A New Journey is up and running.

This site will no longer be updated. Thank you for visiting. :)

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As promised, here is the URL to my new weblog, although I am not sure how frequently I will update it:

A New Journey

I have not yet implemented a commenting system on my new weblog and I am not sure if I will. If you know of a good commenting system that
I could use - preferably remote hosting - since the one used here (blogback) is no longer available to new users, please let me know. :)

Quick update:

I just got back from Game 6 of Boston Celtics vs. New Jersey Nets at the Fleetcenter. It's also my first LIVE NBA game. While I am disappointed that Celtics lost, I applaud them for making this far into the playoff games. Despite the loss, I enjoyed the game (as well as the intensity and energy of the crowd). I was very into the game, although that's not too surprising, since I've been following the Celtics games since playoffs. I thought that Celtics have a good shot of winning tonight, especially since they led by 10 points by halftime. I was actually a little too fan crazed - cheering and booing loudly and jumping up and waving the white/green towel over my head. But then again, if that's the case, everyone is fan crazed too. I am just surprised that I haven't lost my voice by the end of fourth quarter. In that quarter, some fans were so disappointed that they threw paper airplanes and towels down the balcony. One paper airplane actually flew very nicely down from somewhere up the balcony and steadily toward the court, where a Nets player jumped it from the bench and caught it.

I got to the Fleetcenter early and saw the Celtics (and Nets) practiced, although Pierce and Walker weren't out there practicing. I noticed that Rogers made a lot of open 3-point shots at practice. Lots of fans actually lined up to try to get autographs as players head to the locker rooms before the start of the game. Maybe I wasn't paying attention, but I only saw Williams and Rogers from the Celtics heading to the locker rooms. Much to the disappointment of some fans, Williams did not sign any autographs but only waved and high-fived some outreached hands. Rogers was nice enough to take some time out to sign autographs. He probably stayed out the longest to sign the autographs too. Although I am not a Nets fan, I thought Jason Kidd was nice to fans too. Obviously, this was the Celtics home court and as you can imagined, the Nets players were called lots of name. One fan called Kidd "loser" very loudly as he passed by. Although I am not a Nets fan, I thought that was rude and unneccessary. It's obviously a very hostile environment for the Nets players. As Kidd passed by on the way to the locker room, some wanted his autographs too. Anyway, one guy dressed in a green and white Celtics jersey handed out a piece of paper for Kidd to autograph, and Kidd was also nice enough to sign it and several others (unlike his teammates). Obviously, the taunting crowd called the guy in the Celtics jersey a "traiter" and that if he were a true Celtics fan, he wouldn't want Kidd's autograph. Just lots of name calling.

Although the Celtics lost, I am glad I have the chance to watch the Celtic's last game of the season. I actually tried getting tickets for this game on the first day that they were released, but they were sold out within the first 10-15 minutes. I got the tickets only yesterday by some stroke of luck. It's balcony seating, but it gave a pretty good view of the court. Anyway, there's always next season for the Celtics. Go Celtics!

Also, several people have asked if I will continue weblogging. I don't know yet. As of now, I have been really busy and even if I had a new weblog, I won't have the time to write much. Maybe once things slow down a bit, I might start a new weblog. Maybe not. As of now, it's all indefinite. If I am going to start something new, I'll probably post the update here. While things have gotten so much better these days (I didn't really write too much about it only because I didn't want to), the situation could easily explode as it did last time. I don't want that same "situation" to spiral out of control, so I am going to spend more time on mending and rebuilding. That, and due to the craziness these past and coming days, I won't be checking e-mail or this site or other blogs often. I am just going to "disappear" :) for a little while (so to speak), so I apologize if it takes me a quite some time to respond...

(Note: This might be a long post, as I might take a hiatus from blogging.)

I am proud to announce that, as of May 18, 2002, I am officially a college graduate. :)

The graduation ceremony happened to fall on a rainy and chilly Saturday morning. This was one memorable ceremony, as I can't remember the last time I complained so much about the weather. In fact, it was so awful that open seats were available under the tent, which meant that many of the estimated 9,000 guests were watching from either the auditorium(s) in Lindsay or Adamian, or from the beautiful classrooms in Smith (yep, the non-traditional classrooms). You could (literally) see many of the graduates shivering in their caps and gowns. I even thought I was going to catch pneumonia or catch a cold (I think the latter applied). As for the speeches, I thought they were good, but not particularly awe-inspiring. It might have something to do with the weather, since I could go someplace warmer the sooner they end.

The guest speaker this year is the Republican gubernatorial candidate, Mitt Romney. I was afraid he would talk about politics at our graduation, but thankfully, he did not. Instead, he talked about "heroes" and his experiences with the Olympics. My favorite part of his speech was probably the part about Kerri Strug, the U.S. gymnast who led the U.S. team to win the Olympics several years ago. I liked that part most because I remembered watching that amazing performance by Strug - whose courage beautifully captured the spirits of the Olympics.

I saw most of my friends at graduation, mostly because we're seated by majors. :) I was thrilled to see one of my friends from high school during the processional. I've known him since my sophomore year of high school and we used to work together at the bank, but I only see him occasionally around campus. Because we are different majors and he was was a year ahead of me, we didn't have any classes together.

He's an awesome person, though, and he never failed to make me smile. Even at graduation, he stepped out of his processional "line" just to give me a hug. But then again, graduation or not, it's always like that between us. :) There is only a select few people who I get along with just as well. One of them is like an older brother to me. He definitely watched out for me and my teammate at the trip in Virginia, particularly at the bar, mostly from drunken people who acted like total idiots. (I used to want to check out the bar scene once I've turned 21, but I don't think so anymore).

Tidbits:

-As far as post-graduation plans go, I still trying to figure things out.

-At the dinner with my team at the President's House, I learned that Bentley is now "officially" Bentley University. That's pretty neat.

-Boston Celtics tied the Eastern Conference Finals Series against the New Jersey Nets (1-1) today. I hope the Celtics win. :)

- Warnings about suicide bombers in the future in the U.S. and potential threats against U.S. landmarks are all over the news. While I think many people are used
to the heightened alerts/warnings by now, I still think they are a bit unsettling.

-Genetically modified featherless chickens have been created. Odd-looking creatures, I'd say.

Anyway, going back to the beginning of this post, I think I am going to take a hiatus from blogging (it's been lurking in my mind for some time now). I've started this in my second year of college, and I am still amazed that I've kept this thing going for this long. Now that college is over, I think I am going to take a break from blogging. Maybe I'll write periodically. Maybe I won't. Maybe I'll start something else, maybe a new design, maybe a new name, Whatever it is, something needs to be changed. After all, sometimes we learn most from changes.

We'll see. :)