Uni High Gargoyle Staff Blog

Two summers ago, I attended a residential summer camp in Portland, Ore. The dorms had large windows right next to the beds, and on the first night I gazed up to find tall trees against an unexpected background — purple sky. The night sky was astonishingly bright, with small clouds that appeared nearly white.

I had never seen that before, so I assumed it was something unique to Oregon and didn’t really think about it any further. The skies I remembered from childhood were black and usually contained at least a few stars. The sky I saw in Portland was more like a serene version of a mostly clear day. No stars were visible.

I actually liked the purple. It reminded me of an eerie backdrop to some surrealist painting. When I left the camp, I thought I would never see it again. I was mistaken.

A couple nights ago, I was startled to see the purple again looking out the window in Champaign. Not totally convinced the phenomenon could happen at home, I decided to check the sky for the next several days. Indeed, every day there was least a tint of purple.

I also noticed that a distinct glow emanated from the direction of downtown Champaign-Urbana. For me, that confirmed a nagging suspicion: That wonderful purple hue was light pollution. A quick Google image search told me I was right.

I’m not sure how big of a problem light pollution is. Certainly there is a host of negative consequences, from disrupting bird migration to forcing planetariums to move away from cities, but compared to the other environmental issues we have, maybe it’s relatively unimportant.

However, in spite of my fondness of purple nights, I realized that it has been years since the depth of space captured my imagination. It’s a lot of trouble to turn off the thousands if not millions of lights that remain on through the night, but I wish that for just one night, I could see the stars again.

— Alex Zhai

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 1:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Since there is no point in talking about March Madness anymore, I am going to suggest to you that Kobe Bryant is one of the all-time greats. In fact, he is just as good as Michael Jordan was when he was with the Bulls.

First off, Kobe came out of high school in 1996. Only three years afterward, he helped the Lakers to a NBA title. Furthermore, the Lakers won two more championships after the ‘99-‘00 season. So before Kobe is even half done with his career he was already won three championships.

So whoever wants to point out that he can’t win for the team is wrong. When you take a look at MJ, he needed Rodman, Pippen, and all the other pieces to win. Right now, without any good players on the Lakers, Kobe has singlehandedly made them a playoff team.

When people say that he is a ball hog and should pass more, they should realize that letting Kobe do his thing gives the Lakers the best chance to win. Just recently in four consecutive games, Kobe scored 65, 50, 60, 50 points. And guess what? They were all wins for the Lakers.

Who can forget when Kobe dropped 81 points last season? That was the second highest for points in a single game behind Wilt. Has MJ done that? His high was only 69 points.

Kobe is only 29 right now and he still has a lot of time to make history. Who knows? Maybe by the time he is done he will have surpassed MJ in every category. Also, he just might win a couple more NBA titles.

— Ranny Ma

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After getting home from Thursday’s track meet and grabbing a bite to eat at Burger King, my dad and I arrived back at our modest abode, and I set out to devour my calorie-rich meal. Before I could do so, my dad started making an odd motion.

First he pointed to me, then to the computer. He then repeated said motion for about 10 or 15 seconds, then gave me a disapproving look. Apparently, I wasn’t getting the message.

Finally, he said, “Are you going to check?”

“Check …,” I said as I vainly searched my mind for what in God’s name he was talking about.

“Your scores?”

Oh. Those scores. I finally understood.

On Thursday the scores for the March SAT were put online at the College Board Web site. As I sat down at the computer, I started getting nervous. When my profile page popped up at the College Board, my stomach was clenched and prepared for the worst.

Over the weeks after the test, I had been secretly freaking out about how I had done. Always having been slightly vain, doing badly would look very bad.

As my scores were shown, I did the mental math. It took a surprisingly long amount of time to do, especially considering what the page said my math score was.

After about a minute or so, I exclaimed the score I had tallied up.

“That’s so tight!” I yelled.

And like that, I had another example of times I had worried and worried about something that turned out fine.

So here’s the moral of my brief story: Calm down. Things aren’t always as bad as you make them, and before you know it your entire situation can change.

— Carl Zielinski

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 9:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It might just be me, but I have found that enthusiasm is contagious. Whenever I am in a group who loves what they are doing, I can’t help but feel that, yes, I love doing this as well, and I feel a surge of happiness while I work.

Take, for instance, music. For the last five years I have been participating in an ensemble contest with my cello group. This year, however, we were forced to split up and play with violins instead. The group I was placed in was so eager that I actually began to look forward to the contest instead of with dread.

Although this can be very good for me when I am stuck doing something I would rather not be doing, but sometimes it can be a problem if I am in a group who doesn’t care about the assignment.

In these cases I find myself struggling to keep my spirits up and often, I end up feeling irritated at my group mates who seem to be determined to do nothing. Sometimes it’s not even the project itself that makes them so uninterested, but rather a strong desire to just go to sleep and forget about the whole thing.

In the end, after all, the work itself is what counts and if I have a choice of choosing between eager group mates and bored ones, I would choose the eager group any day.

— Avanti Chajed

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 7:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Recently I overheard someone say something along the lines of, “What happened to the good old days when Champaign-Urbana didn’t look like a Chicago suburb?”

It got me thinking. Is our beloved C-U really turning into another Winnetka prototype? Sure we may not have the streets lined with mansions, flashy luxury vehicles, and teenage-thin, fake-baked moms (yes, yes, I am operating on stereotypes). But are we getting there?

I live in southwest Champaign. When my family first moved to C-U, the land surrounding our neighborhood was all farmland. Now, we have a little strip mall complete with a cafe, Walgreens, a hardware store, a floral shop, a hair salon, a dry-cleaning service, a Middle Eastern restaurant, and a pizza parlor.

Not only that, Champaign-Urbana now has Starbucks! I remember as a young girl the best part of going to O’Hare Airport was being able to buy Starbucks coffee — a real treat! But now I can hop in the car and order whatever drink I desire.

Furthermore, Champaign-Urbana’s fashion has been upgraded. The then-dinky Market Place Mall now has all the teen favorites like Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister, American Eagle, and Express.

I thought the small boutiques that sold designer jeans, jewelry, shirts, and dresses would go out of business in a second because not enough people would spend the money on such high-priced goods. However, as these retailers’ business grows, the little labels on girls’ butts are getting fancier and fancier.

Perhaps the greatest indicator of Champaign-Urbana’s shift to suburban Chicago is downtown Champaign. Only a few years back the downtown area was dead. What is now the thriving Boardman’s Art Theatre, which showcases all of the latest independent, artistic movies, was on the verge of closing, and there were maybe one or two cafés and restaurants to boast of. Now downtown Champaign has a plethora of quaint cafes, boutiques, hip city-like bars and clubs, and restaurants that serve main courses that cost more than $20.

Yes, the number of distractions and creature comforts in C-U are greater than ever, but is this the way we proud, traditional people want it to be? Instead of adding flavor to the community, are places like Starbucks and Express taking away the old-city taste? In five more years from now, will Champaign-Urbana be indistinguishable from any old Chicago suburb?

— Andrea Park

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Every summer, I go to Camp Echo, a YMCA summer camp in Fremont, Mich. I always have a blast. But something else always happens; I develop a crush on a male counselor.

It isn’t a serious thing, and it definitely isn’t an “I want to date you” kind of crush. Nevertheless, there is definitely an attraction.

I am not the only one either. Please don’t think of me as some weird, horny little camper. Girls across the camp can be seen giggling and whispering about a variety of male counselors; most pick activities that they know will be run by their “crush.”

It can extend past camp. Male instructors of all kinds can become the objects of female desire.

For some reason, men in power hold a certain appeal.

First of all, they are older. Girls like older men, let’s face it.

Also, and probably more importantly, a man in authority who captures the respect and attention of a female under his juridiction is irresistable. Especially one who can bestow knowledge. Girls dig mature, helpful, and smart guys.

Finally, men who try to bring out and nurture our best qualities really inspire us to impress them. We are like Pavlov’s dogs when it comes to teacherly praise.

— Sarah Pfander

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I got my information for prom yesterday in the mail. It consisted of a crescent moon-shaped invitation, a star-shaped RSVP, and a sheet of paper on which I was to specify the pictures that I wanted.

I couldn’t help but feel excited. Because, after all, it’s prom. I have speculated with my friends on how we’re going to do our hair (up? down? curled? straightened?), and what shoes to wear (flats? stilettos?), and how our dresses look (“Please, please tell me if I look fat”). The recent months have been filled with excitement and musing about how that night will go.

I was at the mall last weekend and happened to be wandering through Bergner’s looking at prom dresses. It was for no reason, because I’ve already gotten one, but it was fun to look at the fluffy (and sometimes cupcake-like) creations. It was then that I heard a conversation between two girls hidden behind a huge pink monstrosity that made me raise my eyebrows.

“I can’t wait for prom,” one said excitedly. I nodded in agreement, even though no one could see me.

“I can,” the other one said in a dejected tone of voice. “No one’s going to ask me.”

“That’s OK,” the first girl said in an encouraging tone of voice. “We can just go together as friends.” (I, hidden behind my dress, thought that this was an extremely valid point.)

“But I want someone to ask me, though! Prom is made for couples!”

At this point I’d had enough, and left. I felt like a stalker, anyway, overhearing their conversation. But it got me thinking.

I’ve heard variations of that dialogue hundreds of times. I’ve been the one complaining, and I’ve been the one to say, “Oh, well.”

“I don’t want to go to winter formal if no one asks me.”

“I hate how boys don’t have enough guts to ask anyone.”

“I know it’s going to be fun even if I don’t have a date, but …”

I see both sides. Prom would be fun no matter what, but I can see how going with someone you really like would make it extra-special.

It’s kind of an icky situation, don’t you think?

I can’t wait, though. :)

— Michelle Gao

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I agree with the sentiments about the temperature which were professed by fellow Gargoyle writer Deren Kudeki in his blog entry .

However, my complaints about the weather center on a slightly different issue. As the column of mercury in the thermometer rises when spring rolls around, it also stimulates a series of nuisances specifically associated with the building of Uni High, or any other building for that matter without central heating or cooling.

The temperature in the school varies not only daily but also depending on where in the school you’re standing. It is common knowledge that the North Attic and the lounge are both places where heat radiates from each object in the room while the hallways and other classrooms are icy to the touch.

While I do realize that this is a bit of an overexaggeration on most days, I also know that there have been days when I notice a severe temperature increase as soon as I walk into the room.

It has become a matter of irritation for me when I find myself taking the two steps into the threshold of the lounge and being blasted with a wave of hot air because the hallways are approximately 10 degrees cooler in temperature than any of the surrounding classrooms.

Not only do I find it difficult to decide on what to wear in the morning when I realize that I have to cater to two different temperatures within several feet of each other, but I also know that I risk being incredibly overheated or dealing with cold-induced goose bumps for an extended period of time if I make an incorrect decision about what clothes I choose.

People say that layering is the best thing to do in a situation like this. I understand the logic behind such a statement. I agree that theoretically one could bring a winter coat for the hallways, a sweatshirt for some classrooms, a light spring jacket for other classrooms, and a bikini for the lounge. However, I find that the impracticality of changing clothes by the hour trumps any theoretically sound plan to handle the temperature at Uni.

In the end I suppose that I should just be grateful that at least Uni does have heating and cooling even if it is rather erratic.

There are worse things that could be wrong with the school, such as our teachers only being paid a fraction of what their colleagues are being paid elsewhere in Champaign-Urbana, or students writing on the elevator door and risking shutting down transportation through Uni or … oh, wait ….

— Shivani Khanna

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 8:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Remember just before spring break when it was finally getting warm outside, and the last bits of dirty snow were finally melting away? When we were all excited about the warm weather?

Well, I have to say, I’m not a big fan of the warm weather anymore. It went from warm to downright hot. Both in the classrooms and in the halls I see students complaining about the heat and opening windows in an attempt to cool the school off. Of course, it doesn’t help much.

By the end of the day I found the heat had made me lethargic and unwilling to think. I was only able to recover thanks to the air conditioning in my car and at home.

I think it is time to start talking about global warming again …

— Deren Kudeki

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 8:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last March, when I was an overworked, perpetually sleep-deprived freshman, the college basketball tournament snuck up on me. I had caught the Big Ten tournament and had a general, fuzzy awareness that the championship was approaching, but with that workload, everything that wasn’t happening in the next six or seven hours seemed like a pinprick in the distance.

So when Selection Sunday, the day when the bracket for the elite tournament is set, arrived, I found myself completely ignorant. On one hand, it was more exciting, because I had no idea which teams were likely to grab the high seeds, but I also decided that familiarizing myself with the power conferences and teams ahead of time would have made the experience more enjoyable.

So that’s what I did this year. I kept track of every single conference’s tournaments, monitored the AP rankings, and pored over the online predictions on ESPN and Yahoo! Sports. But for all that preparation, the tournament was a major letdown.

Last year’s tournament was thrilling — riddled with upsets (Kansas was bounced in the first round by … Bradley?!; No. 1 Connecticut and No. 2 Tennessee barely escaped their first contests; overall No. 1 Duke ousted early) and host to an incredible run by No. 11 seed George Mason University, battling all the way to the Final Four.

This year, upsets were few and far between. Syracuse, a team I admired ever since they smacked Texas around in the first tournament I ever watched, was overlooked entirely, and the choice of the No. 1 seeds left a lot to be desired. Winthrop, a No. 11 seed, looked like it could be this year’s George Mason, but after an initial victory it was defeated by the ever-intimidating Oregon Ducks.

When only eight teams remained, seven were No. 1 or No. 2 seeds, and the No. 3 Ducks were the lowest-ranked. Compare that to last year: three No. 1 seeds, two No. 2 seeds, rounded out with a 3, 4, and 11. The Final Four: no No. 1 seeds.

I can see that a lot of people would look at those last few paragraphs and think, “Wow, who cares?” A fair question. Why do I care? Well, there are a combination of reasons I continue to tune in. One is probably an enthusiasm for brackets and rankings cultivated by my fourth- and fifth-grade devotion to “Battlebots,” another the Illinois team’s fantastic run during my subbie days. On a freezing April night, I was among a mob of orange-clad Illini fans in the parking lot of the U of I basketball complex until after midnight to welcome the oh-so-close team home.

Yes, sports is a pretty trivial thing to obsess over, but I don’t see any harm in it. For whatever reason, seeing your home team triumph against adversity can fill even the most casual viewer with excitement. Illinois vs. Arizona, anyone?

— Andrew Lovdahl

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Now that we have all made it into Uni and have been here long enough to despise the overloads of homework (among other various little quirks), it’s easy enough to say that the school is getting annoying. Everyone seems to complain about it. We realize that there is too much homework, a very limited number of students, etc., and it’s common to hear students complain about how much they “hate Uni” or “want to transfer.”

And I can agree! There are very few students per class, which is often seen as a positive thing, though in some cases can be even worse. Yes, we get to “know each other.” We get to “bond” and whatnot.

On the other hand we might not all get along so wonderfully. I do not love every single person in my entire school; I doubt that anybody does. Yet, since classes are so small, we all share a common lunch period (where everybody crowds into the lounge or the kitchen), and by simply nudging into each other during passing periods, there isn’t a way to easily avoid seeing someone.

We are a very tight-knit community, so we seemingly know everything about everyone; we hear all of each other’s gossip. Take Uni Gossip Girl for example, or Uni Gossip. Almost the entire school knew of and had checked into both sites, and the Gargoyle even reported on it.

There are always the common sites like MySpace and Facebook that students have accounts on, but there aren’t many schools where you can say that everyone knows about everything someone else has posted online. It sure can get a little hectic, especially when you prefer some things be kept confined to a small number of people. In other schools someone pushing someone else down the stairs or someone stealing things out of your locker is talk for one second, and the next second you couldn’t care less.

Now, of course, it’s always just how you look at it. You can see the limited number of students as a chance to get to know your classmates and an opportunity to establish stronger student-teacher connections. You can see the quick spread of gossip as a simple sign of how close we all are to each other. It’s definitely dependent on your mood for the day; are you glass half full or half empty?

— Lizzy Warner

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 2:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Over spring break, I visited Italy along with seven other students from Uni’s second- and third-year Latin classes.

We first arrived in Rome, where we were greeted by a warm and sunny day. As we toured the city in our private bus, I took in the breathtaking views of the town and the countryside. Palm trees spread throughout the fields and the grass was so much greener than it is back at home. Apartment buildings were painted in colorful shades of yellow and orange, and private balconies overflowed with flowers and other greenery. The entire city looked so old and peaceful, a huge contrast from the United States.

During the next few days in Rome, we visited the Pantheon, the Colosseum, the Circus Maximus, and the Vatican. After seeing so many pictures of these places from history and Latin class, it was wonderful to see them in person. The Vatican, in particular, was incredibly impressive. Everything about it — from the ceilings covered with paintings done in gold to the thousands of famous artworks on display — all seemed to point out its richness.

Unfortunately, over the course of the trip, the weather turned cold and rainy. Nevertheless, we still went to Pompeii, Florence, Tuscany, and Milan. Personally, my favorite place was Florence. During our two-night stay there, we sped through the city trying to see all that it had to offer. We saw Michelangelo’s David, the graves of the Medici family, and the massive Duomo that was the symbol of Florence. My favorite display was the painting by Botticelli titled “The Birth of Venus” at the Uffizi Gallery. Even though we’ve learned about it in history class, the brilliant colors and intricate details were so much more beautiful up close.

I absolutely loved shopping in Florence. The streets were filled with vendors, selling everything from fake Gucci and Chanel to replicas of famous artworks. I was especially entertained by how the knockoff sellers ran from the police. It was as if as soon as a police officer appeared, the streets would clear out in literally two seconds.

I also enjoyed bargaining with the vendors. I actually became pretty good at it, managing to get a watch from 35 euros down to 10. However, it was also annoying and a bit scary at times when some sellers came after me when I didn’t buy anything.

The food in Italy was fantastic. I especially liked the pasta and gelato (Italian ice cream). However, Italian dinners last ridiculously long. You get your first course, which is generally pasta. Then about 30 minutes later, the waiter serves the second course. About another half hour later, you get dessert. I even fell asleep during one meal that dragged on for more than two hours.

Over the course of the trip, we also had lots of bonding time. I got to know my roommates pretty well. On the first night in Rome, the boys thought our hotel was haunted, so the girls and I had fun scaring them. Another night we watched Italian MTV. The sophomore boys were obsessed with playing cards, and we were up until 3 one night (or morning) playing a game called 80 points. I think I’ve played enough cards to last me until summer.

Overall, I really enjoyed the trip. Despite the tons of walking each day, the jet lag, and the cold weather in Italy, everything else was even better than I had imagined it could be.

— Elaine Gu

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 10:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The first Saturday of spring break, I casually walked outside to check the mail. As I flipped past random junk mail, a small envelope caught my eye — it was from one of the colleges I applied to.

In general, you want a big envelope, since that usually means you get congratulations from colleges on your acceptance, along with a bunch of forms to fill out and handbooks to give you a more formal introduction of the college and the city or town it’s located in. A small envelope, not so good. My first rejection, I thought to myself.

I wasn’t completely correct. Instead of an outright rejection, I was given the option of being put on the infamous wait list, the place where hundreds of other applicants are put. Being on the wait list or even rejected doesn’t necessarily mean that you aren’t qualified. Most everyone there is just as good as the people who got accepted. It’s really like the lottery. You can almost never be absolutely certain that you got in.

I wasn’t particularly mad. According to the numbers given in the letter, less than 10 percent of applicants were accepted. Plus, the major I applied for was an incredibly popular and famous one at the school. To top it off, the signature appeared to have been written in by hand, which I suppose makes it more personal. Having to write your name a few thousand times doesn’t seem like the best way to spend a day in the office.

Soon afterward, I searched the Web for ways to possibly make me stand out from the list, so to speak. One of them suggested I write a brief letter to the director/dean of admissions just reconfirming my interest in the school. So here I go, reliving the college application process, just after I thought I could forget about the whole thing.

— Benjamin Fu

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 9:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yes, I know. All of us seniors are sick of talking about college, sick of reading about college, sick of THINKING about college. So hopefully every senior just reads the headline and moves on. I just need to get this stuff off my chest.

For the past couple of weeks I have been on edge constantly, waiting for those college decision letters. The first news I got was bad. That got me worried. What if I didn’t get into college at all? What if I was forced to attend Parkland College, major in welding, and spend the rest of my life building bicycle parts in Wyoming? What if my parents didn’t love me anymore? What if I died? (So it goes).

I spent the majority of my time cursing fate and beating my head against the wall to escape the futility of life. In the space of two days I became bitter, and refused to talk to the luckier of my classmates who were already admitted to the higher learning institution of their choice (the smarmy punks).

But today all of that changed. I got into another college! All at once I was floating on air, bemused and astonished by my own excellent fortune. Gosh, I must be smart. People must really like me. My future will be a shining beacon to all generations. As someone once said about a television news reporter whose last name was a shade of red: I’m the balls.

Talk about mood swings. Either I’m bipolar (it wouldn’t surprise me), or I’m deeply affected by stress. Either way, college sucks. Where’s that McDonald’s application form?

— Bethany Hutchens

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 7:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You know what I think about “standardized” testing? While I think the idea behind it is commendable, the actual tests and the process of taking them are far from perfect.

First off, I think the idea of a standard, national yardstick for measuring “intelligence” is a good idea. The education system in the U.S. is a mess, and so a standardized test is necessary to truly see which students are more prepared for college.

But how standardized are the tests we have today? The two tests I have been stressing over for a long time now are the ACT and the SAT. They both have their own scoring systems and the two tests themselves are drastically different. In my opinion, it is impossible to juxtapose the two or say without a doubt that this is THE standardized test.

This in turn creates a lot of problems for everyone. Students have to study for TWO tests in the middle of their busiest year in high school. Colleges have to consider which test to look at. The Midwest is predominately ACT while everywhere else favors the SAT.

What irks me is that the SAT people changed their test because they fell out of favor in California. Clearly they were looking out for their own interests although they tell everyone else that they changed the test for their sake. I’m pretty sure the ACT had something like this before too. This is a conflict of interest, and I think that in the end the students are getting screwed.

How to change to make things better?

One, the U.S. Department of Education can probably come up with a fair, national test that everyone has to take. Of course, this means that the SAT and the ACT would have to be eliminated. Colleges will then measure everyone on the same scale. Students will study for the same test. Everyone is happy — except for the College Board, but who cares about them?

Anyways, just a random thought.

— Ranny Ma

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I … have a gripe. And like many other gripes that I have, this one is fairly self-centered and obnoxious. But it’s a gripe nonetheless. So here it is: It is so, so obnoxious that my birthday always falls in the middle of spring break.

Oh, I’m ready for spring break. It feels like I’ve been ready for it ever since the first day back from Agora Days. But having my birthday in the middle of spring break is really awful for a number of reasons:

1. At least half of my friends are always out of town. If I want to plan a get-together, so many people can’t come that it just doesn’t seem to be worth it.

2. I never get my locker decorated. Yes, I know this is whiney and babyish of me. But since this is my blog entry, I get whining-rights. I’ve decided.

3. … I can’t really think of a third reason.

So there you have it. My gripe about my birthday always being in the middle of spring break. This year, I’m probably going to have a party the weekend after school starts again, when everyone gets back from all the exciting places they’re going.

But on the bright side, I’ll be well-rested and unstressed on my birthday, which is actually quite nice. I don’t plan on getting up before noon on Thursday, 3/22, thank you very much.

— Michelle Gao

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 9:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A majority of the time, I think that soccer is one of the greatest games ever played, up there with basketball and men’s gymnastics. The World Cup is awesome, girls soccer season is the best time of the year, and people just look really cool when they play the game.

But, there are problems with the sport.

As I played “FIFA 07” on my brother’s PSP, an obsession of mine, I pondered some of soccer’s more unfair aspects. I am not the best gamer, and though I have mastered the Amateur and Semipro levels, there are times when I get behind, times when I lose, and times when I turn off the PSP and restart the game.

The problem is, no matter how hard you try or how good you are (and this is true in the game and in real life), the other team can get that lucky shot, or there can be that little glitch where an unmarked man gets through your defensive line and scores.

Since soccer is such a low scoring game, it’s not always easy to overcome this deficit. After the goal, the team can pack its box and forfeit its offense in an attempt to keep you from scoring.

Of course, getting up by one and then just trying to maintain a lead isn’t a foolproof plan, but it is consistently effective. Look at the Uni High boys soccer team in the fall of 2005, when they lost to Bloomington Central Catholic in the sectional semifinals; BCC got up by one after Uni committed an error, and then was able to maintain its lead for the rest of the game.

The France-Portugal game in the 2006 World Cup is another example. Zinedine Zidane scored one goal off a free kick, and then France was able to stay ahead to win 1-0.

Then there are the penalty shootouts. Talk about a lame way to break a tie. That is how France lost to Italy in the 2006 World Cup and how China lost to the U.S. in the Women’s World Cup of 1999. Why should a championship game come down to an almost meaningless competition between a shooter and a goalie?

I am a firm believer that the better team should win. In basketball, the worse team may lead for a while, but the consistency, skill, and teamwork of the better team will eventually triumph. That isn’t guaranteed in soccer. There are upsets in every sport, but the fact that they are a common occurrence in soccer should indicate that there is a problem.

I love soccer. I don’t dispute its rightful spot as the most popular sport in the world. But, I think that things could be spiced up. Getting rid of penalty shootouts and creating higher scoring games would broaden the appeal and make soccer the essence of perfection.

— Sarah Pfander

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 9:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

When returning home after track practice or meets, I’m often presented with a fairly difficult decision. Do I do my homework, or do I do the many other things that are more enjoyable? Take sleep, for instance. After running the 1600, the last thing I want to do is study physics. The first thing on my mind is water, followed by sleep. Unfortunately, with the physics midterm rapidly approaching, blowing it off isn’t really an option.

And when I’m not dead tired, I have no excuse for why I shouldn’t be able to get everything done very quickly. But somehow, doing math problems instead of watching the NCAA men’s basketball tournament isn’t very appealing.

But that’s the very dilemma I’m faced with by living in a time where electronic distractions are cheap and plentiful. Aren’t there just so many things you’d rather be doing than studying or writing a paper? I know that I would enjoy playing guitar or listening to extremely loud music much more than studying for history or doing a French worksheet.

As such, it becomes very hard to remain on task, especially when I’m trying to scream loud enough so that Duke doesn’t lose to VCU in the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. As Duke is down by 2 with 1.8 seconds left on the clock, it’s obvious that that didn’t work. However, my homework isn’t any closer to being done.

No matter the distractions, this stuff needs to get done, and I’ll have to do it. But I won’t like it. Not while March Madness is in full swing.

— Carl Zielinski

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 8:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just like many of my friends, I’ve had crushes before. At the time I felt that if my crush were to ever ask me out, I’d definitely say yes. But now that I’ve grown up a little, I have to think, would I really have said yes? In fact, I wonder, why did I even have a crush?

In America it seems normal for high school students to go out on dates and have a boyfriend or a girlfriend. But I really don’t see the point in dating when you probably won’t marry that person and you have your entire life ahead of you to date people and form relationships.

In fact, I found that having a crush was extremely distracting. My mind would wander sometimes during class, and I would have a hard time focusing again. What’s the point in dating someone if your grades are in danger of dropping?

Some people might say that dating helps you get ready for the time when you’ll be really looking for “the one,” but then how come there are so many people who never date during their high school years who are happily married now?

I guess it just is a matter of personal preference. What do I know? Maybe there are people who just like the idea of dating. It could make someone feel loved. But either way, I don’t think I’ll be giving my phone number to anyone anytime soon.

— Avanti Chajed

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 7:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Right now, typing on my bed, I have a clear view of my dresser. On top of my dresser is a clutter of makeup, half-empty tubes of scented lotion, and at least five bottles of perfume. In fact, I have so much girly junk that the countertop is barely visible.

Now it is rather obvious that I don’t use five different perfumes every single day, or moisturize my body every 10 minutes. It would be much more practical if I had just one tube of lotion and just one bottle of perfume. So why do I insist on purchasing such unnecessary things? The vain truth is that I feel prettier every time the cashier slides the credit card through the machine. Somehow in my mind, smelling nicer equates with looking nicer.

The other day I had forgotten to apply the three sprays of perfume before school. The rest of the day I was freaking out, worrying that I smelled bad. Worrying that I was ugly.

What is it that makes me, your average teenage girl, feel so vulnerable when I don’t have my armor of perfume on? Why am I so dependent on such a trivial thing?

I would say the media has something to do with it. I guess I’ve taken to heart the commercials where the girl who smells bad repels all the cute guys. Or maybe it’s the whole preteen drama where friends would fervently ask me, “Andrea! Do I smell bad? OK, if I smell bad, tell me. You promise? OK, I promise I’ll tell you when you smell bad.”

But I’m stronger than that. A couple of dumb commercials and a few stupid comments shouldn’t have such an impact on an independent, “sophisticated mama,” as my brother would say. Yet for some reason they do.

— Andrea Park

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 6:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I used to be a hardcore nerd. Nothing wrong with that — I had a blast playing the latest video games and collecting trading cards (Gotta Catch em’ All!). Heck, I still enjoy working up a sweat on my consoles (especially on the SNES), but now I put a higher emphasis on socializing.

What? Nerds don’t socialize? When I say nerd, I’m referring to the second definition at dictionary.com:

An intelligent but single-minded person obsessed with a nonsocial hobby or pursuit: a computer nerd.

It’s not as if I didn’t have friends, but in terms of popularity I was definitely not at the top. Don’t get me wrong — I’m not Mr. Popular at Uni either, but before, everything was about the games.

At the time, I didn’t realize the importance of socializing. In fact, I didn’t want to be popular. I linked popularity with obnoxiousness and ignorance (thinking back, I must have been pretty ignorant myself). I was happy the way I was and life was good.

Being a nerd is fine. However, after I began getting away from the games, my life kind of turned around or, at least, it turned in a different direction. I got interested in other things and I made friends with people who had different interests. I was introduced to new things and I found life more exciting.

Communication is an important skill — it isn’t always someone trying to be obnoxious (although there are cases where it is). Schools should probably put more emphasis on talking. No one’s going to hire you for a job if you can’t say “good morning.” That’s people for you, and that’s life.

— Alan Liang

Addendum: Yay for pi day! For a slightly disturbing clip on pi, look here.

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 9:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I laugh an obscenely large amount. Sometimes, I’ll even catch myself giggling at topics that are truly lacking in humor. In fact, they are so often devoid of funny that they barely merit a half-smile.

I’ve seen other people do this as well. My innocent eavesdropping into others’ conversations has convinced me that they too laugh at things that are not terribly funny. Very often the level of wit displayed by the speaker does not really deserve the deep belly laugh that spews forth from the cavernous stomach of the listener.

So why do I (and others) chuckle so joyously then at jokes that should probably never be told again? I prefer to believe that it is not simply because we all have oversensitive funny bones but rather because there is a deeper social issue involved here.

Human beings, being the social creatures that we are, enjoy the company of others. We also enjoy it when other people enjoy our company. It’s called getting along, and I personally view my laughter as one of the best ways to reassure someone that I too am enjoying their company.

This is not to say that every time I laugh it is simply to oblige the person sitting next to me into thinking that they are a sociable companion. Numerous occasions occur on the daily when I have been surprised into laughing at something that actually is jocular. Sometimes, however, my laughter has very little to do with the actual presence of humor. It seems to me that laughter for social animals is an involuntary and habitual survival tool and rarely used as a legitimate response to a witticism.

I’ve even heard someone call laughter a “social lubricant.” It is meant to smooth over those awkward situations when everyone knows that the line just spoken, although intended to tickle the funny center of the brain, has failed to generate any laughter-inducing chemicals. I personally would much prefer a laugh in those circumstances, even if it is not entirely bona fide, than the pin-drop, cricket-chirping silence that would otherwise result.

So then I wonder is it ethically wrong to laugh simply because it’s a primal instinct? Should I be more cautious and contain myself from giggling at those things that do not merit said giggle? Am I being dishonest? Or am I simply continuing to do what human beings have been doing for eons: being social?

As much as I would like to further ponder these questions my calculus test tomorrow deserves my immediate attention. In the meanwhile, I think that I will continue to laugh unexpectedly and without proper reason, simply because to do so pleases me regardless of how my girly teehee may appear to others.

— Shivani Khanna

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 5:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you were at Uni today, you noticed the ridiculously warm weather.

The halls during lunch were empty and almost everyone was outside enjoying the sunshine. I did not go outside, but I was still able to enjoy the warmth and the smells of spring since almost every classroom had its windows open.

You can also tell the weather outside is warm without opening a window. It seems like half the school is walking around in shorts. Also almost every room in the school has been extremely hot the last few days, what with the warm weather and the University not turning off the heat yet (oddly though, Room 106S, which usually seems to be heated with the fires of Hell itself, was pleasantly cool).

Honestly, I preferred the slightly cooler weather yesterday to the borderline-hot weather today. Either way, it is a nice change from the cold (and hopefully it will melt away the last piles of dirty snow), but enjoy it while you can, because in a day or two it will drop back down into the 40s, just as I get the urge to stop bringing a jacket to school.

— Deren Kudeki

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 9:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Monday morning. My alarm goes off at 6:45; I stumble across the room; turn it off; go back to bed. After drifting in and out of consciousness for another half hour, I half-walk, half-roll to my dresser. About 25 minutes later, I’m out the door, and I arrive at Uni just in time to drop my backpack at my locker and head off to Kenney Gym

Nothing out of the ordinary there. However, on that particular Monday morning, I was considerably more tired than usual. The explanation, undoubtedly, was daylight saving time.

I did some “extensive research” (please read as “casual Wikipedia browsing”) on the subject, and found that the practice was born out of one man’s desire to … play more golf. This man, William Willett, wanted to allow his fellow Londoners to spend more time outside on summer days. He also noted, in his proposal for daylight saving time, that electrical bills would drop considerably, because in the evenings people could use the light of the sun instead of flipping on the electric lights.

A number of European nations adopted DST in the early 20th century, with the U.S. using it off and on until it was permanently (to this day) established in 1967.

For some reason (perhaps lack of sleep due to DST) I was quite confused about how this would affect my sleep cycle, but I’ve finally straightened it out.

Last week, I went to bed each night at about 11:30 and got up at 7:15 the next morning. If I went to bed at 11:30 on Sunday (luckily, I didn’t), it would be equivalent to going to bed at 10:30 “regular time.” Then, Monday morning, if I wake up at 7:15 (luckily, I did), it’s the same as getting up at 6:15 regular time. Even though I’m spending the same amount of time in bed, I’m still “programmed” to fall asleep at midnight (updated for DST, 1 a.m.).

So I’m going to bed closer to 10:30 or 10:45 this week, which is unfortunate for a number of reasons. I usually do the bulk of my homework after 9, but for the time being I have one less hour to work through it. This brings me to my next complaint: less time to enjoy this ridiculously beautiful weather we’re having. About the best I can do for now is open my bedroom windows.

The timing of this warm spell is just a bit off. It’s the last week of the quarter, a week where I have three tests to cram for (including two to get started on tonight), and this weekend it’s supposed to drop back down to the 30s. I can just imagine sitting in class on Friday with a balmy breeze wafting across the room, and after the bell rings, walking out the doors of Uni into a raging snowstorm.

Oh well. There’ll be plenty of good weather to come. Now, I’m going to memorize some flowcharts, review the laws of thermodynamics, and marvel at how I managed to outgrow all the shorts in my closet over the winter.

— Andrew Lovdahl

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 8:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So I know that there has already been coverage on grinding complaints, but here’s to a small blog entry not necessarily complaining.

So when the administration started cutting down on the various rules at Uni dances everyone was in a frenzy! I remember as a subbie coming to my first Uni dance and not expecting anything at all. I expected students to be standing in the corners and talking and maybe bobbing their heads to the beat, not dancing in the middle of a hot attic with thumping music and flashy lights.

As a subbie, though, I never remember feeling offended by it; in fact I thought it was kind of cool. I felt super-mature for attending these high school dances. Now, though, the atmosphere isn’t like that. Fewer and fewer people are coming to Uni dances, and although bringing a friend from another school is discouraged (in case they might cause trouble), they honestly aren’t that thrilled to come any more.

At the beginning of the year, I decided that even though they were cutting down on grinding I still wanted to go to the dances. If I wasn’t having fun, I could leave school and go out on campus for ice cream or hot chocolate (and in some cases that’s what I did). Now, though, I’m not even allowed to do that unless I take the time to call my mom, get her on the line with Assistant Director Sue Kovacs, and make sure it’s OK with both of them (which isn’t easy considering my mom rarely has her cell phone available to call).

The school has given us chances to learn alternatives such as swing dancing during Agora Days, and during the Halloween dance we had an instructor come in. Personally I took the swing dancing class and had tons of fun with it! Even though I only learned how to play the role of the male lead, I still thought it was very useful to know. In all honesty, though, I don’t think that I am going to burst out into swing dancing while “Get Low” plays in the background; I don’t know about you, but I would feel a little awkward.

So this weekend I had the opportunity to check out another school dance, at Central High School, with another one of my Uni friends. Figuring their school dances would be similar to our old school dances, we dressed in simple jeans and a black shirts. When I got there though, girls were walking in bunches chatting away. They were wearing heels and dresses that I thought were only suitable for winter formal. Turns out that this was a formal dance (and I’m sure you can guess how glad we were that our Central friends forgot to tell us this).

We decided that it didn’t really matter to us, though; we would rather dance in jeans than in a dress any day. So the Central friends we had arrived with went to give our tickets to the school dean to let us in … and we couldn’t go in. Neither I nor my friend had realized that to get into the dance we needed to have our school IDs. So we were forced to dash back home.

When we finally got into the dance there were so many disco balls and a huge screen that had music videos playing on it (and they weren’t playing “funk” music). In fact, at one point there was even a power surge!

To my shock, though, not even half the gym was filled with people, and of those people not all of them were dancing. It seemed completely ridiculous to me that these people had such nice dances set up for them, and so much freedom, and yet not everyone was taking advantage of it. No one appeared to be offended, but people would group together and “casually grind” as their friends struck up conversations around them.

So basically, if you look at Uni we were given a lot of freedoms. To get into the dances all we had to do was sign our name on a paper; to invite guests all we needed was to have them write their names down. We were allowed to dance however we wanted to, and we were even given a podium/stage to “dirty dance” on. And not only were we given these freedoms, but most of us took full advantage of them.

Now looking at this dance I just went to, and some other dances I’ve been to, you could say that Uni students might’ve even provoked the teachers to some extent. I’m not saying that grinding is bad (hey, I’m all for it!), and I understand that my experiences don’t necessarily represent all public schools, but if you were a parent how much would you really enjoy seeing your child rub up on some other boy or girl?

What I observed at Central wasn’t exactly what you could’ve called ‘hardcore grinding’ (despite what everyone has told me about the intense dancing at other public schools), and I think it’s safe to say that I’ve seen some “better grinders” at Uni dances. So can we really blame the administration, parents, etc. for not wanting their children involved in such provocative dancing, despite how much we really want it?

— Lizzy Warner

Panic on the dance floor: What’s it like at other high schools?
Special report: Grinding down on student dances

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I’ve heard some comments recently about how “300,” the box-office success released this past week, is essentially propaganda to help gain support for a possible military action against Iran. Though I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing the movie myself yet, this claim is so preposterous that I’m tempted to pick up a straight-edged Spartan sword and start hacking people’s heads off.

Perhaps I should start by pointing out the obvious comparisons.

Persia —> Modern-day Iran

Greece —> Western civilization, specifically the United States

An awesome story about how 300 really-well-trained soldiers make a last stand against an overwhelming force backed up with the might of one of the strongest empires in the world at the time —> ???

Exactly. The comparison breaks down. People started panicking as soon as they saw the words “Persia/Iran,” “Greece/U.S.,” and “battle” in the same sentence, but they didn’t bother taking a closer look. In fact, ignoring points one and two in favor of point three, one would be tempted to cast the U.S as the strong empire, making the Iranians the underdogs we’re supposed to root for. This claim is no less valid than the claim that the film is propaganda. It’s only more immediately foolish.

Here’s a similar thought experiment: “four close allies,” “threat,” and “space.” A movie about the efforts of the U.S. and three allies reviving SDI or a missile defense system against space-based attacks from hostile nations, right? No, actually — you’re watching “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.” That looks like an awesome movie, by the way, so I’m definitely going to be sure to catch that one.

“300” is not a film intended to brainwash the American public into supporting an attack against Iran. The only political message you can get from this gory action film is one you create yourself. Yes, I suppose there’s a natural tendency to view the Persians as evil because they vastly outnumber the Spartans. If so, then perhaps we should be chasing after our history classes because that’s how this battle was cast in my mind when I learned about it in history earlier this year; I was rooting for the Spartans. Who wouldn’t? The Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae appeal to our tendency to root for the underdog, the little man.

I realize, as Mr. Butler pointed out in a schoolwide e-mail today, that propaganda films supporting specific wars exist, perhaps best evidenced by the “Why We Fight” films of World War II. A closer look at the plot of “300,” which had a producer back in 2003 before Iran was even rocking the boat, reveals that “300” is not one of these propaganda films. Appreciate the Battle of Thermopylae for what it is — really darn cool.

Check out: The New York Times on “300“‘s real message | A satirical review of the “300” trailer

— Ben Hyman

Posted by bhyman at 9:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By the beginning of January, I had sent all of my college applications. All six of them, fully revised and nicely packaged in envelopes. The only thing left for me to do was wait until April 1, judgment day when all my acceptance or rejection letters will fill up the mailbox.

It’s been two months, and I’m still waiting eagerly. Some of my classmates who applied regular decision to colleges that I also applied to have already been accepted. I, however, have not been accepted anywhere besides the University of Illinois, which sent out letters late last semester.

It hasn’t been a particularly hard wait. College letters don’t cross my mind every minute and the admission committees don’t haunt my dreams. But I’ve started to get a little paranoid as more and more of my classmates have gotten letters and have decided on where to go.

I can usually wait on things, but college is a big deal. It presents a whole new slew of challenges, especially financial. Private colleges can total $40,000 and more per academic year. It’s going to be more than a little tricky finding $160,000 for most of us. The sooner financial aid packages come, the better.

I guess there’s really nothing for me to do than sit and wait for those letters to come. Trust me, senior year is not as easy as you may think it is.

— Benjamin Fu

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 9:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last week, Ed Nabors, a truck driver from Georgia, stepped forward to claim his Mega Millions winning of $390 million — the largest jackpot ever awarded. According to CNN, the probability of scoring the winning ticket was 1 in 176 million.

Wow, this guy must be the luckiest person on earth, I thought after hearing the news. His future is going to be perfect. If I had $390 million, I would be happy for the rest of my life. Heck, I’d be happy with $1 million.

But as I pondered the situation further, it occurred to me: Can money really buy happiness? There are all these stories of people whose lives have been ruined from winning the lottery. They developed drug addictions, bought expensive houses without thinking about property taxes, and constantly had to loan money to relatives and friends. In fact, studies show that 35 percent of lottery winners declare bankruptcy within 10 years of winning the lottery.

Hmm … so maybe hitting the jackpot isn’t such a great thing.

In 2002, Jack Whittaker, a man from West Virginia, won $314 million from the Powerball. At first, Jack nobly proclaimed that he would donate the money to charity and begin constructing new churches in his community. Citizens of his hometown hailed him as a hero. They even said that he should run for governor.

However, Jack’s life completely fell apart after what he thought was the best thing that ever happened to him. His relationship with his wife quickly deteriorated as he began visiting strip clubs, indulging himself with his newfound wealth. Friends and neighbors pestered him for money, and he was robbed multiple times. His granddaughter bought friends with the $5,000 allowance that Jack often gave her and became a drug addict. She eventually ran away and was found dead in the back of a beat-up van.

Despite the misfortune of many lottery winners, I still think that winning the lottery is a good thing provided that you invest and spend your money wisely. True, money won’t solve all of your problems, but being wealthy can certainly make you happier. I imagine that going on a shopping spree after having a bad day would cheer anybody up, at least to some degree.

— Elaine Gu

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 8:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As the weather warmed up this weekend, my mood rose. Winter is awful — I’ve already written a blog entry on that, and I am so glad that the weather is finally warm.

So glad, in fact, that I decided to wear shorts and flip-flops all weekend, and froze to death. Ouch. My toes were very cold. I also opened my window and then forgot to close it, so my room was pretty cold, too.

On the bright side, the skies were a nice blue, and I finally got to play soccer outside. It didn’t even dampen our spirits that every once in a while somebody fell into a pile of left-over snow during our game.

Anyway, I could take a little cold (only in the 50s) in order to at least pretend that it’s summer. And I am definitely planning to dig up all my summer clothes. So watch out winter, here I come!

— Bethany Hutchens

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

FRIDAY WAS THE deadline for registering for an Advanced Placement test, and judging by the traffic just outside the Student Services Office, a lot of juniors registered. Many were only taking the calculus AP, which is required for the class, but some were also taking other subjects. It seemed uncharacteristic for a junior class that never even mentioned “AP” in hallway conversation just a year ago.

For me, it felt a little strange watching all the juniors handing in their registration sheets, check stapled on top. Especially since I didn’t have one. Having registered for an AP test in each of my last three years at Uni, I decided not to take an AP this year.

Being an “overachiever” of sorts, I found it wasn’t an easy decision to forgo the tests. After all, junior year is supposed to be the most important year that colleges scrutinize — shouldn’t I be taking more APs, not fewer?

For a long time the question was not whether to take APs this year, but rather how many and which ones. Looking over the choices, I was confident that, with a little studying, I could get the maximum score of 5 on at least a couple of subjects. But then I asked myself a more important question: Why? Why should I pay $85 just to take a test?

Any student taking an AP is ostensibly trying to place out of college courses, which could save money. For a standard course like calculus, this might make a lot of sense. However, I decided that it was not a good enough reason. I haven’t even applied to college yet — how will I know if the college I attend will even accept AP credit? Colleges tend to have their own (free) placement exams anyway.

The other possible reason for taking an AP test was to force myself to learn the material better. Unfortunately, this too was not a convincing justification. It would be far too tempting to cram in the information, scrape by with a 5, and promptly forget everything except the occasional trivia fact.

As far as I could tell, then, APs could only help in building the résumé. Besides feeling a distinct revulsion when doing anything for the sake of the résumé, I concluded that the whole thing was more trouble than it was worth.

As bait, the College Board offers some awards for scoring well enough on a large enough number of APs.

However, there doesn’t seem to be a point to collecting them — I’m sure college admissions officers are capable of counting the number of AP tests a particular applicant has taken and reading the scores.

I won’t be getting the National AP Scholar of Honorable Merit with Distinction (or whatever it’s called) Award this year, but at least I’ve cut one piece of unnecessary stress out of the last quarter of junior year.

— Alex Zhai

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I’ve been on two main school-sponsored trips this year: Clarksdale for Habitat and Wisconsin Dells for the senior trip. Both had their pros and cons, and I generally enjoyed both. One of the main goals for these trips was to give the students an opportunity to bond with each other. But did these trips meet this goal?

For me, the Habitat trip was one of the best weeks of my life. The people in Clarksdale were exceptionally hospitable and I had a lot of fun working on the houses and getting to know the area. There were 18 students on the trip, just the right number to better know each other, especially when we were cramped in the Habitat dorm for a week and spent a lot of time at night doing group activities. It was literally as if we were together 24 hours a day.

By the end, I felt that I had learned a lot about every single person who went on the trip. It was as much of an entertaining experience as an educational one.

The senior trip was a little different, to say the least. We and 11 chaperones were split into six condos, and went to the waterpark, skiing, and relaxed in the condos. Personally I don’t think it was as effective in terms of bonding. There were some people I probably only saw once or twice the whole weekend. The closeness that I felt with people during Habitat just wasn’t quite there.

There are many reasons why this could be the case. The senior trip had three times as many people as Habitat, and there was a much larger space for people to roam around. Habitat allowed time for almost everyone to work together on the houses at the same time, while we were dispersed everywhere for most of the time in the Dells.

If we’re really looking for a class bonding experience, how about a trip to Clarksdale or a similar volunteer-oriented trip? It would be a much more engaging experience. Anyone else up for the idea?

— Benjamin Fu

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 10:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You know what I like about March? Beside the fact that my birthday is in March, it is also time for March Madness, baby! Yeah, in about a week, 65 Division I college basketball teams will compete for a national championship.

I will probably have 50 different brackets made. Hopefully, one of them makes me look clairvoyant. But realistically, some random team like George Mason will probably kill my brackets.

That’s OK, because that’s why I like March Madness so much. It’s so fun to watch a no-name team upset a powerhouse like Kansas with a buzzer-beater. It is do-or-die for everyone, and you can bet that everyone is giving 200 percent.

It is also a time for you to root for your favorite team and the teams you have in your brackets. I’ve found that the games are much more interesting if you have one of the teams winning. So if you are not planning on making brackets, you are missing out on half the fun. Don’t worry if you have no idea who to root for; choose the team that has better looking unis or something like that.

My love for March Madness was rekindled when Illinois made it to the championship game in ‘05. That was a special year, and I hope Illinois will win it sometime soon.

— Ranny Ma

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, here we are again. Another massively hyped concert has come and gone. This year it wasn’t Kanye West that I missed (I’m still regretting that, but I couldn’t find a ticket), but the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

You know, for a band that hasn’t made more than two or three good songs since 1991 (the year “Blood Sugar Sex Magik,” RHCP’s only album I can stand, came out), they sure have sold a ton of albums, as well as other miscellaneous merchandise. And honestly, I can’t figure it out. To me, almost every one of their songs sounds the same.

Possibly, it could just have to do with the same reason bands like Mötley Crüe and Ratt were popular in the Eighties, or to a lesser extent, Vanilla Ice in the early Nineties (I’ve still got “Ice Ice Baby” going through my head). They were around at the right place at the right time, and rode the wave of popularity all the way to the bank, and eventually to bankruptcy and drug abuse.

But back to my main point. Why can’t we ever have more than the musical flavor of the week come to the Assembly Hall? Going to see Tenacious D would be pretty cool. Why couldn’t the Hall book them? Or what about (you could see this coming) Metallica? They haven’t been around this area for years, and they are better musicians, songwriters, and performers than RHCP.

Either way, I’m boycotting the Assembly Hall until the Illinois men’s basketball team gets better, they start booking better bands, or they keep booking the same bands but get Nine Inch Nails to come back.

— Carl Zielinski

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 8:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was just as happy as the rest of my classmates when we had the snow days in the week leading to Agora Days. The snow was pretty and I found great pleasure in looking at it fall outside while I was comfortably warm inside my house. But I don’t know about the rest of my classmates, but the snow didn’t look too pretty two days later when we were back at school and it lay on the sides of the road, often black from car pollution.

Honestly, I can’t stand winter. Lately we haven’t been getting as much snow as we used to and so winter is just five months of dreary weather when the air outside is too cold so it freezes your insides when you go out. And the days are so short it’s hard to function after 8 since it feels like it should be 11. If it weren’t for winter break and the whole holiday fervor, I don’t know how I’d get through winter.

But at last it seems that spring is coming. Warm air feels like heaven and it’s especially nice to go outside without having to wear layers and layers of clothing. But knowing me, I probably will soon get tired of the rain and then it’ll be time for summer.

— Avanti Chajed

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 8:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With the swim season wrapping up, I’ve found that I have more and more time on my hands. I had grand plans of what I’d do with this extra time: I’d run a few miles every day, go through and read the entirety of my brother’s shelf of classic books, volunteer at Ten Thousand Villages, and even shed a few pounds.

So far, I’ve run a couple miles, started Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lolita” and Joseph Heller’s “Catch 22,” filled out parts of the volunteer application, and reduced my intake of carbs (kind of).

I blame the temporary lack of drive to attack and accomplish my plans on Korea’s media industry. To be exact, I blame this laziness on Korean Dramas.

Korean Dramas. Addictive? Well, in about a week and a half I’ve finished two complete series: “Full House” and “ Successful Story of a Bright Girl.” Each series has 16 episodes, and each episode is around an hour long. That’s 32 hours of sitting on the couch enamored of the television screen. That’s 32 hours spent on watching Korean Dramas, when I could have done something much more productive.

Korean Dramas in essence aren’t that great plot-wise. They’re very predictable, unoriginal, and overly melodramatic. But the melodramaticness is what’s so great about them! The missed opportunities and the misunderstandings. The characters you love and root for and the characters you hate.

Usually there’s an emotionally unavailable, outwardly mean, yet tenderhearted male and a freethinking, quirky, and spirited heroine. Or maybe a mysterious, misunderstood, and emotionally unavailable man and a gentle, saintly, and beautiful girl. (Is there a coincidence that all the men in Korean Dramas are emotionally unavailable? I think not.)

Typically boy meets girl, and then girl, in all her womanly charm, “tames” boy. Then they fall in love and live happily ever after. Of course, this happy ending comes after the nauseating emotional rollercoaster ride.

“Full House” follows Han Ji-Eun, played by the adorable Song Hye Kyo, an orphan whose sole possession is a beautiful house on the shore of a beach. Han Ji-Eun isn’t the brightest girl, and is cheated by her two best friends who steal her house and sell it to the famous actor Lee Young-Jae, played by Korea’s Usher or Justin Timberlake, Bi.

In a series of complicated events that are a result of his high-profile “scandals” and his undying, secret love for childhood friend Kang Hye-Won, Lee Young-Jae ends up in a three-year contract marriage with Han Ji-Eun, where as alimony she will get her treasured house back. Perhaps this plot is a little far out there, but the bickering, hilarious duo make it worth sitting through all 16 hours of it.

“Successful Story of a Bright Girl” is similar to “Full House” in that the prince falls in love with the pauper. Cha Yang-soon (played by Jang Nara) is a Korean country hick. She has a very strong country accent and a speech impediment. Her mother and father are swindlers and leave Yang-soon with a huge debt to pay. Yang-soon thus begins work as a maid in the rich, spoiled Han Gi-tae’s (Jang Hyuk) house. Her quirkiness, toughness, and heavy lisp capture Han Gi-tae’s heart. Throughout the show the audience struggles beside him as he tries to profess his feelings for her, and cheers Yang-soon on as she teaches Han Gi-tae some of life’s hardest learned lessons.

Although I’ve been a certified spudnick for the past week, somehow I feel accomplished. Despite finishing a soap-opera marathon in record-breaking time, I have managed to forge a connection with my motherland, Korea. It’s very hard staying in touch with my parent’s culture, especially because I’m living in the middle of a cornfield in Illinois. All of my cousins and family members are in Korea, New York, New Jersey, or California. Our Park-unit has always been the oddball out location-wise. Additionally, my family doesn’t attend a Korean church, I am a proud Korean-language school dropout, and I only have a couple Korean friends. Korean Dramas have been one of the only connections I’ve had throughout my life to my Korean cultural heritage.

So tonight after I’m done finishing some math problems, I’m going to settle on the couch and turn on the TV. Tonight’s drama? “My Name is Kim Sam-Soon,” my all-time favorite Korean drama about the love that blooms between the lovely, tough, hilarious (and in Korean standards, Ruebenesque) Sam-Soon (Kim Sun Ah) and the cocky, emotionally unavailable Hyun Jin-heon (Hyun Bin). Who knows? Maybe I’ll pick up a new Korean phrase or find a new Korean crush. Whatever happens, I’ll get my own little taste of Korea right in my Champaign-Urbana living room.

— Andrea Park

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 7:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The secret’s out. The truth behind the treatment outpatient soldiers receive at Walter Reed has finally been revealed, and it’s caused a media frenzy. The Washington Post reporters, Anne Hull and Dana Priest, who uncovered the atrocities that patients receive have now become part of the pantheon of great journalists.

The public now knows about the rotting, molding, and mice-infested rooms that soldiers who were wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan receive.

The public now knows that the bureaucratic system is so inefficient that the paperwork that documents a soldier’s work in Iraq will get lost and no record will remain of the soldier’s time in Iraq, thus preventing him or her from receiving proper medical care.

The public now knows that the Army can tell you when they’re recruiting you that a pre-existing medical problem is a nonissue. But when you’re applying for a disability rating so that you can receive financial compensation for the arms and legs you lost in active combat, that same pre-existing medical condition can be used to deny you financial compensation.

A top government official, Army Secretary Francis Harvey, was forced to resign as a result of this investigation.

So while I’m relieved that the Fourth Estate was able to do its job of informing the public and inducing change, I am also worried about the state of the government and the types of corruption that occur on a daily basis. It doesn’t matter how you feel about Iraq or President Bush. It should be entirely apparent that the people who are giving up their bodies for our country deserve to be treated with honor and dignity when they return home, particularly if they are wounded. For such things to happen as they are at Walter Reed, I feel that a lot has to go wrong on the bureaucratic level, and it amazes me to see what the United States has truly come to when we can’t even take care of the men who are giving up their lives on the battlefield for us.

— Shivani Khanna

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In high school, you form relationships. It’s just how it goes. They don’t necessarily have to be romantic, even: You make new friends; you find people to study with; you even have to form relationships with your teachers.

I’ve been wondering lately how strong those relationships can be. Can they withstand the test of time? A lot of my friends have moved away in the past, and despite tearful promises to write and/or call weekly, it sadly just hasn’t happened. As for the friends I had in elementary and middle school who didn’t come to Uni … pfft. I remember who they are, sure. And what they looked like back then. But other than that, there isn’t much else.

And college … oh boy.

Some might say, “Oh, but this is what Facebook is for!” And I agree, to a certain point. Facebook and MySpace allow you to post pictures and document how your life is going. You can comment on each other’s walls, and you can message each other. You can e-mail, you can call. The Internet and telephones are marvelous inventions to be taken advantage of.

However, despite how wonderful they are, they can’t take the place of actually being with the people that you’re away from. They can’t get rid of the distance. And in college, you’d be busy making new friends, getting used to a different schedule, beginning to grow up away from home.

Can friendships and relationships you make in high school make it?

Well, I hope so.

And I’m going to try my darndest to make mine last.

But I have my entire senior year, so I’ll just forget about it for now.

— Michelle Gao

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 9:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

After the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert at the Assembly Hall on Saturday, March 3, it was hard not to be completely obsessed with the members of the band. The lead singer, Anthony Kiedis, especially exuded a sexiness that left the female fans in love. His awesome vocals, his excitement on stage, his dancing, his rock attire, all pulled off with an extreme flare; how could you not be attracted to him?

And, of course, we have all had our celebrity crushes. Brad Pitt, Ewan McGregor, Cristiano Ronaldo, Djimon Hounsou, Justin Timberlake, Owen Wilson, Adrian Grenier, Humphrey Bogart, River Phoenix, all of them have been particular obsessions of mine over the years. And now, apparently, Anthony Kiedis has entered the lineup.

It is easy to understand why we get so into these celebrity idols.

The fact that society has deemed them “sexy” helps a lot. A sixth-grade girl feels better about her obsession with Leonardo DiCaprio than she does about her crush on her neighbor. Celebs have been OK’ed.

On top of that, their extreme inaccessiblity makes them even dreamier. Rock stars and actors are so far out of reach, it is fun to fantasize about actually winning them over.

Finally, they lead a mysterious life. We read tabloids, teen magazines, and gossip columns, all in an attempt to learn more about those elusive celeb idols. But, no matter how much I hear about David Beckham’s marriage to Posh Spice, I will never actually know what his life is like. Thus, I can only imagine how glamorous and exciting his activities are. And the more I think about all the celeb fun he has, the more I want to join him in his superstar life.

But are celeb crushes healthy? My brother pines after Beyonce, certain that they are meant to be. But, sadly for him, it can’t actually happen. So, do all of our fantasies just leave us sad and unfulfilled at the end of the day?

In the end, it depends how healthily you handle your rock star crush. I know Anthony Kiedis will never be mine, so instead I will play his CD, dream about his tatoos, and imagine the day that we meet. As long as I don’t progress to stalker-like behavior and weird, obsessive fantasies, I think I will be OK.

— Sarah Pfander

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I was a bit lacking in the creativity department this afternoon after cramming all of my weekend’s homework into the space of one day (I always go on a bit of a statistician-binge when the college basketball tournaments get under way), so I opted to navigate through the staff blog archives in search of inspiration for something to write about. I settled on a topic already explored by four staffers:

Death (By Alan)
Death redux (By Carl)
Death and Religion (By Ranny)
In religion’s defense (By Michelle)

This discussion has gotten a bit stale, and I’m quite aware that this is a delicate topic, but I’m still going to take a shot at it.

There’s a headline from the Onion that continues to amuse me: “World Death Rate Holding Steady at 100 Percent.” More or less, it gets my point across. Death is a natural, inevitable process, and if people didn’t spend so much time worrying about it, they might have more time to enjoy life (although, in an amusing little ironic twist, a good deal of the ways to “enjoy life” in today’s society have the side effect of lowering your lifespan considerably).

For me, death isn’t so much frightening as it is disappointing. Given that I have only 90 or so years to spend around here, I’m not particulary enthusiastic about dedicating the better part of my childhood and teenage years to sitting around learning about things that, for the most part, I have very little interest in learning.

However, immortality would be a major pain as well. Here is more or less why I think so, as written by Douglas Adams in “Life, the Universe, and Everything,” this excerpt concerning a being who has “immortality inadvertently thrust upon him.”

“To begin with it was fun; he had a ball, living dangerously, taking risks, cleaning up on high-yield long-term investments, and just generally outliving the hell out of everybody. In the end, it was the Sunday afternoons he couldn’t cope with, and that terrible listlessness that starts to set in at about 2:55 … and that as you stare at the clock the hands will move relentlessly on to 4 o’clock, and you will enter the long dark teatime of the soul. So things began to pall for him. The merry smiles he used to wear at other people’s funerals began to fade. He began to despise the Universe in general, and everybody in it in particular.”

So to summarize: it’s unfortunate that we have such a short lease on life, but everything that has a beginning is bound to have an end. Try to accept it and move on.

This brings me to the next major issue discussed in the previous entries: religion. A great deal of people aren’t quite satisfied with “trying to accept it and moving on.” That is, as other people mentioned, very likely the main motivation for inventing religion: providing answers to the unknown questions, eliminating doubt, and thus enabling one to live carefree and enjoyably.

However, religion also brought some heavy baggage with it. “If there is an afterlife,” people point out, “hadn’t we better behave ourselves now so we can have an enjoyable eternity?” That’s when the critics chime in, “But if there’s not an afterlife, you’re just wasting your time!” So the devout people of various denominations disagree with each other, and with the athiests, and the agnostics, who all disagree right back.

This “disagreement” quickly becomes “disagreement with heavy sticks/swords/guns/land mines/60-ton armor-plated combat-equipped death machines,” and we get lovely incidents like this and this. Additionally, off the battlefield, we have endless debates about evolution, stem cell research, the separation of church and state, etc.

Religion is about the most basic example of a double-edged sword you could find: It promotes morality, ethics, social unity, and all that good stuff, but when people disagree about the minor details, we get genocide, wars, and various atrocities all in the name of a deity.

Got a bit off track there; time to wrap this up. I’ll just focus on the afterlife aspect from here on out.

One winter night, I was sitting at my desk hacking through a 20-story pile of homework, and when I leaned back to take a breath, I noticed my cat curled up on a blanket that had been left lying on the floor. It was the very picture of contentedness; at one glance you could tell that, at the moment, he had nothing to worry about. I glanced at my homework pile, back at him, and then (with some difficulty) convinced myself that I was better off.

His life is a happy one, an easy one, but also an exceedingly simple one. I decided that if I’m going to be a self-aware, large-brained organism, I’m going to have to accept the less pleasant aspects of life. For example, knowing that my death is imminent.

As I was thinking about death on a later, unrelated occasion, I came to the same conclusion. Sure, I could pacify those fears of death by accepting the belief in an afterlife, but that’s not the road I want to take. That choice is one that should be left to every person’s own convictions. I won’t judge you by your choice, and I’d hope for the same liberty in return.

— Andrew Lovdahl

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Those words will probably be engraved in my mind for the rest of my life.

They come from the theme song of the former PBS show ““Bill Nye, the Science Guy,” which I, and many others my age, watched for years when we were younger.

For those of you who don’t know, the show taught kids about science and was hosted by a kooky man named Bill Nye. It covered many different fields of science in a fun and interesting way.

In fact, until seventh grade or later, I had already heard almost everything in my science classes from this show.

Even now the information from Bill Nye comes up. For example earlier this year we learned about quarks in chemistry. My first reaction was, “Hey, I remember that from Bill Nye!”

At some point or another, “Bill Nye, the Science Guy” was canceled. It would seem that our memorable host would fade into oblivion, right?

Apparently not, because back in January when that big report on global warming came out, I came across a clip of “Larry King Live” where supposed experts debated the subject. One of these experts was Bill Nye (introduced simply as Bill Nye) to my great surprise.

I then searched for clips of him on YouTube, and found an interview with him about Pluto’s status change to a dwarf planet. This time he was introduced as “Bill Nye, the Science Guy.”

I was quite surprised to learn that even though the show had ended, he is continuing to make a living just by being a general “Science Guy.”

— Deren Kudeki

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 4:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Have you ever noticed that all the good things in life are bad for your teeth? Candy, soda, coffee, kissing (hey, they could move around from too much pressure), sucking your thumb, chewing ice, popcorn, Sugar Daddies, the list goes on.

You would think that the higher being out there (if he/she/it exists) would make those things good for your teeth, and things like the dentist, fluoride, carrots, etc. would be bad for your teeth. That would be awesome!

But, if that doesn’t happen, I’m praying very hard for it. I guess I’ll just have to live with disgusting teeth, because I’m definitely not giving up my Sugar Daddy.

— Bethany Hutchens

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last night was the awards ceremony for winter athletes, at Gregory Hall. As always, it was very entertaining.

Of course I arrived late (that seems to be the inevitable with my family). Athletes were supposed to be there by 6:45 p.m., and I arrived about five minutes before the ceremony started.

In all honesty, my mom and I had been on campus in front of Gregory Hall at 6:40 p.m., like we were supposed to be, but with no available parking near Gregory Hall as there is at Loomis Lab (where the awards ceremonies are typically held), it took us awhile to find a space to park, pay the meter, and walk (in the cold) to Room 112. Fortunately, though, unlike Loomis, you didn’t feel like you were going to fall forward while walking down to take your seat.

The boys varsity/JV basketball teams were gathered up in a corner (because the cool kids sit in the back), whereas the girls varsity/JV teams were sitting in the first three throws. Parents were scattered out randomly in the middle, and subbie boys and girls clumped together toward the front. As Sally began talking, the varsity/JV girls started to pass around all the coaches gifts and what-not for each player to sign, though I must admit that we weren’t very discreet about it.

The subbie girls team was presented first, followed by the subbie boys team, girls JV, girls varsity, boys JV, and boys varisty. It was fun to get to hear what the coaches had to say about everyone. Of course when you’re up there, no one ever knows exactly where to look. Some people look at their feet, other people look/talk with their friends, and some people choose to scan the crowd multiple times. Personally, I did a combination of the three. I thought that it was better sitting down and being able to hear the other coaches talk about the other athletes.

Coach Beesley was probably the most entertaining. He is notorious for giving everyone a funny nickname, so as he called each of the boys varsity players to recieve their awards he called them each by their quirky little nickname, and along with each person he had a cute little story to tag along. It was especially cute when the athletes gave the coaches big hugs too. When Ruthie Welch lunged toward Merf, I thought Merf might go toppling over!!

Of course the video was great (as always). It’s a wonder as to how the video crew is able to outdo themselves every year. Everyone was tapping their toes to the thumping music playing in the background as scenes (such as Aran’s behind the back pass to Sarah) flashed across the screen. The funniest part was probably the interview with Mr. Murphy, where they poked fun at the wonderful mismatched tiles that make up Uni Gym’s flooring, and the layers of dust that cause you to slip and slide. (Everyone has been in Uni Gym at some time or another, and can relate to all these humorous issues.)

When the video was finished playing and Sally had made her last few comments, there was a mad dash toward the food and drinks. Within a few minutes there was a brownie lying face-up on the floor with a shoeprint in it, and spilled Kool-aid on the table. After I had gotten my share of food, Katie Ryan and I glued ourselves to the wall, not even attempting to break through the crowd of people.

Once escaping the people, I can say that it turned out to be a very entertaining night. The only downside was having to walk back through the frigid cold to get to my car.

— Lizzy Warner

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Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At age 16, you can get your driver’s license. At age 18, you can fight in the Army, vote, and smoke. So why is it that you have to be 21 to drink?

In the United States, anyone under the age of 21 is banned from consuming alcohol unless it is for religious purposes. However, prohibited activities seem all the more appealing in the eyes of teenagers. Drinking seems like such an “adult” thing to do. In the U.S. today, many teenagers drink just for the sake of breaking the law and looking “cool,” not necessarily because they like the taste of alcohol.

This summer when I visited China (which has no age restriction on drinking), I found that most of the teenagers there were not interested in alcohol. To them, alcohol was just like any other beverage; if they didn’t like the taste of it, they didn’t drink it. There was no pressure for them to drink in order to “look cool.”

As a result, teen drinking is not a major problem in China. In fact, cans of beer are even sold in vending machines alongside soft drinks such as Coke and Pepsi.

It seems absurd that in the U.S., a person can legally drive a car before having a sip of wine. Having a can of beer will probably not make a 16-year-old drunk, whereas a careless 16-year-old driver can easily lose his or her life in a car accident.

Although it is technically illegal for those under the age of 21 to drink, teenagers can still get alcohol from family members, friends, or by using fake IDs. They tend to obtain “hard liquor,” which is easier to hide and has a much higher level of alcohol concentration than wine or beer.

I think the minimum legal drinking age in the U.S., at least for beer and wine, should be significantly lowered. This way, drinking will no longer have such a risky appeal to it. Teenagers can learn to drink in moderation before taking on “hard liquors” like vodka and tequila.

Plus, even if someone was crazy enough to endanger their life in the drink-21-shots-on-your-21st-birthday tradition, at least it won’t require 21 shots to celebrate their birthday anymore.

— Elaine Gu

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 9:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

(lame intro alert) There’s something on the Internets that’s got a lot of people atwitter lately — and that something is Twitter, a 1-year-old site that you could describe in a lot of ways.

You could say it’s like a FedEx or UPS package tracking service for your life. Or you could call it a mini-blog. In my mind, it’s somewhere between the two. In the site’s own words, Twitter serves “a global community of friends and strangers answering one simple question: What are you doing?”

Sounds simple enough (and also boring enough; it might make you wonder why the site’s developers even bothered to create it in the first place). Once you register for an account, you’re probably going to start using it. And depending on how “eventful” your life is, you might use it again — and again, and again, and again ….

All of a sudden, everything that was previously only worthy of mentioning in a pithy AIM away message (and maybe not even that) now has a comfortable spot online.

Examples? Here are some actual updates I’ve dug up from my Twitter account archives. It’s a very, very small sample of the 359 updates I’ve posted since I created my account on Dec. 30 (and they’re probably out of chronological order, too).

• “calculus homework”
• “uploaded some new pics to Flickr”
• “mmmm … pizza :)”
• “Waiting for my piano teacher at the Smith Memorial Hall”
• “stopped by Gordon’s for a while, now back at home”
• “it’s almost Friday”
• “Dinner @ Za’s”
• “webMathematica is freaking awesome”

In addition to posting updates via the Web, users can also update via text messages (which, for this kind of service, is probably an absolutely necessary feature). In the above list, I’ve highlighted the updates that I sent through my cell phone.

Overall, I think Twitter’s awesome. Hats off to senior Robert Boyce, who linked to his Twitter page on his blog back in December — it’s probably the only way I would’ve ever known about Twitter.

In a world where people are increasingly interested in documenting even the most mundane minutes of their lives (aka “liveblogging”), Twitter fits in perfectly. One would have to actually start using it, though, in order to see what it’s really all about.

Twitter’s got a long way to go before it catches up with MySpace or Facebook in terms of popularity, but the idea of today’s Facebook users becoming tomorrow’s Twitter users doesn’t sound too unrealistic to me.

Besides, in the past three months, Twitter’s traffic ranking on Alexa.com increased a whopping 18,823 over the past three months. Also according to Alexa, it’s currently the 5,843rd most popular site on the Web.

Oh, and

Twitter’s no fun when your friends aren’t using it. In addition to updating with what you’re doing (or whatever the heck you feel like writing within 140 characters), the other part of the site (and the other part of the fun) is to see what your friends are doing. In fact, when you log in:

… well how ‘bout you just create an account, add some friends (preferably people you actually know in real life) and see what you think.

— Jason He

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 11:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What is the point of having cats around? I think that is a legitimate question considering the fact that they don’t do anything AT ALL. I can understand when people have dogs as pets because they can actually do things. For instance, you can play fetch or you can take walks with a dog. Cats, on the other hand, are just plain useless.

Cats literally just sit around all day. Honestly, they eat, sleep, and sit on the sofa all day. You can’t play fetch. You can’t teach it tricks. You can’t make a cat do anything at all. Cats are really just blobs of fur.

Anyways, enough about cats, let’s talk about pets in general. What do they add to your life? I think they don’t add anything except an extra burden. You can’t have a conversation with them. Most of the time they are oblivious to their environment until they need food or a walk.

In conclusion, I think pets, and especially cats, are plain impractical. They can’t really do anything useful; maybe I would like them if they learned how to take out the trash or get the mail. But since they don’t, I don’t think I would miss them if they were gone.

— Ranny Ma

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Being half Jain, my parents have taught me the values and morals that are taught by Jainism. Although I don’t consider myself Jain, some of those ideas have stuck. For example, I am a vegetarian because Jainism teaches its believers to respect all life. This has made me feel rather squeamish when people talk about all of the different kinds of meat they eat. I’ve grown accustomed to the sight of chicken and beef, but I don’t like to think about people eating some of the rather delicate cuisines.

Still, I can understand that people will eat meat, no matter how strange some of the meals might seem to me. What I don’t understand though is when people can treat animals as though they were playthings. Yesterday my brother told me about how one of his classmates dropped a hamster he had only received that same day.

My friends were also talking during class about the different things they used to do to bugs. Some of these were pretty disgusting in and of themselves but what really appalled me was the way they were talking. It was as if they were retelling some of their favorite pastimes.

Granted, I’m no too fond of bugs, but to kill them? I don’t think so. On top of that I don’t think I would have taken pleasure out of it. Animals, no matter how small, are living things, and I think people need to be taught to respect life. I don’t want to sound preachy, but perhaps we should stop and think about what we’re doing when dealing with other creatures. Besides, I don’t think anyone would be happy if someone decided to stomp on him or her, and so it shouldn’t be any different for a bug.

— Avanti Chajed

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 7:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Since Anna Nicole Smith’s death on Feb. 8, it seems we’ve forgotten about the world’s real problems.

Instead of focusing on tensions building with Iran, or many other worthy news stories, a great deal of what I’ve seen most major television news networks cover has been news about her death, as well as news about the people arguing over where to bury her corpse, and who is the father of her baby, and so on.

In the few years before she died, I never actually heard anything on reputable news channels about her. Other than airing some of her drunken appearances at various televised events, even most celebrity-minded programs tended to shun her, unless there was entertainment to be had in her making a spectacle of herself.

But now that she’s dead, all I seem to be hearing is how misunderstood she was. What a troubled person she was. How all she wanted to do was to get away from her tiny hometown.

What’s funny is that the same shows and tabloids now spewing the gospel of Anna were all the ones spreading the misinformation and rumor about her in the past. No time like the present to repent for past sins, I suppose, no matter how superficial it may be.

So now that she’s gone, what has she really accomplished?

She’s made a few lawyers rich thanks to posthumous arguments over her child, and added to the legacy of women with no talent who made Playboy magazine popular, and made millions of dollars by doing almost anything (no matter how degrading or undignified) for money. And now she’s gone.

At least her life wasn’t wasted, even if she was during many of her public appearances.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

— Carl Zielinski

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Although I’m a junior, I’ve been acquainted with the college process since freshman year because of my older brother, Justin, who is now a freshman in college. I’ve seen and experienced it all: the stress of standardized testing, the never-ending flow of essays to write, and the so-called “helpful” college visits.

In fact, the summer before sophomore year, I had already been on the East Coast liberal arts college tour. The Park family went on a whirlwind tour of Vassar, Haverford, Swarthmore, Wesleyan, Amherst, Williams, and Dartmouth.

Perhaps I didn’t go on this oh-so-fun “family vacation” voluntarily, but I did learn something about visiting college campuses. College tours don’t really help you find the college that perfectly fits you.

The problem is that after listening to the peppy tour guide’s spiel and walking around the Eden-like campuses, you want to go to all of the colleges. They all sound like fabulous and perfect places where you can “see” yourself spending the next four years.

However, the obvious truth is that not every single college is the perfect fit.

If the point of going on a campus visit is to examine the perks and flaws of that particular college, then you might as well not go on the college tours. The people who organize the tours pick unique, likeable students to lead the tours, and the student guides only focus on the positive things about their school.

At Wesleyan, a bubbly, pink-pilgrim skirt-wearing, pigtail-braided, and coke-bottle glass-wearing girl jumped around enthusiastically emphasizing the different cafeterias’ menus.

“Thursday night is sushi night, so you definitely want to come eat here,” she advised.

She was the type of girl you would want to hang out with — funny, quirky, and refreshingly cute. After listening to her, Wesleyan seemed like the perfect college.

But then there was Williams. The over 6-foot-tall, skinny Texan tour guide was a bit awkward but ridiculously adorable. He was majoring in African studies and told us about the cool traditional dances he was learning and performing.

“And this place reminds me of Hogwarts,” he said while leading us into one of Williams’ chapels. “I don’t know why I said that …”

Williams also seemed like the perfect college.

The same thing happened at all of the colleges. The hot Italian tour guide at Haverford, the ditsy, nice sorority girl at Dartmouth, the art-loving, library-going girl at Vassar, the intellectual guy at Amherst, and the giggly duo at Swarthmore all convinced me that their school was perfect.

So what are us juniors to do if college tours don’t actually help? How do we weed out the perfect from the not-so perfect? How do we know, when applying to that dream school, that it is everything it’s cracked up to be?

— Andrea Park

Posted by Gargoyle Staff at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)