i must be daydreaming or something...

does gum even DISSOLVE?

i was chewing newly bought altoids sour cherry gum(it's better at the beginning, but when the sweetness fades away, it seems to suck; best gum i think is cinnamon gum cause of the spiciness), and it felt like after i was chewing for a long time, that it simply started to come apart in my mouth...

spit it out, and i see my tongue's coated w/white miniscule shreds.

and i saw a kid which clearly overdid the whole rubber bracelets thing... had like 4 on each arm... hey, i like those things too, but i clearly think you shouldn't have more than 1 on each arm.

and don't blink, but i think the spurs have finally shown the world how defensively lax the suns are...

i've never mentioned this really before, but one of the reasons why i like billups so much is because of the way he plays in-close on the offensive end. of course, i also admire his 3-pt abilities, and his good defense. but billups is probably the only point guard in the league, who, when he wants to take the ball in close and score that way, instead of using his quickness, BACKS THE OPPOSING POINT GUARD IN. it is seriously the coolest thing ever to watch. it dawned on me quite a while back after i suddenly realized why every in-game commentator was saying "billups is so strong" after he scores an in-close shot. the pistons, i think, are sorta that type of a starting five; all of them play their respective roles well; point guard-> sets people up and starts the play, shooting guard-> finishes the play, etc. but yet, the way each player is, creates a mismatch. besides listing billups, rip plays like reggie; he creates w/o the ball, unlike the other 99% sg's. tayshaun's so skinny, and so long, that's already a mismatch. rasheed can hit 3's. ben wallace is a lot smaller than the average center; small enough, that he has this speed element: he can pick up ai on the defensive end right at the inbound and draw a charge. pistons have got this awesome speed and power element going for them that a lotta teams simply lack. and did i mention; billups and prince post up more than rasheed and ben.

but like how i mentioned; i think if the nba continues next season, that a lotta teams will be very competitive; very few teams will suck; i predict maybe 2 or 3 which completely suck. of course, there's only 16 slots for the playoffs, but i hope you get what i'm saying. they're be about 5-6 GREAT teams, about 22 back-and-forth teams, and then 1-2 flat-out we-suck teams. and don't blink, b/c the warriors for once, look like the best bay area team.

we just gotta cross our fingers and hope the lockout does NOT happen...

why's my saturn require so much maintenance...

i'm probably gonna be in some deep depressed funk until spring quarter ends...

5 science classes is not fun, esp when two of them involve intense complex chemistry equations... and when you should've been studying hard w/no laziness right from day 1. catching up's a bitch when you've got that many classes. i'm just hoping i don't repeat the same mistake next quarter, when i should literally have no excuse(i'll be starting w/a tape recorder from the get go).

the sad part is, i can't shake my laziness... it's still an improvement over last year, when i literally sat at the apt and just watched the pistons run all the way into the finals and then destroy the lakers, but considering the extra class, "just enough" isn't enough.

maybe i'll be able to put some space between what i have to catch up and what i've done during memorial day weekend, but until then, i've got a midterm to cram for; ugh.

see you guys around in about 3 days. who knows, i might even be able to play some ball on sunday.

that uc davis-exclusive light blue rubber bracelet i got contrasts w/my dark red christian rubber bracelet on my left... makes one of my hands look slightly darker, the other slightly lighter... like good and evil. left and right.

this is hilarious... I POSTERIZED YOU Q-RICH! 

too bad the mavs couldn't pull out the win though... but yea, even though the mavs have a ton of talent, it sucked to see that they didn't have something that all good teams have; cohesiveness. it sucked to see the contrast between the leadership of nash vs that of dirk... while nash remained calm and encouraged his teammates even when they were down 16-some points, dirk lost it when jason terry, who was arguably their best player that night, made 1 single irrational move. then dirk doesn't back up his words by leading by example and only whines and complains even more during OT as time winds down...

so yeah, what i'm hoping for still stands; a matchup between the former nba champions for the nba finals

i'm tempted so much to go on and on about how the eastern conf finals are looking so good right now, but that's inappropriate to talk about right now.

so instead...

thanks for all the memories, reggie. for showing us the power of the jump shot. for giving your all night after night. for being completely loyal to the team you were drafted to from the get go. for being one of the greatest guys to play at the two spot.

at least he lost his final game at home, in a blaze of glory...

thanks for all the memories, reggie. we'll miss you.

and some ppl wonder why in the hell i like the pistons so much... when they often rely on their defense to win instead of offense, thus making them so "boring"...

This is why

i have never seen such an outright defensive rape like that(i'll admit i've never watched the legendary '96 jazz@bulls game 3 finals)... i've seen detroit really tear it up before last year, but never like this...

a 30-4 run is pretty damn good. hell, it's SICKENINGLY good. and it's even sicker when you realize rick charlisle tried to spend all his timeouts in the 3rd trying to slow the pistons down, and it didn't work. the only shot scored during that run was by a goaltended shot from foster.

you know when the pistons bring out darko, that their opponents just flat-out suck.

we WILL win game 4... yessire... now plz finish up...

what i now have for "baller material," the "little" things:
3 headbands- 1 green, 1 white made w/special cloth from dupont, 1 blue uc davis
2 wristbands- both green(i never use these at all)
2 finger sleeves- 1 black, 1 grey
1 elbowband- nike, white
1 shooting sleeve- official nba licensed, black
if you wanna count it:
1 rubber bracelet, red, "live for him"
1 green wwjd bracelet, the same one justin gave me for senior night

i'm bored; this is from my kitchen to yours(careful; i eat a lot, but hey, leftovers solve your what-to-eat-for-lunch tomorrow dilemmas), if you don't know what new to cook, here's 2 of my fave soup receipes:

water(about 4 cups)
2 large potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 chicken breast, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
5 leaves romaine lettuce, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/3 tsp salt
dried shallots

combine; from top to bottom in a pot; heating the water on high until boiling; then add each of the ingredients from top to bottom, stiring a bit, then waiting until the soup boils before adding the next ingredient. you can stop @the lettuce when it boils and then add everything else. that's it; one of my faves for "clean(non-really-greasy)" soup.

cooking oil
half onion, chopped
water(about 4 cups, plus more if the noodles suck up the water)
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 chicken breast, chopped
a BUNCH(dunno how much; handful maybe?) of chinese-style noodles
1 egg
5 leaves romain lettuce, chopped
1/3 tsp salt
1 clove garlic, minced
1 green onion, minced

heat pot @medium heat, then add about 2 tbsp oil; wait a bit, then add onion in; stir around for a bit until you feel you like the flavor(think of it as a sort of light sautee); add water, then carrots; turn heat to hi. wait til boils, then add chicken; wait til boils again, then add noodles; stir frequently until noodles are "hydrated." add the egg, and stir, but DON'T break the yolk. once it boils again, add lettuce. once done boiling, add the rest, stir and serve. probably my favorite noodle soup receipe, that i cook myself often.

try em, and lemme know how you like em. for me, it takes maybe 1/2 hour to cook, a little over half an hour to eat entirely. you can add more eggs for the noodle soup if you want to serve others. yea, i'm a beast at eating food sometimes. who would've thought the day i'd hear jerm say to other msm ppl "well, at home(davis apt) rich destroys us"

i should exercise more often, or once i pass age 25...

i saw for the first time, nature taking away another's life...

a stray duckling(not duck) was waddling along, then suddenly a crow comes down, picks it up by the neck(which i think killed it right there), then proceeded to fly a bit away so it could rip apart its carcass piece by piece... harsh, but such is biology, and life taking away life... oh, you cringe about it, but hey, we're meat eaters too. we just never see chickens and bulls as cuddly 80% of the time when they're on our plates.

and i also saw, what you could consider to be teenage ducks... they were grey all over, and when they tried to "quack," it came out more like "peep." but they were much larger than ducklings, so. figures they gots to be teens.

finally, i also saw baby squirrels, that's right. i think there was a mother watching over 1 in the tree about 6 feet above ground watching her other youngun pick away at a nut on the ground not too far away.

i love nature.

and i don't care that it's been raining a bit lately, even though this should be spring; i love drizzles, and besides, it helps keep my allergies down a bit :D

random tekken 3 tidbit, cause i just feel like posting it:

bryan's 1,2,1,2 combo is all guarenteed on counter-hit; how do some players hunt for it so succesfully?

well, on normal hit, 1,2 normally combos, but the 2nd and 3rd punch does not. the 3rd and 4th punch will naturally combo though. hence, the CH affects the 2nd and 3rd hit obviously.

so, just tap 1,2,1 really quickly and look for the 3rd hit; if it hits, press 2 immediately. (duurrr, wonder why i never though about that)

and 1,2,1 is only -4 on block; even if you finish w/the 2, it's -7; nothing guarenteed; however, the opponent can push for something with that advantage; no wonder i could never punish the opponent who does 1,2,1,2 repeatedly with bryan... i should throw instead.

other things of note:

hmmm... WS+1+2 is 11, but only -3 on block, and hits mid...

1,4,3 is safe on block, but 1,4 is not, and the 3 hits mid.

b+2,1 can be cancelled into sidestep

uf+4 seems safe...

ws+3 is safe, but just barely... fast though, as always.

unless if i read wrong, 3,2 gives +10 on BLOCK, are both mid hits.

woot! tayshaun, chauncy and ben all made the defensive team!

here's a question; should a player still make the defensive team if they're on a sucky or non-defensive team? cause i'm questioning whether kg should've made the 1st defensive team, as well as ak, considering how little ak played, and how the twolves were strictly mid-tier this year. you might question why billups made the defensive team at all, but he was able to give bibby problems when the two teams matched up, so... and at the very least, billups is a better defender than rip.

here's to prince making 1st defensive team next year... and possibly dpoy as well. that guy's just a beast. and so skinny too.

i have a feeling that after the eastern conference semifinals are over, either i'm gonna be HATING jerm, or he's gonna be HATING me... and our respective teams... oh yeah, eugene's also a miller fan... so, depending on what happens, i might be garnering some hate towards him, or vise versa.

such is living with a reggie miller fan(i'm not calling him a pacers fan, as the only reason he likes the pacers is because of miller), i almost inwardly look down upon jerm, because it almost seems like he can't really appreciate why the pacers are so good; i would mind jerm being a pacers fan less if he could really appreciate why the pacers are so good. not that you don't have your favorite players, but c'mon now...

but he doesn't, it's always "oh, reggie miller's so good! blah, blah..." yeah, so? kobe's really good. do you see what's going on in LA? lebron's REALLY good, do you see what's going on in cleveland? kg's so good, do you see what's going on in minnesota? miller has done a great job keeping the pacers afloat, but i don't think he's the sole reason the pacers have surprised so many this year...

but aside from the laudatory attitude towards miller, there's the history of the brawl and last year...

yeah, it's pretty much the kings and lakers of the east... i've always believed that... (they carry all the drama around and against each other... well, the fans do; i know sheed and j'o are very close friends...) the difference is both teams try to play the game the right way...(contrast that to the kings can't play d, and lakers have always leaned too hard upon their shaq and kobe) just the fact that the pacers are in the 2nd round without artest and j'o and stephen for most of the season shows a lot about the depth, the way they play the game on both ends, and how they don't lean too hard on their superstars... and reggie miller and rick charlisle both should be given a lot of credit for that(i'd say the coach more than miller). and the word superstar isn't even in the pistons' vocabulary; who's the pistons' best player? everybody... ben goes out... pistons start losing... rip goes out, pistons start losing... brown goes out, pistons start losing... billups goes out, pistons start losing.

so, all the hate aside, it's supposed to be a good matchup... pistons lost their bench, but pacers lost their artest... it's still an advantage to the pistons, b/c of my main man, tayshaun prince... let's see if pacers figure out a way to stop him. or rip :D

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

i've come to realize that sacrifice is a test of faith... much like how abraham was tested... the thought came to me during sunday's message... how much you give to the lord your god, this very moment, i think really determines how much you believe in god to fulfill his promise of "give, and ye shall receive." or his commandment that you need to present the best to your god. why's it that every christian always says the same stuff in college; "oh, let me settle down my life, and THEN i'll give everything." pastor danny said that all those friends of his who were pre-med who said that have yet to show it.

and we're not just talking about money... time is an issue too.

and this is difficult to swallow... it is for me... you're asking me to not put the time i spend with god on the backburner this quarter, despite me having to take 5 classes, all of them being science classes. but it tests my faith. it should.

something i learned this saturday at a special worship service on saturday(which was great btw):

main lesson was john 21:15-19

interesting pointer: 1st time jesus asks peter whether he loves him, he uses the term "agape" to ask whether he loves him; peter responds with the love "phileo" an affectionate, but not unconditional love, ditto w/the 2nd time.
3rd time, jesus finally uses the term "phileo" to ask whether peter loved him; THAT'S why peter was hurt; some ppl think it's because he was asked 3 times, which somehow reminded him of his triple denial. that's quite possible, but this is also another meaning. it's as if jesus finally asks, "so this is where you admit you're at?" what's great is that, despite peter responding affirmatively, jesus still bestows the charge he gave peter after the 1st or 2nd time; take care of my sheep.

interesting pointer: sheep were taken care of in the past so that they could be USED; specifically for meat and clothing. that's what we have to become to others; when we take the term of proverbial christian sheep, we choose to sacrifice ourselves in order to serve others.

woodpecker...
female duck with 8 baby ducks waddling behind her...
female peacock...

seen them all on campus this week... they're all beautiful... the male peacock i saw freshman year though is unbeatable... i've never seen shades of blue and green clash and marinate together so well... along some shades of gray... female peacocks are still rare finds though, so you gotta enjoy it while they're in front of you.

so i'm thinking, i saw a billboard for real life and campus crusade for christ, and it's saying "prayer at the flagpole noon, monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, and friday, rain or shine." and i'm starting to really think, yeah i'm just involved at msm, but what if we could turn this into a real blessing with all christian organizations at ucdavis gathering together at the flagpole every school day at that time to pray for this nation?(and there are a LOT... go to spac.ucdavis.edu and look up religious organizations, and don't see if what i've said is true) when prayer and unity amongst fellow believers gather together, i really believe, with our sincere hearts, god will make something to happen. what if? i gotta convey this idea to someone else... a revival could be sparked... and then there's howard, at intervarsity... what if i could hook up w/him sometime before the end of spring quarter and convey this to him?

i don't really hate the wizards...

but man, why you gotta break my heart arenas...

though i'm kinda hoping celtics win(against the pacers, dur), you gotta admire the heart that the pacers have been showing this entire season... though i'm a celtic fan and jerm's a pacers fan, i keep telling him that these two teams match up very well against each other... having it go to game seven is just great... the "rivalry" between these two teams has finally reached a point where you can say they're almost each other's equal(compared to the last two years)... of course, with artest, it's a different story, but who knows; maybe celtics will get a good off-season deal as well.

matchups i'm looking forward to:

winner of washington and chicago vs miami
winner of boston and indiana vs detroit
detroit vs miami(hopefully)

sonics and spurs IMO also match up well... both teams give each other problems...

when it comes to baseball/softball, i am down with playing it... but i have to be perfectly honest and state that i simply can't watch it... the game feels too slow. i can watch nfl football all day, and ditto with nba bball. but no dice when it comes to baseball/softball. and it's not helping that giants and as both look fairly bleak this season... (and i don't think the canaans guys who were former cal bears are gonna be happy that rodgers left for the nfl, and even then, that niners didn't pick him up) yea, who would've thought the best bay area team is now REALLY the warriors? :D

but back to the topic... msm's softball tournament on saturday was awesome... despite the fact that it rained spontaneously... our junior class ended 2-2, and either 3rd or 4th(didn't get to play the final game to determine what was our standing). murdered the youth group, even when the refs said we had to bat off-handed after we got rolling after a while to give them a chance. then we wanted to make sure we didn't carry the same cockiness into the game against the sophomores... however, we destroyed them too; 13-0. we did run into trouble against the korean ministry(think korean equivalent of canaan's old guys/fathers playing bball/whatnot)... however, at the beginning we came out rolling... 10-0 the 1st inning... i guess we just got cocky and our d dropped, and somehow lost the game. then we played against the defending english ministry and also got rocked... 7+ to 0. but it was fun, and for the college class in our fellowship which seemed to be fairly distant from one another, it was great for a change to finally be together and just root for each other and stuff.

and eunjoo is a beast...

maybe this'll encourage me to hit the arc for some weights during summer in my freetime... bicep boosts and what not could really help my hitting... or general sports usage stuff.

the nba playoffs are here... that is really great, but plz, if you're still in college, PLEASE get your work done first... and don't assume you have to follow your team every night for 2 hours straight... especially if you have 15 or more credits to take down... take it from me... i learned the hard way. you may have one team you like to root for, but please, look to get your studies down first. i can only look forward in jealousy to those young adults @canaan who work... maybe i have a dillusional viewpoint of work, but to be able to just come home and relax when the day's done, taking in all the nba games on cable instead of having to eat a quick meal and then go back to poring over the books and taped lectures til 11:00... that must be enjoyable... bob, correct me if this isn't true...

that said... aside from every other upper team rolling(go pistons, celtics and bulls!), i find it strange that rockets and ESPECIALLY nuggets stole the 1st game. but i'm sure duncan'll recover... although... he just came back, and the nuggets are just hotsizzle right now. said it before, will say it again... i love the eastern conference more than the west... except for warriors.

i'm sure jerm wishes that pacers and rockets make it to nba finals... dunno about jon, but i'm sure he wants rockets to rep the west. you all know who i'm rooting for... "the showdown of the two recent nba champs..." of course, i would want detroit to win this battle, but spurs, depending on how you see it, are all-around better... however, i would like pretty all questions settled, cause a lotta ppl were starting to think the lakers lost the series rather than detroit winning it, so why not go against the deeper, best team? (you could argue detroit beat the pacers on the way to the finals, which were record-wise the best team, so take that as what you may) the thing that sets detroit above though, is past jan 1st, they really were the hottest team, having the best record in the nba. take that what you may though; they were more like warm-hot, not sizzling hot. i predict on the playoff road, that ben wallace's defensive beast will get unleashed... it did last year... it happened last game.

oh yea; why i was really posting here... looks like i'm gonna be getting a job up @davis... it's not final yet, but i've heard that there's a davis biotech company up in davis that is always looking to hire... and they don't check your gpa(whew!)... so hopefully i'll try to get something genetics related and have my 1st try @a paid internship this summer... should be fun... i'll post more when this stuff becomes finalized. hopefully, i think i'll still be able to attend summer retreat, but i like the sound of how this summer's turning out. if you ever wanna visit me during summer, try to give me a heads up at least 2 days beforehand, so i can prep the apt.

'k, back to studying.

creatures that i have actually seen fairly up-close @davis:

squirrel(tree and ground)
western scrub-jay(bluejay)
mallard duck(plus, you'll see the atypical domestic duck; y'kno, the totally white+orange beak type; that's from accidently breeding w/a domestic duck)
bushtit
yellow-billed magpie
canada geese
black-tailed jackrabbit- RARE, but saw once, at night
peacock - RARE, but saw once in broad daylight(beautiful i might add; wished i had a digital camera... i think i'll never forget it)

yes, i know we have cows, esp gesticulated(is that the right term?) cows too, but i have not personally been up close w/one and petted it... would be nice to do though.

but not during spring, cause anybody living in davis knows well enough that that's when the nice "spring aroma" comes around...

Wow, this site's top tier

ok, since summer is around the corner, i'd thought i'd eventually start posting about improving usa bball; the post was due about a year ago, but yea... this'll prob span the whole week in tiny little fragments, cause i don't want to waste too much time today; i've got more classes, a free breathing workshop i would like to attend(could help meditation practice, who knows), and then a midterm i desperately need to study for. plus, i gotta buy phil a gift today(i'll explain why i'm buying it directly on his bday and not earler, later)

what was the main problem with us bball last year? why did we win bronze instead of the coveted gold? there were, in the eyes of many, 3 main culprits; the players, the time slot, and the coaches. i'll elaborate on what i think is the MAIN culprit.

to those who thought larry brown was at fault: no... don't even go there. (i'll admit i might be slightly biased as a pistons fan, but hear me out) of COURSE amare and lebron and wade have all improved. so in RETROSPECT it was stupid to let those guys sit on the bench for extended periods of time. lebron has become an incredible shooter, and amare an incredible post player. wade has help from shaq, but don't let that cloud your eyes about how good of a slasher he's become. but let's think for a moment; could those guys shoot back then? no. i will say lb was at fault to bench lebron when he came off the bench on one of those games and gave a great effort, but most of the players couldn't shoot. duncan was more important than amare and all-around better, hence his more playing time. ai shot better than lebron during the olympics, if i'm not mistaken. and wade, being a pure slasher, just can't shoot. however, lb played wade the most out of all the rookies/sophomores. why? his defense. at the beginning of the olympics, wade just didn't seem to fit in. then i watched the lithuania game. wade was all over the place on d. now, of course he couldn't shoot, so lb had to balance his time with marbury's. but he seems to admire wade the most. there's other details, but i think aside from lb whining about how they should've given him more players or time, he did a great job; remember; it wasn't lb failing to make gold; if it weren't for the brilliant coaching of larry brown and greg pop, i think the usa wouldn't even get a medal.

players: yes, that's arguable. in fact, rightly so. but they weren't t3h suck either. since i'm trying to say this is not the reason why they lost, the main one, i'll list the pros of the players. wade was a great defender, despite not being able to shoot. duncan is arguably the best nba player in the league; despite the difficulties he suffered in playing international ball, we could make the argument that this team would not have gotten bronze were it not for him. let's not forget about ai either; on this team, he was surrounded with talent; so his shooting % went up. rj is a decent all-around player. lamar odom is also a very good all-around player.

so you're probably thinking, ok genius, what's the main problem? TIME. there, i said it. i don't care if you don't have kg duncan and shaq lining your 3's to your 5's. you can win with decent players; the detroit pistons showed it last year. so the key element is time. the more time you have to practice with your players, the better they gel together, know their strengths and weaknesses, and how to integrate into this team. for sure, the pistons chemistry wasn't formed overnight. neither were the spurs. and neither should the usa bball team be. a suggestion of mine is to form the usa team about 2 years, maybe 3 in advance. then, they have to get together to practice maybe once every 3 months. aside from summer; they have to spend summer almost together.

and let's not forget that nba atheletes are just paid too much. that has clouded the priorities of many. they forget what an honor it is to represent your country. because it seems too easy to win gold, that's why many just push the notion aside. go ahead and have some beef about why these then sub-par american ballers represented the us, but remember that they also had notions of marriage and winning a ring crap out of the way; they know what it's really about, and they were honored to join.

that said, it's not like we can't improve upon player selection. so next post, i'll put down what i think should be the players on the usa team. however, i want to emphasize the element of teamwork over stardom, so i'm gonna exclude all-stars, well, the TOP TIER DO-ALL ALL STARS like duncan, shaq, kg, lebron, etc. this area's kinda shady, cause i realize a lotta good atheletes are all-around or all-stars, but let's just say, we exlude those REALLY, REALLY GOOD ones. ones which are around the area of ray allen are fine. rookies are fine, etc. also, because pistons have no all-star and yet play together so well, i'm gonna have to exclude all of the detroit pistons(cause it's really tempting to just name their starting lineup as usa's starting lineup). and because we're talking about usa bball, no international players.

but just to give you a hint of what's to come, here's an impartial list of who i think would be good for team usa:
kirk hindrich, mike bibby, ray allen, larry hughes, andre iglodala, dwight howard, antoine walker, tyson chandeler, erick dampier, luke walton, alonzo mourning, brian skinner.

mull on that for a while... i'll post again thursday or friday on specifics.

did i mention i try to learn how to play basketball the most from watching tayshawn prince? maybe that's why i like him so much, cause i would believe that i have about the same type of build, and given who i usually play against, i have a slight advantage in height and wingspan, but disadvantage in weight. and he's left-handed :D

plus, he never really tries to do anything flashy(unless if you're counting the time vs twolves that he went behind the back to cross up troy or latrell before driving for the 1-handed jam, or if you counted yesterday's massive play against lbj which i am still getting shivers about *yea sure, keep telling them prince goes middle, and then watch what happens*), he just tries to do what's needed to go for the win, or what's effective. he doesn't even look to score first; he looks to defend his man as much as possible, then whatever else comes, comes. not a stat-sheet filler, but you know his abilities are strong all over; sometimes when i'm watching pistons play, i don't even watch where the ball is and i just watch how tayshawn guards his man off the ball. or what he does on the offense w/o the ball. it's like larry brown said on sunday, "a lotta rookies come into this league thinking about scoring... tayshawn thinks about winning." plus, it's kinda nice how he plays mostly low-post when he has the ball, as i tried to play that way even before i really started to like him... nothing fancy, just back them in, if you see an outlet, throw the ball there, otherwise go for the left mini-hook. i need to get my left floaters and hook shots down...

i'm hoping that if pistons get to the finals again and they win it, that tayshawn gets the mvp... would send a great message to everyone who plays bball.

i'm starting to think that i should pull the kjv vs niv research back til summer... i am really swamped with classes this quarter, and they're not easy classes either... they're all upper div science classes. obviously, finding out if the modern bible is loaded with fallicies is very important, but i can't risk it at the expense of my grades... i already have a kjv, use it as my only bible now, and summer is a load of freetime for researching purposes.

btw, uc davis is amongst the uc's where most students don't finish in 4... that's depressing...

tentative verse of the week: Isaiah 55:8-9

that spin move that prince put on lbj just before he 1-handed it down deserves to be on sportscenter top ten tonight... heck, it deserves to be on courtside countdown this week... i have not seen james shook that badly ever before.

i wonder if darko is EVER going to be of any use to the pistons... larry brown tried to get all his bench players involved to get ready for playoffs today, and yet, darko was the only one who did not get any play.

mvp: nash(yes, that's right, i'm picking nash, even though shaq's a more complete player)
most improved: tayshawn
defensive player: larry hughes(i would've wanted to make big ben the nominee, but if we're going for people who recently came outta nowhere to make a stand, hughes is a really good choice, with monstrous steals almost every game)
rookie: emeka ofakur
coach: rick carlisle
6th man: gordon

i'll only elaborate on my picks if you want me to.

what i'm predicting is going to be the matchup for nba finals: spurs and heat
what i WANT to see for nba finals: spurs and pistons(i would've wanted suns and pistons, but only if i knew for certain that that meant suns would get rocked by the pistons)

guitar center and bereans can wait til next week.