So as of late things in Goma have been pretty slow. Our courts are not yet finished because work has been delayed and retooled, the kids are taking exams so they find little time to come train, and the league (championat) postponed the beginning of the season 3 weeks (at least I hope it begins in the 3 weeks) because of disorganization. This time of the year was supposed to be the busiest and most exciting, but TIA and disorganization has turned February (Fevrier) into a lull. I hope that things start falling in to place, as I have been working so hard for everything, so that I can have some interesting and exciting updates for everyone.
So because there is nothing really going on within PJB except for some great ideas, but nothing material as of now, I decided I would use my time to write about current events from the perspective of me. My situation doesn’t allow me to hear about, see, or discuss anything going on in the world to any grand extent. So here are my thoughts, two cents, and knowledge about what is going on outside of Northeast DRC:
1. JEREMY LIN- Here is what I wrote about Lin last weekend:
“I will start with this because this morning I woke up at 3 AM to watch the Lakers vs. Knicks on the TV. We arranged specially to have a generator going so we could watch the game. Earlier in the week I had read about Jeremy Lin exploding in his first game starting with like 25 points and 6-8 assists. I wasn’t too surprised because I have always thought of Lin as a very good player. He’s smart (Harvard WHATUP!…… Asian WHATUP!), he can shoot, he can pass, and he doesn’t play out of his element, I actually had been waiting for him to get an opportunity to play because I thought he could be a solid backup point guard for a very good team.
Then I watched the game and found out that this little Asian is on a terror. Four games as a starter, four games with over 20 points, and four wins. Then I watched as he sliced and diced the Lakers for 38 points. Man, I know I’m Korean (and white), but I am starting to feel some Asian pride.
My prediction for the future of this stud: He will continue to dominate, and end up winning MVP. He will be so valuable that NYC will end up trading Amare, Chandler and Baron Davis to snatch up Dwight, and we will see the new big 3- Melo, Lin, and Howard beating out the Heat in the Eastern Conference finals. Then they will play out a hard fought series in the Finals and Lin will hit a 3 with 15 seconds to go in Game 5 to stun the heavily favored Thunder to become World Champions. LIN= Finals MVP.
Last thought on the topic: If anyone sees the shirt that the guy at the end of the game was wearing, “All I do is Lin, Lin, Lin” you have to cop it for me. I need that shirt!”
2. GOP- So its hard to be political when you haven’t heard anything about the country that you are discussing the politics of in over 5 months, but even if Obama were to go to war with Iran, have an affair with Emma Watson (is there any other woman you know so cute and innocent?), personally torture and interrogate every inmate at GITMO, and kick all immigrants out of the country, I still think I’d vote for him. Rick Santorum? Mitt Romney? I am very ignorant actually on the topic of American Politics, but the GOP should come up with a candidate that isn’t ignorant about every aspect of life. Really it blows my mind how anyone could be so blind, and the sad thing is it is a great deal of American people. Just thinking about having to return to America for the elections makes me think about never going back to America because of how much I hate the politics.
2a. As a supplement to point two I have these lyrics from Joe Budden, “If you closed minded/ I call that an emergency/ blind fold yourself as if there’s nothing more to further see./ Honestly that’s absurd to me/ if the sky’s the limit/ then where’s the urgency/ I embrace life/ I’m so care free/ and I wont judge yall/ if you don’t care to be./ Just know that no matter who you are/ the right system can turn a role player to a superstar.
3. News Channels- I hate to say it, but I think that the French even do news better than the US. I will never chose to watch CNN, Fox News (I guess I would never watch that channel anyways), MSNBC or any other American news channel after being spoiled over here with France 24, BBC World, and Aljazeera.
4. Superbowl- There is probably nothing that Eli Manning could ever do to ever gain back my respect, but he did it again and deserved MVP. None of that is important though because Madonna killed it at half time with her incredibly homosexual yet outstanding performance, with the help of my girls Nicki and MIA.
5. College Basketball- I was able to catch a replay of the Duke-UNC game last week… what an incredible game. Rivers was outstanding, Zeller played like a pro, and Barnes quietly had one of the best performances of the night (if rivers hadn’t gone off). My two cents though, Kendall Marshall could be the most valuable asset that any team in the NCAA has right now. His passing ability and the way he controls the game impresses me more than any point guard in the world right now.
I also got to watch Michigan State beat Ohio State last week, and I have been watching a lot of early season games that I downloaded while in Europe and I have just a couple observations. I think that in this year’s tournament teams that rebound well, have big guards and get out in the break will cause havoc. This year’s tournament will not be like any other years… I guess kind of like last years tournament, but even more so this year. If we look at the success of teams like VCU and Butler in the tournament last year we see Butler, who rebounded the ball (offensively and defensively) extremely well and played great transition defense, and VCU, who had big strong veteran guards and a team that could run with the best of them. I can see surprise teams like Butler and VCU in the tournament again this year, but these mid-major teams are looking to me to be teams like Wichita State, Cleveland State and Temple (Fernandez will fight to the end of his career).
These are just some ideas I have, and we’ll see who even shows up in the tournament, but I am becoming more and more of a believer in teams that rebound and teams that have good guard play. Right now my 4 best teams in the country have to be Kentucky, UNC, Michigan State, and Mizzou because of these two aspects of their games. Sure Syracuse, Duke, and OSU have star studded and very successful teams and coaches, I think that they will fall in their conference tournaments and the national tournament because of small flaws in their games. OSU I think will be an early out because of their lack of depth, their inconsistent guard play, and their sometimes stagnant offense. I think Duke relies too much on the 3 point arch which is a death wish unless they can have a miracle run and finally I think ‘Cuse has all the pieces, good rebounders, quick guards, strong guards, shooters, and shot blockers, but I just don’t see them putting it all together into the complete game yet.
We will see, but right now my prediction for Cinderella’s are Wichita St. and Cleveland St. and my locks are UNC, MSU, and Kentucky. Man I could talk college basketball all the time and be content in life.
6. Opportunity- “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” At PJB we just got word that one of the girls from our program was selected by Disney and the Jane Goodall Institute to visit Orlando, Florida for a young leaders conference. She will go in April for a week to visit Disney World (or Land, whichever one is in Florida) and attend conferences, award ceremonies, and we even set up two NBA games for her to go see. It is very very exciting for this young girl and PJB as an organization to know that our players are exhibiting what it takes to be considered young leaders of the world.
As I think about how happy I am, and I saw how happy this girl's parents were for the opportunity, it really got me thinking about opportunity. This opportunity for this girl is once in a lifetime. For the youth of Congo going to America is a dream that is rarely fulfilled. You can’t imagine how many people, young and old, have told me that they would give everything just to go to America. Yet I see these same people falling in to the same routine of being late, lying, cheating, stealing, and making excuses for their life. They are being lazy and not making the best of their opportunities.
I think about it and my conclusions before were that these people are never given the opportunity. They are born in to a life where their opportunity is zero, but this is not correct. In every persons life arises opportunity of some cost. It is what people chose to do with that opportunity which determines who they will become. People must take personal responsibility for their life and what they make of their opportunities. That’s why I like the quote above. If life is about finding yourself, then you don’t have any personal responsibility for the way your life turns out, but if you chose to create yourself then you take that responsibility upon yourself to determine who you will become. You determine who you will become by what you make of your opportunities.
I am very proud of this girl because over many conversations I have had with her through the travel planning process I see that she is on board with this idea. She is not taking for granted this amazing opportunity she has and I know in my heart she will milk it for what it is worth. This girl I have been talking about is the same girl that I wrote about in my first post from Goma. She posed the question to me the first day I arrived at the basketball courts, “Will you give us your best?” If you have read my blog you know that it is a question that has really defined my trip to Congo. I am learning more and more that when we give our best and make the most of the opportunities we are given we can accomplish anything.
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