when it rains..

today it got a whole lot worse. yesterday, after discovering the mess in my basement, surprisingly my father took the news rather well. i mean there was nothing he or i could do about it. we called insurance and they sent a team over to clean it up.

today, a guy came out to do an estimate on the damage and repairs. they estimated about $25,000. ouch. but hey, we have insurance. right? RIGHT?!

yeah, we do have it. Allstate. Allstate called after I got back to work at 2pm. they wouldn't cover it. apparently in the policy it states that you have to check your house DAILY, otherwise any water-related damages don't count.

ouch.. it's the cost of a car. ouch.

well needless to say i'm concerned, and very very stressed. God has thrown us another curve ball. I'm totally stressed.. there's nothing we can do. Feels so helpless inside..

fishing, anyone?

today would have to be the lowest day so far in my string of bad luck. flat tire, will be fixed next week. my voice is coming back, just can't do any tenor stuff. but today was the BADDEST of all.

after church kenric and i drove back to my place so we can take the subway down to the raptors (and Lakers) game. i finally decided to check a message i'd received on Friday night. i figured it to be someone who was trying to get directions to my place on friday. wrong.

it was my neighbor, saying that there was water flowing pretty fast out of a vent on the side of my house. so i decided to take a look. when i got into the house all i could hear was flowing water. i walked into the kitchen, the kitchen was covered in water, about 1 cm of water on the floor. seemed like water was blasting out from under the kitchen sink.

i heard a lot of water dripping (flowing) in the basement, so i went down to have a look. DEVASTATING! the basement ceiling was on the floor. water, was on the floor, in the carpet. it was soaked enough that when i walked on it, it splashed. water was falling from all over the ceiling, seeping down from the kitchen, i supposed. the walls were a bubbled up from the water seeping through the paint. it was just a moment of utter panic when i thought about how dad was going to react when i told him the great news.

after that it wasn't so bad. i ran over to the neighbors but her husband wasn't home. but she was able to reach him and i spoke to him on the phone and he told me find the main water meter and turn off the water from there. i did that, then i turned on all the taps in the basement to drain the water out.

i called stan for some advice, he was in sunday school, but he called me later to dish out some ideas. kenric went to the game, i heard we lost but it was a good game.

This is amazing. From Tuesday til today, this site has averaged over 4 hits per hour. I checked the counter stats and of my last 10 hits, 8 of them were for the penguin bashing game. Wow! Haha...

After averaging about 600 hits per month, I'll have about 1000 this month. Stop playing the penguin game people!

On Monday, at around 4pm I had to leave work because I couldn't stop coughing. I even brought in Buckleys, it didn't help me much. I had plenty of trouble falling asleep that night.

On Tuesday, I didn't have uncontrollable coughing until about 7pm. Buckleys stopped it, and I had little trouble sleeping.

Today, the uncontrollable coughing never came. It's 11pm. I'm still gonna have some Buckley's before I go to bed, just so I can get a good night's rest.

It's great.. I am having the herbal tea during the day, Vitamin C in the mornings, and Buckley's only when I need it. Tomorrow I'll bring the ginseng stuff for the tea, since Char says that will help clean it up once the virus seems to be waning. Excellent.. at this rate it looks like I'll be able to host small group on Friday. Of course, the huge mess I've left in my place due to the sickness could be a problem..

Tonight Kevin Ho and I went to see the Raptors play the Philadelpha 76ers. In theory we should have won this game. They were missing two of their top players, we were missing no one of significance. And believe it or not, we actually won a game we were supposed to win. It was a pretty good game, no 6-minutes lulls of non-scoring. No horrible turnovers, although we did give up way too many offensive rebounds. But it just didn't matter, because Philly had a bunch of scrubs playing against our healthy squad.

I still say Raptors should trade Vince while we still have a chance to. And here is the perfect trade scenario:

Toronto trades: SF Vince Carter (20.7 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 4.8 apg in 36.8 minutes)
PG Alvin Williams (8.6 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 4.1 apg in 30.7 minutes)

Houston trades: PG Steve Francis (16.6 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 5.7 apg in 39.5 minutes)
SG Cuttino Mobley (15.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 3.3 apg in 39.4 minutes)
SF Scott Padgett (3.1 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 0.4 apg in 9.3 minutes)

Comments: This deal makes the most sense. First, it works fine for both team's salary caps. Van Gundy gets two players who are fully willing to let Yao become the focus of their offense. Vince would be more than happy to be the #2 option on the team, and we already know he can pass the ball. Alvin becomes the passing PG that Van Gundy has dreamed about since coming to Houston. On the flip side O'Neill gets a young point guard who can basically do it all. Francis wants the ball, and he has never been the type who needs to hoist 35 shots to score 25 points. He plays good defense, and despite his "me me me" attitude, he still manages approx. 6 assists per game. Mobley is a great scorer as well, can shoot threes. Best of all his contract ends next season.

Picture this starting lineup:
C: Chris Bosh
PF: Donyell Marshall
SF: Jalen Rose
SG: Cuttino Mobley
PG: Steve Francis

a trip down memory lane: "nice"

"Hi!"
"Hi."
"What's your name?"
"Brian."
"Oh, that's a nice name!"

Does anyone remember this? When I think back of all the introductions I made as a kid, I think this one was probably the most prominent. I don't know why these kids would say the same thing. For the longest time I grew up thinking that I had a "nice" name.

Okay.. here's another one. I'd go to school wearing a new t-shirt or track pants, and a kid would come up to me.

"Hi Brian."
"Hi"
"Nice pants."

For some reason I'd always take this as a sign that there was something wrong with my clothing. I'd avoid wearing that pair of pants or t-shirt. Who in their right mind would come up to me and tell me they liked my shirt/pants, without having some alterior motive to insult me? It's weird that I had this way of thinking.

Here's another:

"Look, Brian broke our snow fort."
"No, it wasn't my fault."
"Look, it's ruined. Nice going Brian."
[silence. eyes shifted to ground.]
"Nice one, Brian."

And another:

[overheard conversation]
"... yeah and Mike is cool too, he's so funny"
"What about Brian?"
"Brian? Eww.."
"Hey, don't say that. Brian's nice."

Somehow back in those days, the word "nice" implied something terrible -- something awful that you had to try to avoid like the plague. How could a word like "nice" have been twisted around to imply something so bad, so insulting?

Another fact: the word "nice" never appears in the Bible. Synonyms of it like "kind", "gentle", "friendly", "fine", "beautiful", all appear in the bible. Maybe the word "nice" doesn't exist in the latin/aramaic languages?

When I looked up this word on thesaurus.com, (aside from its usually meanings) I found it a synonym of words like "choosy", "difficult", "finnicky".

How odd, that a word like "nice" can mean both good and bad. Better think twice the next time someone says "nice" to you!

Have a nice day everyone!

I'm going to work tomorrow. As it stands, my insane coughing doesn't start until midday and gets worse and worse as the day progresses from there. I don't know if that has to do with my own energy level or what, but I figure if I get to work early and work my ass off, I can maybe finish the work (deadline on Tuesday) I should have been working on all last week.

I went to service today, and I'm glad I did because Victor spoke about something that I needed to hear, "From Bad to Worse". This past week has been a big downer for me, starting with my cpu getting fried, then getting a flat tire, finding out stuff that I was hoping not to be true, and then getting sick.

There have definitely been feelings of despair, disappointment, and sadness during the past few days. The sickness has really taken a toll on me. The last time I lost my voice this badly was in Ottawa, 3 years ago. I wasn't able to sing properly for at least 3-4 months after I'd lost my voice. I hope that doesn't happen again. Also not having Mom here to care for me has really made me super home-sick during this virus. I'm willing to bet that if Mom were here this thing would've lasted only 2-3 days.

I'm really thankful of the friends around me who are caring, praying, encouraging me. It's been a huge blessing. I know it's just a virus but this past week has been my first true test living out here on my own. Thanks guys..

for all you smack the penguin fans, here are some links so you can continue your smackin':

i think this is the one b.p. scored 587 with:
http://mironov.net/pingu/pingu2.swf

there's also this one, which I managed to get 1212.7:
http://mironov.net/pingu/pingu3.swf

and for the normal version (which i've topped out at 323.5):
http://ze999.ru/stuff/ping/
http://mironov.net/pingu/pingu.swf

good times..


also many thanks to char for giving me the tea and other herbs to help me battle this sickness!

i really hate it when you go to see a doctor, when they give their prognosis it's like they're mocking me."no worries, you'll be fine. it's just a small little virus. give it a few days."
her blank stares says it all: don't be such a wuss!

I hate that. you go because you're worried about your own well being, because you're suffering and the doctor just belittles you by telling you it's nothing. "pulleeze.. it's nothing. why are you wasting my time?"

well, i went to a walk-in clinic under kenric's advice since i've been sick for close to a week.

here's another thing, why is it that when you go to the doctors, while you're in the waiting room, somehow you start healing up? by the time i got to the examination room, i was totally fine, i couldn't even cough if i forced myself to. what's up with that?

who needs medicine, fluids, and rest? just sit inside a doctor's office. it's the same thing. of course the second i walked out side, i was coughing like crazy again. *sigh*

she told me that it should go away in 7-10 days, and just to sleep, drink fluids, and take it easy. she also said to keep eating, but try to eat bland soft stuff.

she said i didn't have the stomach flu. and it's no more contagious than the common cold. "common".. hmph! "psshhh.. brian, it's no big deal at all, it's just a common cold. wuss."

The tire can't be fixed, so I'll have to get it replaced. Yippee!

My voice is really messed up.. I wish you guys could hear it.. it's a barrel o' laughs!

Last night I had a very strange dream in my intermitent sleep. It was weird because I woke up and somehow thought it was real, and then went back to sleep again and kept dreaming about it. All the way til when I woke up I realized I couldn't have been to all those places.

Anyway, the dream started out as a news story, when someone discovered that C.S Lewis had been a phony. Apparently, someone else had created this fake name and posed as Lewis, and written all those books. This guy wasn't even a Christian, but he had written all the books under C.S. Lewis' name, as sort of a trick.

Including the tales of Narnia.. they were all written by this guy, I can't remember his name but it was also two initials and a last name. I seem to remember W.C. Fields, but that doesn't make sense because he's a comedian. Anyway, maybe dreams aren't supposed to make sense.

So, in my dream the person C.S. Lewis never existed. He was just a penname. But then we (I can't remember who) were like, well what about those stories how C.S. Lewis used to hang out with J.R.R. Tolkien? How could those stories be true, if Lewis never existed? So then people started saying that maybe Tolkien never existed either!

That's around the time when I woke up.

Sleeping was harder than I thought. Somehow as soon as I tried to go to bed, my throat wouldn't stop irritating me. Every time I was about to sleep, I started to cough. Then, I vomited again. That's the worst though, when there's nothing in there and you vomit.. that gross yellow stuff comes out. Although I tried to get to bed at 7:30am, and woke up here at 7:45, I probably only got about 4 hours of sleep. :(

Anyway, I just wanted to write out a good luck for my brother D on his SATs today. Don't stress out man, you're the smartest person I know. Remember, the highest SAT mark in the history of our families is 0. And in our extended family, it's like 1450. That's nothing! No pressure!

Finally God has a plan for you and I believe it is probably in the academics. After all you've got nothing else going for you right? Haha..

I don't understand though, how do they schedule the SATs? Why aren't the rest of your friends writing it yet?

Another day, another missed day. Another day of sickness. This morning when I woke up I felt so much better. Everything was fine except for a stomach ache. That stomach ache grew into major pains until eventually it came.

Needless to say I have the stomach flu.

Looking at some online articles, this thing should pass in a few days, after which I should probably go and see a doctor. I'm hoping it'll be gone by Sunday, but it doesn't look like this will happen.

I have the chills now. When I cough, it no longer feels like I'm doing any damage, but on the other hand, there's nothing left to damage because most of my voice is gone.

I made some congee with chicken broth for dinner. It didn't taste too good, but more importantly, my stomach hasn't started gargling so maybe that's a good sign.

Tomorrow I have to drive to Scarborough to get that flat tired fixed.

I'm going to bed now. Have a good night.

Check out this quote by David Stern, commissioner of the National Basketball Association, when asked why he doesn't like the word "legacy":

"Because I'm very focused on the here and the now. I don't take notes. I'm not going to write a book. I decided long ago that if you spend your time taking photos, you don't enjoy the journey as much. I have the greatest job in the world and I'm enjoying it. I don't focus on the history aspect of it."

That was taken from this ESPN article

The thing is when I think about David Stern story, it really is a legacy. He's been with us from when Michael Jordan was drafted, til now. It truly boggles my mind what he's done in the past 20 years, what he's experienced. The NBA is right up there with NFL as one of the best-run sporting organizations ever. Okay maybe it's not quite up there with the NFL, but it's definitely head and shoulder's above hockey or baseball.

Anyway.. enough with the blogging.. you people must be sick of me.

I stayed home again today.

This morning I tried to catch up on blog reading. It's near impossible of course, you go to one, then another and another. There is one cool thing to note though, is the blogger banner and what it advertises for each person's blog. Check it out:

ebrian: "Small Group Curriculum" and "Free Bible Software", related searches: sermon central, sermons
sihlian: "Cool Mind Warm Heart" and "Free Bible Software", related searches: jacky cheung, weather canada
gkyam: "Do You Like Weird Music?", related searches: weird stuff, weird things
jedi-master: "Knee Pads" and "Pet Portrait Paintings", related searches: cartoon animals, cartoon dogs
ilchan: "Christian Faith" and "Troubled by Snoring?", related searches: sleep disorders, sleep
bassman_4f: "100% Free Blog Hosting" and "LiveLogCity", related searches: blog, blogger
iceman_onizuka: "Free Bible Software" and "Upcoming 'Passion' Movie", related searches: prayer of jabaz, jabaz

I read a lot more than these, but I barely knew most of them. Haha.. That's enough stalking for one day, I think. And yeah, I know that the banners are random -- but they're always somewhat related to the page still.

haha.. sharted.

D: I like the music on your site.. it's a nice touch. How do you do it?

Here's an interesting conundrum.

I'm sick. I have a cold. Today at work I coughed so hard that blood came out (ok, i'm just kidding) but it was pretty bad, to the point where my co-worked were like "brace for impact!" type of attitude towards me. I can still get work done ie: I'm still productive.

Do I go to work if I still feel the same way tomorrow, or stay home?

On the one hand I'd probably benefit from another day's rest, but on the other hand I waste taxpayers money because technically I could still be doing work. Also, by going to work I'm risking my teammates' health. But again, I can still get work done, I'm not sick to the point that I can't get stuff done.

The reason I stayed home on Tuesday was because I knew there was no way in heck I'd be able to do anything.

Now what? Any takers?

p.s.: sharted.. lol

the laser printer was supposedly sold out. i'll call them later to confirm. in the meantime, my fever and headache have subsided. i've been drinking water like non-stop here at work and things are going well. except for one time i choked on some water and couldn't stop coughing, it was so much coughing that i couldn't breathe, or lost my breath. people around me were all flinching and scared. it was kinda funny actually, because i felt like i was gonna die, but everyone around was just trying to avoid me.

i wonder if anyone reacted that way to Jesus, when he was carrying the cross. i dunno, it could have been pretty graphic, people'd come over and then just be like "eww.." and run away? It could happen! I guess we'll find out when we see the Passion movie.

speaking of Passion, the bassman was telling me that the next Passion cd will be based on remakes of old hymns, so that could be a treat for those of you who are big "hymn" fans! it comes out Feb. 27.

laser
i've been in the market for a cheap laser printer for awhile now. it'd be very useful for me for printing stuff when i needed it, such as maps to get to someone's place. it's just a convenience thing i guess. anyway, i've been trying to get a deal for a laser printer for under $300. That's been my goal. Today I found this great deal at Staples, check it out!

Go to Staples.ca, and add the Samsung ML-1710 Laser Printer.
+ add the Acco $0.32 ruler (no kidding.. it brings your purchase to just over $300)
- $100 coupon (70829)
- $30 off $150 coupon (68342)
- another $30 off $150 coupon (68360... for complete list of Staples.ca coupons, check here)

total =$141 + 15% = $161
- $50 mail-in rebate for the printer. The whole thing comes out to $111. Haha.

along came polly

this is a date movie, if there's such a thing. i mean lets face it, the date ends after dinner, then you go to a movie, and then it continues after the movie. but that's not the point. the point is it's a romantic comedy.

purely for the laughs I liked this movie although i didn't think it was as funny as Meet the Parents or Something About Mary. some points:

- most of the jokes were covered in the preview commercials
- they borrowed a storyline from Friends
- hank azaria is *ripped*
- whatever happened to alec baldwin? now we know.
- baldwin is either super tall, or ben stiller is super short
- i will never get sick of toilet-bowl humor
- there's a 1 in 46,000 chance of falling through a subway/sewer grate ?

6.5/10.0

for once the movie ended early but i wasn't able to join the fellows for food, as i am sickly. being sickly isn't so bad except being sickly whilst being home alone is. i can really see what ina was complaining about. it's amazing how strong a small cold can be when you're lacking mom's tlc.

edit: yesterday i was in sort of a funk and crabby mood. giving the movie more thought, i'd say it was more of an adaptation of some funnier movies in the past.
- the dancing part is taken from the hilarious Stiffler American Wedding scene
- the RiskMaster comparison between the two girls taken from an episode of Friends, when Ross compares Julie and Rachel ("just a waitress" is an exact copy of the line used by ross).
- or a comparison of stiller's father in the movie, similar to Silent Bob, in that he says nothing throughout the whole movie until the very end, and when he speaks, it's insanely insightful.
- a lot of jew jokes, possibly adapted from 'will & grace', what with grace adler playing reuben's cheating wife ?

okay, i'm stretching, but anyway all that said it was still pretty funny i change my rating to a 7.5/10.

i still can't get over this guys voice.. in the song "mi mancherai (il postino)", i don't even know what the dude is singing about, but it still gives me chills down my spine, and tears to my eyes... it's just *that* good!

edit: it drives me nuts to be here at work, because i want to try to sing along..

i'm back!

my cpu got fried on thursday night. i'm not sure how it happened, it was working fine that night, but the next morning it wouldn't turn on. on saturday my friend keith and i spent a few hours trying different combinations to see if it was something else, but in the end we concluded it had to be the cpu.

our plan was to buy the cpu today, right after church, so he came along to the service. i'm not sure what he thought of it, i didn't ask yet. anyway on the way over to pac.mall, there was a funny sound coming from my car, so when we parked we had a look. flat tire! doh! luckily i have that nissan road side assistance deal, so they came in a changed the tire for me. it wouldn't have been hard to do it myself, but it was pretty muddy and cold so i didn't want to bother.

afterwards we bought the cpu, came back here and well, it's up again. thank goodness.

the last 24 hours made me realize what a crappy and boring life i have. i couldn't think of anything to do when my pc was down. i slept on my couch for most of the day watching who knows what.

my bro got me the josh groban cd, "closer", for Christmas. i've had it for awhile now but just started really listening to it today. i brought it to work and have been listening to it with headphones. it's amazing. less than half of it is in english.

his voice is just really nice. wow, i wish my voice was *half* as good as his.. i guess it's like this. there's a certain scale from 1 to 10 for quality of voice. then beyond that there's another scale, where you can sense the singer's emotion. josh groban is a 20.

yesterday in the bachelorette, this one guy gave her a pair of slippers and this great line: "It's so you know I'll be with you every step of the way." Aww... she ended up giving that guy the white rose, which signifies he gets an individual date with her. Smooth!

hmmm.. should i be posting this stuff on my blog? now i'll never get to use it!

last night's dream is very vivid. i dreamed that the rapture came, and i was left behind. but it was all online, so it was like I'd go click on a person i know, and then it would just say something like "user doesn't exist". Then I'd click on another and another. It really freaked me out. Only my non-christian friends remained!

i wonder if this is a common fear that other christians have. knowing full well how much time you set aside for God each day, knowing all the sins you've committed:

Would you be surprised if you were left behind?

I can't believe it's only Wednesday. I thought it was Thursday and tomorrow was Friday, so I left just enough food in the fridge before I'd have to cook on Saturday. Now I'll have to improvise something for Friday.. Darn! I guess I failed to mention that on Saturday I attempted to cook enough food to last the week. I missed it by a day, it seems.

Today I woke up on my own, for the first time since last year. I finally caught up from the sleep I missed from the past 2 weeks. My brain woke me up at 6am, then again at 7am. Then the alarm woke me up at 7:30am. I'm glad because the last few days I slept 8 hours and was still waking up exhausted. It was kinda scaring me..

Things at work are going normally. My boss has been impressed with my work on the admin manual for the system we've been working on. It's all coming together now. UAT starts some time in March, and as the lead I'm pretty excited about it. It should be very interesting.. haha.. here I am getting all excited about testing, of all things. It's funny how the other day I heard someone say "module" and it brought back some memories (and nitemares) of school. I don't think a day went by in university that we didn't hear the word 'module'. I guess what they say is true, that what you learn in school really is, 99% useless.

what a disappointment. this weekend's football games were all disappointing except for one. they were good games, just that my teams didn't win. Go Colts! I think it's clear now who the REAL nfl mvp is.

those pictures will get done, soon.. the program i found to do it is nice, but it's a bit slow, i haven't gotten the hang of it yet. i want to upload them at 640x480, because at 1600x1200 they take too much disk space.

i bought an mp3 player from monchichi today. i'm not sure if it was the right thing to do, given my recent spending. but i was going to get one anyway, and this one was a cheap. i figure i saved money in the long run. worse case i could give it away as a gift..

i've been contemplating a new cell phone. my current one is kinda boring. i want a cool funkie one with flashing blue lights and plays a nice tune when the phone rings. i want the whole world to know when i'm getting a call! telus has the new lg4600 (incidentally i discovered the lg 7000 is already out in asia). still, it flashes and has color screen, and has a polyphonic ringer. what more could a guy ask for?

for everyone who's sick.. get well! G suggests taking vitamin c's.. i did that in university, but nowadays with all those sick days i have stored up, i kinda don't mind if i got sick. haha.. i'm kidding of course. if anything, i should at least try to get better to benefit those around me!

take care everyone.

what a game! what... a.... game!!

oh btw, i didn't do the egg thing. i guess i'll try it next week, or sunday afternoon. i've been cooking for the past 2 hours. i've made enough to last the week, possibly longer. Hehe..

out

I went out today. First time that I've been outside since last Sunday. It's supposed to be -20 C with windchill. But it didn't feel too bad. In fact, I wasn't impressed at all. Maybe I should've gone out yesterday, when it was -34 C. Looks like I missed out..!

I bought two cd's, The Singles 1992-2003 by No Doubt, and Dizzy Up The Girl by Goo Goo dolls. I went out planning to buy the Dolls' cd and Michelle Branch, but Futureshop was sold out on her stuff, so I got the Dolls' cd, and then I just happened to see the other one, looked at the back and found 4-5 songs that I liked by them, including Sunday Morning, one of my faves.

The No Doubt cd is good. I don't usually comment on mainstream stuff, but I'd hafta say I'm already satisfied with this buy, having only listened to the cd halfway. I really really like the new song It's My Life, the remake of an old 80s hit. Also kinda neat is the insert, which gives 3-4 paragraphs about how the song came to be. I've always thought No Doubt was a little bit ahead of its time. They're not like regular bands. They incorporate various styles of music. Rock, dance, alternative, even reggae. Their music sounds nothing like anyone else, it's very unique. Anyway..

As for "Dizzy", I chose to buy this cd for two reasons. One, I like their stuff, and two, I've ripped them off for long enough. Having listened to googoo mp3s for years now, it's time to give back a little bit. They deserve it.

more funnies from vegas.

my parents had a fridge in the garage. after all those tv shows where i see people store useful things in the garage, for the first time saw it being put to use. a fridge! food.. in the garage. what a concept!

my brother told me about this funny thing they do to eachother at school, it's "equalizing". it's a boys only thing. basically what happens is some poor kid is standing around mind his own business, and another kid will come up from behind him, reach between his legs, and "cup" him. LOL. my brother says it's funny because you can see a little guy do it to a huge guy, and when he gets cupped, he jumps so high up that it looks like the little guy is super strong.

also he told me there were next levels, where someone will "cup", and the "lift". And even worse, someone would cup, grab, and then pull down! Hahahaha.. crazy kids..

i'm downloading pics (finally) and will put them up somewhere.. I guess yahoo pictures?

= sports =

just a few words about something i was just reading over lunch. espn did an article on eli manning, younger brother of current nfl co-mvp, and how he could be the #1 overall pick at this years draft. what a great story this is, if he were to be taken first over all by the Chargers. what a family. what's even cooler is Eli, short of Elisha, went to the same school his father played, you know what else, his mother was homecoming queen from that same school, Ole Miss. isn't that amazing?

both boys, quite smart, garnering honor roll every year. both are 6-5, peyton is about 10 pounds heavier. both obliterated college records, and both are winners. even their father was great, archie made the pro bowl twice in his illustrious nfl career. all 3 play the same drop-back style.

it's probably not a big deal but to me this is all very cool. i mean their father must be absolutely thrilled. he spent 14 years in the nfl with absolutely atrocious teams, some of the worst offensive lines in the history of the nfl. he was battered and beaten. then you look at Peyton Manning, who's well on his way to be one of the most successful quarterbacks ever, improving from previous year every year since he entered the league. the Colts have good coaching, and a *very* nice offensive nucleus to build around.

and not to jump the gun but imagine if Eli Manning goes to the Chargers. That's an even better (younger) nucleus to build around. David Boston, LaDainian Tomlinson. there's nothing better than having a great pass-catching runningback for a young quarterback. it provides the qb with a safety blanket. and tomlinson had what, 100 receptions this season?

this is great. the last few days of pdl has talked about temptation, how it God's lessons in building us up. and how when i get a tempting thought, rather than try to block it out i should just think of something else. so now every time i think of a temptuous thought, i have either practiced guitar or done some pushups. so either i'll get worse and worse but get really good at guitar and building up my bulging muscles (lol), or i'll be one step closer spiritually.

that's a decent trade-off..

eggs

eggs are very nutritious. i've missed out on this nutrition for the last 3-5 years, when i began to realize i was allergic to it. it made me think today that i should try to get back on eggs. there has to be a way. when i looked it up on the net, someone pointed out to me that i was likely allergic to certain forms of cooked eggs. in my case, she said that there were certain proteins created from fried eggs. I feel like i've been over this before.

anyway, i was thinking, maybe once a week i should try cooking eggs in a different form and trying them out. but knowing that there is some bit of risk from the allergy, i would set a date ahead of time, like a Saturday afternoon so that i have
1) ample time to recover if i need it
2) at least on sunday people would notice i didn't make it to church
3) well, let's face it i couldn't try this on a work night

i could sample small bits at first, and if nothing happened, i could try more and more.

from as far as i can remember, i have always had the same problem with scrambled eggs, but i used to be able to eat fried rice, but now i can't, which means the allergy has become much more heightened. but i also used to have hardboiled eggs with no ill-effects. maybe i should try that. also, fried eggs like a la sunny side up etc, i should try those as well. also someone at work suggested i try just yokes, or just whites, to see what happens.

i guess i'll target this saturday for my first try at this. hard-boiled seems like the safest bet, since i had them when i was little, and also i can eat those thousand year old ones without any problems.

exercise

i am going to start exercising. now before you start inviting me to your sporting event, stop. i haven't played sports since grade 9 gym class with mr. bury, so i'm not about to start now.

yesterday i started doing push-up's, and i will add various ab exercises as soon as i learn how to do them.

i've always talked about getting into shape but never putting any action behind those empty words. with all the time i have on my hands, why not sacrifice a little gaming time and putting it towards making myself healthy. for one thing i remember from my Ottawa days that working out kinda quashes the appetite or gives you a sense of 'bodily conscience', or 'stomach alarm'. also now that i'm nearing the over-the-hill mark, i figure i better get that metabolism a kick-start.

i was reading an article that said that working out in the morning, right after an 8-12 hour 'fast' is good. apparently something about how the body is low on some chemical that is needed for energy, and as a result the body uses the fat instead of that chemical. well, i'm not really that fat, tho i have fairly big, albeit subtly big, belly. and butt, i think my bum is big, at least it is, according to my mom.

officially i am cutting out Manchu Wok from my diet and replacing it with Subway. i usually have the Wok on Thursdays. maybe.. well i still have mcdonald's 2 times a week. would it be better to replace mcd's instead? the thing is the Wok meal costs about the same as a submarine, whereas the McD's meals are dirt cheap.

i am about to eat instant noodles with dumpling and watercress. WATERCRESS? i looked that up and it says "Any of several related aquatic plants". Gee, that says a lot doesn't it. it's leftovers from the hot pot. holy cow.. i typed that 3 times and kept typing "hoptop" by accident..

Until next time, this is..

Today at church it seemed to me like the speaker didn't properly prepare for his sermon because he was dragging on those long sentences that you use when you try to reach the word count for a paper or essay in highschool. He seemed to ramble on and on and only got out 2 points.

In Vegas, my family goes to a church called South Hill Church Community, which is weird since here it's Toronto Chinese Community Church. They have Church and Community flip-flopped. The worship team at South Hills is quite good. The leader is a big Chris Tomlin fan so that helps. Secondly their drummer, apparently finished second in a national drummer competition. He's unbelievable, and he shows how much he enjoys when he plays, beam from ear to ear. The main pastor is Brett Johnson. His message is very brief and simple, but he gets the point across and they are very applicable lessons. Also they had this "Gospel Mystery Box", where a kid would put a secret household item or toy, and on Sunday, they'd gather at the front, and the pastor would have to open the box, and deliver a quick sermon for the kids, and use that object in his lesson. Pretty creative..

Tonight we had small group at my place. It took a bit of procrastinating to finish cleaning my place up. Yam brought an electric plate stove thingie and veggies and meat, and we had hot pot. It was pretty good.. I can't believe I don't have any vinegar..

There were 5 of us. Nancy, Duncan, Gladys, Carrie, and yours truly.

Aside: I am truly blessed by the friends I have in here in Toronto. Definitely my most cherished times are these, spent with my fellow servants of Christ. Each week I look forward to Fridays and Sundays, they are the highlights of my week.

Afterwards, we headed out to PacMall to have bbt with Ina. She's flying back down tomorrow morning. I stopped having tapioca whenever i go for bbt. In fact I dunno why i still called it bbt. It should be called ljt (lichee jelly tea). But seriously, no one would understand what i was talking about..

--- sports ---

as i predicted, indy got by denver. i used to be a bronco's fan, until Jake Plummer came along. I've never liked this kid. Nobody in the history of the league has had as bad of a interception-to-touchdown ratio (not counting this season), and still remained in the NFL. To me that says he was given one too many chances to play. So that said, I don't believe in "the snake", and I think he doesn't deserve to play in this league.

I'm a little miffed by the recent performance of Mr. Brandon Stokley. A great talent that did little or nothing, waits until I've completely forgotten him and then starts beasting.

also as i predicted, Favre beat the Seahawks. With the recent death of his father, I believe not only is he fired up but the team as well want this bad, just for him. Crappy teams can win when they have the proper motivation, so a team like the Packers are extremely dangerous. I didn't watch the game, but looking at the boxscore it looks like it was a good game. It's funny for Mike Holmgren to have been in two hard fought battles (think GB vs. 49ers a few years ago, Holmgren's last game with the Pack), and lose them both.

i was wrong about Dallas, although at the same time, was right that without establishing the run they'd have no chance.

two things:

firstly, on my plane ride home from Phoenix (it was a connection flight). I sat next to a young boy who kept asking me questions non-stop. I didn't mind so much except at one point i felt like sleeping but he kept on going. the thing is though, on the other side of the boy was his older sister, probably around 15-16 years old (the kid was about 11, although i never asked).

after a barrage of questions, she turned to him and told him to be quiet and leave "the man" alone.

haha. that shocked me. sure, legally i am a man, at 25 years old, i'm well past the legal definition of a man. i don't know why but i still feel like a kid and refer to people my age as kids as well. now if she had said to "leave that guy alone", then that would've been fine.

gosh.. i'm a man. maybe i should start behaving like one?

secondly, i was reading an article in an entertainment magazine from Vegas. there was an article about the goo goo dolls, one of my favorites. they talked about how most of the dolls' songs invoke vivid memories from various parts of our lives. i thought about that and i think the author is right. if i think about songs like Name, Slide, Black Balloon, Here Is Gone, Iris, Dizzy, Broadway, they all invoke memories of my past. i guess i could say that if the Dolls released a greatest hits album, it would be the soundtrack of my adolescence. That's pretty wild..

= sports = (seriously, don't read this if you don't follow the NFL)

the US covers football extensively, (it's like their hockey).

just a quick flip on the nfl playoffs.

i've been cheering for the Vikings and Seahawks this year. i'm a sucker for high octane offenses and teams with no defense at all. they're fun to watch. however, they don't win unless they're perfect, so Vikings missed the playoffs. i've been scouting the Seahawks for the last couple of seasons, and I think this is the year they could make some noise. Next year will probably be their year as Holmgren finally has his offense, they just need to work on defense over the offseason.

initial predictions is that the packers will probably beat the seahawks and force me to cheer for the pack. that's okay though, i'd love to see Favre make a run for the bowl.

that said, i believe it will be Rams or the Panthers coming out of the NFC. The Panthers are a lot like the Ravens, they have a good running game and strong defense. I like the cowboys and bill parcells, but they are very young and inexperienced.

Philly. They remind me of the Pats two years ago when they won it all. The downfall of this team is Donovan McNabb. McNabb is a far superior QB to Tom Brady, and I think ultimately he will hinder this team from going deep into the playoffs. Doesn't make sense right? Philly is McNabb, whereas that NE team was just a big team of no-bodies. McNabb will take it upon himself to perform, and he will feel pressured to get things done on his own. He'll put the team on his shoulders and carry the team. The trouble is, he can't afford to rely on the players around him like Brady did that year. You heard it here first.. Philly will choke.

I'm an NFC type of guy. I'll cheer for any team that makes it to the finals, other than the Panthers. Imagine a Panthers/Ravens SB? Booooooring!


in the AFC i like the Colts but i see the Ravens as a definite force. If they can by some miracle get past the might titans, i could see them reach the finals and possibly win it all. the trouble is, Tennessee is for real this year, not like in previuos times when they squeaked into the playoffs or won by some miraculous play. they're actually really good this year. McNair played through the pain for once in his life.

The Colt's hopes lie in Manning's ability to step up in the playoffs, which he's previously been unable to do. I have a feeling this is the year Manning finally gets this monkey off his back.

Everyone talks about Tom Brady and the Pats. I have never liked Tom Brady because I've always felt he gets undeserved credit. He is the type of QB who keeps his team in games because he doesn't do anything. And the reason he doesn't do anything, is because if he does something, he'll likely make a huge error. He is the modern day Troy Aikmen.

Pats had a relatively easy schedule this year, and finished 14-2. They have basically the same team as the past 2 years minus a few key defensive players. 1 year they won the SB, the other year they sucked. How do you explain two identical teams, won winning the SB and the other year sucking, and then being really good again?


There are too many great teams in the AFC this year. Ravens, Colts, Titans.. even the Chiefs all have good enough teams to beat any of the NFC teams. They're like the western conference of the NBA. Another reason to cheer for the NFC.


The very truth is I haven't followed the NFL as closely as in previous years. I've been known to make scoring predictions but I can't do that this year because I just don't know enough to make a guess. As with every year, thousands of experts make their early predictions and 99% of them get it wrong.

My pick is the Rams vs. Titans in a rematch.

Ah.. home again.

Las Vegas, Days 7-11

It snowed last night and when I woke up the rooftops and front "lawns" (there's no grass.. it's just gravel) was covered in snow. My family had never seen snow in Vegas so it was a treat for everyone. Surprisingly I heard it's warm in Toronto today. As if the cold weather has made its way towards me and is chasing me.

Not alot has gone on since I last posted. I've finished 3 computers games. Halo, Tron 2.0, and I just finished Call of Duty a few moments ago. Of the three, Tron was the most fun and interesting.

It was Madame Toussad's, not Tussan. A-Mei was in town, she performed at the.. Rio? I don't remember now. I didn't go. For a brief 1-2 months I was a fan. But not anymore.

My grandfather went through some weird stages, a few days ago his face became very red and it was like he was having a fever, or possibly even a minor stroke. For a good 10 minutes he had food in his mouth and he wasn't chewing or even speaking, although he was still responding to us. Then yesterday he started crying when he wanted more milk. My dad was a little scared but he poured him some more and he stopped crying.

Yesterday we went to a sushi restaurant (buffet) called Blue Wave. $22/person (ouch!). My brother went there for his birthday a few months ago, and threw up afterwards because he ate so much. Since then he'd been raving about the restaurant and how I should go. So we went. It was really disappointing. It turns out that they "ran out" of salmon. Imagine, sushi with no salmon. How devastating!

I got a good pic of the vasectomy.com billboard. There is also another ad, that says 'reverse vasectomy'. The funny thing is it also says "guaranteed or your money back". Hahah..

There are a lot of Hummers in Vegas. I've seen at least 40. Also a lot of Cadillac Escalade's, you know, the big trucks that all the big stars drive. And quite a few Corvettes. No sup-ed up Civics here.

..

My heart sank when I received news of Eric. I was both surprised and deeply saddened. It didn't fully sink in until last night I was lying in bed thinking about how awful it must be for Nicole, I had trouble sleeping, thinking about how she must feel during this ordeal. For him, I pray he isn't in pain or turmoil. I have no idea what the person goes through during a coma. Is it a sleep state, or is it a dream state? Is he constantly trying to wake up and being unable to, or is he completely unaware of it? Mostly I pray for Nicole and his sister and parents. It is the worst feeling when you want to help someone and feel helpless because there's nothing you can do.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Today we all got up pretty late (8:30am). We all wake up fairly early here because the house is brand new and there are no blinds, so when the sun comes out, it gets way too bright.

We went to The Orleans hotel to watch Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. It was pretty good. I cried a few times, all tears of joy. They changed a lot of things from the books, but it was still pretty good. The audience applauded after Legolas' big oliphant performance. Also just before the movie started a perky mom yelled out "MERRY CHRISTMAS" to everyone. Americans rock. There's no "happy holidays" out here. It's Christmas time, plain and simple.

Yesterday we went to the Christmas service at South Hills Church Community, where my family normally worships. It was a packed house. They rent out the gym at a school called Bill Carter. I'm not sure who Bill Carter is.. The service was quite good.. everyone was all dressed up. I was in my normally ghetto travelling clothing! Haha. Come to think of it, all my clothes are pretty ghetto. Maybe I need a change in wardrobe..

Anyway after LOTR we went to the Venetian hotel on the strip. My bro got us 4 free tickets to see Madame Tussan's Wax Museum. I'll post pics after I get home. They were really realistic!

By the time we got home, it was 6pm, too late to cook and my grandparents were starving. So we hurried out to the nearest place to eat. Unfortunately, it was Silverton's Hotel Casino. Their buffet has got to be the worst buffet I have ever eaten. I was starving, and yet when i got my plate and went to get food, I was totally stumped. It was worse than a school cafeteria.. $14/person for pure crap. That's US dollars..

Oh, for Christmas I got a new pair of shoes. Nike walkers.. pretty nice. They look a big goofy but they're really comfortable!

Las Vegas, Days 2-5

Las Vegas is a fun city, but really only *fun* if you're a non-believer going on a wild gambling, drinking and sexapade. Of course then for me, it's just the bright lights and being with family. And laughing at the hilarious sex billboards. One of them which I still haven't gotten a picture of, is this giant white billbard with the title "vasectomy.com", with the caption "it's easier than you think" underneath. Haha..

I saw Roy's buddy, (the white tiger) at The Mirage, The Bellagio, Caesar Palace, Treasure Island. They're all just hotels with casino's and expensive shows which I can't afford. Outside along the strip, there's funny little latino guys handing out "business" cards, which show naked girls and phone numbers. The Bellagio has a fountain that's supposed to move around with a song that is playing, but I went during the day and that show only goes during the night. Also at the Mirage there is a water/show volcano, which also runs at night. Treasure Island has a big pirate ship with scantily clad women dancing on it. Also at night.

I'm hoping to catch it all one of these days.. and get good pictures.

Oh yeah, I bought a new digital camera. Olympus Stylus 400. I was just going to buy the 300 but my dad told me "don't be cheap, Brian". I also got a 256 mb card for it.. The camera is almost the same as my old one, so no learning curve..

What else.. I went to a few buffets now. The food is really cheap here, but the food is also really bad quality. Whereas in Toronto when you stop eating at a buffet because you feel satisfyingly full, in Vegas you stop because you think you're gonna be sick (before you're full). It's a different sensation.

I saw Red Rock Canyon, on our way to visit my dad at work yesterday. It was breathtaking. Massive mountainss of red rock surrounded by white, and regular grey. While I was standing at one of the lookout points I started to sing "Wondrous Works". It goes:

Looking at His Wonderous Works
I stand, Amazed in awe.
How can any person doubt that
He is God?

Since nature sings out its praises
That I ought to know
To share in this grand worship to the Lord

Well.. those are probably wrong.. but close? My dad works in this tiny little shack, while his real office is still being built. The back of the office has a small jail cell. Pretty cool..

There are more "In-n-out" and "Jack In The Box" burger joints than McD's here.. Btw, in In-N-Out burgers are amazing...

Las Vegas - Day 1

The flight left a little late because they had to de-ice the wings. But all in all it was a good flight. I got a window seat and we got to see Santa Clause 2. Pretty silly movie, but it had a nice ending..

As the plane was landing, you could see "the Strip". The airport was right beside it.. I could see the big MGM Grand hotel, the big Pyramid thing. The city of Las Vegas was surprisingly larger than I expected. Going in I thought it would be the Strip, and then desert. But really there's actually a small little city here!

The first thing I saw when I came out of the plane was slot machines. Slot machines everywhere! People were actually using them! I couldn't imagine, how could you get off a plane and just start gambling right away. Or maybe when you're flying away you need that last *fix* before you leave. How silly is that..

It was big hugs all around when we met in the baggage claim area.

I dunno for me it was weird seeing the family again, and it was weird on the ride home, looking around and seeing the bright city lights. They had a lot of partial nudity on the billboards.. Las Vegas must be the most liberal city of the US. Also in the US, Mariah Carey, and Seinfeld. Too bad the shows are so darned expensive.

The weather is nice, it was around 10pm PST, and I had my head out the window as my dad was driving. Not for very long though, it's not *that* warm. Still, pretty nice..

When we got to the house, I realized what a big place it was. The house is a mansion.. I mean it is big. If any of you have been to my house in TO, it's nothing compared to this house. It could just be the architecture. It's much more "grandeur". It reminds me of Tim's house in Kanata, only bigger (but no basement, so all in all probably smaller).

My mom said that in Vegas if it rains for more than 10 minutes, there's a flood.. LOL

As I was saying, house is pretty massive. They have a giant screen tv, and all kinds of stuff. The place seems too big, like it needs more people. They should have at least 2-3 more people living here. Maybe me and my future wife.. hehehe. They built a bedroom for me, and the washroom has two sinks..

The water here is soft.. when you soap up, you can't rinse it all off.. it's so weird. My bro says they use half the amount of soap he used to use. It just doesn't wash off..

At night, it was super cold. They forgot to open up the heat vent in my room, and I was so cold. It was like camping, you know that feeling of coldness at around 4-5am? That's what it was like, all night long. In the morning I opened my door and went into the sitting room and slept there.. It was way warmer.

Today we're planning on going to the Strip at night. Actually I'm glad to get this outta the way. After all, it's Sin City. It's the last place I want to be. If it were my preference, I'd rather fly them all to TO and celebrate Christmas there. But this is how it's gonna be.. so I have to live with it.

Yahoo! Launch just played a song by Josh Groban -- very good voice.. If you look him up on Amazon.com, you can get a free download of his song "You Raise Me Up". It's quite good.. check out the lyrics:

When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

There is no life - no life without its hunger;
Each restless heart beats so imperfectly;
But when you come and I am filled with wonder,
Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

I went the Justis Kao concert yesterday. Justis definitely has a lot of talent, both in singing and piano. He's got a great voice and very creative talent on the ivories.. and he's very charismatic, not to mention a pretty good-looking guy. Hey, I'm not afraid to admit it! He and his team sang a lot of Christmas songs and stuff like that.

That style of music (RnB/Funk) isn't really my cup o tea, but it was still enjoyable nonetheless.

I ran into Can & Mylene there. I hadn't seen them since ages ago when I visited NTCBC. Our family left M3C shortly after Can resigned. It's interesting to run into people like that, who played a big part in a rather large transition of my family's church life. We reminisced for a bit and then realizing I had nothing else to say to them, I went back to my seat.

I'm getting to know 'Nita better and better as weeks go on. My first impressions of her are nothing like what I see now. She's so silly at times, and funny too. One impression that remains is that she is a very strong/mature Christian, and as I've been trying my hardest to surround myself with these types of people -- so this is a good thing. I think that God has really blessed me with the new relationships I've been making in the past year.

I feel the urgency to strive to surround myself as much as possible with disciplined, responsible, loving believers. This is just one of my goals that I wanted to shoot for, knowing my tendencies and the fact that my parents are far, far away. If there's one thing I lack, it's definitely the discipline factor.

Well, this is probably my last post in Toronto as I'll be leaving shortly after I get home from work tonight. My friend Keith will be taking me to the airport. I haven't figured out how I'll get back yet, but I'll worry about that later, I guess.

my stereo has this delay setting. i think it's specially there for jazz music, i don't know.. but anyway it makes norah jones sound really cool.. and all other jazz music in general.

without music my spirit grows stagnant. i deleted all of my mp3s the other night, deciding it was best to just delete them rather than "wait and see if i'll buy the cd eventually". so now, i've got nothing to listen to. i realize now how music affects my emotions so deeply.. music captures the very fiber of my being, my mood, my feelings.. it can grab control of me, takes over me. now that my collection is so tiny, my mood is very similar, in that i feel like i'm in a bit of rut, like i wanna do something but don't know what. restlessness.

on the subject of Urbana. i know i'm not too old to go. i also know that God hasn't called me to do missionary work at this stage of my life. things keep falling into place at work. if I was being called to do something else, God would've closed the doors on my current job.

Christmas. For some reason the last couple weeks when I was reflecting on the meaning of Christmas I kept thinking it was Easter. A couple nights ago after a reflection and prayer I found myself feeling a great amount of shame and guilt because my mind and wandered to the time Christ originally died for me. When I finished praying I was in tears, and then I shook it off realizing it wasn't even Easter time. Isn't that weird? Christmas time is a joyous occasion, and here I was thinking about the death rather than the birth. It must be the ADD...

re: baptism

I was just going to put this in the comments but it was getting too long.

The point I'm trying to make is that I believe it *is* black & white. In the Bible God commands us to be baptised as Christians. Just like we're commanded to love one another, worship Him, and spread His Word.

But I agree that one's own reason for getting baptised should be genuine and valued. When I got baptised, I did it because I felt it was the right thing to do. I knew that I believed and felt the next logical step was to get baptised. To me it is black & white, so as soon as my church felt I was old enough to get baptised, I did it. When my brother was contemplating his baptism, my parents urged him to do it. "Just do it. It doesn't matter whether or not you think you're ready." I was shocked by this response.

Although he and I are really close, we rarely discuss theology. I honestly didn't know if he had truly accepted Christ or if he was just going through the motions. I guess mom/dad know best.

Debut

Today I debuted in the t3c choir. People said we were good, although I swear some of the guys beside me were off, singing the wrong notes just like in practice. But there were so many of us, people probably couldn't tell. It was fun though, and the song was super easy. There were 6 baptismals (praise God almighty!). I know I've gone over this before about baptismals but I just thought of a really good analogy for baptisms and why people should get baptized. I believe strongly that once you have accepted Christ you should get baptized.

Think of a couple who moves in together but don't plan on getting married. There has to be some kind of conflict or problem that one or both of these two people have with eachother. It's like they're testing first to see if they can stand to be with one another. This to me is very similar to a Christian who doesn't get baptised. It's as if they accept Jesus, and but there's something wrong and they don't feel like they want to make the commitment. Maybe they're afraid, or waiting it out to just see whether this christianity thing "works out" for them. I dunno.

...

Right after church I headed home and then to the ACC with kenric. To make this story short, the Raptors played a very bad game, and the officiating was even worse. We lost the game, and our string of 'Raptors always win when we go to their games' was snapped. However, our string of 'Raptors always win when we get beer at halftime' is still intact. I didn't feel like drinking today, as it was an afternoon game, on a Sunday. Also our 'Raptors always win when we sit the Sprite Zone' record still lives..

I must sound the like a big geek. I'll stop now on sports.

...

Finally mr.loquacious returns with something for us to think about:

Why are sweet potato pie's called "sweet potato pies", and not "yam pies"? Aren't sweet potatos, the same thing as yams? And why is it that "sweet potato pie" sounds so much more delicious that "yam pies"? And get this, my brother (who likes sweets like me) likes potatoes, but not yams. Potatoes have no taste at all, and yams have the sweetie goodness (and softness when baked correctly). This boggles the mind!

CNN.com - U.S.: 'We got him' - Dec. 14, 2003

CNN.com - U.S.: 'We got him' - Dec. 14, 2003

Wow!

tired and full

last night i was up really late. after worship at church (whereupon i arrived late, by almost 30 mins) we went to congee wong's at first markham place. then afterwards i met up with some friends at the ten ren's downstairs. i made the mistake of picking green tea instead of black tea. (passionfruit green tea with lichee jelly) green tea is so bitter! i wondered to myself whether the girls working there would start to recognize me. i go there way too often..

i'm really tired right now. getting ready to sleep. and i'm full, for a change as well. in total this week i had 2.5 dinners. more like 2.1. yesterday at congee wong's i was planning to have some dinner, but they put an egg right in the middle of it, raw. luckily i was able to have one bowl of non-egg-ed congee, although it may have had a bit because i had minor pains afterwards and completely lost my appetite.

anyway back to the dinner tonight i had some leftovers from last night that the group was kind enugh to let me have, and dumplings. still, i've only eaten on average 1 meal per day all week long.. not good

i can see that i'm rambling now. hopefully no one read this one. haha.

Today at work, my boss expressed his disappointment that i was only able to get a 6 month extension from the City, and then he told me he pulling for trying to have me converted to a full-timer. Imagine me, a lifer with the City! Crazy!

When I see God's wonderous works in my life, it is simply amazing. I can't express in words how thankful I am for the way He's blessed me time and time again. A year ago when God gave me this job I told Him that I would whole heartedly commit myself to His will and follow His plan for me. Each time it was near the end of my contract, I never once worried that it might not be extended, or even if it wasn't going to be extended, I did not waver.

I think in my heart I've fully put my life into His hands and allowed Him to do His works to the point where I no longer feel like it's something I need to worry about anymore. My faith has grown and I know that He will open the doors that need to be opened, and close the doors that need to be closed. I think that this approach to life has brought me a lot of peace and joy.

People always ask me where I see myself in 3-5 years. I never really know what to tell them. Before, I had no answer because I just have no real sense of ambition. I've never set career goals like what kind of company I'd like to work at, what kind of hours I'll be working, how many letters come after my name, etc, etc.. All that stuff has never really mattered to me. But I think that at this point in my life it's not just a matter of not having vision or ambition, but more a matter of just not caring about stuff like that because I know in my heart that it's not important.

I know people will say that I can only think this way because I've been so blessed and if I were suffering like many of my friends are right now, I'd be saying different things. Maybe they're right, maybe if God takes everything away I'll be less faithful, more demanding and bitter. Maybe. Hopefully not.

i feel like i want to go see the movie again. it was that good. yesterday i tried to convince my friend it was an awful movie, just to see what happens to a person who goes in with low expectations. because i went with high expectations and was absolutely blown away. he didn't believe me though, and eventually i caved in anyway.

i'm really happy to have found K's blog. she's so wacKy. i remember i used to read her old page and it would cracK me up every time.

in 8 days i'll be going to Las Vegas to see my family again. i'm getting excited now. i can't wait to see my brother again, i miss him so much! i keep thinking he will be a different person now, all grown up like. i haven't seen him since July. It's been over 5 months, definitely the longest time we've ever been apart. i'm also excited to see my parents' new digs, it's supposed to be quite a house.. bigger than the one we have here. and i'll get to try driving stick on my dad's matrix -- that should also be fun. best of all, the average temperature there is 15 C during the day! whoop whoop whoop!

"epic"

Last night I went to see The Last Samurai with nathan, drew, kenric and sam. My favorite type of movies are those that are of "epic" proportions.

The Last Samurai was such a movie.

The Last Samurai was easily the best movie I have seen since Gladiator. The story was amazing, heroic, riveting even. The geographical scenes were beautiful, the acting was solid, and I have to say that I was at the edge of my seat through the whole movie. The protagonist went through a life-changing experience.

To sum it up, the directors/actors of this movie (set in Japan) took the best out of movies like Braveheart, Gladiator and Dances with Wolves and created a masterpiece!

Go watch it!

contract extended!

Today I finally got news of my contract extension. For those of you who missed it, on November 26 2003, my contract with the City of Toronto concluded. However, my supervisor had already put in a request to have me extended another year, so HR granted me a 3 week temporary extension while we waited for the paperwork to be cleared. This 3 week period ended today.

Because of the City's hiring freeze the request took longer than expected, and there was worries that it might not work out because of budgeting and political reasons. But today I contacted HR and after a few hours of deliberation, they've officially extended me until the end of June 30, 2004.

Congratulations, eBrian!

During this time of contemplating my future I've thought a lot about why/why not, why would I be extended and why wouldn't I be. The bottom line is, whether or not I was or wasn't was part of God's will for me. His plan, for now, is for me to stay with the City.

God is good? All the time.
All the time? God is good.

song

i heard this song on the radio and then saw the video on muchmusic. it's called Stacey's Mom. the tune is really catchy, and the words are absolutely hilarious.. check it out if you get a chance. it's about some kid who has a crush on his classmate's mom!

i've decided that i want to organize some kind of weekly or bi-weekly downtown lunch, for people in all our small groups. i think it would be really great, to have such a gathering. in Ottawa my friends and I would meet every week on a friday and go out for lunch and just fellowship. until now i hadn't realized that quite a few of us work downtown.

why, just the other day i ran into Zee, and i know that anita and eric both work downtown. That's already 4 of us.

today i chatted briefly with my dad and grandmother on yahoo. the first thing she uttered to me was whether i had a girlfriend yet. boo. me not like that..

today

i believe i've finally lost my mind today. yesterday, i spotted a bill i need to pay that was due today, and i made a mental note to pay it today. after 2 hours of searching, i cannot find this bill. is it possible i'm mixing reality with my dreams?

although i did basically nothing today, i'm so exhausted. bruce says it's because i'm getting old.

this morning i woke up at 7:50am, then again at 9:30am. i played computer, as usual, then at around 11:30ish i got ready and went to pick up Bruce from his place. we had lunch together at Asian Legend restaurant. it was yum-yum :) on the drive back to my place, i had to turn right, and there were a lot of cars, and no one was letting me in, until finally someone let me through. it was Karen! i waved hello to her, and she waved back!

the rest of the day was spent playing all my gamecube games, some more diablo, and just chatting. Bruce has changed a lot and seems to have learned a lot from his experiences of being unemployed, in a manner of speaking. as a graduate of comp. eng, driving a school bus for a living must be such a humbling experience, yet he does it, and serves food on weekends. i felt very humbled, almost ashamed while we talked, since i was living in such luxury. he described his bedroom, it was like the size of my bathroom :(

i know that i shouldn't feel sorry for God's blessings, but sometimes i feel almost embarrassed when i invite people over because of what i have. a lot of time jokingly i complain about little petty things, maybe to get a laugh or just cuz i feel like it. i really take things for granted and only really notice them when people point out to me that i'm so "lucky".

my cousin (roastduck) gave me some advice today. he said that rather than trying to change/improve myself in order to impress another person, i should only be worried about changing myself in order to impress God.

i hate that i'm such a procrastinator. people ask me, how's work going? I tell them, same old. the fact of the matter is, i have a ton of stuff due next friday, and i'm only a 3rd of the way finished. it's this crazy, live by the moment or die trying attitude that i have when it comes to getting things done. as if to think i'm actually going turn in quality stuff at the last minute. I'm not even a good finisher, or let's just say i'm not the type who "steps up" under pressure.

so to tell people i'm not really busy at work isn't true, i'm not busy because i choose to be *EXTREMELY* busy next week. so for those i've told that work has been uneventful, i'm sorry but i lied through my teeth.

i met up with gladys for lunch, we ate in the food court. everyone pray that she does well on her exam, she's got an exam tomorrow (err.. today). i'm still pretty confused about the whole thing but it's like her first of a bunch of exams for her CA. i wish you the best gladys!

i've got this friend named "xing", but we call him Bruce because okay, let me start from the beginning. at Mac, in my first and second years I lived in Edwards Hall. Now Edwards Hall was the only all-guys dorm. but wait, there's more. this building was the oldest building on campus. apparently it came with a lot of tradition, and with it, a history of insane, brutal hazing, and a naming ceremony. anyway, when were there the hazing was gone but the naming was still there.

basically as frosh we lined up and one by one, blindfolded and brought into a room. when the blindfold was removed, i found myself sitting on a chair, surrounded by about 12 huge guys, all formed or current Edwards "elders". they gave me a book to sign, which is on display at parliament (or so they said). they looked at me, then they huddled up, and then one guy (who's name was "Stick"), turned to me and said: From now on, you will be known as Long Duck. (the whole time I kept thinking they were going to gang up and beat the crap outta me, so i just said "ok")

anyway, back to the story, my friend Xing was named "They Call Me Bruce", or TCMB for short. Thus his name became Bruce. The funny thing is, his name isn't Bruce, but to this day everyone calls him that, even non-Edwards people.

right so tomorrow (today) i'm gonna be hanging out with him. without Bruce, i might still be in first year engineering.. he really helped me out a lot that year.

my back pains are still there. before i got them just when sitting in front of a computer, but now i get them non-stop, lying down, standing, walking. and they're not only backpains now but also pulsating sudden sheer flashes of pain up the front of my chest as well. i'm not sure what it is exactly, but goodness gracious does it ever hurt!

1:06am

at 10pm, i felt really tired and went back to my computer to check email. at 11:30pm, I finally went to bed. Yet, it's 1:06am and I'm wide awake. I was lying in bed, tossing and turning, unable to figure out why i couldn't sleep, so went back and turned my computer back on and here i am blogging again. tick tock..

1:08am

my back hurts. i think it's from the way i sit/sleep on the subway. i finally found a way that i can sleep without working that my body will fall over the person beside me. (i can't think of anything more humiliating and embarrassing, on a subway, than falling over someone while sleeping). i've had people push me back, or even wake me and tell me to stop. that's worst.. anyway, now i just bend forward and my head droops down to my knees. but because of the way my back arches, well i guess i'm straining it. anyway, my back hurts now.

1:17am

i'm gonna try sleeping again. good nite all.

today's PDL entry was textbook, trusting in God even during the tough times, and praising Him always, even when you are down. although it sounds hard to praise God when you feel like He's turned against you, to me it isn't hard at all. maybe the worst i've been in to end up praying pleading/questioning why it was happening to me, but i don't think i've been to point where i would stop giving Him praise!

after work today at 4pm, we had our Christmas party. it was good fun! I had a beer and some pretty good wings, enough for dinner which is what I was aiming for. I played a few games of pool, foosball, and hockey (no, not real hockey -- bubble hockey). my old boss who had left in September to get his MPA came back to visit us. it was great seeing him!

my current supervisor begged me to stay, because it was only 7:30 when i left. he told me that all the single ladies come out on thursdays, and i, a single guy, should capitalize on this. he pointed out it's not like my dad is at home waiting for me.

i don't know what's more pathetic, the fact that i was rushing home to watch Friends and Survivor, or that i actually considered his offer... LOL

i'm feeling much better today. healthwise i believe i'm back to my regular tip-top shape.

my grandfather doesn't remember anything from the last 2 weeks. remember, he had the stroke a week ago. so basically all the memory from the time he flew to Nevada is gone. when my mom told him he had a stroke, he was like: "WHAT?!"! Apparently he dreamed that he had been kidnapped, and was all tied up next to a tombstone or something.. pretty weird..

i've been thinking a lot about christian music (and all other music), on how it affects me on both a spiritual and emotional level. many times even just the music and not the words move me, which i guess is wrong, because only the Spirit should be moving me in those ways, and for that to happen, i should be focusing on the lyrics more than the tune itself. it's almost as if i should try to stray away from good sounding music, and just stick with hymns instead. to quote PDL:

"Real worship happens when your spirit responds to God, not to some musical tone. In fact, some sentimental, introspective songs hinder worship because they take the spotlight off God and focus on your feelings."

It goes on to describe 9 different ways that people draw near to God, taken from a book called Sacred Pathways (darn, i can't remember the html for lists):

(1) Naturalists, who are most inspired to love God out doors
(2) Sensates, who love God with their senses, and appreciate beautiful worship services that involve all 5 sense
(3) Traditionalists, draw closer to God through liturgies, rituals
(4) Ascetics, prefer to love God in solitude, simplicity
(5) Activists, who love God through confronting evil, battling injustice
(6) Caregivers, who love God by loving others and meeting their needs
(7) Enthusiasts, love God through celebration
(8) Contemplatives, love God through adoration
(9) Intellectuals, love God by studying with their minds

I think I'm I bit of all of them, definitely not 3 or 5 though.

..

tonight Kenric's mom went out somewhere so he was home alone. i invited him over so we could watch the game together. he brought his own food.. i don't think i'm good enough to start cooking for others yet. i think my cooking is strictly in the "experimental" stages (although i must confess last batch was DAMN good). Anyway, Raptors won, 105-95.

i was really hoping that once my grandparents moved down to the States with the rest of my family that I'd be able to have more get-togethers at my place, what with all the space. hopefully i'll get a chance to do this, maybe next year since everyone is so busy around this time of year. i am leaving, on the 19th to visit my family. i'll be back on 1st of January.

my only regret of my trip is that small group kinda just started and I'll miss a few meetings. i think the beginnings are so important in terms of the friendship and bonding, and i'll miss out on that. :( also i believe x-gen is having a Christmas dinner, which I'll miss as well. on the bright side, i'll have home cooking for a full two weeks.

i ate absolutely nothing today. not a bite. i'm starving and yet, i think it's for the best after last nights washroom escapades. i think i've said enough!

in my small group we are focusing on worship. not just your average sunday worship but everyday worship. it's perfect right now because PDL is covering exactly that, worshipping God. In fact, the first purpose they outline of our lives is to worship God. God put us here, so that we could worship Him.

i've been reading PDL every morning on the subway, and as a result I no longer read the "Metro", the free paper the Toronto Star puts out for ttc riders. because of this, and the fact that i've back on the Diablo 2 bandwagon, I have no idea what's happening in the world outside. The other day, at the Anita/Carrie dinner, they brought up the story of two teens who beat up and killed a younger boy, and apparently one of the older kids was related to the younger kid. I didn't even know what they were talking about!

Is it important as Christians to know what's going on around us? News like this is so depressing.. I'd much prefer to turn a blind eye at all the craziness and just bury my head in Big Guy's book. Is this right?

I saw Master and Commander today. I was expecting too much of this movie because I like Russell Crowe. It was a good movie, but not quite the "epic adventure" i was hoping for, a la Gladiator/Braveheart type of thing. Hopefully Last Samurai will be better. I miss big movies like that..

all my paragraphs have started with "i". but not anymore!

quick!

some quick update tidbits for the weekend:

Friday night

i went to Hosanna Free Evangelical church to visit my friend Alfred, who had been to Kazakhstan on a missions trip for the last year. It was very uplifting and seeing the ways in which he has changed from his mission, and the way God has moved him and all that, was great! Alf got choked up (i've never seen this before, or thought that it was even possible) at one point when he talked about how a girl broke down at an evangelical meeting and accepted Christ.

matt mark was there as well, and i met lydia for the first time. they came really late, like near the end of the alf's sharing!! afterwards we went out to various fast foods places. we were shut down a couple times before we found a burger king. i think i got sick from doing this. it was cold and raining.

Saturday

I learned that my grandfather had fully recovered. Isn't this interesting: people say that when you're in turmoil you pray to God, while when you're happy, you forget all about Him. I didn't even blog it when I found out grampa was okay.

i slept for most of the day, felt a bit sick from the night before.

went to Jack Astor's to celebrate Carrie's belated birthday, as well as Anita finding a new job. the food there was really good -- i hadn't eaten all day, so i had a huge rib dinner. after dinner was glow-in-the-dark putting, but i went home because i wasn't feeling so good.

when i got home, i got sick real bad. seems my stomach wasn't as happy about the food as i thought..

Sunday

i woke up at 8:30am, but felt horrible, so i went back to sleep. i knew i had to get to church because i had to pick up notes from Gladys for the small group I missed (by going to Alf's sharing). also i had to pick up Raptor tickets from Kenric, to sell to my co-worker because he doesn't want them.

got up again at 10:30am, went to church, picked up the tickets, but Gladys was gone already. went back home. i feel bad because i signed up for choir at t3c, but i've only been to 1 practice in the last 3 weeks now.

i was planning to make congee, but i never got around to doing it. had regular dinner instead, stomach hurt all night though.

Today

Officially, I'm sick. I'm at work, typing out this blog which I know is really bad, but pooh. My cold is at that point where it will either get better or get TONS worse. I just need to take care of myself tonight..

Another update on my grandfather.

He is talking, quite a lot now, but it appears his mind isn't quite caught up yet. God, please bless him through these tough times, and help him to find peace in his heart.

Grandfather's mind is basically gone. At times, he is perfectly normal, but at other times, he is all over the board. My mom said that he woke up one point and tried to "escape". He came up this conspiracy theory of how the japanese had tricked us all and were poisoning the food, and that is why this was happening. He kept trying to get out of his bed and make a run for it, but of course they wouldn't let him since he's connected to all kinds of tubes. He started to yell out, try to warn my mom of the danger. Eventually the nurses had to strap him down.

Grampa served in the army as all kids had to go through it, but when the war came they fled to Taiwan. The stories I've heard from my parents, about what the Japanese people did to the Chinese, are far more horrific than anything I've seen or heard about in the holocaust. I guess during that time Grampa must have had many vivid memories, and lost many friends. I really never thought much about this until just now.

However, the mind is "out there" somewhere and I pray that it comes back to us. Grampa always had important advice to dish out, both to me, and my parents. He didn't say much but when he did, it was either very funny (like to tell us he had farted) or something very sensible or appropriate for that particular time.

I guess in one sense it's encouraging, that the strength in his arms and legs have returned.

I have some good news on my grandfather.

Praise God! He was able to communicate yesterday, mumbling that he had to go to the bathroom to the nurse and then to my mother. My mom was overjoyed! His speech is slurred, but it's better than nothing! Thanks for your prayers!

They did the MRI already and are trying to determine what caused this, and whether or not it was even a stroke. He is staying in the hospital for the next few days while they perform tests and analysis'. Gramma is doing fine; at first she, being very strong-willed and stubborn thought Grampa was just being silly and was yelling at him, but when the paramedics arrived, she became very quiet and probably finally realized how serious this was. She was bedside with him from Wednesday night until yesterday evening, constanty speaking to him, trying to make him respond.

My mom told her that my brother and I were praying for him. I hope that some good will come of this tragic event.

Death must be so scary for people who think that once you die, there is nothing left.

I now have more information on my grandfather.

He is currently at the hospital and they are keeping him there for examinations and testing. He can move his hands, but he doesn't have the motor skills to be able to do anything with them. He can also move his legs, but doesn't have enough to be able to walk. He cannot speak. By brother said that when they try to speak to him, he just nods showing he can hear them, but when they wrote something to him in Chinese, it seemed like he didn't understand any of it.

They may put him through an MRI, because they are unsure if it is indeed a stroke. They performed 2 catscans, but were unable to find any symptoms of Stroke.

A few weeks ago he went in to check his prostate and they didn't find cancer. However, because of his prostate problems, they attempted to insert a tube in there to get the liquids out, but for some reason they couldn't insert it properly and he ended up just bleeding a lot.

My grandfather accepted Christ many years ago so on that note, praise God. My grandmother however never accepted. Thank you for your prayers, and please continue to pray, for my parents who stayed at the hospital with him overnight, my grandmother who must going through a nightmare right now, and of course for my grandfather.

Please pray for my grandfather.

I don't know how many people read this site, but those of you who do, please pray for my grandfather. He had a stroke tonight, and he is not doing well. He cannot walk, talk, possibly even hear. Thank God that it happened in the safe care of my parents. They took him to the hospital about 30 minutes ago.

Please pray for his health and that he doesn't suffer pain. Also pray for my grandmother. They are 85 and 84.

Today's devotion made the distinction between worshipping God for ourselves, and worshipping God for Him. I can't count the number of times I have come out of Sunday service, disappointed with the song selection or sheer "butchering" of certain songs. But after reading today's devotion, Day 8 of PDL, I realize how foolish my thoughts have been. We sing and we pray and we read, all for God. And to say that someone did it poorly is really not my call. God appreciates all forms of worship, regardless of its quality.

I guess in a sense when a song is butchered, I'm more disappointed because it isn't pleasing to my ears, and thus feel almost angered that a good sounding song was ruined. But in God's eyes, it's the effort and hard work that goes behind preparing, and playing/singing that song. All notes and tones uttered by His creations towards Him are awesome to Him.

Still.. sometimes it's like they didn't even practice the song..

I am making good progress with my devotions now, at the expense of not knowing what's going on in the world. I have been skipping out on reading the free Metro in the mornings to read my devotions on the subway before I go to work. This gives me a good 10 minutes to read it, spend another 10 minutes in prayer, and then depending on the speed of the train, another 20 minutes of napping. It's nice to be able to reflect. Sometimes it works out right so that I finish my prayer at around Rosedale, and sun shines on me as I open my eyes.

Today I spent the day at City Hall. I'm not sure why but my boss asked me to come to City Hall to work. They had a workstation set up for me to work there. I will be going there once or twice a week from now on. Anyway the reason they had this idea for me to go there is because I managed to crash the server while testing, and since I couldn't recreate that instance again, they want to keep a closer eye to my testing. The server is at City Hall, or, the guy doing deploying to the server works there.

Today's devotion talked about how this life is temporary. I knew all this but it really got me thinking about prioritizing things in my life. How I'm always laid back, and maybe this isn't the most ideal image I should be showing others, especially to my non-christian friends. On the one hand, I always felt that by not being worried or stressed, it shows the trust I have in God and the faith that I'll always be alright, no matter how bad things look. But on the other hand, it shows laziness and sort of a non-chalent 'who cares' attitude. Sure, the things that I come across in life are temporary and meaningless, but my actions will carry on to eternity. I should try to make the most of what I do, rather than just laying back and letting God do what He does.

~~

I've been giving some thought about this blog thing, what I can do with it, and whether or not it's worthwhile doing it. Maybe it's a complete waste of time. I was reading a friends' blog, and she was talking about "clicking". Of course as it turns out she was talking about relationships, and how a guy and a girl need to "click" for them to be right for eachother, and what her definition of "clicking" was. But before I read all that I thought the topic was about "clicking" in the sense that people are just a "click" away from eachother. Sometimes I feel like, I don't need to spend any time talking with a person, because I already know what's going on with them from reading their blog.

In that sense, this lifestyle of "clicking" is bad because it spreads us further apart. It's like the anti-fellowship.

Even when you think about it this way. When you see a long, long blog entry, do you just ignore it, or just scan through it because you don't want to waste your time? If that's the case, then it's almost as if, if I had approached you to talk to you about this, you would have shut me down, as if you didn't have time to hear what I had to say. I know for me, when I see a long blog entry, I skip over it too. I'll read the comments other people left them, to see if the entry was important or not.

This entry is fairly long. Let's see how many people actually read it and leave a comment.

A CORK radio station was running a competition - words that weren't in the dictionary yet could still be used in a sentence that would make logical sense. The prize was a trip to Bali.

DJ: "96FM here, what's your name?"
Caller: "Hi, my name's Dave."
DJ: "Dave, what's your word?"
Caller: "Goan... spelt G-O-A-N, pronounced 'go-an'."
DJ: "Hmm... You are correct, Dave, 'goan' is not in the dictionary. Now, for a trip to Bali: What sentence can you use that word in that would make sense?"
Caller: "Goan f**k yourself!"

The DJ cut the caller short and took other calls, all unsuccessful until:

DJ: "96FM, what's your name?"
Caller: "Hi, my name's Jeff."
DJ: "Jeff, what's your word?"
Caller: "Smee... spelt S-M-E-E, pronounced 'smee'."
DJ: "... You are correct Jeff, 'smee' is not in the dictionary. Now, for a trip to Bali: What sentence can you use that word in that would make sense?"

Caller: "Smee again! Goan f**k yourself!"

i find it odd reading my brother's blog. i never really noticed before but he's grown up a lot. i don't know if he's been that way all along, or that he's just started trusting in God a lot more since my family moved down to the States. Regardless, i'm thankful for that.

yesterday i joined the choir. as previously mentioned, i've not been part of a choir in about 7-8 years, and it's kind of daunting, my inability to read music. also of note, i've moved from singing bass to tenor. how could my voice be getting higher?

i'm going to my final wedding of the year this weekend. Stephen Tu and Laura Fung. I've known Stephen since around grade 10, but really got to know him through church as he came to accept Christ. he was the one who got me interested in the world of fantasy sports. since then he has grown so much in Christ, realizing his true calling in becoming as pastor. It's a great feeling i get whenever i look at the way God has molded many of my friends to turn towards Him and serve Him full time.

After about 2nd year when Steve stopped playing fantasy football, I lost touch with him. Probably my longest conversation with him since then was at Hypefest, a camping trip that my old church had amongst their college group, 3 years ago.

Laura, I have spoken to even less. I've known her since around grade 5ish, also through church. I remember she was the lone girl in sunday school for about 2-3 years. She attended the older groups' sunday school, which resulted her in getting teased a lot, because they were all boys. Despite us being the same age I attended the younger groups. My dad was teaching sunday school then; i didn't want to be taught by him so i purpose held myself back.. hehe

I had a crush on Laura in grade 10, she was just so very smart in our Electronics class. Of course, as a highschooler i had a new crush every other week. The last time I spoke to Laura was a few months ago when i happened to see her on the way from st. andrew station to Metro Hall. She was headed to school.

We used to tease Laura's little brother Howard. I'm not sure why though.. kids can be so cruel. I think it was the older kids, who used to tease Laura, they started picking on Howard, and I just followed along because I thought it was cool. Heck, I went along with anything as long as they weren't teasing me!

Oh yeah, both Laura and Stephen and I attended the same highschool. Earl Haig Secondary School.. arguably the best highschool in Toronto, if not Canada during those days.

the reason i mention all this is because my brother has grown up a lot as I was saying, and he reminds me a lot of Stephen back in those days. both were/are extremely intelligent, both have an excellent command of the english language both in speaking and writing, both began to truly grasp how much God loves them at around the same age. both are into sports, and both have had a number of girlfriends "so far".

It's interesting, thats all.