Weddings

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shadow of Angels

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

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

Shadow of Angels by Building 429

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

News

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

:D

Smorgasbord

I've always liked the word smorgasbord.

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

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

Bonding

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

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

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

Sunday

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

At our church it's like this:

Singing - 4-5 songs

Prayer

Scripture reading

Sermon

Response by song

Offering

Doxology/Benediction

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

Worship

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

Revisiting David Crowder Band - Collision

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

Interview

My job interview is Thursday at 11:30am.

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

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

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

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

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

Real men

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Collision

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

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

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

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

I give this album a 2/10.

The reason

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Building 429

Rocks.

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

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

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

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

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

I'd give this album a 9/10.


Space In Between Us

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

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

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

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

mousaka

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mmmmmmm....mousaka

Lives another day

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

I'm indifferent about the whole thing.

Casting Crowns: Casting Crowns

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

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

If We Are The Body - Track 2

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

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

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

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

Jesus is the way

It's just a show

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Should we?

Raise

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I'd give it an 8/10.

Steps to making my voice sound good

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

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

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



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

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

..

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

Misc

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

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

...

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

BOOM HEADSHOT!!
BOOM HEADSHOT!!

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

...

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

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

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

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

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

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

CSI

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

What a great episode.. OH MY GOODNESS.

Get in, get out

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

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

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

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

Our time

I like my quiet time.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[God of Wrath by dc*b]

*ouch*

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

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

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

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

*Ack*

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

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

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

Yup, that's Motrin pain.

Matthew West

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

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


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


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

It's your fault!

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

"Hey look! It's Mike Myers!"

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

End of an era

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

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

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

Job

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

Fall Line-up

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

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

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

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


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

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

Saturday
See above.

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


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

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

You have to check this show out.

CDs, Lactose and Canadian Artists

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

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

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

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

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

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

Radio

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

Calm before the storm

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

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

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

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

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

*yawn*

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

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

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

Obsession

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

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

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

More reviews

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

More movies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4 Stitches

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

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

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

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

Las Vegas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Random thoughts

Some random tidbits before my vacation:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Not enough..

Time.

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

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

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

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

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

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

We put the time in, God does the rest.

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

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

Kepano chords

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

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

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

Take care,

-- Josh

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

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

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

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

Team

Romans 12:4-8 says:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Booger

We had this ongoing thing during the week about "boogers". The children had excessive amounts of booger and snot, on their faces or streaming out of their noses. At times if you looked at a kid, he may not even have a nostril -- there was so much booger that it was flush with the hole. We saw streams of boogers, booger bubbles, stuff hanging down, up.. you name it, every form of booger you've seen, they had it.

It was on them constantly, we'd wipe it off and more would come.

If a kid approached me in Toronto, covered in booger and filth, I would probably hold my breath and run for it. But these kids -- something about them... in Longlac, we'd just scoop them up and give them a big hug. I don't think there's ever been a time in my life where I was so glad to embrace booger.

There's a stain on my sweatshirt, two splotches of booger, dried and caked on the sleeve. I took a picture of it:

Respond

Jeremiah 29:11 says:

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

To answer the question -q- posed: Yes! I made the decision to return to Longlac next year, halfway through the "sign my book!" afternoon. So, barring any life-changing events or family emergencies, I am definitely returning to Longlac next summer.

I know, that the work we do paves the way for God to do His work. Meaning the times I felt like we weren't making significant changes to community were silly thoughts. Every little bit matters. I guess for me I still want to go back because I want to continue what we started. And maybe selfishly I feel like I want to see the results myself, or I want to go back do it some more. I think going back would give me a different perspective on the whole thing. I know that there was some hesitation on my part, since it was my first time. Things will be different next time.

For one thing, at least I'll know what a "debrief" is. :)

I find it ironic, that in all the years past I always felt like I wasn't ready for missions because I felt that spiritually I wasn't ready. As if a missions trip would squeeze out every last ounce of my spirit because I didn't have a whole lot to begin with. Or would take every last ounce for us to get the work we wanted to get done. When in fact I've been refilled by the Spirit. I've gone to the well and I've been replenished.

So in essence, from my point of view and understanding of a missions trip, I was part of the mission.

Called

My body is so sore. I woke this morning and tried to think about what I'd done in the last 8 days. I still have 2 more days of journaling to catch up on. I wish I was still back there. I wish I didn't have to go back to work on Tuesday.

From wiping boogers, to explaining to kids that throwing rocks is bad, to explaining the meaning of forgiveness to a child who only wants to ride on my back, I am tired and weary.. yet completely refreshed. We joking around the dinner table on the final night about how people might think we'd gone on a vacation because we were tanned, had (probably) put on a few pounds, and were refreshed.

The mission field is FUN! Who would have thought that, from all the jitters I had prior to going. To knowing that God's calling would be not just the right thing to do, but feel great in the process. God was so good to us during our trip. So many times we felt discouraged but things would fall into our laps and a disappointment would turn into a joyous occasion.

I have no pictures to share at this time. We got around 2 gigs worth of them, but still in the process of sorting them out. I have the responsibility to put together a slide show sometime between now and August 9, but I won't get them until August 5th. I have no idea how I'll finish it all in 4 days (with Yee Lee's wedding squashed in between) but I'm sure God will provide.

I do have some pics from my own camera (I was not one of the 'official' photographers).



This is Marshall. Everyone calls him Mojo though. Mojo was one of my favorite kids. He has at least 4-5 brothers and sisters that I know of, possibly more. One thing you learn after awhile on the reserve is that almost all the kids are related, either cousins or siblings. Mojo got a bite or something on the back of his head. It never got treated and eventually became infected. That was about 2 years ago. Now it's this gross looking hole in his head, surrounded by scabs, dirt and mold.



This is Kelsey, one of Mojo's little sisters. There was one day when it was really cold, about maybe 10-15 degrees, and we were all wearing our hoodies and fleeces on top. Kelsey came out dressed like it was 30 degrees outside. She was freezing cold so I wrapped her with my fleece. She wanted her mom so we carried her back to her house, but then she came out crying again because no one was home. So we carried her back. Turns out that no one is home until 4pm for those kids, so they basically take care of themselves (5-6 children) between 9-4pm (mom works at a store.. not sure where the dad is).



This is Marty, everyone's favorite little girl. Marty accepted Christ on Day 3. She'd been asking people to pray for her grandmother who was sick, and then we talked to her about Jesus and she decided to accept. Marty is one of 10-11 brothers and sisters. One of her grandmothers is the chief (Chief Veronica). One thing about Marty is that she is always happy, running around, tickling us and asking for hugs and shoulder/back rides. If there's a reason why my shoulders hurt so much right now, it's probably because of her.



This is Junior. He has an older brother named Jayden. Jayden has one arm that doesn't really work -- he gets picked on because of this, but he does his best to protect his little brother. Junior was the first boy I connected with, on the first day that we arrived there. We sat on this big round rug in the middle of the baseball field with a whole bunch of other kids, and I let Junior and Jayden color my shoes with chalk. Junior has this smile that melts your heart when he does it. On the last day I sat with him and made him his necklace with colored beads. I explained him the meanings of each of the colors (black, red, white, green, gold) -- about sin, Jesus' blood, purity, growth and heaven. Afterwards he just looked up at me and said these words that I'll never forget: "Can I get on your back?"

Our team grew together and really started to mesh on Saturday (Day 3). We became this well-oiled machine that helped and supported eachother in times of joy and grief. I think we all realized at some point that God was really working on the reserve, despite the desperation and poverty they live in.

That part hit me when we had a community bbq on Friday, the last day for the previous mission team from Jaffrey and MCPC. We had about 150 burgers and had to go and buy more. Kids ate like they hadn't eaten in days, someone about Mojo's size would eat 2 burgers at least. They were really scarfing them down, and some kids tried to get more to take home. It was then that it hit me how bad it was, how hungry the kids were, how thirsty they were. We brought 160 drink boxes and they were all gone within the first hour.

I'll continue this later..

Wedding Crashers

This was a really funny movie. Given my mood I needed a good laugh and yes, it was a good laugh. It was hilarious!!

However, I do feel embarassed for bringing my brother. This was an R rated movie, and very well close to an X rated movie. I'm ashamed for bringing my brother to see it, and yet it was worth it, in my own selfish way, since I needed the laughs.

I would have to say that as a Christian, I cannot recommend this movie to anyone. It would be completely irresponsible for me to tell someone to go see this movie. The language and sexual themes are completely inappropriate for persons of all ages. On a morality scale where 1 is bad and 10 is good, this movie gets 1. It was a dirty, dirty movie.

Story-wise, it was completely predictable. Well to be honest I wasn't expecting much except a really good laugher. I mean, even Something About Mary had a more creative story than this. Zoolander, even.

Owen Wilson is not a great leading man. He just looks and sounds funny, because o his broken nose and surfer accent. I found Vince Vaughn way funnier. And holy cow, how tall is this guy? He's a giant!

And Rachel McAdams ... when she smiles, it makes me smile. I suppose that if she said nothing in the entire movie and just smiled, that'd be enough for me. Claire Cleary is basically a less adventurous Allie Hamilton (The Notebook). Another girl that the protagonist wants but can't have, but gets her in the end.

Isla Fisher, first time I've seen her. Her character Gloria Cleary was a bit over the top. But hilarious.

Christopher Walken... no "special moments" for Walken.

There's a special cameo appearance towards the end of the film, watch for it. I heard people cheering when she/he appeared.

Oh, and make sure you sit til the end (through the credits). Some funny stuff at the end.

Overall, I give the movie a 6/10 because of the total 'wrongness' of the entire theme, language and nudity. I found Mr. & Mrs. Smith funnier, and that movie was a lot cleaner.

Boo-hoo

I cried all weekend.

First, Friday night I cried from my brother kickin' my arse in Bomberman. Tried as I might I could not beat him.. it was really frustrating, so I switched in GoldenEye so I could teach him a lesson. But we quickly got bored of that cuz I was rocking him so hard, so we played some co-operative Smash Bros, and were able to beat two level 5 CPUs, something Eric and I were never able to pull off. We did it with foreign characters too (not the ones we usually use), to prove we could do it. Level 6 will be tough..

Saturday night I was crying (no seriously, this time was for real), from "Cinderella Man", a movie starring Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger, and directed by Ron Howard.

"Cinderella Man" was a great movie, very very inspirational, and my tears were tears of joy. It was a 'triumphant' movie. Based on the true story of James J Braddock, a boxer who defied odds and gave hope to a nation during the Great Depression. I especially liked their depiction of life during those times, how difficult it was. They painted a pretty grim picture of how bad it was back in those days.

At the end of the movie I wanted to shout and cheer, because it was just so exciting!

Interesting note, 90% of the viewers were old retired people who had trouble walking up the stairs. I noted to my brother that all those people were probably around during the Depression and must've known what it was like. They all came out of the movie glassy-eyed so I assume it must've been pretty accurate. Then again maybe they all had cataracts... :)

Sunday afternoon I attended Edmund & Cecilia's farewell party, and there were some people who expressed words of thanks and praise for having been part of E&C's life. There were some very touching moments, especially when Cecilia's sister Mary went up to speak. I didn't know they were sisters. It was a very heartfelt speech, full of tears of joy and sadness of the impending 4 years of separation. I find that when people talk about things, and if you can picture yourself in that situation, it can be very very moving.

Mary's talk reminded me of the final day 2 years ago when my brother moved away, and how emotional that morning was for me as I left home for work, knowing I wouldn't see Darryl again for at least 6 months. So when she started losing her composure it totally reminded me of that day.

There would be no pie-throwing on this afternoon.

Afterwards everyone gave them words of encouragement and lined up to give them hugs, pictures and cards. Cecilia brought a ton of stuff that they couldn't take with them, so it was a free-for-all. I felt really bad about the whole thing because people were basically rummaging through for freebies -- it felt like robbing a person of their past memories. That said, I picked up a Bryan Adams CD, my mom got some nice scented candles and gift bags.

It was a little funny how everyone was saying their goodbyes, crying and hugging -- even though they're not leaving for another 3-4 weeks.

Book With No Words

Here's one of the secular tracks (track 3) of the cd "Live" by Kepano Green. I'm sure many of us have experienced what Josh Kauffman writes about in this song. I really like the instrumentals in their stuff -- it's simple and yet complex enough to sound really nice, and I really like the harmony -- it's great practice singing along :P

One, two, three o'clock
And I can't sleep
I wonder where you are tonight
Nightmare, fantasies
Trouble me
I wonder where you are tonight

And oh, it could take some time
Til I let you go
Til I lose this feelin'

Like a book with no words with no pages
I'm all out of language
I've nothing to say
And I wonder where you are

Tonight if I saw you again
I would look in the deepest part of your blue eyes
And if only I could find
Love

Church bells break the silence
Across the street
And I wonder where you are tonight

It's a hot southern summer time
And you're not here with me
And I wonder where you are tonight

And oh, it could take some time
Til I let you go
Til I lose this feelin'

Like a book with no words on the pages
I'm all out of language
I've nothing to say
And I wonder where you are

Tonight if I saw you again
I would look in the deepest part of your blue eyes
And if only I could find
Love

noob

Ecstasy

My brother is home!

Darryl and I played some GameCube last night and it was so much fun. And then after gaming, we had Swiss Chalet, and then after that, we played more GameCube. After that I let him play Teller on WoW while I used to his laptop to prepare worship songs for Longlac.

Then after that, I realised I couldn't do it myself so I called him over and he helped me pick songs. Then after that, we jammed. He's learning guitar so fast!

Kepano Green

My brother brought a couple of CDs to show me, since they aren't available here. I'm currently listening to the first one, it's called "Live". The church that my parents go to in Vegas is called South Hills Community Church -- They've invited people to come play for them in the past, and Kepano Green was invited to play in April.

Aside: Cool idea. You pay an up-and-coming artist to come play, and in return they get some exposure to the market and some CD sales. Too bad all the good "new" artists are coming from the southern bible belt and not from Canada.

Kepano Green is an acoustic duo, basically two guys with guitars. One sings, the other harmonizes, and they both play guitar. One of the guys can also play piano. They have other band member that take care of the percussions and strings (if needed), however for their performance and South Hills, my brother said it was just the two of them with guitars.

"Live" was made in 1998, so they're not that new, although still 'unknown'.

I'll post a song up when I get a chance.

Steal of the draft

After 4 games of summer league, I'm so far convinced that Uros Slokar was the steal of the draft. He has thus far outperformed our other draft picks, and considering he was taken #58th overall, that's not too shabby. Not too shabby at all.

In 3 games, CV3 shot 48%, averaging 5.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.7 steawls, and 17.7 points per game. Graham shot just 38%, but avgerage 5.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.8 steals, and 14.5 points per game in 4 games.

By comparison, Uros Slokar's numbers:
65% from the field, 14.3 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 0.8 assists, 1.0 steals.

Sleepyhead

I've been really sleepy lately. It all started Wednesday night after dinner with Kenric and his family. But at the time, I thought it was the alcohol (red wine). Since then it hasn't really stopped, this feeling of tiredness. It hits me randomly and when it hits.. I can't describe it except that when it hits me it's like a wall. It feels like that groggy sensation you get when someone calls you in the middle of a nap.. after you just pulled an all-nighter.

It hit me Thursday morning, I could not wake up that morning, ended up calling in sick. Then it hit me again while I was at Yee Lee's on Thursday night after worship practice, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to drive home that night.

Then it got me again on Friday and around lunchtime.

On Saturday it got me during the dodgeball tournament, I had to go home to nap after the tourney instead of joining Stan's bachelor party.

Sunday was refreshing though, it never came. My theory is that I'm not getting enough iron. I had a prime rib burger the night before at Stan & Yee Lee's Jack & Jill party (more on that later), and then survived most of Sunday without any "sleep attacks".

Dodgeball

The dodgeball tournament worked out very well. We had a great turnout of people and it wasn't just the participants. People came to watch and support this fundraising event. It was really great. The teens won the whole thing, getting a chance to play against the Pastoral team. Kinson got his pinky dislocated!!

Prizes were hilarious stuff, all donated to us for this event. We had about 25 Schick Quattro razors from someone who worked for Schick. There were autographed Raptor hats. T-Shirts. A folding lawn chair, and a usb pen.

Stan came with his bachelor buddies with a chain tied around his ankle and a heavy ball connected ("Ball and Chain"), which said "Y L 120". I thought that the ball was pretty funny. He had to play with it on, so it he was pretty handicapped.

I ran into some difficulty trying to figure out how the playoffs would work because we had 9 teams entered, but it worked out in the end by eliminating Stan's team. Instead we allowed the pastoral team to warmup against Stan, who was blindfolded for this particular match. It funny seeing the pastors try to lob the ball so that it'd hit Stan in the head.

We ended up raising far more than we had expected. Praise God for the generous hearts of those involved, those who gave well over the $30/team fee. It was an excellent day and I am grateful for those who helped out and participated.

Stan & Yee Lee's Jack & Jill Party

They had the party at a place called Warden House. It was a really nice place, it was a two-story house situated just north of Apple Creek on Warden. It had a nice yard, very quiet, lots of chairs and tables. I was thinking it might have been placed there as a historical thing but then converted into a party/functions house for rent.

The party itself was good, they had invited a lot of their friends and there was good food and conversations going on. It was a happy time for the both of them to see their friends and family mingling and eating together. This was my first Jack & Jill, I didn't really know what to expect. I thought we'd sit around and just bring up stories about the happy couple, like fond or funny memories of them.

It wasn't anything like that though, in fact by the end of it, it turned pretty ugly. But before that, to describe some of the games they played.

I got there late because I didn't read the invitation and had gone to Yee Lee's home instead (oops).

First game (that I saw) was the good ol' flour tower game, where they have an upside-down tower of flour, with a candy at the top. So you attempt to cut as many chunks out of the tower without letting the candy fall. Stan's (groom party) team lost, and Stan had to retrieve it using nothing but his mouth. Stan's best man and brother lifted the table up to ensure that Stan would get a face full of flour.

Second game was putting together a tux/dress out of plastric garbage bags, tissues and toilet paper. Afterwards they blindfolded Stan and had them appear before eachother. They were both pretty good.

I got a chance to talk to Fu about his experiences in London during the bombing. He was pretty non-chalent about the whole thing. London's more "prepared" for this sort of thing because of the constant threat they already have from the IRA. But you can never really be fully prepared.

So anyway, as the night was finally winding down, that's when it got ugly. Ugly, at least, from my point of view. You see, the latest "craze" around here is "pieing". Where you throw this large hunk of whipped cream into someone's face and get a big laugh out of it. Oh, believe me it's a riot, there's nothing like humiliating others for ones own benefit. I'm sure you can sense my sarcasm, but hold on, there's more -- some people decided it'd be a great idea to get the happy couple. Read the following for more fun and entertainment!

Pieing is where you fill this plate full of whipped cream and you throw it in a person's face. Everyone gets a good laugh out of it except the victim, and then years from now they can all say "Hey, do you remember the time when I threw whipped cream in your face? That was fun! Oh.. the memories." (picture now someone reminiscing and then tears well up in their eyes)

Sarcasm aside, what happened was they decided to "celebrate" with Stan first. They got him right in the face as they deceived them into posing for a picture. Woot, good fun.

Then Yee Lee, clearly not wanting to be humiliated and covered in sugar, tried make a break for it when she realized that it was, (apparently) her turn. But luckily for her, her "friends" held her in place, blocking her escape. Then, her "friends" decided to deceive her again, telling her that they weren't going to do it, gave her the pie. And then with one swift motion, turned the tables and smashed it into her face.

Ah, friends. What class. Come celebrate with us!

Someone standing beside me watching this travesty blurted out "Man, you just don't do that to a girl." No sir, you're wrong about that, you just don't do that to *anyone*, period. And yet there it was, in plain view of everyone, it happened. People were snapping pictures, howling in laughter. No I'm not kidding -- people were actually howling.

Anyway, eventually everything settled down and they washed themselves off, and came out and thanked everyone for coming. Aside from the ugliness, it was a good time of fellowshipping.

Praise God for bringing these two together!

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PostSecret

I found this site today. People send postcards to this person and he posts them on his blog. Each postcard reveal a secret that the sender has been keeping about themselves.

PostSecret

It's kind of depressing but also serves as a reminder of how many people there are out there who need God.

Discussion: War of the Worlds (Spoiler)

I had a discussion about the ending of War of the Worlds (WOTW) with my co-worker, an older guy to give me his perspective on both the book and the movie. Basically what he wanted to get across to me was that although it may seem like a cop-out, when you consider when the book was written and what the point of the movie was, it wasn't really a cop-out at all.

After talking to him, I did my own bit of research. The book was written in 1898. This means the story is over a century old. Also consider other Science Fiction movies, they follow a similar "cop-out" ending. I was immediately reminded of the movie "Signs", when aliens attacked and were ultimately defeated by coming into contact with water. That was pretty disappointing. Moreover, the concept of water being their weakness was kind of unbelievable -- why would they invade a planet that is 80% water. They should have died when they travelled through our atmosphere. Or Independance Day, where all it took was to fly into the big gun of each of the big saucers. Also the use of a computer "virus" to "infect" the entire collective.

The narrator for WOTW offers a hint of the eventual demise of the alien invasion -- the images of amoebae in the beginning. Amoebic dysentery, which is essentially food poisoning -- consuming contaminated food that causes severe diarrhea. Now putting the pieces together, the aliens ate the humans by sucking their blood -- so we were their "food", and since many of us carry various 'contaminations', it was the aliens who suffered this amoebix dysentery --- they suffered from food poisoning.

It's interesting actually that after the WOTW I joked with Kenric that the disease that beat the aliens may have been common cold. The fact is in the original book, it *was* the common cold that beat them.

Another key issue is that back in 1898, we are talking about a time before "modern medicine", in which even humanity was suffering from several kinds of diseases that we have found cures, vaccines for since those days. For example, Penicillin wasn't invented/discovered until 1928.

So considering all the of the factors (of the original story, when it was written, and Spielberg's responsibility to preserve the essence of the book) the ending wasn't so bad. We take for granted things that we now have that people in 1898 didn't.

Weekend

I get this rash in the summertime, on my arms and my knees and sometimes thighs. This year is worse than ever, if I scratch it even slightly, little bumps for all over it. It looks pretty gross.

It's like MASS itchy, even right now. Sitting a work all I can think about it not scratching it.

Friday

This past long weekend has been excellent. It was a fun-filled weekend with tons of gaming and hanging out with friends. On Friday, Kev and I helped finish painting Eric and Nic's place.

Funny moment: Before we started painting Kevin told me and Eric that he was going to change into some "girlie clothes". We looked at eachother and were like "did we just hear him say girlie clothes?" and then back at Kev and were like "what?!". He went to the bathroom, changed and came back out. Turns out he said "dirty clothes".

After one coat, we played Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory co-operative mode on Eric's Xbox. After painting, we (Nicole, Eric, Kev, me) went to Congee Wong's for dinner. We also called up akt and Gladys. It was 8pm so we figured it wouldn't be too bad but it was still packed. We ended up having to share the table with two other people, looked like a mother and son, but the son was older than us.

Funny moment: When akt arrived she walked up to us and then for some reason smiled and acknowledged the other two people at our table. Then she sat down between them and Nicole. After sitting down, she turned to them again, smiled and said hi. Then she turned to Nicole and asked her if they were her parents... Nicole explained they were just a couple who were sharing our table. HAHAHA.. we all bursted out laughing at her. She was so embarrassed!! FUN-NY!

After dinner, Gladys, Nicole, Eric and I went to my place to watch fireworks from my mom's room. The Mel Lastman Square fireworks were pathetic compared to ones that were way off in the distance. (Western Toronto).

Saturday

I spent the morning farming Dark Iron Ore with Smee, and managed to make about 140 gold in 4 hours. If I wasn't so darn busy this coming week, I would probably have my epic mount by Friday. Instead it'll probably take a couple weeks at least.

In the afternoon, I went over to Eric's and brought leftover Congee Wong food there as my lunch. After I finished, I was still a little hungry and had pasta made by Nicole. It was soooo good. The sauce was *amazing*..

That night we had jamming. In attendance: Duncan, Jon, Drew, Serena, Nancy, Eric, Nicole.

I got a call at 11pm from Nate, reminding me to get the waiver form for Dodgeball finished up. I stayed up til 1:30am working on it. Something I discovered that night was that OpenOffice (an open source program similar to Microsoft Office) does pretty much the same thing as MS-Office. I had noticed some limitations before but it just takes some learning. Best $0 I ever spent (considering MS Office costs, what, $500?).

Sunday

Technically that last paragraph could go here, since it was Sunday morning. Anyway, I woke up earlier on Sunday to print out the waiver and get the finishing touches on it. Ended up getting to church late because I remembered it was Church Picnic day and had to run back to my room to get a change of clothes.

Pastor Ian spoke about obeying God and despite sacrifices we make to obey, to remember the blessings that come afterwards. I slept through most of it.

We are getting about 4-5 teams in the dodgeball tournament, which is pretty disappointing considering that we had about 3 weeks worth of promoting the event. The Dodgeball Tournament is to raise money for Longlac. We needed about $4500 the last I checked, with less than 3 weeks before we go. 5 teams = $150. Not great considering we made just as much for the bake sale at the ministry fair.

Surely God will provide in the end, but often I feel that people don't put enough emphasis on missions giving. Missions giving isn't like giving $5 to the Cancer/AIDS/UNICEF/United Way who goes door-to-door. First of all those organizations go door-to-door, their market share is every single household in North America. Missions is limited to those in your church congregation. Plus, the cause is *way* more important than that other stuff.

Anyway..

War of the Worlds

I knew this would be a good movie because Tom Cruise = Good movie. This is a well-known fact so I wasn't worried about going to see a stinker, like say, if it was a Ben Affleck or Colin Farrell movie. Btw, I have a new name to add to this list but I will talk about it at a later time.

The movie was frigging exciting. I was on the edge of my seat from pretty much 5 minutes into the movie until 10 minutes from the end. The end seemed like a major cop out but not different from many Sci-Fi movies out there. Science Fiction always like to teach people things and this movie was no different.

Tom Cruise showed a vulnerable side that I had not seen him play before, as a father struggling to earn the respect and love of his kids, a man who had disappointed his children so many times that they no longer looked at him like a father. And the regret of a man who realizes this and knows there's nothing he can do about the past. It was a very convincing performance -- as usual.

Dakota Fanning has a very bright future ahead of her. This little girl can flat out act. After seeing her in this movie, and her role in I Am Sam, I am convinced that she has more acting ability than likely 90% of all performers in America. I can only assume that she'll get better and better.

I give this movie a 10/10. I liked this movie better than Batman. It was as entertaining as Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but it different genres are hard to compare.