New record

"Attention, attention."
"Attention, attention."
"This is the security speaking."
"This is the security speaking."
"The fire alarm has been activated."
"The fire alarm has been activated."
"The fire department is working on the situation."
"The fire department is working on the situation."
"Unforunately, it is a false alarm."
"Unforunately, it is a false alarm."

I don't know what's funnier, that he feels the need to repeat every sentence, or the fact that he thinks that a false alarm is "unfortunate". I would think a real fire would be far more unfortunate, but I guess since he's not 30 floors away from the fire exit, he's not as scared as I would be.

So this alarm goes off at 12am, which isn't too late unless you consider I had to wake up at 6:30 to go to work the next morning, because I had to make up time at work because I missed a whole day because of the TTC strike.

And to make matters worse, my internal clock woke me up at 5:30am. (That's a new record).

But aside from the lack of sleep I am doing fine. I haven't had a whole lot to blog about. I've noticed that whenever I have guests/family, I don't blog as much and since my brother is here for the summer, I've blogged very little.

Andrew & Lisa from Ottawa stayed over for the weekend, in Toronto for a wedding. I always enjoy spending time with them. I think I've mentioned them before. I stayed with them one night when I was in Ottawa in March. They always find time for me whenever they visit Toronto, and I always enjoy talking to them, especially with Lisa who is just a very loving person, great person to talk to. They're a very God-centered couple who I find often rubs off on me and makes me realize sometimes how not-God-centered I can become.

I think they are one of the few people from Ottawa that I actually still talk to and not just purely reminisce with. I think that's the main reason I stopped meeting with my university friends, because all we would ever talk about was the old days, and after awhile it wasn't cool to hang out because we always talked about the same old thing. You need a buffer, a span of a few years to hang out with people like that, that way reminiscing doesn't feel idiotic.

On the weekend we also had a big lunch reunion, where I saw Tim C for the first time since 2000. He has gained a lot of weight since then. He's also gained a fiance in Angela. Very nice girl.. looked a bit like a chinese Rachel McAdams. Also saw Andrew and Bernice, I believe that Andrew spent a co-op term in Ottawa. It's none of my business but I'm surprised they aren't engaged yet. Lon and Yvonne were also in attendance, along with Roger, Miranda and her sister Ange. We ate at Skyland de Shanghai, a restaurant close to Midland & Steeles. Everytime I eat there, I come out with a huge belly.. the food there is sooo good.

Goals

It occurred to me on the subway ride home, that maybe working upwards might not be such a bad thing. I've always worked horizontally, trying to meet people and talk to them, expanding my social and "political" network but never really had much invested in trying to move up. Of course I'm talking about work, and working on getting promoted, moving up the ranks.

I've never considered it as something that I had any interest in doing. Sure, it comes with benefits. Better salary, more respect from peers, more impressive to others, etc. I guess I could see other benefits now, such as opening my mission field to a different group of individuals, those who are more "advanced".

There's a song called "So Long Self" in the new Mercy Me album "Coming Up To Breathe". The lyrics are interesting because they speak about breaking up and the common phrases you hear in a relationship that is about to end. Only the difference is that Bart sings it to himself. He's saying goodbye to himself because it's all about God now.

Well if I come across a little bit distant
It's just because I am
Things just seem to feel a little bit different
You understand
Believe it or not but life is not apparently
About me anyways
But I have met the One who really is worthy

I think it's cool to say goodbye to yourself, to your own ambitions, aspirations. Your salary expectations, your goals as to how big your house should be, a shiny car, a beautiful wife (or husband), that big promotion you're looking forward to. None of that matters.

Opportunities

It's been over a week since my last post. That's not for the lack of excitement in my life, but just an insane span of days where I've been totally either pre-occupied or exhausted. Work has been really busy, and the time between work and bedtime have been jam packed as well.

It occurred to me last night that I have not been making the right choices when it comes to dinner preparation and going out to eat with my brother. My salary dictates that I can't afford to live this way. It's a good thing my brother is only here for the summer! I've been thinking about what we can eat for dinner, and I've concluded that the honeymoon is over and that I'll need to cook large meals on the weekends and hope the leftovers last for at least a few days.

I've had some wonderful conversations with people at work lately. Somehow important conversations pop out of no where. Sometimes they catch me off guard and I'm unable to capitalize on them, but other times meaningful stuff result in them. It's all part of the "my work place is my mission field" thing that I've been praying about, and also hearing about. I think as Christians we often wonder about the Great Commission and how we can do our part if we feel as if we weren't called for the traditional "missionary" work.

And I kinda think that these opportunities have always been there but that I just wasn't listening for them. Or maybe, God has opened them after all the prayers. Or, perhaps God opens these doors when He feels you're prepared for them. Whatever the case may be, I find myself having all sorts of opportunities to talk about evolution and creation, life purposes and goals, religion, music, culture, beliefs.

This brings to a close my poll, which was whether or not you think you've been called for missions. Of course, the answer is yes. We as believers have been called for missions. There's no if, ands, or buts about it. For it is written:

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 18:19-20)

I don't know if it could be any clearer than this..

Siblings

My brother said something to me that made me tremendously happy. We were walking together towards the elevator, on our way downstairs to buy us some vegetables (we've been having way too much meat lately). He put his arm around me and told me that I was a good brother. That he had seen other people's brothers and that there was no comparison, that I'm a really good brother, the best he's ever seen. He said "Where would I be without you? You take care of me, you're a great brother. I love you, Brian."

I was totally taken aback, I asked him what he had done, if he had scratched my car, burnt something. But it was a random thing that he decided to share with me. It was totally AWESOME.

Thinking back, of the various milestones we've been through, it's be a growing relationship that started from me earnestly praying for a baby brother when I was 9, to the times I would pick him up from school, and then our sad separation when my family moved to the US. And then to have him come back to Toronto for University. To him it might seem like a curious roundabout way where God gave him a huge opportunity to study in the US only to end up back in Toronto again. Maybe it might seem like a curse to him, but to me it has been every little bit of a blessing.

Having the responsibility to look after another person may appear to be burden for some, but for me I've found that it has been challenging but extremely gratifying and fun. It has made me do things that I normally wouldn't bother with on my own, but because it's for someone else it becomes worthwhile.

I used to think that being independant was the ultimate way to learn how to deal with responsibilities, to learn to take care of yourself. But now I've learned that having a dependant you end up learning so much more because there's someone there to keep you accountable for your actions. It's kind of like the approach I take for driving -- I drive differently if I'm alone or if I'm giving someone a ride. I'm far more reckless driving on my own because the way I figure, if I screw up it's only me who suffers. There's more on the line when people you're responsible for are involved.

Apart from the responsibilities, having a friend, someone whom I love very much to be living with me. It's absolutely great. Having someone to come home to, to talk to, to eat with, to cook for/with, to enjoy games and tv shows with. It makes me so excited about the future, about what God has in store for me.

Coming Up To Breathe

I just realized that I have almost a dozen posts saved as drafts that I either never finishing writing or were afraid to.

Anyway, I made a big mistake saying that "Coming Up To Breathe" was a bad album. In fact it may be one of Mercy Me's best offerings. The difficulty in judging it at first was me being in a "hard rock" mode having listened to a lot of Building 429, and then the transition to a more southern, country rock.. well it just wasn't working for me.

But looking back I can definitely agree that I made a mistake in judgement. It's a great cd. I wasn't well today and didn't go to work, my mind is jumbled because I basically just woke up. I won't say much but post a song and lyrics.

Here is "Bring The Rain" by Mercy Me, from the "Coming Up To Breathe" album:

I can count a million times
People asking me why
I can praise You
With all that I've gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You?

Maybe since my life has changed
Long before these rainy days
It's never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on You Oh Lord
My only shelter from the storm
But instead
Draw closer through this time

So I pray
Bring me joy
Bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise you
Jesus bring the rain

I am Yours regardless of
The clouds that may loom above
Because You much are greater than the pain

You who made a way for me
Suffering Your destiny
So tell me
What's a little rain

So I pray
Bring me joy bring me peace
bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus bring the rain

Holy, holy, holy
Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Is the Lord God Almighty

Now forever sing
Holy, holy, holy
Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Is the Lord God Almighty

Everybody sing
Holy, holy, holy
Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Is the Lord God Almighty

Blasphemy - Suns

On Tuesday during our weekly team meeting, my supervisor talked about how we are trying to get other groups on board to use our application, which is a web based project tracking tool. It's called PTP.

Anyway, at some point he said we were trying to spread the "PTP Gospel". Then later, another guy who was travelling from district to district, called himself a missionary. I just find that absolutely blasphemous.

In the second half of this post I'd like to post my rant about the Phoenix Suns. This is a team that, I had always liked up until recently. They are a team of underdogs who lost their best player and banded together to put together a pretty remarkable season, making it into the playoffs with a high seeding. A team of cast-offs who are all have career years and seemingly a hard working, humble and classy group of individuals.

This all changed last Saturday when they played against the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 7. They shot nearly twice as good as the Lakers did, who were shooting a mere 35% for the game. Leading by 30 or more, they continued firing on all cylinders, going all out even late in the game when the end result was no question going to be a win. This is like kicking someone when they're down, and to me doing something like that in sports is about as worse as it can possibly get. With 5 minutes left in the game, leading by 30 points, with their MVP player tweaking his ankle, their coach chose to keep him in the game and continue to run up the score. It just doesn't make sense to me why you would do that unless you were purposely trying to embarass the other team. This kind of behavior made Steve Spurrier one of the most hated coaches in college football because he would do the same, run up the score even when his team was already up by a good margin.

This kind of bush league behavior is what I would have expected from a bunch of idiot players, possibly drunk, having absolutely zero respect for their teammates and their sport, to pull off something like this. It's basically turned my whole outlook of this team into seeing just how stupid these players are. At the end of the day, it proves one thing: The Phoenix Suns don't deserve to win the championship. You look at any other team who has a big lead in the playoffs, they do not fire 3 pointers and try to run up the score. Look at the Detroit Pistons after they had scored 11 3pointers in the first half, cruising by nearly a 25 point lead. They had a chance to break the NBA record for most 3 pointers in a playoff game. But did they go for it? Of course not, because they are a championship calibre/deserving team. They only scored 4 more 4 pointers for the rest of the game.

The Clippers, leading the Suns by 20 at the half, did the same thing. Did they try to rub it in? Of course not. Because they aren't a bunch of idiots and they respect their game and their opponents.

Lack of posts

Sorry for the lack of posts. I have been pretty busy lazy and haven't had the chance to stop and think. My brother Darryl has moved back in for the summer. He finished his exams on Friday. I drove down to get him on Saturday.

I lended out my Building 429 "Rise" CD and have been listening to MercyMe's "Coming Up To Breathe". Initially I didn't really like it because it leans more towards the country side which is completely different from "Rise". But I have to say now that it's pretty darn good. While listening to it this morning on the subway, I had the same feeling I had listening to the previous album "Undone". It was a feeling of clarity that came over me. Feelings of joy and sensing God's hand upon me, opening my eyes.

Rise

I was asked if I disliked the band "Starfield". My personal opinion is that people like them a lot because they're Canadian and outside of that, they're just an average band. A friend of mine (who I trust in terms of musical taste) bought the CD after much hype was made about them, and told me the CD was "Okay, nothing special." If I were to spend $15-20 on every CD by all the average bands out there, I'd run out of money in a hurry.

That brings us to my review of Building 429's latest offering: "Rise".

When I bought their first CD "Space Between Us", I had almost no expectations. I had heard "Glory Defined" on the radio a billion times and outside of that I didn't think they would be much better than that. However, that CD surprised me because it was really good. I guess you could say I had mixed expectations of the second CD "Rise". On the one hand you expect good stuff because of the first, but on the other, I am always weary of sophomore CDs.

I think the first thing I noticed about Rise was that the musicians have matured a lot. They sound more like a hard rock band whereas in the first album, half the album was rock, and the other was a bit of alternative/pop. It impresses me that they would go and work harder on their craft after just picking up the "New Artist of the Year" Dove Award. Often I've found that bands release a sub-par CD following great success in the previous and just ride their past fame — or they're just one-hit wonders. For example, David Crowder's "Collision", MercyMe's "Coming Up To Breathe" (I'll get to this disappointment in a couple weeks), Coldplay's "X&Y", Alanis Morissette's "Everything after Jagged Little Pill". But in this case Building 429's second offering is even better than the first.

I haven't listened to anything other than "Rise" over the past few days in my iPod. The songs are brighter and fuller, and the lyrics are challenging and bold. I highly recommend this CD if you're into Christian rock.

10/10.

Alive

I feel so alive right now. I just got back from the grand finale of ACEM's 28th Annual Missions Conference, held at Richmond Hill Chinese Community Church. Rev. Jamie Hudson Taylor spoke. Every sermon that I heard this past weekend either confirmed everything in my personal vision, or totally blew me away with God's amazing and awesome grace. Stories of how people were saved brought tears to my eyes, how these amazing heroic people we call missionaries faced trials and tribulations to reach the finish line.

Jamie Hudson Taylor is (I think) the 5th generation of Hudson Taylor's, the original being the one who founded China Inland Missions, and the man of lore we all hear about, travelling to China as one of the first western missionaries in China. It was totally awesome tonight, he delivered his entire sermon in Chinese (Mandarin) and then Domenic Tse [fan yi] translated. And there were times when Rev. Jamie had to correct Domenic's english.

This morning's sermon was great too, by Rev. Michael Sandstrom, a missionary in Northern Alberta, who is ministering to the First Nations people there. I was praying last night and this morning that somehow we could find a better way to promote Longlac, and my prayers were answered in Michael's sermon. It was a direct challenge to the congregation to go for missions, and he spoke about the First Nations people. I don't suppose we got any more volunteers, but it was cool to see God answer my prayers in that form.

--

The song you're listening to is called "Alive" by Building 429. I thought it would be fitting for this entry. I've been listening to this CD more lately now that I had gone over the deep end (overkill) of the Hillsong United CD. I'll post a review of "Rise - Building 429" soon. But what I can say quickly, is that it's even better than their first offering.

You can do it!

I've been giving this a lot of thought, about whether or not to blog about this but I feel like I need to do so in order to be accountable to it. It's kind of something I'm shamed of and also quite embarrassing.

So here goes.

I split my pants. Two days ago, I had heated my dinner, and was setting up in front of the television to watch. As I sat down, CRRRRRRRAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCKKKK.. My pants split right down the middle of my butt. At first I didn't even realize what it was, I just stood there feeling this funny cool breeze on my bum and I thought.. what the? And then I realized what had happened.

It's official. I am overweight. I can either buy an entire new set of (larger) clothes, or start working out.

So I'm gonna try the latter and see how it works out. Since that humbling day I have been working out slowly, ramping up to the point that I'll be able to go to the gym again. It will take some time because I literally have no endurance at all, no muscle, nothing. So it's like building from the ground up.

Aside from losing some gut and sizeable ass fattage, I also need to start working out the arms, just for the sake of the Longlac kids, so that I don't drop them when they ask for piggyback rides.

Wii will Wii will.. rock you

Nintendo has finally released the name of the next console. Previously codenamed "Revolution", Nintendo yesterday decided that the actual name of the console would be "Wii" (pronounced "we").

It's a cool play on words I suppose, but to be honest I liked "Revolution" a lot better. The whole idea of the Nintendo Wii surrounds the idea of a revolution, since they have supposedly revolutionized the world of gaming with their remote controller. Early promotional videos for Wii demonstrated its use by showing people aiming it like a gun, swinging it like a sword, and moving it as if to chop and fry vegetables. Also, Nintendo has decided to stay away from the hardware war that Sony and Microsoft have waged their battle in. Wii is only as powerful as Microsoft's original XBox.

Wii will be backwards compatible, meaning I'll be able to play all my old gamecube games on it. This is a major change from the previous Nintendo consoles as they changed the media for their games from generation to generation.

There are already a growing list of games that I want to have when I buy my Wii:
1. Red Steel
2. Super Smash Bros. Wii
3. Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz
4. Mario Kart Wii

Superstar

I missed most of American Idol last night but I saw the highlights. When I watched last week with my parents, and we all agreed that Kellie sung the worst but would still go on because she has certain "gifts" that will win votes. Ace Young was consequently voted off, despite having a few assets of his own, at least, from a woman's perspective. I guess it proves that boys are way more shallow than girls.

When my parents watch, they close their eyes and just concentrate on the voice, in order to judge who is the best. Tonight, I could not do this for Katharine as she was wearing nothing but a yellow bedsheet. She looked *amazing*, although the singing wasn't great. The best singer by a mile was Elliot Yamin. He is an amazing singer.. it's almost bone-chilling sometimes.

My ranking for the remaining 6 based on this week's performances:
1. Elliot Yamin
2. Katharine McPhee
3. Paris Bennett
4. Taylor Hicks
5. Chris Daughtry
6. Kellie Pickler

The order in which I think they'll be eliminated:
1. Paris Bennett
She's been bottom 3 for like 3 weeks in a row. There's just not enough black people voting for her to continue surviving.
2. Chris Daughtry
Guys like him do well in the show but the trouble is the versatility. He's a rocker. How many rockers have won this thing?
3. Kellie Pickler
How has she survived so long? She has RACKed up a lot of votes based on her keen ASSets. Her "aw shucks" personality attracts all the southern US voters. And everyone else.. well they just like her boobies. I know it sounds inappropriate, but I ain't gonna lie -- America loves boobies.
4. Taylor Hicks
I think Taylor will sign a record deal and the CD will sell and he'll make good money.
5. Elliot Yamin
Voice wise he has probably the best sound out of everyone. Unfortunately Americans don't like people with crooked teeth.

Katharin McPhee has the perfect USA formula for winning this competition. She has similar attributes to Kellie Pickler, only she backs it up with a good voice.

Alone in the dark

After a trip to the airport, hugs and kisses all around, several frantic phone calls, messages, faxes and another trip to the airport, my parents left the country.

Back to the good ol' days, as they say. I had dinner in front of the television, watched an extremely exciting and entertaining playoff hockey game between (my) Montreal Canadiens and the Caroline Hurricanes. Watched Prison Break again, noting that Holly Valance is even hotter in HD than on the leaked episode of Prison Break that I had watched on my computer.

I also watched 24, where yet another character died. Although this time I was able to find some fun out of it, yelling "Touchdown!" with my arms raised when Secretary of Defense James Heller jumped off the cliff.

In the World of Warcraft (which I actually started playing again when my parents were here), because they hijacked my TV. I don't blame them for my playing again though, it was just a means to an end for me, not being able to watch television made me want to entertain myself in other ways, and since the only game I had on my computer was WoW..

Anyway, last night I played some more, but it's not so much an addiction as it was before. It's just a way to pass the time, and to see if I can kill enough furlbogs to give me high enough reputation with the Timbermaw tribe so I can get a trinket that summons a priest to heal me in battle. Yea, it all sounds pretty geeky, but you reading this makes you as geeky as I am.

Well, God has answered my prayer in letting the sun come back out, but unfortunately it's freezing cold outside. Let's all pray for warmth!

All-in-one

I find it strange, that when it comes to electronics I will almost never buy anything that is a combination of several different things. For instance, I am hugely adverse to buying a cellphone with a digital camera on it. Or a television DVD player combination. But then on the other hand I am searching for this jacket that simple does not exist because it covers way too broad of various uses for a jacket. Similarly with shoes, I have always questioned the usefulness of having several different shoes for various activities. I have a pair of dress shoes, non-dress shoes, and sandals. That's it.

I see people who buy shoes for every occasion, one for running, one for basketball, one for walking, one for baseball. I've always seen that as absolutely ridiculous, but for me to expect that one pair of shoes can take me to through all sports and non-formal events, well, I guess I am beginning to understand those crazy shoe people.

Last week I winded up buying a MEC jacket. It is extremely, extremely breathable, slightly weather repellant, and that's all. No stuffsack, no hood. The fabric is soft and will probably tear under harsh hiking conditions.

So in the end, I winded up with a jacket that did not even come close to what I was looking for but I got it anyway. There is another jacket that I have my eye on, an offering from Cloudveil that costs $160. I don't know if I can justify spending that kind of money on clothing, but it's a pretty sweet looking jacket.

--

Tonight my parents should be leaving Toronto. I say *should* because you never know what might happen. They are trying to get through despite the possibility of certain immigration/customs issues that may or may not arise. I don't really want to get into it but what I do want to say is, pray they do get through. For their sake, my dad needs to get back to work and my mom needs to get back to school. And for my sake, to help me regain my sanity.

I want my solitude back, my independence and my QUIETNESS. I want to not have to set my television volume to BLARING so that I can hear it. I want to be able to close my door and not expect that in 5 minutes people are going to barge in, without knocking, to have a conversation or possibly, an argument while I am trying to enjoy a tiny moment of peace and quiet. I want to be away from home and not be worried that someone is going to machine wash and machine dry an article of clothing that can only be handwashed and hung dry. I want to be able to find things in my room again. I want my car back.

Blading and Jamming

Yesterday after dinner, I convinced my parents to go for a walk while I bladed. I bought a pair of K2 In-Line Skates last year and never got around to using them (probably because I was too busy gaming). Anyway, my parents went for it. It's been a very long time since I actually rollerbladed and at first I felt like it was my first time. Eventually though, I got back into it and was fine.

I think the most daunting thing for me is learning how to stop. Apparently people can hockey-stop with rollerblades. I can't even hockey-stop with ice skates! I use the rubber thing on the back to stop. I think I should start learning how to T-stop at least. The new blades I have are much much better than the previous pair I had, which had my ankles bleeding within the first 30 minutes. Also the wheels have far less friction, allowing me to accelerate faster and coast longer. My old blades were ABEC, whereas my new ones are ABEC 5.

We visited some of our old neighbors, which was kinda cool. Seeing people that we knew from way back when was very interesting, catching up on old days and how my parents were in their new life in Las Vegas.

After blading and talking to a lot of people, we came home and it was already 9:30. My dad started playing on my brother's guitar, trying to play Third Day's "Your Love Oh Lord". It was really annoying me because he was butchering it and I think he knew that too. All week he's been trying to get me to teach him to play.

My dad is awesome at guitar, but he grew up playing classical guitar and can't strum a lick. Picking on the other hand, he's probably better than anyone I know. But yea, strumming it's a total disaster for him unless it's a spanish song.

Anyway, this time I bit and pulled out my guitar and showed him how to do it. Even with me playing alongside him he couldn't pick it up. So in the end I told him to just pick the song. It sounded great with me strumming and him picking. Soon after we were doing just about every song I have. My mom was singing too, and my dad was doing harmony. It was awesome! Totally AWESOME.

The jacket

Eric pointed out to me a while ago that it's easy to spot me in a crowd because I always have on the same black jacket. Spring or summer, winter or fall I have been wearing the exact same jacket for all kinds of weather. I bought the jacket from Costco at an economic price of $40, and I have never looked back.

Actually I have. I have been searching for the ultimate jacket, one that fulfills all of my needs (wants). I'm a believer in layering and last fall, I purchased the ultimate inner vest. It is nearly 100% windproof and that's all it does, protects from wind. It's a little warm, made of fleece and a little spandex in the back for comfort.

As for the jacket, the following is needed:
-breathable
-water resistant
-hood that can fold into the collar
-stowable (jacket can compact into a stuffsack, possibly a pocket)
-lightweight
-performance fit
-tear-proof (ie, when i run through the bushes, i don't get caught on a branch, or worse, rip it)

These are my requirement and I've yet to find a jacket that does all these things. The closest I've come now is a North Face jacket, called the Amp Hybrid Jacket. It retails for $120. It has everything above except for the stowability.

Patience, young padawan.

This past week

For Good Friday (Thursday) we had our first ever production, with choir, music and actors. It was the story of Jesus with characters like Nicodemus, Caiaphas and Joseph. It was a very touching story and at the end it was capped off with Nichole Nordeman's "Why" -- a very very touching song that I'm sure brought a tear to many people's eyes. The impact of death, and moreso, death for my sake has always been a humbling, shameful and emotional time for me. Easter is a time of rejoicing that our sins have been washed away, but for me it is always a time of deep reflection and mourning.

These past few days, living with my parents again, has been challenging. I love them very much and I am happy they're here, but at the same time I miss living alone. It's quieter -- complete silence can actually exist -- and there's less complaining, nagging and bickering. On the flip side there's more food, less loneliness.

When I came home on Thursday evening, my brother came up to me and said "Brian, check out your room." Immediately I felt fear that my room had been cleaned and precious things had been thrown away. Sure enough, I walked in and it was clean, cleaned out that is. Don't get me wrong, it is cleaner than ever.. actually I don't remember a time it has ever been this clean, not since we saw the place before we bought it. But everything has been moved around, I don't know where most of my things are. I think once my parents leave I will need to get my bearings and figure out where everything is again.

I'm not looking forward to when my parents leave, but then at the same time, I am looking forward to things getting back to "normal". My parents read this blog on occasion, so let's just leave it at that :)

Baptism Sundays are my favorite, favorite Sundays. I think I am happier on Baptism Sunday's than I am on Christmas Day. I dunno if that is blasphemous or not. In fact it almost feels like Christmas morning, sitting in front of the Christmas tree, waiting to unwrap all the presents. Anyway this past Sunday, my friend Kenric got baptised along with 9 other people, and that made me very very happy. It's one thing to have so many baptisms, but when close friends get baptised that is a double bonus. It's like you just gained a sibling or something, it's pretty sweet.

Andrew's brother Allan also got baptised, and also Garman from my small group. And a whole slew of teens, a couple of whom I actually know and have talked to. It's also always so very exciting to hear about how God has changed the lives of people, and how their walks have progressed and matured. We're talking major awesomeness all around!

The Raptor season is over. Well, the truth is it was over weeks ago.. but officially it ends on Wednesday night. Last night I went to the last home game of the season. It was absolutely horrifying, the way they played. Awful. The highlight of night was when the announcer noticed Cindy Klassen in the audience. He announced her and Dick Bavetta (the ref) went over and brought her out to centercourt. The entire place erupted in a standing ovation.

5 Medals, nothing but class, humilty and grace. She's one amazing gal and a true Canadian hero. Oh, and for those who haven't heard -- Cindy intends to become a missionary after she retires.

Fanboy

I have become a major fanboy of two things. The first is the Toronto Raptors. I am in love with this team even though they suck badly. I follow them avidly despite their complete and total utter crappiness and hopelessness.

The second is the Nintendo Revolution. I week ago I posted about the need for consoles to have "must-have" games, in which the game is so great that it convinces people to buy the system. Microsoft's XBox 360 is a fantastic example, of a console that has superior technology built into it, but does not have a game to make people think "OH MY GOODNESS!! I want an XBOX 360 so I can play ______________".

From what I've been reading, Nintendo will have 20 titles at launch, meaning there will be 20 titles available when the console is comes out on sale. Haha.. that's more than I can say for the Gamecube, which doesn't even have 20 titles worth playing.

So far, the game that has been officially announced as one of the 20 -- looks spectacular. The game is called "Red Steel", and is being made exclusively for the Nintendo Revolution.

Brought to you by Ubisoft (Far Cry, Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon), Red Steel makes use of Revolution's new controller -- the remote control that senses gestures and movements made by the controller. Meaning, you swing the contoller one way, and the guy you control swings his sword the same way. You point at a particular badguy on the screen and press the shoot button, he convulses and dies.

Taking advantage of the special controller and the fact that it will only be available on Revolution -- to me that's a "must-have" game. No more having to point my crosshairs with a joystick using my thumb -- this game gives new meaning to point-and-shoot.

Ten Commandments

Last night I saw what was quite possibly the worst ever rendition of the Ten Commandments, a miniseries or made-for-TV version that I flipped upon by accident. There are shows that you would call B-movies, where the acting is bad, low budget, etc. This was a C-movie.

What I found most confusing about this movie was that instead of Moses' cousin/brother Ramses running the show, it was his father instead, the man that should have already passed on. Wasn't it Moses' brother the Pharoah who's heart was hardened by God? Instead, this fellow was just a high ranking guard. And to make matters worse, Ramses' son -- the boy who dies when "first borns" die, was referred to by his grandfather, as his son.

#4

Brett Favre is set to make an announcement this afternoon about his decision on whether or not to continue his career or retire. It would be hard for me to swallow that last year was his final year and that I'll never get to see Brett Favre play again.

When I think of "Brett Favre", I think 'prolific'. I consider Brett Favre as the greatest quarterback of all time. A lot of people have favorites, some like Joe Montana, John Elway, Dan Marino. And there's a crop of new guys like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Carson Palmer. But if you compare him amongst the quarterbacks of his generation, it's hard to argue that he's not one of the best.

He's won the NFL's Most Valuable Player 3 times. He's thrown over 50,000 yards in his career. He threw 20 or more seasons for 12 consecutive years. 3000+ yards for 14 consecutive years. 30+ touchdowns in a season 8 times.

I think what attracts people to Brett Favre is his passion for the game and the inspiration he brings to the table. He's a loyal guy and durable, since becoming a starter on September 20, 1992 he has started every single Green Bay Packers game. (That's 221 straight football games. Think about that!).

Brett threw a lot of interceptions because he was a high-risk type of guy, a gunslinger. There's a lot of QBs nowadays that are not so much prolific as they are efficient. But QBs of Brett's generation, these were guys who stepped up to the plate to lead their teams by making impossible plays look easy. The use of determination and example to lead their teams.

Favre once threw 5 touchdowns in a single game -- on a sprained ankle -- to help the Packers beat the Bears 35-28.

On December 22, 2003, Brett Favre through for 399 yards and 4 touchdowns -- a great night -- but even greater when you consider his father passed away the day before. I remember watching this game and seeing Favre overcome with emotion, hugging teammates on every play and shedding tears. He dedicated the game to his father. The Packers went on to crush the Oakland Raider 41-7.

What I also loved about Brett Favre is that he made average receivers into great ones. Guys like Robert Brooks, Antonio Freeman, Corey Bradford, Donald Driver, Javon Walker -- of all these guys Javon was probably the most gifted athlete. Green Bay was lucky to never really need to pay for a great receiver. Brett is the kind of guy to take over the game because he had to. Green Bay never had a great defense so Brett had to take matters into his own hands.

I would like to see Brett return for one more year. I'd love to see Green Bay win another Super Bowl but that is not going to happen. I think that Brett knows this and is probably the single most evident reason that he will retire today.

Coming clean

I watched 2 hours of television last night. My parents and I had gone out for dinner at Asian Legend and when we came home we were all vegging on the couch. My dad suggested to me that Lent was a catholic 'religious' thing that we don't participate in. I pointed out that it wasn't Lent, more like a fasting, of television. We talked some more about it, and we all agreed that God must be pleased with what I've accomplished, and that enough was enough.

I flipped on the TV and the 3 of us enjoyed an episode of CSI.

Then I watched some other shows which I can no longer remember at this time.

I was kind of disappointed, this past Tuesday I wanted to go to Mitchell's to buy Hillsong United's new cd "United We Stand". I called ahead and discovered they were sold out. To think they only had 50 copies of it for all of Toronto (they're basically the only Christian bookstore here, at least that I know of). Man, what a bummer. A bunch of us are going to their concert on Saturday, and we won't know any of the songs! That really sucks.

So anyway.. I "acquired" the CD by other means and have been listening to it, you know, at least until I get the CD. It's coming by way of raincheck in a few weeks. I know, I know.. don't even get into it. It's my way of assisting in the worship experience -- this way I'll know the songs prior to the concert -- because otherwise it's just a concert, but if you know the words they're singing, then it can be worship.

I'll review it again once it's "officially" mine. But the main difference I see of this album from the last is a lot less powerchords(?) or something, less metallic sound. More bass guitar and everything else. The CD in general is a lot more melodic, more mellow.

I'm not a big fan of an intro and a bunch of reprises and "Selah"'s they threw in, but otherwise the CD is okay.

Btw, if you haven't guessed, I have a cough/cold. It's irritating because I just got over a stomach thing. Coughing is way more annoying because of the whole needing to cough and the itch. Also, I need my voice for work when I'm constantly communicating with users and co-workers. I'm hoping it all heals up by tomorrow night for the concert. Then I can lose my voice (and hearing), and then do horribly at the choir practice on Sunday, and then be healed up in time for Thursday's Good Friday Service.

Yes, you read that right. Thursday's Good Friday Service :)

Hits

It's funny, I put that up that poll and on that very day this site got a record number of hits. Some people must've been trying to vote several times. I guess there are people out there with absolutely nothing better to do than stuff like that. That makes me sad for this world.

Direct Energy sends a guy to change the air filters every 6 months. They've sent the same guy now for about 2 years. I've talked to him quite a bit since he started coming. It all started when he came and at the time the place was a mess and he saw my guitars out in the living room. He talked about how he wanted to learn to play guitar.

The following visit, he told me he was taking lessons and was getting pretty good at it. And then the following visit after that, the patch cord was broken on my axe and I asked him to test it out. Sure enough, it was broken -- but I noticed he could play pretty good. I was impressed. 1 year in and he had accomplished what he had set out to do -- to learn guitar, rather proficiently I might add.

Today I went to pick up my parents from the airport, and I brought them home. My guitar pal was out in the hall doing someone else's filters so I asked him to come do mine. We spoke again at length about our guitar fun. He and a few pals had started a band and they had been together for awhile. They had about 13 songs they could play. He named a few bands (most of whom I had never even heard of, but what do you expect he's at least 15 years older than me) that they play. It was cool. I told him about my band, how we play Christian Rock and he was impressed too.

We both play rhythm, and his band is very similar to ours. He, the drummer and bass are all beginners, just like us, and the lead guitarist is experienced (just like us!). That was pretty cool. I wonder who does vocals for them..

It's a new feeling to have my parents home. They took my keys and will be driving my car around. It will be weird coming home to a non-empty home. There won't be peace and quiet. They watch television too and I moved my old tv into my grandparents' room and they'll be watching in there, at least until Lent is over.

For me, Lent ends on April 9th. The 8th will be the last of Lent for me, ending a span of 40 days without television. I've had some trouble at around the 30-day mark but otherwise it wasn't too bad. I had some annoyances such as people changing their MSN names to display something that had happened in one of the shows I missed. I turned "BLOCK" on so that I could no longer see or hear from them. Some of those punks know that I'm on Lent and yet they still do it. I'll add them again after Monday. :D

Must-have

I have been reading about the new console systems that are planned to come out in the next year or so. The XBox 360 is already have problems in sales -- but what do you expect when you have a machine that costs $500 and no "must-have" game to go along with it? The biggest problem with XBox 360 is there's no game out right now that makes you think "Boy, that is a really cool game -- I should get an XBox 360!".

But on that note, there really is no game like that on the regular XBox either. What game on XBox is so great that you'd buy an XBox for? I can't think of any.

For Playstation and Playstation 2 (PSX and PS2), these systems are attractive because Playstation has almost a monopoly on Squaresoft and Square Enix games -- RPG games such as the Final Fantasy Series are top-sellers, there are the racing games like the Gran Turismo series. I just read that PS3 was going to cost $750US when it comes out. Who in their right mind would $750 for a gaming system?

Nintendo also has their "must-have" games. They have sole-rights to all Mario games, and then there's the Pokemon games, Zelda and Metriod Prime. Nintendo doesn't make nearly as much in sales as Microsoft or Sony, but they have a rabid following enough to do well. In Japan, Nintendo is still way more popular than Microsoft's XBox.

I guess it kinda makes you wonder -- when is Microsoft going to figure out that no matter how great the hardware, it's the games that make the difference?

Husband Store

I don't usually post jokes, but this one is hilarious and so unbelievably true!

A store that sells husbands has just opened in New York City, where a woman may go to choose a husband. Among the instructions at the entrance is a description of how the store operates. You may visit the store ONLY ONCE !

There are six floors and the attributes of the men increase as the shopper ascends the flights. There is, however, a catch .... you may choose any man from a particular floor, or you may choose to go up a floor, but you cannot go back down except to exit the building! So, a woman goes to the Husband Store to find a husband . ...

On the first floor the sign on the door reads:

Floor 1 - These men have jobs and love the Lord.

The second floor sign reads:

Floor 2 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, and love kids.

The third floor sign reads:

Floor 3 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, and are extremely good looking.

"Wow," she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going. She goes to the fourth floor and sign reads:

Floor 4 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, are drop- dead good looking and help with the housework.

"Oh, mercy me!" she exclaims, "I can hardly stand it!" Still, she goes to the fifth floor and sign reads:

Floor 5 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, are drop- dead gorgeous, help with the housework, and have a strong romantic streak.

She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth floor and the sign reads:

Floor 6 - You are visitor 4,363,012 to this floor. There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to please.

Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store. Watch your step as you exit the building, and have a nice day!

Off the wagon

I fell of the wagon on Tuesday night, spending nearly 2 hours online in the World of Warcraft. A new patch came out and I wanted to see it, but because of the patch there was all kinds of server problems and I winded up wandering around on a new character, pretty much just messing around and doing nothing at all.

The following day, I spent another 3 hours playing my old character Smee, trying out some of the new stuff they had added.

I got to talking to some of my old guild members.. many of whom were extremely excited to see me online, just about everyone sent me a message about when I was coming back, and how much they missed me. I guess I provided a sense of "ease" as well as "comedic relief" to some people from some of the wisecracks I used to make.

Truly, I did get a sense of comraderie that I've missed since quitting.

There's a song that's been in my head for the past 2 weeks now, it's a song by Third Day, called "Your Love Oh Lord". It's a popular song, not new or anything. I find that it really speaks to me. I wish I had the CD so I could listen to it but instead I have to settle for playing it and singing it, which isn't nearly as great.

Your love, oh Lord, reaches to the heavens.
Your faithfulness stretches to the sky.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains.
Your justice flows like the oceans tide.

And I will lift my voice, to worship you my King.
And I will find my strength, in the shadow of your wings.

Your love, oh Lord, reaches to the heavens.
Your faithfulness stretches to the sky.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains.
Your justice flows like the oceans tide.

And I will lift my voice, to worship you my King.
And I will find my strength, in the shadow of your wings.

Your love, oh Lord, reaches to the heavens.
Your faithfulness stretches to the sky.

Bite the bullet

I had to bite the bullet yesterday. I was cleaning my bedroom when it occurred to me that it would probably take an entire week for me to clean my room, leaving little or no time to clean the rest of my place. With my parents' arrival looming, I realized there wasn't enough time for me to clean everything. So I called the maid and she'll be coming in to "accelerate" the process.

I've had a maid come in once before and managed to maintain relative cleanliness for approximately 2 months, so, now that I've reached the 5 month mark I don't feel as bad about my 'failing'.

Something interesting I discovered today, was that 2 people at work don't own a microwave. It boggles my mind how a person could survive without a microwave. I mean, what world is this that one can live without a microwave? To have to heat everything up using either a stovetop or oven? That's absolutely insane.. imagine how much time it would take. Let's say you had leftover food from the night before. You'd have to essentially re-cook it. Let's say it was pasta. How would you reheat pasta without cooking it and thus making it mushy? What a disaster, a total disaster.

Don't even get me started on popcorn..

Worship

We had a worship retreat this Saturday, for all those involved with worship for Sunday service at our church. This includes all instrumentalists, vocalists and audio/visual people. It's the first time we've all come together. I didn't know a lot of people and it was cool to get to know all these faces that I've seen a million times.

They invited a worship team from Churchill Heights Baptist church. They were mostly caucasian, although they said their congregation was very multicultural.

Everyone knows that I love to sing. I've been gifted with a good voice, either by God or be circumstances God created for this gift to be passed down to me (my parents are both amazing singers). I used to play piano, flute, and I can play guitar. My brother is not a great singer but he's extremely talented musically -- he can play violin, piano, saxophone, guitar.

When I help to lead worship, I am a vocalist, either the male lead or singing harmony (tenor). I think I'm good at it -- I can pull out harmonies on the fly, even for songs I've never even heard before. It's a gift I think that just comes from playing various instruments and having sung in several choirs or listening to a lot of music. So I just as well assume that this gift is from God, and thus I should use it to serve our church.

I guess what I really wanted to share about is this thing that I've been struggling with for some time and it's basically hit a point where I can no longer continue leading worship. I've been approached by some people saying that I look very serious when I'm up on stage. They say I should smile, try to look like I'm having lots of fun. That, if I do this, it will encourage others to sing louder or allow them to experience a better worship time.

First of all, I completely disagree with this entire philosophy. If people need to be coerced into worshipping God feverently, or excitedly, or enthusiastically, then they are not worshipping God. They're being manipulated into worshipping -- what they are feeling -- happiness, excitement, uplifting -- is not Spirit-led, but human led. It's manufactured worship. To me, that's all wrong.

But getting back to my struggles -- this is the direction that my church wants to go. They want us to smile, look happy, be animated. I cannot worship in this way. Don't get me wrong, I have been happy, I have been animated, at certain times, but it has been spirit-led -- not because everyone else was doing it. So for me to do all that, I am basically being asked to put on a show.

I can't put on a show. I think it's a mockery to God to put on a show before Him, standing up there on the altar and "acting". This isn't the drama team, it's the worship team. The song is called "Here I Am To Worship", not "Here I Am to Jump and Dance So That Others Will Do So Too". But mostly, I can't worship if they want me to act.

Some of you will say that because I'm *leading*, I have to lead by example -- I have to put on a face because that affects other peoples' ability to experience worship. That, because I'm leading, others will look up and think if he's not smiling, then I can't worship properly because he doesn't look like he's having very much fun up there. There are people who are visually influenced, and will notice these things. Preachers will often put on a show, by lowering or yelling their message, to emphasize certain points.

Personally, I rarely if ever, pay any attention to the worship leader, although lately I have been, for the simple reason that I wanted to see if they were smiling. Broken Walls, for instance, didn't smile. People in the sanctuary were dancing around in the aisles, bouncing up and down, holding hands and having a grand ol' time and John Maracle (leader of Broken Walls) never cracked a smile. But then again, why should he?

But again I can understand T3C's point of view, because our congregation for the most part, is deadpan. My thinking is they want to try this because they figure that people will get a better experience -- or rather, people will break out of their shells if they see the leaders doing it.

Anyway, what it all comes down to is whether or not I can put on a show while also being able to worship God.

I can't, so I am taking a break from worship leading until I can figure this out.

Huzzah!

I know some of you have been wondering so..

My dad went in to get his test results yesterday afternoon. I talked to my mom this morning and she said the specialist found some bacteria (ulcer) in his stomach and he'll be okay. His stomach has already begun healing. He has about 8 pills to take every day for the next two weeks, and then he should be fine.

Thanks for all the prayers. The cool thing is that pretty much since the day I shared that he was ailing, he started getting better. I was talking to him about that and he said the pain basically stopped right around the exact same time that I told my small group to pray for him.

God is good! But we all knew that already :P

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wanted to add, that I did what many would consider a very stupid thing to do. But I did it anyway and I think it was the right thing to do. You see, I get these bi-weekly paystubs, and they show how many vacation days I have. They list them by the carry-overs from last year, and my current ones from this year.

For the longest time I wondered when they would subtract the 5 days I took off over the Christmas holidays. I figured there was a backlog of timesheets and that they were just taking forever to update. Essentially I had a surplus of 5 days that I should have had. Anyway, I contacted the payclerk and she was able to correct the error.

I have 4 weeks left now.

That's actually 1 more week than I was expecting. I was expecting to use 1 week for a vacation to Africa, 1 week for Longlac, and 1 week for Christmas time. But now I have an extra week. Clearly, I am not going to Africa because I haven't even started to research it, let alone plan it. So that gives me 2 weeks of extra vacation time! Currently, my plan is to use that time in the fall for some R&R for myself, and then find another missions trip for the additional week I found.

Big Sub

I got my subwoofer yesterday. It's absolutely humongous. But let me share with you a hilarious conversation I had with a friend, Will from Maryland. [I kept our skillfull punctuation and spelling to retain the realness]

me: i got my sub. it's huge
Will: take a pic
Brian: I can't eblieve how big it is.. it's like an automan.. i could put a cushion on top and put my feet up
Will: haha nice
me: ok
me: maybe they're all that big, but i think it's just bigger than i expected
Will: where did you get it
i goto safeway for my subs now
cuz theyre enormous
me: i got mine from Onecall
i think.. some site grayson sent me
Will: ohhh i thought you were talkin about a sandwich
lol
me: HAHAHA
Will: u were making me hungry!
a giant sub
mmmmmmm
mmmmm sub
now i'm dis­ap­poin­ted
me: HAHAHA thats funny
Will: i want to eat a huge sub
like automon huge

He thought I was talking about a submarine sandwich!!

I haven't plugged in the subwoofer yet, since I cannot watch television. It has a giant speaker pointing down. I have a feeling that when I plug that sucker in, with a cd player, and Jack Johnson -- I'm gonna have some angry neighbors knocking on my door.

Day 22

Yesterday afternoon I actually decided my Lent period would change from Mar1-Apr16 to Mar1-Apr8. I am still doing the 40 days, and since Sundays weren't supposed to count and I was still doing them, I decided Apr8 is more appropriate for me.

This morning, I felt a little lost. Last night I learned that a friend of mine had slipped and sounded as if she wasn't going ahead with her 'fasting' anymore. It was disappointing to say the least. I had decided to pull my Lent back 8 days, and then I find out a fellow Lent'r was giving up. I guess you could say I was a little rattled.

I made a commitment to God to stop watching television for 40 days.

When I woke up this morning and switched on my computer, opened up the folder I have full of shows I've downloaded (shows that I've missed over the past 22 days). Clicked on an episode of 24 and stopped.

I made a commitment to God to stop watching television for 40 days.

If I can't keep a commitment to the Lord, then what does that say about me? That I'm a weak human being -- tell me something I didn't know. That I need God in everything that I do, especially in times of temptation.

What if I decided to give up my current way of life and devote it all God, would I be able to do it, if I can't even give up a form of entertainment for a few days?

When in doubt, ask God for advice.

I wanted to open up a bible and turn to a random page and find the answer to my ponderings. But instead turned to someone who always seems to have the answer -- Oswald Chambers. Here is an excerpt of TODAY's reading.

Much of the distress we experience as Christians comes not as the result of sin, but because we are ignorant of the laws of our own nature. For instance, the only test we should use to determine whether or not to allow a particular emotion to run its course in our lives is to examine what the final outcome of that emotion will be. Think it through to its logical conclusion, and if the outcome is something that God would condemn, put a stop to it immediately. But if it is an emotion that has been kindled by the Spirit of God and you don’t allow it to have its way in your life, it will cause a reaction on a lower level than God intended. That is the way unrealistic and overly emotional people are made. And the higher the emotion, the deeper the level of corruption, if it is not exercised on its intended level. If the Spirit of God has stirred you, make as many of your decisions as possible irrevocable, and let the consequences be what they will. We cannot stay forever on the "mount of transfiguration," basking in the light of our mountaintop experience (see Mark 9:1-9 ). But we must obey the light we received there; we must put it into action. When God gives us a vision, we must transact business with Him at that point, no matter what the cost.

I don't know if God would condemn my actions of watching television, but rather I think what He's telling me here is to make the most of my "basking in the light of our mountaintop experience" -- that is, Ishskwaday. Rather than dwelling on my Lent, I should be putting into action what God has placed in my heart from the conference. I think that's the lesson to be learned today.

Ishskwaday 2006

I'm still attempting to piece together all the information and feelings I have on the conference. It was such an unbelievable experience.

On Friday, I headed over to TKPC at 3pm. I was a volunteer/usher, we were supposed to get there earlier to start helping out and setting up. The thing didn't start til 7pm though.

Sometime while we were in the foyer waiting for registrants, Jessie from Longlac came out -- one of the older youth that we befriended while in Longlac. She and her brother would come over to the church to eat with us. It was sad news when we asked about Eddie and she said that he didn't come because he was in jail.

Anyway, about the actual conference. Friday night's large group session featured the church's praise team, Richard Twiss (keynote speaker), and then worship time with Broken Walls. Richard Twiss is this huge tall guy, a native Sioux. He spoke about .......

During the worship time with Broken Walls, with the beat of the drums -- something, or someone came over me. I became intoxicated. It was the strangest feeling I've probably ever experienced, it was as if all of a sudden while singing along with Broken Walls, someone had injected 5 beers into me and I was drunk. I started to fidget and eventually dance along to the music. No really -- I danced. My face and my hands felt numb. It was very, very strange. I don't think I've ever felt that way, a total peace and tranquility -- which is strange because the music was pretty intense. The tribal beats they used on the big drum, it was like nothing I've ever heard before, it kind of put me into a trance.

I used to joke around about being "drunk with God's love". Never thought it'd actually happen to me! Anyway, that was the most memorable part of the night for me.

We got 3 seminar/workshop courses on Saturday. The first one I took was led by Judy Desmoulin, one of the people we worked with in Longlac. She came to speak about the sociology aspect of the First Nations people. She talked about their history and how everything happened, some of it was review from what we had heard last summer when Gilbert talked about his testimony.

I was devastated when I heard about what had happened at Longlac recently. The police had raided the reserve based on a case they had built on some kind of drug ring. They raided the reserve quite violent and forcefully, and arrested several people. They're currently being held and won't get out until the end of the month. The others on the reserve are terrified now, in fear that someone could break into their homes at any given time. And the children -- that's the saddest part -- witnessed their parents get taken away, and they're at home now with no one to take care of them. The thought of those kids all alone..sigh

Judy talked about other things, like the neglect of children. She said one time she was driving through town and saw a 2 year old girl standing outside her house in the rain. Her parents had thrown a party and were inside drinking and smoking. Judy said she took her into her car -- and kept her -- for the next 18 years. The child's parents never came looking for her.

It's all these kinds of sad and hopeless stories that really put a perspective on the conditions in Longlac.

Judy also talked about some other injustices that the natives have had to face. The Indian Act was set and limited indians from gaining the rights of adults. It forced them to go to school until 16, residental schools abused children and put them through hard labor. Children were literally taken from their homes to go to these schools. Indians were afraid to teach their kids their native languages in fear that their kids would face the same atrocities they had faced. Their long hair was cut. The schools took away their culture. Families were split up.

The second seminar I went to was on the legal context of the native plight. I slept for most of this particular seminar, not because it was boring but rather because it came immediately after lunch. The speaker was Jennifer Dalton, a student at York University to specialised in the study of the consitutional legal protections of Aboriginal peoples in Canada. She talked a lot about the Indian Act and about self-determination and self-governization (the lack thereof).

The third seminar was based on the theme "Where do we go from here?" The gist of this seminar was the partnering with other churches, to unify for further missions -- and most importantly mobilizing natives to join us to travel to other countries to serve God together. This is Pastor Joe's (TKPC) vision. I think it's a great radical way of thinking. We've been working so hard to serve them, but the idea of serving alongside them, that would be so incredible.

The key messages, I think, were about unity -- Radical community to diverse unity. He asked us to try to see the bible through an indian's eyes. That we need to perceive the message differently and to understand how to better communicate the gospel so that it could be more effective. He talked about the importance of affirmation and blessings, of connectiveness, community and belonging.

He talked about how Christianity is considered a "white man's" religion, which is why it is rejected by Indians. He talked about how we need to transform the gospel into a native context, and then he retold important stages of the bible in a native point of view.

Funny line -- he called white people "pigmentally challenged", that they were all "bleached out". I thought that was pretty funny.

The second wave of Broken Walls music was less satisfactory for me because I had a terrible stomach ache. Dinner did not agree with me -- we had chinese food. Which is just weird, to have chinese food at a Korean church. I bet I wouldn't have been sick if we had bulgogi! However, we did still dance, we joined hands for various songs and everyone was dancing together, it was truly a unifying experience.

I really enjoyed this conference and got a whole lot out of it. It was a harsh reminder of what we had already seen last summer. The harsh reality of it. But it was also an amazing feeling of worshipping together. And I got a chance to talk to some of the youth -- a demographic we never connected with last summer -- so that was cool. And I met so many amazing people, other missionaries, people who have been helping the Natives for years and years. So many passionate, loving people, who were totally excited about what God has/had been doing in their lives and in their ministries.

I Believe

"I Believe" by Building 429

Walk blindly to the light
And reach out for His hand
Don't ask any questions
And don't try to understand

Open up your mind
And then open up your heart
You will see that you and me
We aren't very far part

Chorus:
'Cause I believe that love is the answer
I believe love will find a way
I believe that love is the answer
I believe that love will find a way

Violence has spread worldwide
And there's families in the streets
We sell drugs to children now
Well why can't we just see

That all we do is eliminate our future
With the things we do today
Money is our incentive now
And that makes it okay

(Chorus)

Walk blindly to the light and reach out for His hand
Don't ask any questions and don't try to understand

Yea.. I bought another CD. The album is called "Rise", newly released album by Building 429. I don't have much to say about them yet, since I just bought it.

Today I took a day off work so that I could go early to Ishskwaday to help out. Ishskwaday is the Native Missions Conference that I think I've mentioned before. It starts tonight and goes all day tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to this and I'll talk about it when it's all said and done.

March Madness

Because of Lent I'll miss all the games in March Madness. But here are my predictions. I picked UConn, Texas, Duke and Oklahoma as my final 4 when the season started. Hey, I got 2 out of 4, which is pretty sad actually. Oklahoma wasn't even close, while Texas ended up a #2 seed.

Once again all predictions were made based on the number of potential NBA players on each roster. Last year after UNC won, I predicted UConn would win this year. This year, I predict Kansas will win next year. Anyway, my breakdown -- and this is purely for my own safe-keeping as I know that 99% of the readers will think "oh great, not another sports post".

Round 1
Atlanta: Duke, Geo. Washington, Syracuse, LSU, West Virginia, Iowa, California, Texas
Oakland: Memphis, Arkansas, Pittsburgh, Kansas, San Diego St., Gonzaga, Alabama, UCLA
Washington: Connecticut, Kentucky, Washington, Illinois, Michigan St., North Carolina, Wichita St., Winthrop
Minneapolis: Villanova, Arizona, Nevada, Boston Coll., Oklahoma, Florida, Georgetown, Ohio St.


Sweet Sixteen
Atlanta: Duke, LSU, West Virginia, Texas
Oakland: Memphis, Kansas, Gonzaga, Alabama
Washington: Connecticut, Washington, Michigan St., Winthrop
Minneapolis: Villanova, Nevada, Florida, Georgetown

Elite Eight
Atlanta: Duke, Texas
Oakland: Kansas, Gonzaga
Washington: Connecticut, Michigan St.
Minneapolis: Villanova, Florida

Final Four
Duke, Kansas, Connecticut, Florida

Finals
Duke, Connecticut

Winner: Connecticut. 87-81.

Next Year Champs: Kansas

Inventory

The other day, I was talking about buying more cd's -- there's a few new ones coming out:

Hillsong United

Building 429

Kutless?

Mercy Me

Jadon Lavik

Anyway, I was talking about these cd's with Andrew, and he remarked that I must have a huge CD collection since I'm always talking about buying this or that album. I guess I never really thought about it, I just assumed everyone buys CDs when they want them, and that they want ALL CDs.

The idea that I might obsessed or fixated on having every CD for every band that I enjoy -- it made me a little self conscious about this problem that I have. I didn't think I had a very big collection. I bought a lot of Green Day and Mariah Carey album's in highschool. And others too, but nothing as obsessively as Mariah and Green Day. Then through most of university I illegally downloaded everything.

Tapes wise, I only bought 1 tape ever -- "Kris Kross - Totally Krossed Out". Man, I loved those guys. With their backwards jeans.. and the miggida miggida miggida Mac Daddy.

But CDs, I bought a lot of them once I started working. I erased all my mp3's and bought many of the CDs that I had mp3's of, either because I felt like I couldn't live without them, or because I felt guilty about having listened to the albums a lot without ever buying them. The latter choice was probably pretty dumb because now I have a bunch of CDs that I will probably never listen to again.

But how big is big? Is 25 a lot? 50? How about 297?

The next thing is realizing how much I've spent on the CDs, or let's say even music in general. That would include CD players, discmans, mp3 players, walkmans, on top of all the media. I'm a music junkie, I'm like the cookie monster with music. I can't stop. I don't want to. That's quite an "investment"...

OK, so I don't have 297. But still, it's something for me to think about, especially next week when I buy 3 more to make it an even 300. Just kidding!

Day 13

Btw, I am an idiot. Every day I've been counting the days I have been Lenting, not realizing that the whole thing started on the 1st of the month, and I could have just taken the date.

Anyway.. someone found me some fun to play with, so here it is. There's this test, Johari Nohari -- I know it sound like some kind of occult chant, but it's not. It's a personality test but it's more about how people perceive you.

You take these two links, and go ahead and fill them in. The instructions are on the site.

Johari
Nohari

Okay, so go ahead and do those, I won't be offended. This is really great because it gets updated on the fly. It's almost like watching tv!

Day 11

I think reality kinda hit me today, when I was talking to my dad today on Google Talk. Okay.. I'll do sad news first, then happy news.

The sad news is while I was talking to my dad, he asked me about Lent, and pointed out that I got myself into it. I was lamenting on the fact that I was completely bored out of my mind with nothing to do, and he kind of laughed at me about it. He's right though, I could have done anything for Lent. I could have given up pork. Or chicken. Or meat altogether. That would have been easier than giving up TV. It's that point when your own dad laughs at you, that reality sets in.

Onto the happy news, or maybe the amazing news, is that I told my small group about my dad's illness last week on Friday, and according to him, his stomach has stopped hurting since that day. He's still going in for the test, and yeah I can't say I've got my hopes up but it's nevertheless an item of praise.

Day 10

I got to hear a recording of a few of the American Idol singers. I was happy to hear that the future Mrs. Brian Yao is still in the competition. The recording I heard of her was awesome. She sang "Think" by Aretha Franklin, and it was just fantastic. Her voice is good enough that you can't tell if she's exerting herself to hit the difficult notes -- it seems to just comes naturally. I wish I could have seen it. I mean look at her -- what a cutie..!

I think Katharine McPhee will definitely finish in the top 2 women. People are saying that this year will be a guy's turn to win it. No matter.. after she displays her talents on AI, Katharine will sign a record deal and still be successful. What can I say.. I've got McPhee-ver!

I made my infamous Beef Brisket again last night, for a potluck we're having tonight's small group. The guys and girls are splitting to do our own thing and the guys decided to do a potluck. I told this to one of my co-workers and he asked me what the point was to cook for a bunch of guys. I think his statement has some merit..

I made a presentation today. I was a bit nervous this morning, and became more nervous as it got closer because it occurred to me that I wasn't the least bit prepared. At the last minute I typed out exactly what I was going to say, and read it. It took 3 minutes. I had 15 minutes allotted. Oh well. Funny thing is, it ended up taking about 25 minutes. :P

I revisited my 5 year plan again, of quitting my job after 5 years. I think it will be a full-time ministry type of thing. At least that's what I'm envisioning right now. One of my Christian co-workers told me that there was no way I could "retire" in 4+ years. I told him to have a little faith.

Are you afraid to die?

Just thought I'd throw that one out there.

I think people in general are afraid to die. There's a certain amount of finality to dying, because when you do, everything ends. Your relationships, your belongings, and then you leave behind that responsibility that you had — someone else will need to pick up the slack. Perhaps if you die, a large financial burden will fall upon those who depended on you. I also think people like being alive, just like how people are unhappy when they are sick, because they feel less alive. Whereas death is the ultimate where you're just dead.

As Christians, there's no finality because we've been granted eternal life, the life after this life. If anything, it's a blessing because we always knew we would be leaving, and plus it'll be so much better in heaven than it is here on earth.

But I think that, with most Christians and myself included, there is still some fear or at least a bit of nervousness and uneasiness when we ponder our own end. You may feel bad for dying because of the pain it would cause others around you. I know for me, I would really feel sorry for my mass of fans who will miss me so much. ;)

There's a certain amount of guilt involved with it too, as if to say "HEY! I still have more to do!". I mean if God decided to give you a surprise early retirement, wouldn't most of us think "Whoa whoa whoa... can you give me a second please? Give me.. a month.. no — a year. I still have way more to do. Lemme finish those things, and THEN I'll come home." It'd be like what the little boy says to his mom when she tells him it's bedtime. "Just 5 more minutes.."

And then you'd sit back and think of all the time you wasted, sitting in front of the television or computer, hours wasted studying in the library about some topic that had absolutely no use towards your mission. Sitting at your desk at work 8-10 hours per day or hours spent in a boardroom discussing topics that don't matter, or the countless hours spent lying awake in bed, thinking about some girl (or boy) who wasn't even worth your time.

Isn't it also funny, that a non-christian would cite all those similar things as major accomplishments in their life? This has become more and more apparent as I talk with my co-workers (I have no other non-christian friends in any other circuit of my life). They sit around at lunch and all they talk about is new car models, interest rates and investments, and taxes.

It's really kind of sad when you think about these empty goals and achievements, being the pinnacle of their ambitions.

Pork chops, Q & A

I had written a post about death, but it's on Notepad at work. I'll have to post it tomorrow instead. Instead, let's all hear about what I had for dinner today.

Q: What's that you're eating there? It looks good.
A: Why hello there. I'm eating porkchops.

Q: What's so great about porkchops?
A: I can tell you with great certainty there is absolutely nothing "great" about porkchops. It's just pork and salt. And pepper. It's a little fatty but all in all, pretty tasty indeed.

Q: Say, what the heck is that pink stuff next to your porkchop?
A: Oh, that's applesauce. Actually, it's strawberry applesauce, so it's got the added yummy strawberry flavor on top of the tangy applesauce flavor.

Q: Wait, wait. Are you saying that you're having pork with apple?
A: I sure am. It's really yummy. I can tell you that the applesauce complements the pork flavor quite well. Yessiree! Porkchops and applesauce are A-OK in my book!

Recipe for porkchops:
2 porkchops
Salt
Pepper
Vegetable oil

Pour a bit of oil into a saucepan. When hot, place porkchops into the pan. Add salt and pepper to taste. Flip when brown. Oh, use medium heat.

Recipe for applesauce:
applesauce

Put applesauce on porkchop. Serve.

All jokes aside, porkchop has to be the most uninteresting thing ever to make. I think even making instant noodles is more exciting. I am not going to bother attempting this again because it didn't even taste all that great. This is probably a good recipe for students though.

Btw, I feel like crap right now. No-no, it's not from the porkchop. I had 5 minigo's for lunch. What a big mistake. Next time I'll limit myself to 4. :D

Prayer items

I want to request that everyone prays for my father, who will be undergoing an EGD on March 17, 2006. EGD stands for esophagogastroduodenoscopy, so let's just stick with EGD because that's way too much to type out.

He's been having stomach pains off and on (more on than off) over the past 3 months and so he's going to have it checked out. Hopefully it's nothing. It would be great if it's just an ulcer, which can be fixed with some medicine.

Also, one of my cousins is also going in for an endoscopy on Wednesday. I think it's similar so please for him as well. I have a co-worker who went for the endoscopy this afternoon.

I was doing some reading and according to this site and this site, found that cancer is extremely prevalent among the asian community. The stats are rather alarming. When I talked to my dad about his stomach problems, he pointed out that oriental men experience the highest rate of stomach cancer out of all racial/ethnic groups. In fact, that site says the highest is for Korean men, other sites say Japanese people in general.

Blanket

I have been feeling colder and colder every night and I think I have finally figured out why. Last night, I noticed that most of the filling in my comforter has bunched up over to the side. In other words, right now my blanket is essentially two pieces of very thin cloth. There's no filling at all in most of it. That's why I've been so cold these past few nights. That could also be why I've been unable to sleep well.

Someone at work suggested that I buy a Duvet. One of my co-workers, "Anthony", really cracks me up. He told me to get a Duvet simply because women love them and it's an easy way to get them into bed. Apparently he's experienced at this. Haha.. what a funny guy. He's always giving me great ideas. Hilarious! Anyway, I also considered a Duvet for the more practical reason that it's supposed to be very warm.

The trouble is I have a twin-sized bed and it seems like an awful waste of money to buy a Duvet for a twin -- that is if they even make them that small. Maybe I'll buy a queen sized Duvet for the guest room bed, and then just sleep in that bed until winter is over. Ohh.. that's a great idea!

Day 5

A couple things I noticed about abstaining from television.

First, I am getting way less sleep than when I watched TV. I used to watch tv right before bed, and it would put me into a sleepy mode. I'd be either dozing off or I had slept 20-30 minutes in front of the television before bed. So it was a good transition for me before bed. I'm missing that now and I find it takes a lot longer for me to fall asleep. And as I mentioned, I'm missing those naps I'd have when I dozed off from watching TV. I tried to take my usual "2 hours of napping in front of the TV on a Sunday afternoon" nap in bed today and really couldn't get it going.

Second, I have a way lower inclination to cook. For some reason, because I'm locked up in my room now (my room has the best lighting in the house and it's the warmest room) all the time, and when I'm in here, I have no inclination to go out of my room. That includes going to the fridge to grab a snack or drink, and henceforth, to cook. I have not cooked for myself since Lent began. I think part of it is that I used to cook and enjoy my meal in front of the TV. I could eat slow and enjoy the taste and the show. Now, I just stare into nothing and eat. It's depressing.

So I would say that at this point it's working, because I'm suffering and that's great because I love to suffer. In previous years, giving up gaming or chatting, there were alternatives. But by the end both those Lents, I guess I would say that I had gotten used to it. However if you think about Christ's sufferings, I don't think you can ever "get used to" someone whipping you with a mace. It's not like after 3 hours of flogging you think "Hey, this isn't so bad.. I think I'm getting used to this.."

Praise God for allowing me to find a way in which I can find suffering such that I can be constantly reminded of His sufferings.

Out of love or necessity

I had an interesting conversation with a friend about serving out of love or out of necessity. By serving of course, I mean serving in God's purposes.

My initial reaction is that it isn't so black and white. There is the grey area where you serve both out of love and out of necessity. Is it wrong to feel "obliged" to go on missions, when God's command for us is to do so? I remember the sermon by Pastor Daniel at OCAC. A. B. Simpson (founder of the Alliance Church) said that if you truly believe in the second coming, then there is no possible way that you are not thinking about missions all the time. I tend to agree with this. My interpretation is that, if you believe Christ is coming back, then there can't be an iota of your being that isn't missions driven.

I did not have this burning feeling in the pit of my stomach or urgency towards the Native people in Canada that drove me to go on a missions trip to Longlac. Sure, I've grown fond of them since then, having spent time with them, and knowing their history and seeing their poverty with my own eyes helps me to understand their plight and need for God. At this point I would say that I have a heart for the Natives. But at the time, when I was there, and when I made the decision to go -- it was definitely a decision based on obedience and sense of duty.

But not all my actions are based on duty or obedience. Although I believe this is a tricky topic. I mean, you can go and say I did this and that for a person because I love that person. But then are you saying that God had nothing to do with it? That, you made the decision on your own and are doing it for yourself? Because then you are taking credit away from God. God *is* love. So in reality, although you may have thought you did this and that for someone, the truth is you did it for God and that God had a hand in your action.

It's like that whole pride/humble thing. If I say "I'm humble", then I'm being proud I just cancelled it out.

But I think I'm digressing. Do I serve at church out of love or necessity? In that sense -- do they *need* me to go up there and sing? Not really. I do it out of love, love for worshipping God and love for singing. I enjoy singing, and I enjoy worshipping God. I guess in some sense that explains why I can never smile or jump around on stage even when people ask me to. Because that's no longer me worshipping God, it's me putting on a show to help others get in the mood. Bleh.. if people need me to do something to get them into the mood to worshipping God, then they probably need some counselling. How can you, as a believer, not be in the mood to worship Him, or feel uncomfortable worshipping God?

Once again, I digress.

So... what was my point. Yea.. man, I hate when you lose your train of thought, and you don't want to hit "Save as Draft", because you just know that when you come back to this post again, you'll delete the whole thing and start over?

My point is, everything I do for God I do it because I love Him, and as a result I feel the urgency to obey him. Yes, that's it. Done and done. Good night!

Day 2

Day 1 was too easy, because I spent the entire day at work, and then the entire evening at the ACC watching the sad pathetic Toronto Raptors lose.

Today was tough though. I was sick today so I stayed home. So that's 8 hours right there of avoiding television. And then another 6-7 more for after hours. I meditated, which helped a lot. And then for the other 14.5 hours, I moped about. I read the passage for tomorrow's bible study for small group.

I played some games and I napped. I drank lots of orange juice.

I went out for dinner, to just get some food, came back and felt very cold (that was 30 minutes ago), I still feel really cold. I'm probably going to bed again in an hour or so.

I just read over this post, and boy is it ever boring.

429; Purell

There's a new Building 429 album coming out this month. I was surprised because usually I'm on the ball when it comes to these things. I guess it's proof that I haven't spent quite as much time in front of the computer as I used to.

The way I found out was from Mitchell's Family Bookstore, who called me to let me know it was coming out so that I could pre-order it. That surprised me as well. Firstly, I didn't know Mitchell's did things like that. And secondly, I didn't think Building 429 was so popular that they needed a pre-ordering service.

Praise God that they got the exposure they've needed. Their song "Glory Defined" is on the latest WOW Worship CD. Good for them!

Anyway, you can go to this site to preview a couple of their songs. After listening to them a few times, I can see that they've gone over to the rock side (whereas "Space In Between Us" was more of a mixture of rock and pop-rock). This excites me because there aren't really any hard rock Christian bands out there -- a genre that I actually really enjoy.

I heard of a group called Kutless a few years ago and a few friends have mentioned that they are pretty good. I'll probably have to check them out when I go pick up my Building 429 cd.

--

I've fallen into yet another obsession, this time at work. I have this bottle of Purell, that I squeeze into my hand. I'm obsessed with it. I just love it. I put it on any time my hands aren't silky smooth. Even a tiny bit of sweat gives me an excuse to squeeze another excessive amount of Purell on my fingers. It feels so great.

I've used up a tiny 59mL bottle in about 2 weeks. It's like magic.. it just cleans me and then it disappears into thin air, like magic gel!

--

The City abolished their "mandatory retirement" rule. You can work here forever now. And of course, you would because why retire and only get 70% of your salary if you can work here forever and get 100%? Pretty sweet deal if you ask me.

Seriously though, why would anyone work past 55 unless they had to? I sure wouldn't. I'd rather live like a student and eat crap for the rest of my life and rent a basement apartment, than have to work past 55. Seriously.

Why do I Lent

Every Easter, we are reminded with images of the crucifixion, the crown of thorns, nails in His hands, and His followers mourning and weeping His pain and death. These are images that remind us of the huge sacrifice that Jesus took, pain that He endure for me and you.

To this day, I still wonder why He would do something like that for me. I certainly don't deserve it. I need a constant reminder of His sufferings in order for me to be properly prepared for Easter.

To me, that's what Lent is all about. To be reminded of God's sacrifice and Jesus' sufferings as He died on the cross for me. God's gift to us allowed us to avoid being nailed on the cross and suffering for our sins. Truly, what we Lent is nothing compared to what He did for us, but in some ways its a way for us to do our part.

So my purpose for Lent is to give up something of my own, a sacrifice of a significant part of my every day life. Not just an inconvenience or something I can just think "ah well", and move on. It has to be something that I'll be constantly reminded of, and when I'm reminded of it, I must think about what Christ did for me.

Laterally, I like to give up something that is a luxury, something that might actually do me some good in giving up.

This year I've decided to sacrifice television. I hope that all of you can keep me accountable, not only of my abstaining from television, but to keep me focused on the purpose behind my sacrifice.

Starting on March 1st until April 16th, I will not use my television. This include the TV card on my computer. So no television for 46 days, no movies, xbox/gamecube games, no sports, commercials, news, weather, sitcoms, dramas, reality shows, DVDs.

Better Days

I'm chickening out. I'm gonna Lent television. I can't go without computer.. how would I grab chords to play guitar? Or look up chords for that matter. Or print out maps to go to places? Or how would I communicate with my parents? I can't give up computer/internet. I'll just be more conscious about my surfing habits.

There's a song I found out about reading Lon's blog. I think it has a good theme to it that fits well with our Salvation Army Fundraiser we had last night with the Illuminate fellowship group.

This is a song by the Goo Goo Dolls, a song that, after I heard it I immediately went to look up to see if the Dolls had converted to Christianity. Last I checked, they had not. I don't have the song on me, but you can check it out here for free from mp3.com. Here are the lyrics:

Better Days by Goo Goo Dolls

And you ask me what I want this year
And I try to make this kind and clear
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days
Cuz I don't need boxes wrapped in strings
And desire and love and empty things
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days

So take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again

And it's someplace simple where we could live
And something only you can give
And thats faith and trust and peace while we're alive
And the one poor child that saved this world
And there's 10 million more who probably could
If we all just stopped and said a prayer for them

So take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again

I wish everyone was loved tonight
And somehow stop this endless fight
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days

So take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again

Anyway, tomorrow I am gonna try to make a beef dip, or rather, probably tonight. I'm gonna try to slow cook it and then eat it tomorrow. I got tons of bread.. they were giving them away after the fundraiser.