you are in for yet another edition of one of my weird dreams, so here it is:

in the surroundings, buildings are in rubble, smokes flying toward the sky, and there's no other living things near us. i, amongst few other people, are all dressed in black robes, standing in front of this god-like figure. we knew he's the righteous one, and we followed all his orders. in preparation for some ceremony or ritual, we committed a few not so right things, yet we followed his order. our hearts told us to do as he says, so we never questioned neither our actions nor his will. and at the last minute, the "god" revealed himself to be the devil, and now the world is in trouble because of something i've done. as i was fearing for my own life/destiny at the hand of the devil's wrath, i woke up to the sound of raindrops clashing against bedroom window.

okay, maybe you'll say that i'm a crazy lunatic with a screwed up mind and one wild imagination, and i'll agree (partially). but then if you think about it, what if Devil deceives us by mixing a few truth from the Bible, and then tell us (men) to do things that're against God's will? with the varying interpretations of the Bible, how do we tell the right from the wrong? we all know that the best lies are half-truth.


Bugerking3: that's how cults start up
Bugerking3: and the best defense is to know your truth forwards and backwards, so that you can detect any variation instantly
acedude xredx: what if we were told to do something that's not stated in God's words? do we just not do it? trust our instincts? or what?
acedude xredx: we know that instincts can be wrong
Bugerking3: The Bible is the standard to see if something "passes the test"
Bugerking3: ie Bible sets the guidelines
acedude xredx: what if it's something not stated in the Bible?
Bugerking3: not stated explicitly? then there is somethign in there that indirectly relates
acedude xredx: like about cloning. where's the boundary between prolonging human life and playing gods?
acedude xredx: skin cells? organs? body parts?
Bugerking3: the closest the Bible comes to cloning is where/when life begins
Bugerking3: but even then, people see the same piece of text in two different lights
Bugerking3: cloning I do feel verges on humans playing God...and we're never going to responsibly play God
acedude xredx: but eventually, i believe humans are able to *successfully* play God, at least cloning-wise.
Bugerking3: then comes the principle of it: by principle, Should humans, inherently sinful, play God


i guess only time will tell what'll happen to us when we cross the line.

and why can't i ever dream of something pleasant? =/ like that spider dream i had a few months ago *shudders*

maybe this dream is more meaningful then the last one...

another reason why bill simmons is my favorite columnist at espn: he shares my perspective on basketball, and he's funny.

"Nash's greatest skill as a point guard is the way he orchestrates that pick-and-roll -- he can turn the corner, dribble into the paint, then find the rolling big man at precisely the right time 99 times out of 100. In Dallas, he was running that play with Nowitzki, someone whose natural inclination is to step backwards so he can shoot an open three. (You never see Nowitzki roll the basket because he's clumsy and he doesn't like getting hit.) In Phoenix, Nash is running that play with (and I'm using caps here to emphasize this point) THE GREATEST ROLLER IN THE HISTORY OF PICK-AND-ROLLS: Amare Stoudemire, who grabbed the title from Karl Malone and Shawn Kemp last November. No matter where you throw him the ball, Amare can catch it at full-steam and somehow get to the rim. Plus, Phoenix's three-point shooters are better than anyone Nash ever played with, and all of them can run the floor with him. And if that's not enough, they stopped calling moving picks this season unless you happen to be a 7-foot-6 guy from China."


"During the 2002 season, Jason Kidd had a similar effect on the Nets � taught them how to win, made them collectively unselfish, brought the best out of some flawed teammates, even took over games when it mattered. Not only did Kidd have a career year, they went from 26 wins to 52 wins and ended up making the NBA Finals, even though his supporting cast was far inferior to Nash's supporting cast this season. Would you rather play with Stoudemire, Marion, Johnson, Q and Jimmy Jackson, or with K-Mart, Van Horn, Kittles, Todd MacCullough and a young Richard Jefferson? Exactly. Anyway, Kidd finished second in the MVP balloting to Tim Duncan that season, who was a stronger candidate than anyone from this year's crop. It's just that I don't remember the media fawning over Jason Kidd in 2002 like they fawned over Steve Nash in 2005. Draw your own conclusions.

I didn't make this point clearly enough: In a normal season, Nash wouldn't have won the MVP. But this was like one of those Oscar years where there isn't one standout picture, so "Shakespeare In Love" ends up winning the award. Every candidate was flawed in some way. And since that was the case, it was easy for some voters to say, "Screw it, I'm voting for the white guy with the floppy hair!"

So that's that."

after being so disheartened after the Rockets' elimination, i couldn't help but find some joy and elation in mav's late collapse. it's true that i didn't think that nash was MVP material, but he proved me wrong in this series, time after time. mark cuban, payback is a biatch.

and about dirk, hrmm. good player, put up good numbers, what else.... nope, that it. he lacks drive and desire to win, cannot make critical shots when they matter, and can constantly be counted on... to miss his defensive assignments. he chokes when his team needs him the most. in the 13 playoff games he's played against rockets and suns, can you say, for one game, that dirk "took over the game"? i remember jason terry took over 2 games against rockets, and stackhouse coming off the bench and fueled the team. but nooo, not dirk.

and you've gotta love how dirk berated at jason terry at the end of the regulation. it's so funny. without terry, you wouldn't be playing phoenix in the first place, mr. nowitzki. but i'm sure his little temper tantram didn't carry any negative throughout his team... and that it fired himself up for overtime.

oh wait, he missed all 5 of his shots plus a free throw in OT, including a deep, turnaround, fadeaway, no-look 3 pointer with plenty of time on the clock, which hit the back iron. terry and stackhouse each had 12 points.

cuben, get rid of dirk. he's a nonfactor when it matters, his leadership (of the lack thereof) screws up the little team chemistry you guys have when your team is made of 5 1-on-1 players, and he is no championship material.

ship him out, before the tumor becomes cancerous.

p.s. and the funniest quote coming from a mav's fan:

"I can sign Steve Nash, or, I can sign Eric Dampier. Let me think on this a while."

i think when someone says "oh i hate my life," he/she meant that "i hate myself."

you are the bane of your own life.

so weak-minded and feeble-willed. i can't stand you the mirror.

but after all, you are who i am.

unless you do something about it.

i will do something about it.

in a few short months, you will no longer be a teen, but a grown man. grown men don't make excuses, nor beg for sympanthy, nor cry for help. men put everything on the line, give everything he's got, and accept the consequences, whatever it might be.

not if you haven't put everything you've got on the line. not if you don't give your damnest to do your best. not if you sit back and hope everything will work out on its own, like it has the past 19 and half years.

cause when it doesn't, it'll be a slap in the face and you won't know what hit you.

you do know what hit you, but you just don't expect it to hit you, or expect it to hurt that much.

time for you and me to grow up before it's too late.

typical guy talk:

azndragon04: OMG EW
Auto response from acedude xredx: shower.

now i can walk in my room naked! o.O
acedude xredx: hahahahah
azndragon04: your weird
azndragon04: ..
azndragon04: zzz
acedude xredx: it feels so nice!
acedude xredx: damn i sat on my balls
azndragon04: o
azndragon04: m
azndragon04: g
azndragon04: ...
azndragon04: SHUHCUSHUDOTHOUSEWIRJPUP
acedude xredx: yeah, it's the worst pain ever

lines of the night:

Amare Stoudemire, 38 minutes, 40 Points, 13-21 FG, 16 Rebounds, 1 Steal, 2 Blocks
Erick Dampier, 15 minutes, 0 Points, 0-2 FG, 5 Rebounds, 4 Fouls, 2 Turnovers, 0 Blocks

so much for self-claiming to be "the best center behind Shaq," mr. dampier.

first off, mavs outplayed the rockets since the beginning of the game 7. they most likely would've won the game anyway.

most likely.

it's just that the refs never gave the rockets a chance to come back.

i first noticed the refereeing when tmac got his first T. he got 3 offensive rebounds and missed 4 point-blank layups.

even moochie norris can't miss 4 layups in a row. Tmac knew there was contact, let the refs know about it, and got the T.

then, mike james on a breakaway layup, which was rejected by armstrong. both men crashed to the floor, with armstrong apparently hurt and james getting back up on defense. 4 on 5 with mavs short 1 guy on offense.

then refs blew a whistle on james for a hand-checking foul while fighting around a pick.

now see, the rockets fans are not stupid, and neither is mike james. we know you blow the whistle to take away rockets number advantage that we had. mike james was furiously, and i thought he was going to hit the ref at one point.

i knew i would've. i was standing up shouting out loud at that call. i know for a fact that if i were in james' position, i would have punched the ref. unfortunately, james had enough restraint in him and was properly ejected out of the game.

you mavs fans might think "hey, shut up, you fucking whining rockets homer, that was a foul." and i'd agree with that.

but what pissed me off is that when rockets got the ball back after that possession, michael finley hand-checked mcgrady 4, count them, FOUR times around the perimeter. the surprise?

there was no call.

at one point, i was so mad at one point that i told yi, "mavs are getting at least 10 more calls than the rockets."

he checked online. rockets with 18 personal fouls. mavs?

10.

so i was off by 2. but i think you get the idea, that rockets committing 2x amount of fouls as mavs.

it's funny how yao's getting slapped on the wrist shooting baby hooks, tmac getting hand-checked every time down the court, scott padgett getting pushed around on the offensive glass AFTER he got the rebound, and refs letting it play on.

mav's end? you could probably take a wild guess.

now i'm not taking anything away from the way mavs played tonight. even with fair officiating, mavs would probably still come out on top.

but it just hurt THAT MUCH MORE when you aren't given a chance to play on equal grounds, start a rally, and try to comeback.

with everything said and done, rockets had a great season. they played through injuries, roster changes, early criticisms, a 6-11 start, and just about everything else to fight their way to a 51-win season. they refused to toy the season ranking in order to get a easier first round matchup, and simply played to win. they received arguably the worst first round matchup possible against the mavs, who has much healthier, faster, and more athletic team. before the post season started, i even went as far as prefering spurs as a first round opponent over the mavs. but the rockets ignored all that and just played. they took a great mavs team to 7 games and fought brilliantly along the way. though they fell short, they've shown to me that this can be a very dangerous team in years to come.

these are the tears of joy, and i'm a proud rockets fan.

GAME 7, MOTHERFUCKERS! =D

you know, i've been thinking. NBA can't be fixed; it's too good of a game, and david stern knows better than that. i just kept on telling myself that, over and over, that refs are human after all, and they do make mistakes.

then i remembered something.

it's game 6 of the 2002 western conference finals all over again. except it's the first round instead of the semifinals, 2-2 instead of 3-2, and the rockets instead of the kings.

then i realized how naive my previous beliefs were.

silly me.

after a good night of sleep, i've over it. but i will probably remember this image for the rest of my life:



shit happens.

lesson learned today: being cheap doesn't pay.

sunday night/monday morning has traditionally been my weekly laundry time. but with my bevo dwindling down and quarters running short, plus the fact that i was too lazy/cheap to add in more bevo bucks to support the evil organization we've come to know as UT, i've decided to try something creative.

so with 2 quarters i've found in my room and the 27 cents of bevo left, i've decided to put in 2 quarters into the machine, then swipe my card and use 25 out my remaining bevo amound. oh mai gawd, i'm so clevah!

cling, cling, down goes 2 quarters. then i swiped my card through, and a message came up:

"Machine 3 is already in use"

that erased the clever smirk off of my face.

i dashed back to the machine and tried to get my quarter out, but it appears that the button was broke. so now i'm stuck with a machine that i can't use and 2 quarters down the drain. and the other 2 machines have just started. even adding more bevo to my card won't let me reclaim machine 3.

and that's when i begin my frantic IM messages looking for quarter lenders. and it turned out that the lenders were short on stock. after a few minutes of spamming my buddylist of everyone residing within 1 mile radius, kevin was able to offer the helping hand.

so yeah, being cheap doesn't pay. i learned it the hard way =(

p.s. i just rhymed! wow... so yeah.

yet another golden opportunity lost.

clutch city, or choke city?

after the finally buzzer sounded off, i didn't know what to think. was i mad? sad? shocked? disappointed? depressed? it was more of a mixture of all the above. i decided that i really can't stand it anymore, without knowing exactly what "it" is, so i went for 4 hours of bball to get my mind off of it.

and guess what, people kept on reminding me the game.

but i was able to force a smile and shrug it off.

2nd night, 2nd 4th quarter collapse, 2nd 8 point lead (88-80 rockets lead in both games) vanished after scoring droughts.

but it didn't hurt any less than the first time.

heading back to dallas tied up 2-2, it's reasonable to conclude that the rockets' season on the verge of being over.

but i have my faith in my team. when they lost to the clippers early in the saeson and had a 6-11 record, i confidently and proudly predicted to doubters that we WILL make the playoffs.

and now i will have the same confidence.

we'll pull through.

believe it.