10.29.2010

A Mule

One of my big flaws is that I am stubborn. I would like to believe I am still reasonable, but I know sometimes that is not the case. And sometimes, I am willing to agree to disagree even though I know I'm right. :)

What brings me to this is that my being stubborn is not my fault. As I am settling down with my family once more (yay for college grad!), I begin to see that my whole family is very much stubborn and sometimes very much reasonable. In particular.... my whole family.

One example is my grandpa. He didn't go to college (escaping from communists can really put a hitch in your education) and while he is a very smart man, he's not extremely well educated. (My mom bases a lot of importance and character on a college education probably influenced by my grandfather's intelligence and lack of education). Anyways, sometimes he'll say things that make no sense whatsoever and when I try to correct him, he doesn't buy it. An example was when him and my grandmother somehow got onto the top of gravity and things dropping, and they claimed that the heavier things fell faster than lighter ones when dropped. Now anyone who's been through some science class probably know this is not true. But when I try to talk sense into them, no one believes me. They scold me, "Kids don't know. Adults tell you things to help and teach you." Maybe my grandpa's favorite line of all time.

What I'm saying is that while I think I am reasonable (and I can think of examples) but I'm probably not most of the time. Aside from sometimes where being stubborn can be extremely annoying for the other party, I don't completely see it as a bad thing. While I can't say this about all stubborn people, but when I'm stubborn about an issue I usually think about it, research it and form my opinion about it. And then hold it strongly. I don't just randomly form an opinion and stubbornly stand by it.

Elections are tomorrow, and some issues/candidates I've made my mind up about months ago, some just recently, and some I still haven't. Either way, good luck changing this mule's votes.

Rock the vote.

NO on Prop23.

10.11.2010

Next Time..

This past weekend was Southwest Regionals. KnockOut went in seeded 4th with only two bids to Nationals. Saturday looked great, we went undefeated beating Safari (number 1 seed) after losing to them 15-3 at sectionals. While I didn't enjoy some of their spirit and cheers (especially considering there was peewee soccer only 20 feet away), it was an epic game with great play from both teams. Our last game on Saturday was against Mucho Gusto, I had a lot of fun playing against them. The lines opened up quite a bit and I got a lot more playing time. I played well and had a few good assists. Anyways, we were all pumped after going undefeated on Saturday and had our eyes on the prize.

Our team decided to head to Olive Garden and take advantage of their Never Ending Pasta deal. My personal record was 3 bowls with the 4th one to-go. Obviously, being at regionals and having to play the next day, it was not the time to break the record. But I aimed to at least destroy 2.5 bowls. We sat at the bar and the service was iffy at best. The key to eating the most is to eat quickly so your stomach doesn't have time to realize you're full until it's too late. If you've ever ate with me, you know I use this tactic and inhale my food. But since the service was not the best, I had two bowls but by the time the waiter came around again, my food had settled and there was no way I could finish a third. After dinner, since we were only a few minutes north of Camarillo, our car decided to hit the outlets. It was a good Saturday.

Took an ice bath Saturday night (forgot how painful those were), and I was too excited to sleep with my mind on the prize. We were to play Molly Brown twice on Sunday. One game to finish up pool play, and the second as finals (since we both had went 4-0, we were both guaranteed to make finals). We lost both games while Safari won the 3rd/4th game. Now it was time for back door bid, it was the match up that we knew we would face from the start. We were 1-1 against Safari, our most recent win being from the day before. It was game time.

We took half 8-6. Things were looking good. I was getting ahead of myself. I've never been this close to nationals before. My previous game-to-go was Regionals 2007 against UBC. At that point, the Pleiades were down to 11 players after defeating UW in a hard fought game. I was a rookie then, I didn't understand the importance nor the significance of it. Three years later, I understood. I think it is fair to say that Safari didn't beat us in the second half, we did. Unforced turns, little mistakes add up. Not that it would've changed the game, but I do think the observers made a few bad calls (though I'm sure Safari would've thought the same on a few calls in favor of us). In the end, Safari won 15-9 and our season was over. I do hope to make it to the big show someday..

Moving on.. it sucks when you hear about people who wouldn't listen to you but now realize you are right and are making the change. I mean, good for them but I can't help but be a little bitter and resent it. Though even if they did listen to me, don't know if it would've made a difference. But still, I know what I was talking about and it sucks that you had to make those mistakes in my last year. Hopefully, it'll make a difference and in the future no one will feel the way I do now. At least some people learn from their mistakes. If only you didn't waste them on me.