the beginning of the end has now begun...

it is in times of adversity that you see what type of a person you truly are...

help me to stand strong, god...

let's do dis thang...

IKUZE!

Wow...

i bet bob must be losing sleep tonight... geez, this is like reggie miller on knicks all over again...

maybe it's time i finally consider sonics one of the tops in the west? i thought they'd be all shooting, but apparently, they've found ways to cover their lack of an interior, and their zone defense i hear, is great... sooo... lookout spurs... you got company... at least for now...

what the hell? bulls beat the cavs?

so remember your people
remember your children
remember your promises oh god

your grace is enough
your grace is enough
your grace is enough for me

i'm @the hutchinson cpu lab right now writing up my paper which is due in less than an hr, and...

OH SHIT! it's the invasion of the freshmen whose passtimes are coming up really soon!

edit: it's actually the invasion of the idiot freshmen girls; there were these 2 idiotic girls who had the STUPIDEST reasoning for not taking a class... i'll try to imitate their convo:

girl 1: take asa 1 WITH mEEE!
girl 2: i don't wanna take THIS class! i HATE that building!?!?
girl 2: remember? it's the class we used to take philosophy in!
girl 2: (looks over some more other classes)
girl 2: and HART's so far!?!?! we have to walk so far!
girl 2: (more registration typing)
girl 2: i like THIS class... but i don't WANNA be waitlisted!
girl 1: what's your waitlist number?
girl 2: 1
girl 1: oh *names some other girl*'s taking that class...
girl 1: you'd take it w/her...
girl 2: i don't WANNA do so much reading!
girl 1: c'mon now, we're in bio and chem, we do a lot of reading!

to be fair, i don't remember the conversation that well, but some of the tidbits were pretty memorable... because while both of them were so idiotic, girl 2 was especially annoying with THE... MOST... STUPIDEST reasonings for not taking a class... i seriously wanted to stand up and just go, "WHAT THE HELL'S WRONG WITH YOU!?!?! BITCH, TAKE A CLASS CAUSE YOU LIKE THE SUBJECT, NOT CAUSE THE BUILDING'S TOO FAR, OR YOU HATE THE BUILDING! OH NO, I CAN'T GRADUATE, CAUSE THE CLASS I NEED TO TAKE IS AN EXTRA 5 MIN WALK AWAY!!!! JEEZ..." (and fyi, if you're waitlisted no 1, you're pretty much in...)

(yeah, i got anger issues)

i was supposed to go to bed early, OR stay up late and get a lotta work done... didn't do either... lemme explain... some person started a thread on srk.com in the general discussion forums(where you can post anything not game-related) about how God contradicts himself, blah, blah, blah, etc, etc, etc... the thread is currently on its 22nd page, because the atheists won't believe the christians, and the christians are trying to keep going at it...

i had no idea this thread was up, until last night, so i spent a majority of it just reading what other ppl had to say... because i lurk on the boards, and don't really post, i just read(although i was seriously tempted to post)

i'm not gonna talk about it, cause you can find the thread on your own, but i'll post some reflections about what i think whenever topics like this come up...

-ever since i read The Case For Christ, it's more or less become obvious to me that although the Bible's main goal was not to be used as a tool to convince others that this stuff is real(the story of God's agape love is more or less the main goal), that you could do that... because the Bible IS truth, almost everything within it, when a grain or two of salt is applied, states the truth, and has never contradicted its original messages. so ever since that freshman year, every time i've seen an argument brought up, it's usually taken out of context, or there is some other meaning by going back to the original hebrew or greek text. but as i come back to every single argument, it has more or less strengthened my beliefs, not diminished them.

-a lot of the arguments you hear against christianity are basically things taken out of context. for instance, the person who started the thread(get this), basically said david and johnathan were homosexuals because they kissed each other and loved each other deeply... he was basically pulling quotes right out of the bible and taking them into incorrect context. another is how he states god contradicts himself because he essentially killed many people in the bible... (like sodom and gommorah, etc) when it should be obvious that god is a being of justice, not vengeance.

-i'd like to think that based upon what i am now, i think(given enough time to think), i could stand a *decent* chance of arguing/debating w/an atheist about the validity and context of the bible(in order to reaffirm god's nature), as long as i had bible.gospel.net next to me. however, i sometimes question whether i would be trying to win them over in Christ's love, or for my own selfish pride, so my fellow christians don't look foolish. the point of trying to talk with an atheist is not to, per say, pwn them at their game, but to try to win them over. it's not whether i win and they lose, it's whether THEY win or they lose. this is not a sport; it's an attempt to stop them from inching closer to the cliff. once i turn it into a "ha! you're wrong, you suck!" type of thing, that will put them off, and make it even harder to win them over... even if i am right, and my arguments are sound, if i'm not trying to actually suggest and reflect the same godly love in myself for them, their attitude will most likely be one of hurt pride, and even more unwillingness to concede and just say, "fine, you win, i convert..." i find that whenever i either read arguments here, or take part in them, i'm carrying a competitor mentality, not a mindset of love, not one of "please believe me..." that is a problem i need to change.

-many people who start the arguments have their mindset; they're not open minded about it... so they're not bringing up questions in the hope that maybe they'll find some end-all truth to the answer, they're bringing up the arguments in the hope that you'll fall... that is the truth.

-finally, every time i see something like this, i have to remind myself of the difference between head knowledge and spiritual knowledge. yes, i think i know an awful lot about the bible. but has that reflected upon the way i lived my life? not really; i tend to go about college with a slacker mentality, then don't even spend time w/god each day. how can i, claim to be a christian, when i don't reflect how a christian should live? even devils believe in god's existance. seeing and doing are two complete different things; to be a "true" christian, you need to do both.

ok, that's enough... contemplating for this long hurts my head.

1st time i've had communion @a campus-oriented church... so it appears that college-oriented churches have C & E communions, opposed to the avg church, which tends to have 1/month.

i can't believe how much phil cares for me... it's rediculous... simply christian-like... i should give him a call sometime soon.

heck, i should give god a call soon.

and tell him, thanks for caring for all these times, even when i put you aside.

comcast's been so unreliable for internet the last few days... on and off... on and off... and i hate the fact that they're so overadvertising themselves on tv so much... to be that SOO reliable internet service that everybody wants them to be... sorta like how ea sports/games acts like they're the best gaming company in the world... when it should be blatantly obvious to everybody that they're not...

nice... warriors > pacers tonight...

Good, they punished the guy who threw the cup, and the guy who walked on the court, as well as the person who threw the chair

battle of the defenses this friday(and champions); yes, i like the pistons more, but i can't stress it enough, i like the spurs and the pistons... it will be interesting to see if pistons can hang, especially since their troubling start... they have all their pieces back though, so we'll see... btw, i think pistons' troubling start has overshadowed the fact that mcdyess has more or less, very well meshed w/the pistons... of course, you could argue that meshing only works if it equals more wins...

Rip's blog sez brown ain't gone retire anytime soon

ok, so it's been about a month or two into the nba, here's some reflections of mine:

-i was not surprised that rockets were NOT going to be very good; they gave up too much depth to get t-mac... it also annoys me how a lotta azn friends of mine suddenly jump on the rockets bandwagon... niggaz, plz... maybe in the future, but not now... not w/this crappy depth...

-i wasn't expecting nuggets to got suck dot com(talentwise they should be rolling)... wasn't expecting seattle to be GOOD(considering all they can do is shoot, admittedly very well, but just shoot)... wasn't expecting suns to be GOOD... and cavs look really good as well... buncha other surprises, like pacers holding their own despite their crippling losses...

-what i was NOT expecting though, was that magic were going to be REALLY good, really soon; everybody knew they were willing to sacrifice a few years to get good, since they gave up tmac; but i don't think i personally expected them to be in playoff contention right off the bat. i do like their cast though, much more than rockets; i've always been a francis fan, and it seems their team has a lotta depth now. currently, their strength is best determined by grant hill's ability to recover; in the near future, it'll be determined by how much dwight howard is the kg that he hopes to be...

-washington warriors being good, and depressed about why in the hell we got rid of them in the 1st place... nuff said... it also depresses me how gs wizards got suck, and suddenly, clippers being in playoff contention, AND better than gsw... did st. jean reincarnate into chris mullin?

-i've really admired dwayne wade's attitude towards the game... his selfless offense, his hard commitment to D, and his willingness to go to his strengths. i think he only took 1 three-pointer at one point, but i think i admire this sophomore the most, more than lebron, or melo.

-detroit pistons breaking near even surprised me... there's a couple of reasons for this though; one is that they could've been depressed after that brawl incident, and it's just carried into their attitude towards each night. another is possibly because they gave up too much in the offseason; maybe okur and williamson really help this team a lot more than we give credit for, and the last one, is possibly just cause they're taking games a lot easier... (fakers syndrome)... that said, i never rooted for detroit in the 1st place because i think they're the best... that idea is just stupid, and makes you bandwagon on teams more often than not. i've just always admired the defense that ben wallace and tayshawn prince bring to the floor, and everytime they play, i truly am awed by their effort and selfless actions. of course, that doesn't mean i don't hope they'll get another ring, but just that i won't jump on the spurs 100% because they probably stand the best chance of getting that ring this year IMO.

2 more weeks... to hang strong and not slack.

stop caring about horizontal depth, u scrub...

twenty-one might mean something you're the type who consistently likes to go out and get hammered... but i'm not that type of a person; in fact, i can safely say, that i have yet to even get drunk. i'm basically too busy to try to catch up with everything that i'm supposed to do, that i have no time to get hammered. because then i'd spend even more time trying to catch up.

i don't even make enough salmon steaks marinated w/miso to warrant that special privilege now... and if anybody younger than me goes up to me asking for me to buy alcohol for them, i might raise an eyebrow...

i also don't play texas hold em or blackjack, so you know where i'm going w/this...

so while i'm not exactly depressed about who i am now, it's not that i'm exactly leaping for joy either.

nevertheless, having made it this far on earth without getting shot or knifed, etc, or any other worse thing, is a blessing... so i'll thank god for that. i do have a lot to be thankful for, so rather than ponder about what useless garbage privileges i picked up today, i'll just reminisce on everything given to me, and be thankful for it all.

and i wonder, has joe stopped caring about his "punks'" b-days? no shoutouts now... wait, i know, socal has corrupted him... knew it... bastard...

ok, i know you can't see it too well(due to the blackness of the pot bottom), but that was my 1st try @hong sau neo ruo mein... tasted pretty good... well, i didn't cook the beef, i just reheated it... it was already pot-roasted, thanks to mom... but everything else i did... had no sesame oil though, so i had to use olive oil instead... and no bok choy, so spinach instead... but it's great... that was a pic of the leftovers, since i couldn't finish it...  

Who the hell cares? My thoughts exactly

Man, bay area fball and bball are t3h sUx...

Good thing sports aren't the only hobbies i'm into...

so far, this thanksgiving break has reminded me so much why i like this holiday 10x over christmas... nevermind the fact that xmas' significance totally owns thanksgiving flat up(jesus himself matters tenfold over whether some pilgrims managed to make it safely to america)... the attitude around thanksgiving, minus the gluttony is a hundred times more genuine... the commercialism of xmas has totally ruined its true value... not entirely, but it's pretty close.

i just wished i didn't have any hw to do over thanksgiving break...

i dunno if it's the fact that we were playing flag football, not tackle, but jerm is very easy to keep away from the qb... me, clement, and calvin had too much fun keeping jerm from getting close to mike. it was funny too.

to close, count your blessings this break; i don't care how many downfalls you've had this year, i don't think they'll compare to the blessings you've gotten from God...

http://worstlookingsiteever.tripod.com/3spowercombos.html

tayshawn prince, IMO, has the potential to become something of a taller, slower manu ginobili... hell, he already penetrates more than he spots-up shoots :D and if he does, it's usually as a 3 ball. and let's not get started on his d... (btw i still like both players on both teams, respectively... they're both fun to watch)

shortshort xx shinshoryuken flat up owns jerm... hell, anything in 3rd strike i shortshortsuper flat-up owns jerm

read the sports guy's comments(@espn.com of course) on artest punching the wrong guy... apparently, the identity of the guy who threw the beer was a fat, bald-ass idiot.(somebody plz find this guy)... that, and the guy who threw the chair; both should be punished heavily.

see you guys around in about 2-3 days... R U ready for sum 733T @$$ fb@11?!?!!??

aside from ron artest's insanely long punishment(i thought it should have been just SLIGHTLY larger than stephen jackson's, unless you can make a case to me that instigating the thing deserves a total season ban), i think david stern pretty much got it right. ben wallace seems a bit unfair, but then you do have to remember that he didn't do anything that huge... i don't think he was trying to get the crowd to start throwing stuff at artest(would you be mad if your team was down 15+, the game was pretty much over, and one of the better guys on the other team fouled you HARD when you went to the basket? yea prob), and it did seem like things were starting to cool down a bit before that idiot threw a cup full of beer @artest... if anyone's to blame, it's both the guy who threw the beer, and artest.

of course, pacer fans probably feel this is quite unfair, seeing how their pacers more or less lost playoff hopes in one night... look on the bright side though folks... it's like a replay of david robinson being injured, leading to them acquiring tim duncan... wouldn't be surprised if something similar happened to indiana.

the only thing besides adjusting the punishment on artest... the fans @detroit should be equally punished... ESPECIALLY that guy who started it all by throwing the beer cup... if that happens, then it'll be fair. if anything at all, find who originally threw that cup, and make him(or her?) take the majority of the blame.

ps controller sux... seriously...

level of proficiency for my most used 3rd strike chars:
1- chun-li, ken
2- ryu, akuma
3- yun
4- sean
5- dudley

once we get a joystick, hugo's going on that list somewhere... but for now, i'm going to try for yang and q... urien maybe in the near future...

ESPN.com - NBA - Fists, objects fly near end of Pacers-Pistons

yea i'm speechless...

it's kinda funny how they kept showing the replay of the fan approaching artest on the court, only to get dropped by him... then jermaine runs over and lays into him right when he's starting to get up...

ugly...

they should find whoever threw that 1st beer cup and punish him...

and quentin richardson had it right on; there's gonna be a lotta lawsuits going on... ppl are just too greedy not to take advantage.

i can't wait to play against eugene 3rd strike sometime in the future... when we've got a joystick...

as to whether you think pistons can still hang w/the powers of the west, after everybody's back, and healthy, and hearing and watching them wipe the floor w/minnesota, which has to be one of the top 3 teams in the entire nba league, i think the answer is quite obvious. put another way, kg couldn't do what he normally did; he committed a lot of turnovers.

but personally, i'm just amazed that prince actually crossed over his defender and took it strong to the hoop in style... damn!

then there was billups running all the way back to block kg's layup.

man, i am in a perpetual state of exhaustion these days. no rest til thanksgiving break comes over for me...

and jerm's getting better at third strike.

MTV.com - Music - Video Premiere - Linkin Park / Jay-Z: "Numb-Encore"

???

ok, i like linkin park's style, and like jay-z some, but this is like white on black... i don't see this tour happening... skaters and gangstas all in the same arena? did somebody get shot? :D

not to mention jay-z is like a part owner of the new jersey nets... can you imagine him taking the pa before, in between, and after games to announce and promote his latest album/release? ugh...

yeap... pretty soon we'll be having wu-tang financial doing our retirement plans, just like chappelle's show jabbed at...

(joe hahn let his hair down as seen in vid? is he going fob-style?)

i don't consider it being hardcore... you either play the game the right way, or you don't; either competent, or a scrub. either playing the game the right way, or you're LEARNING to play the game the right way. plz, that's not considered hardcore; that's considered approaching the game the right way. i don't consider you a hardcore cs player just cause you can awp better than me; i consider you a better cs player(and me a noob :D).

3rd strike chun-li basics for dummies(by me):

down/toward+heavy kick for up-close crossup; combos into crouching medium kick

down+medium kick in air when right above opponent; can do another air attack/parry before landing.

early heavy kick in air for air-to-air, also decent jump-in

medium kick in air for jump-in

crouching light kick for up-close poke; ditto with crouching jab; use these a lot; good for leading into a throw, keeping the opponent blocking low to pull a strong+forward overhead, etc. flows very nicely into other moves.

crouching medium kick(it's forward, jerm! forward!) for medium-range poking.

crouching roundhouse for anti-air, and medium-range-guarenteed hit when no meter

standing back+heavy punch for anti-air, as well as medium-range when you need to beat stuff out, as well as far-range whiff for building meter

standing fierce, for pretty much the same as crouching forward for poking uses, except you want the limb to hit opponents who are a bit further or standing.

main combo:

crouching forward, cancelled into super art 2, cancel the last kick with down, up/toward really quickly, follow with 2 fierces, or roundhouse.

(in REALLY, EASY TO UNDERSTAND TERMS: down+medium kick, then immediately before you even stop to see if the move's going to come out, roll the joystick a quarter circle forward 2x and press any kick... wait until the last kick comes out, then time a quick down-to-up/toward motion right when it comes out... time your air attack to hit the opponent while you're going up)

(i have still yet to see if chun can do shortshortsuper like the likes of shotos or dudley)

other decent moves:

crouching medium punch; much like crouching forward, but it's slower, but longer-ranged, and slides under a buncha stuff.

standing heavy kick; seems to beat out low attacks fairly well.

that's it; combine, watch some match vids.

and stay on the ground more often and use your normals, jerm! WATCH SOME COMP @OUR MU ALREADY! THEN YOU'LL LEARN HOW TO PLAY BETTER! NORMALS, FOO! NORMALS! NOT SPINNING BIRD KICK! NOT RYU'S HURRICANE KICK! NORMALS DOT COM!

(btw, i love shortshortsuper, because it's probably the one combo in sf where it integrates nicely into your offensive gameplan without being afraid of being retaliated if the opponent blocks instead; doesn't add too much damage to your super, but it's long enough for you to see that you need to stop @the 2nd short; best... sf... combo... ever...)

can someone tell me the last season that the 49ers got suck dot com? how in the hell do you lose to the panthers? pathetic... i'll still love the niners no matter what, but oh man...
here's my 2 cents though... i don't care if tim rattay is not a spectacular qb; just don't bumble the ball AGAIN! niners are, for the present time, a defensive oriented team; give the ball to kevan barlow as their main way of bringing it up the field, w/occasional passes. then stop them with d. plz, just, rattay either needs to leave, or stop bumbling the ball. a great team doesn't need an exceptional qb. don't believe me? look @the patriots. yes, tom brady's good. but he's not up there w/brett farve, donovan mcnabb, michael vick DOT COM... but he's solid; just does what's needed, at the right time, gets it done efficiently. kinda like what chauncy billups was during 2k4 finals in the nba. that's what sf needs right now, a solid qb, and we don't have that. i can't remember the last time niners had got suck dot com that badly.

t.o.'s still hilarious... i thought his figure skating dance was great. personally, i'm starting to really like donovan... i like how he acknowledges things screwed up because of him when plays don't go their way... just watch his body language. of course, that may just be him... the way he expresses it, but it's a cool thing to watch.

i'm amazed mu has not fixed mvc yet... it plays ok... but the screen is jacked up... 25% of the screen is off the screen, so you can't see your opponent when they get into the corner on either side. (imagines dumb reset possibilities that aren't supposed to be part of the game)

w0rd... if srk.com is down... JUST F5 THAT SHIT DOWN! :D

(btw, "andore" is the newest gamescrub to hit srk.com... opens his mouth before his brain begins to operate... srk.com should have a "dumbfuck" filter... say too many stupid statements/accusations and you get banned... it seems all these idiots are popping up all over on srk... ryurules21(now banned), gill(now banned), masterakuma(plz, somebody ban this guy), now andore(ditto w/the idiot before))

ok, essay revision time.

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.