i have GOT to cut down my time that i spend on my cpu... i should only post on this site once a week... i eat up so much of my time that way... so this is prob my last post for this week...

pillar's new album comes out june 15th, and chances are that's the next cd i'm gonna get... i still like sanctus real, 12 stones, and jeremy camp, but i think it'll be good to increase my cd collection by adding a new artist, not a new album... besides, i really like "bring me down"

there is a possibility that my nephew could be borne on the same date as my mom... and speaking of that, michelle's planning on attending johnny's wedding which occurs about 2 weeks after the due date... not too sure if this seems a bit rushed... for michelle... give or take about 2 weeks, and i'll be an uncle... becoming an uncle seems like becoming a father, but not really...

ucd now has coke icees! ownage... btw, icees seem to have less ounces when you buy them, but they also seem to be comprised of more liquid than ice compared to 7-eleven's slurpee... so go figure... 1.35 for a large icee, 1.48 for an extra large slurpee that doesn't seem to last as long... plus, if you have a card at ucd, every 5th icee you buy, you get a free medium icee... weird, considering how much davis jacks up the stuff you can buy in their on-campus stores...

have yet to feel real peace at davis for a long time... and i feel this is partially due to the fact that i have not been able to control my time lately well, leading to me constantly trying to catch up... and partially because i don't spend time with God... in meditation... in songwriting(well, that's debatable how much time you can spend time with God when creating and cut and pasting drumloops)... it's the little things that add up for me...

you become less of a man when you think that you are better than others just because you have the right religion...

God... others... me...

taken from christian rock dot net(both articles):

Absence of Mustaine on New Pillar Album
Saturday, April 17, 2004
It was earlier reported that Pillar cowrote a song with Dave Mustaine from Megadeth (who is now a Christian). This bit of news is true, but it was also said that this song was to be put on Pillar's new album. Sadly, this news is not true. Although it will not be on "Where Do We Go From Here?", Pillar is planning to release it to the public in the future.

Switchfoot's Impromptu Minneapolis Set
Thursday, April 15, 2004
As Jon Foreman belted the song out in a scratchy, road-weary voice, I couldn't help but feel a little proud when I saw the band I'd been listening to since its Legend of Chin days play on "the big show" in front of all kinds of impressionable kids who had just watched Eminem's new video with D-12 only moments before. In those three minutes, they were hearing a message that MTV isn't usually selling, "We were meant to live for so much more! Have we lost ourselves?" It almost seemed to be the antithesis of what the network is all about; yet there they were playing at that very place.

And with all the airplay the band has been getting lately with "Meant to Live," and now, "Dare You to Move," people who've never heard them before are finding out what I've been buzzing about for a while. My 22-year-old brother, Casey, (the coolest kid in Wisconsin, in my humble opinion, of course) is one of those people.

He, my sister, Lindsey and some of their friends were hoping to see Switchfoot play in Minneapolis last night. The band has played in the Twin Cities area several times, so tickets have begun to sell better and better each time. While that's great for the band, it wasn't so great for my siblings as they didn't get to go to the show.

But then something unexpectedly cool happened. My brother went down to the venue to pick up some tickets for another upcoming show when he bumped into Switchfoot lead singer Jon Foreman.

Instead of the usual "Hi, nice to meet you" pleasantries that bands and fans usually exchange, Jon grabbed his guitar and told the crowd of 20 or so that waited outside, "I know a lot of you didn't get tickets for tonight's show," and proceeded to play an impromptu three-song set on the street in front of the venue. He even asked a homeless man who was seated next to him to join in on his bongos.

With this gesture, the band probably made 20 new fans that night. But more importantly, they were able to extend kindness in an impressionable place outside of the walls of the church. Now, that really makes me proud all over again.

wow... someone from megadeath is now christian? blows my mind... wasn't a BIG fan of them, but they were heavy metal, and i've heard them before...

that's switchfoot... to be honest, that is awfully nice of jon to do that...

sam's right...

the nba is so pc...

that's why ron artest and not ben wallace was named defensive player of the year...

ron artest may have been the most improved... but i would still want ben wallace as a defender over ron artest on my team anyday... his improvement on the offensive end is a nice touch, but it shouldn't come into play judging a player's defensive prowess...

the only reason he was picked is cause he's a guard, and many ppl think a big man who doesn't try to shoot like ben wallace is boring... don't believe me? in a poll, ppl think the best matchup in the nba is kobe on tmac, over shaq on yao, over duncan on kg... ppl like offense... not to mention rick charlisle constantly advocating ron artest... you think larry brown's been spending his time advocating ben wallace? let the skills speak for themselves.

i would love to see spurs on pistons for the nba finals, or twolves on pacers...

Romans 13:8-10

awww sick... this is so tight!

How to make Chinese hand-pulled noodles

Also this

Photo Diagrams

ok, so they're difficult to do... so what? i love hand-pulled noodles! so much better than the factory type stuff! totally! i shall master the art someday! along with my numerous things that i wanna do... i especially love them, cause everytime i go to tsing tao in campbell, ca, i order the spicy noodle soup... it's the best, and it's made with these types of noodles... they're way better... a chewy texture to them...

my 1st round predictions are pretty simple; anyone in the top 4 beats the lower 4. (don't get any ideas though; aside from indiana on boston and minnesota on denver, most of the teams will have to work for their wins)

from there... i'll post tomorrow... chances are indiana's gonna ride it all the way to the finals(although i would love to see the matchup against detroit)

west, it's a bit more iffy... the odds are on minnesota, then san antonio, then lakers(basically, if bobby jackson and cwebb are stronger than they have appeared, kings will be better than them, but if not...)(i'm gonna love the minnesota on san antonio and sac on la matchups... sac on dallas would also be nice too)

http://www.n-j-a.cjb.net/

good thing i've got mondays, wednesdays, and fridays more or less completely free... i could try the one promising 10 inches in 2 months... i mean, if it doesn't work... i'll still be slightly better in hops... i've more or less given up dunking... i'm not doing this to dunk... to improve my shot blocking ability... and it'll give me a reason to get out of bed early, on days that i don't have morning class...

it's playoff time... which means the socal ppl are acting stupid again...

read one laker fan's xanga, and then had to quit... reeked of stupidity... thought that LA was the best, and NO ONE else was good... hello? minnesota's hella good right now... kings... ok, calling them queens is just weak... gee, i'm gonna imitate shaq's level of genius... that's really bright of me... how bout we start making fun of shaq's iq? or stoop down real low and about kobe and his cleanliness? san antonio? hello? did you forget who schooled you last year? in game 6 where you were expecting a comeback? and in the last confrontation? rockets? at best, they've broke even... and the east being weak? do you forget that indiana has the best record IN THE NBA? hello? so that's not just a "we dominated the east" thing... that's a we-rocked-them-all thing... what about detroit? with the wall of wallace? *sigh*... i have to stop, or i'm gonna explode... socal ppl...

i am not saying la can't pull off a championship this year... they have 4 friggin all-stars, and a veteran coach, they are well capable of doing so, but i'm saying, don't underestimate the rest of the league; plus, la has shown signs that they aren't consistent, and doesn't play a complete game, which is why i feel the way i feel. they also can't defend the pick-n-roll too well. not to mention all the ignorant, dick-riding socal ppl... tomio and george are cool though :D (we're cool right? right?)

(note to self; improve hops and quickness, then next quarter comes round take on all the socal ballers and smother them with defense, ak-47/ben wallace/kg/duncan style)

"we are the time haters... we've travelled all the way back through time, to call you a cracker"

that's it from me today; i shouldn't read other ppl's xanga's near playoff time; let actions speak for words... or i'm just be filling myself with even more hate. but all we can kinda do is sit back and watch the games... and pray :D

(for now, go rockets! chinks represent yo! and wh0re that pick-n-roll!)

Watch what plants you eat

so much about loving peaches and strawberries... and spinach and celery... wonder what's the risk/reward ratio on this...

i changed my bookmark of 1st corinthians 8:13 to include the entire chapter; this is one of the best verses i've ever come across in the bible; it has basically taught how to deal with anything into this modern-day era, even though paul is not on the earth to write any more epistles concerning hip-hop, or bht-infested cereals, or what not... basic idea: it is ok to indulge in the things of this world, even when they are things devoted to other things other than God, because idols are nothing, and God is everything... BUT! you have to watch for whether those things can drag your christian brothers and sisters down. if they don't have this mentality, and see you doing such, they may be misled, and so be enticed to sin. when that happens, it becomes bad, and you must toss it away.

(haha... it's like in family guy when peter and chris are driving through las vegas, and there's a communion place... under the sign reads "all you can eat" :D)

of course, a simple concept, but it can be very hard to judge some things of today; or at least, try to convince others... like abortion. clearly wrong, because it murders... but time and time again, ppl argue for it... esp in the philosophy classes i've taken at davis. it's not that you can't argue against abortion, but it is THAT MUCH easier to argue for abortion than to argue against it.

modern music fads are also difficult to see. however, we have to see that it DIFFERS from person to person. so while we shouldn't write off christian rock, i think that depending upon the person, it might not be that good of an idea to promote it on a friday night. give those people alternative places of meeting that friday or something.

i never realized just how much of a defensive monster andre kerilinko is; he's one of the leaders in steals per game(something like 1+/game), and is #3 in the league in BLOCKS! in BLOCKS! when's the last time you saw a small forward be #3, right behind ratliff and wallace, in BLOCKS? too bad they didn't make the playoffs; i liked the new skool jazz with the exception of ostertag; they had a lotta potential.

as the nba post season is about to begin, here are the teams i'm rooting for:

west:
minnesota- definitely one of the most improved teams; furthermore, kg has just gotten so much better since a lot of the load has been taken off of him... all around player, can do it all... no apparent weakness... prob the team i WILL root for...
kings- one of the best offenses in the game, and while their defense isn't that good, it's often underestimated(christie plays a big part in it)... i'm mainly rooting for them cause i'm norcal(i'd rather root for warriors, of course), and especially for them if they ever have to clash with the lakers or mavs
spurs- one of the best defenses in the game... i love duncan and ginobili... duncan is an all around player who does so much with so little(has such a strong fundamental game); i think that kg is the best player in the nba right now, but duncan doesn't fall too far behind, the only crutch of his is his lack of good free throw percentage. ginobili is THE MAN, because he can always drive in, for some weird reason, and plays good defense too.
rockets- and no, it's not cause i'm an azn... i like francis, and i like yao BECAUSE OF HIS HEIGHT... this is another defensive-minded team that is fun to watch...
nuggets- carmelo's the scorer, but my preference goes to earl boykins... he is so fun to watch.

east:
pistons- two words: ben wallace. such a defensive monster.
pacers- a lotta ppl in the words of j.o., underestimate this team. but if we're going by win-loss record, this is the best team right now. i'm hoping celtics advance, but then again, i like this team; vastly improved; artest is so friggin good now; so versatile. j.o.'s gonna be j.o., but he can't create as well as the other famous big men; he needs open space to operate.
celtics- well, i dunno now, now that pierce may be out... but i gotta for the time they're still in, root for them.

WOOT!

hey bob, warriors aren't consistent... they beat the mavs! :D

woot, woot, woot!

108-107... in YO FACE, MAVS!

man on fire is like a black punisher, haha...

for those of you who don't know, man of fire stars denzel washington, who is a security guard who fails to guard a small girl and she ends up being kidnapped... he then launches a vigilante effort to bring her back...

punisher is of course based upon the marvel vigilante(funny how this is the only marvel hero who fights using his brain and human abilities, not some supernatural power, thus, giving him a coolness factor), a former fbi and top-notch marine, whose family becomes targeted and killed due to a past failed mission... he launches an effort to bring down the man who started it all... marvel movie rated R, which seems funny in itself...

to be honest, although both are probably hyped up movies, i would like to see them... (maybe i'll wait for a rental dvd) funny considering the last movie i just saw was one teaching compassion against opposition, not fire against fire... man on fire looks slightly better because of denzel washington's presence(i'll take you down piece by piece! you gotta love that quote), but punisher has john travolta play the evil guy, so that could be a plus in itself(this is not vengence... no... it's punishment).

i wonder how many times i've updated the things AROUND my blog, instead of writing in it...

added japander on the left; think of "lost in translation" where a white boy is doing commercials in japanese... the ahhnold one on the energy drink is just weird

he has risen, just as he said.

Matt 28:6b

you come to think about it for a bit, and you'll realize how the resurrection and dying were both necessary for forgiveness to all who wish to receive it; without jesus dying, God would not be able to say he justly punishes sin; God loves us, but he is a just god; sin is sin, and it must be punished; luckily his son paid the price for everyone who chooses to accept him. and the resurrection was also necessary, because without a god around to administer that forgiveness, the sacrifice would have been useless.

in other words, we have something the world will never experience; hope. that word should be in capital letters actually: HOPE

looking to get back into christian meditation; haven't done that for a BIT

isn't it weird how famous ppl become through dying?

after i crawled out from under my rock yesterday and discovered diana died, i've found maybe 300+ pages pointing to her death... and maybe just one on her when she played bball(this was from the cupertino courier)... many of those come from xangas and blogs... a couple from the east coast area's paper publishers...

i honestly still can't believe that someone like this person committed suicide... seemed to have it all too

this nails a lid on the whole taiwanese happiness idea: study hard, go to a good college, get a good lover, get married, get a good job, have kids, and you can be happy. living life in the now so much that you are unprepared for anything that occurs outside of that... it's good to live life in the now... but it's not good to do it so much that you can't see your future...

so if that azn bubble of happiness bursts, what does that leave you with? there's gotta be more to life than this... do we depend upon what society offers us so much that we are clouded beyond belief?

sometimes i am thankful that God saved me at an early age... you could argue that i might've not known what i was doing, but the concept of heaven and hell is so strong in my head that i could not induce myself to commit suicide now if i wanted to... even if i'm spiritually backsliding...

God, i ask you to open my eyes... i ask you to open my eyes... don't ever make me close them... there are a lotta ppl in this world who still haven't really heard about you... you gotta just make me see who needs this... help me to look around me... i don't need to go to africa to show your message... there are many around me who need this message... help me to be brave, and to do this out of love...

didn't want to stay up, but somehow, i just found out one of the girls who came from the same class as mine at mvhs died about a month ago... freaky:

Death of Diana Chien

truly saddened to hear about this... truly am... and still contemplating how much one can do to help... what could i have done when we were still at monta vista, instead of living in my bubble? sometimes it tears at me... maybe i'll take a hint that grades and money and success and a good lover are simply not enough... maybe i'll start looking out for others' needs instead of living in a virtual bubble...

ykno what's interesting is during spring break, sarah, sam's former girlfriend, also came that close to death... and was also from mvhs... the difference is that she didn't voluntarily want to go into it, that the car she drove got totalled, but she walked away unharmed... she decided then to get baptized... and to rededicate her life to christ...

and on the other note, yesterday was good friday... this was the most important message ever sent: Jesus DIED... the fact that Jesus was actually willing to die... the fact that he died a gruesome death... the fact that it was JESUS who died, and not "some man..." now do you see the awesomeness of this? also, the death would have all been for nothing had not Jesus rose again...

hey it's time to wake up/ hey it's time to see/ it's time to get off of this merry go round

Inhabited- Merry Go Round

you know i'm stuck in between/ the walls they confine me/ i want you to lift me out/ when i let go/ let you take control/ i give you everything/ everything i am

Inhabited- In Between

inhabited is like alanis morrisette vocals with an upbeat indie/rock bg...

now i understand why 12 stones doesn't get that much respect... there's the criticism that they sound too much like Creed... that there's too many bands which sound like Creed... i can kinda understand this... also a lotta of their songs are familiar... yes, the talent's there... the talent is there... but it's as if all the songs are the exact same... this is to a better 2nd album...

rock hard, christian... but keep your eyes on christ... because once your eyes are taken off... you tread a fine line between what is good and what is secular... the potential for good is there... but so is the evil... but a lotta things are like that... like money...

coke slurpees and milk are ownage... not taken together though... that's just nasty...
just like how i have a preference for cheese and bbq korean beef ribs, but don't want the two mixed together...

speaking of coke, i bet you never really thought about the ingredients that contribute to coke's flavor:
original recipe:
Merchandise # 1 is sugar

Merchandise # 2 is caramel

Merchandise # 3 is caffeine

Merchandise # 4 is phosphoric acid

Merchandise # 5 is a coca leaf & cola nut extract

Merchandise # 6 is probably lime juice, but was incorporated into merchandise # 7 as an oil

Merchandise # 7X is the flavoring mixture

Merchandise # 8 is vanilla

Merchandise # 9 is probably glycerin, but is no longer used

the 7x flavoring mixture:

http://www.sodamuseum.bigstep.com/generic.jhtml?pid=10

you can never really figure out the ingredients unless if you are "hunting" for them as you're drinking the drink... to me, the nutmeg and phosphoric acid stand out though... and the sugar... vanilla could stand out as well too...

maybe God does want me to be a surgeon after all...

check this

i'm not jumping to conclusions yet though... i need to improve my studies, and i still can't wavedash :D

ok, if you google "taco bell" lent, you should be able to hear a .rm file of npr driving up to taco bell asking for lent specials... they would not be doing this unless if they were going down on sales... also, as i was looking through various journal entries on this, someone brought up an interesting point about how they could be doing this as a "post-passion" craze... it's quite possible... like how the capitalist society seems to always want to find some way to cash in on the current fad... i could imagine booger fling or macfondle's doing it... in some ways they are... cheaper fish fillets i think... but really, you think giving up meat draws someone closer to christ? well, i dunno... everybody has their own issues to work out... surfing the web and video games seems to be my crux...

but personally, lent is not about the giving up... it's about the filling up... i haven't done the filling up part yet, but i'm getting there... getting there...

feeling like the walking dead... moving around on 2 hrs of sleep today... maybe it was less... but i can't go to sleep... i'll just end up living on tokyo time like the end of last quarter... it's alright, it's just a day... and right now i don't feel that tired... i just have to keep moving and thinking...

using the setup on the blog below, i just completely messed up what was a perfectly good-sounding jeremy camp- understand song :) my cd's fine though... but the created .mp3 is just utter garbage... it's instant fun though... haven't you ever screwed around with your phonograph when you were younger?

i remember once just turning it to play, then turning it off(you could still hear the vibrations of the phonograph, just that the record wasn't turning, then just whirling it(remember, i'm a kid, so i have no sense of rhythm) backwards or forwards... i also remembered using the NEEDLE to scratch on other occasions... bad idea... i ruined a few good disney songs that way... our indiana jones: temple of doom record is messed up because of it... the narration keeps repeating "the walls began to shake... began to shake... began to shake... began to shake..." i copied my bro's way of "fixing" the narration cause it looked funny; he'd jump and land hard on the carpet, making the needle jump... of course, he'd jump too hard, and so the record would skip too far forward, so he'd jump again to try to fix it, but he'd just eventually end up "jumping" the entire record... man, the things you did to satisfy your inner child... y'kno, the funny part is, i would love to do simple stuff like that all over again... and even for a moment escape the current hectic state of life...

i was walking home from the bus, and wondering just how whitewashed i am... then i catch the shadow that is leading me as i'm walking to my apt, and compare it to the azn girls nearby and guy... they are walking with shoulders unmoving, going forward...

my shoulders are bobbing, alternating back and forth... if it was any more emphasized, i'd be doing a thug strut... if i was black, they'd think i was full of it...

so i can never be completely whitewashed now... there's the proof... as long as i unconsciously strut walk... as long as i know how to emcee

the crap under my toenails might smell like stinky cheese sometimes... don't worry, i never force anybody to smell my feet, unless if they want to... and it doesn't have a very high radius where you can smell it...

here's something recently learned... chinese have been all over the world far earlier than you would expect, in places you prob haven't considered beforehand... they were in cuba helping the cubans drive out the spainards, in the phillipines helping THOSE ppl... they were in peru... in louisiana before any of the future americans came over...

yeap, writing's getting boring...

pod - change the world

of all the places you'd expect to find a sign advertising for lent...

taco bell?

i wish i had a pic to show you guys... it was weird... they were advertising vegetarian quesadillas and tacos for ppl observing lent... jeez man... christians aren't vegetarians... some of them have special ways of observing lent... but i've never heard of a guy going quesadilla because of his devotion to christ... even if you're mexicano, you have to be some messed up follower there...

trevor, lead vocalist/guitarist of fm static, strangely did NOT leave thousand foot krutch... he's still in both bands, which is funny, cause on one hand, tfk is this hardcore, emceeing, heavy distortion band, and on the other hand, fm static is a poppy rock band... which is probably funnier is that the photos on both band's websites look totally different too; trevor looks like a blink 182's mark on fm static, and yet on tfk he's all with the hooded sweatshirts and the gangsta look...

latest weird free software setups to fool around with:

try this:

download and install all of these(all these are free btw):
silent bob
(enables you to record any sound that's coming out of your soundcard and save to .wav, you'll need to spend maybe $10 on some other equipment to fool around fully... more on equip later)
ots cd scratch 1200
(a cd player that you can use to scratch cds with the whole authentic vinyl effect... very good at that... no ability to record what you make though, and that's what the above is for)
analogx scratch
(enables you to scratch and save .wav files)
bon wav2mp3 converter
(enables you to convert .wav files to .mp3 files to save space)

can't really save with the above, but if you wanna play around with more:
kb piano
(enables you play with your keyboard as a piano keyboard)

getting any ideas by now?

for equip, just go to radio shack and get:
a 1/8" stereo to 1/8" stereo miniplug... that enables you to plug the line in from your soundcard to your line out of your soundcard
and get a headphone adapter, which branches your line out to 2 outputs... this enables you to be able to still hear what you're doing, as you're gonna plug the above into the line out part

i'll leave it to your creativity to figure out what you wanna do from there...

some other stuff that might interest you:

beat it- like linkin park's keyboard; load up to 16 samples, and you can play them back
ap guitar tuner- best software tuner... ever...
hammerhead rhythm station: still my fave music ap... next to any recording software such as cakewalk's music creator... make authentic drum loops, and then save them as .wav's...

of course, dj'ing's not my main... guitar playing is... but sometimes it is interesting what happens when you combine scratches and dist w/emceeing aka linkin park

4.4.04

this marks the day joey became an uncle :D

happy bday, austin lin

and congrats, paul!

go congratulate joe(and paul)...

*sniff*... this is weird...

Boondocks on passion once again

how true... such is religion and philosophy... you tell ppl you have the solution to all of their problems... but they've gotta do their hw... they've gotta read into it to get the meaning, they have to spend hours hunched over book... and they shut you out from there... why do you think the only jews who are christians are the only ones who have pored over a bible?

ppl are paying tribute to kurt kobain, the guitarist/lead vocalist of rock band nirvana... it's been about 10 yrs since his death... i have mixed feelings about this... this is because i have a cd of "nevermind" from my bro... and a lotta ppl thought his music style at the time was revolutionary... perhaps... it did break away from the norm... i also liked a couple of his songs, such as "nevermind"... but you could also music more or less went downhill from sometime around there... although we could credit that to offspring or green day i guess... all the rock songs you hear these days are made up of ppl just playing rhythm guitar... how creative... how talented... also, let's honor kurt kobain, the musician, not the person... he was known to be somewhat, well, knocked up in the head sometimes... so no wonder that he would take his life... his personality was not something we should respect...

did i mention i'm happy the spurs snapped the lakers' win streak on sun? don't rule out the spurs... they pulled the upset against the lakers last season... they could do it again this year... sometimes i can be more anti-socal than pro-norcal...

christianrock.net isn't a bad internet radio station... too bad i can't listen to it at the apt, internet radio ends up bandwidth like crazy...

it seems that the more we chart the signs in revelations towards the end times, it seems that the more we are in a bind... like the mark of the beast... we all know that the end will come about partially by this way... but yet, we can't do anything about it; like for instance, if you try to stop the production of these chips(trying to blow up the building which creates them), that's also a sin; true, God knows what you're doing, but he intends to make it happen, and you'll just be wasting your precious time... it's sorta like a "terminator 3" scenario; john connor couldn't stop skynet from being formed; the us government still found its way to create it... and strangely enough, like john connor, our role isn't to stop the chips from being formed, but to warn others... eh, whatever, i gotta study now...

3: God's number; well, one of God's...
6: man's number; if you don't me, take any fact about man and society; there's a big chance any number you churn out can be divisible by 6; case in pt; man has 6 qts of blood; has 6 main sections to his body, has 12 months in a year, has 24 hrs in a day, has 60 min in an hour and 60 sec in a min... etc, etc... interesting, eh? and man is given 6 days to work
7: the number of completion; Revelations is chock full of the number 7
now here's a new one you won't expect if you're hiding under a rock like me:
11: the number of urgency

you'd be surprised how many numbers you take pertaining to 9.11 has the number eleven in it...

also, i found this site, trying to search out meaning for revelations in the bible:

List of links

take with a grain of salt though; i haven't explored all the links, but this one seems particularily interesting:

link

mark of the beast

i find the 2nd link to also be very interesting; it not only lists some of the trademark things of the end times(mark of the beast, the antichrist, false prophets, etc), but lists some headlines which chart the progress of how we are progressing towards those end times

Comic about Passion

ditto

i'm not worried about being whitewashed... i'm more worried if i lose my sense of what it means to truly be a christian... because i can find my true identity from that... however, just to be sure i'm a bit more aware of what's going on from my ancestral country more often, i bookmarked a website that links you to all the latest taiwan news... in english, not engrish... on the left

i dare you to move/ i dare you to lift yourself/ lift yourself off of the floor -switchfoot

some miso soup w/trout would be good for today...

um... i'm getting boring huh?

see, this is where my blog begins to pale compared to others... since i'm not rich, i can't afford the luxury of taking a pic of myself making a silly face or capturing jon when he's unawares and then posting it up to redeem myself...

the infamous dickwack aka "richard e wack" at collegehumor.com puts richard weiner to shame... well, at least bob's "richard head" was pretty close...

wishlist(ok, so it's not christmas, i still don't have a job, etc... i'm bored, ok?):
-delay pedal, +various ac adapters(i'm thinking 2 more, maybe another surge protector)... i would love to be able to hook up delay,wah,flanger,dist all together... ok to be honest i would love to hook all the dif types of fx pedals boss has together in series, all powered by ac, and have a crybaby wah at one end... but i'm trying to paint myself as a modest guy(haha yea right)... so delay it is...
-preamp... would be useful if i ever get back into live playing again, so i can hear myself w/o putting others in "harm's way..." i could connect my headphones to it, then be able to play good riffs that don't reqr the sound to be turned up... man, that's like another 150+ or something... also, would i get another one for usb, for recording purposes?
-arcade joystick... psh... another 100 dollars thrown out the window... just to be able to hone my dp skills down pat...
-and then there's the cds... 12 stones, pillar, sanctus real, jeremy camp... maybe linkin park, maybe switchfoot(or their mp3 legally)... kj-52?
-minor, but i would like to see what it's like to play electric guitar w/a wireless cord... also a strap that stays on, so i can pull a throw-my-guitar-around-my-head and catch it...

ah yes, our toys get more expensive as we age... long ago, you couldn't push my wishlist's price above $60 if you tried... but i gotta convince myself that i would be just fine w/o the above... coveting's wrong... we all do it anyway... it's just that i'm being vocal putting my stuff down right HERE... i know i don't fit the mold, so i wonder what girls want as they grow older... please, tell me it's not shoes... or clothing...

foxtrot and boondocks both cracked me up pretty hard today...

Falling Up's official site

i especially like "bittersweet" and "broken heart"

wednesday's low post move of the day(thought of this one at home):

start w/ball in both hands, facing back to defender, to basket:
1.pivot outer foot towards the baseline to the top of the key, so you eventually turn around and face the defender
2.land hard with the foot to jab step towards the key
3.start to lunge the other way and start to dribble
4.crossover back to your jab stepping foot and drive in

lately i've been down, and it's probably due to my not-so-stellar performance in college lately... ah, the classic struggle between what a christian is supposed to believe in vs what they're feeling due to society... how "strong" are we supposed to be? callous that nothing in the world can shake us, NO MATTER HOW BAD IT LOOKS FOR US? how much of that down feeling from society is due to our fear of ppl looking down upon us, where we're either saddened that we've let them down, or humiliated because they're laughing at us? how do we lift the heavy burdens off our chest? how hard do we pray? are we praying the right request? etc, etc, etc...

thank God... my car's FINALLY fixed... supposedly... please, don't fall apart... not now... i don't really care about stick anymore; what good's a stick shift w/10 disc cd changer that keeps falling apart every 2 months or so?

it's interesting really; i am that car... i see my downness impersonated in that car... my car problems were due to a coolant sensor problem... and likewise... my downness is due to a coolness problem... angry when i shouldn't be, saddened too long by the wrong stuff when i shouldn't be... this is my lastest cliche thought, and i think it's a good one to remember:

WHAT'S DONE IS DONE... WHAT'S NOT DONE HAS NOT BEEN DONE...
(WHAT'S THE POINT OF WORRYING ABOUT WHAT YOU DID? NO MATTER HOW TERRIBLE THE THINGS YOU'VE DONE IN THE PAST, WORRYING DOESN'T CHANGE THEM; JUST CONCENTRATE ON WHAT OCCURS NOW...
i understand you sometimes wanna worry so there's less chance of making a mistake, but really, why? so you can get an ulcer that breaks you down at 40? please, life ON EARTH is too stupid for that type of thinking... every phase has really just one blip on a cpu screen of life)

writing up a FAQ on bball low post offense... a flowchart of sorts... that way i can refer back to it when i'm trying to find out how to improve my offensive game... defense is simpler, but to get that i'll need to work on shuffling, hops, and liners... which i'll try more often in UCD now...

song's not finished... but then i had only one short week... hopefully though i get a lot done tonight...

wolf in sheep's clothing?
-------------------------------

as you know, my favorite genre of music is "christian hard alternative..." more or less i like some other songs from other genres, but this is the big one... it's hard, it's fast, it's upbeat... i smile upon it more because the writers are looking at God, you get a positive message in their lyrics, and if you get lucky, they throw in a good riff and fill from the lead guitarist... at times though, i have to wonder, how acceptable is this type of music for a christian? a lotta times, you can't find the positive message in the songs until you look them up and then go "AHHHH!" if pillar put one of their harder songs on 104.9 FM, i would doubt many ppl would cry out immediately(since the secular society is against christian rock), and call in going, "hey! what's this christian stuff i hear?" am i jumping up and down to the hard, driving rhythms, or because my heart is going "praise God! amen w/this man's message!" i wonder stuff like this at times...

the fact is, music can sometimes go deeper than the lyrics, to the melody, harmony, and rhythm... i've never been calmed by listening to hard, alternative rock... or hip-hop... my feet instead starts bouncing, my head starts tilting to the left, i might even start air guitaring or fake a mic trying to emcee... i think the high point may be when i hear a good riff... sometimes i'm calmed by that... but it's still kinda rare... contrast that with listening to classical music... you just feel a lot calmer from listening to that... not saying that's it's wrong to listen to music which gets your heartbeat up, sometimes you want that(though listening to it before you turn in is a BAAAD IDEA), but is christian music supposed to be calming, or upbeat, or just simply concentrate upon God? there's a lotta jumping, dancing, whatnot commanded in the psalms about praising God, so is that enough to justify an upbeat, hard song? am i dancing to the good lyrics, or to the melodies/harmonies/rhythms? the "big three" of music can't testify to an existance of God... or do they?

and then what about the music having an effect to you OUTSIDE of listening to it? if i keep listening to pillar/12 stones/ etc, and the laptop turns off, and i walk away, am i going to just explode every time something annoys me? "I FEEL LIKE THIS!!!" sometimes i wonder where i get this temper of mine... bball? playing tekken? could be, but hard to say...

it's funny really; almost every new music carries a demonic connotation w/it... i remember when heavy metal used to be categorized w/the devil; a lotta musicians honestly just said right out that they were satanists, and did pretty stupid stuff... metallica had some evil lyrics, the curent one ppl frown upon is manson... hip-hop is currently categorized with pimping w/the hos and bling bling, and dance/trance is the new one... it feels like spazzing so much, and since it's often played in dance clubs, sometimes it carries a negative connotation w/lsd and esctasy, to name a few... however, those used to be categorized w/rock...

but the bible suggests to test everything, and hold onto the good; therefore what i'm eventually going to try one of these days is to hold off a week or two on listening to music at all(the one exception will be songwriting); if i do listen, it would be classical music, but i don't have any, therefore i'm trying for the cold turkey treatment... maybe when i try that i'll also cut off cold turkey on video games and bball watching... if my behavior improves, i'll have to reevaluate...

Luke 8:13-15

i am still the person who receives the seed as well as a seed getting thrown on a buncha thorns... i still end up playing by the rules of society even after i hear the message and want to believe it, yet i throw every single teaching that i have grown up by away... i have not remained in God lately, do not produce his fruit... *sigh*...

the ppl who have made mistakes yearn for the past... the ppl who have not made mistakes or don't care yearn for the future... it takes a real person to be grounded in what is occuring now, leaving the past behind and not bringing it into consideration of what's occurring, but not minding if the future suddenly came along...

switchfoot- dare you to move, has to be one of the few switchfoot songs that i REALLY like... it really is an exception, considering i was never into the coldplay, slow alt rock style... there's another one i really like, but i can't pull the title off the top of my head... it's not gone, meant to live, or more than fine...

but for the moment, i'm just waiting for building 429 to put their audio clips up...

context... nobody ever takes things IN CONTEXT anymore... a lot of the criticisms of other things would have been pulled back if ppl actually took things IN CONTEXT...

Casting Crowns - Who Am I

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt
Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart

Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You're

Chorus:
I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
A vapor in the wind
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours, I am Yours

Who Am I, that the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love and watch me rise again
Who Am I, that the voice that calmed the sea
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me

I am Yours
Whom shall I fear
Whom shall I fear
'Cause I am Yours
I am Yours

i'm starting to wonder if the thing really is true... that the king james bible may be the only true version of the bible in the english language...

my curiousity was sparked when joe wrote off ppl who think that the bible has one type of book to rely upon, and in reply i stated that i kinda agreed; as long as the truth isn't distorted, i'm ok with it...

lately, the truth has been anything but...

there's been a lotta stuff i've found lately that shows other versions of the bible to distort the truth... one example being the exclusion of acts 8:37; NIV puts it in the footnotes, but still... the lord's prayer is different too; try the luke version in KJV, then compare it to NIV... you'll see some stuff that's missing...

and also, in the KJV, the mark of the beast makes the mark implanted "in" the person... growing technology has also suggested that the mark would be like a chip of some sort, implanted in either the right hand or the forehead... where the body transmits the most heat... someplace where a lithium battery can recharge the most... other versions use the word "on," misleading ppl to think the devil will only put a tattoo on us... but look, even tattoos are placed IN us, since you need to inject ink IN...

they also write the number of the devil exactly, (666), but the KJV only says that it is 6 threescore and 6...

i'll write more on this, but for now i gotta sleep... if this really is true, i need to make a trip to bureans before i take off back to college...

like instrumentals? try this:

dave beegle- joy

man, i should look for guitar instrumentals more... there's something beautiful about hearing music that has no vocals but just showcases good skill with musical instruments...

CNN news article on assasination attempt on chen

i haven't been keeping up w/the whole taiwan fiasco due to my studies, but now that i have exactly 5 days to chillax, i've found the link above...

not to point fingers too early, but i would guess the would-be assassin is either one of the mainland chinese, the us, or a disgruntled taiwanese person approached by china/us...

the truth is, the us keeps trying to interfere with other countries from behind the curtain... i would not be surprised if they do it again here, which is ironic, because we used to support taiwan...

however the us you see today is nothing but a buncha soft-ass people... people who are afraid all of a sudden of angering anybody at all... oh no, china's getting upset! we can't allow that... not because we are TRUE friends with them... but because they can go postal on us and nuke us all to hell! or because we earn too much money with them, trading our ass off! oh no!

so we try to solve everything behind the curtain... not get our public figure tarnished... do things so others can't see it...

and it's because chen caters to taiwan's interests... because he wants taiwan to be recognized as something that is not in china's shadow...

prayers... would be great...

cuz i dunno who's winning this tug of war/ but it "better be you" - koo chung

norcal taiwanese reppin to the fullest yo...

it's too bad mel gibson will never win a grammy/oscar/whatever the hell they call it for "the passion for the christ..." ebert and roeper gave it two thumbs up... we have grown too pc... when if they were to think about it, jesus was a jew himself... the message of "jesus DIED" is that good, that we ignore it(see what i wrote at the top)

if you've never delved into the thinking of jessica simpson, now would be a good time!

Whadda idiot

Also here

i've finally done it...

i've gotten rid of ALL my cpu games on my cpu(well, let's say the exception was CS and TFC, but i don't even play those that often anymore, it's more due to the fact that it'd take forever to reinstall, and like i've said, i don't really play those anymore)... even the freecell/solitaire/spider solitaire stuff...

why?

to feel the release...

to not tie myself down again...

to not be hung over video games again...

so i'm one step closer to God...

you wouldn't believe the time i waste on cpu games... i NEEDED to do this...

no, it doesn't solve everything... but it's a huge load off my chest, and it's about time i did so...

i may redownload all those games again someday, but only if i can burn them so they're not sitting pretty on my desktop, tempting me...

wonder how many 2nd-gen azn-americans are regretting that they waste their chances at their respective colleges... after all, our ancestors sacrificed a damn lot to get here and give us the best chances at making a good-paying job... and we blow it doing what... i'd seriously like to get some of that energy that they have... because it seems ALL of us could use that boost...

i'd like to see a statistic of how many azn's in their respective countries were buddhist and how many azn-americans, 1st and 2nd, are christian... i'd like to also see how many are casual and devout for each... it just seems that either our ancestors just transitioned like that, or never were buddhist to begin with. cause there's a LOT of azn american christians when you come to think about it... heck, that's why there's ABSK and AACF in college... i can't remember the last time there was a christian org for indians and stuff... (maybe i just answered my own question; our ancestors weren't into the buddha stuff to begin with)

want proof positive that mavs suck on defense? an ai-less sixers whupped on them...

America is finger lickin' good! :D

i wonder if God takes delight in making it seem 78 so i go to school in my cutoffs, then suddenly cut it to about 58 so my nipples feel hardened and i have to constantly suck in my breath to keep myself from feeling too cold... hah i bet he does...

you gotta love this question and answer when grassroots conducted an interview w/jeremy camp:

KB: I read that country music is the one type of music that you don't listen to. How come? What do you have against country?

JC: [Laughs.] Yeah. Um, I take that back... it was more of an emotional thing. I respect country music because it's music. I just can't handle the twang. Like that Toby Keith guy; I'm not going to name names but ....it's just really cheesy stuff sometimes. My wife left me and I'm drinking my beer... But then again there are country songs that are good songs too. I just don't like the twang.

yeap... the twang... don't we all country-haters... the twang... haha... come to think about it... if all acoustic popular songs were twang'd up, they'd be country... heh... if someone comes out w/a software that can "twang" songs, i'd consider signing up :D just for kicks... twang 4.0... now you can hick-ize all your favorite songs!

empty me(who wrote this one, anyways? did jeremy camp REALLY write this? i couldn't find out who else did)

holy fire burn away
my desire for anything
that is not of you, and is of me
i want more of you
and less of me

empty me, empty me
fill me, with you, with you

haha... if i told you that boondocks and foxtrot are the most kickass comics, would you believe me?

boondocks: president bush addresses the problems of the nations

foxtrot: this is what cheap-broke geeks do

i wonder if jerm's seen this article:

milk may help reduce weight in kids

of course, all these reports are sometimes preposterous(there's too many variables to analyze at one time)... but it could explain why i'm skinnier than my bro... and taller... i wonder how much exactly height gain is related to milk... given what i am now, i just wanna break 6 ft...

haha... tell that to all the short youth girls back @canaan... keep not drinking milk, and you'll end up overweight...

heh, if they threw me into one of those studies, it could throw the whole thing off; they'd find that...

-eating little, but drinking lots of milk
-swimming on a swim team about 1 hr 4 yrs, then 2 hrs after that for about 2 yrs every weekday
-running everywhere to get where you're going(as long as it's practical), or jogging, brisk walking if trying not to get tired
-depriving yourself of sleep to cram for tests, then most other times oversleeping
-eating a LOT in high school senior - college years

will keep your weight down, your height up, and weirdly, metabolism from skyrocketing til you're age 30 :D then, YOU'RE GONNA DIE

college finals, round 3, fight!

db+4(ch),3-> uf+3-> d+4,1-> df+3,1,2,f+1+2

EWGF-> b,f+2>1,2-> f,f+2

if only finishing off a final were as easy as doing the two above kickass tk3 combos(actually the 1st... my jin sucks)... actually got a "oh nice" from the guy i played against today doing the 1st combo...

haha... it's kinda funny... it seems everytime you play at the arcade and someone gets a hit into a combo, the player with the victim's like nodding... haha... maybe i'm not that into it, since the tk3 machine is devoid of comp... i should nod next time i get floated...

i give up... i can't find any vids of ttt jin by jang iksu...

must... not... dl... tekken 2... before... bio final... ends...

(i wonder how hard a food science minor could be... i AM interested, sparked by the whole class this quarter...)

someone tell linkin park they sang their own song wrong at texas... i thought the song was "faint," not "fail"... so why does chester sing "i can't fail..." when on the cd he goes "i can't faint..." wutever... don't matter... the song's still tops for my LP songs...

davis spring = cupertino summer... man, is it killer today! i'm wearing cutoffs outside from now on... or nothing at all to get a tan...

yes... go warriors...

haha... mj was on "best damn sports show period..." they showed this pic where john sally saw mj go right, and couldn't block him, so instead he took his right hand and covered mj's eyes, effectively blinding him... haha... i wish i could find that pic online... it cracked me up...

imagine what mightve happened if magic did not trade ben wallace away for grant hill and duncan decided to go w/shaq's advice and move to magic...
(that would've been, in the words of sam, tmac and ben wallace would be like the kobe and shaq of the east; they would complement each other on offense and defense)

in order to create gum, all types of materials have to be melted together... stuff that normally would not bind together... only at high temperatures can the gum ingredients be molded together... since you're dealing with sugar, plastic derivatives, and the like... inedible and edible stuff... once reformed, it's impossible to push them apart...

furthermore, gum is such that it's like a pawn... once it's taken out of the wrapper and chewed, and all its flavor is lost, most people don't consider it to have any use anymore... it is spit out, and left to rot(if it's even possible) on its own, either in a wrapper or stuck on some sidewalk... one-time use, then ignored by all... once you've served your purpose in society, it pushes you aside and doesn't care anymore... once you lose your luster...

the only way for gum to be useful again is for it to be reborn... the same high heat that gave birth to it is necessary to apply to it to take it apart... then reform it... you can only crack hard-formed habits by being reborn...

such is the christian life...

mark madsen's a mormon:

here

those of you on AIM; like my new buddy icon? made it myself! like the previous one... notice the wwjd bracelet on my right hand...(yes i wear justin's wwjd bracelet... not a green wristband like punk rockers do)

so i've fallen...

but a fall is a fall... and you get up from falls...

and i've got to believe that even if i've mucked up, that i will have the heart and desire not to FINALLY repeat my mistakes all over again...

sometimes it seems like your heart will only become this much resolved after taking a HARD fall...

we shall see... whether i took a hard fall... and then... whether i can rise...

probably my next song subject's gonna be about cutting stuff away... how i can never frikking cut all the sins outta my life... but i'm still not finished with my other song, so i gotta do that... during break... i will think about the lyrics of the new song though...

things i admire about my dad, and now wish i had, now that he's gone:
-patience
-diligence in hard work
-LOVE for his hard work(guess how he got good grades in school? reading ahead... man, i wish i wasn't hooked on video games)
-love for others, despite what they're done to him(case in point, how he treated my mom)
-love for god(enough that he'd get up EARLY to record the am radio's sermon on tape on sunday)
-furthermore, i just didn't get to know him enough... my irritation over my pet peeves and short temper probably ruined the relationship on my part... i hate myself...

new from the j-lo and christina aguilera collection!



nothing says "i'm gonna act like a wh0re" like this beautiful sport jacket! now in persuasively purple!

how's this for korean politics...



looks like the kookstas are getting their groove on... tha's right, homies, raise the roof!

life(esp college) is just like basketball; the right gameplan is necessary to win... but it's not everything; the major component is HEART... the ability to will yourself to stay in it no matter what... and jeez, i wish i had more of that...

my priorities in life are like a huge, branching tree...
i have to keep pruning... and pruning... never stopping...
because while i love so many things...
i have to narrow them down so that i have only one branch to cling to...
to build myself from...
to define myself by...
you know what i'm talking about...
i just hope i have what it takes to follow through...

found this while snooping around on the DKC web ring(imagine that...):

Why Men Are Happier Than Women

1. We keep our last name.
2. The garage is all ours.
3. Wedding plans take care of themselves.
4. Chocolate is just another snack.
5. We can be president.
6. We can wear a white T-shirt to a water park.
7. Car mechanics tell us the truth.
8. The world is our urinal.
9. We never have to drive to another gas station because this one's just too icky.
10. Same work, more pay.
11. Wrinkles add character.
12. Wedding dress - $5000; tux rental - $100.
13. People never stare at our chest when we're talking to them.
14. The occasional well-rendered belch is practically expected.
15. New shoes don't cut, blister, or mangle our feet.
16. One mood, ALL the time.
17. Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat.
18. We know stuff about tanks.
19. A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase.
20. We can open all our own jars.
21. We get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness.
22. If someone forgets to invite us, he or she can still be our friend.
23. Our underwear is $8.95 for a three-pack.
24. Everything on our face stays its original color.
25. Three pairs of shoes are more than enough.
26. We don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt.
27. We almost never have strap problems in public
28. We are unable to see wrinkles in our clothes.
29. The same hair style lasts for years, maybe decades.
30. We don't have to shave below our neck.
31. Our belly usually hides our big hips.
32. One wallet and one pair of shoes, one color, all seasons.
33. We can "do" our nails with a pocket-knife.
34. We have freedom of choice concerning growing a mustache.
35. We can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives, on December 24, in 45 minutes.

i wonder how in college, how many christian guys seek to be single compared to how many christian girls seek to be single? i've been wondering this since it seems to me that the christian girls tend to want to seek a relationship more than the guys... just a guess though... and no, i don't have evidence of this... i'm going off on this based upon how it seems like the girl needs someone to talk to and stuff... guys sometimes need this too, but i've never seen a girl who lives a life of shyness... then again, those of those live w/other girls(not in a homosexual way)...

of course, it's always the guy who initiates the relationship though... USUALLY... but you wonder... the arguments could go both ways though... i've seen guys who constantly have to hang around a group of girls... interestingly enough, all these types of guys i know from msm come from socal :D... again, don't ask me for evidence...

everytime i wonder why i have to work harder than some of my other friends, i should remember this:

That servant who knows his master's will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
Luke 12:47-48

shoot man... totally forgot sam's bday was on the 10th... i should write all these bday dates down somewhere so i don't forget...

i wonder what's my weirdest eating habit... eating cereal and milk separate because i don't want my cereal to get soggy's up there... i don't mind eating whole grain bread, because compared to the bread i was brought up to eat(some safeway bread that contained so many nuts the bread felt like some hardened piece of crap), wheat bread is like white bread to me... i don't have many eating dislikes(some things i like over others, but usually if you set something before me, i'll eat it, food is food)... i'm pretty much ok w/everything... and because i tend not to talk when i eat, when i'm on an empty stomach i can eat very fast... i remember once nearly inhaling an ice cream sundae when i was full at ribcrib, and jerm had got the same thing and we started at the same time... both of us were full... the difference was that after a while when ppl were looking away, i inhaled mine... and jerm's was still there, nearly full...

do you realize i just woke up in the middle of the night? now i gotta go back to sleep!

i loathe my sinful self...

i am opting to ON PURPOSEFULLY pull an all-nighter tonight, even though my midterm's on friday; the way i see it, i'm going to have to pull an all-nighter either today or tomorrow, and i figure seeing how i have only 1 class tomorrow, that it's just better to shoot for tonight... i'll let you guys know how beautiful the sun rise is later :D

go wish laura a happy bday... i always remember her bday cause it falls on 3.11... that's cause three-eleven used to be a secular rock group i used to listen to... now they're just crap... like the mainstream rock industry...

not a good day to love the same bball teams as me:

lakers > celtics, blazers > twolves, jazz > warriors,

although on the plus side,

pistons > bulls, spurs > clippers, magic > wizards, cavs > raptors...

but the big three of mine... sucks... to see them go down like that today...

laura: i have to go to sleep at 1
laura: it's a lent thing
me: i see
laura: so i hope i can get up at 2am
me: not a laura thing, just a lent thing :-)
laura: or 2:30 to start studying
laura: yeah so not a laura thing
me: haha

i can't stand ppl who talk w/their cell phone public sometimes, but the one which really drives you up the wall:

don't you hate it when some ppl talk on the cell phone in public so loud and in an annoying voice that you wanna just take their cell phone and throw it through a window? made even worse if that person looks like a dorky white girl who talks with that stereotypical teen girl voice(the one which goes "oh my gawd..." etc?)

so basically i had to endure under my patience that very girl who was probably talking to her college friend, but in another college... and she goes ON and ON and ON and ON in a loud voice all the way back to my apt... ppl didn't say anything, but you could tell the ppl around me were also getting their patience worn thin...

when we finally all got out(the girl lives in the same apt complex)... and when i was walking away, this tall azn guy next to me whispers to me when she is out of earshot...

"i wanna slap that bitch..."

O_O ... that had me cracking up like crazy... well, somebody had to say it... not exactly what we thought word for word, but we had the general dislike of her...

me: my thoughts exactly...
azn: i can still hear her after i go into my apt...

man... that was funny...

you wonder if ppl like these ever think that maybe, MAYBE it gets on other ppl's nerves to have to listen to your conversation? there should be a law that if your voice on a cell phone gets above X db for Y minutes within a Z ft radius near other ppl that the surrounding ppl have the jurisdiction to take your cell phone and stomp upon it or smack you upside the head...

spring is here! it's pretty obvious, given when i walked outside of the mu at noon today i was totally blinded by the light... to be honest, i love all seasons(i seriously can't get why some ppl hate the rain, or sometimes the wind; they may be annoying sometimes, but it's nature... you criticizing God's work?)... although some seasons i love more than others... it's human nature... i tend to like spring the most... however, i think every one season has its charm...

other than that... i hope i use time wisely these upcoming weeks... too much depends upon them...

ok, gotta fix some grub for meself...

(celtics > twolves yesterday! w00t! although warriors lost again)

forgetting all i'm lacking/ completely incomplete/ i take your invitation/ you take all of me

just found out my davis church has a xanga ring... well, guess they're more internet-oriented than originally thought... will bookmark later...

i'll have to print these out sometime later

Amberlin response to NY Times Article

NY Times Article

whew... KMart on this week's highlight countdown... GRABS a layup by Wade...

speaking of which... MJ on Mercer about 3 yrs ago... that was crazy...

1.rasho was a monster today against the mavs... even blocked a dunk from jamaison by pinning the ball against the backboard with one hand... almost had a double double... consider this: duncan didn't play
2.horry swatting away the nash layup attempt
-warriors lose a CLOOOOOOOOSE one to the kidd-less nets! how close? they had around 3 tries to tie it back up... mike missed his trey, jrich missed his... they force the 24 clock and get the ball back... but jrich bumbles the inbound pass and they turn it back over... man... this sucks so much... and they were leading the ENTIRE GAME... jrich and dunleavy were rolling with the jumpers too...

if the 12 stones clip i found didn't sound so blocky, i think i'd keep "the way i feel" up longer... or "let go" but that one's also clipped, so i gotta be happy w/what i've got... i figure i'll just rotate some artists here and there every week or two...

my right ring is hurting... and my left leg is stiff...

tell me if i'm smoking crack... but doesn't cliff robinson look slightly like snoop dogg?

i'm so tired...

*yawn*... things better be better this weekend... ie time management... i HAVE to stay up late tonight... prob maybe even wh0re the whole night to write up a paper... if i'm lucky, get 3 hrs of sleep, then wake up, revise my paper... again, hopefully i will pull no more all-nighters... but tonight's inevitable... hopefully the saturday and sunday i will not waste my time away...

just a haiku i came up on the spot to express how i feel(not good w/unorthodox poems; freeverse is obviously my forte):
bloodshot eyes
sick of the game i now play
I AM, yours

k, time to work...

some fun abandonware games i've been finding lately:

-life or death... you actually to pretend you're a gastro-surgeon(is that even a correct medical term? i just don't wanna say "stomach doctor")... you go around a gastro-oriented medical branch of a hospital making diagnosis for patients... very fun... my correct diagnosis ratio the 1st time i played was under 30%... over half of those died from burst appendixes or overbleeding during surgery... or me injecting something that stopped their heart :D... as for now, i can correctly diagnose what to do... but i still can't operate correctly to save my life... maybe it's cause i can't tell what the hell the forceps look like in the game... grainy graphics... nevertheless, damn fun game...

-highway pursuit... this game roXors... it's like spy pursuit, but remade... essentially you drive around on a highway, using your sports car(it has a mounted machine gun, can add oil slick or smoke screen or fire SAMs) to ram and shoot up any enemies in other cars... very, very, very fun... good break-taker game... that is, if you don't turn your break into 3 hours :D some classics never die... like this one... it's actually freeware, not abandonware... cause it's a remake...

-test drive... ol skool... me and phil used to whore this game... this was way before the days of need for speed... my fave was the porsche 911 turbo... cause of its quick ass acceleration at the start... too bad the test drive 2 game online doesn't seem to work... test drive 3's also online, but i can't seem to slow it down properly... in any case, stunts is also a good racing game...

and if you're into othello, the freeware wzebra's hella good... the cpu is hella souped up... no 2-player, but this cpu is pretty much unbeatable... you obviously get frustrated cause of this, but your game will improve so damn much... up there as one of the better othello dls... btw you can customize difficulty, so it doesn't have to be hard...

truly, truly wished ppl like louis-ferdinand celine didn't write novels the way he does; thick, 400+ pg, 220+ words on each page novels, because when stuff like this becomes the material that you have to base upon for writing a paper due in two days, you begin to blame everyone, everything for the suffering you go through, except yourself, for slacking off, for not pulling yourself together and reading the crap WHEN you were supposed to read it because you had to cram for a science midterm during the week span that you were supposed to read it... i hate myself... hate how the quarter system crams all this info into a measly few weeks and uses that to judge ppl...

it's not really about being a day or night person... more or less if you want ppl to shut up, or whether you want to hear ppl talk at you... oh yea, that and whether you prefer shut-eye or lattes... except i don't waste money on lattes... which is why, again, i hate myself...

does it sound like i'm doing a bit of hating early in the morning? maybe my head'll clear up later in the day... that is, if i don't fall asleep again... or hopefully, this weekend... provided i actually stick to doing work, not building thumb callouses...

to become anew once again, i must start by tearing down everything i was built upon... i was built upon shaky foundations, so i must tear down until nothing is left, only then can i start to recreate myself upon a rock-solid set of principles and faith...

there was this evangelical christian who was trying to minister to those walking by the ucd bookstore today... it was funny one of the comparisons he used... it wasn't too good of a comparison...

"going to church doesn't make you any more a christian than going to mcdonald's makes you a hamburger..."

(really? i'm a born-again double-double... how dare you question my all-beef patties)

it's official... ppl who vote at sprite nba countdown don't know a good play when they see one... stupid shaq dickriders... dwayne wade crossover i can understand... but the bounce pass alley oop got no respect, and ditto w/the feed from kidd to rj...

PASSION OF THE CHRIST REVIEW:

hmm, there's a lot to say... first of all, i'd like to say, i truly enjoyed the movie... mel gibson is a very talented director... combine that with his strong religious faith, and this is what occurs... the movie is also very well crafted... let's start w/the bad sides... (i'll try not to spoil the movie too much, but if you want the ending, just read the ends of the gospels :D)

some scenes/stuff could have been done without... me and jon sorta agreed with this, like:
-jesus w/the table and mary his mother scene... humorous, wasn't UNNECESSARY, but could have been without... i think gibson was just fooling around here :D
-the raven at the cross... you'll understand when you see it
-the person playing the devil was nice, but at the same time, the very last scene was unnecessary... TOTALLY unnecessary...(i find it funny how all the secular ppl analyzing the movie thought it was too violent, but didn't say anything about this scene being unnecessary) also, you might not have gotten what was going on when it looked like the devil was carrying a demented child... i had an idea, jon was wtf on that one
-the high priest should have been slightly more hesitant; he knew that jesus was the messiah... he is depicted as totally callous until the very end when the temple is torn in two
-who is that girl who offers him a drink but is pushed away? it's not mary... not his mother either... me and jon couldn't figure out who...
-and there's a slight inconsistency when they hammer the nails into his palm, not his wrist...

-----------------------------------

ok, that said, this is an excellant movie... however, i will say this: it is NOT recommended for the person who is not a christian and doesn't have a good understanding of the bible; i say this because after seeing the movie, i now understand why so many secular ppl write this movie off... it COMPLEMENTS the gospel, but doesn't provide the entire picture... that's why you hear ppl either say:

-the movie is too violent(they don't see how the hatred of the crowd makes jesus' love for them and unwillingness to fight them even more appearant)
-or, the fear that anti-jewish feelings will occur(ppl might think that jews had to be the most thick-headed ignorant ppl to allow this tragedy to occur and get pissed, but so far, that hasnt occurred, god bless)...

also, there are often cutscenes that go away from the main crucifixation scene... this is good in movie directing, because it you keep exposing the audience to blood and gore they get numb to it... stick in a few cheerful scenes, and it makes the blood and gore seem fresh and still exciting... but some of those cutscenes are impossible to pick up if you're not a christian... for instance, the way they depicted the time when jesus forgave mary for being a prostitute was very short, too short for a nonbeliever to get, but long enough that a christian would be "bam, i know what's happening" (i especially liked the camera angle which they did this scene... makes jesus look that much more powerful, and the others that much more weak)

-----------------------------------

that said, throughout the whole movie, i was just seeing every prophecy refulfilled in front of my eyes and going bam with the exact verses that came up... "my bones are out of joint... they will look on the one they have pierced... etc..."

it was awesome how throughout the movie jesus keeps looking to his father for strength... probably my fave quote of them all was when he was about to be whipped, and looked up, saying, "father, my heart is ready..." i wish i had that type of heart...

i did not cry(:D) during the movie, but my throat occasionally got really stiff, and i think it was when one of the ppl crucified next to jesus stated that he deserved to be condemned, but pleaded that jesus remember him, and that jesus said that he would be next to him in paradise, that my throat got pretty stiff... also, when they pulled his bones out of joint, i had a similar feeling...

-----------------------------------

so what did i think mel was trying to depict with this movie? that jesus came to DIE... many ppl don't really realize that jesus came to die in the most horrific death possible... this movie, in my own words, says JESUS DIED with a huge exclaimation point near the end... it makes you realize how terrible the suffering jesus had to go through, how it was so terrible that jesus is stressing so hard as he was praying before he was captured, debating whether to run or stay(further complicated by the devil tempting him by saying "no one can carry this burden... too heavy... no")... often, even us christians know about the crucifixation, those of us who do our hw can even explain scientifically how gruesome and how it occurs, but i bet none of us truly can take it if we see it full color in front of our eyes with jesus suffering so hard(he mustve fainted like 6+ times going up to the hill)... this movie is good to nail that point(no pun intended) into our heads... secular ppl won't get it, they think this movie is too gruesome... they don't understand what mel was trying to do...

secondly, the other main important aspect is that love kept Jesus from saving himself... this IS a film of love, not hatred(contrary to what the other critics say)... power is demonstrated in what we do do, as well as what we don't do... jesus could have EASILY turned against the crowd, walked through them, performed miracles to save himself... but he chose not to, although the taunting and the pain must have been insanely difficult for him to take... in this way his heart and strength are elevated beyond anything you can think of... in most of the film, he remains fairly silent even as he is being taunted, spit upon, whatever...

and yet, even as christians watching the movie, we knew that if we were there right beside him, we would be so scared, we would run... like peter, or be hesitant like all the others... we would not be able to stand by him... not of us would... humanity is at its worst, but christ is at his very best...

i hope that the reader of these words, whoever that may be, if you go see this film, that it strengthens your faith, or if you're a nonbeliever, forces you to again seriously question who jesus of nazareth really is... that's all from me on this point... saying even more would more or less be overemphasizing previous points... til then, god bless

since bob is a lotr fan, i thought this foxtrot comic was funny:
click here

like how my site now has sound? :D how'd ya like that, you xangans? you're not the only ones now! (unfortunately, i wanted to put up 12 stones- let go instead, but the version up at the site is tainted)

i promised a review and i'm writing that in the next post

just watched passion of the christ; man, i was blown away... because it's late sat morning, i will write a review when i wake up...

(i planned on going to sleep earlier anyways... btw, i figured out a really neat way of helping myself go to sleep... reminding myself... and not staying up too late playing games... i've used the task scheduler program of win xp to open a file i've called GoToSleepMessage.txt, which states in HUGE BLOCK LETTERS, GO TO SLEEP... i have it do this every 10 min starting from 11:20 all the way to about 4:00 AM... very hard to ignore... and it helps a lot IMO)

i must learn to write more legibly more quickly... i just got msm's church directory, and my info is wrong... probably cause i was writing too fast...

that said, here is something else on a lighter note: i remet one of my small group buddies... playing tekken 3... i was playing jin, and someone joins in alongside me... chooses true ogre, and about 3 rounds later i lose, but it was close, was like 2/3 i think( i think i got 1 round win, or at least pulled it close the 2nd round)... we then turn and eye each other, and suddenly he goes, "richard?" :D so that was fun... we played a few more, then parted ways afterwards... i also managed to whup an incoming guy playing law, cause after we played a few more rounds, some ppl started coming along and playing w/us as well... man, i love tekken 3, but i suck so much... because i know how you're supposed to play(poke, not mash, to set up your big damage moves), but my execution is crap(i can't consistently do a dragon punch motion, and other times, other stuff doesn't come out like it should)... it was fun though... i loved punt kicking his true ogre some like 5x along the ground before he got up simply cause true ogre's so fat... and i LOVE the mishima 1,1,2... hei, jin, nina are all fun... but a +/- side to tekken is that damage is reeked out SO FAST... this is good, but also bad... i'm not a millionaire... i can't wait til they emulate the system that tekken 3 or tekken tag uses... that'll be some fun times...

man, i have to go downtown to get the bball stuff that i need?(not bballs and clothing, but i was thinking small accessories, like the exotic stuff: finger sleeves for one...)

ok, i'm done for tonight... review for passion tomorrow... as well as work...

i gotta post some happening during my bio lab session cause it was just too funny:

first i gotta give some background: basically, there's this short azn fob in my class... at times he seems to suck up to the TA, but the truth is, he really loves bio; you can tell by the way he's fascinated by his actions... however, at times he's not too good with words; sometimes it gets under my nerves, because some of the questions he asks our TA seem like he shoots them out without thinking of the answer first.

today in our lab we were more or less prepping for the huge lab practical to come next week; sprayed all over the place were animals of all sorts; spiders(i still detest spiders, esp black, large and hairy ones, but somehow seeing one contained in a cage like it was a pet hamster made it look adorable... after all, even poisonous spiders aren't out to hunt you down; that's just their defense mechanism; sometimes they can be downright friendly... it was made cuter by the paper tag on the cage saying "hi my name is henry"... anyways, where was I?), scorpions, crabs, worms, centipedes, some were dead, others contained within a cage... it was hectic, cause we had to do a lotta writing to get down the stuff we needed to memorize, but for me, it was enjoyable after i finished and just walked around watching how god's creatures are l33t... anyways, i was slower than more others in finishing, so by the time i finished, only me, the fob, and the TA were left in the room... the fob's busy trying to get down in his mind info for the test... he picks up a worm and walks up to the front...

fob: (TA's name), how come this worm isn't moving?
(TA's name): it's dead...

that got me cracking up like crazy, and yet i feel saddened when he spun around and asked me "what?" in a defensive manner... as you know, the way i laugh out loud sounds like i'm laughing at other ppl harshly... it's a bad habit... something that i might wanna consider working on... but it was still funny to see this dialogue play out... if the TA was harshly sarcastic like some bay area ppl, i could see him going, "hmmm... i thought he was dead... but not really, just asleep... go on, poke him... he'll wake up eventua- no, no, don't be shy..."

msm rented out a movie theatre(!) for the sole purpose of watching "passions" after our large group this friday... a review to follow from me on saturday... as for now, do some hardcore reading and praying... hope for big things from this...

me: one of the audience members at a evanescence concert showed a "show us your tits" sign to amy
sam h: wow
sam h: same with switchfoot
me: yea
me: oh?
sam h: i dont think half the audience are christian
me: that's true
me: switchfoot doesn't come out and go "we are christian" like other christian bands
sam h: yeahh
me: they sorta get you to think "is there something more?" and leave it at that
sam h: yep
me: heh... when you told me "yup" to switchfoot, for a moment i wondered why in the world someone would show a "show us your tits" sign to the band members :-D
me: unless if some queers were in the concert....
sam h: oooo haha

ok, i added too much corn starch to my curry soup and overcorrected the problem from last time... a huge hunk of my curry soup tasted like a nasty derivative of jello

that is the very last time i will ever procrastinate til the last minute and then cram for a midterm/paper/whatnot... today, i change everything... i've had enough of myself screwing myself over, procrastinating by idling around on the web, letting my readings go undone... sometimes it works, but it requires a lot more heart than doing some each day... and lately i don't have the heart... i tired of letting myself grow spiritually and mentally hungry... i don't deserve the grades i would get from this crap, and i don't need it... unnecessary... 4+ years down the road, you don't earn your bread from being able to do combos on emulators consistently... and you get good grades from just doing a little bit each day... today, i turn over a new leaf and bring forth the sacrifices to get there... i used to say this stuff all the time, but now, i truly mean it...

"cause i... hate the way i feel tonight/ and i know i need you in my life/ yes i hate the way i feel inside/ and i promise to make the sacrifice"
(12 stones)

(it seems that the more you relate to the words of a song, the more you like it... well, in the above case, "the way i feel" is now probably my favorite song)

that said, i'm not spending any more time typing... i've got some reading to do

william hung got a record deal :D now, he can INDEED bang somewhere else!

is it right to be angry at God? is it right to be frustrated at God due to your circumstances? or are you supposed to just keep everything inside and internally combust from the unanswered questions? cause you can carry everything God right? what about anger and frustrations? maybe i'll find my refuge in this for some days to come:

What a Friend we have in Jesus
All our sins and griefs to bear.
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer

Oh, what needs we often forfeit
Oh, what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer

as for now, i'm out...

what's the point of me going on aim anymore? i don't talk to anyone, and the time i spend waiting for someone to talk to me only detracts from the time i should be using to do some studies...

best wishes, kevin dorr of 12 stones... i will miss your bass-playing...

i might have to take back what i said about 12 stones being a harder, more skilled creed... creed's 3rd album(one of their latest), weathered, is pretty hard for a lot of the tracks... i think i've grown to like 12 stones more than creed by now though...

the backlash against "passions" due to the potential for anti-semitism just goes to show how you can't win em all... you either have to dilute the gospel, or present it as it is, and suffer the consequences of a gospel that is offensive by nature...

hmm... the east pulled closer to the west this year than it's been for a while... and sophomores rocked house as usual... but why oh why did jrich have to lose?

phil's up here w/me for about >50% of this week... w/michelle back @minnesota teachin... been so long since i've hung out w/phil w/o michelle next to him... this is gonna be fun hanging out tuesday night... wonder if we're gonna run around in the car looking for some random restaurant like last time?

building 429 - glory defined... i can't wait til i can hear the full track online...

while valentine's day is here and many couples (and young lovers) sit together and smooch over each other, i will sitting at home in my bedroom, hating on the young lovers(i'm talking like college and below) on why the hell they think the highest form of happiness is found in a human relationship, and hating the fact that i have a lotta work to do this weekend when i could be watching the nba all-star weekend at someone's house... ginobili, lebron, amare to watch for in the rookie game, jrich to watch for in the dunk contest, and then kg, duncan, ai, tmac, pierce, and the whole slew together on sunday...

i didn't bring my gamepad back w/me to home... i figured i had a lotta work to get done, and wanted to work on my song in my freetime... not trying to give myself any distractions

udon soup is too good... when you make it yourself... man, do-it-yourself azn cooking is the shizzle... imagine fishballs, chicken tenders, sugar snap peas, and the occasional trout all together in one soup of udon... that is good stuff... adding an egg would also be tight...

everything you want is really within your grasp... the real question is whether or not you've got the heart and soul to seek it with all your strength to get it... and lately, i've been realizing that if i'm ever to go through college with flying colors, i'm going to need to attack school with that type of mentality... because right now, i don't have the heart of a diligent, hardworking person...

my bible study leader is like joe lin w/o the sarcasm... he sounds so much like joe when he talks, that sometimes i'm tempted to call him joe... he's not as funny though... but heck, at least he went to monta vista... that counts for something... never met him or his younger bro when i was still at mvhs... we made fun of our ol cheerleader matador song that the cheerleaders always have to sing during our rallys...

national "self defense" awareness month... man, all they offered for discounts in my emails was stuff on pepper spray... i was hoping a discount on a shotokan class or akido, but maybe that's more of an offense awareness month, heh...

can't wait for this week to end... seems like there's so much that i'm supposed to do... man, another organic chem midterm... they seriously don't give me enough time to study for those...

trivial info, but for the weirdest reason, i was craving for some daikon soup w/fishballs in it today... maybe it's cause i have not been eating azn food for such a long time(miso soup's great, but it gets old, and i'm running out of seaweed, but don't have time to make a korean market run this week)... it least it's nice to know i've always got a stash of tofu and miso back at the apt when i need it... i've mainly been cooking for myself, but some of the stuff i cook isn't exactly azn... you wouldn't call chicken+ tomatoes+ carrots+ potatoes+ garlic+ green onion an azn soup, would you? and noodle soups aren't automatically azn either

kinda bums me how msm(the fellowship me and jon are going to) for their sports day, they now don't ever do bball... it's cause they always want the girls to get into it... they're doing softball this year... man, at least do flag football or something... i miss turkey bowl... well, at least volleyball or something...

comics i'm currently into are on the left; boondocks in particular; i remember the 1st time they appeared in the sj mercury news; back then, i was still a little kid, so i didn't get it(and didn't have the olang gene dwelling in me), so i brushed it off... i was a big garfield and sometimes foxtrot fan... growing up, eventually, garfield wasn't really funny anymore... foxtrot was still the bomb... i recently rediscovered boondocks by reading some of the books in the ucd bookstore... they really are funny... definitely good stuff... the author is a black guy, who sometimes pokes fun at black customs, sometimes at political events, etc... i love how once he had something like this for a comic strip(main char's black, his neighbor is mixed):

girl: i can't tell if i'm black or white...
boy: what do you mean?
girl: well, see, my grandfather was irish, my grandmother was nigerian, my mother was african american, my dad was from england, (rants and rants about her diverse background), so you see how i can't tell
boy: I FEEL THE SAME WAY!
girl: REALLY?
boy: yeah... i'm 1/5 black, 1/8 african-american, 3/7 colored and 1/4 negro
girl: YOU'RE STILL MAKING FUN OF ME!
boy: poor me, i don't know where i fit in...

marvel comics has made the stupidest mistake ever:

click here

in a way, this comic pretty much sums it up... yea... why use ryu... or tick throw with gief... when i can use CAR...

i had a huge-assed laugh reading the posts in reply to this article at SRK.com... sarcasm to the fulllest

goes to show; EA is not a company i respect at all anymore... they crank out as many video games as they can, without regard to REALLY CREATIVE THINKING, they're just trying to make some money, like NFL street?!??!?!? what the hell? way to really think straight there EA, that's not creative, that's just stupid... i can't remember the last time wanting to actually play tackle on the hard pavement with just a t-shirt and shorts... you tell me, "you haven't even seen the game yet" well, do i want to? knowing the reputation EA has... think for a moment... when's the last time EA really created a really creative game? tell me... you'd need to x out all the games they made based off of some movie, all their stupid "EA sports BIG" stuff... um... i don't even WANT to see their ventures into the fighting genre area or marvel for that matter, cause you know it's just going to be even more recycled crap... am i sounding pissed? you betcha... meanwhile marvel vs capcom 2, despite its AGE OLD status(it's a 1999 game if i am still right) is still one of the most widely played fighting games in the US... my campus still has that game, and in fact, they still hold tourneys for it occasionally

i dislike how the new aim 5.5's got the buddy profile button hidden in this tiny corner... i keep accidently pushing the "talk" button instead... if the thing didn't give a 2nd message for confirmation, i'd have to do a lot of explaining to ppl for why i'm stalking them...

tick throwing with 'gief in sf can be so fun...

seems like the shorter the azn girl, the more hyperactive they are... or loud... or have an engaging personality... or what not... something like that...