February 2010 Archives

paolo coelho posted this in his blog today:

"When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not ready. The challenge will not wait. Carpe diem. Seize the moment."

and speaking of carpe diem and seizing the moment...

does anyone truly want to be a bad guy? i don't think little kids think, "i want to be hated/despised when i grow up".

so who are bad guys? meter maids? ceo billionaires? jersey shore castmates? even defining "bad guy" is tough b/c everyone has different shades of badness.

so let's take the most iconic case of "bad guy" for our case study: the dark lord of the sith himself, darth vader. (ok as you can tell this post is gonna get way geeky).

why was darth vader a bad guy? well b/c he hunted down and murdered jedi's during the great purge. but WHY? well you can talk about a rough childhood, stress, perceived lack of respect, parental issues, etc. but what it really come down to in my opinion is:

i don't think darth vader considered himself a bad guy..

that notion can probably be scoffed at but its true. even in anakin's final fight against obi wan at mustafar, anakin says that in his opinion the jedi were the bad guys and he was in the right.

i think that this analogy applies to most of us: whenever we are in conflict, we usually thing we are in the right, or we are justified in what we do. if this is truly the case. the line between good and bad starts to be blurred. its not just black and white. we are talking shades of gray here.

what's the point of this all? probably absolutely nothing. well it does give me a reason to post this picture, which is super awesome.

some people like the rocky 4 training montage best: rocky training in the snow vs drago training in the ice soviet facility.

some like the rocky 3 training montage th best: rocky and apollo training together capped off with their "sexually suspect" run at the beach (short shorts, slow mo hug jumping around in the water).

but for money, this one tops all. mick kills it with his quotes. the first 10 secs of this clip will fire up anybody who has a pulse:

fascinating article on espn on myron rolle. quick 411. florida state safety who could have been a first round pick last year but passed it up to study in oxford. here's the link

"Q: Are you chasing what you want or, because you are competitive and driven, are you chasing whatever happens to be society's agreed-upon definition of greatness? "

well, which is it?

ok yes, some of this might be labelled as "cheesy". but watch it. try to suck some of it in. there is definitely something to be learned here....

here we are again people, its lent. when people announce to the whole world what they are giving up. but really, what are they replacing with what they are giving up?

does it make sense to give up coffee and increase your intake of soda?

or give up facebook and use myspace more?

or give up fried chicken and just eat more pizza?

why do people do it? why have i done it? i realize now its more selfish. its not giving something up for god. its not a sacrifice done that makes us more spiritual. oftentimes its something done selfishly, so we have something cool to announce on our blog or our status update.

or maybe mandaya is right and lent is just another excuse for catholics to make another set of resolutions that they weren't able to keep during new years.

EDIT
reading this again, i want to make it clear that i am not AGAINST giving stuff up for lent. its a catholic tradition that many have done for years. i just want to say that people should think about what they are giving up and why they are. for example, giving up coffee is one thing. but what about giving up coffee at starbucks and donating the money you save to charity at the end of the 40 days? that to me is a combination of sacrifice and philanthropy. then again, this is all just my opinion, thats why i'm writing it in my blog.

so its that time of the year to renew burgs.net. i decided to renew it. b/c i just like writing in here even if its about nothing in particular. even if i don't even know who reads this anymore. thats ok.

i like this commercial. especially when rampage goes down and gets back up swinging

so its valentines day and i'm single. first time i've spent the 14th of feb single in some time. i remember before, i would go to soup plantation with ray and earl on valentines day to commiserate.

i think it would be easy for me to be jaded or cynical about love, especially during valentines day. but i won't be. deep down under my harsh exterior, i'm a romantic...who loves love.

for all you lovers out there, hope you have a great weekend. and for all you singles out there....stay hopeful.

"To a warrior, there is no such thing as impossible love. He does not allow himself to be intimidated by silence, or by rejection. He knows that - behind the icy mask people wear - there is a heart of fire.

That is why the warrior risks more than others. He tirelessly seeks a person's love - even if this means hearing, many times over, the word 'no', returning home defeated, feeling rejected in body and soul.

A warrior does not allow himself to be overwhelmed in his search for his needs. Without love, he is nothing."

seriously what do reggie and lamar talk about when its just them two hanging out? being black and rich? a shared love for armenian females? how to keep these armenian females on their blackness but away from their richness?

check reggie doing his thing! (note that his thing doesn't mean playing football)


lamar, you are now my favorite laker since eddie jones. check this out, you will LOL.

an excerpt from paolo coelho's blog.

"We have to take risks. We can only truly understand the miracle of life when we let the unexpected manifest itself.

Every day - together with the sun - God gives us a moment in which it is possible to change everything that makes us unhappy. Every day we try to pretend that we don't realize that moment, that it doesn't exist, that today is just the same as yesterday and will be the same as tomorrow. But if you pay attention, you can discover the magic instant. It may be hiding at the moment when we put the key in the door in the morning, in the silence right after dinner, in the thousand and one things that all seem the same to us. This moment exists - a moment when all the strength of the stars passes through us and lets us work miracles.

Happiness is at times a blessing - but usually it's a conquest. The magic instant helps us to change, drives us forward to seek our dreams. We shall suffer and go through quite a few difficult moments and face many a disappointment - but this is all transitory and inevitable, and eventually we shall feel proud of the marks left behind by the obstacles. In the future we will be able to look back with pride and faith.

Poor are those who are afraid of running risks. Because maybe they are never disappointed, never disillusioned, never suffer like those who have a dream to pursue. But when they look back - for we always look back - they will hear their heart saying: "What did you do with the miracles that God sowed for your days? What did you do with the talent that your Master entrusted to you? You buried it deep in a grave because you were afraid to lose it. So this is your inheritance: the certainty that you have wasted your life."

Poor are those who hear these words. For then they will believe in miracles, but the magic instants of life will have already passed."