Skateboarders: Cool Dudes or the Anti-Christ?

Ok, I have to get this off my chest. I have found the first thing that I hate about California. At first I thought this was a dreamland. I mean look at the weather, the scenery, the women. What could anyone complain about? Until now… It took me almost two full years of living in the wonderful state of California to find it but it literally just hit me (this will be a pretty apparent joke in about 10 seconds) so here it goes.

I FREAKING HATE SKATEBOARDERS!!!!!!

Wow. That felt surprisingly very good. Back home in Boston, you were the weird kid if you were the one rocking a skateboard. No one did it. No one had one. No one would be caught dead riding a skateboard. Here out in apparently the Bizarro World of Santa Clara, California apparently every male undergrad at this damn school has a skateboard. They all ride around likes its no big thing and can’t control anything that they are doing. As of today I have been either crashed into or hit by an errant skateboard three separate times. You ever been hit on the side of an ankle with a skateboard? That freaking kills. Luckily each time it was some small hippy looking kid that couldn’t do any damage from crashing into me but what if someone was my size and crashed into someone their size on a skateboard. I would honestly kill them.

Its not like this campus is monstrous and that walking from one end of the other takes any time what so ever. Literally to walk from the furthest point on the south of Campus to the north is about a 7-minute walk. The skateboard isn’t going to save you that much time over walking. The point is people do it here to look cool and not for the functionality purpose. I mean seriously. I saw a kid walk out of Benson Center, drop down his skateboard, skateboard the 40 yards to his dorm room, pick up his skateboard and walk into this dorm. Was the skateboard necessary in the least bit?

The only good point of the skateboard is that I get to laugh my ass off probably once every other week when I see a kid take a freaking digger of one of these things. There is nothing funnier then seeing a kid trying to act all cool on his skateboard eat shit. To me it is becoming the new nut shot. Now most people would try and not laugh in someone’s face when this happens but my hatred for skateboarders has become so deep that I don’t hide a damn thing. I laugh out loud and right in their face. Serves them right for being a douche on a skateboard.

I know I am not alone in this sentiment. If I was in charge of Santa Clara University I would make skateboarding illegal on campus. Let them ride around anywhere they want outside of campus but once on campus, you are footing it. They are one big collision away from having a big lawsuit on their hands and this is the simple solution to preventing it.

So here it is. Santa Clara University is currently looking for a new President and I see no better candidate then myself. I am educated, Catholic, have current leaderships roles by being President of the Law School Basketball League, etc. I mean lets be honest, this campus would become a whole lot more interesting if I was in charge. At this point I would like to throw my name in to the ring as a potential candidate to be the new president of Santa Clara University. Can we change (most importantly getting these damn skateboarders of this campus)? YES WE CAN!!!

JOHN F. KAZANOVICZ II IN 2008!!!!!

Has the Cell Phone Changed Humanity?

Everyday I walk to and from school from my house that is roughly 5 to 7 minutes away. I generally do this a few times a day actually and there is something that I have noticed in the past week or two. There has not been a single time that I have walked to school that I have not seen at least one (generally way more) people talking on their cell phone. It seems that people have lost the ability to walk to and from where they are going without talking on their cell-phone. Literally yesterday I saw probably 50-60 people walking and talking on their cell phone. These people are oblivious to the world around them as they walk to wherever they are going yammering to someone on the phone probably about something totally unimportant.

People leave class and immediately take out their cell phone and start chatting. It seems that the cell phone has changed humanity in making us lose our independence. It is like a crutch to most people. I don’t want to look like I’m not important so I’m going to take out my cell phone and show the world how important I am by talking. Now I’m not superior to the masses here because I have caught myself doing the same thing. When I am making my walk home I generally call someone that I have to talk to. Whether it is calling my parents back or dealing with some sort of schoolwork, I use my 5-minute walk to take care of “business”. However, I refuse to believe that everyone on the campus here is using the phone as such. I use it on the walk for an efficiency rationale. I have no idea why everyone else is using it.

Now with email and the Internet being able to be accessed through a mobile phone America is becoming more reliant on technology. Maybe it is because America has become a society of busy bodies, or maybe it is because we just love our toys. However, I can’t stand it. I don’t want to walk next to you and hear your conversation about what professor stuck you with a lot of homework. The other day I took the Caltrain from Santa Clara up to San Francisco which is a little over an hour of train riding. I brought a book to read (The Punch by John Feinstein, I have gotten through a fair bit and it is a great read). The three people that were sitting around me decided to use their hour to talk on their cell phone at the same time about what happened the night before, what they were doing over the weekend, and who was doing who (this was an actual conversation I heard and I have been scarred since). People just can’t sit and stay to themselves at this point and I’m blaming the cell phone.

Now I understand the other argument that because of all of the technology that we as a society are more independent. We no longer have to stop and ask someone for directions because we can access Mapquest from our phones. We no longer have to ask someone what time it is because our phone can not only give you the time where you are but everywhere in the world. Is this a good thing? Is this the independence that we are all striving for? This is making us act as completely independent beings instead of as a person as part of a society. There is a balance here and I am trying to keep it, I just pray that rest of you act the same way. Whatever happened to walking down the street next to some stranger and striking up a conversation with that person? Are we as a society unable to expand our relationships because we have at our fingertips the ability to call and communicate with anyone of our choosing? I don’t know but I do know this, the cell phone has forever changed humanity and I still haven’t figure out if it’s a good thing. I’m leaning towards no.