We're doing the Samaritan's Purse shoe-box thing within our small groups. Oh -- Yesterday at fellowship we had to choose which small group to join. This is actually not so casual -- we had to pick one and commit to it, for one whole year! I had all week to think about which one to join (we could choose from 3). They advertised 3 different groups, the first dealing with understand God's word, and examining the bible. The second one dealt with Christian Living, and the last one was for Serving God. Although they didn't actually say it, I saw them as Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert levels. All week I struggled between level 2 and level 3, but finally ended up deciding on level 2 for a number of reasons:
-For one thing I don't feel I'm ready to be in the "expert" group just yet
-I've already taken sunday school classes in servitude
-i didn't have to leave the room (the other 2 groups went to other rooms)
As a fellowship, Genesis is pretty large. The age range is 18-28 so you can imagine how big it is. On BS days we'll get as many as Elijah would have on 'fun' nights. So anyway, only 3 small groups, so they wouldn't be exactly small. Ours ended up with 16 people, close to half the number of people who were there.
I started playing this game called Hitman 2: Silent Assassin. Basically you sneak around and try to get your target without alerting guards and such. It's actually quite hard, not like the other shoot-em-up games where you can just shoot your way to your target. There are pretty tricky things, like sneaking up behind guards and drugging them so that you can take their clothes and use them as a disguise. Even then you're still not safe because other guards will still investigate you if you go up close to them, since they can recognize their buddies. And when the drugging wears off, then you're in big trouble because this naked guy starts running around to warn all his buddies that someone has his clothes!
The last mission I did was the hardest, I had to infiltrate a castle and take out a japanese mafia leader. He was pretty hard to get, first I had to sneak past at least 10-15 guards and ninja's. I had to steal a keycard from one of his concubines. Finally when I got up to the 6th floor where the boss was, I left a bomb behind a pillar and snuck past him and jumped out a window and made my way along the roof down to the exit, then remotely exploded the bomb!
Today at my guitar lessons I felt a little off because I hadn't practiced all week. Luckily most of the class still hasn't reached my level so the teacher couldn't tell that I hadn't practiced.
October 26, 2002
October 24, 2002
Tonight I went out with some old friends to the Fox & Fiddle at John/Adelaide (downtown). Walking through downtown at 7pm I realized one of the big advantages of living in Nevada -- it's not as danged COLD!!! Geez, it's so cold these days, and they're saying it'll be a warm winter?!
Chevrolet Caprice -- This is basically a police car. I'm not sure what Canadian Police use, but this is the standard issue in the States. Try as I might, but I cannot even vaguely imagine how this car could look anything like a White Astro Van with a ladder rack on top. Kinda makes you wonder whether they ever would've caught them if they'd never called the tiplines..
Chevrolet Caprice -- This is basically a police car. I'm not sure what Canadian Police use, but this is the standard issue in the States. Try as I might, but I cannot even vaguely imagine how this car could look anything like a White Astro Van with a ladder rack on top. Kinda makes you wonder whether they ever would've caught them if they'd never called the tiplines..
October 23, 2002
It's been awhile since my last post. It's not that I had nothing to say, just that I've been busy doing nothing. Man, there is so much nothing to do around here, I am up my neck in all this nothingness. I can't take it anymore.. someone relieve me from all this nothing!!
My dad is going to take the job in Nevada.. they did a few counter-offers back and forth, til finally, Monday they came up with something they both agreed upon. So now I have a few months to go through the motions of looking for a job, and then if my luck doesn't change, then I will be moving down to the states with my family. Job searching really sucks.. I really gave up long ago, but I still keep applying. Maybe I'll have better luck in the States where no one has even heard of McMaster University... riiiight...
In regards to the sniper: how can you guarantee that you'll stop shooting people once the police give you the money you want? Or will it be more like a tariff, whenever you get the knack to shoot someone, you'll give them a call for another cool mil? The police should offer him a deal. A $10M reward, plus a free plane ride down to the caves in Afghanistan, with more ammo than he ever dreamed of. Or better yet, $1M, a free plane ride to Iraq, 1 bullet, and a guarantee that he can go free plus $9M if he kills the right guy. Now I know why they couldn't catch Bin Laden, when they can't even figure out what the sniper even looks like, on home soil too. And what's with talking to him on TV? How do they know he even has a tv or access to one? How do they know that the notes being left behind weren't left by copycats?
He parks his car, steps out and kneels. He picks up a bit of old dried grass and tosses it. The grass falls straight down -- sweet, no wind. He pulls out his rifle. Looking into the sight, he sees some dude pull into the gas station. As the man steps out of the car, the sniper aims a foot above the man's head to compensate for gravity, and pulls the trigger. They were minding their own business, getting gas, mowing the lawn, shopping, walking to school. He's not a sicko per se -- he's no Bernardo or Dalmer, but he gets a kick out of ending lives of innocent people doing daily normal activities. Race, age, sex -- this means nothing to him. He's willing to shoot *anyone*.
Stuff like that intrigues me. He's not necessarily a violent man. It's not even rage, or doesn't seem like it. He is a sniper, he shoots once and kills. It's not a matter of leaving someone to die or suffer, he shoots (and if all goes right), the victim dies almost immediately. It seems to me that he doesn't care whether the random person suffers, but he would prefer they didn't. Otherwise he'd aim for the stomach, or groin, or leg. So it's more like he snuffing out life, not so much making people suffer, but rather maybe making loved ones suffer. Who do you think is more scared, the victim who dies almost immediately, or the family members of the victim? So it's more the fear than the killing itself. Look at the evidence. "I am God", and his threats that even children aren't safe. It's all about instilling fear. Also his approach -- sure it's terror, but it isn't the standard terror, of say body parts being ripped apart, or disease and suffering. It's about him being able to choose who gets to live and who gets to die. It's the uncertainty of not knowing if when you kissed your loved ones goodbye, it was the last time you'd see them alive. So life's no longer taken for granted.
Yeah, they'll catch him.
My dad is going to take the job in Nevada.. they did a few counter-offers back and forth, til finally, Monday they came up with something they both agreed upon. So now I have a few months to go through the motions of looking for a job, and then if my luck doesn't change, then I will be moving down to the states with my family. Job searching really sucks.. I really gave up long ago, but I still keep applying. Maybe I'll have better luck in the States where no one has even heard of McMaster University... riiiight...
In regards to the sniper: how can you guarantee that you'll stop shooting people once the police give you the money you want? Or will it be more like a tariff, whenever you get the knack to shoot someone, you'll give them a call for another cool mil? The police should offer him a deal. A $10M reward, plus a free plane ride down to the caves in Afghanistan, with more ammo than he ever dreamed of. Or better yet, $1M, a free plane ride to Iraq, 1 bullet, and a guarantee that he can go free plus $9M if he kills the right guy. Now I know why they couldn't catch Bin Laden, when they can't even figure out what the sniper even looks like, on home soil too. And what's with talking to him on TV? How do they know he even has a tv or access to one? How do they know that the notes being left behind weren't left by copycats?
He parks his car, steps out and kneels. He picks up a bit of old dried grass and tosses it. The grass falls straight down -- sweet, no wind. He pulls out his rifle. Looking into the sight, he sees some dude pull into the gas station. As the man steps out of the car, the sniper aims a foot above the man's head to compensate for gravity, and pulls the trigger. They were minding their own business, getting gas, mowing the lawn, shopping, walking to school. He's not a sicko per se -- he's no Bernardo or Dalmer, but he gets a kick out of ending lives of innocent people doing daily normal activities. Race, age, sex -- this means nothing to him. He's willing to shoot *anyone*.
Stuff like that intrigues me. He's not necessarily a violent man. It's not even rage, or doesn't seem like it. He is a sniper, he shoots once and kills. It's not a matter of leaving someone to die or suffer, he shoots (and if all goes right), the victim dies almost immediately. It seems to me that he doesn't care whether the random person suffers, but he would prefer they didn't. Otherwise he'd aim for the stomach, or groin, or leg. So it's more like he snuffing out life, not so much making people suffer, but rather maybe making loved ones suffer. Who do you think is more scared, the victim who dies almost immediately, or the family members of the victim? So it's more the fear than the killing itself. Look at the evidence. "I am God", and his threats that even children aren't safe. It's all about instilling fear. Also his approach -- sure it's terror, but it isn't the standard terror, of say body parts being ripped apart, or disease and suffering. It's about him being able to choose who gets to live and who gets to die. It's the uncertainty of not knowing if when you kissed your loved ones goodbye, it was the last time you'd see them alive. So life's no longer taken for granted.
Yeah, they'll catch him.
October 15, 2002
October 12, 2002
Hey, what did I tell you guys about Belfour huh? The Penguins were not a good test, but still.. a shutout is a shutout!
The company is having problems finding clients. We bid on projects on the web. Most of the bids we've made would result in us being paid less than minimum wage, but we need to get jobs under our belt in order to win more respectable jobs. Anyway, we bid around $400 US (these are 2-3 week projects). This results in us making around $3/hour per person -- not good. And yet, even when we bid this low, some company from India outbids us at $100, and of course wins the bid. Somehow, possibly due to cost of living, they can afford to do a 2 week project for a measely $150 (canadian). Doh!
I found an interesting tab/chord for another Avril Lavigne song called Temple of Life. The lyrics are pretty strange, for a punk rock singer. Check it out, just a excerpt. Contact me if you want the whole thing (btw, I hope this is legal):
We sat by the fire united in song
Under the moonlight all night long
We sang hallelujah for the joy of it all
And out on the water a caroling loon
Sings a sweet heavenly tune
There's peace in God's forest for the temple of life
Chorus:
Hallelujah, hallelujah
We looked to the sky, deep into heaven's eyes, hallelujah
.. Anyway, I thought that was sorta weird, for her style of music. I am still a big supporter of her music.. it's really good stuff!
Michelle Branch is also quite good. She plays piano, guitar, and writes her own music, which is impressive enough. I got her album, and it's quite good. Aside from her big popchart toppers Everywhere and All You Wanted, there's some other good songs like You Set Me Free, Here With Me. I only got her album a couple days now and the songs are pretty catchy.
The company is having problems finding clients. We bid on projects on the web. Most of the bids we've made would result in us being paid less than minimum wage, but we need to get jobs under our belt in order to win more respectable jobs. Anyway, we bid around $400 US (these are 2-3 week projects). This results in us making around $3/hour per person -- not good. And yet, even when we bid this low, some company from India outbids us at $100, and of course wins the bid. Somehow, possibly due to cost of living, they can afford to do a 2 week project for a measely $150 (canadian). Doh!
I found an interesting tab/chord for another Avril Lavigne song called Temple of Life. The lyrics are pretty strange, for a punk rock singer. Check it out, just a excerpt. Contact me if you want the whole thing (btw, I hope this is legal):
We sat by the fire united in song
Under the moonlight all night long
We sang hallelujah for the joy of it all
And out on the water a caroling loon
Sings a sweet heavenly tune
There's peace in God's forest for the temple of life
Chorus:
Hallelujah, hallelujah
We looked to the sky, deep into heaven's eyes, hallelujah
.. Anyway, I thought that was sorta weird, for her style of music. I am still a big supporter of her music.. it's really good stuff!
Michelle Branch is also quite good. She plays piano, guitar, and writes her own music, which is impressive enough. I got her album, and it's quite good. Aside from her big popchart toppers Everywhere and All You Wanted, there's some other good songs like You Set Me Free, Here With Me. I only got her album a couple days now and the songs are pretty catchy.
October 10, 2002
I'm trying to make a website for my company. It wasn't as easy as I thought it'd be. Making a corporate website is way, way harder than a personal webpage. For one, I can't steal pictures from other sites like I'd do with my own site. Everything has to be original. That's hard. The other thing is I need a corporate standard feel to it. That's really hard. I need a theme. Theme? For an IT company? That is really hard.. I was asked to the page this week, and I've barely even begun.
Quick sporting predictions. The Giants will beat the Cardinals, and the Angels will beat the Twins. I am hoping that Bonds wins a WS this season, but I think that the Angels are too good this year. In hockey, the Leafs will barely make the playoffs and they will get eliminated quickly -- not that i'm giving up on Belfour, who is a lot better than people give credit. It's just that the Leafs will not be able to play their style of hockey because of the new rules. Ottawa will make it far into the playoffs, possibly into the finals. But any team who makes it to the finals will lose to Detroit. In basketball, I predict Vince Carter will burn a lot of people. Too many people, including myself was down on the Air Apparent, but this year he will prove everyone (except his mommy) wrong. He still won't step up as leader of the team, but he is going to put a world of hurt on his defenders this year. Who'll win the East is anyone's guess, but they will lose to any team coming out of the West. I am predicting an upset in the West, where the Lakers will not come out on top. The Lakers will lose because they have Tracy Murray on their team, and no team with Tracy Murray can win or deserve to win a championship. Mark my words: The only way I foresee the Lakers winning it all is if they cut or waive Tracy Murray.
Quick sporting predictions. The Giants will beat the Cardinals, and the Angels will beat the Twins. I am hoping that Bonds wins a WS this season, but I think that the Angels are too good this year. In hockey, the Leafs will barely make the playoffs and they will get eliminated quickly -- not that i'm giving up on Belfour, who is a lot better than people give credit. It's just that the Leafs will not be able to play their style of hockey because of the new rules. Ottawa will make it far into the playoffs, possibly into the finals. But any team who makes it to the finals will lose to Detroit. In basketball, I predict Vince Carter will burn a lot of people. Too many people, including myself was down on the Air Apparent, but this year he will prove everyone (except his mommy) wrong. He still won't step up as leader of the team, but he is going to put a world of hurt on his defenders this year. Who'll win the East is anyone's guess, but they will lose to any team coming out of the West. I am predicting an upset in the West, where the Lakers will not come out on top. The Lakers will lose because they have Tracy Murray on their team, and no team with Tracy Murray can win or deserve to win a championship. Mark my words: The only way I foresee the Lakers winning it all is if they cut or waive Tracy Murray.
October 07, 2002
On Friday, Lon, Yvonne and I went went to the free Hillsong concert at the Queensway Cathedral. The concert was scheduled to start at 7:30, and we got there at around 5:30pm to line up. The Queensway Cathedral fits 4000 people, but when we got there, there was already a lineup of about 4000! At 7, they finally started letting people in. But by the time we were about 10 metres away from the front entrance, they closed the front doors because they were full. Luckily though, they announced a second concert at 9. So we basically lined up for almost 4 hours.
I think the waiting was worth it. I've heard Hillsong before, and I've experienced worship similar to that before, but never to that scale. Living Hope church in Hamilton is similar, and the Met in Ottawa is pretty cool as well. The Delirious concert I went to in the summer time was really really good too. The great thing about Hillsong wasn't the 30 person singing choir they had, or the 2 electric guitars, bass, or acoustic. The 2 sets of drums, electric keyboard, trumpet dude, etc. It wasn't the 3 backup singers, or the fact that Reuben Morgan was there too, or even Darlene Zschech (pronounced as "check"). I think it was the atmosphere that they presented. The way they appeared to be genuinely enjoying themselves up there, loving every moment of praising and singing. That for me was what made it so great.
I think the waiting was worth it. I've heard Hillsong before, and I've experienced worship similar to that before, but never to that scale. Living Hope church in Hamilton is similar, and the Met in Ottawa is pretty cool as well. The Delirious concert I went to in the summer time was really really good too. The great thing about Hillsong wasn't the 30 person singing choir they had, or the 2 electric guitars, bass, or acoustic. The 2 sets of drums, electric keyboard, trumpet dude, etc. It wasn't the 3 backup singers, or the fact that Reuben Morgan was there too, or even Darlene Zschech (pronounced as "check"). I think it was the atmosphere that they presented. The way they appeared to be genuinely enjoying themselves up there, loving every moment of praising and singing. That for me was what made it so great.
October 04, 2002
I lasted almost 40 days without having any kind of pop. I tried to stop, when I saw that my friend lost over 35 points by not drinking anymore pop (and a better diet). Today, I couldn't take it anymore. I grabbed that last remaining A&W Root Beer that had been taunting me everytime I stepped into the laundry room. Mmmmmmmm.. It goes down so smooth.
I wish ICQ had subgroups like Trillian has. I have groups on my icq, like "McMaster", "Ottawa", "Toronto", "United States", "Delete Soon", "Waterloo", "Church Friends". Haha, just kidding about the last one! But what I'd like to do, is be able to put subgroups, for McMaster for instance, many people have graduated and aren't really at McMaster anymore. But I don't want to create a new group for "McMaster grads", so they remain in the McMaster category. And for my "Church Friends", some of them are in Toronto, some of them are in other places.. it messes things up for me trying to decide which group they go in.
Today I tried a new food. It's not necessarily new, but I think fairly knew for TO. It was called Tacoyaki. It's really good stuff.. Octopus meat mixed in batter and fried. They put dressing on top, with a touch of wasabi (oh yeah, it's japanese). I went down to First Markham Place with my friend FaiYuen to have it. I suggest if you haven't tried it, to try it. It could be the 'latest' thing..
I wish ICQ had subgroups like Trillian has. I have groups on my icq, like "McMaster", "Ottawa", "Toronto", "United States", "Delete Soon", "Waterloo", "Church Friends". Haha, just kidding about the last one! But what I'd like to do, is be able to put subgroups, for McMaster for instance, many people have graduated and aren't really at McMaster anymore. But I don't want to create a new group for "McMaster grads", so they remain in the McMaster category. And for my "Church Friends", some of them are in Toronto, some of them are in other places.. it messes things up for me trying to decide which group they go in.
Today I tried a new food. It's not necessarily new, but I think fairly knew for TO. It was called Tacoyaki. It's really good stuff.. Octopus meat mixed in batter and fried. They put dressing on top, with a touch of wasabi (oh yeah, it's japanese). I went down to First Markham Place with my friend FaiYuen to have it. I suggest if you haven't tried it, to try it. It could be the 'latest' thing..
October 02, 2002
Have you guys seen this website: http://www.emotioneric.com
Funny stuff.. It kind of reminds me of something I've done with my digital camera, but this guy made it a lot more funny. (I did a slide show of myself making funning faces, but it was more like one of those flip-the-page-animation book thingies. Ask Lon, he knows about what I'm talking about. Anyway, this Eric guy is next-level funny though.
Oh, what was I doing last night? What could I have been doing that would have made me so enraged? Why, programming of course!
Funny stuff.. It kind of reminds me of something I've done with my digital camera, but this guy made it a lot more funny. (I did a slide show of myself making funning faces, but it was more like one of those flip-the-page-animation book thingies. Ask Lon, he knows about what I'm talking about. Anyway, this Eric guy is next-level funny though.
Oh, what was I doing last night? What could I have been doing that would have made me so enraged? Why, programming of course!
October 01, 2002
It was my brother's birthday today. We had noodles for dinner, which is supposed to symbolize long life. I don't understand why we still do these silly chinese traditions, when as Christians we should believe we'll live as long as God wants us to live. Anyway, then we went out to see the movie called Four Feathers.
*Possible Movie Spoiler*
I expected a semi-epic for this movie, and I got just that.. however, I felt the movie could have ended at several different times in the movie. There were times I started getting bored and began to look around to see if anyone had fallen asleep. Maybe part of me was anxious to get home to watch Smallville, but I really honestly felt the movie dragged on longer than it had to. And there were times I felt like I didn't understand what was going on, or I didn't understand the purpose of certain parts being in the movie at all. Anyway, I believe this movie is best described as a creation by a director who had a lot to say but didn't know how to do it without letting it drag on and on. I have nothing against long movies, but only if they keep you wanting more, dragging them out is the worst. If you go into this movie, the best way to go in is with low expectations.
There's a new hip artist out. She's not really new per se as she's won awards already, but Avril Lavigne is really good. I got her album and aside from the 3rd track I like every single song she has. That's not bad for a semi-pop/alternative female singer from Napanee! Her big song was Complicated, and Sk8er Boi is out now (track3). I also just heard Smallville play her song "Tommorow" (track7). Her band has good sound, not too metallic or bass, just right -- and she has a very mature voice. Smallville has had the reputation of picking the next big hits, or current big hits for their soundtracks.
As you may have guessed, it was Smallville day. My favorite show, Smallville is about the younger days of Clark Kent (aka Superman). I haven't missed an episode, and I have all of them on my computer, along with just about every Smallville cast interview that has ever been on TV. What can I say, I'm definitely a Smallville fanatic!
*Possible Movie Spoiler*
I expected a semi-epic for this movie, and I got just that.. however, I felt the movie could have ended at several different times in the movie. There were times I started getting bored and began to look around to see if anyone had fallen asleep. Maybe part of me was anxious to get home to watch Smallville, but I really honestly felt the movie dragged on longer than it had to. And there were times I felt like I didn't understand what was going on, or I didn't understand the purpose of certain parts being in the movie at all. Anyway, I believe this movie is best described as a creation by a director who had a lot to say but didn't know how to do it without letting it drag on and on. I have nothing against long movies, but only if they keep you wanting more, dragging them out is the worst. If you go into this movie, the best way to go in is with low expectations.
There's a new hip artist out. She's not really new per se as she's won awards already, but Avril Lavigne is really good. I got her album and aside from the 3rd track I like every single song she has. That's not bad for a semi-pop/alternative female singer from Napanee! Her big song was Complicated, and Sk8er Boi is out now (track3). I also just heard Smallville play her song "Tommorow" (track7). Her band has good sound, not too metallic or bass, just right -- and she has a very mature voice. Smallville has had the reputation of picking the next big hits, or current big hits for their soundtracks.
As you may have guessed, it was Smallville day. My favorite show, Smallville is about the younger days of Clark Kent (aka Superman). I haven't missed an episode, and I have all of them on my computer, along with just about every Smallville cast interview that has ever been on TV. What can I say, I'm definitely a Smallville fanatic!
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