Rent

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Clean

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

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

Heated

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

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

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

Gaming

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

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

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

No gifts please

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

What would constitute a legitimate reason:

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

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

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

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

Please do not give me a gift if:

you feel like being nice

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

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

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

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

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

feel sorry for me

I am not joking -- no exceptions.

Rent

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

However I also know that it glorifies homosexuality.

Losing heat

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

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

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

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

Plan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I will share more as I figure it out.

Emotions

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

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

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

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

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

Passion Toronto

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

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

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

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



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



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

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

Breakthrough

New best line ever:

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

(yes)

S: [wo ye shi]

(awesome, that makes me so happy)

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

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

S: [ye su de men tu zhi yi]

(Jesus' something something..)

S: [wo hen gan dao qing xing a]

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

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

(My whole family are all Christians)

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

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

Farmers

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best line ever:

[wo ke yi jiao ni da ge ma?]

Final Three Prediction

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

UConn
Texas
Duke
????

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

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

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

The next will be a battle between Texas and Duke.

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

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

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

"Wow..It's pretty big"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

k-love in Canada

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

Anyway, here it is below.

-----
Dear Brian,

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

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

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

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

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

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

In His Service,

Ken Turner
Correspondence Assistant to Signal Expansion

cc: Sam Wallington, Director of Engineering

Wedding song

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

This Day by Jadon Lavik

Lyrics to be posted later.

XBOX 360

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

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

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

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

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

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

Toys!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Washington 99, Toronto 96

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

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

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

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

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

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

Moving on faith

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

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

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

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

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

Today by Jadon Lavik

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chorus

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

I love egg

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

Oodle doodle!

Tact

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Weddings

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shadow of Angels

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

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

Shadow of Angels by Building 429

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

News

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

:D

Smorgasbord

I've always liked the word smorgasbord.

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

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

Bonding

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

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

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

Sunday

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

At our church it's like this:

Singing - 4-5 songs

Prayer

Scripture reading

Sermon

Response by song

Offering

Doxology/Benediction

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

Worship

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

Revisiting David Crowder Band - Collision

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

Interview

My job interview is Thursday at 11:30am.

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

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

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

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

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

Real men

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Collision

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

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

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

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

I give this album a 2/10.

The reason

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Building 429

Rocks.

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

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

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

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

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

I'd give this album a 9/10.


Space In Between Us

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

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

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

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

mousaka

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mmmmmmm....mousaka

Lives another day

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

I'm indifferent about the whole thing.

Casting Crowns: Casting Crowns

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

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

If We Are The Body - Track 2

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

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

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

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

Jesus is the way

It's just a show

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Should we?

Raise

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I'd give it an 8/10.

Steps to making my voice sound good

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

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

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



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

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

..

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

Misc

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

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

...

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

BOOM HEADSHOT!!
BOOM HEADSHOT!!

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

...

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

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

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

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

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

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

CSI

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

What a great episode.. OH MY GOODNESS.

Get in, get out

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

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

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

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

Our time

I like my quiet time.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[God of Wrath by dc*b]

*ouch*

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

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

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

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

*Ack*

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

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

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

Yup, that's Motrin pain.

Matthew West

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

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


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


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

It's your fault!

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

"Hey look! It's Mike Myers!"

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

End of an era

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

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

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

Job

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

Fall Line-up

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

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

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

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


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

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

Saturday
See above.

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


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

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

You have to check this show out.

CDs, Lactose and Canadian Artists

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

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

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

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

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

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

Radio

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

Calm before the storm

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

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

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

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

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

*yawn*

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

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

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

Obsession

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

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

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

More reviews

I saw 3 more movies before returning to Toronto. I am at work now, taking a breather from catching up on emails.

"I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" - Another film festival flick. The more I watch film festival stuff, the more I'm realizing that most of them suck. Before, I thought it was an artistic thing, these indie films were good because we were only watching the good ones. But when you've seen them all and start digging to find them, that is when you run into awful movies. This is a british movie starring Clive Owens. It's a story about this drug dealer, a nice kid, who is raped by another guy and then commits suicide because he felt so ashamed after having ejaculated during the rape. Clive Owens plays the older brother of the kid, who has a dark (gangsta!) past and returns to the town where he once ruled and gets his revenge on the rapist.

What I didn't like about the movie -- too much character development. This stage of the movie lasted about an hour and the movie was only around 90 minutes. For a movie called "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead", I expected more action, less talking. What's worse, is that the ending didn't make any sense. He ended up killing the rapist, but then his mom gets murdered. So then you think he'll seek out revenge for that too, but no. The movie ends there. 4/10.

"I Heart Huckabees" - This was supposed to be a good movie. Even at the store, someone walking by who had seen it commented that it was the funniest movie they had ever seen. I'll admit it had it's moments. The movie was about existentialism. A guy who hired a couple of nuts to spy on him and figure out whether or not 3 coincidences in his life had any meaning (he kept running into a big tall black guy).

If you just read the above, you're probably thinking "what the..?". Don't worry, I was thinking the same thing, and well into the movie and after the movie, the same thing. It was a quirky movie that made very little or no sense. It tried to provide some meaning at the end, but it failed.

Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman were funny. Mark Wahlberg was annoying. New guy Jason Schwartzman was also annoying but I think he did a decent job. Jude Law and Naomi Watts put on good performances. The girl from Wedding Crashers was in it (the crazy one). I'd give this movie 5.5/10.

"Hitch" - I saw this movie and then 10 minutes later I was on my way to the airport to fly back to Toronto. Hitch was a funny movie and I would love to see it again. The movie is about a guy named Alex Hitchens (Will Smith) who "empowers" men into meeting and persueing the woman of their dreams. He gives them advice and ideas, and the do's and don'ts of dating. Eventually he finds a woman for himself (played by Eva Mendes) and tries to woo her. He goes through a series of disastrous dates but she falls for him anyway, but then she finds out about his business, and because one of her friends was negatively affected by one of his non-clients, she exposes him as a womanizing date doctor and ruins him (she writes for a tabloid).

A very typical romantic comedy. Completely and totally predictable. Will Smith is one funny dude, and Kevin James (a fat lawyer who wants a supermodel) was also hilarious. I will never forget the sequence when Hitch tries to teach Albert (James) how to kiss. It had me rolling on the floor laughing!

I give this movie an 8/10. I would see it again because of the fun I had. I felt like it had a positive message. It was very funny and romantic in some points. It had me laughing and also crying. Good times..

More movies

I've been wanting to blog about my camping trip but I won't have pictures to back them up until I return to Toronto so..

I saw another 3 movies. My parents have this deal with Hollywood Video (it's like Blockbuster here), they pay $10/month and get unlimited rentals for a month. It's $10 for the first 3 months and $15 thereafter. $15 is insane, if you ask me. I'd pay $30. Anyway, it's called the "MVP" deal, it's only for movies that have been around for like a month or more -- they have a "MVP" sticker when that time comes. We walked up and down the aisle for movies and almost every movie I suggested my brother said he'd seen it already.

So.. we grabbed movies that were a little more obscure. This time we saw "Primer", "Mean Creek", "The Pacifier". Pacifier just turned MVP a few days ago.

I made a lot of noise about "The Pacifier" with my friends, wanting to see it but no one else wanted to. I figured it was a breakout performance for Vin Diesel, like Kindergarten Cop was for Arnold. Arnold was great in Kindergarten Cop because of the awkwardness of having such a huge guy taking care of kids. Vin isn't nearly as big as Arnold was, but you get the idea.

Let's be clear -- Vin Diesel is as bad an actor as Arnold, if not worse. I think we are less forgiving because Arnold was one of a kind while Vin is like many other "big guys" out there these days. I'd give this movie 7/10. It was funny and cute. The kids were great, especially the younger ones -- very cute.

"Primer" was a Sundance Film Festival winner.. best drama in 2004. They must have had some really bad movies that year because Primer wasn't very good. (SPOILER -- as if you'll actually see this movie ever) The idea of the time travel was good.. The concept of only being able to travel back one day was cool. It wasn't like "Back To The Future" -- it wasn't about changing the time, it was more about the moral issues of it. They were engineers and were more concerned about the consequences if breaking the time continuum than about what actually happened. They tried to play it safe. But then when they started putting a time machine inside another one, then I got totally confused. By the end of the movie, the 4 of us looked at eachother and none of us had any idea what had just happened, what time they were in, who was still alive, and who was the "real time" person left. 5/10.

We saw the preview for "Mean Creek" while watching "The Machinist", so that's why we rented it. It was in the Cannes Film Festival and also the Sundance Film Festival. Anyway, Mean Creek is about these kids who plan a revenge on a fat bully (George), because the guy beat up one of the kids. They trick him into getting on a boat with them and the plan is to dare him to strip naked and swim home naked. Later on they find out he's kinda nice, and change their minds.. But things go awry and to make a story short, he gets pushed out of the boat and drowns because he couldn't swim.

The main character "Sam" was played by Rory Culkin, the younger of the Culkin (Macaulay, Kieren) boys. He has some talent..

Overall the movie plot wasn't spectacular but the kids did the right thing in the end by coming clean. One of the boys got scared and ran away, which I could see happening to certain "less stable" individuals. A little accident like this can completely ruin your life.. It's kinda scary because I do think the boy would have died if I had been on that boat. George got what he deserved -- I would have pushed him out of the boat too, and since I can't swim well I wouldn't have been able to save him. George, upon finding out about this grand scheme of embarrasing him, became defensive and started hurling expletives at each of the kids in the boat. He attacked each one personally. He was extremely offensive and hit people hard, picking on one kid's gay parents, calling the girl a slut. Ultimately he verbally attacked the biggest kid on the boat (the unstable one, "Marty") and made fun of the guy's father who had killed himself when he was younger. Marty was pushed to his limit and pushed George in. Anyway, I give this movie a 8/10 based on an average plot but one that makes you think, and based on the excellent performance of all of the kids.

4 Stitches

My brother was cutting wood this morning. He was chopping away with the dull axe that my dad brought along.

Anyway, at some point he swung through the wood (missed) and it hit his foot. At first he just kept going cuz he didn't feel anything. Then he decided to check his foot and noticed that there was a hole through his shoe. He went down to feel the hole and there was blood all over his fingers. So he took off his shoe and ---- yikes! his sock was soaked red. I was really scared. He took off his sock and blood was gushing out of his foot. There was a hole about an inch long. So we dressed it up as well as we could and took him to the medical clinic about 15 minutes away. Then waited cuz the clinic didn't open til 10am (it was 9:30).

The nurse gave him 4 stitches. He was pretty brave for the whole thing, actually he didn't feel anything until the nurse was giving him the anesthetics. Those needles stung a bit :P

The South Hills people were all told of it somehow so whenever they saw him they asked him about it. It was really nice.

Las Vegas

It's hot here in Vegas. It rained the day before I got here, and that made the weather turn humid. Not has humid as Toronto, but when you have 40C without humidity in the first place, you can imagine how hot it is now WITH humidity.

I spent about 4 hours working on the Longlac slideshow, not nearly enough time. I wanted to spend more but.. well.. I'm on vacation =]

Didn't do much the past two days. Every afternoon I've gone swimming in my parents' pool. This has been really fun and has got me thinking about going swimming more often when I get back. It's just so relaxing, not to mention really good exercise.

My stomach problems have continued despite having my mom's cooking which makes me think that perhaps there really is something wrong with me.

My family has a monthly deal with the local video store, they pay a fee and get unlimited rentals. Yesterday I watched The Machinist (Christian Bale) and today I saw The Jacket (Adrian Brody). "The Machinist" was a really messed up movie, the entire story was about guilt. The plot was kinda nuts, like a psychological thriller type movie. I don't like these kinds of movies.

"The Jacket" was a very good movie. It's the first movie starring Kiera Knightly that I actually liked. Adrian Brody is really good in this film too. You have to watch it to find out what it's about. I don't want to give it away.

I give The Machinist a 7/10 and The Jacket a 10/10. I actually really liked Jacket, it's among one of my favorites this year, with Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Millions.

Anyway, I've got a really bad headache from too much swimming (lol) and I'm going to bed now, even though it's only 9pm (12am jetlag).

Tomorrow we are going to drive to Wyoming for camping. Turns out it's a 13 hour drive which will take two days. And the park has bears. Apparently lots of them, we're all bring whistles and bear bells. Haha.. should be fun!

Random thoughts

Some random tidbits before my vacation:

- I am getting tired of World of Warcraft. I played for 4 hours last night, and wasn't even paying attention. I had a fantasy football draft at the same time and wasn't even paying attention to that. I was packing as well, chatting with my brother, and even in between I had a friend come and drop something off.

- The significance of the above statement is that I've always felt like WoW would be the last game I played...

- Just tried "sport socks" for the first time. Such a weird feeling of not having my ankles covered up. I feel like the socks are only half on.. or half off. Very, very weird..

- Why Anita hasn't been updating her site: No more dorkisms to share because they've all become "cute things", or "cuteisms".

- Longlac kids keep asking me for my phone number.. hard to turn them away.

- I hate packing for this trip because of the camping aspect of it. I have to pack so much more than usual which means I can't go shopping afterwards because I won't have any room.

- I've really been feeling like I want to leave my profession (not just my job) and do something else. I notice how when people talk about what they do they are often quite passionate about it. Whereas I'm pretty nonchalent about it. It's been something I've half-jokingly thought about since March but am thinking more and more about it. Hopefully God will say something to me during my vacation and give me a chance to reflect on what I should do.

Not enough..

Time.

I haven't packed at all. Normally this wouldn't worry me because I could easily just bring nothing and buy everything there. But we're going camping so there are so main essentials that I *need* to pack.

I need to finish the Longlac slideshow before I leave. I got the pics on Thursday at midnight. Friday was busy because of fellowship. Saturday, all day Stan & Yee Lee's wedding. Which leaves Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.

But what I really wanted to post about was about Longlac -- not enough time spent there. Jasmine basically hit the nail right on the head, on what I've been thinking about the most over the past week, about Longlac. One week was not enough time. One week is nothing.

Alf and I talked extensively about the topic of missions and how one week wasn't enough to do anything. From the missionaries standpoint, 1 week is a small taste, like many say -- an "eye-opener", but in terms of doing something significant from his/her point of view, kinda useless. I look at it this way: Did we accomplish anything? Yes. Did we do God's work? Yes. Will it make a difference? Unsure.

Case in point, Anita and Gladys are travelling to China to teach business stuff to students there. How significant is that? To the person, it may seem like nothing. Your objective is to teach a topic, while your mission is to interact with the people there, build relationships and maybe in a few months you might build a strong enough relationship to share the gospel with them. Unfortunately though, you're only going for 1 week.

The bigger picture though, is that you're part of a large group that is streaming in teachers on a weekly basis, just one of the many faces headed down there, and over those large mass of people, relationships will be developed and opportunities will eventually arise. It's a collective effort. Similarly, Longlac had 3 teams going. We went for a week but 2 other teams went prior to us. The larger picture is the 3 weeks' worth of people coming in to build relationships with the children and adults. The purpose of Longlac was to teach about God, so less time was required -- however, in both cases there is that bigger picture that encourages us to believe that we really did make a difference.

We put the time in, God does the rest.

Alf suggested that if I wanted to make a real impact, I should sell all my belongings and move into the reserve. After a few months of tanning I might be dark enough to pass for a First Nations native.

I guess that moment when he suggested this crazy notion was the first time I've ever considered doing full time ministry.

Kepano chords

I've been thinking about moving all my Longlac posts to another blog -- err.. not moving but copying, just so that people can read them whenever and not have them get lost amongst my non-Longlac related posts.

I emailed Kepano Green to ask about the chords in their songs. Didn't really expect a reply, but I got something similar to the response I received from "Anabret" (boy, that was what, 2 years ago?). Here it is:

Thanks for promoting our stuff in Toronto, Brian. Unfortunately we don't have our songs charted ... There's a lot of wierd chords in the songs with names that probably look like flight locator numbers, so we've just never done it. If you're adventurous then you can do like I do when learning someone else's song: figure out the bass progression and build the chords from there based on if they support the melody/harmony. It's time consuming, but it will really improve your guitar playing. If you have a question about a specific chord in a certain part of a song that's stumping you then I can help you out by email.

Take care,

-- Josh

How exciting it is to be contacted by a superstar ;) I am going to take Josh's advice and try this bass progression thing he talks about. I hope he's right and that I improve my guitar playing.

In all honesty I don't really feel like I've improved much in the past 3-4 months. I've had jamming over my place every weekend for a year now. Lately I've incorporated 'feeling' into my playing. But that's really more showmanship than anything else.. I haven't learned anything new at all.

Some of you have seen me make a fool of myself trying to play Unchained Melody. I am probably the worst guitar plucker there is, for a person who's played guitar for 3-4 years. Sad indeed, but at least it gives people a good laugh when they see me try it. On Thursday I will have a video to prove it :)

Correction: Gosh! The time I featured anabret on this website was actually 3 years ago. This is crazy..! 3 years?? Where has the time gone?!

Team

Romans 12:4-8 says:

"Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully."

Here is a photo of Longlac STM 2005. Top: Mike. Middle row (l to r): Dom, Miriam, me, Jakin, Daniel, Nathan, Shirley. Queena in the middle. Bottom row (l to r): Tiffany, Pamela, Crystal, Elaine.

We did "Golden Bricks" during the trip. Each person had a brown paper bag with their name on it. We hung them up on a wall in the church (where we were staying). The bags were for little notes we could leave for each person, words of encouragement, thanks, verses to remember, things like that.

I think this was really great for me because it made me more aware of the gifts and abilities that each person had. Being forced to think about meaningful things to say in the cards -- gave me a sensitivity towards knowing how complement other peoples' abilities and how they might react to certain situations.

One thing I did overlook until towards the end of the trip was the sacrifices that people made to go. Parents took a huge sacrifice from spending time with their own kids to go off and care for someone else's kids. Most of us took vacations -- for people with families this is a really big deal!

My thoughts are kinda scattered right now because I want to share more but some thoughts are better suited for my next entry. Let me just say that there was a lot of really good bonding and I really feel like I gained 12 new friends.