit, what am I going to do with my life?
======================================
Well, there you have it...my transition from the idealism of youth through the tough-love reality check of going to college. Hope you enjoyed.
I’ve decided to take the high school blog offline. It’ll save it on my computer, but it will no longer be public. Truly, some of the attitudes I had in high school were just awful, and they come blaring through in that old blog. It’s pretty disgraceful. The worst bits were my twisted views on college admissions. My political beliefs, personal convictions, and my writing style have all changed dramatically since my arrival at Hopkins nearly two years ago. The old blog doesn’t reflect who I am today. This blog does.
However, I think the old blog did have a few high moments, as well as some low moments that are worth keeping online. And so, I present to you:
RETROSPECTIVE: A chronological blogarrific journey through my senior year of high school.
Excerpts are in quotes, full posts are left without quotes.
======================================
September 17, 2002
Welcome to my gnu blog. Yay!
======================================
October 9, 2002
“…let’s just say that it was dark and we were in love and there was nobody around and we had half an hour and yeah.”
======================================
October 15, 2002
Alix and I had a long debate about abortion which devolved into an argument. She's Catholic and is against abortion, and I'm pro-choice. I guess I just felt like she kept bringing so many facts and evidence into the discussion that I finally couldn't help but ask if she could tell me where she was getting all this evidence. She couldn't tell me, and it's not like I thought that she was making anything up, but thanks to TOK (and my skeptical outlook on a lot of things), I felt the need to see the sources. It would be so much better if she and I both could show the other some sort of evidence supporting our respective sides, rather than just flinging "facts" here and there. Without evidence, it becomes her vs me, which becomes personal, which becomes an argument and not a debate. Well, that's what it became. And now she's still mad at me.
I just don't want to ever talk about that subject with her again. It always causes her to be mad. It's like trench warfare...we just fling stuff at each other until we get tired, and then maybe one or the other has gained a mile or two...but the human cost is not worth the territorial gain. Alix, if you're reading this, I just don't want you to be mad at me for my personal beliefs. I love you.
======================================
[This is one of my favorite posts. Joe Levy is a high school friend of my older brother David.]
October 17, 2002
Words cannot describe the magnitude of the historical discovery that I have just made. The permutations for mankind are immense; entire cultures will be destroyed and new ones brought forth from their ashes. I did not discover Abe Lincoln's Last Toothbrush. And no, I did not unearth Elvis Presley's Favorite Pair of Sunglasses. What I found has far greater implications for our past, our present and our future...
Yes, that's right. I found Joe Levy's Tighty Whities.
Mind you, I did not realize when I ventured to the underwear drawer of my brother Noah (age 11) that I was on the verge of an archaeological discovery that would rock the modern view of Utopian-Fruit-of-the-Loomism. I was helping Noah to pack for our sailing trip this weekend, pulling out all the articles that he would need. Down at the bottom of the underwear drawer, shoved into the darkest recesses and forgotten by Time herself, rested the glorious piece of stitched cotton that once bedecked the brilliant bottom of The Man himself.
Captain of the petanque team.
Son of our French teacher.
Flaunter of all moral codes involving facial hair and male ponytails.
Ah yes, and when my gleaming eyes fell upon the inscription upon the elastic band, so lovingly adorned in black permanent ink—“J. Levy”—my heart soared with joy. Never mind the fact that the artifact’s presence in my brother’s drawer could not be explained by the laws of physics. Twin yellow and blue stripes roll on along the waistband, and the faded tag still proclaims: “Size 16. Machine wash warm. Tumble dry medium. Assembled in Honduras.”
======================================
November 13, 2002
“I dreamt.
“I was playing a piano in the middle of some sort of futuristic city square. It was a big grand piano that was just sitting there, so I just sat down and played it while the people walked by. Margo Litvak came up to me and stopped me from playing to say that my mouth looked funny/ugly. This sent me on a quest to find a mirror. Somehow, through a complicated series of events, I wound up attending a dinner party at Mr. Frezzo's abode in the city. It was an Italian-style apartment with some sort of mud-brick walls. I remember helping a small child from a private school push his chair into the table. I also remember going to the bathroom in a locker-room which had the same mud-brick walls. As part of the same dream, I was involved in a party with a bunch of IB people. Alix threw me a muddy football. I ran out into my backyard and threw it back at Yoni, who had just kicked Nick Salvatore in the face with the heel of his shoe. Nick had gone around the side of the house, apparently in a great amount of pain. I couldn't catch the football when it came back. I picked it up and kept throwing it back to Yoni, who was positioned dangerously close to the glass doors on the back of my house.
“My dad woke me up. He said, ‘Come on, Josh! It's 6:30, you've got to get up.’ Seeing the clock and knowing that my bus leaves the library at 6:35, I stumbled over to the closet and mumbled something about missing the bus. My dad laughed at me and said, ‘No, Josh...it's 6:30 in the evening. You've been asleep since you got home from school and went up to your room.’”
======================================
December 29, 2002
“Dad says that my essays suck ass. At least that's what he means.”
======================================
January 21, 2003
Q: What happens when there are four guys and one girl in a chatroom at 10:15 on a Tuesday night?
A: This...
P1Dawg: so what we talking about?
Nick 42160: masturbation, cause josh is here
josh9600: so....vaseline or k-y
josh9600: what's it tonight, boys?
Mcdaddy404: dudes i just watched a 50 minute porn vid from first minute to payload, it was grueling
#########################################
(10:15:45 PM) Ruchita03 has left the room.
#########################################
josh9600: lol
Nick 42160: hahahaha
P1Dawg: hahaha
josh9600: haha
Mcdaddy404: lol
Nick 42160: that was brilliant
P1Dawg: yep
Mcdaddy404: teamwork
josh9600: heh..."payload"
P1Dawg: high five
Mcdaddy404: high five
josh9600: sweet.
======================================
February 13, 2003
After four months of persistent effort against an administration that, it seemed, would not budge...”The Challenger” has been approved for distribution. No teacher or administrator may review it before it is produced, no person may censor it or prevent its distribution to each student. We can print just about anything we want.
Three cheers for the freedom of speech!
[Indeed, the paper was aptly named…it barely got off the ground, then it disintegrated.]
======================================
April 27, 2003
Johns Hopkins '07 ! I'm filling out the deposit form now.
======================================
May 5, 2003
Shit, what am I going to do with my life?
======================================
Well, there you have it...my transition from the idealism of youth through the tough-love reality check of going to college. Hope you enjoyed.
posted by JMR at 2:37 PM
1 Comments:
i remember a bunch of those posts :-) and how did you manage to take it offline? i tried taking madipeno off and it wouldn't let me (it's still floating around somewhere even though it's no longer connected to this account)
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