well, well, well... another year in the books, another one to race through.
new year's was pretty good. hit up that party that simone's friend was throwing... met a bunch of ppl there,
particularly when everyone had had some to drink and was thus friendlier than normal... lotsa food, lotsa drinks,
good times. went out to the aachen casino to watch the fireworks, stayed there for an hour before we all went to
a pub for 3 more hours of celebrating. it was coolz.
i called my folks and left a message on my dad's voicemail as the fireworks were going off, but then, for the
next hour, i couldn't get any call through... finally managed to get a hold of
my bro's cell phone and talked to everyone... i think they're all
fairly certain i was drunk. i wasn't actually... not until after the bar... :P
anyhoo, had lotsa fun, then i couldn't wake up as early as i planned to, since i was going to hamburg to visit
antoinette... well, i made it there a couple hours later than scheduled, but it was coolz. hamburg is a great
city, definitely a nice place to visit and to live... i wouldn't mind living there for a while, actually... and
what the germans say is true: the 2 best cities to live in, in germany, are köln and hamburg.
i'll post up pics when i have more time... gotta sleep!
1.6.2004 first friday five for '04
from jan. 2, 2004... what one thing are you most looking forward to...
1. ...today?
going to sleep.
2. ...over the next week?
one tea 4 12's prayer, praise & worship night on saturday... should be good. hope lotsa ppl show up...
3. ...this year?
travelling. it's always travelling... looking forward to skiing in austria, to toronto, to tokyo (and seeing
clara for the first time in 2 years), and to hk/china...
4. ...over the next five years?
going on new adventures, experiencing new things... anything but the same old, same old that seems to envelop
everyone's life these days... and hopefully finding that special someone. :D
5. ...for the rest of your life?
i can't see, nor do i want to, that far down the road... i take it as it comes. in a community sense, i look
forward to peace on earth, goodwill towards men. cliché, i know, but true nonetheless.
1.8.2004 pics from the holidays
thought i'd give you all some more pics... none of them are particularly good though. bleh, it's what happens
when you don't have a good tripod (and a beast slr) around...
snowing outside my window at work...
it was actually pretty snowy here in the days before christmas... this is the view outside my window at my office
on dec. 23, i think... it was pretty awesome, seeing snow for the first time since... well, since the christmas
before... good packing snow too - chris and i had a little snowball fight on the way to lunch...
night view of the atomium in brussels
remember how i drove to brussels to watch le
divorce? ok, i didn't just watch the movie. i was a little early for the show, so i decided to check
out the self-proclaimed "most astonishing building in the world" - the
atomium... well, it's a little weathered from its glory days (the exterior was shiny when first built), but
it's an interesting monument nonetheless. astonishing? well, i wouldn't go that far... it was originally built
for the 1958 world exposition in brussels, and it supposedly contains the highest (and fastest?) elevator in
europe... it goes up to the top "ball" at a grand speed of 5 m/s... seriously, it felt like nothing.
view of brussels, from the atomium
anyways, the locals apparently liked the atomium so much, they decided to keep it after the fair... well, i think
there's something funny in the water there, cuz why in the world would you want such a monstrosity sitting in
your backyard? then again, looking at the rest of the city, maybe it is an improvement.
seriously. i dunno what the deal is, but brussels, as a city, just doesn't appeal to me at all. even less than
paris. at least paris has some pretty famous places... but what's in brussels, besides the atomium? the
eu parliament? puh-leeze...
the atomium lounge
the one redeeming feature of the atomium, aside from the partially-obscured views outside the polluted windows,
is the lounge up in the top "ball"... not so much for the view (the windows are lower than normal), but for the
atmosphere. it's like they built it in the 50's and never touched it again... it's straight out of a roger
moore-era bond film, with the split-level floors, the circular platform, the white cushions everywhere and the
faux fur on the walls... it was hilarious. i even asked if it was ever in a movie, but the girls behind the bar
said no...
simone and me, on new year's eve
aight, last pic... this is simone and me, at her friend jule's place, on new year's eve... this is before we went
to watch the fireworks at the aachen casino... i think it was the first
time i'd seen simone since the summer, like june or july, cuz she hadn't seen my new glasses yet... <sigh>
oh wellz. when one has a bf who lives out of town, i guess that's what happens...
many thanks for all the birthday wishes, from everyone... in spite of the fact that i'd rather not be reminded of
my age (no more student fares! darn it.), the warm and fuzzy feelings are welcome. i'm quite elated that so
many ppl remembered... fanx!
so what did i do for my bday? well, you probably won't believe me, but i helped some friends from church move
house, as the brits like to say... yeah, seriously. i promised before christmas to help out, thinking it would
be on the 9th, but it was actually on the 10th. oh wellz. it was not too strenuous, aside from the early start
time... a prayer req: volker's car got rear-ended on the way to the new house. luckily, he drives an
audi a8, so everyone was ok, but obviously a bit shaken up...
then later yesterday night, 1t412, the young adults' fellowship at ibc,
met for our second meeting... we had a prayer and praise & worship night. it turned out pretty good... there
were about 20 ppl there, and most ppl seemed to have a really good time. there were a couple of suggestions on
how to improve, but i think we've started to really fill a need in the ibc ministry... keep praying for us, as we
continue to grow and to establish our part of the church.
juan, me, stefanie
in the loitering time after the fellowship, claudia, nadine et al surprised me with a cake and a present (the
second third day worship cd)... that was coolz. dawn also got me a little
bookmark thing... honestly, it just feels kinda embarrassing when everyone's coming up and saying happy birthday
and all that... it's like, let's just get it over with... :P
vicky and claudia
afterwards, a bunch of us (juan, christian, vicky, claudia, stefanie, volker and 2 of volker's friends from his
malawi mission, max and kerstin) went to do a little more celebrating... we ended up going to this mexican-themed
bar at ebertplatz... they had fake palm trees and pseudo-mexican dishes, which juan insisted were nothing like
the real thing... it was a nice place though, and it was coolz, just chillin' and talkin'...
after that, juan, volker and i decided to go out some more, but then after getting dropped off at a streetcar
stop, it became apparent (though not very quickly) that the streetcars weren't really coming too often... and it
was getting late (i mean, i got up at around 6:30am that morning for the moving stuff)... so we decided to just
grab a quick bite and head home...
the ibc congregation at our new location
today, we had our official welcome service at ibc's new location, though it was our second week here already...
in a slight departure from our already-different style, pastor david led the whole congregation out on a prayer
walk through the building, praying for the different ministries in each different room, and the blessing of the
building, culminating in a group pic on the steps of the church... the picture's a bit misleading, since about
half the congregation is still on the inside of the doors... and of course, i'm not in the pic since i'm taking
it...
anyhoo, just to make the bday celebrations complete, i'm throwing a party here at my place in aachen this
saturday for my friends here... should be good times!
a big happy 23rd birthday to my bro mike... best wishes for your
special day and big hopes that the next year will be better than all of the last 22! have a good one buddy.
in preparation for my ski trip in a month, i've been shopping for a ski jacket... i last had one in canada, like
3 years ago, and even that one was busted up when rob tsai accidently tore a huge hole in it at the
acf 2001 winter retreat... it was a nice quiksilver boarding jacket
i picked up in detroit...
anyhoo, after scouring various stores here, i finally settled on a
columbia ice dragon parka, which was
on sale by 36% at sport spezial... it's a pretty kickass jacket... it was a little more than i wanted to pay, but
in my experience, it's better to buy something you'd actually use and wear even if it costs a bit more...
anyhoo, party prep for saturday is coming along smoothly... should be great.
1.20.2004 adventures in party prep
some of you might have been wondering what i've been up to lately. well, work's been pretty good... quite a bit
busier since i've been assigned a new task, in addition to the one that i had already... learning new stuff is
always good, and that's why it's been more interesting of late.
but outside of work, the really noteworthy thing was the birthday party i had on saturday night here at my place
in aachen... as i've said before, it's a little odd here, but german custom is that the birthday person hosts
his/her own party. weird, eh? then again, you do get invited to a whole bunch of other ones, so it probably
evens out in the end...
anyhow, this was the biggest party i've thrown to date, which actually isn't saying much... i had about 30 ppl
over, and even more who were invited but couldn't attend for one reason or another... and it was just a good time
all around. ppl from everywhere - work, church, friends of friends, etc. from germany, canada, spain, france,
the netherlands, mexico and england.
what was really cool was all the food i learned how to make in preparation for the party... david and mark came
over early sat. afternoon to help me out and quite honestly, i'm impressed with the results. david's an
impeccable teacher of spanish tapas. i learned how to make spanish tortilla (a potato and onion omelette),
patatas bravas (fried potatoes with spicy mayonnaise), and garlic fried chicken... in addition to all that, i
also made tomato butter and spinach dip from scratch! awesome.
i won't post pics until maybe the next post, but i got some cool gifts from everyone... a movie iou from
stefanie, satin sheets from my roommates (yeah, i dunno about that one... :P), and a lonely planet book on japan
as well as a boatload of yen from a whole bunch of other ppl... hahaha, awesome.
anyhoo, heidi promised to make me a carrot cake, so we're gonna get together on wednesday for some good eats!
deadly.
adventures in party prep part 2
i forgot to mention that during my party preparation, i also happened to clean up my room. well, the last time
was just before christmas, when kitty came to visit, so it wasn't that long ago... but i decided to clean up this
huge stack of magazines on one of my end tables...
yeah, i keep this big stack of not-finished magazines, so i know which ones i'm done reading, and not... well, as
i was going through the stack, i found some pretty old magazines... now you're probably thinking, ok, like from
early 2003? from mid-2002? no, the oldest one was an issue of wired from
december 2001. 2001!!!
1.22.2004 happy chinese new year!
well, just as the title reads, it's a brand new year, according to the chinese calendar... well, actually, that
should be "lunar" calendar, but it's known as chinese new year, so we'll stick with that. out with the ram (or
sheep, if you prefer), in with the monkey. gung hay fat choi, and all that jazz...
so how did i celebrate new year's eve? er, i went for japanese food with chris, jason, heidi and tamara... i
actually didn't know it was new year's until jason mentioned it halfway through dinner. doh. oh wellz... not
like there's much going on anyways.
on a completely different topic, for some caaaah-raaaaazy pics of the weather in sw ontario, check out
my bro's site, where he posted some pics recently. the speed bumps
pic is so jokes.
i really wanted to put up the last friday five but it'll have to wait,
cuz there's a bunch of links i wanna discuss...
the oldest link i have is really old, like almost 1.5 years, but it's no less relevant today than it was back
then... check out this story
about how the richest country in the world can leave behind so many of its citizens... and we wonder why it has
problems helping out developing countries?
speaking of helping out developing countries, i've always wondered about the point of the internet if so many ppl
around the world are so poor. does it really help them? well, apparently even rural cambodia has a need for the
internet, and they get it by this
ingenious idea... this is the kinda thing i wanna do. not actually running the thing but coming up with
practical ideas to solve problems that can actually help ppl. and i don't mean earning some multinational
another few bucks. i mean making a difference in ppl's lives.
on a quirky tangent, the
pope hosted some breakdancers, and gave them a thumbs-up. i don't know what's weirder: seeing breakers in
the vatican or hearing that the pope thinks breaking is an "a gift from God" (paraphrase)... hahaha...
the recent
spate of gun crimes in toronto is really freaky. does anyone else think t-dot is degenerating into another
american-like metropolis? seriously, i thought toronto was a bit immune to the gang stuff we see in the movies,
but i guess not. and with a police force that makes denzel washington in
training day look like an angel, well, i dunno if it's going to
get better any time soon.
if you've been following american politics, you'll love this site.
it's a contest of sorts to make 30-second anti-dubya ads for general consumption, and i have to say, some of them
are pretty good. the winning commercial is
downright brilliant. check it out.
anyways, some of you might've been sucked into these really addictive webgames, like the penguin-batting one that
andrew had sent out... here's a few more, if you have some time to
burn... there's the helicopter game,
mini-golf, and
space invaders...
i think i'll wait until tomorrow to do the friday five... this week's
questions are pretty lame. in the meantime, i got more links and more commentary. bear with me.
to preface the first link, lemme say i love politics. i love reading about it, i love thinking about it. i
don't like how it affects ppl though, and how some just blindly agree or disagree with something. one of the
more insightful points i've come across was a commentary
on hypocratic politicians that came within the context of the us democratic party's search for a presidential
nominee...
here, the columnist pointed out, "first, Dean tries to spin his outburst as evidence of his being 'willing to say
things that are not popular.' ... Then he goes on to say that such blunt admissions are things that 'ordinary
people know are right.' But if that's the case, then they're not unpopular, are they? (Unless, I suppose, you
think 'ordinary people' are in the minority.) This is a particularly naked example of politicians' habits of
presenting themselves as willing to tell unpopular truths but nonetheless on the right side of public opinion on
every specific question." hahaha... sweet!
another political hypocrisy, imho, is the continued usage of farm subsidies by developed countries to prop up
politically-valuable votes of farmers and farm workers, while railing on developing countries to open up their
borders to free trade, particularly those whose primary exports would be food commodities. it's enough to drive
one insane. click here to find
out some details from the international monetary fund.
a good commentary on the situation and what the developed countries could do can be found in this month's issue
of wired, but you can read just
the column if you want.
further comments on this article provide some good
reading, particularly the one that said "... the average cow in france receives in annual subsidies twice...
half the world’s population’s annual income"...
finally, a little more venting about the supposed right-wing influence on the media... if you don't already think
it true, then read this column about one of
the double-faced actions of the mainstream american media. sometimes i just wanna scream, and i'm not even
american. i can't even imagine what i would do if i were.
ok, ranting aside... a tip of the hat to david bradley, one of the original 12 engineers at
ibm who worked on the very first pc. mr. bradley is
retiring
tomorrow. in all likelihood, you haven't heard of him before, but you've most probably used his most famous (or
infamous) creation... ctrl-alt-delete. that's right, the man invented the dreaded (or beloved) 3-key sequence
that has practically made it into pop culture.
aight, that concludes our double post feature into my mind. think you know me better? i certainly hope so.
from jan. 30, 2004... wow, it's actually on friday for once... hahaha...
you have just won one million dollars:
1. who do you call first?
my bro, then my parents, then
matt... but most likely my bro first.
2. what is the first thing you buy for yourself?
hmmm... either a nikon d2h or some
car, like a subaru
impreza wrx sti...
3. what is the first thing you buy for someone else?
probably a d2h for my bro. lucky bum.
4. do you give any away? if yes, to whom?
i'd probably give away most of it... probably 10% each to my church, my
parents, my bro... i'd also give away some to a charity though i don't know which one... or maybe start my own
foundation...
5. do you invest any? if so, how?
well, whatever is left i'd invest. probably not much anyways. it'll be my little personal playtime fund, for
goodies and travelling...