#27 - miami

This picture has absolutely nothing to do with anything except that i saw it whilst internet surfing and couldn't stop laughing for a full minute. i think it's natalie imbruglia, or whatever her name is. in keeping with the randomness of this picture... this post will be about a bunch of things that have been running through my head this week, mostly because i'm on vacation and so these thoughts aren't pushed out of my brain by other, work-related thoughts and they have time to stew up in there. so here we go!

1. miami - march is a great month for sports, march madness, vball, and two great pro tennis tournaments. first, indian wells (pacific life open) during the first two weeks of march and then miami (sony ericsson open, formerly nasdaq 100 open) the last two weeks. what's so great/different about these tournaments is that, like the grand slams, matches are played over two whole weeks and both men and women play at the same time. which means fun for me.

2. federer - biggest news probably... roger federer lost in his first round at that first tournament to gillermo canas (who's actually a pretty good player, made some nice runs in 2002-2003 and even figured to be a player in the us open those years, but got caught doping and was suspended for a couple of years and only now is starting to come back). he was on a 41-match winning streak, and if he won that tournament he would've broken the all-time record for consecutive match wins. but oh well, he's still the best, a shock though... even more so, at the very next tournament (just a couple of weeks later too), he faced canas again in the fourth round and LOST again! whaa? geez... but, he's still the best. have faith.

3. serena - whoa, check out serena williams. hardly played last year 'cause of injuries or whatever. starts brand new at the aus. open and wins the whole darn thing (while being ranked like #84 in the world or something) over maria sharapova. so, now this is just her third tournament this year and is already into the quarterfinals. i feel sorry for maria though, she had to play venus (and beat her, tough match), and then the next day play serena just to get to the quarterfinals. geez. good on serena though, man, she's tough.

4. get over it - something funky happened during one of serena's matches, she was getting heckled constantly by some fan sitting right behind her in the arena. apparently the guy was being obscene or whatever, but then he yelled the "n" word at her and she got all flustered and pleaded with the head ref to get him ejected. which okay, 1) you're a pro athlete, people are gonna yell at you, you don't get everyone who yells at you ejected, 2) she was so concerned that she was in danger because he could've been a "stalker" or something as she said, i can kinda see the validity of that, only because i'm sure everyone still remembers what happened to monica seles (she was stabbed during a match by a crazy fan), and 3) she only got really upset once he yelled the "n" word at her.

BIG FRICKIN' DEAL!

i have a huge pet peeve about people getting so bent out of shape about that word. it's just a word. people who take such stupendous offense at hearing that word must remember that it is the listener that is assigning all meaning to that word. whatever connotation they believe it holds against them, is really just that... what meaning they believe it holds. and, of course, the famous catchphrase people like to use after hearing that word... "as a proud african american, you do not have the RIGHT to say that word to me." or something to that effect anyway. i hate that line.... anyone can say whatever they want... it's up to YOU whether or not you want to listen. so just get off your high horses and shut up about that damn word already. are you slaves? NO! were your parents slaves? NO! were your grandparents slaves? NO! so tough luck already. deal with it. and if someone calls you the "n" word, big whoop, flip 'em the bird and continue on your merry little way.

5. lost sucks - do i care about these two people who i've never seen before? NO! do i want MORE backstory so that i forget what the real storyline is? NO! will i watch lost again next week? .... yes, dammit.

although it was kinda funny how they kept showing them in old shots, like at the airplane, and it's completely obvious that they weren't actually in the original scene. in my opinion, that's irresponsible storytelling. boo, lost writers, boo. see, what's happening to lost is that they had no plan. well, no plan beyond the first season that is. and then the show got hotter and they ran out of storyline. so what do they do? make crap up and stuff it all in there. what makes certain tv series really great is foresight (*cough**buffy**cough*). knowing where the story-arc is gonna start and end each season (and if you can stretch that to a couple of seasons, good on you) and planning for that (that includes filming what you need to film and limiting those plot holes). but for lost, that was just irresponsible. it was not believable and should not have been included... but then again, they've got a whole hour to fill and they're already trying to stretch out this season's storyline anyway, so what else can they do? they were screwed. haha.

6. okay, it's been a pretty angry post, so let's end with the good stuff. i got to go surfing today, went to ali'i beach park. i wasn't gonna go because surf report said flat, but i just wanted to be out in the water and sun so it was all good. then, when i got there, the sets were actually pretty nice. long time to wait inbetween, but that suited me fine because i could sit there and enjoy the ocean. then, since it was such a long wait, everyone cleared out soon after i got there, so for awhile there were only three of us out there, so it was like, wait, enjoy the sun, see the rocks at the bottom through the crystal clear water, and when a wave comes just catch it 'cause there's no one else out there. so, pretty nice, relaxing... it was a good day.