Some things never change, the ones that do call it progress

Michigan basketball is back. Damn it's been a hell of a long time to say that. Watching the Mich vs. Duke basketball game on TV brought excitement that was once reserved for Michigan football. Now the irony of it all is that Mich basketball is better than our football team. In my mind and I think in the mind of everyone else, if we didn't beat duke, then the victory over UCLA may have been a fluke. Yeah, I say this because our team was just alright. It was a team that could compete with the big time, but might not have a good enough season to make it to the dance. I mean, we had to come back against Savannah St. and beat them in OT with a buzzer beater, at home. Now with the win, it secures us that spot of being able to compete with the bigs and make it known that we shouldn't be taken lightly.

Looking at the schedule we can be 10-2 going into the Big Ten season opener against Wisconsin on the 31st. We only won 10 games last year!?! This is going to be a good season to watch. Lets see if Michigan can move back into the basketball elite. Sims and Harris are a legit scoring combo. People don't even know about Laval Lucas-Perry. He transferred from Arizona and retained his eligibility for this year, so I believe he can start playing with us soon or next semester. He's gonna be a good point guard for us, and him and Manny will be a legit backcourt tandem. The chemistry is there and the 1-3-1 is nasty. Beilein is doing his job. Come March 09' we might go dancin. Holla at that.

31 days left of 08'

so november was a bust when it came to bloggin. I really don't know what happened. I think it's the combination of busyness at work (moving into the bschool ain't no joke) and lack of material to write about that only produced three entries last month. But for my followers and those who use this to find out what's going on in my life, I shall make december a better month in terms of bloggin.

Thanksgiving break was good. It was great to get away from aa and spend a few days in novi. Thanksgiving with the huge group was fun. We pretty much spent 4 hours on eating. From the appetizers to the entrees to the desserts, it took 4 hours to eat. If you want more of a detail on the food and what went on, go to Pandrews blog, http://novembernecessities.blogspot.com/ Post: "What really happened" for them. Pictures are on my sister's facebook.

Over the break, I actually saw two movies in the theaters. I really don't like going to the theaters and actually paying to see movies, only because I got to go for free for 5 years of my life, but sometimes there isn't anything else to do and there are movies that have to be seen in the theaters. So the two movies I saw was Bolt in 3-d and twilight. Bolt is your typical disney movie. There's always some conflict for the protagonist and at the end, it's all figured out and the protagonist lives happily ever after. It was a cute movie (Gina cried in in). The 3-d part made it kinda cool to watch. At first you had to let your eyes adjust to things "popping out" from the screen, but I think it made the movie better. I don't think I could have bear watching Bolt without the 3-d effect to it. What was a bonus to Bolt was the fact Dyon and Shlim were in the row in front of us. Twilight wasn't a bad movie, but it wasn't a great movie as well. After seeing the movie, I think I will read the novels because the storyline really intrigues me. The first half of the movie was boring and awkward between the two "lovers" but as the action picked up, it made for an interesting movie. Too bad there wasn't much action, but i'm sure they'll make the next novel into a movie since it's popular and such.

I'm excited for this month. Big things poppin and it's just the first date.

pulling the trigger part one

So right now the TV we have isn't really ours (well Diddy gave it to BJ), but it's like 20 inches or smaller. There has been talks about someone getting a HDTV sometime in the future. Tony was the front runner because everyone and their moms knew about him saying that he was gonna go get one, sometime later and I decided to be the dark horse in the running. (I figured owning my own HDTV will prove to be great for the future because television doesn't even capture in 1080p yet and the TVs now are good enough for awhile) So I started to research what TV would be "bang for the buck" and high quality at the same time. Tony was saying how buying a TV is sorta like finding the right girl, even though the amount of money spent on her is like infinitely more. Seeing that I don't have all the money in the world, and I actually want to save, I narrowed down my choice to this 40 inch Samsung LCD 1080p. This is where my good friend Michal steps in. He works for Sears corporate, and found out that there was a friends and family sale this past Sunday from 6pm-9pm. The sales were suppose to be good on some of the TVs, but when we get there, we find out the one I have been eyeing isn't getting a big discounts as other TVs. There was this Toshiba that was cheaper, but it had less specs and the reviews on them were not as great as the Samsung I wanted. (Thanks Pandrew) I like my electronics with quality, and I still got a discount, so right there, I pulled the trigger on it. What's nice too, is that I didn't have to drop the amount right there, but have no interest for 18 months, so I can still save and pay it off at the same time. It's suppose to come in on wed. or fri. I'm excited.

What was sweet though, was that Michal got to stay the night because the weather was kind of bad to drive in. So his boss let him work at my place for the day. It those unexpected times of hanging out with friends that make life a little sweeter. Old school video games, kicking back with a few brews, talking about life; it just brings you back to the good ol days haha minus the brews. It's crazy to think that one day we won't be able to do this anymore (well like the way it should be done). I know that in life, you grow up and look forward to the new life stages: marriage, starting a family, etc. It's no wonder many people are getting married later now. We take our middle twenty years after college to just enjoy life: single hood or in a relationship, our job or graduate studies, meeting new people or chilling with the old ones. Whatever it may be, people are prolonging this stage of life before moving on into the next one.

Things I'm looking forward to as 08' comes to an end.

Thanksgiving - As usual, Thanksgiving will be spent with family and hmcc kids who didn't go home for thanksgiving. I think the number this year will be a record. Like 7 people or something. i think it's cool that my rents are chill with this, and going home for the 4 day weekend won't be too boring.

Pistons Game - The Hurs, Brian, Alan and I got tickets to go see the Pistons play Orlando on 12/29. Now that AI is on the team, I think it's gonna be sweet to watch them play and look who they are going up against. Freaking Dwight Howard. It's gonna be a good match up and we got lower level tickets.

NYC/CT trip - The Hurs, Brian, and I are gonna be taking a road trip to the big apple and CT to visit E for a few days. We're going during New Years, and we're thinking about doing the whole Times Square for NYE thing. Yeah we know it's kinda crazy, but hell, we're still young. Chilling in CT will consist of hitting up Mohegan Sun and some snowboarding. It's gonna be a packed 5 days, planning to do all of this stuff which includes driving there and back.

obama got swag

On Nov 4th, 2008, America has spoken and elected Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States.

It's really great to see the history being made with Obama being the first African-American president for the US. He deserved to win and we shall see how great of a leader he will become. With that said, this post is really a commentary on the voters, and the reality of what is to come.

So yeah apparently this was the largest voter turnout in the history, more than 120 million people came out and had their say on who was going to become the next president. A little more than 64 million voted for Obama. I think it's great that many came out and exercised their privilege to vote. But I really wonder, how many out of the 120 millions were actually informed voters. When I think of informed voters, I'm talking about the ones who researched the candidate's platform, where they stand on certain issues, and made the educated choice on who they thought would run the country better. It's really easy to think that in this election, there were so many bandwagon voters, and went out to vote because it was time for "change". (I'm not hating on Obama's campaign, I think he ran it amazingly well and I believe he is the best choice compared to Mccain) Hell, who wouldn't want change in this dismal environment that we live in. But the point is that Barack Obama ain't Jesus people. He's not gonna come in right away and make things change/go away. Exit polls showed that the number one issue for voters was the economy. It's going to take years for the economy to be up and running again, and even so there are changes that we as citizens need to make. Think about his slogan, "Yes we can". WE as in him and us. He's gotta play his part and we gotta play ours. He needs to prepare the country for several tough years, and we gotta expect several tough years. We shouldn't expect him to be the country's savior or else we're just gonna end up blaming him like most people did of President Bush. So yeah, don't be complaining when you hear of higher taxes, regulations on big business, high unemployment rate, etc. America has spoken for change, and with it comes a lesson on patience and sacrifice for change to happen. How will they respond? We shall see with time. Keep our country in prayer.

one isn't such a lonely number

I was told that I needed to write entries that are more exciting, or juicier from some of my readers. Well, I'm still gonna write those informational, what's going on in my life type entry, you just gotta live with it. However, I'm feeling up for one of those relationship entries today, so yeah stop complaining. The thing is, the topic today isn't about anything to do with a relationship, but the stage before. Singlehood, my friends. A great stage to be in, you just gotta see the bigger picture, and I'm here to open your eyes.

We live in a world where relationships seem like a big deal. We are in fact social beings and when it comes to the opposite sex, there's always that attraction and longing to be with one another. Also when you get to a good age like during your twenties, it seems like a lot of your friends are in a relationship, or even getting married. At times, you see what they have, and a part of you wants the same thing. You see pictures, you hear stories, and all the good things that come with a relationship, and you wish you had something like that in your life. The thing you're missing is that what you have right now, being single, is an awesome thing. Superficially, I can name you a lot of pros for being single. You don't have to spend money on another person, you don't have to make time for another person, you are not doubting yourself whether this person is the right person, and the list can go on. Like I said though, those things are superficial, and the main focus was a selfish motive. A great reason why being single is awesome is because during this time, you get to learn a lot about yourself and in turn grow in maturity.

There's the saying that fools rush in. This can be said about people who rush into a relationship. I'm not saying that it might not end up well, but doing something just because it feels right or you want to, may not be the wisest decision, and there's two people involved. Even looking back on my past, I can safely say that I was hasty in going into some of my previous relationships. It was just a "in the moment" type of thing, but hey I gotta learn from my experiences. This is where maturity and learning about yourself comes in. I'm not telling you to not be in a relationship, but rather know why you're going into one in the first place. Knowing your intentions/motives, but more importantly your life plans, a significant other might or might not fit during that time. Some people who ready this, will prolly think, "Oh, so in a sense being single is me getting ready for a relationship, what does it mean to be ready?" If I knew the answer to that question, I would be a happy person. Trust me. All I can tell you though is that being ready is going to look different for everyone. You might have this "checklist", but you will never be fully ready as you would hope for. Just don't compromise the things that are important to you and your life.

Being single is great. You have more time with your friends, you get to do accomplish things that you couldn't being tied down, and you will learn how to be selfless after seeing how selfish we are because in the next stage you can't do that. Also, haven't you heard patience is a virtue? Haha believe me, you can't have enough patience. Somehow you always seem to need more. Yeah, I'm still human, sure there's someone in mind, and sure I think about relationships, but in a way happiness isn't having what you want, but wanting what you already have. So instead of worrying about girls/guys, work on yourself, strive to be better so that someday you enjoyment of being single will bring enjoyment into another person's life.

the new chapter of life

so it has almost been 2 months since the new school year has started. The difference about this year is that I am no longer a student, but a single adult, young adult, working person, whatever you want to call it. At first, I was working three part time jobs to support myself. It was kind of rough, the hours were sporadic, and sometimes I would work 10+ hours in a day. However, I was hanging in there, and learning many things along the way. Plus it helps that rent is cheap, and not having bills or debt to pay off. Now I work two jobs, even though the 2nd one is only once a week. My full time job is working at the Bschool for facilities, and so far it's been great. So the job part of the new life can be checked off for now.

As I was saying earlier, the housing situation couldn't be any better because of the price. Right now I'm paying 250 for a huge double, and with utilities and cable, it comes out to be around 300 dollar on average. The double has two closets so Bj and I each get one, and we have our own bathroom. The other two roommates, Tony and Kaiser, both have their own single. The kitchen and living room is spacious enough for 4 people, and connecting the living room is a screened balcony. (this is where we have our bbq) We also have access to a two cars length garage, but we just use it for storage. Pretty much, it's sweet. The only con, is that we're off campus, but I got a car so it's all good. I actually don't spend much time at home. Besides from sleeping and eating, I'm usually on campus because of work or just chillin with people.

Moving on, because I'm working and no longer an undergrad, I've also moved up to Focus ministry in our church. It's kinda weird because my class is the young guns of the working class now. Even though we're not the babies, we're different because we bring a different style/energy to the group. Focus is a lot different than undergrad because you're responsible for your own spiritual walk, like your own life. There no small group leader to look over your shoulder, or three/four meetings a week that have to do with church. In a sense, you gotta be keeping up with reading the word, praying, etc. There is still accountability, but you don't got some overprotective leader breathing down your neck. It's a double-edge sword like any freedom, but I like it because I believe that people need to learn and grow up.

One thing doesn't change though in this new life stage (well, staying in aa) is chilling with your friends. Sure, a lot of people have moved on, and I've met a lot of new people at life group or work. But when it comes to good old chilling with the people you feel like you've known for a long time, it trumps most. Whether it's grabbing a meal, playing flag football in the freezing cold, or going out grabbing a drink, doing them with friends calls for a great time. Like last night, it was burger, bj, mirae, lili, deb, and I playing board games. First it was outburst, then apple to apples, then charades with the apple to apple cards. Fun times. I don't know the length of time, I'll be here in AA, so I just gotta make the most of it now.

gotta keep on truckin

In the dictionary, the word passion is defined as any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, or a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything. In my life, Sports can be called a passion of mine. Espn.com is my home page, I try and catch sportscenter whenever I can, and play fantasy sports to add to the passion. As a sports guy, one of the greatest avenues to show your appreciation/love is being a fan. When I say fan, I don't mean no bandwagon jumper (oh hey this team is doing awesome, i'm gonna start liking them) or some person who likes a team out of obligation (oh yeah, i'm from the St. Louis, I guess I am the fan of the Cardinals). When I say fan, I mean a person who made the decision to give their allegance to a team, stick with them even if they are losing, and knows enough information about them to have a full conversation with another person about them. (actually the first two are good enough, the last one is more of a diehard) Passion can also be defined as an outburst of strong emotion or feeling, and this post is about my passionate view on my passion, the football team of the Michigan Wolverines.

I was at the game last night. With a minute or so left in the game, the scoreboard read Michigan State 35, Michigan 21. Hearing the Michigan State fight song and the Go Green, Go White cheer made me sick to my stomach. At that point, I lost hope for us for the remainder of the season. We're now 2-6, and going to a bowl game is out of the picture. The only way to salvage such a horrid season is to get a win vs Ohio State, and even that seems impossible. It's getting really easy to be upset at this team, especially the offense, but I can still proudly say that it's still great to be a Michigan Wolverine. I'm not gonna make any excuses up for why we suck, we just do this year.

Yeah, so we did hire this new coach, Rich Rod, and he does have this offense (the spread) that isn't what we call traditional. For the spread offense to work you need a QB that can run the offense. Sure Threet has showns glimpses of a QB that can get the job done, but straight up, he just sucks. He doesn't have the arm strength nor the athletic instinctiveness to be a spread offense QB. His decision making is poor and he is definitely not the QB of our future. Due to the fact our offense can't move the ball and convert first downs, our defense is on the field for the majority of the game. I really feel sorry for them. They are a decent defense (they do have holes in their passing defense) but when you're on the field more than 50% of the game, I don't care if you're Lance Armstrong, you're gonna be tired. Everybody is calling this year a rebuilding year, but it's really not, next year is the rebuilding year because it will be the first year with 100% Rich Rod recruits. This year is a we suck year, but we're just gonna have to deal with it. For all those people who beat us this year, congrats, you beat us fair and square. You'll also get a F U from us fans, and don't expect this every year. Yeah I'm done for this year (this doesn't mean I'm gonna turn my back) I'm still going root for the team, but I'm not going to expect much. We'll just take our losses and look foward to the future.

horror medley

So yesterday, the two guys named Daniel Lee and I embarked on a journey to the D. We planned a visit to the so called Urban Legends Haunted House (5 haunted houses in one location) in hopes of getting our money back. They set it up to make you think that if you go through all five of their haunted houses, you get your money back. We were anticipating something really crazy because what haunted house really gives your money back. Mentioned before this haunted house was in the D, just driving down there is scary enough especially at night and the roads are foreign to you. So we were def hyping ourselves out expecting the sweetest, scariest experience out there. We hit a few detours driving, but we finally arrived at Urban Legends. It wasn't much of a sight on the outside, we were at some local strip mall, and the haunted house was located inside one of the buildings. There also wasn't much of a line, but we did wait for a few minutes to buy our tickets, and to go through the houses.

So we asked the people there about their money back policy, and apparently you have to buy the whole package, which was 30 dollars to even try get your money back. On top of that, you have to go through the one haunted house called Pitch Black and find the secret door inside. Pitch Black was pretty much a maze in total darkness with guys in black robes running around trying to scare you and flashing lights in your face. It was pretty lame because it wasn't scary and lame because we had to find a secret door to get our money back. We didn't, and ended up disappointed right off the bat. However, the night wasn't a lost cause because we had 4 more houses left. The next one was three combined and I have to say it wasn't that scary, but a lot of actors jumped out from everywhere to give you that, "whoa, what the...." feeling. Some of the rooms we entered into was nicely done, and some of it did have the eerie vibe that left you wondering what in the room was going to scare you. Definitely the best house of the night, but that's not saying much. The last house was called Dead girls, and this was the house where you had to be 18 and older just to go in. It was pretty much as the title suggested, Dead girls in the house, and yes they were in fact topless, therefore 18+ age marker. It was not as good as the 3 in one, but I got the eff scared out of me here. There was this dead girl with no eyes chained up to the wall screaming for help and we thought nothing of it so we just went to the next room. As we were scanning the next room, I ended up in the back and as i turned around, the eyeless dead girl was right behind me, and she let out this loud scream. I freakin jumped up and was like, "sh**, omg" The scare was a good one. Overall it was an okay experience, not really worth the 30 dollars we paid for, but oh well. Pretty much haunted houses are for couples so that the guy can be there by his girls side when she's scared or starts screaming. Besides that, its just cheap thrills. I am going to another one tonight, cheaper, and hopefully will be just as good.

one step at a time

so yesterday I finished reading the novel Dear John by Nicholas Sparks. Yeah I know what you're thinking, Nicholas Sparks?!?! He's the guy who wrote The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, Message in a bottle, etc. Another thing you're prolly thinking is, "Carl, what kind of guy are you? reading nicholas sparks and all" Well let me tell you I was def. skeptical at first, I didn't even like a walk to remember, but after reading the book I was quite surprised that I enjoyed it. That doesn't mean I'm gonna go read the rest of his collection, however I won't shoot down the possibility of reading another one.

Well moving on, the reason why I even mentioned this book in the first place was because of the way it made me think about relationships, and this romantic concept of love. Sparing the details and spoiling the whole novel, I wanted to discuss the topic of "making the right decision". There are so many choices that we have to make when it comes to a relationship or even trying to enter one, but how do we know if we're making the right ones? When you're in love with someone, does it mean to care for another person's happiness more than your own, no matter how painful the choices you face might be?

As human we have the tendency to want/desire things for ourselves, or in other words we just selfish beings. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying we're all selfish all the time, but we generally are. However it's this thing we call love that humbles us, makes us turn from our selfishness and become selfless. I'm not gonna get biblical on you and start reciting 1 Cor 13 and saying what love is, but yeah you get the point. However, in a relationship there isn't always just love. Sometimes that selfishness that also resides in our heart finds it's way into the relationship. Selfishness can look like wanting to spend more time with one another, getting physical, pretty much anything with the motivation to benefit yourself. At times, I'm not saying that it's a bad thing, but remember that a relationship is about two people not only one. This leads me back to whether or not we are making the right decisions.

The reason why we make the wrong decisions is because we set our standards on the level of how people live. We think that we gotta live up to certain relationships because they seem to work or we really want that in our lives. To be blunt, it ain't the right way to see things. Now I'm gonna get biblical on you, the only way we can even understand love is seeing it in its best form. That's God sending his only son to die for us. Think about that last question in the beginning. To care for another person's happiness more than your own, no matter how painful the choice may be. That's exactly what God did for us. It's not like it was an easy decision to make, or just because he's God he can snap his fingers and everything will be okay. A sacrifice was made. Honestly if there's no sacrifice on each other part, then reevaluate whether or not the right decision is being made. On a personal level, I can tell you that there were so many times I wanted things done my way, now realizing that it takes two to sacrifice. Also there isn't equality when it comes to sacrifice. In a sense, one will seem to "do" more, but that's what makes sacrifice what it is. You just gotta realize it, and be grateful for what you have.

weekend in the chi

I decided to return to the bloggin scene, and after much thought, decided to start a new one instead of going back to my xanga. I think for myself I just wanted a fresh start, so here I am on blogspot. haha sorry mirae. I'm gonna try and keep up with this, can't promise a daily thing, but at least a few times a week with happenings in the life or even just thoughts accumulating and looking for a medium. Anyways, i guess this paragraph will be my blog's intro and everything after that will just be from the mind of Carl.

Last week I spent 4 days in Chicago, main reason to spend time with my buddies Michal and Bcizzle, side reason to get out of AA and the monotony of life there. As always being with friends that you haven't seen for sometime adds excitement to whatever you are doing. Going in I was expecting to eat a lot, drink a lot, and just have a lot of fun. I did all those things and some. I don't think I'll be going to any buffets anytime soon because I almost wanted to throw up after eating Todai. I do like Chicago style dogs, deep dish pizza and their ethnic foods are amazing and at a good price because there's so much comp in the area. I definitely want a LCD HDTV in my crib with a Xbox 360 connected to that piece. Playing video games was fun again, especially when you can get a victory with the crappy mich team. Props to you Michal and B for the great weekend and hopefully you guys can come up to aa and it be mine turn to play host. Here are some of the pics in the chi.

who knows maybe the Chi might be a permanent place of residence for the fall of 09'