You just take more than you give

Christmas is just 26 days away. As a Christian, it's a pretty big event because that is when we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. I think many of us including myself forget this as we get caught up in this whole commerical xmas presents/trees/festival craze. I made the commitment about two years ago to become a Christian and I'm not really sure what i have done about it. I mean I help out in Church as much as possible but there has been a lack of effort on my behalf to do anything else.

People often ask me what does the phrase "no turning back" mean as its attached to all my emails that I sent out. I guess to me once I became a Christian it was a life long commitment and there was no turning back to a life without Jesus.


Birthday/XMAS presents list

Dawen always ask me what should I get you for your birthday and I always give the same response : "world peace" and then she gives me the same sigh and says "how do i get that?"

Here are some of the things that i want for xmas in no particular order:

• For me and Dawen to continue being happy and going out :P
• An allen iverson killer crossover
• For my grandma to live another healthy year
• For Ron Artest to come back on the court and just play ball
• For all my fantasy bball teams to come first
• For Grant Hill to continue his amazing comeback
• for the Ukraine to sort out their political mess and have some legit government.
• to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict once and for all
• Every kid in the world to live in an safe environment without fear of war, horror, hunger or shelter.
• For the Chicago Bulls to win the 2005 championship
• For the Padstow Church to continue growing
• For me to expand my mind and grow in confidence
• To speak Cantonese AND Mandarin fluently
• To pass all my PLT subjects
• For you to continue reading this blog and add some comments!

If you think you can't get any of the above for me by xmas in time might I suggest some alternatives? Either contribute to the "DJ HO needs a car fund" which is a worthwhile charitable cause or sponsor a child for me instead of getting me a present.

~~~~~~~~~*~~~*~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~

Check this price list from World Vision gift catalogue:

Five chickens to support families in East Timor $45

Traditional birth attendant kit in Somalia $77

Eye surgery and treatment for a child in Ethiopia $78

Emergency relief supplies for a family $100

Community toilet in Malawi $170

Surgery for a disabled child in Chad $651

The difference you can make on someone's life - Priceless.

Once I start working full time I'm gonna sponsor a child as it's only $39 a month. The money doesn't go to the child, it gets pooled together with other money for other children in the community and goes toward projects like toilets, taps, better eductation, etc......

Ready for war y'all

Last nite was brilliant. I had absolutely no responsibilities/commitments. No more exams. So I sat down and watched Blackhawk Down. It's basically a movie based on an ill-fated U.S. operation in Somalia in 1993. The troopers try to extract some Warlord Militia men in a hostile city (deja vu - can you say IRAQ). The US army is armed to the teeth with massive BlackHawk helicopters, convoys of little army trucks with mounted machineguns and represent the elite US army.

The operation goes terribly wrong cause the Milita own the city, and the troops have stirred up the hornets nest. I love the movie beacuse of its action but also because of its rawness. It bring you right to the centre of the action. Having played the game Counterstrike, it's exactly the same. However despite the technology, advanced planning and the overall numbers the army are immediately overwhelmed by the whole operation. Also, Eric Bana (Fast Forward, Hulk) plays a rather cool character who is slightly mad yet absolutely cool under pressure.

Whilst watching this movie it reminded and highlighted to me the atrocities of war. Soldiers putting their bodies on the line, being carried into coffins back home. What I thought was really moving was the code of the troops : "No one gets left behind". Each soldier would give up their life for the man fighting next to them, even when they didn't know them. In the last frames, we see that it's not only soldiers that die but also civilians. An old man carries his wounded child, dripping in blood. That stuff is moving. THe movie doens't go into the deeper reasons why the troops went into Somalia, other than to overturn the Warlord and restore some peace.

The main character, the Young Commander who I thought was rather like myself. The other troops called him idealistic and asked him why are you here (fighting in the war) and he was like: "I was put here to make a difference. People are dying, there's no food. It's my job to restore the peace". The others are like, "I'm just here to kick some ass".

ON the DJ HO ratings, I'd give it a 7 out of 10. Plenty of action, blood, guts, not much plot or character development.


Battle anybody, I'm as hard as........

Speaking of battles, I also went to the Bankstown Police Club yesterday to take my bro to his breakdance session and to work on my basketball game.

My bro was showing his stuff and he was doing a handstand using only one of his forearms on the ground. He started spinning around and then immediately some guy starting pointing at him and then was challenged to a battle. I was like "yeah, that's what I come to see!". There were about 5-6 people there and they formed two teams.

I have to say that bro held it down and his side easily won. He had too many impressive moves. He started with a running front flip and then pulled off this budda position where he had his legs crossed and elevated himself off the ground with his two hands. THen he proceeded to rotate his legs above his head (with legs still crossed). It was just absolutely mad. I was standing around pointing saying to anyone that would hear "he's my brother. I taught him that!". I don't think anyone believed me though.



You either sell rocks or have a wicked jumpshot

At the Police Club I was in my element. I was the only one on the court after 7pm (the other ballers left after I had destroyed them lol). I worked on a variety of post moves, such as my patented turnaround jumpshot, upfakes, baby hook shots, drop steps. Normally I go to work on the left block causing I'm more comfortable going left so I started doing some training on the right block to make myself more of a threat. Later on, i started working on my jumpshot, drilling them from the elbow, outside the key, and the free throw line.

Offensively I need to add a crossover to shake off defenders. I'm trying to work on two dribble, right to left and left to right crossover. It's a bit hard when your DJ HO and you don't have the natural speed to blow them away. To me its all about quickness, and you have to execute the crossover with speed and then explode in the direction you want to take. Another move which I would like to add into my repotoire (of two moves) is a jab step. I've seen Kobe do it and its quite effectively. Except the problem is, he's Kobe and I'm DJ Ho.

Warning: Prisoner DJ Ho was just released on 25/11/04.

---------------Latest Breaking News -------------------

11.30AM: Prisoner Number 01066911, alias "DJ HO" was released from the UTS Jail House after serving 5 years hard labour.

Crime: Business (Accounting)/Law degree.

Misdeameanours: Just completed practical legal training

Known Associates: Kyle, Mayank, Anvij, Alex, Thurka. This offender must be treated with caution upon release as he has many contacts in the outside world as well as still on the inside (i.e other prisoners serving their time - Jacquliene and Catherine)

Release terms: Must serve several years in a halfway house called an "accounting firm". Must work diligently between the hours of 9 to 5. May also be required to complete a Masters in Tax to show rehabilitation.

Items which he may take with him from prison: A piece of paper known as a "degree". It is entirely worthless yet is valued for some reason to a group of people known as "employers".

Chances of coming back to prison: Quite high. Although the offender expresses a willingness to integrate himself into the real world, his chances of survival are slim. It is likely that he will recommit the same offence with greater severity, possibly a Masters in Tax.

Bad habits that the offender has gained in prison: Is known to get highly stressed in July and November, a period known as " exam time". Bad eyesight as a result of too much studying. Bears the mark of habitual study offender - able to stay awake at all hours of the nite, surviving on a few hours sleep. Has also learnt how to operate complex machinery known as a "Computer". Can communicate rapidly through a secret tunnel known as "UTS email" and has learnt how to reach a vast audience using "UTS online discussion board". Become addicted to "junk food" - may have problems going cold turkey on wholesome meals.

Conclusion: THis prisoner is still dangerous to the community. Use extreme care in approaching him as he may be still armed and dangerous, as he is known to carry a backpack full of textbooks and pens. Maybe be talking jibberish knowledge gained on the inside.

Is it possible to be a good lawyer without being dodgy?

As I am currently studying for my legal ethics exam tomorrow, I had this burning desire to write about this issue: Is it possible to be a good lawyer without being dodgy?

Dawen often says to me that I won't make it as a lawyer becoz i'm not dodgy.

However, I disagree as I don't think that being a successful lawyer requires an element of dodginess. There are many good lawyers out there who are not dodgy. Sure you can bend the rules sometimes but sooner or later it'll catch up to you. In additon, what kind of clients would you attract if your dodgy? Obviously clients that are also dodgy. The legal profession requires that the public trust them - you have to have complete confidence that they will keep things confidential and that they will help sort out your problem.

If you adopt the methods shown on "The Practice", you will lose a lot of respect from your fellow peers. It might be good in the short run to be dodgy but in the long run it'll kill you. Personally, I don't think I could walk around with my head held high if I used dodgy methods to help my clients.

Drawing the line between doing what is right and what is wrong is not black and white - there's a lot of grey areas. Is there a difference between finding a loophole and actively exploiting it? Do I do everything in my power to get my client off a criminal charge? Do i resort to underhand tactics like the "PLAN B" in the practice and accuse someone else in a murder trial?

This question doesn't apply to just lawyers. I mean can you be a successful business person without being dodgy? I think you can. As I have said before, there is a difference between being sharp/ using commerical tactics and being outright dodgy.

This questions I think we will come across in our working lives: CAN I BE SUCCESSFUL WITHOUT BEING DODGY?

What does everyone think?

Don't mess with the Artest

I just felt compelled to write about this incident. It was the most ugly scene I have ever seen and heard of in sports. In the Pacer vs Pistons game today played at the Auburn Hills Palace (Detroit's home turf), Ron Artest, a player for the Pacers fouled Ben Wallace of the Pistons in a hard foul from behind. Wallace proceeded to give Artest a two handed shove to the neck/face. If you've seen Wallace, he's 6'9 and 250 pounds. Artest is no shrimp either, coming in at 6'8, 250 LBs. The refs try to isolate Artest from Wallace but all hell breaks loose. Both benches jump into the melee and everyone starts shoving but cool heads prevail and it all simmers down and Artest lays on the scorer's table.

Some dickhead fan proceeds to chuck a full cup of beer at Artest. Artest gets up and starts CHARGING into the stands. Punching and pushing people out the way, he reaches the fan that is 3 rows back. He proceeds to lay the smack down on this dude who is just plain laughing at him. Artest is then restrained by 3 fans and is totally outnumbered. Another fan decides to shower Artest with some more beer. Stephen Jackson of the Pacers has also come to support Artest and throws some haymakers at that fan. Guys from both teams are in the stands trying to break up the fight. Stuff is just flying from everywhere, including a chair.

Artest gets pulled out of that fight and starts walking onto the court. Another fan decides to walk up to him ON THE COURT with another mate all macho with his fists clenched. Ron Ron then clocks him with a killer right hand that would have stunned any mortal man. The fan falls to the ground and gets back up. Jermain O'Neal runs in from nowhere and throws the biggest cheap shot i have ever seen, with a running right handed fist. Some dude in a suit (who must have been a pacers player) throws another punch at the guy for good measure.

The Refs in their wisdom decide to cancel the game.

I was talking to Tim about it, who saw the game live, said it was the most shocking incident that he had ever seen in sports. I 'd have to say it overtakes the Eric Cantona incident where he decides to do a flying Liu Kang kick at some fan that started abusing him. This is the most craziest thing i have ever seen.

You just don't mess with Artest who is a hot headed pshycho to begin with. But he is to blame for taking this incident to the next level by confronting the fan. He could have easily walked away from this incident. He took the law into his own hands and sought vengenance. It was not self defence. Stephen Jackson didn't need to join in either. He could have broken up the fight. But I do sympathise with the players, particulary Artest. You just don't take that sh#t from anyone but he should have been smart enough to walk away. He was smart enough not to take on Ben Wallace as he just back pedaled out of there.

Artest, Jackson, and JO need to understand that they are role models for little kids, whether they like it or not. Sure you can blame security for not having the whole place secure and undercontrol but you can't prevent this kind of thing happening. People can chuck stuff from anywhere in the stands. But you've got to be the bigger man and walk away from it.

Ya'll need to check the ESPN website and watch the incident on ESPN motion. Sports fans are totally divided on this issue. Some blame the players, the referees, and the security.

I know I shouldn't be saying this, but what about my fantasy NBA team? I've got Ron Artest, JO and Jackson on my squad? What's a GM to do?!!

I'm not sure what the appropriate penalty is for this fight. Some are calling Artest to be banned for 10-15 games, some say for a year. Being Judge Ho, I'd sentence him to a year long ban. I know that the fan started it but Artest should know better.

Tell me what you think peoples!

3 Down, 1 to go!

Just got home from my commercial and estate exam. I feel so relieved that i've almost finished my exams. I've got a 5 day gap til the next one, so much time! What am I gonna do? Study?!.

Can't believe that I am gonna finish uni soon. It'll be all over. I think there is some salty residue in my eye LOL.

I woke up this morning at 6am and has this sudden urge to watch the new AND1 Mixtape 7 that I just downloaded...whoops...... I mean bought. After watching it, i was all hyped up and motivated to study. it was so good, it actually made me go "whoa", and I actually did a couple of "lean back" reactions cause the dunks were that awesome. Also, what amazed, me were how confident these guys were. The theme of this mixtape seems to be "we ain't scared, we''ll play in your backyard, and still embarrass you".

What really inspired me was how confident Alimoe, Hot Sauce, AO and the rest of the crew were despite being up against a hostile crowd, and a team hell bent on taking them down. I think that's the major factor that I lack when I play basketball and in life generally. I get intimidated too easily on the court if some guy steals the ball off me whilst I'm dribbling or if I miss a couple of shots in a row. Confidence I believe comes with playing a lot more and having faith in your own ability. That is what separates the average players from the great players.

The thing is I know to hit a jumpshot. I know how to box out. I know how to do a screen and roll. I know how to hit a fake left, spin right, up and under layup whilst posting up. But the thing is to actually execute it whilst playing against decent competition and not dawen :P.

Got Rice, Got Rice?

it seems that George Dubya has a new sidekick, Condelezza Rice. Is that good or bad? I think its very very bad. She seems to be cut in the same mould as Bush in terms of ideology and approach to world affairs (blow them up, then ask questions). Colin Powell at least protested, although meekly that Bush wasn't right. However this feel on deaf ears and he didnt stand up and take Bush on. Although he did a lot of good things like put AIDS agenda on the map he will forever be remembered as the man that supported Bush in the mysterious war against the missing weapons.

Rice is a gun (i.e. phenemonal) in her own right. Attended college at the age of 15, PHD in international relations, advising Bush about Germany at the ripe old age of 36. She reminds me of that Tupac line : "I'm young, black and strapped"....well maybe not that last part about being loaded with a weapon, but you know what i mean. She has that fearless attidude that has allowed her to succeed.

Colin Powell's problem was that he was a soldier. And it is totally against the ethos of the combat warrior that is willing to give up his life for his country to turn his back on his leader. For a dude that's been in the armed forces for 23 years, if there's one thing you learn, its to obey your superiors. It wasn't in him to argue against Bush. It would have been sign of disloyalty to his country and everything that he has lived for.

Why i am so interested in American Politics, but don't give a crap about Aussie politics?

New Dance Moves

i don't know if was just me, but i seemed to have spotted a new dance move. they were playing that ludacris song "lean back' and these two girls in front of me on the dancefloor started leaning back. HAHAHA. I think I'm gonna adopt that into my new repotoire. When I was at the Law Ball, i remembered this move I saw in Honey. Lil Bow Wow was doing this "rub the dirt of your shoulder" thing so i started doing it. it was kinda as a joke but i thought it was a quite a funky number. Although Dawen was laughing her head off at me.

MCing, Djing, Breaking, From Your Own Mind You Know

Most teenagers play soccer after skool, tennis or basketball. My lil bro has decided to take up breakdancing and gone to his first breakdancing class today, so i went to pick him up from the Bankstown PCYC. I walked in and they were blaring out some hip hop tracks and there were approx 20 guys mucking around trying to do moves. it wasn't so much a class, more just a gathering of people.

They had mats where people were doing hand stands and helmets lying around, so people could spin on their heads. It was gangsta as everyone was decked out in their most ghetto fabolous breakdancing gear as my lil bro goes "I've never seen so many arm bands b4". Guys were wearing knee pads, bandannas, skullies, baggy jeans.

i felt like a parent going to his kid's first soccer game, as my bro was nervous. But I saw him show his thang with a handstand, then let go of the other hand and did it one handed while leaning back. Then he showed more of his skills by doing a running front flip (Anthony Mundine style sommersault) and taught some kid how to do it. And I can say is he learnt from the best.........me!

We always have these dance-offs battles in the living room where I try to pull out all these moves I've seen in the "You Got Served" Movie. I'm sure I look really lame, but I always have fun by challenging him saying by playing some loud hip hop beat and yelling "You wanna battle? You must be crazy!". And then he proceeds to kill me with his variety of handstands, windmills, then his one handed move with his body horizontal, and this flurry of leg action.

Mini AND1 game

Just FYI, whilst I was watching the breakdance class, I joined a 3 on 3 pickup game. There were these punks trying to pull off AND1 moves on me, and i did get a few bounce passes between my legs and then my shot blocked twice, then shot like 1-10. But I bounced back when with a couple of my signature turnaround jumpshots, cut hard then hit a floating layup drawing some "oohs and aahs". I got embarrased again with another AND1 move, and then I thought "I had enuff of this sh#t. I'm gonna start doing some stuff too". This one guy was talking so much trash to me, I had to bring it - exhibit some DJ Ho flava to shut him up.

So I checked the ball from on top of the 3 point line, drove hard right, blowing past him (at my DJ Ho slow speed), and there was this other guy waiting for me just inside the key. As I approached him and the basket, I did a quick spin to my left and hit a jumpshot from point blank. Money. I started bouncing up and down (cause I seen the black widow do that) and that shut that guy up cause that was the second shot I hit in a row on him. Sometime competiton brings out the best in you.

After I did that, I started getting pretty cocky and threw no look passes, doing some crossovers, started bouncing the ball behind my back continously, doing plenty of fakes whilst positng up. I then got a bit too adventurous by posting up and bouncing the ball behind this guy's back and regather. It didn't work but it went direct to someone in my team, so it looked like I did it on purpose!

And then it was on, game point. It was one point to win and I was pretty nervous. I blew a bouncepass into the key but my team quickly regained possession. I was open somewhere between the right hand side of the key and the three point line. I was in one of my favourite spots because it was at a 45 degree kind of angle. They chucked me the ball and it looked like I was squaring up for a shot, so this guy just ran at me with his arms flailing. What did I do? I calmly drilled a perfect bank shot, a la Tim Duncan style. The only thing I didn't do was call bank, so it wasn't obvious that I had done it on purpose! We won and I had earned my stripes gained some hardearned respect at the PCYC.

Next goal: joining a flavo's game whilst knocking down a few shots, grabbing some boards, throwing some dimes, handling the rock and not letting some 50 year old chump get the better of me whilst dribbling.

A MARKED MAN

I woke up this morning and had this sudden urge to calculate my current average, even though i was only half awake. It seems that I have the opportunity to go from second class honours to first class honours. It also is apparent from talking to other students in my course that everyone else is concerned about this phenemomena know as "first class honours". What really bothers me is that I think students these days have become too mark obsessed. I understand that achieveing a high mark is important to most students, but why? Why are we studying our arses off to achieve these elusive marks? I remember hearing Chris saying " I need to get that D!", emphasising it with some karate chop hand action.

In my humble opinion, I think we've all forgotten what uni is about. It's a place to learn, not a place to score the highest marks possible. I've have had the most fun at uni in a long time in this pass/fail course known as "Advocacy", because I didn't have to worry about all this mark rubbish. I was just able to do my best. But then again, would i have been more motivated if there were marks involved?

I think most students worry about marks because of the following reasons:

1) there is a direct link to future job prospects
2) Some people are just high achievers
3) It's a hold over from the HSC days
4) Some people just get obsessed about anything

For the majority of people its the first two, but most likely the first one. Obvoiusly getting a good mark is important to finding a decent job. If i was an employer (Boss Ho), I'd select the people with the better marks. But the thing is, that's only one part of the criteria that I would use. I think its just as important to have other skills like communication, teamwork, leadership, ability to adapt to pressure, ability to innovate. What I would also want is some evidence of life outside of uni. As Aadesh once told me " They don't want a book worm". I totally agree.

If I am a client, I'd select the lawyer that I felt most comfortable with - it's people skills that I'd be after, although i'd be impressed with a first class honours thing hanging on their wall! But if you can't explain to me why you did a certain action or simplify a complex legal concept for me, forget it, I'll take my service elsewhere.

I have learnt as much in the classroom as outside the educative boundaries at uni. I think life experiences and work experience prepares you just as much as hitting the books and attending lectures. That's why I tried to involve myself in stuff and worked my ass off to achieve the following:

- Young Achievers ( i was the finance director - Director Ho)
- Higher Education Workplace Olympiad: National finalist
- Boston Consulting Group: National Finalist

I also did Kung Fu, played basketball, went out with my frens and gf, and tried to fit in some part time work as well. I'm sure if I sacrified my time going out and doing other things and just focused on my studies, I would have cleared that barrier to get first class honours or achieved some average of 99. And must i say, I already did sacrifice a lot and worked hard to get my current average to where it is today.

Also what person would I have become if I became totally obsessed with studying? I feel pretty comfortable with the fact that I've got skills, abilities, and experiences that transcend the class room (i.e. a patented turn around jump shot -hahaha).

And the thing is I heard this quite often: "it's not what you know, its who you know". I think uni is good place to meet people. I've taken the time to make friends with a lot of people and this made going to uni a much more enjoyable experience. And if ya'll know me, you know that I'm connected, like the mob :P . Coz I've also invovled myself in a lot of other activities such as basketball at uni, I've met heaps of people in my course and also outside. I rock up to the courts, and I'm like the local elder stateman (as i have been there for years). I feel like the Black Widow, minus the skills and the reputation.

Ho Careers Update

State of the job market

I was getting my weekly dose of My Career and thought I'd share this with ya'll, since most of us are gonna graduate this year or have just recently graduated. It said that the class of 2004 (this year's graduates) can expect a much better entry to the job market than their counterparts in past years, due to increased grad jobs being advertised. There were apparently 3 times as many grad jobs advertised on the Net than this time last year. From my opinion, I totally agree because I have gone on the Seek.Com website every couple of days for the past couple of years checking up grad jobs, and I have to say I'm seeing a lot more opportunities now for Business/Law/Engineering grad jobs. This is confirmed as according to the article the greatest growth in job ads seems to be in the area of accounting, sales and marketing, IT and building and construction.

Grad Jobs out there

For people that don't have grad jobs now or may be re-applying, the major grad recruitment season is over. However, don't despair, as there are many companies that have positions to fill or may not not have filled their grad intake program. Just recently I've checked out Seek, UTS Job Board, UNSW job board and kept my pulse on the job market and seen job ads for:

- PWC: tax and audit grads
- Middletons law firm - grad program
- Commonwealth Bank - Enginneers to assist in enhancing work flows
- Telstra : Customer service grad program
- Select Recruitment - HR firm, grad program, not just for HR grads
- For you FOB international students, Deloitte and KPMG are recruiting Mainlanders or people with the right to work in China/HK
- Jardine Thompson: Global Insurance Company seeking business and law grads

For engineering jobs, a friend of mine just got an grad engineering job at a Hydro company and another one was telling that he just scored 3 Engineering intern job offers.

For those wanna be lawyers, law firm jobs, particularly paralegal work opportunities are available in small pockets. A friend of mine just recently got hired as a fulltime paralegal at a litigation firm. Furthermore, for those that want to just gain legal experience, Crown Solicitor's Office is hiring, as well as PIAC (Public Interest Advocates) and the Aboriginal Legal service.

THe IT market also is picking up, with ample part time jobs available.


Casual Job Opportunities

This is picking up substantially as we approach the XMAS season. Many retailers are hiring as of now. If you want some spare cash or have just finished uni, this is good for you. Just met someone who went for an interview for Myer Grace Bros, apparently the whole Myer group is hiring now. Also, spoke to a friend at the Nike Factory @ Auburn who said they are looking for people to fill 3 month contracts (includes December and January). If anyone is interested, ya'll know who to speak to :P.

Applying for jobs

From my experience last year helping out some peeps, November and January is probably a better time to apply, as people are too busy in December or just in plain holiday mode. It picks up substantially in January, when everyone is refreshed from their holidays.

Psychometric testing

Having done heaps of these, I've decided to find out how they really work. Psyche tests, as they are commonly called, are a series of tests, usually made up of Maths, English and selecting the sequence of pictures. What they try to test is raw intelligence. The employers are basically trying to put everyone on a level playing field. Why? Think about this. A Distincion at Business at UTS might not be the same as a distinction at UNSW. So they go back to the basics and find out who smart you really are.

The thing is you don't have to ace these tests. From what I understand you just have to meet their minimum requirements. Eg. At a certain global investment bank, you have to score 90% in the Maths and English test to pass. Sometimes they will lower the barrier after the exam if they find out that hardly anyone met their requirements.

Can you prepare for these tests? Yes to some degree. They try to test out how naturally smart you are. But I wouldn't be the JOB MIESTER if I didn't give you some hints. You can find on the net or at your uni careers service, sample exam questions. Just google psychometric testing or just look up intelligence tests like MENSA (spelling?). Before I went to a certain company, I stumbled across their foreign branch which had practice tests and done heaps of other ones. It gave me great comfort when the questions turned out to be quite similar and I walked out smiling, while the rest where like "what were those questions???".

Practice tests help because they give you the style and flavour of the questions. It can't help you become smarter, just more familiar of what they will test you on. It's like the selective school tests. If you practice on some sample ones before hand, if you've got a greater chance.

Time yourself when you do them and you'll be surprised that the questions ain't hard it just you've haven't got much time to do them.

Having spoken to some academics/industry people, there are rumours that the test is weighted, that is the questions at the front count more than then ones at the end, because everyone does the ones at the start.

That's all for now folks,

THE JOB MIESTER AKA DJ HO

NO MORE PROPERTY!

Just finished my property transcations exam, I'm feeling that Mase song "feel so good". It wasn't too hard, I was just pushed for time. Man, these PLT law exams are like two hours each and it's just not enough time. I was going insane in the last 10 minutes. It was an open book exam so folders were flying everywhere, I was flicking through all my materials at a 100 miles and running, had to run to my bag to get out my calendar to work out council rates.

It's very funny seeing lawyers (or well law students) doing exams. They are all open book, as in you can take in anything. It's a very interesting scene before you go into the exam. You see some students come armed to the teeth with everything under the sun related to the subject. Alex and I call them heavyweights. THeir either very smart and have read everything or it's what I call a "safety blanket/insurance policy". In the hope that something pops up in the exam that you haven't studied for, you can make a mad dash through all your materials and find that pot of gold.

On the other hand, you have the "lightweights" who go in with the bare essentials. I'm somewhere in between. My policy is that I take in what I need and that I don't take in anything I haven't read. For me, it just creates a lot more stress trying to find something which I have no idea about. May as well freestyle: make something up !@!

So if anyone is buying/selling a house, entering into a commercial/residential lease, involved in a mortagage, wants to exercise a power of attorney, yall know who to see - Solicitor Ho, attorney at law at your service.

Justice is served: It's all coming out now about Justice Shaw and the blood samples. I told you, the doctor didn't put it in! There was a second doctor! What about Arafat? The milita groups are claiming that he was poisonsed. You heard it here first! See DJ Ho Diaries for the latest consipracy theories (and I didn't even speak to Ashby!)

Rest in Peace
A soccer great, Johnny Warren had his funeral yesterday. It was the first State Funeral for a sports person in NSW. There were some very interesting scenes, cause after they got out of the church there was this brazillan dance and drums going off, like a wild party/mardi gra. Some of those brazillan chicks were hot!

Man can't believe ODB (OLD DIRTY BASTARD), the wu tang rapper died two days ago. He will be remembered as a unique rapper for his style and personality. He just had this weird drunken flow but it was so cool. I had to play a song to remember what he sounded like, and I couldn't find anything, so I was forced to pull out my bro's Mariah #1 hits CD ( i swear its his) and play the "Fantasy Remix". I know that sounds kinda lame, but ODB had skills and tore that Mariah song up. It was strange how they made that Wu-Tang album without him, cause he spent the last three years in jail and was then admitted into a mental ward. The Wu Bangers aren't the same without him.


21 Questions

I was jogging today, and started thinking about these questions (and added a few more):

1. What if I had stayed at UWS (Univeristy of Western Sydney) and finished my degree there?

2. What if I had looked over my shoulder when I changed lanes before my accident? What if I hadn't hit the brake, would that little kid in the car have been injured?

3. What if I had fought back when those two guys robbed me? Would I have been worse off? What if they were carrying weapons?

4. What if I hadn't said anything to that girl sitting next to me at 4.G.0.2 on that Thursday afternoon?

5. What if I could write legibly?

6. What if I had studied harder? Would I have that elusive HD average?

7. How come I can't play confidently at Bankstown Basketball Stadium? How come I'm half the player that I can be when i play comp?

8. What if I had 50 inch hops? Or a decent jumpshot?

9. How come I can't speak Cantonese, yet my parents speak it fluently?

10. Where has all my years of Mandarin Saturday School disappeared to?

11. Why can't I play the piano anymore, when I'm up to Grade 5?

12. Would I have been worse off when I was five and pushed the handbrake on the car, and the car rolled down the hill?

13. What if I had never moved to Padstow and stayed at Dulwich Hill? What if I now moved to Voyager Point?

14. What if I moved to Hong Kong to work? Or London? Or New York?

15. Where can I find a Gilligan's island outfit for the Gilligan Island themed Deloitte XMAS party?

16. What if i had done something when my mum was being dragged around Town Hall by some thief she had apprehended from our store?

17. What if my last name was not Ho but Wong or Smith? Would our store be called Wong Wong's Gifts? Would I be called DJ Wong?

18. What if I inherited the Ho Ho Gifts Empire?

19. What if I had taken the job at Proctor & Gamble instead of Deloitte?

20. Why can't I stand up for myself? Why do I get stepped on all the time? When do I fight back for once?

21. Why are you reading this?

AND1 Mixtape (Minus Hot Sauce)

Wow, the AND1 mixtape tour was awesome. in case you don't know and have been:
A) hiding under a rock
B) not a fan of basketball,
you missed a pretty cool event. It was a very eagerly anticipated night, by many an AND1 fan. There was a certain buzz around the place when I got there. Everyone was pretty hyped up.

Ghetto Fabolous

Everyone was decked out in their most ghetto fabolous fashion. I was rocking my Dr. J jersey and for once, I didn't feel out of place. Tim had his Robert "Clutch" Horry jersey, Hoi was decked out in a Jordan retro, and Aadesh with his Iverson "Soul on Ice" t-shirt. I spotted a number of other noticeables:

- Bravest guy: Some dude was rocking his Vlade Divac Sacto jersey (hahahah)
- Band wagon: quite a number of Lebron James Cavs floating around as well as Iversons
- Hoochie mamas: saw some teenage chicks wearing Melo nuggets jersey with mini skirts (can you say weird?!)
- The truth is out there: Props to the guy donning the Paul Pierce Celtics number
- Seeing double: Who was wearing my jersey??!!!!! CJ BRUTON!!!!! See great minds think alike. Except his much have been real, otherwise he'd have so street cred at all lol

Actual Game

That depended on who you spoke to. My opinon, there were some absolutely filthy, I repeat filthy alley oop dunks. Woah Mumma. The AND1 team always plays some local players, and they were up against decent local talent.

I think some people were disappointed because they were expecting everything to be like the AND1 mixtapes. Well sorry, but those tapes are like highlight reels, they don't show the whole game. My highlights were watching Sir-Hop-A-Lot (local player) throw down a nasty one handed alley-opp which he had to reach way over his shoulder. Then the And-1 team responded with an alleyoop thrown from halfway. When the ball was coming down I was like "No Way" but Helicopter just crammed it down home. Other noticeable higlights include The Pharmacist crazy handles, where he just plain embarrased "E Man".

My favourtie AND1 player? GOtta be the Black Widow (AKA Alimoe). He's just got really smooth handles and just plain NASTY. The Black Widow hails from New York and is the most known streetball player at Rucker Park . He has some amazing in the air body control. WHen he dribbles he's like swaying side to side, so you don't know which way he's gonna go. That's it, I'm gonna start dribbling like the Black Weeeeeeeeeee-dow.

I remember this dude because in the AND1 mixtape 6, they profiled Black Widow in his own backyard, Harlem NY. He meets some homeboy on the street, and this exchange happens:

ALimoe: (Gives him a hug and then points) This is my nigga, Jake, from up North. He just got out (Ghetto Dictionary: Out of Prison)

Jake: I'm telling Niggas on the inside about the Black Widow.

I'm just like wow, that's pretty impressive, that he's reppin him whilst in Prison. And the coolest bit is when the Black Widow must have been asked what's your background in playing bball and he says "the streets is my resume". If only I could say that at the next job interview.

MIA

There were a number of noticeables missing:

Hot Sauce (apparently you got your own tour now)

SickWidit

Shane "The Dribbling Machine"

Escalade - I wanted to see you dude, apparently your some huge monster

Half Man Half Amazing - THe man with the original name before Vince Carter was annointed.

Skip to My Lou - How could you give up the AND1 tour for a starting position at the Toronto Raptors?!!! Your a sellout! Nah, you deserve it man, you worked your way up from the streets. The streets will always give you love.

Post Mortem

I just completed my first exam, litigation and I think i've done quite poorly. I've studied my ass off for the last week and a half and know the subject back to front. Even the most complex cases I understand. But for all this effort, I don't feel like my exam reflects ANYTHING of what I actually know. I just hate that.

Firstly, it didn't help that my exam was running like 10 minutes late. It was meant to go from 2- 4pm. But we started at 2.15pm and i was full panicking when I got to 3pm because I thought the exam finished at 4pm, not 4.10pm. Those 10 minutes are precious. You could say that I was in a state of frenzy quite similar to Bill Rancic from the Apprentice in the last episode. I then realised that at 4pm, that there was still like 10 mintues to go. I can't really blame anyone as I should have taken this into account, but I choose to blame the exam staff that said "we don't have a room for you. that room is closed" and they funnelled us to different rooms, and then realised that there was no room, and took us back into that room. SO that didn't help at ALL.

Secondly, I just hate exams because it never reflects my ability partly because of the pressure and time involved. We have to spit out everything we know in two hours. As a student, I don't its the optimum learning environment, where you have to cram everything into your head. I prefer assignments as I can do that in my own time, with a lot less pressure. I can do orderly deep complex research, and organise my thoughts and ideas in a logical manner, as opposed to my disjointed and vomit of information. Personally, I feel that I can take away so much more from doing an assignment.

Thirdly, I didn't stick with my game plan. ALthough I have all this stuff SUPPOSEDLY worked out and they are worth equal marks, I always spent too much time on some questions, which takes away from the other ones. Time allocation is so crucial yet I never seem to lose my head in the actual exam. I screwed up BIG time because there were 5 questions and the last couple of questions I had only half the time allocated and it didn't help that I thought that I had less time available.


What I would do

If I ever become an academic, I would either do away with exams or make them count a lot less. Exams just put too much pressure and unnecessary stress on people. But then again, 100% assignments are not the way to go either, because I've had frens fully complain about that too. If Judge Ho every became Dr. Ho (I like the sound of that - Kind of like Dr Dre or Dr J), I'd have assessments throughout the semester and an exam at the end that counted max 30%. I reckon you would save a few years off some people lives.


Dr. Ho is in the house

IF i became an academic, my title would be Dr. Ho B.Bus (Accounting) B. Law (Hons) M. Tax PHD Fantasy Basketball. How cool/weird would that be?!! Hopefully, I get my second class honours in law or even first class (if some miracle happens and I score like 100 in everything), and then do my compulsory Masters in Tax, and then take my PHD in Fantasy Basketball 101, I'd end up with those qualifications.

I am so qualified to do a PHD in fantasy basketball. I have spent enormous amounts of time studying the NBA, reading articles and analysing stats. In addition, I have had extensive discussions on this topic with my fellow illuminaries: Professor Tim, Master Ashby, Dr. Hoi, Dean Bucky, Illinois Scholar Chuck, Emeritus Ken, Adjunct Professor Aadesh, Bacca-Laureate Tony and His excellency Christian.

Seriously, I think we'd make a pretty awesome faculty on fantasy bball. Our combined brainpower and academic research ability would surpass any other faculty in the world, even Brian Funston's team on ESPN Motion.

Who else reads ProBasketball Prospectus at 3AM in the morning whilst on holiday in the Blue Mountains, surrounded by his colleagues Professor Tim and Dr Hoi reading The Jordan Rules and Money Ball.

Exams, Exams

I got my exams tomorrow, and although I don't feel stressed out, I must be. Why? Because I have these painful ulcers in my mouth (Cringe). I always seem to get sick around exam time as well. Seriously, this is like the worst period in the whole year. This is when you do the mad late night cram sesssions, shoving as much info into your brain as possible and regurgitating it during the exam.

I really can't wait til all this stuff is over. Hopefully, I won't have to do another exam ever again.


Great Black Hype

How cool is this? There's this Black African guy from Ethopia who might be in the Essendon AFL squad. He only started playing about 6 weeks ago, but this guy is a beast. He broke the clubs 20M sprint record, vertical leap, and agility test. He's a full athlete with a background in playing basketball and soccer. To me, that's the perfect but highly unusual pedigree for AFL.

You need the rebounding skills of basketball to grab those high balls, plus this dude must have some serious hops (NB: He's black and broke the vertical record). Also, he's got the foot co-ordination down pat, having played soccer and used both feet. And he's friggin huge - 196cm, but only 76 kg. I reckon this guy could be the Hakeem Olajuwon of the AFL. A dude with mad footwork, and also an intense desire to succeed.

If I could choose some NBA players to make the AFL, this is who I would select:

- Shaq: Cause it'd just be funny. He has amazing agility, plus he just crushes everyone else. Not sure about the stamina though.

- Kobe: Cause he just glides in the air and he could utilise those hops.

- KG: I want him to scream in the face of someone after he's kicked a goal.

- Earl Boykins: He'd just run around crazy like Michael O'Loughlin, and it's be funny seeing him run around.

- Ron Artest: He full shut down anyone with his phyiscal nature and also his size (6'8 250 pounds). Plus it'd be interesting seeing him throwing cameras around aftera loss.

- Kenyon Martin: Love to see him ram a few people with some shoulder charges. And throw some 'bows.

The big showdown: Casey v Anthony

This is what it boils down to, the big battle, the showdown, the title fight, no holds barred. A winner will emerge, as will a shortlived career as the Australian Idol. Who will win? My tip is Anthony. Although I said Haley Jensen ages ago, that was just a joke. I wasn't serious. As if there is any stopping Anthony Calleas right now.

This seasons idol has been a very strange series. I just could not believe when Ricki Lee got kicked out. I would have like to have seen a Ricki-Lee versus Anthony showdown in the finals. BUt what does it matter anyway. As soon as the show finishes, a crappy album will be released within a week and a shortlived career (if Guy Sebastien's career is anything to go by). They get to build on their 15 minutes of fame and release a couple of hit singles. ANd then they will recede into the back of our memory within a year or two.

Prediction: Anthony by a landslide.

Fantasy NBA

How am I coming last or close to last in the Flavo's league? Ashby is coming last and he's not doing jack all. Whereas I am actually trying (!!!!!!!) and still not producing the goods. ALthough I shouldn't be jumping to any rash conclusions right now after a week, my team just ain't performing. Guys which I thought were solid have just been slow out of the block. And Donyell Marshall who I thought would be a fantasy beast has just been a bust. He can't get any gametime as they are playing Bosh at PF and Rose at SF. What's the deal with that?

If I were the raptors I'd insert Marshall into the lineup and take out Rose, cause he's so much better. The only rationale for Rose starting is that he's a better ball handler and helps spread the floor for VC and doesn't clog the key. BUt how can you ignore 18pts/10 boards/1.5 blocks/40% threes/1.5 threes/1 steal. These stats are off the top of my head, but still, you gotta go with Ludacris.

Also, the Bulls suck right now. Apparently "Management (Jerry Resindorf) builds championships" not Jordan. The bulls are just mediocre and are not going anywhere.

If I were the GM of the Bulls this is what I would do:

- Tell Eddy Curry to shape up or ship out. He is just really pissing me off with his "i've go potential but don't wanna try" attitude. I dont see how someone with that kind of talent and that size can average 4 rebounds. I could average 4 rebounds in the NBA (well maybe not, but I were that big........). I'm all for either getting rid of him or just resigning him to a small contract of $5 mill or so.

- Forget about Tyson Chandler right now. He has the makings of a great defensive player, but he's injured too much. He obviously has serious back problems. He's going to be in our long term plans.

- Have a permanent starting lineup with Kirk Hinrich/Luol Deng/Andre Nocioni. Go with Antonio Davis at Centre and someother chump at PF.

- Stop drafting these chump guards. We continually draft point guards but none of them seem to work out. Ben Gordon is the latest in the line of busts (except Hinrich). Jay Williams got injured, Jamal Crawford got traded. Now we have a steady floor general.

We need to start making some serious moves and get some second tier free agents and draft another big power forward, but NOT a high schooler. We need someone that is more ready to contribute. Right now, we need to attract a decent powerforward and a wingman. Forget the centre position, coz we are in the East. I reckon go for a guy with a winning attidude or someone with some serious skills but is in an unhappy sitiuation. We obviously cannot build through the draft, because that is what we have been trying to do for ages.

Go for some established veteran guys with skills like Peja Stojakovic, Ray Allen and then a bunch of decent second tier free agents that could be our reserves.We should also make a run at a centre like Primoz Brezerc becoz he's cheap right now.

We could have a starting line up of:
G - Kirk Hinrich
G - Luol Deng
F - Peja Stojaovic
F- Tyson Chandler
C- Primoz Brezerc

Bench: Nocioni/Gordon/Curry/Davis etc.....

The train driver

What's the deal with the trains these days? It's gotten much worse this year than ever before. Trains running continually late, drivers chucking orchestrated sickies, derailments. It's just gone bananas. My friend Mayank had to wait 2 hours for a train between Ashfield and Redern, a journey that normally takes 15 minutes, becuase the electrical power station blew up. I've had to wait like up to 30-40 minutes some days. Last Monday, it was reported that NO, repeat No trains were running on time. What's the rail's excuse? Trees had fallen on the train tracks. Yeah right. Yes, numerous trees decided to fall over at the same time, right onto the tracks.

Part of this blame belongs to the train drivers. They want to hold strikes to increase their pay. What kind of measly pay are these overworked people getting? I have it on good authority from a mate that used to work at Rail Infrastructure Corp and another friend that works in the field of Industrial Relations that train drivers are way overpaid. How much are they getting? Like $75 per hour. Let me put that into perspective. The average adult hourly wage pay is something like $17 per hour. This is what happens when a organised small group of people in charge of a critical infrastrcuture hold the goverment to mercy. Apparently rail staff are getting fully abused at train stations as well as railgoers take out their frustration on them.

The NSW labour government actually said that if they don't control the trains they will lose control of their seats in parliament , with a predicted 10-15% swing. You know what? I hope they do. The trains are critical to most people, who depend on it as an essential means of transport. A lot of people, like yours truly don't have the luxury of owning a car. Petrol prices are through the roof (where's the natural gas alternative?). Trains also create less pollution. Therefore, if people are pissed off about the trains, they have the right to question their local MP and give'em the flick - because they are supposed to be dealing with these issues. Now, they are running scared and are raising the issue with Michael Costa.

The Solution

1. No more higher pay
Instead of continually ranting about this problem, let's look at ways to fix the problem. Firstly, I don't think increasing their pay will do anything, but increase industrial action, because they know they have the government by the balls. But if you don't pay them, they will strike again. Carr increased their pay by a collective $361 million, which is heaps already.

2. More qualified drivers
What we need is a long term solution to the problem. We need more train drivers. We increase the numbers, so they have less power. But it ain't that easy. Becoming a train driver requires someone to be a rail guard for 2 years. I reckon either take away this requirement or reduce it to one year.

How hard can it be to be a train driver? YOU DRIVE ON A ONE WAY TRACK. You put the accelerator down when your travelling between stations, and put the brake on when you approach the station. Wait two or three minutes, and start her up again. I'm not sure what else goes into the job, but if that's it, I'm sure we can get more people. I don't it's necessary to be a rail guard for two years to do this. If you advertise that its $75 per hour, people will get interested. Start funneling unemployed people into the train driver courses.

3. Break the union hold
Also, we need to break this union hold on the train tracks. Start bringing in enterprise bargaining. Offer them $90 per hour to become non-union. Screw the unions cause they are creating the problems. Bring in small groups of rail staff, and show them clippings of negative press articles, newspaper reports, pissed off customers, and get them to realise the problem they have created. Tell them they have the opportunity to help fix this problem and listen to what they want, as opposed to these orchestrated union bosses that are strangling our train system.

4. Consider privatising parts of the city rail system
I know this sounds radical, but sell off bits of the system to private investors. Have it like the bus system, where regions are sold off to private bus companies. Bring in entreprenuers and people with a profit motive. I'm not sure how it would work out, but this would assist in breaking the union hold. For example, let company A would run the East Hills Line, and it goes back and forth between the city and East Hills. Company B would control the NOrth Shore Line. The trains would go once around the city circle and then back to where they came from.
Alternatively, we could also sell off the most lucrative line, the city circle, to the highest bidder. Let private companies control the loops.

Also, a huge problem is that the goverment is losing heaps of money servicing regional areas. But we have to do it as they are community service obligations (CSO's) otherwise these people have no access to transport. Don't sell off these areas.

What do you think?

The Streets Is Watching

Depending on your view in life, something very bad or very lucky happened yesterday. My brother was robbed whilst walking home from the train station. He walked through an alleyway (which I happen to walk through all the time) where a guy was sorta walking very slowly at the other end. My bro crossed the road and this guy followed after him and asked him for the time. Then he put his hand on my bro's shoulder and said "Give me your wallet and mobile. Don't make me stab you". He then flashed him the handle of a kitchen knife which was in his sleeve. My bro had no alternative but to hand over his belongings.

What time did his happen? At 3.45 PM, in bright daylight. Where did this happen? Only METRES from the public school which had people in there. This is just crazy. You might think, its daytime, and your near a public place, but robberies can happen anywhere. My bro did contemplate running into the skool, but I reckon he did the right thing. The guy was obviously very serious and my bro did think he was going to get stabbed if he didn't hand over his stuff. It's not worth it. What's some money and a mobile phone. It's better to walk away unscathed, alive and well.

Gimme The Loot

Later on I went back to the scene of the crime with the police and we looked for his wallet. The funny thing is another high skool kid came through the alleyway holding his mobile SMSing someone. He then walked through the skool oblivious to what transpired in the past hour. It was exactly what my bro would have done. I felt like walking up to this kid and saying "Mate you might want to put that phone away, a robbery just happened here!!!!". Was my bro in the wrong place at the wrong time? It could have easily have been this kid as opposed to my bro.

We can look at this incident and say it was just bad luck that he was there. Or we can took the optimistic approach and say, its good luck that all he lost was his wallet/phone and managed to walk away safe. I tend to look on the bright side of things.

Has my suburb become more dangerous? Quite possibly, because I got robbed about 5 months ago, when someone followed me from the train station. If we can learn anything from these two incidents, its the following:

1. Walk along the main roads, no matter what time of the day. There is a higher visible presence.
2. If you see someone arouses any suspicion, just avoid them. Just walk the other way.
3. It's better to walk away unscathed. Money, and mobiles are replaceable. Body parts are not.
4. Learn the 5 palm imploding technique from Kill Bill 2. No, I am just kidding.
5. Life should be cherished and we should thank God that nothing serious happened.

Just lastly, I want to leave the description of the offender: Male, in his 20's, wearing a white "USA" jumper, blue jeans, short brown hair with blonde tips, used the word "bro", of a certain descent. My suburb is also in the Bankstown district. I will let you form your own conclusions.


Sky's the limit : My career goals

I have been thinking about this for a long time and have a "to do" list which used to be stuck on my wall.Here they are in no order:

- Lawyer: working for a big commercial firm, then a tort litigation lawyer, Erin Brockovich style. I want to sue the ass of these tobacco/absestos companies. I want to bring them to their knees.

- Entrepreneur: It is my dream to have a start-up. A first born global, with new and fresh ideas. It' doesn't have to be huge. I just want to do my own thing. And I would like to sell products, not a service.

- CEO: I would to run some big company. It doesnt' have to be listed on the stock exchange, because my heart rate would coincide with the rise and fall of the stock price. I'd be happy running a private company. Action Badges maybe?!!

- UN officer: Another ambitious goal is to work for a UN department. I want to be a junior officer at the UN. I am someone that loves world affairs and debating them to other people. I have already looked up the entry requirements and seen the exams (they ain't that hard!).

- Business Journalist: I want to write for like BRW or the AFR. i have started up my own publication known as the "thought leaderships series". My first article is the "The Agile Corporation", which is still a work in progress. I just consume business books like they are rice, and want to follow in the footsteps of Michael Lewis/Frank Partnoy - although I ain't no investment back insider. I want to produce a book and it don't have to be a best seller.

- Careers Counsellor:

- Academic: Once I have acheived all of the above, i would like to go back and teach at uni. Maybe in the area of corporate governance or maybe something a lot more interesting - "Fantasy NBA 101".


These goals are more unrealistic, but here they are:

1. Fantasy NBA tv analyst: I want to be like that dude Brian Funston on ESPN Motion TV and just talk about fantasy NBA all day. My team is coming like last in the FLAVOS league and first in Ken's league. But its something that I do every day, checking up stats/reports even though i should be studying for my exam.

2. GM of a NBA team: This would be taking my fantasy NBA dream to the next level - reality. Doing real player moves, having a hand in their careers, considering the salary cap, drafting the next big thing. The guy I would be most like is prolly Mark Cuban, minus the one billion dollars. Why? Because in the end I'm just a huge fan like him and have my own blog !!!hahaha. I'd take over the Chicago Bulls and take'em to the Finals.

Next chapter in my life

Last friday's Litigation lecture will be my last lecture ever at uni. Although I may be doing a masters degree next year in tax, I am slightly sentimental because I will no longer be attending uni, going to classes, and seeing some of my best friends at uni. I've been to uni for a long, long time. 5 years in fact. A lot of my waking hours have been spent at the markets campus, which has been like my second home for the past 5 years. Whereas most people just came to class and left immediately, I was one of those people that used to hang around, talk to people, play some pick-up basketball, liked to study at the cafeteria/library, log on to check my email every couple of hours or so. I am not sure about how working will go because I am so used to the uni life - study, go to class for 12 weeks, exams, then a 3 month break.

I am someone that probably prefers normality and consistentcy rather than constant change. That is why I am very happy to be working at Deloittes, where I did my summer vacation internship last year. I already know most of the people I will be working with, my divison, approximately where I will be sitting, even worked out who my lunch buddies (Dawen!) will be.

There will be a transition from uni life to working life. Maybe bigger for me that most people because I have spend most of my time at uni and the fact that I have only worked sporadically part time. I just hope that my five years undergraduate training will bode me well for my future career.

The thing I will miss most once I leave uni will be the friends that I used to see every day. I have forged many good friendships over the years and these people have helped me along the way and made life a lot more fun for me. The daily interactions, the communal worrying about exams/assignments, the joint criticisms of uni are things that I will miss most. Because I have been at uni so long, in a concentrated area (the markets campus), I am able to walk from one end to the other and usually say "hi" to few people along the way. It was cool mixing with the year above me, and the year below me, and also with a lot of the ballers that weren't in my course.

Uni has helped shaped the person that I am today. Firstly, mentally in the things that I was taught (I am sure that accounting standard AASP 10785743 will come in handy one day). Often, I wasn't pushed extremely hard in the accounting courses, but I am sure that it has moulded my way of thinking.
Secondly, uni also developed me socially. I went from an environment at high skool which was all boys, to a co-ed environement. Bit of change, I would have to say. It was at UTS where I also met my lovely girlfriend, Dawen. It was here that i learnt how to do group work, although I must admit that in the majority of the groups that i was in, I happen to do most of the work.

Very frustrated

In response to some of my users demands that Haloscan (the comments section) was not working properly, I have tried to rectify the situation but to no avail. I have been very frustrated with trying to put Haloscan back in, and even called in the technical experts (my little bro who is a computer whiz). We will have to do without the comments section via Haloscan, and I will keep you posted. In the meanwhile, you can still post a comment as Anonymous, and put your name in there somewhere, so we know who you are.

Ara-rat

There have been some confusing reports coming out about the Palestine leader, Yasser Arafat. I saw him alive and well when he boarded onto the plane, then heard he was dead, then a news report said he was actually brain dead, and in today's news it said he was no longer brain dead. Whatever the case is, the Palestine leader is in trouble.

Even more the worry is, what will will happen to Palestine if Arafat dies? There would be seem to be no leader in place , although my understanding was that Arafat is no longer the actual "offical leader", as the Israelis refused to deal with him in the ROADMAP TO PEACE agreement (which lasted a whole day). Arafat or as his enemies call him "Ara-rat", is hated by his enemies very deeply and much loved by his people. ALthough he aint' offically in charge, he is much like how the Rock in WWF is the people's Champion. He still has a wide influence in the exiled State.

Seriously, I am slightly concerned about the situation because there may be a power struggle within the PLO to establish who is in control and also just about what will happen to the whole Palestine/Israeli situation. Arafat never caved in to Israel's occupation of the Gaza Strip and reminds me of that line in that Gangstarr song "we like cockroaches, never dying, always living". There's no doubt in my mind that he orchestrated a lot of the rightwing factions terrorist attacks.

But we must think, what drives these people to this and Arafat to condone such actions? When you got a tank on your doorstep, your people are living in concentration camps, foreign troops are patrolling your borders, you don't even have your own State, and you have a hostile government that could assassinate at you at time, the UN has stated that should be your country but the other side REFUSES to move, you might go a little crazy and take extreme measures.

I am not excusing or justifying any terrorist actions taken by Arafat, but what I am trying to get at, him and his people had nothing to lose. I am totally against terroism as a means of making political statements. I just think that the world could be a better place if we could work together in peace building. But then, is this wishful thinking? Am I too idealistic?

Just lastly, someone at uni raised this conspiracy theory: Arafat was alive and well when he boarded the plane. As soon as he landed in the French Hospital, he was pretty much brain dead. Did someone at the hospital have something to do with this? Were they secret Israeli spies posing as doctors that may have done a hand in the leaders mysterious deterioation. Remember, Arafat has as many enemies as friends and the Israeli spy service is one of the best in the world. HMMMMMMMMMMMM .........Soemthing to ponder about.

Just like in the JFK assassination, there must have been a second "doctor". DOCTOR DEATH!!!!!


Donate some blood

What's the deal with Justice Shaw? In case you didn't know, this dude was a Supreme Court judge and was drunk and crashed into another car. He then fled the scene and ended up in hospital. He had a blood sample taken and was supposed to be given to the police. Somehow, his blood sample went missing??!!. Normally, what happens is that there are two blood samples. One goes to the police, and the person donating the blood, takes the other one.

There has been a furious uproar about this. Firstly how did it go missing and secondly, should Justice Shaw hand over the other sample?. Of all the samples that were meant to be in the box, his was the only to go missing. This is dodgy. On a scale of dodginess of 1 to 10, it's like 15 i.e. it's through the roof. I have it on good authority that once the sample goes in, it stays in. It don't go nowhere but straight to the police. I still believe that its possible that a policeman along the way took it. BUt my source (obviously a former cop) has told me that the only possibility was that the doctor didn't put the sample in.

I told you, there is a second doctor involved.

The other HUGE issue is, should he hand it over? Shaw has eventually decided to hand it over, but he should have done it without hesistation. As a Judge, he of all people must abide by the law. Why? Because the law applies equally to everyone, but a judge must also not be above the law. A JUDGE SETS THE LAW! He hands out the sentences daily. He decides who should win a case and who should lose. He should set an example to the rest of the Australian people. He has no legal obligation to hand it over, but a MORAL obligation. SHaw doesn't have to hand it over, but if he wants to maintain respect in the judiciary system and in the law itself, he's gotta do the right thing. Just like how the wrestler the ROCK goes "because the ROCK says so". In this case, it's "because Judge Ho said so".

I want to leave with a word of wisdom from Judge Ho:

EVERYONE IS EQUAL BEFORE THE LAW. BUT SOME PEOPLE ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.

Bush or Kerry?

There's only a few hours to go before the polls in America decide who will be the next U.S. President. Will it be George Bush or John Kerry? To be honest, I don't think it really affects me and several people have said that they don't really care. However, it is one of the, if not the most powerful position in world politics. America, being the economic and military behemoth and last legitimate superpower (China doesn't quite cut it yet), has substantial influence in the world's affairs.

I would like to see George Bush go. I think there is a lot of anti-Bush sentiment going around as well. I hope he gets voted out but I think national security will be the biggest issue for the yanks and it's quite possible that Bush will get back in. Bush has only been in office for like 5 years as he was voted in 2000. I remember because I was at uni that day at UWS and quickly during my break ran over to the computer lab to check whether it was Al Gore or Bush that would win. I seemed to be the only person that was concerned that day, everyone was oblivious to the shift in American politics.

Like I said, Bush has been in office for only 1 presdential term, but he's managed to screw the entire world in that process. I believe he's done more harm than good. Look at the latest F.I.A.S.C.O. He claimed that there were nuclear weapons in Iraq, using the term "weapons of mass destruction". What happened to them? He decided to invade iraq (based on his dodgy intelligence data) and once conquered it, claimed that although there were no weapons he was liberating the Iraqi peoples. Isn't that a cop out? I think he said there were estimated to be 650,000 to 1 million tons of nuclear weaponry in iraq. He claims that they were moved by Saddam and the Republican guard before the troops moved in.

Excuse me, but how does one move ONE MILLION TONS OF NUCLEAR WEAPONRY unseen? In fact how does such a large amount disappear? Was David Copperfield involved?

In short, Bush screwed up. He is not man enough to admit he made a huge mistake. His lapdog, John howard, also won't admit that he made a mistake either, blaming the U.S. intelligence. The other day, Bush claimed in some press release that the weapons disappeared but Kerry just pounced on him. It was funny watching Kerry's campaign, how he just paying out Bush and the so-called disappearnce of these weapons. He was going on about "they lied about the war. What other lies are they keeping?". I think he's trying to drum up fear about other skeletons in the closet that Bush might have. What about area 59?!! Give us an answer dammit!

Bush has miserably failed as a president as his approach has always been iron handed. It's the bomb the crap out of them first, ask questions later approach. It doesn't work in world politics. And to be honest, I just don't like the man. he just looks ridiculous every time he laughs, with his face all scrunched up. The United Nations has done a lot of good work in the past, but his decision on the pre-emptive strike on Iraq which by-passed the security council was devasting.

I'm not sure if John Kerry is the man either. To me, they seemed like polar opposites. Bush the war time president, and Kerry the peaceful, conciliator. I liked Bill Clinton. he was very charismatic and had a lot of good ideas like the Camp David Peace Accords, which attempted to bring peace between warring factions in the middle east (i.e. Israel and Palestine). Despite his indisrections, Bill was the man.

I SAY BRING BACK BILL!!!!!

Big Band is a flop

What was with the big band format for australian Idol? It sucked! Although Mark "Touchdown" Holden proclaimed it early on as one of the best shows ever, I can confidently say it rates as one of the worst ever. No one suited big band except for Courtney "she will be loved" Murphy. All the songs were boring as. It just wasn't interesting and I turned it off and finished off my assignment (shock, horror, gasp! Me turn it off?)

Prediction: Casey Donovan is out.

Kryptonite
I'm listening to the new Guy Sebastien album now. I've only listened to 4-5 tracks and I hvae to say it's not bad. I like what I have heard so far although it got slayed by the music critics in the SMH. Although I must admit that the article did say it's for "guy-hards". Am I Guy-hard? That's a rhetorical question, but feel free to pay me out on the comments section :P.

Actually, you know who Guy sounds like? Tim said this first, but i have to slightly agree - D'Angelo. I have the D'Angelo Brown Sugar album, and their voices are quite similar.

Heavy Rotation

I took this concept from Bucky, stating what he is currently listening to. Well, my favourite song at the moment is "Two Can play that game" by Bobby Brown feat Teddy Riley. OK you might think Bobby is gay, but in the late 80's, early 90's he was the bomb. He's old skool (as in the time period). My bro who thinks he's some kind of RNB historian, claims he was the "Justin Timberlake of that era". Not sure about that, but Bobby was huge back then. He's kind of regressed heaps with his latest song from memory the one with Ja Rule, where he's just screaming in the background.

This song has the funkiest beat I've heard in a while (although I have heard this song a few years back but neglected to play the CD). It's in the new jack swing style and produced by Teddy Riley. Teddy even raps in the song, and he's on point as well. Very slick song, and i reckon most people would like it too. Just want to say that Bobby Brown was a integral member of New Edition as well - perhaps even the member. I'd have to check with Ken (a self proclaimed new edition fan) but Bobby was the soul of the group. Although the other guys were talented in their own right, without him it would have been like Michael Jordan and the Bulls.

In fact, I need to grab the CD and play it right now. In short, Bobby had skills.

The Pacers Just Got Abused!

This kind of stuff just makes my stomach turn.I cannot (repeat ABSOLUTELY CANNOT) understand why the Indiana Pacers resigned Jamal "The Abuser" Tinsley for 6 years at $40-50 million dollars. What were the Pacers thinking? This is ridiculous. Tinsley stats are "averaged 8.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game in 2003-04". If that doesn't disgust you what about this: "It was a happy ending for a player who started last season third on the depth chart behind Kenny Anderson and Anthony Johnson".

I have no idea how a player with Tinsleys lack of skill/ability/potential ends up with so much money. This bloke was a third string point guard on his own team. Can anyone say Adonal Foyle? I could name 29 point guards better than him. I wouldn't even select him for my fantasy team, let alone be my starting point guard. it's not as if there's no point guards around. I want to leave this rant with this gem of a quote:

"He played so well over the second half of the season that Pacers president Larry Bird dubbed him the team's next All Star".

Pigs might fly before he makes the All Star Squad. I think Larry Bird might have been misquoted on this. How would The Abuser beat out the East Guards such as Paul Pierce, Marbury, AI, Francis, Lebron & Ron Artest (although may qualify as SF), Dwayne Wade, Gilbert Arenas?

I want to leave with the absolutely funniest part of the article:

"When asked how much the contract will pay him, the soft-spoken Tinsley would only say, "Enough"."


You Got Paid.

Dreaded lit file is done

The litigatoin assignemnt is done. Well pretty much done. From tomorrow, i am gonna start studying for exams. If you don't hear from me for the next 26 days, its because i'm in exam lock down mode. I'm going to go out with a bang. That is, for the next 25 or so days, I'm gonna study my ass off.

Congrats are in order
To Ivan, congrats on getting a vacation work position with a pre-eminent law firm. both my proteges have done well (ivan with freehills and jacquline with PWC) - btw i'm kidding with the protege thing LOL. I just try to help people where I can.

Fantasy Draft
Very happy with my selections although a bit forward happy. I just decided to draft regardless of positoin and ended up with KG/JO/Amare with my first 3 picks. Then i took more forwards with Donyell Marshall/Artest/Jefferson. Then I realised i was screwed and decided to take some centers and guards. BUt we drafted 30 players each (well me and ken stayed the whole night). Pretty crazy.

Two loves in my life

There are two important things in my life right now. One of them is my girlfriend, dawen. She is a very special person in my life and we have been through a lot in the last 4 years or so (who's counting). I know that we have had our ups and downs, but i think we've enjoyed every minute of it :-) . There are obviously things that i would have like to have differently and there are also things that i wouldlt' have. Life is full of suprises and so is the 4.G.O2 building at UTS 4 years ago LOL. I don't want to write too much about this as it's getting too personal and this blog apparently has many more readers than I thought it did (why don't you leave comments??!!)

My other passion in life is basketball. I'm not sure if you've gathered, but I've obsessed wtih basketball. Whether, I'm reading an article in ESPN, analysing stats, reading box scores, playing NBA live, playing basketball at uni/Blakehurst, talking about bball with someone, or watching a video about top ten dunks. People talk about a work/life balance but to me its a basketaball/life balance. Why do I love this game? It's simple and easy to play, and joyous to watch. The action, showmanship and the spectacular moves make it unparelled as a sport. The players are also incredible and I have worshipped them since I started collecting basketball cards in year 7.

I don't know where this is from but I think I heard Hoi said it once:

"I didn't choose basketball, Basketball chose me."

And I like this quote as well. Me and Alex (where have gone to now?) used to like saying this too:

"Ball Above All"

I'm pretty sure we stole that line from somewhere, but its so appropriate. I think in another life, I must have been a basketball player lol. Well minus the skills anyway.