This is the cake that Alma and Joy made for me. The poker chips and dice are made out of some sugar play-doh type thing and the cards are made out of white chocolate!!! Thank you!!! 

James's music group!

As many of you know.. my bro is working with a music group in singapore. The group is based out of Asia called Parking Lot Pimps..

They're sound is unique.. but they are very creative and talented..

anyhow.. James would like you guys to listen to the group and give feedback as to what you think of the group. They have a chance to make it big because they have a very unique sound. Some say it reminds them alot of Black Eye Peas...

When you get the chance check it out...

http://www.mtvasia.com/Onair/Shows/AdvanceWarning/


and

http://www.parkinglotpimp.net


check out their video:

http://www.mtvasia.com/Video/Feature/20050517000045/index.html

Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith

Midnight showing.. Star Wars Ep: 3.... It has begun!

So Star Wars mania has finally begun and on Wed night.. the crew and I headed to Century Theaters at the Great Mall of Milpitas!

The highly anticipated movie of the year!!!

So my thoughts on the movie.. well if you were to compare it to episodes 1 & 2.. this by far.. hands down.. is the best of the first 3 episodes.. is it the best Star Wars movie of all time.. NO!! but I think George Lucas did a great job on getting Ep 3 on track.

Did I enjoy the movie? ALOT... I went in with high expectations... and the movie did not disappoint.. many people may say there were disconnecting points in the movie.. but hey.. if George had to cover everything then the movie would be like 6 hours long!

In any case.. I enjoyed the movie alot... if you haven' t seen it go watch it!

Here are pics from our night out..

http://www.silverbackcrew.com/imagegallery/thumbnails.php?album=17

These are things you do while waiting for the movie to begin! heheheh

Saturday, May 14th

OK...so this past Monday was the big 3-0. I'm throwing a little par-tay at my place this Saturday....feel free to stop by before/after Daniel's communion. There'll be poker for you gambling fiends, magic mic (which I need to borrow from Auntie Nene) for you hams, and some food and alcohol (which all of us can appreciate!)

http://www.evite.com/benosdias@yahoo.com/big3-0

Free Comic Book Day, review?

I couldn't go.

Joy, how was it for you and Matt??

Academy Award Movie Day

Since I submitted my first draft of my project in on Monday - and ALL of my frickin other assignments are done (i just have to close up shop in my internship) - I had a free day yesterday to finally watch the netflix dvds I've had for weeks!

Finding Neverland - this was a hella good. fun. touching. inspiring. Jamie did a really good job of turning into Ray Charles so I'm glad he won, but Johnny Depp's gotta get his due sometime.

James Barrie: regarding a play, "much of it has to be imagined."
Michael (I think it was him): "As it should."

Hotel Rwanda: I struggled at the beginning to sift through the political framework (and the creator's own politics) but after I stopped worrying about that and settled into the tragic story - I felt.. well.. tragic. I was kinda disgruntled at the end after I sat there for a second, let it soak in, and thought about the fuckin things we, as humans - the so-called intelligent beings, do to ourselves.

Sideways: Paul Giamatti's got that loveable loser role down pat! I gotta say, that though this movie was good and fun, after watching Finding Neverland, this movie just didn't punch as hard. I actually thought that a lot of it, especially the interaction between Miles and Jack reminded me of older counterparts to Mike and Trent in Swingers. I love Swingers.

So yeah, good day. I was tempted to run off to the theatre to catch Crash or Hitchiker's.. but I'll do that later since I'll have so much more freetime next week. =D

stupid survey

i posted this a few weeks ago on my defunct/neglected livejournal.

FIRSTS:
1. First best friend(s): I think the Indian boy who was my neighbor. Or Roy, the Indian boy in my kindergarten class.
2. First car: 1984 Homda Accord (loaded) + sundamaged paint job and busted sun roof.
3. First real kiss: umm, 94?
4. First break-up: REAL Break-up? 94
5. First screen name: hEIeRo
6. First self-purchased album: Forever Your Girl, Paula Abdul or maybe Apocolypse 91 - Public Enemy
7. First funeral: Lolo David
8. First pets: I think we had dogs in the Philippines
9. First piercing/tattoos: cartilage piere, left ear, summer '97 - and nowadays people still ask, hey, is that a new piercing?
10. First credit card: AT&T Mastercard
12. First enemy: Chris, he bribed me for friendship with jelly beans and subsequently offered me the nasty ass black ones. I remember throwing it out once as protest. I went on to find better friends. Damn New Yorkers.
13. First big trip: the acid drop of.. hahah jk. I suppose the 83' trip that never ended (PI to NY.)
14. First music you remember hearing: loaded question. I am boycotting.

LASTS:
1. Last cigarette: Hmm. Puff was in a drunken stupor on my birthday.
2. Last car ride: I just got home.
3. Last kiss: umm.. stolen kisses (for both people involved) - 2003
4. Last good cry: i really don't know.. when lando turned Han over to the empire. jk
5. Last library book checked out: shiet. I'm sure i must've done that once or twice at Davis
6. Last movie seen in theatres: AMITYVILLE HORROR. WOOHOO!
7. Last beverage drank: Water
8. Last food consumed: Chicken Fried Steak and Eggs at IHOP
9. Last crush: real crush? see stolen kisses.
10. Last phone call: we talked about a crazy frantic woman and more earwax.
11. Last time showered: post bball - pre-super-tiredness
12. Last shoes worn: uh, my favorie though now worn out PONY Citywings
13. Last item bought: uhh, CHicken Fried Steak and Eggs at IHOP
14. Last annoyance: drivers who merge badly
15. Last time wanting to die: when i couldn't breathe this morning due to allergies
16. Last time scolded: i dunno..

SPECIFICS:
1. Do you do drugs: flovent, two puffs twice a day
2. What kind of shampoo do you use: pantene
3. What are you most scared of: girls hahahah
4. What are you listening to right now: Friends season 6
5. Where do you want to get married: outer space
6. How many buddies are online: are they really online?
7. What would you change about yourself: asthma removal project

FAVORITES:
1. Colors: the various colors of feces
2. Food: all
3. Girls Names: ?
4. Boys Names: VOlcano Man (my first born son's name!)
5. Subjects in school: History, P.E.
6. Animals: pre-high school: Whales, post-the machine
7. Sports: basketball, football, baseball
8. Perfume: i dunno, i think i like the bath and body lotions better
9. Cologne: coolwater, happy, 5 day old Must.

HAVE YOU EVER...
1. Given anyone a bath: myself
2. Smoked: sure, but I think I sweat more
3. Bungee jumped: no, but i've bunjee tied
4. Made yourself throw up: no, i've tried.. didn't work.
5. Skinny dipped: umm, in my undies when i was kid.
6. Been in love: yes
7. Made yourself cry to get out of trouble: uhh.. no
8. Pictured your crush naked: uhh
10. Cried when someone died: hmm.
11. Lied: NEVER =)
12. Fallen for your best friend: yeah, not easy to deal with.
13. Been rejected: always
14. Rejected someone: hmm, in not so manly ways, yes.
15. Used someone: always hehe, jk, but yes
16. Done something you regret: sure

CURRENT:
1. Clothes: target and old navy clothes
2. Music: friends season 6
3. Make-up: all the time
4. Annoyance: the system
5. Smell: 5 day old Must, jk
6. Favorite artist: John Romita, JR, John Cassaday
7. Desktop picture: Astonishing X-men #6, Colossus and Kitty Pryde reunited
8. Book you're reading: To Kill a Mockingbird, Lord of the Rings, Adventures of Kavalier and Klay
9. CD in player: John Legend
10. DVD in player: Friends Season 6
11. Color of toenails: various

LAST PERSON:
1. You touched: uhh Michele post IHOP bi-monthly update
2. Hugged: Michele post IHOP bi-monthly update
3. You IMed: ? Rob?
4. You kissed: see stolen kisses

ARE YOU:
1. Understanding: most of the time
2. Open-minded: in a way very yes and very no
3. Arrogant: sometimes
4. Insecure: sometimes
5. Interesting: if that means nerdworld - yes
6. Hungry: yes, for something more
7. Smart: Ass yes
8. Moody: hehe YES
9. Hardworking: yes and no
10. Organized: not necessarily
11. Healthy: not after this weekend
12. Shy: moments
13. Attractive: hell yes, I have skills, like Napolean
14. Bored easily: not really, distracted easily
15. Responsible: uhh, for the most part
16. Angry: depends
19. Disappointed: in humanity? yes
20. Happy: sometimes
21. Hyper: weird more so
22. Trusting: uh, to an extent
23. Talkative: uhh.. depends
24. Legal: not to some people.. ehhe jk

WHO DO YOU WANNA:
1. Kill: I don't do killing, but if i was a comic writer and had my choice to kill someone as they do for the "big summer tragic event" it would be:
2. Slap: who's booty?
3. Get high with: so high our shoes are scraping the sky?
4. Look like: me.
5. Talk to offline: i dunno, a lot of people
6.Talk to online:

RANDOM:
1. In the morning I am: tired as fuck
2. All I need is: a good comic book and some fresh mangos
3. Love is: they say it's a river.. some say it's a gift
4. I dream about: lately? werewolves, supernature, and respiratory problems

teacher response to our presentation last week

My teacher's the ultimate "social worky" teacher - asset driven, strength driven, ultra positive. So when we did our presentation last week she told us at the end that she commended us for being "gutsy" enough to address such an difficult issue of racism, etc.

So we got our feedback today. We got an A. We were reference citations away from an A+.

Anyway, she was saying earlier in the class that she always learns from her students and is always amazed by her students. In fact, she bragged about her students last week.

WHile I was reading the comments, because my to co-partners were gone, she patted me on the shoulder and said "good job last week. you were the ones I was bragging about." or something to that effect.

=)

I'm almost done.
I am almost done.

The final presentation

My final presentation of Grad School world happened on Monday.
Our topic was originally Social Conscienciousness in Schools.
Eventually it evolved into: Activism in Schools, Consciousness-Education-Action.

What we covered:

Personal accounts of "ism" victimization in schools/school settings.
Privilege
The Fake Mantras of Racial Dynamics in the United States (aka "I am color blind")
Institutionalized Racism/other isms

Consciousness-Education-Action: in terms of our presentation, we contend that it's a cyclic continuum. Consciousness and Education being internally focused - especially as Social Workers we have to be conscious of cultural, institutional, and systematic issues caused by racism, sexism, elitism, etc. and education is the way to learn more and be able to ask more questions. Action was the external part where we have to help educate and increase consciousness of colleagues, teachers, staff, students, etc.

Uncomfortable Language (aka offensive language)
Labels
The differences and histories of the terms Hispanic vs Latino vs Mexican American vs Chicano
Eurocentrism (in curriculum, in teaching style, in competition aka social darwinism and capitalism)
Model Minority Myth
The 3 levels of relationships in human services

Cultural Values (native vs "western")
And we ended with a song "Resist" by the lifesavas

We felt the need to address this because the majority of the folks in our classes have been white females and though we are coming to the end of a 2 (for some 3) year journey, many are still not aware of these issues. Case in point - a very limited (abit offensive)"gang workshop" last week that included a slide show of some images of murals and street art that was misinterpreted as "GANG" related. Also, of interest, the Mexican gangs and Asian gangs weren't even included in the presentation. Uh, we're in the Bay Area of San Francisco. Know the community.

Anyway, our teacher thanked us for the "guts" to discuss these issues especially because issues of racism, especially systematic, are extremely difficult to discuss anywhere. I never thought of it that way. I felt we were helpful.

I walked around later on in the day between classes enjoying the sun, the warmth, the mediating breeze and I just felt LIGHT. I think because 1) one more assignment had been lifted from my shoulders and 2) I felt we educated some folks (aka Action).

My Weekend SMASH tournament

Well funny thing is me and Eric played in the same tournament just different league and teams.. i played in the COED...

I think the only reason why I even saw Eric was because his friends told him to check out TEAM TEMPLE.. because they had hot chicks on the team.. and behold.. who was I playing for.. TEAM TEMPLE!

What did TEAM TEMPLE CONSIST OF.. bartenders from Temple and Club Deep (i supplied the Deep bartenders because they're girls, really hot ones), Temple All Star DJ's and.. Temple Worshippers (which i fall under)

We lost every game.. but it was so fun!!

Day 1:

Game 1 was at 9am in the morning... and as you might figure your beloved cousin was HUNG OVER from the night before.. then again so was the whole team.. happens when you and your teamates are always drunk no matter what night it is...

We lost 21 - 2... but who cares we had fun!

Post - Game 1: Now we begin the drinking stage of our day.. from 10am to 3pm, our next game, we begin drink massive amounts of Bud Light. There wasn't a time when there was no beer in our hand.. so as you would figure we would be SMASHED by game 2!

During our drinking stage we amassed a large amount of empty Beer Pitchers which we were to use as our gloves for our last game of the day!

Game 2:

Half the team is smashed! They weren't only drinking beer.. and in hard liquor and we have a ball game folks!

We play a team of friends who are also SMASHED!! did we win.. course not.. it was 16 - 6 by games end.. but there were memorable moments..

In baseball we have RALLY CAPS.. for team temple we had two versions of RALLY SHORTS!!

Rally Shorts 1: My friend would bat with his shorts pulled up all the way to his chest.. This look awful.. but not as awful as the next Rally Shorts!

Rally Shorts 2: This was me.. well not like your shocked, anyhow.. rally shorts 2 consisted of me rolling up my shorts so you could not see them under my shirt.. yup i looked naked from the waist down.. only had my shirt covering my mid section.. the rest u see is just legs!! awful huh!!

had my friend laughing so hard that he fell to the ground laughing.. was so funny that i got cat calls from the girls on the opposing team! hahah

Unfortunately these rally shorts did not work as we still lost the game.

Highlight of the day though, was the last inning of our second game...

Since we were losing by alot we decided to use our Beer Pitchers.. AS OUR GLOVES... this had the umpire laughing.. cuz he had never seen anything like it...

1st pitch.. hit back to the pitcher.. i'mplaying first base.. pitcher throws to first.. 1 out!! WAHOO!! our team is so excited cuz i caught the ball bare handed with the pitcher in my hand... I broke my handle though squeezing the pitcher hard.. Since we were all excited about the first out.. we all met at second base and gave high fives with our pitchers!

The next at bat.. the guy crushes it to left field.. our left fielder comes chasing the ball.. and is in position to catch the ball.. with his beer pitcher!!! Ball lands in his pitcher.. shattters it the bounces out of the pitcher and rolls on the ground. What's left in the left fielders hand is just the beer pitcher handle.. hahaha!! So the batter is making his way to second.. our Shortstop calls for the cut off.. so our left fielder throws it to our Shortstop.. but throws it high. Shortstop jumps up to catch the ball.. with his pitcher.. and BAM.. HIS PITCHER SHATTERS!!.. nothing but a big hole in the side of his pitcher!! EVERYONE breaks down laughing.. it was so funny that the umpire just called the game! hahahahaha.. such a memorable time.. if you ever wanna see the pitcher after impact.. go to Temple on first street downtown SJ you'll see it on the shelf with the drinks!

After that.. time to go home and get ready for a night of drinking....

Day 2:

We somehow made it to day 2 because it was round robin style day one.. day 2 single elimination!

Well half our team didn't even make it. Many we're either hung over or on their way to Vegas... this game was alot more reserved.. as we lost 11 - 6.. but wasn't as fun.. nothing to talk about...

That was such a fun tournament.. I can't wait for next year!

bad business

I don't know why Marvel Comics keeps hiring Mark Stephen Johnson to write the stories/screenplays for some of their most interesting characters.

He's the guy who wrote and directed Dardevil. He wrote Elektra. He's currently working on Ghost Rider.

I gave BOTH versions of Daredevil a chance. The plots were really empty. The character development was unsatisfying. The stories were just boring. BORING BORING BORING.

Both characters deserved so much more... and before seeing the movie, I'm just assuming here, Ghost Rider will deserve so much more.

Typhoid Mary in Elektra was an interesting character, but like Darth Maul - showed up for a few minutes before getting wasted. Geez. The subplots in the movie are stupid. The drop of romance was totally unnecessary (I bet that was a studio ploy. I'll relieve Johnson from that fiasco.) The action was cool - but the end result was so unsatisfying. There was so much potential too.

JUST FOR FUN!

My softball team and I (minus key people) played this tournament this weekend where Paul was at also. We signed up for the Just for Fun League, the lowest league because 1) the middle "Recreational" league had 20 or more teams sign up and 2) we weren't full strength because some of our better guys were not able to play. Good thing, in a sense, because the schedule fit my weekend properly.

Anyway, we were hoping that we weren't in some squash league with guys just gathering their friends together without any semblence of softball skill. Luckily, only one of the teams wasn't very serious. The other two were competitive.

Day 1

WIN, 11-1. Wind screwed up the hitting. We manufactured runs and capitalized on their errors. Our defense was on.

WIN, 10-0. The drunk team. They were goofing around the whole time - we got caught up in it - playing along. We only played 1 inning with our real defense.

WIN, 8-4. This was an exciting game that started with some minor trash talking. During warm-ups two of our balls accidentally went into their dugout. This angered them because one of them got a bruised shin from earlier in the day. Anyway, we played good defense, but our hitting was crap all game until the bottom of the 6th. Bottom of the 6th, we were down 0-4. We rallied and when we tied it up at 4-4 our team really got energized and continued the rally to get the 8-4 lead. We cleaned up on the top of the 7th. I hit like crap. I ended 3 innings on 2 popups and one strikeout looking (it was a bad call!).

We were feeling good at the end of Day 1. I felt like crap because I didn't do much in that last game to be part of the win. I don't care about my stats, I just wanna be a productive part of the win. Didn't do much.

DAY 2

WIN, ?-?, I forgot the score. This was against that drunk team. We weren't sure if they would even show up since the game was so early (8:30am) and we figured a bunch of them would have hangovers. This game was frustrating because our defense was making mistakes. It was never a question that we'd win, but we didn't play well. It wasn't a good way to start the day especially since the other teams were strong.

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

WIN, 14-10. This game was fun. We were able to focus and play well after our not-so-disciplined first game (of the day). We went down early 0-3 after the first half of the 1st inning. We came back and tied in the bottom of the 1st. Eventually we took the lead, but could never pull away. Our defense was solid in this game except for the first inning. We made some silly mistakes. After that though, we played pretty well. I made some plays in this game that really benefited the outcome so I was happy with my personal effort.

This was our FIRST WEEKEND TOURNAMENT and we won. We also did it without a bunch of our best guys (we lost our #3 and #4 hitters from Saturday.) Though, if we were full strength we might've moved up to the harder league. Either way, we won, we played well, and it was fun.

And we want to spend more time with Paul's coed team.