this past weekend was quite eventful... one for the ages, i suppose.
so on saturday, i participated in my first church cleanup. yeppers. we actually have cleaning teams from the
congregation, as our new location doesn't hire any cleaning or custodial staff. so that means we have to clean
the church ourselves. well, as pastor david likes to say, many hands make light work. indeed, with 7 ppl there,
we were done spic-and-spanning in an hour and a half.
after that, i met up with stefanie for dinner and a movie... we went to this sushi bar that was recommended to me
in the mediapark... it's really just sushi there, with the small conveyor belt rolling across the bar as it
brings new dishes around... that was my first time at a place like that. stefanie liked it as well, and we ate
some of the regular stuff (salmon sashimi) and not-so-regular stuff (well, for me at least - i mean, mackerel
sushi?)...
we watched luther, which was about martin luther
and the basis of his reformation movement... quite interesting, especially for me, since i know so little about
that. well, i still don't know much about it, since the movie was in german, and i didn't want to have stefanie
translating the whole movie... but it was pretty good. i'll have to watch it again in english though...
yesterday, it was pretty much a standard sunday, except i actually saw my first book-burning. yeah, you read
that right. it was more than a bit odd, the whole situation, but lemme give it some context. ok, so you
remember dirk, volker's uncle? probably not. aight, well, he came along with volker to our Christmas service,
and he's been attending pretty regularly since then. actually, in the service the sunday after Christmas, he
stood up and introduced himself (as we have all newcomers do) and declared that he had started believing in God
since that Christmas service! wow! even volker didn't know this...
ok, so what's the point... well, let's just say dirk has previously led a life that would be considered extreme
for non-christians, let alone christians. but he seems to have made a clean break, and is very earnest in his
desire to change. he's quit smoking, cold turkey, and he's listening to christian music now. well, what about
the book, you ask? well, dirk said that his room is filled with posters by h.r.
giger, the artist who did the artwork for
alien... it's all really gothic and dark
and well, i guess it was a reminder of the life he's trying to leave behind.
so he brought this giger book yesterday, and was intent on burning it... most of us who were there were a bit
ambivalent about the whole thing, concerned more about the stink than about any moral issues, but wiebke did
raise her opposition to the act. i have to say i'm not sure what to think. i mean, i think book-burning is
reprehensible, but mostly from a political perspective. i'm sure most ppl who have a real fireplace or done
bonfires have lit up newspapers as kindling, and that seems to be perfectly ok... so really, i think that if this
was a positive step that dirk needed to take to separate himself from his past, well, so be it. it's more
symbolic than anything else, but i don't care to see another instance of it again.
anyways, i've got some big news about my trip back home in march, but i'll leave that for the next post. cheers!
so aachen did it again... that is, alemannia aachen did. they beat
another team from münchen... that's right, they beat the vaunted bayern
münchen, home of no less than 3 german national team members, plus owen hargreaves, the
canadian-turned-english traitor, i mean, midfielder...
it was a great game, and i wasn't even gonna watch it. i couldn't get tickets to the game, and i thought i would
go watch the last samurai... but i missed both
the bus and the train to heerlen, so instead i started walking back, and i noticed that a few bars were showing
the match, so i plopped down in a chair outside on the patio of one of the bars (it's just warm enough to sit
outside with your jacket on)...
the match was great. aachen played amazing, totally dominating the first half, and converting on one of 4 good
scoring opportunities. they were playing the football (sorry, soccer) equivalent of the dump-and-chase, but they
were doing well at keeping possession of the ball when they did. that first goal was a beauty too, a left-footed
strike by stefan blank from 30m out,
just curling outside the reach of german national goalkeeper,
oliver
kahn...
anyways, aachen won 2-1, and now they've advanced to the semifinals of the
dfb pokal, sorta like the german version of the
fa cup... ppl all over aachen are celebrating like it's 1999, but it was just
a quarterfinal match, even if it was against one of the best teams in europe...
no pics this time, since i was only watching it on tv... but good times sure to come with aachen playing against
borussia mönchengladbach in the semis... i'll keep you posted.
i'm really tired, but in a good way... played the best basketball i've ever played tonight... i actually scored
more than just fluky shots. i made some good layups, even did a spin move in the post, got some putbacks... wow,
it was like light-years ahead of my normal play...
so my big news about my trip? i'm not coming back alone. my friend stefanie will be coming along too! she's
german, and goes to ibc as well, and she's never been to canada before
(actually, she hasn't been outside of europe before)... so when i threw out a general offer to come with me, she
took me up on my offer! that was pretty shocking, to say the least... i mean, how often do ppl actually do that?
but it's coolz... we're gonna have an awesome time. can't wait!
speaking of trips, i've got another one planned... aside from skiing in austria (in a week!), t-dot, and tokyo,
i'm heading to that big party place in the balearic islands - mallorca (pronounced my-yor-ka) with chris and
jason... it'll be our last trip together (most likely) since chris is leaving on some crazy world travel trip in
september...
one of the things i've noticed lately is that i've become a bit more inventive as a cook. today, i made some
turkey schnitzels that i breaded with special k cereal. sounds a bit weird eh? but it tastes so good. i'm
quite surprised myself... but it works.
my bro posted a couple interesting things recently... one was about
this interesting website called oneword, where you have 60 seconds to write
anything about a particular word, and it gets posted on this blog...
the other was a question about what one thing (event, decision, etc.) that has affected your life the most, that
it caused you to be where you are right now, doing what you're doing right now, etc... mike chose his move from
donview middle school to st. andrew's jhs... i dunno what i would pick... the most obvious choice would be my
decision to come here, but was there an earlier event that caused that decision to happen the way it did?
hmmm... i'll get back to you on that.
it seems like i'm not the only one who hasn't gotten any mail from canada lately either...
kitty hasn't gotten anything either (and she's in a totally diff
country), and we're both expecting packages... but alas, nothing yet. hmmm, i got a package from the usa today
and that was sent much later than the canadian ones...
so this package i got today... it's my new phone!!! yes, boys and girls, i've got a new toy. i was really
trying hard not to get anything... i talked myself out of a t610, a p800, a p900, a treo 600... but after i saw
the sony ericsson t630, i couldn't resist. plus the fact that my
t39 is slowly breaking down (after 2 years, some of the buttons aren't as responsive, and there's a bit of
squeaking going on), and well... yeah, whatever.
anyhoo, no more toys. well, i don't consider photographic equipment as being toys, so that's ok... which bodes
well, since i think i might pick up a new lens when i go to tokyo... it's supposed to be up to 50% cheaper there
than here in europe. whoa. we'll see though. i still have this skiing trip and toronto to get through first.
anyways, time for bed... like an hour ago. :P
from feb. 6, 2004...
1. what's the most daring thing you've ever done?
well, i guess it depends on the definition of daring... on
dictionary.com, daring means to have courage to do
something bold and challenging (paraphrase)... well, i don't think moving out here would really be daring... it
was such a long and thought-out process... i think i'd be more inclined to say the time i
tackled that would-be pursesnatcher in barcelona...
2. what one thing would you like to try that your mother/friend/significant other would never
approve of?
can i say 2 things? i wanna do skydiving, and to learn how to ride a motorcycle. mother would definitely not
like that.
3. on a scale of 1-10, what's your risk factor? (1=never take risks, 10=it's a
lifestyle)
probably a 5. when i'm travelling, it's way higher, like 7 or 8, but everyday life it's pretty tame, like a 3 or
4...
4. what's the best thing that's ever happened to you as a result of being bold/risky?
deciding to move out here was probably the boldest decision i ever made... no regrets. lotsa good friends, lotsa
awesome experiences... praise God!
5. ... and what's the worst?
getting into a relationship that shouldn't have happened. ah well. you live and learn.
mike sent me a link about a biography program on our dad. for those
of you who can speak cantonese and are remotely interested about my dad's life story (would anyone be, aside
from me and mike?), check out this omnitv program on
cfmt.
another thing... just reading up in the toronto star sports website,
and i found out that canada is playing in the world group of the davis cup
for the first time since 1992... and their first round opponent is the netherlands... and they're playing in
maastricht! aiya! how did i not know this until now?!? rage. i could be there lending my lone voice for moral
support... pure rage.
2.11.2004 not like springsteen
for the record, i was not born in the usa. apparently, a lot of ppl saw
that show i wrote about
last time, and left a rather ambiguous location for my birth. well, i think
i was conceived in nyc, but according to my birth cert, i was born in the t-dot. that's my story and i'm
sticking to it.
i've binged on movies the past 3 days... i watched the
dreamers (or this site) on sunday night, then
the last samurai last night, then both
lost in translation and
school of rock tonight...
i think the dreamers had some sorta external message that i was supposed to get, but it failed
to dawn on me. all i could think about (besides the rather graphic scenes) was how ppl could be so mesmerized
about movies that they re-enact scenes as a part of their daily life... that's weird, right? i mean, i love
watching movies, but i don't spontaneously bust out a scene from
almost an angel or
ghost dad, just for fun (btw, they're 2 of
the worst movies i've ever seen in the theatres, bar none)...
the last samurai was good, better than your usual
tom cruise pseudo-epic. i need to see it again, since the
japanese dialogue was subtitled in dutch, but still, the countryside shots are amazing (though i think those were
probably done in new zealand)...
i was jonesing to watch lost in translation for the longest time, and i finally did it
tonight... worth the wait. bill murray was perfect in that
role and his dry humour was spot-on. i was impressed with scarlett
johannson, who acted way beyond her 19 (or 20?) years... this was a role
natalie portman would've nailed about 3 years ago, before the
star wars pre-trilogy...
but i think the cake has got to go to school of rock. it was hilarious, uplifting and the
music is of course excellent. i think a lot of it was due to my low expectations of the movie, but still, i was
smiling from beginning to end. one thing though - was ned's gf played by the actress (or sister of) who did
janice on friends? same kinda look, same nasally
whine...
anyhoo, enough about movies for now... time for some shut-eye!
2.13.2004 the hills are alive...
i've been thinking about switching my website-updating to blogger from my
current hand-coded everything... i'm pretty sure i can get close to what i have now, using my own templates... i
need to test it out some more, but we'll see... hopefully it works out. it would be so much
easier to post during vacations...
anyhoo, only one more day until i take off for the austrian alps and a week of skiing! woohoo! i can't wait...
haven't really prepped, though i have bought a new jacket, gloves and ski pants. man, it's been like 3 years, at
least since i've been skiing... i suppose it's like riding a bike though - you never forget... or so i hope.
me, marty and chris
here's a pic from my bday party back like 3 weeks ago... it's odd, normally i take tons of pics and then i have a
lot of useless ones, but at my own party, i hardly took any... i've got a smattering of pics from the entire
night, and there's a lot of ppl who aren't in any pics at all! that really sucks... well, i guess i'll always
have my memories...
mark, heidi and anne-laure
ok, i'm feeling generous, here's another one... last pics for a while though... i mean, i don't think i'll be
posting from austria, so, this might be my last post until afterwards... though i'll try to squeeze something in
tomorrow night. actually, i think this is the first pic i've posted of anne-laure, our fifth roomie... hahaha,
ok, really, she was subletting from angie when angie had her internship thing in frankfurt, but anne-laure had to
stay a bit longer, so she's juggling things around with fritzi... she's off to a new job in liège in march!
sweet, another place to visit!
anyhoo, before i go off to la-la-land, here's a couple of interesting links for ya...
- someone with way too much time on their hands
- a decent joe fiorito article, for once
- if you're really bored...
- when is evolution not evolution? when it's taught in georgia...
- for effective googling
- if you happen to have $78mil US burning a hole in your pocket...
- taking cake-cutting to the next level
- remember ed broadbent? he's got a blog now...
- is this enough reason to become a vegetarian?
2.21.2004 so i'm still alive...
me in the austrian alps
well, i'm finally back home in aachen after one amazing ski vacation in the austrian alps... it was just awesome.
i've never skied in such great conditions. sunny, not too cold, practically no wind, plenty of blue and red runs
on mostly groomed trails... only on wed. was the weather bad (and then it was really bad)...
but even discounting all the times i fell (and believe me, they were numerous) and the near-total lack of
internet access (i'm such a geek), it was still a great vacation. tons o' fun and i can hardly wait to go again!
of course, that won't be for a long time, though hopefully not as long as the 3+ years it had been since the
last time...
me on the slopes
one of the things that drives me insane during trips like this is that i lose practically all contact to the
outside world. without internet access, i'm so clueless. by last tuesday, i was practically a nervous wreck,
trying to get to a connected computer any which way (which i managed to do, to check my email)... but seriously,
you wouldn't think that much happens in a week, but a-rod getting traded to the yankees? what the blood? ok, i
know, not exactly earth-shattering news, but still...
anyways, just wanted to post a couple pics from the trip... i got tons of pics of us skiing and having a good
time, but i think the best shots are the panoramas i took of the mountains... i'll post those up asap. they're
just amazing to look at. i think i'll make one as my laptop's wallpaper...
2.24.2004 rosenmontag - the non-holiday holiday
so it was back to work for me today, even though the rest of the city seemed to be on holiday schedule... this
day in particular really gets me. it's called rosenmontag and it's the monday before lent,
which isn't a holiday technically. but it gets lumped into the same karneval festivities that
kitty has been talking about...
ok, so why the rant? well, basically, the whole area treats it as a holiday (particularly in köln, but also here
in aachen), with buses on holiday schedules and most stores closed and parades and such... but i still need to go
to work. heck, even half of the ppl at ericsson here don't come in... but in order to do that, they have to use
up a vacation day or a flex day, cuz it's not officially a holiday, even though everyone does it. grrr.
skiing above the clouds... (click for a larger version)
anyhoo, as i recover from this cold or flu or whatever it is i caught late last week, i'll be
posting up pics from the ski trip last week. today, i'm starting with all the
panorama pics i got, and i'll probably post a summary or two about the week in general.
click here for the pics.
ok, time for bed (need sleep to recover!)... only 2.5 weeks to toronto! holy cowboys!
well, i guess i should recap the ski trip a bit here, before i delay it any more, like the balkan trip... i also
posted the rest of the pics for your visual stimulation...
rocks, or maybe parts of the mountain, jutting out of the snow
well, the weather was absosmurfly fantastic. it was sunny, -1° to -4°, hardly any wind, practically
every day. there was that one day, on wed., where it snowed like crazy and you could barely see 10m in front of
you. we had a bit of cloud cover on thurs. too, but by friday it was back to normal. man, it was just awesome.
it was so nice, i actually got a tan. hahaha... yeah, well, with all the sun, and the reflective snow, i managed
to gain another shade or 2, but only on my face (and with a sunglasses tanline too)... the cold, fresh air and
the snow reminded me of what i like so much about winter...
anyhoo, so i skied the whole week... i wanted to split the week between skiing and snowboarding, but alas, since
i had to rent stuff (and i was doing it in aachen, where it was cheaper), then i had to stick with one, and i
wasn't gonna pay for a board where i would be on my butt half the time... not that that didn't happen anyways...
there were 12 of us there, more or less all related somehow to thomas, who organized it... there was angie and
myself, his roommates... there was jan and karo, friends from aachen... there was his brother stefan and his s.o.
alex, and sister martina and her s.o. christoph... and his own gf, anja... and then benny and birte, ski buddies
of his...
our house (in the middle of our street... :P)
we rented out this nice house, which was a great find, cuz it was so cheap for us... 100 euros for the week, and
it had basically everything we needed... pretty close to the gondola lift too. we cooked for ourselves every
night except the last one, and we always chilled out in the small but cozy kitchen... i had to room with angie,
who snores! hahaha... j/k...
anyways, the skiing itself was great. i was really rusty after not having skied for the last 3 years, but i got
the hang of it, more or less. of course, i was the only one falling with that kinda frequency, but whatever. i
mean, i was able to handle a black run by the last day, so that's not too bad, i don't think. but yeah, i stuck
to mostly blue and red runs for the week... and there were plenty to go around.
(l to r) me, angie, stefan and karo... on top of the world, ma!
my most spectacular fall was this awesome face plant i did on the thursday... jan, karo, angie, stefan and i
skied together for most of the week. well, we were going down this particular slope, and it's not even that hard
cuz it's rated as a blue. i was following karo, though since i was going faster, i was catching up to her.
we were basically at the end of the run when suddenly i see that she's hitting these bumps... you know those
annoying bumps in the run where they're close enough together that you can't really control your skis cuz you're
airborne half the time (ok, i suppose i was going a wee bit too fast)... well, i'm like, crap, there's no way
around them, so i just try to not fall.
bad idea. cuz all i did was plant my left ski in the third, and last, bump. and when i mean planted, i really
mean it. when i checked afterwards, the tip was buried somewhere between 30-40cm into the bump. well, with the
ski suddenly stopped, my momentum carried me forward, and i must've looked like i was getting catapulted, cuz
seriously, it happened so fast, but i basically flew face-first into the snow.
luckily, no broken anything, and only minimal snow-burn on my face as i had just put on chris' ski goggles about
a minute before that. heheheh, God protects fools... :P