CN Tower Climb for the United Way

Woke up bright and early this morning at 5:45 AM to do the CN Tower Climb. It wasn't super tough, but it was still a fun challenge. I managed to make it up in a somewhat respectable 23m04s. Not bad for the first time, I guess. I want to break 20mins next time! Definitely can't compare to Andrew, who made it up in just over 16mins. Anyway, I just want to especially thank everyone who sponsored me and supported the United Way. I was swept away by everyone's generosity and I was able to raise $325! THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE!

If you'd like, you may still sponsor me and contribute more to the United Way campaign by clicking here.

Kenric, Andrew & Duncan 

Andrew - 16m16s 

World Press Photo 04 Exhibition

This afternoon, I went down to BCE Place to check out the World Press Photo 04 Exhibition with Andrew and Tim. It’s a presentation of events/happenings over the last year (2003). They were simply powerful and stunning. It’s amazing how pictures can really capture so many emotions and tell joyful, yet often sad stories. Obviously, one of the most captivating events was the war of Iraq. Seeing those pictures really hit home how much tragedy, violence & injustice there is out there. It made me quite sad and angry...

Unfortunately, the exhibition is now over. If you get a chance next year, it's definitely worth your while to check it out...

Here is the winning photo:

Justice?

Man charged in Cecilia's slaying (Click to read article.)

I pray that the Zhang family may finally begin to get some closure to this horrible tragedy.

SOURCE: http://www.ceciliazhang.org

and i thought this only happened on my old softball team :P

during my floor hockey game tonight, this guy on my team actually answers his cell phone--WHILE THE PLAY IS STILL GOING ON! i was shaking my head in disbelief... sheesh...

anyway, it was a pretty tough night 'cause we had some people on vacation or injured, so we were short. plus, it was so humid and nasty tonight. i was sweating just standing around. :P then even before the game starts, one of the girls get hit in the face with a ball. (she was fine after...) ugh, and then i collided with a girl on the other team and we bumped noggins. my head actually still hurts right now and i just realized that my cheek is swelling up a bit. argh, i hope it'll be better by saturday morning at kris and marion's wedding.

Don't get me wrong, I don't know what I'd do without the internet, e-mail, or MSN, but sometimes I just miss the good ol' days where we'd all talk to each other face-to-face or, at worse, by phone. In today's fast-paced environment and need to multi-task, I am often so reliant on technology that developing and maintaining friendships is quite a different challenge.

Not that long ago, I would regularly go out with friends to coffee shops, hang out at parks, get together for dinners, or meet up to play board games/sports. We would use these occasions to catch up with one another about family, school, work, etc, pray / share with another, or just 'shoot the breeze'. Now, many of these things that I've mentioned we still do together, but much less frequently. And in the process, it seems that we have lost some of our 'social' skills.

Conversations are briefer and with less 'substance'. Instead of doing things that encourage chatter, we prefer to do activities (e.g. renting movies) that require little or no interaction. Going out to dinner seems to be more for function (i.e. to eat/drink), rather than an opportunity chitchat and share. Gatherings can often include more 'moments of silence', where you can literally hear the crickets chirping, until someone breaks the ice with a, "how 'bout those Raptors?" :D Either we don't know what to talk about anymore, or we're just all afraid to 'open up'. :P Also, with the amount of time that we spend in front of our computer screens--and I am guilty of that--talking to each other nowadays often means e-mailing each other or instant messaging. I'll concede that these inventions have allowed me to maintain contact with more people and keep in touch in especially long distance friendships. However, sometimes I think I've gained quantity at the expense of quality. There are many people I know, but there are also many whom I don't really know.

I've also found that there are commonly more instances of miscommunication. By talking to each other, people can see eye-to-eye, read facial expressions, listen to tone of voice, or even directly respond. In instant messaging, I find that it's really easy to misread things. Misusing a word or not typing fast enough to respond to the right line in a conversation are recipes for misinterpretation. Chatting through MSN, I could be wrongly imagining someone else's tone of voice or intention. E-mailing or blogging, like I am now, is one-way and might be used for ranting or venting frustrations, but doesn't allow for much reciprocation. It's quite easy to misread someone else's words without the chance to immediately ask a person to clarify/explain what they meant. I've been on both sides. I've wrongly assumed or read too much another person's thoughts or feelings, because I misread a MSN conversation. Conversely, others have mistaken my intentions because they took an e-mail out of context.

Anyway, so am I getting anti-social? No, at least I don't think so. :P I still have many friends whom I can get together with, hang out and talk to each other in meaningful ways. Still, there are times I'm a little disappointed that some other friendships are virtually online. I feel that those friendships could really grow and thrive if developed the 'old fashion' way. :)

And so I digress...

an ultimate jackass

"Spirit of the Game - Ultimate has traditionally relied upon a spirit of sportsmanship which places the responsibility for fair play on the player himself. Highly competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of the bond of mutual respect between players, adherence to the agreed-upon rules of the game, or the basic joy of play."

it's funny how serious some people can take a game that is mainly for fun and relies on the honour system. i would have never expected a game that involves a frisbee, or flying disc, at the recreational level would get ugly. in our game tonight, we had to deal with a 'crybaby' on the other team. it was pretty ridiculous. although there is not supposed to be any contact during the game, much of time there is a little bit of 'incidental' contact as we jump for the disc. however this poor sport just wouldn't give up grumbling and whining about every play during the game, just 'cause he got 'bumped' a little. even though his team was already beating us, at one point, he even accused us of making up rules to try to keep the disc. for some of us, it got to the point that we wanted to 'accidentally' run him over just to shut him up--ok, maybe not, but that's what we were thinking. :) anyhow, the rest of his team was pretty fair and sportsmanlike. but it just sucks when there's one rotten apple who gave a bit of a sour note to our game.

still, it was an successful night for our team. we fought it out 'til the sweaty end, but we lost by a hair 14-13. although we couldn't pull out the win, we managed to score more in one night than our first 3 games combined! and our confidence in throwing the disc to each other was much better. with a little more practice, we'll be sure to pull out our first win soon... knock on wood... :)

A: Sitting around a table, filling pieces of dough with meat/vegetables.Q: What is a dumpling party?

jacqueline invites me over to her place for dinner last night to enjoy dumplings with her and her roommate. hesitantly, i accept 'cause it's apparently the first time they're trying this and they don't usually cook either. :) what i fail to realize though is that i actually have to make my own or else i won't eat! (and i thought i would be served... hehe...)

i don't even remember the last time i tried making that stuff from scratch. (nowadays, i usually cook the pre-packaged stuff from the supermarket.) when i was younger, i tried to make some along with my mom and my grandma, but after a few minutes my mom just yelled at me to go away 'cause i was too slow, they were too ugly, or they just fell apart. evidently, my skill/dexterity for making them has not improved at all. while everyone else would be churning them out with regularity, i would be lucky to produce just 1 every 3 minutes or so. i think if i was in a plant, i would have been fired already. :)

nonetheless, it was fun sitting around the table chatting with one another as we got our hands dirty. it turns out too the other guy at our mini-party was somebody whom i'm acquainted with through softball in my sunday night league--thomas from CHAOS. what a small world. i guess once you've played enough ccsa, spn tournaments or whatever, everyone knows each other. (darn, i just realized that i should have gotten some softball tips from him... hehe...) anyway, we even got a chance to watch an episode of jeopardy! and the incredible ken jennings. this is the guy who has won 33 games (and counting) in a row and over a million dollars. i've only seen him play a couple of times, but i'm amazed at how easily he conquered/destroyed his opponents. he seems to have this great vault of knowledge, can pulls facts out of his ass, and is lightning quick on the buzzer. he 'questions' every 'answer' confidently and even knows how to make jokes.

anyhow, we finally started eating at around 9 or so. they were actually really good and hit the spot. after our hard work, we deserved it. :D i can't wait to do this again...

King Arthur

After softball practice last night, the plan was to watch Anchorman. I was pretty excited about seeing that movie. Not for the quality, of course, but I've been busy and exhausted lately, so I was looking for something funny / light. Unfortunately, those plans didn't work out as the movie was SOLD OUT. With the summer now upon us and school done, we forgot to take into account that there are going to be a lot more kids staying out later.

Anyway, we didn't want the night to go completely to waste, so Brian, Ken, Kevin and I decided to stay and watch King Arthur. I hadn't heard many good reviews, so I wasn't expecting much. Naturally, I wasn't proven wrong. The premise itself was interesting 'cause the setting was more like Braveheart, instead of the typical fairy-tale atmosphere. However, the dialogue was meaningless, the action scenes were way too long and drawn out, and Guinevere was such a silly/pointless character--unless you have a thing for Keira Knightley and S&M. It's one of those movies that will be utterly forgettable. Even as I'm writing this, I can't remember one good line.

In retrospect, we should have gone to see Spider-Man 2 or Fahrenheit 9/11 again... even White Chicks. :D

Thunder Bay - Photos

Pictures of my Thunder Bay trip...

A Big Fat Greek Orthodox Wedding

A totally different experience from other weddings that I've been to. Most of the modern weddings I've been to are very personal in nature, where the bride and groom say their own vows and/or the officiating minister gives a personal message. The wedding also usually involves a particular theme to the couple's liking.

On the other hand, the Greek Orthodox wedding ceremony was an extremely traditional, yet beautiful service. It's more of a ritual 'cause everything was scripted. The program they handed out was like a script for a play--15 pages long! :) The priest recites/sings everything to the couple to bless them in their marriage, and another priest responds in song. (Imagine reading a Shakepeare play, but making every line sound like a verse in a song.) During the ceremony there were many acts/rites that symbolize, I believe, the GO faith. The bride and groom actually say little or nothing and are there just to participate. Even though it was only about an hour long, it seemed like forever. Thankfully, I decided to read along ('cause two-thirds of the ceremony was in Greek), or else I would have fallen asleep just like my mom. :) A funny thing too at the end of the service--even before the bridal party and their family had left the sanctuary, the janitorial staff was already ripping down the decorations. I wonder what all the rush was?... :)

Nite it Up! Asian Night Market 2004

I guess with the success of the numerous cultural festivals (e.g. Taste of the Danforth, Corsa Italia Fiesta, etc.) across Toronto over the summer, sooner or later the Chinese community is bound to cash in. :) Tonight I went to check out the Asian Night Market (It's actually already been around for 3 years) at Metro Square with Anita and Ben.

It was absolutely crazy out there as most of the Asian population in northern Toronto showed up. Finding parking was ridiculous. I must have bumped into around 20 different people from various stages of life--former housemates, Waterloo friends, church friends, aunties/uncles and even my own brother. Jam-packed into the plaza's parking lot, there were various festivities/activities going on: a basketball tournament, a ball hockey tournament, cheesy 'Midway'-type games, stage performances like singing, dancing and even rapping. (It's hilarious seeing Chinese people act like 'chiggers'. If there were real rappers in the audience, they'd get their asses kicked. :lol:)

The best (or some say the worst...i'll get to that in a sec) part of the market was the food. We tried various types of food offered at the tents--Korean pancakes, curry beef/fish balls, teriyaki skewers, bubble tea, and sesame balls. However, the one thing that everyone will remember, whether you like it or not is the, is 'chow-tofu' (a.k.a. Stinky Tofu). For those who don't know, it's deep-fried fermented tofu that has this incredibly wretched smell. I can't begin to describe it, but as one person put it, "the smell is pungent and heavy, reminiscent of fish sauce, and seemed to greet us physically, like a hug from a musty bum." Many people walked through the crowd covering their faces and you could constantly hear people yell out, "It smells like sh*t." :) I guess you either love it or hate it 'cause amazingly, it's the one thing that everyone seems to line up for too. The line to get this stuff was around the corner, people must have had to wait about 20 mins just to get them. On this night, none of us were brave enough to try it. Maybe next year. That's a BIG maybe.

Anyway, time for bed. Actually shower first 'cause I STINK. :p

Kris & Marion's Jack and Jill

This afternoon was Kris & Marion's 'surprise' Jack and Jill party. Actually it wasn't much of a surprise 'cause Kris already knew, many people didn't do a very good job of 'hiding' their cars, and Jimmy was standing in the middle of the hallway when Marion walked in. :)

It's pretty interesting when you try to mix up all of the various groups of friends together. We had Marion's work friends, Mcgill friends, church friends and the older 'aunties'. It's kinda difficult to mingle people 'cause everyone is of different age and background. As expected, people kinda stuck to their own group. :)

Anyway, it was still a fun afternoon. We had a good time chatting and eating, playing some games, and opening gifts. It's funny how weddings seem to be mostly geared toward the brides. The guys just need to be there and smile. Even though it was suggested that people bring gifts for the kitchen (Marion) or the tool shed (Kris), as it turned out 90% of them were kitchen-related items. Kris' eyes would light up when they received anything that was 'manly'.

Another year older...

Yesterday I celebrated my 26th birthday… :)... The last year has gone by pretty quickly, especially since I've been working... Praise God... ;)

My day started off with my mom coming to my room and giving me a red envelope ('Lai Si' ). Yay! It's always exciting to get them... :)

At lunch, Jacqueline took me out to Sushi Bong for my favourite... Japanese food... yummm... It was funny though 'cause Jacqueline decides to tell the owners it's my birthday. Mr. Bong, who knows me through my mom, rummages around his shelf and gives me a big Swiss chocolate bar as a birthday gift. I thought it was hilarious 'cause it was probably given to him by another customer and I wonder how long it's been sitting on his shelf. :) Still, it was a nice/thoughtful gesture on his part.

Jeanne then picked me up from work and we stopped by Cafe Maxim's on the way home. We were only gonna stop for a drink, but we ended up having dinner and dessert. We caught up with each other about our long weekends over smoked salmon salad, chicken wings and chicken fingers. A strange combination, I guess, but tasty nonetheless. To top it off, we had Mango Cheesecake and Strawberry Almond Meringue served with coffee... I was starting to get sick/sleepy thanks to all the food I ate.

After the unexpected dinner, I quickly tried to swing by softball practice. I was so LATE... :P... I did manage to get in some batting practice and test my arm out a bit, which I dislocated a couple of weeks ago. Ugh. After practice, my team also surprised me with a chocolate 'birthday' log cake. :) It was very sweet of them to do that.

To end the night, Ben got a few people together at Milestone's for drinks. Kevin, Brian, Wayne, Gaston, Nicole, Eric, Jimmy & Tracy all came out... I had a big glass (or jug as some would like to call it) of Hoegaarden and shared some Spinach & Artichoke Dip... Good times, good drinks & good food!

Anyway, thanks again to everyone for helping to celebrate my birthday!--including those who called, left messages and/or sent cards. It was greatly appreciated and it will make the rest of my week a breeze to get through... I probably ate way too much food yesterday, but what better way to enjoy one's birthday than by eating with friends?! :)

Thunder Bay - Wrap-up

All in all, it was an excellent trip. Everything seemed to work out perfectly...

Again, both Nicole and I were so glad that we didn't end up driving back and forth from Thunder Bay. We were so grateful that we essentially saved ourselves around 35+ hours of driving and could relax/sleep on the plane. And like I said before, we had much more time and energy to spend with Tim. Tim was a great host by letting us stay at his place and renting a car to show us around the city/area.

The weather ended up being reasonably good while we were up there. Tim had mentioned that there had many gloomy and rainy days during first few weeks he was there. We were fortunate to have a good couple of days of sunshine to enjoy the fireworks and hiking.

Personally, it was just a good time to get away too. It's been quite a while since I last went on a 'trip/vacation' where I could just be a 'tourist' and enjoy the city. :) I was glad that I didn't have to think about work, softball, and other so-called stresses in my life. It was great peace of mind to go out and spend time in such a beautiful environment appreciate God's creations.

Most of all, I was thankful for the valuable fellowship time Tim, Nicole and even Dom. It was good to see Tim and catch up with him a bit after two months. And I'm sure Tim was glad to see some Asian folk again. :) It was also fun to hang out with Nicole, whom I really only knew from church and softball. Although, we only got to see Dom for a couple of hours, it was nice to talk to him in person about his missions trip, instead of just reading about it in the church bulletin. I think that Dom too enjoyed our company as it was his last chance to get some relaxation before his hectic week ahead. It just worked out well for everyone involved and I know that God had a hand in getting us together. :)

What a great way to start off the summer months...

Thunder Bay - Day Four

Sunday turned out to be another pretty crazy day. We tried to do as much as possible before our flight out at night. Our first stop was the Hoito, which is one the better known restaurants in Thunder Bay. Being a hotspot, the lineup to sit down was probably around 30-45 mins. Unfortunately, being a little strapped for time, we decided to go elsewhere and eat at an Irish pub. I ended up screwing up my diet 'cause I had a 'Traditional Irish Breakfast' which consisted of grilled ham, sausages, bacon, toast, 2 eggs, & potato cakes. I can still feel the grease trying to make their way through my system. Ugh.

Anyway, the afternoon was spent at Fort William Historical Park. It's pretty similar to Black Creek Pioneer Village in Toronto. Everyone was dressed up to depict life in the area in the 1800s. They also remained in character as we went around the site touring the various buildings. Everyone had fun pointing out Tim's unwise choice of wearing sandals on the rainy afternoon. They warned if he didn't fix the holes in his 'moccasins' that he would get foot rot and get it amputated. haha. Although the weather wasn't very cooperative, we still had lots of fun posing with the various tools and furnishings of the era... Boy, I really feel like I was at another school field trip. :)

For dinner we met up with Dom, who was on his way to Longlac #58 for a missions trip--a team from our church are heading up there to evangelize to people in the Aboriginal community. He was stunned to see me and wondering what the heck I was doing there when I went to greet him at the airport. Of all the places, who would have guessed that we would get a chance to meet up in Thunder Bay? :) The four of us really had a good dinner together talking about our stay here, Tim's work experiences up here and also Dom's concerns about his missions trip. Anita mentioned how amazing God is in that He gave us a chance to meet up with one another in Thunder Bay. You could tell that Dom was a little stressed after a long evening at his cousin's wedding and all the preparations he still had to do for the trip. Also, I think Tim was glad to finally see some familiar faces over the past couple of days. Even though our time was short together, God is good for providing us such valuable fellowship.

After dropping Dom off at the bus terminal, it was our turn to say goodbye to Tim and Thunder Bay. (Un)fortunately for Tim, it was not the last that he'd see of us. At the check-in, we discovered that our flight back had been delayed 2+ hours due to severe thunderstorms in Toronto. There's only so much you can browse through at the souvenir shop, so we gave Tim a call and he was nice enough to come back and hang out with us a bit longer. Amazingly, we packed in some more fun stuff with our extra hour here. First, we went down to the Marina and enjoyed some homemade ice cream. I had 'Apple Pie' and it was quite good 'cause it actually had real apple and crust in it. Then we headed out to Hillcrest Park where there was an incredible view of Sleeping Giant, so I was able to get some more great pics. Finally, we drove around a bit checking out more of the biking/hiking trails--too bad we didn't get a chance to actually go on them... I think if Toronto actually had the nature and scenery of Thunder Bay, I'd actually go walking/biking so much more often...

We finally flew out of Thunder Bay at around 9:45, but even after we landed there were still delays. With the back-ups still lingering from the afternoon, they couldn't find a gate to drop us off. haha. Thankfully, my mom was patient and nice enough to still pick us up from the airport. Anyhow, I finally got home at 12:30...

Well, it's been an exhaustive weekend, but tons of fun... Time to get some rest... :)

Thunder Bay - Day Three

Thankfully, Saturday was a little less hectic. We all slept in--if you can call waking up at 10:30 that. I did get a chance to watch some of the Women's Wimbledon Final though. Great match with Maria Sharapova outduelling Serena Williams. Many people have already hailed her as the next Anna Kournikova with one big difference--she can WIN. I can see why. She's got a pretty face, she's tall with long legs and I've heard that she's got a modelling contract already. I can't wait until she comes to Toronto next year! :) Even though I'm not the biggest Serena fan, I have to say that I was also pretty impressed by how she handled herself after a tough match. It's always nice to see someone be gracious in defeat, instead of dwelling on the negatives and acting like an ass. Anyhow...

After a quick lunch at the food court in the local mall, it was off to to the supermarket--The Real Canadian Superstore--'cause Tim was hosting some other SLP/OT placements later in the evening. One funny thing that caught my attention was that they sold 'gai mei bao' (Chinese Cocktail Bun) and some other typical Chinese pastry in the bakery. Considering that there are few Chinese people in Thunder Bay, I found it odd to see it there. I wonder if they had to specially import it up here. haha. Anyway, I just HAD to get one to see how it tasted. It had a little too much bread and not enough filling, but otherwise it was pretty good. Maybe there are some Chinese people hidden somewhere up here... :)

The rest of the afternoon, we managed to squeeze in a little more sight seeing at Kakabeka Falls, also known as Niagara Falls of the north. Although it's not as grand or majestic as Niagara, these falls are still a sight to see. The rocks are shaped/positioned really neatly making the water come down even more intimidatingly.

Finally, it was back to Tim's place to meet his friends/co-workers. We had barbecue chicken and salad, but we ended up not eating until 8:30 'cause the stupid charcoal grill wouldn't stay hot. We ended up baking the chicken and then putting it back on the grill for a few minutes to give it that 'BBQ' taste. :) So the tip of the day: buy a gas grill. Dinner turned out pretty good in the end though. The dinner guests were from all over the province and they had really interesting backgrounds/stories. One of them even made us a lemon ice pie for dessert. It was delicious... yummm... As an aside, one of the benefits of living far away is that it forces you to live 'outside of the box.' When you know very few people in an unfamiliar place, you have to take the initiative to talk to others and get to know them. Otherwise, it's pretty easy to be lonely and just live in solitude. Sometimes, I feel that I get a little too comfortable with just those who I know well, and only talk to 'new' people out of necessity. Anyway, dinner was extremely fun as we conversed through the night and not wrapping up until around midnight. In Thunder Bay, it's easy to forget how late it really is 'cause there's still daylight around 10:30.

Oh yah, to add insult to injury, as we're cleaning up the grill at the end of night we finally find the coals nice and red hot. Damn rocks. :P

Thunder Bay - Day Two

Friday was an unbelievably busy day. We tried to do as much as we could 'cause the weather for the rest of the weekend is kinda iffy. Thanks to Tim for kindly renting a car for the weekend so that we could get around.

First, we grabbed a quick breakfast at the Scandinavian and enjoyed some Finnish pancakes. Pretty good stuff. They taste like crepes. Afterwards, we passed by the Terry Fox Memorial. I am in awe that even with cancer and one leg, he was able to run 26 miles a day and reach 3,339 miles in his attempt to trek across Canada before succumbing to cancer. He's definitely an inspiration.

Then it was off to Sleeping Giant provincial park. The park's name has a pretty interesting legend behind it 'cause from afar, the park actually looks like someone lying down. Anyway, we did a bunch of hiking in the area. It was such a great day. The trails up there are amazing... you really can't find anything like them in the Toronto area. We were climbing around everywhere and the views were incredible. We went to a couple of lookouts and God's creations were there for us to see. Just beautiful. After about 3 hours, I was pretty sweaty and exhausted. Man, hiking is such a good activity just to get in shape. :)

For lunch, we stopped off at this little restaurant called "Karen's Kountry Kitchen". Notice the intials? :) Still, it was really good food. Hit the spot. And they had some really tasty desserts too, which we just had to try. I had a raspberry brownie and it was sooooo good.

Incredibly, we still had more to do. :) We went to the Cascades Conversation Area and did more hiking. We got a little more adventurous and started jumping around on the rocks. By the end of the afternoon, my pants were pretty wet and muddy. Yuck. Anyway, I do have to say that Thunder Bay is a really beautiful city. If you love nature and such, it's definitely for you.

To end our day off, somehow we found the energy to catch 'Spider-Man 2' at the SilverCity. I guess Thunder Bay is just like any other city with a big cineplex. hehe. Pretty good movie, Tobey McGuire is perfectly cast as Spidey. He has that sympathetic every man look about him. Still, I'm not sure if I enjoyed it as much as I would have liked considering I was pooped. Oh well.

Thunder Bay - Day One

We arrived in Thunder Bay at around 7 PM and took a taxi to Tim's place. He's got a pretty nice dig for a student. Luckily for him, he's got it all paid for by his program! After settling in a bit, we headed out to Boston Pizza. It wasn't a very pleasant experience 'cause we had to wait over 45mins for our food. Pretty ridiculous. Making matters worse, Nicole was starving and almost passed out on the table--kinda scary and funny at the same time. :) To say the least, we won't be going back there any time soon. After dinner, we headed down to the Marina to check out the Canada Day fireworks. One thing that I quickly noticed was that I was visibly a minority in Thunder Bay. It's something that I'm definitely not used to considering Toronto is one of the most diverse cities in the world. Thunder Bay is made up of mostly Caucasian, Aboriginal, and, surprisingly, Scandinavian/Finnish people. I think Nicole and I pretty much doubled the Asian population in that area. :) Anyway, the fireworks were pretty standard fare, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Thunder Bay this weekend...

Nicole and I will be visiting Tim up in Thunder Bay from July 1-4. Tim is doing an internship for his Speech Language Pathology program, so we going to venture up to northwestern Ontario to pay him a visit. Good idea? We'll see.

By the grace of God, everything has fallen into place perfectly. For the last couple of weeks, I was debating as to whether or not to go visit. I wanted to go up, but there were a number of factors causing me to think otherwise. We were thinking about driving, but that would have been pretty crazy. It would have taken us about 20 hours, and the cost of renting a car and paying for gas wouldn't have been so cheap either. Plus, we'd be pretty exhausted by the time we actually made it there.

Coincidentally, within the last week I had been getting a little flustered with stuff, so I was actually looking for a break. It just seemed like the perfect time to get away and forget about everything for a weekend. :) Anyway, God definitely provided 'cause there just happened to be a seat sale at Air Canada the weekend of our trip. In the end, it only cost me $205 to fly back and forth! That's super cheap! Interestingly, even when I was booking the flights online, God seemed to be working mysteriously. The flight back to Toronto on Sunday night was sold out and I wasn't too thrilled about having to wake up at 5 AM to come back and go straight to work. So I decided to say a quick prayer and reload one last time. And the rest as they say is history... I was so happy that everything has worked out amazingly. We are able to hang out longer with Tim and we'll be pretty refreshed and enrgized in that we only have to sit through a short 1hr45min flight. God really provides...

apologies...

Proverbs 12:17-19

"A truthful witness gives honest testimony,
but a false witness tells lies.
Reckless words pierce like a sword,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
Truthful lips endure forever,
but a lying tongue lasts only a moment."

i realized how insensitive i was recently towards a good friend. instead of being encouraging, i was critical. instead of praising them for the job and effort they had given, i chose to pick on the mistakes. at the time, i thought i was being honest and upfront, but i should have been much more tactful. however, i now recognize that i probably discouraged the person in their situation and caused some hurt. dumb. i should have been much more supportive and appreciative. anyway, i'm truly sorry and i hope i've learned my lesson...(what else is new?) :)

at last...

wow. it's been quite a while since i last blogged. i haven't had much time lately 'cause weekends have been pretty busy. also, i really haven't had anything 'meaningful' to talk about. i think i'm past the point of just blogging about daily happenings. :)

anyway, here's an update of some things that have been going on over the last little while:

tccc summer conference @ mcmaster university
over the victoria day weekend, i went up to hamilton for our church's summer conference. it was the 1st one that we've had in 10 years. things didn't work out as planned as the adult speaker fell ill and couldn't make it up at the last minute. luckily, we already had a teen speaker and he graciously filled in. tim tang, from etcbc, spoke to all of us at 5 different sessions. frankly, i didn't get much out of them because i felt they lacked substance. however, tim was obviously in a difficult position 'cause surely his messages were geared towards teens. still, i can see that he is quite a dynamic speaker, so if he had actually prepared for adults, it may have turned out differently. one other thing that i was a little disappointed about was the lack of interaction / organized group activities. one person had put it succinctly in that conferences / retreats, along with focusing on God, are good opportunities to encourage team building and such. unfortunately none of this happened, and the couples just cliqued off with other couples and the teens just did stuff on their own too. it's too bad. it would have been good to get people to know each other so that our church would actually be more like a community. anyway, despite my quibbles, it was a good time to relax and refresh a bit, even if it was only in hamilton! i enjoyed catching up with people that i hadn't spent time with in a long time.

softball
last night we played our first game. a tough loss, 14-13. we were down early, but we made a valiant comeback to make it close. a lot of errors that can probably be attributed to opening-night jitters, lack of team practices, and miscommunication. with a bunch of new people, our cohesiveness isn't there yet. it'll take some time. i'm sure with some adjustments, our team will be fine though. to top it all off, i struck out. that's such a big NO-NO in slo-pitch! :P i thought i got kinda cheesed, but ultimately it was stupid of me to watch such a close pitch.

work
the last two months of work have been pretty good. i've gotten along much better with my new work colleague. whereas my previous supervisor seemed like she wanted everything to go thru her, my new co-worker has trusted me with a lot more responsibilities and decision-making. i think i just attribute this to experience. the previous person here had just started only a few months before me, so i think she also wanted to look good and make sure of everything. my current colleague has been working in the ministry for over 10 years now, and it's obvious she's much more comfortable with her position in the branch and her responsibilities. anyway, the working relationship is definitely healthier and less stressful. however, i expect the next little while to be much busier than the last month. oh yeah, and today i met the summer student. it's kinda odd 'cause i was exactly in the same position last year. one whole year! it's weird too 'cause he has an eerily similar background to me. asian male, recent grad, health sciences degree. we were even wearing the same colour clothes! haha. in any case, it's incredible to think that God has somehow provided. i gotta remember to count my blessings...

weddings and such
with summer pretty much here, me and many friends of mine have various weddings to attend. it's definitely a happy time 'cause it's great to see people start their lives together and celebrate such a joyous occasion. sometimes though, i have to say it's a little depressing for me too. what i mean is when some of us get together and talk about whose weddings we're going to attend and whatever, we jokingly ask each other, "so when are you getting married?" it's not that i want to get married (i'm still too young!), but sometimes the question just makes me wonder how alone i feel. it's no longer just the 'older' friends who are getting married, but it's also people who i went to school with. sigh. it's like life is passing me by. maybe it's 'cause i've been out of school for a while, and i guess i have more time to think about stuff now. (maybe i SHOULD go back to school to get my mind off these silly things.) there are times where there are things i want to do or thoughts i have, but i don't have that one person that i can count on to share them with. i also realize that some of my 'loneliness' comes from my fragile relationships with the rest of my family. my dad is off far away in china, i have trouble connecting in depth with my mom, and my brother seems to enjoy spending more time with his adopted family. still, it's not that i don't appreciate the friendships that God has placed in my life--male and female. they have been a source of encouragement whenever i feel down, but eventually they too will settle down. it's such a stupid thought, but once in a while i get these worries about growing old and alone. no family. no kids. ugh, i gotta start keeping myself busier with activities so that i don't think about this stuff anymore. can't wait for ultimate frisbee to start. or maybe it's God telling me to start thinking about Him more; it's time for me to re-strengthen my relationship with Him. argh.

anyway, that's enough digression from me. i think i've gotten it out of my system. :)

37 years and counting...

now, i really wish that i was from calgary...

i wish that i was a calgarian today... ;)

place your bets...

what a great first round! especially for all the canadian teams! i hope they haven't beaten each other up so much that they're going to burn out in the next round. surprisingly, i actually came close to getting all 8 matchups correct. i just didn't expect NJ to get thumped like that. oh well. 7 out of 8 ain't too bad! i should have entered a pool!

(1) TB v (7) MTL	Head: TB, Heart: MTL I'm sure every Canadian is dreaming of a Leafs / Habs matchup. I actually think MTL has a pretty good chance at upsetting TB. Both teams are pretty even in terms of first line scoring and goaltending. Still, TB seems to have more offensive weapons, and how can you not love St. Louis? I hope MTL proves me wrong though. Out of all the Canadian teams left, I think they have the best chance of moving on. TB in 7.
(3) PHI v (4) TOR	Head: PHI, Heart: TOR The Leafs showed grit and determination to get out of the first round. Now, it's their turn to face their nemesis. PHI breezed by the 1st round, so they've had plenty of rest. They also no longer have a goalie named Chechmanek. :) On the other hand, the Leafs must be tired, battered, and bruised. Sundin is probably out for a while, although Nolan might be coming back. Can Belfour steal another series for us? Or will he lose his cool? I have a pretty bad feeling about this series. It could get ugly. Fast. PHI in 5.
(1) DET v (6) CGY	Head: DET, Heart: CGY On paper, DET should be the better team. They have plenty of experience and skilled players. But can Cujo do it? However, I just love watching CGY. After seeing him agains VAN, Iginla is now my favourite player. He hits, fights, and scores. I think CGY's coaching and heart will make this an extremely close series. I wouldn't be surprised by an upset. DET in 7.
(2) SJ v (4) COL	Head: COL, Heart: Don't care either way. I think COL is hitting their stride now and Forsberg seems to be healthy. COL in 6.

I think everyone wants to see the FINAL FOUR of DET vs. COL and TOR vs. MTL. This way, everyone would be happy: the NHL, CBC and ABC. I don't think that's going to happen though, and we'll just have to keep dreamin'. :P

Of course, we can't forget about our beloved Maggie the Macaque...she didn't do too well this time around going only 2-6. She almost got fired on the Ape-rentice! haha. Still, here are her Second Round Predictions. :)

Source: CTV.ca

TB

TOR

CGY

SJ

phew! i slept well last night... :)

as you may have already noticed from my previous post, the leafs were able to pull out a game 7 victory over the despised ottawa senators, 4-1. a few of us got together at ebrian's to watch the game. we were all pretty nervous before the game started and we had a bad 6-0 feeling. haha. of all people, it was tie domi (???) who settled all our fears by playing like a man possessed. he must have dedicated this game to his brother. :) a couple of bad goals later, and this game was pretty much over. the sens managed to put a little scare into us at the beginning of the 2nd period, but belfour once again stood on his head the rest of the way. although lalime played pretty badly last night (and probably his last game for ottawa), he wasn't the reason why ottawa lost. toronto had an incredibly HOT goaltender that shut down the high-powered ottawa offense. end of story.

a funny thing after the game was that cbc NATIONAL news led off their broadcast with the leafs game 7 victory over the sens. haha. first, this only adds to toronto's superiority complex and ottawa's inferiority complex. (btw, what is the capital of canada? TORONTO. haha.) second, isn't there more important news going on in the world?! haha. no wonder everyone else in canada hates toronto! also, on my way home, yonge street was absolutely CRAZY. people were blasting their horns, running all over the street, hanging out of cars, waving their flags, and screaming like hyenas. like i said before, toronto fans are pretty fickle / silly--they were celebrating like we had already won the stanley cup. haha. it's so easy to forget last year's game 7 against philly when the leafs were the ones who laid an egg. back then, fans were ripping them for being an old team who relied way too much on their goalie. so isn't this year's edition the same thing?! =)

on a side note, eric also came out last night to watch the game--even though his beloved canucks were eliminated, he came out to cheer on the leafs with us. i am thrilled to see him back in toronto. it was nice to catch up with him and hear about the stuff going on with him now. it was funny when he asked, "so what i have missed in toronto since i've been gone?" we were all having trouble coming up with something significant, but in the end all we could tell him about was harding's rap at tccc. haha. anyway, it was great just to see him in person. hopefully, we can still continue to offer him prayer and support as he continues to recover / rehab.

in memoriam...

"3 Cheers For Ottawa"
Click to hear the actual song. (Thanks to ebrian for hosting.)

Here's a little story
About a hockey team
Who just may win the Stanley Cup
But only in their dreams

The team is from Ottawa
The Senators is their name
They're soon to be inducted in the golfing hall of fame

They think they'll take our Leafers
Now there's a funny joke
Cuz every year at playoff time
The Senators always choke

So three cheers for Ottawa
A real team they are nottawa
They can give all that they've gottawa
But the Stanley Cup will never go to Ottawa

Ottawa has the parliaments
And MPs in the news
And it's kind of like their hockey team
They talk a lot but don't produce

They're not the smartest either
I really have to say
When the capital of our country
Spells Canada with a K

Three cheers for Ottawa
They think they have a shottawa
But they must be smoking pottawa
Cuz the Stanley Cup will never go to Ottawa

You better press your plaid pants
It's that time once again
To hear that familiar Ottawa Senators saying
Tee off is at 10

So get ready for the crying
Take out your handkerchiefs
You're about to get your ass kicked by the Toronto Maple Leafs

Three cheers for Ottawa
A lesson they'll be taughttawa
Hossa and Havalattawa
Will soon be golfing a lottawa

What the hell else rhymes with Ottawa
Not a whole heck of a lottawa

They're the team we already forgottawa
Cuz the Stanley Cup will never go to Ottawa!

Game 7 Tonight!

what a great 1st round, so far! two exciting game 7s last night (and of course, i'm suffering from lack of sleep today), so i can't wait 'til tonight's game. i hope it's just as good. i'm praying that i'm still a happy leafs fan tomorrow morning. but somehow, i have a bad feeling about tonight. the leafs are pretty battered and bruised, and ottawa's youth seems to be finally catching up. maybe i'm just being pessimistic so that i won't be so disappointed IF it happens. hehe.

i think if ottawa wins tonight, they'll probably make it to the stanley cup final. toronto is their eternal nemesis, so this is essentially their stanley cup! on the other hand, even if toronto manages to pull this thing out, i'm not sure if they're gonna even make it past the next round. they're old! and with philly getting a ton of rest, they're gonna beat up the players just like last year. haha.

no matter. GO LEAFS GO!

my prediction for tonight: BELFOUR 2, OTT 0

Marge Simpson - Like you've never seen her before!

This is somehow completely hilarious, yet somewhat disturbing at the same time...

"Marge's Maxim Photo Shoot"

For you Raptors fans out there...(or whatever is left of them...)

"The Quotable O'Neill"
A season's worth of great sound bytes from the former Raptors' coach. (from TSN)

too bad he won't be around next year. i actually thought he was a good coach. oh well, he'll probably go out and win 50+ games with his next team. hehe.

i hate it when people are fake with you. it really annoys me when you see people (especially those that used to be close) you haven't seen in months and then they try to pretend to be best friends with you again. they think that they can totally catch up with you in a matter of minutes. they ask you, "how is life?" or whatever. but then i wonder what happened to all those months in between. for example, in my situation, there were times where i would have totally appreciated some contact / support with them. (yes, friendships are reciprocal and i believe i've done my part to try to keep in touch.) and of course, at the end of the conversation, encounter or gathering, they give you the compulsory "well, i'll call you sometime" or "we'll hang out during the summer, ok?" not surprisingly they don't or they forget and the next time they see you, they pretend nothing's happened and the cycle starts again. i know people are just being nice, but sometimes it's better that they don't bulls**t you like that. it's probably better if someone says, "it was great seeing you again!" and that's it. at least, there's no false expectations.

am i being petty or bitter? you tell me. i guess i'm just venting right now. maybe i just put a lot value into 'meaningful' friendships and i hate it when people get yanked around like that.

and so i digress...

oooh... so close...

tonight was the close of our floor hockey season. it was end-to-end, back-and-forth action all game long. lots of goals, yet good goaltending, a few crossbars and posts--what you'd expect in a playoff game! unfortunately, we ended up losing 7-6 in OT! and just like our beloved maple leafs, our defence was our fatal flaw. i think we could've won had a couple of our guys not cherry-picked all night. they must have been on court for 5 of the other team's goals. oh well... even though it was a little disappointing, it was still a great way to end the season. 6th place isn't too bad for a bunch of scrubs who didn't know each other at the beginning of the season. we definitely got a lot better as the season went along 'cause we got to know each other's styles, stopped converging on the ball like chipmunks and played like a team. :)

anyway, i'm glad that i joined this league. it was good to meet some new people and get some exercise. ;) i'm looking forward to doing it again soon... thanks to andrew for the pic...

top: gabrielle, bhavish, james, bhavini, lazlo, zee
bottom: fran, andrew, me, chris

eternal sunshine of the spotless mind pt. 2

i went to watch "eternal sunshine of the spotless mind" again tonight with ebrian, tim & sonya. what a great movie. it's one of those movies you can really enjoy over and over again. and each time you can appreciate / think something different about it. tonight, i noticed a lot more of the subtle clues and jokes that i missed the first time around.

one interesting question that tim posed afterwards was, "would you still continue in relationship / situation even if you knew there was a very good chance that things would end up bad?" would it be worth the effort? i dunno. i guess it would depend on how well you had connected or started with the other person in the first place. maybe if there was a even a little possibility that things could be great, it's probably worth that adventure and risk. i guess that's what joel and clementine felt.

"No, I don't have a square to spare. I can't spare a square."

i forgot to mention this yesterday, but it was a pretty hilarious situation...

after watching the hockey game last night, i went to the washroom and noticed there wasn't any toilet paper left. i figured it wasn't a big deal since i didn't really need it and i didn't bother to mention it to ebrian. then a few minutes later while we were watching some "air force one", our female friend suddenly goes to the washroom. it didn't click in at first, but then i quickly peered over to ebrian and gave him this funny look. i say to him, "you know you don't have any toilet paper left in your washroom, right?" damn! it finally dawned upon us that she probably needed some toilet paper! we started cracking up, of course.

so we go over to knock on the door. the question then gets asked, "you know you don't have any toilet paper, right?" haha. surprisingly she takes it well and immediately there's a loud cackling behind the washroom door and she screams at us at how we could leave the roll empty. haha. she couldn't even crack open the door 'cause the handle was too far away from the toilet. eventually, ebrian was able 'spare a few squares' and slide them under the door.

anyway, i realize it's probably not as funny to you as it was to me. it's one of those situations where you had to be there. hehe. plus, it's a good thing she wasn't doing a 'number 2' either. ;)

a four-day weekend...thank you gov't

whoa, it's been a week since i've last blogged. nothing much has happened lately... i lead a pretty boring life. hehe. =)

this was easter weekend, where Christians celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. it's been interesting that Christianity seems to have become fashionable to talk about again. i'm sure there's usually more religious programming at this time of year, but it just seems to me there's a lot more talk this year. over the last couple weeks, there's been an A&E biography on Jesus, an extensive report on ABC: Jesus and Paul--The Word and the Witness, the rebroadcast of several Christian-themed movies like "The Ten Commandments" and "The Prince of Egypt", and more t.v. movies on Jesus himself or characters surrounding Him like Judas. plus, "The Passion of the Christ" was back on top of the box office again. i haven't necessarily been the biggest fan of mel gibson's 'controversial' movie, but i freely admit that's it's been great in that it's caused plenty of buzz / stir and resulted in many people talking about their faith again. even weeks after seeing it myself, i find that i still talk to many of my friends about it and its impact. and that's definitely a good thing. :)

another random thought about the weekend is baptism. a number of people got baptised at TCCC on sunday morning. they included some of the younger people at the church. at the same service, there was also communion--in the past, pre-SARS, TCCC's tradition was to pass around the communion elements in the pews; but, nowadays they continue to invite baptised Christians up to receive the elements. the combination of seeing people take the 'plunge' and share their testimony, and seeing so many people take communion made me think why i haven't been baptised myself. many of my friends have been able to take that next step in their Christian walk, and for some reason i haven't been able to do the same. i dunno what my answer is. scared? confused? uncertain? anyway, it's definitely something i will consider much more seriously over the next few months or year.

most of the rest of the weekend was spent hanging out and catching up with friends--everyone's been so busy lately with work, school or whatever. there were some people that i hadn't talked to very much in months. and so much had changed in their lives or my own since we last talked. i know it's pretty much impossible to keep in touch with everyone, but i wish i could. for example, there was one friend who had been struggling with various personal issues over the last while, but i had no idea. i wished that i had checked in a little earlier to offer, even a little, support. sigh.

finally, i spent saturday night and tonight at ebrian's cheering on the leafs. luckily, toronto came out on top on both nights with identical 2-0 wins. two words: eddie belfour. the leafs are extremely luckily not to be down 3-0 right now. they've been completely outplayed. and it's not like patrick lalime has been horrible for ottawa, it's just that belfour has been a stone wall. it's funny how biased / stupid leafs fans / commentators are though. on my way home, i was listening to the talk-radio about the reactions to the game. rightfully, one caller was making the comment of how 'lucky' the leafs were to win and criticizing some of the players--especially tie domi for missing an open net! nonetheless, the host started lambasting the caller and even made silly comment about 'making sure the doctor prescribes him the right meds'. no doubt that i'm still cheering the team on to win a stanley cup, but i also can't wait until the day that, if and when, the leafs get eliminated. i wonder what fans / commentators will say then. man, they're so fickle.

OK! Blue Jays! Let's Play Ball!

i decided to take advantage of the blue jays' $2 promotion and went down to the skydome with albert, ken and maxima. it's been ages since i've watched a game from the 'nosebleeds'! :) as usual, the jays choked in front of a decent crowd and lost 7-3 to last year's worst team in baseball, the detroit tigers. i've noticed that every time they draw a decent crowd, they play a lemon of a game. no wonder they can't keep their attendance up 'cause fans have no reason to come back. well, it's only after the 2nd game of the season, so i'll give them the benefit of the doubt. maybe i'll come back and check 'em out against the bosox.

one really annoying thing at the game was these 3 kids, no older than 8 or 9 years old, sitting behind us. i hate it when parents can't keep control of their kids and let them do whatever they want. the father essentially dropped his kids off, let the crowd babysit for him and left for 4 or 5 innings--he was probably having a couple of beers! they were climbing all over the seats between rows, mouthing off to other fans, and picking up peanut shells off the ground (yuck) and flicking them. they were even jerking around the snack guys. they would ask them how much something cost, pretend to want it, get the answer, and then tell them to go away. it was actually a little funny at first, but then they were just a bunch of asses when they did it to 3 or 4 of them. we couldn't even yell back at them 'cause they were just 'kids'. ugh.

anyway, some other funny happenings at the game:

• it's funny how an innocent sign can be misinterpreted for something so dirty. the jumbotron suddenly flashed up these two girls who were a holding a sign that said, "WE ♥ BJs!" and the crowd started buzzing / laughing. somebody in the booth probably quickly realized the 'double entendre' and it was gone immediately... :lol: ... so the lesson learned? read your signs / banners aloud first before your bring them out in public.
• half way through the game, a chant of, "GO LEAFS GO!" started and actually gained some momentum. it was hilarious. a couple of us started wondering whether anyone will even watch the jays if the leafs go deep into the playoffs. that might be a good thing, considering they seem to have trouble winning in front of large crowds. maybe they'll be in 1st place by the end of june if the leafs miraculously win the stanley cup... knock on wood...
• by the end of the game, as the jays were getting their asses handed to them again by a team that lost 119 games last year, people started yelling, "We want a refund!" and "Give me my 2 bucks back!"... haha... you gotta love sitting in the cheap seats.

in any case, not a bad evening for 2 dollars. for its worth, i think got my entertainment for the night. hehe. ;)

playoff fever is back...

this first round, as many have predicted, is gonna be AWESOME. in almost every series, you could flip a coin to pick the winner. surely, i'm no prognosticator, but here are my picks:

TB v NYI	I can't believe I'm saying this...TB is the most exciting team in the NHL. Martin St. Louis, MVP.
BOS v MTL	MTL leads 22-7 in playoff history. I smell an upset.
PHI v NJ	Martin Brodeur. Money.
TOR v OTT	One of these days OTT will finally beat TOR, but they're gonna have to prove it first.
DET v NSH	Will Detroit choke two years in a row?
SJ v STL	Alyn McCauley: +23, SJ 2nd in the West (damn); Owen Nolan: out indefinitely. I know fayjan is enjoying this one... ;)
VAN v CAL	Miikka Kiprusoff: modern GAA record, 1.69; Dan Cloutier: too many soft goals. Remember Detroit?
COL v DAL	When healthy, Peter Forsberg is the best player in the league.

and if all else fails, go along with the monkey...(hey, she picked the ducks last year!)...Maggie the Macaque's First Round Predictions :)

Source: CTV.ca

NYI

BOS

PHI

TOR

NAS

STL

VAN

DAL

springtime for hitler

"Based on Mel Brooks' Academy Award-winning 1968 film comedy, THE PRODUCERS, the new MEL BROOKS musical, tells the satirical tale of down-on-his-luck theatrical producer Max Bialystock and his mousy accountant, Leo Bloom. Together, they scheme to raise more money than they will need to produce a sure-fire Broadway disaster, and pocket the left-over cash when the show flops. Their guaranteed-to-fail fiasco? None other than the worst, most tasteless musical ever written, Springtime for Hitler."

this afternoon, i got the chance to go down to the canon theatre to watch "the producers". ken was able to get some tickets for a group of us which also included geewhy & ebrian. they came at a decent price and the seats were actually pretty good--2nd row centre in the balcony.

anyway, the show was pretty good, BUT not outstanding. some catchy tunes and lots of jokes about gays, Jews and Nazis--if that's your cup of tea. Seán Cullen as Max Bialystock was OK, but he didn't make me go 'wow'. Michael Therriault as Leo Bloom was more lovable and believable. the rest of the supporting cast did a good job as well. i especially loved Ulla, the Swedish secretary. actually, i think we were all just struck by how tall she was. the super-leggy blonde was about a head taller than the lead characters, which played to great comedic effect--where do you think max and leo's eyes would line up with when they would talk to her? ;) i would give it about 3 out 5 stars. i think the crowd is reflective of my rating too 'cause only about half of theatre actually gave the company a standing ovation. anyhow, i'm not much of a theatre critic, so there's my two cents... :)

still, i have to say there was some uneasiness in my laughter this afternoon. it felt a little odd for me to chuckle (and see the rest of the audience laugh) at all the jewish and nazi jokes considering there has been "a spree of hate-related crimes where swastikas were painted on Jewish buildings and head-stones toppled at a cemetery" in toronto over the past few weeks. but i guess since the jokes were so unbelievably politically incorrect and offensive, it made it OK to laugh. :P

in any case, although it's not the most memorable musical i've seen, i would still recommend going to check it out. (my fave is definitely still "Les Misérables") it's a good way to spend a sunday afternoon and get a bunch of laughs.

fyi, here are some other reviews of the toronto production of "the producers":
toronto star
toronto sun
TorontoStage.com

a new start

at work, it's now the beginning of a new year. and with that, i also now have a new colleague / supervisor. i'm actually pretty excited about it. she is someone who i've worked with a bit in the past, and my experiences with her have been nothing but positive. i'm also quite confident 'cause she's been working for the government for over 10 years. one of the issues with my previous supervisor was that she had only started a few months before me, and so i always got the feeling that she was always paranoid of me making her look bad. that definitely shouldn't be a problem this time around.

more good news / bad news. my contract has been extended again, but still only for the very short term. i have totally mixed emotions about it. on one hand, i'm happy that it looks like they're trying to find a place for me within the unit. i understand that with the hiring freezes, it's hard for them to find me a permanent position. however, in some ways, i hate being at their mercy. it does worry me that any day, they might decide they can't renew my contract and then i'll have to look for a job again. i wish that i had a better idea what their long-term plans (even for the next year would be good) are 'cause then i can also plan for more school, applying for jobs, or whatever. right now, i'm not sure what i should do. preferably i'd like to stay on, but i also have to keep in mind that i can't wait 'til the last minute to look again. ugh.

anyway, keep praying for me.

i've been in a funk lately, actually pretty complacent, with things at church. i've been getting little out of small groups on fridays and even less out of service on sundays.

some of the sunday sermons lately have been kinda disjointed and fluffy. i mean, i listen to them and i feel there's little substance to them. some of the points are so generalized that i could've gone up there to preach and no one would know the difference. points like, "having god at the center of your life will bring absolute joy" and yada yada yada drive me crazy. it's the same ol' stuff that i've heard for years and i think it's something that a Christian should already understand. i think the times i get the most out of sermons is when the speaker takes the time to look up biblical and historical references to support and emphasize their points on Christian principles or applications. i appreciate when the speakers use specific and relevant examples instead of generalizations that most Christians (and even non-believers) should supposedly know. it's kinda interesting ever since i started keeping my notes for the sermons. i can notice if they speakers are ever 'recycling' material. =)

fridays haven't been much better either. personally, i haven't been very diligent in keeping up with my readings for "the purpose driven life". i also joined a small group earlier in the year because i thought it would be good to read / discuss with other people. however, it has not helped that my small group has been extremely inconsistent. lately, they haven't been meeting up to discuss the books since there have been some other programs and even when they do, it's only 2 or 3 chapters at a time. thanks to the combination of my own personal negligence and the lack of flow to my small group, i've been kinda uninterested. anyway, it's ultimately still my fault for not keeping up the readings. however, i guess the lesson is that you can't read this book periodically or only when you have time. it really requires you to read it consistently every day--for 40 days--to get the most out of it.

anyway, despite my grumblings, i do realize how important it is to keep supporting my home church. interestingly, i opened up "the purpose driven life" again today and one of the points was about being realistic in my expectations about the church. it said, "we should passionately love the church in spite of its imperfections." there is no church that will ever completely solve my so-called 'needs' 'cause each church has its own strengths and weaknesses.

and so i digress...

letting it simmer...

i've been meaning to blog about this--it's another case of learning your lessons once it actually happens to you.

recently a dispute came up when some matters were brought to light from last summer. these persons were upset about some things that were said and attributed them to me and some other people. first, the subject in question was actually pretty petty--something that i had no idea would cause such a stir. personally, i think it's just making a mountain out of a mole hill. but for the sake of argument, i'm not debating whether or not i was right or wrong. i'll admit that i could have been more sensitive to the situation.

however, what bugs me about this is that it's been stewing over the last 6 months and suddenly it was brought to my attention. what these persons were mad about isn't even relevant to anything current! if they had let me know at the time when the incident(s) occurred, i could have stopped what i was doing that was irritating them. it could have been settled there and then. instead, they waited 'til now to let me know they were mad about something that i (and others) thought was a joke. what's more, i feel like these persons are attributing some of their own problems to this incident--in other words, making me responsible for what other people were doing.

anyway, i'll readily admit that i've done the exact same thing before--bring something up from the past and use it against someone. i really feel stupid now that i'm the one experiencing it. the point is, if the situation or matter has passed, just forget about it and move on. otherwise, it's just reopening a can of worms and it causes people to get mad / frustrated at each other. still, what should the 'buffer zone' be--the length of time where it's ok for people to bring up something that happened? a few days, one week, one month? i understand that in some cases, certain incidents just require people to calm down before it can be resolved. well, i would say no more than a month. or else, people are just being unreasonble and bringing up crap. what do you think?

anyhow, i guess it i'll just have to swallow my pride in this situation and forget about it. :P

and so i digress...

eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd.
-- Alexander Pope, "Eloisa to Abelard"

Blessed are the forgetful: for they get the better even of their blunders.
-- Friedrich Nietzsche

last night, i went to watch "eternal sunshine of the spotless mind" at bayview village with ebrian and ken. what a great movie. i definitely expected something weird considering it was written by charlie kaufman (who also came up with the just as bizarre "being john malkovich" and "adaptation"), but it was also a thoughtful, often hilarious, well-crafted movie. it had a very good love story, a crazy yet entertaining subplot, and great acting performances from jim carrey and kate winslet. it was kinda odd too 'cause jim carrey was playing the quiet and somewhat boring, joel, while kate winslet was the eccentric wild child, clementine. (and she had her american accent down pat too!)

you're probably wondering what the movie is about. in a nutshell, joel and clementine's relationship didn't end well, so they go see a quack doctor @ Lacuna Inc. to erase their memories of each other in their mind. half the movie is about the erasure of joel's memories of clementine and the other part about them meeting again after they've 'forgotten' about each other. it's actually hard to summarize properly 'cause it's just such a strange / quirky premise, but i'm also hesitant to reveal too much 'cause there are a couple twists and turns that you have to see for yourself. i'm glad i didn't read too many reviews out there 'cause i found some of them told too much of the plot!

the movie brings about some interesting thoughts. would i want to erase my most forgettable thoughts from memory? my ex? ;) some of my last two years at university? while it's true that some of these things that i wish i didn't have to experience or i had a chance to do over, as the movie pointed out, along with the bad there is a lot of good. and those ones i'd probably want to keep. even though my relationship with my ex didn't end very well, somehow we've managed to develop a very good friendship over the years. we've even been able to laugh about all stupid things we did / said to each when we broke up. even though i had some tough personal challenges at school, i believe that's what gave me the inner strength to overcome other life experiences. you know, even if i could start all over again, it's very possible and likely that things would turn out exactly the same. perhaps, it's God's subtle way of reminding me that all the happiness and joy i do have in my life makes the occasional hardship and / or sorrow worth it. but i digress... :)

anyway, if you get a chance to, i would definitely recommend you give it a look. i think it's one of those movies that will only draw a select crowd and that's too bad. yesterday when i was calling around to see if some other people wanted to watch, as soon as i mentioned charlie kaufman / being john malkovich, people took a pass 'cause they thought it would be too weird. i'm disappointed that not more people are more willing to watch more artistic / inventive films, instead of the abundance of mainstream hollywood crap out there. :P

if you're interested in going, let me know. i think i want to watch it again. there's probably some good lines and sights that i'll be able to catch the 2nd time around! :)

the day / week just isn't long enough...

man, i've been exhausted lately. i haven't had much energy to blog lately or update my sermon notes. usually when i get home after work, i'm getting headaches or just too tired to try to think about writing something. i haven't even been able to watch some of the t.v. shows that i recorded. i've had to resort to reading recaps. ugh. anyway, i'm glad i finally had some time on the weekend to catch up on some sleep. i'm already feeling better this morning and my head is more clear. the last couple of weeks or so has been pretty busy...

work has been kind of hectic lately with the end of the fiscal year coming up, so i've been trying to wrap up a lot of loose ends. it's pretty nuts 'cause i've had to chase down a ton of people to make sure they submit stuff on time.

also, it's tax season so i've been trying to locate all my receipts for work. it was kinda funny last week 'cause my mom's accountant called me and asked some questions about my employment to see what kind of expenses i could write off. in then end, i realized that i could write off essentially NOTHING unless i wanted to be 'aggressive'. so now, i owe the government a bit of money. :) i realize from doing my taxes though that i gotta try to stay a lot more organized. everything is a mess. i gotta file things better so that i won't have to frenetically look for stuff again this time next year.

with softball season around the corner, i've had to attend some meetings and start planning for the year too. as i mentioned previously, some of those meetings have been extremely frustrating to sit through because of stupid people. we've also had some problems getting our team together 'cause some of the players are deciding to take some time off this summer for other commitments. so we've been desperately looking for female players. we were in such a tough spot that we were pretty much looking for a warm body. ;) well, things are starting to fall into place now and hopefully people won't drop out again. the next step is deciding what kind of fees to charge our players. it's interesting to see some of my work experiences apply to planning for my team. i defintely have a greater appreciation for spending other people's money. at work, when programs request dollars to purchase new items, i expect them to explain / justify the reason for their expenses. i would expect the same when i'm given that responsibility. it's a challenge to budget and plan how we want to spend money for the team where everyone will be happy.

i've also been a little frustrated lately 'cause i've had to chase after FIDO. over christmas, i bought a cell phone for my mom and i was supposed to get a couple of months of free service. however, i've been getting billed for it and it's a pain in the ass to get it resolved with customer service. apparently they needed confirmation of my proof of purchase, and i was supposed to send this in. unfortunately, i was never made aware of this. ugh. so now their billing department is also chasing me down 'cause it looks like i'm not paying off my bill.

plus, i'm still trying to fit in some extra-curricular activities like floor hockey. in any case, i think i just gotta use my time a little more efficiently. i'm letting too many things pile up or leaving them 'til the last minute. and then when things get crazy, it suddenly seems like i don't have enough time in the day. no more computer games! :) i should have given that up for lent. hehe.

the good ol' days...

last night, a bunch of us went over to jason lam's house to watch wrestlemania XX on his big screen projector. it's been a while since i've watched wrestling. i mean, i occasionally stop to watch a few minutes when i'm flipping through the channels, but i don't watch it with any regularity like i used to in high school or university. i guess it just doesn't have the same appeal anymore. the drama isn't as interesting / exciting and i think they use way too much sex to sell the storylines. after a while, all the t & a looks the same. ;) or maybe i'm just getting too old to see grown men hurt each other in tights. :)

anyway, all in all it was still a very fun night. a couple of the matches were really good with plenty of blood and crazy stunts, while all of us were having a good time trashing the ones that really SUCKED. there were also a couple of funny sketches and it was nostalgic to see all the old superstars that we watched when we were young. good memories! :)

still, it was great just to having pizza, chips and drink and just chill out with the guys. we should do it again next year! thanks again jason!

i really hate meetings.

on thursday night, i went down for a league softball meeting down in lower scarborough, or more affectionately known as scarlem. the purpose of this meeting was for the convenor to go through the league rules with all the teams so that everyone would be clear about them now and not bicker about them during the season.

it's incredible how stupid some people are. a meeting that should have lasted only 45-60 mins. took us over 1.5 hours to finish. our team is now entering its 3rd season in this league and i've read the rules numerous times and they're pretty straightforward. unfortunately, some of the other team captains don't see them as that simple. we spent way too much time arguing about petty items like which way people would wear caps, talking about every possible scenario, or straying away to topics that had little to do with the purpose of the meeting. not that there weren't any legitimate questions raised, but it was often made way more complicated than it should have been. that's probably partly the convenor's fault for losing control. however, one captain, who shall remain nameless, stood out as he wouldn't SHUT UP. every rule he seemed to ask, "what if this happened? or what if that happened?" it was so friggin' frustrating! the thing is, he wasn't even a new captain--he's been around for 4 or 5 years! me and the two other guys beside me were rolling our eyes and smirking every time this guy would open his mouth. i was getting so impatient that i spent half the time with my head buried in my lap, hoping that the time would fly by more quickly. (it didn't help!)

another thing, we spent about 30 mins. discussing on how to formally 'protest' in the event something happened during the game that we disagreed with. it was kinda funny 'cause all the people who seemed to be prolonging the discussion were the captains from teams who weren’t very good or middle of the pack. it was silly ‘cause people were asking how they could stop the game to check the rules or whether they could bring their rulebook out onto the field. i find that when people usually protest, it’s usually over the smallest of things which have little or no impact on the outcome of the game. plus, we're pretty much a recreational league, so i don't understand the point of arguing everything. i mean, our team has probably been screwed over by a couple of calls in the past, but usually we just bring it up to the ump once and move on. we just accept the calls and find other ways to beat the other team. i've seen other teams completely lose it and subsequently forfeit games. getting worked up for what? maybe it's a matter of principle, but we're mainly trying to have fun and we're not getting paid to play. argh.

still, all this talk about softball is starting to get me excited about the coming season. i can't wait until we get back on the field and start practicing. it'll be a challenge this year with so many new people, but i'm sure we'll still do fine. i have confidence in the coaching staff and my 'veteran' teammates to hold the fort. :)

and the streak is over...

unofficially, tonight was the end of my raptors season (and likely the end of any playoff hopes the raptors had) as i went down to the acc to see the raptors lose (again!) to lebron james and the cleveland cavaliers. tonight's company included ebrian, nocturnalbear, and worms. with the lebron james being a big draw, not surprisingly, we also kept bumping into a bunch of people we knew. anyway, the raptors were just getting smoked in the first half. in continuing our tradition of getting some beer at the half, we figured that we should all get a glass since they had yet to lose when we drank at the game. it actually looked like that it might work as the raptors made a run early in the 3rd quarter and came close to tying it up. however, our hopes were short-lived and dashed as the raptors started making poor shot selections and shooting a ton of airballs--they must have had some beers at halftime too. thanks to the beer, the highlights of the game were:

1. the raptor dunking over miss world.
2. these suits right in front of us who didn't know very much about basketball.
3. watching this crazy old guy cheer for the raptors. it's funny watching old people get riled up about sports. he was actually scaring us though 'cause he was getting pretty fired up. ;)
4. cheering for lamond murray when the scrubs were coming in.
5. cheering for the pizza point. at least, the raptors sent the fans home somewhat happy with some food. nocturnalbear, worms and i actually took advantage of the freebie and got a fresh, piping-hot pepperoni slice. yum.

Here's a season review of all the games that I attended this year, plus what I drank:

• Oct. 29 v. Nets W 90-87 (Beer)
• Nov. 1 v. Mavs W 77-71 (Beer)
• Nov. 16 v. Rockets W 101-97 (Beer)
• Dec. 14 v. Heat L 90-89
• Feb. 1 v. Lakers L 84-83
• Feb. 4 v. Magic W 110-90
• Feb. 18 v. Spurs L 86-82
• Feb. 29 v. Celtics L 91-82
• Mar. 10 v. Cavs L 106-92 (Beer)

well, i was lucky enough to see 9 games (+ 2 pre-season games) this year. in those games, the raptors went 4-5. not bad. most of the games were pretty entertaining and close until the end, so i definitely got my money's worth. another observation: in the games that ebrian and i had some alcohol, the raptors went 3-1, but when we stayed sober they were only 1-4. what does this all mean? if we drank at all the games, the raptors might be in 3rd or 4th place right now! :) anyway, thanks again to ebrian for making the games enjoyable. it was good to finally find someone to go see a bunch of games and talk ball with. even though we often disagreed on the value of vince carter to the franchise, it sure made for interesting conversation--especially when the raptors would go 5 minutes between buckets.

it's a little disappointed though that i won't be seeing any more games this year--especially from the sprite zone with all the hardcore fans. it was fun listening to people trash talk vince, mo pete and lamond murray. i'm already looking forward to more action next year. with the probable hockey lockout, basketball is going to be the only major sport in town next fall / winter.

do re mi fa so la ti...

this weekend’s worship @ TCCC is going to be amusing. to try something a little different, tim decided to ask a few people to help out this sunday on stage as a background choir / chorus. inexplicably, i offered to help.

well, yesterday night was our first and only practice. :) it’s a small group of only 6 made up of young & old, male & female. it kind of an odd group since i wouldn’t say any of us are musically talented—especially myself! the best way i can describe us is a bunch of ‘misfits’. haha. we went through all the music to make sure we were all on the same page with the melody / rhythm and, believe me, we needed the practice. ;)

oh well. as tim encouraged us at the end, even if the melody / rhythm isn’t perfect, as long as we sing together with confidence and come with a heart of worship, it will be fine. or maybe he was just being nice. ;)

but if you ARE there this sunday, please sing LOUD! hehe... :)

everything seems to revolve around the simpsons...

check it out. it's a pretty funny story.

sundays are the best t.v. nights...

another enjoyable episode of "alias" on sunday night. well, there was nothing new that we had never seen before--the two perspectives has been done on some other shows too--and the storyline was nothing more than a plot device. but i like how they're continuing to develop lauren and sark's relationship. they are becoming great antagonists for syd and vaughn. they are literally becoming the anti-syd and vaughn. in fact, i look forward to seeing more of lauren and sark 'cause they're actually more interesting characters right now. they seem to have all the good lines, have all the fun, and get the 'hot' love scenes. ;)

an interesting point came up as i was reading a recap. why should lauren be mad at vaughn for dropping his gun, when she just had her fun with sark? the argument was that women could forgive physical indiscretions (as she saw her romp with sark as just work), but if a man gave his heart to another woman that would be inexcusable. is this true? are men the same way? or do they think sex is the ultimate sin? it was kinda funny to see how easy it was for sark to set this awkward situation up and play with people's emotions like that. it'll be interesting to see how this part of the story continues as vaughn has inadvertently openly expressed his feelings about syd in front of lauren.

anyway, i'm glad that the new episodes are back--esp. since there won't be any new episodes of "24" for a whole month. it looks like there won't be any more interruptions the rest of the season. woo! oh yeah, marshall still cracks me up.

the passion of the christ

i finally went out to see the movie on friday night. even in its second week and on a late friday night at fairview mall, the theatre was full.

first of all, it's a very beautiful artistic film. i appreciated mel gibson's vision in trying to retell the last twelve hours of Jesus' life. it's a very difficult thing to take such a sacred story, tell everything accurately and keep everyone pleased. i loved the flashback sequences 'cause, for example, i almost felt like i was there sharing the last supper with Jesus himself.

however, mixed in with the beauty, it is a pretty graphic and violent movie. i found parts of the movie very difficult to stomach. yes, the depiction of jesus' crucifixion might be what actually happened to Him and it's supposed to help us understand / sympathize the pain / suffering that He went through to save us. however, for me, it got to a point where it was a little too much and i was starting to feel a little sick / disturbed. for that reason, i was not as moved by the scenes as some others around me--there were many people in the theatre who were sobbing or bawling at the sight of jesus' ultimate sacrifice.

perhaps, my lack of emotion might also be attributed to reading all these varying reviews / opinions by various critics. instead of immersing myself in the film, i think i tried to be objective about my thoughts 'cause i wanted to see how people came to their own conclusions. maybe if i went to see this movie again, i'll have a totally different reaction to it.

i still concur that it's a movie that Christians will understand and appreciate a lot more. so if you're someone who doesn't know the whole background regarding Jesus' crucifixion, i would suggest reading up a little on it beforehand. that was one of the issues i had with the movie. it did very little in 'character development' and explaining the reason for Jesus' persecution. many of the references were done in passing. for example, there was really little explanation of who mary magdalene was and why she was following Jesus--other than a short flashback of her weeping and kissing Jesus' feet.

anyway, i would still recommend seeing this movie. is it worth all the controversy? make a judgement for yourself.

the view from the top...the very last row...

i went down to the acc tonight for leafs vs. sabres game with fayjan... what a waste of $50+! =P the leafs played absolutely horrible--just as bad as my floor hockey team!--as they lost 5-1. really, it was such a lemon that the crowd was pretty dead all night. the sabres actually played pretty good--a couple of nice goals on a 2-on-1 and a nifty breakaway. but then again, we pretty much handed it to them 'cause most of the goals came by the way of bad penalties & giveaways. the hilites of tonight's game were:

1. the intermission entertainment - after the 1st period, we watched some little kiddies play some hockey. some of them had some nice moves and scored some good goals. we probably could have used them! then after the 2nd, they had a version of roller derby with goalies. it was pretty funny watching them pummel each other around the ice.
2. the minor hockey kids in front of us - there was a team of kids a couple of rows down from us who tried to trash talk the sabres all night long. it was kinda funny 'cause they would boo them for pretty much anything. one of the parents must have been getting sick of it 'cause he asked them how come they didn't yell, "GO LEAFS GO!" but the kids just continues heckling them. =) but after a while they started getting a little annoying 'cause they wouldn't sit down. they were trying to get on t.v. with their sign / banner... and they eventually did!

anyway, as you can see there wasn't much to cheer for during the actual game. it was so hard / frustrating to watch that fayjan and i left with about 5 minutes left in the game. (i guess the honeymoon with brian leetch is already over.)

another thing about tonight... i really still can't believe i sat in the last row in the upper bowl and the tickets cost over $50. pretty ridiculous. i mean, the view is still pretty good and you can see all the players clearly. still, if you compare it to a raptors game, i can get a ticket for $13 and sit in the first couple rows of the upper bowl. that's one of the reasons why i actually follow the raptors more closely than the leafs this year. i've been able to check out about 10 games this year and it's cost less than $200. and with an nhl strike / lockout looming next year, i might eventually forget about the leafs. but i guess the leafs can do whatever they want 'cause they will always have die-hard fans who'll pay pretty much anything.

oh yeah, i finally found my security pass card on my lawn the other day. i lost it in january when i realized it came undone from my clip. i figured i must have lost it in the snow somehow when i was shoveling and i wouldn't find it until the snow melted. of course, i was proven right! =) anyway, i already replaced it, but maybe i'll keep it as a spare and see if it still works. haha.

mark burnett is a genius

"survivor" was interesting tonight. sue quit the game 'cause she felt she was sexually violated by richard hatch on the previous episode. i have some mixed feelings about her leaving, but all those "survivor" message boards out there are talking about this enough. so go read them if you actually want to debate about whether she was justified in leaving and blah, blah, blah. still, mark burnett sure knows how to make a bad situation into entertaining television. being able to catch everyone's thoughts and reactions on camera in the aftermath was impressive. getting people to show their 'true' selves was classic. it just made us love or hate the 'characters' even more. however, i hope this is the end of the 'somebody quits' shows. it totally takes all the anticipation / excitement out. you knew something was up when they didn't have a reward challenge until the show was 2/3 done.

i also decided to check out "the apprentice" (another mark burnett show) for the first time tonight. i have to say it's a pretty good show. it's pretty good drama to see how cutthroat all these players are. they're bitching, backstabbing and making the 'executive decisions'. riveting. =) i also like how people have to truly earn their keep to stay in the game. if you stink, you'll get fired. and it's kinda funny to see teams compete and have one of them fail miserably. man, donald trump is pretty arrogant / pompous. but i guess that's why he owns half of new york. :)

adding salt to the wound...

we played another floor hockey game and unfortunately tonight was not a good night. we were short players 'cause a couple of the guys and girls couldn't make it. so most of us had to take extra long shifts. plus, the gym was just nasty hot.

anyway, we ended up getting absolutely SMOKED. 10-1. damn. the other team's guys AND girls were pretty good. it made it pretty tough just to get the ball by them into their zone. add the fact that our team also doesn't have very good positioning or teamwork--i swear, we converge on the ball like chipmunks!--and it had the makings of a blowout. their guys were wide open all night as we left our goalie out to dry. playing shorthanded didn't help 'cause we just got too tired to play the man-to-man all game. by the end of the game, even their girls were taking slapshots at our goalie. pretty funny, in retrospect. =)

to make things worse for me, somehow i twisted my right ankle. i don't even know how. it just started hurting real bad. and then, adding insult to injury, as i'm walking towards my car my left calf just cramped up. first time it's ever happened--i've never had that kind of pain before and i just dropped all my stuff. luckily, frances and esther were there to help me. they helped massage the muscle to help it relax. i dunno, it must have been from the mugginess in the gym and losing a bunch of salt and water from all that sweat. (i'm actually feeling pretty dehydrated right now and getting a bit of a headache as i'm writing this...)

well, just to play it safe, i asked fran to drive for me. i didn't want to risk having my leg cramp up on the d.v.p.! that would not have been a good scene. :) anyway, thanks again to the fran and esther for helping me out there. i probably would have been stranded there if it wasn't for them...

on the brighter side, the leafs got brian leetch! woo! perfect timing for me as i'm going to this saturday's game against the sabres!

alrite, i'm out. gotta massage the leg some more before i got to bed so it won't get too tight. i hope i don't wake up tomorrow morning screaming in pain (as ben has warned). ;)