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| 11.16.2009.
Prior to my own game, the other semifinal game was developing into an epic thriller. It went into 2OT, at which point the game was sudden death. When one team finally was able to put the ball through the hoop, I watched jealously as they erupted in euphoria and shouted and hugged and danced together.
"I want that," I thought to myself.
I got my chance. This was the biggest game of the season. Win, and we secure a spot in the championship game at Oracle Arena. Though all the teams will have a chance to play there, the championship game gets more court time at the home of the Warriors.
We started off well. Everyone else on my team was draining 3 pointers and shots from all over the floor, while I missed layups left and right. Going into the half, we were leading by 9. But that didn't last long. The other team bounced back and scored around 10 straight points. They were significantly taller than our all-Asian squad, so they had tons of offensive rebounds and easy putbacks. I had about 2 turnovers during this stretch to aid their campaign, so I quickly checked myself out of the game after that.
They went up by as many as 4 or 5, but we stayed close and soon the game was a constant flux of lead changes and ties. To be honest, I wanted nothing to do with the ball at this point. I was content just getting steals, rebounds, and committing fouls. However, with less than 4 minutes left, down by 2, I found myself on the free throw line with the rest of the players lined up beyond half court after I was intentionally fouled on a layup. Yikes. I have a history of being un-clutch. I tend to play my best when we're losing by a lot, and I disappear when the game's on the line. Of course this isn't a coincidence. When we're losing by a lot, I don't have to fear criticism, so I play loose and pressure-free. Well, these free throws were definitely not shot under those peachy circumstances.
First shot. Swish. First time all season I made my first free throw in a game.
Second shot. Swish! Ice in my veins, baby. And with those two shots I have exorcised the demons of futility that plagued my career.
Even with my heroic (IMO) free throws and my subsequent jumper, the game was still down to the wire. Holding a one point lead, we got called for two consecutive fouls while in the penalty, so they got to shoot free throws. They missed the first free throw of the 1 and 1, but made 1 of 2 the 2nd time to tie the game at 56-56. With less than a minute left, Roger, our best free throw shooter, got fouled and sent to the line for 1 and 1, but elected to miss to set up a more dramatic finish. With 5 seconds left, we had possession out of bounds. I was running away from the ball while Kevin dribbled off some clock, passed it to Jeff, who threw up a shot from the free throw line while falling to his left.
Bounce. Bounce. Swish.
Jeff took off running and shouting as the rest of the team chased after him with their arms raised victoriously. I can't say I got caught up by the emotion and joined chase, but I walked after them with a big grin on my face. It was awesome.
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| Amazing. It has now been two consecutive weeks where I don't just spend the weekend at home streaming the latest episodes of Monk and The Office. Now, I did watch them, but I also got outdoors and participated in some other novel activities as well.
Too much happened this weekend, so I'm just going to list them.
1. The festivities began Friday night with the Streams of Praise concert. I grew up hearing my parents sing their songs in the Chinese service, so I've come to know and love many of their songs. Coincidentally, Mike Wang was also in town from LA for an interview, so we attended the concert together. Their musical talent is undeniable, but what amazed me the most was that they sounded fluent in both English and Mandarin and had no detectable accent.
2. Sat. morning 20 mile bike ride from San Jose to Stanford. As part of the fundraising campaign to build a well in an African community, we solicited sponsors to donate a dollar or two per mile. Some people did 50+ miles, but I was content with 20. Plus, I needed to leave early for...
3. Pizza party! Jed prepared pizza for a party of 10, and we all ate until cheese was oozing from our pores. After the hearty meal, we needed a sedentary activity, so we played the couch game. During the first game, the guys, by pure skill (is luck a skill?), evicted the girls from the couch and occupied the seats in the minimal 4 moves. Afterwards, however, the games were back to normal, complete with mind-melting frustration and subtle cheating. It's more fun than I remember it.
4. I SPENT THE MAJORITY OF THE WEEKEND IN SAN CARLOS!
5. Sunday morning I went to CPC Millbrae for church. It just so happens that they were having a chili cook off this week, so lunch consisting of cornbread, hot dogs, dessert, and assorted chilis was provided. They must really want me to stay.
6. Today I discovered that golf isn't necessarily a sport reserved for rich people in plaid. Ryan Morris proposed going to the Burlingame Golf Center and hitting some balls on the driving range. For $2 per person, Jed, Brian, Ryan, and I each hit a good number of balls. It's surprisingly fun! There's lots of room for improvement, so I'd love to go back again. I had fun today just whacking the balls as hard as I can, but I can see how accuracy might be important too.
7. Jed and I spent the evening playing a new (to us) xbox game called Ninja Gaiden. Even on the easiest mode, we had a lot of difficulty just getting through the first few levels. Thankfully, it's too difficult and depressing to be addicting.
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| I think it's time to reevaluate the purpose of this blog. As the number of interesting things happening in my life gradually decrease and each post gets progressively harder to write, I need to redefine the identity of this xanga so that my posts don't wind up being weekly updates about my basketball games or my latest pimple.
Is this supposed to be a diary where I can spill my guts unabashedly? HAH. Unlikely. I confess I need work in pretending I have emotions, but I don't think this publicly accessible site is the place for that. Is this my equivalent of twitter, where the audience is my friends, and the goal is to write something witty and entertaining? No. It would be, if I could find something funny to write about. Since I can't, I won't set myself up for failure by setting this as a goal. Is this something I can look back on in years to come and remind myself of the goings on of my present life? Yes! Whenever I look back at old posts, I can't help but think, "That's so corny." But then, the memories flood back, and I'm glad I wrote about it.
So, what would future me want to know about present me? I've begun to be concerned that I probably spend more time with my parents and sibling than anyone else not living with parents and whose name isn't Ray Romano. I go home every weekend and generally try to spend time with my brother. One of my gripes about work is that many of my coworkers are older than me, and they almost all have families, so we're not able to hang out in the evenings and get more closely acquainted with each other. I realized that I'm effectively in the same boat, since I tend to brush off friends in favor of having dinner with family or just being at home. Yesterday was a prime example. I attended a small potluck with my parents. The uncles and aunties were generally surprised to see me there, and I heard them lamenting how their kids (many years younger than I) are so independent now and refuse to attend these functions with the parents. Yeah. Meanwhile, I find that the only other kids are my brother and the 5 year olds whom I end up babysitting. Yup, it's time to leave the nest!
Saturday was a step in that direction, as I spent the entire day out and about. It was the first time in a long while. I went to have dim sum with some Impact people at noon and later drove all the way to Berkeley for karaoke with MSF people. I realized how rare it is for me to actually spend time with these people outside of church, and it's good that I can get to know them better outside the church setting.
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| Each year, Oracle holds a massive conference in downtown SF known as Oracle Open World. Not only are there numerous booths where Oracle showcases its latest technology, the customers also set up stands and advertise their products to other conference participants like it's a swap meet. This is the fun part. Like a career fair, all the booths are handing out some sort of freebie or offering a chance to win something. My loot today consisted of one bag, 3 t-shirts, golf tees, a poster autographed by the BMW/Oracle sailing team, and a few raffle entries. With an average winning percentage of 1/3000 and mean prize value of $9000, my expected + actual gain for the day is about $10!...barely enough to cover the caltrain fare and parking fees. I'm particularly excited about the t-shirts. It's about time I retire the threadbare t-shirts I currently wear to sleep.
The other highlight of the day was the keynote speech. Last year I came too with the intent of hearing the keynote, but due to my tardy arrival I was directed into an overflow room where I just watched a video screen. Today, I made sure I got there early enough to see it in person. I slept through the first half, but was alert as our billionaire CEO bashed IBM and some other competitors. Surprisingly, all those maligned companies were present at the exhibition hall as partners. Why they continue to come back year after year is beyond me. The most exciting part though was when Mr. Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger made a surprise appearance and preached the virtues of technology. I was surprised by how eloquent he was. The speech was fluid and funny, though the "I'll be back" conclusion was a bit hackneyed.
Unless Oracle brings back the HQ to SF shuttle or I'm assigned to demo a product, this will probably be my last time going in a while. It's fun but simultaneously draining to muster the courage to take free stuff from companies that I have absolutely no interest in, and who have no interest in Oracle employees. Most importantly, these 3 t-shirts should suffice as my sleepwear for the next few years.
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| Everytime I close me eyes, I see red rubies, blue sapph-arrrs, and white diamonds a-falling. Me thinks I've been playing too much Bejeweled. I shall henceforth belay such carousing. If anyone should spy me obtaining new scores, I give thee permission to report it to the authorities, for it must mean some scallywag hath hacked into my facebook account. Also, my facebook account's language setting has been set to "pirate" for some time now. I'm not quite fluent yet, but I'm getting there. Yo-ho!
Work is still kind of crazy. Previously, no matter how much I slacked, there was one guy who I could always point to and say, "At least I'm not the biggest slacker around." Today, I realized he is no longer an employee at Oracle. Eeps. Don't know if he left of his own accord, or if he was forced to walk the plank. Well, I've been working hard recently, enough to make up at least a week's worth of truancy.
I had another basketball game today. I only scored 2 points, and I probably only crossed the half court line to go on offense like 10 times. Again, my teammates just ran and ran while I just defended, rebounded, and passed the ball down the court. We won again :).
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