Monday, January 17, 2005

Thanks For Everything, Aussies!

You guys rock! I am completely jealous of people who went to Melbourne for 2005 Deaflympics. I hadn't heard a complaint out of Melbourne (which I did from Rome on the first day of the 2-week events! and the pictures indicated that it went very well.

Congratulations, mates!

I finally found the picture I wanted -- yahoo! And a picture of Australians as well!

R-


Sunday, January 16, 2005

Bizarre Stuff

I was reading an article on espn.com, Matt Leinart mentioned that he got $950 stipend per month at Southern Cal. $950 just to practice and play football? I remembered a friend of mine who had a wrestling scholarship at a prominent Big 10 school, he said he got a monthly stipend, scholarship for tutition and room & board and in addition to free shoes, uniforms, practice clothes and so on.

That makes me think a little. Our use of SSI is justified, in some ways. That is, for college students. It is much better than to do the dishwashing at some McDonalds, really.

Speaking of Southern Cal, I once visited Southern Cal to check out its film school for graduate study. It is located in a shabby area near Downtown Los Angeles. When I entered the campus, I noticed something striking similar between Gallaudet and Southern Cal. Both has a fence around its campus, to imprison us (or as the administration would say, "to protect us") from the outside. I thought it was interesting, though.

I also scourged some interesting information -- in Melbourne, Australia during the Men's Basketball semi-final game between USA and Australia, USA romped past Australia, 131-78. The large margin was unnecessary, to be honest with you. And Jamal Bradley had 68 points for USA. What are they trying to improve? The walls around the gymnasium? Not only that, all games except for Lithuania were NOT even close, why 50 to 60-points blowouts? Australia is the host, where is the respect to minimize the blowout? Pathetic score and Carl, you can tell that to David Hamilton!

UPDATE!! One basketball loyalist paged me to inform me that Jamal Bradley did not score 68, the scorebook was incorrect. Perhaps, in time, I shall find out what's going on. UPDATE!! A reliable source pinged me: he did indeed score 68. Ah, the drama that is sports!

In addition to new information that I thought was very strange and bizarre but at least, it proved something dramatic.

Read this:

"In the third period, everything seemed to take a turn. The referees called on a Slovakia player traveling the ball, and their team insulted one of the referees. She threw two Slovakian players out of the game for disorderly conduct and one tried to get back into the game but she banned him again. Right after the referee threw the players out, a spectator passed out in the stands and had to be escorted away. Some USA players got slightly injured and Robert Haney bumped heads with a Slovenia player, causing the other player's nose to bleed. The game got held up numerous times because of those incidents, plus countless fouls on top of it."

Definitely odd thing.

Now on other thing, I was browsing through the pictures and I was surprised to see Anbo in one of these pictures! That boy needs to get a life of his own! How can he go to Melbourne?! I heard that he totally drained his parents' finances out to meet his demands to a point where his parents are truly broke. Anbo, get a fucking job and stop living off your parents' incomes, you little irresponsible prick!

R-

What Am I?

ACCORDING TO YOUR ANSWERS,

The political description that
fits you best is...

CENTRIST


CENTRISTS espouse a "middle ground" regarding government control of the economy and personal behavior. Depending on the issue, they sometimes favor government intervention and sometimes support individual freedom of choice. Centrists pride themselves on keeping an open mind, tend to oppose "political extremes," and emphasize what they describe as "practical" solutions to problems.

The RED DOT on the Chart shows where you fit on the political map.



See? I'm not that extreme Liberal but I'll defend Liberals when Conservatives demonized them frequently.

Saturday, January 15, 2005

Ahhh!

Today, I shopped.

All right, don't be so melodramatic. I know you guys are gasping and fainting. I hate shopping. Never liked it. I hope to find a companion who loves to shop and leave it to him to take care of it for me. But since I'm single, I had to shop. I bought many necessities for my bedroom and the total is only $38. Such a bargain. Most of 'em are simple stuff that I needed to make my bedroom cozy for me, mentally and spiritually.

And it looked so much better. The last thing I needed the most is ... a desk. A small desk. I'll hunt for it all over the world for a small but accessible desk for myself.

I'm bit bored and lethargic today. So I decided to open some old files with my favorite pictures. One of 'em is Mordru, my favorite villain. He's da bomb. He kicks ass. He rules! This issue marked the birth of Mordru, though.



R-

Third Time Is Not The Charm

The information out of Melbourne, Australia is skeptical at its best. I really cannot understand the international boxscores. But here it goes.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: No contest there. USA won the Gold, 108-78 over Slovenia.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: The Fates continued to favor the Deaf USA Women's Basketball team as they spoiled Sweden's hopes to unseat the USA's hold on the Gold for many decades as USA ran away with a 89-75 win. In the first quarter, the US outscored 23-9 and expanded the lead to 22, 44-22 at the half. Sorry, Touria, Therese and Cecelia.

HANDBALL: Croatia spoiled the USA's chance to win the first Gold Medal in the sport as they rolled to a 43-26 rout. The cinderella run to the Silver Medal is duly noted. Congratulations, boys.

Tomorrow is the last day of two-week celebration of Deaflympics. Up next in 2009 is Taipei, Taiwan. That is if the mainland China decided not to attack before then.

On another subject -- I am fuming about the loss to Duke last night. ARGH!

And apparently, the blogger.com removed the color fonts!

Are they trying to antagonize me today?

R-

Friday, January 14, 2005

I Heart Matt Leinart

I personally cannot stand Southern Cal. I personally thought Matt Leinart was too much of a pretty boi -- a little of everything: athletic, condescending and all that. Reading the papers for months about how good Southern Cal is, blah, blah, blah makes me root for anyone else to beat Leinart & Co.

Pete Carroll did a great job of bringing Southern Cal back to the national prominence. I will admit that. After watching them destroying Oklahoma Sooners 55-19, I stopped watching after the third quarter when the game was completely out of reach for the Sooners and the Southern Cal was too dominant. I stopped watching not because Southern Cal was too dominant, but how the players responded to its opponents each time after the play. For instance, when USC tackled a player, then quickly stood up above the player and intimidated him and with his hands open as to say, "C'mon, can you do that on me?"

That was a turn off.

You know how it is in today's professional sports. The lucrative contracts for millions of dollars are irresistible. Especially to college students who are always short on its end. So we routinely observed more and more players leaving college for the professional sports. Money now, don't worry about the future. That was the theme among the players.

Matt Leinart is the Quarterback of Southern Cal, a Heisman winner and a pretty boi. *barf* He led USC to its second consecutive national championship. He has a good arm. Many scouts said that if he left USC for a professional team, he'll be worth millions of dollars because he still has a good arm. If he chose to stay in college for one more year (he is third-year student at Southern Cal majoring in Sociology with 2.96 GPA), he could get injured and anything can happen and his lucrative contracts can disappear just like that.

So Matt had a tough decision.

Today, he announced that he is staying at USC because he enjoys his time at USC. And he wanted to cherish the moments of being a college student. He is doing this not for money, but for his love of the sport and school.

That moment when I heard the announcement, I heart Matt Leinart.

R-

It Sucks

In the last few days, few folks from my alma mater tracked me down and talked with me via the IM. It was a nice surprise to get an unexpected IM from whoever it is.

One of them was my childhood classmate who left the school when she got pregnant. Never knew she moved to an urban area. She is from a tiny town in the Appalachian mountains. Married an interpreter. Ahh. Her son had a brain tumor when he was a kid, that was awful.

Then I got another IM from a student who dropped out of the same school where I attended. He got out of jail last year, asked him why -- he said he was impersonating a cop. I asked him would he do that?

"I was just playing. I was bored."

Dumb, dumb, dumb.

And I got the heartbreaking news from the same person that a certain fellow named Brian is losing his vision and will attend the Helen Keller National Center in Long Island. Brian has Parkinson Disease at 26, and it progressed quickly for him as he cannot control his nerves. My sister mentioned that in a short time, he'll have to secure his head with something to prevent him from jerking around. I was bit stunned because I did not know that Parkinson Disease could play a role in causing someone's vision to disappear. But again, eyes runs on nervous system. I really felt bad for him. As soon as Brian is at HKNC, I'm off to Long Island to visit him. To show that I cared. Brian was simply a goofy, horny and funny man.

If not for Brian, my life at VSDB would be so boring.

R-