| I’m in a band called Down with Ohira, and I’d like to introduce us. Down with Ohira formed when four average guys realized our common love for music and our mutual dislike of Sean Hideki Ohira and all things Hawaiian. We enjoyed moderate success in the winter of 2005 until finally auditioning for UCLA’s Spring Sing. Although we didn’t make the cut, we had a lot of fun trying.
Allen Tsai plays electric guitar and is the main vocalist. When he’s not tearing it up on his Gibson, he enjoys playing basketball and admiring his large muscles in the mirror.
David Lee also plays electric guitar and sings harmony. He has a voice that will make you absolutely melt, and he couldn’t be more humble about it. His favorite time of the year is Halloween because he gets to put on a blonde wig and dress up like princess Jasmine from Aladdin.
William Sam plays drums. His cooking skills are surpassed only by his ability to write and act in skits that will make you laugh and cry.
And this is me. My name is Chris, and I play bass with a smile on my face.
So here is the first verse and chorus of our first single "Goodbye, Goodbye" written by Allen Tsai
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A word on the eprop:
Blogs, friendster, and livejournal have all quickly risen to popularity only fall to an equally speedy demise. However, xanga has withstood the test of time. What is it that gives xanga the edge over all other competing online communities? The answer is simple: eprops. It is because of eprops that xanga has enjoyed popularity much longer than other competing electronic replacements for actual human contact, and eprops will probably propel its lifespan long past those of facebook and myspace.
So why the craze over eprops? The answer lies in the fact that eprops are shaped like coins. Now, at this point you may think that I’m going a little crazy, but hear me out. A vast majority of the people using xanga were born between the years of 1980-1990, an era I like to refer to as “The Mario Generation.” This is the decade where we sat in front of the television and/or in front of our friends’ televisions and played Sony Playstation, Nintendo 64, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, Nintendo, and yes, even a primitive machine that the young ‘uns have only seen in museums: the Atari. The original Nintendo is what really kicked things off, and of course the first popular game was Mario. There’s just something extremely appealing about controlling a fat pixelated Italian man who shoots fireballs. In Mario, one of the main objectives is to collect as many coins as possible. In fact, some Mario games had bonus stages where the entire room was full of coins, and all you had to do was get them. Personally, those stages made me salivate like a half-Chinese, half-Japanese beaver in a forest full of trees. Anyways, growing up in the Mario Generation has imbedded into our way of thinking that coins are an absolute positive thing, and that we should try to amass as many as possible. Therefore, we try to do the same with eprops because they look exactly like coins.
But things are more complex than that. Mario could not simply pick coins up off the floor; rather, he had to earn them by killing bad guys, namely koopas. How does this translate into the xanga world? Well, follow me if you will with this analogy. One of people’s favorite things to xanga about is something that went wrong in their life. In fact, I did this on April 8th when I xangaed about how I dropped my tray in the dining halls. This incident was a great adversity in my life and threatened to defeat me, just like a koopa. However, me xangaing about my embarrassing moment was like Mario jumping on the koopa’s head because we were both awarded coins for our efforts, signifying a victory over our enemies.
Because we grew up in the Mario Generation, several of us have developed an obsession with eprops. Well, I’ve got news for you, buddy: There’s no 1up or green mushroom in store for you when you gain 100 eprops, so take it easy.
Of course, eprops aren’t a bad thing. Even I enjoy a couple of shiny eprops now and again because it lets me know that someone read what I wrote. Anyways, when addressing any issue, it is always wise to consult the Good Word.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:23)
Eprops are temporary, just like this earth.
Well, I think that’s more than enough eprop talk for now. On to more substantial things! Kids. Being around them is a tricky business, isn’t it? Helping out with VBS, going on missions trips, volunteering at the library, and now Summer Slam have taught me a simple truth about kids: they WILL take you on an emotional roller coaster.
When I’m actually working with kids, whether I’m helping them make paper bag David and Goliath puppets, asking them what their favorite part of the Boxcar Children was, or teaching them how to shoot a lay-up, it’s usually a lot of fun, but sometimes, it can become extremely frustrating. In fact, I dare say that up to 20% of the time I’m actually around kids, I’m frustrated, discouraged, or annoyed usually due to their disobedience or bad behavior. Take for example, my kids at Summer Slam. I tried to teach them to use the backboard when shooting lay-ups or close jump shots. However, most of them refused to go bank, and some, thinking they knew better than me, told me that shooting the ball straight in was much more accurate. Sometimes I felt like shaking one of them and saying, “Haven’t you ever heard of Tim Duncan, you miniature person?” Although being around kids is not always fun, I have never walked away from a VBS or mission trip frustrated. In fact, whenever something like Summer Slam ends, I always think to myself that it was hands-down one of the best experiences of my life. I can think of no where else I would have rather spent my time, and I thank God for giving me opportunities to work with children. So what if they don’t like to use the backboard? I’d rather see their smiles when they make the shot.
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