For some odd reason, I did a lot of driving this weekend and the one thing I always notice, yesterday more than ever, is no matter how fast you go, there's somebody on the road who wants to pass you. Driving home from the Mercado maze at night, I was speeding along at 80 in the fast lane. Pretty soon, this souped-up car is rapidly approaching me and a few feet away. He's flashing his lights from regular to high beam, wanting to push me over to the next lane. Please, I'm speeding as it is, no way I'm gonna move over. Let him pass me. I sped up to about 85, even 90, but he just follows. About a mile later, he finally gets fed up. He cuts off the guy in the next lane, passes me, and gets back into the lane, barely hitting my bumper, and speeds away probably at 100. Really, what's he trying to prove?

On Friday, I went to see the new main library in San Jose. That thing is huge. 8 floors of books, videos, and computers. A vast improvement over the old building. There's even a counter on the wall showing how many books have been checked out and just in the first few hours, it was already above 20,000. It's a new experiment in library services since it combines the city's main library with San Jose State's library, the top half for the latter. It may be too big for its own good but once it works out the bugs, it should be fine. The only problem is the parking. Light rail used to ride you right in front of the old building but now it's a few blocks away. Parking used to be validated but if you come in on weekdays its like $2/hour in the garage. You can take your chances for metered parking on the street, which is what I did after seeing the garage was full, but as anyone from San Jose State or works in downtown knows, you might as well park a mile away.

With the release of the critically trashed Gigli, VH-1 reminded viewers of one of the last films to receive such a bad reception by showing Showgirls over the weekend. Watching the original was bad enough. Just seeing the "children-friendly" version was worse. What's the point of showing it on TV? The only reason to watch it was the naked women, not the heartwarming tale of a lady with a dream only to join an adult dance show. Of course, to show it on basic cable, they had to cover up the nudity but come on, instead of just blurring it out, they used flesh-colored covers, probably used from Microsoft Paintbrush. It's the worst job of CG work I've seen, probably ever, on the worst movie I've ever seen. Well, wait, I did pay to see Blankman. Now that was a low point in my movie-watching experiences. And I haven't seen Gigli yet, so the worst may be yet to come.

California signed its budget and with the cuts its imposing, UC is raising its fees 30%, to around $6,000 per year here in Berkeley. To think, it was only $4,500 when I started. A new plan being floated around is forcing those families who make $90,000 or more to pay an additional $1,000, something my family barely qualifies for. Charging a fee like this is totally unfair. Why should some people get charged more for the same services? Another plan which adds a surcharge for people who enroll in over 16 units is also dead in the water because it hurts those who want to get ahead. If these plans do go into effect, hopefully it'll be next year when I'm long gone.

I'll save my rant about the recall until next week, when the candidates announce officially they'll be running. One thing I'll mention is that Governor Davis is suing to put his name on Question 2 about who shall replace the governor if he is recalled. Does it make any sense to replace the governor with himself? To me, it makes no sense whatsoever. If polls continue as it is, the governor will be recalled. But if the percentage of Davis supporters in question 1 also support him in question 2, that percentage will most certainly beat the next top-vote getter, making the recall moot. So what's the point of letting him on #2?

Instead, most news' attention is on Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont and now, presidential candidate. He's surging in most polls and is now leading in the fund-raising category. Time and Newsweek have him on their covers. The former nobody is now somebody. Watching him on Larry King, his demeanor seems a little bit Gore-like. He doesn't move! He moves his mouth to speak, he smiles, and he blinks his eyes. That's it! I didn't see him nod or shake his head. No hand gestures. While painting himself as a fiscal conservative, his position on being anti-war has portrayed him as left of the other Democratic candidates, save for Kucinich. His plan to reinstate all taxes cut by the Bush administration, including those for the middle class, to pay for Medicare and close the budget deficit is being criticized by Republicans and even some Democrats. And for some reason, hearing him say "I approved this message" in his commercials makes him sound like Bush (the last thing he wants) in the way the President, coming from a business background, delegates tasks to his staff and then come back to give recommendations.

Finally, almost every test I take, it's pretty obvious who's cheating; the way they look around at everyone and the way they hide their blue books. Most of the time, professors didn't care or weren't paying careful attention, allowing the cheating to run rampant. Taking my mid-term last week, the girl across the aisle slipped a little sheet in the back of her blue book. Her motions seemed natural enough but I guess she checked one too many times and was caught. Instant dismissal. Nobody should have an unfair advantage over others. Then again, it's only cheating if you get caught.