Bear Powwa

Agricola. Agricolae. Agricolarum. Agricolis. Agricolas. Agrilcolis…

coldplayer186 — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 07:17:58 +0000

Those certainly weren’t the first Latin words (or I should say declension of a word) I heard, but it certainly is one of the most memorable as it is spoken in the movie The Dead Poets Society, which if you wanted to know is my favorite movie of all time. Anyway, I have just finished my first week of taking an intensive Latin course and I have to say I am impressed by the sheer volume of knowledge I have taken in. I never would have thought I would be able to read and write simple Latin sentences. But here I am, knowing my conjugations and declensions. It’s a really giddy feeling to know that I have 1/8 of the intensive summer course under my belt. One more thing I should add is that this language is really fun. I have never enjoyed learning Spanish and though I was inclined to take another language, my high school only offered two languages: Spanish and French. Under my mom’s advice and quite possibly with my own judgment that learning Spanish in the US will take me farther in the long run, I took Spanish. But what I realized in the end of three long, grueling years was that I did not enjoy the language at all and in fact did not digest most of what I had learned. I basically shat it all out after three years. I mean, I understand the importance of knowing Spanish in California of all place, but I just didn’t seem to have it in me to take on the challenge. As you might have guessed, Latin is a whole different ballgame. I actually enjoy learning the language and I put in more than 3-4 hours a day.

O Captain, My Captain! – Uncle Walt

From this I came to the conclusion that I should start taking classes that interest me. Not that I should stop taking Chemistry or Math, per say, but at least find a balance and maybe give Latin another semester or even more. Amidst this thought I pondered about taking music theory, which would come in handy since I am learning to play the guitar at this time. I looked at some music theory online and it’s pretty fascinating stuff to say the least. And since I don’t have the discipline to learn it without a guide (that is, a grade pushing down my throat) I want to give that a go. I see on the schedule of classes that it is a 2 unit class and I believe I will be able to take it if there is not scheduling conflict, which I doubt. I’ll have to put this off until August though, since that is when the second Telebears appointment is on.

For what it’s worth, Latin may be the most interesting class I’ll ever take in college.

D-Day Update

coldplayer186 — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 01:02:18 +0000

Joakim Noah, it was. I don’t know if I am suppose to extremely jovial or just satisfied, but in all I like the pick. If Brandon Wright wasn’t picked on the pick before, I don’t know if he would have been picked, but the past is the past and I think Joakim Noah won’t disappoint. John Paxon knows how to find talent and he must see a lot more potential in him than what I see in him, which is not to say he’s not a good player, but he’s not the total package we’re looking for. He’s a lot like Ben Wallace, but not as good defensively. However, I’m just going to hope that he finds an offensive game that is better than Ben’s. I mean, who’s offensive game can be worse than Ben’s?

9th Overall Pick – 2007 NBA Draft – Chicago Bulls – Joakim Noah

D-Day as in Draft Day

coldplayer186 — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 23:29:13 +0000

It’s finally here. 2007 NBA Draft. I have been waiting for this for a very long time. The NFL draft just came and went during my school days so I really didn’t have much anticipation building up to the day, but it’s different for the NBA draft. Since my NFL team, the Indianapolis Colts, won the Superbowl, I wasn’t really amped up about who we were going to get because I knew our offense was intact albeit some idiot leaving for Oakland and couple decent d-backs leaving. But I don’t want to go on tangents. So anyway, it’s finally here. It’s t – 15 min. I have couple notes I wanted to make before watching the glorious show on ESPN.

First of all, I’m glad that Paxon didn’t do anything to our core of young players. I’m glad we didn’t get Kobe. Despite him being one of the greatest player of all time, I don’t think he’ll do us very much good. As a team, we just need one more piece in the puzzle to get us through the threshold of the 2nd round of the playoffs. ‘Cause seriously, Pistons might be losing Chauncey and Webber and I think we have a shot at this. If LeBron did it, why not us? I don’t want to jump on that sentiment which is widely being brewed that in the East any decent team can reach the Finals, but believe it or not, it’s very true. There just isn’t very many good teams in the East.

That being said, I think I’ll list the names of player that we might draft tonight, starting from the most likely to least likely. I’ll list 5. They’re just my thoughts, not expertly predictions.

1. Spencer Hawes

2. Yi Jian

3. Joakim Noah

4. Jeff Green

5. Brandan Wright

I’d be surprised if it weren’t one of these guys. Personally, though, I want to lay off of picking Yi due to the omnimous presence of the CBA behind him. One more, I am going to cross my finger and hope they pick between Jeff Green and Joakim Noah. I know Noah doesn’t have the offensive game yet but I like his enthusiasm and I think for the 9th pick he has the best value for the Chicago Team. But it wouldn’t be a disappointment if Hawes were to be picked.

Progress

coldplayer186 — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 06:34:33 +0000

I have been making progress in some of the Summer goals I have highlighted earlier. For instance, I have gained a couple pounds, which for starters is really encouraging since I did not think that I would be eating a lot at home with my mom’s cooking being — let’s say — not edible. For another, I have been practicing playing the guitar. Not really any songs in particular, but I have been trying to build up the muscles in my fingers by doing the chromatic practice. Basically it’s playing four frets with all four fingers in 24 different order up and down the strings. At first it was hard since my pinkie did not move as I wanted it to, but slowly it’s gotten better. I’ve been doing this practice for about 2 hours a day and you could vividly see the evidence from looking at the tip of my left fingers. Besides that, I’ve been reading Jane Eyre, which though I’ve started reading when I was in high school, never finished. Now that I’ve started, I’m going to try to finish it by next week, and read at any time I have. So in all, I’m making progress. And that’s all I can hope for: progress.

Friends in “high” places

coldplayer186 — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 05:56:34 +0000

After today, I realized that there is no need for too many friends. I am saying this because having hung out with my friends today, I saw how they were insincere, unapologetic, and overall insensitive of me. They may be great friends for others, but for me, I saw them differently possibly for the first time today.

For instance, a girl friend of mine and I were to meet up at 1 pm, and I having known that she is known to come late decided to give her a call and a heads up telling her that she should hurry. I called her maybe 2 times and every time she seemed like she was annoyed that I was saying it. However, lo and behold, there she was arriving at 2:30 pm. Even then I wasn’t stirred as much as I was the minute after when she refused to say she was sorry and that I should have known that she would be late. In fact, she thought she was early this time around.

For another, most of my high school friends that I also met today are, may I say, situational. I don’t know if that’s the word, but what I mean to say is that they act according to who’s present in the group and who isn’t. For example, just couple days ago, I was out with one of the friend that showed up today. He and I got along great, and I really appreciated the time we spent. However, as we met in a group (of friends), it seemed as if the world had turned upside down. He had suddenly put me down (to invoke laughter at my expense) and in general did not care a bit about what I thought. This can virtually go for the 2 other friends that were present today.

I like wikipedia so I’ll quote from an entry: “[f]riendship is a term used to denote co-operative and supportive behavior between two or more humans.” If you were ever in my shoes today, you would not think that they were in any way co-operative or supportive. One time or another I might have considered them a friend of mine, but now, as they refuse to accept me for who I am, I am not going to consider them friends as I find it harder and harder to reflect and say I had a good time. In fact, more than not, I feel letdown when the days over and my friends have not shown the friendship I deserve if I were truly their friend.

Les Miserables

coldplayer186 — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 18:33:47 +0000

Cosette

Last month, I didn’t think I would be able to finish this book. Today, I feel compelled to write that this was a journey. As I neared the last 200 pages of the book, I could not let go of the book as I felt for the first time that words were greater than pictures. I could vividly feel the emotions of the characters as well as the intensities. I can truly say that this was the most moving book I’ve ever read. When I had finished reading, I could not help but look at the title and agree. Tears fell from my eyes towards the end, and again it was a new experience for me as a book had never caused tear to glisten in my eyes.

Don’t give up reading this book. It’s a masterpiece for a reason. You won’t regret it.

Edit: I just wanted to post this which was sitting on the comment area just in case anyone wanted to visit. Personally, it’s well worth it. The writing’s stupendous when compared to my prose. x)

I am a writer living in the San Francisco Bay Area. I too am deeply moved by Victor Hugo’s writings–to the point that I am currently writing a book of reflections based on themes drawn from the novel, Les Miserables.

I’d be honored if you would visit my blog, on which I am sampling some of this work. You’ll find “The Wisdom of Les Miserables” at http://algarrotto.edublogs.org/.

Kobe Bryant to Chicago Bulls — NOT

coldplayer186 — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 02:16:16 +0000

With what hoopla involving Kobe Bryant and two potential suitors (Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks) I must say if Chicago is truly involved as much as the media seems to make me believe, then I am really disappointed. First, it was Ben Wallace, a blend of premier defender and premier no-offense. I and every Chicago Bulls fans saw first hand what Ben Wallace contributed to the Bulls during their second round shut down by Detroit Piston and let’s just say not much. I love his hustle and little things that he does under the basket, but if you saw the game, Ben was on the bench during the crunch time in most of the playoff games; it was as if Skiles didn’t trust that Ben will come through and save our playoff hopes. I will admit that I had some hopes that Ben will maybe find his offensive groove here. Chip in 10 points a game and I’d have been dandy. No, 8 points. But this is blasphemy. For a player that is receiving that much money and skewing the Chicago Bulls salary cap situation, unless he improves drastically and gets back to doing more of the smaller things that got him here, I say we screwed up big time.

And with this talk of bringing in Kobe Bryant, I think it’s unwholesome. I rode on the Chicago Bulls bandwagon if you will 4 years ago with the draft of Kirk Heinrich. John Paxon has since then built a nucleus of young Bulls “baby bulls” that consist of Kirk, Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, ~~Tyson Chandler~~, Chris Duhon and Tyrus Thomas. However, we must now look to the future. First and foremost, we need another guard that can start alongside Kirk. Ben Gordon’s a good player, and maybe even an elite player, but he’s a streaky shooter with no defense. On a team that emphasizes defense, he’s gotta be gone, sooner or later. Another, Luol’s really come to his own this last season and he alongside Kirk should be two players who absolutely cannot be traded. Tyrus Thomas still has years ahead of him and we have only tasted the tip of his potential; he will improve. Now, the question is Chris Duhon. I love him, but he’s gotta go. He’s a good, true point guard, but good won’t cut it with someone who’s the first to come off the bench.

Sure, Kobe can make our team better — definitely. But on the downside, he brings his big salaries, big ego, and big mouth along with him and frankly I don’t want this Bulls team to steer off on the wrong direction. It’s like make or break. He can get us to the Finals, but then again he can also stunt the progress of our young bulls and that’s not something I look forward to be seeing in my Bulls. With that being said, we gotta get ourselves a 6-10, 6-11 Power Forward/Center who can score with ease. When is the last time someone’s won the Finals without a Big Man, whether that’s Shaq or Tim Duncan just past week. Not instead of Kobe, we should really be targeting Pau Gasol. He would make our team much better.

Just my opinion.

Insomni….Ack!

coldplayer186 — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 07:02:03 +0000

For the first time in a long time I decided that today I’ll go to sleep early. Then this happened: insomni….ack! Actually I think it’s just that my body is used to sleeping at around 1 that I’m not able to get to sleep at 11pm. And that is the reason I am writing this entry. A pointless entry, you are correct! Well I’m going back to sleep then.

Summer Plans

coldplayer186 — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 05:30:36 +0000

I’m giving up on finding a job. I could probably get a job as a waiter or any other poverty-wage job, but I don’t want that enough to go through the process of endless waiting and interviewing. Instead, I’ll just concentrate on pre-reviewing the materials for next semester at Berkeley as my gpa’s currently sitting at a low 3.0 (2.989 to be exact). And I’ll just try to hone my hobbies and such. Here are my plans of now:

[1] Get better at playing the acoustic guitar, cause I really want to be good at it. Like any other Korean or Asian I’ve taken up Piano at a tender age but I was never passionate about it. I am passionate about playing the guitar and since I don’t have anywhere to vent my stress when I’m in college, and I think this could be it.

[2] Surf (?) Yeah I want to surf. I really could care less about pre-reviewing shite I wrote above, but this, I really want to take on surfing cause it’d be really fun to just go out to the beach every afternoon in the summer and just spend my time in the water.

[3] Pitchfork Music Festival. Daaaammnnnn Daaammmn I really want to go to this festival if not only to see Cat Power. But it’s probably not a feasible plan cause it’s at Chicago and I’m in California. That translates to over 300 dollars in transportation cost. Eeek. Too much.

[4] Add 20 lbs. Most people want to lost weight. I desperately want to gain weight. I’m a 5’9″ 137lb and I just think I look thin. Around 160 lbs would make me happy. What am I gonna do? Work out, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, run, eat, eat, eat, and then eat some more. You get the idea.

[5] Latin. I’m taking latin this summer and I would love to learn a whole lot of latin. Something I wasn’t proud of in high school was not having learned Spanish (I did, but only enough to get through the class and even now the only phrase I know is “como estas?” which is how are you??) Hopefully I’m more enthused about latin than I was about spanish.

[6] Rowing. Finally. I want to do this so bad. More than surfing. But the nearest rowing club I found was in Marina Del Rey and that’s a whole lot of mile between there and Los Angeles.

There’s more on 43things.