working on a leeching internet, so i gotta make my posts quick.

i'm not usually a close follower of ncaa bball; the main reason being, the players on a team change so quickly each year(nba changes quickly too, but at least there's more solidarity if you kinda get what i mean), and there's so many teams to follow, that many will slip under your nose. but i'm really liking two teams this year:

george mason and lsu.

i was totally impressed with the frontcourt of lsu today; glen davis' bulk kills everybody on both ends; he's so good offensively, and tremendous with the rebounds. and his buddy, tyrus thomas is equally dominant in the paint, but due to his athleticism instead of his bulk; not just a high flyer, but with the ability to catch many alley-oops, stuffing shots with his high hops, and good ability to get close buckets. screw guards and jacking up 3s; they totally won my support watching them take on the longhorns and win the game by their two bigs.

and george mason... man... surprising everybody. but i guess that's why people always say defense wins championships eh? we'll see what happens tomorrow against uconn.

fyi, in case you're wondering, i'll start working on my electric guitar skills and getting back to songwriting and putting up those songs on my other website once i'm done with ucdavis. it's been a LOOONG time but...

just thought i'd throw that out there;

it just seems that in between school, my kjv-onlyism projects, freetime spent on tekken and msm cg group, i just wouldn't have that much time to work on it.

but once i'm out of college for a year or two, i won't have internet at home, so i'll have a bit more free time to work on that.

btw, i'm thinking about getting this product; i saw it at fry's in sacramento:

iMIC

i also checked its reviews at harmonycentral.com and i like what i see; one of the cheaper ways to connect an input/output to your cpu and it bypasses most of the electronic equipment on your cpu, which eliminates the buzzing sound which would come out during recording or audio(guess why i would want to buy THAT?)

and when you compare it price-wise to all the other usb audio interface things and see that it's like 40 at fry's and everything else's 70 plus, i think you know why this is a good buy.
other usb output products

done.

now i just gotta pray for some mercy.

get some tacos for lunch.

maybe visit the icc.

and get some sleep before i head home.

it's so tough to stay focused 24/7.

at the rate that i'm finding verses to cut and paste into the bible scrapbook, i'm never going to be able to carry it around and just use it(if i did, the pages would stick together).

sports all around has been so weird lately:

kings(since i'm forced to watch them and their DREADFUL commentators whenever i want to see bball) lose to pacers and twolves despite their recently good status (both were great games btw; fairly close. the indy crowds were just letting artest have it, and kg put up 37-10; not like the usual 20-10-ish stuff he did. i really like kg and his unselfishness, but he really has to decide whether he needs to carry the twolves on his back offensively by scoring more and get more wins, or get others involved, and make them better in the long run, but lose more.

heat are doing really good. so when they visit detroit, this'll really be a measuring stick for each team. detroit has seemed to lose that fire that they started with in the beginning of the season, while we are seeing miami at their best as of right now.

george mason beat north carolina... (gm has the #1 defense in ncaa this year others have said; i'm impressed)

blake beat rafael nadal... (this is sweet; some of his shots were just crazy; now if only he could beat roger federer)

wbc: korea beats japan, but us loses to mexico, so japan plays korea AGAIN, and hands them their asses(msm's not going to be happy). and oh yeah; cuba beats the dominican republic. and while the game isn't over, i'm pretty sure japan's going to win unless cuba pulls out a miracle. yep, matsui shouldn't have listened to george steinbrenner(i think i spelled his name wrong), and played; would've gotten a free medal or trophy or ring or what not.

aaaand... to's in dallas next season, NOT denver. i think this'll be interesting, b/c bill parcels really does not take crap from any player, and will throw it on the player. i was watching sportscenter, and they were interviewing all these players that played for him, and you get the sense that he does NOT take crap from any player. i know we aren't supposed to wish bad will towards others, but this will be interesting to see if TO actually sticks his neck out or not(there's probably a million ppl who wish he does... and then gets it cut off).

btw, be glad i'm not using xanga, b/c @ the frequencies that i put up new posts, i would constantly be near the top of every xanga thread i subscribe to.

---

not really related, but i wanted to say something about the nba... a lotta ppl say so-and-so player's great for the nba.

i want to say that i think larry brown is great for the nba.

there's a million things i could say about him; his simple, but effective gameplan(play the right way, be unselfish, play hard on both ends, share the ball, have fun, etc), but i'll concentrate on one aspect for this post:

he loves and respects the players that he plays with or against.

i mean, the guy had every right to talk down to stephon marbury. the guy does not try to play selflessly, he does not try to play defense, etc. he's basically a streetballer(and unlike allen iverson, who is also a streetballer, but meshed well with brown for the most part, does not try to work with brown) and when brown benches him against the hawks for the 4th quarter and the home crowd boos marbury, he feels so bad after the game that he speaks up and apologizes, and states that he'll try to work something out("no player should ever be booed by his home team" or something to that extent).

let's not forget the 20 second timeout he called when there were about 10 seconds left game 6 against the indiana pacers, and it was clear that reggie miller was going to retire without a ring. the minute miller goes out, brown calls time, then instead of drawing up a play in a huddle, walks into the middle of the court and proceeds to clap in respect of reggie. total class.

he also did something similar when he was a coach at philly when mj played his final game ever. called a timeout, proceeded to clap.

oh sure, he's not perfect. i think the way he coaches offense could use a bit more work, despite the right idea being there. but i think he's a more positive influence for this nba than other ppl give him respect for.

figures i should've checked my hotmail account more often...

now that i did today, all the emails in it were deleted... there is absolutely NOTHING within it.

whatever...

i think i'll use gmail as my primary email from now on...

but yeah, now i have 1 immediate niece to go with my 1 immediate nephew.

so weird how time flies.

but since all my emails in the hotmail account were gone, i have no friggin idea whether phil sent me an email regarding what happened or not.

what really sucks is when you want to get these songs, like really like them, but you can't download them because they're not currently available.

sucks because you really want to be a good citizen and all, but they're not helping you.

and trying to buy the entire cd is sometimes a complete waste.

anyways, i really like these two songs; it's a shame they're not on napster.com:

third day/steven curtis chapman/mercy me - i see love
third day - blessed assurance

i used to wonder why galatians used the term "schoolmaster" to describe the use of the law(old testament) until jesus came, knowing that it was ultimately useless:

Galatians 3:24-25 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster [to bring us] unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

But for some reason, TODAY i got it:

Romans 7:7
What shall we say then? [Is] the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

It is a schoolmaster, b/c like a teacher, it can't save us, but it can convince us what is right and wrong. Once we realize what's right and wrong, then we realize our need for a savior.

---

Sometimes I wonder; how DO i get these things in the bible that those around me really don't seem to get? Is it because i GET things in the bible when i read them? no. in fact, i probably spend more time than others when i read the bible; i tend to think i'm a slow reader.

I think it's a combination of two things; God giving me a love and hard concept that the word of God is really important, and him showing me things everytime i read. alone i don't discover these things. even when i do read more than others, it's not because i DISCOVERED ideas; God revealed them to me.

so i leave 2 verses for you to chew on relating to me not discovering these ideas, but God revealing them to me:

1st Corinthians 2:14
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned.

1st Peter 1:20-21
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation.
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake [as they were] moved by the Holy Ghost.

Rick Meisel, Biblical Discernment Ministries:

"The Scriptures do not teach that any portion of the Word of God contains doctrines that are "less essential." Our Lord and Savior left no room for doubt on this subject: "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4)"

"In fact, why run so as to win (1 Corinthians 9:24)? If you have the "essentials" down, it's no big deal if you get deceived into other areas. What kind of a warning is Colossians 2:8 then anyway? So what if you're taken in by empty deceit! You have your essentials! Eat and drink (theologically speaking), for tomorrow we all go to heaven! WHAT A LIE! One cannot categorize Bible doctrine as very essential, not so very essential, less essential, non-essential, or whatever other type of human ranking system. Differences in "Importance," yes, but there are no doctrines that are more or less essential than others. The Bible does not divide doctrine into essential and non-essential. Paul labored to preach the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27). Modern evangelicalism claims that certain doctrines are "essential" and others are "non-essential," and that Christian unity revolves strictly around the essentials, while the non-essentials have no meaning in regard to fellowship. But the Bible nowhere says that doctrine can be so divided. "The faith once delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3) describes that body of truth delivered to us by the Lord's Apostles through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The entire body of truth is to be contended for. Timothy was to allow NO OTHER DOCTRINE to be taught (1 Timothy 1:3). There is no hint here that some Bible doctrine is essential and other doctrine is not."

think about that the next time you wonder whether or not to dive into the more obscure parts of the bible that you have never dived into, like the prophets or revelations. don't act they're too boring or too hard to study; if you need help, i gladly offer what services i can.

bored, so i decided just to edit the t5:dr tier ranking before i make a fresh post later tonight; keep in mind koreans set their machine so that the lifebars are higher, so some characters may be ranked lower than played elsewhere(ie nina won't do as much damage during her oki):

A Class:
Asuka, Baek, Bryan, Devil Jin, Dragunov, Feng, Jack5, Jin, Law, Marduk, Paul, Raven

A-/B+ Class:
Kazuya, King, Nina

B Class:
Armor King, Bruce, Christie/Eddy, Ganryu, Heihachi, Hwoarang, Julia, Lee, Lili, Xiaoyu

B-/C+ Class:
Anna, Kuma, Lei, Wang, Yoshi

C Class:
Roger, Steve

when you actually line all the characters up by rank things look fairly interesting; this game is actually pretty balanced. though dr's still a game with some random wins due to high damage combos and the crush system, ultimately skill plays more of a deal than the player.

i'm still surprised that steve is ranked so low(NiN, the korean tk5 2005 champion who uses steve as his main character, is playing tremendously using him). steve can't possibly be that low. maybe not in the A class, but definitely not that bad.

i'm taking a look at the up-most bracket and looking kinda confused that jin, asuka and baek are there. and how is the 1st time paul up there? weird; i don't think they've addressed his linear attacking problems, and he still seems like a high risk/high reward character. i can't comment on dragunov, lili or aking though, cause i haven't really seen them in action. but the korean dr champion, Na Rak Hof uses paul as his main character.

so i'm guessing why there's so many in the top tier is b/c this game's become a lot less abusive, sorta like virtua fighter 4:final tuned... to a lesser degree. so just because a character has problems doesn't mean they fall b/c of them. still weird though seeing the top tier bracket.

i'll make this quick, cause i'm just taking a break...

tomorrow's my most hellish day in a long time.

tis a sad thing when US loses to both its neighbors.

and yay, warriors FINALLY beat someone! although, beating the twolves is seriously nothing to sneeze about.

*the following's a cut and paste off of shoryuken.com regarding tekken 5:dr tiers*

"Anyway here is a better list from Tekkencentral owner with top players experience, altough Vers. B arrives(changes will be minimal).

From Duk2000

Aking - B
Lili - B
Dragunov - A

Marduk - A
Lei - B~C
Anna - B~C
Law - A
Nina - A~B
Baek - A
Hwoarang - B
Steve - C
Roger - C
King - A~B
Kazuya - A~B
Kuma - B~C
Raven - A
Xiaoyu - B
Bruce - B
Asuka - A
Jin - A
Wang - B~C
Feng - A
Lee - B
Ganryu - B
Christie/Eddy - B
Julia - B
Mokujin - S++++
Paul - A
Yoshi - B~C
Heihachi - B
Jack5 - A
Bryan - A
Devil Jin - A

My ranks so far after 2 weeks of hardcore playing.
Seems like very well balanced so far. (korean setting is +2 energy which is
about 123% in ps2 version)
Don't know why Namco is releaseing Ver. B already... maybe it has
some bugs??"
(end quote)

from what i hear, jack-5's supposed to be the best char in the game. that's crazy. meh; i'll always be an ewgf-ing jin player first and foremost, so i'm gonna keep dj as my main. might wanna start learning hwoarang though.

hate to say it, but kings are starting to look REALLY good as of late.

bonzi and artest are both players that get it done on the boards and D, and it's starting to really make the kings better in 2 aspects of the game they've never really been before.

now, sacto's just gotta pray ron's honeymoon season doesn't crash on them in the next, oh, i dunno, 10 years, heh.

fyi, i never realized how good breaded fish fillets topped with chunky salsa and pickled jalapenos mixed in the salsa could taste.

maybe it's cause i never had frozen breaded fish fillets for a LOOOONG time.

but i seriously like the kick that the salsa and jalapenos bring.

i found this article about gmail to be interesting

considering how many ppl use gmail now(i have an account, but haven't really used it yet)

i'm not quite yet completely sold on the ideas that the article has. but it wouldn't be too bad of an idea to save any important messages on your gmail account to a single mht file(click save as and bring up single file) and delete any important messages you have saved on your gmail account if you're going to keep those messages past 180 days.

it is so hard for me to say "blessed be the name of the LORD" right now, as Job did in chapter 1.

how he even managed to do so, and not blame God for all his problems as seen in chapter 2, i will never know.

i'm not saying i'm in a position where i want to curse God; i just find it so hard to say "everything's great" right now. because, isn't that what saying "blessed be the name of the LORD" basically is?

the bible is quite strange sometimes; when something bad happens to us, that is our own fault to blame. when something good happens to us, it is all of God's doing.

we know that God has his purpose with all of us, to prosper us and not to harm us, as stated in Jeremiah 29; and if he sees we're not going with his plan, he pushes us the other way, even when he knows it'll just crush us emotionally inside, knowing the best for us. BUT IT'S JUST SO HARD TO SEE WHAT HE'S TRYING TO DO.

i think i know why sometimes we feel like it would be easier to follow God back then. the way the educational system and modern-day society works, is like a long, logical chain.

elementary school -> jr high -> high school -> college -> grad school -> career -> marriage -> some more career -> kids -> death

and when something goes wrong part of the way in that supposed chain, like bad grades in college, or impending bad grades in college, that chain appears to collapse. life's over. we're done.

10 years are but a second in the eyes of the LORD. but to us, it seems like eternity, especially if you feel helpless.

i guess the reason why i'm writing all this down, is because i believe in fate. i've read enough of the bible to get this sense that God really has known everything that will happen before this world will end. to somehow believe that we have free will to do what we want and that God's just occasionally stepping in or stepping back is wrong. look at it this way; God predicted what will happen to the world when it comes to an end in specific detail in Revelations. to suggest free will is more prevalent means that these people that are talked about can just try to not do what is said and it won't come to pass. to suggest that God can only predict the end times and not everything that will occur in between now and then is rubbish; it was only not written down because there was no need to.

that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to DO things. animals try to do stuff too. but it is more God than us.

what God wants us to do though, is not get caught up in the things of this world. it can feel extremely hard in tough times. but we need to see that God intends to do something useful with our lives, and never intends to give us more than we can handle. it is by the realization of this assurance in Jeremiah 29 that we can say with firmality, "blessed be the name of the LORD."

the more time i spend with my bible verse scrapbook project, the more i see the truth behind Proverbs 30:5(a verse which states that all of God's words are pure)

you see, you can say, i like this verse. but the verses behind that verse and after it give it that much richer meaning. and often times i'm staring at a photocopied page of my bible trying to pick out the exact verse i wanted to cut and paste out, only to realize how many more i should've done... if i kept this up, i would end up just photocopying the entire bible.

*yacketyyacketyyacketyyacketyyackyack*

i wanted to see if the kjv bible had a verse saying something along the lines of people just picking and choosing what they want to hear(ie not reading the entire bible to get the story).

but the best i could come up with was one of the verses below.

(and any verses which state that all of God's Words are truth and important, like Luke 4:4 and Psalm 12:6-7)

i'm not going to elaborate on the last verse i put up; i've said reasons why syria is of utmost importance rather than jerusalem during the beginning of the church, etc.

wanna shocker? look up "alexandria" in the bible and see if you find anything positive regarding that city.

and we all know christianity's attitude towards rome in the bible.

my "little" project of photocopying, cutting and pasting bible verses i like into the little diary i have's going along just fine; looks like in no time i'll be able to actually carry this thing around and start memorizing when i have nothing to do. of course, when i add more verses, i'll have to let it aerate during the night, so that the glue doesn't stick the pages together.

---

hah, i think i belong in absk... (and not b/c i'm not korean)

but i'd rather do my stuff in msm.

it all has to do w/the body of christ IMO.

(my genetics lab partner who goes to absk was curious why i would go to msm; i even told her, outside of the whole korean thing, the way my personality is, i don't really fit in)

and i've said it b4.

"picking a church shouldn't be all about what they can give me; it should also be what i can give them."

and if a church lacks in a certain area... well... shouldn't what you do next be obvious?

if you're in a church which tends to concentrate on other stuff a LOT more... it makes you feel like a drop of red dye in an expansive ocean blue.

but in the immediate context, i can help influence the members in my cg, and really, that's good enough for me.

besides, if God wanted me to change a fellowship upside-down, he would've shown me the things he showed me in junior year, well, in freshman year of college.

seems to me how little priorities usa sports players place upon actually representing their country and winning it

back then, anybody in any pro sport would've signed up if given the chance. when the us dream team in bball was formed, every superstar signed up to play.

now, the attitude's not so out there.

and it's sad. really.

i'm of course, referring to the us baseball team. it's still a good team, and i admittedly don't know a lot about baseball in general. but i still get the sense that this team, like the us basketball team 2 years back, had a lot of people not choose to play.

Hebrews 4:12

For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Ezekiel 12:2

Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they [are] a rebellious
house.

1st Corinthians 1:27-28

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
{1:28} And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, [yea,] and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are

Acts 11:26

And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

*antioch is a city in syria, not israel*

this is funny:

"The Bobcats sell the first two seats on their bench, but referee Bill Kennedy apparently thought one of the men sitting in them was an assistant coach: He called him for a technical foul for criticizing the officiating. The foul was rescinded when Kennedy realized the remarks came from fan Skipper Beck, a part-owner of the Bobcats."

i think i finally figured out how i'm going to use my moleskine(r) pocket diary

seeing how i was really relucant to actually write in it:

photocopy my favorite bible verses from my pocket kjv bible, then cut and paste them into the diary, so i can carry them with me whenever i want.

sometimes i wonder if my thoughts and beliefs make me one man standing against the rest of the world

and i wonder; how can i be sure what i believe is the absolute truth? seems almost nobody around me believes what i believe. they're open-minded enough to listen to me, but they wouldn't stake their lives on what i believe.

then i think; if what i believe is true, the evidence WILL be out there. and not as a drop of dye in an ocean, but rather salt in the dead sea. evidence from one man's mouth will back up the words that escape from another.