Viva Las Vegas

So I've been in Las Vegas for the past 5 days and finally had a chance to sit down at a computer. Which is weird for me... but nevertheless.

Been having a blast here with the family. Not really doing a whole lot productive but then again when is vacation ever productive.

As usual, one of the largest highlights of coming to Vegas is attending my parents' church, South Hills Church Community. It's always a pleasure. Last night we took part again in the candlelight Christmas Eve service, and then this morning we went there again for Christmas service. Good times..

I think I've gained some weight, I've eaten a lot, and it's quite noticeable on my stomach, which is bulging out like a watermelon.

We've continued in our crazy pace of watching movies like total madness. I've seen "Hide and Seek", "Amityville Horror", "Constantine" (yea, we saw all these on Christmas Day. Not the greatest theme -- horror movies on Christ's birthday.. but oh well.

Before today I saw 3 other movies -- "Kissing and Screaming", "Bewitched" (yes, Will Ferrell really can't act -- Bewitched may have been one of the worst movies I've seen in awhile, and "Spanglish".

Spanglish was really good... very very good. It was like.. I-Want-To-Buy-It-Good. 10/10 good.

Anyway.. we're going to Los Angeles tomorrow.. Road trip yay!

I'm still totally jetlagged. It's 11pm here, 2am in "real life". And I'm exhausted. I wake up every morning at 7am here because 10am is apparently as late as I can possibly sleep in.

And.. that's all I have to say about that.

The hills are alive...

I watched The Sound of Music on the weekend, and I must say it has to be one of the top movies I've ever seen. Obviously I've seen it many times before.

Anyway, something dawned on me while I was watching it. Or rather, something somewhat amusing and curious -- could a person like Maria actually exist in real life, and if so, that person would be my ideal girlfriend/wife.

loves God wholeheartedly

will put aside her own goals to follow God and do His work

beautiful

amazing singer

plays guitar

innocent

loves children

independent

speaks her mind

knows what's right and wrong

good fashion sense

joyful and happy

awkward and silly at the appropriate times

forgiving

funny

I mean if that's not the perfect woman, then I don't know what is.

Progress

I think I'm making progress because I retook the test in the mindset of myself back in university, and scored a 99%. I can't believe I actually had one of those "police line do not cross" yellow tape on my door back in the day. What a geek!

"Ah!"

That's the first line of a song called "Happy Is A Yuppie Word" by Switchfoot. The title is taken from a quote from Bob Dylan in 1991. Rolling Stone asked him, on his 50th birthday, whether or not he was happy. He fell silent for a few moments and stared at his hands. "You know," he said, "these are yuppie words, happiness and unhappiness. It's not happiness or unhappiness, it's either blessed or unblessed."

I think that's pretty much the gist of everything going on in my life.

(btw, this CD (Nothing Is Sound) totally rocks. Totally, totally rocks. Near the top in terms of best birthday presents ever for sure!)

I've been incredibly, incredibly blessed. My family, my friendships, my career and possessions. I am so thankful for the many relationships I've built over this past year.

And I can tell you without a sliver of doubt in my mind that I am completely, and utterly "blessed". There isn't a single thing I would change (okay, maybe..) and I am satisfied with each and every one of my blessings. I think God gives us blessings, that come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes, they're devastating from our point of view because God is this great big force and we really have no way of knowing that something so devastating is actually something amazing and wonderful.

And even if we try to look at the "bigger picture", that picture is tiny compared to what He is seeing. So while we sit there and cry, and say "Why God, WHY??", He's sits there smugly and says "You'll see". And then some where along the road, it hits you like a ton of bricks, BLAM. And there it is. God smacks you in the face and you sit there completely awestruck, wondering how in the world you didn't see it coming. And then you realize, it's because He's GOD.

Off the top of my head, a few blessings from this past year:

I went on my first missions trip, which opened my eyes to the amazing works God is doing. And the incredible need for people to know Him. And I made new 12 friends -- 12 amazing, beautiful, God-loving people. We shared something that many may never get the chance to experience. And the First Nations people -- God bless them.

This is the first year where I can say that I've built genuine relationships with a couple of my co-workers. And hey, I got a full-time job!

I co-leaded (or is it co-lead or co-led?) a small group. It was a great learning experience for me. I learned about the challenge of satisfying the thirsts of different people who were on very different spiritual walks. I learned about myself a lot too, my strengths and weaknesses (a lot more of the latter than the former).

My brother moved back to Toronto. This is an amazing gift from God. Having lived up here alone for the past 2 years and having a family member (my closest family) up here with me. It was such a great blessing to have him here with me, and watching him grow into a man.

Serving on a worship team has allowed me to use the talents God has given me to serve Him in capacity that I truly enjoy. I'm thankful for friends who urged me to volunteer and those who encouraged me to go for it. I've finally reached the point where I'm not longer completely petrified about going up on stage and singing in front of hundreds of people. At least my knees aren't buckling anymore :P

I'm particularly thankful for my "core" group of friends. We've had an amazing year together. Jammings, movies, dinners, lunches, shoppings, marriages and funerals, prayer meetings, games. We've been through a TON this year. I doubt we'll have as much fun ever again as we did this year.

Making a plan for myself and feeling as if I have some sort of a purpose or goal to work towards.

Very single

I had this funny conversation with the new guy at work on Friday. We were talking about The Apprentice, about the one contestant named Adam, a 26 year old Jewish businessman. He was incredulated by the fact that Adam was a virgin. He was chuckling to himself and shaking his head, the idea that there could be a 26 year old guy who had never had sex before.

I found it hilarious because when he said "virgin", he whispered it as if it was some kind of bad word. I told him I that I was a virgin, and, being older than Adam, that it wasn't a big deal. I'm a Christian and I believe in "no sex before marriage".

Bewildered, he looked at me and said "you need to get a girl."

Um.. yeah.

Presents and chickening out

I bought gifts for many people but never gave them out. It's like I had them, and then I thought about it whether or not they'd appreciate it. And I guess I just thought too hard about them and never gave them out. They're just sitting there, in my living room. And it doesn't stop there. I have other gifts too, I have a cute stuffed animal that I bought for someone and never had the nerve to give it that person, and then I have this cute little doggy thing which I also never gave out. Boxes of chocolates, books, little trinkets and what not. I even have birthday cards where I wrote a really meaningful message to the recipients, and then for one reason or another, never gave the card out. They sit in a drawer, gathering dust. I think I've got one from like 1993.

I'm a compulsive-buyer-of-gifts-and-afraid-to-them-give-away-er. I'm weird. I'm weird and it doesn't make sense. Why do I do these things? I'm Sick. What am I supposed to do with them all now? Today was supposed to be the day I'd give them out. I won't see anyone until next year, AFTER Christmas, AFTER New Years. What a fool.

Howard

It's funny. About a year and a half ago, everyone in the basketball world were debating Howard vs. Okafor. Do you take the young highschooler, brimming with potential but might take a few years to develop, or you take the sure thing in Okafor, a guy with 3 years of college experience and a proven track record of winning ways?

At the time, even I had my doubts about Dwight Howard. He was very young, and although he put up huge numbers in highschool -- it's still highschool. He very talented though, and very cocky. I was worried about that myself because he's a very outspoken Christian and I could easily picture people cheering against him for those reasons.

However at the end of the day I knew Howard would be better than Okafor eventually.

Who would have thought it would only take 1 full season for him to be better though? Dwight Howard has taken huge strides this year, he's averaging a double double (same as last year) but this year he is dominating rebounding machine. He is an absolute force on the glass. It's scary. He's averaging 13 rebounds per game. Think about that. That's about 1/3 of the rebounds that the Raptors average per game.

At the age of 20, he's averaging 15 PPG and 13 RPG. To give you a better perspective, Kevin Garnett averaged 17 and 6 at the same age. Garnett didn't start averaging 13 rebounds until he was 26.

That's pretty amazing in my opinion. Okafor won rookie of the year, but if there's a sophomore of the year award, that's gonna have to go to Howard. He's a beast.

Smelly

Last night, there was some kind of a Christmas Party going on in my building. Anyway, people were smoking. Because of the 'positive pressure' they add into the hallways (this is to prevent smelly cooking smells -- or smells period from escaping from condo units) wind blows from the hallways INTO the condo units.

So last night, I was just minding my own business, getting ready for bed when I get this stench, this putrid nasty smell of cigar smoke, right in my bedroom. It had travelled through my front door, around the corner and into my room. Grooooooosssss!

Success

This morning I tried on some pants I bought 2 years ago. They didn't fit! I couldn't even squeeze them on if I held my breath. Haha.. I've successfully increased my waist size.

*takes a bow* Thank you, thank you.

Tartinables

I just got my co-workers hooked on Toppables. Mmmm..

Here's a great site to play on. I ended up sleeping at 1am (planned for 11pm) because of this awesome site:

http://snowflakes.lookandfeel.com/

Why Me?

I don't know.

And yes, it's a really cheap way of telling people about me, by hiding behind this monitor and keyboard and saying things about myself that I would normally never say aloud. It's safe. Well, safer anyway.

What I mean to say is that I have absolutely no motives for doing this.

CJFFL

I won my playoff game. My team started 6-1 and then proceeded to lose 6 games in a row and fall to 6-7, just barely clinching the 8th seed in the playoffs. So then I had to play the best team in the league. And I won! My first win in nearly 2 months, and it was good because I needed the win. The funny thing is all the top seeds lost!

Harry Potter

I watched Harry Potter. I have seen the previous 3 movies. I was lost though, I didn't know what was happening most of the time, and I couldn't understand all of the dialogue. It was very confusing. There were some really neat graphics though. Harry's getting older. His buddy Ron looks like a total dork. Would it hurt to cut his hair a little? And the girl is getting pretty pretty.

I give it a 6/10.

Me, Part 2

I'm insecure.

I am not sure of myself at all. I doubt myself and what I'm capable of, even things that I've proven to be able to do, or things I've done a billion times -- I doubt those things too. Sure I've done it before -- but it was probably a fluke. I'm not *that* good at it.

I try to project an image of care-free-ness. An easy-going, fun-loving person. Deep down though, I'm petrified. Scared of what's next, my future, scared of the unknown. Some people really need God, while others can get by on their own. I'm one of those who needs Him, desperately.

I like to tell jokes and make people laugh, just so that we won't have to talk about anything serious. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy making people laugh, but often I will use it for other reasons. Yes -- I'm like Chandler Bing -- I use humor as a defense mechanism.

I have issues with talking about myself. I'm afraid to be exposed for the mundane, ignorant and oblivious person that I really am.

I don't care about what people think of me. I know that contradicts with what I just said. But I guess that's just it -- I'm afraid to be exposed, yet since I'm able to hide myself, I don't care what people think because it's most likely they're thinking the wrong things anyway. I'm a good hider.

I do worry if someone doesn't like me though -- I try to reason with myself, try to think of reasons why someone wouldn't like me. I mean, I'm a nice guy right? How could you not like me? It doesn't seem possible -- and yet it happens.

Me, Part 1

I'm an insensitive person.

I have difficulty in relating to people's plights, if I cannot see their side of the story. And I'm pretty much blind in that regard. For a really sensitive person, I am completely ignorant when it comes to issues that need to be look at from a different perspective. I overlook the fact that people have different opinions than mine, or have different experiences that may affect their judgement.

For am emotional guy, I tend to look at other people's things from a very practical sense. I forget that everyone has their opinions -- or rather, I ignore them and take a higher road. When I'm examining something for myself, I am selfish and tend to look at it from all angles, but when dealing with other people's lamentations, all I see is black and white.

I think for this reason there are times I rub people the wrong way and they think I'm a smart-ass or a dick.

I'm a hypocrite. I point out other people's faults, and then when I do the same, that's okay with me because I'm not out to correct myself, I'm out to "help" others.

I'm a lost cause, so why bother trying to fix me? We'd be better off fixing you. At least you have something going for you. But me, there's no point. I'm hopeless. That's what I always think.

Reggie Bush

Reggie Bush is going to be the greatest running back in the history of the NFL. The best ever.

My 4th choice for the Final Four is Oklahoma.

But let's get back to Reggie Bush. I mean this guy is the real deal. He is going to go to some NFL team (likely the Texans), and he is going break every NFL rushing record. When he's finished with that, he'll re-break them, and then again, and again. And again. Bush is an absolute beast, he is like Shaun Alexander, Priest Holmes and Barry Sanders all wrapped up into one amazing specimem of raw talent and athleticism rolled into one.

I remember all the hype surrounding Ricky Williams when he came into the league, how he'd bowl over his defenders with this unbelievable strength that he had. Granted he was damn good in the NFL, but Reggie Bush is different. Where Ricky was dominating and powerful, Reggie will be dazzling and awesome. You will see him make plays that you thought were only possible to do in a video game.

I was reading this one article about a sports writer who said that in all his years of covering college sports, he had uttered the words "Oh my God" once. But in watching Reggie Bush games, he had seen 4 games and uttered those 3 words in each game.

Can you imagine if a player like this comes to the NFL, and completely dominates, much like the way Barry Sanders once did? A human-highlight-reel in the NFL, dodge, straight-arming and making defenders look foolish?

Moving

Moving On Faith
by Jadon Lavik

I've been here before waiting in the mystery
I've knocked on this door enough times to know
That You're there for me
My knees on the floor hoping for some clarity
Knowing one thing's for sure His grace
Has covered me

CHORUS:
Lord open the doors
'Cause I'm movin' on faith
Show me there's more
What this world is livin' for

With what I can give it's the least that I can do
An unshakeable hope a life that's pleasing
To You
Knowing my prayers are heard by the author of change
Just the best of intentions if He cares
If He cares to rearrange

Bridge:
In these times when I feel alone
I know my heart was made for another home

Rent

I finally saw the movie "Rent". It was by no means a good movie. The music was fantastic though, almost good enough to offset the blatant homosexuality.

The story is about these guys who all live in this place where they can barely afford rent. They are basically about to get kicked out of their loft, and everyone living there is in this self-righteous mode of thinking that they shouldn't have to pay rent. None of them work of course, which begs the question -- how do you expect to rent in New York when you don't have a job?

Instead, there's this guy who walks around filming random stuff going on. There's a former rock star, who had a one-hit wonder and is now sitting at home moping about. He has AIDS, got it from shooting up. These two guys live together and every Christmas their gay friend comes to visit, who also has AIDS. Eventually he starts going out with this drag queen guy, who also has AIDS. Meanwhile this girl downstairs starts hitting on the rocker, but he tries to avoid her because he has AIDS. In the end he finds out she also has AIDS, and there's a nice little love story there. The film guy's girlfriend dumps him for a girl. Neither of them have AIDS though. The drag queen guy dies.

There, I spoiled the whole thing for you, so you won't have to see it.

The 525,600 minutes song was really good, and I liked most of the others. I liked the "I Should Tell You" song too. Those two seemed to recur over and over in various situations.

One of the things that I was told about this movie was that it had a sad ending, where the she-male dies. It was pretty sad, but I couldn't relate with it. The lover relationship between man and man, I simply could not relate to it. You know when you watch a movie, and say a father loses his daughter, or a woman loses her husband -- those things I can relate to, even if I'm not in this situation, I can at least picture it. But this relationship I simply could not relate to, and thus I couldn't feel sad for this gay black guy who lost his cross-dressing he-she dragqueen. Because it's not natural, and because sodomy is a sin.

To me, it was sad because we know that hundreds of people in Africa are dying of AIDS every second of every day. That's what makes it sad. That the gay guy has lost his lover -- well, it just means that soon he'll be join him/her at the gates of hell. It's not a big loss. I'm sorry, I know it's still a human being, but I just cannot relate to it.

The play embraces homosexuality, and ultimately, hopelessness. It says: Hey! I'm gay and proud of it! Why get a job? I have AIDS and I'm going to die! Woohoo!

I can't rate the movie because it's based on a play, and I haven't seen the play. But from what I've been told, it's pretty close to the play. And after all is said and done, it's just meant for entertainment.

This movie was very much like The Producers, except with much better music and no annoying screeching voices like that guy in The Producers. I give it a 5/5 for the music and -1/5 for the story, so a total of 4/10.

Buy the soundtrack! (Mind you some of the songs have lyrics that well, let's just say if Jesus is listening, you better mute it)

Clean

I hired a housekeeper/maid to clean my place up. I pay her eleven dollars per hour. On Saturday, she came in and after five and a half hours, she had successfully cleaned my entire place -- except for my own bedroom. That will have to wait, as there's too much personal stuff that I need to sort through before I can allow her to clean it.

Anyway, the place is spic and span. It's so nice to come home to a clean place. Hopefully my brother and I don't mess it all up again, the next time he comes over..

Heated

I got into a heated argument with my co-worker on Friday night. It got me all riled up and noticeably flushed and angered. What else were we arguing about than the Toronto Raptors. He said that Babcock didn't know what he was doing and that anyone could do what he's done so far with the team, even him (my co-worker). Then he made accusations that Rafael Araujo didn't belong in the league and we could get a football player to do what he does.

In my opinion, comments like that only come from people who have no clue as to what they are talking about. He's one of those guys who when he argues, he doesn't allow people to make their point, he just goes on and on. So I was never able to get a word in which really frustrated me. Fortunately for me, I didn't have to say anything as this weekend, the Raptors proved every point I attempted to make to my co-worker.

He didn't say anything to me all day today. Hahaha.. such is the life of a bandwagon jumper.

Gaming

I have come to a point in my WoW life where I have reached the crossroads. Yesterday I drafted I began to draft a letter to my guildmates, stating the reasons I was going to quit this game that I have spent on average, 4 hours per day, over the past 365 days. Also in the letter I would have screenshots of our past runs together, dating back to last March, all the great memories and friendships I have accumulated over this time.

At the end of the day, aside from the sheer entertainment of it, I have been playing WoW all this time to make my character, Smee, the best that it can be based on items in the game. I have amassed a collection armor and weapons that 95% of players playing this game may never see in their lifetime. I'm not the best there is but I am damn well close to it.

My thoughts right now are to slowly wean myself from the game and then quit, keeping open the possiblity of returning when the expansion pack comes out, sometime in spring of next year. But I figure that when that time rolls around, I will (hope to) have moved on to bigger and better things.

No gifts please

Please do not give me any Christmas gifts. I have been thinking about this lately and I think that, unless you have a real legitimate reason for giving me something then I would prefer you didn't. If you really want to give me something, send the money to charity and don't tell me about it.

What would constitute a legitimate reason:

if i saved your life -- it was probably an accident, but i will take an xbox

if you owe me money -- i'll take cash..w/ interest

if you are secretly in love with me -- i like flowers

saw something that reminded you of me -- best gifts ever

Please do not give me a gift if:

you feel like being nice

you gave everyone else something and didn't want to leave me out

i did something nice to you and you wanted to repay it

you hate me and want me to die. no pipe bombs please!

i gave you something and you feel the need to return the favor

you forgot my birthday and thought it was time to make up for it

feel sorry for me

I am not joking -- no exceptions.

Rent

I want to see the movie called "Rent", based on a broadway show from New York. I have heard many good (and bad) things about this film. What I do know is that more than half a dozen of my guildies have said it's an absolutely amazing movie.

However I also know that it glorifies homosexuality.

Losing heat

My living room is at least 4-5 degrees lower than my bedroom, because it has huge windows and it is my belief that I am losing heat because of this.

The thermostat is in living room so that messes up my heating/cooling. I set it at 24 at first, but then my bedroom became like a furnace (I think my computer can single-handedly heat my entire bedroom). So then I set it at 22, making my bedroom warm enough that I can walk around in shorts and t-shirt. The problem is that when I set it at 22, the furnace rarely turns off because the living room can barely reach 22.

So the short story of it is that when I watch tv in the living room, I'm curled up on my couch bundled up under a comforter. When I'm in my room, I'm lying in bed with a t-shirt and shorts. It's summer in my bedroom and winter in my living room.

Weather stripping and caulking is probably the answer. I'm going to look into this perhaps tomorrow at Lansing and see what I can do about this. If I can even cut down on half the heat loss it'll probably save me a few hundred dollars on heating.

Plan

Immediately after my interview, even before I got the job I had lunch with a co-worker and he asked me how long I could see myself working at my position. I told him 5 years max.

Ever since I got my full-time job I have been devising a plan for myself, for my future. In my mind I have never really pictured myself as a "lifer" at the City of Toronto. It's not the work, or the pay, or even the position I'm in -- but rather the sense that I can do something more useful in serving my Lord. That somehow, somewhere, God has made available for me, a place place that needs me more than where I am today.

I think, that when you think about that for yourself and for where you are RIGHT NOW, that you may need help convincing yourself that where you are is where God wants you to be. Because sometimes it just seems a little too easy, or too convenient.

Like you got this big promotion, and you think -- well there's no way I could have got this without God's hand in it, and therefore it MUST be where God wants me to be. Or maybe things in your life both professionally and personally seem to be falling into place exactly how you thought they'd be, and you've decided that this you've been praying for something in your personal life to happen, and finally it has and you decide that it must be God's will.

What I've learned over the years is that there is absolutely nothing convenient about being a Christian.

Or I could be wrong, maybe you are fully convinced that where you are right now is exactly where you were ought to be, that you have fulfilled your complete potential that God has given you and that God expects nothing more from you. Personally for me, I'm not convinced.

I remember when I was a teen, and I was sitting around at home doing absolutely nothing, my mom would out of the blue ask me: What is your plan today? I used to hate it when she would ask me that because I never plan anything until the last minute.

Slowly but surely I have been putting together my "plans". Some of them are wild ideas while others are "safer". But the gist of the whole thing is that I'll quit my job in 5 years -- 5 years from the time I got it, which is about October 2010. From that I plan to sell everything that I own and move to the East.

I will share more as I figure it out.

Emotions

I've found that lately, I have been really emotional. That is, "open the flood gates" emotional. And the strange thing is that it has been during happy and joyful times.

For instance, it started on Sunday when the Raptors won. I was so happy that my eyes welled up with tears. It was a great day, we broke our 9 game winning streak and really pulled through. It was like a great weight had been lifted and it really made me so happy.

Next time I had some tears was at the concert on Tuesday night. It was when Chris Tomlin was singing How Great Is Our God, it made me tear up just a bit. He was playing his guitar all by himself. It was just him singing and playing with the rest of us. Like a jamming session starring Chris Tomlin. That was really great.

Finally last night the flood gates of joy came pouring through when in LOST couples were reunited after some thought they were gone for good. When Bernard was reunited with his wife Rose and Jin and Sun were reunited, I bawled my eyes out.

I think the reason it hit me was because I truly do miss my parents more than I thought I did. Living up here in the wintery north pretty much all by myself, with occasional visits from my brother. Over the past 3 years I've gotten used to living on my own but I guess it didn't really hit me how much I missed my family until I saw these fictional characters reuniting after the thought that they had been lost for good.

Passion Toronto

Andrew, Elaine and I were able to go and volunteer at the Passion Toronto concert. We skipped the thousands of people lining up at the main doors, and proceeded into a side entrance. It was a cold night -- I really pity all the students who waited out there in the cold -- however I'm sure it was worth the wait and the cold.

The entire night was geared towards campus ministry and outreach. They called it a concert for students and it really was. Louie Giglio spoke intermittently between each of the worship leaders (Charlie Hall, Chris Tomlin, David Crowder) who took turns praising God with a few of their hits. Between sessions we would pray in triplets for the campus movement, for students to open their hearts, and for the Spirit to do His wonderous works.

Andrew and I both agreed that Tomlin got the best reception. He was sandwiched between Hall and Crowder.

Giglio used pictures from the Hubble Telescope to illustrate how small and insignificant we were, and how amazing and wonderful our Lord is. He bombarded us with images of various galaxies literally billions of miles away. They were breathtaking, each image glorifying the awesome power of God. Here is my favorite one, known has the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51):



After all the pictures he brought things into perspective by showing a picture of Christ on the cross, taken from the movie Passion of the Christ. It was a stark image that quieted down the entire arena of 5000+. There he hung battered and slashed up, the Christ who died for us, the almighty creator of this vast universe that he had just shown us.



Then he brought up this image that basically blew me away, it took everything he had shown us to a single point. It's probably just a coincidence but after the image of Christ hanging on the cross, and then bringing out this picture we all kind of gasped in wonder. Here is an image of the very centre, the nucleus of the Whirlpool Galaxy:

Indescribable
Uncontainable
You placed the stars in the sky
And You know them by name
You are amazing God
All powerful
Untameable
Awestruck we fall to our knees
As we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God

Breakthrough

New best line ever:

Supernice: [da ge ni shi ji du tu ma]?
Translation: Big bro, are you a Christian?

(yes)

S: [wo ye shi]

(awesome, that makes me so happy)

S: [shi a wo de ming zi jio jiao ma dou]

(not sure what that means, maybe his name is biblical)

S: [ye su de men tu zhi yi]

(Jesus' something something..)

S: [wo hen gan dao qing xing a]

(I am very... argh I wish I knew what this meant!)

S: [wo de jia ren quan dou shi ji du tu]

(My whole family are all Christians)

Well, that's just a summary of our conversation today. I am totally happy about this.. it's just amazing how and where God is working. It almost makes me want to quit my job so I can chat with this kid all day long. Anyway, I'm going to work.

S: wo ren shi da ge zhen de hen gao xing. zhe jiu shi shang zhu an pai de a

Farmers

In the World of Warcraft, there are members of the community that are called "Chinese Farmers". It's a totally racist term that even I have been guilty of using. Basically (not all of them) there are a bunch of people, from China, who spend all day long fight a particular enemy over and over for their loot, and then they sell it on the Auction House for gold. They get paid for how much gold they make in the game, and then at the end of the day, they send that money to their employer for real money.

So these Farmers are notorious for setting (and sometimes inflating) the market prices of items in the game. And thus hated by everyone because of it.

I've tried to communicate with some of the farmer with my limited chinese vocab and have had some pretty interesting conversations. They always ask where I live, of course I tell them [jia na da]. They ask me how I'm able to speak chinese, always impressed by what I can say -- even though in my opinion, I'm rather ashamed of my inability to speak fluently in my native tongue.

It's always interesting the one question every single one has asked me -- have gone back to visit? [ni you mei you huei guo le ma?] I always tell them about my China trip. And when I tell them all the places I've been, they're always surprised. I guess people in China don't have often have the luxury of travelling. They're limited to where they are.

Another thing I find interesting is that they're all playing for profit, not for entertainment. Even when "having fun", the sole purpose is to make a living, not to entertain themselves. Perhaps the money they make allows them to entertain themselves, but I really don't know.

I think they work by shifts, at least some of them do. I met this one guy "Badday", talked to him for about 15 minutes and then he logged off. Immediately after, another guy whispered me, Badday's friend, "Supernice", and I chatted with him for nearly an hour. They probably take turns playing or something.

Best line ever:

[wo ke yi jiao ni da ge ma?]

Final Three Prediction

I should have posted this 3 months ago, but I believe the final four teams will be (in no particular order):

UConn
Texas
Duke
????

I'm not exactly sure if this is even possible for bracketology, but these 4 teams represent the most number of future NBA players that the entire NCAA have to offer.

UConn will be the eventual winner. It's unbelievable to me, that a team like them who lost Ben Gordon and Emeka Okafor just two years ago, and Charlie Villanueva last year, is still so talented.

They have Rudy Gay, arguably the best player in college and with Josh Boone, this 1-2 combination of big men (who will both be lottery picks) will destroy anyone in their path. Then there's also potential 2nd rounders Denham Brown, Hilton Armstrong, Marcus Williams. In my opinion, because UConn boasts the most future talent, they are by default the team to beat this year.

The next will be a battle between Texas and Duke.

Texas has two players who could go in the top 5 in Daniel Gibson and LaMarcus Aldridge. Aldridge could have been a top 10 pick if he'd come straight out of highschool two years ago.

Duke had a good team last year and will be even better this year since no one left. Okay, they lost Daniel Ewing but Reddick is still here. Duke also boasts their own set of twin towers in Sheldon Williams and Josh McRoberts.

Those 3 are obvious. As for the 4th, I give me about a week :)

"Wow..It's pretty big"

This thought has passed my mind about 200 times over the past 2 days as I gaze up at my new TV. After about 3-4 weeks worth of scouring the internet for reviews, comments and comparisons, I finally decided on which television to buy. It was only a matter of time before there was a sale and then I'd get it.

I didn't wait for the sale though, instead opting to haggle with the salesman, who then "convinced" me to buy a whole bunch of other useless items. In the end I managed to get $150 off the price of the television at the cost of buying $500 worth of additional goodies, all of which I plan to return. This is something I figured out to be fool-proof, providing that the store has a good return policy, which Future Shop does have.

So anyway, the TV. You'd have to see it to believe it but this thing is just massive to me. I had a 27" Sanyo television for the past 3 years. About 6 months ago, it started making this really high-pitched sound. Banging the top right side of it would stop this sound for 15 minutes, but eventually there was nothing I could do to stop that annoying screech.

This, coupled with my recent "promotion", convinced me to reward myself by burning a large hole in my bank account. And so, I bought a 46" DLP. And a speaker system. And a receiver.

This was not an impulse buy, but because of the cost of it, it felt like it.

So as my brother and I sat there, watching Mr. Incredible and his family kick the crap out of a bunch of baddies in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, and who were big enough to be a real people standing in my living room, I thought to myself -- was it all worth it?

And the answer, of course, is a resounding *YES*.

k-love in Canada

Well, the finally responded to my email in requesting the signal in Canada. Pretty much the answer I expected. But check it out at the bottom, a Director was CC'd. I only CC stuff to my director when it's something very important!

Anyway, here it is below.

-----
Dear Brian,

Thank you for your e-mail to K-LOVE Radio. I am glad you took the time
to write.

Because we have received a high volume of e-mail recently, we have
fallen behind. We are working hard to catch up as quickly as possible. I
hope you will forgive me for not answering you sooner.

I really appreciate your enthusiasm for K-LOVE's ministry and your
desire to hear our programming in Toronto. Currently, we do not have any
specific plans to expand into Canada.

K-LOVE has not yet pursued broadcasting outside of the United States.
The requirements for radio licenses from country to country have
presented a significant hindrance to expansion. Our Signal Expansion
Department continues to look at a variety of options for international
expansion. Your prayers would be most appreciated.

Canada's governing body for radio stations, the Canadian
Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), requires that
all radio stations must ensure that 35% of their popular musical
selections are Canadian each week. This restriction precludes us from
airing our current format in Canada.

I hope you find that this information has been helpful and that you are
able to stay connected to the K-LOVE family by listening on-line at
www.klove.com. May God bless you.

In His Service,

Ken Turner
Correspondence Assistant to Signal Expansion

cc: Sam Wallington, Director of Engineering

Wedding song

Okay, this is the song that I think I'd use (barring approval) for my wedding slideshow. Or maybe a song for while we're signing the papers. I only know a handful of guys besides myself who can sing like this though. And I don't intend on performing at my own wedding. Therefore, slideshow is probably the way to go. :Þ

This Day by Jadon Lavik

Lyrics to be posted later.

XBOX 360

To buy or not to buy, that is the question.

On the one hand, it's a really cool thing. I mean it's *really* cool. It is the only system out there that is HD-Compatible. It's backwards compatible with all the old games so you don't have to buy only 360 games, but original XBOX games too. ie: You don't *have* to spend $100 per game.

But the system is nearly $700 after taxes. That seems like a whole lot of money. I mean it's only entertainment. And a 20 gig HD but even then it doesn't seem like a lot. I have an 80gig drive on my computer and it's almost completely full already.

There's internet play, and the ability to connect your phone to the TV with headset, so that you can basically play games and watch tv while talking on the phone. 2 wireless controllers. And did I mention that it's HD compatible?

Things like that make me think about buying it but then, $700 makes me turn away.

Another thing that makes me think against getting it is World of Warcraft. I'm already paying $15/month for it, so it doesn't make sense to buy a console system when most of my gaming time is devoted to WoW. And of course there's also that matter of growing up, but really, that is so overrated.

Toys!

So I logged into friendster today for the first time in about a year. They've got all kinds of new features but none of them are worth crazy amount of ads and pop-ups. Needless to say I won't be going back there ever again.

Ben, Sam and I went over to the Miko Toys warehouse up in Richmond Hill to buy toys. The purpose for this trek is to buy toys to fill up shoeboxes for kids, for the Operation Christmas Child by Samaritan's Purse. I urged my small group this year not to buy toys from the dollar store and try to picture the children as our own. "Would you buy your child's Christmas present from the dollar store?" is what I asked/challenged them.

Anyway, we went to this warehouse place and the toys were so cheap. Stuff that you normally see for $20 were selling for $3. So the 3 of us loaded up on toys.

There was one toy I wanted to get for myself, a griller. It had a picture of food actually being cooked on the thing, just for 20 bucks! Also there was a remote contol jet that could fly 400 MPH (scaled). That's insane!!

After the toy store we went to Rex Saigon over at East Beaver Creek and Highway 7. The Thai food was decent, but not the best I've had. I had Pad Thai for the first time in my life -- they were willing to make it without egg. Wow.. that stuff tastes soooo good, no wonder everyone gets it. Apparently in Thailand, Pad Thai is like street food, it's equivalent to getting a hotdog from a street vendor in North America.

That gave me this picture of the people in Thailand who go to these expensive "western" restaurants to eat hotdogs and sausages. Hahahahaha..

Washington 99, Toronto 96

It's funny, after I found that funeral song on Lavik's CD, I also found a song that would be nice for a wedding.

Anyway, last night I went to the Raptor's season opener. The Raptors are an exciting team to watch this year, and we led for most of the night until near the end when a few questionable calls deflated the team's push and we turned into lame ducks by the end of it. Well, that and some players choking really badly.

I went to the game with Adam, a university friend of mine who I hadn't seen in about a year. I was hoping to catch up on things with him, see how he was doing, that sort of thing. But the game was so exciting from beginning to end that we didn't really get a chance to talk until the subway ride home.

At the game, he and I were hollering at every call, every bad play, every great play. It was tons of fun! The fan sitting to the right of me somehow knew every single play as if he'd seen the game before. Or maybe he was a coach or something, he knew every play for both teams and would predict exactly what was going to happen right before it actually happened. The biggest difference between the Wizards and the Raptors was that the Wizards were properly executing the plays, and the Raptors, he'd predict misses and miscues, and our team would follow suit.

At half time we went over to the bar and ordered a couple of beers. I got carded. C'MON.. Do I really look under 19? You gotta be kidding me.. Anyway the bartender looked over my ID and said "Oh.. wow.", and then gave some flabbergasted excuse about my short hair. I wasn't sure if she was just shocked or impressed, or neither. At any rate it threw her off and she had to ask us for our orders again. The funny thing is she's been the bartender there for as long as I can remember -- that's 3-4 years now, and there has been times when she didn't card me.

One thing I noticed about the game was that the fans were loud through most of the game. Whether we were down by 6 points or up by 8, it was always loud. Also, we had some celebrities in our midst. Besides yours truly, Roy Halladay made it to the game and brought his buddy AJ Burnitz. The announcer made it a special point that AJ is one of the top free agent pitchers so we cheered our loudest to show our appreciation in hopes that he'd sign with us sometime in the offseason. Also in attendance, the lovely Lara Flynn Boyle (I bet she doesn't get carded!).

Moving on faith

I've been listening to a lot of Jadon Lavik lately.

He's awesome. For comparison's sake, imagine if Chris Tomlin stopped making Christian praise songs and just did Christian songs. I kinda overlooked this CD because I got stuck on Building 429 for the longest time and revisited David Crowder.

Jadon plays a pop-style of music. There's a lot of guitar though, I know he plays because I saw him on newsongcafe, playing his song "How Majestic". It's a fun song to play. Actually I haven't played a lot of guitar over the past few months and only started playing again because of this CD.

I drafted a post about one of the songs but I never published because it was kinda morbid. To sum it up, I came up with the following songs that I would like to be played at my funeral.

Dare You To Move by Switchfoot
I Can Only Imagine by MercyMe
Homesick by MercyMe
Today by Jadon Lavik

Today by Jadon Lavik

More things to buy
More clothes to wear
The perfect job
The perfect wife
A new color for the hair

And take a look around the way we're living
It's no secret we think that
Just a little more
Just a little bit further
Then we're there

Chorus:
But time asks no questions
It moves on
In spite of me
It's not about my style of life
My own prosperity
It's time we open up our eyes
To find there's so much more

And all I'm asking
Is what you're living for
Today

You saw the hurts
You saw the pain and knew our needs
Cured the sick
Healed the lame and made the blind man see

A life laid down
The perfect gift for you and me
Love's greatest sacrifice
A picture of how it ought to be
How it ought to be

Chorus

So take a look around go find a brother
And help him stand
Take the risk to love another
With an outstretched hand

I love egg

Not really, but great song. It's linked now so it doesn't play automatically.

Oodle doodle!

Tact

Acute sensitivity to what is proper and appropriate in dealing with others, including the ability to speak or act without offending.

Interestingly enough, Sunday sermon talked about the gift of singleness. It pretty much confirmed everything I said two posts ago. Am I a genius or what?

Speaking of geniuses, I'm not the greatest with words so I've started working on or practising phrases to use in the future. Actually it's something that I've been working on for a long time, in the effort to upgrade myself. eBrian v2.0 -- coming soon.. One of phrases I've been trying to find alternatives for has been "You look tired." It can have so many negative connotations, most notably in physical appearance. I said that once to someone and they blogged about it and thought it was insulting. Fortunately for me they couldn't remember who had said it to them...

Anyway, the sermon at the wedding yesterday talked about tact as well. Pastor Vic was instructing Duncan on use of words when addressing his new wife.

I was thinking "How are you feeling?" would be more tactful, and then if they said they felt tired, then it's done. Or maybe "Are you feeling okay?". "Late night?". Or maybe reflect it back and tell them that I'm tired. The best I've been able to come up with is:

"Wow, I'm so tired from [insert reason for being tired] but you look great.. how do you do it?"

At the wedding, I was sitting at a table of people who really liked to travel. They were talking incessantly about vacation spots.. Paris, Provence(?), London, Australia, New Zealand, Cuba, Jamaica. I dunno but personally if I could afford to travel, those places would all be at the bottom of my list. The idea of going somewhere to lay down on a beach doesn't appeal to me at all. Going some place for shopping and expensive meals.. I can do that here and I choose not to. Topping my list has to be Africa, and then India. Places where I can visit now and won't be able to visit when I'm 50+.

Weddings

Yesterday I went to the rehearsal for my friends' wedding this Saturday. I've known Nancy & Duncan only for a short time but they seem closer than many of the friends I've had for much longer. I think it's because we were in the same small group.. and it was one of those small groups that was really close-knit, so we got to know one another really well, not just on the platonic level but personally and spiritually. That's totally missing in my current small group.. but I digress.

I like weddings.. It's only my 3rd this year but technically my 5th if you count the ones I couldn't make it to. Plus I had another 4 last year. I know someone who has/had 12 weddings in one year. I think the most unbelievable thing about that isn't the numbers but the fact that someone had 12 different close friends who were getting married the same year. That's a little mind boggling -- I don't know if I have that many close friends altogether. But I suppose that you don't have to be a close friend to be invited.. I mean if you have the money then you might as well invite everyone you know.

I was really disappointed when I was bumped off the worship team for this Saturday's service. The bride asked too many of us to be on it and when we realized we had a surplus, I was chosen to do something else. Instead I got decorations.. which is also cool because I like being creative. But N&D aren't the type who want anything extravagent, they like simple and easy. After all they're both engineers and me personally as a fellow engineer would have gone with no decorations. Haha..

I'm not sure if I'm coming down with a cold or not.. but my throat has been very sore and raspy over the past 2 days. It's been kinda cold the last few days plus I shaved my head again so that hasn't helped. Karen asked me what was wrong with my voice yesterday. I think it's combo of cold weather, singing along to Building 429, and talking a lot. Been talking a whole lot at work.. been feeling more assertive now that I feel like I really belong there. Anyway..

Yesterday I also managed to fill my car up with gas at 85.1 cents. What a deal! To think my last fill-up (about 1 month ago) was at 99.5! What a saving! Woot!

So anyway I stayed home from work today because I felt sick.. and you can probably sorta tell from the randomness of this post that mind isn't really clicking properly right now.

Shadow of Angels

This is track 6 of Building 429's album "Glory Defined". It's called Shadow of Angels. I really enjoy the acoustic guitar in it. Unfortunately they're almost all barre and I haven't been able to learn it. Plus the song is in the C# key and well, I'm not good enough to play the chords.

If you haven't already purchased this album, I highly recommend it. Look for the extended edition. It's really good.

Shadow of Angels by Building 429

Sunrise on Sunset Beach
Finds me right where I watched it set
I spent the night inside myself
But I haven’t found me yet

But I’m not running from you anymore
I’m not running from you anymore, no not anymore

Chorus:
Cause I believe that when I call for You
You hear the plea for my rescue
And You lift me up above the world I know
And I know that when I speak Your name
You hear my voice and send Your saints
To cover me in the shadow of angels

I got caught in the memories
Cause they never fail to prove
I’m insecure and incomplete
It’s a stinging point of truth

So I will never find the best of me
Until I find myself in You, I’ll find myself in You

(I have to turn off autostart because I have a limited bandwidth from my site and it's costing me about 2 cents each time someone plays the songs. Honestly it's not a big deal since there's only 10-15 visitors per day. Just hit play if you want to hear it.)


Also wanted to thank everyone for your prayers for my job interview. I know that without you, and without God's hand in this I wouldn't have gotten through it.

Since I've gotten to full-time status I've actually been giving a lot of thought about the difference of all of it.

It's the same pay, same hours and benefits. But being a temp meant zero job security. Being temp also meant that my job couldn't tie me down. Erwin McManus talks about God's blessings that end up tying us down and handcuffing us from seizing our divine moments. He gave examples of a better paying job, his wife and children.

This is why I feel that we are in various stages of our lives for a reason. I believe that God places us in certain positions, places and circumstances in order for us to maximize the use our gifts. Once that has been exhausted, God moves us into a different stage.

I think over time my parents have realized this too and it's why they finally stopped nagging me to find a girl and settle down. And that has helped me a lot because I no longer feel pressure in doing so. Dating, marriage and children is a completely different stage in life and it's not where I want to be, nor is it a place I'm ready to go... yet.

However, I do feel that becoming a permanent staffer brings me a new limitation that I didn't have before. I've talked before about quitting my job and moving abroad. Though it's not completely impossible to do this now, it certainly will be more difficult. Giving up a secure job in a market where job security don't exist would prove to be a big test for me if God ever asked for it.

News

This morning I got a call from my manager, letting me know that I GOT THE JOB!!

:D

Smorgasbord

I've always liked the word smorgasbord.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers. My interview on Thursday went relatively well. They asked me 7 questions and I think I answered 6 of them very well.. and the other one -- I think I made a pretty valiant effort :) They also gave me a written question, again -- a courageous effort. Everything is in God's hands now. My supervisor told me that it would take a few days to crunch the numbers.

The way the City works for hiring is -- since it's a union position -- anyone who scores 70% or higher is considered 'qualified' for the position. From there the person with the most seniority gets the job. I've been with the City for about 3 years so if anyone applied with more seniority than me and is qualified, they will get the job.

Bonding

I had a dream last week. Kenric and I were at the gates at the Air Canada Center getting ready to go watch the Raptors' season opener against Washington. We were in line to get in, when my brother appeared. He was a lot younger.. it was a memory of him when he was oh.. 7 or 8 years old. He was so cute and he asked me if he could have my tickets so he and his friend could go watch. I couldn't refuse. I gave it to him and they ran off.

When I woke up later, I remembered my brother is really 18 now. All grown up. I still treat him like a kid because he'll always be that little kid that I had fun with. But it kind of just struck me how much he's grown up.

This weekend my brother came home again and we spent the afternoon shopping to get him a winter jacket. He didn't even have a thin jacket so I bought him one of those two-layer jackets with the outer shell and inner fleece. His jacket (Wind River) is actually nicer than the Columbia one that I have. It cost me about $200. Well whatever.. as long as he's warm :)

Sunday

Our entire worship team went to visit Unionville Alliance Church. The idea was to go there and experience their worship and hopefully bring something back to improve our experience at T3C. UAC's Sunday Service was really great. It felt like an experience, not just going through your regular routine like we have at T3C. I don't know how else to describe it. From beginning to end it felt like one experience, with smooth transitions, great music and great sermon.

At our church it's like this:

Singing - 4-5 songs

Prayer

Scripture reading

Sermon

Response by song

Offering

Doxology/Benediction

At UAC, they had no 'program' per se, I would describe it like this:

Worship

Everything kind of encompassed everything else, like you walked in, you worshipped God, and after that amazing 2 hour experience, you walk back out feeling like something great just happened.

Revisiting David Crowder Band - Collision

I've decided that there are actually 3 good songs on the CD, not just the one you hear playing. There are 2 others that are pretty good. And there's the hoe-down song which is also kinda catchy. But I don't know too many people who like hoe-down songs. You could only possibly like a hoe-down song if you've actually been to a hoe-down. And of course I have.. in Wyoming.

Interview

My job interview is Thursday at 11:30am.

I'm super nervous about the whole thing. It's not that I'm afraid of not getting the job, which is actually very likely. It's the fact that it's one of my first interviews period. I haven't done a whole lot of interviews and this is the first done with a panel of people.

I've been so anxious about it that I have literally eaten 1 meal since Monday lunch. That's one meal over the past 48+ hours. The mere mention of food makes me sick to my stomach. I managed to eat half of my dinner yesterday at Charlene's birthday/farewell party.

I've been preparing for the interview since the weekend, figuring out the various scenarios they might ask me and making sure I have a good story/event to tell them about where I performed admirably and successfully. It's not easy thinking of stressful situations when you work for the government.

God, I'm thankful that today I went through a stressful and high intensity incident. We were releasing a patch and no one was around so I had to do the whole thing. Things went smoothly as I handled the pressure and took care of business. Thank you for giving me something to share if I need to tomorrow at my interview.

Anyway, your prayers would be greatly appreciated. Aside from that.. things are pretty okay. Lack of sleep and food.. the burning/churning/anxious feeling in my stomach just like I'd been heartbroken. I just hope there isn't a second round of interviews because I may not last much longer without food.

Real men

This past weekend, my brother and I became real men.

Last week when my brother was up for a visit I told him that for Thanksgiving, we would cook ourselves a real meal -- a Thanksgiving feast. He was skeptical and admittingly, so was I. The idea that the two of us, having no experience in cooking anything but stir-fry and steaks, could put together a meal of Thanksgiving proportions, seemed a little far-fetched. But the Yao brother prevailed.

Sunday morning Darryl was feeling ill so I stayed home with him. So we both missed Sunday service.

In the afternoon, he was feeling better so we went on the internet to look for recipes for a chicken. A WHOLE chicken! We found a good one for Roast Chicken with Orange Glaze. "Feeds 6 people", it said. Sounded pretty good.

So the two of us jumped in the car and drove out to Markham to a small chicken farm. The chickens there were plump and juicy and we asked the farmer if we could do the slaughtering ourselves. He let us on the condition that we clean up the mess. So we ran around the pen and grabbed a sweet looking hen. Given my brother's experiences with an axe, I did the cutting while he stretched out the neck. Needless to say it was pretty satisfying when she breathed her last "cluck-cluck-clu...rp". The farmer took care of the rest. I dunno how he got all the feathers off but he did and it was almost like a store bought chicken after 15 minutes. I took the head and it's now hanging from my rearview mirror.

All kidding aside, we ended up getting the chicken at Dominion because Loblaws was old out.

We marinated the chicken, stuffed it with vegetables and prepared the orange glaze broth. I had to buy a baster because I didn't have one. Popped it into the oven and 3 hours later and after two coats of orange juice glazing, the chicken was done. It looked *amazing*. As we pulled it out and put it down on the dining room table, my brother looked at me and said "We're real men now." I agreed.

Collision

The song you're listening to is called "Here Is Our King". It's the 3rd track of the latest album by David Crowder Band. I was super looking forward to this album because the previous one "Illuminate" was amazing. All my friends love it and we even named our fellowship after it.

If you really enjoy this particular song, and are willing to pay $15 for it (plus tax), then this album is definitely for you. "Here Is Our King" is the only good song on the entire album. I'm not kidding at all.. this is quite easily the most disappointing Christian album that I've ever purchased. It is also the first time I've ever berated a Christian CD. To say that I'm disappointed with it is an understatement.

1 good song on an album with 21 tracks, most of whom aren't songs at all but strange sounds or some guy talking about nothing, or background noise. There's one track of a guy walking downstairs I think.

So like I said, if you love this song and want it so badly that you'll pay $15-20 for it, then by all means you should definitely buy it. Otherwise, steer clear of it. If I hadn't purchased this thing online, I'd be first in line at the Returns lines at the store, asking for my money back.

I give this album a 2/10.

The reason

I haven't been blogging a lot lately and here's why:

1. World of Warcraft. There have been times in the past year or so that I've thought about how much more time I would have to do useful things, if I hadn't started playing this game. I have spent an unprecedented time in this world of fun. More time than I've spent on Diablo 2. But the difference is the time spent in D2 was spread over 4 years, whereas time in Warcraft has been only 10 months.

Am I sorry for this? Yes, I'm sincerely sorry for it. I know it's a waste of time. I know it's excessive. Will I stop? No.

2. 24. I have been watching a whole lot of the show 24 since about 2 weeks ago. I cannot stop watching this show. It's so addictive and suspenseful that I forget about everything. This includes eating, sleeping, socializing and eating.

This show has taken more of my time than WoW over the past week. Which is mind-numbing and yet all too true. Great show. Will I stop? Probably, when I've seen all the episodes.

3. Fantasy Football. Every year, I join at least 1 league for fantast football. It consumes me. I think about it night and day.. about how to improve my team. Devising strategies on how to rip off another team and how to steal players from others. The best are those 3 team deals where you give up nothing and gain next year's top 2 runningbacks. I dream of making such deals.

4. Work. Work consumes me from 9am-5pm. Whether it is an extremely busy day or a dead day where nothing happens. I sit here 8 hours a day no matter what. I call busy days "good days" and boring days "crappy days". I love it when it's busy. I'm at my best when I have tons to do. That's because I work so damned fast. But then there are those slow days where I finish my work and then sit there and having nothing to do for 5 hours. Sucky..

5. Mess. My home is a total mess. As a result, I am likely overdue on most of my bills because I can't find them. I can't find my capo so I haven't played guitar in nearly a month. I can't find new dishes so I often don't eat, or use an old dirty dish. I suppose the good that comes out of that is that my stomach is a lot stronger now. I can eat dirt and not get sick.. oh yea..

Hey what's for dinner tonight? Dirt? Sweet!

So that, in a nutshell, has been my last two weeks.

Building 429

Rocks.

To further on my comment, building 429 is a band who started in North Carolina, and who's name is derived from Ephesians 4:29:

"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."

I'd describe them as a Christian rock group. There are some songs that are heavy/metal rock, while others are just one of the guys singing along to a piano. The music ranges so that there's something for everyone. Their music is for your enjoyment, not really for worship. I could only dig up around 6 songs/chords.

I find that the vocals are not the greatest but the band makes up for it. They are much closer to being a contemporary rock band than MercyMe, who has more of a southern twang to them. The song that is playing right now is called "The Space In Between Us", it is the title track. The solo electric part very similar to U2's "With Or Without You". I like this album's mix of instruments, from the piano and heavy rock to the LOADS of acoustic guitar, and the use of an orchestra, it makes my ears very happy :)

I haven't been able to pinpoint their overall theme for this particular album except to bring us closer to God. I'm usually a bigger fan of music that mobilizes and moves us like MercyMe or Switchfoot, but I guess I just really like the mix of this album.

I'd give this album a 9/10.


Space In Between Us

Look at my heart again
Look at the mess I’ve got it in
I’m trying to trust in You
To know that you’ll see me through
Through my pride
Through my shame
Into Your love
Into Your grace
I’m not looking back
Till I see Your face
& I’m running straight to You
Because

All I really want to do is to fall into
The emptiness that is
The space in-between us
To break this division
All I really want to do is to fall into
The emptiness that is
The space in-between us
Erase it and bring us together again

My life’s like an open book
Nothing is hidden when you look
You break through my boundaries
Revealing my insecurities
But through my pride
And through my shame
You show me love
You show me grace
I’m not looking back
Till I see your face
& I’m running straight to you
Because

Here I am saying I need you
I know I need you
Here I am, I’m coming to meet you
Cause I want to see you

mousaka

I discovered a new food today, called "Mousaka". I got it at Mr. Souvlaki next to Modern Wok down in the PATH area, downtown TO.

I went with a friend after we went to MEC to buy some stuff. Strange, whenever I go there it's just like Mitchell's -- I end up buying way more than I intended to. I went in to get a pair of winter gloves, and came out with a vest and the gloves, and glove lining. So my intention to spend $30 turn into $100.

Back to the food thing -- I don't like Greek food. I'm not a big fan because of the smokey taste of meat, the crappy MinuteRice, salad etc. But Mousaka is really good. And the meal itself was huge -- massive portion that I could barely finish all for $6.

Towards the end of the meal, I felt relief that I wasn't able to finish the mousaka. Because mousaka, as it turns out, contains eggs. The entire upper shell is made from egg, among other things.

And as most of you know, I'm allergic to eggs.

So there I was sitting at my desk, feeling this great sensation in my throat as if someone had walked over and kicked me in the neck. Or that feeling when you accidentally swallow a large piece of meat, and it's lodged in your throat and you can get it to go down but it won't come up either -- it's not like you can't breathe but certainly doesn't feel all too pleasant.

Yea so that's how I'm feeling this very second as I type this.

And then the chest pains will come, I felt a bit just now but it'll come on strong soon.

Mmmmmmm....mousaka

Lives another day

I was informed today that my contract was extended to December 31, 2005. Interviews for my position will begin sometime in mid-October though, so I could either be full time by the end of October, or surely I'll be unemployed.

I'm indifferent about the whole thing.

Casting Crowns: Casting Crowns

The great thing about Casting Crowns, besides sounding great, is that each song has a purpose. Each song has scripture, that either inspired the song or go well with the song. Casting Crowns is made up of 7 people -- 5 guys and 2 girls. The lead singer Mark Hall is a youth pastor and it shows.

The first thing I noticed (again, besides the great sound) is that the lyrics either challenge you or is a declaration of the Almighty. It's as if they're trying to teach us something.

If We Are The Body - Track 2

It's crowded in worship today
As she slips in trying to fade into the faces
The girls teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know
Farther than they know

Chorus:
But if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?
And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?
There is a way

A traveler is far away from home
He sheds his coat and quietly sinks into the back row
The weight of their judgmental glances
Tells him that his chances are better out on the road

Jesus paid much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the body of Christ

Jesus is the way

It's just a show

During our camping trip in Wyoming, my dad asked Pastor Brett about what he thought about television shows like Seinfeld or Sex In The City. I knew this question was coming up because my dad hates those two shows. Moreover, the remaining 3 of us love to watch re-runs Seinfeld.

Pastor Brett pondered it for a moment but then got side-tracked onto something else. The following morning he as he walked past our tent-cabin, he came by and gave my dad a definitive answer. He said:

"Sam, sorry about last night. I struggled with your question all night long. I think the best answer I could give you is that I would only watch something that I think Jesus would watch with me. So imagine if Jesus was right here, would you watch Seinfeld or Sex In The City with Him? The truth is I don't watch a whole lot of TV, mostly just baseball. And I don't watch any "R" rated movies."

This is something that has really stuck with me. We joked about it a lot during the remainder of our trip -- like how could Pastor Brett subject Jesus to a game of baseball -- it's gotta be the most boring thing in the world! And whether, while watching Seinfeld, Christ would sit down and say "Boy, that Kramer.. what a funny dude!" or is it more likely He'd look at us and think "I suffered on a cross for THIS???"

WWJD has become much more of a catch-phrase and lost its true meaning. What *would* Jesus do? If Jesus had nothing to do, would He flip on the TV and watch? The Simpsons, or Family Guy - quite possibly the most offensive show on television? After all, it's just a show right? It's just entertainment, right?

Can you imagine Christ laying back on a couch watching Texas Hold'Em? Desperate Housewives? Hockey? Probably not. What about the news? I suppose He doesn't need to watch the news since He already knows what's happening in the world.

Would Jesus entertain Himself by lowering His values and ignoring His principles?

Should we?

Raise

I "earned" a raise at work last week. I put that in quotations because I didn't earn it at all -- it was part of the Local 79 Harmonization of pay scales. It's retrospective to Jan 2005. It's a silly little raise, earning me a grand total of 1 extra dollar per day, so approx. $100 for me extra in my last pay cheque.

With that money, I went nuts at Mitchells and bought 5 CDs.

Switchfoot - "Nothing Is Sound"
Building 429 - "Space Between Us"
Jadon Lavik - "Moving On Faith"
Casting Crowns - "Casting Crowns"
Casting Crowns - "Lifesong"

More on the CDs later, when I get a chance to listen to them all.

On Saturday night, I also got a chance to go see a movie called "Roll Bounce". This is a movie starring rapper Bow Wow, formerly known as Lil Bow Wow. I saw a commercial for this movie last winter while watching various Oscar nominated films with Kenric. I tucked that one away in my memory and finally had a chance to see it.

I took my brother to watch, in more celebration of my new found wealth of $1 extra per day.

So anyway, the movie was really good. The dancing was off the hook! I really enjoyed the light humor and the dancing on rollerskates. I also enjoyed the funky beats and may consider purchasing the soundtrack for the movie. It's hard to believe the kinds of moves these kids can do on rollerskates. And it looks like a lot of fun. I dreamed about rollerskating last night!

Plot-wise, it had a lot to be desired. Having seen movies like Bring It On, and other of these family-oriented shows involving competition, Roll Bounce didn't have a whole lot to offer.

The acting was good. Most of the characters were kids.

I'd give it an 8/10.

Steps to making my voice sound good

STEP 1: Drink a bottle of stale water right before bed.
STEP 2: Sleep very late.
STEP 3: Leave the A/C on even though it's already cold.
STEP 4: Wake up at 6:30am

Woke up this morning with a scruffy voice, not sure if I have a cold or if it's just temporary. Switched on my computer, checked and responded to emails. Then I went to check worshiptogether. They'd posted a new song on New Song Cafe so I watched it. Anyway, to my surprise when I sang aloud, I had this cool scratchy sound to my voice, it was really really cool -- like a rock star!

Unfortunately I think it *IS* a cold. I feel weak today, and I've been coughing.



It's about time that worshiptogether.com did a New Song Cafe with Jadon Lavik. The first time I heard of Jadon was when I heard his song "What If" on K-LOVE radio. I was mainly drawn to the guitar playing in the song and the fun beat/tune it had.

If there's one thing that frustrates me though, is when NSC puts on some guy who is really good at guitar. It's like the last time when they Steven Curtis Chapman. Beginners like myself have absolutely no chance in trying to play songs like this. I'd be lucky to get the chords right, that's about it. I can't strum like that..

..

I've been thinking about what I can do if I am unemployed in two weeks. I think to pass the time (and prevent me from playing games all day) I need to enroll myself into some classes, someplace, somewhere. I'd like to take music, maybe some voice lessons and guitar courses. RCM offers some guitar lessons that I could enroll into, although they started last week :(

Misc

Yesterday after work, my co-worker Kenneth and I were walking to St. Andrew station to go home. We had a pretty funny conversation about backpacks and how funny it looks when people wear them in the front. We always have the funniest little conversations. Anyway, when we got to the station and were going down the escalator, he turns to me with a serious look

K: "Hey Brian. Lemme ask you something -- what's a hollaback girl?"
B: "Haha.. I have no idea."
K: "It's a good song."
B: "I think it's a bad thing, cuz I think in the song she says she isn't one."
K: "Maybe."
B:
K: "Well, I know she likes bananas."

...

Last night, after maybe 25 tries over the past month, Brethren defeated Vaelastrasz the Corrupt. We were all gimped from wearing our maximum fire resistance gear, but Smee fought valiantly alongside his brethren and we demolished Vael. First Alliance guild to pull it off on Azgalor. Can Brethren not ROCK?

BOOM HEADSHOT!!
BOOM HEADSHOT!!

It was probably one of the single most exciting nights of WoW that I've experienced in a long, long time.

...

Lost was really cool. I'm starting to get more and more the feeling that my original guess about the truth behind the island was correct. My guess has always been that the island is a bunch of people who are in purgatory -- that this is where people go. Maybe there are several islands similar to this one. Or perhaps it's a place people go before they go for purgatory, like a pre-judgement area. This would explain a lot of things, for instance half the plane's victims were never found -- perhaps those people passed beyond this state and are in purgatory, or possibly in heaven or hell.

Anyway, this explains more -- each person has their story, and we get flashbacks of the things they did. I've always imagined that when God judges us, He'd review our life, going over every detail similar to the flashbacks.

The boy -- they took the boy from the raft -- maybe they decided he was ready to leave, or possibly that it was a mistake for him to be there. Maybe judgement is a bit more complicated for children because of their innocence.

As for the hatch -- I'm not sure. I think the australian guy might be an angel. He produced the miraculous healing of the woman in the flashbacks of this episode. She was paralyzed and Jack couldn't save her, and yet she was healed. Perhaps he's not an angel but something close to one, like a guardian of some sort. Maybe he's the guardian of that particular "pre-purgatory island". Or perhaps the state of per-purgatory is different for different people, depending on how or where they died.

How else can you explain how Desmond is living -- the computers, the shelter, electricity that he has in there.

Anyway, that's my guess on the whole thing.

CSI

I think I just the greatest CSI episode ever. The season premiere was just totally unbelievable. It had me scared, anxious, sad. It was an emotional rollercoaster, starting out as an innocent case that led me on a crazy kidnapping of one of the CSI guys (Nick Stokes), which led to him being stuck in a plexiglass coffin, buried underground.

What a great episode.. OH MY GOODNESS.

Get in, get out

Whenever I walk into Mitchell's (Family Bookstore), my goal is make a beeline straight towards what I came to buy, then go to the cashier, pay, and then get out. This is my goal.

Prior to going I like to pray for my trip, and go through over and over my plan, where to go, where to get it, and then get the heck out. If you've been to Mitchell's you know why. It's because if you don't, then you end up browsing, which leads to sampling some cd's, reading some books, planning your Christmas presents, birthdays, etc. The next thing you know, 2 hours have passed and you're walking back to your car carry 2 bags full of goodies.

So anyway, I was checking out which CDs I might buy next week when I take my brother to get Switchfoot. Casting Crown's "Lifesong" is looking pretty good, and also Bethany Dillon's "Imagination". I was also thinking about getting MercyMe's Christmas album, since I have all their other CDs. By the way, if you haven't already picked up "Arriving" by Chris Tomlin, it's on sale for just $7.99 this week.

So those were the CDs I wanted to check out. Also Matthew West, Lincoln Brewster, Nichole Nordeman... AHHH I need help!!

Our time

I like my quiet time.

Maybe it's because I've enjoyed living alone for some time now, or maybe it's my personality that I enjoy solitude. Whatever the reason, I was just really looking forward to yesterday evening after work, just a quiet time to sit back and enjoy dinner, TV and just some quiet time for myself.

It's been a helluva ride the past few months, whether it be Longlac, Las Vegas, Wyoming, or sharing the condo with my brother. Don't get me wrong, I really cherished those times spent with friends, relatives and my closest friend. The adventures we shared were amazing.. the experiences, memorable.

At the same time though there were times I felt overwhelmed by it all. Being so used to doing things myself, spending time (with myself), eating alone. For me I need that time alone, to think through things more clearly. I guess you can call it a moments of clarity, where I can just sit there, reflect, and commune with God.

This morning I did just that. Originally I had intended to wake up early to get to work at 7:30am. But instead what happened was I woke up at 6:30am, grabbed my guitar and just sang praises to God until 7. Then I had breakfast and winded up getting to work at 8. I think it was well worth it, even if it means I have to leave work half an hour later tonight.

My love for You
My heart for You
My life for You
All I am for You

Blood through my veins for You
I give my world to You
All I am and all I have
I lay it down for You
Dancing 'round with You
Spinning 'round with You
Laughing loud with You
My love

[God of Wrath by dc*b]

*ouch*

I woke up this morning at 4:00am. Yes, 4 AM. I couldn't sleep because of this excruciating pain I was experiencing in my upper left jaw. It was like I had bit down on a lead pipe, it was aching badly. Actually it hurt so bad that at first I thought it was the bottom jaw, the pain was so bad I couldn't pinpoint its source.

So anyway, I went to the bathroom and got some cold water to drink.

BIG MISTAKE.. that made it hurt soooo much more. It hurt some fierce! Like 10 times worse. Although on the flip side after that pain wore off, the original pain was less noticeable.

So then I tried to go back to sleep, but that wasn't happening it was too painful. So I did what any one would do, I turned on my computer and played World of Warcraft. I played until around 8am, still in pain, then called in sick. I waited until 9am, opened up my Pocket PC to get my dentists phone number.

*Ack*

I'd forgotten to charge the thing.. turns out the backup battery died too so EVERYTHING was wiped out. This is truly devastating.. I had the past 3 years of sermon notes on that thing. I had phone numbers and addresses from old friends, emergency numbers, license numbers, passwords.. you name it, it was on there. All gone.

Still, as painful as that sounds, it was more bearable than the pain in my tooth. So then I waited for my mom to come online (remember the 3 hour time difference). In retrospect, now that I've had a chance to reflect on the data I've lost, that loss is far more painful than my tooth. *sigh*

Anyway, I finally called the dentist and the reception tells me the next opening is in late October. *cripes* But then I explained my situation and she fit me in for Monday morning. So that leaves me the next 3-4 days in pain. I bought some Motrin.

Yup, that's Motrin pain.

Matthew West

I first heard about Matthew West while we were driving to Wyoming (btw, someone please remind me to post pictures of my trip!). We heard his song "Next Thing You Know" on the radio. This is just a super fun song. I've been really tempted to buy the CD after hearing the song over and over on the radio. The thing is when were at the Family Bookstore (christian bookstore in Vegas) I sampled the entire CD and passed on purchasing it. If I buy it at Mitchell's it'll probably cost twice as much :(

Speaking of Mitchell's, just another week before we head over there so he can pick up the latest Switchfoot CD that comes out on the 13th.


In other news, I think either my amp or my electric guitar is broke. I can't get any sound to come out of the amp anymore. :(


I still haven't reapplied for my job. Instead I've been trying to make the most out of these last few days before the inevitable interview and all that other crap. I've been attempting to expand myself at this position, trying different things.. seeing what I can and can't do. 8 days til the deadline..

It's your fault!

I'm going to take a different perspective on this hurricane Katrina disaster stuff.

"Hey look! It's Mike Myers!"

That's what I said when me and my brother were flipping through the stations on Friday night. We both thought it was pretty cool that NBC had selected a Canadian to say a few words about the New Orleans relief stuff.

Actually I found it weird for Myers to be doing it because he's such a goofy guy and you sit there waiting for him to crack a joke but it never comes. Instead, Kanye West was the one giving the punch line.

"...and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us!"

Unless West considers himself an armed & dangerous gang looter, he might be mistaken with this statement. I know that at times emotions run high and you say things you don't mean, but it sounds to me like West either considers himself a thug, or he's misunderstood and thinks police have been given authorization to shoot all black people.

"George Bush doesn't care about black people..."

This was one of the funniest moments I've seen on television, the second Kanye said those words they shifted over to Chris Tucker who didn't even know he was live. He kinda just stood there for a bit before realizing what was happening. Wouldn't it have been funny if he was picking his nose? *LOL*


I'm not arguing about the merits of Kanye (and many, many North Americans) opinion. As many of you surely are aware, there has been a lot of finger pointing going on through this terrible tragedy. Why did it take so long to respond? Why was this city built the way it was? Why did the media portray black people as looters and white people as survivors? Why ask why?

What purpose does blaming another person for your suffering do? If a child falls from his bike and lies on the ground bleeding, should onlookers stare at the boy and say "he shouldn't have been going so fast", or should they rush over and help?

I don't understand why this is the first thing that pops into a person's mind when they see the disaster and the suffering. The first thing I think about when I see these people suffering is about what I can do to help.

End of an era

Today marks the end of an era, the end of the most prolific wide receiver career in the history of the National Football League. I'd argue that he was the greatest football player ever (and probably none will ever match him). #80 holds the NFL records for just about every receiving statistic that exists. In fact according to ESPN he holds 58 different NFL Records. He had 1549 career receptions, 22895 yards receiving, 197 touchdowns. A two-time MVP, Rice won 3 Super Bowl titles and was the MVP of Super Bowl XXIII. He was a 13-time Pro Bowler and once played 274 consecutive games.

The thing I respected most about Jerry Rice was that he just went about his business. No controversy or need for extra attention like some of the bigger names nowadays (Randy Moss, Terrell Owens). He just went out and did his job, he let his performance do all the talking. He didn't have blazing speed but he had great hands and ran perfect routes. He was the best there is and most likely the best there ever will be. In today's game with larger, more physical players, not many players will last 21 seasons like Rice did.

Anyway, I'd tip my hat to a professional like that.

Job

So my job was finally posted, a permanent position. Application due date is September 15.

Fall Line-up

I get excited every fall because of all the new shows cropping up. Here's the "new show" fall line-up. It will take some manuevering to them all in. I basically went through the synopsis to see which ones I'd be interested in. To see ALL the new shows, you will have to do your own research. Most of my list will have drama's only. The reason for this is that I can find no shows that are funnier than Seinfeld reruns. Drama's like Alias or Lost are shows that I schedule my time around. I can't do that for a couple of laughs when there are already 3-4 showings of Seinfeld per day.

Monday
8:00pm Fathom (NBC)
9:00pm Prison Break (FOX) Comments: See below.
10:00pm What About Brian (ABC) Comment: Just threw this in, probably won't watch.

Tuesday
8:00pm Smallville (CityTV)
9:00pm The Amazing Race (CBS)

Wednesday
9:00pm E-Ring (NBC) Comment: I hope they move this so I can watch it.
9:00pm Lost (ABC)
10:00pm Invasion (ABC)


Thursday
8:00pm Alias (ABC) Comment: The move to Thursdays will kill CBS's Survivor.

Friday
Friday is the blackhole of television. If a show gets moved to this day, it means it's about to get cancelled. Malcolm In The Middle was moved here this season :(

Saturday
See above.

Sunday
8:00pm The Simpsons (FOX)
9:00pm Family Guy (FOX)


I watched the 2-hour premiere of Prison Break last night. It'll show again on Thursday night. I suggest you all watch it. First of all from what I've read, girls think the guy is hot, so that's reason for girls to watch it. From my point of view, it's just really exciting. The story is about a guy Michael, who deliberately gets himself thrown in jail so that he can meet up with his brother in there who was framed by the Secret Service for killing the Vice President's brother. There, he plans to help his brother break out. There's tons of drama in the jail, lots of violence. And there's intrigue as people in the outside world race to solve the frame-up.

Michael is a very intelligent guy who has everything planned out, but things start to unravel because of various conflicts in the prison.

You have to check this show out.

CDs, Lactose and Canadian Artists

I was going over my CD collection last night. I think my Christian pile is about 2/3 as high as my secular pile now. Going over my collection made me realize how much money I've spent on music. It also made me realize that music is a big part of my life..

My brother is town now, btw. He's going to be attending the University of Toronto.

Anyway, he bought around 15 chocolate bars and other kinds of treats for us to share -- anything that he could find that he knew we didn't have here in Canada. Americans have some pretty yummy goodies. And they're dirt cheap. The average chocolate bar costs around $1 here. He was getting 3 for a US dollar in Vegas. That comes out to 45 cents. No wonder Americans are so fat.

Anyway, I had 3 chocolate bars without having any stomach problems.

I was giving my radio idea more thought. According to the CRTC, radio stations are required to include 35% Canadian-content. This concept is puzzling to me because if you listen to say 96.3 (Classical music) -- all that stuff is coming from Europe. How in the world do they manage to maintain that 35% status quo?

Similarly we'd have the same problem if we had a Christian radio station here. There aren't a whole lot of Christian artists available to choose from. And if you want to maintain an all-hits theme, it becomes even more difficult. Starfield and Brian Doerksen? Thousand Foot Krutch? The Kry? ...

Radio

Toronto needs a Christian radio station. Not some cheesy station that plays sermons all day long (not that there's anything wrong with that) or one that plays old hymns all day (not that there's anything wrong with that either), and it must be an FM station.

Calm before the storm

Well.. I've gone and done it again. It's like what I had before only with a different focus, even if it might seem like the same. I've created a second blog for my missions sharing. It was partly because I knew that my posts on Longlac would eventually get lost in the midst of musings, movie reviews, ponderings and laments on the way. My hope is that this 'alt' blog will last longer and that I'll be more consistent with it, unlike the first attempt. It is a missions themed blog, not a "Longlac" blog.

To find the new blog, look for "mission sharing" somewhere over there ------->

I ordered the old David Crowder Band CD, "Can You Hear Us?" from Amazon while listening to my brother's mp3 collection. It's supposed to arrive on Friday. EDIT: It arrived today! In the meantime, knowing full well that the new Switchfoot CD arrives September 13, and then the new David Crowder Band CD arrives 3 weeks later, I've decided to spend a couple days listening to non-Christian stuff.

I pulled out my "Room For Squares" disc today. I've forgotten how much I love John Mayer. I could never play like this.

Btw, that reminds me of worship at South Hills this past Sunday, my family's church in Vegas. They worship leader sang "He Is Our King" by David Crowder, the new song that's been released from the upcoming album. First time I've song it in worship and when I got home I practiced it a few more times. I guess that as soon as I get a chance to have jamming (probably in a few weeks) I'll be able to teach it to everyone!

*yawn*

I slept about 2-3 hours last night on the plane, then went to work today. It didn't occur to me that I had 2-3 hours and then lost 3 hours until around lunch time when I found myself wandering around downtown in a half-daze. I am 27 years old and today I discovered that I can no longer function with just 3 hours of sleep.

While I was at camp, we went to this Chuckwagon performance/dinner. We sat with the South Hill Church Community group for dinner and then watched a show 4 guys (singing in parts) with guitars. It was a fantastic show, even if it was all hee-haw music. I talked to a woman from church who was from Philly, and she was talking about the experience of living in Las Vegas. My impression from most people is that no one really likes living in Vegas, they are just there whether due to work or family, and all plan to leave whenever it is possible. She talked mostly about the produce and freshness of meat and how none of that is available in Vegas. Oh, and most importantly, she said I looked 21. Looking half a decade younger than you really are rocks! Woot! :)

Well.. I'm about to crash now so I'll just leave you with this.

Obsession

What can I do with my obsession
With the things I cannot see
Is there madness in my being
Is it the wind that moves the trees?
Sometimes You're further than the moon
Sometimes You're closer than my skin
And You surround me like a winter fog
You've come and burned me with a kiss

And my heart burns for You
And my heart burns...for You

And I’m so filthy with my sin
I carry pride like a disease
You know I’m stubborn, Lord, and
I’m longing to be close
You burn me deeper than I know
And I feel lonely without hope
And I feel desperate
Without vision
You wrap around me like a winter coat
You come and free me like bird