The world is a challenging place, but the house gains immunity

I got into a heated argument with my mom over a trivial issue. It got so out of hand that I had to call a police officer. He came, and told us that since this is a dispute, it did not count as a crime. So he went on his way, and the house gained immunity from being raided by police.

However, I had to do this. I never like to get into arguments. I never got into any recent rows with my dad, but I had issues with my mom. She says I've been "ruining her day." I have nothing to do with it. But she uses me as a scapegoat. Where is the logic behind that? I wanted to prove a point: the world is not as safe as we thought it can be. Parents kill their children. Children kill their parents. Domestic disputes happen in nearly every city. I wanted my mom to realize that while I have my faults, I don't to be in a situation they put on themselves.

Sure, there was no crime committed. But I wanted t let my mom know that people in West Long Beach look out for each other, and if the neighbors see something go out of hand, the police will arrest them, and it can get worse.

It won't happen again because the house gained immunity from being interrogated by police. But while I have my faults, my parents should know that they have issues controlling their anger as well.

Count Olaf, for the love of god, why...?

It was, as Lemony Snicket would note, another of that “Series of Unfortunate Events.” Mario Danelo, the kicker of USC Trojans football team who won the Rose Bowl last week, has died of injuries from falling of the cliffs in San Pedro. And this was a few days after my aunt died of cancer.

Count Olaf must be grining from ear to ear right now, and dinking drinks with the Grim Reaper. That’s on the same night UCLA’s undefeated run crashed against Oregon, Hawaii’s teams in action that day were whitewashed, a few days after Australia whitewashed the Poms, and still, more people are dying in Iraq.
Gracious. I need to get some sleep. I’m glad I bought my easy button. And that Melbourne Victory snatched a tie from the jaws of defeat.

Blowout and relief.

I should correct myself: Ice Cube, who I know for hits like “Bop Gun” featuring George Clinton of Parliament and Funkadelic fame, was the one who quoted that “today was a good day.” Ice Cube, along with other stars like Eazy E, and the Arabian Sheik, formed the rap supergroup NWA. And these guys were street smart and defied authority for a reason. Their album “Straight Outta Compton” is one of my favorite Rap Albums, and it paved the way for West Coast rap, and gangsta rap in general.

But back to the point. It was a good day. I went into the Pyramid thinking, oh man, Long Beach State was going to have a rough match against UC Santa Barbara. I was wrong. It was so one sided, that the threes were easily made from NBA range by Aaron Nixon and the gang. It got so ugly that with a few minutes left, the boosters headed to the exits. Déjà vu? Not exactly. UCLA would cream Santa Barbara. They knocked us down by 30. We took it out on their little brother by 36.

And the best part is; we actually played like Long Beach State that night. If this holds up, the boosters, fans, and players will see a contract extension offer, or another big one from across the nation. Or Larry Reynolds could be looking at returning to San Bernardino in glory, knowing that he could win at the Division I level.

Things are looking up here, because the players are on a mission. Let’s see if every day will be a good day for the Beach, and every game will be an even better game.

Also, I finally got my last grade. I got a B in Economics 333. With that out of the way, I look forward to Spring 2007 more than ever.

ReToBA: Return To Baltic Avenue

In the words of the legendary Tupac Amaru Shakur, today was a good day. With USC bouncing back over Michigan, Long Beach State and UNLV going on a tear in men’s hoops, Bob Knight passing Dean Smith on New Year’s Day, Boise boosting the WAC’s credibility with an OT win over those Okies from Norman, and the Anaheim Ducks are still the best team in the NHL so far, it was not ust a god day, it as a great day. Oh, I almost forgot, the San Diego Chargers wrapped up home field advantage throughout the playoffs, save for the Super Bowl, of course (which will be hosted in Miami).

So now, I’ve returned home from North Las Vegas to my official home in West Long Beach, via an overnight stopover at our house in Murrieta. The Murrieta house, which my sister owns, does not have internet capability yet. I hope that on my next visit that inconvenience will be fixed.

I was rudely welcomed when my software detected a couple more Trojan horses on my desktop. I’m going to have to give it a restart, update and scan.

Another little video I made...

Adblock

I decided to make this one to welcome 2007. I hope you enjoy it.

Inner peace at Aliante to close out 2006

49 minutes till a New Year starts, and I am already spent as I begin writing this entry. I used to like being on the Strip to see the fireworks, but now that I have residency in North Las Vegas, I don’t feel like being on the Strip again because I feel like a tourist. I feel like I’m not seeing Las Vegas the way I want to see it: an ordinary American city that accommodates to everyone and anyone.

North Las Vegas was the answer to finding a suitable house for us to move to. Last year, when we filed escrow for it, the realtor told us that we are in a great neighborhood. Aliante, a planned residential community, is an elite, rich, luxurious place to visit, shop, enjoy entertainment…and we were just right next door! When he told me about this, I was grinning. But then, we had to leave the Valley. I had my Fall semester classes to take care of at Long Beach State, my mom had her preschool classes to teach, my dad and sister had to take care of patients at their respective hospitals.

The New Year’s Eve weekend was the first time we could settle in our new home, if only for a few days. As I walked inside and set my room up, I had a wide smile. No more hotel reservations. No more need to reserve a room on the Strip months in advance. We just had to drive down I-15 a few minutes to get to the destinations. I was enjoying myself.

But then, bad news happened. One of my mom’s friends who is also a surrogate aunt to me, was on the verge of dying from cancer. It had metastasized so badly that she was terminally ill. I was stunned. She was 65, and she was terminally ill. My mood became silent as I went through my rounds on the slots. I lost focus, and just a few hours ago, I broke down as we went back home to our house. The cold reality set in. 65 years old. I was anguished by the fact. She’s not technically a member of our family, but given her close ties with my mom, she might as well be. I hoped that she would be able to be alive enough to at least see 2007 begin, but my mom told me that she will be able to see it. She would just be bed-ridden.

Even so, I was anguished, and wanted to find a way to come to terms with it, and accept it. So, knowing that my family and I would leave for Long Beach early New Year’s Day, I took a walk up the street to Aliante. There was a park there where I could do some reflection and be at peace.

It wasn’t an easy walk. The path up was not finished yet, so my shoes had to trudge through dirt, a stone walkway, more dirt, and an unfinished crosswalk. This was nothing new; I knew North Las Vegas was still growing, and so it was. At last, I saw the entrance, with the community’s official logo: the silhouettes of two birds flying, combined with the letters enhanced by floodlights: ALIANTE.

I passed by houses, more houses, up and down winding paths. A young resident took a smoke as he cleaned his large SUV. But I was alone, by myself. The police weren’t there. Aliante, from what I know, didn’t have any intruders invade their property. But, knowing their status being residents of this community was a privileged one, I walked by, looking at the houses, eating some popcorn along the way.

Finally, I saw the park. Nature Discovery Park was a small park and activity center at the corner of Aliante Parkway and Deer Valley Road. Just across the street were shops and places to eat. The park had tennis courts, basketball courts, and courts where the young and young at heart would play shuffleboard. The park was sometime reserved for parties, weddings, and other socials. But no one was using it. Heck, they wouldn’t dare do it at this time of the night! Many of them were at home: they were either sleeping, surfing the Net, or watching the news or the New Year passing through other parts of the world. By now, most of the world had seen it pass through. The West Coast, Alaska, Hawaii and Samoa were yet to see it.

I found a gazebo, well lighted, near a senior community center, in the park. I sat down, ate morsels of the Orville Redenbacher Kettle Corn I popped earlier in the morning, inhaled the clean, crisp Nevada winter air, devoid of the pollutants of cigarette smoke that swirled all over the casinos and hotels in Las Vegas and the Cannery (North Las Vegas’ hotel and casino). And I reflected on the good things and bad things that went wrong, and I realized that when my time comes, will I be ready? And what if my dad’s time comes, or my mom’s or my sister’s? Will I be ready when that happens?

I knew that there was no way my aunt would be denied her opportunity to see the new year before she let go. Confident, refreshed, and with a smile on my face, I walked back home.

I passed by a couple of residents, saying, “Good evening. Happy New Year.” They said in unison, “Happy New Year to you too.” These residents have class.

It’s now 20 minutes to the New Year as I finish up this blog entry. As I went down, I could see the Strip and Downtown, and I know that I will be able to see the fireworks from out there. I can’t wait.

This being the last entry of 2006, I wish a Happy and Prosperous New Year to all of you.

Video of Saddam Hussein being executed

Originally posted as a link on the Something Awful forums, I saved and uploaded it to google video before the it died.

Saddam Hussein...is dead.

And so, 2007 will open with another less tyrant to worry about.

Viva North Las Vegas!

I can now use my laptop for the Internet. I'm posting here from North Las Vegas, and in the words of James Brown, "I feel good!" I’m watching the archived 2006 Hawaii Bowl downloaded via torrent from my iPod, which is charging as we speak (with my SLVR L7 and my Love Generation, my laptop), and things are looking up.

I found out that I got a C in FIN 300. I got the bare minimum. I know that I will get at least a B in ECON 333, but if I did well enough on the final to get an A, it’s gonna be a 3.0 average for Fall, because the A and C cancel each other out. Fine by me, as long as I get that core stuff out of the way, because an Info Systems-heavy Spring with BeachSort, Anime Club, and Rugby on the side, as well as Super Fan duty (at games and with the Union), topped with a shot at selling my talents at the Job Fairs, are on tap when 2007 begins.

For the meantime, I’m gonna soak enjoying life as a Nevada citizen, and get to know my second city a bit more. Viva North Las Vegas!

Weird dream, but a colorful one.

This was one of the few dreams I can remember in full.

The dream started with the Moon Angel Troupe going on another of their missions, Milfeulle was hanging on to a ladder connected to a truck that Vanilla was driving. The truck was passing through a boggy swamp that was 6 foot deep of mud and water. She almost lost her grip, but when they got to the other side, the ladder lowered so Milfie could land.

So the team went to this house that had another of the lost technology tidbits they were looking for. Forte, Ranpha, and Mint were searching one room, Vanilla (with Normad) in another, and Milfeulle was looking in one room, where she stumbled on a large pink, cute, bag. Hey eyes were turning to stars, and she was madly blushing, because it was the cutest, most gorgeous looking bag she had ever seen. So, Milfeulle was about to touch it, when…the bag swallowed her whole! Save for a flower from her headband that the bag spitted out.

The bag had grown eyes and a face. Indeed, Milfeulle (as the bag) was pouting, saying, “Nande~~~!? Why the heck am I inside this bag?” So she opened herself to find some appendages. She used a scissor and pliers for arms, and two scalpers for legs.

Soon afterward, the bag swallowed everyone else, and it turned into Ranpha wearing a gorgeous, long-flowing yellow dress, and she was wearing high-end lipstick. She was about to be engaged to this hot guy that the was talking to-her “dream guy”-but the lost technology was about 6to be destroyed, so she kissed the guy and whispered as tears flowed from her eyes, “I’m sorry.” She vroomed like an engine, spat out a little bit of blood that turned into a shadow impression of Ranpha dancing in her dress, with a ribbon underneath, and blasted off, going through the guy and killing him in the process, and blasted through the roof off the house.

From there, Ranpha exploded, turning into her and the other angels flying their respective frames, and the ending credit of that scene was the original Galaxy Angel game logo, with the Moon Angels’ emblem, accompanied by the anime series’ typical fanfare music.

In this dream, I watched all of A, AA< st="on">Vatican, on Via Fiorentina, whatever that was. But GA in the Vatican? Unbelievable.

The final part of my dream was that me and the other members of my fraternity were climbing up and down this large jungle gym. One part of the course had me go through a hole, crawl through a gauntlet, and go out the other hole. Unfortunately, I couldn’t squeeze through the hole (due to my large size, perhaps), so I went out a bigger hole to the side. The others were laughing. At the end of the course, we tied pink paper ribbons, each ribbons with our favorite maxim, on to end of the jungle gym. A large number of pledges were waiting for their first event on their road to being new members. We would lead the way.

And thus ended my dream.

Props to the local boys from Hawaii

Let me give my Christmas shoutout to the people of Hawaii.

First off, I want to extend my congratulations to the University of Hawaii football team for bouncing back to win the 2006 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl over Arizona State. That was a sensational performance and this puts the 2006 team as the best since 92. Hawaii, you bloody beauty!

Secondly, June Jones. I have placed you at the top of my favorite football coaches at the college level. Now you are one of the greats. You are now the winningest head football coach in Hawaii in the modern era, passing Dick Tomey, whose Spartans won last night, by the way. Let's see if you can solve the mystery against Boise next year.

Finally, Colt Brennan. Man oh man. Words can't describe how important you are not only to Manoa, but to the state of Hawai'i. You decided to change your life the day Coach Jones opened the door for you, and you took advantage of it. Where you go from here is up to you, but I advise you: make the right decision that you will be happy with in the long run. And also, you have made the Mission Football Conference, and especially Mark McElroy and the Gauchos of Saddleback College, very proud to have seen an alumnus break Klingler's record.

And to the staff of the Honolulu Advertiser, the Star-Bulletin, KKEA 1420 AM, and everyone who follows the Warrior football team, you are the best. Keep it up, and keep believing. Enjoy the holiday, enjoy life, and let's do it all over again next year.GO WARRIORS! Aloha to you all.

One good shot leads to another!

There’s this song by the Fixx called “One Thing Leads to Another.” It’s a great tune, and it’s one of the few songs from the band I actually like.

But let me cut to the chase. If you were here in the Spring 2006 semester (yes, the Spring before this one), you will have been familiar with a guy by the name of Aaron Nixon. Combined with Kejuan Johnson, they are touted as “The Next Big Thing.” Well, if you saw the Big West Semifinal against a group of players from that shithole known as UC Irvine, Nixon made the game-winning shot that sent the Beach Nation into frenzy, the likes which I want to be accustomed to every fucking day.

Well, Déjà vu can be an angel. And it came on the night of December 22, 2006 against Loyola Marymount at Gersten Pavillion. 1.8 seconds left in the game. Kevin Houston lobs a pass from mid-court over to a certain guy wearing number 55, who drains in a three-pointer from 35 feet outthat sends the visitors into orgasmic heaven and the home fans into celibate, Scrooge-like [sic] impotency.

And you know who was wearing the number 55? Yes, you probably know now. It was none other than Aaron Nixon. The guy made the zots orz, and now he made the Lions orz. By the way, in this paragraph, orz means “fall to their knees and bed over in failure.” It’s a Densha Otoko thing.

But anyway, I thought that this was going to be one of those typical collapses, but instead, the Fixx came to town and said, “One Good Shot Leads to Another.” Aaron Nixon, you bloody beauty. For once, there was a glimmer of hope for Larry Reynolds after all.

(And I got another song to put to my iPod, the SUV of media players…)

Coincidentally, or even apocryphally, the title of the album that includes the song in question is called, “Reach the Beach.”

Super Fan comic by J.R.: Volume 1

I open my comic strip side with this piece.
I will never forget my club's URL again.

World, ease your mind and Kananize!

My mind's been eased with reading Galaxy Angel. And that, I think, is the power of seeing the art of the greats in shoujo manga. From Miho Obana, to Arina Tanemura, to Naoko Takeuchi, to Kanan and between, the best mangaka create characters that are immortal in appearance, memory, and character. It's those characters, and their development into something special that make them unique.

Kanan's rendition of Galaxy Angel (which is different from the Galaxy Angel anime for a few obvious reasons: continuity, character development, and the type of storyline that mixes comedy with drama, romance, and great art) is no exception to this rule. I have all volumes of Galaxy Angel 3rd (or Galaxy Angel II) to date, as well as all 5 volumes of the first arc so far, and I love how she molds the hooks with the uniqueness of the characters. The scenes with little of text are the best parts of the chapters for a number of reasons (mostly, having to do with graphic design ideas for your sites), and after my iPod charges up (it died just a few hours ago; I had to get over to campus to charge my iPod, iMilfeulle, up), it's off to a few more rounds of scanning before stuffing up at Round Table.

Wings are the type of attribute that I have embraced to most of my recent drawings. I like how Kanan draws the wings on Milfeulle. I gotta try doing some tone one of these days; she's a cut above a number of other mangaka, but in the league of Arina, Naoko, you know, the Bishoujo Mangaka Masters...If the plotline in the manga follwed in the anime, I know that GA as an anime would have been in the top 30, instead of the middle of the top 100 list by Anime News Network. Maybe top 20, even.

And that's why Sailor Moon, even though it's seen by people in North America as a mere stepping stone for those who were first exposed to anime and manga in the 1990's, is in the Top 30. It doesn't have the strongest following, after ending its run nearly a decade ago, but the impact it had in blazing a trail for the bishoujo plotline (led by a certain pigtail-and-bun immortal in a fuku and her company of soldiers doubling as a princess of the past and queen of the future) makes it a memorable one.

If only Galaxy Angel's anime plotline followed this, using what Kanan came up. At least my mind is still at ease before Big Thursday comes rolling in less than, I don't know, 40 hours.

Buy backs are love.

I am so glad I was able to buy back my Management textbook. I got enough money to buy a new set of headphones that replaced the worn-out ones I had for my current iPod, which I call iMilfeulle. (I call my SLVR with iTunes iApricot, and my current USB iNano-Nano, all Galaxy Angel characters.)This new set of headphones is from this company called Skullcandy, and it's called GIs. This headphone set was designed for those who want the best out of their headphones. It's much better, and more stylish and versatile, than the other ones I currently have. It's cooler than those earbuds, and easier on my ears.You can see these headphones, plus the many other Skullcandy logo stickers I posted around the Beach, on my updated gallery at SeiyaUsagi.net

(Note: you may have to register to view it.)

What I want for Christmas

I have a list of what I want for Christmas 2006. Here is a partial (but not complete) version of the list.

Nutella
All the Galaxy Angel manga volumes available
More pictures of Milfeulle Sakuraba's younger sister Apricot-she's a study in drawing the moe aesthetic!
A PS3. For obvious reasons
A power-conserving mp3 player, the iPod is like an SUV
Jackpots at the slots in Vegas
Taking a break at my other house in North Las Vegas
Prepare for 2007 the right way

More to come...

Finals on the way...

Hmmm, let's see, now...I've already come up with a list of what I want for Christmas. It's not much, but then again...it is much. I'm posting on an empty stomach, my face burning from breathing on the Horn Center sofas while sleeping, and feeling rather miserable (for now), because I haven't gotten my Spring tuition paid yet.

For starters, I want to ace all my Finals. At least this will put me in a position to have an A and 3 B's for the semester. I was so thrilled to have another score of 90 or more on my recent Econ exam. I feel awesome when I receive a score like that because it shows that things have turned around for me.

I don't want to sit on my laurels too early, because those Finals will be what I'll have to focus.

There's more stuff I want for Christmas. See my next entry.

So this is why the suicide rates are through the roof...

Oh man, am I such a sour mood today. I’m not even in a mood to type on this blog, but I am.

After receiving another gut-cringing exam score, (18/30, FIN 300), I am hoping that my professor can adjust it to give me a better shot at passing the class with a “C.” There is nothing worse I hate that having to drop two classes after getting scores that made this class look like a waste of money. I told this to my instructor that I want to pass the class. He told me, “Getting a C in this class should be very easy.”

That is a load of bull. I don’t believe in such horseshit if I receive scores like this. When these scores add up, it adds that much stress because the chances of failing the class increase drastically. I can only hope that my instructor decides to go ahead and do this. I don’t like finishing this class with a “D,” a “W”, or god forbid, an “F.”

I went to class still feeling miserable after seeing this news. I lost focus, wasn’t interested in learning Chapter 14 in HRM 360, and what’s even more fucked up is that I have an ECON 333 exam today! This is bad timing times infinity because I have to talk to my Finance instructor about this after my second ECON 333 midterm.

I’m going to look into taking FIN 300 again later this year with an instructor that can actually give me a shot at passing this class, and whose exams are open-book. I have too much on my plate.

Somehow I don't think there's a rock big enough for Reynolds to hide under. I hope I'm not the only one who has lost faith in our coach. This isn't like the JCs, where you're not as much a liability, especially if you can be on tenure. And this isn't the DII level either.

With losses like the one our guys faced tonight, the calls for his dismissal keep growing to the fact that it was a bad decision to have him finish it out, but can you blame Vic Cegles?

God. I leave it to you to figure that out.

What am I thankful for? Hmmmm...

You know, there are so many things I can be thankful for. I'm going to have to put a list. Let's see, I'm thankful for...

• Being alive
• My family still being alive
• Hawaii football winning again
• Money
• Cal State Long Beach
• Nutella
• Anime
• Manga
• The moe aesthetic
• Rugby
• American Football
• Soccer
• Borat
• Lance Armstrong
• Life-size pillows
• Blogger
• Myspace
• Tagworld
• Long Beach State Athletics
• People viewing this blog
• YouTube
• Education
• The Walter Pyramid
• Fog during important night football games
• orz
  
• Water bottles
• Vault Soda
• Women with great bodies
• The power to copulate
• Galaxy Angel
• Haruhi Suzumiya
• Anime Expo
• Densha Otoko
• Imageboards
• 2channel, 4chan, and WAKAchan
  
• Democrats winning the House and Senate
• Saddam Hussein getting the death penalty
  
• A day in which we can be thankful for something good.

That's about it for now. Happy Thanksgiving!

2006: a year of mourning

They say that death is another part of life. When it is your time to pass away, you will do so. There have been so many famous people who died this year. I can name hundreds of people I knew one way or another who died this year. My friend Milly Andriole, who I used to read from scripture with at my local church. Jack Palance, who I knew for his aftershave commercial. Corretta Scott King. Kirby Puckett. Bobby Hatfield, one half of the Righteous Brothers. Billy Preston. Aaron Spelling. Susan butcher. Maynard Ferguson. The Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. Red Auerbach. Ed Bradley. Gerald Levert. Bo Schembechler, who died this morning, the even of the Michigan-Ohio State game. And countless of young men and women who died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I wonder, as I type on this blog, "When will I be next? When will it be my turn to leave this world? Am I ready? Do I deserve to die right now, when I feel I have at least 50 years left on my contract with life?"

Those who are still living today must appreciate life. You never know when that day comes when it is taken from you. If it will be my time, it should be when I have found happiness. But I don't want that to happen yet. Not yet. Not yet...

Is FireLarryReynolds.com up yet?

Oh. Fucking. No.

To lose to a bunch of gooney birds from Colorado Springs who will all die in Iraq anyway within the next two to three years (good riddance for taking part in a meaningless cause after being fed on taxpayer money, losers) has to be frustrating. Not just for me, and the students who couldn't be in Palo Alto, but for the bunch of inept beefcakes that is the Long Beach State 49er Men's Basketball team. And the reason? It's simple. They beat themselves. Poor shooting. Getting in the team penalty too early in the second half. Poor ball handling, bad fouls...but mostly inept shooting that would leave even the Anaheim Arsenal's players think, "WTF is wrong with this team; we'll kill them by 40!"

That's what I was thinking when Long Beach State faced Air Force tonight. To lost 69-68 has to be a very ominous start for Larry Reynolds. Ominous, as in bad news. Terrible beginning. As Lily C. Sherbet of Galaxy Angel Rune would say, "NG-da." Not good. In fact, if this is how Long Beach State is going to play this season, this will be Reynolds' final year. I was hoping they would end his contract last season, but Vic Cegles decided to give him one more chance.

Obviously, Reynolds needs to get W's upon W's, and reduce the L's. Those L's are like cholesterol that clog up your arteries. Losing is a disease that can affect a university, and it can be contagious if it isn't treated with wins.

That being said, I hope there is a FireLarryReynolds.com up right now. This should have been a W for the Beach. Instead, it's an L, and perhaps it's no coincidence why those tards from Men's Fitness ranked us as the fattest university in the nation. This cholesterol of losing is going to kill the men in the end if they don't get into shape, and pile on some wins.

Give those Air Force Falcons credit. Those future Iraqi/Afghanistan casualties who will have died for a meaningless cause deserved this win. Hopefully this will be their last for the Zoomies, but the way they have played tonight, it won't look like it.

Fucking gooney birds.

zOMG Ohio State Bunny Rabbits!

I can't believe what I head on the radio in Hawaii. One of the callers on the station's talk show lambasted an attack on June Jones, the Warrior football coach, going so far as to say that changing the team name from the Warriors back to the Rainbows is soft, and is akin to calling the Ohio State Buckeyes the Ohio State Bunny Rabbits. Classic.

By the way, the radio station was ESPN 1420 AM in Honolulu, home of University of Hawaii Athletics. When I don't keep tabs on the local teams, I check and see how my Warrior football team is doing. I think they will be bowling by the end of this Saturday.

Also, I hope my Long Beach State women's soccer wins the Big West Tournament this weekend. This will really make me happy, as my school has never won a conference crown in women's soccer. That might change by Sunday.

I can't believe John Kerry would score an own goal less than a week before the midterm elections. While that may not make significant effect (at least I it doesn't) in the election on Tuesday, Kerry might as well be a godsend for the struggling [sic] Republicans. We'll find out when the 7th comes.

I've got 2 easy classes and 3 hard ones this semester. I just hope survive with at least a C in each of them (though one of them should be an A).

Motorcyclist dies in collision - News

Motorcyclist dies in collision - News

The Orb of Fate.

At Long Beach City College, there's this trophy that consists of a crystal orb on a pedestal. This trophy represents our position as the best junior college athletic program in the state of California. We finished 20.5 points ahead of Mt. San Antonio College, buoyed by state titles in men's water polo, baseball, men's volleyball, and women's soccer, where we also won a national title. By the way, that team is the preseason No. 1 in the JC Division III (non-scholarship) by the NSCAA


One time, I looked into the orb, the "Orb of Fate" as I like to call it, and said, "Oh Orb of Fate, what does the future hold this year for Long Beach City College athletics this year?" and it only said, "Noble J.R., alumnus of the Viking class of 2005, this year, the Orb of Fate sees potential. More titles, more honors. Perhaps a reprise of last year's landmark achievements is not out of the question, oh Wizard of Westside! That is all." And I said, "How do you know all this?" It only replied, "I don't know man, I didn't do it."


You know, if winning these Orbs of Fate become a chronic, annual, nasty [sic] habit, we may need a bigger trophy room in the college's Hall of Champions.

Dress rehearsal to a big week

Well, this has been a crazy day. And for the most part, I was in a suit. But alas, the Indian summer heat made me sweat like a lady in need of an impregnation. Yes, on that day, 26 August, 2006, a few days before the Fall semester at the Beach returned, I spent a day out by myself, watching volleyball, walking, resting at a coffeehouse, and then taking the bus to a dinner for convention staff before writing this blog.

First, I spent the yesterday watching a football scrimmage at LBCC, and then I took the bus to watch Long Beach State’s women’s volleyball team begin its 2006 campaign. The first opponent was the Missouri Tigers, ranked 13th in the nation. At the beginning, I thought this was going to be an easy match because I thought these Tigers weren’t ranked at all, and they were at the same level we played. For the first two games, it looked that way. The crowd knew the cue when the opposition was serving, and we were going to counter with the kill: “GOOOOO….BEACH! LONG BEEAAACH…STATE!” Every time we scored a point, I danced, looked at the crowd knowing we made a good play, or looked at my fellow students when the kill came on cue after our cheer.
In the third game, Missouri actually tried to put us on the brink. They got swept, 3 games to 0. Only when I got back home did I realize they were ranked 13th in the nation, so this was a very good start for us.

The next day, donned in my suit (and sweating like a mofo in it), I returned to the Walter Pyramid to watch the 49ers take on Alabama State, whose volleyball team would make even my high school’s freshman squad laugh.
Before I go into the game, I have to say a few things about the changes to the Pyramid, including during this game. One, spaces for the banners underneath the scoreboard are all filled, since we won the Commissioner’s Cup last year, we have a banner for the seasons we won it. I suspect they will be filled in time, if we got the right players on our team to lead us to the Promised Land: the highest-scoring point average at the end of the season. Two, there is new text in the banners for the Beach on the north side, since some of our teams won titles, and/or have participated in tournaments. Three, and this is a bad one: the buzzer. It sounds like a horrible farting noise that not even Miu Matsuoka in that onsen episode in Strawberry Marshmallow can duplicate. When that buzzer sounds, I make an ugly face, act like I have a heart attack, do the orz formation, or scream in agony. That buzzer needs to be fixed or replaced immediately. I don’t want my precious Walter Pyramid to have a notoriety of having The Buzzer From Flatulatonia for the rest of this season. Never!
Fourth, and this is for this game: they operators put in “Alabama” instead of “Ala St.,” “Alasu,” or even “Bama St.” Hello? We’re not facing the freaking Crimson Tide here! If that were the case, we’d actually have a game on our hands. (Coincidentally, Villanova would give that close game to the Beach, albeit they got swept, but not before a tightly contested first and third games. I’ll give respect to the Big East for giving their all, but they could not steal a game from the Big West’s best team [at least according to the media and coaches].) That Alabama team won the Academy Sports Invitational this weekend, defeating Alabama A&M and Kansas while losing against Miami, and was predicted to finish second in the Western Division of the SEC behind LSU.
Which brings us to the game itself. It was nothing more than a glorified practice before a few committed supporters. I could not bring my flags, mainly because one of the sticks snapped when I got home last night, and so I had to make to by using my Beach jacket as a rally towel. The ladies, led by Alexis “Big Lexy” Crimes (I call her Big Lexy because she’s 6-foot-3, a good frame, and packs a punch when she’s at her best), didn’t have to break a sweat. In fact, incoming transfer Michaela “Misha” Hasalikova (which I was able to recognize because of her trademark short hairdo [perhaps typical of great volleyballers from her region, I don’t know], signifying that she plays like a pro when she’s at her best) led the way in kills with 11, and she made them look easy. Effortlessly. She could close hr eyes and still make the kill. As for the Hornets? Their leader had only 4 kills. Hello? My high school lost a volleyball game last season, and the top person had more that 4 kills in the effort. Either these folks weren’t ready for the Beach, they just started playing volleyball, they simply weren’t even trying…I will never know the reason. But every time we made a point, I yelled at the ladies, “Again!” and when they made the point after that, I yelled “Again!” like that fake Chinese master in that beer commercial where he’s trained to pour it like a real bartender should. I think that took little over an hour to complete.

At the end of the match, I felt that the Hornets had guts to come over to “Volleyball U” to take on the 49ers, and they should be commended for their courage. Otherwise, Alabam,a State, who was expected to finish next-to-last in the Eastern Division of the SWAC (a conference in which is specializes only in football and marching bands, and baseball if you’re Southern, and senseless rhythmic booty-shaking, which Alabama State would win the Olympic Gold Medal in) simply had no right to be here. Period.

Disgusted, I took the bus, and the long way, over to Cerritos. I had plenty of time to kill, so I tried looking for a bookstore in Los Cerritos Center, in hopes that I would find Strawberry Marshmallow Volume 2 in English. Unfortunately, B-Dalton moved, and there was no bookstore in sight, so I wandered over to the nearby Starbucks, where I had an impromptu conversation with a troubled drunk. I was able to fix up my glasses at the Lenscrafters, though.

This lady basically told me that she worked in the ranches in the Midwest when she was young, and did a lot of stuff when she moved away from the ranches, but her husband became mentally ill years after he was honorably discharged from the Vietnam cause. Her son was also mentally ill, and a destitute. She also fears that her daughter, a social worker in Orange County, was murdered by some crazy guy in Huntington Beach. She talked in a much accented slur, probably from episodes of drinking, smoking, and drugs for many years. After I changed back to my suit, she left. I was going to say thank you for showing me a side of American life that is very dark, and must be avoided.

I then waited for the bus, and headed to the Prince Seafood Restaurant, where the Anime Expo Staff Appreciation Dinner would be held. I was able to sign on a photo of the convention area, and I waited a while, until my squad leader, and a few others from my team on Registration, came in to chat. This was some very good company, and the slideshow that started the dinner really fueled the fires of my return to the Registration lines next year in Long Beach. When I voted for my squad leader to get an award weeks ago, I knew he was going to win that award. Our squad, nicknamed “Aizen” performed better than any squad on Registration, and he had experience, too. As always, those who performed well beyond the call of duty got the highest awards, while I had to settle for a couple of DVDs of the event itself. I think I’ll be able to fit those DVDs into my iPod, but I’m not sure.

Anyway, it was a great event, and thus concluded this day. Bring on the fall…and football. Speaking of which, the Vikings are going to go at it next Saturday against Ventura at Vets. This coming week’s going be a big one.

Whoa!

It’s like….Stocks, Stocks, Stocks (man)!

I can’t believe the upgrades to one of the computer labs. It makes me look like I’m on Wall Street. I pull the keyboard, and out pops the monitor. I let out a slight chuckle. And there’s a live ticker to my left. So now I can see some quoted from the best companies in the world fire it up on Wall Street. By now, the market’s probably closed for the day. But this is amazing, because it looks like I’m working on Wall Street, although below me would be people yelling down on the floor.

This is cool. By the way, the Dow is up 96.86 points today. We’re rolling.