Wedding #3 - Marshall & Cheryl

Although it was fairly small, Marshall and Cheryl's wedding was pretty nice. They had a short ceremony and an afternoon reception right after the wedding. Unfortunately the weather for that day was disgustingly hot, where just standing around would make you sweat. :P We were treated to some hors d'oeuvres, some champagne and beer, and wedding cake. The funny thing was that you could really tell how different the two sides of the family were. Cheryl's family and friends were mostly Asian and came very well-dressed, while Marshall's side were mostly Caucasian and were dressed much more casually. Mingling was also kept at a minimum, where all the 'Chinese' people were on one side and the 'white' people on the other--kind of like how boys & girls would stand separately at a junior high school dance. :)

For more photos, take a look at Jimmy's site...

Taco Night with the teens...

At last week's small group, I got together with some of the teens for dinner. Boaz was gracious enough to open up his house again. We had a good time making tacos and wraps, while catching up with them about the end of the school year.

Afterwards, one of them led some sharing/devo time. He read a few verses which talked about counting our blessings from God. It seemed to be the rigth topic/verses for me. I was quickly reminded about how grateful I should be right now despite some of my struggles. God has blessed me so much with family, friends, work, and much more that some of my distress may be pretty petty in the grand scheme of things.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Thank goodness it's almost Friday...

Back: Allan, Kenric, Ricky, Ken, Sal, Andrew, Albert
Front: Laurie, Lucy, Binh, Giselle
Lying Down: Gaston
(Sorry about the blurriness... It must have been Gaston's reflectors! :P) 

This week has been a bummer--frankly, it's been kinda s#!++y... There has been a lot of crap going through my head as a result of some happenings on the weekend. I have been getting very little sleep--I'm sleeping at 2-3 AM and then I'm woken up at 6:30 AM by the sunshine glaring in my face. Work has been a bit of a write-off--it's been hard staying focused and getting all my stuff done. I still don't know how to feel right now. I'm still angry and hurt about how things worked themselves out, but I want to be careful to not let these feelings stew too long. I've seen how grudges can really eat someone up and I don't want to be that person who stays bitter. Those people aren't pleasant to be around!

Quick thought though... Why is it that we feel that telling a little white lie or holding back the truth just to spare someone's feelings is a good idea? It's funny how we think, "We'd better not tell him/her 'cause he might get mad." Then when they find out the truth, they just end up feeling even more pissed off. Now they're ticked off at the original fact AND the cover-up. Of course, being honest has to be done with tact. It doesn't mean we should be frank about everything without have any sympathy towards the other person. I can appreciate people who are upfront, but can also be sensitive to the situation. Sure, the truth can hurt. It can get awkward and we might get annoyed/mad about it, but I would like to think that most of us are mature enough to accept it and eventually get over it. (Btw, by no means am I guilt-free of this either. I'm sure that I've probably done this to someone else in the past, and for that I'm sorry.) I guess the lesson learned is that if you plan on doing this, you'd better make damn sure that the other person never finds out. :P

The fact that I've been pretty busy with my other extra-curricular activities has been a saving grace. I've been able to release some pent-up frustration and it has helped clear my mind. I ended up playing 3 floor hockey games last night, thanks to a doubleheader and another team not showing up. By the end of the night, I was drenched in sweat with aching muscles and I was completely exhausted. After a quick shower and a bite to eat, I passed out with the lights and t.v. on. It was the best sleep I've had in days.

Once again I've been exposed and taken for a fool. I've given my heart and energy towards something precious and it has punched me back in the gut. This time the wounds cut deep. Sigh. I give up.

Football in the groin...

Click here to see Video

Somehow this video from the Kyrios Snow Camp in 2003 ended up on the net... Marty nailing Westley... Too funny...

It was probably a good idea when they drew it up on the bar napkin...

Rey Myseterio & the Heartbreak Kid 

Rules of Fight Club (a.k.a. The Jay Lam Beatdown)

1. You do not talk about 'Fight Club'.
2. You do not talk about 'Fight Club'.
3. When someone yells "Stop" or goes limp, or taps out, the fight is over.
4. Only two guys to a fight.
5. One fight at a time.
6. No shirts, no shoes.
7. Fights go on as long as they have to.
8. If this is your first night at 'Fight Club', you have to fight.

Alrite, I guess I'm breaking rules #1 & 2. :P Yesterday, a bunch of guys got together for Jason Lam's bachelor party. It was a wrestling-themed night as we met up at a bar and got Jason to dress up as the "Heartbreak Kid". Compliments to Alan, Mandeep and Simon for coming up with such a detailed costume--the tights and the jean jacket with the broken heart logos and even a championship belt to boot! After a some food/drinks, we headed over to the nearby Bloor Street Boxing Gym for Jason to endure through more of our emotional and physical punishment. Generally, it was a pretty entertaining night as we all got to perform some 'finishing moves' on Jason--the Figure-4 Leglock, the Walls of Jericho, Goldust's Shattered Dreams, etc. :) However, it got a little crazy when they organized a 'ladder' tournament to see who would have the final shots at Jason. Alcohol & boxing/wrestling aren't usually good combinations. Some people took it a lot more serious than others and were 'spazzing' and I even got kneed in the nose once. The boxing owner was watching us throughout the night and the look on his face was, "What the HECK have I gotten myself into?". Despite this, I applaud Jason for being such a good sport. He took all the drinks, accepted most dares, and had a great time!

--

Upon arriving home, I suddenly realized that I had left my keys at work. Argh. Luckily, Alvin was home to open the door. Anyway, I decided to go back downtown again to pick up my keys--I didn't want to leave them unattended all weekend. Plus, even though I was a bit tired, I was feeling a bit unsettled from some events from the night. I thought that going for a drive would help clear my mind. Fortunately for me, I also found someone to keep me company for the drive down too. Jeanne was kind enough to tag along at 1:30 AM, 'cause apparently she owed me. :) It was good to chat and catch up with her about all her wedding craziness, but it also felt nice to vent a bit myself. Thank you Jeanne.

An akt dOrKism by yours truly...

Tonight we got our butts kicked in Ultimate. By halftime, it was 9-0 and we decided to call the game 'cause there was lightning... Anyway, on one play there was a turnover, so I picked up the disc and looked to throw. Sam starts sprinting towards the end zone and yells for the disc. Momentarily confused, I threw it towards him. Incomplete. The other team picks up the disc and someone yells out, "THEY WERE GOING THE WRONG WAY!" Within seconds, they score another point. The team got a good kick at how I had helped them score such an easy point. Agh. Pretty much sums up how badly we played today! :P

Making conversation is so much work

I finally went to drop off something that Jacqueline had given me to pass along to her mom. (Yes, I've been back from my trip for quite a while and I should have found time to go by much sooner. :P) Anyway, my original plan was to stop by for only a few minutes then politely make my way out. I figured that since I was coming by fairly late--around 10 PM--she'd probably be off to bed pretty soon. Of course, it didn't turn out that way. I got invited in, so I couldn't be rude and had to make some polite conversation. My mistake was taking off my shoes 'cause she then brought out some fruit. Then she made me some chrysanthemum tea. Then she and her husband started asking me about my trip. Then they started asking me about work. Then they started talking about other stuff. Ahhh! :P Although I was gracious for their hospitality, it just felt a bit weird/uncomfortable. Man, it's a lot of hard work to make conversation with someone's parents when the person I know is nowhere to be found! Finanlly, after an hour I managed wrap up the conversations and go home... That was tiring!

Double Take, Jenkin & Elain's Wedding, Softball...

A moutain of clothes... Where's Boaz? 

Huh? Gerfield??? :P 

I went down with the Kyrios teens on Saturday morning to volunteer at the "Double Take" used-clothing store, which is run by the Yonge Street Mission. It accepts donations of interview and career clothing and re-sells them at an extremely affordable price. They probably don't get a lot of help 'cause we were doing some HARD LABOUR! Half of us dusted, swept and mopped the floors, while the others were in the back sorting through the mountains of clothes. I must have inhaled a whole 'dust bunny' sweeping through the whole store... It's pretty incredible how much nice clothing people have to give away. Come to think of it, I have some clothes in my own closet that I bought and wore a few times, but it's probably just sitting there now. It's pretty silly how much clothing I have, when there are so many people out there who can't afford to buy much of their own.

Kenric, Jimmy, Ryan, Tracy, Elain, Jenkin, Janice & Ben 


Back: Ben, Ryan, Allan, Len, Kenric, Jimmy
Front: Janice, Grace, Sonya, Nicole, Tracy 


The Leung Clan: Ryan, Janice & Kenric 

After a short nap, I headed out to Jenkin & Elain's wedding reception at night. Unlike Cynthia's wedding reception last month, most of guests were 'older', so it turned out our table was one of the rowdier ones. Jimmy was being his good ol' entertaining self and it was good to laugh at Len's sarcasm again. :) The MCs, Marty & Patty, were great. The games were good, but not over the top, and Patty's phonetic Chinese was a hoot. Although I think the slideshow thing has been overdone lately, Ken and Mei Ling did a great job--it captured the essential moments of their relationship and had some funny shots, but it certainly didn't drag. Jenkin (& Elain)'s speech was also heartfelt, but short and sweet. Exactly what I would expect Jenkin to say. To top it off, Nicole, Sonya, Chun and Mei Ling ended up chillin' out at First Markham Place for some mango dessert. Yum! All in all, a great night... Thanks to Janice & Jimmy for the pics above...

Sunday night, my softball team played a doubleheader. The weather was just nasty hot. Just sitting there on the bench made me sweat. Anyhow, we ended up with a win and a tie. We're doing ok so far with a record of 2-1-1, but I don't know what's wrong with my game though. My hitting has been awful so far and yesterday I dropped a pretty easy pop-up. Ugh. It ended costing us a win, instead of the tie. I've been getting on base, but there have been some ugly hits. Maybe I'm pressing a bit too much... Although I'm not in any pain--I dislocated both my shoulders last year--I probably should do some more exercises to re-strengthen my rotator cuff. Time to go buy some Thera-Bands... I guess it's still early, so I'll have to work out the kinks over the summer... sigh...

Where does the time go?

No wonder it seems like the days and weeks fly by so quickly...

In addition to having to commute an extra 1.5 hours every day now for work, my usual week includes...
Sunday - Church (morning), Sunday Night Slo-Pitch (night)
Tuesday - Ultimate Frisbee
Wednesday - Floor Hockey
Thursday - Softball Practice
Friday - Kyrios Teen Fellowship

Weekends during the summer also seem to be gone thanks to a crazy amount of weddings...
May 7 - Clarence & Cynthia
June 11 - Jenkin & Elain, Kevin & Suzanna
June 25 - Marshall & Cheryl
July 16 - Jason & Bonnie
July 30 - Allan & Grace
Aug. 6 - Stan & Yee Lee
Aug. 20 - Channing & Jeanne
Fall 2005 - Ian & Sandra, Duncan & Nancy, Albert & Kat

Yikes. It looks like it'll be a fun, but extremely packed summer... :P

Grab Life by the Ball...

Kramer, the Karate Master - from Seinfeld, The Foundation 

Happenings at tonight’s softball practice was straight out of a Seinfeld episode...

As we're coming off the field for a water break, we see a bunch of kids playing handball--do you remember playing that game?--by the walls at Kennedy Public School. Gaston smirks and declares that he could beat them. Of course, as soon as he says this, we all realize that this would be a good opportunity to have some fun. Ron then runs over to the kids, points in Gaston’s direction and tells them that they have a challenger. Then from the distance, we hear the kids yell out, "BRING IT ON!" and soon after they began chanting out one of the kid’s name. And so the battle was about to begin... :) Let me tell you the sight of a kid running around with a man 3x his age was freakin’ hilarious. Janice, Ken, Ron, Ryan and I were keeling over in laughter, while the other two girls were probably just stunned at our folly. The rest of the practice turned hopeless as we couldn’t stop cracking up at the thought of Gaston slippin’ and slidin’ in his cleats.

Props to Gaston for not letting the kid get away with ‘juggling’... :D

My Spiritual Gifts

Last Sunday I went to the Network Workshop at TCCC, led by Daniel. Basically, it's a class that's supposed to help people discover how to best used their gifts to serve in the church. Strange how after all these years, I've never taken it myself.

Anyway, here's my 'servant profile'...

MY PASSION... (Where I will serve)

Youth / Young Adults

MY SPIRITUAL GIFTS... (What I will do when I serve)

1. Helps (1 Corinthians 12:28)
   "The divine enablement to accomplish practical and necessary tasks which free-up, support, and meet the needs of others. People with this gift: serve behind the scenes whenever needed to support the gifts and ministries of others, see the tangible and practical things to be done and enjoy doing them; sense God's purpose and pleasure in meeting everyday responsibilities; attach spiritual value to practical service; enjoy knowing that they are freeing up others to do what God has called them to do."
2. Hospitality (1 Peter 4:9-10)
   "The divine enablement to care for people by providing fellowship, food, and shelter. People with this gift; provide an environment where people feel valued and cared for, meet new people and help them to feel welcomed; create a safe and comfortable setting where relationships can develop; seek ways to connect people together into meaningful relationships; set people at ease in unfamiliar surroundings."
3. Mercy (Romans 12:6-8)
   "The divine enablement to cheerfully and practically help those who are suffering or are in need, compassion moved to action. People with this gift: focus upon alleviating the sources of pain or discomfort in suffering people; address the needs of the lonely and forgotten; express love, grace, and dignity to those facing hardships and crisis; serve in difficult or unsightly circumstances and do so cheerfully; concern themselves with individual or social issues that oppress people."

Other gifts that I may also have: Administration, Craftsmanship, Leadership, Shepherding, Wisdom.
Spiritual Gifts that I DON'T appear to have: Creative Communication, Evangelism, Knowledge.

MY PERSONAL STYLE... (How I will serve)

People / Unstructured - Spontaneous situations, relates well to others, very conversational, tends to be flexible.

--

Generally, I guess what I found out was not too much of a surprise. It re-confirmed the areas which I felt that I could use my gifts the best. I'm wondering though if this is how other people see me too. Thoughts/Comments?

Australia - A Recap

The Sydney Harbour Bridge 

After the Bridge Climb 

@ the Sydney Aquarium 

Hrmmm... Considering that it's now June and I've been back in Toronto for a while now, I guess I should update this thing.

Anyway, my last couple of days now in Australia were pretty eventful. I went back to Sydney from Melbourne to meet up with Jacqueline again. We got to do some more 'touristy' stuff and went to Paddy's Market, Manly Beach, and of course some shopping. Monday was what turned out to be my worst day there. That morning, Jacqueline was going to hitch a ride with Jess back to Canberra. I was going to take the train with her to Jess' place and keep the all-day pass for myself after. We were running late and somehow we got our tickets mixed up, so we said good-bye at Central Station. I quickly realize what happened and tried to chase her down. In doing so, I dropped my camera--it wasn't too big of a deal at the time 'cause my camera has taken a number of bumps and bruises. Unfortunately, I didn't catch which station Jacqueline was headed to, so my search turned out fruitless. On the way back to the hostel, I decided to take a look at some of my pictures, and that's when I realized my memory card had POPPED OUT! I had the sick feeling in my stomach, absolutely started freakin' out, and rushed back to look for it. Since it was a Monday morning and in the middle of rush hour, my search was in vain. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Sigh. After a couple of hours, I eventually gave up and headed back to the hostel.

Although I only lost half of my photos--luckily I uploaded the other earlier in the week to Jacqueline's laptop--I was still terribly upset 'cause I realized that I would probably never see them again. (And this was confirmed earlier this week when the Lost Property office contacted me and said that it hadn't been found.) They included some priceless memories of my time in great time in Melbourne and especially meeting Jacqueline's great friends and roommates. But as someone reassured me, I was lucky enough to 'experience' it, I have the memories in my head now, and it's just more reason for me to go back some day. True, but it still didn't make me feel much better.

In my upset state, I decided that I couldn't stick around all day and sulk. I ended up filling up the rest of my day with as much as possible--Darling Harbour, the Syndey Aquarium and more shopping for souvenirs. I also signed up to climb the the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It was an amazing view and experience, but it certainly cost me quite a bit--$160 AUD!

--

Anyway, it was good to see Jacqueline down there. I can't imagine going to a far away place and knowing nobody there. It's reassuring to know that she has (mostly) great roommates and friends who've welcomed her with open arms. It seems like they've really helped her settle down and focus on her studies. I'm happy that she's in pretty good hands and she's definitely well on her way to becoming a doctor. :)

In any case, despite my less than memorable last day there, I really did have a great time down in Australia. It was the first significant trip--unless you count Thunder Bay... ummm, I don't think so--that I had taken on my own. I was a bit nervous going down, but it was good to do some exploring on my own. And it helped that Australia is an English-speaking country. I'm glad that I didn't sign up with a tour 'cause I probably would have been rushed to do as many activities as possible and wouldn't have taken more time to enjoy myself down there. I'm actually starting to feel the travel bug and can't wait 'til the next time I get to go on another adventure.