Lakers vs. Magic
As predicted by many, the Lakers once again made it out of the Western Conference and into the NBA Finals. On the other side, outside of the people of Orlando, there were probably more than a few who were surprised. The NBA Finals kick off June 4, and it should be a competitive one. Kobe vs. Howard. The Lakers have played very inconsistently throughout these playoffs, but they look like they have played their best in the last 5 quarters. The Magic also seemed like they had an easier time in this last round against the Cavs than they did in earlier rounds. So, both teams look to be at the top of their games going in.
That being said, who do I think will take this? The Magic are very talented. The Lakers have no one to guard Howard, as Bynum and Gasol will probably be overmatched on that end. However, Phil Jackson will design a defensive scheme much better than what Mike Brown could do with what he had to work with. Ariza will have a much easier time against Hedo than Carmelo Anthony. Odom will have a better time defending Lewis than anyone the Magic threw against him. (Freaking Ben Wallace was guarding him on the very last play of a game for crying out loud. Ben Wallace does not guard perimeter players). And Kobe? He faced the toughest defense he will face in Shane Battier way back in the 2nd round. I think the Magic will compete, but they will find out that the Lakers are much more talented than Lebron and company. Howard will be a monster. But, I think the Lakers are better than they were last year, and the Magic are not as good as the Celtics were last year. Lakers lost that one in 6, but I think they take this one. Lakers in 7.
I went to Morongo last Saturday night for my cousin’s bachelor party. It was fun. Got my cousin to drink a bit, we played a little poker tournament, and of course we gambled. After my cousin and his friends got tired at about 2 am, my brothers and my brother in law went back downstairs to play some blackjack. For those who don’t gamble or play blackjack, let me just say that even though blackjack is a game where its you versus the dealer, its so much better playing with people that you know. You can talk with them, play at your own paces, and most important of all, you actually know who knows and who doesn’t know how to play. Why is that important? Because you are going to have some piece of crap who doesn’t know how to play the game mess up everything for the entire table. If your friends don’t know how to play, you aren’t scared to tell them what to do. There’s absolutely nothing worse than playing with someone who doesn’t know how to play.
Anyway, we played until about 6:30 am that night, and let’s just say it was the best I’ve ever done playing blackjack. Every single person at that table that night won at least 500 bucks. It was freaking awesome. I’ve had nights where I couldn’t buy a hand and lost tons. But, I’ve never experienced the opposite like I did that night. Very nice. The night went by so fast and all of a sudden, we noticed it wasn’t dark outside anymore. I wish that could happen all the time. But, they don’t call it gambling for nothing and I guarantee the next time I play, the night will be a lot more negative than it will be positive.
On a somewhat related note. Why is it that everytime I tell someone I won some money playing poker or blackjack or something, they expect me to buy them lunch or dinner or something? Seriously. I don’t ask them to buy me lunch or dinner every time I lose so why do they expect me to buy them something when I win???
So a bank got hit yesterday in the middle of the day in Laguna Hills. Why do I mention this? Not only do I live down the street from that place, but my mom goes there, and she happened to be there the day before! Apparently 2 men in ski masks robbed the bank and drove away in a Buick just across the street, then hopped into an SUV driven by a woman.
Freaking thieves. Why can’t they just be miserable like the rest of us. Get a freaking job. Cancel your cell phone or your cable bill or take the bus if you are low on money. I bet if these people ever get caught, and I hope they do, that they will just get off with a warning. That’s the biggest problem in this country. We are way, way, way too easy on criminals. Need to freaking really punish criminals. You think people would steal so much if you freaking cut off their hands?? Yeah, that’ll teach them to cancel their cell phones or cable before trying to steal some money.
Anyway, no harm done. My mom is fine. Just want to rant about punishing criminals every once in a while.
So, for the last month or so, I’ve been telling everyone that I was going to get a GPS. Enough of always calling people for directions when I get lost. Doing research here and there, reading reviews, asking people questions for the last month or so. Cuz you know how cheap I am, and if I’m going to spend some money, gotta make sure I get something good!
Finally decided on getting the Garmin Nuvi 265WT on Amazon of course. Cost me about 225 bucks. Also bought myself an air vent mount which costs 6 bucks, and also a leather case that cost 13. Because its new, I will for now take the GPS out of my car and into its case when I leave. Who knows how long that will last.
Anyway, enough of that. I’ve used the GPS for one trip, when I went to Morongo last weekend. And of course, we did not get lost, as you can tell from my previous post! I’m liking my unit a lot, and I’m always calling it my “Navi” cuz that’s what my friend calls hers! Aside from the obvious in giving directions, my unit also has free traffic for life paid for through ads which are not bothersome at all, text to speech, bluetooth, speed limit of the road you are on, and also speed you are going. I can’t really say how good the traffic is yet as I’ve not had any red alerts on it. The text to speech is nice. The bluetooth I’ve only tried in my room, and my friend said I sounded like I was talking in the bathroom. The volume I think can be hard to hear when your windows are down or radio on or people talking. There is only one tiny little speaker in the back, and its sufficient when you are driving alone, but a bit harder to hear otherwise. The speed limit thing I guess is ok, but the speed you are going is lame. What car out there doesn’t have a speedometer?
I also really like the air vent mount that I got. It fits perfectly in my car, and the unit is closer to me than if I mounted it on my windshield or placed it on my dashboard. One other drawback to the unit besides the speaker I spoke of is that the plug for this goes directly into the unit, rather than onto the mount. It makes it annoying each time I take out my GPS I have to plug it back in if I want to use the traffic feature, or charge it. It’d be so much better if I could just plug it always in the mount, like my friend’s GPS. Oh well, I think I’ll manage. The other unit I was going to get had a plug into the mount, but it cost close to 200 bucks more, and I was like forget it. It had other features too, which I didn’t need, like an mp3 player.
I’ve already put into my favorites some restaurants in Westminster and Garden Grove that I go too often, and still always ask my friend for directions on how to get there! There’s also this feature that I can put pictures on my unit and view them, and also assign pictures to my favorites. I don’t really anticipate using this feature though. Anyway, so far I’m still in my honeymoon phase of my toy. I have 3 weddings this month that I will definitely be using my unit for. I’ve already downloaded the most recent maps (since you get it for free in the first 60 days of buying the unit) and also downloaded all the different vehicle icons I can select. I had a train originally, but my friend changed it to a walking Frankenstein. Fun stuff huh?
The latest in the animation offerings of Disney/Pixar is Up. And, in a nutshell, it did not disappoint. Who would of thought that a movie about an old man named Carl could be so fun, adventuresome and have heart? Without giving away the movie, its basically about a man who has always dreamed of going to a remote location. Finally, after many, many years, he decides its time. And rather than buy a plane ticket, he fills tons of balloons and attempts to float his entire house there. How do the people of Pixar think of these ideas??
As seen in the trailers, also in this movie is a little boy named Russel who just happened to be on Carl’s house and also a dog they meet on the way named Dug. As expected, the 3 form a bond that would of never happened had they not gone on this adventure. And of course, along the way, they encounter obstacles and bad guys.
There are many people who will not watch this movie just because its a “cartoon.” I think that’s pretty silly since there are many animated movies that are much better than live action ones. If you like Pixar movies, I think that you will definitely like this one. If you just like movies with a pretty simple story, but filled with humor, fun, adventure, and heart, you will also very much like this. Give it a shot, I think you’ll enjoy.
I wrote months backs about ILD Teleservices and cramming. I opened up my phone bill this weekend, and what do I notice? That my landline is once again higher than it normally is. I quickly scan the bill, and what do I find? Yet again, more cramming. The culprit this time? OAN Services, charging me for some voicemail service from YOURBILLINGSOLUTIONS, INC. Like I freaking needed a voice mail service and like I really signed up for one. I wasn’t going to write about this because I’ve written about it in the past, but the more bad press and webpages I can contribute to Google search algorithms about crap like this, the better.
Once again, I had to freaking waste my time calling this stupid company to cancel. After going through the stupid computer, I reached an agent who then asked what I wanted. I told her I was charged for something I never signed up for. She proceeded to tell me that they would remove it, but that I would get charged again next month because I was already past the billing cycle. I said fine, but I’m not paying it. The actual talking part of the call did not take too long.
I then called AT&T, who happens to be the landline phone service here. I told them what happened, and they put a note in my account. I then asked, even though I already knew the answer, if it was possible to turn off 3rd party billing, and he proceeded to give me his BS crap answer of its the law and they have to allow it. Stupid laws in this country always favor stupid businesses over people. I hate it. Anyway, what made this even worse was that after he took my note, the stupid AT&T guy proceeded to try to sell me loads of crap. WTF!! If I wanted your crappy services I would of signed up for them already. When I buy my own house, I am not going to have a freaking landline, so hopefully don’t have to deal with all this cramming crap.
So, I got my first facial ever over the weekend. It was a place in Westminster, and the person who did my facial did not speak very good English, but we were able to have simple, short conversations. It lasted about an hour. I didn’t really know what to expect because I’ve never gone through it before. I went into a small room by myself, and then just lied on my back. Throughout the course of the experience, multiple types of creams and such were put on and rubbed into my face and removed. At one point, this hot steam was blown onto my face for 10-20 minutes, and I just lied there alone in the room. This happened at different points of the facial, where creams were just left to lie on my face and dry or whatever.
Near the end, a bright fluorescent light with a magnifying glass was shown on to my face and my blackheads were removed. This is not a pain free experience! As she began doing this, she yelled out to me, “You have a lot!!” Ummmm, thanks. Haha. Anyway, she went on removing many of these, some on my forehead and most on my nose. I don’t know what she uses, but its like something where she pushes down on my skin, and then picks this blackhead, whatever that is, out. After she was done, she showed me all the ones she pulled out, just to confirm her observation that I had a lot!
Verdict? My face did feel very clean and refreshed afterwards. I’m pretty sure that I’ll get those blackheads again, however it is that you get them. I think that I prefer getting a massage over a facial, if I were to choose a way to pamper myself. But, it wasn’t a bad experience overall.
I was talking to my coworker the other day about something. I don’t even remember what now. He and I were just chatting. In the middle of our conversation, another co-worker interrupted and asked me, “Can you talk any faster?” I looked at her, and I was like, “Yeah.” Haha.
For those that don’t know me, I’ve been told many, many times that I talk fast. And you know what? I can’t help it. If I try to slow down, when I listen to myself I sound like I’m talking in super slow mo. But, honestly, even I notice sometimes how fast I talk, and sometimes its almost too fast for my tongue to move. Often times when that happens I will stutter and stuff, and then I know that I’m just talking way too fast.
I have some friends who did not speak English as a first language. I think they are the ones who have the hardest time understanding me. I told this to my friend once, and he said to me, “I’ve known you for 20 years now, and once in a while even I have a hard time when you get excited. And that’s after 20 years of practice. She doesn’t have a chance!” I have no clue why I talk so fast, how I became like this. I couldn’t of been like this when I was very young. When I was in kindergarten, my teacher asked my parents if I spoke English because I never said anything ever. So, somehow, not only must I have become less shy, but also sped up! What happened!!??
Do any of you guys out there have a hard time understanding me speak?
Congratulations to the Los Angeles Lakers, who put on a dominating performance in the final game of the series to become the 2009 NBA champions. I think Orlando has a lot to go, and will have even more to go if they lose Hedo. As for the Lakers, well, they have 2 very important free agents in Ariza and Odom. Do they choose one or the other? I personally think Ariza is more important, and I think that if they really only were able to sign one of the two, that is who they will sign. For two reasons. One is that he is younger. And two, Lakers management still has a lot of faith and hope in Bynum, despite his no show in this year’s playoffs. If he is healthy and gets 10 boards a game, then Odom would get less minutes anyway. But, that’s just my opinion, as if it really matters.
Also, to those idiots who were rioting yesterday after the victory. I think everyone knows that those guys were not really fans. They were just losers who were looking for any excuse whatsoever to loot and vandalize. I’m so glad that it was all caught on camera and I hope so much that they all get arrested.
It looks like the parade will go on this Wednesday, despite the city having no money. I think that the city will have to cough up less money than they expect because the mayor is raising private donations, and the Lakers have already contributed 1 million bucks. Good for all involved. This city, and state for that matter, could really use something to celebrate and feel good about. Am I going to go? No. I’ve been to a victory parade before, and I think I just prefer watching it on TV. Its not as hot and crowded, and I actually get to see and hear everything that way. But, once again, that’s just me.
Finally, I hope that Boston gets healthy next year and the Lakers play them in next year’s championship to see who really is the best in the league. I think there are still a lot of people out there, especially everyone in Boston, who think that the Celtics would have repeated if they were healthy. So, here’s hoping for next year.
I went to my friend’s wedding this past Saturday at a church in Pomona. She was gorgeous as expected. It was my first Korean wedding. The ceremony was pretty much all in Korean, so I had no idea what was going on. There were quite a few women dressed in traditional Korean garb, and it reminded me of those Korean soap operas that I’ve seen a few of. After the ceremony, we went next door and had the reception. It was buffet style Korean food, with no seating chart so everyone just sat wherever they could find a seat.
I didn’t know that this is fairly typical for a Korean wedding, as my friend told me prior to the wedding. When we all got seated, an announcement was made that there was plenty of food for everybody, and then everyone just got up and got in line for food. Most of the food there I’ve seen or had before. Also, prior to the wedding, my friend told me that often times people will take a lot of food home. I forgot that she told me this, but was reminded once again when I saw it happen firsthand. They literally pack up their plate, cover it, and then bring it home. I thought it was funny, but everyone had enough to eat so it was all good. Looking back, I guess its a good thing because otherwise the food will just go to waste.
Anyway, nice, cute wedding. I’m happy for my friend. And yes, like I said in my title, its wedding season for me. I have 2 more weddings the next 2 Saturdays. First my cousins’s in downtown LA, and then another friend’s in Azusa. That’s 4 weddings for me this year (so far!), but no where near my record of 8.
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