News-ish bit: Lionel Tate is getting a new trial. I'm glad; I was never comfortable with the idea of giving a life sentence to a kid who killed a girl when he was 12. Now the courts just need to realize that Kip Kinkel is insane. After that, I'll be happy. I always kind of felt for Kip; it seems to me that that boy needs a psychiatric hospital, not a prison. Maybe that seems ignorant, but I've always sympathized with a lot of the school shooters. Besides, the guy's name was Kipland.

It's time for Christmas break. My teachers are all burning out and giving us study halls at unprecedented rates. Much rattle was played. They're also getting experimental with their teaching methods; today my physics teacher put on a Mozart CD while we were doing our lab. It was surprisingly effective. Everyone seemed much calmer during that period. Interesting.

I must declare that there's nothing better than a good paradox.