The High School Rundown

Well, high school is finally over… Maconaquah, you gave me some great times and some not-so-great times. All in all it was a good experience though. I’ve had a good time with my friends, learned a little, met some great teachers, and made some life-long memories. I’ll miss everyone in our class, but I hope my close classmates will keep in touch through the years. And now I’m done with mandatory school… it’s time to move on to bigger and brighter things. Freshman and Sophomore year were just okay – we weren’t able to drive yet so we couldn’t do anything really epic. Things started getting more fun Junior year, and Senior year was pretty awesome.

Now that it’s over, it’s kind of hard to remember everything that happened through the years…

Freshman year was good, but kind of boring if I remember correctly. The beginning of my freshman year can be categorized by one word: band. The lives of me and my fellow band members were completely hijacked by the unforgiving band leaders Jeff Evans and Billy Cox. Don’t get me wrong, Mr. Evans was a great guy, but the two leaders were relentless during practice. They made us march outside for hours and hours, up to 6 hours during band camp in 90-100 degree weather, and would deny us water breaks. Maybe I was just a whiny pansy then, but I remember that it was no fun getting up at 5:00 am every other school day to go to band practice and stay after school until 7:00 or later. The people in band were sometimes fun, the music was okay, but it was not worth the life-consuming schedule. It seemed horrible at the time, but now that I think about it, I wasn’t exactly the sociable type so I probably wouldn’t have done anything real productive with my time anyway, so I guess it was a good thing that I had something to do. Some of the people in band were fun, but the way it consumed our life was just not acceptable, so many of us dropped out. Call me a loser for quitting, but I had no desire to spend 4 hours+ ever single on the field with Mr. Cox and those stupid drum majors yelling at us for not standing straight. Excuse me for scratching my leg when ten mosquitoes assault my leg! Oh yeah, and Mr. Evans wouldn’t let someone skip band practice to go to their grandmother’s funeral. That’s just low, guys…

Other than band… freshman year was an adjustment year for me. I was still pretty immature (was?) and nothing too terribly interesting was making my life a fiesta. It was just average, as far as I can remember.

This was also the year that I went to Jamaica, which was hands-down the absolute best experience of my life thus far. I’ll probably devote a separate post to that though, since it was such a big event.

I joined the golf team freshman year and made Junior Varsity. Woohoo, what an honor. The guys we played with were great, and although I wasn’t exactly the star of the team, it was the best year I’ve had golfing. Tommy Baldwin, Michael Powell, Clayton Farris, and all the other guys made the team unique, skilled, and really fun to participate in. I really enjoyed that golf season. J

The summer after my freshman year I attended Senior High Institute with my Parkview United Methodist Church youth group. We shared our cabin with a church from Anderson and met some incredible people. It was a pretty fun week, accredited solely to the people and leaders we stayed with.

Sophomore year was also quite uneventful due to the fact that we were still unable to drive. The beginning of the year, like the previous year, was characterized mainly by band. It was all-consuming, and outside of band I was given very little time to have any other social life. I was still pretty nerdy this year, playing video games with my spare time and still without anything resembling a girlfriend. This school year was pretty boring for me. I remember learning quite a bit in Pre-Calculus, but it was my least favorite math class because it dealt mostly with Trigonometry, the most boring aspect of math. This year I also took AP Chemistry and learning nothing. It was probably the biggest waste of a class I’ve had through my entire high school career – apart from the two days Joel Cassler came in and attempted to teach us titration.

Junior year… I’ll get back to this later. My memory is far from a steel trap.

Senior year was great. I really enjoyed every single aspect… well almost every aspect. At the beginning of the year, I was just beginning to adjust to the fact that our class was the oldest class in school: we were SENIORS!! It was exciting at first, and then the enthusiasm left me after a couple months. Homecoming was a lot more fun than I thought it would be, and I met a wonderful foreign girl and had a crush on her. But since I had never had a girlfriend, I didn’t think that I would be able to start any time soon, so I told myself that I had no chance and eventually forgot about it. Too bad… =(

Tennis season during my senior year was also awesome. I only played Junior Varsity, but this was by far the best time I’ve ever had playing a sport. The guys were great, and it was undoubtedly them that made the sport worth playing. We screwed around a lot, practiced a little, and won a lot of games. I have lots of great memories of that season, and strangely enough the most prominent memories I have are of Coach Fulton telling me, “Nice job, James Dolezal” and “It’s a battle out there.”

It was this year that my musical tastes began to develop. I was introduced to the band Disturbed and it felt like my life was completely changed – it was like I found a new genre of music: Awesome! I stopped listening to the light rock of the nineties and early 2000s and began exploring hard rock and metal. I also found Lordi, Breaking Benjamin, and Killswitch Engage.

During September through December of 2008 I was working on my senior project, the piano CD entitled An Exploration of Romanticism. It was long and difficult project, but its final product was high-quality. I sold many copies and donated the money to our local chapter of the American Red Cross, as per my mother’s suggestion. I expanded my musical abilities and discovered that my true passion for music lies in the Romantic Era (1800s).

Also in December I met Krystina, who became my first girlfriend. We had some good times together – like going to Beef & Boards in February – but we just weren’t right for each other. From what I understand, the reason why we started dating was because she was emotionally confused and I was suffering from a bad case of I’ve Never Had a Girlfriend Syndrome. It’s a pretty serious disorder…

Anyways we dated for like 2 months and decided things weren’t working out. My focus switched to the quickly approaching conclusion of my high school career and the excitement awaiting me at college. I got the Eli Lilly Scholarship in April (hooray!!! =] ) and I felt like I had a solid hold on my future plans.

Starting around the beginning of April I began talking to a pretty amazing girl… the same girl that I had a crush on during Homecoming this year. We played a duet of Pachelbel’s Canon in D for the Pow-Wow, began hanging out a lot, went to prom together (best night ever!) and started dating May 1st. We found out how much alike we are, and are happily dating, though she sadly had to return to Belgium after the school year… =( I could talk forever about her, but for her sake and for the sake of the few readers I may have, I’ll move on.

There were quite a few more great memories throughout senior year, including getting stuck in about two feet of mud at Claire’s house, discovering the awesome power of dry ice, and watching Isaac kick over Matt Goodman’s giant stack of awards during the Thespian Awards Ceremony.

My high school years were good, especially the last two, and I’m going to miss the fun times I’ve had. Fortunately, I plan on having many more great times in college and hopefully Ireland!

Thanks to all the wonderful friends I’ve had through the years… and I apologize for not including all my close friends in the Valedictorian speech I gave. I should have mentioned:

Chad, Chris, Jeremy, Caleb, Sam, Corlin, Jared, Amandine, Bethany, Suzie, Claire, Maggie, Megan, Jon, Andrew, and many more…

Best wishes to everyone in the remaining years of our lives!

Atlanta – NYLF

Sometime in April, I got a letter in the mail from an organization called NYLF/Med – the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine. They were sponsoring a couple 10-day “camps” around the country where the attendees would meet with prestigious doctors and medical professionals and learn more about the medical field. I assumed that it would look good on a resume later applying for medical school, so I decided to give it a go.

The only week and destination that would really work for me was the week of June 21st – June 30th in Atlanta, Georgia. I signed up, had my college fund pay for the tuition (which was ridiculous, btw) and here I am now!

This was the first time I’ve ever flown alone, and the airport I flew to was, as I’ve been told, the largest airport in the world (go figure). Although I was expecting pretty horrifying experience, the whole thing went really smoothly. I left my mom and sister at the security checkpoint at the Indianapolis International Airport. Security was easy – no they didn’t pull me aside and rough me up. I walked over to the terminal, A15, and waited for Delta Flight 2054 to board.

Once I was inside the plane, it was pretty exhilarating. I hadn’t flown in a long time, and flying alone was truly an incredible experience. I’m really glad I get to fly another 4 times in the next month! We had a little rough turbulence when we were flying, but nothing too bad. Oh, and I had a 10-minute splitting headache from some spontaneous pressure difference… it was probably about as pleasant as having a nail driven through my skull. It surpassed once the plane had landed.

Once I had landed, I followed the above sign to baggage claim. And I walked.. and walked.. and walked.. my gosh this hallway was so long! I reached the end and took an escalator down to arrive at an indoor train station that took me the rest of the way to baggage claim. I rode the train (which was also a pretty fun experience) and arrived at the baggage claim area. I picked up my suitcase at Baggage Claim 4 and moved over to Baggage Claim 1, where I met the representatives from NYLF. They took me to the rest of the group of students, and luckily the shuttle arrived as soon as I got there. The rest of the students and I then took about a 30 minute shuttle ride to Emory University. After registering, I unpacked my stuff in the dorm room (Room 103 in Harris Hall) and went to eat dinner. There wasn’t a whole lot to do after that… there’s Wi-Fi in the dorm rooms, but they don’t let you access it.

And that leaves me at where I am now, sitting in the dorm room with no internet, no cell phone signal – no access to the outside world. And my roommate isn’t even here yet. Later tonight I meet the rest of the group that I’ll be staying with throughout the week.

I MISS AMANDINE!!!

- Later -

Well, NYLF is over now and I’m kind of sad it had to end… I met some really great people and had a fun time. I ended up being able to get internet in my room after all – the hospital next door had free Wi-Fi and while standing in certain parts of the room, I was able to get on and use their wireless to get online. The dining commons also had internet so I was able to see Amandine! J

The 9 or so days at NYLF were all very busy – we did a number of things, from watching hypnotists to viewing a live surgery. We toured local medical schools, got to talk with neurologists, podiatrists, and other specialists, and even got to see two Electron Microscopes. I got a preview of what medical school and residency will be like, and decided that neurosurgery may not be the best path for me. After speaking with the neurologist, I realized that neurosurgeons have very little social life outside of their job due to the extreme hours they put forth into their work, and since I’m the kind of guy that wants to spend time building a family, it probably won’t work for me. I also spoke with a neuroscience professor who conducted brain research with his spare time, and realized that my life would probably be better suited to brain and neuro-research.

The whole week wasn’t all work, however. We went to Six Flags over Georgia for a day, visited the Mall of Georgia for 5 or 6 hours, where I got to play a Steinway & Sons piano, and even had a Gala. The gala was a formal event with fancy food and a dance, and since it was Vegas-themed, there were casinos and fake-gambling in the halls, for those who didn’t want to dance.

The people there were also pretty awesome – friendly, fun, and far from stingy or annoying. Our leader, Lyndosha, was also great… she had just graduated college, so we were all relatively close in age. I’m going to miss everyone!

Before I arrived at Atlanta, I was worried that it was going to be a boring, preppy camp… and I was really surprised by how much fun I had and how much I learned. I definitely recommend it to anyone who is considering medicine as a career!l

Amandine and Europe :-)

Wow… I can’t believe I’m here finally! After all this waiting… I’m here in Belgium with Amandine!

It’s been a huge step in my life, leaving the country for the first time alone, and doing so for quite a long time too. The flights were actually a lot easier than I thought. Security was simple, and Immigration was painless as well. They just asked a couple questions, like where I was staying at, and that was it. The first flight, to Washington D.C., was only an hour and a half. I slept during the entire flight, from take-off to landing. Once I arrived in the Dulles airport, I made my way to the next flight – aboard a Boeing 777. This plane was huge… I was awe-struck at the size of this plane once I had stepped inside. The attendants served dinner and breakfast, and movies were provided via screens built-in to the headrests. I did my best to sleep most of the time, to reduce the effects of jet lag. The guy I sat next to on the plane was very friendly, which I was thankful for. He spoke French and Dutch, and he was the only person in his family, also with him, who could speak English. He was from Belgium, so we talked a lot about what I was going to expect – along with the good and bad things of both America and Belgium. He was a physical therapist who worked all year except for a two week period for vacation… which he always spent in America. It was very insightful to learn about the differences between our two countries.

Once the plane had landed, I picked up my bags and walked to the main meeting area. At first I didn’t spot Amandine or her parents… and I was kind of worried that I would have to search the airport for them. After a few seconds of scanning the crowd, I found her… waving to me… my God it was so good to see her beautiful face after that long period of Skyping! Wow she was so beautiful! It was one of the most incredible feelings I’ve felt, to be with her again. I met her parents in person, and they drove me to their house.

I stayed at their house for a few days, and then we packed up and left for Paris for 3 1/2 days. Paris was really a great time.. I saw a lot of really old, incredibly huge, and ornate buildings. America doesn’t really have those kind of things, so it was a new experience for me. I had so much fun touring Paris with Amandine, though I’m not sure either of us could have stayed much longer – there was a lot of walking involved, quite a bit of expensive travel with the metro, and just too many people. But it was a LOT of fun. I’ll probably write up a separate section for Paris later.

And now I’m back with Amandine in her room… and I just can’t help but think about how amazing she is. This trip has been beyond great so far, and I hope the end is something far, far off…

Thanks Amandine =) =)

See my Facebook profile for pictures.

Sometime Later:

Well, the Belgium trip is sadly over… L I would have updated this a lot more often but quite frankly, I had much better things to do than sit on this computer and write about what I could have been experiencing.

To say the least, the entire trip was the best 24 days of my life! Not only did I get to spend time with just Amandine visiting Paris mostly by ourselves for four days, but I also got to see a good portion of Belgium, from the west coast to Brugge, and other cities scattered about. Most importantly, however, I got to see her family, her house, her friends, and her life… something I hadn’t experienced yet. Her family was so much fun to be with! Her father and mother were both really nice to me, always making sure that all my needs were met and that I was having the best time I could possibly be having. They made sure I got to experience the different things Belgium had to offer, from delicious waffles to yummy chocolates and astounding sights (yes, the food always does come first on my list =] ).

Her friends are really cool, too. I got to see Lucille and Peter, who have been dating for three years, Marine, Aurelian, and a few others. Even though I was only able to speak fluent English with one, Marine, I was still able to have an awesome time hanging out with everyone. They on occasion would try to speak English, and I could understand most of what they said, but after spending three weeks hanging out on occasion with her friends, I realized that sharing a language is not necessarily imperative for having a good time. And just an fyi, Marine, you do speak good English. J

Before I left, I made sure to buy plenty of Belgian waffles and chocolates, and cookies as well. I filled my suitcase with delicious goodness, and will hopefully have a long supply. Amandine is going to send me waffles though when my supply runs low (what an awesome girl!) and I’m going to return the favor and send her Reese’s.

I hated having to leave her in the airport the last day… thankfully I was able to spend a couple hours with her before I had to leave for the terminal, and we kept the see-you-later’s short. It was hard, but I know I’m going to see her again, hopefully soon, so it’s just a matter of time before I will be reunited with the person who has given me some of the greatest happiness I have known. J

Moral of the story: Belgium is awesome! The scenery, food, and people are all wonderful, and the prices aren’t quite as ridiculous as they are in Paris. Everyone should visit Belgium sometime in their life and try one of the delicious Belgian waffles which, yes, are all they’ve cracked up to be.

THANK YOU AMANDINE

Dolezal Systems, Inc.

Dolezal Systems and Intelligence
Dolezal Systems and Intelligence (DSI) was created by James Dolezal as a technology company. DSI specializes in computer assembly, networking, troubleshooting, and programming. Rates for any of these services are available but have not yet been calculated and posted. If you would like any computer-related services from DSI, contact James Dolezal and ask for the rate plans. Eventually, they will be posted here.

The Systems portion of DSI deals with most of DSI’s functions: computer assembly, networking, and software programming. If you are an individual, experiencing problems with your home computer setup wanting a computer built for you, this is the area of DSI you will be interested in. If you are a small business seeking a networking solution or a troubleshooting associate, this is also for you.

The Intelligence portion of DSI deals with the private programming and studying of Artificial Intelligence. This research and development regarding AI specifically deals with the ability for a computer program to process information, logically draw conclusions, and possibly exhibit characteristics of cognition.This project is being spearheaded by the developers of LUCI, who are currently working on the logical aspect of the project.

DSI first began work on Luci in the fourth quarter of 2008. LUCI (Linguistically Ubiquitous Cognitive Intelligence) is a programming project being developed in python. Once completed, the program will be a basic artificial intelligence capable of dynamic alteration of its programming based on stimuli from sensory inputs, and will be capable of learning, storing, and adapting to its environment. It will use its logical cognition to learn language, and will have a separate linguistics section devoted to this learning. Once exposed to human interactions and properly trained, it will be able to effectively communicate in the language it has been exposed to and trained in.

Luci is currently in the early developmental stage. The linguistical processor has been mostly completed, but cannot function without the logical portion of its core processor, which is currently the project’s focus. There is currently only one person on Luci’s team, the founder of DSI and the host of this website, James Dolezal. Because Luci is such a large-scale project and should require an array of teams with multiple people on each team, the development is obviously much slower than it could potentially be. With proper teams working coherently and consistently, the project could be completed by mid-2010, but seeing as how most people don’t want to donate their time to a project that may never reach its completion, the ETA for this project is unknown.

If you would like to assist in the development of Luci, have ideas regarding cognitive programming, can provide resources for Luci’s team, or would like to join the team, please contact James Dolezal. To contact James, either send him a message via Facebook, the “All About Me” page on this website, or his email.

All About Me

My name is James Dolezal, and I am an 18 year-old Freshman at Taylor University, currently studying in Ireland with the Freshman Irish Studies Program (FISP).  I plan on majoring in Biology / Pre-Medicine and minoring in Chemistry, hoping to someday move on to graduate school and study Neuroscience or become a neurosurgeon. I am fascinated with the brain, how it works, and with human intelligence, which is the main reason why I am developing an AI program.

I love challenges, and will gladly accept a programming or mathematical challenge that may take me days, or even weeks, to solve. I very rarely give up and am the kind of person that genuinely enjoys solving frustrating problems. I live in a family consisting of a younger sister, both parents, and a cat named Heidi. We are a conservative, Christian family and always seek to know the truth rather than what individuals may interpret as truth. Our sole basis of truth is the bible, and we believe science is man’s interpretation of the universe, but like all human interpretations, we may lack insight and knowledge that prevents the proper presentation and development of theories and facts. Science and man’s morality cannot conflict with biblical truth – science is a fallible interpretation, while God’s word is infallible. If there is a conflict, it is with man and not God.

I enjoy programming, playing piano, problem solving, psychological thinking, and spending time with people that I love.
Programming

My fascination with computer programming began around my freshman year. I was enrolled in some computer tech classes and wanted to learn how to truly master the computer. I looked around online, and discovered that python was the best language to get started with. I began teaching myself how to program, and became very adept with Python. After tinkering around with it for a while, I moved on to C++ and C#, and little bits of Visual Basic. I can now read almost any programming language and can program an array of different types of software and scripts.

After a couple years of learning and honing my skills, I began the project LUCI. For more information about LUCI, go to the Dolezal Systems and Intelligence page.

Hooray for Python!

Playing piano is one of my major passions in life. I have played since I was 5 years old, but it wasn’t until I was around 10 that I began actually enjoying it. The first “real” song I played was Firedance by David Lanz. I played a few more songs by David Lanz after that, and it was around this time that I began loving to play. I then learned the locally-famous Vesuvius when I was 11 and played it a year later for the 7th grade Middle School Talent Show. I guess people liked it quite a bit, because I surprisingly still get many requests for it.

From the time I was 5 until about four years ago I had taken piano lessons from my mother. She taught me well, but four years ago she decided that I needed a professional piano teacher and I began lessons with Jane Marquis. This is when I began to truly expand my piano repertoire, including music from Chopin, Brahms, Beethoven, Bach, Rachmaninoff, Barber, and many others.

I played at a piano recital hosted by Jane Marquis every year when I started taking lessons from her, and I’ve played for all three years of the Middle School Talent Show and all four years of our High School’s annual Pow-Wow. I have also performed locally a few times, including a Red Cross christmas dinner.

I do not plan on studying or majoring in piano during college, but because I really enjoy playing I will definitely keep practicing, learning, and expanding my musical skills. One of the first things I buy when I am living independently will be a grand piano, preferably a Steinway & Sons.

Some of my piano repertoire, off the top of my head:

Excursions by Samuel Barber
Nocturne Op. 9 No. 1 by Frederic Chopin
Nocturne Op. 72 No. 1 by Frederic Chopin
Waltz by Frederic Chopin
Vesuvius by David Lanz
Prelude to the Dance by David Lanz
Setting of the Suns by David Lanz
Firedance by David Lanz
Escapades of Pan by David Lanz
Sonatine, All Mvts. by Ravel
Fantasia in Dm by Mozart
Moonlight Sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven
The People Fight by Nobuo Uematsu
Prelude in Gm by Sergei Rachamninoff
Rhapsody #1 by Johannes Brahms
Rhapsody #2 by Johannes Brahms
Tifa’s Theme by Nobuo Uematsu

…and many, many more which I currently can’t remember.

There’s a lot more about me, but the rest of it you’ll just have to learn from my blog.