jedi knight's finished... on both sides... fuunny how they give more cutscenes when you're using the light side though. now onto the fun multiplayer game... i'm pretty sure i'll end up using light side more than dark side online, although that remains to be seen... or whether i might use the uber disciple ranking...

third strike: characters i play on learning sometime in the near future: urien and yun.

i bet i'm gonna turn out looking black in the next msm directory; when the guy tried to take my photo, i thought i heard, "one..." then he snapped the pic... so i wasn't smiling when that happened. ah well.

and we played mafia @msm fellowship yesterday. i was one of the mafia... and we won. it was great... good strategy on our part.

i feel bad for ben wallace... he must have like at least 8 older siblings... that's a lotta peeps he's gonna mourn for if he lives to a ripe old age... anyways, get better soon man! pistons need your defensive effort!

i dunno whether i REALLY like the kings anymore... not that me considering myself norcal means i'm a kings fan at no 1, more like a warriors fan... i still like em, but... eh... you could say they're hella bad defensively... plus, now they look like the lakers of past(teammates bickering, etc)...

dreyer's pumpkin ice cream is hella good. has cinnamon and nutmeg in it. pumpkin pie style. now, if they made it ol skool 31 baskin robbins style(add chunks of cheesecake, complete w/graham cracker bits), that'd be top tier(btw, why don't they bring back that flavor? that was good stuff...)

speaking of which... mmm... pumpkin pie.

http://espn.starwave.com/media/nba/2004/0707/photo/g_kobe_frt.jpg

what the hell is kobe looking at in that pic anyways? :D

dialect is dialect... don't hate on it... what, you think you're better just cause you speak the language of a better society, or a better state, etc? bullshit.

our apt now has 3rd strike, and my fingers are just CRYING that i need a joystick... ps controller... so... frikkin... bad... for fighting games. but i still manage to have a 30+ win streak on jerm :D it's partially cause sometimes i'll just watch ppl playing 3rd strike in the mu, so i understand theory-fighter-wise how to play the game, but it's also cause he always has these patterns he goes into occasionally, like not tick throwing(hence i could just sit and block all day if i wanted to), not being able to combo into super, doing special moves that leave him in bad recovery if blocked, etc. he also almost always eats overheads when getting up. the big one though, is that he just doesn't know how to poke well right now. i have a lotta weaknesses too right now, but concerning what i'm playing with, they're manageable.

don't get me wrong though, it's not like jerm's trying to improve upon himself. but i guess i'm not the only one suffering from the crap ass ps controller. the d-pad sucks; you can't roll it at all. if you do, it feels really awkward. sony must've been on crack when they were designing the pad. and i'd say ditto w/x-box controller(crap ass)... best pad i've ever used of any system, was interact's propad 6. THAT was a good pad. not a lotta features, but it was smooth. i pulled off dragon punches on either side at will. if i couldn't do something, it was because of me, not the pad. of course, a mass stick is still the ultimate for me... when it comes to joysticks. but it costs even more than an x-arcade... so we'll shoot for that(should be fine for our purposes, unless we go slam-crazy on the joystick or yank it til it breaks)

retreat was great...

too many parallels w/the good ol summer redwood though... sometimes, i end up associating retreat with a place where you go to get back in touch w/nature, play bball on a saturday afternoon, eat so-so cafeteria food, etc... met a lotta ppl during the retreat, and saturday night's sermon really spoke to me.

the fact that me and jon went outside into the cold night on saturday night when they gave us time to pray, and just confessed our sins to each other, then prayed for each other(compared to just throwing prayer requests @each other), is a really great start to improving a christian relationship... i think the idea of corporate confession is great, i just never had the courage to try it... i think it'd be a good idea to expand this and see if me, jon, jerm can't like once a month get together and just confess and pray for each other.

it's funny though, in our small groups, two korean guys start going "so-CAAL!" two others then chime in with "sa-cra-men-TO!" then me and this other guy named david go "bay areA!" then i throw out "WO-RRIORS!" :D he echoes, and i follow w/"we got suck... and we're proud of it!" david then mocked one of the so-cal guys "that's right... who beat you in preseason?" :D

jedi knight's so fun... can't wait to start the whole multiplayer thing all over again. or just give one of my cds to jerm, so we can play together...

jedi knight: dark forces 2 is such a fun fps game. not to take anything away from counter-strike, but yeah... definitely underplayed... there's like only 8 consistent ppl on msn's zone.com playing that game. a lotta ppl might say the force powers take away from the game, make it unbalanced, but i actually think they're well-balanced enough to throw a sort of balance into the game you don't find in most other fps games... the force powers counter each other(i don't think there's one dominating force power; absorb uses a lot of energy, grip has a lotta ways to be broken, and protection gives up too much to be useful in multi), and no weapon is overall TOO dominating... they could've made the grenades function much like cs does; in jk, you have to hold down as long as you want to throw, and it changes the arc too while you're at it... so many times i've botched a grenade throw because i didn't hold the grenade long enough. technically, you could even rock w/fists and force powers alone... (haven't gotten around to multi yet, cause i'm gonna try to finish the single game first) light side's a lot better playing w/guns, but dark side does a lot better inside. so you notice the balance there.

it's funny, cause when i first tried to play cs, i drew upon my previous knowledge of playing the trial version of jk online vs others...(which, btw, wasn't too good, cause i played w/keyboard exclusively, not w/the mouse) now that i actually bought the real version for $10, i can't help but strafe and stop much like i do w/counterstrike. and sometimes i'll throw a grenade into a room right before i rush in.

but then again, sometimes i'll just run into a room and pull everybody's weapons away w/my force powers, then just proceed to hack the limbs off of everybody w/the lightsaber... just like old times.

there'd better be 30 game rooms up once i get done w/the single player and get back to playing multiplayer w/this game.

new nba season, new temptations to pull me away from doing work properly...

-for all those ppl who were hyping up the rockets to be the next shaq and kobe, detroit certainly made them look like them... prince made tmac shoot HORRIBLY(go prince!), and yao was also very limited in his shots... i love ben wallace and prince. both wallaces had putbacks, and sheed was on fire the 4th.

-how in the hell did ak get 8 blocks against the new lakers? :D well, i think we now know lakers are not invincible. jazz are certainly a step higher than the nuggets, since this team plays d. i'd still say, that the lakers might look slightly better than the heat, just cause heat is shallow, and lakers have a little more depth.

-and magic are gonna be good sometime soon... even as a rookie, dwight howard already had an extremely good well-balanced game. with francis, a returning grant hill, a developing howard, as well as various other former core rockets players, i'm gonna enjoy watching them.

me and jerm need to pool our money together to get an arcade quality joystick for the ps2 soon(we now have have 3rd strike and street fighter ae, thanks to jerm), and the regular ps2 controller is a BITCH when it comes to fighting games... jerm has a blister on his thumb, and my right index was bleeding yesterday. i like how jerm's a lot more committed to trying to play fighting games; most of my other friends don't want to learn.

and i should buy espn nba 2k5 sometime soon.

NBA.com: Rip Hamilton's Blog

wow... anyways, whadda team player; i loved this snippet from rip; shows how he knew how to defer to others, and as a result? he's maybe the best offensive player who moves w/o the ball:

"I just received the news that the NBA General Managers voted me No. 1 in the NBA.com poll as the player who best moved without the ball. It's quite an honor and also a little crazy considering that Reggie Miller, a legend, didn't get the nod. Reggie is still the Godfather of that distinction, especially coming off screens. I will admit that I stole a few tricks from him. A lot of tricks, actually. He's constantly in motion. You really don't want to guard a guy like that.

I first started to learn to move without the ball when I went to Connecticut. Although I never really took much pride in it until I got a chance to play with Michael Jordan when we were in D.C. together. When I played with him, he dominated the ball. Since I like to have the ball in my hands, too, I knew we both couldn't play with both of us dominating the ball. If we were both going to play well together, someone was going to have to move without the ball. Guess who that was? I had to figure out another way to make things work so I can still be effective. My coach at the time, Doug Collins, taught me how to make backdoor cuts and try to get easy baskets and eventually I learned how to feed off of M.J. Ultimately, that one season I spent with him really helped my game. Being voted No. 1 by the GM's really tells me how far my game has come."

and...

Ben Wallace Interview

here's to the warriors making the playoffs... good luck gsw...
here's to the pistons repeating...

here's the newest td victory dance that to's done...

this sunday, against the ravens, after t.o. did a td, he immitated ray lewis EXACTLY and did ray's funky pre-game warmup dance. call it a diss if you want, call it funny(that's what i'm sticking to), but all in all, this is the truth... once ray lewis is taken off the madden nfl cover(seems like everybody who lands on the cover, that nfl season, does poorly... mike vick last season, anybody?), he's gonna rip t.o. a new ass.

i got a usb keyboard, so i don't have to worry about my laptop keys crapping out on me anytime soon(and by thus, ruining a good laptop)

for some reason, i get dizzy playing single player fps'... dunno why.

indeed...

the lord gaveth, and the lord hath taken away... may the name of the Lord be praised

well done, red sox... well done. i wonder if alice had any problems going to sleep last night due to boston's rowdiness?

(the sad part is now the curse is on sf... now THIS bay area team is the one to go the longest w/o a world series win)

going out to downtown davis' 31 to share a 3-scoop sundae(had a buy 1 get 1 free coupon) w/a friend was hella cool... esp on a night... should do this more often.

i found it interesting that last night everyone in my apt was asleep by slightly after 12:00 considering that our internet, for some reason, was down... haha... that's funny... very funny. goes to show how much our life is attached to this thing called the internet. i would like to rag on the others some more, but i'm not invulnerable either...

there was this interesting diagram my dkc small group leader gave us on humans and stuff, how we've grown apart from our original design and how we're continuing to downfall(i described it to one of my group buddies as "when they created fox" :D) i think i'll try to capture it w/my webcam and post it up soon... once the apt internet is back to normal.

brett favre was #2 of fsn's top 10 toughest football players; mike ditka made the list at around no 8... here's what some guys had to say about him...
-you couldn't keep him down then, and you can't keep him down now, now that he has levitra...
-that one play, he's like bowling over 6 defensive tackles; he's not even trying to avoid them; once he finally gets into the end zone, he collapses, and he's just laying on the ground; exhausted; it's like he got an erection or something.

the curse might actually be broken! of course, anything's possible... red sox rallied from 0-3 to make it 4-3, but then again, this IS the world series. i'm predicting red sox in five. a sweep's not out of the question though. btw, you'd think, with all the red sox players giving thanks to god, that these are the CHRISTIAN sox...

sir charles suggested peja for ron artest... way out of the blue... but i could see it working... kings have concentrated too much upon their offense, and aside from a few gems in their lineup, their defense is simply not there.

if you're having trouble staying awake, chew gum... suckers disappear after a while... and then you're left hanging. gum sticks to you and stays as long as you want it to stay, even when the flavor's gone(duh...)

w0rd...
that's all that matters...
not what you're wearing...
not how many wwjd bracelets you've got on...
not how many christian t-shirts you've got spewing catchy phrases and pics such as "jesus rocks" (which still cracks me up btw, even though i don't own it)...
not whether you've got a chain around your neck professing your faith, whether you wear it like you think you're the next big xn o-lang to hit the streets...
if THE w0rd is not in you, then you have no true faith. if you have no true faith, then you have no true deeds.
everything revolves around THE w0rd; it was spoken to give everything life, then it spoke again to give everything NEW life.

is the w0rd in you? is it in you?

because, without it, all things are lifeless. are you lifeless?

my main guitar setup as of right now; (from left to right) crybaby wah pedal, dod fx75-b stereo flanger pedal, boss sd-2 dual overdrive pedal. 

say what you want about it, but i've always felt that worship music is always better if you're in the spot, either in the audience, or playing the music yourself, surrounded by close band members, the beat lifting you up. a lot of times, the studio stuff by the artists tend to be too soft. honestly. i love it so much more when you're right there. the music is there. and you feel it. and today was good, great. but i always try to take care that i am not bouncing to the beat, but because i am joyful at god's presence, which is hard... so i always end up saying something like this in my head during worship: "please let my actions be about you, not the music."

i think i've never really told anybody new(or the worship team) at the fellowship in davis that i play the electric guitar, out of fear i might end up serving on the worship team doing it just cause it's "what a good christian would do", or feeling a sense of pride in my ability to play lead electric guitar, but oh man... how i crave to once again play alongside a good drummer and acoustic rhythm guitarist and bassist, free to just fool around and figure out how to back others up. sometimes i get so caught up with the idea that i start imagining the lead guitarist alongside the davis worship team and what he(i) would play for fills, or a possible riff... it is something you don't feel anyplace else. and honestly, if i were to do that 16 hrs out of a 24, that'd be heaven for me; singing and playing songs to god and getting all caught up with the whole shebang.

if i ever worshipped god like i do when alone at home, but at a fellowship, assuming it's an upbeat song and every band member's playing loud and stuff, i think i would end up distracting everybody else. you can already see it slightly... i'm clapping my hands, but my body's bouncing with the rhythm, head slightly bobbing... my posture constantly changes, from looking up at the screen, to closing my eyes, and head tilted downward, nodding slightly with the rhythm. i basically am not still. if i went all-out, not only would it be quite difficult for me to do so, but it'd distract others... basically, at home, sometimes i will literally jump... and not like a small hop... no, i'm talking about like one of those bball hops where you plant both feet, pump your arms and get up high. and i do that spontaneously during a song, usually during a melodious build-up(or did i mean harmonious? sorta like during the transitions)... it looks weird, to be frank, and not only are friday nights done in a lecture hall, allowing no room for movement in most cases, if i did so, i KNOW i would be distracting a lot of other ppl. so i refrain. but i wonder about me holding back... i wish i had the ability to mentally block ppl out... that would be so useful sometimes...

interesting thing of note: @msm, if they start out a worship song slow, then make it upbeat in the middle, no one actually starts clapping; you need to start the song fast for them to do it; case in point; i thought "prince of peace"(you are holy) tonight was awesome... but they started slow, then picked it up... nobody tried to clap; i tried to get it started, and jerm started following, but it was pretty much just us two, and so i gave up. at least with the loud, upbeat drummer, i don't think clapping was necessary.

you're my prince of peace, and i will live my life for you.

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

here's something to shift the point; as christians, how are we supposed to vote for politicians and laws? some would say "according to what God would do." but we're being a bit vague; nevermind what the various small political sects are doing; let's look @the republicans and the democrats.
the 1st emphasizes that as christians, we need to uphold the law; we need to do what is right. we need to stand strong and hold our values, or we'll succumb, or something like that. do you let a blind person run over a cliff? hence, their negative stance of abortion, stem cell research, etc...
democrats, however, emphasize the "freedom of choice." to them, what you want to do is your right, or your problem/solution. they have no right to interfere. interfering would simply contrast with the principles this country was founded upon.

so what's a christian to do? many of us are very quick to say, based upon the elephant's enforcing of christian laws, i'm going republican. i am one too; my voter registration card says so(although i've never voted yet, just registered). we need to stand and hold our values, that's the stance we're supposed to take. however, jesus taught us that we should never turn religion into a crux for others; his harsh treatment of pharisees emphasized that. stop trying to turn christianity into a law, making it harder for others to follow. also, jesus did not force us to convert; he simply destroyed any obstacles in our path, so that, if we wanted to be near him, we could; if we wanted to simply stay away, we could do so too. the "freedom of choice" thing, is indeed very christianlike.

but hear me out; does that mean we should not lord ANY thing despicable over others? here's another way of putting it; if we had no punishment for robbery or murder, don't you think that would blow the crime rate wide open? some of those laws help keep down certain acts, even if it's still, more-or-less, "freedom of choice"(we're not chained down by the police 24/7, so we COULD commit murder if we wanted, but then we'd be pursued). the punishment helps keep those acts from occurring a lot more, from ppl who are less conscious-driven. so where do we cutoff the "freedom of choice," and where do we allow it? it's an interesting question, and i don't think i'll be able to answer it in this entry. but i would like the reader to mull out it; so many of our political bickering is basically, over whether to enforce a law or give "freedom of choice."

my personal opinion is this; if it causes harm to another person, it should not be allowed. of course, now we dig into deeper debate; some will argue the fetus is not really a living human being. do we punish ppl for squashing ants? those are living creatures too. if we spilled our semen while during sex, that would be essentially, killing a human being, is it not? etc... others argue that we will be endangering the life of a mother if it came down to the mother either being able to live, OR the fetus(ie one will die). how can we judge who will live in cases like those? etc. and of course, if we put in exceptions in the banning of abortions/etc, couldn't some lawyer slick-talk his way to explain the ability to use abortion in a lot more cases than allowed? etc... i've taken many philosophy classes(at least 2 where i had to ponder medical stuff, so i know), but i think at the end of road, even if we come to a definite conclusion, it wouldn't be definite for some; some will continue arguing.

the whole point of this entry though, but not to really reach a definite conclusion... but take things into context, and continue thinking of counter-point to counter-point to counter-point to... and pray... that always helps. consult your bible, and maybe we might someday reach the end of this... and hopefully, either find a convincing end-all argument to ban abortion, or convince others the value of respecting each other, so we don't need to worry about the need of enacting stupid laws like these.

(man, my fingers are like asleep; i think i saw so many grammer errors while typing... but i hope you understand what i'm saying enough to not need me to repost... i'm kinda tired... but if anything looks confusing, you can also comment, asking for clarification)

This may help you Jerm, if you're planning on taking class Tekken 101 w/me

the Ling Xiaoyu FAQ by JKim looks fairly good; give it a try.

(note: not every FAQ here is good)

don't forget, jerm... we finally tekken tomorrow... prepare to get raped everytime i decide to choose nina or jin... or law... maybe bryan. :) and bring some lube; you gonna need it :D cause the rape GONNA BE HARD!

(in the near future, i may decide to actually post some pics of what i cook using my webcam, just for fun, for those peeps who don't live in my apt...)

think the curse is gonna be broken? :D

and lastly, is it just me, or do gel pens seem to run out of ink faster than regular ink pens? it's been 1 month, and i've already gone through 4, maybe 5 bic gel pens. compare that to last year, where i pretty much only ran out of ink from my bic pen 60% of the way through the school year.

HOOPSWORLD.com | Will Tayshaun Prince ever become an All-Star?

i almost most certainly agree... but add one more thing to tayshaun's list of things to improve upon:

his handle.

but i gotta admit; i LOVE his defense. hold that shit down, foo!

Counter-Strike Tactics, Tips and Guides @ FidosRevenge.com!

pretty good guide; surprised i never found it

i love this dog tag that i wear on my neck, because besides looking kinda kewl, it has reminded me of god being by my side at the moment more times than not(at least more than the wwjd bracelet i ALSO wear, but on my right wrist), as well as reminding me to do the right thing and to press on w/it, to not go lazy, or give up. it's great; wearing bible verses on yourself aren't bad in themselves, as long as you don't think you're more righteous than your fellow man for doing so.