my apologies if you're trying to reach me in the past few weeks in some way related to the internet, ie email, waiting for my blog to show some signs of life; haven't really checked my email; will do so this friday or saturday. i'm lazy-weird like that.

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so the nba finals were over 2 weeks ago. i will just make this thought on the nba short, b/c it's over for this season, and i have no reason to go too indepth on the subject, i will just make 5 statements about the nba that if you wish, i can elaborate on the next journal entry.

1)heat won this year not b/c of their offseason aquisitions(jason williams > damon jones, but james posey = eddie jones, and walker didn't do crap), but because riley was the head coach and dwyane wade and shaq were healthy; most importantly for the players' part, dwyane wade was better and healthier.
2)i would actually like the heat if they did not have... walker(yes, that's right, not shaq, walker; you see, what comes out of shaq's mouth can be obnoxious sometimes, but at least he has the skills to back it up; walker can't do anything without the ball, but everytime he gets an and1, he feels obligated to do that ugly waggle butt dance that he does)
3)funny how when the spurs and pistons win the championship, espn.com's all like "they have all the pieces to repeat next season" but when the heat win, they are a bit more skeptical, b/c of age; well, at least it shows espn guys aren't drones.
4)i actually like dwade out of the 3 "phenoms", ykno, lebron, melo... i like his offense better and his defense seems to be better than either of the two. and he banks :D
5)i was kinda hoping this year that the pistons would meet the spurs again in the finals, seeing how hungry for revenge the pistons seemed during this season. unfortunately, it couldn't happen, but i will say that an occasional change of scenery during the nba finals really never hurt anybody.

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in reflection, i actually liked reading a lot; it's just that i never liked reading on other people's terms; ie for a class, before this week is over so the library books i have can be returned w/o being overdue. so i present to you the list of books i have as of right now in my room that i would like to get done with by the end of this summer:

an understandable history of the bible - dr. samuel gipp *done*
new age (bible) versions - g.a. riplinger(i hoped i spelled that name right)
the art of war - sun tzu(translated by john minford)
the case for a creator - lee strobel(given to me by my msm counselor)

i would also like to get "mythic past" from barnes and noble; it's a book debating the validity of the bible; you see, as i'm still trying to increase my collection of books arguing for the validity of the kjv bible, i would also like to look into books that debate the kjv vs other bible versions, but i haven't looked at a book that says the bible is not truth based on EXTERNAL factors; would be interesting to read it just to see what type of arguments the author makes(and whether those arguments have any counter arguments; they always do)

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lucky enough to find bible software for the niv at fry's; you see, i want to be able to compare the niv up against the kjv at home, it's easier to do if you have search software to use, and i have the kjv for free on my cpu, but the niv is copyrighted, so you actually need to purchase it. still wasn't too expensive; 9.99

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i wear SO MUCH stuff when i play basketball now. it used to be just "to look cool" which was why i originally wore the green headband, but now, my body's just like screaming after every day i play if i'm not wearing stuff. i wear wwjd and a rubber bracelet everytime i play, but then, i always wear that, so it's kinda moot.

-white headband(it's a special fiber, so it feels lighter and sucks water away; very, very, good); used to wear it b/c it looked cool, but now i'm getting used to it actually working quite well especially on a hot day, as it keeps the sweat from running down my face, and it can be used to slightly tuck my glasses in so they won't fall out as easily
-starting to wear those things that tuck your glasses in now as well, btw
-fingersleeve(wear it on my left ring; never got sprained, but sometimes when i played it would hurt, so i do this not to get that feeling anymore)
-gels that i wear to cushion my balls-of-my-feet; i get these nasty calluses on my balls of my foot if i don't wear them, and since they slide around all the time, i'm going to get tape now as well
-jumper's knee strap(i dunno if this is a recent occurance, but sometimes my left knee aches after games now)

and that's excluding the fact that during winter and fall, i like using the nike elbow band and nba shooter's sleeve to help me keep warm.

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whoa, too much typing; i just wanna say one more thing:

if you like watching cartoons on youtube.com, try searching with these words:

jlu secret origins

very nice; should bring up a 1 hr cartoon about the justice league; i enjoy it greatly, because it shows how the justice league(superman, batman, wonder woman, hawkgirl, green lantern, and the flash) came to be; for some reason, i'm a really big sucker for the very 1st episode, and maybe the last episode of cartoons; shows how things were set up, and how the heroes came to don their responsibilities, as well as how they closed things off.

closure...

and yet, it's not...

b/c i don't have a good feeling about one of my classes...

like i said before, i really hope i don't have to come back this fall...

that being said, even if i didn't have to come back, i still really don't know what the hell i'm going to do...

whatever God's will is, God's will is

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burned my last cd today... that's it... all my data on my cpu is now on a ton of cds. funny how it came down to this... i came into this college with nothing on my laptop, and i will leave with nothing on my laptop(as i'm finally going to defragment that slow ass cpu tonight). now, i won't ever have to worry about being sidetracked when using my laptop, b/c all the data will be somewhere else; available for me to use, but not within easy reach.

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according to the wiki, dwyane wade is a christian, b/c he's tithed to his church back in illinois. christians are so hard to follow in the nba nowadays; nobody's as outspoken as david robinson and avery johnson. that being said, here i who i THINK is christian:

ben wallace(wears a wwjd bracelet)
chauncey billups(said "God is good" when he received the 2k4 finals mvp)
antonio mcdyess(wears a wwjd bracelet, i think)
jason richardson(prays before every game)
dwyane wade
dwight howard(obvious reasons)
alonzo mourning(points his finger to the sky during games a LOT)
michael redd(gave his dad a CHURCH)
jermaine o neal(sketchy on this one; i've heard he prayed before, but then it's hard to say you're a christian when your track record has you rush-punching a pistons fan)
richard jefferson(parents were missionaries)
antoine jamaison
michael finley
allen iverson(? not too sure; wears wwjd)

help me add to the list; who else? or did i get anybody wrong?

fyi, stuart scott asked avery johnson if he'd ever tell his players that he loved them(coach brown did it in game 6 vs spurs, and the pistons responded with a win)... i loved avery's response, it was along the lines of "no, i don't need to do that, because i tell them every moment off the court that i love them. they know it, and i always allow jerry stackhouse's kids to come and stay over and eat all my food." (sounds very asian christian parent-like, doesn't it?)

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in retrospect, i look back at college, and i have to admit, i learned stuff... but it was never in class. you see, while i may have picked up random things about modern biology, i believe in the end all that knowledge was superficial, and i probably couldn't recall it in a heartbeat. times flies... regardless of whether you're having fun, or trudging along.

i also learned that the internet and cpu in general is my krytonite in using time wisely... those years in jr high and high school were i was all goody-goody studying? bs... high school never prepared me for dealing with cable and high-speed internet. the good part is that is now over, and should i ever have to go back to college for grad school, i believe i'll have a much better plan of attack in studying better and stuff and not slacking. after all, life is one giant experiment... try stuff out, if it doesn't work, try something else out. just don't lose focus.

i believe the real, life-changing stuff for me though, lay in my junior year; God gave me a second chance near the end of fall quarter, and then it was in my winter quarter, that my eyes came across the humongous eBook i read during junior year that would change my mentality about how i viewed the Bible and my beliefs in christianity forever.

i don't want to go back through my entire journal and pick out stuff in detail that occurred during my college period right now... i'm kinda tired, and intend to take a quick nap before i bring a buncha stuff back to the bay area, then come back early tomorrow for graduation(mom's too afraid to drive herself)... maybe later.

i will say this though... nothing occurs on this earth with it being in some minute way a perfect step in God's eyes of his perfect plan. we may not see the fruits of our labor right now even when it appears all for naught, but i believe somewhere in the distant future when we are spiritually mature enough to take it, that we'll see and understand it.

til then, keep reading the word of God each day. preferably, the KJV.

and test and retest and think about each and every aspect of your life from all angles, so that you'll always arrive at the best conclusion.

i'm out(not my blogging, you silly, i'll keep posting). i'll see you CTCC boyz back after retreat, as i'm not going. when you come back, you'll finally have tayshaun's "asian arms of D" to contend with.

i think i've heard word that dallas and miami tend to be those cities which are just more bandwagon type ppl; if something's good, they get into it; check this out...

cbs4.com - Plenty Of Room On The Bandwagon For New Heat Fans

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right now i'm just PRAYING i graduate and don't have to come back fall... as an undergraduate... i am HOPING i come back... but not as an undergrad.

Ben Wallace - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

"Like other big men in the NBA, namely Shaquille O'Neal and Wilt Chamberlain, Wallace is a poor free throw shooter. In fact, he is the worst free throw shooter in NBA history out of any player with more than 1000 attempts. As of October 2005, his NBA career average is 42.0%. This ineptitude at the free throw line results in his sometimes becoming a target of the so-called 'Hack-a-Shaq' defense (A tactic that has drawn the ire of teammate Rasheed Wallace). The reason for this drawback is that his right wrist has some ligaments that were cut off due to a surgery that was needed because his hand had some carpal tunnel issues. This causes his hand to go 'dead' whenever he dunks, falls to the ground, or when he shoots a free throw, resulting in him being unable to make them on a consistent basis."

we finally know why he can't shoot free throws...

i can't believe the heat won...

i thought i knew the final score was that the heat would get game 3, in retrospect after glancing at the live feed of the game's scores, i really think the heat are in trouble.

dallas should have won game 3.

dwyane wade's offensive stats are just disgustingly sick.

game 4, not THREE, IMO, will be the game that decides the outcome of the nba finals.

i've noticed that it's ALWAYS too early to call a series even if the team w/home advantage gets the 1st two. securing your home court wins is always good, and then it'll put pressure on the opponent, but it's not bulletproof. case in point, detroit and spurs last year. so spurs won the 1st 2 by huge margins. and they won the series. but a LOT of people weren't thinking that way after the outcome of games 3 and 4.

it's probably a given that the heat will win game 3. i BELIEVE it. no way the crowd will allow another loss, and no way will the duo allow it. but if they don't absolutely trash the mavs in that win, and only win by a hair, miami's in trouble.

like i said, you'll need to see how mavs respond in game 4, after losing, to see whether they'll get this.

You are now about to witness the strength of Bob Saget

haha...

Incredible...

Nadal is clearly Federer's thorn in the side... this kid's incredible. i think the french open clearly favors fast, scrambling players, the type that nadal is. if you can outrun your opponent, you'll shine on the clay.

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US soccer better live up to its expectations this year... they start tomorrow.

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note: i have never seen shaq so agile compared to this year... it's been a LOOONG time since i've seen him this fast. i don't think he's a defensive liability at all this season.

another note: like shaq, you can improve your chances of getting a good post-up near the basket, not just by backing down before demanding the ball, but shifting from one side of the court, to the other. trust me. they said something like this on espn.com, and i wholeheartedly agree.

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some Justice League Unlimited videos for you to enjoy; i love how DC comics likes mashing all their superheroes that they create together...

JLU - Epilogue

they never got around to putting a "final episode" on Batman Beyond(which i used to watch everytime it showed on channel 20); incidentally, the "final episode" comes during this JLU episode; you finally find out all the kinks about terry's past. very nice.

Once And Future Thing

this one's during the future... so apparently static shock and batman beyond make up part of the future JLU huh? nice... so where's gear?(static's sidekick)

aaaand, not to leave out x-men... this stuff's good...

one man's worth

oh schnap! someone save xavier!

beyond good and evil

cable, apocalypse, the whole sche-bang...

(i always tended to like DC and marvel comics more than japanese anime)

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but for an extra surprise, these are the japanese introductions to x-men; notice the BIG contrast... much more like japanese animation... ie a buncha robots are coming at the x-men, not magneto... weird...

intro 1

intro 2

good ol american fox x-men intro

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three more funny things i gotta post for your enjoyment before i sign off and study:

click 1

click 2

click 3

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i'll post something deep after thursday afternoon; that's when all my finals end.

some people view life as a race... and the finish line is death.

in reality, it's probably not that simple.

i think a more accurate picture is that in that race, death is our competitor; and he's slowly catching up from behind, sealing our fate; we just decide on the speed which we run whether he can catch us now, or later...

and various checkpoints in the race are our own personal goals that we want to set before we die. there is no actual finish line; you finish when death catches you. some of us will die before we finish those goals; others will achieve them all in their young life, then just run until death catches them in their old age.

furthermore, as we are running, there are numerous forks in the road that constantly appear. we call these forks "decisions." some of us will choose good decisions, others will choose bad decisions. but no matter what happens, once we choose them, they are set in stone; we can't go back and change our decisions; death will catch us before we can do that.

managed to actually get in a few rounds against other asian people playing street fighter 2: hyper fighting. i keep saying "i would've won more matches against them if the forward(middle kick) button wasn't broken" but excuses, excuses.

specifically, i played against 2 asians, both used guile exclusively. i started with guile and played around for a bit. since i couldn't use crouching forward(probably guile's best poke), that annoyed the crap outta me. i had to use crouching short, which, as guile, DOES go pretty far, but doesn't go as far as his crouching forward. and i really would only use crouching short for other reasons. also doesn't do as much hitstun. still, the guile vs guile games were pretty close. he won most of them, but they were close matches. lotsa throws and counterthrows (hey, cmon now; it's guile). i think i knew more tricks than him(i was throwing sonic booms more due to b,f,b+punch trick, using "piano" method to increase my chances of getting reversals, and doing tick throws more), but couldn't really counterattack his stuff better. after the loses started just piling up, i said "screw guile; i can't play him if i can't use croching forward" and switched to ryu(ryu relies on crouching forward a lot too for his normals, but since he's more of a trapping character, you don't really need to use it), and got manhandled the 1st game.

but then, i stuck with ryu, and was able to go on a tear; i think i got like 3-4 wins in a row. ryu vs guile in hyper fighting, is stated by many to be a 6-4 match in ryu's favor. still a close, good match. because ryu's hurricane kick, while prone to flash kicks and guile's crouching fierce, is invincible on the 1st frame, and goes cleanly over guile's sonic boom every time. takes away a lot of guile's pressure tactics up-close because of that. ryu wants to push guile into midrange where his faster fireball and the fact that he doesn't need to charge it gives him a significant advantage; if guile tries to match ryu projectile for projectile, he will lose. guile wants to get in where he has better normals, his crouching forward can stuff ryu's fireball before it comes out, and if his sonic boom matches ryu's hadoken, he gets a free backfist. i played defensively, cause while that's boring, it was the smart thing to do with ryu against guile. although i could've went for crossups a bit more if i got up-close. i actually got a lot of psychic dps on both guile players, ie, i'd hit them with jab dragon punch just as they stuck out crouching short or forward.

muga staff really need to fix that forward button. it's pissing me off.

one thing i don't like about american sticks is that the stick is slightly textured near the top; it's fine in tekken and virtua fighter, because you play that game by tapping the joystick. but it's horrible in street fighter, since you HOLD the joystick more. i've got this blister on my left thumb on the side as a result.

YouTube - ????? Knife Skills

for nostalgia's sake...

am i bringing back memories, college ctcc guys?

personally, all i could do was flip out, twirl, flip back. then again, that's all we could do.

if i tried what the girl did in the video at the same speed, i'd probably slash open all 5 digits on my left hand. and then, by the time i'd get it down, there'd be a puddle of blood forming near my legs.

DevilDucky - Richard Attenborough: The Lyrebird

this... bird... is... so... frikkin... awesome...

FUNNY POLICE VIDEO - CRACK DEALER JACKASS AT 60MPH - Google Video

What Ibid means

I get it now...

cause sometimes reading "Gipp's An Understanding History of the Bible" I would see this as a book quote in the footnotes, and it would be a really good quote, and so i was like, "man, all these quotes taken from this Ibid book; i gotta have this."

duuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

for some strange reason, as of late regarding my current flavor in fighting games, i keep returning to street fighter 2: hyper fighting and super street fighter 2 turbo.

virtua fighter's a constant; vf5, vf4:final tuned or vf4:evolution i never put on the backburner.

but strangely, i've begun to disregard tekken more for sf2:hf and ssf2t.

perhaps it's cause i'm downloading a LOT more sf2 match videos, but i find the usage of moves in each match and the care and approach needed to win in those games very respectable. you never use just a few moves.

sf2 has such highly counter-character matchups and do really high damage at times that it's never about the combos. this game is about establishing your footsie game better than your opponent and slowly grinding them to a pulp.

i've always liked ryu, but i've gravitating more and more towards guile, because he can be played very aggressively. and i'm thinking of learning chun-li.

too bad nobody plays this. much like vf4. that and the fact that the "forward kick" button at the muga is broken.

one of the most interesting phenomenons regarding human nature towards sports is the act of rooting for your personal most hated team to lose. or rather, when watching a sports game, that you're rooting for the team you hate MORE to lose. or rooting for the team that just knocked your team out of the playoffs to lose. instead of rooting for the team you like more to win.

well, i'm here to tell you, STOPPIT.

to be quite frank, it's childish.

why?

no longer do you care about the enjoyment of the game.

you're exhibiting the desire that "if i can't have my team get a championship, neither will you."

and quite frankly, this desire is satanic in nature.

ever since Satan fell from heaven, he has sought to replace God. he also has genuinely sought that if he can't stay in heaven and must suffer, all other humans(who i guess he believes are even less righteous than he was, and even less of a creature than he was) must suffer too.

starting to see why i dislike this attitude so much?

i mean, i could be taking this a bit too far, but i don't believe that.

i'm not saying you have to like the team that just sent your team into the offseason.

or your most hated team.

but grow up already... if you really don't notice, this attitude detracts from your enjoyment of the game, b/c it's no longer about a good play or good sportsmanship... it's simply about the end score and whether the team you hate looks terrible.

so you're asking, what's the difference between rooting for the team you want to win vs rooting against the team you want to lose?

your attitude. whether you view plays as awesome b/c the player on your favored team is that talented, or whether you view plays as awesome b/c the player on your hated team looked like a klutz. etc.

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the other interesting phenomenon i guess i would say about sports is when your favorite team gets knocked out, ppl who write about it in online journals completely stop talking about the sport in its entirity. haha. but not me i guess.

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anyways, while i don't exactly like having the heat as the eastern reps as opposed to the pistons, i've kinda gotten over it. to the heat's credit, they've managed to find their offensive stroke, and i think their defense is for real. still don't like the fact that they had to get walker and williams(as both aren't good defenders), but i guess those are just personal pet peeves. that, and riley's brilliant coaching has more-or-less made them a team to beat. plus, i do like dwade and mourning. on the flip side, avery johnson has continued to show just how great of a coach he is. and dallas has continued to show how it is the deepest team in the league right now, plus, i love how dirk's evolving into an all-around player(i've felt this season that dirk had the potential to become the best center offensively if he could master some post-ups, and he's shown it). i also like josh howard.

i do like the matchup of mavericks vs heat. the mavericks smoked the heat in the regular season, but the heat have become that much better now. of course, i'll be hoping the mavericks win, but i'm not going to be that enbittered if the heat win. after all, dwade and mourning are really great.

if i was coaching the mavs, i have a lot of versatility as to how i want to take the heat apart, offensively. i could either put dirk at the 3 pt line since he is so hard to guard, and hopefully draw shaq and mourning out to the 3 pt line. that would free up the middle for terry, harris and howard to slash and do their thing. or, i give the ball to dirk in post and hope he draws fouls with shaq, or if doubled, kicks out to a plethora of 3-pt spot-up shooters. i personally like the 1st more.

heat of course, rely mainly upon their superstars. dallas has improved defensively, but they're not a lockdown defensive team yet. give the ball to shaq and wade, let them create by getting into the middle and then pass. then again, this is the heat's offensive gameplan every game lol.

if mav's improved defense holds up and they don't lose focus(they're prone to mental lapses in some games), i predict that the mavs will win in 6(they'll get all home games, grab the 5th game after they lose focus for 2 games and avery suddenly gets on them, then come home and win it). if not, heat in 6(heat will grab the 1st game showing they are for real, lose the 2nd game at home when avery gets on them, win the remainder)

if mavs win, mvp will be dirk(he will be highly responsible for getting shaq and 'zo to the 3 pt line). if heat win, mvp will be dwyane wade(mavs have slightly better big defenders than perimeter defenders; however, dwyane has not found any real counterdefender to him in the postseason).

interesting

to be honest, i kinda thought about it too... but never really said it outloud.

i do agree though, that game 6 will more-or-less decide what type of a coach flip is.

you have to realize though, that flip is a laid-back coach. while being laid-back has its benefits, ultimately, i'll take a strict coach over a laid-back coach.

phil jackson's the only exception.

"Harris went missing in action early in the second half. After diving over the Phoenix bench to save a loose ball, the Suns didn't make room for him to return, forcing him to walk all the way to the Dallas bench to find an opening."

That's low man...

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We are all Nowitznesses now...

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For those of you who were the same generation as I was and maybe older, I hope you enjoy this throwback cartoon

I grew up watching mainly TMNT.

To be honest though, in fair analyzation, the cartoons back then weren't necessarily better; all of us old people keep saying that's the truth, but that's only because we were raised on it, not because the young kids these days are idiots. Ppl really need to wise up; if we were raised on new TMNT, we'd swear up and down that the old TMNT looks like crap. I've seen both versions of TMNT, and i can see redeeming qualities of the new TMNT on FOX that makes it in some ways better than the old. Fight scenes are a little better(as opposed to the old where they just run into people basically and fall down), the turtles look a bit buffer, not like the skinny ass things in the old cartoon and their lines aren't as cheesy(although, this IS TMNT; lines are supposed to be cheesy). The redeeming qualities of the old TMNT though is that the storylines and plot are a lot better. I think.

Like I said, don't ever say what you watched back then is miles better than what is shown today. Sometimes I look up various episodes of shows back then I mightve watched, and then I go, "I watched THAT?!?!?!??"

(Although I will admit yu-gi-oh and pokemon is a BIT out there... that's my main pet peeve with today's cartoons)

ykno, playoff-wise, the pistons are looking a lot like the suns of the east in a lotta ways. ie the balance and depth, and arguably the defense at times is thrown out the window.

and what's surprising me is how the offense this year in the playoffs has almost single-handedly been carried by tayshaun alone.

bad, b/c they really need rasheed, billups, and rip to really beat everybody. i'm really surprised billups is not outstanding outside of the assists and free throws this year.

but at the same time, b/c tayshaun is my favorite piston right next to ben, it's really something to watch this guy. his gamestyle doesn't really stand out like other superstar players like dwade slashing all the time, but it's like you watch the game, he's playing solidly, not really exerting himself or demanding the ball, and then after a few minutes go by you're like "wow, he scored how many points?"

(btw, anybody else notice that tayshaun played with a red wristband on his left elbow for a FEW minutes during the 4th yesterday, then take it off again? weird... tayshaun plays with none of the sweatgear stuff or rubber bands)

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and yes, i'm still in shock ben wallace blocked shaq's dunk, and put him to the floor. notice how every miami heat fan on youtube.com commented "that was so a foul." hey, i may be a pistons fan, but i know a good block when i see one.

and yes, it's on my cpu right now. man, it's so fun to watch pistons block shots.

disgusting... i want to find a video of this on the web RIGHT NOW... i saw it during the replay after the game on espn.com and was totally blown away. it's stuff like this that made me like ben wallace so much.

"Prince had a steal and a dunk, then on the ensuing possession Ben Wallace brought the crowd to its feet.

Just when O'Neal was about to throw down another one of his backboard-shaking dunks, the 6-foot-7 Wallace leaped and stunted O'Neal's slam -- forcing a jump ball, and putting the 7-1 O'Neal on his back.

About a minute later, Wallace's three-point play -- yes, he made the free throw -- gave the Pistons a 60-53 lead."

he did it one-handed... against shaq going two-handed... dis... gus... ting...