I LOVE the Olympics. Summer & Winter. The thing I love about the Olympics, is that it's a chance for people from many nations across the world, to come meet in one spot, and compete in a wide variety of sports, bring people together, and give a sign of peace.

It's a joy to get a glimpse of the host city, and how they prepared for the big event with the venues, making the city better, and getting their people on track. In the case of Beijing 2008, they really worked hard to get the air quality better (by cutting down factories, pulling cars off the road with a lottery system, opening up subway lines, planting trees, etc.). And China promised to work on human rights issues (though this part hasn't been so evident). Anyway, the Olympics isn't about politics, it's about sportsmanship and friendship.

The games is also a joy to watch and root your country for. And sports can have a sort of art to it. The way the athletes might move in unison, or in rhythm with each other. How they streak across the sport's terrain, and how they work so hard to go for the gold.

To me, the Olympics is just a beautiful moment. I would have loved to visit this years games if I could.

NBC has an Olympics site for this Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, and there's going to be tons of high quality videos, using Microsoft Silverlight.

Can't wait to check it out. What about you? Are you at all interested in the Olympics?

I think there's something wrong with me. I can't score any "real" friends. Or close friends, or whatever you call them. The kind of friends you hang with outside of the workplace or school. The ones you might invite over sometimes. Or go places and have fun. I don't have any friends like that.

To me, my definition of a friend is someone that you know pretty well enough, and the relationship between you two is relatively good. So it's pretty broad. In that context, I probably have TONS of friends. But not many close friends by my side. Why? I haven't figured it out yet, but I have suspecting reasons.

Every day, during the whole summer, I've practically been stowed away at my house. I live in this new neighborhood, and most of the people that have moved here are new to the area, and none of them seem to catch my eye. Not even for a small friendship. Maybe one or two, but not people I really want to hang out with. So I'm stuck here. I could walk to some neighborhoods not so far away, but I don't expect to see that many friends, and most of the interesting people live like more than a mile away across the Sam Houston Tollway. So, I'm stuck here, unless I manage to get a ride. Location is the best option to making friends if you ask me. If you live close to someone of interest, there's a good chance you'll have a great relationship, since you're not far away.

So I've been practically alone all summer, well not if you include my boring family. The times that I did go out for awhile, like to the supermarket or store, I didn't see much anyone I knew. There was this annoying girl, who's name I can't recall, and a few cashiers I knew, but not that well. So far, I haven't really seen anyone. Where do all the teenagers hang out in Houston?

I did go out once, with some friends to watch them perform at Java Junction. Empire Central was playing, and I thought they were pretty good. For once, it felt good to be out with friends. Just that time, but it was at least one time.

I think I must be boring. I don't have any big specific interests in anything. I'm not a big fan of any sport, arts, video games, computers, cars, or anything. Do I even do anything when I'm at home?

Maybe it's because I'm ugly. I'm not that great looking, but I didn't think it was that bad. Like any other teenager, I try to control my level of acne, but maybe it's enough. I'm only like 5"7 or 5"8. I'm thin at the top and have scrawny arms, though my thighs seem to be rather large in my opinion. I do have abs, but nobody can see it through my shirt. I have boring black hair, and dumb brown eyes. I've been growing a mustache, in hopes I might look better. Not so much.

Ok, so now I'm just rambling. But life is lonely for me, and I'm worried I might become a hermit one day. I'm social enough at school, it's just that I don't see anyone else beyond that.

I don't have tons of money to spend on and outing. Then again, I don't ask for an allowance or have a temp job.

I also can't drive yet. So my only way to go out, is if I have a ride available.

Life sucks for me.

I saw Hellboy II : The Golden Army, and didn't really like it. I mean, I guess it was ok. But I'm not a big fan of films with weird creatures and myths and stuff. So, it's not really the movie itself, but just me. I don't like that stuff in the first place, so I didn't like the movie.

I guess it did have it's funny moments, like how the young version of Hellboy is a REALLY tan looking boy with horns, and it was really hilarious. As well as other moments.

The action parts were pretty fine. Ok, in my opinion, but nothing extraordinary.

The one part of the movie that I didn't like is the antagonist, is Prince Nuada. That guy is a sicko. He has really long hair like a girl, and a really white and sickly face. And he wears a robe like a girl too! I don't like boys who look feminine. He wants Earth to be taken over by creatures again, and undo what humans have done to the world. However, his father, the king, thinks the kingdom being hidden away his best, but Prince Nuada would disagree. He has a twin sister, that sticks to her father's side. At first, the two are close, but once she turns on him, he's out to get them both.

So Prince Nuada goes to this auction to steal part of the King's crown, and kills everybody there. He wants all the pieces of the crown, so he can unleash an enormous army of indestructible robots to wreak havoc on humans. Part of his master plan.

So Hellboy and his gang are out to stop him. They cause a little chaos in NYC, and make they're way to Scotland to do the final scene. I don't remember every detail, so that's about it.

I'd give it a B- ; Or 3 stars I guess.

I really want to see The Dark Knight though. Everybody keeps buzzing about it, so I definitely have to see it. I'm not into Batman or comics, again, but I just want to see the action parts.

I'm really into movies that have action/mystery/suspense/comedy/feel-good in it.

I may have mentioned this before, but I just hate living in the suburbs. It drives me nuts all the time. I like my house, but that's it. Everything else can go.

Every day, I just sit in my house. Why? Well it's not like I can walk anywhere, besides the new subdivision's kiddie playground and the boring pool. It's also very hot during the summer in Houston, and walking long distances (with no sidewalks or shade) is horrible.

I can't drive yet, so unless I have a ride, I'm STUCK. So it's indoors for me, most of the time. What do I do indoors? Read, go on the computer, exercise, and a little TV. Same routine almost everyday so far. It just bores me so much. Driving is just another suburban hassle to me. Learning how to drive, paying gas, insurance, getting a car, a license, watching out on the road and all that just drives me NUTS. If I could, walking or biking would be my modes of transportation. But biking in suburban Houston is just plain dangerous.

Then there's the houses. Practically most new houses these days are just cookie cutter designs. Oh a few tweaks here and there, and slightly different landscaping, but it's still practically the same. The houses look nice I guess, but seeing them over and over as you wind down the street makes you really think they're practically the same boring houses. Nothing daring. Nothing different. Probably because of the stupid home owners association and their prissy laws. If I could build my own house, it'd be a 3-story townhome with lots of fancy windows, cool outdoor lights, and an awesome exterior. Way neater than your typical suburban houses.

Then there's the boring strip malls. It's like you can't go a mile without seeing one. They stand there, and there's a few businesses, and then not far away, another one comes into view. HW 249 (or whatever name you want to call it by) has tons of them. I used to remember when there were so many trees around the area. I thought it was pretty neat to see the treetops as the car coasted on a ramp that went high towards the traffic light in front of 249. Now most of the woods is gone and there's boring suburban homes. Sigh.

There's also mowing the grass. Not my favorite activity. To me, grass is grass. It grows, so what? But, nope. You have to mow it. Waste of gas and time. It's not that pretty.

I'm also surprised at the subdivision I live in. I know it's still new and all, and there's still houses getting constructed, but I lived here for a year, and there's practically no teens of interest. None that I've personally known before, have classes with, or even want to bother talking with. I guess new subdivisions attract new people. My family moved hear just for a larger house from an old one not so far away. There's nobody cool or even slightly interesting as far as I know. It sucks.

Also, a lot of people don't seem to go outside a lot. Nobody bikes by, and few people walk at all, most to walk their dogs. So I really won't bump into anyone there.

There's a kiddie playground on a patch near the lake, and a small/medium-sized pool. But I'm no kid, and the playground is really hot around noon and and the afternoon. Plus the trees are still new and don't offer any good shade. The pool is boring as well. There's no lifeguard at all, and it's not a community hotspot. Suburban life really has crumbled. I'm guessing most people spend their time indoors or someplace else.

So yes, to me, the suburbs just suck like rotten eggs. When I grow up, I probably won't bother moving to the suburbs. Either living in the inner city, or a small town is where it's at.

I used to think downtown was boring, except for some neat skyscrapers, but it's really neat. At least to walk around anyways. The soaring skyscrapers brush across the great blue sky. The fact that there's actually people on the streets (at least during lunch break) makes it feel lively and like the hustle and bustle of a real city. Tranquility Park is neat, the tunnel system is fun to go through, the central public library has tons of books and magazines, and it just feels great to wander about and look at a cityscape. Awesome picture-taking too.

So I just plain flat out hate the darn suburbs. I can predict that one day, suburbs are just going to be a wasteland. I mean look at very old suburbs now. Those houses are harder to sell during bad times, and beyond simply being a home, they don't offer much. It's hard to say a suburban home has "historical" roots, or is compelling compared to a new house or unit not so far away. And maybe one day, those roads will be bike routes. And some subdivisions near the city might get knocked down to make way for high-rises.

Suburbs just suck.

I love to read the daily funnies when I can. I have a lot of comic strips that I follow all the time, and I'm going to share some.

Here's my list of comic strips that I love to follow (usually in the Houston Chronicle, or their website) in no particular order:

• Close to Home - Funny variety-ranging square
• Bizarro - Another funny variety-ranging square
• Mother Goose and Grimm - Usually a funny strip of a dog and cat and their owner, a goose
• Hagar the Horrible - Usually lightly funny
• The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee - I like this, just a little. It's about a boy, and there's 90% of the times something political
• Brewster Rockitt : Space Guy - Funny characters on a spacecraft, and clever humorous situations
• Monty - A little humor here and there
• Rhymes with Orange - Wide variety of funny things
• Sherman's Lagoon - A cast of sea creatures and they're typical humorous lives
• Sally Forth - A strip following the daily life of a middle-aged business woman, and her family
• B.C. - Stone Age humor
• Blondie - Lovable classic
• Beetle Bailey - Military humor
• Curtis - Awesome comic strip about a cool black boy and his antics. Very funny.
• One Big Happy - 2 kids and their daily antics
• Garfield - One of my faves. The fat cat is always out to get something, Jon (the owner) always does something SO geeky, and lovable Odie and Liz
• Argyle Sweater - Another one of those funny variety-ranging squares
• Family Circus - Losing it's touch, but the circle usually has the kids saying something cute and funny that you expect kids to do
• Baby Blues - Great strip about a family and their daily antics, typical common frustrations, and it's usually hilarious
• Peanuts - One of my faves. Surprisingly, most times I don't find it funny, but the characters are just lovable
• Luann - Funny teenage humor, following a girl or other members of her family and sticky situations
• Heart of the City - This enthusiastic, Philadelphia girl who wants it where it's all at. Very determined, and loves the glitz of fame.
• Hi & Lois - Another American family that has it's crazy moments
• Baldo - Neat Hispanic family with it's humorous moments
• Red & Rover - Awesome American strip. A boy and his dog and their daily adventures
• Zits - Great teenage comic strip about a boy and him being the "typical" American teen. Just plain awesome
• Pears Before Swine - A comic strip with quirky characters and their quirky lives
• Lio - A neat strip about a boy that loves monsters, creatures, robots, and anything evil, but with a lighter humorous tone
• F Minus - A strip of wide variety humor
• Crankshaft - A grumpy old guy and his normal family. There's humorous moments
• Funky Winkerbean - Interesting comic following the daily lives (mainly a man who lost his wife to caner, and his daughter) of Westview citizens
• Foxtrot - A funny Sunday comic (used to be daily) about an American family with the typical geek, girl teenager, jock and their gargantuan antics
• Dennis the Menace - Old-fashioned, but it's a classic
• Drabble - Neat comic about a fat guy, his nagging wife, three kids and their duck and Weiner dog
• Gasoline Alley - Eccentric characters and their adventures
• Heathcliff - This cat can do anything :^)
• My Cage - An animal world starring a platypus with his dog girlfriend, a pet amoeba, and his eccentric co-workers. Young-adult oriented
• Rex Morgan - Awesome adventures of a crime-fighting guy
• Phantom - Adventures of a superhero and his wife
• The Amazing Spider-Man - The superhero and his adventures
• Arctic Circle - A funny cast of animal characters that live in Antarctica and their antics. Notable green theme.

That's a lot of comics, eh? Most of them I read whenever I can, while some I might skip sometimes. Others are Sunday-only for me. I'm usually more interested in the teen/child/young-adult oriented comics. They're very humorous, and following their adventures can be fun.

I usually browse through the Houston Chronicle's comic section for it's wide variety of comics. They have a ton! Archives too and in color. I'm surprised that the internet biggies like Yahoo!, MSN, and AOL don't have as much variety to choose from. Oh, well.

Comics are awesome!

This is part of my daily mystery series : Who Kidnapped Tiffany Lincoln? I do a daily post every day (or at least try to) about an ongoing mystery series of a girl who gets kidnapped during Independence Day. I'm the amateur detective trying to figure out who did it, and how to get her back. Every day, I'll post a little bit more until the case is solved. Some characters may actually be real in real life, while some are based on real life people. If anyone is offended, please feel free to contact me. Enjoy.

Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.

How much longer would it take? I glanced at my silver watch. 3AM.

It was my fault. I knew it. I was suppose to keep close watch on this girl Tiffany Lincoln. I had no idea those threats were real. I told myself, those were just pranks. A stupid joke from somebody. However, deep in my gut, I knew there was something fishy going on, and that's why I tried to keep watch over Tiffany, only to fail.

Tiffany Lincoln is one of the those up and coming latest teen models that you hear about every so often. She has cocoa-colored brown skin, pretty dark eyes, a smile that could make you melt, pretty tall, and was as graceful as a gazelle. In other words : very pretty, very sexy. She was planning on going to L.A. in just 5 days to get her first really big break for this cereal commercial.

However, she's been receiving threats lately, not to pursue her career. That's what ATAC filled me in. ATAC, if you've never heard, stands for American Teens Against Crime. It's this really neat secret crime-fighting organization, where they pull in special teenage agents to take over cases where adults are not as likely to blend in. Keyword being secret. ATAC sends their mission CD's in secret ways. Usually I get packages delivered in strange ways, realize it's an ATAC CD disguised as a video game or hidden under something, pop it in the computer, and out comes this mission. After it's done, it automatically converts into a normal music CD of whatever they felt like putting.

So my job was to pretend to be Tiffany's personal assistant. Even though she's still new, ATAC managed to set-up a way to convince Tiffany she needed a personal assistant. That's me. Tiffany doesn't know I'm actually trying to protect her. She wanted no body guards at all, and there was no changing that. A personal assistant undercover is the next best thing. I get to tag along with her in most cases and jot down whatever she wants and get it done. Luckily, she's still new to this, and hasn't asked me much yet.

It was only just a few hours ago that we were together...

Walking down Senate Ave., I trudged along the sidewalks holding shopping bags full of last-minute items in time for Independence Day. Ahead of me, Tiffany chatted on and on with some friends in some fancy, designer, red-white-'n-blue halter top, and classy denim skirt. In just six hours, I'd gone from personal assistant, to boy toy. She was babbling on about how she got me for a good price and all that. Oh brother. I'm not even good material for pete's sakes.

It was a sunny morning, and it was crawling towards noon. The sun rose up over the tidy stores lining Senate Avenue. People were milling about shopping and celebrating Independence Day. I wish I could have gone to a friend's BBQ, instead of holding bag for some up and coming model. I mean, Tiffany Lincoln is nice enough I guess, but she's a handful. She's also getting on my nerves. We finally reached her cars, and I dumped all the bags in the trunk. We were heading to a BBQ that one of Tiffany's friends was hosting. I didn't feel like going, but I had to be with Tiffany at all times, or something could happen to her. Besides, maybe her friend gets paid as well as herself, so it could be a great BBQ.

In just a few minutes, we stood in front of an impressive mansion on Philippine St. The mansion was Mediterranean-style with lots of stucco, red tiles, and all that. As we took the shortcut towards the backyard, something menacing jumped out of the bushes, and right in front of Tiffany's path.

Well actually, it was pretty good for the most part. I was really hoping to go to the Chevy's Freedom Over Texas event in downtown Houston, but unfortunately, nobody could give me a ride. I spent the whole day doing nothing. I was hoping for my aunt to take me to the event, but unfortunately, she didn't get the memo. I was planning on visiting this person I met online there, but whoops, I wasn't clear on saying "Chevy's Freedom Over Texas". I just said I hope she could take me to see the fireworks downtown.  My aunt did pick my 6-year old brother, and myself up, to go somewhere near downtown to watch the fireworks blast. Just not the event. But it really wasn't that bad.

First, my aunt picked my brother and I up around 7:20. We drove over to the James Coney Island nearby and ordered some mini corndogs and fries, as well as some milkshakes. Then we drove along towards the downtown area. My aunt didn't want to bother with the big Independence Day traffic going into downtown, so we hung around Memorial and found a good spot to view the downtown skyline we're the fireworks would be blasting off.

We passed through the River Oaks Shopping Center, which is this neat 50's/60's themed shopping center strip that went down a few blocks. It sort of has this neat black and white art deco architecture, and looks really awesome during sunset. I never been through there before, so I was in awe by the buildings that we passed by in the Lexus. We parked off near this newer shopping strip center. We spotted a Wells Fargo and my aunt saw the 3 story parking garage perched there. She thought it would be a great place to get a nice view of the downtown fireworks, and I had to agree, it did seem ideal.

(picture via birds-eye view under Live Maps)

First she did go to the ATM machine and got some cash. Then we walked up the small 3 floors pretty quick. Sadly, the Wells Fargo building was built-up right to the parking structure, and semi-hid the downtown skyline. It didn't rise higher than a story or two, but it was enough. If you hung around the wall closest to W. Pierce St., you could pick out a few downtown buildings. The other side, closest to W. Gray St., had a good view of downtown between the Wells Fargo and the roof of another building, along that end, but my aunt wasn't sure if that would be the right spot.

The problem was, which side would host the fireworks? I thought they were blasting them off all over downtown, but there were at least already a few people milling up on the garage closest to W. Pierce St. I didn't expect any more gazers (we did arrive about 45 minutes early), but little by little more and more people came. At 9:15, the lot was already filled up, with more people parked below and coming up to see the fireworks. It was pretty full.

There were a series of fireworks that came on the opposite side of the building. Far off in the distance away from downtown, towards River Oaks, we could see fireworks popping into the sky in a series of bright colors and loud air gushing. It was pretty nice, to be honest. Of course, everyone knew the real show would be hitting downtown around 9:35 PM. It last pretty long. From around 9 - 9:35. Just in time for the downtown fireworks show.

My aunt and I thought we'd have a better view of the skyline from one end of the longer side, closest to the Wells Fargo building. We saw more downtown than any other end or side. Alas, we were wrong. The fireworks were actually shooting off from the shorter side of the parking garage. Just like where all the first people came to stop by.

We scurried over there and watched in oohs and ahhs as the fireworks streaked into the Texas sky, and blew up in dazzling colors and streams. Fireworks are always a great sight to watch. Somebody had the car radio blaring real loud, and I heard a woman nearby complain that station always played really awful songs. Though maybe they were going to make the music more celebratory to play in tune with the downtown fireworks. I thought a lot of those songs weren't that good, but the last song, a rendition of "America the Beautiful" in a male African-American vocal really got it right. It played very well with the fireworks bursting in the air, and the song ended just as the show ended. It was a really beautiful moment.

Then my Aunt Nicole quickly got us to the Lexus, before there was the traffic of many cars leaving at the same moment. We got out pretty fast. We stopped at a fireworks stand near some auto center along Fairbanks N. Houston Rd., and bought some firecrackers. Some diamond-shaped whizzy shoot-in-the-air fireworks, sparklers for Andrew, scuttling tanks, smoke cherries, and rolls of shooting fireworks that blew out up to 10 of themselves into the air. Not sure the names for all these fireworks, but they were pretty neat. My other brother, Alan, didn't feel like playing, which was strange, considering he wanted to blow up some fireworks, but just decided not to.

Anyways, it was a great Independence Day, even if there was no BBQ or going over to the Chevy's Freedom Over Texas event. I got over it. I'm just happy to go out and have some fun. I'm also going to Galveston beach this Sunday. :^)

I ate a half-gallon of Blue Bell latest ice cream creation : Blue Delta

So here's my general thoughts:

• Very rich blueberry taste - Like a lot of Blue Bell's ice creams, there's a deep rich taste
• Purplish-blue looking - The ice cream mixture has a lavender color, with dark blue blueberry streaks through it. "Chunks" of quarter-sized pie crusts can be seen from some spots.
• Pie crust "chunks" - Blue Bell wanted to mimic the taste of pie crust with blueberry pie. The pie crust "chunks" are about the size of a quarter, and they do have a taste of a pie crust, kind of, but they can be hard to bite into. You have to get the chunks soggy enough for it to taste (kinda) like a real blueberry pie.
• More blueberry sauce than actual berries - The blueberries come more in a sauce like mixture, rather than just berries. You can taste some of the cool outer skin of the blueberries though.
• Eat it once, and maybe some other day - The ice cream tasted good enough, but I thought it was a bit too blueberry for me. I'd probably just buy it once or twice, and wait another year to come and eat it again.

Overall, I'd rate the Blue Delta as 3/5. It was great tasting, but too rich for me. I also disliked that there wasn't a lot of pie crust chunks to eat, and that they were a bit on the hard side if they're not soggy enough. The lavender color through me off, but I got used to it. I couldn't help but feel I was eating grape ice cream instead of blueberry. However, the good taste settled that. Blue Bell did a sizable job with Blue Delta.

Go ahead, and give Blue Delta a try. It's pretty good once in a long while, but I don't recommend eating it over and over again.

For some reason though, I can't find much information on the web about Blue Bell's latest ice cream. I guess it's still in testing phrase.