still alive, folks, but sick as a dog... ack. i cannot wait for the weekend.
anyways, no news to write about really... last weekend was good. went to köln on sat., watched a couple movies
(the hilarious something's gotta
give and mona lisa smile),
stayed over at vicky's place... church on sunday and then cologne
worship night afterwards...
aight, here's a whole ton of interesting links that i've been meaning to post... these are the kinda things that
pique my curiosity...
- jay-z meets the beatles. the grey album
- guys who play this game need to get out more often...
- a geek love poem
- get this: a band that includes 2 blank cds in their album for you to copy their music with!
- wanna send someone an anti-hallmark?
- what happens when you have nothing better to do with technology...
- spike lee's short flick for msn direct
- miss those old arcade games? not anymore!
- remember when 1.44mb used to mean something? efficient apps.
- google logo parody
- why friendster and sixdegrees suck ppl in
- watch what you unzip...
- more about decompression bombs
- why do companies do this? just to make another buck?
- does gwb even care about the constitution?
- don't raise your kids in florida
- at least the kid learned english...
- nasa tests water balloons in zero-g
- tv takes second place to the cell phone
actually, this link stands out because it's so radical... you thought you knew everything about "zero"? check this out...
3.7.2004 links means left in german
hey kids, looks like a few ppl don't check this site too often... i found out a couple ppl didn't know i was
going back to toronto for a few days, and they're all "we gotta hook up" and all that. not that i don't want to,
but the fact i'm going back home is old news. this ain't no surprise visit like christmas 2002. ah wellz.
so what's the plan? well, this is stefanie's first time to toronto (or canada, or north america), so of course,
we'll do a lot of touristy things. niagara falls,
cn tower, the
islands... you know, the whole shebang...
anyhoo, here's yet some more links for you to enjoy... yes, it's a space filler. get over it.
- borrow cds and dvds from complete strangers!
- random flower giving in san fran
- strange but curiously fun
- and you thought vanilla coke was gross...
- does ralph nader secretly like living under republican administrations?
- ever wonder when a sci-fi idea first came along? wonder no more
- bugs as environmental sensors
- will you marry me now?
- fish farms do more harm than good
- the beauty of css at work
- the physics of hollywood
- map of time, not distance
- the worst example of capitalistic excess yet
- does anyone tell the truth in washington?
- a great blog on iraq and us politics
- sarcasm and satire in demonstrations... i love it!
- truth or urban myth? look it up here
- reasons not to get an suv
- interesting take on american poverty
- less toxic waste - a good thing, no?
- wouldn't it be better to learn how to take good pics in the first place?
and why is my site linked from this
one?
update: i made a mistake with the first question. the answer's been revised.
i realized i haven't done a friday five in a little while... so enjoy
this one... this is from march 5, 2004...
what was...
1. ...your first grade teacher's name?
mrs. munroe, at iroquois public school in scarlem, and mrs. kondracki at karen road public school. my family
moved in the middle of my grade 1 year, so it's split... approximately sept-jan and jan-june, respectively.
2. ...your favorite saturday morning cartoon?
i don't remember watching much on saturday mornings, cuz i always had something to do, like piano lessons, or
swimming or skating lessons, or chinese school...
3. ...the name of your very first best friend?
hmmm, i was pretty tight with steve finlayson back at karen road p.s., but i think the first "best" friend i had
was a family friend, jerald... at least, that's what i called him. best friend, not his name...
4. ...your favorite breakfast cereal?
what "was" my favourite breakfast cereal? can't i still have one? well, growing up, i think it was honey nut
corn flakes... but they don't make that anymore (crunchy nut corn flakes is not the same), so
here i'd probably pick the choco-clusters cereal...
5. ...your favorite thing to do after school?
bar none, it was playing sports with my friends. whether it was ball hockey, or baseball, or football, or
whatever, it was always the thing to do, after school, during lunches and recess... ahhh, good times.
only 2.5 more hours before i start my journey back to toronto! woohoo. yes, i'm up late... but i've actually
finished packing... so that's already a headstart on previous trips. i'm pretty excited about the trip, even
though it'll be pretty busy... since stefanie's coming, i'm sure every day will be pretty busy seeing this and
that... it's all good though. pancake house! :P
anyhoo, i have a whole ton of links to post... but i'm gonna try to catch a couple hours of z's before i leave,
so they'll have to wait until i get back, in 10 days... hopefully they're still relevant by then, but whatever.
suck it up!
one thing i noticed is that it's almost the one-year anniversary of my website redesign... that's right, only
3 more days, and in all likelihood, this will be the last post before that date... interesting to see how time
has passed since then, eh? 109 posts since the redesign, or on average of 1 post every 3.3 days... what does
this all mean? nothing. just reflecting, that's all... anyways...
to all my peeps back home... see you soon!
3.23.2004 back, back, way back... gone!
well, i'm back online and i'm back in aachen... my trip back home was, once again, far too short. playing tour
guide for steph was pretty exhausting too... niagara falls twice in a week? i ain't doing that again... on the
other hand, i did enjoy going to the mcmichael canadian art collection,
where a lot of stuff from the famed group of
seven is displayed... i don't normally enjoy going to art galleries, so it was a bit of a surprise.
anyways, it was great to be back, to see a whole bunch of friends and of course, my family... got to hang out a
lot with my best bud matt, my
bro, and other peeps too. but because i had a lot less time this trip, i missed out on seeing other ppl too,
which really sucks, cuz i just don't know when i'll be back home next...
steph had a good time, seeing niagara, the maple syrup festival, cn tower...
ppl say it's interesting to see your own city as a tourist, but i disagree. well, then again, i wasn't really
being a tourist... but i thought the cn tower wasn't all that, and niagara was so bloody cold, i dunno how anyone
could enjoy it... but maybe that's just the cynical side of me. i think what steph enjoyed most though was
meeting my family and my friends, even though all of them were chinese (ok, viet was the token non-chinese)...
well, i didn't take many pics when i was back, but i'll post the few that i got later. thanks to all my friends
for changing their own plans to see me and all that... miss you guys already!
from march 19, 2004...
if you...
1. ...owned a restaurant, what kind of food would you serve?
hmmm, good question. i think i'd probably serve a concept, rather than a particular type of food... it would be
upscale, but only in the interpretation of the food... it would vary from one day to the next, from sushi to
steak and potatoes, but the style would be done up... that would be kinda cool, eh?
2. ...owned a small store, what kind of merchandise would you sell?
camera stuff. either that or a travel agency. and i'd run a hostel on the side too.
3. ...wrote a book, what genre would it be?
i think it would probably be about travel photography, since that would gimme an excuse to do just that. :P
4. ...ran a school, what would you teach?
if i ran a school, wouldn't i be a principal, instead of a teacher? well, anyways, if i had to teach a class, i
suppose i would teach little kids, like kindergarten... as they say, everything you need to know about life, you
learn in kindergarten... heheh, what better way to influence kids than bright and early!
5. ...recorded an album, what kind of music would be on it?
heheheh, if i? been there, done that... no t-shirt though. but if i had to do my own type of music? probably a
fusion of hip-hop, jazz, and rock, with heavy beats all the way through...
3.26.2004 blah and other little thoughts
first of all, big props to ange for getting into the m.arch program at
u of t... congrats!
as for my own plans... well, barcelona fell through. seems i would basically need to already be a resident of
spain. doh, oh wellz... it was a slim chance anyways. woulda been coolz, but it was a good experience with the
application and all that. at least it's ready for the next one...
anyways, getting back to work hasn't been too hard... the biggest challenge is getting back into the right time
zone... i still haven't really managed to do it... probably need the weekend to straighten it out.
nico left ericsson yesterday... we had a little going-away thingy for him last night... went out for dinner then
a few drinks at labyrinth... i dunno... you kinda get used to it after a while... ppl come and go, and move on to
bigger and better opportunities. good luck nico! eh... he probably doesn't even read this...
anyhoo... i realized, when i was back in toronto, that i'm gonna miss a lot of weddings this year... i already
know of 5 weddings, and it's only march! interestingly enough, they seem to involve girls whose first names
start with j... there's jenn pun, jessica (and wayne), joanne, and joyce... the stray is samson, though his
fiancée could have a name that starts with j... i haven't met her, and i can't remember what anyone told me...
gonna get my japan railpass tomorrow... time's a tickin'!
3.27.2004 what did you do yesterday?
well, disappointingly, there aren't any friday five questions this week.
sucky.
anyways, i'm starting to ramp up the planning for my trip to japan... picked up my
japan rail pass yesterday, along with a couple maps... armed with my
lonely planet books, i'm starting to formulate a game plan for my
short visit.
i'll chill with clara for the weekend i get there, then head to kyoto
for a couple days during the week... i haven't decided which city i'll head to for a day trip... either nagano
(from tokyo) or hiroshima (from kyoto)... any thoughts? email me.
after picking up the railpass, i walked around a bit before watching a couple movies... i didn't manage to watch
any while i was back home, so i have to catch up... i saw
along came polly, with
ben stiller and
jennifer aniston, and afterwards, i watched
21 grams, with
naomi watts,
sean penn and
benicio del toro.
along came polly was funny if predictable... not as coarse or frat-boy as other stiller flicks
but amusing nonetheless... philip seymour hoffman steals the
show though... he is absolutely hilarious in this movie.
on the other end of the emotional spectrum sits 21 grams... this is a powerful and moving
flick. it really throws you off, when you first watch it... at least, it did to me... i had only heard how good
the performances were and some of the oscar hype... but i didn't know what it was about or what the style was...
excellent movie. depressing, to the point i almost cried, but an amazing story...
i thought sean penn was better in mystic
river, and i think that's the role he won the oscar for... benicio was his normal fabulous self and i
love naomi watts. but sean penn has to be one of the most underrated actors of our time (well, at least before
he won the oscar)... him and johnny depp... i don't think i'd
buy along came polly on dvd, but 21 grams is high on my list...
today, i didn't do much at all... slept in, chillounged around the house all day, went out for sushi, and now i'm
back home... i think i'll watch 28 days
later, one of the few dvds i've bought without actually having seen the movie...
3.31.2004 it's spring! it's spring!
it's unbelievable really. i mean, march is over already? we're done a quarter of 2004 already? what the blood?
i dunno... seriously, time must accelerate when you get older... that's the only explanation...
so anyways, last sunday, we had a meeting for the leadership group of our 1t412 young adults fellowship... well,
it was really just claudia, volker and myself, as the others were away... and our leadership group is down to 6
people now, as christine and richard resigned... too much studying to do. ah wellz, whatever... it was kinda
odd, having started out with so many ppl wanting to participate, but now, only having this many active leaders...
whatever.
it was nice to be back playing worship again, even though it'd only been a couple weeks... but due to the fact
that i took my guitar to get fixed (the pickup is busted), i had to play this
ovation that is always at the church... it's odd... i had an ovation
myself, when i was in canada, but i must've really gotten used to my
yamaha over the past couple years, cuz i
had a tough time playing the ovation...
markus set up his drums in the church cellar and then we jammed for about an hour or so... it was pretty coolz...
diethard came to sing for a bit too... good times. i can't wait until we can really fill out the worship team
with the drums and the bass...
this week so far has been pretty blah... except tonight. it was really warm today, so much you didn't even need
a jacket outside, so christof, jason, chris, fatima and i decided to go for a beer in the city after work... we
went to café extrablatt and chilled there for dinner... met a few other
ericsson ppl plus the spanish sylvia... gthba.
well, almost... i mean, i had a good time, but i think all the trees or flowers or whatever started pollinating
cuz of the weather... my hayfever kicked into overdrive after work, and i was getting really itchy eyes and all
that... i think i'll have to go in to get some meds tomorrow...
anyhoo, tomorrow's my last day at work this week... heading to london on friday to meet up with my cousin jason.
that should be gt's too!