Hey hey, how's it going? I know it's been a while since I last posted, but I haven;t had much to say while I've been so busy lately. But I've kept a close eye on everything that's been going on. It's so great to hear about everyone going to their respective colleges.

I just got back from Washington D.C. from a trip with my girlfriend, Andrea, which was short-lived but very educational. We checked out the the Air and Space Museum, a couple Monuments, and mainly, the Holocaust Museuem. I spent 8 hours in that building, and by the end of it my knees were wobbly and my brain overloaded. This museum is such a large source of information, and the way it presents everything to you is so effective for instillment. I learned a crapload, but thankfully I wasn't as shocked/overcome by emotion as I expected. Friends and others told me that it was too intense for some to bear, but I I wasn't so shocked because I had known pretty much everything that happened beforehand. It's main effect on my perspective was detail: while I understood the gist of everything before hand, I know get the chronology much more and understand it on a political, social, religious, racial, cultural and economic level (you can probably tell I've been through a long year of AP World). I recommend it to all of you who have not been, for it is quite moving nonetheless. In the end, there was a video of interviews with survivors. The stories these people had to share were so powerful and grippingI was moved to tears.

But on a lighter note, it's vacation! With two AP Classes, that means that after the exams next week, school is essentially over. I still have to tread through the tiresome Spanish 3, but oh well. School has been going well, otherwise. I've been studying my butt off for the 4 AP tests I signed up for, which was a big mistake, considering AP English has been a joke this year. Our original teacher, who was a self-centered, biased yet hilarious intellectuall challenged in the area of teaching, her rest-of-the-year sub (the original had surgery) has never before taught high school kids, let alone AP, and therefore decided to give us the same curriculum as the American Literature students. So the two English exams are pretty much worhtless to me, because I'm definitley taking an introductory English course in college: in no way am I prepared. But it has been quite the learning process in the meanwhile. Seeing the prep books for the Literature one, it seems I may still be able to score a 5 when referring to the practice tests I've taken: perfect example of how knowing the test is way more effective than knowing the subject when it comes to corporate education (one of my teachers put the college board into perspective for me with that term, and it almost makes me wanna place it right up there with McDonald's and other corporations that replace the stars on the American flag.)

In other news, once those tests are over, I'm gonna take on three major projects hopefully before school's out, which I have been planning. I hope to renoavte the waste system in the school as head of the compost commitee, get the National Honor Society of my school to plant a Riparian Buffer System on a nearby riverbank, and finally schedule a concert for all grades and all cliques of my school. It will be an event where musicians of all ages and all sectors will perform, including some older people, in an effort to unite a small community of students that is dividing increasingly by the day, especially by age.

I hope it I can make it all work befor e graduation and Bonnaroo, and then the wonderful trip to Europe with Andrea afterwards (no one told me in my previous post, is anyone gonna be there? I hope so, It would be great. Come on now...show your voices my friends!). But, you may find this funny, all of you, it probably will if I continue to read the post. I find that much of my motivation comes from staying in touch with all your wonderful, vibrant lives. It's really encouraging to make that extra step towards my goals when I know I'm affiliated with all you Yalulians, Princtonites and MITtens, etc, etc. You all are and always will be inspiration to me.

So while I study and prepare for what I'm calling the compressed month of may, I hope everything runs smoothly with you guys, and may the best of luck go your way. As you can probably expect, I'm not gonna post for a while, but I'll keep in touch.

1. Uninvisible - Medeski, Martin and Wood
2. Sailing On - Derek Trucks Band
3. Jacksonville - Sufjan Stevens
4. Subterfuge - Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
5. Dance Lesson # 2 - Karl Denson

Herb