The Agrinautica

   From Wednesday afternoon until early this morning I have been in Davis. The main reason for my visit was that before I filed for graduation I had to file for my minors, and I could only do the latter in person.

   This I was able to quickly accomplish once there, however. I have now officially filed to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations with an emphasis on "Peace & Security" and "Russia / Eastern Europe," and minors in Communications, History, and Political Science. Unofficially, thats Communication with an emphasis on conflict resolution and organizational communications, and the pre-law series of poli sci.


Episode 1: Welcome to Crazytown
   Wednesday, I came in on a 1:20pm SouthWest flight and took the Yolobus from the airport to Davis. At the Woodland mall bus stop I had to change busses. While there I saw two people talking about something. I'm not sure what, but one was trying to get the other's contact information and the other was saying he doesn't use a phone because he doesn't trust the phone company not to listen in. I filed them both under crazypeople in my mind.
   Unfortunately, one of them (not the one without a phone) got on the same bus as me and sat across from me. Of course, before the bus even started moving he started tryinng to start a conversation with me. Since I was dressed up, wearing a black tie, and had my briefcase, I thought it might be hilarious to tell him I worked for the government and then answer any further questions with "I'm sorry I can't discuss that," but on the other hand I decided he'd probably get all riled up about that and cause a ruckus.
   After asking my name and what I was doing, and finding me not to be a government agent, he pointed to some construction going on on the mall. "They're being very proactive here. They're building a watchtower on the mall." "Why?" "Oh five judges, the mayor of Davis, and some DAs are accused of kidnapping someone, so everyone is all freaked out." "Really? Who?" "Me!!" I proceeded to refile him under "completely off his rocker."
   Anyway, it turns out this guy was the infamous Crazy Joe Sherman, and basically he lived up to his description on the wiki page. He spent the entire time regailing me about how he is the victim of a vast conspiracy. It seems the more he annoys people, the more he thinks their reactions toward him are part of the conspiracy, and the more he feels like he's a rightious persececuted jesus character. He said he had just recently gotten out of 313 or so days of jail, where the other prisoners isolated and persecuted him on orders from the external religious establishment (because you know middle-class Davis churches have mad prison connections!). He also mentioned that he believes God has indicated to him that his true calling is to become a teacher -- which is somewhat concerning considering that several accounts on his wiki page allude to him having a creepy predilection for the company of young males. In a tangental note, wiki user MikeDurkee apparently thinks we should overlook his many creepy and socially dangerous behaviours because he is a "warrior of god." I would like to officially point at MikeDurkee and say "lol!"


Episode 2: Cover blown!
   Yolobus deposited me at the front of the school (from the student's perspective anyway, not to be confused with the Chancellor's idea of the "front" of the school, aka the back side, where important guests don't have to behold those pesky undergrads which burden down their business of corporate research). I was immediately spotted by ASUCD President Kareem Salem (The first ASUCD President since 2002 not to be sworn in by me). I took care of the Communications and History minors but the IR and Poli Sci offices had closed early that day. Ran into one or two more people. Went home and found the apartment much as a left it.
   Suprised the Court at their Wednesday night meeting, then went with Justice Harney to dollar pint night at Sudwerks, where we ran into Pete Markevich (whom you may recall recently survived a Senate witchhunt), along with Sen. Alexandra Frick.


Episode 3: One More Senate Meeting
   I had been reluctant to go to the Senate meeting, having been to so many in my lifetime that even Brent Laabs probably has yet to catch up to me. However, the Senate was considering a landmark bill to formally give control of the judicial rules to the Court, which is kinda big thing so I decided to go for that.
   Previous to consideration of the bill, a lot of the usual antics were re-enacted for the millionth time. Since budget hearings were this weekend, a lot of organizations came to "show and tell" how awesome they are in hopes of getting fatter budgets. Some guy with a penchant for beating dead horses harangued the whole Senate at length for being vaguely associated with someone who had during their free time expressed the political opinion that current policies are not satisfactory to ensure the safety and documentation of all immigrants. I found it highly ironic that his main point was that he thought the DCR event was immature, but I found it pretty immature that he was rightiously chastising the Senate for something they had no control over.
   Then representatives from the Muslim Student Association pre-emptively began defending the anti-semetic speaker they'd brought to campus, while at the same time attacking Jewish Senator Eric Friedman and the DCR immigration event. In short, business as usual.

   Anyway, eventually the bill came up and passed relatively quickly. I thought it was kind of ironic that they made the change in the obsolete Judicial Codes, which will soon be completely abrogated, rather than the general Bylaws or somewhere else where it'll remain, but it was largely symbolic anyway.

   Quote of the Day: "You're the reason people don't take ASUCD seriously" - Brent Laabs to Commissioner Jill Weinstein after she expressed the opinion that ASUCD is just a glorified student club, rather than possessing any semblance of the legitimacy of a governing body.


Episode 4: Scrabble I
   After the meeting, several Senators, Justice Harney & I went to Sen. Dan Xie's house to drink and play scrabble. Since Joe and I were the ones getting the alcohol I of course brought them steel reserve (though Joe also selected some hard lemonade).


Episode 5: Campus Life
   Friday afternoon there were people with a big sign evangelizing by the flag pole, which is not terribly uncommon. However, in this case they were PASTIFARIANS bringing the glorious messege of the Flying Speghetti Monster to the unsaved! True heroes of faith whom MikeDurkee should have a frank chat with.
   Upon investigation these people were not affiliated with either Campus Crusade for Chaos & Confusion (C4), or AGASA, but were in fact merely persons whom the Flying Speghetti Monster in His sauceness saw fit to reach out and touch with His noodly appendage. Their unaffiliated status is clear evidence of the Truth of the supposition.
   Also there were some people in a bathtub on the quad wearing feathered headdresses. Typical. Eventually I noted that Rob Roy and Elise Kane were over there and said hi to them. (Here's a picture of both the Pastifarians AND the girls in the tub)


Episode 6: Life in the Trees
   Friday evening the internet went out at The Trees, which is just so typical. It didn't come back all weekend. Moreover, the internet connection was still there, it just wasn't recognizing the hardware address (MAC address) of mine or my roommates computers. This has been a frequent problem throughout the time we've had this provider, especially on weekends when the tech support is out, which once one actually gets ahold of the tech support is usually resolved by them simply resetting their system. Notwithstanding, you should rent my room at the Trees!!
   Anyway, Friday evening I took a nap in hopes the internet would come back, as I had no other form of entertainment in the midafternoon. By 7 I was getting desperate and decided to take the bus to campus to use the computer labs.
   I took the 7:18 bus in, only to find the computer labs close at 6 on Fridays! I could have sworn they used to be open till ten on Fridays. Anyway, there was still free wireless on campus but my laptop was at home and the bus I'd just come in on had left already. I waited for the next bus, the 8:10, until 8:20, when another person waiting for it suddently exclaimed that they'd forgotten the busses were no longer running since it was Friday evening. This left me with an hour and a half until I had anywhere to be. I called Justice Wheat to see if I could come over early for his shindig, but no answer. Despite the fact that that location was near campus, I started walking home because I had nothing better to do. It took half an hour to walk home from campus. It being then 9:00, I'd have had to immediately turn around and head back had John not called me at that point and said he could pick me up.


Episode 7: Scrabble II
   When I got to John's place, two of his roommates were trying to punch a second hole into a coconut ("double penetrate it"), and into which they then poured rum to make genuine coconut rum. They didn't like the result terribly much so I ended up drinking from the coconut all night. After I finished the original coconut rum I just poured whatever I was drinking into the coconut because it was funny. This resulted in some comments about my nut being sticky, along with other comments about people handling my nut, writing on my nut, etc.
   Anyway, despite the fact that John aimed to keep it "low key" a good amount of people showed up (but not too many, just enough to be awesome), and it was quite fun. My friend Shemek (who was a campaigne manager for the original Lead slate of the Huerta presidency -- but left ASUCD in disgust over their rampant corruption) joined me there. John Wheat and his fellow English-tutor coworkers from the Learning Skills Center played scrabble, but others were reluctant to engage such English aces in such a game. I thought it was funny that when the ASUD officers played the game, they argued about the rules and what the definitive set of rules was and other governance related questions, while the English majors got into arguments about what parts of speech certain words were.
   Anyway, it was good fun. Good work John Wheat & roommates.


Episode 8: Daytime Ruckus
   On Saturday Shemek and I hit the Hunan's Lunch Special around noon . Then we met up with Miss Rosejean Weller. Since we three were former Davis MUNers, and the Davis MUN Conference was currently ongoing, and especially since fellow former Davis MUNers Akila Radhakrishnan and Nishan Bhaumik, we resolved to crash the conference. Then the idea got better when someone suggested we do it drunk. So it being around 2pm we got some 40s of steel reserve and drank them, along with some jagermeister. And we were good to go!
   After this, the three of us went to woodstocks for more pizza and beer. Finally after a good afternoon of good ruckus causing we parted ways. I then returned to the conference for a little bit and guest spoke as a Russian representative. I may have still been a little inebriated, but that may have been an accurate portrayel of the Russian government. ;)


Episode 9: A Formal End
   Just as I was getting out of MUN, Brittawater Segerstrom called me and said I should come over and go to a volleyball formal with them. Which was pretty random but it was only a $12 formal and I didn't have anything else to do, and happened to already be dressed up for the MUN conference.
   Over at the M Street I joined Brittawater, Julie Parker, Kim Bowles, Sarah Jones, and a number of others.
   Eventually we walked from M Street to the event at the Senior Center. As there were initially more than a dozen of us, this took awhile, and by the time the front of our group got there the back had disappeared completely and some had found a ride somehow.

   Anyway, after being there for a little while the group consensus seemed to shift towards a hankering to go to the bars, so once again the group set out on foot, this time towards Froggys on G Street. This brought the total walking distance up to 2.1 miles, and everyone still had to find their way home again (returning to M St would bring it to 3 miles. I don't envy the girls in heels).
   Eventually I walked with what was left of the group back up to fifth street, where they turned toward M and I turned to start my own 3 mile journey back to the Trees (since the airport shuttle was picking me up there at 5:15, crashing on a couch was not an option). Fortunately I happened to completely coincidently run into one of the girls who'd been with us earlier around Central Park. She had struck off by herself toward the Colleges but had felt very uncomfortable making the journey alone and so had called a guy friend, who happened to show up almost simulteniously with me running into her. As he was giving her a ride I managed to get a ride with him as well, which was quite a relief since I still had a very long way ahead of me.


Episode 10: The End
   Airport shuttle picked me up at 05:15am and my plane departed at 7:35am. Altogether, I had even more fun up in Davis than I thought I would. It was great seeing everyone again. There's so much more going on up there than down here in OC. I can't wait to come up with an excuse to visit again!

   So on Thursday afternoon I parked at the end of Oak St --since it is the closest free parking (after five) to the Memorial Union, at a distance of about a furlong)-- to go to Senate & give them the recent case opinion.
   I'm taking Intro to Public Speaking right now. People think its tedious to make a speech on some topic of their choosing to 20 or so people in the discussion group? Well try addressing a room full of Senators & other officers on a subject that (A) is kind of tedious to explain, & (B) is something they disagree with. Not that I stressed about it, I'm used to the senate, but it was a bit awkward that I was basically telling a room full of people that they were wrong on several important points.
   Anyway, I thought the issue was pretty clear when you got down to it, but some such as former senator Darth Lloyd say "to say that i disagree is an understatement my friend," so I've been meaning to once more try to lay out the issues in easily understandable terms. (see below)

   After Senate I was to play intertube waterpolo with Lyrakeet & others, so I left as local legislation enthusiast Brent Laabs was giving a presentation about why we should secede from the union University of California Student Association (UCSA) ("Their charter says 'Student Association,' but their webpage and a number of other documents say 'students association' -- it appears they don't even know their own name").
   Next I needed to get my swimtrunks which I thought were at Kristy's place in The Colleges, about four furlongs across campus -- I could drive there to have my car with me, but since there's only ten "guest" spots for the several hundred people that live there, the odds of getting one are slim and the closest free parking spot would probably still be Oak. So I walked over there.
   Only, they weren't there! I was supposed to be at the pool in fifteen minutes, yet I was half a mile from my car and it was hot and I wear wearing a suit & tie! )=
   Lyric & Kim picked me up and we made a mad dash to my place for my togs and back to the pool.... but the other team hadn't shown up anyway so it was all for nothing.

   Friday morning I toured McGeorge Law School with Φ A Δ, and then that evening Kritsy & I went to see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at The Warfield in SF.
   I'd never been to the Warfield before. It was pretty awesome. Looked like an Opera-house or something. Kitten-princess & I were only four rows back from the front of the balcony, which means we had an excellent view -- though Krispy Kritter would have liked to prance about on the floor.

   This morning I took a mock LSAT over at the UCD law school (BTW, I mentioned a bit ago that Sara Henry was running for president of the Law Student Assn -- well she lost). Before and after this I made an appearance at the dry run Davis MUN was doing for the upcoming conference we put on here. I started to take the "UberCAT" test (CAT = Chair Aptitude Test, but really it was megalomaniacally backronymed to be named after SG Catherine, who created them)to test out of chair training but then I had to leave for the Mock LSAT.


Picture of the Day

Bailey & Kristy slumber

Van Schoelandt v. ASUCD Senate
   Since its long and tedious to explain it in any more understandable terms than it already is in the opinion, I think I might address specific parts of the case in different entries. For now, an outline of the arguments:
   Of course the case regards a closed session that occured on 01/12/06 in the midst of a constitutional crisis. No reason for the closed session was announced, but after it was over the Senate had a Bill written to retroactively change the requirements for Senate office. The codes state that notification in various forms is to be given for closed sessions, and that these sessions can only be called for specificly listed reasons.
(1) Defence asserts the session was called as a "personnel matter." Does it fulfill the requirements for a personnel session?: (A) can a personnel closed session be called "in general" about nothing (and no one) specific? (B) Can Senators-elect be considered subject personnel? (Can the outcome of an election be considered a "Personnel Matter?")
(2) (A) Can a personnel closed session be called on people without their knowledge? (B) Can a personnel closed session be called without notifying the public?
(3) How can this situation be remedied in light of the potential privacy concerns of hypothetical subject parties who may hypothetically have been discussed?

   Once you are familiar with the discussion of these subjects, I believe you, like me, will be completely at a loss as to on what grounds Lloyd completely disagrees.


Current Music: I dedicate the song Hefner - To Hide a Little Thought to the Closed Session of 01/12/06 and everything that ensued. (= Dl it while its hot!

Previously on Emosnail
   Two Years Ago Last Wednesday: Getting Shafted By Airport Security - A chair my first PAXMUN conference down in San Diego. Mara talked me into it. This girl Swati was in my committee, two years later she's introduced to PAXMUN as a staffer for the San Diego conference 2006.
   Two Years Ago Yesterday: Day Before the Pixies Show - Which was followed by the day OF the Pixies day, incidently, which was a lot more exciting.