So, it's getting late

I all but promise to give you all a quick review of the drunkenness that my roommate Mike experienced this past Saturday night, but it is actually getting pretty late and I would instead like to share something with the world that I read about today. This is something you can do for personal enjoyment, or you can even tell all your friends about it!

Anyway, this is all you gotta do. Sit in a chair and lift your right leg off of the floor. Start to make little clockwise circles with your right foot. Then, attempt to draw the number 6 in the air with your right hand. You absolutely cannot keep your right leg from trying to change directions. It's amazing! You could maybe even earn some money by betting your friends. Well, I hope you all enjoy this little trick. I will likely post once again within the day or two. And people, pleeeeeeease try and give me some comments. For one, I want to know someone is actually reading what I write, and two, I want to know how you feel about some of the things I say. Hell, sometimes I try to even be a little offensive on here in hopes of some semblence of a response, and I get nothin.' Try and help me out. Be creative.

This One's for you Hakeem

Being one to often play down in the post, I would have to say that the best move in all of basketball when properly executed is Hakeem Olajuwon's famous "dream shake." This move has been replayed literally 1000s of times, showing Hakeem embarassing David Robinson in the Western Conference finals back in 1995. You may be wondering, what is the "dream shake?" Why am I writing about it? The answer is because this infamous move had an unusual impact on my life just last night.

To understand what I'm talking about, let me walk you through that famous edition of the shake. Now, let me begin by saying that some attribute the "dream shake" name to any number of moves Hakeem had perfected, as he was known to literally gyrate his hips and shake his arms to and fro in order to confuse his opponent on nearly all hooks, drop steps, and fade-away jumpers. The move I shall explain however, is perhaps the most beautiful. It begins with a dribble down the baseline toward the basket. If your opponent cuts off your path you come to a stop, pick up your dribble, and throw up one very lame unconvincing shot fake directly towards the hoop, hopefully lame enough to set up the series of moves that follow. Your opponent merely flinches, and thinks he is in control as your fake did not move him, and now you are stuck. Instead, you pivot away from the basket as if to perform a last ditch effort fade-away jumper. The opponent thinks he has you where he wants you, as he leaps to block the shot you have made obvious you are performing. Little does he know though, that this is yet another, more exaggerated fake. The result - your opponent flying past you - allows you to step under his shot blocking attempt, and casually lay the ball into the basket, the ultimate display of low post dominance. The move is especially great because it really gives you 3 choices of shots to take, depending on how the opponent reacts.

Well, to get to my personal experience, last night I decided to go play some late night basketball to release some unwanted energy. About half way through the game, I caught the ball on the wing and went in to perform the shake. I proceeded with lame fake one, turned to sell fade-away jumper, and then as I leaned in to lay the ball back in the basket I felt something hard come down on my head. It seems fake number 2 was so good the defending player jumped as high as he could for the fake, and accidentally came down elbow first on my head. The funny thing about the play was that I did not call a foul at this point, as my path to the basket was visible. As I went to the lay the ball in however another player reached out and slapped at my arm and I called the foul, upset that I couldn't get the ball up over the rim despite the contact. I grabbed the ball to throw it back to the top of the key to continue the game when about 3 players all at once said, "Oh shit!" That was when I felt something streaming down my face, redish brown hue. I was dripping blood from the newly formed cut in my head, courtesy of the accidental elbow.

To make a long story short, I had about an inch long gash right around the hairline in the middle of my head. I declined an ambulance (in case I had a concussion they didn't want me to drive) and drove myself from the CCRB to the hospital (as I was driving I was kinda thinking I might request a ride home, as I was a little out of it). I must say the ER was fast for once, and within an hour I was on my way home with 5 fresh staples in my head. I was feeling better and decided to drive, with no further problems. Now the funny part is that I'm supposed to avoid washing my hair till Thursday, so that's pretty nasty. But oh well, it could have been worse. At least Hakeem would have been proud.

To all who don't know...

If my gigolo post wasn't enough to convince you, I guess I should just report that I am now completely without a job. Hopefully I have saved enough money to make it until the next paying gig, but I can't help but feel a little disappointed in myself for this one.

Quite honestly, ever since the time that I was sure that I wouldn't being working anymore, I have been looking for a job pretty diligently online every day, and I have found that all the online career sites are horrendously overrated. That, and my accomplishments thus far are suddenly completely underrated; or more accurately, unappreciated. It has become abundantly clear that the only way to get a job in this world is to know someone or have more experience than any college aged kid could possibly have. Not that I didn't anticipate this, but it tends to get even more frustrating when the problem is thrust in your face on a daily basis.

Believe me, I'm not here to whine or complain, because I am without doubt the only one here to blame. Assuming that I did really want to be an engineer, my biggest folly came when I continually turned down surefire internship opportunities my first few summers. Why did I do this? There were all kinds of stupid, but in my mind (and still to this day) real and legit reasons, but maybe it was really just my own way to tell myself that this may not be what i want to do the rest of my life.

It's funny because I'm not even 23 yet and already everybody seems to think that my life is over. I don't think that at all. I'm quite calm about the whole thing really. There are several avenues that I would still like to travel, and I have nothing but time to do so. Hell, if I ever do decide on a different career I have pretty good accolades to even try a good grad school if so needed.

One thing that I am pretty close to actually trying is substitute teaching. I've kinda always wanted to try it just once. I think it would be a rush, not to mention interesting as a 22 year old. I would without question want to do high school only however, as I don't feel prepared to handle the responsibilities that come with younger children. I really want to teach math too, to make up for all those high school math teachers that have no answer to the question of, "Why do we learn this? I'll never use this," because by golly, I have a ton of answers to that question! Do any of you remember learning the square root of -1 you learned in high school, the imaginary number i? It turns out that without this concept all math and physics as we know them today would pretty much mean nothing, but nobody in high school can tell you that!

When I go home everybody treats me like a totally different person than when I am here. While many hold onto the memories they have of me from high school, they still are amazed and sometimes seem to almost admire the changes I have made in my life since high school. The one thing that everybody expects of me when I return back to the home country oh so rarely is a good story, something that I pride myself on being able to deliver. I seem in some way to either attract or seek out adventure in the form of an anecdote quite often in my life, to the point that some even believe that I am creating the events that I portray in my own mind. Regardless of the believed source, these visits home give me the confidence to follow through on my dream to be a story teller full time. What I really want to do is write.

I haven't taken english classes here at college, nor have I made an attempt to further my abilities through self instruction or constant reading. What I have done is live my life in such a way that I have something to say when the fingers do strike the keyboard. I'll give up every rule of grammar I have learned for just one story that affects someone else's life. I feel that I have finally rounded that corner in one's life where they obsess or crumble under the stresses of social obligations (I can now willingly avoid drama), and even at this young age, I may have something of note to say. This is not to say that I feel I have matured beyond my years, but instead to admit that the only maturity one can reach is the common knowledge that we are always struggling to learn more about this life that we live. I will make countless mistakes, be pulled down by numerous guilts, and endure more regrets than one would like to admit within the next few years, of this I am sure, but hopefully I will do so with some dignity and ability to reflect. Basically, I wouldn't mind for the world to maybe get a glimpse of what it is that I do, as the only great way to write is to write what you know, and all I know for sure right now is myself.

I guess this compulsion to share with the world comes from the great efforts I have taken to conceal key ingredients to who I am throughout my time here in Ann Arbor. What is the recipe to my life? Maybe it is finally time to come clean.

Seriously...

Ok, if this movie can be made and can get the attention of Hollywood stars, then we all have a shot at writing a successful screenplay. Check out the trailer at yahoo movies http://movies.yahoo.com/movies/feature/herbiefullyloaded.html To my knowledge this is a remake of an old movie, so how on earth did anybody think to bring it back again? Wow is all I can say. It's almost depressing to think how much money it'll probably make too.

The media scares me sometimes

The Chicago Bears decided to cut one of my favorite Michigan football players this week after signing an expensive Pro-Bowler in his place. David Terrel was released after not living up to the expectations placed on the 8th pick of the draft (1st WR taken off the board that year). But wait, was there more to the decision beyond his lack-luster statistics? It seems so as the Associated Press claims that Terrel has had off the field problems as well. Usually when you hear this you think he beat his girl friend or had a substance abuse problem, but no, in Terrel's case it was much worse. Turns out Terrel "pleaded guilty to driving on a suspended license, failure to stay in his lane and failure to yield." Whoa, I don't want someone who made a bad move entering traffic on my football team either.

Seriously though, who are we kidding? I don't think the traffic ticket has anything to do with his release, but does the AP think it does? Is there even any reason to report this? Had he been driving drunk, then sure, but it turns out he must just be a bad driver. For all the times I have dreampt of being famous, I realize that coverage by the media (especially if you consider US weekly to be media) is not always worth it, and hell, makes me glad I don't live in England.