Sunday, June 30, 2002

Today I was at Zion Fellowship for a little actually I was just chilling with my little girl Stephanie. And when I was talking to her, it made me realize how much she reminds of Crystal. Then I did some reflecting on some of my ACA kids and who they resemble from CBC. And another good one is Stephanie from ACA reminds me of little Amanda at CBC. They both are cute, but they always want things their way and get impatient if it seems unfair to them. Jennifer and Shuang remind me of Belicia and Joanne on the smaller one follows the older one around. Yeah I miss work at ACA already especially since I was preparing the lesson for the week.

And on the other side of work, there is work at the restaurant which I dread but I get cash on the spot. Today had to be the day that everyone was a winner on the Dumbest Customer Award. Why? Because who the GG gets chop suey food on a day like today. Like hello? There is Dairy Queen right across from us. So yeah I work 6 days a week, and between working at ACA and at the restaurant, you can tell which one I enjoy more.

Detroit Grammar

Saturday, June 29, 2002

Don't His Word
Make a brotha
Wanna jump, jump

There's nothing better than waking up at 6:30 this morning to get my car fixed. This whole month has been all about cars for me and now I feel more knowledgable of how to maintain my car to drive at it's peak performance. Anyways arriving to work I was too dead tired to really pay attention to all the dumb customers that came in, so I award all of them of being idiots in Lapeer. There were some good examples but I kept zoning out today at work. Well good news is that I found out Misty thinks I'm a jerk now because I kept making fun of her wigger friend Seth last week. So hopefully this drops any love coming my way or else I'm gonna have to think of a new way to handling this.

Pass The Courvoisier

Friday, June 28, 2002

Today was looking on the up and up, till I got to soccer in the evening. And boy did I played like crap but that was the least of my worries. After that as we were departing from the field, I went to my car and started the engine. The only thing is that it didn't start so luckily Alan was still there to give me a jump. This was the first time this has happened to my car. So I had two options, either go home and switch cars and head back down to Rich's house to work on the CBC flyer or just go straight to Rich's to work on it. So I opted for just heading straight to Rich's. We finished the flyer and it looks kind of sad because we're not that artistic, but I leave the house and bam the battery is dead again. So we try jumping it and it was a no go. Gosh I can't believe this had to happen now, so now I have to wake up super early to take care of this thing. The thing I'm thankful for is that it is not at ACA otherwise I'm not gonna be expecting my car to be in one piece by the time they tow it.

And today was the first week of work at ACA. It seemed like patience was running low on Elaine with her kids as she had to practically bribe them to behave. I guess I lost a little tolerance today too with Stephany because she is just so demanding. She is the type of kid that always ask why, what, when, and where on a constant basis and she has low patience if she is not the first person so I had to give her a lecture about it. And now with the first week done, as counselors we can decide which group we want to work with, young, middle, or older kids in elementary school. I punished a lot of kids at my table (middle) this week and hence it would seem I'm the bad guy like Allen put it. Allen thinks that if I continue to be the bad guy then everyone will like him. But he has to realize that we are here to teach these kids and not win a popularity contest. And now I'm stuck in a jam of which group I wanna teach next week. I wanna teach the young (K and 1st)_ because my favorites from last year are in there Jennifer, and Sophia. Jennifer is the only remaining 3 of my famous Kung Fu girls of last year. Sophia is a favorite of mine because she always tells everyone that I'm her best friend and I'm her little Pikachu.

However, there is the older group (5th and 6th) and I feel like Crystal has fallen in love with me as her favorite counselor today. And my favorite from last year is there, Wei. And I'm getting to know Nancy and Jessie better and all 4 of these girls are always willing to help me out. However there is Jimmy who is probably this year's bad boy of the group I would have to work with. I'm leaning more to teaching this group because I really love working with the girls but I think I can straighten Jimmy out as well. And I really love just talking to Crystal, she even prayed for me during lunch today so that I didn't have to pray. She gave me a big hug before she left today to lean more towards her table and be the counselor there for the remainder of the session. And she was excited to bring her Bible in this Monday so I can share some things out of the Bible with her. Again she doesn't leave till 4:30 and technically I am off of work at 3 but staying with some of the kids till 4:30 is just so rewarding and I don't get paid for it but I don't care because I love these kids too much to do it for the money. It was funny too with Crystal as she left she wanted me to go with her family to go swimming. I thought that was cute and again it's nice to be repected and loved by these kids although I feel like I am the bad guy since I punish them more than any of the other counselors. I just can't wait already to go back to work on Monday!

Let Me Be

Thursday, June 27, 2002

So I entered the beginning of this week thinking that it will be stress free because no more school. Then I realize that I start work at ACA and that I am working with a new group of kids, new counselors and I've challenged myself to do a better job this year. Ok so the first day of work, our main coordinator had all the counselors introduce each other. So before I even said anything the place was rocking with kids chanting my name and banging on the desks. Because half the kids know me already and so some of the other kids were wondering how. And one thing that got brought up was that some of them knew me from VBS. Next thing ya know, some of the other kids started to say oooh I went to VBS too. And it was just so encouraging to me to see a lot of these kids are being exposed to Christ.

And one of my favorites from last year, Wei or Jessica as she wants to be called now, was showing me one of the VBS songs she learned with all the hand motions. Her and Crystal were teaching me what they learned. One prayer item for me is to reach out to Wei because this year was her first VBS and her family does not attend church. However probably my favorite girl this year is Crystal only a 5th grader but I can see she really wants to shine like a light for Christ. Crystal does attend church and I wish it was at CBC but I'm trying to get Wei into coming to CBC. Like Monday Crystal and Wei prayed together before eating lunch and I was just so inspired by that. I just couldn't stop praising God for seeing something so awesome. And yesterday we all went to the Detroit Science Center and ate lunch there. And as soon as they got lunch, they quickly turned around to come up to me and tell me that they just finished saying grace. Again I was so excited and I told them next time wait for me to say grace. I'm so thankful Lord that I've been blessed with making a new friend in Crystal.

And today we had art class, and everyone had to draw a profile of a person or just wing it. And Crystal decided to draw me, so she pulled me next to her to sit so she can start sketching. And after the class was done, our art teacher said that Crystal's was the best and recieved a round of applause for her great work. A lot of people commented her that her piece really did look like me. She dedicated this portrait to me and gave it to me, so now I'm gonna stick it up in my room somewhere. To me it was an honor as well to inspire her to do a portrait on me. And I know I get off of work at 3, but now I stay till 4:30 to just play games and sit and talk with Crystal. Because she is there till 4:30 since that is when parents can come and get her. Like I don't get paid for staying after 3, but I believe the reward is greater than money. Why? Because just seeing the expression on her face when she was looking through my Bible compared to her's and when she saw my Sunday School homework book. I'll probably talk about one kid per blog now but Crystal, Wei, Sophia, and Jessie will probably get a lot more room.

Another thing is that I'm glad that I'm starting to bond with my fellow counselors a little better. At first I've been isolating myself from them because I keep wishing it was Jean, Ayinday, and Joyce there were here. But like today, I kept goofing around with, well from now onw she will be known as fay mui. Like I stole her cell phone and changed her display, and edited her boyfriend's name by putting I Luv Kenny on there. Then I was scrolling through her phone and I saw a name that was recognizable to me. Well I don't know him that well but hopefully I will get an opportunity to know him better. And he is, Mike Lin or M.lin, then fay mui and I started talking about all the peeps we know at U of M. Then I scrolled down a little more and I saw another name that I harassed one time I believe and that was Priscilla Ho I think it was. I never realized that she is fay mui's little one as she likes to call her. And I think I'm starting to get to know Tonda and Allen better too. Well I guess it is time to call it a night and get ready for work. Gosh I really love work right now, and hopefully Crystal will bring her Bible tomorrow so we can talk about the different books after ACA is over.

Stay Together For The Kids

Monday, June 24, 2002

Ok so today I walk into CBC, just so excited to worship our Lord with everyone. Why because first thing is that I'm feeling so encouraged by seeing everyone within our fellowship just so on fire for You. So I'm chilling at where the ushers are standing at because I was there a tad early. And someone came up to me and tried to be slick and pull my shades off. And this person ripped off one part of my shades, I mean it's already broken but I put a lot of time and effort to do my best to fix them. This person is one of the higher up men at CBC, and he's pretty big on how you come dressed to CBC. Here's my thing again, even if I come dressed the same way as let's say GP B, I'm still gonna be the same person, are you gonna love me then when I dress to your approval.

So I played in a b-ball game with CGC and one thing is for sure, there big men are a waste of height. It was wierd because I wasn't expected to play much since I wasn't part of there church. However out of 40 minutes, I played 35 of the 40, more than anyone from both teams. I would of gotten to play the whole game but I told our coach to sit me out the last 5 minutes of the first half. However, I did get into some altercations with some of the players. People kept yelling out technical on me. First thing is there best player on the other team is Carl, and he is a showboat as well. So I loved the intensity when people saw the 1 on 1 clear out me against him. One time he fouled me hard and I heard him say if I want blood then he's gonna bring it. So it was a clearout, I gave him the crossover but I crossed back out because he is quick. Crossing back, he lost his balance and slipped on the floor, and I just dribble in front him staring him down. I wait till he gets back up so I can drop a 3 in his eye. Then I came back down the court to hit my second 3, this time I went up to him and stared him in the eye and asked him, where you at supastar. Is it cocky, eh some people thought so, but I like to say it was a humbling experience for him. Then for the rest of the game people kept taking runs at me. And Charles Barkley said it best, when you good, people won't like you. So some people kept reaching in and to the point I had enough, I just threw the ball down and I pushed him off me and stared him down. I had to be separated from this other kid. So how many times did this happen where I just stopped play and pushed the punk off me. Once? Twice? 3 times? Nah, it happened 4 times where I had to be calm down by the ref. One of them left a little nice vampire bite on my hand, I called him E. Honda because he kept giving me the 100 Hand Slap. Plus I had to get in the face of some of my teammates as well because they weren't playing it smart. Again, cocky, eh I'd like to think that I'm defending the CBC gym and I'm not gonna take any type of crap in our gym. So some of the punks better recognize next time.

House of Love

Sunday, June 23, 2002

Today I thought was gonna be a slow day at work due to Gus Macker in downtown Lapeer. Every year I would go down to watch and see who plays. I often recognize some people that I played against over at the Lapeer Rec Center. I decided not even to bother this year as there is no one there that has yet to impress me. Moving on to today's Dumb Customer of the Day Award and boy were there a couple of good ones. I decided to select this lady that I answered the phone. She asked me a question and it was " do you have green tea ice cream"? Like hello does this look like fricking Baskin Robbins to you lady. Also one of Misty's friends came in and I think his name is Seth. As soon as he walked in I just wanted to fall down and laugh. I'm sorry to be mean but it goes back to people up there thinking they are down or thinking they are from Detroit. Seth, straight up white boy, with this phat gold chain around his neck, his pants kind of sagging, with a bandana. Now everything was ok but the bandana had to go. Why? Because number one it was plaid, who the GG wears a plaid bandana. Number 2 it matched his plaid shirt, and I mean exactly matched. Misty keeps defending her friend saying that Seth is a great dresser. So hmmm after that, I must hit her up with point number 3, a guy who is a great dresser is how do I put this, ummm gay. What was funnier, was like Seth ordering his food, instead of sounding like he was talking ebonics it seemed more like he needed Hooked On Phonics. Misty was mad at for the rest of the night for knockin on her friends. Man I just can't get over that Halloween outfit Seth had on. Ok but seriously, I do need to be a better witness at the restaurant. I'm just having a prob with people who hmmm TLC put it best in one of there songs called "The Case of the Fake People".

Tonight I'm glad to hear from Bing as we had a long talk about CCUC and how he is doing after heart surgery. I really praise You, Lord for just helping him to a speedy recovery. I'm glad that I got close connections at CCUC through Bing. It's just really amazing to me how God's power was revealed through Bing's surgery and accident. I'm glad now that I truly understand everything that went on the past 8 months. Discussing the tournament with him, he gave me some new things to consider on which direction I wanna go for myself at this year's tournament. Listening to Bing sharing what's been happenning in his life lately has been a learning experience for me. That experience is trying to understand that life is more important than sports, yeah it's struggle for me still as you can tell. Also to help with this learning experience, watching and listening to the death of Darryl Kile today was just a sad story. He was one of my favorite pitchers when he was an Astro back then. Man life is short, I guess I gotta live the moment.

My Little Secret

Saturday, June 22, 2002

Ok so today was the final and again to be pissed at my grade or be satisfied with my exam grade. I say that I scored pretty low for myself, but when everyone else revealed there scores, I realized that I have one of the higher scores in class. If there is one thing I was pissed at during the exam is how my prof played me. I solved this one problem and I asked him a question because he said he would do his best to clarify our questions and help us out if we asked. So I asked him after I did the work, and he said good job 2 points. So I'm thinking yes, I got it right since that is what he said. So we're correcting the exam, and I find out that my answer is wrong. And I'm like what the frick, dude that is one sick joke you just played on me. I blame myself though because I learned one thing during this spring exam. The lesson is to not try taking Chem 2 without Chem 1 especially during the accelerated portion of Spring term.

Moving on to some better news, the other person I wanted to thank God for putting in my life is Kin. I'm so blessed to have him as a friend and a brother. The other night we had dinner together and we were discussing about how Sunday is suppose to be a day of rest but yet we are still running around trying to do all these things. Like now with Day Camp, this means I'll be working 6 days a week and I'll be at church at least 5 times a week depending how we set up practice nights for CCUC. It's one thing that I love to drive but I hate the fact that I see the same sites over and over (i.e. Van Dyke and 696) So I appreciate Kin letting me chill at his place this past week after VBS. It gave me the chance to take a nice nap to regain my energy.

Well can't close this entry off without a game of Dumb Customer of the Day Award. So I'm working up at the cash register and listening to my mom take this one order. This one lady is like yeah can I also get some extra orange sauce. I'm like uhh ok, there is like plenty of sauces that are orange. So she's like the sweet one. Hmmm good help, so I just gave her a little cup of plum sauce and told her to have a nice day. Ya know, how the frick could you not know what kind of sauce you are eating? And it befuddles me that people confuse our place with another chinese place. I don't see these jabroni's confusing Burger King and Mc Donald's. And I finally found the national monument here in Lapeer. It is the trailer park behind the restaurant where most of these farmer jacks originate from. Stay tuned for tomorrow's next winner in Dumb Customer of the Day.

I Wanna Be Bad

Friday, June 21, 2002

I guess I'll start off with tonight's little entry to be continued from last night's. Now that I've prayed about it and I know what I wanna say, I'll keep most of it to myself. But for now I'll say this, I'm not gonna waste anymore space on this entry to talk about it anymore, although it was entertaining to you readers. I'll put it this way though, I've already forgiven what you said, but you need to check yourself before you wreck yourself next time. And if you really wanted to talk about it then you should know how to do it like I've suggested it to you in the past to help you out through your other friendships.

Aight, moving on now like I said I wanted to talk about two of my friends but since I got so much to say. I'll do one tonight and the other tomorrow. First, I just wanted to say thank you Lord, for giving me a chance to talk to my boy Bao once again yesterday. I'm glad to hear that he is doing well. I think all of us here who are close to him, miss him as much as he misses all of us. He's just a great guy and probably the only guy that I know of right now who can mix his sense of humor and yet still be competitive. I can only pray for him that one day he will have a relationship with you. There were times though that he did show interest and hopefully something is happenning out there in the Windy City for him.

Today I met the rest of the counselors that I'll be working with. I feel like it's Real World or something because we all from different backgrounds. I got one girl who is Japanese, a guy who is from the flipside, and a girl who is cantonese. It's too bad Ayinday won't be working this year it seems like. I'm gonna miss working wit ya, my African-American brotha. I went to lunch today with Chrissy and we went to China 1, woohoo back to back chinese buffets for me. I ran into one of the kids last year that I taught, Jason and it's too bad that he is moving to Colorado soon. He reminded me so much of me when I was little, the leader of the wild child crowd. But of all the counselors he listened to me the most and I'm glad that I gotta chance to reach out to him. Another thing is considering that I went to back to back buffets, dang it I think it is God's plan for me to never eat Egg Foo Young again. Today I blame it on Chrissy for eating the last piece :Þ Man but this week I've gone international on my eating habits, like Olga's I guess that would count as Greek, then Sushi_Ko for Korean and Japanese, then chinese buffets, man this is costing a lot of dough.

Also I'm excited to play with the Chinese Gospel Church this Sunday a game of b-ball. I hope this will be a competitive game and it should be by how they are setting it up. I'm glad that I get to play with Enoch and hopefully soon enough I can set some sort of CBC b-ball team to play against CGC and Alliance. Even though I'm playing with CGC this Sunday, you know I'm representing CBC baby, no doubt bout it.

Also has anyone seen the movie From Hell? Yeah nice Christian movie, oh well Alan rented it. It was cool to watch it with him, Naomi, and Sam. Interesting movie but I wish they would of showed a little more detail everytime Jack The Ripper hacked some chick off. Yeah I know, I'm gross and disgusting, can't help it. Hopefully I don't have nightmares now. I need my teddy!!!! Alright no sleep for me anyways because I gotta pull this last all nighter for the summer to do well on this final.

This DJ Be K One Three

Thursday, June 20, 2002

Ok, I thought today was a pretty good day and I was gonna talk about 2 of my friends who God has put into my life. But because of another situation, I gotta get to this instead. Why because it's better to be pissed off then to be pissed on, so here we go.

(Sniff, sniff) Can ya smell it? If not then you're about to smell what I'm about to say. And yeah you better know who you are? Oh before I get to it, xanga is gay because you gotta sign up all this crap before you can even do some sort of comment. Have you ever wonder how people can sense other people's feelings and emotions through AIM? Well I have yet to meet someone that has this talented gift. But I guess today, I finally found someone who has this great gift and this person must of been blessed by God. How do I put it in a nice way, but umm are you insensitive to the fact that we were talking online last night? Are you a psychic? What? A fortune teller? What? Palm reader? What? Tarot card picker upper? What? Emotions forecaster? What? Diane fricking Warwick? What? Obviously you must have a short term memory when I told you a while ago to never say "tru dat" or any other gay crap that you thought was ghetto to you. By you trying to talk "ghetto" does that make you cool? Are you a hip person? Does that make you groovy? Are you popular now? The ghetto is a place, and you have to have been there to know what you are talking about. Talking ghetto is not some sort of new language you just came up with. Going back to your gift of predicting that I was surprised when you said something in my terms gay. Correction, I was not surprised, I was digusted so you might need a few more countless hours of AIM to practice your gift. Tru dat, word up, what the GG, suck it oooooohhhhh it doesn't matter the fact of the matter is I thought some other parts of you did change for the better. I thought this friendship was a little better than what you just described it to be. Instead of you talking to me about our convo privately, instead as usual you let the whole world know. How sad and here I thought you changed in this department. I guess I was the one that was wrong. You talked about gossip the other week, well for your matter this is another form of it. Why is it edifying, I think not. And yeah I could be a better person too by not saying what I just said. But mess with the best die like the rest. Indeed how sad, and as Yoda would say, much to learn.

Just kickin it

Wednesday, June 19, 2002

Finally, I have finished this dumb chem homework. It is amazing how this is the last week of classes and today will be the last day of class. I just finished what I think is to be the last episode of Boy Meets World, and yes it was emotional as they kept showing clips from the past series. I never realized how fast this summer is going by already, like a little less than 2 weeks now will be July. At first I was kind of excited that VBS is almost over, but after that I start Day Camp, and I keep thinking about how all this is so jam pack with practice, worship, fellowship, meetings, and other various things. It makes me wish I had some sort of vacation to have some down time on my own. No rest for the weary I guess they say.

Tonight, God answered my prayer from last night. I know it sounds like a pitiful prayer but hey it was answered. So what was the prayer about, well it was basically about praying for some sort of challenge at CBC during v-ball. And bam tonight it was rocking with the return of Alex from St. Louie I believe and we had some good laughs. Chi made a return too even though he is not a favorite to play with but nonetheless more competition. A couple of new guys came along too and I'm glad that I got a chance to talk to one of them. His name is Jason from OSU, geeez what a place to come to for an internship. Anyways it's cool because he knows my boy Jimmy from Alliance so we hit it off pretty good. He is not a bad player either, and he lives right by me so hopefully he'll be coming to CBC for worship. It was amazing how the game were pretty intense even though I wish I could of played against my team because that would of been the best challenge. I was in aw of how the games weren't too lackluster, despite missing Phil for a good portion, the Cheung sisters for the whole night, and Howard till he showed up after sharing. I just had that feeling it was gonna be a good night because earlier today Bao called me. Gosh I haven't talked to him in so long either. And I'm glad that he seems to be doing alright for himself. I miss his sense of humor on the court but with a competitive twist to it. Also I think we miss him when it comes to playing 2's. Like tonight it was Phil, Howard, and myself and we usually scramble to pick someone as a 4th. It wasn't the same as last year where that 4th would be Bao, and the games were always close.

I had a good talk with GP B the other day and it looks like things are good to go for CCUC. Howard, Phil and myself were talking after everyone left to see which direction we are going. Howard seems set on playing in that Men's division, Phil wants to play in Men's but is more realistic about playing in A again because of the Men's. We all know that St. Louie, and CCUC have a bundle of guys they can choose from for that Men's group. While us 3 are scrambling to get another 3. And I dunno if it is right to bring guys in to just help us out for this tournament. And for Joyce and Lindsay's team they have a solid core without me now. Now that I've recruited, David, and Jason with the 4 of them they should do aight without me if I choose not to play. Fill the other two spots with Tim and Kin possibly and this is a formidable team to repeat. I dunno, my mind is all in a twist about this because again I wanna have fun, play competitive, fellowship and win. And I see that playing in B with Joyce and Lindsay. However, I always tell myself that I wanna challenge. And Phil issued that challenge to me, and I don't like to back down from any challenge. Well at least tonight sparked some passion to me for playing this great game. Hopefully next week, the competition can get a little higher. Alright time to get that 2 hours rest.

Informer

Tuesday, June 18, 2002

Well starting this week will be the beginning of my jam packed summer now. Today was VBS, although I'm not doing as much as I did in the past years, it's always a joy to see so many kids at CBC. And everyone was praying for about 80 kids, and I remember Sunday's count was 60 something. However today, I took a look at the attendance and praise the Lord because there were 96 kids who came today. Here's a gripe that I have with a certain Elder and another person though at CBC that I totally disagree with. Whether this gets to them or not, I could careless because I've shared this with them last year and took matters into my own hands. For kids, who don't have Bibles that come to VBS, these two people talk to the kids and try to get them to purchase a Bible from CBC for $2. Now don't get me wrong $2 for a Bible is a great deal. But here's the thing, the kids they are trying to get to buy them are like in 1st and 2nd grade! Plus some of them aren't even believers and I doubt they have jobs already. So that means they would have to ask there non-believing parents for $2 to purchase a Bible. So if I was a non-believing parent, I would think that is kind of shady. This problem occured last year, and I'm glad that a lot of the assistants felt the same way. So Rich and I collected money from everyone that was in D-Ship and purchased about 12 Bibles to hand out to kids for free. And I can see this happenning again this year as well. So it's time to get down and help these little kids out and purchase a Bible for them.

Also this week, I am suppose to head down to the ACA to meet the group of counselors I'll be working with this year. I'm glad that Ayinday is back because I thought we made a great team as counselors and he shows a lot of interest in learning more about Chinese culture. Another plus is that majority of the time he didn't like the lunch being served which was chop suey and that meant more food for me, woohoo! I'm interested in meeting this new girl, Elaine because my coordinator wants me to train her. I guess she is a cantonese ABC from U of M for all I know. Another thing I'm glad about is, that one of last year's conselors' Mike was not asked to be back. So many times last year did I want to lay the smackdown on his fat booty but it wouldn't look good in front of everyone if I did that though. The reason is because, he would draw perverted pictures and share it to some of the kids or he would physically wrestle with them but took it a little too far and he injured a couple of kids last year at Belle Isle. Ooooh big tough guy picking fights with elementary kids. Hopefully I'll be working with more competitent people this year.

Well tomorrow evening is v-ball, another lackluster night of v-ball should I say. Peter said he'll be back this week so and along with Wa. Which isn't bad, but the Cheung sisters are coming late! Kin should be playing too hopefully and the same goes with David. Phil and Howard are already guaranteed to be there. Hopefully Mei and Lindsay will play this time, and unfortunately Ting-a-ling can't make it. But I'm wondering Lord, is there gonna be some sort of challenge on Tuesday nights from here till CCUC that will push everyone in that gym to be better?

Dragon's Heart

Sunday, June 16, 2002

Cause I'm losing my sight
Losing my mind
Wish somebody would tell me I'm fine
Nothing's alright, nothing is right
I'm running and crying
Cut my life into pieces
This is my last resort

Oh yeah baby, guess who got the locker room t-shirts of the Red Wings baby! Man Hockeytown Authentics was packed today, but I made a few other purchases too. Unfortunately they were sold out of the locker room hats still. And I found my old Red Wings car flags, I bought one in 97 and 98 because they won the Cup that year. And I was looking through my closet, and in my high school years, my clothing attire consisted of either my high school t-shirts or Red Wings gear. Am I a Red Wings fan? Oh yeah baby, I'm a die hard fan to the bone.Plus I also found my Nike Red Wings hat that I got autographed by Karen Newman when I met her at Media Play. Dude she was soooo hot back then but now she is a mom and kind of on the old side. If only I can find my other Red Wings stuff that I got autographed. And yes I finally downloaded the Without Stanley song!

Ok, let's have a drum roll please for the Dumb Customer of the Day Award. And it is some dude who usually comes in on a regular basis. Like he comes in and asks for his usual, which is the chicken with lots of onions. Umm I'm like what the GG is that, and he keeps saying you know the chicken with lots of onions. I'm like dude there are plenty of dishes like that. Again he keeps reiterating chicken with lots of onions, so I'm thinking, how bout I hit you in the chicken with a stalk of green onions? Then my mom comes in to take care of this jabroni. Ya know though, this guys comes in weekly, and he has yet to remember what the GG he orders. I won't name names but my friend (cough) Phoenix, talked about working with dumb people. Now I'm thinking what is worst, working with dumb people or taking orders from dumb people?

Also today, Kim, Misty and I were talking about the dead life of Lapeer. I kept making fun of those two because they just a couple of country girls. At least Misty admits that she listens to country music, while Kim is having a tough time with it. However they keep arguing with me that they listen to rap music too. So I'm thinking, hmm you live in hoedown land, which means that you wouldn't know how to (w)rap a present if it came to them. Then there were telling me that Mayville is worst than Lapeer. So I'm asking them how the GG is Mayville worst when it is 28 miles north of Lapeer? It seemed like these two were saying that because they live in Lapeer, that means there just a couple of city gals. So I had to be bold and tell them that Mayville and Lapeer are still in yee-haw county so it don't make difference if they were from Mayville or Lapeer, the fact of the matter is, it is still country moooooooooo land. It amazed me how hard Kim and Misty were trying to sell me the fact that Lapeer is a hip city.

So we went with this discussion for a while at the restaurant. My point is that freaks and wierdos come out of Lapeer and anything that has to do with this county. And when we were done discussing it, this one customer came in and after he left I used him as my example of my point. Why? Because this guy or gal or whatever he/she/it was would of won my Most Scariest Customer Award. When I first saw him come in, I thought he was a girl because long hair, a black see through top blousy type of thing and she had painted her fingernails. Whoa up close and personal, this girl was a guy, and it was like one of the Hanson Boys mixed with some sort of Marlyn Manson gene. So I had to use that as my point of again, only freaks and wierdos come out of Lapeer and everyone is related to another in some sort of way. Stay tuned for next week's Dumb Customer of the Day Award.

Can't Nobody Hold Me Down

Saturday, June 15, 2002

Now I'm up in the big leagues
And it's my turn at bat
And just as long as we livin, this lunatic playa
It ain't nuttin wrong wit dat
Batter up

Let's see it took a while for finally some customer to say something stupid, but it finally happened. I got the usual what's the difference between pint and quart, but today was just a funny comment. Ok, so I'm chilling at the cash register, and here comes in two high school chicks. It seemed like an episode of Clueless as they walked in. After they ordered, they discussed there Friday night plans, which was to hang out at Meijer's. I am telling everyone of y'all, that there is no social life up in Lapeer. Here are the hottest hang outs at Lapeer that they have to offer, oh and this is in ranking order too:

1) Parking lot at Burger King
2) Inside of Meijer's
3) Parking lot at Sav-A-Lot
4) Wal-Mart

And who hang out at these places? The cool people of Lapeer, you know, the skate boarders with every body part pierced. The word jock don't exist up here, I wonder if they will let me into there cool group? I can't till tomorrow to see who will win my Dumb Customer of the Day Award.

South Side

Friday, June 14, 2002

Yeah baby, the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup again! And the Lakers won the night before. I've been a die hard Wings fan since 94 when I first started playing hockey. My first year playing, I was voted the best defenseman and my second year, I got bumped up to center. I started to study my favorite player and still is, Sergei Fedorov to play like him and move up and down as quickly as possible playing at both ends of the net. I play a lot of sports and I believe the NHL playoffs are the hardest to get through and that the Stanley Cup is the hardest thing to win. I remember wearing my Avs jersey in high school because of the great rivalry and everyone in my school chased me around the hallways after school ended. When they won back to back in 97 and 98, I was bummed because I could not go to the parade due to finals week in high school. Now that they have won again, I am sort of in that dilema again. This year the parade is on Monday, so do I go to class? If I go to class and try to go straight to the parade after, then I'll get some crap spot. However there is also VBS, although I'm not doing anything till Wednesday, I feel like I should be there even though I never committed to doing anything. So what am I suppose to do?

I was listening to what Kobe said during the post game interviews last night. And he is right, what do you plan on doing now that you're a 3 time champ was the question. He didn't say he was going to Disney Land but he did say he was gonna start going back to work for next season already. That's the heart of a champion and the desire to be getting better and better. To this day, I still have yet to figure out why some people bother playing certain sports when they have no desire in being better or trying to improve. Like today, I had another great day of soccer practice/scrimmage, and now I am starting to get that soccer rust off. And when we get this team together, hopefully I'll be contributing a lot more and scoring more than one goal a game. The thing I love about playing with these group of guys, is that they all want to be better. And I just love the fellowship and how we close the day off with a word of prayer.

And speaking of team work, watching the Wings made me evaluate of my thought process for CCUC. Yeah I keep talking about it, but I don't get to leave the house that much. And just spending time going out there and fellowshiping with close friends and meeting new people is just an unbelievable experience. Or going through practice whenever we're gonna get started on that, it's just a lot of fun because we're all striving to win our own version of the Stanley Cup. Anyways going back to what was I saying about weighing my options. I wanna be on a team like the Red Wings. No not with a collection of stars, but just how close knit there team is. A priceless moment was seeing Stevie Y's daughter , Isabella going up with him to get the Cup from Gary Bettman. At that moment, it made me wanna have a kid, to have that type of experience. Playing on the A team for b-ball would be like that, because everyone on this team has a lot of individual talent. I see guys like Andy lately bringing his kid Conner, to b-ball is just a moment you would want to treasure if you were a father. He's so cute but a little on the violent side, but you can tell from Andy that winning one last championship is running out of time for him. That is what would want me to play A b-ball, is just the collection of talent and everyone is playing hard.

Also there is the fact of playing on C b-ball and my goal was to form my own CBC b-ball team for the C Division. This is where the boys and I are all close, and we can all build on that as brothers in Christ. With this type of team, I would like to have like team dinners or just get togethers to build the unity as a team. Sometimes I'm bummed though because some of the guys believe they are better than C. We all have pride, but when I hear people say that, it makes me wonder why would I wanna bother trying to put together a team like this. We would have a great time as a team because all of us are close friends to begin with. So my goal of forming an all CBC team is slowly shutting down.

Then there's the v-ball side, the thought of repeating champs is a great feeling. Actually I wanna do what Kobe or what I saw Sergei did, which was hold up 3 fingers for how many championships they've won now. Well I would hold up two if this was to happen. Since I still haven't decided, I'm just trying to put together a strong team for my co-captains. Last year's team, was great despite some team turmoil, but it helped me grow as a leader/captain of this team. When we won, it was truly a team effort, Mark and Kin just spiking it with power but more importantly with control, Joyce and Lindsay were just amazing with there sets, and Tim just placing the ball at uncovered areas just like only his daddy can. I'm upset that Mark won't be playing this year because of other priorities, and I hope Kin will know soon enough if he will be returning, and I wonder if Tim is gonna play with us or play with his dad this year. So I'm kind of bummed that I can't get the type of players on this team that I would like to see. And again my love for this game isn't at a high right now. What will it take to get my passion back for this great sport?

Gosh this has to be my longest blog for sure, it's because I can't sleep. I'm still too excited that the Wings won! Also I got a couple of bumps and bruises that kind of make it hard to go to bed. I'm also kind of down that Scotty Bowman is retiring now, but I'm glad that he is leaving this game on his own terms and on a Stanley Cup win. Here's an annoying part to me, now that the Wings won, let's bring out those fake fans, who don't know what the G is all about. Like I was watching the UPN coverage of the post game interviews, and that other anchor girl sitting next to Makeupson, like acting like it's a great thing for the Wings to win. Yet she did not know about the playoff beards, and she said something like did you know that those beards are superstitious during the playoffs or that they grow them for the playoffs. Like hello??? please do not talk about hockey again lady, so this weekend let's see all the fake fans coming out of the closet acting as if they knew this game all along. I guess it's time for me to call it a night now, I think I blab enough and plus I wanna get up early for the U.S. game as they go for the World Cup.

Without Stanley

Thursday, June 13, 2002

You think you're special
You do, I can see it in your eyes
I can see it when you laugh at me
Look down on me
And walk around on me
Just one more fight about your leadership
And I will straight up leave your shit
Cause I had enough of this
And now I'm pissed

Ya know, my living style has always been, I don't bother you then you don't bother me. Today when I was working out outside and doing some yard work I had an interesting conversation with a neighbor. She drove up to my driveway, and introduced herself to me, though I can't remember the name. I appreciated what she has to tell me because I guess I am the talk of the neighborhood despite I don't even know anyone except for Ray's family. So what did she tell me that caught my attention? She was telling me that there are some neighbors, who plan on reporting me to the Association or whatever that is, about my landscape. She told me that I shouldn't worry about it, but there are a couple of upset neighbors.

I learned a couple of things from this, first is I need to start attending these little neighborhood meetings that we have. Just so I can learn each and every one of those jabroni's name. Second, I'm thankful for having a couple of considerate neighbors. Third yeah, I do have some areas that are kind of lengthy in the grass area but uhhh I kind of need a weedwhacker to take care of that. Fourth, I have a pretty good clue which prick is doing the most complaining. Fifth, obviously these certain GG neighbors that I do have, don't know who there messing with. And finally, and I mean finally, I am gonna rename the street that we all live on now. Ooooh no no no, we all don't live at Hearthside Dr. anymore. From now on it is gonna be Know Your Role Blvd. and hang a right onto Shut Your Mouth Ave. so I can check all them SOB's into my Smackdown Hotel! If Ya Smell la la la la la What The Rattlesnake Is Cooking?

It's Going Down

Wednesday, June 12, 2002

Mmmm I must say these Doodle Dandy Nerds that I just bought is delicious. Mmm 3 flavors and it is red, white, and blue. Well, SammeQ just called me asking to workout with her today. Woohoo 2 workouts in one day. I'm excited to try out this new workout program that Rich suggested to me. It is called BSF, so I'm thinking Bible Study Fellowship, how is that gonna help me work out in the Rec Center? But it is called the Bigger, Stronger, Faster Program that the Plymouth Canton Football team uses. So I'm thrilled to try this thing out.

And speaking of last night, there the usual v-ball night again. I mean I guess I am not the only one who feels that Tuesday nights have been kind of lackluster lately. And I don't know if this is part of my prob which is causing to lose some passion for this game. A new guy game to v-ball last night, and I guess I got my hopes to high. I was hoping he would be some sort of dominating player that would bring a challenge. Nonetheless, Court # 2 welcomed him with open arms. Playing 6-2 for a game brought about some sort of fun, but yeah I gotta find myself a new place to play I think. I think I just need to get away from the usual play at CBC, like playing at Beechwoods or something. Just something to do differently, where every player plays there heart out, every point means something, and not this type of giggly play like cow doo-doo and it don't mean anything to them. Also my new mission at CBC now is to catch that freaking mouse that is running loose. Just imagine that thing running loose during lunch on Sundays. And I was told we have the cleanest church of all, well I guess this theory is shot down.

I Love Rock and Roll

Tuesday, June 11, 2002

I think finally my sleep schedule is a little more organized now. I call it nap chunks, like right now it's like 2 a.m. but I ain't sleepy. So eventually I'll go to bed and wake up a couple of hours later for class, then workout and come home and take another nap, and wake up to finish my day. Speaking of working out, here is something I've been wanting to say for the longest time now. Every time I walk into the guys locker room to change and put my bag away.....I just see way too much GG in there. I mean dude, do these gay-lo's know how to cover up? I mean not all guys in that locker room like to be next to you. I mean, someone did invent a towel. I wonder if Melissa runs into that prob in the girl's locker room?

Speaking of that, it's sad that Melissa hasn't been working out with me for the past couple of weeks. Everyday we worked out, I would always tell her that we gotta push it to defend our title. And she agreed, but I guess her and my discipline are at a different level. However, I'm kind of glad that she ain't working out with me also because I know I can go at a higher pace. But sometimes, it would be nice to have someone push you to go harder.

And I finally got word from CCUC the other day about the tournament. Now hopefully GrandPastor B will let us go. Anyways, a month ago, I thought I made my decision of where I'm gonna play. And that was to defend our title because I always hear that it is harder to defend a title then to get one? But the past couple of days now, there has been talk about reforming the A team for b-ball. Stan was talking to me about how much of the minutes we'll be logging because of our age and physical shape. I'm excited to get a b-ball title at CCUC because the past couple of years now, I feel like CCUC have been acting really stuck-up to say the least. I remember getting into trash talking wars at the captain meetings or on the day of the court with Mr. Congo and his team. Watching the Finals also has been driving me to go to play b-ball this year too. I like the fact of Stan and I in the backcourt once again because we model our games off our favorites players in the NBA. He is more of a Tracy McGrady, while I try to go in the direction of Kobe Bryant. Another thing is, I shared this last night to someone close to me, and I just feel that I lost the desire to play v-ball right now. I guess I gotta dig deeper to get my motivation to playing v-ball. I guess this is what Viv meant a couple of years ago, when she kept calling me fickle or is it frugile? Well whatever it was, she meant that I am too wishy washy in making decisions. Gosh I miss Viv and her sarcaism with me. Thank You, Lord for this past couple of days though. I am starting to notice as the week goes on, I usually get drained, but nothing like a little worship on Sunday to really energize me and help me get going for the next week. I think this is what I'm learning this summer, is how valuable worship is to me. I mean looking at the way worship is in a totally different light. Jesus is the light baby, woohoo. Well time to take that nap now.

Ain't It Funny

Monday, June 10, 2002

Don't need money
Don't take fame
Don't need a credit card to ride this train

Today, it was a great day for a picnic and that is what we all did. It was a celebration to everyone who graduated from their respective colleges. I'm really happy for all of them, and hopefully one day that can be me too. Today I also found out that I'll be returning this summer as a counselor at the ACA Day Camp. Not only that though, I'll be the Main Coordinator of everything this year and I'm in charge of teaching all the other counselors. I'm excited this year as I can't wait to get started. Last year I got my feet wet and I felt I did some good things. However there were some dumb things I did as well. The kids voted me as favorite counselor, and sometimes I used that type of power for the wrong thing. Like I could get the kids to beat up the other counselors, and they did. I felt bad because some of them got irratated as their kids would only listen to me. That's something I learned from last year that I hope to improve on this year. The cool thing is and Praise the Lord for it to happen, was that two of the kids, Anna and Andrew came into camp as non-Christians, but left the camp going to CBC full time. I'm thankful that, Lord you put me in this type of situation to share Christ and what church is all about. I hope to get the same oppurtunites this year and to shine like a star for You, Phil 2:11-16?

Livin It Up

Sunday, June 09, 2002

Well it was an interesting day at work as usual. Ya know sometimes I feel like Al Bundy coming home after a hard day's work at the restaurant. I learned one thing today, which was why people always say never mix business with pleasure. So one of the girls that work there, Kim she's only been there for a couple of months now. So I'm talking to her because she seems to like guy stuff, ya know, cars, v-ball and b-ball. So she's telling me about her little crush for one of our cooks, Ramon. I'm thinking that she is a little strange but didn't think too much of it. Till today I realized that their little 2 week fling is more serious than I thought. Kind of cute I guess, but none of my business. Anyways, Kim's friend, Misty who also works there has a crush on another worker at the restaurant. Kim is telling me about Misty's crush, and making me guess who it is. So I'm thinking ummm we're here to sell ABC, not Sweet & Sour Guys. Finally, Kim tells me who Misty's crush is, and who is this fortunate or unfortunate depending on how you look at things? All I gotta say is, oh my GG, I can't believe it's me! So I tell Kim I don't believe her and that she must be on drugs. And she is telling me about how Misty has been flirting with me and all that. I'm like uhh I don't notice anything and I thought I was just trying to be nice by helping her out with some of her work, like I do with the others there. Then again I am a guy and I don't pick up these things when girls are flirting. Until yesterday, I was starting to me more aware of my actions towards her. One thing I noticed is that she got a little touchy feely with me, like touching my shoulder, grabbing my arm, and pushing my chest. I guess normally guys would like that type of stuff, but ya know I'm kind of saving myself here and I feel like I've been violated. Dang it, no means no! I mean Misty is cute and seems nice, but not my type. So now Kim is talking to me about doubling with her and Ramon. I had 3 reactions towards that and here they are:

1) Hellllllllllllllll Noooooooooooo
2) You should get off that crack rock you smoking
3) I think all 3 y'all are whack and the Lapeer air must be affecting y'all

Anyways I need to think of a way to get Misty off me. I'm already trying by not making eye contact with this girl but she keeps looking at me. Dang it, look at the ABC or something else other than me. Oh well I have a week till I go back there and hopefully she find a new guy by then.

Move Your Body

Friday, June 07, 2002

Do The Humpty Hump?

Have you ever wish you could take things back that you said? Today, I started realizing that I wish I could take all the dumb things I've said in my life back. Ever since last semester at BSF, I've realized how much character and integrity mean to me. In order for me to be a better brother to everyone, I should tame my tongue better, James 3. Or I know it's some where in Proverbs, dang it, goes to show my Bible verses memorization, talks about quick to listen and slow to speak.

Today also was a great time of soccer with the Zion crew. I thought I was gonna bring the pain, but it ended up me being in pain. I never realized that my body could go through such pain when running at full speed at Eddie. I think he is too much man for me to handle. At least I got my one goal ;) like I promised. I'm excited though because we plan on organizing a soccer team. This should be a lot of fun with so many brothers on this team and I love how we always close the day with a word of prayer. However I am bummed about not getting my # 13, hopefully Wa will trade it with me because dang it that's been my jersey number since I was an elementary kid playing b-ball and soccer. If he wishes to keep it then it's cool, I like # 21 too, but it's not the same as # 13 :(

Jumpin Jumpin

Thursday, June 06, 2002

Man I thought yesterday was gonna be a productive day for me since it was some relax time. Nothing really heavy ya know, workout for a little then come home and study the whole day till the Lakers game was on. So I'm at the Rec. Center for a while just doing some light lifting (because of too many bumps and bruises) and then just go through a round of shooting practice, and work on some dribbling drills. Come home and eat some lunch and then boom take a nap at 3, figuring that a 2 hour nap should keep me refreshed to study. What happens, I wake up at 8, boy nothing more refreshing than a 5 hour nap. By then the Finals were about to start, and hmm tough decision study for my exam or watch Kobe crush the Nets? Of course, gotta watch the game. So I didn't end up studying till whee hours of this morning, and I did pretty bad on my exam. Considering this is chemistry, why the GG are there so many definitions and not enough math problems. My prof keeps stressing how he hates memorization, so why does he keep putting all these bullcrap definitions in?

Tonight we play soccer hopefully, but I wouldn't be surprised if Zion cancels again because the weather might be too cold for them. They need to toughen up otherwise they're gonna be wiped off the field.

Fill Me In

Wednesday, June 05, 2002

I remember by boy, Big Nasty was talking about finding some sort of middle ground when playing sports. Like how to you play between one extreme which is just fun and recreation then switch it on to competitive mode.Lately I haven't been playing my best, and I'm not the type of guy who likes to make excuses of my poor playing. But the tendonitis, then then red marks on my arm, and now after tonight, I have a nice medium size purple bruise on my hip. I know these bumps and bruises gotta take it's toll on me, but I like to think that I am stronger than this. I noticed that I wasn't playing that well today and so I thought to just play for fun. I would normally get frustrated at people if they make a dumb mistake, and people like Kin and Lindsay would talk to me about not to freak out over my expectations of people playing v-ball. Today, I felt like because I played like crap, I was getting the reverse end of that treatment. I drove home and spent some time in the car trying to meditate on some verses. After all that said and done I feel ashamed for getting frustrated over people in v-ball. And I now realize that I should act the same way on the v-ball court as the same way on the b-ball court. Which is play hard, and competitive, but also encourage my teammates. I'm glad that my friend Cecilia told me that about one of the guys I met down in CCF earlier last month that I made him comfortable playing with me.

Well a couple of good things happened tonight as well. I finally was able to download DJ Sammy's song "Heaven". Also one of the guys from Tuesday night v-ball came up to me and invited me over to his place to chill and hangout. I don't know where he stands spiritually, but I know he's been coming to the v-ball ministry for quite sometime. And there have been a couple of occasions that he has asked me to point out something in the Bible. I'm really hoping and praying that Lord, You can use me to reach out to him.

Tomorrow, is gonna me by down time as well. I think I'm just gonna continue to push myself in working out. But I think afterward I'm gonna spend the whole day pretty much at home. I think I just need to be by myself for a little bit.

Wings and Lakers in 5

Monday, June 03, 2002

Well this weekend seemed to be that typical longer than usual weekend. Not working on Saturday made a huge impact on this weekend. Of course reading everyone else's blog, I might as well throw my 2 cents in on yesterday's tournament. First off, I'm thankful that we had 8 teams to come to the tournament, and I'm glad that I got to build a couple of friendships while on the otherside I got to strengthen other friendships. I'm thankful that our team took first place, despite my poor play throughout the tournament. I realized how important warming up is even more now. I'm glad that my other teammates were able to step up when I was playing bad. And of course this was all dedicated to my boy, Charles. Also, I'm glad that our team was in the harder pool because I love the challenge of it. It's wierd how the finals again was a type of CBC final like last year at CCUC. The captains again were me vs. Peter, how ironic, this could be a rivalry at CBC for v-ball :) I just wanna say Thank You Lord for blessing me with such encouraging and upbeat teammates.

Also, last time I blog, I talked about getting stuck for like a very long time in a traffic jam because of a car accident. I read about it in the paper the other day, and it was a 20 car pileup on 696 at Coolidge around 6:45. It made me think that I guess I'm glad that I took the slow way to go to Lindsay's that day. Because if I took the normal way to her house, we could of easily been in that pileup. Pretty freaky if I didn't take the time talking to Kelly and driving the slow way, that me and Lindsay could of been part of that pileup. I guess I should be thankful to You again for protecting us, and forgive me about complaining being stuck in that traffic. It all goes back to what Paul wrote in Phil. 4.

Thank You In Advance