how's work?

I've always wondering, outside of common "work", what these people talk about. People always ask me, "how was your weekend?" or "how's work?". This idea swirled about my head today while having lunch. Here are some sample responses:

Professional baseball player:
"My job is pretty demanding. I had to work all weekend, and then last night, I had to work late. 2 extra innings, and I don't even get paid overtime! I must have put in at least 20 hours of work this week alone!! Also, I got booed because I bobbled a ball, and then I struck out on a called third strike. Man, that ball was no where near the strike zone! All this for a measely $15M a year? My life sucks."

Professional boxer:
"Work was brutal, I got punched in the face 45 times yesterday!"

Lingerie model:
"You won't believe this but.. I wore my underwear at work today!"

Professional football player:
"Work's been pretty good. I only work on weekends, so I've got a lot of time on my hands. Last week, I was sacked 3 times, and I still had my job! Next week's gonna be rough, we face the Patriots defense. They're tough.."

Professional pop-star:
"Work is tough. I have to wait 3-4 months for people to write songs for me to sing. Then I have to wait for my band to learn the song, and I have to go to a studio and sing them! I know it sounds easy but it's not. They take my songs, and edit them until they sound like someone who can actually sing. Oh but it gets worse, there are kids out there -- they download MY songs for FREE, after all that work I put into them! Life is so unfair!"

Professional racecar driver:
"I was stuck in traffic all day.."


Okay, I'm out of ideas and my lunch hour is over. Take care everyone!

happy birthday

A VERY HAPPY birthday to Ms. HMW #2, the CFO of the drama club. YAY!!

268

A couple people asked me what the 268 from 268Generation meant. Well, being an ultra bible verse memory whiz kinda guy (not!), I looked it up:

Isaiah 26:8

Yes, LORD,
walking in the way of your laws,
we wait for you;
your name and renown
are the desire of our hearts.

magic schoolbus

I watched this show after work today, one kid a really clever line. They were tiny again, this time inside a jar of pickles, looking at the fungus that preserves pickles. The (chinese) kid says "Oh no! The fungus are among-us!". Get it? Fungus? Among-us? It rhymes!! Hahahahaha..

Amelie

Today I rented the movie Amelie, or "Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain". I've been wanting to see this movie since it came out, but I think I was having midterms or something at that time.

Anyway so I rented it... and liked it. As expected, it was completely sub-titled. 10 years of french got me about 15% of the movie sans sub-titles. It was a very cute film, and everyone says you fall in love with Amelie after seeing it which is true.

Amelie is very Ally McBeal-ish, in more of a fun way than neurotic way. I think she's a better person than Ally, who was just a lot more selfish, more self-centred whereas Amelie didn't do anything for her own self gain. But they were still similar in their silly conniving ways and hilarious imagination.

The narration was funny too, just the way they would say things so matter-of-factly, straight up even if it was very quirky and silly. I don't have much else to say about this film except that it was fun to watch. There were a few... "racy" scenes, but all-in-all it was fun!

Kane

The next movie I'd like to see is Citizen Kane. I went to Future Shop to see if it was there but it was sold out!

getting better

I'm still feeling some ill-effects of my recent (what Ina calls PMS) oddball mood, but I've gotten a lot better. Maybe my promotion has something to do with that, or maybe just the loads of time spent with small group people this week that has helped too.

I watched some Olympics and was able to shed a tear. Today it was the tearful joy expressed by the Chinese women's volleyball team, who came back down 0-2 to beat Russia. It was... phenomenal. And also the tearful agony of the Russians. They had to go through this in Sydney too, losing to Cuba after being up 2-0. Btw, Gamova was a beast.. her spikes were unbelievable.. kudos to the Chinese team for the come-from-behind-win!

oops

Tonight's draft was pretty good, I did most of the things I planned to do. The only mistake (it might turn out to be very crucial) was grabbing one too many RBs early on. I took Travis Minor with my 2nd pick (5th round), instead of grabbing a WR, which is probably a stretch since many feel Miami will trade for a runningback to share carries with him.

Anyway, the "oops" part is that I skipped Stan & Yee-Lee's housewarming party, which actually turned out to be a surprise birthday celebration for those with birthdays in August, which includes me. So I essentially skipped my own birthday party for fantasy football.

Thanks guys for organizing the whole thing.

It's funny because I told them all along that I couldn't make it, but there were also a lot of hints. All week long people were trying to convince me to come anyway, or come for a bit of it. I couldn't figure out why people were so adamant that I come. I mean, their house is probably going to be the new hangout for us, so what difference does it make if I go today or next week right? And after the draft when I did go, Anita kept saying how "my presence there was requested", and I just figured she was kidding around. And earlier this afternoon she was saying "it wouldn't be the same without you". I guess that's true.. hehe

The honest truth though, is that I'd have been less inclined to go if I knew it was birthday celebration, since I don't like celebrating it. So maybe the surprise thing was a good idea. But.. furthermore I wouldn't have gone no matter what it was. If it were a wedding, I'd still skip it. Well, I mean if I'd been invited to a wedding then we wouldn't have scheduled the draft on the same day. We picked the date of the draft so that all 12 league members could make it, so we just wouldn't have done it today if I had plans already.

The point is that I wouldn't have broken a "date" with something else. It's not about fantasy football -- it's just principle that's all.

Btw, I had some cake tonight and my chest is absolutely *killing* me right now.. looks like I'll have to ride this one out. I guess I can't have even the egg in cakes now. Perhaps because I've abstained from egg for so long now that even a small hint of it will hurt me.. I wonder if I can even eat hard-boiled eggs anymore..?

billy blanks?

Anita and Kenric got me a Tae-Bo dvd, for reasons I don't quite know :P but I guess I'll check it out and do these funny aerobic exercises. I can clearly remember times that I've totally mocked these things.. haha

Thanks guys!

facedown

I got my Matt Redman - Facedown CD in the mail yesterday, have been listening to it. I like it a lot.

draft

The draft last night could have gone better. I made some poor decisions that led to key errors in my draft. Because of my trade, I still have a very good team, but I could have had a better team. I ended up with 8 of the top 43 players on my cheatsheet. There are 12 teams in the league, so yes, 8 of 43 is quite good. I'm not complaining, I'm just disappointed with the mistakes I made. I could have had 10 players in the top 50.

Of course looking back, hindsight is 20/20. Last night I dreamed of having the perfect draft. I got the players I missed and missed the players I didn't want to have to draft. It was beautiful.

I'll perhaps post draft results later. I know that some of my readers are rivals in other leagues and I'm not about to reveal my draft lists!

bro

My brother went to visit the Berkeley and Stanford campuses this past week. It's hard to fathom that my brother, my baby brother, is going to University next year. And he's grown up so much. When he arrived at the airport I took one look at him and was kinda surprised the way he had grown (and filled up a bit.. haha). He looked almost like an adult, except for the clothes.. hehe

He and I had a blast at the concert.

anger

The last few days have been difficult for me at work. As a temp, I am basically forced to do things that I don't want to. I have no real official position and I end up doing a lot of tasks that I'm far overqualified for. It's annoying and it one of the things that has frustrated me over the past year. But I do see the potential my position and my supervisor has been working directly with me in trying to develop myself to where I'd prefer to be.

At times he's appologized and thanked me for being patient with the way things are going. Recently I had the change to start learning to use a tool, and I've been really looking forward to it, but then I learned that I'd have to put it on hold again to help with other areas of the project.

I know that I should just be thankful for the work. This is still the job that God handed to me on a silver platter. Sometimes it's still hard to believe, or to accept, that this is all God wants me doing, at least for the time being. It seems like a waste of time.

My job will be posted in January and at that time there will be open competition for it. I really want it, because it will be a permanent position and it'll have the job description of the type of work I've been working towards.

mens

Anita pointed out to me that there's still an open opportunity for me to *consider* doing that men's group idea I had. She made some valid points so I've opened the door again. I still haven't given it that much thought except the key part is -- I need such a group. I would love it if someone just came up to me and told me they were going to start one. But instead, I'm sitting here wishing it could be done, knowing it can be done, worrying that it might have to be me.

Or I could leave T3C and go to a church that has one =D

draft

Next draft is Saturday. Not really prepared for it either but as it is keeper I have half my starting lineup already. Kenric invited me out to the art gallery (as if!) to see some paintings, claiming I needed to get out more (he's right.. but still).

I don't think I'll go. There's a ton of things that need to be done on Saturday. First, I need to wake up somehow. Then there's the draft preparation, followed by the purchasing of a housewarming gift for S&Y. Then I need to go there and help them clean/setup the place, then come home for the draft. There's really not much time in between these tasks to look at random brushstrokes of some guy who died many years ago.

But seriously that's not the reason, I'm not artsy but I have seen a lot of art. Our family has travelled lots and I have been to places like The Hermitage, many arts and museums all over Europe. They even had a Renoir/Monet thing in Ottawa.

I wouldn't mind seeing a painting of a *ripper* Jesus.. hehe

diss of the week

Today at Lon's birthday bbq, I went inside to go to the bathroom, when I came out I saw Mr. Wong chatting with Ray & Sandra, so I went in to say hello. Suprisingly he still remembered me from 4 years ago. We chatted in mandarin which was cool. But the whole time he was basically alluding to the fact that I wasn't married.

First thing he said asked was whether or not I was married, then whether or not I had a girlfriend. Then, he asked me about my parents, my job, etc, and then summarized that I was set in life and was ready to get married.

Then he pointed to Ray as an example of a guy who has it all together and took the next "logical" step. I patted Ray on the back and said "Good job!".

Thanks Mr. Wong, you rock!

the disses keep coming

Then just now, my aunt called. I've talked to her maybe 3 times in the last 12 years. Anyway, she calls, realizes it's me, and tells me "wrong number" and hangs up.

rubber bands

I spent a good 15 minutes looking on Google for different tricks with a rubber band. Not tricks.. umm.. shapes? I can make the star, and the double star (star within a star). I figured there had to be a site that taught more of them. I want to learn some so I can impress the ladies..

"What could possibly be more impressive to a girl than amazing shapes and configurations of a rubber band?" thought eBrian, with a sly grin on his face. He then proceeded to search on Google. Unfortunately, his searches were fruitless. He tried Yahoo. No luck.

*sigh*

trade accepted

It's crazy but the deal is on. I traded away a sure thing runningback for a very deep RB and WR corps. I will miss out on the top 8-9 RBs, but the end result *should* be better. At first look it's disappointing, I mean you miss out on guys who are going to produce no matter what, and you are left with guys who *might* produce.

Every year though, the top 8 picked aren't the top 8 at the end of the season. For instance, last last year, the top 8 RBs were:

Holmes, Williams, Tomlinson, Portis, Alexander, McAllister, Barber, Henry.

But last year the top 8 were:
Holmes, Green, Tomlinson, Lewis, Portis, Alexander, McAllister, Taylor.

So you see that aside from maybe 5 of the 8, there's room for changes and surprises.

Anyway, it just means I have to have a fantastic draft. In my years of fantasy football I've probably had 3 masterful drafts out of 40. D'oh! Haha..

happy birthday

Today is Lon's birthday. He's 26 years old.. wish him a happy birthday if you see him! If you don't know Lon -- you will, one day.

coh

Last night while playing COH someone asked me how old I was. Most recently I stopped playing with my Lion-0h character and made a little greyscale character named "The Beave". So anyway this kid asks me how old I am and I tell him. And after I told him, I felt kinda weird typing it. 26 years old.. So then I said that I felt old, and the kid replied he was 29.

The one of the girls playing with us had to leave to breastfeed her baby.

Somehow before when I heard about these things it made me feel younger, but now it has no affect, I'm old, and old people play this game. That's all there is to it.

By the way, The Beave learned to fly today. Gee whiz, Wally.. I'm flying!

pent up

I tried to convert my pent up frustrations into some positive energy for the last two days. By exercising. [qian2 tian1 wan3 sung4] I did squats until I could barely stand up, and then last night I did sit ups until the pain in my abs knocked me out. No kidding.. I woke up still clutching my stomach..

Also I've played guitar every morning before work for 15-20 minutes.

Preferably I'd like to switch things around. I am slowly going back to my morning wake-ups. It has been very erratic, some days I'll wake up at 5, and others I'll sleep all the way til 7:50. Today it was 6:50, which explains how I have time to blog right before work. Anyway, my hope is to get back to a regular wake-up pattern and exercise in the mornings and guitar in the evenings. The reason being that the exercise is wasted because I go straight to bed instead of eat right after, and playing guitar in the morning affects my day at work because my fingers are hurting.

After work yesterday I felt like throwing up from anxiety and nervousness. I'm not really sure where this is coming from, I have nothing to be anxious about. Let's see how I feel tonight..

fantasy pool

You have to see this trade I was offered. I draft 2nd overall in this one league drafting on Wednesday night. This kid's favorite player is LaDainian Tomlinson, and he figures that LDT will fall second just after Priest Holmes. So anyway, check out this offer he sent me last night:

Offered me:
1.11, 2.03, 4.03, 6.03, 12.03

For:
1.02, 5.02, 9.02, 15.02, 16.11

This offer would give me 6 picks in the first 4 rounds. According to my projections, this deal would improve my draft by 44%. For the record, I've made some henous deals in my time, crimes you wouldn't believe, but I think this would be the most lucrative deal ever. And.. I plan to counter-offer to give myself an even better deal.

I'm perfectly happy drafting 2nd overall if the deal doesn't work out. Picking up LDT in this league makes perfect sense because I've devoted maybe 10 hours of preparation for this league compared to maybe a 100 hours for the other (keeper) league. LDT is so sure of a thing that after drafting him I can pretty much do any strategy I want, whereas if I did this trade it would force me to actually think during the draft.

The break down is as follows. This is by tiers, of course:

Original draft position:
QB: QB5
RB: RB1, RB3, RB3, RB4
WR: WR3, WR4, WR5
TE: TE4

After trade:
QB: QB4
RB: RB2, RB2, RB3
WR: WR1, WR2, WR2
TE: TE2

So on average, overall the team can vastly improve even if I don't get a top tier RB. Keeping in mind that I'm very critical in tiering my players. Priest and LDT get their own tier, for instance. Then McAllister, Alexander, Green, Portis. Then the rest.

disgust

Today I thought something that I never thought I would think of at service. When I looked down at the bulletin and saw the next two songs come up were "Shout To The North" and "Days of Elijah" I gave serious consideration of getting up and leaving. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike these songs, but the combination of these two songs with today's leader is just a bad combination.

This leader sings these two songs every time he/she leads, and not just that, it's just an ugly display of showmanship -- engineered worship. It's sickening and if not for my (albeit poor) patience and willingness to wait it out, I would have left right there and then.

bu nai fan

I'm not sure what it is but lately I have just been feeling like I won't put up with things that I don't approve of. Like maybe a culmination of failures and frustrations have brought me to the brink of an explosion of negativity. It's just that I put up with a lot of crap without going nuts, moreso than the average person I guess. I guess I have a thick skin in that sense or a really long fuse.

Pray for me..

switchfoot

I've been listening to Switchfoot - The Beautiful Letdown a lot for the past few days. Actually pretty much non-stop since I bought it. It's a good CD, nothing like I expected, which isn't necessarily a good thing either. I expected heavy alternative having heard Meant To Live on the radio. But it's actually quite mellow. So on the one hand I was looking for that grungy music to let out frustration (ie, blasting it while driving), but instead it turned out to not be like that at all.

So I end up just blasting it anyway, even though it's not really 'blasting' type of music. I should have just bought a 12 Stones cd..

wisdom

This Sunday, I finally found like God was telling me something, during the sermon. Yes, a sermon at my church actually inspired me. Hard to believe isn't it. Daniel spoke about the value of wisdom that is passed down to us in the book of Proverbs.

It's funny because on Friday after work I walked with my co-worker to the subway station, and he was giving me advice on how to invest my money, and he actually brought up the parable of the talents, and told me I should be investing my money because I've been blessed with it and I should do something with it rather than just let it sit there. Why's this funny, it's funny because this guy is a non-christian, quoting from the bible to give me advice on my financials.

It's it funny though, how God will guide us through life through different means, not just through His direct word but through other means. It's truly amazing.

These posts are getting longer and longer.. i dunno how you people make short posts..

off the hook

Yesterday we didn't have small group per se, instead I invited people over to jam. It was a fun night, but it could have been a lot better. Perhaps next time I'll try to organize it more rather than have it ad-hoc like the way we had it.

It became more of a gathering and not really even fellowship, more like hanging out. I really felt as if we lost God during the singing. The only time we had real fellowship was at prayer time, and instead of having a good sharing time it turned into jokes and digression. I'm not sure how we let that happen, but.. whatever.

Anyway, regarding my title. Yesterday I also learned that Anita is interested in leading a small group. Which means there will be 3 groups, which gets me off the hook for this whole thing of a men's group.

Friday afternoon I chatted with my cousin Grayson, about opportunities of serving in church, and he pointed out that if I was scared to do something, but there was a need for such a service, then I should do it. He went through the same thing in his church, for leading worship. In his case, he was also scared to do it, but there became a need for a new leader. God provided this open door and opportunity for him.

For me, I was scared to do it, but the door closed. God's way of pointing me in another direction, I guess.

texas hold 'em

I know that I've joked about this before, but I've given this serious thought lately. I talked to Daniel about this once because he told me he was really into it, and knew a lot of guys who were also into it. I like watching it on TV. Then yesterday my cousin Clark told me that a lot of people at his church are into it. And I know that Alf has considered buying a set of chips, for similar purpose as one I am about to suggest. I know that Lon has had at least one meeting of something similar.

Let's push my men's group idea off to the side and suggest the following: A poker ministry.

Okay, so some of you are cringing. Poker? What?! Gambling? How can gambling be a ministry? You have church in one hand, and poker in the other? Vegas? Sin City?

Poker... or CARDS for that matter, is a great male bonding tool. Take 4 total strangers (men), lock them in a room for 2 hours. What do you get? I shudder to think the results of such an experiment.

But take the same 4 guys, but this time give them a deck of cards -- and I guarantee you when you open the door there will be 4 guys having fun, laughing it up, bonding --- friends. That's the magic of cards and men.

Poker has always been a guy thing. It's the time when men gather together, play a game of cards and talk about things. What things.. anything. Life, kids, wife, work. And God. Sure, why wouldn't we talk about God, about spiritual issues?

Poker ministry. This is certainly a viable ministry but it would be a challenge, as with any ministry. Take any competitve sport ministry for instance. Sometimes, teams become too competitive. In my opinion, the whole point of sport ministry is to show God's grace, and to fellowship with one another. It's really got nothing do with the sport itself.. sure you play the sport, but it's what you do while your playing that really matters. If the focus is not on God during the game, then you're just playing the sport.

Aside: This reminds me of a time in highschool when my friend Sabin thought that the Chinese Chess club was just chinese people playing regular chess. If you're in a sports ministry and you're just playing the sport, then it's not longer a ministry, you're just a bunch of Christians playing the sport.

So the trick with a poker ministry is to prevent people from making it about poker. How do you do this. I'll get back to this later.. it's 1:30 in the morning and service is in 8 hours.

street painting

This iz da shiznit yo!

http://www.kurtwenner.com/gallery.htm

I saw a message posted on asbntr (alt.sports.basketball.nba.tor-raptors) with that funny street language. Absolutely cracked me up.. Kids these days are so funny!

Translation: Gee golly willickers! Check this stuff out, it's amazing!

Thanks to the akt for tracking down the site. Some really amazing stuff on that site..

Since Andrew said that the U2 compilation cd by various Christian artists is available at Mitchell's I will have to head over there, tonight. I just can't help myself. I also plan to buy the Switchfoot cd.. maybe. But definitely the Bethany Dillon cd, which I've listened to a 100 times already.

There's a few other interesting bands. I've mentioned "12 Stones" before. They're heavy alternative, not for the faint of hearts. Also while listening on Launch Yahoo, I came across a group called "Building 429", a band based around Ephesians 4:29, which is:

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

They sound a whole lot like Creed.. the difference being that they are blatantly Christian.

Edit: I bought Dillon and Switchfoot. I sampled the "In The Name Of Love" cd and was horrified that they got The Grits to do "With Or Without You". Needless to say they butchered it terribly. Couldn't bring myself to buy the cd, out of respect for U2. Chris Tomlin's rendition of "Streets" was pretty good though.

health

Reading about Gladys' mission to get healthy reminded me that I promised myself years ago that when I turned 26 I would start watching my health. Not so much that I'd become a workout-holic, but moreso just that I would *start* taking care of myself.

That is, watching what I eat, being careful of my health and well-being. Whereas before I may have scoffed at people who said things like "Brian, spraying whipped cream into your mouth directly from the can is not good for you", or "Brian, the butter is for the bread, not the other way around.", I am supposed to listen to these advices and realize I am hurting myself.

Incidentally during my dad and brother's visitation, I gained 7 pounds.

Also to ammend my original goal, I plan to work out 52 times this year. That's about 4 times more than I have worked out my entire life, but I think it is a good goal. Once a week, until my next birthday, or, worst-case scenario, every day from June 23, 2005 til August 13, 2005. Haha..

studying

I have not studied like this since University. But, this year I am committed to doing my utmost best in my fantasy football leagues, and to do this I need to study.

I have 2 drafts coming up, next Wednesday is for Rockville Evangelical Missions Fantasy Football League, and the following Saturday for Cabin John Fantasy Football League. REMFFL and CJFFL are both based in the US.. they are churches actually. But the members (aside from me) are people from those churches, churches that my cousins attend. Actually no one goes to Cabin John anymore but since the league started many years ago, the name just stuck.

CJFFL is a keeper league so it means a whole lot more to me. There's more strategy involved in a keeper league because you need to decide who to keep for the following year, while also taking into account where you are drafting and the possibility of drafting someone who isn't kept who might end up being better than the player you potentially keep. I draft 5th overall in this league.

REMFFL is a throwback, less important, but there's still bragging rights involved that make me want to win that one too. I draft 2nd overall, guaranteeing me either Priest Holmes or LaDainian Tomlinson.

Then there is also Andrew's league. I'm not sure when they plan on holding the draft and frankly I hope it is not until September.

someone to talk to

Blogger is like a pal of mine, who listens when there's no one else to listen. This explains why I blog a whole lot more when not much is going on, and then only intermittently when there's lots going on. I never thought about blogging at all until late at night when my brother and dad had gone to bed, whereas when I'm alone, I'd think about blogging on the subway, at work, pretty much all the time.

I'd be in the subway, or at work, or walking down the street, and see something funny and think "ooohh.. gotta blog about this!".

title

Seems blogger keeps changing. I cannot see my title on my blog..

my axe

I overlooked something very important when I bought my electric guitar. I can't play. For some reason I thought I learned acoustic all by myself, but this isn't true at all. It was from jamming, at Tim or Sandra's house, OCAC and of course the weekly jams at 2880 Carling (our place, Lon and I). And I had people to learn from, like Lon, Tim, Alf, Sandra, Nate, Jon, Frank, Miranda. Without those sessions and "mentors" I could never have learned to play.

So.. how am I gonna learn electric?

Right now I feel pretty depressed because I just dropped off my dad and brother off at the airport. I feel alone again, instant loneliness the second I drove away from the airport. But instead of blogging about my sadness, let's talk about last night's mercyme concert, which easily tops any concert I have ever been to.

4 of us were at the concert; Gladys, Anita, Darryl (my bro) and I. Anita, Darryl and I went to wonderland in the afternoon to ride the rollercoasters, and we met up with Gladys (who had a softball game that afternoon) later on. When we got there we lined up at Drop Zone for about 45 minutes before a torrential downpour came. We were in the front of the line when this happened, literally seconds before we were to go out and do the ride, it poured. They shut down the ride (actually the entire park) and waited it out. Unfortunately due to its design, Drop Zone is the last ride to start up again, so we left and rode the Minebuster and then the Skyrider, before we went to the concert. Anyway, back to the concert.

I read somewhere that mercyme was even better live than they are on cd. Even better? They are WAAAAAAAY better live than on cd (which if you think about it is kinda scary). mercyme ranks as my favorite Christian band, and now they are heads and shoulders above the rest, they were unbelievable last night. All 3 performers were awesome. David Crowder Band, mercyme, Michael W. Smith. They all played, on top of their own songs, praise songs so it was just one big worshipfest.

David Crowder Band opened, starting with "No One Like You". I don't think I remember the exact order, but here are the songs they played from Illuminate:

O Praise Him
Skies (Interlude)
Open Skies
Coming Toward (Track 13)

David Crowder is a wacko, I mean if you look at him, he is freakish. Tall, lanky and his hair is just nuts.. like a 'fro, but then a long funny looking una-bomber-like beard. If I'm not mistaken DCB has been around as long if not longer than MercyMe, but haven't enjoyed the same kind of success. They were obviously not as well known as MM or MWS by the crowd reaction, but Canada rocks as they say, and people were pretty hyped by his stuff.

Next they set up the stage for MM, but they put a piano in the middle. MWS came out and for a minute I thought maybe MM was coming out last, as if they were bigger than Michael W. Smith? But he came out, started singing a praise song and then the MM band came out, and it was awesome, Bart and Michael singing along.. I was totally blown away by this, and so was Darryl.

MM opened with "Here With Me" and then "The Change Inside of Me". Overall they sang from albums..

Almost There
Here Am I
I Can Only Imagine

Spoken For
The Change Inside of Me
Spoken For
Word of God Speak

Undone
Here With Me
In The Blink Of An Eye
Homesick
Undone

These were inter-twined with praise songs. I can remember singing "Breathe", "Because He Lives (I can face tomorrow)", and there were others. Too many to count. Whereas DCB sang for 30 minutes, MM sang for an hour. Bart was struggling to hit some of the higher notes, he was coughing at times, probably worn out from this long tour.

Before he sang Homesick, Bart talked about losing his brother-in-law in January, about how his b-i-l had been struggling with his walk, and they had straightened him out, and on his way home he died in a single car crash. Bart wrote the song and sang it at the funeral. I think I've blogged about this before. Anyway, it was a touching moment.

All the MM band members list U2 as one of their favorite bands. So fittingly they sang "Where the Streets Have No Name" last, before MWS. In fact, Smith sang with them, it was awesome.. my favorite U2 song, sung and played by MercyMe and Michael W. Smith. I couldn't believe it, I was totally blown away by it, almost close to tears from pure joy by the end of the song. It was beautiful!

Then, Smith comes out and sings a couple of praise songs, then he sang Secret Ambition and Rocketown, major oldies yes, but both songs me and Darryl knew so we were loving it.

He also sang two songs from his new album coming out in October. I know one of them was called "Healing Rain". It was a good one.

Near the end, he started to sing "Above All". It was all dark around him just the spotlight on him on the piano, and then, the lights come on and MercyMe is there and they all sang together! Above All (written by MWS) is a HUGE song in the States.. anyone following the latest NASA crash will remember footage of people gathering in churches singing Above All (and I Can Only Imagine, which I'll get to in a sec). So after Above All, they sang some more praise songs together, and then..

I Can Only Imagine came up, still MercyMe singing it, but Michael W. Smith singing the odd verses. CRAZY! It was so awesome!!

The Spirit was moving, God was moving, people were standing up or bowed to the ground, with their arms raised.. I was crying.. even Darryl (usually Mr. Un-animated) had his arms up to the heavens.

At the end, David Crowder Band came out and joined MM and MWS, and they sang a few more praise songs, ending it all off with "Open The Eyes (of my heart Lord)". Each sang a verse, and the last time they sang the chorus, we moshed it.

I've never moshed before; it's tiring and hard.. Maybe I'm getting too old but I had some trouble jumping and pumping my fist and singing all at the same time. :) But it was fun! DCB, MM, MWS all singing and rocking.. good times!

And then MWS and DC ran around the back of the stage and climbed up to the top above the speakers in the middle, and hugged. It was so funny! And then DC jumped down, it must've been like an 8-foot drop!

Finally the concert ended with the audience sing "(Our God is an) Awesome God".

Dates

If it weren't for the blackout last year, this blog, and ICQ, no one would remember my birthday except my immediate family, and maybe.. people who were silly enough to write it down somewhere.

I have a quite a few birthdays memorized, aside from immediate family. I wrote up the "birthdays booklet" for our highschool fellowship many years ago, so I remember at least a half a dozen of those birthdays, like Steve, Laura, Roger, Aileen, Denise, Jacqueline, Yung, Keith, Robert. University core group of friends, only one I remember is Adam's, only because he has the same birthday as Jacqueline. From Ottawa I have Yvonne, Lon and Mildred's birthdays etched in memory, but mainly because I have fun memories associated with those birthdays. Then there are my crushes - the girls who "peaked" my interests in the past, I won't forget those birthdays either. Right.. as if I'm gonna post those!

For the life of me I cannot remember important dates like doctor or dentist appointments, the day I graduated, my first day of school. In highschool I forgot about an exam and came in with an hour left (still finished it though, with time to spare, and actually aced it.. haha).

Off the top of my head (minus the above birthdays), here are dates I remember:
December 17, 1997 - my baptism
August 15, 2004 - mercyme, david crowder band, michael w smith concert

That's all I can remember, which means I have a super long memory, and an ultra short memory, and everything in between is gone. Of course there are the statutory holidays, but who doesn't remember those?

Funny story -- in our thesis project team, our leader emailed us to arrange a meeting off-campus, during the winter break. I'm not sure what he was thinking, as if we'd actually meet during the break, but these are our "core" group of Mac friends, so it might have been possible. Anyway, he told us to meet on Dec. 25! Haha.. silly Muslim..

So why am I awake at 5:30 in morning typing this?

I had a weird dream about MercyMe, just before I woke up. I showed up late to the concert, but it was okay because for some reason Justis Kao was performing as the opening act (yes, very weird). Gladys couldn't make it, not sure why. My brother wasn't there. Anita was there, even though in my dream I called her and her brother picked up the phone and said she'd be late. And for some reason Duncan and Nancy were there. We sat in the 2nd row instead of the 4th row, and we were in a park, like a picnic park, and they were performing between two big trees. They sounded awful..

No, I'm not on drugs.

Then I woke up, totally excited about MM. Turned my computer on, and started listening to MM cds. I read through the MercyMe forums about peoples' experiences at their concerts (same tour). This is the only stop in Canada so I suspect it'll be packed. I don't expect a lot of canucks to love MercyMe, but I bet there are tons of fans of all 3 bands. MWS fans alone should fill most of the place up. When I went to see SCC back in 2000, Kingswood theatre was only half full.

Anyway, in the forums they say MM are far better than they expected, every post says basically the same thing, that they are even better live than on CD.

Honestly that doesn't surprise me because Bart Millard has an unbelievable voice. This isn't their first tour, and for a fairly new band they have travelled a lot.

Million Miles Away

You're my inspiration
You're always by my side
You are there as sure as I am breathing

Without hesitation
I am giving You my life
Cause I know You're never gonna leave me

It doesn't matter where I go
Cause this I know

I believe that You're always here with me
You're everywhere but still within my reach
Cause how could You save the day
If You're a million miles away

Who's to say what you can't see can't be found
There's evidence of Your presence all around
Cause how could You save the day
If You're a million miles away

What it all comes down to
Is being with You

At this time last year, August 14, I was probably around Lawrence/Yonge, walking home because of the blackout. I still count that as my best birthday ever.

This year, no power failures. I got up at around 6:30, played City of Heroes until my dad and brother woke up at around 10:00. At around 10:45 we got a call from the dentist asking us why we hadn't shown up at our appointment.. hehe.. oops!

After that we went out for lunch at Wei Shung Tsuen, or "Asian Legend" across the street, had my favorite Hong Sao Nou Ro Mien, two bowls, and a lobster.

Then we came home, watched a few more vcd's (my dad and bro are watching them now, trying to finish them off before they leave on Monday). Then we all went downtown to Steve's Music store.

I bought a Godin guitar, it's black. And I bought a Rolland amp. The guy was cool about it, at first I was going to buy a Fender Stratocaster, but with that and the amp it would've been over my budget, so we went with the canadian made Godin guitar instead. It came with a bag so that was a bonus for me. We got a tiny discount because I bought the showroom one.

After we bought it and paid for it, the guy asked me if this was a birthday present, since we were getting everything as a package. I told him I was 26 today, and he was like "what?! you look 14!". HAha.. 14? Ouch..

I can't blame him for that, I was wearing a really old tee, and my 'clown shoes', and I didn't have my hair gel'd or even combed. Still 14? That's younger than my brother.. I wonder how old he thought Darryl was..

Today we're going to eat the fish that I caught yesterday at fishing. We went to Rice lake, caught around 15-20 fish total but threw back all of them but the one big one I caught. Really, it wasn't that big but in comparison to the others it was a prize fish.

Most of the fish we caught were panfish (sunfish and perch), small ones. My dad caught a rockbass wish is also considered a panfish. I was the only one who caught "real" fish. A pair of large-mouth bass, one of whom is sitting in my fridge right now. :)

I'll post some pics up later, of the fish we caught. At first, we took pics of all of them, but after awhile it became redundant. They were so small, we tried tricking the camera by holding them up really close to the camera.. Haha..

What I really thought of The Village

This was a great movie. The reason I posted bad comments on it was a joke, hoping people wouldn't feel overhyped about it. But upon further investigation, just about every review ripped it apart.

I hope for your sake, if you haven't seen the movie -- you haven't read any of the reviews out there.

Ultimately choosing to see a movie must be of your own choice, regardless of critics, and, to prevent your very own opinions from being skewed, you try to avoid other influences.

Anyway, back to the movie for which I expected to be scary, was indeed scary. I've never cried out during a movie and I did, just from something actually quite quick and innocent, but startled me enough to cry out "AH!".

Joaquin Phoenix was okay, but the real performance came from a newcomer, Bryce Dallas Howard. She plays a blind girl who ends up being one of the more major characters in the plot. For me, that was a big part of the satisfaction I had in the movie, in her performance. Anyway, from this point on if you haven't seen the movie, stop reading.

My fascination with M Night Shyamalan movies are that they always have surprises and twists, things that pretty much blow your mind away at the end, like Bruce Willis being dead in Sixth Sense, or Samuel Jackson blowing up the train just to test Bruce Willis in Unbreakable, or an asthma attack that ultimately saves a young boy from being killed by aliens in Signs. But the trouble is people watch his movies expecting a big twist, so they become suspicious of everything.

And of course the other thing with Shyamalan is his use of sound and lighting. Some really innocent scenes he can intensify so well with sound effects and music, and he makes things so eery from the lighting if needs to. He uses good contrast in colors, to signify different things. There are awful movies out there that are too dark, or too bland, but he mixes it up really well.

There, I made this review sort of not give anything away, in case you kept reading.

I can't rate this one with I, Robot, Bourne Supremacy, King Arthur or Spiderman 2, because those were all action movies. This was a suspense/thriller/romance, and so I can't compare. The romance aspect of it was really nice. Very thrilling, suspenseful, and also funny at times.

10/10.

My brother and I traded a Playstation, two controllers, a multi-tap, Final Fantasy 7, Resident Evil, Gran Turismo 2 (these were all PSX titles), then also Freedom Fighters (GC), Medal of Honor: Rising Sun (GC). This we traded to EB on Sunday night, and in return got $40. This is a sad trade indeed, especially considering I bought Rising Sun 2 days before for $30 alone. Haha.. anyway, we traded it all for 007: Everything or Nothing (GC). Tough, tough game.

I buy games only if they are multiplayer and I prefer the co-operative ones.

It's so great to have my brother here. Not just for my entertainment but just having someone besides God to talk to -- and I don't mean I don't talk to anyone else, but I mean really *talk* to someone, I miss that human aspect of conversation.

I saw The Village today. What a disappointing film. No twists, no point really. Total waste of time.

mariah

Mariah Carey has gotten me through some tough times. She and I go way back of course, since highschool. But she really helped me out in times of trouble, back in 2000, and of course recently, like last month. I guess in some ways that's bad because then I end up associating those rough times whenever I hear Mariah songs.

On the other hand, there are some songs that just don't get old, don't get painful, they just go on forever.. like the Music Box album.. best album ever.

It's unfortunate that such a talented singer could make 5/6 amazing albums and then simply vanish from the industry completely..

I've been inspired to blog by the akt because when it's the late (or early) you can tend to ramble on. And since I couldn't think of anything to blog about earlier, this is a good time to do one.

My brother is in town, I picked him up yesterday morning. We went downtown to Steve's Music Store to check out electric guitars. There are so many types.. goodness gracious! I saw a nice Stratocaster that I really liked, but they don't come in the color I wanted. I want sort of a metallic non-shiny blue guitar. But that's not available. In fact, I didn't see a single guitar in the entire store with that color. Perchance it doesn't exist? Perchance indeed.

We also went for sushi at Fune. It's around the John/King area. Yummy.. he and I eat sushi the exact same way.. First of all we don't mix wasabi with soy sauce. Secondly we eat in the same order, leaving the salmon til the end.

Last night we stayed at home, watched television, watched Clockwork Orange (this was definitely not appropriate for his age.. oops). Heck, I don't think the movie was appropriate for anyone's age, period. It was just a purely inappropriate movie, period.

We played cards, played computer, that stuff. Just like old times.. I hadn't seen him since January before this, so it has been awhile. I love having him around..

Today we did more of the same, except went to Fairview to take care of some business, then shopped for shoes.. (yes, guys do that too) although I didn't buy any. Bought Medal of Honor for GC, only because it has co-op mode so I could play with my bro. And we watched Bourne Supremacy, a very very good movie. On a scale of 1 to 10, Supremacy is a 10, I, Robot is a 9, and Clockwork is a 4, but really a minus 100, for its inappropriateness. I wonder if Focus on the Family movie reviews did one for Clockwork.. lol

I'd put Dr. Strangelove at 8.

Hmm.. what else. Small group was over tonight, but I really out of it. About 15 minutes into our bible study it occurred to me I shouldn't have invited them and should have just spent the evening with my brother.

It's interesting the perspective people take on certain passages. When I read Acts 3, I got nothing nearly compared to what they discussed in the Bible study. I started to think about OAC english class and how reading some books I just found them to be interesting stories, whereas we'd end up discussing topics for 3-4 months about these concepts and ideas that I totally didn't catch when I read the books.

Maybe it's the wee hours of the morning that is making me blog about this, but I've given some thought into leading a men's small group. At first it was just what I considered an ill-conceived notion. But last week I spent some time putting together some ideas and structure and concepts of it, and actually got kind of excited about it. I've never lead a group before though, I'm not sure how I'd do it, but the things I'd like to cover would be prudent I think, to everyone involved.. I mean, it would be a good group. It'd be a very good group, stuff from legend I mean. People would talk about us, or write a book on us. That's how good it would be.

But no.. I don't know if I'd actually do it, it's more like a vision I suppose. Even at 3 in the morning I still feel apprenhensive about it, and normally I would say yes to anything at this time of night (day).

I have been praying about this for the last couple of weeks.

What else..

Sports? Vince Carter asking to be traded? Who cares.. he's staying put. Score your 20/4/4 for the next 2 years. We'll develop young talent around you during these two years, and when we are ready to let Bosh take over the team a la Kevin Garnett, we will trade you for veteran leadership and reach the NBA Finals the following year. Good riddance to you, Mr. Wince Carter. "Half man, half season."

And.. whoa I'm really tired now. I dunno where I'm going this Sunday. I want to see a pentecostal church, but I don't know of any. I want a guarantee that I'll see someone speak in tongues. I've never witnessed such a thing.

Batman

Why is it that Batman is so popular?

First off, let's clear out the comparison of human superheroes and alien superheroes. Of course, the aliens win hands down, because they are here on earth, trying to save the earth, even though earth is not their true home. They are gifted with abilities that are supernatural (or natural), but the fact is they use them for good, to save earthlings.

So this eliminates, among others, Superman.

This leaves the humans then -- Batman, Spiderman, Green Lantern, etc. Here are the categories of superheroes:

1. Born with their abilities.
(a) Born on earth, and thus are mutants.
(b) Born on another planet, and thus are aliens.
(c) Machine.

2. Born normal, received abilities via: gift, scientific experiment, accident.
(a) Born on earth, and thus are humans.

Let's leave out mutants for now. We could have a separate debate about favorite mutant that would take years to decide.

Of all superheroes, Batman doesn't fit in any of the above. He has no special abilities, no powers. He's not a freak, he can't fly, lift heavy objects, jump really high.

Batman is just a rich guy. What does money get you? A plane shaped like a bat. A black cape and utility belt. Neat gadgets. Some would argue Batman is really knowledgeable and intelligent. When you're rich, you have all that extra time to read about things. Poor people don't have time for that because they need to work hard to get to where they are.

Also, where did Batman's money come from? From his parents. So really, he's not a rich guy with gadgets, he's just a lucky guy. He inherited his riches. But let's not call him lucky since he lost his parents. I'd call him... a great financier. He did well with the money his parents left him. He built an empire from it, Wayne Enterprises.

Batman: Just a guy with money.

doom 3

Well, Doom 3 came earlier than I expected. I got the message when I got home from EB, and immediately went over to pick it up. I played approx. 3 hours of it today. At first I played about an hour of it, and became terrified of it, it was hard and scary as hell, so I exited the game and had dinner.

Later I went back to it. I'm still scared out of my wits but at least I'm no longer dying at every turn. Stuff just comes out of nowhere sometimes, it really gave me the heebie jeebies at first and I wasn't sure if I'd play again..

The game requirements are steep. My computer can only run it barely on medium settings, but for ideal game play (ie 40 frames per second), I turned it down to 640x480 and medium settings. It still lags occasionally when there are too many enemies on the screen (like 3 would do it).

I'm sure that if I buy a new video card I would make short work of this lag but is it really worth it? I'll just play the game again one day when I happen to have a better video card. In the meantime, this will have to do.

this week

Just one more day and then back to weekend for me. This week was 2 days long, and then I'm back to another 4 day weekend. I can't believe it's Friday again. Haha..

injuries

Some of my friends got injured playing Ultimate Frisbee yesterday. The AKT and monchken both injured their ankles yesterday. Pray that they get well soon.

And to think, on Sunday I actually gave it some thought to joining them to play since I had nothing better to do on Monday. If that is not a clearer cut message from up Above not to join in, then I don't know what is.

revisiting bethany dillon

Having had my fill of my favorite two cd's (Mercyme - Undone, David Crowder Band - Illuminate), and my 3rd favorite (Hillsong United - More Than Life) was all the way downstairs in my car, I decided to check out the top Christian hits off the Billboard site.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Bethany had hit the top 20 again, this time with "All I Need", so I went back to her site. She has all her stuff for free right off the site, just for listening enjoyment. For those of you who have surfed on over to her site -- she is 15 and writes her own stuff. Check out "Beautiful".. i can definitely relate.


Actually what's interesting is that recently I was talking to a friend from Shanghai, and he was telling me how there's almost no artists from China that are successfully writing and singing. All the big stars there are like Britney -- all they do is sing, and none of the famous song writers actually sing their own stuff, either because they can't sing, or they're just not good-looking enough.

I think that's a reflection of the culture, how, parents are just not allowing their kids to explore their own experiences. Why is it that every CBC I know is either in accounting (finance), engineering (tech), or teaching (education)? How many times were you thwarted by your parents when you told them you wanted to be something different, like an artist? It's almost unheard of.

Think about it -- over a billion people over there, and they managed to produce a *single* good basketball player.


So anyone, this is the next CD I'll be buying.

tennis

Roger Federer reminds me of Martina Hingis, with a little bit more "oomph". Great control of the ball, not particularly powerful in any of his strokes or serving. Just great placement. That was enough to beat Roddick to win the trophy. Hingis held up her end of the bargain for many years despite extremely powerful competition (Williams' sisters, Davenport, Seles, Mauresmo, etc.) by just playing the same way Federer is playing. Eventually, power will win out, but right now it's Federer's day to shine.

amish

Yes.. I cannot defend my actions but I watched "Amish in the City", the latest in the string of what appears to be the neverending I-don't-think-people-will-ever-get-sick-of-these reality television shows.

So anyway I watched it, and I don't regret it. It's not as bad as I thought it would be. I mean they actually try to deal with some of the issues of prejudice and stereotyping. Okay, so the premise is 5 amish people get into a house with 5 city folk, and 1 vegan (also a city folk). I'm not sure what the idea is, I mean I don't think they have a voting system or anything.

Anyway, this one part they made all the city folk dress up in amish clothing and go into town. And a few of them came to the realization of what it is like for an amish to go into town and just look at them funny because of they way they are dressed. I thought that was kinda neat. Also, one of the amish girls had never been to the beach, so they went and she was overwhelmed by the sight of it, it was a pretty touching moment.

movie rental

A "Videobee" Video rental store opened up in the mall below me. Apparently they are cheaper than Blockbuster. The Sporkchek down there closed and is turning into a Futureshop. At this rate, I may never have to go outdoors again. If only they built a church down there..

Not a whole lot of substance in my blogging lately, just lots of things I've been doing..

Today, I woke up at 8:30am, a testament to how tired I have been lately. Woke up, walked over to the living room and then remembered I had already finished the chinese kung-fu show. Watched YTV until noon. You know how it is.. X-Men: Evolution, Justice League, etc. Also saw some Populer Mechanics for Kids. I love that show..

Then I played City of Heroes for about an hour, but I nearly dozed off from it. So then I took strawberries leftover from last night's small group and made a milkshake with them.

Then I went to pick up Kevin to go to L'Amoreaux Park, to play tennis with Gladys, Anita, Nancy and Albert. I have not played tennis since the age of 13 or so.. It was fun though. Me and my bro used to hit tennis balls against the big wall at Mitchell Field Community Centre near our house. That's the extent of my tennis skills.. handball with a racket. Haha..

After tennis, everyone went home to shower, and then came over to my place for dinner and a movie. We had pasta, dumplings and ice cream. I think my tummy has shrunken.. I had a plate that was maybe 1/2 of what I used to be able to eat. Anyway, it was good eatin'.

Then we watched The Bourne Identity. I like that movie, my second time through was still almost as good as the first.