Hoop Dreamz Video

Hoop Dreams

Now basketball is my favorite sport
I like the way they dribble up and down the court
I like slam-dunks that take me to the hoop
My favorite play is the alley-oop
I like the pick-n-roll
I like the give-n-go
The game is basketball, now you know!

BOUNCE BOUNCE SWISH
BA BOUNCE BOUNCE SWISH
BOUNCE BOUNCE SWISH
AS EASY AS A WISH

BOUNCE BOUNCE SWISH
BA BOUNCE BOUNCE SWISH
BOUNCE BOUNCE SWISH
I NEVER SEEM TO MISS

Put a ball in my hands and come and find me
Me, the best from here to Mississippi
I get challenged all the time from scrubs like you
I just blow em away like the sound (blow) (blow)

You think you can guard me
You think you can stop me
You might as well go home and drink ya coffee

You can't handle this rap
Can't handle these rhymes
But more importantly, on the court you're a waste of my time

(CHORUS)

Next to me there is no one close
To beat me, I recommend a steroid dose
Nowadays that is very wrong
But so is creating this ridiculous song ☺

All it says is that I am the best
I am no match in ball for the rest
Doesn't matter if your black or white
Being Hauole Filipino is what is right

(CHORUS)

Crossing you up might be, too easy
The answer may be, making you deezy
My jump shot often is compared to heaven
Pretty soon I'm up by a hundred eleven

The game is over
Just give up already
Now its time for all my confetti

My moment to shine
I am the best

BUT SO HAS THIS DREAM BEEN: I MUST CONFESS
BUT SO HAS THIS DREAM BEEN: I MUST CONFESS
BUT SO HAS THIS DREAM BEEN: I MUST CONFESS

BOUNCE BOUNCE SWISH
BA BOUNCE BOUNCE SWISH
BOUNCE BOUNCE SWISH

A DREAM DETERMINED BY I

Analysis

If you may not have known already, I moved from California at the end of my 4th grade year at the age of 9, due to my parents longing to live on this beautiful land of Hawaii once again. It was not easy and I left almost everything behind including the only life I knew, but one thing that I left, was again right there in front of me when we landed in Honolulu- the game of basketball.
Ever since I was just getting out of diapers, I have been playing this wonderful game involving, speed, power, athleticism, and skill. At the ripe age of 4 my dad placed one of these spherical shaped orange balls in my hand, and from there I was off and running. I have won countless games playing basketball, from pickup games to games on the grandest stage in Las Vegas. I have seen the best players in the world at Lakers games, and I have seen some of the worst at nearby parks, but through the years and the changes in my life, my love for it has stayed constant, and that is why creating a song about basketball fit in trying to create a song that portrays me.
The most difficult part of this assignment for me, was trying to begin my lyrics. I listened to at least 50 songs for about 2 hours before I picked two that I really enjoyed based on the beats and sounds. The beat I decided to imitate was from the song titled The Re-up by Eminem featuring 50 Cent, and I got some of my lyric ideas from the song called Basketball sung by Lil Bow Wow. From that point on, the ideas just came to me; rhyme after rhyme were jotted down and before long, I had my own rap about my love for the game.
What made my song unique from other generic basketball songs that have been created is that I made my song based on a dream. My life long goal is to become a star at the most elite level, meaning the NBA. Although this goal is rare, it is achievable, and selfishly, I would want nothing more in the world than for this to happen.
I began my song by simply stating that "Basketball is my favorite sport" and then talking about all the different aspects of basketball that I crave for- "dribbling, the alley-oop, slam dunks, pick n' roll, and the give n' go." Everything about basketball gets me excited and wanting for more; from the smell of the ball, to the sound of the sneakers squealing against the sticky polished wood floor. Picture you with the ball with the game on the line. You are dribbling and feel as if no one can stop you from the inevitable- winning, because of all the hard work you put in to get to this point. You and the ball work together as if you were one machine, and just before the time reaches zero, you let the ball slide off your hands. As it glides towards the cold hard, orange rim, there are 5 opposing guys trying to knock that ball from its path, but you are so skilled that none of them can get to it, and before anyone can even let out a word, you hear SWISH; and you have just won the game.
This situation I just put you in, resembles what my chorus portrays. I think about being on the grandest stage, taking the biggest shot, and winning the game for my team. It gives the reader a sense of a beat, while giving light to the feeling of a basketball game, where you feel as if you are unbeatable. As you begin to hear more of the lyrics, I pile on reason upon reason as to how I am the best, and how "there is no one close" to my superiority. "You think you can guard me, You think you can stop me, You might as well go home and drink ya coffee, You can't handle this rap, Can't handle these rhymes, But more importantly, on the court you're a waste of my time."
Finally by the end by of the song, you figure out the real meaning behind the song. I didn't just create a song telling you about how good I am, or how unbeatable my game is, but actually how I someday hope to achieve this level of play through hard work and persistence. We all have dreams, and we all would want nothing more than for these dreams to become real, but in my case, my dream of being the best, is determined by me. My work ethic and only I can make my dream one day become a reality. "A dream determined by I."

UNKNOWN FEAR

each soul stands alone throughout existence
throughout time, forgotten by all who cared
randomly snatching with god's assistance
from the innocent to those who dared
it leaves all families with remorse and despair
it brings fear for what the future might hold
emotions of sadness are brought to bear
hearts near to the dead become frozen cold

death; a shadow lingering from afar
death; a stalker in arms reach of pouncing
death; a finish line beyond what is far
death; a public showing of denouncing

The loss of life is expected with fear
Death being unknown is all that is clear



Have you ever been bored to the point where you just ponder about your life- How it is going? What's in store for the future? And even how it will end? Well that last question, always sends a spark of fear to my entire body. It not only scares me, but it terrifies me. I try to imagine not living anymore, and not being apart of the world, but I just make myself refuse that it will never happen. Death is the one fear, I hope to never overcome.
Due to death being such a fear of mines, I decided to suggest it to my partner as a possible subject to write about. Our teacher thought it would be a perfect topic in terms of creating a deep, thoughtful, and meaningful sonnet. Sonnets are usually written about love, because they "reflect the way people think about ideas of love." Love is a topic every individual feels strongly about, can relate to, and has an exuberant passion for, so for myself, the topic I feel passionate about, is my fright of death. In the end, this became our topic, and we began putting ideas to pencil to paper.
At first attempts, we had no idea on how to begin, even with our teacher going over the guidelines of a sonnet, so we referenced our Handbook of Poetic Forms. This book consists of almost every type of poetry ever created, with information on how to create a specific type pf poetry, and examples for us to read. We read and read, and we realized that a sonnet is not much different from basic poetry, meaning that each stanza represents a different idea based upon subject, and that the last stanza sums up what were trying to portray.
We began our sonnet by saying in our first two stanza's how it affects an individual. We touched upon how death takes anybody, and how it leaves that person distant from his old life. We shared how families become torn emotionally, and how sadness sweeps all who have ever been associated with the person. Lastly, we talked about how death in the long run, leaves you forgotten- from the earth, its people, and from yourself.
Death to me is like a spirit seizing the weak, so I came up with the next stanza, putting death in a metaphorical context, calling it a shadow, a stalker, a finish line, and an emotion. I thought this fit in to my sonnet, showing death in different ways, because to different people it affects us differently; some become joyous, others sad, some contribute, while others distance ourselves from it. In general, death can be anything we want it to be, or it wants itself to be.
Finally, our ending stanza, takes all the information we gave to the reader about death, and gives off the simple purpose of why we chose to write this sonnet. When actually dissecting our feelings, we don't actually fear death itself, but fear the unknown that comes with death, because all death is, is an unknown. It gives us a worry in the back of our minds, but we actually don't know, what specifically that worry is. "Death being unknown is all that is clear."
Based on this, analysis and writing, my whole point in hopes for the reader wasn't to show you that I live my entire live in fear or to scare you, because that is actually the contrary. I wake up each morning with gratitude, realizing that this unknown has given me another day atop this earth, and it is not yet my time. I then try and use this gift I am given to the best of my abilities, by living life to its fullest. All one can ever know is that someday, that worry in the back of our minds regarding death will become a reality. So don't live in fear of something you know so little about.

Camouflaged Maturity

I had never imagined that my legs could move that fast for such a long time. My legs just kept moving and my mind wandered, and I realized that the last time I had sprinted like this was when I was running from Mr. Antolini's house, due to paranoia of what his motives were.
I really don't know why at the time I was thinking about my experiences with Mr. Antolini, but I missed what had happened earlier that night. That was the last time I had seen Phoebe before I ran away and joined the army in the west. Now 6 months later, I am even further from her, being all the way in Europe fighting for a war I don't even know much about. All I know is that other countries started becoming ally's with one another and then decided to attack us due to our power, but we must be pretty weak if America's sending me to fight for them.
The last six months have been hell. I have learned to load a gun, shoot one, take care of a fallen soldier, and I have learned the essence of an army and its troop. All this one guy who was supposedly our leader, named Dave, said day in and day out in military school, was how nothing comes before your troop, and you do everything in your power to protect each other. What a bunch of horse- shit that was, because the first day we arrived in Europe, we were invaded on our helicopter drop of us soldiers and one of our men went down. Dave didn’t know what to do, and just started running to protect himself. What kind of leader preaches something, then does almost the exact opposite. We knew he was a fake, because of our past experiences with him, but I had no idea he was a coward.
The guy that died that day, I had talked to once before when we were learning to march during some of the very first training days. He was a nice guy, but not very talkative though. His name was Barry, and had a voice like one of the African American jazz singers in New York city- low and raspy. The rest of our troop and Dave survived that dayand since then only one other member had died.
O' boy did reality hit me when he was killed. I felt for his family, his friends, and for him. He didn't even get the chance to do what he came here to do, which was to protect and serve our country. Instead he dies while trying to anchor a territory coming out of a helicopter.
On the opposite spectrum, I have yet to kill an enemy soldier. It may sound as if I'm just as much as a coward as Dave, but my role is to fill in if a soldier goes down, and as I said earlier, only two soldiers have gone down. So I stepped in one time for the other fallen soldier (not Barry) and by the time I was ready to fire, they had fled, so actually I have not even fired a shot at an enemy soldier yet.
I have begun to realize that so far I have enjoyed serving in the military, and can now tell Phoebe that the army is something I like. Besides that very first day, our troop has been pretty tight knit. Not close enough to where I would tell anybody about Allie and his glove, but close enough to where I trust them when gunshots are being fired.
In remembrance of Allie, I have written each one of the poems he wrote on his glove on my soldier's helmet. Each of my fellow soldiers asks, but I just tell them I was bored one day and wrote a bunch of words. They don't dare ask any more questions, because I told them I grew up in the hood and was brought up by a single mom in a neighborhood, which you couldn’t make it home alive if you walked alone. I also told them how I eventually got involved in gangs, and that I was still to this day a member, so they never really dared messing with me.
Man, was I good at pulling people's legs. Sometimes as I have told you before, that I can go on and on lying, not even realizing what I'm about to say, words just come out, and before you know it, I have a whole new reputation. It amazed me how well I could think off my feet, when in tests, I was the worst, always seeming to blank out, no matter how much I studied. What also amazed me was how a couple of sentences can completely change a person's perspective on you, You could look like a regular middle class guy from New York, and turn into a gangsta from the hood.
All of a sudden I hear, "Pick up the pace, we need to be there as soon as possible." Immediately, my mind changes back from wandering and returns to the task at hand.
So here I was running, with 2 less troop members due to death, no reason to why I'm actually in the army, and a longing for my family and friends. Actually to be honest, just D.B., Phoebe, Allie, and Jane.
At least I knew why I was running. That morning we were radio-ed that we would be moving bases, and that we would populate a different base in hopes of having enough troops to raid a town by next week. It was a risky move, because we were running by the households, not knowing what men could be inside, but we kept moving.
Out of know where gunshots were fired and we all looked for cover. "Were being attacked. All guns at full force now," someone yelled out. We all took out our guns as quickly as possible and I began to load it. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a sniper pointing in the direction of Dave. What happened after was a blur. In perfect timing as I leaped, a burst of energy hit me, and it seemed as if a meteor had stricken my chest. I dropped to the hard dirt ground, and my legs began to twitch, my eyes began to close and blur, and my ears began to turn mute, as I heard Dave yell and scream at the top of his lungs for help right above me. Then everything went black visually, while my body began to feel empty, and cold.
Finally my vision returned, and the last thing I saw was me, the catcher in the rye, letting myself fall off the cliff into the field of adulthood.


REFLECTION
In this assignment based the story "The Catcher in the Rye," was to create a chapter, that could fit somewhere within the story, while at the same time keeping the personality of Holden through the words. This assignment was especially difficult, because you had to re-read a couple of chapters before you began writing to get in character of Holden's views, voice, and personality.
How I began this assignment, was by picking an idea in which I thought Holden could show off his true character traits, which ended up being about him joining the military and being chosen to fight in World War II. After I chose the idea, I read the ending chapters again, to re-familiarize myself with Holden's character, and then I simply just started writing. I let the ideas come to be, and used the book as a reference whenever I needed to incorporate more of Holden's personality.
I believe my idea and writing, fits into the time period of The Catcher in the Rye, because the true story was written in 1945, and World War II began in 1939 and ended in 1944. My writing also fits the type of language used back then, because my grandpa told me common expressions back then, were words like "horse-shit, O' boy, etc," so I tried as best as I could to make the language like it would have been back in that time. It also fits the tone of all the other chapter's Holden speaks of, because it's about his experiences and his perspectives on the whole situation he is encountering, which is what all the other chapters are about. Finally, I have related to Holden's voice and ideas in these following ways.
First of all, I blended my story/chapter with memories from the other chapters, which give it the sense, of an actual chapter being written for this book. For example, I used Holden's feelings regarding Mr. Antolini and how he is petrified of the experience he had at his house, and blended it into my chapter. I had it incorporated into Holden's wandering thoughts as he was running with his troop, which then allowed me to bring up his feelings of longing for Phoebe, Jane, and Allie.
One of my main objectives was to somehow bring Phoebe into my chapter, because in almost every chapter Holden brought Jane into his memories. She was very important to him, so she frequented his mind throughout the story. My feeling on my own chapter was that if Holden is alone longing for his friends while in the military, then Phoebe would definitely be a top priority in his mind.
Another objective I had for my own story was to have his ideas and mind wander, because in the chapters in the story, his ideas wander frequently. At one point he will think nice thoughts, then all of a sudden he thinks how he dislikes the person do to one action they may have did. Holden never looks for the best in people, while he always seems to look a lot on the negatives. For instance, Dave, who is the character I made up in my story, who did one thing wrong, and Holden forever thinks he's a coward.
Another Holden thing Holden does frequently be negative about everything he does. He lies for the fun of it, just to people not see for themselves who he really is. For instance he can be doing something productive, like serving his country, and see how pointless it is still. He blows things out of proportion and sees every little thing that may be difficult as something that is just way too hard for himself to accomplish.
Eventually I write bout how he saved his leaders life, by taking a bullet for him. The same guy he called a coward. He has begun to trust his troop members obviously, which means he himself is maturing. Previously before war, the only person he trusts is Phoebe, not even himself, but taking a bullet for someone is a first hand action of maturity, especially someone he does not have much respect for. Holden has begun to see the importance of the fellow people around him, and now has begun to trust others, so he can finally allow himself to jump off the cliff into adulthood. Holden has become a man, and now can begin his journey in life, now that he has finally learned to respect himself first and foremost.

P.S. You yourself can interpret the ending of my chapter and whether Holden survive or not.

Comic Life

Pride

When you go to Las Vegas, you expect the whole partying, getting drunk, and walking the strip scene, but when I went to Las Vegas, it was a little more PG rated and a lot more fun. This past summer, my basketball team and I went half way across the country in hopes of playing against some of the best basketball teams in the nation. We got that experience and much, much more.
It all began with my dad, my grandma, and I driving from Los Angeles, CA to Las Vegas, NV, because these travel plans were much cheaper than flying directly to Nevada. While we were driving, my teammates were all waving to me from 30,000 feet up in the air as they flew above us and took the more leisurely route. We all arrived in Las Vegas at around the same time, not knowing as to what to expect regarding shelter, food, weather, thing's to do, and basketball. We were 8 of the best local Hawaii 14 year old basketball players traveling to a destination peculiar to what were accustomed to. We were in a world much different then our own.
The Honolulu King's basketball team was yellow and gold in color, and had players ranging from 6' 4" to me at the time- 5' 6". Our coach was an ex- basketball and football star, who ultimately went to Missouri and excelled as a top player at the University. In Hawaii we were dominant, killing our opponents with our height, but also out- speeding them with our quick little guards. Before our first game in Vegas, we had no idea as to what to expect, but we knew it wouldn't be the same level as in Hawaii. We knew we would be up against it.
Our opponent for the first game was a team called the Oklahoma Hawks, and they should have been named the Giants as I recall. Every one of their players was above 6' and there tallest guy was at least 6' 7". How were we supposed to compete with that? Well, in the first half we all had this same mind-set and we were quickly down 25 points by halftime. In the second half, our coach inspired us, and told us to just play basketball, and that's what we did. We were definitely not bigger, stronger, more athletic, or even better shooters, but in the second half we just played hard. In the end, they won by about 25, which means a team, which we know was better than us, we played them even in the second half and did not let them humiliate us. In general, we held our own.
That night we all went back to the mansion that we were staying in, confused and pondering as to whether every team in the tournament would be better than us. We were down regarding basketball, but we were a bunch of 14-year-old boys in one house with a pool. Fun just came to us. Throughout the whole trip, the times when we were not playing basketball games were memorable, and some of the best times I ever had. All we did was laugh and laugh, and became brothers with each other, but we knew that we didn't come all the way here from Hawaii- $1,500 later- just to make a few laughs. We came to play basketball.
The second game was against a team from Washington, and their size was similar to ours. In the first half we played like crap, and again we were down by halftime, but in the second half we came out firing, and ended up winning easily by about 20 points. We were just too quick for them, and just better basketball players. With the win we were now 1-1 heading to the game, which decided where were put in the playoffs.
The next team we played was from Arizona and were again about our size. The game was physical, and we both played out hearts out, but only one team can win. We both were tied going into the 4th and final quarter. We played it evenly and they hit one more shot than we did and ending up beating us by 1. Now we would have to play an extra game to get into the playoffs, while the loser would be out of the tournament.
After the last game we were all emotionally and physically drained. We had put it all out on the line just to come up short in the end. The fun continued outside of basketball, but we weren't getting the type of results that we were expecting or hoping for. Everyone says you can learn from losing, but you don't play the game to learn and definitely not to lose; you play to win. Nothing else matters. We were determined to make it to the championship game and from there on we began our quest.
Our elimination game was against a team from Texas' urban areas, and were quite small, but very quick. They were a very good basketball team, but out coach gave us the perfect style and strategy, which willed us to victory. We became one step closer to our goal.
Up next on our quest was a team from Utah, with good size, and some shooters. We played unbelievably well the first half, and it seemed like we were destined. At half time we were up at least 10, and very confident, but at halftime one of the refs notifies us that there is a leak form the AC vent above, and that it's a hazard to the game, because of the risk of injury. We had the momentum carrying from the first half, but with every drop of water, and every minute ticking away in waiting for it to be fixed, our momentum disappeared. The game finally began again, and the issue was resolved. The other team had brought there A game the second half and we were quickly down 3 with only 5 minutes remaining. This was very puzzling, because it seemed as if the clock on the scoreboard went by at the speed of light. The first half was like 45 minutes, and the second half had only lasted 15 minutes, before the time was stopped with 5 minutes remaining. We asked the scorekeeper and he said that since it was late at night and the game had already been delayed, that it be best that the time just run continuously without stopping the clock for out of bounds and etc. This was ridiculous! They just decided on something that neither coach agreed on, and by the final whistle of the game, it had bit us right in out okole. We ended up having not enough time to amount a come back, and we were sent packing from the tournament. It was an awful way to lose: to be cheated by a guy who thought it was too late, and wanted to get home.
Eight local kids, a coach, and parents put a lot of time, effort, and sacrifice to create a team that was competitive, and that we were. It was very emotional for us to be kicked out by a game that we had such little control over, but it's life and we had to move on from it. We did all the tourist stuff and packed up in remembrance of the good times.
The 2007 Honolulu King's are a team to remember; maybe not nationally for any recognition of winning a big time tournament or anything, but for what we accomplished. We took 8 kids from very different lives, and combined them to make one team. A team that will forever not be forgotten for our accomplishments and hard work. Our goal was to be competitive against the best teams in the country, and that we did winning two games. Our goal was to play basketball, and that we did with pride. Our goal was to win, and that we did; by experiencing something amazing and unforgettable with a new family: The 2007 Honolulu King's. A team that won not on the scoreboard but in the hearts of each person who was involved.