Of the Approaching Cold and the Death of Heat; Also, of Life

I have a strange relationship with this time of the year. First, I hate the cold. I can stand it to a certain degree by ignoring it, but there is a limit to how much I can stand the cold as it slowly seeps into my bones. And yet I also love this time of year because of the beautiful changes it brings about. This is the time when snow reappears to recapture our imaginations (and hate, but that is not the point). The beauty of snowflakes, of the ice flowing down the river, of trees laden with snow... I love it all. And Christmas! Lights and decorations, people expressing themselves through colours in ways only seen for this one brief period of time. I feel oddly content with it all.

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Switchfoot's new album is out. <insert>Girlish squeal of delight</insert>

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Life has been a funny thing lately. Not bad per se, just funny. As if everything was blue-shifted just a bit. The last couple of months have been full of so many changes and I'm still trying to figure them all out. Right now I'm just trying to figure out how to balance all the things I have going on: school, work, church, Seana, Family, Friends, and me time to close all the open loops in my head. I think I'm still trying to figure out who I am and what my place is in the world. What my purpose is. I have hints and clues to follow, but it is a process and not one that I think will end any time soon. I don't think this kinds of journey ever really end, but it would be nice to at least find myself at a waypoint to rest for a while. And so I go on...

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I discovered Owl City through the single "Fireflies". Love this guy. Check out trax 5, 9, and 10 especially.

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"You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can't possibly live long enough to make them all yourself."
-Sam Levenson

School & Life

... at this moment.

So basically I'm in a place right now where I really have zero time. Or, at the very least, I'm not leaving myself any time. Let me explain:

First off, school is way more spread out here than in high school. Sure, I only do 18-ish hours a week (down from the approximate 30 in HS). But that 18 hours is distributed on a 8-5-4-1-0 week. Monday is ridiculous. And then Friday I have my practicum for the edumication portion of my schooling, and thus is really about a 6-7 hour day. Then factor in hour gaps leaving me at Trent from 9am to 9pm AND assignments and it is a wonder that I am not burned out already. Probably because I get to use some of that downtime to use my oh-so-convenient bus pass to head up to KLBC to chill. YAYS! The ammount of computer time I can get is pretty nifty too.

All that said however, I really like the atmosphere here. Surrounded on all sides by nature; affiliated with the prettier side of campus (aka, the West Bank); amusing profs... things are pretty good. Going to get hectic is a little while, but still good.

Meanwhile, I have also been working on framing my thoughts on the Human Rights Comissions. I read an article recently on them that brought up a lot of interesting questions about how they relate to religion. Cool stuff. I'll tell you more about it later.

I think that is a sufficient update for now...
Cheers!

Mike

Operation Splashy-splash

... and others

An Update

What has happened in the last while...

Somewhere in the middle of nowhere...
Cutting the clear water in constant, clean strokes. Fighting the wind, fighting mosquitoes, fighting... POWERTHIRST!!! Not actually, though. Soaking each other with canoe paddles, and when I say soaking, I mean 3rd degree soaking. Your eyeballs are soggy. Campfires, 90's songs and a bonding between the vets. and the n00bs. A passing of the torch.

These are just a few highlights of this years Ramblers canoe trip. And yes, Holy Cross' outdoors group is called the Ramblers. And no, it is not lame... it keeps those who could not truly be dedicated to the group out. We are the elite adventurers. And we can rock out.

It all started on the 29th... thirteen students, three leaders. Loads of fun. The group was more or less equally split: Peter, Brock, Ethan, Emily, Lisa and I representing the grade 12 class and the remaining seven (Hillary, Heather, Kari, Jon, Aiden, Taylor and Nick) representing the grade 9's. Perhaps in any other group the age difference may have been detrimental, but for us, it was a plus. A morale booster with all the hilarity we could cook up in this strangely close-knit group.

And boy, would we need it.

The weather was supposed to suck, rain on Friday, thunderstorms on Saturday. Not optimal weather for a portage. But with a little fire, imagination, a huge sing-along of TV show themes and old-school music - not to mention POWERTHIRST!!! and a sun dance - we not only managed to keep spirits up, but freakily banished the rain with our sun dance.

It was wet, but it was fun.

On the Holy Cross Lawn...

... Operation Splashy-splash is in full swing.

It is Fun in the Sun. Probably the best I have been to in my four years at HC. Not to mention the last. FitS usually degenerates into a huge water fight, but this time around... we are going to start it with one. 100+ water balloons. Two dozen water guns. Hundreds of water bottles.

CHAOS!

Overall, it was amazing. Amazingly wet, amazingly sweaty, amazingly fon. GAH!

At school...
... culminating tasks are being worked on. I've completed two of three: Music and English. Music was a recital; I had to preform three songs, come up with my own programme and all the other things that make up a recital. I did one baroque piece (Sicilian & Minuet by Bach), one contemporary classical piece (Abstraccion by some Argentinean composer), and composed a medley of Nintendo themes for my last piece. It want pretty well overall. As for my English... well, one thousand words on the timelessness of archetypes using the Odyssey, Beowulf and the Silmarillion was never written in less time or better. Not that I've found anyway, lol.

At home...
... everything is about status quo. Missing Seana out in Fort McMurray, but I'll be out there in 19 days... I think I'll be able to make it 'till then.

I'm done high school in two and a half weeks. Yikes!

May your day be full of joy,

Michael
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=Annwas Adeniawc=

The Open Door - FortMac'08

Thinking About...

… nothing. Any yet, everything.

I've been having some trouble lately with thinking. I have so many thoughts running through my head – fragmented, scattered, disorganized – that I just am not sure how to express them. I feel like Arthur Dent in the beginning of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: bulldozer and yellow are just floating through my head looking for something to connect to. I know they will eventually. Hopefully.

There are so many things I want to get down here. Things about the new theme. As in, a central focus perhaps? I have a rough idea of where that is going… I'm just having trouble expressing it.

Currently reading: Microserfs by Douglas Coupland.

Mmm… here is another thing I could just write on. This guy is a brilliant writer… and Canadian! Had I read jPod and Microserfs months ago, I might have used them for my English culminating task. Then again, I think I like these books too much to psychoanalyze them that much. I still could write an essay on them though. For fun. On geek culture. Or just culture in general… these books are so loaded with cultural analysis (ok, that phrasing is totally spooging what I want to say) that there is so much which can be taken away. You have to get through a little junk to get there, but the junk is very rare and almost negligible. It's getting harder to find books without junk I'm finding.

I am such a geek. And I am OK with that. Interesting: in Microserfs they say that the thing which divides the geeks from the nerds (other than the fact that girls can't be nerds… or maybe as a by-product?) is that geeks are more marketable, more chic, than nerds. For me that is important because it settles the question as to which I am in my mind. At least, I hope I'm marketable… whatever that means…

But as to my geeky-ness… well, I actually enjoy writing essays. Strange, no? Now that I have kinda moved beyond the clear-cut, this-leads-to-this-leads-to-this method of essay writing, I actually enjoy them. I had to write an essay on Tuesday for my English class about… anything. So I wrote about imagination. And, in my opinion, it was pretty darn good. I was even learning from what I was writing. It was a little scary seeing what was stored in my sub-conscious come out that way… so, when I get it back I'll post it and see where we go. Hopefully somewhere good.

I've also been agonizing lately over my blog… I don't know if you noticed, but I'm having some layout issues with my sidebar… there is some messed up code in my last post somewhere, I just haven't found it yet. Hopefully I can get that cleared, but mebbe getting this up will work in lieu of going through all that code *fingers crossed*.

So, the primary Ft. Mac (not the accurate spelling, but meh…) team leaves next week. Mmmm… mebbe I should talk about that a little here, since I don't think I have mentioned it yet. KAOS Radio has put together a team – mostly of college and university students with the exception of high-schoolers such as my sister and I – to go up to Ft. McMurray Alberta to work with at-risk youth and young adults. As I mentioned, the primary team of ten is going up next week. The second team of four is going up June 20^th. Because I still have to graduate, I am gong to be the last one up. I'm a mixture of emotions over this… excitement, apprehension, and everything in between. All for the same reason: because it is gong to be new and unusual. Outside of the box. Outside of my comfort zone. WAY outside of my comfort zone – though not into the panic zone, I hope. This summer is going to be a huge learning curve for me. I am going to see and experience things I have never seen and experienced before.

So, I am thus not going to see Seana for about a month- since she is headed up with the primary team. But one of the more exciting things, for me at least, is that when I do get up, we are going to be able to work together – for the first time since Hope Valley – and experience these things together. And hopefully it will help us grow – not only individually, but also as a couple. And that is, as the ninth Doctor would say, fantastic!

(Seana, ps. 8 days... lol)

I wonder if this is what posting is going to be like for me from now on… discovering what is on my mind by just talking and typing as thoughts come to my head…

Who knows? It could be good for me.

Either way, I've rambled on for a while here, and if you have made it this far, I applaud you. You should probably comment so that I know exactly who I am applauding though. I don't particularly want to be applauding a spider-bot.

May this day – whichever day you read this on – be filled with joy and wonder.

Michael
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=Annwas Adeniawc=

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Jambo!

Well, we made it back safely from Africa... and man was it an adventure! So many new experience, people, sights, sounds, tastes... almost too much for the senses to handle.

Anyways, I'm planning a rather large and involved post using things culled from my journal (which I miraculously managed to keep!) later, but for the moment I'll leave you with a few pics I shot while there...

Michael
________________________________

=Annwas Adeniawc=

(Seana, I thought you would get a kick out of this... lol)

Catchup, a Launch and What is on My Mind

So, two months later... lol

So what has happened in the last while?
Let's do a quick run through.

December:
Christmas, obviously. A kind of hectic period of time... driving down to London, driving up to Ajax, driving back to the Pdot, driving back to Ajax... followed by a drive back to the Pdot... whew. However, Christmas with my family is always exciting... and I think Seana was excited that she wasn't the only non-Foster at the huge family blowout. It was fun. And crazy.

January:
Exams. Those were fun... not. But I'm glad to see French gone... its not that I don't like French, I just disliked the teacher. A lot.
January was also turn 18 time. Yes, that's right; I'm now legal. w00t! I can... vote??!? There are other things I can do too... but I really don't want/need to.
Another anniversary was in January: Seana et moi have been going our for one year now (well actually, more than that now now, but meh... close enough). I haven't really talked about Seana much here... so there you go, now you exist on my blog ;o).

Other than that... I've just been making it through school, trying to get homework done... get my University stuff all finished (I hate PSEs, officially). Ohh... and I launched another blog... yesterday... so now I have to work twice as hard to keep up to date, lol. Not actually. My other one is where I am putting on display some pictures of what I get up to and any schweet graphics I feel like designing. So, I present to you Ma Vie en Photo (in French, just because I can).

And now for some things that I have been following lately.

1. CoS vs. Anonymous.
• This hasn't really been making a huge splash in mainstream news coverage, but in the online community, the war between the Church of Scientology and the (so called) hacker group Anonymous has been really interesting to follow. You may or may not have heard about the protests that were held world-wide in front of CoS centres, but this whole thing really threatens to shut down the CoS, or at least change the way it operates today. If you want to know what is going down, check out Search Engine (CBC Radio).
2. Fifth Business.
• I usually don't enjoy books that I have to do for English class (Shakespeare excepted). However, this book is just so fantastic that I can't help but like it. If you haven't read it yet, you have to. Though I may just like it because I identify myself as Fifth Business... but you will have to Google it, Wiki it or read the book to find out what I am talking about ;o).
3. Do Hard Things
• The Rebelution book comes out in APRIL. YAYS!!!! I am so psyched for this book... they have an excerpt available on the Rebelution website and it reads absolutely fantastic thus far. If you haven't heard about the Rebelution, I highly recommend checking it out.
  

Umm, so I think that's about it for now.

Have a very awesome day
Michael
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Brother in Arms
Proverbs.17.17

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An Update

I'm not actually supposed to be posting this.
 
Really I should be on a train (or at least, getting off the train by now...) to Montreal. I am supposed to be spending the next six weeks in Quebec working at a camp (I'm still not sure what I'm going to be doing...) and learning french. FON. I am actually excited for it, however it has been delayed by the Aboriginal Day of Protest and the fun time of having the railways blockaded. Sweet, eh? So, I'm leaving sometime tomorrow, but I don't know when.
 
Exams are over (obviously) and therefore the school year is finished for yet another year. While that is exciting, there is a bit of a bitter pill that goes along with it. My music tearcher, who is also my absolute favourite teacher, has taken a job at another school in Bowmanville. The band didn't find out 'till yesterday at our band breakfast. There were lots of tears on her part and on the part of others in the band. The school isn't going to be the same without her. However, we are getting a new teacher/conductor and that will be an adventure.
 
Its long weekend time. I'm going to be in Quebec for Canada Day, which the sepratists will surely make interesting...

I'm out,
Michael
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Brother in Arms
Proverbs.17.17
 

STAY OFF THE SIDEWALKS!!!!

So, exciting news in the land of Mike... I went to take my test for my G2 yesterday (after only, what... 17 months??) and passed!! w00t!!! So I can now drive on my own... look out pedestrians, here I come! jk...

In other news, there is only 9 (or is it 8...) more school days remaining before exam-scariness and then... SUMMER!!! As to what I am doing this summer, well that is still up in the air. The Summer Work Exchange people have yet to get to me, and thus all my summer plans or any summer plans I might make are on hold. Blah. I'm thinking I will give up on them soon and just do my own thing, get a summer job or what-not. I could go back to HV (4 Life!!!) but the parentals are not so hot on that as I am now driving and there are all sorts of nice expences which go with that. FON.

Anyway, today is the Junior High pool party for the grade fives, which should be fun, except for the slight wind-chill which is not so much. But it will all be good.

Waiting for summer,
Michael
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Brother in Arms
Proverbs.17.17

Soooo...

So, I've decided that I can at least post *once* this month... lol, I have been both too busy and lazy to post for over a month, but FUN! I'm doing it now.

What have I been so busy with you ask? Band mostly. From going around doing fundraisers to delivering the goods to going to New York, yes ladies and gentlemen band has been crazy. Not anymore as it is now over (*tear*) but it was crazy...

New York you say??? Yes, New York. The Big Apple. Metropolis. Gotham City. The hometown of many a superhero and many a villan's evil plots. No worries, nothing went down while I was there. From 6:30 wake up calls to 11:30 nights, it was an amazing 5 day whirlwind adventure in the big city. And so much to do! The Empire State building is pretty sweet and gives you a nice view of the entire Manhattan area (on a good, non-smog-y day of course...). Time's Square with the hustle and bustle of THOUSANDS of people. The fact that the number of people in the city at almost any given time is higher than the population of our fair country (mind boggling that...). The Statue of Liberty, the Time Warner building, Radio City Music Hall, Juliard, Carnegie Hall, the Met Opera House in the Lincoln Center, The Met Museum of Art, BB King's Blues Club, STOMP!!!!, Chinatown, Little Italy, SoHo... so much to see and do in so little time. We of course went to Ground Zero and my personal favourite place, Central Park. AHHH!!! It was amazing!

What else... oh yes, coming back to school and being unloaded upon in terms of homework (which I really should be doing now...lol), that was fun too. Trig Identities... w00t... ;D

So much, so much... and summer just around the corner.

I was thinking about making some changes here, and probably will be doing so as soon as I figure out the code for them, lol.

Anywho, I'm off to do homework...
Toodlez!
Mike

YAY!

I don't know how many of you have taken Drivers Ed. but I can tell you this... the in class is so BORING it is hardly to be imagined. I mean, it is seriously time consuming and, depending on who you get in your class, a loud and waste of said time.

But it is over!!! YAY!!!!

Only thing is... I now have to wait about two weeks to start the in car.... yech

Anyways, that has pretty much been my whole life for the last while... not a whole lot interesting...

Blah.

Mike

Designs

So yeah, I was basically bored at home all week due to a loss of wisdom (teeth, lol) and so I made this. Enjoy. Oh, and I am feeling quite rosey with their removal and am once again chewing, though not chomping yet... alas for my apples! Or at least my stomach...

Mike

Some Switch and Wisdom

Long time, no post...

But I have been busy.

For those of you who live on another planet, Switchfoot played in Toronto last Wednesday at the Koolhaus. And I was one of the privileged who got to go see them. OH YEAH! Switchfoot is pretty much my fav band, and really the first band I listened to (I don't count solo artists as bands...). They are great on CD. They are ama-za-zing live! The warm up band being really terrible made them seem even better than they would have been anyway (Copeland is terrible live... very boring, very stiff) I really can't describe how great it was. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll put up some pics instead.


Jon Forman pointing out at the swirling, screaming masses...

Various shots of the band, the last of which was taken as they finished performing Only Hope and launched into Dare You to Move, pretty much my two fav songs by them...

In other news, I'm pretty much in a bit of pain right now... y'know having my wisdom teeth removed and all... I've heard stories about how bad it could be, but I wasn't quite ready for this... in a word OWWWWWWWWWWW!!! So I have been refraining from opening my mouth and stuff like that. But I will survive... what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger and all that jazz... :D

All for now

Mike

Welcome to My Life

So, I thougt about it and then I realized, for all the talking I do about faith-like stuff (and that it is sooo ensconced in my poetry...), I have never actually talked about my faith before. My "testimony" as it is called in Christian-ese.

Christian-ese: What is almost a seperate language spoken by many old or long-time Christians which often confuse non-Christians or just plain-old everyone. (Or nobody, depending on the company/word...)

Mine is pretty much like most other people who grew up in a Christian home. Family who goes to church every sunday, family and friends of family who are involved in ministry, et al. A kind of ghetto some may say.

(Ghetto: While the word has many different implications for different people, the word is generally used to describe a segregated place)

Anyway, I became a Christian at the ripe-old age of four (...or mebbe it was five?) and that was it. In hindsight I realize that at that age I really didn't understand all that made up being a Christian. More than that, I also think that at the time my motivation for taking that step was more to please my parents than any real belief. In any case, my spiritual life remained more or less stagnent for a long time. Sure, I went to sunday school and all the mid-week classes and stuff, and I could talk the talk just as well as anyone else, but in my heart nothing really changed. I didn't get it, and I wouldn't get it until I hit the ground hard.

Ahh, yes. The Dark Ages (not the medieval ones, I just like the play on words). The dark years of my life. The years where I learned to wear masks and hats. Following the usual path for someone like me, I pretty much crashed and burned coming into adolesence. Grade six to grade eight, I was one messed up kid. But as bad as it was, it wasn't as bad as it could have been and it was definetly a place for God to start working in my life. In hindsight, it really is only by His grace that I am who and where I am today. If I had tried to do things on my own, who knows where I woud be? It is not as if I just decided that God suddenly wasn't there, just that I really didn't want to do things His way at the time.

So He decided to give me a smack upside the head. I don't know when it happened, but I just know that somehow I was turned in my path and started heading the other way, towards God. I was still pretty weak, but God knew how to help me get back to health. Somehow I managed to get on staff at Hope Valley, and God used that tremendously. He gave me a great trainer and great senior staff to work with. He also gave me most of the people I count as my best friends, people who are just so amazing. I'm not going to embarass anyone with names, but y'all know who you are. Thanx.

It was at camp that God showed me so much of where I was going wrong. During one of the devos., the guy who was speaking said something to the effect of "Sometimes people who were 'saved' at a really young age really aren't. They may not really understand what it is all about, what the cross is all about, and so are missing what being a Christian is all about." While I'm not sure I agree with all of that, it had a huge impact on how I thought and where I was. At that point I think something that was missing finally clicked. I don't know if that means that at that point I was actually saved or whatever, but I do know that at that point I really started to get it.

So where does that leave me now? At this blog, or at least the idea behind it. Philippians 3:14, from which comes the name of this blog etc, says, "I press onward towards to goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (NIV). I'm pressing forward, never being satisfied with where I am, and taking you along for the ride.

Michael
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Brother in Arms
Proverbs.17.17

As Long As There Are Exams...

...there will be prayer in school. At least, that is what several posters and bumper stickers I have seen claim.

I for one believe it.

With exams two days away (unless you are doing what I am supposed to be doing now and have to do in-class exams... o_0") prayer is definetly on the minds of many of the students at my school. Praying that they will get good grades on their exam, culmiating tasks, etc. Getting their priests to pray for their exams. Their is so much prayer in the air that we could be in Vatican City for all I know.

But in some ways it makes me sad.

Sad to think that we only reach out to God when we want something. When it serves our interests to reach out to Him. When we just want that little extra to supplement the studying we (*didn't as is often the case) do. How much more self serving can we get?
But at the same time, I can't be too condemning of that. That would be hypocritical. I know that I do the same some times, that I let my own selfishness come before God, and that it is something I will always struggle with. It is just a part of being human. But that doesn't give me excuse to do it knowingly.

So, where am I going with this? I have no clue, I really just rambled on.
Good luck with exams. I'll be praying for you, \o/.

Michael
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Brother in Arms
Proverbs.17.17

Tools pt.1

So, I have The Rebeultion as one of my quick links in the side bar there, but I don't think I have actually ever mentioned it. Oversight on my part.

I found The Rebelution recently while surfing then net, checked it out, delved deeper, do my usual checking for credibility thing. And since then it has become (or at least the forum has become) a primo spiritual resource for me.

Alex and Brett, 18, define a "rebelution" as being a "teen rebellion against the low expectations of an ungodly world" (paraphrase, I think...). One of the best articles I have read recently is titled My First Shower Nearly Killed Me and it outlines the idea much better than I possibly could. They area also currently doing a "Modesty Survey," which I have a nice picture for, where girls ask questions about modesty and guys answer. The asking part is over, but if any guys still want to participate the option is still open.

If it seems that I am pushing this site, it is because I am. It is just a really great resource that I think everybody should check out at least once. So, go ahead and give it a shot ;)

Cheers!
Michael
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By the grace of GodJob.33.23-28

Interesting

Not life.

(╥_─)
School is really annoying right now... exams and stuff. Culminating tasks. Blah. English.
Blahx2.

However, as this is my first post of the new year, I shall look to the positive. As in, I had an awesome-possum holiday, full of friends, food, fun, food, friends, fire, friends, strangers, et al..
:D

EMOTICONS.

So, during my meanderings on the internet I came across a rather impressive article on emoticons and a rather impressive list OF emoticons. Including an emo EMOticon. I was happy. XD.

(///_V)

Anywho, I'm bored and procrastinating (which, concequently, is also a good song by Stellar Kart) so I had better actually get to work. Or listen to my mp3 player. Whichever comes first.

Cheers!

Michael

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By the Grace of God
JOB.33.23-28

Wherefore on the Day of the Seventh...

"On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me/Seven swans a swimming..."

Day number seven...we seem to be going through these very swiftly.... Seven swans a swimming is not as obvious as many of the others have been. It makes reference to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. But I have no clue what those are exactly because there are over 20 odd listed in various places in the New Testament. FUN!

In other news, life right now is really lazy. Things are winding down before Christmas. There are three more school days before we go on break, and one is a write off (Christmas assembly, one of the major highlights of the school year). Actually, today was a write off as well. My school ran Participaction, a day where we (the school populace) get out and do some good physical activity, or in the case of many students, go Christmas shopping. *shakes head* I suppose some might consider that physical activity, BUT... I went skating for the first tome this year/in a year. I get a massive blister, but other than that it was ama-za-zing fun!!! Skating rocks!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow... I white Christmases ROCK!

Michael
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By the grace of God
Job.33.23-28

Weekend(ers)

So, this weekend was the weekend of birthday parties. I went to two of them, back to back. It was fun, albeit sometimes random... I love parties. I can't lie. There is something in the infectious-ly energetic and excited atmosphere that just makes me go nuts. I THRIVE on that kind of energy... but it is also that I just love hanging out with my friends. They are really one of the most important groups in my life.

Party no. 1: HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY!!!

So I was very excited for this birthday party, esp. seeing as I hadn’t seen/hung out with Emily in, oh, almost a year (if you don’t count maybe five minutes in the summer…). Note: it isn’t such a hot idea to not hang with people for that long. So it was very fun, tho a bit chaotic… and I showed up on time (aka a half hour late…). We made cookies, which was über fun and watched Tomb Raider (avert your eyes boys!!! lol Sarah). Certain people played “connect-the-freckles” on my arms (*cough cough Seana and Bethany, cough cough*), WHICH by the way took 20 minutes to get off… and I saved Seana from bigger people (again lol). It was just overall a blast. I love these guys and it is always fun to hang with them.

Party no. 2: HAPPY BIRTHDAY PETER!!!

I knew even before I showed up that this party was going to be a riot. And I wasn’t disappointed. From playing keep-it-up with a balloon (200 odd hits, and there were some intense saves due to challenging obstacles…) to punching bags (and punching Brocks) to some very cool conversations with Brock, it was F-U-N. And we played that most Canadian game in the most Canadian way possible: Road hockey in the dark with three hockey sticks, two goalie sticks, a broom and a rake. Oh yeah, is that dedication to the game or what?? That was quickly followed up with a game of basket ball (in which the Holy Cross bwoyz were flattened…lol) and then hot chocolate and marshmallows by the fire. We had some neat conversation there on the topic of religion. Brock was the only one there who wasn’t a Christian, but he had some very interesting things to say. It was good, and most importantly, it wasn’t a hostile, shove-our-faith-down-your-throat kind of talk. I can only hope that we in some way managed to plant some kind of seed.

I would post pics, but my camera is severely lacking in the department of batteries, so I don’t have any.

Ciao for now!

Michael
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By the grace of God
Job.33.23-28

CHRISTMAS!!!

Who loves Christmas? I love Christmas!!! And as long as my computer avoids blowing up again, I'll get to keep talking about it! Snow seems to have this exciting Christmas-y affect on me (xcept for after Christmas, when it seems to have this very exciting snowboarding-y (lol) affect on me), and we have just recently had lots of SNWO!!! I'm so excited I can't even spell straight!!! YAY! Relient K's Relient Christmas has become a permanent part of my music playlist, tho I have to be careful who I play it around, aka "LOOK OUT! NON CHRISTMAS-Y FEELING PEOPLE APPROACHING!!!" Hehe... I'm actually so stoked, altho my wishlist is quite short... just some CD's actually. BUT SOME FREAKING SWEET CD's. aka, new Newsboys, Skillet, and a plethora of others. (I really like that word...plethora...). AND, Switchfoot's new CD come out on Boxing Day!!! *excited*
But I must remember to keep it all in context... losing sight of the real reason behind Christmas would be total anathema (I like that word too...). So, as we get closer, don't get so wrapped up in the decorations and trees and tinsel (I love it so) and lights and Santa that you forget about a little baby. In the words of Dr. Seuss's Grinch, "Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"

Michael

Computer woes

"If you ask me, the worst thing about PCs is that things go wrong more often than Ben Affleck makes bad career choices" - Kirk Steers, PC World

Ain't that the truth...

Michael
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By the grace of God
Job.33.23-28