Genesis 21-25

ahhhhhh shoot. I missed a "day" since I'm updating this at like 1. -_-

Anyway, today's story rather seemed like it moved on very quickly. Maybe I was really tired so I was just skimming through, but I thought a lot just passed by in today's passages. Here we go.

1. As soon as chapter 21 starts, we have the birth of Isaac. I really liked what Sarah said in verse 6: "Sarah said 'God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.' " God fulfills His promise that He promised to Abraham and Sarah and this really reminded me how faithful God is.

2. Start of chapter 22, we have - perhaps the most famous story of Abraham - God testing Abraham by telling him to give up his son, Isaac. Honestly, as I was reading through Genesis, I thought 'what's so great about Abraham? Why is God blessing him so much with all the promises?' but now I know why. The fact that he obeyed God's plan without hesitation when God told him to give his son as a sacrifice... That's just amazing. The the faith that he had in God - "The LORD Will Provide" (22:14) God ensures Abraham once again in verse 17 saying, "I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore."

3. chapter 23 starts with Sarah's death. Then Abraham wants to bury her but he can't do it because he's a foreigner(?) so him and the people of Canaan (called Hittites) start this on going "argument" of 'I will pay you' and 'Don't pay us. Just bury your dead.' Eventually Abraham pays and buries Sarah in a cave.

4. Rebekah comes out in chapter 24. Abraham sends a servant out to find a wife for his son, Isaac. I thought the servant was VERY amazing. He prayed such a detailed prayer and God granted exactly that. Long story short, He prayed that the wife-to-be person will give him water and give his camel water, then he asked Rebekah and she did exactly that. As the chapter progresses, we find out that he prayed really quickly in his heart, but God heard his prayer. The servant then praises God after he finds Rebekah. Maybe I should start praying for my future wife like this too... in SUPER DETAIL. haha

5. Last but not least, chapter 25 starts with death of Abraham. As he died, he left everything to Isaac. Through the chapters, we see Ishmael's story a bit, and Jacob and Esau are introduced. It's really funny because their names are so... unique (I really don't know how else to put it). Esau's name means "hairy" because when he was born, he was red and hairy (he was also called Edom, which means "red"). Isaac's name means "he grasps the heel" or "he deceives." WHO names their kids "Red Hairy Boy" and "The Deceiving One"?? LOL But funny how Esau really gets screwed over for a red bean stew and Isaac eventually deceives his father to get his blessings.

Lord, I know I am weak, but make me stronger like Abraham and help me to know that you will provide! Let me not worry about anything!

AMEN!

Genesis 16-20

Today was all about Abraham. Yup, his name changed (finally) from Abram to Abraham. There were a lot of stories in today's passage; from change of Abraham's name to the convenant that God makes with Abraham - telling him that he will have a son - and finally, Sodom and Gomorrah. Here are some "key verses" I found very interesting.

Genesis 17:1
"I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless."
I found this to be a very powerful verse. We often don't really recognize God as who He is. Sometimes, we know that He's watching us, but we are never blameless. When I read this verse, I thought to myself 'When will I be blameless before God?' Got me thinking a bit.

Genesis 17:17
This verse was as if Abraham was laughing at God. Abraham probably thoght to himself, "yeah right." I found it funny how God knew about this too, but never really sad anything... BUT Sarah gets owned big time in...

Genesis 18:12-15
I thought this was really funny because of the conversation that they had. "Why did Sarah laugh?" "I didn't laugh!" "Yes you did..." LOL

Genesis 18:16-33
Such a famous story that I've heard so many times growing up. Reminds me of how important one single soul is. In stead of saying "For the sake of (blank) I will not do it" I would like to rephrase it this way: "For the sake of ONE, He will not destroy US." <-- Gets more personal this way.

Genesis 19:5
WHAT A SURPRISE!! I think this verse shows how corrupted Sodom and Gomorrah was at the time. I can't believe they wanted Lot to bring them out to just have sex. weirdddd. But got me thinking again... 'Will Jesus come when the world gets THIS corrupted?'

Genesis 19:30-35
Were Lot's daughters doing this because of culture or because they were corrupted?? I was so confused... -_-

Genesis 20:3
Final verse of the day... "You are as good as dead..." LOL I thuoght this was wayyyy too funny;;;


"Is anything too hard for the LORD?" (Genesis 18:14)
LORD! I believe in YOU! I know nothing is too hard for you! grant me whatever I ask in Your name!

Genesis 11-15

I guess two major things today... Tower of Babel and the start of Abraham's story.

FIRST OFF, Tower of Babel.

I always knew about the story, but one thing I didn't know was the meaning behind the name itself (Babel). It said "That is why it was called Babel - because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world." And I just sat there, thinking to myself, 'what a creative way of naming the tower... NOT.' haha I think all the names were very straight-forward back then. One thing that really gave me chills though was the fact that nations started to divide from this very moment. It kind of reminded me that I still have so many places to reach for God before I die. I don't know why but I just thought that.

SECOND. The Call of Abram.

Yes, ABRAM because his name hasn't changed yet. Abram and Sarai. I found it very very interesting that God promises Abram so many things. in Chapter 12, God promises that He will make Abram into a great nation and that He will bless him and make his name great(v.2). In Chapter 13, He promises him that all the land that he sees, he will give them to Abram and to his offspring (v.15). God even directly tell him to "Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you." (v.17) In Chapter 15, God promises Abram that He will be his shield, his very great reward (v.1). God also promises Abram, constantly, that his offsprings will be countless. He first compares them to the dust of the earth, then He compares them to the stars in the sky.That's why there's the song~ "Father Abraham had many sons, and many sons had father Abraham... ♪" Anyway, Abram must have been a lucky man, receiving so many promises from God.

God, promise me all the things you have promised Abram so that I may have the same blessings you have given to Abram!

Genesis 6 - 10. NOAH

Noah's short but interesting story was written in Genesis 6 to 10. Growing up in church, I was fairly fond with the story itself, but as I read it today, I saw that there were lots of details. For example, God tells Noah to build the Arc in certain way. 400 something ft long, 40 something ft high, make it three stories, etc, etc... I don't know how Noah did it, but he got it done. And as Noah was collecting the animals, I guess I saw God's strength and how He has the power over everything on earth once again. I mean, it's super hard to catch a bird. When I was young, I tried to catch a bird. I would set up trap and poured rice in the middle and waited for the bird to come for the longest time, but never happened. But Noah was able to catch (well, I guess it's not really catch but yeah;;;) them and bring all the animals to the Arc. It was fun to read it all over again.

"Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God." (Genesis 6:9)

Make me a blameless and righteous man and let me walk with you LORD!

A Scene from Evan Almighty. Imagine Noah standing like that for real. That's pretty cool. haha

Adrenaline Rush!!!

I have to admit, I was being pretty lazy. When I first started my blog, I promised myself, along with numbers of people, that I am going to write about Mario Kart. I never knew it was going to take a whole month to do so. Mario Kart is actually one of the most addicting games I have ever played so far in my life. Well, personally, I believe all the Mario games are like that, but this one is particularly more so than those others. What makes this game special, you may ask, and I would gladly answer "adrenaline rush."

Mario Kart isn't simple racing game, where you would only accelerate, decelerate, and turn; of course, you accelerate, decelerate, and turn, but drifting, items, and different characters and carts add more fun to the game. And playing with a friend, rather than computer, adds even greater fun (it's always so much better to play with a real person). There are 4 different levels; 50cc, 100cc, 150cc, and 150cc mirror. 150cc mirror gets added on eventually when you beat all the cups in 150cc. 50cc is the slowest, in other words, the easiest of the 4, and 150cc mirror is the hardest of all. I heard depending on which level you play, the items you get are also different, but I have not experienced that yet while playing the game.

There are 8 basic characters to choose from. Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Toad, Donkey Kong, Wario, and Bowser. More gets added on eventually as you play the game and win different cups in different levels. Each character has different abilities; for example, Toad is the easiest to drift (in my opinion), and Bowser has the fastest acceleration. Also, abilities may differ according to which cart you choose. Eventually, a lot more carts get added on to the game.

There are numbers of different items that you can use while you are racing for Grand Prix. 

here are the lists and descriptions...

Banana peel: this item will let other carts spin around when they step on it. You can also use it to block incoming shells from hitting your character. It can come in threes as well, and it can be avoided if you dodge it well.

Blooper: This little guy will come and spray black ink all over your screen. The screen can be cleared up after awhile, or you can use any boosts to clear the screen.

Blue Shell: This shell tracks down only the first place character. Directly causes damage to it. If you get unlucky and your character is too close to the first place, you might get hit by this as well. CANNOT be avoided, except in special cases.

Bob-ombs: This is the bomb. It times itself until the next character passes by it, and it explodes by itself. If you use it well, it's a very powerful weapon.

Boo: This guy is a THIEF!!! it takes away any random character's item, as well as making the character invisible and invulnerable for a short amount of time.

Fake Item Box: self-explanatory. It looks like an item box, but it's fake. Other characters can hit this and stumble. Can be avoided if you dodge it well.

Green Shell: This shell will not track down other characters, but it bounces off the wall several times. It's a projectile weapon. may come in forms of 3. Can be avoided by dodging well, green shell, or banana peels.

Golden Mushroom: You can use this mushroom constantly until it runs out. It'll keep giving you boost, as long as you have it, and you use it.

Mushroom: This item gives you boost for short time. I mean, very short time. It can come in threes.

Red Shell: This shell tracks down the character who's going right in front of you. It can come in threes as well, and it can be avoided with green shell and banana peels.

Star: Who doesn't know star? You will be invulnerable if you have star. Just don't get hit by whoever has coming your way with a star.

Thunderbolt: This item will strike every characters in the race, shrinking them, and making them weaker and slower.

I think that's about it for the items.

To share a little bit of my own favorites, my personal favorite character is Toad, and my favorite cart with Toad is Mushmellow. I'm not sure why, but I think it's because I'm just so familiar with it; when I first played Mario Kart, I used Toad with Mushmellow. He's really light, so if he bumps into any other characters while racing, he bounces off, but I still love the way it drifts and accelerates. I have couple of favorite courses; one of them is Tick-Tock Clock, and the other is Waluigi Pinball. I especially find these two courses enjoyable because there are just so many places to drift! 

When you play, you'll know what I mean by Adrenaline Rush. You just cannot experience it without actually playing it. Oh boy, I think Mario Kart is calling me for another round of cup! Time to go and win it all!

yeah, it can get this intense... but never this detailed...

Valentine's Day

so... the time of the year when chocolate sales will top the roof has come back. I personally do not really have anything better to do, so I should write a little bit about Valentine's Day.

The origin of Valentine's Day came during the time of Emperor Claudius in Rome. Claudius, all of a sudden, restricted people of Rome from getting married. Of course, there was reason behind it; he wanted young men to join the army, not to get married and carried away, giving excuses to "take care of his family" when time for war came. So everyone feared getting married because it was strictly against the law to be married. However, there was a bishop during the time who was actually against this, and was promoting people to get married despite the law. He eventually was caught, and was executed according to the law. And that day happened to be February 14th, 207 A.D. (I think it's A.D.), and his name was Valentine. Well, that was the long story short. And that's how Valentine's Day came about to be.

So, how did chocolates came along in Valentine's Day? Well, it all started with a Japanese Salesman during 1970s. His job was to boost the sales of chocolate. He started researching what he can do to make the connection between chocolates and some special occasion. Then he discovered something; something that will definitely raise his sale - he found Phenylethylamine... Yeah, you read it right, Phenylethylamine... Okay, so what the heck is this? It's a neurotransmitter in your brain. Phenylethylamine (I know, I gave up pronouncing this word) is released when a man and a woman falls in love. In a marketing stance, that was the most brilliant connection, but not so much in any other ways; it just seems like the company found this to raise up their sales. But, whatever the history behind it, it does seem a little empty when we don't see chocolates during Valentine's Day. 

Valentine's Day was never a really special day for me, personally. Although I had several girl friends (:x), I never had one during the times of Christmas, my birthday, and Valentine's Day. I did end up receiving chocolates from people around me during Valentine's Day (yes, I did receive them from female friends), but i never got one from someone that I had in mind. Whenever I see couples going at it, building a competition see who can make their gifts for Valentine's Day bigger, I dreamed of getting a chocolate from that certain special person in my life, and walked home from school. So it never really remained as a good memory for me. 

In Korea, there's two Valentine's Day. Well, not really, but Valentine's Day is for females to give chocolates to males. There's another day for males to give something for females, and it's called "White Day" (Gee, now that I think about, it really amazes me where they come up with all these different kinds of names). "White Day" come exactly a month after Valentine's Day, March 14th of every year, and during this "White Day", males will be giving candies, not chocolate, but candies, to females that they admire, love, like, or however you want to put it. Well, it's another marketing promoted day, but hey, it worked right? (:

That's all I have got to say about Valentine's Day. I think celebrating Valentine's Day with a little background knowledge will make it a little bit more special this season. To all the loved ones, and to all those who will be celebrating Valentine's Day with whom day love, I guess there's only one thing to tell them...

♡ HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY ♡

ehehe... make it double heart just for fun.  eat chocolates and get fat! hahaha jk. (;

the Dark Age Emerges Once Again...

so... while I've been away to San Francisco, a lot has happened. seems like the dark age is coming with a huge second storm in baseball history...

as some people know, the first storm came together during the era of "Black Sox" scandal. back then, it wasn't steroids; it was gambling. players in the game would gamble to win money and have total control of the game. even during the playoffs! as far as i know (i might be wrong here), all, if not most, players who were involved in gambling was banned from MLB for good.

as we are here, we are literally living the history. it all started with Barry Bonds. well, not really, but things got really bad by the time it got to bonds. Barry Bonds, who broke the record of 755 career home runs, was tested positive for steroid use. and then it started. everyone was getting checked up, list of players' name released who used steroids, confessions and court hearings of different players, and things just got out of control in baseball market. in fact, because of what happened, Barry bonds couldn't even find a team to play during the 2008 season. and now, A-Rod, who is right behind bonds in home run, and who is most capable of overcoming bonds later in his career, admits that he used steroids. i think this disappointed the fans more, not because he was such a great player, but because fans had high hopes and expectations from him to bring back pure baseball. and just today, Miguel Tejada has been convicted lying to the court. i don't know if it's just me, but i get the feeling that more players are going to be convicted using steroids, and the game won't be the same anymore. the way players play, the way players practice... maybe, in the future, players will be so ridiculously fit, MLB just might consider steroids being part of the game. i don't know. my imagination is running wild.

well, hopefully, players won't be banned. i think some competitions among one another isn't so bad. when players can take that pressure off from them, and just play with whatever talent that they have, i believe they'll be loved more. i guess it's just time to watch and pray for MLB.

oh and btw, signing Bobby Abreu was a dumb move. i guess the angels were pretty desperate to have a batter... but i still want my favorite player in my favorite team... we want Garret Anderson! Garret Anderson! Garret Anderson! oh come on! he's been on angels for 15 years! can't we just keep him for couple more years? until he retires??? pleassseeee??

Barry Bond's 755th home run ball. with an asterisk on top to indicate his fault of using steroids.

Super Bowl XLIII Commercials

so... the best TV rating moment of the year has just passed by and i thought i would talk about how companies made their $10 million worth it or just simply let to waste.

BEST COMMERCIALS:

1. POTATO HEADS (Bridgestone)

can't go wrong with toy story stuff. haha and a clever way to show what guys really want when they are in the car with someone else. very nice. (:

2.  Polamalu (Coke Zero)

i'll have to say it's one of my favorite. remake of the old commercial, and clever clever ending. it's just like the original with a little twist... i like twists. 

3. Skier (Bud Light)

so bud light goes on to draw some more stuff. people really didn't like this one, but i thought it was pretty good. i liked it a lot. "it's ok- no one saw that." LOL

4. Chase (Audi)

it's jason statham! audi cleverly compares their car with other names, such as BMW, Lexus, and Benz... really though, i'm sad i don't have the video. go look at it on youtube or something.

some of the honorable mentions are...

Bugs (Coca Cola) - they really used a good imagery... as always. it was one of those coke commercials. i liked it.

Moose (Moster.com) - displayed how people can end up in the wrong side of the office. cleverly. haha

Adoption (Pedigree) - thought this one was clever... "maybe you should get a dog." haha the point really comes in here. although... you really don't know what kind of commercial this is til then.

Global Domination (Hyundai) - to my surprise, Hyundai made it this far! it used its news of "motor trend of the year" award, leaving the best car makers behind them (Japan, Germany). and as always, "it's Hyundai, like Sunday"

What G Means (Gatorade) - thought this one was simple and good. not all that clever like the other gatorade commercials, but still. jabberwockees  sure surprised me when they came out.

Office Meeting (Bud Light) - one of the very first commercials to open up super bowl. i like how the guy gets kicked out of the office... through the window... gets up and says "i wasn't joking!"

and of course, there are those that really disappointed me... just three of them...

Venza (Toyota) - i dont know if it's because it was compared to by Audi and Hyundai, but... this was just a typical car commercial. total waste of money here.

The Birds (Cheetos) - really? birds? cheetos? oh come on! that was like by far the worst one i have ever seen.

Office Ball (Doritos) - mmm... i don't know about this one... funny, but... there's nothing deep to it. so i'll just have to say it's on my list of worst commercials.

well, that's about it. this year's super bowl commercials were overall enjoyable. hopefully, next year will be better. (:

Rage Against the Machine

or RATM... or simply just Rage. people tend to get very surprised to find out that my favorite band is Rage Against the Machine. this one time at church, we were naming our favorite band to "break the ice." i was the last one to say, for some reason, and when i said Rage Against the Machine, this guy sitting in across the table straight up said "i thought it would've been like wonder girls or like seven." yeah, go figure. anyway, in today's blog, i will be talking about my favorite band, Rage Against the Machine... no seriously... not seven... not wonder girls.... RATM.

Many people know Rage Against the Machine for their music. some people know them through several video games - guitar hero being one of them (Killing in the Name, Guerrilla Radio, and Bulls on Parade) - some by their lyrics - "fear is your, fear is your, fear is your only god" (Vietnow) - and some through movies - Matrix 1 & 2 (Wake Up, Calm Like a Bomb). i've never actually seen Rage Against the Machine up on the stage live, but i have seen couple of their recorded videos. i think more than anything, the one thing that really really caught my attention was the screams in the songs. Zack de la Rocha is the singer of the band and i still remember the first time hearing the song by Rage Against the Machine. it was during my senior year, and i was playing Final Fantasy 7, my poor attempt to finish the game (and i actually did beat the whole game, of course), everyday after school. i would always fall asleep because it gets really boring after awhile, and all of a sudden i hear this monster sound and i later came to find out that it was "Township Rebellion" in Rage Against the Machine album. shook me off from my chair.

after i was just looking for more songs that had crazy screaming, i came across the lyrics and i found it very... well put, in a rebellious way. in the song "Know Your Enemy", the lyric goes "what? the land of the free? whoever told you that is your enemy." i also fell in love with them when i found that that Rage Against the Machine was only 4-man band!!! 4!! i thought it was like 6 man band since the whole instrumental sounded so... full. that was when everything else failed in front of Rage Against the Machine and i can't really compare them with anything else.

Rage Against the Machine only had 4 albums and they came together in 1991 and separated in 2000. the instruments got together with a new singer to form Audioslave, and Zack left the band wanting to do some other style of music than just funk. recently they got together and did a concert and i heard it was pretty crazy... haha anyway, i will just conclude with their albums and song titles. hope you enjoyed reading this... although i don't even know who will come and read this. :/

1. Rage Against the Machine (1992)

1. Bombtrack  

2. Killing in the Name

3. Take the Power Back

4. Settle for Nothing

5. Bullet in Your Head

6. Know Your Enemy

7. Wake Up

8. Fistful of steel

9. Township Rebellion

10. Freedom

2. Evil Empire (1996)

1. People of the Sun

2. Bulls on Parade

3. Vietnow

4. Revolver

5. Snakecharmer

6. Tire Me

7. Down Rodeo

8. Without a Face

9. Wind Below

10. Roll Right

11. Year of the Boomerang

3. The Battle of Los Angeles (1999)

1. Testify

2. Guerrilla Radio

3. Calm like a Bomb

4. Mic Check

5. Sleep Now in the Fire

6. Born of a Broken Man

7. Born as Ghosts

8. Maria

9. Voice of the Voiceless

10. New Millennium Homes

11. Ashes in the Fall

12. War Within a Breath

13. No Shelter* (bonus track in some countries only)

and finally... 4. Renegades (2000)

1. Microphone Fiend

2. Pistol Grip Pump

3. Kick Out the Jams

4. Renegades of Funk

5. Beautiful World

6. I'm Housin'

7. In My Eyes

8. How I Can Just Kill a Man

9. The Ghost of Tom Joad

10. Down On the Street11. Street Fighting Man

12. Maggie's Farm 

13. Kick Out the Jams* (Live)

14. How I Could Just Kill a Man* (Live)

during the RATM performance at Target Center in 2008

Tony Dungy...

so apparently, there has been a rumor about tony dungy and how he will be joining Obama in the office. hmm... im not so sure if it's just me, but that sounds pretty dumb. haha anyway, im not so sure if i will do a good job, but i really would like to dedicate this blog entry to tony dungy, who made so many things possible for my very favorite team of all, the Indianapolis Colts.

first off, tony dungy came to indianapolis colts from tampa bay buccaneers in early 2002. he was a great coach no matter who says what. look at his record! 85 - 27 during regular season and 7 -6 during playoffs. i know everyone thinks that colts freeze when it comes to playoffs, but i still believe that dungy did a fabulous job coaching in indy rather it was during the regular season or in the playoffs. and the most amazing thing is that Tony Dungy is the ONLY coach who beat all 32 NFL teams. now that's pretty impressive. oh yeah, and don't forget that he is the ONLY african-american coach to ever win the super bowl.

so why is dungy retiring all of a sudden you ask? well, it all happened with one incident. it was 2005 during the 16th season, or more like in the middle of the 15th season, dungy gets the news of his son's death; his first son, james, had committed suicide. dungy misses the week 16 game, which the colts lost, and seriously considers retiring and going back home to take care of his family. but he stays and leads the indianapolis colts to super bowl XLI and they manage to take the victory. dungy continued to coach at indianapolis and now he feels like it's the right time to go back home and spend some more time with his family.

i highly doubt that he will return to NFL as a coach. he will be doing some works; i believe he will definitely work with teenagers, mentoring them, so that such incident that happened to his son will not happen again. and that's when barack obama asked him if he can join him and work with him to lead the teenagers. i think that's a great idea, but we will see what dungy has to say about this.

i think more than a good coach, dungy is a father-figure to a lot of the players and the fans. He is known for his good works, and he is known for his love towards the players. Tony Dungy will not be forgotten in NFL history; he will be remembered, and will be remembered for a long time. i will truly miss seeing tony dungy on the sideline.

tony dungy with his son jordan dungy