Bof

I went to a funeral today. It was like the TASP 50 socialize-fest during the last day all-I-want-to-do-is-cry-fest.

I'm still working on that profound, philosophical insight on the meaning of life and death, but it may take a while....I'll get back to you all on that.
Until then, thank you Red Sox, music, and TASPers.

Oh Ashley and DAAAAVE

I think of you two everyday. For example, I looked over at the music stand to my left and a fellow trumpeter was reading Battle Royale in English not Japaneese.(sry ashely) And I couldn't help but remember that night that we went downstairs and hooked up like 5 different computers to try and watch ashley's bootleg video. How I miss our beloved house.
And David Jiang, I overheard a girl who sits behind me in Human Anatomy who lived here till 10th grade and then left to go to dance school in NYC.(fragment I know) She wants to go to school up there and she mentioned Hunter College and that is when my TASP-dar for lack of a better term went of and I began searching through my TASPer file and David's head popped up. I asked her if she had heard of Hunter College High School and she said yes and I almost wet myself. There is also a David on my soccer team and I constantly find my self chanting DAAAAAAVE which of course reminds me of David Jiang. awwwww my dear sweet Bathroom-mate I heard of your troubles in the hospital but very briefly and vaguely. Do tell what dastardly women almost took your life for I wish to warn her and I do sincerly care for you and your health so do let us know of your condition. I am concerned for you and love you David Jiang. I am looking forward to Guy Fawlkes day. Hopefully I can find someone to celebrate it with.
Well that's all for now thanks for the great memories dave and ashleyPS. get well soon david

Bama Senioritis

Right now I'm living in Birmingham, Alabama(Vestavia to be exact). And I already have senioritis. I was at a big football game last nite and me and my good friend realized that we don't give a FUCK. He doesn't care because he's going to Auburn(#4 college football team in the nation). It's decent but the demographics are about the same as high school. Which is not Teddy's style. I'm a little disgruntled about my rejection letter to "Discovery Weekend at Swarthmore". But I didn't have my hopes up because I know my grades aren't the hottest and that all they wanted was brown kids with high scores. So hopefully the acutal application will convince them. But back to senioritis. It sux. Because I have so many responsiblities this year and i'm really just ready to go but no. I have to stay here far far far away from most TASPers the closest of TASPers consist of Kimbo(ATL),Greg(Pens),Ashley(Columbus,GA), and Yiwen(KL Malaysia). Psyche about the last one. Alex is sorta close and same with Drew and Josh. But they are all still tooooo far. but whatever. I'm glad Greg decided to post and hope that Masha joins in soon. I miss you guys and hang tuff this last year of your pre-collegiate lives.

Sincerely yours, Theodore R. Foster III

A couple things...

1) My new intellectual fetish is fractal geography. I've been reading a ton about it and think I can make an actual scholarly contribution to the field (at some lowly level) within the next year. I propose (you heard it here first) that the fractal economic dimension of first and third world cities will be substantially different, due in large part to the rate of industrialization and growth. This, while not novel in concept, would be the first such investigation I have encountered.
2) When returning from the library after picking up one such book, I saw a sign announcing that the U of MN ski club would be travelling to Telluride, CO this year. Naturally, I didn't see the part about the ski team first.
3) Tomorrow I debut my Esperanto Affirmative Case for debate. The gist is: US pays UNESCO, establishes Esperanto education, and conducts all international affairs in Esperanto, and, insodoing, saves the UN millions per anum, liberates the Third World, and prevents all war and conflict. My fellow policy debaters can have a copy on the condition that you add to the evidence/blocks upon receipt.

Michael

Sleep is pretty cool

On Going to Sleep

Now that day wearies me,
my yearning desire
will receive more kindly,
like a tired child, the starry night.

Hands, leave off your deeds,
mind, forget all thoughts;
all of my forces
yearn only to sink into sleep.

And my soul, unguarded,
would soar on widespread wings,
to live in night's magical sphere
more profoundly more variously.


I attended a Strauss only concert at the Pasedena Symphony Orchestra consisting of the tone poem Don Juan, the Four Last Songs (the above is the Hermann Hesse text of the third), Serenade in E-flat major (an early piece), and the last scene of Salome. Soprano Jane Eaglen was great singing the songs and Salome.

For you German speakers:

Beim Schlafengehen

Nun der Tag mich mued' gemacht,
soll mein sehnliches Verlangen
freundlich die gestirnte Nacht
wie ein muedes Kind empfangen.

Haende, lasst von allem Tun,
Stirn, vergiss du alles Denken,
alle meine Sinne nun
wollen sich in Schlummer senken.

Und die Seele unbewacht
will in freien Fluegen schweben,
um im Zauberkreis der Nacht
tief und tausendfach zu leben.

By the way

Forgot to mention in a previous post... Derrida is dead. (Insert mourning.) He dies and gets minor mention in the Times, but when Superman dies everyone has to harp about it. Not one person in my physics lab (myself excluded) had heard of the big D. What a cruel world in which we live...
Michael

Twinkies lose

When my dad scored two pairs of tickets for the Twins on Saturday from a scalper, my sister and I rushed to downtown Minneapolis to check out the game. The two of us ended up sitting two rows from the absolute back of the stadium, but moved down to the lower deck after we found out that the scalper from whom my father bought his set of tickets (he was sitting with an old colleague) had failed to unload the two seats immediately to the right. Got to see the Twins take a commanding lead and blow it with their sub-par relief pitching. Awesome time, but it prevented me from finishing most of my planned work for the weekend.
Remind me later to complain about my physics lab partners.
Bed time,
Michael

Oh my God!

Sometimes the skies part over your head and down falls a tiny nugget of epiphany which makes everyone better. At least that's what cliches and Isaac Newton lead me to believe.
Anyhow, just now I realized that TASP backwards is PSAT, which is how most of us found out about TASP.

life is beautiful, no?
Josh

UNPO

Politics geek that I am, I found this hilarious. It will now be the subject of my 6,000 word semester report for geography. Yipee!

www.unpo.org

They are, by the way, partially headquartered in Tartu, Estonia. I recognized their website domain (.ee) from Luukas's hotmail account.

TASP 50th Business

Has anyone gone to one of the TASP 50th shindigs yet? Is anyone planning to? I'm just curious about peoples' reactions and thoughts upon meeting other members of TASP-kind.

Also, here is the url for the UMichigan TASP web thingy:

tasp.proboards15.com

I'm sad

My speech coach just lectured us about self-disclosure as used in oratory. His basic point was don't do it. Ever. But, I'm a debater and not an orator. I'm sorry to impose this on all of you. But, that being said, I'll do it anyway.

As some of you know, last Saturday my uncle disappeared from his appartment in San Diego. Then on Thursday at about midnight, we got a call from my grandparents that his body had been found in a hotel room in Nevada, where presumably he had stopped on his way to a seminar in Las Vegas. He had died of a heart attack after having a disagreement with his partner about his new job and the training seminar for that job.

Any of you who have lost someone close to you probably know what I'm going through right now, but even if you haven't, it is something like leaving TASPers. Except it is like having the six weeks unexpectedly cut down to two and not having a chance to say goodbye, and there is no AIM.

I suppose coming on the heals of leaving all of you, augmented the sense of loss. All I know is that more than ever I wish I were still at Cornell, not even having to worry about what I would be able to find for my next meal (unless Stan was cooking of course).

Thanks to all of you whom I ambushed on AIM when I got home from school on Friday for giving me your time. Also, to set the record strait for those whom I lied to, we now don't think my uncle drank himself to death: he had been an alcoholic, but had stayed off for at least as long as I have been alive. Fiveteen years ago, my dad couldn't find him, but that time, he was in my grandparents' house (they were on vacation) senseless with empty bottles and blood which he'd thrown up. So when we heard that there was a bottle by his body this time, we immediately thought our worst suspicions were true. Supposedly the bottle was almost full though and my anger was disproportionate to the crime.

However, I'm still angry because my uncle never did anything for his health: he was a chain smoker, he overate and was gaining weight, and he hadn't been to a doctor in 30 years. And then after moving to San Diego from Japan, he quit several jobs on impulse, each move putting him in a more confining position than he had been in before.

Yesterday, the Dodgers and the Angels both clinched playoff spots, thirty minutes apart, both on come from behind victories, the Angels in the eighth inning, the Dodgers on a grand slam in the ninth. My uncle, who used to play baseball with me in my backyard, would have loved this. Here's to a freeway World Series for Dave.