Ramblings - Christmas edition

Got to play dodgeball last Saturday for JKuo's bachelor party. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I don't remember playing this version of dodgeball where you have two teams on each side of a line, with five balls, with the ability to knock people out either by pegging them or catching a ball that they throw. I was quite the rookie and got pegged quite a bit. I did get one good shot in to win a round for my team, though. You know you're getting old when the aches and pains from athletic activity catch up with you a day or two later... by Monday afternoon I was feeling it in my shoulder. How do major league pitchers do it?

I referred George to the place where I get my hair cut. While he was there conversing with one of the barbers who cuts my hair regularly, they established me as the mutual acquaintance when she asked, "Oh, is your friend the one with the big eyes?" So apparently my big eyes are my distinguishing facial feature. I'm guessing my eyes look bigger because of many years of pulling the lids apart to put in contacts.

The funniest thing I saw on TV the past few weeks was the episode of "Pimp My Ride," a reality show on MTV where they take beat-up old clunker cars and give them an extreme makeover, where they had what seemed to be a Vietnamese UC Irvine student with an old Nissan 240SX that he attempted to modify himself and failed miserably. This was actually my first exposure to the show, and this one actually perpetuated some Asian FOB stereotypes, but darned if I didn't crack up every time they replayed the show during the week - I ended up recording it for posterity. I can't help but laugh when the body shop people tell the owner, "You have 3 XBox's mounted in your trunk, you can play with up to 12 people!" and the guy says, "I don't even have that many friends!" You can almost see the host biting his tongue while trying to keep a straight face. "Well, that sucks man."

I just watched the "Tennis Ball" episode of the Animated Sports Guy where he's watching his Celtics lose, bends down to retrieve a ball for his dog, and while bent over, the Celts start making plays. So, being the superstitious super sports fan that he is, he stays in that uncomfortable position, the Celts take the lead, but then his wife forces him to straighten up and the Celts lose on a last-second shot. I so totally identified with that. If I'm in a particular body posture and my team starts playing well, I'm not moving. And if they're playing poorly, I'll re-cross my legs, stand up, pace, look through only one eye, whatever it takes to change their luck. These are the little idiosyncracies of being a sports fan.

Which is better for a car - driving 9 miles on Lawrence Expressway (50 mph limit, but with stoplights) or 14 miles on the freeway? I'm trying to evaluate this in terms of 1) fuel cost and 2) wear and tear.

I'll have some more thoughts on the acquisition and my past two years, as well as my future, in a later post. Got a lot of things to process in the near future.

I'll end this post with the most amusing thing I read today, from this column on the Christmas Day NBA showdowns and the image of the league:

"So in the best interest of basketball, the NBA should shut off the cameras. Show a Lakers' retrospective from the 1980s, back when basketball didn't come wrapped in brass knuckles. Let Hubie Brown read from the Bible That would be fun.

Therefore, the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel. And he will have serious upside ..."

Serious upside indeed. Thanks Jesus, for being the Savior.

Merry Christmas, everyone.