Half a year later... More than anything, the whole purpose of this is to keep me accountable. Like journalling at night or keeping a to-do list, this is to keep me doing what I need to do to succeed. Anyway, I'm working on Catalina Island, working maintenance for the company. I've been learning many new skills and working hard while doing it. I plan to return to Austin, though; I know that's where I must start Local.  If you don't know what Local is, don't worry about it just yet, you'll find out soon. A lot of stuff I have to do before then though. 

The Longhorns played their final game of the 2024 season today. What a blunderous performance. A trip to the playoffs though, can't complain about that. More tomorrow.

So much for consistency. I graduated last weekend from UT. I guess this week has really been a reflection period on my time in college, that's my justification for not posting anything here. The Mavs and Stars are both headed to the Western Conference finals in the NBA and NHL. The Rangers, of course, are the reigning MLB champions. Dallas sports have done well this year besides the Cowboys. I guess the Cowboys are gonna Cowboys, but what a game the Mavs pulled off last night against the Thunder. Being down 17 and then coming back and winning the whole thing showed the fight that Luka, Kyrie, and the boys have. Derrick Jones Jr. had an unbelievable game also scoring 22 on 8-13 shooting. The previous night, the Stars put on a show coming back from being down 1-0. Nailing a goal in the third period and then again in 2OT to win the game was also something special. Pretty good time to be a Dallas sports fan. 

In 6 days, I'll be back in California working at Guided Discoveries again. I'm incredibly excited to be working with the kids again. I'll tell you, there are few things in life more fulfilling than directly seeing the positive impact that you can have on other people. I'm excited about the challenge that being on the island provides and I'm excited to be working with my brother and girlfriend on the island again. 

I'm gonna be watching this Timberwolves-Nuggets game tonight. Whoever wins this game faces off against my Mavs in a couple of days. How cool would it be for Luka and Jokic to play in the Western Conference Finals together? It would also be cool to see Anthony Edwards in the Finals, he's a stallion and younger than me which puts things into perspective. Be back soon.

UPDATE - (9:32 p.m. CST): Wolves won a nailbiter to the end. Should be a good series Wolves vs. Mavs. I think the teams match up nicely. Gobert is probably gonna be matched up against Luka for the most part and KAT against Kai. The bigs on the Mavs should be able to dominate the paint. Let's see how it goes...

Been a while. I was supposed to go to a Neil Young concert last week with my sister here in Austin. Texas weather had other plans. Concert = rescheduled. The past week has been reflective for me. We've been sending out the graduation announcements over the past couple of days. I can't tell if I'm happy or sad. I guess it's a mixture of both if anything. I'm sad that this chapter of my life is coming to a close but excited to see where the next one goes. There's some poetry for you. 

The Mavericks tip-off against the Oklahoma City Thunder in about thirty minutes. I'm really excited to see this series. I don't have any more to say today. I'll check back in tomorrow when I have more things going on.

More protests today. I read an article today from someone who has family living in Palestine. They argued that the students protesting on college campuses are ruining the mission. I don't think either way, I just think it's an interesting perspective.

 The last day of classes was today. I only have one paper due left. More later on today. 

I wouldn't really consider myself a superstitious guy. I don't throw salt over my shoulder when I sneeze, I walk under ladders, and I'm not afraid of Friday the 13th. When it comes to professional sports, however, I might as well be Nancy Reagan in the White House superstitious. The Mavs played again today in Dallas. I stopped watching the game when the Mavericks were down by 31 points because what the hell is the point of watching a game that is that big of a blowout? I did some homework and, lo and behold, when I checked the score out of curiosity the Mavs were only down by 10. At this point, the rational part of my brain would intervene and say, "Penn, the Mavs always start slow, Kyrie doesn't dial completely in until the second half, and this series has been poor 3-point shooting in the early going." As it turns out, I'm not rational. The Mavs got to a 4-point lead over the Clips, stopped guarding the rim, and allowed a string of uncontested James Harden floaters to ultimately ice the Mavs at home in game 4. The Mavs have the incredible ability to rally back from almost certain death, but none of that matters if you can't finish. The 3 ball wasn't going in, J-Kidd wanted to go small with Maxi Kleber instead of putting Gafford back in to lock down the box, and the Clips pulled off a road victory without Kawhi Leonard. Playoff basketball is really fun. 

I think we're losing common decency in this country and world. There's a certain social code that everyone lives by; you break it, you buy it. But people are also becoming increasingly non-confrontational and would rather utilize the easy way to get their way. I wrote an article in the Daily Texan talking about the value of assuming positive intent. Some background as to why I wrote this piece; over the course of 3 weeks, both a friend of mine from Canada and my mother had come to stay with me in Austin. My friend from Canada was traveling across North America and had been to Atlanta, New York, DC, Alabama, you name it. My mom was here for a surgery. Each of these times, they parked in my underground parking garage. Admittedly, everyone has an assigned spot, but each of them was here over the weekend and half the spots were empty anyway. Both times, their cars got towed without warning or explanation. In my head, the decent thing to do is leave a note and say "You're in my spot, please move or I'll tow you." Nope, that would be too much work for the immature bottom-feeders that live in my complex. One of my good friends came back to Austin yesterday after being out of the country following his soul for the past 7 months. He had one night in Austin, to see his friends, reflect on his life and future, and enjoy some quality music at a little concert we went to last night. This morning, his damn car gets towed. I was incensed out of my mind when he woke me up to tell me. If it weren't for the level-headedness of my best friend, I could've done some pretty dumb and irrational things. At that moment, I was not practicing what I preached, assuming positive intent. Life is always better when you have someone to laugh and smile with, and this morning, as we drove to the impound lot that I knew all too well at this point, I couldn't help but laugh with my friend. Of course, I still think the people who called the tow truck are the least common denominator of our society but all we can control is ourselves and our emotions, it's best if we do not let those things control us. That's Marcus Aurelius coming at you from a lesson about tow trucks and annoying college parking. 

LDOC is tomorrow. I'm not going to call it my LLDOC because I'm not ruling out grad or law school. Those are a couple of years down the road at the earliest. Increased reflection on my time here in Austin. Can't tell if I'm ready to leave or not. Everything works out the way it's supposed to.

I watched the Mavs win yesterday against the Clips 101-90. In a tense and electrifying game where Russell Westbrook and PJ Washington Jr. both got ejected, the Mavs won, fueled by an exhilarating Kyrie Irving second half and a dominant Daniel Gafford in the first. Luka did his thing, 22/10/9 on a pretty poor shooting night, but it wasn't about him, and it can't be. The past two games have shown that the Mavs cannot contend unless everyone gets the rock. If the Mavs are dunking the ball, good luck stopping them, especially at AA Center where the crowd is getting younger and louder. If the Mavs win tomorrow, they still have the home-court advantage going back to Crypto Arena. A big game coming up. 

The Cowboys are having a really interesting draft. They needed a lot of pieces to be in the running. Of the more glaring needs, OT was one of the more prominent. Tyron Smith has been the perennial first-team all-pro tackle for the 'Boys for the last 12 years. Now, he goes to the Jets and there's a hole in the offensive line that pass rushers can manipulate to make Dak one of the most sacked QB's in the league again. You also don't have Tyler Biadasz in the middle who was a rock there. You bring in the OU stud Guyton to pair alongside Tyler Smith and Zach Martin.

I wanted to get my thoughts in order before I wrote about what happened at my school a couple of days ago. For those that don't know, on Wednesday, April 24th, a protest erupted on the UT campus calling for the university to divest all funds from arms manufacturers. This includes about 53 million dollars in said arms manufacturers. I'm not entirely where I fall in this particular debate. On one hand, Israel isn't exactly the Mother Theresa of the world right now. Rather, some pretty egregious crimes are being conducted at the hands of the Israeli Defense Force. On the other hand, the impact of the MIC on the United States' foreign and domestic policy isn't anything new. As it stands, Israel is fighting against a hostile aggressor in a similar way the US defense budget ballooned following 9/11. It's easy for us as Americans to advocate for a ceasefire and an end to the occupation from our comfy beds here in ATX. Think about how terrifying it would be if an hour East and North of your comfy bed were the strongholds of people intent to kill you and eradicate your religion from the face of the Earth.  I think this adds some context that a lot of us here don't understand. I'm in no way trying to justify the indiscriminate killing of citizens, people with nothing to do with the war. I think it is morally reprehensible that things that Israel is doing to Palestinians, but I think there is some context that people are missing.

I compare the UT protests to the ones at USC and Columbia in NYC. Student protesters have said blatantly anti-semitic things at each of the other protests, not at UT. This is another distinction I make because it seems that excessive use of force was only really seen at ours. When it comes to hate speech and intricately divisive commentary by student protesters, I believe that a higher education institution and the government that runs it have a moral and educational imperative to use force if needed. There's a clear distinction between hate speech and free speech that is a very fine line to cross. I defend President Jay Hartzell for his decision to call DPS and APD to protect our school. He had no way of knowing what could've happened at these protests. All it takes is one spark to ignite an idle tinderbox that could lead to decades of irreversible damage. See: Kent State, 1969 DNC Protests, Kenosha BLM Protests. Hindsight is always 2020 and I question those calling for Hartzell to resign. If we do attend a liberal and progressive university in a supremely conservative state, we need a mediator who can wrangle a conservative governing board. We don't want a DeSantis/Florida situation in which a liberal college governing board is ousted in favor of conservative ideology. 

This is a really interesting situation. With how polarized and divisive our discourse has become, it's imperative to consider perspective in the context of this situation. Israelis have terrorist groups intent on killing their ideology an hour and a half away. Similarly, Israelis have weapons that Hamas and their followers cannot fathom. Hamas and Palestine are different, Israel needs to take a step back and look at the whole picture before sending a cruise missile through a hospital. Hamas needs to stop hiding behind civilians and raping and torturing people they capture. This entire case is full of double standards and hypocrisy and we are all hypocrites if we fall victim to it.

The food delivery apps are pretty shady, huh? What utility do they actually provide? They make it convenient for people to stay home and engorge themselves on copious amounts of food. They've taken the pleasure out of eating food. The value of eating a good and hearty meal has been devalued to a chore. We don't enjoy eating food, we eat too much, too quickly. Maybe this isn't entirely the fault of apps like UberEats, DoorDash, Postmates, etc. but they're certainly not helping. I think that the people who can create change have an imperative to do so, even if it means sacrificing short-term profits for long-term growth. Exponential growth is unsustainable and the only people who benefit from it are the venture capitalists who exit their position with a massive payout. The consumers get the convenience of food delivered to their house but the restaurants, forget about it. I'm curious as to how many local businesses have gone under due to the margins-maximizing corporate mechanism. I say margins instead of profits because there are none. The major players have yet to make a profit. Probably because they spend billions on lobbying, advertising, executive compensation, etc. I say you don't have to spend billions on lobbying if you decrease your margins just a tiny bit in favor of the delivery drivers. You've screwed the mom-and-pop shop years ago but at the minimum, you could help the high school kid whos trying to make an extra buck or the hustler who works delivery after they're done with their day job. Just a thought. 

I think we need to go back to our roots. Eat food for pleasure rather than necessity. Make meals about sociability again. There are few things better than having a good meal with your friends at a restaurant. I would say that watching a movie with a meal is top-tier. How often do you eat either a home-cooked or local restaurant meal though? I would argue that, because of the delivery apps, it's become more common to eat from the already super-cap restaurants like Mcdonald's, Chick-fil-A, and those. There are food trucks right across the street from my apartment. The food is cheaper, it has sustainable ingredients, and it supports local businesses. Win, win, win. I can probably count on one hand how many times I've gone to them. There's a solution that benefits everyone. Local restaurants, check. Delivery drivers, check. The larger-cap company, certainly. The consumer, definitely. Some food for thought for the day. 

Mavs game 2 against the Clips in about 23 min. Kawhi in the lineup with "playoff" PG and James Harden. The work is definitely cut out for the Dallas team but Luka makes magic happen. We shall see,

I'm curious as the whether people believe that government shapes them or vice versa. I'm currently in a Global Net-Zero Strategy class and today we were talking about whether net-zero in water and carbon is technically feasible. A lot of my peers claimed that it is, but that it's up to the government institution to implement the education and policy initiatives needed to properly make a difference. I think it's the other way around. The government is simply a representation of who we are and our motives; we live in a representative democracy after all. If we elect ignorant, misinformed, and self-serving politicians, it is because we are ignorant and misinformed ourselves. The government is not responsible for every negative thing that happens, we are. I can draw a parallel on the Earth Day. The de-facto "slogan" for Earth Day is "Save the Planet". What a crock. George Carlin said it well, "The Earth is fine, we are f**cked." How selfish are we to think that we can have an impact on this Earth? This floating rock has been here for billions of years and will be here billions of years after we're gone. Back to politics, the government isn't the problem, we are. Climate change isn't the problem, we are. I could go on another tangent talking about how radicalized we've become from social media, and how that radicalization has percolated into the fundamental issues that we believe are not up for debate. The environment is one of these issues. We like to think that the environment is one of those infallible issues that there shouldn't be a debate on. With the advent of the hyper-engaging social media algorithm, we are constantly surrounded by self-confirming biases. The things I see on social media are an extension of what I already believe. For every person like me, there's at least one other person with the exact opposite thought process and contrarian perspective. It's really hard to justify spending billions fixing the aging energy infrastructure, investing in renewables, educating the people, etc about these things because the potential impact is years down the road. Texas is really hot during the summer, but I don't feel a difference in August 2023 compared to 2013. 

I think by and large, we do things to alleviate our conscience more than because we think it's right. You go to the polls and vote your conscience as opposed to the candidate who has the tools necessary to create change. You know that the third-party candidate you vote for isn't going to win anything. You also know that, by voting for that candidate, you take one vote away from a person who can do something about it. Change doesn't come from divisive and this-or-that rhetoric. And it seems more often now than ever, the candidates who advocate for the most widespread change are the ones least likely to create it. Everything is and can be a negotiation. The pandemic, climate change, shifting magnetic fields, deteriorating ozone layers, all of these things are the autoimmune response of the Earth to get rid of the sickness, humans. 

Don't be mistaken, I think net zero is possible and feasible. I just don't think it's the utopian idea that many believe in. Why don't we invest more in nuclear? Are we scared of another Fukushima or Chernobyl? Our Navy is powered by nuclear, bad argument. Are we scared about nuclear waste? The total amount of nuclear waste the US has produced all time could fit on a football field, another bad argument. Once again, our priorities are maligned and our education is failing us. After Fukushima, Germany got rid of pretty much every nuclear facility they had. I bet they wish they had that now instead of having to buy US LNG at 4x cost. Anyway, pretty fun stuff, I like my classes.

I just finished watching Game 1 between the Dallas Mavericks and LA Clippers of the first round of the NBA Playoffs. What a joke of a first half. 8 points in a quarter in the NBA is such an abysmal performance. It's not like the Clips were the iron dome of defense, the Mavs just couldn't get any shots to go down until after the break. I'm a Mavericks fan, maybe that goes without saying but, I'm a fan of all Dallas sports. The game reminded me a lot of Game 7 of the semifinals a couple of years ago when Luka and the fellas put their foot down at Footprint Arena. "Everybody acting tough when they up." Game 2 in LA on Tuesday. 

The Horns also had their spring game yesterday. Arch looked like a flat-out stud in his 35-34 loss to the orange team.  First play of the game, 75-yard bomb to DeAndre Moore. Electric. In the 4th quarter, 75-yard dot to Isaiah Bond. Automatic. I understand that the team doesn't want to test the waters with Quinn getting injured especially considering his history, but it would've been nice to have seen a little bit more action than what we got. He threw a pick-6 on his first play of the game so maybe it wasn't the worst decision to bench him, but he's an early Heisman frontrunner. Sark says he's the starter so, in Sark we trust. 

I haven't really been too engaged with politics this week. With finals and graduation coming up, all my mental bandwidth has been exerted everywhere else. Presentation tomorrow, Tuesday, and Wednesday, test on Wed., paper on Fri., project due on Sat., lots of stuff. I'm not entirely sure what this is going to be about, maybe just an analysis of what's going on in the world and the things I'm interested in. We'll see...