thank god for the big miracles, as well as the small favors he pours out everyday...

-my "check engine" light comes on and stays on til i drive home from davis on thurday
+my car didn't crap out on the highway, and i didn't die, plus it still started after i drove home and turned it off, then tried to start it
-could not drive the car for 2 days because mom got work on thursday, then actually took the car to get it serviced on friday
+found a good speedo @costco, as well as a good set of gym shorts, which *surprise*, unlike my prev shorts, HAVE pockets
-found out i had to replace the clutch as well from the dealer
+got to drive it maybe 24 hrs before my mom gets freaked out after calling my bro
-bro tells my mom that a worn clutch makes a car undrivable, meaning i'll essentially crash on the highway if it's not replaced; mom freaks out and then tells me i can't drive the car til we get it to mr. huang's(from church)
+mr. huang takes a look for all of monday, then tells me the saturn guy was just overexaggerating; replaces the transmission oil instead, saving me from having to not drive around davis or bumming a ride to davis, either of which would've been a huge inconvenience
-missed monday jury duty and start worrying like crap
+called the jury commissioner's office, find out it's not a big deal, get reassigned to today when i actually got my saturn back, and then go to realize ALL full-time students more-or-less got excused from the case i got reassigned to(no jury duty calls for a year! woot!)

to be honest, i actually wanted to serve on jury duty to see what it was like, but not during college, as then there's a good chance my grades would drop... i found out it would take at least 2 weeks, and not 1... i thought they got done with everything in 1 week; wrong; they only select the jurors the 1st week, then get to work the 2nd.

oh yeah, and i played tekken 5 too; that's a great game. i like how the memory card thing works at the arcade. too bad no one was around to play me today, but that's alright; i just wanted some space to try some stuff and see how jin was; i would've tried other characters, but i didn't want to blow too much money this time around, and i had only done some hw on jin, not devin jin, nina(my 1st and best tekken char i can use in tekken 3, tag, and i would guess, now tekken 5), and heihachi; maybe next time i come back. jin's really cool, but he's really slow sometimes; like molasses. i guess namco finally heard all those guys who were bitching about jin being broken in the previous 2 tekken games, and finally fixed him, which explains his extremely slow speed. he's really powerful though, and looks like he's using actual shotokan karate.

they even now have a special console package(anniversary edition) for the ps2 version: a QUALITY hori arcade stick(hori's considered as one of the best arcade joysticks), tekken 1-3, AND tekken 5 all included for just $100. if you were to buy all of them separately, that'd easily be maybe 20+20+20+50+150

re: balance between thought process being governed with emotions and knowledge. well, basically, i've realized that when all is said and done, you are more likely to act on emotions than knowledge. why else would there be cases where people know what they should do, but are afraid to do it(ex: knowing jesus is king, but being jewish, and thus, afraid to proclaim it and stand up against the crowd)... now, because we can assume a lotta guys are knowledge-based and not emotionally based, i could say this is why a lotta guys appeared laid back(not a lotta emotions to spur them into doing something)... but know a lot and don't let a lotta things get to them. on the other hand, girls can be very diligent and stuff, but they'll let other things get to them as soon as possible, when there's no reason(or sound knowledge) to do so. and that's why i believe you gotta achieve that balance to do things right; enough knowledge so that you know what you're doing. and enough emotion to do the job wholeheartedly and as soon as possible. i'm tempted to write more, but that's the basic gyst of it, and besides, i'm not the author of "women are from venus, men are from uranus"

it's funny though; i see how a lotta personalities and other various ish gets carried into you from your parents, creating a sorta hybrid of the two. my dad was known for carrying a lotta stuff on the inside, making him very silent. but he was in love with always finding new stuff and discovering new things. my mom, on the other hand, is very outward a lotta times, worries a LOT about the most minute things.
i may not appear to be very worrisome on the outside like my dad, but i've come to realize i really do worry as much as my mother sometimes. and usually(pertaining to my observation about emotions and knowledge), i have to be REALLY fretting about time to start studying like mad(i'm trying to lay off it now more recently), or use anger to get myself to do something i really don't want to do, but know i must do. and though i'm not exactly AS nerdy as my dad, poring over all things scientific or engineering-wise, i still have that love for knowledge; all of my hobbies that i loved, i have STUDIED them... bball stats, fighting game strats, electric guitar(well, i'm starting to rekindle it), christianity... i don't know where i get all this anger though; maybe my mom?
athletic ability, i think i got my build from my mom. dunno exactly how athletic my dad was, however, it's more or less true that i got my dad's face, but my mom's build, while phil got mom's face(well, while he doesn't look exactly like her, he did when he was still a baby), and my dad's build(became fat like my dad was for a while), but phil always seemed to be a better athelete than me IN HIS PRIME, so i guess that means dad was more athletic than mom(he did serve a bit in the army in taiwan, but that was mandatory for all taiwanese youth); i'm all-over more consistent with being athletic though than my bro; not always gonna be "better" than him(though i think i am now), but i think i've never really been out of shape(can't say for sure though). he'll always have strength though; i'm just quicker.
and yea, one last note, is that i see that emotions really do put your actions into motion, cause when i utilize my athletic ability with sports, i usually try to use my anger to get myself to play harder; i may study up some, but all said and done, your knowledge has no time for contemplation and it has to become instinct; emotionally, it's not that i'm trying to get myself to want to kill or beat my opponents to hell, but it's like you're playing for that big play that will rile you up and put your opponents in their place, like a hard tackle in football, or a huge block in bball.

haha