A quartet of teams took the court for the first time in regular season play, though this momentous occasion was somewhat blurred in the holiday hullabaloo and ongoing NFL wars.

“People are still into football,” said New Frontier bookmaking chief Tony Nevil.

“It’ll be that way for three or four weeks more, at least until the end of the colleges.

“These are weeks that pretty much will define the NFL also.

“Interest in basketball, pro and college, will pick up when they (colleges) start playing those late November tournaments.

“I once heard a man say, ‘You start the NBA in short sleeves and end it in short sleeves too.’

“That’s so true.”

Nevil noted a goodly share of early NBA action focuses on totals.

“It’s a struggle those first four or so weeks as teams work out their rotations,” he said.

“I kind of look at it as an extension of the preseason.

“It’s a time when handicappers follow teams in local newspapers (on the Internet).”

November also is when the basketball faithful look months ahead to spring’s playoffs and start speculating on which clubs will win the league’s conferences.

Some Las Vegans may keep an even closer eye on the league than normal, because the city will host February’s 2007 NBA All-Star Game.

That once-presumed unreachable level was achieved largely due to efforts by the Maloof Family, owners of the Palms Hotel and Casino as well as the Sacramento Kings.

Friends of NBA Commissioner David Stern since George Maloof Sr. owned the Houston Rockets in the 1980s, the clan had little trouble convincing Stern to stage the annual extravagaza smack in the middle of America’s sports gambling Mecca, once bookmakers agreed not to accept action on the East-West talent showcase — a stance considered a bit hypocritical by some.

Early Finals futures action is, as usual, spread around.

Teams garnering the most play are those that have dominated in recent years, though a few longer shots are getting wagering attention.

“The Spurs, Mavs, Suns and Heat,” Hilton SuperBook oddsmaker/supervisor Jeff Sherman said as he surveyed computer listings that told the top contenders.

Defending champion Miami and San Antonio, which has won two titles in for years, opened as 4/1 Hilton co-favorites, with Phoenix close behind at 9/2 and Dallas at 5/1.

Detroit, the 2004 titlist, was posted at 8/1.

The Spurs are 4/1 current favorites, with the Suns, Mavs and Heat at 9/2 and Pistons at 9/1.

Sherman clicked off Cleveland, Chicago and the Los Angeles Clippers when asked to name clubs regarded as long shots that are getting bites.

The Cavaliers have gone from 15/1 to 11/1 to win the Championship as expectations of LeBron James continue to rise.

The Bulls, who stampeded on the Heat 108-66 in their Tuesday opener, are still 15/1, while the Clippers remain at 40/1.

The Los Angeles Lakers, always a local favorite, also are still 40/1.

Nevil figures he’s fairly safe predicting the Suns, who lost 114-106 Tuesday to the Lakers, who were playing without Kobe Bryant, will win the West.

“They’re young, aggressive and, if they stay healthy, are going to be tough to beat on the left coast,” Nevil said.

He feels he’s going out on a limb in forecasting Cleveland to cop the East.

“They’re a long shot, but I’ll take LeBron and the Boys,” Nevil said.

“Maybe this will be their year.

“They’re young and hungry enough.”

Lynda Collins is a documented member of the Professional Handicappers League.
Read all of her articles at

T-Shirts for Team Aniston and Team Jolie

Cashing on this controversy, is Kitson, a business savvy boutique that’s selling baseball T-shirts that say “Team Aniston” or “Team Jolie.” The $30 trendy tees, made by White Trash Charms, were recently featured in People magazine. Women can now show the world where their loyalties lie. So far Team Aniston is in the lead.

Who Chooses Which Side And Why

Have you ever wondered who chooses which side and why? In a recent interview with Brittany Schaeffer of the New York Daily News asked my opinion about the type of women who support Angelina, those who support Jen; and why women choose the sides they do.

Read on for my assessment of the players on Team Aniston and Team Jolie:

Team Aniston

Women who support Jen by wearing the Team Aniston tees tend to be

• Scorned wives, ex-wives, and single women who have been cheated on in the past. With an estimated 38 to 53 million female victims of infidelity, it’s no surprise that Team Aniston tees are currently outselling Team Jolie tees by a margin of 20 to 1.

• Women who feel Angelina deliberately seduced Brad away from Jen, even if she didn’t actually sleep with him – yet.

• Women who blame Angelina for the split between Brad and Jen.

• Women who view Angelina as a predator with a hidden agenda that included seducing her co-star in Mr. and Mrs. Smith. (Angelina admits that she always falls in love with her male co-stars.)

• Women who identify with Jen’s sweet, innocent, girl-next-door image.

• Women who believe Angelina’s self-described role of being a shoulder for Brad to cry on was all a part of her scheme to snare him.

• Women who are convinced that showing Brad what a wonderful mother she is, was part of Angelina’s strategy to win Brad’s heart — especially since children are his hot button.

• Women who feel that Jen got a raw deal in all this whole affair.

Team Jolie

Women who align themselves with Angelina by sporting the Team Jolie tee tend to be

• Women who identify with the mistress or the “Other Woman”

• Sexy, sultry, seductive types, or women who identify with these traits.

• Women who subscribe to the theory of “put your man first and do whatever it takes to keep him.”

• Women who fault Jen for putting her career ahead of her husband.

• Women who feel that since Brad felt so strongly about having children, Jen should have given him a child. Since money was not an issue, they could have easily hired a Nanny so Jen could continue to pursue her acting career.

• Women who feel that if a woman doesn’t do the things necessary to hold onto her man, then she deserves to lose him.

• Women who feel that Angelina was not to blame for Brad and Jen’s divorce.

• Women who feel that Brad and Angelina make a better ( sexier, more interesting) couple than Bran and Jen.

Meanwhile, the tee shirts are selling like hotcakes, as women choose sides and show their support. And the controversy is boosting box office sales for Mr. and Mrs. Smith, which remains among the top 5 summer movies. Team Jolie tees showed a brief surge in sales the week Mr. and Mrs. Smith was released, but Team Aniston tees still hold the lead. (They’re on back order right now, so if you want one, there’s currently a 2-week wait.)

Nobody Blames Brad

What’s interesting to note is that hardly anyone is holding Brad responsible for his role in the situation. Most people overlook the fact that regardless of the state of Brad’s marriage at the time, he made the final decision on how far to let the situation with Jolie go. Much of the blame for the split rests squarely on his shoulders. He obviously saw the situation developing, but did nothing to put a cap on it or to sever the growing friendship between himself and Angelina Jolie.
Pitt continues to maintain that he and Jolie are “just friends.” But new photos of them as a couple seem to pop up every week. The most recent ones appeared in People magazine. Maybe Brad needs a T-shirt that says “We’re Just Friends” to help him get the message across. Meanwhile, Angelina continues to insist that she and Brad never had sex. How about a T-shirt for her that says “We’re NOT having an affair.”

Inappropriate Friendships Can Ruin a Marriage

Directly or indirectly, Brad’s “friendship” with Angelina seems to have been a contributing factor to the collapse of his marriage to Jen. Inappropriate friendships with members of the opposite sex can undermine a marriage even if there’s no sex involved. The Pitt-Jolie “friendship” is a perfect example of that. Whatever the exact nature of their relationship, it’s obvious that the two are very close. Inappropriate friendships like these can lead to emotional infidelity, which can be just as destructive to a marriage as the real thing. And sexual infidelity is usually not far behind. I think what we really need is a T-shirt that warns everyone “Today’s inappropriate friendship is tomorrow’s extramarital affair.”

FREE Quiz and Tip Sheet

For a FREE copy of a quiz which tells on how to identify inappropriate friendships and a tip sheet on how to keep these types of friendships from turning into extramarital affairs, e-mail InfidelityAdvice@gmail.com with “Friendship Quiz and Tip Sheet” in the subject line.

About Ruth Houston:

Infidelity expert, Ruth Houston is the author of Is He Cheating on You?- 829 Telltale Signs, a comprehensive guide which documents practically every known sign of infidelity. For a free quiz and tip sheet on “inappropriate friendships” send an email to mailto:InfidelityAdvice@gmail.com InfidelityAdvice@gmail.com with “Friendship Quiz and Tip Sheet” in the subject line. Ruth’s website InfidelityAdvice.com InfidelityAdvice.com provides practical advice on all aspects of infidelity.

Just for reference, my version of playing the guitar was laying the body flat on it’s back like a slide guitar so I could see what I was doing… Oh man those were the days!

My first adventure in to a song was Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here. I went to the search engine and had no idea what a tab was or even how to begin searching for one.

Finally I began to put two and two together and found a version of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were here from
MXTabs.net way back before they got shut down =(

To make a long story short, I broke a sweat out of frustration in less than 5 minutes, put my guitar back in it’s case and went back to playing my video games. That was back then…

This is now…

Guitar tabs look like perfect english to me now, but at the time when I was starting out I couldn’t make sense of anything. It looked like another foreign language to me! My friends laughed when they watched my fingers try to play a song in the most ridiculous way imaginable. I was just trying to do what the tab told me to do, but the tab didn’t tell me what finger position to play in, or if there were any helpful tricks to make it easier on my hands! I was getting tired of this dead end approach to improve my skills.

Here is my point: Guitar tab sucked then and it sucks now. I’m still waiting for the pioneer that fixes this problem for the masses…

Dane Maxwell & Paul Johnson produce guitar video tabs for popular songs and artists.
Developed out of a need to help their students, the idea is still in its infancy and has
yet to prove itself as a viable solution to guitar players around the world.

Tabs Cause Confusion.

Eliminate the guess work, welcome to the revolution of guitar lessons on your time

Visit

The Upanishads do not believe in a personal God. Neither do they believe in any personal relationship with the divine. They say the personal relationship is impossible, inconceivable. Why? - Because they assert, and I am quite inclined to accept their articulation which is so logical, that personality itself is illusory. Let us try to understand this.

I am a person. It means I am separate from existence – personality means separation. I cannot be a person if I am not defined, I cannot be a person if I am not different. I cannot be a person if I am not separate. Personality exists as an island, defined, demarked, different, separate. The Upanishads say, personalities are false; you can only appear to be persons that you are not. The Greek dramatists called the different masks they used to wear during a performance as personas. It is a beautiful word! Which face is the real me I don’t know.

The inner being is impersonal; it has no limitations, no boundaries. It begins nowhere and ends nowhere. It goes on and on to the infinite; it is the infinite and the eternal. In space and in time both, it is undefined; undifferentiated; it is not separate like an island.

These scriptures assert, and rightly so, that you are impersonal inside – just life, not a person; just angry; not a person; just existence; not a person. So how can you create any relationship with the divine? How can you create a relationship with the original source of life? When you don’t have any face, how can the divine have any face?

Religions have talked in terms of personal relationship. This word Tat, “that” is very basic to Upanishadic teaching and philosophy. When you call existence “that”, you cannot be related to it – there is no possibility. Rather the relationship with the divine is going to be the very reverse of a human relationship. Relationship can exist only between two related. Secondly, you cannot worship “that”, that’s impossible. And neither can you complain to “that”. Most of our prayers are complaints by their very nature. Worship and complaint, both are eliminated.

How this seemingly unconnected concept links with Sachidananda, meaning Being (Sat), Consciousness (Chit) and Bliss (Ananda), is very interesting and we may understand it later sometime.

Bhaskar Banerjee is deeply involved in the quest in unraveling that fountain of strength contained within us all. His diverse inspirational awareness programs, talks, sharing of various articles, newsletters, have helped many take a glimpse of the joy of their being. Currently associated with an affiliate website 24-7 for high demand products, you may like to click below to have a look that could be of interest and value for you.

]]> http://www.moviestarglitz.com/a-god-shorn-of-worship-and-still-the-all/feed/ http://www.moviestarglitz.com/astrologys-leo-lucky-days-horoscope-modifiers-from-numerology/ http://www.moviestarglitz.com/astrologys-leo-lucky-days-horoscope-modifiers-from-numerology/#comments Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:51:41 +0000 admin http://localhost/wpready/?p=13023 People born in the date range of July 23rd through August 21st, have the Astrology sun sign of Leo the Lion. As a Leo, you probably know your basic Horoscope, but did you know there are six days every month that are lucky for you, just because of your sun sign? Just what are Leo’s lucky days?

Your Birth Date

In Numerology, birth dates are always lucky days for you. So, you should add your birth date as a lucky day. For example, actor Ben Affleck was born on August 15th, 1972, so he should add August 15th to the list of August lucky days below.

Universal Days

Days on which the Universal day number equals your Life Path number are lucky for you. The universe supports your actions on these days. Your Life Path number is calculated by adding all the digits of your birth date by fadic addition. Ben Affleck’s Life Path number is a six as shown below:

Life Path = (08 15 1972) = (1995) = (1 9 9 5) = (24) = (6).

As an example, July 17th, 2007 is a lucky day for Ben Affleck because the Universal Day number is also a six, matching his Life Path number.

Universal Day (07/17/2007) = (7 17 2007) = (2031) = (2 3 1) = (6).

Note: you can pre-calculate the year and month sum, (7 2007) = (7), and then just add this value to the day number, and sum the result. (7 17) = (24) = (6).

Leo Lucky Calendar Dates

Six days of every month are specifically lucky for Leos. They are as follows:

For January: 1st, 4th, 13th, 16th, 18th, and the 27th.

For February: 1st, 15th, 20th, 24th, 25th, and the 29th.

For March: 9th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, and the 28th.

For April: 1st, 5th, 10th, 11th, 18th, and the 23rd.

For May: 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 12th, 13th, and the 31st.

For June: 3rd, 4th, 13th, 17th, 26th, and the 30th.

For July: 2nd, 6th, 9th, 14th, 23rd, and the 29th.

For August: 3rd, 7th, 10th, 23rd, 25th, and the 30th.

For September: 3rd, 15th, 16th, 22nd, 26th, and the 29th.

For October: 1st, 13th, 17th, 27th, 28th, and the 31st.

For November: 9th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 23rd, and the 27th.

For December: 7th, 11th, 16th, 18th, 22nd, and the 26th.

Keith Abbott is the developer and owner of ‘Numerology 4 You’ where you can order your own

Now that they have DVD burners people are looking for ways to get DVDs for free. There are tons of DVD rips all over the net. You just have to know where to look. These are high quality rips that give you the exact same performance as regular DVDs. You can download all this and more at little to no cost.

There are a lot of sites out there that you can use to get a free full movie download. You could be a couple clicks away from never paying for a movie again. Imagine never having to dish out 20 bucks for a DVD.

When you download free full movies always make sure you do it safely. You don’t want to end up getting in trouble by the law. I recommend trying out one of these sites that insures safety by blocking your IP or by another means of anonymity. These are your best bet and they don’t cost much at all.

Shared Movies
Movie Download World
Ultimate Movie Download
iMovieSearch
Full Movie Downloads

John Rivers has been involved with music for over 30 years as a student, performer and teacher. His site the-netguide-for-musicdownloads.com The-NetGuide-for-MusicDownloads.com helps individuals to find safe and legal Music and Movie download sites. Subscribe to the-netguide-for-musicdownloads.com/netmusic-news.html “NetMusic News” and receive Free music downloads each month.

All closed.

So all the programmers, designers, and usability engineers went home, shaking their heads.

Too bad! No more web.

And they all slept in the next morning. After all, with the web gone, why go to work? They stayed home, got up late, sipped on their cappuccinos and nibbled on low-fat bagels.

And they missed something.

They missed the fact that even though all those company and organization sites had closed down, the internet was still ablaze with activity.

Tens of millions of people were sending billions of messages to each other. Young people and old people alike. Instant messages were flying. Blogs were being written and updated. Newsletters were being edited and sent out. Discussion lists were being read and replied to. Personal sites were being created and published. Emails were being written to family and friends.

People were reading and writing. Frowning and laughing. Crying and cheering. Agreeing and disagreeing.

People were engaged. Tens of millions of them. They were reading line after line, page after page. What did they enjoy the most? The best writing. The most interesting opinions. The most original thinkers and voices. Yes, everyone was reading like crazy. People love to read when the subject is close to their hearts, when the writer is known to them and trusted, when the writing is exciting and well crafted.

No surprise here, of course. It’s always been that way. Since the first Usenet groups. (Drugs, Sex, and Rock and Roll … naturally. 1988.) Since the early days of The Well. Since the first Bulletin Boards.

Regular folks, those tens of millions of “prospects” and “customers,” have always loved to read online. They love to write, they love to read, they love to get involved, feel engaged. Just text, just the words. (“Just the words?” What a terrible to thing to say about writing!)

Although these millions of people don’t think about it or analyze it, they all know a simple truth: their experience of the web is about words, the text. Always has been. Always will be.

This is their place, their medium. They were there, online, before any company or organization. They were there before venture capital companies had wet dreams about “upswings” and IPOs. They were there before a thousand experts decided that the web was about technology, design and process. They were there before some of those same experts announced that people don’t like to read online.

Anyway…

After a few days, the Bad Internet Fairy, who wasn’t so bad after all, put all the websites back online, and the designers, programmers and usability engineers heaved a collective sigh of relief and went back to work.

And they did what they always did. They designed, programmed and constructed, using the latest software, adhering to the most recent standards, following the coolest design trends.

And when everything was set, mapped out, constructed … they had someone find a writer to fill in the blank spaces with words.

Too bad. Dumb as a sack of hammers.

Nick Usborne is a copywriter, author, speaker and advocat of good writing. You can access all his archived newsletter articles on copywriting and writing for the web at his excessvoice.com/archive.htm Excess Voice site. You’ll find more articles and resources on how to make money as a freelance writer at his freelancewritingsuccess.com/ Freelance Writing Success site.

To start enjoying the benefits of sports betting online you need to find a reliable and trustworthy online sports book. It is easy enough with the search engine listings, just type in “sports betting” and you will find a ton to choose from. When you find a few you like input their names and find reviews and read them to see what other players think of them and see how they are rated. Once you are done with your research pick a couple you are satisfied with and open accounts with them to get started. Opening a sports betting account on the internet is very easy. All you need to do is to look for a link usually like “Register” or “Open Account” then click on it and give the information asked for and choose a username and password which you will be using in your every visit.

In order to place a bet you have to have some money on your sports betting account first. So your next step would be to deposit some money. This can be done by check, wire or credit cards currently though at the time of this writing in July of 2006 the United States Congress is voting on banning the use of credit cards for online betting. Once you have deposited your money for your sports betting account, it is also important to check for your bonus after your deposit since most bookmakers actually provide some sort of bonuses or promotional offer after your first deposit.

Now you are ready to place your bets but before you do this, read and make sure you understand how to place a bet at your chosen sports book. There are many internet sports betting sites these days that have different types of odds that may change quite a bit and this can be complicated. So if possible choose an odds format that you are more familiar with.

Gregg Hall is an author and internet marketing consultant living in Navarre Florida. For more on inexpensive infant-carseat.com/ sports betting go to internetsportsbettingservice.com internetsportsbettingservice.com

How do I deal with the burden of mankind’s follies on my mind, knowing I am responsible whether I do something, do nothing or merely alert others to motivate them to do something about it? I try to do something about them and thus, I study everything in case one day things get severe enough that I am needed to serve to fix things in some capacity, whether it is to lead or advise leadership.

Indeed, one must also realize that mankind is not such a good long-term planner, more he simply waits for a crisis to occur before he does anything and after all that he generally does the wrong thing only to cause another problem. What did Einstein say?

“Brilliant minds solve problems; Geniuses plan so there is never a problem in the first place!”

My dad use to say, (he is a pilot) that; “A great pilot never needs to use his superior skills to get out of a dangerous situation, as he never gets into it in the first place” and to that he use to say; “If Murphy ever does come knocking, be sure you are flying with a great pilot…it happens”

It is up to all of us to stop this linear thought that gets our civilization and society into all these messes in the first place. I certainly hope this article is of interest and that is has propelled thought. The goal is simple; to help you in your quest to be the best in 2007. I thank you for reading my many articles on diverse subjects, which interest you.

“Lance Winslow” - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; WorldThinkTank.net/ WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for ourspokanemagazine.com/ Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington

Paul Davis is a life purpose and love coach (professional & relational), worldwide minister, change master, and FL real estate agent.

Paul is the author of several books including Breakthrough for a Broken Heart; Adultery: 101 Reasons Not to Cheat; Are You Ready for True Love; Stop Lusting & Start Living; Waves of God; Supernatural Fire; Poems that Propel the Planet; and God vs. Religion.

Paul’s compassion for people & passion to travel has taken him to over 50 countries of the world where he has had a tremendous impact. Paul has served in many war-torn, impoverished and tsunami stricken regions of the earth. His Dream-Maker Inc. is building dreams, breaking limitations & reviving nations.

Paul’s Breakthrough Seminars inspire, revive, awaken, impregnate with purpose, impart the fire of desire, catapult people into a new level of self-awareness, facilitate destiny discovery and dream fulfillment.

Contact Paul to minister, speak at your event or for life coaching:

mailto:RevivingNations@yahoo.com RevivingNations@yahoo.com, 407-284-1705.

DreamMakerMinistries.com DreamMakerMinistries.com

CreativeCommunications.TV CreativeCommunications.TV

As Ms’ Rice drifted out of her fog of death to death’s reality, actuality: she noticed armed sentinels at frequent intervals along a muddy and shadowy dimly lit swamp-like area, with many incoming passage ways. It looked like an atrocious, wicked and primeval land; mammoth looking. The incoming boats from all sections seemed quite vigilant, everyone staring at the gates in the far distance, that is, everyone except the rowers in the boat, the demonic formed creatures—the inhuman dreadful looking primitive Neanderthals—figuratively speaking, but more truth then fiction to this. If one looked directly at this creature that gave his name as Botis the Great, his red lower jaw inside his jaw, one could see the roots of his teeth, small nasal openings, huge eye sockets, a slope to his nasal bone. His body was built like an ox; he had large brow rides over his eyes, built around his eye sockets, thus, pronouncing his facial profiled He had bony lumps in side his lower jaw, you could see them as he opened his mouth to push in whatever kind of oxygen was in the air, in the back of his mouth was huge molars, making his jaw a bit misplaced, and front mouth a little lopsided. His skull had a slope to its back, as if it had a big brain, yet it seemed to the contrary.

—Ms Rice was anxious to get to shore, to get to the gates, walk through them, to meet her father, all in the twinkling of an eye she wanted it to happen. But as she deliberated in the twenty-foot boot: a small craft propelled by a huge paddle, or oar by the Botis, with a sail in its center, used for windy days, the working vessel tugged along the forty mile river. An ancient boat it was by modern terms. The heavy log looking craft was going so slow thought Ms Rice; it would take a life time to get to shore, not thinking or imagining what really was ahead. Hides of small animals seem to cover portions of the vessel, either for design or water proofing, or something. No one asked why, it just was. It may be assumed it developed over time to amuse he—in this case—Botis, or in other cases the captains of the boats; should they have such a title, thought, Ms Rice’s was thinking as she looked to and fro.

The timbers seemed pegged together, making it heavy and awkward to propel, and for the sake of the boat, Ms Rice, and the two women behind her were simply light cargo. It was little more than a huge dugout one might compare it to. The mast was tall and the bow wide, the stern was closed in, more so than the bow that is, for some reason, and the step was deep, secured under the floor of the boat. The boom was held steady and in place, but should it be released, surely a few heads would go flying into the mucky waters of this atrocious river of hell. The sail was tided down around the mast. You could hear the rudder and the false keep hit the sides of the boat, they were both loose. Ms Rice noticed a few of these demonic Neanderthals suffocating themselves underneath their boats by the rudder area trying to fix just that, as she seen others going in circles for not fixing theirs. There were hundreds of boats coming in and some circling around her boat: aimlessly. Some slowly, others a bit faster; a complicated formula at best thought Ms Rice (at this part of the story, I must give you my thoughts as Ms Rice’s, as it appeared in my dream to be).

She knew she had only been dead less than an hour, maybe, possibly less then thirty-minutes. She was simply whizzed away, and found herself in this rat-trap of a boat—tarnished black wood, scooted with layers of black grime, as if it was once burnt like a tree stub: the wood was thick like Noah’s Ark, and, with its dark thick wood, it carried within its blemishes a long and arduous dark history of providing passage.

She continued looking, observing, cultivating with her eyes, her senses steadily ahead, heading towards the waters edge across the somewhat looking river-swamp—its long belly swamp type roots catching the boat like a spider web to a fly. Her little hands hanging, gripping the thick wood to her right, as if she might fall into this muck. Her body was still in some kind of extreme shock, transitional stage, yet it was not ill like before, it was not constant pain either, nor was it in need of rest. The form of her body was akin to roots of deep paleness, as if her veins were full of nothing warm, just cold icy water, decay, a waxy-decay upon her skin; her eyes, iris—pink, pink and yellowed with heavy eye lids. As she looked over the edge of the boat, it was all mucky and slush: muck, manure and more sewage. Her lips showed no smile, but then, they never did much anyhow, except when her father was around, but she didn’t take note of that, but Botis did, as he turned around to spy on all three, she, Ms Rice was the only one unafraid, at least the only one to show no fear, as if she was prepared for hell; as if she was in defiance of Satan and God themselves, and if she could defy God, why not Satan, and why not Botis; a great pride and selfishness curved with her and was there within her now, her now dehydrated, wrinkled face: light that once was inside her eyes were put out like a candle, where there was really not much light before, there was no light now. Her destination was nearing, nearing, closing in on her; soon, very soon she would find herself in the lost rainbows of eternity: nothing colorful would exist again, not as it had anyway. If a dream or nightmare could be melted and put into a film, this would not be possibly for what she was going to witness.

“Gate #642, straight ahead,” said Botis with a sneer, as if it meant anything to anyone other than him. Thought Ms Rice, even down here they have the number system. It was written in some coded form, a secret language. When she looked in back of her, she noticed now there was no passage-way out, or at least not in sight; everything was turning into fog, it was all fog, and dispelling mist, a soot kind of mist; it seemed as when the boats appeared down the tributaries, they disappeared when you looked back; thus, there was no looking back that made sense, why look back, this was it, whatever lied ahead.

The vessel continued on its way forward with Ms Rice gazing horizontally, noticing the boats in front of her, and along side of her, here and here and everywhere, somewhat disarming her as surely it was meant to do. The sky had turned to an ash color now. As the boat got closer to the dock area, Botis started stomping on the floor of the boat, as if he was preparing himself or a high, in the vein of a drunk, sex addict, or gambler who just won a pot of gold. It might be said, he knew she, Ms Rice, was being tossed into a world without etiquette, hope, and no savior, he was waiting for her facial expressions, yet she gave none, a poker player she was he thought, but she had not yet tasted its push, its fire.

Stunned were the other two women, but it didn’t seem so for Ms Rice, and that was Botis’ main desire at this particular juncture, yet she was still concentrated on one fact, and one fact alone—one reality only, no other: her father, then maybe she’d be stunned, but for the moment she wasn’t

—it may be said, or guessed upon, or even told to you—but do not believe them—that the hordes—the heap of hell, delight in talk, especially to each and everyone a stranger [passenger that is] as they enter the dungeons of this forbidden river, this god-forsaken land, but if so—if you do believe and if what I say is a lie, it wasn’t the way Ms Rice would have told you, for no one spoke a word to her, or the other passengers, not one word, except for Botis indicating what pier they were docking at.

As Ms Rice looked about the boats peered into the seamless river: where it seemed to have no beginning, but a dreadful end to it, all were stricken with tragic fright—fright that froze you to where you sat: wanting to run but couldn’t, yet Ms Rice wanted to continue even if she was given an exit pass she would not had taken it, for it was not fright that stopped her from talking or mentally thinking about what’s ahead, it was anxiousness, wanting to see her father. Even the smells that came from the other side of some mountains, mountains she could not see, but she could smell the burning from them, the smells of burning flesh, strong smells of tissue, didn’t deter her willpower to go seek her father in hells hottest waters, chambers or beds—whatever. Aimlessly the others looked into the eyes, tried to anyways, to look into them eyes of the few that passed by, getting mostly their profile views in other boats; glances across the from boat to boat in the dreary river. They were like fossils of stone carved into granite for ever and ever, their faces. No beauty just faces upon faces, one might say: killer faces, criminal faces, faces that reminded you of this and that, faces in the newspapers, famous faces, faces that thought they had it made, all naked faces, hopeless and helpless feeble faces.

Even Christian faces yelled to the dark heavens, the ash sky, with hand and fist saying:

“I was a Christian, why am I here?”

Almost demanding a retrial; and there were the Muslims saying, screaming: for Allah I did this and that, I killed in your name [as if God needed an assistant to do his dirty work], and where is my reward, this cave of antiquity, this river of filth, where are my beautiful women. For the Jew, they also cried and wept, saying [while hiding their faces in their hands]: we are the chosen ones, the people of God, the gifted and the ones who walked with Moses, and Abram, and look, look at this, this is not the Promised Land, this is what I get. Oh yes, this day the bells of hell were ringing. Scholars and soldiers, and priests, kings, Hollywood Stars, the boats were full of a good sample of the whole human race, and Ms Rice.

By and large, the looks on and of most faces, had utterly died an undignified death, it might be said—for Ms Rice, she was thinking it, most of the folks in the boats did not die of old age [or a degenerative illness related to old age], rather an assortment of degenerative illness’ and accidents and suicides, such as cardiovascular disease—that might have been but were not linked to old age, older than seventy that is: cancer, strokes, diabetes, heart attacks, war, drugs, complications and other disorders; many were problematic cases that received very little medial care, and in some cases those who received too much. In many cases it was within the power of society to keep them alive, yet human life was devalued, and so came about an early death, in many cases: let us not over look suicide, in the name of god, hangings, executions, and so forth, on and so all in the name of society.

They were all in the boats, many protesting; —the henchmen laughing, laughing themselves silly, hysterically amused: some even holding their stomachs as to get more air as they ecstatically laughed, some pounding their fists on the boats ledges, unable to control themselves, but not saying anything, not any distinguishable syllables, or words that were understandable. They had learned not to argue, lest they lose their amusement.

Soon she told herself, she’d be at the Gates of Hell, convinced she’d see her father waiting there, or if not, she’d surprise him by finding him shortly thereafter. The reuniting would be a celebration, yes, yes indeed, a reunion in hell, on earth or in heaven, it would be a celebration to the utmost.

See Dennis’ web site: dennissiluk.tripod.com dennissiluk.tripod.com

Bruce Lee always considered himself a martial artist first and an actor second. As a martial artist, he was way ahead of his time in developing his own style of martial arts he called jeet kune do. His martial arts incorporated the most practical techniques from various combative disciplines as he moved away from the traditional and classical techniques. His martial arts abilities were real and
respected by other prominent martial artists like Jhoon Rhee, Chuck Norris, Ed Parker and Joe Lewis. His name was inducted into the prestigious Black Belt Hall of Fame twice, once while he was alive and the other after his death. These are honors that no other martial arts action hero has ever come close to. Martial arts schools in North America enjoyed a huge growth in enrollment because of Bruce Lee.

North America got an early glimpse of Bruce Lee when he played Kato in the Green Hornet television series and a bit role in the movie Marlowe. He went to Hong Kong and made a few films like Fists of Fury (called the Big Boss in the Asia market) and the Chinese Connection which made him a huge star in Asia. Bruce Lee also wrote, directed and starred in his own movie production called the Way of the Dragon which featured perhaps one of the greatest martial arts fight scenes ever. This scene took place in the Roman Coliseum and was with Chuck Norris which gave Norris his first film start. It was Enter the Dragon that broke him to North America. Unfortunately, he died tragically at the age of 32 in 1973 before he was able to witness the success of that movie. At the time of Lee’s death, he had completed the fight scenes for another movie called Game of Death which featured basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabar, who was actually one of his martial arts students. Other students of Bruce Lee included actors Steve McQueen and James Coburn. Game of Death was completed with look-alike actors later on.

One of the most significant contributions Bruce Lee made is that he opened the door for other Asians in the entertainment industry worldwide. He was the first Asian to achieve any significant success in the North American entertainment scene. He became a star in North America and the rest of the world by playing heroes rather than past stereotype roles for Asians such as like servants, gangsters, laundry workers or other ‘pigtail coolie’ characters. On an even greater scale, Bruce Lee gave Asians, particularly the Chinese people worldwide, a reason to be proud. Bruce Lee influenced them to be confident in pushing forward to achieve their goals no matter what field they were in.

Clint Leung is a lifelong martial artist with over 32 years of training experience in kung fu, tae kwon do, karate, kickboxing and martial arts weaponry. He has won Canadian and world championship titles (NASKA, NBL and WSKF). He is also owner of Free Spirit Activewear ( FreeSpiritActivewear.com FreeSpiritActivewear.com) , an online retailer and designer of premium martial arts activewear. Free Spirit Activewear has martial arts info articles.