Last night I had this crazy dream. I can't remember where I was standing, but anyway I was somewhere downtown, and I saw a huge airplane fly over top of me, it flew around a bit, then it sharply turned towards the SkyDome and exploded as it collided with it. There was fire everywhere, it was pretty realistic. Actually it was very realistic, because I was terrified and I didn't even wake up from the fear.

I think it was summer time because the explosion caused a lot of flooding and what not, and maybe the plane was atomic somehow because it was like city had suffered through an earthquake. And somehow no one died from it, no one had been in or near the SkyDome at the time of the attack. Also, the CN Tower went unscathed as well.

After that I remember looking out the window from my boss' office and seeing the CN Tower standing all by itself and the rubble around it where the Dome used to be. And everyone was wondering what was going to get hit next.

Well, that was my dream.. pretty weird.

So.. I gotta change my posts then. You know, I once met a guy named Brian Yao. Yeah you heard me, Brian Yao. Brian Yao.. what a name that is. I just love the sound of it. Brian Yao. Brian Yao. Brian Yao. Brian Yao. Brian Yao.

On a more serious note..
This blog, is like a diary of sorts. I don't think much about what I say, and I almost never hit the backspace key unless I've made a typo, and with typo I am referring to spelling errors or grammatical errors. Someone mentioned in my small group this past week that they keep a diary and that helps them to remember their prayer items, not to mention helping them to keep their thought clear at what needs to be prayed for. One of the things I remember most that was said during our bible study on prayer was how whenever we pray, our minds begin to wander, and in a lot of cases we start thinking about other things and forget we are even in prayer. I get angry and frustrated whenever this happens, I feel like slapping myself around, to force me to concentrate. For this reason, I sometimes like to pray aloud. It keeps me awake and keeps my mind focused on what I am saying to Him.

But in the bible study, we learned that usually these thoughts that are coming up probably are what we should be praying about. That, because our subconscious keeps bringing up these thoughts, they must be things we are deeply concerned about, and thus they should be addressed in our prayers. So really then, a diary isn't needed, because you don't have to organise your subconscious thoughts, in fact you probably can't. My advice is to sit there (or stand, whatever) close your eyes and try to clear your mind. I've found whenever someone tells me to try to clear my mind, I end up thinking of even more than if someone had told me just to close my eyes and do nothing. For every thought that comes up, pray about them. Don't even think about things that need to be prayed for, just think about anything. I believe that this activity will allow you to share with God everything that is on your mind. And what does it say in the bible, to open your hearts and give everything to Him?

Hmm.. I don't get this page anymore when i do a search on my name on google. :(

On a brighter note, I've really reduced my television time lately. As some may recall I had a pretty substantial daily listing of television shows that I just needed to watch. Well, it's definitely reduced drastically, although it might also be because of the Raptors and Leafs games..

Sundays
5pm: 7th Heaven, CTV
8pm: Simpsons, Global
9pm: Malcolm in the Middle, Global
9.5pm: Andy Richter, Fox
10pm: The Practice, CH

Mondays
8pm: Boston Public, Global

Tuesdays
8pm: Smallville, CityTV
9pm: Frasier, Global
9.5pm: Hidden Hills, Global

Wednesdays
8pm: Enterprise, CityTV
9pm: Fastlane, FOX

Thursdays
7.5pm: Friends, Global
8pm: Survivor, Global
9.5pm: Good Morning Miami, Global

Fridays
9pm: John Doe, FOX (i tape it, because of fellowship)

Saturdays
11am: Justice League, YTV

See, that's all, not a lot, and I only really catch the ones that are underlined, the rest are only if I have nothing else to do at all. This includes computer games, going out with friends, practicing guitar.

I think it's a popular belief that too much television is not healthy. I'd have to disagree. Anything else can lead to physical or mental anguish.

Sure, being social can lead to great friendships and friends. But it can also lead to airborne virii, like catching someone's flu or cold. Or, you could be hurt by something someone says to you. With TV, it can also be emotional, but since it's all fake anyway, it doesn't last. It's important to keep in mind that one should never start believing that TV is real. It's entertainment, nothing else. TV is indoors, so unless you watch it with people who are sick, you will likely never get sick. Oh, going out with friends also costs money. Since TV is already paid for, it's a lot cheaper. Besides, you could easily spend the monthly $40 cable charge in less than 2 weeks if you go out enough times with your friends. Only one drawback I can think of, something that TV cannot provide that going out with friends, is the possibility of meeting your future spouse. So with that, TV wins, 3-1.

Practicing guitar also wins out, I believe in that one and same category. The guitar is most certainly a 'social' musical instrument. Pull out your 6-string and start playing, and I can guarantee you, unless you are in a completely secluded place, people will come to you and either listen to you, give you money, or sing along. Being able to play a guitar may (or may not) lead you to your future spouse. But a TV can absolutely not.* Guitar playing leads to callouses on your fingers, which are not only painful to acquire, but even after that, it takes a long time before your callouses actually blend in to the rest of your fingers. Until then, they're very grotesque, they look as if you chew your fingers.

Now I know some smart-arse will say "But Brian, what about reading the Bible, or prayer? Surely those things are better than TV." Well, I can't argue with that. There is nothing more noble or righteous than reading the Bible or praying. I can't argue because it would go against everything I stand for. So how can I respond? Well I say to you now, I can do those things during commercials.

*Unless you've subscribed to one of those video dating services..

Despite my failures on the road, I've actually been looking into buying a car. Which is really silly when you think about it. But I certainly will need a car when the time comes. I can't just rely on the Better Way. The Rocket can't get me everywhere I need to go. As for work, it gets me where I need to go, but it's a rather big pain taking the bus to church. Especially on the weekends, their services aren't too prompt during days..

I am looking to buy a mid-size to smaller-end car. I would prefer 4-door, and definitely automatic. As a very lazy person I cannot think of any reason to buy a standard car. I prefer to have my right hand free to change the radio stations, or just rest. After all, I need that hand to be fresh for game playing. Also, why would I want to move my left leg at all during driving? It just seems silly to me, all so that you can drive faster and save some money on gas? Really, how much do you really save on gas in a one-year span with a manual car as compared to an automatic?

I really liked Die Another Day, the more i think about the story and action and all the cool gadgets, the more I think I really liked it. Man, that was a really cool movie..

I like the Sony Ericsson T206 cell phone. I think it looks pretty nifty, while not being the most expensive phone out there. It doesn't have a cool joystick, but i've heard that ti68 phone has serious issues with it, even though it has a nifty color screen and a nifty joystick. I'm looking into the Telus service as well as possibly SimPRO. I dunno how long simpro will be in business though, it's pretty small. Telus is good too, they'll definitely last, but they're pretty expensive right now on their monthly rates.

I am thinking to limit myself on 1 cool electronic/gadget per month. Since the Telus rates are kinda sucky right now I am thinking to delay it for a month, and get me the video card i've been eyeing since 2 months before i graduated.

Wooohooo! I just failed my road test!

Those 9 hours of sleep helped a lot. I mean, I was still startled when my alarm went off, but I was a lot fresher than yesterday. Yesterday, I almost fell asleep after lunch. But today, i was fully alert. I did all my work too, and I even finished the work that Mark gave me within only half a day! I was pretty satisfied with myself!

I have my G2 road test tomorrow afternoon. (yes, i'm really 24). I'm pretty nervous, even though the last time when i failed it, it was with a van and now i'm doing it with a tiny little corolla. Still, i've only driven that car 3 times, hopefully those 'refresher' lessons will pay dividends.. they sure costed me an arm and a leg! I need to pass now though, not like before. If I don't pass now, the next available tests I've heard are in February. And if I fail that one, then it's really crunch time. Since my contract expires in May, I would definitely have to pass the next test in May, because I would definitely need a license if my contract wasn't renewed with the City (i take the subway to work). Even worse, if I failed again in May, then I would be in big trouble, because the rest of my family will be gone before the next test date, which probably will be some time in August or September!

I haven't practiced guitar at all this week. I played every single day last week, sometimes twice a day, and most times 2-3 hours at a time. I always do this. My callouses build up, and then I stop for a long time and then the next time I play again, I have to build up those callouses all over again. I want to master the accompanyment (?) for Sound of Silence (simon and garfunkel). Hopefully then I can find someone willing to play the strumming part to perform with me next week in my guitar class. I suppose there's always next week.

I've decided that I'm finally going to get me one of those wireless telephones that almost everyone I know has. I have been looking at the different plans available, and the different phones available. Wow, I can't believe that some of my still unemployee pals can afford these things! You gotta pay for the phone, then the plan. And, on top of that you still have to spend even more to make it look nice, with all those flashing lights and colors? Why oh why?

Did I mentioned I watched the 10pm show? All alone? How weird is that? A bunch of people were supposed to show, but never did. I bought the ticket, and actually considered getting it refunded since it was such a late show, but then I ended up seeing anyway, which I'm glad since it was so good. I did however end up finding the girl who organized the whole night, though that was after the movie when I was coming back out.

I sort of do regret going though, because I didn't get to bed til 1am, which cut out 2 hours of my usual and much much needed sleep. Luckily today for lunch my dad took me out for lunch, and I scarfed down as much tea as possible to keep me awake for the rest of the day. This is why I'm hitting the sack now, 10pm. Good night all.

Madonna's new song is really cool.. reminds me of when i was little and used to listen to music while covering up my ears and opening them up again, back and forth. I watched Die Another Day last night. It was awesome. Pierce Brosnan is getting old though, I dunno how many more Bond movies he can do, but he was great in this one. The plot was pretty good, action was pretty much non-stop, and the Bond humor was great too. Halle Berry confirmed my suspicions of being a really poor actress once again. Twists and turns, explosions and comedy -- all good! I thought it was a little weird when Bond discovers that Halle's character is actually a man, which is kinda sick since they supposedly had sex together earlier. Oh sorry bout the spoiler... HAHA.. i can't believe I just did that! Oh well. Luckily, that never happened.

It was my first day at work today. I got up at 7am, (and also at 6am, 5am, 4am, etc) to go to work. Got on my best shirt and tie, dress pants and dress shoes. Gel'd up my hair and off I went to take the subway with my dad.

Work was good. Same guys as before when I worked in the summer, so we were already acquainted and right away they had some stuff for me to do. I had congregation a whole bunch of data, figure out what was redundant and form (or get ready to prepare) database schema's for a database that they wanted to me to create. It was good times, reminiscent of the good times at school when we had to figure out various ways to optimize a particular database. Good times indeed. I worked pretty much non-stop from 9:30am til 5pm, when I left. I really enjoyed doing the work. It was nice to get my brain juices flowing again. Now if only I can remember everything i learned in my dbms course..

I found out that my temp position was really a 6-month duration rather than the year that I was expecting, but no matter, a job's a job! :) Perhaps I'll be rejoining the ranks of unemployment in 6 months' time.. Tho this just gives me more motivation to prove to them that they need me for much longer! I report to this guy Mark, i'm the only person working directly for him. And he reports to the director (Gord), so i often end up communicating with the director directly. Plus it helps that his office is just across the hall from my cubicle.

Hmm.. what else. There aren't any young people around, as far as I can tell. So these will be lonely next 6 months.. The IT guy for our floor wasn't in today, so I didn't get a computer account or an email account set up. And the lady in charge of access cards was busy all day so I didn't get my Metro Hall security card either. Well, luckily my dad can get me past security. They often sell Krispy Kreme donuts right by the elevators for charity. I got a taste of one today, as Gord bought two boxes for the whole floor. Actually he also gave me his double cheesburger from McD's. I think there's a deal now, 2 for $3. I guess he couldn't finish both.. Lucky for me, cuz the puny sandwich my mom made me for lunch wasn't nearly enough!

Today the TTC had a sneak preview to their knew Sheppard subway line. My mom and I went down to take a look. It was open from noon to 2pm, and it was totally free. I was pretty impressed. We came late so we missed the big speech by Mayor Mel, and we also missed the free cake. But I got around 15 packs of gum, free samples from Excel. There are 5 new stations now, Bayview, Bessarion, Leslie, Don Mills. Each station has its own interesting design, and they're all very spacious, similar to some of the asian subway lines (Shanghai, Taiwan, Hong Kong). Totally luxurious compared to the current Yonge or Bloor lines.

The Bessarion station is completely useless. We got off this stop and took a look around above ground. There was nothing there, no 'main' attraction, just a bunch of plaza's, a Canadian Tire, and an IKEA. Who'd take the subway the subway to shop at stores like Cdn Tire or IKEA?? What a waste of tax payers' money.

Leslie came up around the NYGH, which is nice. Also, along the walls there are 54,000 different hand written tiles, saying "Sheppard & Leslie" on each tile.

Don Mills comes up at Fairview Mall. Very convenient for me..

Bayview had some really artistic paintings on the walls. They were really neat, there's one that's a pocket watch, but half of it is on a wall, and the rest is on the floor, stretched out. You have to stand at a certain spot in order to see the watch in it's proper form. There was also one of a ladder leaning against a wall. It only looks right if you're standing at the right spot. That was really neat!

I start work this coming Monday, at Metro Hall, downtown Toronto. My official position is called Application Technologist. From what I understand I'll immediately be working on a couple of Access/VB projects, one of them a continuation of some stuff I did for them a year ago (summer job). It's kind of exciting knowing that I get to upgrade my video card soon [grin].

Happiness is..

.. to know the Savior (living a life within His favor, having a change in my behavior, happiness is the Lord)
.. having loving parents (and brother)
.. having friends who care about you
.. having a job*
.. being with someone you love
.. being full (loosen up that belt!)
.. being married with children (not the show!!)
.. a warm gun? (Beattles)

*Well, I can finally cross that one out. The 7-month wait is finally over.

Hmm.. Given the opportunity to think about the future today. I think I might be moving out next year. Not out of the country, just out of my house. I was hinted that today when my parents were talking (or joking) about something. I believe I am officially 'moving out' if I find a job, at the earliest, May of 2003.

Still, what does the future hold for me? More specifically, I started thinking today about why I really truly wanted to stay in TO when the rest of my family moved south. Why stay here?

Nothing's really holding me back here. I have many close friends in Ottawa which I never get to see, but I still keep in touch with them (you) electronically. I could always do the same with everyone in T.O. I'm finally settled into my church, and building relationships there. If I move, I can still do that, God will always provide me with friends to support me.

Life is so confusing.

I forgot to mention I saw Harry Potter: Chamber of Secrets on Friday, before fellowship. I went down to Uptown theatres with my friend Chic. We got there about 2 hours early so we bought tickets and wandered around downtown through various clothing shops. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever start purposely buying name brand clothing, maybe as I become more mature in my dressing, or when I start making money. I can't see myself ever doing that (the clothes, or the money, or maturity for that matter), but it could happen. My father is always complaining that I still dress like a teenager.

Anyway.. as we headed back to the theatre at 3 (the movie was scheduled to start at 3:30) we saw that a line had formed outside so we had to line up. Suffice to say by the time the line finally started moving, we were close to around the 1/5 mark of the line, and there were around 30 people ahead of us. One funny thing was as we walked slowly into the building, the two girls who had been in line behind us all of sudden cried out, realizing that they were supposed to buy the tickets BEFORE lining up. D'oh..

I liked the movie. It was a lot scarier than the first, a lot more serious, a lot more stuff that could easily scare small children. The story was better though, less cute, more action. More sinister too. But there were also many funny moments in which the whole audience bursted out in laughter. I give it a two thumbs up!

I've been seriously considering cutting out my mp3s. I have way too many and I don't even listen to them all anymore. There's a lot of stuff I keep around 'just in case'. I dunno why, maybe I keep thinking that I'll grow back to the old me and listen to some of that old rap or pop music. Sometimes I think I should keep them around in case someone comes over and wants to listen.. but I haven't had people over in ages!

I bought a 180s today, for my poor ears that keep freezing up whenever I'm walking outside. It's funny but since I had some leads on finding a job I've been a lot happier, more like my usual self. I was so down and depressed I didn't even notice. Maybe part of the reason I was having trouble integrating at T3C was the fact that I probably wasn't a very pleasant person to talk to at times.. Sometimes when you're in a funk you get into this tunnel vision thing where all you see is the funk and none of the good stuff. Yesterday I was reminded of how great life was and all the happiness and excitement that I was missing out on. It also reminded me of what God does for me that I continue to take for granted, even though I'm reminded not to almost every week.

Yesterday we had Iron Chef at my fellowship. It was really fun! The main ingredient was pineapples, which is sort of odd since you can't really make much with pineapples other than fruit cups or things related with bacon/ham. But anyway, we were pretty creative. Our team split into 3 groups, one doing appetizers, one for main course, and one for dessert.

I was in the appetizer group. We made a pineapple smoothie, which wasn't smooth at all. When I looked over the recipe, there weren't any ingredients mentioned that would make this drink smooth. Pineapples, pineapple juice, ice. What about cream? Ah well.. The other thing we made was a hawaiin dip, it was a creamy dip with pineapples in it. We used this dip for the pineapple sushi we prepared. These did not taste good in my opinion, but the judges seemed to like it. We had sushi with rice on the outside and on the inside. The rice we used was still hot when we applied it, so the seaweed got all soggy. I've made sushi a couple of times and imo, last night's sushi was a total disaster =). I was fun making it though! We added a toothpick/skewer 'raft' above the dip bowl and a carrot carved in a shape of a man sat on top of this raft.

The main course group made pork wrapped pineapple bits, which were really good, plus they also made a salad, and a pineapple fried rice. I'll try to post up a picture when I get them. People in our small group have some crazy artistic talent. The food looked delicious! The food was arranged in such a way that it looked like an oasis. There were the trees in the back (salad), then a pineapple bowl of the fried rice, with the pork stuff in front of it. Then the rest of the plate had a blue goo simulating the water around the oasis. Again there was carrot man sitting on top of the rice.

The dessert group made a 'boat' out of pineapple shell, and filled it with balled melons and grapes. Since it was a boat, they made pineapple/melon shishkebobs that looked like oars for the boat. Then to top if off, they had blue jello surrounding the boat to simulate water! It was a really creative and beautiful arrangement! And of course the carrot man was on the boat.

For the presentation, one of the small group leaders presented the story of this carrot dude and how he came to an island on the raft, and then eventually was rescued by the giant fruit boat. We all wore colorful bandana's like they do on Survivor. I guess the judges liked how we had a theme and made the food depict the story, so we won!! Woohoo!! Check out a picture of the Noodleman Trophy (i'll post it when i get one).

I think the great thing Anabret has going for them is their mellow sound. It's crisp and smart, a great choice of eclectic sounds, very relaxing and entertaining at the same time. Their lyrics are poetic too, like from the song Until Morning:

Once more I’ll test my will
to keep standing still.
Another midnight on the way
will stumble into one more day.
`til morning brings the start of a day without dawn.
I hide between the walls until the hours are gone

They rhyme! It's almost pure acoustic. The type of stuff you hear from live bands in a bar. Because of this they probably will never get very big, but that's good as well, since many groups change their style of music to fit the norm in order to become more successful. I hope they come out with tabs soon!

Before I post about last night's fellowship, just want to quickly give another plug.

Last night i missed out on John Doe, so I went to the site to check out the episode info to see what I had missed. Anyway, clicking around I found a group that John Doe played (one of their songs). They're pretty good, and I think they're brand new. Check out their site. They have a couple full songs for download. Both are pretty good.

Check out a job description that Monster.ca just sent me:

Self-Motivated individual needed to work in a creative GAY
POSITIVE environment building template driven websites. This is a
perfect entry-level position for those looking to get their feet wet in
the world of web design.


.. LOL

Well, I just called my boss to follow up on my conversation with him last week, and it looks like there's a good chance I could get a job there. They're setting up the paperwork now, and then they'll have me come in for an interview. I guess from there we'll see where things lead. My hands still smell like onions. I even used my dad's construction soap, it's industrial soap man..

Today I made curry chicken using Moe's famous curry mix. It was great.. only very little leftovers and only because everyone was just too full to finish it. I have a problem now though, cuz I used onions, my hands got the onion smell. I've scrubbed them hundreds of times now, and they still smell like onions. It's a little annoying..

Not much else happening..

I ended up taking my mouse, my optical microsoft mouse to my small group to show everyone what a loser i was that this stupid pointing device actually represented my daily life. How sad is that. Some people brought things that meant something to them, and they were even able to tie these items in with their spiritual walk. Like one guy, had a stethoscope with him (doc), and he related how the rubber on the thing sometimes gets cold and so you can't hear as well, so you need to keep it warm. He then related it to his prayer life and how he needs to learn to listen to God when He speaks to him. Anyway, what was I to say, that the mouse's pointer was similar to me letting God point me in the right direction? Haha. Cheese..

It was an interesting experience though. I hate to share, but I've been learning that I need to force the things upon myself as they will make me a better person. At best I can say I don't mind sharing with 2-3 people, but we had 12, and it was an uncomfortable feeling.

I am really enjoying Sunday School, the class I'm taking is almost like another small group. We get regularly 8-10 people which is a decent size. The teacher is really gifted in teaching. He gets the point across while making it pretty interesting. Oh top of which, he gets us all thinking, and when needed, he scares me. After the first lesson about demons and evil spirits, I had to sleep with the lights on for a week. I was terrified. Not so much of demons, but of the possibility of demons. You know that saying, "there's nothing to fear except fear itself". I totally agree with that.

Mil was up in Toronto this weekend as we tried to hook up on Saturday but it didn't work out. She wanted to meet at Eaton's Centre, so I suggested the food court, and I just threw out a place "McDonalds" as a meeting spot. Unfortunately when I got there, there was no McD's in the food court, but one off to the side. I must've been there for about an hour, so then I called home, and my dad said she had called and couldn't find the McDonald's. Somehow my dad had the idea I had gone to the Bay, so he told her I went there! So then I had to wander through the Bay, looking.. that Bay is huge, it has 4-5 stories.. crazy!! I never did find her, after about 2 hours of searching and waiting, and I was late for my guitar lessons, so I went home. Later in the evening, Drew gave me a call and we went out for BT at a place called Tea Shop 168. I hear that there is one in Ottawa as well. They had a good variety of flavors, and were much cheaper than Ten Ren's. They had a deal where you could get a 'bau' plus a BT all for only $4.50. That's a pretty sweet deal..

My mom is back from Taiwan now. Praise God that she has come back safely to us!

"It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because[1] to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace." Hebrews 4:4-6

I've experienced first-hand of friend(s) losing their faith, straying away from God, denouncing their faith. Does this contradict with this scripture? Or do we need to look into more detail as to what "enlightened", "tasted the heavenly gift", "shared in the Holy Spirt", "tasted the goodness of the word of God" really mean? What if a person was saved because they went to an evangelistical meeting, and for that one moment when they were given the opportunity to ask Christ into their lives, they felt it was right, but then later on lost that 'feeling'? Wouldn't that count as being enlightened? What about a curious person who finds truth in the Bible, doesn't that count as tasting the goodness of the word of God?

I'm going to bring this up to a pastor and post their views here later.

Yesterday I went to bed at 4am, because I kept saying "okay, i'll go to bed right after this mission". I said this around 5 times. Game of the night: Soldier of Fortune II. I went to bed late, but knowing that I am an unemployed bum, I knew I could sleep in for as long as I wanted! Ain't life grand?

8:12am. The phone rang, I woke up pretty quick, because the ringer on my phone is extremely loud, and it's right next to my bed, AND I thought it might be a call from my former boss, getting back to me about the job possibility. It was a fax machine, so I hung up. 8:32am. Yeah, it was a fax again. I tried and tried to get back to sleep, but by 9am lost the battle and got up. 9:30am, my former boss actually did call. We discussed how I might be able to help with some projects that he was currently working on. I was a bit groggy though, I sincerely hope that didn't count as an interview!

In the afternoon I went downtown with my friend Max to check out the EXPO COMM tradeshow at the convention centre. What a disappointment -- $40 to get in!! So then we looked around the convention centre for other events. There was a holiday gift show, so we checked that out. Turns out it was a small room full of cheap Christmas toys! Sigh.. So that basically wasted my afternoon. Although it was nice catching up with Max, talking about job searching, school stuff, etc. I had McD's for lunch for the first time in months. I missed McD's, but afterwards, the stomach ache I got from it made me realize why I stopped having McD's. Haha.

Tonight's game was better than expected. I expected the Raptors to lose by 30 points, but they managed to keep it close, losing by only 14. I think Chuck Swirsky is an idiot by the way. It's like he's watching basketball for the first time. He has to be the worst basketball commentator I have ever heard. What happened to the black guy they had before? Meanwhile, Leo Rautins is getting better and better. If he puts on 40-50 pounds he might have a shot at getting a job with ESPN.

Here's the result of an online quiz I just did.

What LoTR Character Are You?

You are most like Aragorn. You have strong convictions and you stick to them. Although you are more of a recluse, you are extremely loyal to the few friends that you have. You are very serious about things, but you like having fun. Fame and fortune mean little to you, and you aren't concerned with being popular. Good for you!

That's cool. Aragorn was one of my favorite characters from the books/movie, so that worked out nicely.

I have to bring an item that either means a lot to me, or is very representative of me, to this week's small group meeting. I haven't got a clue what I'll bring.

I thought maybe my mouse or keyboard. It's something that is very representative of me, but doesn't mean a lot to me. Yeah, I spend most of my day in front of my computer, but it doesn't mean anything to me, it's just what I do. I could bring my guitar. Music means a lot to me, I find it soothing, I enjoy playing the guitar, and singing. But if I bring my guitar, people will ask me to play something... Maybe a picture of my parents? Family means a lot to me.

I've added a comments link courtesy of haloscan.com. I don't expect anyone to write anything, but I thought it would make the page more complete as a whole.

The website for my company is moving along nicely. We don't have a domain name yet, but we're working on that. The company name hasn't been officially registered yet, so until then we will hold off on the domain name registration. It's currently being hosted on a spare computer. One of my partners has professional webpage experience, so he and I have been collaborating on the page. His layout experience has been a big help.

Today I gave my old summer job boss a call to see if he knew of any internal positions within the City that might be suitable for me. He said he'd get back to me some time this week. My father officially accepted the job in Nevada, so now there's the process of various paperworks that need to be filled in and sent back and forth. I believe he will be starting work sometime in either December or January. For now, the plan is to for him to work there for a full year, which means we will live here in Toronto for at least another year and a half. This gives me a little over a year to find a job, but I hope to be working within a few months.

I've been listening to a lot of Hillsong music since the concert last month. Since I spend a lot of my time working on my compute all day long, I tend to not listen to the words as much and moreso the tune and beat. In that regard Hillsong has been very appropriate, because that style of music seems to have less meaning, so I don't miss much -- i think..

We're doing the Samaritan's Purse shoe-box thing within our small groups. Oh -- Yesterday at fellowship we had to choose which small group to join. This is actually not so casual -- we had to pick one and commit to it, for one whole year! I had all week to think about which one to join (we could choose from 3). They advertised 3 different groups, the first dealing with understand God's word, and examining the bible. The second one dealt with Christian Living, and the last one was for Serving God. Although they didn't actually say it, I saw them as Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert levels. All week I struggled between level 2 and level 3, but finally ended up deciding on level 2 for a number of reasons:

-For one thing I don't feel I'm ready to be in the "expert" group just yet
-I've already taken sunday school classes in servitude
-i didn't have to leave the room (the other 2 groups went to other rooms)

As a fellowship, Genesis is pretty large. The age range is 18-28 so you can imagine how big it is. On BS days we'll get as many as Elijah would have on 'fun' nights. So anyway, only 3 small groups, so they wouldn't be exactly small. Ours ended up with 16 people, close to half the number of people who were there.


I started playing this game called Hitman 2: Silent Assassin. Basically you sneak around and try to get your target without alerting guards and such. It's actually quite hard, not like the other shoot-em-up games where you can just shoot your way to your target. There are pretty tricky things, like sneaking up behind guards and drugging them so that you can take their clothes and use them as a disguise. Even then you're still not safe because other guards will still investigate you if you go up close to them, since they can recognize their buddies. And when the drugging wears off, then you're in big trouble because this naked guy starts running around to warn all his buddies that someone has his clothes!

The last mission I did was the hardest, I had to infiltrate a castle and take out a japanese mafia leader. He was pretty hard to get, first I had to sneak past at least 10-15 guards and ninja's. I had to steal a keycard from one of his concubines. Finally when I got up to the 6th floor where the boss was, I left a bomb behind a pillar and snuck past him and jumped out a window and made my way along the roof down to the exit, then remotely exploded the bomb!

Today at my guitar lessons I felt a little off because I hadn't practiced all week. Luckily most of the class still hasn't reached my level so the teacher couldn't tell that I hadn't practiced.

Tonight I went out with some old friends to the Fox & Fiddle at John/Adelaide (downtown). Walking through downtown at 7pm I realized one of the big advantages of living in Nevada -- it's not as danged COLD!!! Geez, it's so cold these days, and they're saying it'll be a warm winter?!

Chevrolet Caprice -- This is basically a police car. I'm not sure what Canadian Police use, but this is the standard issue in the States. Try as I might, but I cannot even vaguely imagine how this car could look anything like a White Astro Van with a ladder rack on top. Kinda makes you wonder whether they ever would've caught them if they'd never called the tiplines..

It's been awhile since my last post. It's not that I had nothing to say, just that I've been busy doing nothing. Man, there is so much nothing to do around here, I am up my neck in all this nothingness. I can't take it anymore.. someone relieve me from all this nothing!!

My dad is going to take the job in Nevada.. they did a few counter-offers back and forth, til finally, Monday they came up with something they both agreed upon. So now I have a few months to go through the motions of looking for a job, and then if my luck doesn't change, then I will be moving down to the states with my family. Job searching really sucks.. I really gave up long ago, but I still keep applying. Maybe I'll have better luck in the States where no one has even heard of McMaster University... riiiight...

In regards to the sniper: how can you guarantee that you'll stop shooting people once the police give you the money you want? Or will it be more like a tariff, whenever you get the knack to shoot someone, you'll give them a call for another cool mil? The police should offer him a deal. A $10M reward, plus a free plane ride down to the caves in Afghanistan, with more ammo than he ever dreamed of. Or better yet, $1M, a free plane ride to Iraq, 1 bullet, and a guarantee that he can go free plus $9M if he kills the right guy. Now I know why they couldn't catch Bin Laden, when they can't even figure out what the sniper even looks like, on home soil too. And what's with talking to him on TV? How do they know he even has a tv or access to one? How do they know that the notes being left behind weren't left by copycats?

He parks his car, steps out and kneels. He picks up a bit of old dried grass and tosses it. The grass falls straight down -- sweet, no wind. He pulls out his rifle. Looking into the sight, he sees some dude pull into the gas station. As the man steps out of the car, the sniper aims a foot above the man's head to compensate for gravity, and pulls the trigger. They were minding their own business, getting gas, mowing the lawn, shopping, walking to school. He's not a sicko per se -- he's no Bernardo or Dalmer, but he gets a kick out of ending lives of innocent people doing daily normal activities. Race, age, sex -- this means nothing to him. He's willing to shoot *anyone*.

Stuff like that intrigues me. He's not necessarily a violent man. It's not even rage, or doesn't seem like it. He is a sniper, he shoots once and kills. It's not a matter of leaving someone to die or suffer, he shoots (and if all goes right), the victim dies almost immediately. It seems to me that he doesn't care whether the random person suffers, but he would prefer they didn't. Otherwise he'd aim for the stomach, or groin, or leg. So it's more like he snuffing out life, not so much making people suffer, but rather maybe making loved ones suffer. Who do you think is more scared, the victim who dies almost immediately, or the family members of the victim? So it's more the fear than the killing itself. Look at the evidence. "I am God", and his threats that even children aren't safe. It's all about instilling fear. Also his approach -- sure it's terror, but it isn't the standard terror, of say body parts being ripped apart, or disease and suffering. It's about him being able to choose who gets to live and who gets to die. It's the uncertainty of not knowing if when you kissed your loved ones goodbye, it was the last time you'd see them alive. So life's no longer taken for granted.

Yeah, they'll catch him.

After a long time of trying to avoid this, I've decided to go back to school in January if I don't have a job by then. Now the question is, what to take?

Hey, what did I tell you guys about Belfour huh? The Penguins were not a good test, but still.. a shutout is a shutout!

The company is having problems finding clients. We bid on projects on the web. Most of the bids we've made would result in us being paid less than minimum wage, but we need to get jobs under our belt in order to win more respectable jobs. Anyway, we bid around $400 US (these are 2-3 week projects). This results in us making around $3/hour per person -- not good. And yet, even when we bid this low, some company from India outbids us at $100, and of course wins the bid. Somehow, possibly due to cost of living, they can afford to do a 2 week project for a measely $150 (canadian). Doh!

I found an interesting tab/chord for another Avril Lavigne song called Temple of Life. The lyrics are pretty strange, for a punk rock singer. Check it out, just a excerpt. Contact me if you want the whole thing (btw, I hope this is legal):

We sat by the fire united in song
Under the moonlight all night long
We sang hallelujah for the joy of it all
And out on the water a caroling loon
Sings a sweet heavenly tune
There's peace in God's forest for the temple of life

Chorus:
Hallelujah, hallelujah
We looked to the sky, deep into heaven's eyes, hallelujah


.. Anyway, I thought that was sorta weird, for her style of music. I am still a big supporter of her music.. it's really good stuff!

Michelle Branch is also quite good. She plays piano, guitar, and writes her own music, which is impressive enough. I got her album, and it's quite good. Aside from her big popchart toppers Everywhere and All You Wanted, there's some other good songs like You Set Me Free, Here With Me. I only got her album a couple days now and the songs are pretty catchy.

I'm trying to make a website for my company. It wasn't as easy as I thought it'd be. Making a corporate website is way, way harder than a personal webpage. For one, I can't steal pictures from other sites like I'd do with my own site. Everything has to be original. That's hard. The other thing is I need a corporate standard feel to it. That's really hard. I need a theme. Theme? For an IT company? That is really hard.. I was asked to the page this week, and I've barely even begun.

Quick sporting predictions. The Giants will beat the Cardinals, and the Angels will beat the Twins. I am hoping that Bonds wins a WS this season, but I think that the Angels are too good this year. In hockey, the Leafs will barely make the playoffs and they will get eliminated quickly -- not that i'm giving up on Belfour, who is a lot better than people give credit. It's just that the Leafs will not be able to play their style of hockey because of the new rules. Ottawa will make it far into the playoffs, possibly into the finals. But any team who makes it to the finals will lose to Detroit. In basketball, I predict Vince Carter will burn a lot of people. Too many people, including myself was down on the Air Apparent, but this year he will prove everyone (except his mommy) wrong. He still won't step up as leader of the team, but he is going to put a world of hurt on his defenders this year. Who'll win the East is anyone's guess, but they will lose to any team coming out of the West. I am predicting an upset in the West, where the Lakers will not come out on top. The Lakers will lose because they have Tracy Murray on their team, and no team with Tracy Murray can win or deserve to win a championship. Mark my words: The only way I foresee the Lakers winning it all is if they cut or waive Tracy Murray.

On Friday, Lon, Yvonne and I went went to the free Hillsong concert at the Queensway Cathedral. The concert was scheduled to start at 7:30, and we got there at around 5:30pm to line up. The Queensway Cathedral fits 4000 people, but when we got there, there was already a lineup of about 4000! At 7, they finally started letting people in. But by the time we were about 10 metres away from the front entrance, they closed the front doors because they were full. Luckily though, they announced a second concert at 9. So we basically lined up for almost 4 hours.

I think the waiting was worth it. I've heard Hillsong before, and I've experienced worship similar to that before, but never to that scale. Living Hope church in Hamilton is similar, and the Met in Ottawa is pretty cool as well. The Delirious concert I went to in the summer time was really really good too. The great thing about Hillsong wasn't the 30 person singing choir they had, or the 2 electric guitars, bass, or acoustic. The 2 sets of drums, electric keyboard, trumpet dude, etc. It wasn't the 3 backup singers, or the fact that Reuben Morgan was there too, or even Darlene Zschech (pronounced as "check"). I think it was the atmosphere that they presented. The way they appeared to be genuinely enjoying themselves up there, loving every moment of praising and singing. That for me was what made it so great.

Why is it that when you sleep really late, you don't feel tired until you wake up the next morning???

I lasted almost 40 days without having any kind of pop. I tried to stop, when I saw that my friend lost over 35 points by not drinking anymore pop (and a better diet). Today, I couldn't take it anymore. I grabbed that last remaining A&W Root Beer that had been taunting me everytime I stepped into the laundry room. Mmmmmmmm.. It goes down so smooth.

I wish ICQ had subgroups like Trillian has. I have groups on my icq, like "McMaster", "Ottawa", "Toronto", "United States", "Delete Soon", "Waterloo", "Church Friends". Haha, just kidding about the last one! But what I'd like to do, is be able to put subgroups, for McMaster for instance, many people have graduated and aren't really at McMaster anymore. But I don't want to create a new group for "McMaster grads", so they remain in the McMaster category. And for my "Church Friends", some of them are in Toronto, some of them are in other places.. it messes things up for me trying to decide which group they go in.

Today I tried a new food. It's not necessarily new, but I think fairly knew for TO. It was called Tacoyaki. It's really good stuff.. Octopus meat mixed in batter and fried. They put dressing on top, with a touch of wasabi (oh yeah, it's japanese). I went down to First Markham Place with my friend FaiYuen to have it. I suggest if you haven't tried it, to try it. It could be the 'latest' thing..

Have you guys seen this website: http://www.emotioneric.com

Funny stuff.. It kind of reminds me of something I've done with my digital camera, but this guy made it a lot more funny. (I did a slide show of myself making funning faces, but it was more like one of those flip-the-page-animation book thingies. Ask Lon, he knows about what I'm talking about. Anyway, this Eric guy is next-level funny though.

Oh, what was I doing last night? What could I have been doing that would have made me so enraged? Why, programming of course!

stupidpieceof!@#$$!@#%$%&%&$^%!#^@%^$@@^$

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was my brother's birthday today. We had noodles for dinner, which is supposed to symbolize long life. I don't understand why we still do these silly chinese traditions, when as Christians we should believe we'll live as long as God wants us to live. Anyway, then we went out to see the movie called Four Feathers.

*Possible Movie Spoiler*
I expected a semi-epic for this movie, and I got just that.. however, I felt the movie could have ended at several different times in the movie. There were times I started getting bored and began to look around to see if anyone had fallen asleep. Maybe part of me was anxious to get home to watch Smallville, but I really honestly felt the movie dragged on longer than it had to. And there were times I felt like I didn't understand what was going on, or I didn't understand the purpose of certain parts being in the movie at all. Anyway, I believe this movie is best described as a creation by a director who had a lot to say but didn't know how to do it without letting it drag on and on. I have nothing against long movies, but only if they keep you wanting more, dragging them out is the worst. If you go into this movie, the best way to go in is with low expectations.

There's a new hip artist out. She's not really new per se as she's won awards already, but Avril Lavigne is really good. I got her album and aside from the 3rd track I like every single song she has. That's not bad for a semi-pop/alternative female singer from Napanee! Her big song was Complicated, and Sk8er Boi is out now (track3). I also just heard Smallville play her song "Tommorow" (track7). Her band has good sound, not too metallic or bass, just right -- and she has a very mature voice. Smallville has had the reputation of picking the next big hits, or current big hits for their soundtracks.

As you may have guessed, it was Smallville day. My favorite show, Smallville is about the younger days of Clark Kent (aka Superman). I haven't missed an episode, and I have all of them on my computer, along with just about every Smallville cast interview that has ever been on TV. What can I say, I'm definitely a Smallville fanatic!

Fellowship was really nice tonight. We had a coffee house. It was nice.

*Warning, Sports blurb coming up*
I've been thinking of starting a basketball fantasy pool, possibly on Yahoo. I've sort of kept up with what's going on in basketball over the offseason. The Raps acquired Lamond Murray from the Cavs for Mr. Ouch-I-got-a-paper-cut-now-I-can't-play-even-though-I-get-4-million-dollars-per-season Michael Stewart. This is good news.. Lamond Murray was a great mid-season pickup in most fantasy leagues last season. I suspect he'll supplant Morris Peterson at small forward, possibly even take over that position entirely. He wanted out of Cleveland because he wasn't going to get to start, because of the addition of Darius Miles. So I suspect it's a thing about playing time. Anyway I think Peterson can be a better player than Murray, but I'm doubtful that he can keep up that level of play for all 82 games + playoffs. Raptors need to try to make another move and get a centre.. Hakeem is going to retire.

I feel less pressured today as I did on 9/25. I've seem more job postings lately, I mean it's still not pretty, just watch the finance news and you'll know how bad it is, but it's looking up. I hope to have a job soon though, I'm pretty optimistic even though I won't seem optimistic if you ever talked to me. I saw Garv, he came to the coffee house. He probably knew more people there than I did.. haha

I am feeling really depressed today due to my unemployment. Two more of my friends found jobs today, and though I am very happy for them, it makes me feel more and more discouraged. I've applied to close to 80 jobs now, without even an interview or a call-back. That really sucks. And even though the company is starting to make some real progress towards coming up with our own product, I can't help but remind myself how unlikely it is that we will be successful. *Sigh*

I had ones of those 'late productive' days today. Mind you, for an unemployed bum, I use the word "productive" quite loosely! I woke up at 11am, went on my computer a lamented for an hour on why my fantasy football teams are doing so poorly this season. I am in 4 leagues this year, and only one team has a winning record. I'm 6-6 overall, but it isn't looking good. Two of the teams that are 1-2 are the lowest scoring teams in their leagues..

I had a 'bao' for lunch, it was the sweet kind, with coconut inside. We call it 'bo-lo bao' -- I prefer the kind without coconut inside, but they didn't have any yesterday at the bakery. I usually don't like sweets for lunch, so I also had a chunk of polish sausage. After lunch, I read my Mere Christianity book for a couple chapters. The book is due in 2 more weeks and I've barely reached the 1/10 mark. I guess I'll have to renew it! I 'borrowed' a copy of VB6 to play around with. Just another language I can add to my resume to make me look more 'attractive'. I already made one program, whee!!

For those of you wondering what the heck is this guy doing, with no job, no school, no plans at all.. I've started a company with two other friends/classmates. We're doing IT consulting -- currently we currently have one client and are in the developing stages of our own software (top secret btw, so don't ask =P). Anyway we don't have a website --- yet. So yeah, I *am* doing something at least. :)

I've been sorta putting off this news I have until it was almost for certain that it was gonna happen.

For the last little while my dad had been looking for a new job. He works for Toronto right now. He wasn't happy there so he'd been looking for other places to work. Well, to make a long story short, he got an offer for a director position in Nevada, and at this point I think we are looking at 99.9999% possibility that he will be taking that job.

If/when he takes that job, he'll be starting likely in December. That means in two months, my dad will no longer be living with us. We won't move down immediately since my brother would have to finish his school year. And if by some miracle I managed to find a job in Toronto, then I'd be left behind when they moved. However, if lightning doesn't strike, then by this time next year I'll be living in Nevada.

I've been watching a lot of TV lately. It's come to a point where I look forward to the next day, or even plan my day in order to watch what I want to watch.

To give you a picture of how sorry my life has become:

Sunday - Football game at 1pm, 4pm, and 8:30pm. Also Simpsons at 8pm, Malcolm in the Middle at 9pm, both on Global and Fox. Band of Brothers at 10pm, on Global. I think this means that The Practice won't be premiering until Band of Brothers finishes, unless they've moved time slots.

Monday - Boston Public!! 8pm on Global. Monday Night Football, 9pm on ABC. Fear Factor also at 8pm (NBC). Everybody Loves Raymond at 9pm (Global, CBS).

Tuesday - That 70's Show, 8pm on Global and Fox - Eric and Donna are back together! Next week is Frasier season premiere. Niles is getting married to Daphne! (9pm on Global, NBC). Tuesday's also has Smallville at 8pm on CityTV, season premiere next season. 8pm? doh.. conflict

Wednesday - Enterprise at 8pm on City -- I know a lot of you are down on this show. Give it another chance! Also first seasons for any ST series has sucked because of the all the rushing to develop their characters. Now comes the juicy stuff we've all grown accustomed to from Roddenberry's work! Today I watched Fastlane. All the hype surrounding it didn't lie.. this show is pretty off the hook, though it probably shouldn't be allowed on Primetime. Parents beware!

Thursday - Next week Friends (7:30pm on Global, 8pm on NBC) season premiere. Also new show Hidden Hills, gotta check that one out, it looks funny! Don't forget Survivor: Thailand, 8pm on Global. Btw, this week Friends is a one hour special, so it will go directly against Survivor. I'll have to tape one of them. Then there's Will & Grace at 9pm (also a 1-hour special just for this week).

Friday - Friday's are a bit controversial, because I'm supposed to be at fellowship. But new shows Firefly (8pm on Fox), and John Doe (9pm on Fox too, I think) look very promising.

Saturday - Master's of the Universe(He-man remake!!) at 10am on YTV, X-men (remake as well) at 10:30am on YTV, Justice League at 11am on YTV. Justice League is so cool, they have Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and a whole slew of other superheroes. Last week Batman.....DIED!!! Oh, also on Saturdays is a show at 7pm called Mysterious Ways (CTV). I really like this show, and I don't think too many people know about it. It's basically like X-Files, only they investigate things that appear to be modern-day miracles.

Dark Angel was cancelled -- too bad. Also Spin City was also canned. I know you guys won't believe me when I tell you that I didn't use a TV Guide to come up with all that (above) -- but it's true!

I think I'm still missing other shows. Once basketball season starts, I'll have to be watching all those games too. I spend quite a bit of time watching sports highlights and cooking shows too, but not particular shows, just the ones i happen to catch from random flippings. I also watch Leno, but only for the opening monologues.

There's also 7th Heaven. Our family used to watch on WB, but our black box died, so now I don't know how we'll watch it. It's a very good show as well.

Something I think is sorta funny is that Growing Pains is on CTS now (the christian station). Back in the day I didn't think it was even one of the good shows, because Mike Seaver pull some pretty crazy stunts back then. It's funny how a show like that is considered "Good Family Values" now.

Let me share with you guys something that's been going through my mind, all through this job search, and even through 4th year. As always, I'll add some humor into it so that you don't read halfway and fall asleep. Here's scene from Seinfeld, Episode 12 - Season 2. The episode was called "The Revenge" for all you movie trivia buffs.

JERRY: So, what are you gonna do now? Are you gonna look for something else in real estate?
GEORGE: Nobody's hiring now. The market's terrible.
JERRY: So what are you gonna do?
GEORGE: I like sports. I could do something in sports.
JERRY: Uh-huh. Uh-huh. In what capacity?
GEORGE: You know, like the general manager of a baseball team or something.
JERRY: Yeah. Well, that - that could be tough to get.
GEORGE: Well, it doesn't even have to be the general manager. Maybe I could be like, an announcer. Like a caller man. You know how I always make those interesting comments during the game.
JERRY: Yeah. Yeah. You make good comments.
GEORGE: What about that?
JERRY: Well, they tend to give those jobs to ex-ballplayers and people that are, you know, in broadcasting.
GEORGE: Well, that's really not fair.
JERRY: I know. Well, okay. Okay. What else do ya like?
GEORGE: Movies. I like to watch movies.
JERRY: Yeah. Yeah.
GEORGE: Do they pay people to watch movies?
JERRY: Projectionists.
GEORGE: That's true.
JERRY: But you gotta know how to work the projector.
GEORGE: Right.
JERRY: And it's probably a union thing.
GEORGE: [scoffs] Those unions. [sighs] Okay. Sports,...movies. What about a talk show host?
JERRY: Talk show host. That's good.
GEORGE: I think I'd be good at that. I talk to people all the time. Someone even told me once they thought I'd be a good talk show host.
JERRY: Really?
GEORGE: Yeah. A couple of people. I don't get that, though. Where do you start?
JERRY: Well, that's where it gets tricky.
GEORGE: You can't just walk into a building and say " I wanna be a talk show host."
JERRY: I wouldn't think so.
GEORGE: It's all politics.
JERRY: All right. Okay. Sports, movies, talk show host. What else?
GEORGE: This could have been a huge mistake.
JERRY: Well, it doesn't sound like you completely thought this through.
GEORGE: [sighs] What should I do?

Basically what happened in that episode, if you don't remember, is George erupted in anger at his boss, quit, and the next day he is reflecting about it with Jerry, and they're discussing what he'll do now that he has no job.

I think this episode hits home, because like me, George isn't really good at any one thing, and he doesn't know what he wants in life. He's sort of just doing what he does because there's nothing else to do. He asks Jerry for help, and Jerry tries to walk him through the things that George likes and dislikes, to see maybe where and what he was meant to do in life. I had this same conversation with someone a month ago, and the conversation pretty much ended the same way. I've also been having this conversation with God as well, but no feedback yet.

I can just picture it now, 15 years from now, I'll be bald, I'll be living at home with my parents, my crazy parents. I'll have crazy adventures, but they'll never amount to anything. In the end I'll be working in the Skydome, as the assistant to the travelling secretary of the Blue Jays.

JERRY: The New York Yankees?!
GEORGE: The New York Yankees!
JERRY: Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle ... Costanza?
GEORGE: I'm the assistant to the travelling secretary. I'm going on the road trips with them! I'll be on the plane... I'm working in Yankee Stadium! This is a dream, I'm busting, Jerry, I'm busting!
JERRY: I can't believe it.
( The door buzzes, it's Elaine, Jerry buzzes her in )
GEORGE: And I'm moving out of my parents' house, I'm taking that apartment on 86th street, remember the one we saw?
JERRY: That's a great place!
GEORGE: I'm back in business, baby!

That's me. One day.

I have a crazy rash on my legs and arms, they just appeared one day, late last week. The itchiness is really bad, it's spread all over, and I've no idea what it is. I thought it was dryness, but lotion didn't help, and since then I've been applying calomine lotion. It doesn't work except at first. I'm going to see a doctor about it tomorrow morning.

Job search remains the same. I've been thinking about what kind of job I would consider my dream job. There are the ones I can list, which are impossible since they don't exist, like getting paid to sleep all day, or to play games. I think the one job, the one dream job that actually exists, that I can think of, is probably sports journalism. But really when you think about it, sports are dumb. Entertainment, sporting, the competition and politics of it, it's all very dumb and pointless.

I feel like each day my life is rotting away, my lifeforce is being sucked out of me. Each day, each hour I sit at my computer applying for this job and that job..

I cooked dinner today, for the family. Brother liked my food a lot -- he wouldn't stop eating my stuff. Heh.

Is anyone reading this?

I just cancelled the first and only interview I've 'landed' in the last 5 months. Sweet...

I NEED A JOB!

Loser.com isn't Google anymore..

Did anyone else see the documentary on CTV called First Person Shooter?

This show should have been called When Parents Fail. The documentary covered a family where the kid in the family dropped out of school so that he could play Counterstrike. I haven't played CS but I know a lot of friends who do. While I wouldn't say that games like these are completely harmless* I would say that the parents in this show are stupid and useless. What parent would even allow a child to choose between dropping out of school and playing computer games?!

Granted, computer games can be extremely addictive. But if it leads to having a child drop out of school, and hearing that the parents say "We were powerless to stop him" ?

*When I was on my cruise, we saw a dead body on the shore, while we were docked at St.Petersburg, Russia. My brother, cousin and I got a pair of binoculars to take a closer look. While my cousin was totally grossed out by the sight of a large hole in the poor guy's face, I thought of Soldier of Fortune almost immediately, as did my brother. We both agreed that it looked like someone had taken a shotgun to his face at very close range. We were pretty fascinated by how accurate the game was!

Here are some interesting facts about gaming:

IDSA Figures (that's International Developers and Software Association for those of you wondering! www.idsa.com)
HISTORICAL SALES FIGURES

$6.35 billion in U.S. entertainment software sales in 2001.
$5.5 billion in U.S. entertainment software sales in 1998.
$3.2 billion in U.S. entertainment software sales in 1995.

WHO PLAYS VIDEO GAMES

43% of people who play interactive games are women
The average age of an interactive game player is 28 years old

For Computer Gamers...
28% of most frequent game players are under eighteen years old
30% of most frequent game players are between 18 and 35 years old
42% of most frequent game players are over 35 years old

For Console Gamers...
42% of most frequent game players are under eighteen years old
37% of most frequent game players are between 18 and 35 years old
21% of most frequent game players are over 35 years old

Wow, talk about a blast from the past! I went to a wedding banquet last night. The groom was someone I knew as a child, but I hadn't seen him for at least 7-8 years. I hadn't talked to him for at least 10 years. So, most of the guests who I knew were friends from just as many years ago! It's funny because I think I will be seeing these people more and more in the next few years, but only at weddings, since the banquets are always full of friends of the parents of the groom and bride.

It was a chinese wedding so it was the standard chinese wedding banquet food. It was also open bar though, so I had a lot of the "Baby Duck" they were serving, which is a red sparkling wine (yum!). I had enough that I couldn't drive home, even though my dad wanted me to drive (my parents like me to drive, because they feel that I need the practice).

Oh I have an mp3, it's pretty good but I don't know who the singer is or the name of the song. The lyrics go like this:

VERSE 1:

It's difficult to say
Goodbye, after
Only one life
Rain will fall down
Replenishing
All over broken dreams

And this burning tree
That's withering
Will burn again
Would you believe

CHORUS:
Goodbye, Goodbye
Walk away it's time to say goodbye
Goodbye, Goodbye
Walk away it's hard to say goodbye

Now all that's left
Pictures on the walls
Memories are stories
That are told

The more oft they're told
The bigger they get
Created in the same
Lest we forget

CHORUS:
Goodbye, Goodbye
Walk away it's time to say goodbye
Goodbye, Goodbye
Walk away it's hard to say goodbye

VERSE 2
Can I hold onto this feeling
Changing heart I swear
It's time to see it well
Life has been know
My voices will be
You know I will be
Yes it will be
Still

Something wont be heard
In the midst of
Dream and fantasy
Half way there

But He always fills my cup
And He lifts me up
Oh how He lifts me up

CHORUS

Never took the time
To stop and realize
Death takes many forms
Even while alive

Please if anyone knows the name of this song, tell me!

See, I'm up again, even though I went to bed only 5 hours ago, and I feel fine!

Anyway I just wanted to point out, because I know a few people who have already bought LOTR DVD..I'm not sure if they are offering the same deal in Ottawa or anywhere else, but here in Toronto KIA is giving away free copies of LOTR DVD, all you have to do is test drive one of their cars! Yeah I know those cars are probably a risk to just drive for even 5 minutes, but a free dvd, that's pretty hard to pass up!

If I can't/don't/won't do missions myself, should I pave the way for others to go? Maybe there are different ways of serving, even if totally indirectly.

Funny thing I've noticed about myself when i'm not (1) in school; (2) working. I can sleep 4 hours a night for a whole week feel the same as if I'd slept 12 hours a night for the whole week. I love that! For instance, it's 4am right now, but it feels like it could be 9pm only. Since I don't do anything all day, time no longer matters.

I had dinner with cisco_boy and his new wife today. I really like them as a couple, they complement eachother really well. They're a lot like my mom and dad in the way that they seem like complete opposite people but yet somehow that makes them even more compatible.

T3C is offering beginners guitar course. I wanted to register but I think it's too late now..

I prayed a long prayer last night and felt no different than before. I'm not one to expect instant results, so I will keep trying.

Is "upside" a real word? I hear "downside" a lot. Like so-and-so is in the "downside" of his football career. Not many people use "upside" though. On the upside, he has great future in sports broadcasting. Upside baby.

Would you name your child Duce? Duce Yao. No, I don't think that would work. Torry Yao? Corey Yao?? Donovan Yao? Tiki Yao? How 'bout Peyton? Peyton Yao? I think we have a winner....!

Here's some more insight or am I simply too tired or am I thinking too much? I was talking to a friend about being compelled, or driven by the "will of God". The subject eventually turned to being about where my heart was. Perhaps my heart is in the wrong place, so that is why I've never experienced or fully understand this 'will of God' thing.

To believe that God exists is easy. Believing that God loves us is easy too. Once you believe in A God, then you believe that God created everything. That's the definition of "God". Well obviously God loves us, since He made us. If He didn't, then why would He bother making us? Out of boredom? I think not. The tough part is the giant leap of faith. Believing that God acknowledges me and that I have indeed been saved. Am I really saved? If I believe that Christ died for my sins, then yes, I have been saved, according to John 3:16. But it can't be that easy, can it? Is it wrong to be worried about my own salvation?

I could say that I have been blessed -- my whole family has been blessed. But an outsider could just as easily say "man, that dude is soooo lucky". Kramer would call me "Even Steven". Do I just naturally feel inclined to believe in God because I've been so "lucky"? Am I thankful to God because of my perceived luck?

A new believer feels compelled to worship and obey the Lord, because they've just experienced the change in their lives, from being a non-believer to being a believer. How does that apply to me? I've always worshipped and done my best to obey the Lord. But why do I do it? I accepted Christ years and years ago. If I experienced a change in my life, it was a long time ago and I don't remember what that felt like. So am I a changed man now? If so, how come I still haven't been compelled by His love? When do I get to be driven by His will?

If only it were that easy, to ask God what He wants me to do, and get a straight answer, a booming voice saying: "Brian, here's what I want you to do........." All I want is to follow God's will, I can't think of anything more satisfying than doing exactly what I was set here to do.

As I was reading this over I felt like I stepped into my monitor, or that the words popped out at me like one of those hidden 3D posters! Maybe I should just go to bed. Good night all.

It's been 4 days since I got back from my trip. The thing is, I was so spoiled on that cruise ship, it's pretty been humbling being back, and have to cook my own food, cleanup after myself, etc. I've written up a report on my trip, about the various excursions, some interesting things I saw and experienced. I'm not done it yet though. It's around 6 pages so far. When I get it done I'll upload it somewhere so people can read. I don't think it'd be a very good idea to put it up here, as it would be far too long.

The trip was awesome, and that if I had a choice between living here in Canada and moving out to Europe somewhere, I would choose europe in a heartbeat. It's so much more tranquil there. Like Ottawa, with less cars, less snow, and no humidity in the summer :P

This week has been pretty hectic so far. On Monday I met with a few old classmates discussing our IT consulting company. Man, it's so hard to find that first client.. If only we could find one, then we'd be set. Seriously, the work out there isn't that hard to do, it's just a matter of landing that first job. Even though the chances of us landing anything is minute, we're still going for it anyway, since none of us can find a job. Tuesday I went out for lunch with some old friends from milliken. That was a great time, one guy, moosbacher i hadn't seen in 2 years. He's going into seminary this fall.

Something I think about is how people know they have to go somewhere, like seminary for instance. Are they compelled to go, or do they just feel it's good timing, or have they been praying about it and all signs point to it. And when you get there, are you willing to go? Do you have a passion for it and then you go, or do you go unwillingly despite all the signs? What if you go just because it seems like something God might want? Or how about this, do you go because you don't know what else to do and since it's serving God, you know that at least it won't hurt?

Oh and another thing I was thinking about, is last Sunday, for worship we sang a new song that was taken from TC2002. When the song started playing all the teens started jumping up and down and waving their arms, even though we'd just sung 4 songs just before and they seemed completely listless. What's with that? Were the previous songs so bad? Were the lyrics meaningless to them for the first few songs? Were the words from the TC song that much more meaningful? Or was it just the memory of the fun they had at TC that made them get so excited? If it was the Spirit, which I seriously doubt, why didn't He compel them to jump up and down on the other songs?

Guess what? I'm on the ship, there are only a couple days left.. this costs $0.50 per minute though.. Having a great time.. Got a pretty good tan..

My mom sent me in this internet thing so I'd talk to this taiwanese girl on the ship. (She's very very pretty..) I never said anything to her though. It's just like me to act that way too, anytime I talk to someone at that level of (prettiness), I can't do it. It's too overwhelming for me. Hahahaha.

My parents have been getting anxious about me being single, throughout this trip they've been talking about it almost on an hourly basis. Any of you guys get this? (ARGH..) I keep telling them that I will wait til God tells me someone is right.. I guess my mom just wants to see me happy, although i AM happy..

Please continue to pray for safety for the remainder of my trip, and also for my finding a job.

I'm going on a trip tomorrow.. well, technically it's today. I'll be back on the 18th. If I get a chance to post here while on the trip I will post. The cruise line said they'll have internet on the boat! What will they think of next? Truly amazing!

So long fellas!

I went to the t3c Genesis (our college/career group) summer retreat. I went into it hoping to meet some people and make some friends, and I think I did just that. Sometimes I forget that in a larger church, everyone has busy lives and it's hard to slow things down and stop and get to know people. I'm glad I went to the retreat, aside from the 5 mosquito bites I got on my feet!

A friend of mine forwarded me a free long distance site, anywhere in Ontario. I have yet to try it, since I lost all my Ottawa numbers. Anyway, to sign up, go to http://www.labattblueline.com.

Something that struck me at the retreat was when the speaker was talking about how someone at his church speaks very passionately about Krispy Kreme donuts, and that when we talk about God, we should get excited like that. In truth, the only person I've ever known to speak about God the way I might talk about say, computer games or football, is Pastor Ted, who is at SCBC now. Even other pastors who speak on Sundays, they don't speak passionately, not like they're excited about what they are preaching. What really struck me is that the speaker said that if we can't talk *THAT* passionately about God, then we haven't really experienced God's love.

I mean, I can tell you all about a video game and how great it is, but in order for you to really experience the same type of passion that I might have for it, you would have to experience it for itself. And on the flip end of that, it means that I would have experienced it myself, otherwise I would not have been so passionate about it. The same goes with sharing the love of Christ. I've known friends to talk to me passionately about their work, video games, sports they play, books they read, etc. But I can't remember the last time someone approached me about being excited about God's love. That's something to think about.

Some interesting sites I discovered while talking on icq today. http://www.loser.com goes to google, which i thought was kinda cool, since loser is quicker to type that google, plus sometimes i type gogle by accident, or googel, or gogole. you know, it happens..

Also, http://www.god.org, where you can send a letter to God. If anyone tries it, please let me know what happens!

I think if I did any sort of missions work, I wouldn't want to have to do the presentation that everyone seems to need to make in front of the congregation. Or even the follow-up presentation. I don't think I would want anyone to know what I was going to do there, or even where I was going. I think just timing would be enough, just so people could pray for me. I feel that I wouldn't want to go just to make myself feel good, I wouldn't want any sort of self gratification to come out of it, and I know that if people knew I was going, I would feel that, as foolish as that sounds.

I've been to hundreds, maybe thousands of praise nights, testimonials, conferences, etc. Last week at church someone spoke about her upcoming missions trip, and I was given two prayer letters, one from the girl who spoke, and one from another friend. My parents always ask me about why I've never been on a missions trip. A simple answer, I've never felt that burden. Even at Urbana, an event focused on missions, where a popular 'catch phrase' ("... ever since I went to Urbana I have been praying about ...") was coined after, I never felt any burden, no appeal towards missions.

Tonight God spoke directly to me about missions for the first time ever, at another ol' P&W. I can't even remember what song we were singing when it hit me, but God's message was simple: What have you done for me lately?

Just a quick update: There are still a few chunks of cement on my hands, but the stuff on my arms and fingers have been washed off.

Apparently liquid cement is corrosive. I had to find out the hard way though. Yesterday I woke up at 7:30am and worked straight until 8:30pm, with my dad on our front door enclosure, putting tiles on the cement steps. When someone tells you something is corrosive after you've been touching it almost all day, you sort of automatically don't believe, because it doesn't hurt when you touch it. But afterwards, I showered and applied some Great White (industrial soap), not only were my hands cut up from the cement corrosion, there was still cement stuck to my hands. Even now, a day later, there are still bits of cement on my arms and hands, stuck!

Praise God, the strike is over!

My dad came home today, his face was all red, nose especially, and his arms were red as well. As some of you know, my dad works for the City of Toronto. He's not part of the unionized parts that are on strike and as a result, he had to work at the garbage transfer station today. Conditions sound pretty bad there, there are about 50 tonnes of garbage that need to be sorted through, and apparently my dad and 4 other people got it all done. Please pray for this garbage situation to end quickly. It seems I didn't fully understand the strike situation as well as I thought. The garbage people are on strike but not by choice, it's the union leaders who have made them go on strike. The fact is if the union leaders allowed the workers to vote for whether to continue the strike, it would've been over long ago.

Pray for the union leaders!

Now for the concert.

The concert was held at the Queensway Cathedral. I met #1 at Spadina/Bloor and we rode the rocket down to Dundas West, and then walked over to Navantis, where Andrew works. (He was giving us a ride to the concert). I was really worried though, the whole time wondering if I'd get tickets, because everyone else with us had preordered them.

When we lined up there, we budded in with a whole bunch of chinese people. #1 and I both felt bad, because there must've been 35 people in this group of ours, and my guess is it started out a 5-6 people. Just a guess. Some kids were trying to get rid of extra tickets and so I bought one!

Delirious started off with Deeper, Sanctify, and a flurry of other songs, I didn't know half of them, but found myself singing along anyway. It was pretty awesome. They did Did You Hear the Mountains Tremble, and people were going nuts, singing along, it was reminiscent of Urbana-style praise. They did I'm Not Ashamed, I Could Sing of Your Love Forever, King Of Fools. They also performed a song that isn't even out yet, called Touch. They taught us how to sing it too..

Awesome.. that's the best word I can think of when describing my day (Tuesday).

It all started in the morning, around 8am when I was awoken by the sounds of my dog barking at the neighbours. I have never been up before 9am since convocation day. I got up, realized Korea was probably still playing, and ran up to watch the game. I can't watch soccer games -- they're far too boring. I don't think I have yet to watch a game for more than 15 minutes straight without falling asleep. Anyway, Korea finally lost (Thank God). Not that I didn't appreciate Korea's miraculous run. But when you do it as a result of poor officiating, that's just annoying.

#1 icqed me about a Delirious concert that very night. I gave the people a call, but they wouldn't let me buy tickets, because it was too short notice. I would have to buy them at the door, if I were to go.

I went to Popeye's with Fai Yuen for lunch. We're both still unemployed, along with the majority of my class. The only good news I had for him was that another friend of mine, Clutch, just got a job. Congrats goes out to him -- he owes me a dinner! After lunch we went to the driving range. It was really hot, and so was my golfing. Man, I am really good! Be it an iron or a wood, I can totally crank that ball, and it's not like it goes super far, but I can now aim the thing! Unbelievable.

If you're simply into the beat of a song, does that make it worship, or is that just being drawn in by the sound of the song? When you see someone rocking to the beat of a song during worship, does it mean they are being filled by the Holy Spirit, or does it mean they have a good sense of rhythm?

Can having a good sense of rhythm interfere with the ability to worship? Think about this for a moment. If one didn't have a sense of rhythm, then they would have no choice but to concentrate on the lyrics. Does that make sense?

Is it June already? I am still unemployed. Sometimes I wonder if I will ever join the ranks of the employed. Not that I'm worried, just wondering.

I started up "reading" again. I'm currently reading two books, one called Active Spirituality, and the other called My Rights, My God. I'm using the first as a devotional, and the second as, well, reading material. The last time I tried reading the first book, it didn't seem to mean much to me, but from the get-go this time, from day 1 it has hit home each and every time. I got actually got that book 8 years ago, as a baptismal present!

T3C has become much more open as I've gone their more and more regularly. I find that as an outsider looking in, T3C was not the greatest for newcomers, but once you're "in", the people are great, friends are awesome, and God is definitely affecting a lot of peoples' lives there.

I don't know if people know this, but during the school year I listen to almost all rap and hip hop, because my housemates listen to ONLY that stuff. Towards the end of the year though, Nickleback and Creed were really coming on strong, and I began to listen to rock. I also around that time came across this article and this article that talk about worship and rock music. Worship can be a funny thing. From their interpretations, they were basically saying that we could worship God with any kind of music, and all that mattered was our mindset and heartset. In that case, we could potentially go to church, and play a familiar song without words, and people who knew the song could be worshipping God as they listened to the song.

Thus, lyrics don't totally matter. Take the song Everything by Lifehouse, check out the following lyrics. The singer is talking about a woman, however, applied to our Lives, we can apply the same words to God. Thus I can worship God while playing this song -- I'll leave you now with the lyrics:

Find me here
Speak to me
I want to feel You
I need to hear You

You are the Light
That's leading me
To the place
Where I find peace.. Again

You are the Strength
That keeps me walking
You are the Hope
That keeps me trusting
You are the Light
To my soul
You are my purpose
You're everything

CHORUS:
How can I stand here with You
And not be moved by You?
Would You tell me how could it be,
Any better than this?

You calm the storms
You give me rest
You hold me in Your hands
You won't let me fall
You still my heart
You take my breath away
Would You take me in
Take me deeper now

Chorus (x2)

Bridge (x4):
('Cause) You're all I want
You're all I need
You're Everything Everything

Chorus (x3)

Just before school ended, I had so many plans, like learning guitar, doing gardening, and housework, and learning to cook, reading my bible, etc etc etc..

Yet nothing has been done.. I think it has something to do with it being so cold outside. The weather is very depressing. And also my house, it's freezing cold. My parents like living in a house where everyone has to wear sweaters to keep warm. Unfortunately, my computer is stationed in the basement so my hands are freezing cold. I can still type, but it's not too comfortable. Every 5 minutes or so I have to sit on my hands to warm them up again. What's the normal house temperature?

In hamilton, we ended up paying way too much for heating, because we liked living in arrangement where we could walk around the house in shorts, even in winter. I guess in retrospect that was TOO comfortable.. But there has to be a good temperature to live in, that is in between super comfortable and super cold. Down here in the basement it is around 12 C. I think that's unreasonable, but no one else goes to the basement except me. I think it's around 20C upstairs. Is this right?

I can't even play the guitar down here, because it's too cold, I'm all bundled up down here in a jacket and all -- i'm too fat to play!

Anyway, enough complaining..

I think my dad might hook me up with a job -- again. This time it'll be IT for real, though I'm not really interested in IT at all. I guess it'll be easier than an actual engineering job, and it'll be full time unlike the other jobs I've had at the City of Toronto. It really makes me want to get off my lazy bum and find a real job, but then at the same time I'm kinda glad to have something to fall back on.

A few of my friends and I are going to start up software company. I think we'll do okay, as long as we can find people to make programs for. Actually some of the ideas we've come up with (top secret!) could make quite a bit of money. That is, if we ever get around to doing them.. None of us have jobs though, so our lack of income should be enough motivation!

I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing my name in sports webpages. Yao Ming, a 7'6" tall chinese dude is joining the NBA this year. I guess his name is really Ming Yao, meaning he has the same last name as I do. So every time there's an article about him, they refer to him as Yao, and that catches my eye every time.

Finally a Yao making it to the big leagues. And he's no ordinary player. There are a couple of chinese players in sports, but this Yao Ming guy is supposed to be better than Shaq -- and that's saying a lot.. who is taller than Shaq, and has more raw talent, can shoot free throws, and can shoot 3's. Even if he isn't as good as Shaq, he'll be better than Nowitzki -- that's amazing!

Today I went to church, and met up with some old friends from my old church. It was mission's conference for ACEM. The worship was pretty amazing, but like every year, didn't really get touched by the missionaries coming in. The speaker urged us all to join in and help that window thing, what is it, the 20/40 window, or something like that.

I had lunch with a bunch of people, it was a lot of fun -- it's funny every week since I switched over to T3C, I have never really hung out with anyone from that church. It would always be someone from Ottawa, or someone from another church. I'm finding it very hard to integrate with the people at T3C. I guess maybe its partly my fault for not taking initiative, but I think that it's such a big church, and there are far too many cliques there. I find people there, at least people my age very cold and distant. No one really cares whether there is a new person going there, or maybe it's been so long they're no longer looking for people like me.

I had this discussion with my parents today and they said they didn't mind if I went to find another church so that I could at least have fellowship with people my age.

This afternoon I played pool with my dad. I am so out of practice.. my dad took 5 of 8 games. But I was starting to make a comeback -- I lost the first 4 games, and won 3 of the next 4. But every single win was on my dad scratching on the 8. So I still haven't "officially" beaten him yet. Well, I've got a whole summer to practice :)

I just set up my computer. The network (we have a home wireless network) was so easy to set up! I encourage all of you to get a similar setup! It costed an arm and a leg, but it's pretty incredible. No wires!

Anywayz, I'm out for today. I'll try to update much more often now that I'm home with nothing to do. If anyone knows where I could find a nice IT or programming job, please let me know! AND if anyone needs their lawn mowed, I charge just over minimum wage. I'll even weed your garden, and clean windows. Thanks.

I finally finished school. Every day leading up to it I was so excited, it was like -- YEAH!! But when it finally ended, the day was like any other day. Pretty depressing!

School
Reading week turned out to be coding week. We (as in my thesis team) spent pretty much the whole week coding. I found that I have knack of coding for web development, all other coding to me is annoying and not fun at all, but being able to see results after every line you 'code' is kinda cool!

This week is gonna be hectic. I have a project proposal due tomorrow morning, and an assignment due too. I haven't started the assignment. But the proposal I've decided to do a piece on The Future of Online Gaming. Hahaha.. after all these years of gaming finally I get to write something about it! On Thursday we have preliminary demo's for thesis project, then on friday i have 2 assignments and a 40% midterm.

Sports
I watched the last two period of The Game this afternoon. In case you didn't watch, Canada ANNHILATED the Americans. I mean we destroyed them. We were so dominating that the second period seemed like a 20 minute powerplay! I was so happy when we won. The funny thing was I was so excited the night before, probably more excited than when we won. I guess being Canadian we sort of expect to win something like this, so when it finally does happen, it's great and all but, not all that surprising.

Olympic hockey. I've been writing to two friends and debating the merits of the international hockey surface. We all agree that the game is more exciting in the Olympics than the NHL. One guy argued Olympic hockey was obviously better because they were getting higher ratings. I hate it when people say things without fully thinking them through. It's a waste of my time and theirs! Obviously you get higher ratings in the Olympics, when a whole country is rooting for their team, rather than one city! Jeez. Another guy said he felt the quality of hockey was better. Duh. When you have the worlds best players playing together, chances are it's gonna be better 'quality' than the NHL where you have 2-3 such player per team right?

Spiritual/Thoughts
Not much in terms of the general week goes. I don't think there was CCF this week as it was reading week. I didn't go to church either, figuring probably that no one would show up to the bus stop where I usually wait (i don't know how to get to church, i just follow other people). So I figured my time would be better served studying for the midterm. However, that time ended up being spent on battle.net.

I think about relationships and girlfriends (or lack thereof) a lot nowadays, maybe because my housemates are all getting hooked up, and maybe partially from pressure from parents, friends' getting married, and the fact that I'm getting old(er). It's always stuck in the back of my mind, which to me is a nuisance because that part of my brain would be better off being filled with formalae and useful facts! Stuff like that makes me think about family, and moving off somewhere. It also makes me think about getting a job, the future, scary stuff like that.

Events
For anyone wondering, I renewed my license on Wednesday morning this past week. I've got another 5 more years to try and get my G2 and G!

I started writing this blog at 11:52pm. This morning I thought that I'd start studying for my midterm on Wednesday. After all, I only have 2 classes, and from 11:30 til now I had plenty of time to study. Somehow, after just a couple of seconds on Diablo2, that turned into 8 hours, and the next thing I knew, time was up!

Did anyone see the half-time show for the SuperBowl? I thought it was amazing. I had goosebumps from it too, it was extremely moving. I remember specifically thinking, 'God, I hope bassman isn't missing this..'. U2 is such an amazing band. I can't think of a more suitable band playing that night, other than maybe, just maybe, Jon Bon Jovi. But the guitar alone, the solo during the intro of 'streets' -- it was just too good. I don't think even Livin' On A Prayer would have been as good.