i am so getting "alter bridge's" 1st cd... i can't believe the talent that mark tremonti exhibits on it, just by listening to the samples on the website... it sounds so much like ol skool rock. GOOD ol skool rock. i don't think i could play any of the songs he plays on the cd anytime soon... all these awesome techniques that you ONLY hear from ol skool stuff, and never find these days... and i'm not just talking about the riffs; it's the way he's playing them that make them stand out. utilizing the wah pedal to full effect, how he hammers with his left fingers to play the note, instead of strumming it, bending to emphasize the note, pull-offs, vibrato, etc, etc... not to mention his left finger speed is amazing... he's seriously way... too... crazy... yeah, it's hard and heavy. but the techniques... i've seen my bro do stuff like this, so i know... i have a visual picture of what mark is somewhat doing with each song... it's too crazy. maybe that's why i like hard rock so much... you don't see ppl in any other genre doing stuff like this on their guitars... they just strum it... the rare gems of hard rock and classic rock are top tier guitar, period.

and i'm scratching the fantasy of getting an electric violin a while after i get a job; after listening to yellowcard, a punk rock band which SUPPOSEDLY sets itself apart from other bands by having an electric violinist, i don't hear the difference. i really don't. i couldn't even figure out that they had a violinist until reading it; just sounded like a 2nd guitarist.

here's to the warriors making the playoffs this year... it's about time...
here's to the pistons repeating(if warriors don't make finals, of course :D)... and proving the doubters wrong again, and showing that they play the best d in the league(who else can hold so many teams under 70 pts? right after they got rasheed last year, their d just REALLY caught on fire and they even held the showtime lakers to under 70 pts one finals game... that was sweet)... ben wallace better go crazy blocking shots again... it's why i love him so much.
here's to the lakers not making the playoffs... given that they're the lakers, they'll probably be in the post season eventually, but if they could not make the playoffs this year, that'd be so sweet...
here's to the celtics actually doing better this year... paul pierce better be on fire now that he doesn't have to do the majority of the dribbling...
here's to the mavs sucking... because quite frankly, i hate erick dampier for leaving us, let alone leave to dallas, of all places... it's like the equivalent of giving up shaq for gs... i dislike him the same way sam dislikes arenas for leaving... if i ever go to a dallas vs gs game, i'm booing damp everytime he touches the ball...

here's to someone stapling shaq's mouth shut for the rediculously stupid things he says, and somebody else crushing kobe's love for money...

there's probably more nba shoutouts of mine, but these are the main ones... damn... the west is like one huge power struggle right now... just for fun, if i were to name the top 5 of each conference:

west:
1.spurs
2.twolves
3.kings
4.grizzlies
5.nuggets

1 and 2 are no-brainers, maybe even tied, or exchangeable; both are well-balanced, and can pretty much hang w/anyone. i put spurs over though, cause their backcourt talent is slightly better, and duncan has a better center to help him out; IF(and that's the big word), parker gets on fire, he can be very hard to contain and then just draws d to him like metal shards to a magnet when he's running amok. after that, it gets kinda iffy, IMO; you could throw in rockets, maybe even dallas(or a ton of other teams, to be honest; utah you could make a case for). kings i'm still wondering about, cause they lost divac, and it seems a bit of their chemistry, but if they learn to play d again and just torch others on the perimeter, i think they can hang. grizzlies did surprisingly good last year, that's why i put them there. nuggets have kenyon martin, so yea... i am P.R.A.Y.ING DOT COM that lakers don't make this list... but then, they DO have kobe...

east:
1.pistons
2.pacers
3.heat
4.celtics
5.cavs

no 1's a no brainer; they can hold any offense down, and easily the deepest team, so they're the obvious number 1 dot com. i put pacers above heat because they're deeper, and j.o. bulked up during the summer. but that doesn't mean heat sucks; if you have a selfless player and shaq, that's already a good team. 4 and 5 i'm still kinda iffy about. however, both seem to be well-balanced teams, so they stand a chance. on the celtic side, mark blount seemed to get better. and the addition of payton means pierce can concentrate upon shooting. cavs have lebron, so yea... you could also make a case for philly since samuel is only going to get better defensively. nets aren't there cause they lost kenyon martin.

Hahahaha...

If Ben Wallace came up w/this commercial idea himself, he is seriously more funny than I originally thought.

so what if they're preseason wins... i'll take em if gs can get them; it shows that their benchers are not bad players.

This is current of me as of today, I guess, for your reading pleasure:

Music equipment:
Fender Squier II Stratocaster electric guitar
Boss SD-2 Dual Overdrive effects pedal
Dod FX-75B Stereo Flanger effects pedal
Dod FX55B Supra Distortion effects pedal
Dunlop Crybaby Wah Wah effects pedal
Fender Deluxe 112 amplifier
Peavey Blazer 158 amplifier
Various electric guitar strings
Various guitar cables of different lengths
Jim Dunlop .73 mm guitar picks

Other equipment:
Panasonic earbuds
Power Strip
Power Strip saver
Boss PSA-120T AC Adaptor
Electro-Harmonix AC Adaptor
Radioshack 1/4" mono to 1/8" stereo adapter
Toshiba laptop
Yamaha speakers

Main software:
Cakewalk Music Creator 2K3 software
Hammerhead Rhythm Station software
Audio Phonics Guitar Tuner software
dB power AMP Music Converter software

Main guitar setup:

Stratocaster -> Dual Overdrive pedal -> Flanger pedal -> Wah pedal -> Amplifier -> Laptop -> Speakers/Headphones

I run a guitar cable out the "preamp out" or "output" end of the amplifier, then connect it to the 1/4" mono to 1/8" stereo adapter, and then plug that into the sound card slot on my laptop. This is the main way I set up my equipment for recording, or tuning. I also run out of the output section of the sound card of my laptop to some yamaha speakers. However, when I do vocals, I plug some headphones/earbuds in instead, so that the mic doesn't pick up any extra sound; I also have to unplug the amp from the laptop and connect a mic in its place.

this happened a WHILE back on aim when jerm was still @home... but it was so friggin funny that when i pulled up the .txt file i had to break out in laughter... here we go... (caution: do NOT read if you do NOT like having too much bad imagery shoved in your mind...)

jerm: hey. rich.. where do you buy your sheet music from?
me: i don't haha
jerm: oh. lol darn
me: well, when i was still in violin, maybe from world of music
me: but unlikely, seeing my last violin teacher just photocopied my music
jerm: haha
jerm: i had the same teacher as yu
jerm: he would just walk outside to the copier
jerm: and the thing would move left then right
jerm: it was annoying. for me at least haha
me: haha
me: haha me and sam were talking about me adding weight training to my hops program, then i suggested swimming
me: and then we just sorta started talking about swimming
me: did you ever get 1st in your comp?
jerm: haha
jerm: yea
jerm: all the time
jerm: butterfly and backstroke
jerm: actually i only got first like 4 times.. haha
jerm: i got mostly 5ths and 7ths
me: i see
me: but that's still good; i never got 1st... EVER
jerm: really??
jerm: that's proly cuz you swam at the hard meets
me: i think once, if i had chosen to do 100 m backstroke, i would've gotten 1st
me: cause there were only 2 swimmers in my age group that day
me: haha
me: and so i would've swam backstroke solo :-D
jerm: lol
me: but i did get 4th at a finals, so i guess that counts for something
me: i forgot the exact name of the swim meet then, but yea, that was cool, although i took it hard on myself that i could've got better
jerm: haha
jerm: i think you woulda been good at breaststroke
me: haha just like tim duncan :-)
me: i wanted to be better at butterfly, but i just don't have the arm strength or the ab strength
jerm: haha butterfly is sooo hard
me: i'd maybe get about 40 yrds in good form, and then i'd fall apart
jerm: haha
jerm: that's why when i dive i spend like half the lap underwater
jerm: and then sprint the last half
jerm: and win heheh
me: haha
me: i had this thing i used to do during swim meets
me: to get myself to burst
me: like maybe about 10 yrds outside of the other side, i'd stop coming up to breathe
me: and tell myself not to breathe til i get to the wall
me: so in that sense, it forces you to swim that much harder to get to the wall
jerm: haha
jerm: but you lose sooo much oxygen
me: heh
me: not really
jerm: lol
me: although it works great for freestyle
jerm: your just lucky.. you didn't go like won't breathe until wall
jerm: and faint ahaa
me: not so good w/butterfly
me: i think the breathing is part psychological
jerm: haha
me: when you start getting excited, you start needing to come up for air a bit more
jerm: but your workign your muscles so hard
me: if you just calm down your mind, you can push a bit more underwater
me: true, true
me: but i think part of the burning in swimming naturally comes from your lungs
jerm: yea
me: since swimming's prob the only sport where you have that additional factor of oxygen to worry about
jerm: but once you swim a lot. your lungs expands a lot and you can hold more
me: that's true, so more time underwater :-)
me: now you start not breathing @20 yrds out :-)
jerm: haha
me: man, so wish it was high school again
me: i would've tried to stay on the sunnyvale swim team
jerm: hehe
jerm: i woulda stayed on DACA
jerm: and not gotten so fat
me: instead of opting out
me: cause the main reason i quit was cause i thought i took so much timeout of hw
me: but it's not like i used my time wisely after that anyways
jerm: oh
jerm: hahaha
jerm: if we only knew how to mangae our time wisely
me: i'm sure you would've benefitted from swimming a couple extra years too
jerm: yea
jerm: wouldn't have gained so much weight
me: haha i never got to swim against you
me: i went to daca for a meet once though
me: but i got burned
jerm: haha
me: everybody at daca's so good i think
jerm: maybe it was by ME!
me: haha
me: prob
me: wouldn't be surprised
jerm: lol
me: plus i miss the good ol days when ppl wouldn't mock you for wearing a speedo ohimean thong
me: haha
jerm: hha
jerm: mine wore down near the crotch/butt area once
jerm: and i didn't know
me: haha
jerm: so i bent over to dive
jerm: and ppl behind me were like.. OMG I SEE YOU JEREMY I SEE YOUR PRIVATES
jerm: AND YOUR BUTTCRACK
me: hahahahahahahahhahahahahha
jerm: i was like wha???
jerm: and hella embarassed..
jerm: i hella messed up my dive and went belly flop
jerm: hhe.. good 'ol days
me: dude, have i ever told you when my speedo got RAGGED UP?
jerm: nope!
me: shoot man, worst 2 hrs of my life
me: basically, my speedo got pretty damn ripped up usually
me: but i never really consider it, cause, it never gets that bad
me: but once it started ripping pretty badly in the back
jerm: haha
jerm: ripping???
jerm: lol
me: and so the other guys kept going "hey rich i can see your crack" one practice
me: but i was too timid to tell the coach i wanted to quit for the day cause my speedo was ripped up in the back showing off my butt
me: so i just kept swimming
me: and it just got worse
me: shoot man why did i even wear that thing? i should've just swam naked, it would've been the same thing
me: and every time i finished a set i would like turn my back so it faced the wall so ppl wouldn't see, but they knew, oh they knew
jerm: hahaha
me: and just kept making fun of me :-)
jerm: LOL
jerm: it was ripping!!??!!!
jerm: lol
me: yea
jerm: pretty much you were just swimming w/ a loincloth ahha
me: from top to bottom... in the back
me: pretty much
me: i'm only glad the coach didn't laugh at me
jerm: how'd you get out of the pool?
me: that would've done it in
jerm: hehe
me: jumped and ran :-)
me: for the locker :-)
jerm: hahaa
me: covering my ass with my hand
jerm: lol i can seey ou doign that for some reason eheh
me: and THEN for the stupidest reason i still want to have a shower
me: so you know how like swim showers are all together in one place?
me: more mockery and shame for me
jerm: yup
jerm: lol
me: yea...
jerm: shoulda jsut showered naked =)
me: haha
me: eh, why not... should've, would've been the same
jerm: roflmao
me: well, the only plus side was that the speedo did cover my privates
jerm: this definitely desereves a roflmao
me: like adam w/fig leaves :-)
me: now i know how he must've felt after eating that apple
me: damn adam, if he didn't eat that apple, i would've felt NO SHAME
jerm: hahahahahaa
jerm: alrite time for me to sleep
jerm: i'll ttyl
jerm: have a goodngiht
me: later man

We... WON?!?!?!??!?

stop bsing me... NINERS ACTUALLY WON A FRIGGIN GAME?!?!?!?!?

(on the other hand, i'd rather they lose this game if it would've kept julien peterson fresh; he's a pro bowler and clearly our best player, let alone our best defensive player; where does that leave us, if this niner team is not one which airs it up as well anymore, and where our d was supposedly a bit better in quite a few years, but now loses a big chunk of it? d# wins championships after all...)

i know by myself i don't have the strength to do it, but with god's strength i can do it... that is my motivation these days for spurring on and not letting off...

everybody with your fist raised high/ lemme hear your battlecry tonight/ stand beside or step aside/ we're on the frontline

-chorus from pillar's frontline

http://www.irenejackson.com/genres.html

interesting indeed... i used to say what i liked was "rock," and left it at that; i couldn't really classify what i liked about it, only that i tended to like the more "talented" versions of it like guns 'n' roses and creed, but that i also tended to like the heavier versions of this stuff, like um, alter bridge and 12 stones. this website kinda helps sort that out. and i agree w/the website; a lot of the stuff we pass as alternative rock these days(jars of clay) is more akin to indie than alternative rock. in fact, WHAT THE HELL IS ALTERNATIVE ROCK? it's probably one of the most vague terms ever given to music. some of the stuff i've heard on this genre ranges from all the way soft to all the way hard.

so basically, with that website in mind, i changed my profile yet again(i seem to spend more time changing my profile than updating my blog).

and yeah, the 70s was the golden age of rock. talent abound.

which brings me to another thought... perhaps the deterioration of rock has been linked to another culprit; the increasing emphasis upon rhythm, and deemphasis upon melody and harmony. well, harmony's more or less always been there. but it seems that we seem to take the rhythm more seriously now. you could say this is partially linked to R&B and hip-hop, two genres greatly associated with rhythm and not harmony and melody. people want something they can dance to or something. it's pretty damn hard to dance to 70s style rock. but anyways, just go listen to any punk song on the internet. it sounds like they're hacking the same 3 power chords over and over again, and singing/screaming some weird thing. no variation of melody. rock has never really been danceable to, but at the least, the modern stuff is a bit more danceable. granted, the 70s rock wasn't exactly nice on the ears when it came to the vocals(remember the good ol feminine vocals coming from a male's throat? since i still listen to this stuff, i most certainly do), but i'm referring to the guitar, the essential soul of rock. guys like eddie van halen, jimi hendrix, guns n roses, (my brother used to LOVE rush) used to go nuts on their axes, and you could tell it. nowadays, those type of guys are rare... because of what i've said; the overemphasis upon rhythm. (mark tremonti, i salute you)

of course, i can't tell people who love indie and alternative and pop to drop their preferences and go for the throwback, since maybe these artists aren't trying to go for that type of sound, but i dunno... i end up feeling like they aren't bringing out their talent fully in their songs... do i throw a 2nd yr violinist into an ochestra just cause that's the minimum time he needs (if there was such a requirement), so he can (supposedly) start making money as soon as possible? it feels something like that these days; bands simply forming cause they can make money at the earliest point in time, not because they have good abilities and are willing to flex it despite what the public wants. "hey! i've learned 3 power chords! let's form a band!" i guess what i'm trying to say is, don't bring down classical rock, and don't act like the modern stuff you listen to is the best thing ever. some of the stuff these days is good, but the overall picture is that it's a bit... lacking. because music companies are about making money, not about talent. why else are the purists saying "rock is dead?"

tree63 - king

we have heard the thunder/ and we have seen the storm/ echoes of your kingdom coming/ rumors of our home/ where one day we will stand before you lord/ our altogether beautiful reward

and we will give you glory/ bring you honor/ king above all kings/ you deserve our everything/ we will lift our voices/ with your praises/ jesus you are our king

for now we walk in darkness/ for now we see in part/ right now we warm by the burning flames of the fire in our hearts/ you promised you would lead us to your throne/ well we will worship you/ and you alone/ its you alone

(we will give you glory)and we'll lift you up jesus/ (we will give you glory)and we'll give you glory/ (we will give you glory)jesus/ (we will give you glory)and we'll lift you up lord/ (we will give you glory)we will give you glory/ (we will give you glory)/ (we will give you glory)yeah yeah/ (glory)

and we will give you glory/ bring you honor/ king above all kings (king above all kings)/ you deserve our everything/ we will lift our voices/ with your praises/ jesus you are/ jesus you are/ jesus you are our king

http://www3.telus.net/jefmil/stairwaybackwards.htm

interesting site... i don't think jerm will be so happy to find out pokemon contains satanic messages when played backwards... IT'S A SCAM PPL! OUR KIDS ALL GONNA DIE!

foxtrot - college fball

quite reflective of the priorities of men vs women, as well as college fball eh?

p.s... for those of you who don't get it... the guy's doing the right thing :D

this is what happens when you don't eat the potatoes you bought, for, let's say, 1 month. although the green buds are poisonous, just peel the potatoes as usual and i think you should be ok. 

i find it funny that yesterday, as i was waiting to fill some time before the physics lecture, that i spent some time at the mu games area, and some ppl were crowded around the big screen near the bowling lanes... boston > anaheim(yes!) 9-3... (down w/socal!) and down w/the yankees!

then i go outside a few minutes later, attend lec... come back, there's another tv outside at the cafe area... a bit MORE ppl are crowded around... i wonder what's up, so i walk closer, thinking it's gonna be some espn recap of the game... it's the presidential debate... (now here's where it gets funny)... my initial reaction is "AWWWW! they're only gathered for the presidential debate? whatever!" and walk off... of course, i didn't say it out loud, but pretty much my thoughts were "i need to know whether or not socal's gonna suffer miserably like us, NOT whether kerry burned ppl to the ground in vietnam!"

and personally, i have to wonder why we even have presidential debates. because seriously, a lot of the ppl who want to vote this year, have already made their minds up. nobody goes into the debate w/an open mind, well, maybe 20% of the ppl. the rest just want to see their party rival's leader screw up in front of millions, so that they can justify their choosing of their leader. and since this is ca, i bet most ppl(ESPECIALLY ON A UC CAMPUS) watched it hoping bush would say something stupid or something like that. and that is the truth. even if they do go in w/an open mind, i know they're still slightly partial to whom they're gonna choose... "well, i think some of the stuff kerry said on the debate was stupid... but i'm still voting for him, because i don't like bush."

i wish we could get somebody else OTHER than kerry or bush as president. that's my personal opinion. i think bush has never admitted once that he's wrong, which probably makes a lotta ppl lose trust in him, and i have reservations about kerry. but this is america; nobody wants to vote for some small ass party. they wanna jump on the big party bandwagon. so it'll never work. which is ironic, because that's the same attitude ppl take towards NOT voting... "oh, it's only 1 vote, what can I do?"

http://www.yojoe.com/commercials/93/streetfighter93.rm

this is perhaps THE cheesiest commercial i have ever seen... had me rolling a bit the 1st time i saw it.

Got milk but can't stomach it?

Sounds like my Food Science & Technology 10 class' textbook all over again. I must have the caucasian gene somewhere inside my cells then, cause I seem to be able to handle an extremely high amount of milk per day(which I greatly thank God for; genetics only accounts for so much of your build; if you don't intake the proper nutrients, you only produce of shell of what you could be); only once in my lifetime have i managed to reach that limit, and it was not from a milk-drinking contest either. it was when i ONLY wanted to drink milk one day, and then it hit me(i'll spare you the details unless you want me to go all out, heh heh)

basically, our body only produces the substance needed to digest milk during our childhood, then gradually slows down production of it as we age. without those substances, you get the runs. however, if you keep ingesting diary foods, your body will think it still nees to produce the substance. and that is why i am not lactose intolerant for quite a large degree; i'm not ENTIRELY lactose tolerant, but my tolerance is pretty high; i could go for maybe 6 or even 7 tall cups a day if i wanted, if i spaced them out and drank them like the 8 cups a day for water we all need.

i was bored, so i fooled around with my webcam; let's just more or less make the caption of this picture "what richard does on a sunday night when he doesn't feel like studying" 

who would've thought college football would contain so many cool highlight reels on espn's top 10 countdown?

no 10: some defender is tailing a streaking wide receiver; the qb bombs it; the defender jumps up over the wide receiver, REACHES OVER with 1 HAND, and picks it off.

somewhere along no 7: notre dame get a kickoff return; the returner takes it all the way for the touchdown, but not before doing this NASTY spin move shaking off his defender

no 2: another punt return; different game. one of the defenders just RAMS over the returner; they just kept replaying it, it was so crazy; you could hear the crack, and the returner looked like he was gonna flip over falling backwards.

i'm not gonna get into what no 1 was; i think everybody in norcal knows what it was... sadly...

http://www.espnvideogames.com/
hahahahahah... ohhhh man...

i was wondering when they were finally gonna put a defensive player on an nba video game cover.

guess who's on sega's espn nba 2k5?

none other than "big ben" wallace!

hehehe... i'm just getting a big grin as i'm looking at it and contemplating this... fear the fro, bitches! :D

never listen to pillar, or any hard rock album beyond 11:00, or 1 hr before whenever you plan on sleeping. christian or not, you won't be able to fall asleep for a bit. that's the truth. lesson learned... the good thing is that today is not the 1st day of class for me.

now, i dunno exactly how i'm gonna say this next, so bear with me...
i wonder how much(if any) of what is holy/evil can be decided superficially? it's more or less established that christians are to test everything, then hold onto the good, right? and more or less, most of the cases are determined by what the "internal" mindset is. that's why we're smart enough to know everything with a devil+horns on it doesn't automatically make it evil, like how everything with feathery wings and a halo on the head is not always considered good. the fact that satan himself tries to tempt us by changing into an angel of light is hardcore evidence on that part.
so... what about music? is everything based upon the lyrics? does a song with the words "praise god" in it already make it holy? i think they're been research on classical music aimed at plants vs hard rock, and they found that the plants failed to grow a bit more when exposed to the heavy metal. however, we can't just brush a song with the words "praise god" in it away... (on the other hand, it's like saying "praise god" while killing innocent ppl, or stealing, or something like that... is THAT right?) so it's this weird debate, if you can call it that, that i've been recently mulling over for a bit. is there such thing as an "evil melody/harmony/rhythm?" i mean, in all honesty, hard rock can often sound quite in a word, "evil" at times. but isn't that just a superficial view?
or do we classify such music as neutral, like water; hurts or harms depending on the user, and the way it's used? i mean, there's a lotta things in life that are, "neutral." even during paul's time, eating meat was a problem, because we all knew how some of the jews were having a hard time adjusting from this idea of a kosher lifestyle to a "free-for-all-unless-it-causes-you-to-sin." i have a verse that i personally linked at the top of my journal here(forgot which one, but it's there), which addresses that; if anyone eats meat and falls into sin, i shall never eat meat again.

i dunno... i don't think i'll be able to arrive at a conclusion w/this debate. how can we say that music does NOT induce a person to do harm? it's sorta like the whole debate against video game violence; yeah, i don't believe that it in general causes a kid to want to kill a person on the spot, but it's not like it's making them holier either. in the same way, yeah, hard rock probably won't ever induce me to kill anybody or the like, but there'll be times when it rears its ugly head inside of me.

that said, hard rock does have one good purpose; pumping yourself up. the beauty of music is that while ppl like it to soothe you down, it can also be used to amp you up. i get truly annoyed everytime ppl try to shut hard rock down by saying it's too loud, too hard, doesn't make me feel relaxed. to be honest, i never truly thought hard rock was MEANT to soothe you. go listen to jazz or classical if you want to feel relaxed. go listen to hip hop or hard rock or something equivalent if you want to pump yourself up for a game or something.

which probably brings me to the very last thought for today on music; as a songwriter; does this mean that if i want to pump others up, i have to bring a hard rock feel to a piece? does this mean that when i want to soothe, i go for a slow, not-distorted, quiet feel? probably. so MAYBE the conclusion on music is this: match the lyrics with the melodies/harmonies/rhythms... don't be singing about god's love and not worrying when you're overloading the amp with some power chords and distortion... bring some lyrics about a spiritual war and staying hard and on the path like it's a war or something... that's the way to go.

so yes... pillar - frontline, fits quite well...

Mixed Blessings - Are secular life ceremonies the wave of the future? By Michael?Kress

errrr... or it could just tabloid hype... will have to depend upon how the general public feels. however, the general public has generally been known to feel like they believe in God, but aren't religious. something that seems like something that this thing is advertising.

ppl gotta stop getting married in LA... i felt like i had attended a youth group on sunday. sunday's message wasn't THAT biblical based IMO, but felt more like a spokesman pitch for gideons. but you have to still appreciate the effort they put into their work. i see these guys appear during about the 1st 2 weeks in ucd, handing out green booklets, knowing that some of them will be refused, others taken, but thrown away, ripped, etc. i should've asked them what the percentage of people who got converted off of the pocket bibles in college, over say high school and jr high. however, we'd have to factor the various college campuses too; those probably have more impact, since they relate more, than the old guys handling out their alien green book. last school year, i saw some of them forced to talk with someone at a nearby high school who probably wanted them to leave. then i see some high school kids who boarded the ucd bus take their bibles and throw it outside at the people. and my blood boiled... but i didn't do anything. because i'm too shy to get up and smack the kid around in a fit of rage. (so i'm ashamed; i didn't do anything, but it was for the wrong motives)

how did the niners not even score a field goal? that's just sad... no defense, no offense... what else to say? at least with good offense(something ppl usually associate with sf), you'd trade blows, but they didn't even have that. meanwhile, the raiders did a lot better, because raiders have always been a bit more grounded in defense. and they have sapp now too.

i predict trouble for philly down the road... i love t.o. and donovan, but their defense suX... they won the game vs the lions, but that was cuz the lion's defense sucked... philly sucked at defending against kickoff returns, and against rushing...

and the chiefs pretty much went down the drain... definitely not the same team compared to last year... too bad...

pillar - bring me down is not that bad of an album... if anything, it's probably the best cd that i have for pumping myself up. pillar - frontline is one of the best at doing that. i'm making sure that before turkey bowl, that i pop it into the saturn and blast it while driving to kennedy :D i just hope i don't milk the song til it feels numb on my ears. i have a tendency to, whenever i hear a new song that i like, "milk it;" listen to it exclusively until i don't like it that much, instead of working it into my playlist on windows media player. tree63 - king is already starting to feel slightly like that.

T.O.'s hella pimp... and ppl were wondering if he'd fit in w/philly's offense :) go long foo! oh yea, he has a gold mouthguard; had no friggin idea, til he smiled on abc. you could've argued that the vikings should've won that game though; they just made a LOT of key errors. dante should've made a couple of touchdowns, instead, penalties galore prevented him from doing so. the fumble was probably the dagger though.

there goes kobe's image... all you socal ppl can thank whatever snitch decided to drop the tape in the mailbox... and now kobe has to deal with vanessa that he also does the same stuff with this girl called michelle. yeap, looking more and more like mj alright... maybe he'll divorce like him too? (god forbid)

so many nba stars wanting to be traded. kg must be the only nba player to stick it through all the way... for that, i have great respect for kg. he didn't always have a great lineup of teammates, unlike duncan. but he was willing to stay. not like tmac, going all "trade me," or vince now, or jkidd. of course, you could say kg is UP there in terms of the current best nba players. so that might've convinced him he could work with the twolves, even when they're subpar. that's true. i have no really good answer for that. but jkidd and tmac aren't exactly pushovers either.

how in the world did i bowl 127 yesterday? i barely break 90 on average!

once i get a job, i should seriously consider a 2nd electric guitar, amongst other things; i'm been keeping my strat so much in the drop C tuning, that for a while, it was hard trying to keep it in standard E tuning; the pegs just kept loosening up.

finale notepad 2005's really good; i thought 2k4 was pretty good, 2k5 enables you to write guitar tablature while you hear it being played, besides the regular sheet music. making it so much easier to deal with. you can also do so w/an electric bass setup. i need a keypad though.

are they ever gonna move the remaining 3 benches to the back of the church?

hurricane ivan must be god's way of balancing out global warming's effects of an extremely long summer, and short winter. short story is: man can go ahead and do whatever he wants to the environment, because god will always right it :D *end sarcastic voice*

i've been thinking alot about how we use certain instruments, and how we make full use of them. doesn't matter what instrument, just how we gradually learn to make full use of them... guitars, arcade joysticks, keyboard+mouse for fps, gamepads... drums... i think the term that comes to mind is "extension of your hand" or even "extension of your mind/will." once you begin to learn how to use these things, get used to them, and know what you want, these instruments become more or less, an "extension of your mind." i think that's the term used to describe when someone can wield something very well.
i'm not perfect at fighting games; at least, not ALL of the ones i play. but when i begin to truly understand the game engine, what my character is capable of, what the opponent is capable of, and my execution starts to get down and the experience builds up, i can practically just think "COMBO!" and my hands will react. or "RUN!" and i'll immediately do it; my hands just do what they need to do. i don't need to think, "press light punch, then light kick," "move the joystick like this, keep your hand straight," etc... no, it just happens. i may just think "bread and butter, corner on light" and it happens. at the beginning, my hands probably won't react exactly the way i want; i'll probably screw up a few big damage combos, or end up doing some wrong move when i wanted something else. or i might not get the game engine exactly or what my opponent brings to the table. but again, it starts to build up, and then it's practically just a mind's thought of what i need or want to do. i'm practically connected to the joystick.
let's not even deal with something that only i have an interest in mind; let's take for example, driving. or, let's make it a bit more complex. driving stick. at the beginning, you haven't gotten the stuff down; so you stall and crud for a bit. your left foot doesn't exactly match the sync of your right foot and the right hand that operates the shifter. but gradually, you begin to ease into the car. know what it's capable of. know what you need to do to bring out its ability. and you build on the experience. gradually, driving becomes an "extension of your mind." you want to move forward, and the car responds; the body just knows what it needs to do to get there. no need of intermediate thoughts, because there are none; you don't fear stalling. the steering wheel, clutch, gas, brake, etc, are all now "extensions of your mind."
now, i just suddenly have a novel thought on this; isn't that what the body of christ is supposed to be? there's many ways you could see this(god's the brain, and we're the hands/feet, etc), but i'll see it that we're sorta this clunky, huge machine that is capable of doing a LOT... god's just a man just trying to ease into getting to know us(however, unlike an instrument, we also are getting know him, but then again, my hands aren't exactly trying to get to know my brain either), but we're not responding the way he's liking us to. but we're trying to become closer to him, like a hand to a brain, so that he can take charge of us more smoothly. gradually, we become almost an extension of his mind, and then, when he wants something to be done, he doesn't even need to think about what he needs to do to make things occur; we just do it, cause we're so in tune w/him. no intermediate thoughts no more.

thanks a lot for giving up what was essentially a guarenteed win, 49ers! you disappoint me...

thanks for the message this sunday on worship, pastor tim...

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