FOXSports.com - Elite company: Bonds blasts 700th home run

it's only a matter of time now... make the bay area proud, bonds!

just finished the CONDENSED book "the runaway jury"... not bad... not bad... nice twists and turns... the only bad part about reading a book that turned into a film is that everytime i see the main character while reading the book(haven't watched the film yet), i see john kusack's face, and the antagonist looks like gene hackman with a goatee. in the end though, i'm somehow not surprised; i haven't read a lotta books where there is a bad ending stuck in. EVER. when's the last time you saw a book where evil won? oh yea; satan's bible.

before that, i finished "letters from a skeptic..." LONG overdue to finish that... i am reminded of one of the same concepts i read from "the case for christ" concerning God and hell; God never gives up on us til death finally ends our life... it's then that he gives us what we want.

"12 stones - the way i feel" has to officially be my favorite rock song; i NEVER get tired of listening to it... it's 12 stones at its best.

i finally got a webcam; now the entire world can stalk me and watch my sexy face :)
(im if you wanna take a look)

i have a new cell phone number, so ask me about it on aim or in person.

GGXX #R - Milia's stage has some of THE best background music i've heard in a video game. it's rich with electric guitar riffs. i get chills listening to it.

norcal college fball this weekend pretty much ROLLED over everyone... well, actually, maybe the entire cal state; ucla got into the mix, and usc had an amazing 49-0 exhibition. just ridiculous.

ever noticed how every new technology invented to make life easier only results in us becoming even more soft? somebody should shoot the idiot who invented sliced bread :D our modern-day society is run amuck with instant gratification. that's all everybody wants; nobody wants to work for our stuff anymore. some examples? lemme run down a few of my fave hobbies and how even these are degrading:

-video games; the dying of fighters shows that no one wants to invest their time to make something better
-modern rock; you want to tell me this 1 power chord a minute stuff for mainstream noise is really music?
-nba; streetball; nuff said

of course, these are arguable; for instance, ppl who play cs usually devote a lot of time to getting better at it, but IMO, ppl who play fighters devote a LOT more time to it, especially when they're using low tier characters. then you have to know framestats in some games too. modern rock has its redeeming sides at times, but i'm talking about what you hear about 70% of the times. punk rock is not that good. the d in the nba is starting to be on the rise a bit, but when did we start concentrating upon image so much that we forgot how to drop a bucket against a defender who's sticking upon you like glue? as i once heard somewhere, "you'll never get that shot off in the nba, cause it's counterfeit" the and1 team (to my delight) got frikking owned when they toured oakland, cause all those guys just dropped shots and played d.

i'll make this quick, because i gotta go sleep;

my mom said she was interviewed by the channel 26 news(chinese newscast) about saratoga library, since she works there, and the news was that they said it would close for a while, so they wanted to get opinions on it... she didn't think she'd make it onto the 10 o clock news, because they interviewed a LOT of people. then guess who we saw on the 10:00 news? i started cracking up so hard... now i can say my mom was on tv. :D

mcdonald's needs to change their commercial promoting their chicken selects... the more i watch it with the guy acting like he's hecka cool spouting these idiotic sayings about not touching his chicken selects("put down the chicken, and step away from the deliciousness" "don't touch my chicken *makes a fist*), the more i DON'T wanna go to mickeydee's. i get so annoyed watching the commercial, and the guy's face, that i wanna meet this guy in person just to smack the hell outta him. YOU'RE EATING AT FRIGGIN MICKEYDEE'S! NOT A 5 STAR HOTEL! HOW MUCH CAN THOSE DAMN THINGS COST THAT YOU DON'T WANT TO SHARE A PIECE OR SOMETHING? quite frankly, i'm NOT loving it.
*reader's note: the writer's huge angry rant against mickeydee's may be related to his tendency to get angry fairly quickly, his huge dislike of mcdonald's fast food in general, and his like of burger king. in fact, he thinks the angus diet commercial is funny, especially when the guy has a burger on one of those buddhist gardens :D*

in the grand context of things, humans have a HUGE reason to blame for why this world is so effed up. why we all pointing fingers at everybody else but ourselves? why does the majority of people act like everybody else are worse off? who knows how many problems we helped unleash upon ourselves?

i'll have to say, "guitar and drum trainer 2" has to be one of THE most useful freeware programs i've ever stumbled across on the internet. some others of note:
dBpowerAMP music converter
functional ear trainer
guitar alchemist free
-i've of course ranted a long time about hammerhead, so i won't go there, or audio phonics' guitar tuner, but guitar and drum trainer 2's really great... suits all those who try to learn guitar by playing 12 stones, creed, altar bridge quite well. btw, altar bridge cd is only 12 dollars @fry's this weekend...

here's a treat for you:
http://homepage.mac.com/thevisualedge/FileSharing4.html (of course, i'm talking about the 1st vid on the page; be prepared for a HUGE dl though)
the difference between an audience member in a rock show and a CHRISTIAN rock show is that the 1st jumps up and down with eyes open in a facial expression of rage with the horns up, and the 2nd jumps up and down w/eyes closed, facial expression in awe, and hands always in the air :)
and if you wanna learn it by ear, go dl "guitar and drum trainer 2" and "dBpowerAMP music converter;" helps some.

i think i just saw the biggest dog yet in person...

maybe 3.5 ft high on all 4s, about 5 ft in length, and was one hell of a meaty grey dog too... happily panting... riding that puny of excuse of a horse in mongolia seems wrong... like sitting upon your dog... and yet, i almost felt like you could throw a saddle upon this guy and get up on him and he'd be fine. cause he's a damn beast.

i almost yelled out "DAYAAMN!" while walking by it... it would be like owning jeremy as a pet. on a leash. without the disturbing dancing to outkast. and fobbiness. and the need to go to jusco's everytime he comes up to davis. yea...

summer session 2 is now officially ova...

bring on the pigskin... and the xvsf...

http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2004/20040903l.jpg

cracked me the hell up... yeah... acclaim sucks so much now. and to think i wasted about 3 yrs or more trying to learn the mortal kombat series... it's not even taken seriously now! only idiots who don't play a fighting game competitively would think it's so great! actually, they just suck all around period.

rogue/storm has potential; i see it. rogue requires no meter, and rushes down hard. if they try to attack rogue, they will have to eat counter-attack from storm into infinite. then just runaway for the rest of the match and chip the opponent. too bad nobody plays XvSF competitively anywhere but online anymore. but it's still fun.

i'll be back either thursday night or friday afternoon; i still don't know whether i'm lazy enough to do the 2nd or the 1st.

more sf comeback goodness; this one's a bit more older, but it's xecutioner vs justin wong in marvel vs capcom 2. watch justin comeback with a 1 pixel cable vs 2 fully healthy chars and 1 weak sentinel :D i laughed when i heard the crowd yelling "run! runaway!"

http://www.zachd.com/mvc2/comebacks/ (it's the 2nd vid)

tree63 - king, is an awesome worship song.

the evolution of your writing instrument; ever noticed this? let's just ignore the fact that we can now use typewriters or cpus; i'm talking about a writing stick. i started out using the typical no 2 ol skool pencil; i remember that taken as far back as i could go, that was my primary writing instrument; oh sure, sometimes i used a pen(for those STUUPID final drafts of elementary school papers which you needed to write in pen), but never really got into it. and i usually had alongside it a huge green eraser, because quite frankly, the pink erasers sucked ass.

then, i got older. and i got into fads more. so when i saw ppl starting to write with mechanical pencils, envy struck. i got a few. i started out with a bic 0.7(what did i know? at least they were cheap enough that my dad would actually buy them), and had the green eraser again. didn't use the black eraser, because, once you did, you quite frankly could never refill the pencil ever again(this is a BAD thing bic should get around to correcting). my next one was a pentec sharp 0.5; that was good, looked cool, and i depended upon it a lot in jr high, but i think once i abused the end tip, and so it could never function the same again. move on to high school; my main one that i used was this bic 0.5 pencil. this was pretty good; it was plastic, but at least they had a lot more additions to it that made it a bit more worthwhile; side advance, rubber grip, and had a cap. mostly i was seen writing with a black or blue version of the pencil, but occasionally, i could be seen writing with a pink one(heh heh... if i had associated pink w/pimp a LOT more earlier, i might have tried it more). oh yeah; whenever i was home, during high school, i used another pentec mech pencil; 0.5, green, had a rubber grip. pretty good quite frankly. keep in mind all during this time i either used a green eraser or had a white one; the green one sucked, but i liked green, so... the white one was prob the best though; erased cleanly, didn't end up ripping the paper as much.

but now we get to college, and what am i using? main writing utensil of choice: bic classic or round, black ink. i like the round w/the rubber grip the best, but it seems that those aren't on sale as much. well, to be honest, i kinda strike a balance between the bic, and any good black gel ink pen(avery's eglide rollerball's pretty good) with fine point. the reason for the sudden change? let's just say it's mainly used for taking notes right? well, now, it's easier on the eyes(black ink is usually a LOT more bolder than 0.5 lead), i don't have to keep refilling the instrument with more stuff in the midst of class, and in general, bic is usually very reliable when it comes to their simpler pens. even if i make a mistake, i find it easier and faster to just cross stuff out, in the midst of class, instead of whipping out the eraser and taking my time to rub while the prof drones on. the reason i listed gel pens though, it because when you like doodling and stuff, gel pens are a LOT more useful than regular ballpt pens; press harder, and you get a harder line; take it off, and you get a lighter line; more control with less effort essentially. the downside is that most gel pens will bleed through the paper, or take a while to dry, so you have to find good ones which dont do that stuff. and so, when i just want to take notes, a bic will be fine, but i love the way gel pens are. the good ones.

now of course, sometimes i have to use a no 2 pencil on tests, so what do i use? i have these 2 all natural wood pencils(natural wood is easier on the hand IMO than the yellow paint) for those occasions, the tips are dulled, so that multiple choice stuff is faster to fill in with. i have the white eraser backing me up on these.

and did i forget to mention? now i always write with a clipboard; i remember getting one of these because it was required for my chem lab in sophomore year in high school; never parted ways w/it. simply too useful. whenever i take notes in college, i don't even sit on the way left side of the class(for the left-handed desks), except for maybe tests; i just come into class w/a clipboard and a bic sandwiched in the hinge, and some binder paper. then i can sit anywhere.

and i am thinking of making the move from binder to portfolio pretty soon.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1873048

wow...

y'wanna know my take on the whole court scenario? it's cause that woman probably knew from the start that she was wrong, but she just wanted the money and the publicity. case in point? the charges to determine whether kobe would be sentenced to jail was dropped, but the civil suit, the money stuff, was not. and then she suddenly decides to quit because she's afraid to testify, whatever. either that, or afraid the average laker fan would come after her with a weapon if she won or something. well, whatever; now the entire colorado state hates you, for wasting all this taxpayer money for null. just a straight-up ho who wants the money and publicity, quite frankly.

deion sanders + ray lewis = all-around ownage
to + mcnabb = offensive ownage
sapp + gannon = potential ownage

i'm gonna try to quit posting for a week or so; i feel like i waste too much time sitting in front of a cpu, trying to think of something to post. the "world" doesn't need to hear me.

retreat's over... actually, it was over yesterday, but i was too busy reminiscing over the end of the olympics to contemplate this.

-seems like every year our retreats just keep getting smaller and smaller; i remember that we used to have the south sj sister church join us, and we had all the berkeley-future then-high-school peeps like carolyn, melinda, um, jeff, etc, here... oh yeah, who could forget basil :) basil, basil, basil. then the sister church leaves, then the college-grad peeps leave, now it's just US(college guys), and the berkeley grads who decided to stay instead of go elsewhere, more or less. the college girls didn't even join us this year, and grace wu and alice tsay were nowhere to be found. basil didn't even come this year( :( ); i miss him making fun of jerm(asian mom hairstyle = priceless) and calling me walter mccarthy last year for wearing a green headband on the bball court :D
-also, that decrease in peeps might've lead to our decline in food quality during retreats. now you can't even get 2 meals on sunday. speaking of food, we used to always bring snacks and drinks to retreat; we wonder why we can't finish them at all these years, then realized, hey, we actually go to the events now :D at least sat dinner is still good.
-seeing richard wang at retreat again was a nice touch. i've seen him around monta vista, but never bothered to ask his height... damn... 6'1... although when i see him i get a feeling like he's 6'2 or something. i still don't believe i'm 6', and more like 5'11, but maybe ppl ARE right, and i'm wrong. richard wang thought i was 6' too. hopefully :D if he improved his offense on the court, he would've been a lot better... i remember him looking to get the shot up rather than pass when we played. if he got some good low post offense down, he would be beastly.
-speaking of bball... i kinda wanted to play against the adults, but then i was kinda tired from playing the 1st 2 games all-out(i THOUGHT i heard some guys compliment me on saying i had the biggest hustle out of all the guys on the 1st 2 games, since while i wasn't shooting well, i was all over the court, trying to play D like i was tayshaun prince and ben wallace combined into one, rebounding and giving defensive help when it was due; and when i blocked richard wang's shot, i thought i was going to jump through the roof out of pure excitement), or maybe the other guys just needed a better scorer, since wes plays better offense... i dunno... i think i contribute better defensively and on the boards, since i try to go after every shot, missed or not, but maybe next year when my hops are a LOT better. bob was surprisingly not rip hamilton this year, but then, they had vincent, "orange," and hubert on the court, so why do anything else when you had 2 big guys at all times on the court to pound it in with. us benchwarmers were wondering why tim didn't take the last shot, since he probably would've made it.
-brian hogan's a great speaker. i really though this speaker would just be talking about evangelising, but i forgot that christianity ties everything together; there is no spreading the gospel without signs and wonders, and no signs and wonders go without an inspired faith. i need to pray more, and fast more... i forget these things are what lead to wonders. there were a lotta things said on retreat, like culture should be left out of evangelising, not to fear satan's attacks, and to obey the call. i'm try to keep all those things in mind for a while. and his sermon on sunday was great too. this was one of the greatest verses he quoted on sunday:

Isaiah 49:6 he says: "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."

finally, i'll just end w/some pics from retreat; these are really great:
http://geohsia.smugmug.com/photos/7915917-M.jpg (all the ballers, young & old, or as jerm kept trying to say, "seasoned veterans," but i thought old skoolers would've been fine; not walter mccarthy this time around, now i'm just *random azn guy w/white headband*)
http://geohsia.smugmug.com/photos/7915927-M.jpg (notice me in the back holding up the flashlight)
http://geohsia.smugmug.com/photos/7915928-M.jpg (another campfire photo)
http://geohsia.smugmug.com/photos/7915933-M.jpg (all the english)

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer04/trackandfield/news/story?id=1871108

i'm sure you heard about this guy... that's one messed up idiot... does he have any mental problems or something?

that said, i think the brazilian marathon runner had incredible reserve to say he could've won the gold, but wasn't too sure, and then admitted whatever happened, he was happy to get his bronze medal.

it was fun to keep up w/olympics... it's been a while since i've really done that... i do seem to have a sorta bad feeling about the olympic spirit though... it's sorta like... during the summer olympics... all of a sudden, EVERYONE'S a beach vball fan, or EVERYONE'S a gymnastics fan, or the like. why aren't you keeping up w/the avp during the summer then? don't tell me it has to do w/cable; i know they broadcast it on nbc. it's even funnier w/men during the winter olympics, cause all of a sudden, they all act like they're figure skating experts. the bandwagon feeling doesn't sit too well w/me... i like swimming, but it irks me that all of a sudden every 4 years i am SUDDENLY a swimming viewer, and the only name you could get me to cough up this year was "michael phelps," that's it.

gymnastics was eff'd up; make a judging mistake, then ask paul hamm to fork over the gold medal, instead of giving the koreans a gold to share? great... that looks REAL good... for the judges.

best moment was probably mike phelps giving up his spot on the relay team so his teammate could win a gold medal...

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer04/gen/columns/story?id=1870276

and finally,

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer04/basketball/columns/story?id=1870490

"If you don't get it done the way you expected to," Iverson said, "I think it's important that you get it done the best way you can. It's important that we come out and fight, and get the people proud of us back home."

yeap... so in the end, ai looks like one of the best guys on the us bball team, despite only winning bronze; proud to be an american, just happy to be there, giving what was given him all he got and trying to help the others... and i hate to admit it, but yes, brown made himself look like a mere shell of the man who led the pistons to a championship... instead of encouraging his players and giving them dues when it was due, he only mumbled some gratitude when they won, but berated everyone responsible for setting up the team when they lost.

"Iverson was the co-captain of the United States Olympic team and understood the selfish and self-defeating consequences for constantly tearing this team down, the way Brown did, instead of trying to find a way to make this work. Everyone else had done enough analyzing of the flaws in the USA Basketball system, but there was a responsibility the coach and the captains had to deliver direction to this impossibly young team. What good did it do for the players to constantly hear Brown telling the world they didn't have enough time to prepare for the games, except to give those fragile psyches excuses for losing?
'We had to understand from the first day that was the amount of time we had to prepare,' Iverson said. 'Was it enough of time? I don't know. But we knew we had to get it done in that time.
'And that's not any excuse we could use.'"

Stern: "It's not about who didn't come. You take your team to the gym and you play with what you got and then you either win or lose. This whining and this carping is not fair to [those] who are representing their country admirably and well."

get the memo, organizers for team usa, next time:
-choose ppl and make it mandatory for them to go; preferably choose a BALANCED team
-nba officials during the olympic games couldn't hurt; it blew my mind that the officials during the bball games were so crap; marbury practically raked an argentinan's eye trying to commit a foul, and officials don't call it until 5 secs later when he's on the floor. then beforehand, marbury went and1 right over an argentinan, and NO CALL. wtf? i'm sure there's more incidents. i'm not saying there should be nba rules during the olympics, but the officiating quite frankly sucked. duncan got limited so much because he didn't know what was allowed and a foul.

man, why did damp have to leave to of all places, the mavs? wizards would've been cool...

...i'm depressed... gsw just gave up one of the better centers in the league. and aside from damp's knee-high socks, i've grown to love him.

please come back someday damp! you'll always be gsw no. 25 to one bay area fan!

broiled trout, steamed broccoli w/chopped garlic & olive oil, noodles w/chopped garlic, olive oil & pepper... if it weren't for the limited supply of trout that i have on hand, i would eat this more often... also, i heard mayo sub'd for the salt, pepper and garlic you put on the trout is also pretty good.

terrell owens is still T.O... that play he made against the ravens was just sick, and then him holding out the ball taunting ray lewis to catch him was just pimp. i'm hoping philly gets some good D(which was supposedly their main weakness), so that they become a complete team.

if i hear mainland chinese spectators on the olympic coverage go "jia yo!" again, i'm gonna lose it...

b4 you go on and label this loss against lituania game as a complete loss, i do wanna say that for perhaps for the 1st time, the US was playing this game right for about 90% of the time; rj finally started clicking offensively, even nailing a buncha clutch 3s... just didn't nail the last one. dwayne wade was getting into the action defensively, stayed in front, made a buncha steals. at one point he intercepted a pass to a perimeter shooter, then took it all the way for a dunk. carmelo anthony didn't play too much, but the time he spent in, he nailed every shot he took. basically, everybody on this team except for okafor has now proven that he can play the game the right way. okafor still hasn't gotten any real game time from the coach. while they aren't that good outside and their free throws probably killed them in the end, they're sharing the ball on the offensive end and passing more than dribbling to move the ball. and they're playing defense. i now think they have a legitimate shot at winning the gold. they just need to play hard all 30 seconds of the clock, for all 40 min of game time. otherwise, this is looking more and more like a larry brown team. defense will win it... but you gotta apply it for all 30 seconds, for all 40 min of the game. they had the lituania team on their heels when they brought it up close.

why must i get so uptight over the smallest things? it's like i've inherited all the bad traits from my parents, and none of the good. i bet i'm gonna lose sleep tonight again.

here's something that may make you laugh; google search "all_linkin_park_songs_sound_exactly_the_same.mp3"; don't forget the quotes.

ok, i promised i'd put up daigo's amazing comeback vs east coast's justin wong, here it is:
http://media.shoryuken.com/srk-daigo.zip

watch it and be amazed...
(if you absolutely don't have a clue as to what daigo's ken is doing going all blue flash and stuff, i'll give a quick rundown; he's parrying justin's super; in street fighter 3, parrying is done sorta like blocking, but you have to tap forward on the joystick RIGHT before you get hit; obviously if you don't tap it RIGHT when you're about to get hit you're going to take the damage of the attack, but what it has an advantage over blocking is that you take no block damage(so the opponents can't kill you with block damage if you parry properly), and you suffer no block stun, ie you can punish the opponent right after you parry, sorta like they threw out a move right in front of you and it just whiffed; basically, it's easy to parry 2-3 hit combos, but VERY hard to parry a 15 hit super at a national tourney when everyone's watching you and the pressure's on; also, because chun-li's lightning kick super starts up so fast, you need to tap forward BEFORE the super flash occurs)

man, ppl really did stop caring for the olympics a long time ago. i still watch it, but somehow, it's lost its luster. and i think ppl w/cable watch it even less. it's only now that the us seems down on its luck that ppl start caring. is anyone else irritated that this attitude of ours may have led china(grr, gotta hate this, my taiwanese blood's boiling deep inside) to be leading the gold medal count, let alone the medal count?

if team us bball wins this year, it will be because of the greatness of tim duncan and the combination of some of the best coaches in the nba(poppavich as assistant coach and larry brown as head coach), not cause these guys were the best team assembled. however, give credit to allen iverson for being a very close 3rd reason that this team is in it, as the best guard on this team, and lebron james for starting to really play ball the right way and not caring how many minutes he gets. i am still hoping they win gold, but i'm not too sure the nba committee will learn its lesson unless we go medal-less.

watching olympic swimming has rekindled some fond memories of me being on the swim team:
-the electronic touch pads
-watching the guys in hats walk close to the starting blocks with stopwatches behind their backs to record times; i could never get why ppl did that; supposedly for double insurance, in case the electronic touch pads shorted or something, but really... why?
-the fact that some ppl act like cheering is going to help the swimmers because they'll hear you; i couldn't hear s*** when i was swimming... and it's not cause of the swimmer's ear i got... ok, cheer i guess, nothing wrong w/it; crowd should be having fun too, but in the actuality, i couldn't hear anybody... admittedly, i did see my coach waving me on, alongside of me a few times though.
-i did NOT have a sunnyvale swim team parka; i wore my bro's monta vista water polo team parka instead.

i will be back late thursday afternoon next week. if you absolutely still need a lead guitarist for retreat, please gimme an email by wednesday night.

EWGF, b,f+2,1>2, df+4,4

sick...

right now, srk.com's down, but they had a clip featuring one of japan's best street fighter players, daigo, vs justin wong, one of the east coast's best. it was during a national fighting game tourney called evolution which is always held sometime in the summer around cen cal. daigo just frikkin came back from a virtually 0 pt lifebar against justin wong's 90% lifebar. when he started parrying the super everybody in the crowd started cheering so loud the mic started giving off distortion.

i'll link back to it when it goes back up...

doesn't take that much street fighter know-how to appreciate it; i was just going "oh s***!" the 1st time i watched it. comeback indeed.

koreans won in olympic handball over russia :D looked like a cross between soccer, polo and basketball

my left fingers hurt... yesterday i played on the electric guitar... like, seriously PLAYED... it's been a while since i've seriously sat down in front of the fender and tried to really work on a riff... i was trying to get down the jeremy camp - i will trust in you riff, so as a result, my left fingers got hardened slightly.

next up; i'll have to work on the mark tremonti riff during "open your eyes", alter bridge's flagship song right now. i have doubts about pulling it off though; if you've watched the video for free on their site, you might agree. how the hell does he do that!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!!! this is why i love 70's style rock guitar... it IS talent... period. not this chord stumming you hear on radio these days.

Scott Stapp, 08/04 - Interviews - Christian Music Today

i have found out some pretty amazing things about the creed band recently; call me ignorant if it's been a while, but:

creed broke up(i found this out a while back), but mark the guitarist and the drummer teamed up w/former creed bassist and some other vocalist from mayfield 4 to make another band with a few other guys; it's now called alter bridge(that's where they went!); so i can still relish mark tremonti's guitar work, which i have always admired for a long time.

and...

going by the above link, scott stapp is now a christian; don't assume that's WHY creed broke up though, because while creed was not officially a christian band, scott himself stated that it was because they had other interests. although, take a lot at the below quote and decide whether that means they broke up cause stapp became a christian(you could argue it was like that)

(taken from the alter bridge website about why they broke up:
"Mark and Flip:
We were just going different directions, he had a lot going on his life personally and professionally and we just wanted to play music. After taking a break it was apparent that Scott wanted to make a studio record but not tour as much and we wanted to tour and get back to work. When we got together to do the next record, it just wasn’t happening musically. There was no progress being made so we just decided to part ways. There’s no animosity there. We talked on the phone and wished each other good luck.")

and no, alter bridge is not considered to be a christian band, like creed was:
"Are the band and album spiritual? Did you try to go in a more secular direction? How different will it be lyrically? The album is entitled ONE DAY REMAINS – that seems spiritual.

Flip:
It’s not super spiritual, but the band members are all spiritual. Spirituality will always be a part of who we are but the album’s more about life experiences. You can take from it what you will but it’s not an agenda of ours. There was no difference in opinion between Tremonti and Stapp when it came to the direction of Creed’s message. We’re not trying to be secular or spiritual; we just want to express positivity in our lives."

so we still got 4 more ppls to pray for...

but, let's get back to scott stapp, whom i'm happy for, since he's now a christian:

"What had triggered those spiritual changes in your life?

Stapp: A lot of personal things. I was hurt and beaten down. Five years ago, I had a divorce that I didn't really want. I was so busy with Creed that I don't think I ever really dealt with that emotionally. She [his ex-wife] elected not to be involved in my son's life, leaving me as a single father, and I was really worried about my little boy [Jagger, who turns 6 in October]. And there were other things that came along in the trappings of fame, things that hurt some of my relationships. So when I finally had time to reflect on everything, I was broken down to the point where I had no other way but to look up. I couldn't handle it all. I was asking a lot of questions—of myself, of God—looking for answers.

My dad always said I was hard-headed, that it would take something like that to wake me up spiritually, and I guess it did. My heart had gotten so beat up that I didn't have anything left to give. I was emotionally and spiritually dried up, so I was just searching for God. I reached out to my pastor and my father for some guidance. I was really soul searching and, I guess, on my path to coming home spiritually. And once that process began—and I'm still going through that process, and probably will for the rest of my life—that's when things started changing in my life. I started making some proper decisions, getting things in order. It's kind of like cleaning up your house. I was looking for direction for what God wanted me to do—and that's when I got a call about The Passion."

Prior to this recent renewal, how would you have described your faith?

Stapp: I'd have called myself a struggling Christian who was trying to find holes in everything he had been raised to believe. I was a doubting Thomas. I was raised in a climate where I believed in God because I was afraid of going to hell—and I didn't think that was the right way to fall in love with somebody. I always believed in God and Christ, but I was in rebellion—trying to make my relationship with God fit into my life instead of making my life fit in with him. I was stubborn.

It just took all of that to come to a screeching halt, to get to the point of having nothing, for me to finally realize, Hey, what are you fighting with this for? Until then, I hadn't claimed my faith as my own; I had just grown up with it. But I finally got to that point after years and years of running from God. Christ stepped in when I asked him."

"Can you give me a specific example of how that "relearned love" is manifesting itself in your life?

Stapp: It's simple for me: It's giving without expecting anything in return. Prior to this, the way that I loved people around me, I always expected something—even if that was just expecting them to treat me like I treated them. But now I understand that real love is just giving without expecting anything. That's what love is to me, and that's what I feel that Christ showed us."

and later in this interview, he says he now declares himself a christian:

"On Creed's website, you had answered an FAQ in part by writing, "Who are we to say that being a Christian is the only way to heaven?"

Stapp: Well, I can honestly tell you, I didn't write that.

But your name was on it.

Stapp: [Turns to tell his manager sitting nearby to call his record label and "tell them there's something on the Creed website that I didn't write … again." Then he addresses Christian Music Today again.] I didn't write that. I would never answer a question that way. That sounds like something the owner of my record company [Wind-Up Records] would say.

[Stapp, clearly perturbed at this revelation, says something else to his manager, then addresses us again.] I would never say that, dude, because that's not what I believe. We'll be sure to make a note of that. That stuff happens all the time, because my label, you know, they're about making money. They don't want to disenfranchise people. Creed wasn't a Christian band, but I would never insinuate or say anything that would make that kind of a statement. I'm glad you told me about that.

So, where do you stand in regards to that statement?

Stapp: Oh, I'm a Christian. I was a Christian in Creed, but nobody ever asked me.

You've been really open in this interview. Is that because I'm with the Christian media? Or would you answer these questions similarly for the mainstream media?

Stapp: The nature of my answers are a lot different now that I'm no longer with Creed. I'm a solo artist now, and I don't have a band to hide behind. So when someone asks me if I'm a Christian, I have to say yes, because I am. But do you know I was never asked in 10 years if I was a Christian personally? We were only asked if Creed was a Christian band.

Well, you never got interviewed by us!

Stapp (laughs): But I'm glad nobody asked, because my life wasn't right with God. The Christian community latched onto a lot of my music, because there were a lot of things about my struggle they related to. But I didn't really want to come out and be identified as a Christian, because I didn't want to be a hypocrite, because my life wasn't right. I didn't want to make any kind of public profession until I felt like my heart was right.

I've since learned that my life's never gonna be right, and I'm always going to be scrutinized and looked at under a microscope. And it took me, since I was 17 and left home, running from God, to now, as a 30-year-old man, when I honestly feel like I've come full circle and my heart's finally in the right place. I'm still going to make mistakes, but I don't have any problems with publicly professing my faith now. It just took me a long time to get to the right place in my relationship with Christ.

It's just crazy how things have come full circle for me as a solo artist. I kind of look at everything that happened with Creed as a preparation—me going through things to get my life ready for God's plan. It's been a journey and a learning experience.

So, are you now a "Christian artist," or an artist who happens to be a Christian?

Stapp: I'm an artist who's a Christian, because I don't write music to be evangelical. Now, if that happens, it happens. My dad's a dentist, and he's a Christian. Now, does he put in Christian fillings? No, that's just part of his three-dimensional life. Now, there are people that are Christian artists, because they have a purpose to be evangelical for Christ. I don't feel I've been called to that yet. Now, that could change. There's no telling what kind of call God will put on my life."

i like though, how he was hesitant about saying he was a christian, because he did wrong, afraid that he'd give a wrong impression of christians. and the fact that now he learns that's life.

ESPN.com - NBA - Smith: Sacramento's crumbling Kingdom:

"In the meantime, the owners got mad at the city over a new arena. Who doesn't believe they're trying to get the franchise to Las Vegas, where they own a casino? They were among this new breed of owners with a lot of money they really didn't work long to earn and frustrated athletic fantasies. So they said they'd spend whatever they had to spend. Until they found themselves writing $10 million checks after the season to the owners practicing financial stability, like, oh, Donald Sterling. So they gutted their bench for a million here and there and there was no one left when Webber wasn't C-Webb and Jackson was on the bench."

damnit... and i thought the lakers were in disarray... it's like the pot calling the kettle black

Boondocks - Vote Kerry/Edwards!

LOL!

Team USA > Turkey

+supposedly, they did better down the stretch, and rallied to defend well
+one of my fave PF's, duncan, did his thing all over the court
-they almost blew a huge lead; every point, every defensive possession counts
-none of the younger players did their thing offensively; only the guys WITH EXPERIENCE, aka ai and td, did their thing in double figures
-perimeter shooting NEEDS to get better; this is international bball, so you gotta take advantage of the easier 3

"guns n roses - you could be mine" is too good... it's ol skool rock... one of my favorites from the good ol days... but no, i don't throw up the horns, heh heh. i gotta print out a tab of it soon and work on it; i love the riffs. i almost always stop the .wmv file short of the ending though... he seems to stress that one note way too long. good ol feminine rock star singers...

the time at which i took this screen capture was about 3:20 PM in davis. killer weather alright; i didn't know it'd come back w/a vengence; it seemed recently that it was getting cooler, but i guess i was wrong; i need to stop studying and grab a slurpee cause it's that hot outside. 

Penny Arcade!

LOL!

ESPN.com: Page 2 - For Celts, this Glove fits

i don't know whether to be happy or disappointed... rick fox and gary payton are now both celtics??!?!??!?

then again, most bay area ppl don't like derek fisher being on gsw either; we're all in the same boat.

woohoo! i can nail EWGF/WS+2, b,f+2,1>2, df+4,4 a LOT more consistently now. i think i found the MAGICAL TIMING OF HAPPINESS!

saw the most incredible thing yesterday; an ant about the relative size of this -> - was pulling a dry blade of grass the size of THIS -> ------------------- it was more or less attached to his behind as he was chugging it along, but he had no help as he was yanking it along... it totally amazed me... if you think about it, humans have no real advantage over other animals and creatures other than our intellect... if you think about athletic abilities, we simply pale compared to other creatures. if we moved our legs the speed of ants, we'd probably not need any cars.

ai turned out clutch when usa needed it the most, and i'm happy for him, but i think if they were really good, they wouldn't have needed to be clutch like that to win; like larry brown says, this is pretty much their offensive receipe for success:

-give the ball in to duncan deep and let him do his low post stuff
-hit some outside js when ppl are open
and last but not least:
-play some hardcore d(technically, this IS a larry brown team, so they NEED to play some d)

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/040804

there's a lotta points taken from the article about ways to improve team usa, but here's some interesting quotes that had me grinning:

-he recommends our (now departed, *sniff sniff*) brian cardinal as our bench:
"Cardinal: You bring him in when you need an energy boost -- namely, when you're flat, when you're getting out-hustled and you need someone to make a three and run back up the court screaming and pumping his arms."

-like i said, shooters, not gangstas :D
"2. You would never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER see someone like Stephon Marbury on our team."

-some quotes that had me grinning, when he talked about guys from the pistons that could've been a great help:
"4. We would play Rip Hamilton more.
He's only the best scorer on a team that just won the NBA championship. You can run him off picks, he's tireless, never takes bad shots, never goes beyond his means. He gets better when it matters. He's been a winner at every level. And he's a good guy.
By the way? He's not on the team. Unfortunately, he turned down our invitation after we waited until the last minute to ask him.
(I will now peel the skin off my body.)"

-prince on bench
"Prince: Put it this way: You wouldn't see Italian guys getting wide-open looks for 40 straight minutes with Tayshaun around." *damn right!*

-now this is where i actually might agree totally
"(Which reminds me: If we really wanted to win the gold, why wouldn't we just send our defending NBA champions? Imagine the 2004 Pistons headed to Athens in 10 days, completely intact with their coach, only with Duncan sliding into Mehmet Okur's spot and Corey Haim filling the role of Darko? Would anyone be against this? Seriously, anyone?)"
the only ppl who MIGHT disagree are the pistons themselves; it's a novel idea, but you're essentially putting the defending world champs 2 steps behind everybody else in the league when the next season starts.

nobody from my class' around dkc during SS2. ok, there's a few. played some stupidly rediculous games yesterday; one was dividing up the fellowship into guys and girls, and both have to write all these names of people on slips of paper, then dump them in a big box. a volunteer from each group represents them and draws a slip of paper and tries to describe the person w/o the actual name; gain 1 pt if you can say the exact name, pass if you can't. timed. so you have all the guys writing down names like "samaki walker" "tayshaun prince" "dwayne wade" etc, and all the girls are writing down names like worship leaders, actors they like, stuff like that. the classic one of the night was when one of the guys goes,
"YOU DIDN'T KNOW WHO RICK FLAIR WAS? YOU COULD'VE JUST DONE 'WWWOOOOOOO!' "
then there's the game where all the ppls was divided into groups of 4. you have to get all your guys onto this one piece of newspaper. then you divide it in half, repeat. here's some classic quotes off that:
"you're using the sacramento bee???? the classified ads? wth? yolo county is nothing! that's like no space at all! you should've gotten the la times instead!"
(one group had 1 guy and 3 girls)
emcee:so are you guys all cuddled up now? let's move on to our next game-
guy: NO MAN! let's keep playing! i think we can still fit ppl onto this paper even if we divide it in half.
(for the last attempt at getting all the ppl on the paper, he had one girl piggyback'd upon him and 2 girls bear hugging him)

they ended the free 7-11 music dl promotion; but i actually liked the process. and now they have these prepaid cards you can use, so if you're jittery about credit card online purchases, you can now prepay, then go online and dl. the only thing is that i would really like a cd burner so i can actually listen to the songs when in a car.

ESPN.com - OLY/SUMMER04/BASKETBALL - International exposure: Team USA loses to Italy

it's sad really... the only guys it appears from the article on USA who appeared to do their thing on offense was duncan and melo, and even then, i bet they had to struggle to get those numbers.

ever feel like this?

Welcome to uComics Web Site featuring FoxTrot -- The Best Comic Site In The Universe!

Damn! That's some good cheese! Why you didn't tell me this cheese was good? Muthaf***! LOL!!!!!

ESPN.com - GEN - Manute Bol suing cab company over injuries

poor manute...

did you even know you were driving manute bol, former gsw center, beyotch?

i can't cut and paste the conversations i see on mIRC while i'm dling tekken match vids, so i have to take a screenshot instead; click to enlarge; heh heh; WHATHAHTHAHTHTAT! 

still working on ewgf/ws+2, b,f+2,1>2, df+4,4... pathetic... i can't nail the combo. if you ain't fat, i can't nail it with consistency.

i have to drink at least 2 more slurpees before the summer ends... because of these 2 songs:

sugarcult - memory
guns n roses - you could be mine

such a contrast... memory is the typical punk rock song... it's only cause i can't get it out my head that i have to own it... i think it's when the rhythm guitarist starts playing the 2nd verse with harmonics(preview the entire song for free at www.sugarcult.com). and you could be mine is one of my favorite ol skool rock tunes... complete with Slash going nuts on the guitar for some riffs. ol skool rock is awesome... the only thing that puts me off are the vocals sometimes. but you don't know what guitar talent is missing from today's bands til you hear something from the 70s or so. basically anything pre-nirvana.

jon: hey rich are you doing anything today?
me: i might be free tonight
me: does jerm wanna go to jusco again? :D
jon: haha its not open on mondays
jon: we'll probably go tomorrow though
me: heh heh...
me: great...

(jusco is NOT pmt(aka pearl milk tea); it's an all-you-can-eat sushi buffet that's around $8 at lunch in davis; ever since jerm went once he's been hooked; i don't hate sushi, but it's mainly rice, and that's the catch; it fills you up very quickly; i'd rather save up and go to hot pot city; ok so the price is a lot higher, but it's more worth it)

pistons will own rockets on nov 3; but i'm sure the reason why most ppl wanna watch this game is cause of tmac and yao ming... that's ok; i can't wait to see prince d up on tmac just like 2k3 playoffs.

so, what's worse? the fact that the europeans' value of christianity has gone down the drain, or that the way some people are trying to bring it back is by trying to appeal and trying to become one of the world?

i thought the point of trying to become one with the world was that we had to send a message of "hey, we sin just like you; we're only human; but we know that's not the way, and we fight it with all our heart." wasn't that the type of mindset we were supposed to have?

so what's worse? the frying pan? or the fire?

but let's not point fingers too much; we still have to ask yourselves(you, the one who's reading this), if that makes you a better person... because i'm an american? because 58% of us yanks believe in God, whereas the Europeans believe in him about at the 33% mark? hey, demons believe in God; does that make them equal to angels?

well? what's your answer? better answer carefully now...

and remember, if you AREN'T a better person, then maybe you should do some sincere confession.

the deeds don't reflect the heart, but the heart reflects the deeds... think about that...

(btw i love late afternoon davis summer weather... the cool breeze is awesome... being outside is awesome, period)

(i'm chaffing; so much about the hard-earned back-shoulder tan; don't matter though; the skin probably was more BURNED than tanned)

(and tony's coming up to davis around the 15-17; me and jon gotta show this brother of ours around)

(www.jibjab.com; i'm sure you've seen the swf cartoon of bush and kerry; but if not, it's kinda funny.)

(i love the lead guitar riff that the lead guitarist plays on jeremy camp's version of "i will trust in you")

i didn't sign up for THIS when i wanted to be a spurs fan :D 

so i come out of the shower yesterday, and then i'm blinded in the mirror by my sexy good looks... :D

actually, i was more like blinded by the whiteness on my upper legs. and the steam rising into my glasses.

but otherwise, it looks like i've gotten a tan, as my back has healed. still some chaffage on the right shoulder, but otherwise, i'm ok. but i should still lay off the sun exposure. it would be no use, if i avoided stomach cancer unlike my dad, only to get skin cancer. however, it will always appear that my back will look 2x darker than my chest, and my lower arms more than my upper arms. farmer's tan is gone; but in its place we have the all-inspiring sandal tan(although it's still better than a farmer's tan). i'm just 20 diff shades or so all over my body.

breyer's reese's ice cream is pretty good. i just tried it. reeses' crumbled up, fudge, and pb ice cream.

and breyer's ice cream up in davis this week is a steal; 2 for 5.69, or about 2.85 each. usually ice cream's like 3 something for a half gallon or so. their coffee ice cream roX; nothing fancy, just coffee, cream, milk, sugar.

i tried going up to woodland cause that's the closest coldstone nearby, but i didn't get there in time for their free ice cream cake deal. however, woodland seems to be even more of a farmland around there and going up there, compared to davis. all i could see was fields and factories coming up there. but maybe i'm just around the davis section near the university. however, davis on a map isn't that much bigger.

(taken off of jadon lavik's music site, from his biography section):
“Contemporary culture lacks both the inward reality and the outward life-style of simplicity. We must live in the modern world, and we are affected by its fractured and fragmented state…Courageously, we need to articulate new, more human ways to live…Simplicity is not a lost dream, but a recurrent vision throughout history. It can be recaptured today.” Richard J. Foster

(taken from his song, "following you," which i legally dl'd):
when i look to you/ suddenly i see, i see the real me/ stripped of all those coverings/ that's my true, my true identity

prechorus:
this world has so much clarity/ with you walking in front of me

chorus:
and i'm following you/ yes i'm following you

i keep it short/ cause i have so much more/ i'm just listening/ with my eyes on you/ you're watching all that i do/ that's when my motives are true

bridge:
with all my heart/ with all my soul/ with all my mind/ and all my strength

i'm back in davis again.
 
saturday was fun w/joe and friends.  norman almost hit a home run, except it would've gotten out of the park...  and onto a crowded highway; ugh.  and i had a blast swimming again.  i need to buy some new swim trunks.
 
and my back was so ragged up for at least 2 or maybe even 3 days; sunburnt like crazy; most ppl get a tan when they go into the sunlight and come out blacker; i come out looking like a native american.  maybe that's why i can look like rudolph the reindeer every summer; i should rub sunblock on my nose more often.
 
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer04/basketball/news/story?id=1847129 ; who would've thought out of all the ppl who miss shaq being the west the most, that'd it'd be poppavich?  well, i guess inside the nba, ppl don't tear at each other's throats the way the norcal and socal ppl have been at each other's necks for who knows how long.
 
you can bet this is what my current wishlist sorta looks like:
 
1.delay pedal
2.cd burner
3.joystick
4.preamp

Ha Seung-Jin... the gooks now are getting some nba action...
but we all know where the chinks are at...
yao owns all azns :D
(that said, i can't stare at his mug w/o breaking into a huge grin... the fact that you could probably blind him w/dental floss and his buckteeth say all, and i hope he and ratliff form a formidable portland paint combo)

it doesn't mean anything/ w/o you here with me/ and i can try to justify/ but i still need you here with me

-plumb

you are not alone/ know that i will find the times to be together/ when you feel alone/ listen to this song to make your heart feel better

-sanctus real

i decided to explore the treasure cave otherwise known as my bro's room, which has quite a bit of christian books, and decided to read this book by c.s.lewis(don't tell me he's a great christian writer; i'm quite aware of that), the book is called "the screwtape letters;" it took me a bit at first to realize what was going on in the book, but it's intrigued me; it's basically a fictitious correspondence between a superior devil to an inferior devil about how to claim souls; as we all know, spirits can't control human beings; they do however, control the power of suggestion, and that is how their power is used; in this book, the devils hope to manipulate the souls so they end up in hell. like how ppl assume there's a guardian angel for every being, this book assumes that there's a guardian devil for every being; the inferior devil is responsible for an english man. i'm still in the book, and so am not through to making full comments, but here's what i can remember off the top of my head;

-satan can't use reason to draw you away from christ; while you may think of atheists who draw up powerful arguments to sway you, you can almost argue your way back to christ, given the truth. satan however, CAN use the power of impulse and suggestion; he can suggest instinctive things, like suggest "lunch?" when you start thinking of the loopholes in atheism.
-he can't prevent you from praying; however, he can draw you away from praying for the actual person; perhaps the sins that you are praying for a specific person aren't really sins, but things that irk you about that person; the more these things get on your nerves, the more you're praying for a fictitious person and not the actual flesh-and-blood person
-how close something is to a christian can have a major affect; such as what you hate and what you care for; take for example, the book's example; the older devil suggested the younger demon try to focus the man's hate onto the things that are closer to him and push the things he cares for to the remote(the germans; this book takes place during WWII); the more you care for something almost imaginary, the more hazy details are and the less likely you're bound to care as much. etc.
-suffering is not all joy for satan; he knows that god allows it for a man to become stronger in his christian roots. this brief trial gives satan a good oppurtunity to shake the man. but if the man goes through it, it will become that much harder to sway him.

i'm thought today that it takes a certain man not to fear death... i certainly don't fear death... i don't think i do... but it also takes a certain man not to fear life, the pains and sorrows associated with success and failure of life... i think it takes a true man not to fear both... to not be afraid of failure in this life, and to not fear what's beyond that dark curtain.

matthew west - the end
(what he sings near the end is funny)

what the? shaq now in miami? well, i dunno whether to say this is a plus for the lakers or miami; prob for miami, until you realize shaq has LIMITED utility; i don't think you even need the pistons to run over the heat. same weaknesses stand w/shaq in miami; weak bench, limited ability to defend the pick-n-roll, defense in general sucks. indiana could beat this team. i think nets could as well. any team w/better depth basically.

on the flip side, lakers would look funny with this undersized SF and PF trade. this really would be kobe's team(unless he lands in jail or chooses to go to clippers; i think he's pretty much limited it to either la team) my new favorite teams would be bobcats and magic come next season; i would love to see if okafur remains the shot blocker every1 says he is. and the combo of francis and howard intrigues me.

there's something about watching "the terminator" on telemundo; hearing ahhnold say "i'll be back" in spanish(yo volvare) isn't as authoritative... still, term 1 is one of my fav movies... i watched it just for the heck of it. and to jog some of my spanish comprehension abilities.

ok, i ran outta things to say.

free slurpee on july 11th; just show up

i ain't sexist(really)... but if you don't crack up at this snippet i found from the web, i dunno... you must have no sense of humor...

Men strike back!

How many men does it take to open a beer?
None. It should be opened when she brings it.

Why is a Laundromat a really bad place to pick up a woman?
Because a woman who can't even afford a washing machine will probably
never be able to support you.

Why do women have smaller feet than men?
It's one of those "evolutionary things" that allows
them to stand closer to the kitchen sink.

How do you know when a woman is about to say something smart?
When she starts a sentence with "A man once told me."

How do you fix a woman's watch?
You don't. There is a clock on the oven.

Why do men fart more than women?
Because women can't shut up long enough to
build up the required pressure.

If your dog is barking at the back door and your wife
is yelling at the front door, who do you let in first?
The dog, of course. He'll shut up once you let him in.

What's worse than a Male Chauvinist Pig?
A woman who won't do what she's told.

I married a Miss Right.
I just didn't know her first name was Always.

Scientists have discovered a food that diminishes
a woman's sex drive by 90%.
It's called a Wedding Cake.

Why do men die before their wives?
They want to.

Women will never be equal to men until they can
walk down the street with a bald head and a beer
gut, and still think they are sexy.

In the beginning, God created the earth and rested.
Then God created Man and rested.

Then God created Woman.
Since then, neither God nor Man has rested.

me: i've seen a bunch of homeless ppl around davis
grace: oh
grace: i see a few here
me: there's a lotta ppl who go up to me and ask if i can spare some change
grace: but it's like they seem to disappear over night
me: heh
grace: it' slike the city takes them away cus they're taint'g la jolla er something
grace: la jolla = rich yuppies
me: heh
grace: u give em change?
me: sure, why not
me: sometimes a dollar if i'm extremely generous
me: once i even heard out one of them to see what his problem was
grace: oh yeah
grace: i've always wanted to sit down n talk to em
grace: but i don't seem them n e more
grace: oh there's this one guy in chinatown by my dentist office
grace: i saw him last yr
grace: n this yr again
grace: he always has a pet pigeon
me: i see
grace: this pigeon sits on his shoulder
grace: or around him
grace: n he feeds it n such
me: heh
grace: very strange eh
me: yea
me: most of the guys i've met usually have some hardships
me: one guy told me he had some shoulder pain or something
me: but then the cops took away his medication because his name rubbed off the prescription bottle
grace: =me: yea
grace: how he suppose to get his medicine?
me: shoot, i dunno
grace: SOMEONE HAS GOT TO GO N GET IT FOR HIM =(
grace: yeeea.. it's things like that .. that make me wonder why i'm doing cs and expecting to work at some office cubicle.. wen so many ppl out there need something/someone
me: it's true
me: not every job solves every problem in the world
me: and even when you've taken care of others, you still have yourself to feed
grace: yeaa
grace: duno wut i gonna do
grace: i feel like getting a teaching credential too. hehe
grace: but then.. i kinda wanna jus teach lil kids
grace: but then... i kinda wanna program..
grace: o boy. i guess i can teach programming to little kids?
grace: yeah
grace: someone's gotta support me if i ain't making money
me: yeap
me: funny thing; my sister in law also teaches 3rd graders
grace: she likes?
me: yea, i'd say
me: jerm's trying to go for teaching too
me: and while i'm not too sure, maybe laura's also considering teaching
grace: lol
grace: i'm thinking towards daycare too
me: i see

i've realized i've met a LOT of homeless ppl when i've gotten around davis counting this school year and last year. a lotta ppl just wandering around who ask me if i can spare some change. sometimes, if i'm generous, i give them a dollar, not just whatever coins i have in my pocket. i usually never refuse them.

long story short, because i don't feel like typing too much, i do it cause God commands me to. i say this, cause OF COURSE it's probable that a couple of those guys try to act poor to mooch off of others. but i'm less concerned about whether they are genuine, compared whether i AM genuine. whether i truly care for them. cause that's WHAT WOULD JESUS DO

and another thing; when you do encounter poor homeless men, and give them something, don't just give them something and shoo them away; ask them what their hardships are. ask them how their day went. i had one guy ask me for stuff.(i think i gave him a dollar) then he proceeded to tell me his hardship. i was touched. i truly felt like praying for the poor guy. so i am considering that whenever i meet ppl who ask me for change now; asking them how their day went. it's a start. to show i truly care, and am not just another person.

it's just one demonstration of the discipline of submission :D one more step to showing you truly love God.

you realize in the western conf of the nba a total power shift could occur to bring the power to... texas? imagine that kobe and shaq get traded to some texas teams; your future top western teams would include:
dallas: shaq, finley, dirk?
houston: tmac, yao
san antonio: kobe, duncan

now if this turns out to be the case, i like san antonio's chances. i still like houston cause of yao, but i'm still SLIGHTLY bitter that francis had to go; i think i like orlando more than the rockets now.

comment that summed up the nba 2k4 finals:
after anybody who thought that the detroit pistons couldn't recover from that wrenching defeat the other night(game 2), just take a look at the score
-al michaels, abc sports

Verizon Recalls Exploding Cell Phone Batteries

more bad news for you cell phone users... hey! not only can you lower your sperm count with these babies, but now you can permanently burn your crotch off with these technological beauties! but sorry, we'll have to charge you for roaming if you're crotch is on fire and you're forced to call the local police on a cell that's not in the designated area :D
(at&t users, rejoice that your crotch won't catch fire :D)

maria sharapova says she's not trying to become like anna kornakova, but she's into modelling as well :D lol... it's kinda funny watching her play tennis; she screams everytime she hits the ball; i might even stretch it and say she sometimes groans when she does.
to be honest, i think the rain delays and stuff totally changed the match between devenport and sharapova; wimbledon seriously needs to do something to get rid of the rain delays; i tried to audioblog an entry on this, but it looks like it'll take a while before it gets online. basically, tennis seems to be only one of the few sports which actually stops play due to a rain delay, and more specifically, wimbledon; most other sports just play through it. so either teach the players to do that, or install a retractable roof. because it is really annoying for the fans and the players.

(i'm back in cupertino for july btw)
(pps: audioblogger's cool, but it loads so slowly; i've already posted 3-4x since yesterday, and look; only 1 post so far)

Mail and Guardian Online: Cellphones cut sperm count, says report

we're doomed... forget viagra... we need something else...

then again, living in the city as opposed to the country probably also reduces your sperm count...

Martina loses in 2nd round

been keeping up w/wimbledon? martina is a FORTY-SEVEN year old female tennis vet, who played in wimbledon just cause she could... while she's not as agile as she used to be, it was fun to watch her exercise her experience over her opponents and take them down using brain over strength... sadly, you can only get so far...

venus is also out, due to a contraversial call... but serena's still in... when it comes to women's tennis though, i like jennifer capriati; excellant return, very good strokes. her defense against serves is very formidable.

on the men's side, a casual fan HAS to love andy roddick; prob my fave american tennis player. i just love watching him blow ppl apart with his aces; he wasn't as dominant as he was in the us open, concerning his aces, but hey, no 4 in the world doesn't count for nothing; uberdweeb, if you're reading this, roddick's 1st opponent at wimbledon was a taiwanese guy; wang something... don't worry, that kid's still young; got a while to go; i would've rooted for him, but cmon, it's roddick. roddick btw, got 18 aces against him. it's almost like a bday present!(i think wang was 18) i could go on and on about how good roddick's aces are... the really good ones are where the opponent doesn't even MOVE... the serves of those are hecka fast and hit RIGHT on the line that it's rediculous. you watch, and go, huh? roddick already won another game? the opponent didn't even move!

shaq going to dallas is kinda ok w/me... i hate dallas, but they aren't gaining anything TOO big, longterm that way. and shaq fits in with his defensive weaknesses :D the lakers won't be as strong... dallas would IMO be stronger though, with two good big men. that's assuming dallas is not dumb enough to dump dirk for shaq. i'd just like to see a year where the lakers lack kobe and shaq, or have kobe, but completely suck, but that clippers are contenders, or even where both teams suck... would like to see how socal ppl actually feel... i wondered why i've heard kobe possibly going to san ant a bit... is that one of his potential places he wants to go?

assuming dwight howard lives up to his promise, i could be liking the magic soon; got the core rockets group(francis!) and pretty much just subbed howard for yao... i just hope they emphasize the d. though you could say the trade was 50-50, i still disliked that they broke up the rockets; i love francis and yao.

how often have you fretted so much about what you were doing, have done, and were going to do that you could not go to sleep peaceably for a night? frustrating... i bet...

USATODAY.com - Charges considered in death of Iraqi general

how can we expect other countries, and terrorist organizations to treat us with respect if we can't do the same? this is just one big cycle over and over; it happened during the cold war; we'd find whoever would fight against the communist force, then leave them to their fate. and yet, now, instead of learning our mistakes, we repeat them yet again.

we also failed to learn from our mistakes after wwII, when many nisei were placed in internment camps; after 9.11, many indians in the us simply "disappeared" back to their own countries. nobody learns from the 1st mistake.

the weather's above average hot anyway you see it; it's still hotter up here in hell :D 

I'm bored... so i decided to show you guys just how friggin hot davis is compared to the bay area; here is a trimmed snapshot of the weather in cupertino on friday; notice the moderate high; could be hot, but i guess only during noontime 


now, in comparison, here's the davis weather... yes... take noontime in the bay area and extend that over an 8 hr period and add 10 degrees, more or less... voila; you're in hell. 

MAN, does my voice crack up under all sorts of weird pressure... that said, like the recording suggested, i LEGALLY dl'd one song; i still have 1 credit, which i can use for another song, or get a new ringtone(7-eleven enables you to choose either one). it does seem like everyone's getting into the free mp3 thing; first it was pepsi if i recalled from the super bowl, then mickeydee's got into the mix, now 7-eleven... azn's dream, would be tapioca express gets into the mix :D buy a no. one, get a free jay mp3 dl :D

that said, i dl'd mark schultz - you are a child of mine; i've loved hearing the song everytime it comes on the air. it ain't rock, but hey, my tastes in music aren't limited to rock :D mark's lyrics in general from any of his songs tend to sing from God's perspective, not ours; think of "i have been there." here are the lyrics. i would've dl'd "casting crowns - who am i," but i liked the air1 mix, the one they have on the radio, not the album's version; they make the electric guitar fills a lot more hearable, and it gives the song a bit more upbeatness to it. ah well; this song is equally good.

I’ve been hearing voices
Telling me that I could
Never be what I wanna be
They’re binding me with lies
Haunting me at night
And saying there’s nothing to believe
Somewhere in the quietness
When I’m overcome with loneliness
I hear You call my name
And like a father You are near
And as I listen I can hear You say

chorus:
You are a child of Mine
Born of My own design
And you bear the heart of life
No matter where you go
Oh, you will always know
You have been made free in Christ
You are a child of Mine

And so I listen as You tell me who I am
And who it is I’m gonna be
And I hang on every word
Knowing I have heard
I am Yours and I am free
But when I am alone at night
That is when I hear the lie
You’ll never be enough
And though I’m giving into fear
If I listen I can hear You say

chorus

I am calling…
I am calling…
I am calling…

chorus (2x)

ESPN.com - NBA - Glove in hand: Payton opts to stay with Lakers

huh? considering the fact that he didn't fit in, he still wants to give this a try? well, maybe the fact that shaq's leaving's giving him more oppurtunities to feel better again.

like sam said; there's a HUGE possibility that about 1 yr from now, the laker bandwagon will... GO TO THE CLIPPER BANDWAGON; clippers are a good team, but they've really not being taken notice; just watch... geez, i hope that doesn't happen; socal ppl will suddenly go, "go clippers," but we know there wasn't such thing as a hardcore clipper fan in the first place... a huge lol waiting to happen from the norcal ppl... just glad i'm a warriors fan first and foremost, THEN a kings fan... just in case we ever hit the big time.

also, i love the possibility of tmac and yao ming, but i do like francis, and i really loved the chemistry he had w/yao and the rockets; hope he gets good success in orlando, cause he really didn't wanna go there in the first place. the sad part is though, as much as the nba is entertainment, it is also a business. things like that happen. shaq COULD go to orlando though, so factor that in... although, if he does, i'm not too sure francis would remain in orlando, but i don't want him to become a laker. the possibility of shaq+francis+okafur/howard is there though...

i also heard talk that shaq COULD go to dallas... i hope that DOES NOT happen... don't give me another reason to hate the already hated-on-my-part mavs...

my baked salmon w/miso didn't turn out THAT well; i probably didn't coat enough of the stuff on, cause the fish tasted SOMEWHAT salty; ie not enough brown sugar. was my 1st time though, in all respects. and the salmon steak i bought WAS pretty huge...

haha... check this out... i'm trying audioblogger.com... now i can record anytime for free from my phone, to here.

oh yea; go watch "best damn sports show period" on tuesday; mike dunleavy from norcal's favorite team, gsw's gonna be a guest

(gilbert arenas is also gonna be a guest on wed, but since he's gone, we all don't care bout him no more)

wow... are the lakers done(at least for a while, til the hollywood stars start chipping money in again?)

-kobe bryant's now an unrestricted free agent... i think he really wants to leave now... well, let's make one thing clear; i don't think he'll want to play for shaq; at the very least LA is going to lose one of its superstars.
-shaq will only play for phil jackson, at least that's what he says
-phil jackson is going to leave(therefore, shaq is going to go, by that logic)
-payton wants to leave, cause he doesn't fit into the role player thing, OR, he sucks now; really, so either way LA doesn't have it good w/him; the playoffs(didn't even have to be the finals) showed that he is NOT even a decent player now; i'd rather have george or fisher be a pg, or luke walton.
-malone is a free agent; i'd say he helps glue LA together, but injuries have been a factor in him deciding whether to retire; for him it's either stay or retire.

heh heh... if you're nor cal... you gotta love this... LA's gotta start over the hard way, like most other teams... like the pistons :D not like anyone in LA's listening... they prob think they can just buy talent again... (don't feel bad, LA; you have a chance to get tmac; he should be a good starting ground...) you gotta love the pistons success story... unless if you hate D, only love flashy offense, and only love superstars and scoring(in which i say to you, "your mentality is a disgrace to bball; pick up another sport")

pistons weren't even favored to win the nba championship this year...

poll

i'll be honest though... i thought pistons were (hopefully) going to come out of the east, and thought the spurs were going to win it all... i was wrong... 1 for 2. however i did think the pistons had a good chance of winning against the lakers IF THEY TRIED; guess what; they did. in fact, they tried TOO HARD. 2 of 3.

maybe next year ppl won't hate on the pistons... i doubt it. (that said, i think pistons need to win a 2nd title again, to really show the hard-nosed that they weren't a fluke) ppl still think a superstar can take over. i bet everyone's going, "but LA had no chemistry... a superstar plus role players and chemistry... now THAT'S a winner!" really? all LA really had to do was give the ball to shaq on offense. a soap opera doesn't really take away from the game... they were obviously hating each other before they even got to the finals, but they did well... please, stop w/the nonsense. did you see game 5? they did just that... give it to shaq. did they win? no, because most possessions in game 5 looked more or less like this:

-give the ball to shaq
-shaq hook shots, misses
-ben wallace rips down the rebound(if this guy doesn't convince you to do a hops program just to rebound better, i don't know what will; seeing him work on the defensive end is a JOY)
-fast break, leading to either 2 or 3 pts from ANYBODY(stats show all starters for pistons were in double figures; at one point ben wallace was FIVE FOR FIVE)

btw, what's up with the saying of sports fans going, "my won"? or "yea, they beat my ?" the thing is, ppl always have a favorite team. for me, it's gotta be the warriors, pistons, kings and spurs, in that order. close 5 and 6 are twolves and rockets. however, i don't think i should be allowed to say "my warriors won," or "i hope my warriors get a good draft pick next season;" did i DO anything for that team? did damp call me up last night and say "gjob on that low post move?" no; 12 black guys(or ppl who act like they are) who i have never met in my life won the game, not me. so really, everybody should stop the nonsense of using the term, "my ." call them your favorite team, call them the team that you root for, do whatever you want to show that they're your FAVORITE team, but until you own them, or do something for them, don't call them YOUR team.

hey, i just dl'd "hello;" xanga ppl aren't the only ones who can upload pics to their site; blogger enables you to as well, so i'm trying a test run; this is a photo of my bro w/the guys from "the violet burning," his favorite christian rock band.
Posted by Hello

joe: hey dude
me: hey
joe: how bout them lackers?
joe: hahaha
me: haha
me: so you watched the finals too?
joe: i think i'll buy a pistons jersey and wear it around south central
joe: nope
me: dude... all pistons
joe: but did see the news highlights here
joe: haha
me: every one thought lakers in 6
joe: and i have conference calls w/a coworker in detroit
joe: so i get my updates
joe: i can't stand them stinkin lakers
me: but even pistons in game 2 were pretty close, until kobe launched the 3 ball
me: haha
me: but game 3, was all pistons
me: game 5, pistons actually won by OUTSCORING the lakers
me: they got to 100 :-)
me: then they brought out darko :-)
me: dude, if you wanna buy pistons stuff, you should buy this: http://palacelockerroomstore.com/products/urinal-screen.html
me: i showed it to jon and sam, and they started laughing
joe: haha...i've seen it before
joe: it's great
joe: they should show a photo of shaq or something
joe: it's like peein on shaq
joe: hhaha
me: haha
me: that'd be awesome

my top 10 list you rooted for the pistons because you're a pistons fan, NOT an anti-laker fan(in rough order)(i wrote this cause it just seemed like a lotta fans in norcal rooting against the lakers were anti-laker fans, NOT piston fans who really loved their team):

10. you would've not cared about the finals in the same way if the nets or pacers represented the east
9. you rooted for the pistons BEFORE they got to finals, before your precious insert-your-western-team-here team got beaten in the playoffs
8. you love d over offense anyday, the way the wallaces and prince get up in your face and send that pathetic excuse of a shot out into the crowd
7. you LOVE the fro, and think the face mask is now the next best thing in nba wear(next to the all-classic elbow-band and headband)
6. ben wallace w/the rebound, ben wallace w/the rebound, ben wallace w/the rebound, shaq w/th-no wait, ben wallace w/the rebound... (and you wish you could rebound like him too)
5. you thought the best play of round 2 playoffs was billups sinking that put-up-that-prayer 3, not fisher's 0.4 miracle
4. you LOVE all of tayshaun prince's 84 in wingspan, 6-9 ht, and went "DAAAAAMN!" when he did his thing on miller game 2
3. you knew pistons stood a chance before the finals even started(or at least, made some prediction like "pistons in 5" after seeing game 1)
2. you shouted, "bring out darko!" when 5 min were left in game 5, and started cheering, "go darko!" whenever he got the ball
1. you think pistons have a pretty good chance to repeat 2k4-2k5.

i think #1 pretty much sums it up IMO; a lotta ppl thought that what the pistons did was incredible, and YET, about 80% who replied to the online polls don't think pistons will repeat come next season. ppl STILL don't respect them.

DEEEEEE-troit BAAAAAAA-sket-BAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL!!!

final score: 100 to 87.

were it not for the game 2 miracle by kobe, this would have been a sweep.

larry brown, i am happy for you.

ben wallace, you are the man. you had to do an incredible job of guarding shaq, and while that's like an exercise in futility, that was a full-out heartfelt workout that you gave... and even after that, you still had the energy to fight for every single rebound and drain a couple of shots.

prince, you did an incredible job on kobe, and for that, i commend you. plus, you had some nice wheeling and dealing for game 5; too bad you didn't make that layup when you were fouled, or it would've been SWEET

billups... no comment... he was the offensive backbone of this team. the fact that rip worked alongside of him instead of demanding more minutes meant they got even more done.

in fact, i love all you pistons. and let's not forget darko!

nba.com, post up some videos of big ben's putbacks and his block on shaq plz!

and laker fans, stop taking the pistons for granted now. because tonight has shown that defense does indeed win championships, and close teamwork is always gold over individual talent. it wasn't about what the lakers didn't do, it was about what the pistons did do. and btw, my remark about feeding shaq the ball=success? apparently, i was proven wrong; shaq was definitely fed the ball, but ben and sheed proved too much to him. he couldn't make a lotta shots.

team basketball, with the desire to hustle and be aggressive, and to play with all your heart will always win over talent. we are seeing it now.

i'm gonna repeat what i said to sam, for the entire www viewers to see, after the pistons won game 1 vs la:

"PISTONS IN SIX GAMES OR LESS"

looks like unless la actually plays with character and are willing to give it to shaq on all their possessions, the lakers won't be able to keep the series alive past tuesday.

oh yea, you can buy this for all the ppl in socal if you want(best item i've ever seen; must see):

Beat LA urinal

i love the detroit pistons... game 3 showed why; it's like tom tolbert said, "if it keeps going like this, and they lose the finals, we'll be saying what the pistons did wrong, instead of the lakers"... they are more than a capable team... who says defense doesn't win games? 88-68... haha what's kinda funny is when the game ended, the tv programmers got it wrong, and the score read pistons-68, lakers-88.

i wonder at times why i hate the lakers so much; part of it has to do with the fact that i'm norcal, but i think a lot of it has to do with the fans; a LOT of them are bandwagon fans; you may notice that whenever the lakers make the finals, suddenly EVERYBODY'S a laker fan(it gets more severe when you're in socal, according to sam)... as if the only teams they back are the ones which can win... which is why you see so little socal ppl as clipper fans... why? i think it's obvious. (don't mistake me; i don't think there's anything wrong with a team that wins, but if you're socal, where's the love for that other team you've got? i've got mine for my underdogs...)

and it occurred to me... i wonder at times if that's what God hates as well; "bandwagon fans" i have a feeling that many ppl support religion as a bandwagon fan; they want whatever gives them the wins, whatever looks like it's gonna win. and in most cases, that seems to be themselves. the israelites were like that; they worshipped whatever country's idol seemed to have the greatest success; for instance, at one time, they worshipped the assyrian god because it was the military beast at the time. they wanted the easy way out; this is human tendency.

but the truth, is that God wants followers who stick through the loses as well as the wins. he hates ppl who support him just because of what he gives them, because in a way, that's just loving the gifts he gives you. he wants you to love HIM. THAT'S true love. that is worth more than gold. he in a lotta cases, wants you to love him the same way he loves you; sacrificing everything, overlooking everything you are made of, but your heart for him. i wouldn't be surprised in comparing loving God to being a warriors fan(:D); notice how few warrior fans there are? because a lotta ppl simply don't want to support a team that sucks. (side note; i remember playing ea live 2k4 at my small group leader's house, and both of us were playing on the same team, so i decided we'd go w/warriors against clippers; some other guy remarked, "dude, that's like playing blind") but that's true christianity for you. and when you wait around long enough, they'll pull the occasional win out; ditto w/God; stick around enough, and he'll give the blessing to you.

on wed, i had some arcade fun w/some of the christians from my church... absolutely reamed them playing tekken 3. i used to be able to use heihachi, but i scrapped him, as playing with jin kinda screwed him up for me. now my main characters of interest are jin, nina and law. it's kinda funny when you play fighting games against me; if i absolutely ream you 1st round and notice you don't poke right, etc(basically are dead meat), i start playing lenient 2nd round, except i'm not good at disguising it while looking challenging, so it looks like i'm just walking forward into attacks. without attacking. but yeah; i love standing jab into throw, and standing jab into juggle starter.

do you like my comparison of christianity and bball? hit me up...

this is what ben wallace said to stuart scott after game 1(paraphrased cause i don't know exactly what he said):

scott: y'kno, a lotta ppl would think that an afro would be less aerodynamic, because the wind in the hair would slow you down

ben: well now, when i start running, the wind starts getting in that afro, and starts lifting me off the ground a bit, and i start jumping higher and get off the ground better

scott: so it's not about the game anymore, it's about afros and cornrows

ben: exactly

(HAHAHAHA)

i don't wanna brag too much, cause game 2's equally important, but...

NOW WILL YOU LAKER FANS TAKE THE PISTONS SERIOUSLY?