Fear the Crab

Hawai’i beat San Jose State, 46-28, for our homecoming night. This improves our record to 3-3. Chad Owens yet again returned a punt for a touchdown.

Timmy Chang is now 240 yards away from tying Ty Detmer’s all-time career passing record. It looks like next week is when Chang will break that record, but up against Boise State on their blue turf, it might be difficult.

Hawai’i won, 48-26. Chad Owens returned another punt for a touchdown. It was a very exciting game, and I had the opportunity to cheer again.

When sitting in a crowd of fans who are into the game, the emotion is infectious. When they cheer, you cheer, and when you cheer, they cheer. I still ended up sitting around some people who bet on the game and started booing when UH ran plays to run out the clock and preserve the lead, but at least they weren’t as vocal as other games.

Hawai’i won, 44-16, against Tulsa. It was tense in the first half, ending in a tie 13-13, but the second half just lit up. Chad Owens ran a punt return for a touchdown, and that fired up the crowd.

I was sitting around folks that were really into the game, which made it easier to cheer. What helped was the fact that our team made plays that gave us a reason to cheer. Our defense really stepped up, and laid some wicked hits. They stopped the run effectively, and made that poor Tulsa QB become intimately familiar with the field turf.

Argh! Hawai’i lost to Florida Atlantic in overtime, 35-28. Very disappointing loss. And not a good way to start the season. What’s a bit more disappointing is the fact that FAU is a Div IAA team, and beating a IA team is a coup for them, but a heartbreaker for us.

Bah.

I was playing left field for some baseball team, and I think I was back in little league. But it was a strange little league because we were using a ball that was about half the size of a regular softball, yet still larger than a regular baseball. I was wearing a white uniform with blue trim, and after our warm-ups on the field we had some kind of pre-game ceremony where they play the national anthem. They unfurled this huge fan-shaped flag and all of us on the field were required to hold our portion of it. So since the flag was shaped like a baseball field, I had to hold the left corner. I kept thinking this was probably the stupidest thing I had ever done on a baseball field.

When it (the pre-game show) was over, we all retired to the dugout, which was some kind of wooden shack, almost like a tool shed. Only now we weren’t in our uniforms, and everyone sat around in regular clothes. It was almost like we were done playing, the way we hung out, drank soda and juice (as is the wont of little leaguers).

I got bored, so I left the shed and walked around, and I saw my co-workers from The Lab. I was very surprised to see them, because they were probably the last people I expected to see at my baseball game. Then I figured that if they were there, Maile was there, too. So I started looking for her.

I ended up at an extravagant mansion that was actually right next door to the tool shed. And my extravagant I mean it was posh, with wide open spaces and impeccable taste. And it was clean. There were a lot of people there, and I felt that they were all involved in the baseball game somehow, but I couldn’t figure out what their involvement was. Perhaps the parents of one of the players owned the house. Perhaps it was the league. I don’t know.

I began to feel very uncomfortable at that house, so I left and tried to find my way back to the tool shed, to be with people of my own tax bracket. I heard someone call my name, and it was Maile. She was very happy, to the point of tears, and when I asked her why she gave me this small device that looked like a miniature shoe horn, but it was some kind of recording device. She played the message on there, and while I couldn’t make out all the words, she had apparently received a gift in the form of a brand new car. We had to drive out to the place to pick it up, so we hopped into her car and she drove.

The area was very unfamiliar to us, and we kept getting lost. At some point we both realized that we needed to bring along one of those rubbery fishing lures and.. something else. So we had to find a place that sold them. We kept driving, looking around for either the place we had to get to, or a store that sold bait.

What stood out to me was that I was getting very frustrated, because Maile was not following the rules of the road. Not staying in the lane, speeding around corners, stuff like that. We finally decided to park, and walk around. Except now I had to sit in a wheelchair, apparently I had some kind of injury. So Maile would push me around, and I’d try to help by wheeling myself at times, while we looked for fishing lures.

What was odd was that at several points I found myself standing next to her, and thinking that I probably shouldn’t leave my wheelchair out where someone could steal it. We had just been given directions to a store that sold what we needed, but when we left, Maile decided to stop searching and go home. It looked late, nighttime, and it would be a while before we got to the store and to wherever we were supposed to receive the car.

We never did find the car.

I was driving for work today when I had a few random thoughts. One in particular involved this so-called “controversy” over whether or not figure skating, gymnastics, cheerleading, etc, can be considered “sports.”

I would tend to say no. First let me state that I highly agree (and I’m sure everybody else does) that these people are athletes. They undergo a strict discipline of mental and physical preparation and are very good at what they do. They have to be in the best shape and can perform acts that I couldn’t do. So yes, they are athletes.

But I don’t think that what they do is “sport.” To me I think it more as an “event.” I define sport as being a contest that pits one side against another, with clear-cut rules as to how one side wins. I’m sure you can see my reasoning when I use football, hockey, even boxing, as examples of sports.

Gymnastics and figure skating are events, where their performance is judged by observers. And observers, no matter how much they may say so, are not impartial. What might impress one judge may draw a yawn from the other. Sure, they throw in 10 or so judges so you can have an average account of a person’s performance, but that’s it. It’s still a judgement call, like the Emmy’s or Grammy’s or whatever award shows they have out there. In fact, all those events are simply award shows, not unlike film critics looking at all the movies and then deciding which one deserves the prize.

So no, I don’t think they are sports. However, I do have a suggestion as to what can qualify them as sports, and I’ll use pairs figure skating as an example. Throw two teams onto the same ice rink. Tell them that they have a certain number of moves they must complete, such as all those axels and triple sow-cows and what not. Each maneuver has a certain point value associated with it; the more difficult the maneuver, the more points you get. Tell them there is a timer, maybe 3 minutes. The goal is to perform as many maneuvers as you can (successfully!) within the alloted time and scoring the most points.

To make it exciting, each team has the option to try and prevent the other team from performing a move. Here, the Harding/Kerrigan tactics come into play. If you can stop the other team from scoring, while at the same time you score points based on your moves, then at the end of the match you deserve to win.

Figure skating martial arts.

You can apply this to all the others, too. Imagine a team of cheerleaders trying to do their stuff while the other team of cheerleaders sends “slicers” to take out legs. Gymnasts use their ribbons and batons to disrupt their opponents’ concentration.

For those of you in the know, this smacks highly of Ranma 1/2.

Yet you have to agree, the winter olympics would certainly be much more entertaining.

Today was an ordinary day at work. Finally was able to give George his Kikaida DVD, and now we both can’t wait for the 2nd disc to be released.

My cough has gotten better, though I am still prone to fits now and then. I don’t cough very well and it always feels terrible in my chest and my throat. Sometimes I even bring myself to tears when I cough like this.

UH athletics had a big day today. The volleyball Wahine swept Fresno State in 3 games, and the football Warriors went into the 4th quarter against Fresno State down 21 to 9, and came back to win it 31 to 21. A very big game for the football team, since they played in Fresno, probably one of the most hostile environments to play in. The Warriors showed great poise and concentration, stringing together some fantastic plays and never giving up. This game was televised nationally on ESPN2, so it’s great exposure for the program, especially with a win on the road. Not to take away from the volleyball game, who haven’t lost a single set since September (I forget the number of consecutive sets), but everyone already knows how good the volleyball team is. They’re number 2 in the country! So the football team proved themselves to many critics tonight.

I talked with Maile a bit tonight, casual conversation like we are wont to do on those days when we don’t get to see each other. It’s been over a week since I last saw her, and Maile mentioned that it almost feels like we’re in a long-distance relationship. I don’t like long-distance relationships. Still, our daily schedules hardly match nowadays, and since I was sick this past week, it’s easy to see why we’re hardly around. I hope to change that soon.

I’ve found that doing the homework assignments immediately after covering the material in class greatly helps my understanding of it. Of course, that’s probably a given to many studious types. Still, it bodes well for my hopes of passing the class. Right now I am .02 points below 50, and according to the professor, anything below 50 means I’m in trouble. Hopefully I will do well in my assignments and have some modicum of success with my exams. The material we are covering now seems a bit more straightforward than previously encountered, so I don’t know if that’s the only reason why it seems I’m doing okay.

Tomorrow is the big interview with the City. According to some inside sources, the interview part will likely consist of questions pertaining to the office’s function of property assessment, such as tax rates and basic exemptions due to age, disability and low income. I understand all of that for the most part, though technical aspects (like the exact amounts) are unknown to me at this time. The written test may possibly involve some basic math and blueprint sketches. The math I’m not too worried about, since it deals primarily with geometry and areas. I know how to read blueprints, though if you were to ask me about details I wouldn’t know oak from redwood and the differences between a house built tongue-in-groove versus otherwise. Aside from the test and office knowledge, the rest is pretty much up to me and what I answer. So long as I give the impression that I’m a hard worker, easily trainable, and willing to learn and work well with others, I have a shot at getting this job.

My dad says they may also ask me which softball team I want to play in. I’m shooting for team A, because I already know a lot of the guys there, and my dad says they’re pretty cool when it comes to playing badly (ie they laugh at you instead of yelling).

The Kikaida DVD is set for release on Oct 15. It will have episodes 1 through 5, and if I get it from Costco I can look to spend about $20 for each. The 15th is a Tuesday, which means I can pick up the DVD after school. I’ll likely buy three if I can get away with it; one for George, one for my brother, and one for me. This also means that I no longer have to worry about taping the darn episodes and missing any, but it also means that my brother will likely have to wait longer for the entire collection. I’m sure he can handle it, though.

I almost forgot to post today. I spent most of my time trying to study for my math exam, but since I was at work it was tough to concentrate. I did manage to make some progress towards further, if not better, understanding of the material, though I’m still a long way from claiming omnipotent knowledge.

One of the watch bay doors fell and cracked the mirrored glass. It broke so hard that the lock came off. It is my suspicion that the sales clerk just wasn’t paying attention to the door and let it drop down to hit against the drawers. Either that or she misjudged the weight of it (which isn’t very heavy). This isn’t the first time it’s happened.

I went over to Maile’s house after work for some dinner. Instead of studying, we watched some Rurouni Kenshin and a bit of the special features on the Monsters Inc DVD.

When I pulled into her driveway, I noticed that her mom’s car was gone. Maile’s mom had gone to Vegas eariler in the week, so I thought that she had come home already and was either out or hadn’t returned from work. However, I found out that Keoni had taken the car. It seems that the mom gave Keoni permission to use the car only during specific conditions. First, he could use it if he had an appointment such as for the doctor, or a job interview (yeah right). Second, the grandmother had to accompany him. I thought these were more than reasonable terms for some bastard who’s about as trustworthy as the DFS vice president. Yet it seems the grandmother did not accompany Keoni, and he did not have any such appointments scheduled. Though he denies it, we highly suspect he went over to Josephine’s house (the “first woman”) because he came home with a gigantic hickey on the side of his neck. Maile was, understandably, annoyed and angry, but I think that will pale in comparison to how the mom will feel when she finds out.

Came home and watched some of the UH football game on delayed broadcast. During that time I worked on my coding assignment and made rather significant progress. There are stilll a few bugs, and in my current state of mind I can’t seem to comprehend what it is I’m doing wrong. Perhaps tomorrow will hold greater success in my endeavors, but if that fails, I can always email the professor or TAs.

I dreamt I was a football player, as well as a sports journalist. I was walking up Red Hill, Ewa-bound, but the time it took for me to get to the top was the same amount of time it would have taken me driving. I met up with a bunch of other journalists, and we all had these question guides. Our task was to fill in all the questions based on what the players and/or coaches said. This time it was Dave Shoji and the womens volleyball team that we were “interviewing.” The people around me were asking stupid questions, trying to fill in their papers, while I just kept writing. About the only question I had to ask was what date the game was. Then once I was finished, I was supposed to go to the stadium. All the journalists went to the top of the hill, and there we were in a room where we had to wait and they had to issue us these press passes. I walked down to the stadium as soon as I got my pass, and when I entered the field I saw that the football team was already warming up, and I was late. I hurried into the locker rooms to change, and strangely it seemed I wore my old aikido gi under my uniform and pads. It also seemed that I was the kicker, and I had just finished putting on my outfit when the game started. I hadn’t warmed up, a voice in the back of my head was saying that I was wearing the wrong shoes, and I was supposed to kick off. I rushed onto the field, tipping my baseball cap (why I was wearing that and not a helmet I don’t know) in apology to my teammates and referees. As expected, I didn’t kick the ball that far, but something happened and I ended up tackling the return man close to the goal line on his side of the field.