| Tuesday, October 25, 2005 |
| Rise and Shine |
But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him. But we are not those who shrink back and are destroyed, but those who believe and are saved. - Heb 10: 38-39 |
posted by DarrenGene @ 2:37 AM  |
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| Saturday, October 22, 2005 |
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on the stairs up to my apartment, i usually bump into my neighbours on my way to classes (yes i do have classes). Don't really know em enough to carry on a conversation and when we do see each other, we're always on the run. Here's a couple examples of my dysfunctional "passing by talk":
Me: Hey what's going on?
Him: Not much. What's up?
Me: Cool. I'm doing alright. Have a good one!
Him:??
Him: Hey how's it going?
Me: Not much man, how's you?
Him: ... I'm alright
Me: Alright have a good one.
yay to dysfunctional passing by talk. Alright Have a good one. |
| posted by DarrenGene @ 11:59 PM |
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| Thursday, October 13, 2005 |
| why i am a sociology major |
i had the most fun today writing a few 500 word responses to questions for our first bi g assignment in my sociology of art and culture class. Allow me to justify this statement first before u subject me to your slander and nerdbashing. With most sociology courses, the aim, espeically if taught from a feminist perspective, which this class is, is to be able to sniff out sex, gender, and ethnic biases among seemingly normal pieces of work, be it a movie or a magazine. For some of these cases, you have to reallllly stretch your imagination to try to find any kind of subliminal message, subliminal something to make any sort of case.
In one essay response, i chose to write about how the manufacture of GI JOEs reflect racist attitudes of our society. Enough has been said about GI JOEs already and how they have muscles on top of their muscles presenting a seemingly unattainable male body image for developing boys, so I didn't see any point in beating a dead horse. Racially speaking though, my point was that Asian Americans were more often represented as COBRA terrorists than as the real American heroes. Now I'm not saying that there were no Asian American GI JOEs cause they had characters like Quick Kick and samurai Budo but you've probably never heard of them cause they sucked. They weren't main players in the GI JOE line cause they weren't cool enuf. When you look at Cobra tho, you've got frikken storm shadow who's this really cool looking evil ninja who was also pretty up there in sales among the other leading edge GI JOEs. So let's bring everything back now. If you're an Asian kid looking to buy urself a GI JOE and u see that the only Asian ones like you are terrorist assassin (since most toy stores probably didn't carry Quick Kick and Budo cause they sucked), to what extent are u going to think that you've got a messed up cultural heritage. Not only that, all the Asian GI JOEs and Cobras alike are all martial artsy or ninjas. Yep the Blacks and Whites can choose to be sailors, pilots, and field commanders but all them Asians are good for is their kungfu.
Storm Shadow's the one jumping out... my hero. One day i'm going to train to become a ninja so I can kill good guys just like you.
 
annnnd here we have quick kick (what kinda name is that?) and budo....see what i mean?
Another second essay response I chose to write about is how Mario from Super Mario Bros. fame measures up to criticisms of him being sexist. Oh that was a fun one =)
youuu pixelated but sexist beast you!
and that my friends is why I love sociology. They tell you in first year that what they want you to develop is a critical and sociological imagination. But what happens when this imagination runs rampant? I have been trained to think that everything is sexist and racist at the same time. I think you're sexist and racist. Yes you. Shame on you. Tsk Tsk. |
| posted by DarrenGene @ 1:29 AM |
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| Thursday, October 06, 2005 |
| who? mike who? (the obligatory raps post) |
and in other news the toronto raptors have traded away talented but troubled point guard Rafer Alston to the Houston Rockets for Mike who? Mike Jones. The self proclaimed "boss of the north", The newest Raptor addition had this to say about the trade: "I'm Mike Jones [Who] Mike Jones the one and only you can't clone me. Back then hoes didn't want me, now I'm hot hoes all on me. Back then hoes didn't want me, now I'm hot hoes all on me"...(note: Mike also had a lot to say about "tippin on fo-fos" but I don't know what that means so let's just say Mike is a good tipper... to waitresses and cows alike). It remains to be seen how well Jones will fit in with the rest of the team. When asked about the trade, co-captain Jalen Rose commented, "Trade or no trade, Jalen Rose comes into camp to play ball. Simple as that. All I ask from the team is that Jalen Rose gets his share of touches in the game. I mean, I don't even really play Point guard. It's the only way that i can guarantee that I will have the ball in my hands. Honestly though, some PGs can be real egomaniacs at times and won't give up the ball, when they know full well that they gotta give the rock to the Rose. Come crunch time, no one will be asking who Mike James or Jones is, cause they'll be too busy watching Jalen Rose do his thang. Jalen Rose wins basketball games. Simple as that. Jalen Rose." 6"11" rookie Charlie Villanueva commented, "It makes for an interesting scenario to bring Jones in here at the camp. I think having another veteran presence in camp is going to put some pressure on myself and the rest of the PGs gunning for the starting PG spot. But I'm pumped nonetheless. I'm out to prove the haters wrong. Come tipoff time, I'm going to prove to you guys that I'm definitely worth the gamble at the 7th spot in the draft AND that I can play the point as well. That way, I can be on the floor at the same time as CBosh." (note: this is no joke: CV believes he's THAT versatile, that he can play ALL positions including the 1 spot. Riiiiiiigggghhhttt. Sounds to me like the poor boy is just out to get minutes any way he can) Rafael Araujo, who has largely been regarded as a bust due to his poor performance in his first season had these parting words for the critics: "I go to Europe in summer to work on basketball. It is good. I am good. Last year, people in stands booing hurt. I is hurt but I make them not boo again. Because. I am good. I learned not to hit players on other team because foul is bad and coach make me sit. This year I stand. This year I run. This year I no sit."
To sum up, we got one PG who's bound to start rhyming about STDs, one PG who will only pass to players named Jalen or Rose, one PG in a Power Forward's body, and a center who's promised to keep his hands to himself, so don't boo him or he'll come through your TV screen in a Ring-esque fasion and educate you on the Spanish word for "Ow--eeee". Can't wait for tipoff. We are going to suck for serious but at least we will be fun to watch =) |
| posted by DarrenGene @ 1:30 AM |
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| Saturday, October 01, 2005 |
| we're leavvvving from a jet plane |
now that i've done the rafting, done the skydiving, i am left with one lingering question: What am i doing with myyy life??? Time to quit school to become rapids guide or a skydiving instructor. So a quick rundown of the experience to make you all wanna get on and out of a moving plane real quick:
the whole experience involves a lot less prep than i imagined. A quick peptalk by a couple of guys, what you sould and shouldn't do and then they throw u on a plane. When we first got on the plane, it was under the pretense to do a "mockjump" just to show u how u're supposed to leave the hatch and enter the skies. Right after that was done with (which lasted in all, a total of 30 seconds), the hatch closed and the plane started up (which got me quite scurred cause i thought we were gonna get off to do some more mock-ups. The plane itself is real tiny so it was just ric, myself, and our two instructors in there with the pilot. We made the ascent for about 15 minutes at which we made 9.7 thousand feet (we overshot our intended altitude of 9.5) and then ric was the first to go....which was really cool to see but really scurry at the same time. They sorta tumbled out into somersaults out of the plane and then dissapeared into the sea of blue. It was then my time to jump and we inched our way to the hatch, sticking one leg out at a time. Giles, my jumpman, did the 1,2,3 Go, and we stepped out of the plane. We spun around a bit at the beginning to get a look at the plane as we made our drop (which was quickly dropping from our view). The first 5 seconds of the freefall is such a rush, kinda like when u make ur first drop from a rollercoaster, except here u're spinning out of control. After 5 seconds, Giles taps me on the shoulder to indicate that I can now stick my arms and legs out and at this point, it doesn't feel so much like u're falling as it does like you're floating in the wind. During this fall, I'm screaming but really u can't hear anything when u're falling at that speed. The view from the fall was just uncanny tho. My goodness. Around 37 seconds later, Giles taps me on the shoulder again to indicate that he's going to open the chute, so I tuck my arms back in, and with the pull of a string, me and all my assets come to a shreaaaaaking stop in our descent (now that's Motrin pain!) which marks the beginning of our 5 minute slow descent from the chute. At this point I break out the camera and start taking pics of the view, my kicks, and the view again. For kicks, I ask Giles if we can do any tricks, so we start doing spins in the chute (which feels like getting ur insides thrown into a washer and dryer). A soft landing on the ground completed the feat. So yeah, the whole experience is about 20-25 minutes long starting from the ascent in the plane. You don't know what it means to live unless you attempt to jeopardize it. Now it's ur turn, friend! |
| posted by DarrenGene @ 9:58 PM |
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window shot. Sick. |
| posted by DarrenGene @ 9:57 PM |
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kinda hard to make out what's happening here cause of the sun but that's Ric and Will (his jump partner)...see the group pic for more details and perspective |
| posted by DarrenGene @ 9:56 PM |
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question posed by me in the car: would u rather be strapped onto a super solid perfect jump record guy or a somewhat shaky occasional malfunction hot girl? This is Giles, the guy that I was strapped onto. Nice guy =) |
| posted by DarrenGene @ 9:49 PM |
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the view from the plane. Sick. |
| posted by DarrenGene @ 9:48 PM |
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See? PF Flyers really do make you glide! Love me my PF Flyers. Go watch the movie "the Sandlot" for more PF Flyers love |
| posted by DarrenGene @ 9:47 PM |
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looking pretty retarded in this one, yep. |
| posted by DarrenGene @ 9:44 PM |
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janice getting ready for landing |
| posted by DarrenGene @ 9:41 PM |
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earlier that day: Will, Ric's tandem jump partner on his left, was escorting ric to the plane with one hand on his shoulder strap which prompts Ric to say, "I feel like a prisoner." Will responds, "Just wait. I'll show you what they do to prisoners in prison." Hence Ric's present nervous look in the pic. Goodtimes. |
| posted by DarrenGene @ 9:31 PM |
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errrrrbody at the end |
| posted by DarrenGene @ 9:26 PM |
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