In the eye of the storm |06.28.2001|

This week has been relatively quiet around here. BUT the long weekend is fast approaching and everyone will be in town for the long weekend. Fireworks, road trips, people; it's gonna be hectic! That's when the storm will pick up again. Speaking of eyes, I managed to stuff my contacts into my eyes after the millionth try (but this time I think Chris' tutoring helped b/c I got them in after 30 hr).

What I don't understand is how guys (mostly) don't mind spending so much money at the arcades. Okay, I admit that most games can be very addictive. And if all the games were free, I'd be practising too (so I can kick butt! ;P). Flukedly, I managed to win a couple of rounds/games at Street Fighter 3 with J (and almost beat Marc as well)--but J hasn't played it before, so I guess twas fair :). Surprisingly though, I also managed to beat (at the very last sec) Jon M. at Daytona--he used manual transmission and for me, automatic. I cheapedly outraced Marc, but that's b/c I rammed into him :P heheh.

WWF. Spending a smoky 3 hours at BP to watch WWF is not really my idea of fun. But Marc cooked us dinner so I'm not complaining. Thanks Marc--that "Bak Chi Gai" [or whatever it really is] was good. :) Ironically, we spent the next day at Local Heroes catching RAW as well. But we had good laffs b/c "Silq" was there. A guy's sense of humour can get a l'iil outta hand tho. Must admit. ;)

Eye can see! |06.23.2001|

Bounce was an alright movie. Lacks "substance" or something though--plot was half decent, character development -- hmm, they seemed to be pretty static. Or maybe because t'was whole mind game, which happens in real life, but still . . .

Woohoo! I can see again w/o my glasses--though having contacts in my eyes is a very very weird feeling. I'm just glad that I have teared up too much just yet ('cept my left eye rejected it the first time the guy tried to teach me how to properly use them).

Seems that having "Pei Dan Shou Yok Juk" at MK's for lunch is a better deal that late night snack because the portions are bigger and the price is pretty much the same. :)

One of the opticians at the place where Chris works, thought that Jon and I were going out. Sigh. :P

God's sense of humour |06.21.2001|

Although this section of my website is prolly the most "secular" of all, I gotta share this verse w/ you that I read in my devotions last night. It's prolly taken out of context, but it's nevertheless, very amusing (something that Zeke would prolly vouch for since all he ever finds are verses on "increasing in number", "figs", and "drink and be merry"). This verse is taken from Ecclesiastes 10:19 (NIV):

"A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes life merry, but money is the answer for everything."

muhahahah. xþ

Heehee. Oh boy, oh boy. Aussie Frank is funny. He apparently told his mom that I was Dom's gf. HAHA. Like Dom said, "Noooo." Both him and I have different ppl in mind, so that's completely outta the question in this context :). We both cracked up though when Frank's mom asked Dom today, and so did Jon and Marc when we told them :P.

102.1F |06.20.2001|

Yup, that was what my fever was at one point of the day. During lunch, when I left work, it was blazing hot outside (but w one cool breeze). Luckily, the 31C temperature did not affect me in any way because I was experiencing cold chills. All the heat/sun did to me was try to warm me up. That was good . . . until I "passed" out on top of my bed (w/o covers on) w/o having any energy to take any tynenol and then woke up to find that I was extremely hot and had a temperature of 102.1 F (I was like what?! So I retook it again, and it dropped to 101.8 F). Then I also attempted to answer my calls.

Yes, my friends are really, really nice! =) They kept calling/icqing me to see how I was doing throughout most of yesterday and today. Do I get this in Waterloo/Toronto/Vancouver? Not to this extent =) Thanks guys [and P for asking 'bout me]. Okay, I know you Vancouver/Toronto/Waterloo ppl are prolly protesting by now. Yes, I know that some of you do care and I thank you too [like the ppl I hung round w during the past Christmas]! But to not have heard from anyone (aside from L.Mo/Chris/Ron and my family) from home for at 6 months now is kinda disappointing, y'know (and if you call me now, well it doesn't count b/c i'm mentioning it).

I went to class on Monday expecting it to be good (cuz it was supposedly on ethics). Too bad I got sick yesterday, else I'd go today cuz it's on an even better topic: breaching of contracts! =). Ah well. I almost fell asleep in the first part of the class--that was my worst one yet. Tho, I learned lots, nevertheless. Especially on what's hot in the gay community. . . .some "leather cleaner" that I'd rather not get into (and that the teacher knows from experience or something "trust me, you only need 1/2 a can"). But also learned something else, something that is plausible/feasible for J especially:

1. get hard liquor/liqueur
2. slap some on your face
3. let alcohol evaporate off [which in process you will also feel burning sensation]
4. then you'll have a nice lovely aftershave smell
5. and for ppl like J, drink the rest =). heheh.

You know what else that I could consider? It's not illegal to sell notes to students (or against Carelton University's policy) and some students make up to $400! Heheh, since I "enjoy" sitting in classes, I might as well earn cash as well. Too bad I didn't think of that earlier; else I could make an offer to Conky. Heheheh. :P

Father's Day |06.17.2001|

Father's Day should've been a normal, every day Sunday for me, but it turned out to the complete opposite. First, I was kinda helping out w AV at church for most of the worship service. I haven't done that in a while. Both sitting upstairs in the sanctuary and doing AV. Well, not really doing, kinda just observing. My brother useta do the AV and at BAC, I picked up some of the basics that I needed to know/look out for. I think one day, to keep from being distracted, I should just sit by myself or something. But if I do that, I just might fall asleep b/c I know that no one is keeping me accountable :P. Surprisingly enough, I haven't even felt the need to fall asleep at OCAC yet. :)

In the afternoon, I ended up spending some time at Dom and Marc's places in Orleans. They have pretty "homey" homes. And they have a basement that they can chill in (especially in this dreadful heat). The neighbourhood has some really nice parks and it seems pretty peaceful safe. Ah yeah, I keep seeing examples of how nice Ottawa residents are here. They are easy to differentiate btwn TO, Montreal, or 'couver residents--they lack this cold attitude :). And bus drivers? I wish the bus drivers are like this everywhere else. They practically stop anywhere to pick you up and drop you off.
Dom took his family out for dinner to "Duk-Bak-Lay" for Father's Day and invited me along. Thanks Dom ;9! I have not yet felt sooo full here in Ottawa until last night. I ate soo much (or so it seemed but I was hungry again around 1 am :P). The funny thing is that one of the dishes was soo badly translated: You Choy, became in English, "Vegetable Oil". Yes, they may have cooked it w Vegetable oil, but I'm quite sure that wasn't what they were trying to convey :).

I was supposed to go and watch Tomb Raider (free! but catch was only offered at midnight) this weekend but they ended up changing the dates, and I had to work the next day---not to mention that I needed to go home to call my father to wish him a happy father's day too :P.

Aside: The power went out in our neighbourhood this morning. But as I passed Woodroffe and Carling, I once again realised why it's deemed the most dangerous intersection in Ottawa. That's because immediately after the lights, the LCBO parking lot is there. Most cars haveta slow down in the middle of the intersection for cars that need to turn into the parking lot. who's smart idea was that?!

Consequences |06.17.2001|

My first and my last time most likely. In retrospect though, that was quite an excitement. Anyhow, always, always listen to your conscience when it makes you doubt. HA. Well, anyhow, J was telling me how the drag races goes on for like 2 months at the same location and people are starting to get spooked. So I'm like, fine, I'm not going to watch anymore b/c of the big risk. Nevertheless, he convinces me that he's exaggerating, so I agree. At the back of my mind, something is naggin me, so I remember not to carry any ID on me (for some weird reason); at home, I changed from sandals to runners (in case I had to make a break for it), and was thinking of wearing blk (to be less visible). Once Frank, J, and I got there, I realised that if I needed to really make a dash for some reason, I needed to place my phone someplace, so I gave it to J--gotta love those pants! :P Anyhow, the cops came. Nothing actually happened though, and thank God that we did not have an illegally modified car, or did anything too illegal (weed, booze, etc.). I must say though, the cops in Ottawa are extremely nice. If I was the cop, I'd be one w an attitude, especially for such a huge event as this. 'cept, he was very civil and politely asked us questions and told us to go home. Tho' I haven't been in such a risky situation before, I have a huge feeling that if I was in 'couver or in Toronto, we'd get it for sure.

I guess Ottawa will be the place for me--for all firsts:

• paintball
• clubbing
• racing
• outdoor ice-skating (Winterlude)

Masks and Walls |06.15.2001|

Sometimes I wonder why I go to prayer meetings, besides knowing that it's "right" to--maybe it's the person that I am, but how can I ever really "open" up to anyone? A couple of my closest friends in the past have complained of the "walls" I build around me, and the "masks" I hid behind (one for every occasion). It's funny tho, I look upon my prayer life, and I find that I tend to pray more for others, more often than I pray for myself. That in itself is not bad, but when I neglect my own spiritual well-being . . . so anyhow, I've always felt uncomfortable praying as a group, especially "popcorn" style (i'm anal:=task -oriented/structured profile type), but the sharing last night at P&P (praise and prayer) somehow made it seem less "bad"--and more of a cell group :).

HOT! Feels a lil like HK! .... 40.1 C (w humidex) is 20 C more than what I'm useta! 'couver only get a max of high 28C in the summers; and that's rare in itself. AC is soo nice in this weather. It's even worth going to class (hahah, mackenzie building has it, but not Dom's class in Loeb). AC at Man's Kitchen is nice too--I met almost all of CU there! I think I learn a lot of street sense in class. Never anything about Business Law itself :P.
Words of advice:

• Treat your friends as if one day they'll b//c your enemies. Especially your neighbour. And especially if you own a business or write off personal things as business ventures. You may get audited one day and you'll get screwed over.
• If your "story" is full of holes, tis really full of "swiss cheese"
• Always, always clean your pop can prior to drinking outta it, especially if you are buying it from a hot dog stand (look at the melted ice; full of bacteria). Actually, just never buy anything from a hot dog stand.
• Be careful of HIV+ people (I'm sure you know about that already)--on average, 1 HIV+ person will spread it to 37 others in their lifetime. Remember that in Canada, in an average year, 1 out of 1000 immigrants are infected w HIV, and we let in 24000 in a year or so.
• Nortel will lay of another 20 000 of employees soon. Just wait and watch. :\ Thank God that I don't work for them.

Aside: I believe that lil kids innately are curious about Jesus. Today, some co workers at work were discussing that their kids are somewhat interested in Bible stories and all and that some of them are asking their parents (who are not religious) whether doing one thing would make Jesus mad, etc. Some remind me that others are watching my daily act of conduct, even to saying grace before drinking bbltea =). Keeping me accountable even though they are seeking. This also reminds me to pray for them :).

... |06.13.2001|

It's been quiet in the past couple of days. I stayed home, watched some GTO, and worked on my redesigns for my webpage (which at the moment, is still offline b/c I'm not done/satisfied w/ it yet). I think the busy life in TO (things happenin' every sec) must've made my life here in Ottawa more peaceful or something :P. One highlight of my evening, was that my "sam-yee" called me from bby, bc to wish me a happy belated bday and my 3-year old cousin kept wanting to talk to me! hehhe. he reminds me of my brother when he was that age. so cute [of course, only when they don't cry] :P!

Dom and Bri tells me that OCAC and all the CCC churches use Welch's grape juice for their holy communion . . . okay, so I stand corrected. Maybe my taste buds are just screwed up. :P. Or maybe they dilute it or something . . . it's not even deep purple lookin' . . . =P. . .

T'was my parent's 25th wedding anniversary yesterday. Apparently my mom was really happy that day (b/c of what my dad thought up). I didn't get a chance to personally congratulate them b/c I called twice and my brother had the decency to hang up on me the last time around ("fax coming! gotta go!" *click*) -- when my mother was actually available. That's actually quite amazing though. I think my patience would be stretched thin if I was to live w. the same person for 25 years--at least for now anyhow.

Toronto |06.11.2001|

Word Racer|06.08.2001|

/hint!hint!/ |06.07.2001|

Another class of Business Law last night. This time, I was somewhat confused in the class; but it did cause me to wonder what the difference between a Inc. and a Enterprise is--and if my parents had to go through all that legal man-fan stuff; although there really was no shareholders or anything. Boy.
I did learn one thing however; the Arabic numberical system makes complete sense! That is: 0, 1, 2, 3, etc. came to be because each number corresponds to the number of angles in the number (if written properly) [ie. 0 has zero angles, 8 (calculator style) has 8, etc.]

Yet, another surprise (boy I'm having a week full of surprises!). This time, tis a good surprise! Lori, from BAC/MCAC, called me last night just to chat. I was out at Local Heroes when she called [mmmm. the philly steak sub is actually filled w steak, unlike res food-blech x( ! and dom treated . . . thanks! :)] I called her back after I got home and we chatted til midnight. Tis funny, because I've never actually talked to her 'cept at church. Maybe 'cuz I associated her w the "older" crew of girls (childhood memories xþ). But we had a good chat nevertheless--catching up on church people, talking bout weddings/engagements, etc.

Woo-hoo! I actually went to bed a lil after 12 am last night. Too bad that I fell asleep in the middle of my prayers :(...I woke up at 430am and finished my Bible reading (tho' i dont think i retained very much. think gotta work on that :\) and quickly went back to sleep :P.

Praise God! |06.06.2001|

Admist my semi-depressing and tiring day at work yesterday (mind was elsewhere), I managed to be quite productive. The e-mails and ICQ msgs that people sent were very encouraging, so it kept me going for most of the day. I've seen mass prayer requests, but I've never been involoved in the middle of one. To have people praying from the West Coast (BC) all the way to the East (ON) is really neat--especially since many of them don't even know who my cousin is!

I was soo impatient in waiting for any news, that I kept calling home, and waiting for 6 PM PST so that I could watch the live VTV broadcast online (my cousin was, and still is top story for certain news reports). There was nothing new cept for a different angle of investigation. This time, they interviewed her friends, Alanis (she came to church w Mavis a couple of times--she's quite nice) as well. It's quite ironic. Although much of the media reports are "spiced up" [to make otherwise boring or normal news juicy], I found that this time, I really had to rely on it and do my own investigation online (found things that my family didn't even know). The media kept me up-to-date, more than my family did (and in greater detail).

My #1 resource was actually from a church friend, Jerms (BC). The wonders of ICQ! What a blessing! He kept me up-to-date because my sister called him like every 5 mins when she found out the Mavis was safe, but not home yet. And no one called me! Long distance rates on phones are "expensive" I suppose. They didn't know the details and didn't ever call me back (guess too late to have), so at work this morning, I read up on the details on every site I knew that had her story: CBC, BCTV, CKNW 980, News 1130. The most informative one was in the Vancouver Sun. I think that without the help of the media, Mavis would not even have known that her parents were frantic (yes, thank God she's safe!--it was all a misunderstanding/miscommunication gap btwn parents and child). If you want to read the article on the Sun (note: in Ontario, the Sun is more tabloid, but in BC, the Province is actually the tabloid paper not the Sun), go to the http://www.vancouversun.com or contact me to get a direct link, but I don't like what they wrote about her so I won't post up the hyperlink here.

So, THANK YoU once again for those who prayed for my family, and became involved in what we were going through. Remember, God answers prayers! :) Thank GOD! :) T'was a scary experience nevertheless though.

Urgent Prayer Request. |06.04.2001|

As much as this deviates from the intent of this section, I know that I do actually have an audience of readers here ... so I am going to abuse it this time by asking you to keep my cousin, Mavis Wong, in your prayers. She has been missing for more than 24 hours now and is even featured as the top story in many of the local news @ 6, and we are all very worried for her safety, and me--her spiritual safety as well. God answers prayers; I'm very confident in that. What the answer is, I don't know yet. But I do believe that something good will ultimately come out of this. It's soo surreal though. It's almost as if I'm part of a TV show, looking at the news as if this can't be happening to my very own family! Yet I know that I am not dreaming. That one of each parent's worst nightmare is taking place. Each kid's worst fear. . .

Before this, Andy and I spent a day at Salem and Toys R' Us. Because of my heels, I walked til my feet hurt. I did end up buying some Pass-It-On cards and a CD by Paul Baloche (Open the Eyes of My Heart). The CD is quite good. Reminds of songs from BAC. Why on earth would a Christian bookstore be called Salem though? Just disturbs me to know the history of witch-hunting in Salem. . .

Free DVD rental. |06.03.2001|

Chinese. |06.01.2001|

I am proud to be Chinese. MJ wonders whether I am really a CBC, an English major, and a girl. But I know better :). heheh. However, there are 2 things I am not proud of, even though I actively take part in the habit too:
1. CST: most, if not all, Chinese people seem to run on Chinese Standard Time--which varies from 15 to 45 minutes after the supposed time. So, if you are a punctual person, and you are Chinese, I really admire you.
2: Loitering. I have no idea if we got this from our parents or what, but everywhere I go, be it CCF or OCAC, we all loiter! Sometimes, I just want the crowd to stop loitering--yeah, I realise that it's a social event or something, but you know, you can socialise when we're eating too, ya know ;). The really annoying thing is that when I was younger, my parents would seem to loiter when I really was bored, but when I was having fun w friends, they would pull me away and tell me that it's time to go. Ironic isn't it? Maybe that's why there is a bylaw in TO, land of FOBS, that the police has the right to break up a group of 10 ppl gathering in the streets. They don't want us Chinese to loiter for 3 hours.

Food, Glorious Food |06.01.2001|

MMM. 2 BBQs in a row just makes my day! I think I ate a lot but I kinda feel bad b/c I didn't really cook them myself--I ended up eating 1 hotdog bun and at least 6 chicken wings on Friday night. What was really cool, was that Viv and I were praying for God to hold off the weather, and he did! It didn't really start to rain, until we got into the car (well, Marc got wet walking home, but oh well :P). J, Andy, and I went to the softball BBQ and I ended up having 1 hamburger and 1 hot dog (and for some reason, wasn't too hungry for dinner either). We ended up playing on 2 playgrounds before we headed to the Coffeehouse @ OCAC.
Mental note: Never swing vigoursly on the swings immediately after eating. Nausea may follow.

Would you imagine that playing on the playground would actually exhaust you at such a "mature" age. Whatever happened to playgrounds though? These things are all made of plastic these days. Wherever did the wooden forts, structures, and everything else go? And the slides! Plastic slides generate so much static and friction. In the good ol' days, metal slides kept you going faster! So anyhow, J decides to do some pull-ups and chin-ups on the monkey bars (still working on the latter before I even attempt the former), and we end up trying our endurance in one chin-up position. I'm a sad sight. Both the boys managed a 55 second time, and I only accomplished 32 secs. I realise that my abs exhausted first before anything else. Ack, me too outta shape-- I don't even do daily push-up/sit-ups anymore either :(.

MJ came to the Coffeehouse, and kindly made me some fresh "3-eyed" fish (pickerel) from the polluted waters of the Ottawa River...I had one to test, and it tasted just fine :). Mmmm. . .
Met some new ppl today: Laetimer (spelling?!) Hu--Ben's bro, Sam's cousin; Crystal (who thought I was someone else, but I still don't know who), Kandice/Victor, and Lon reminds me of Wayne P. from UWCCF. . .um. no further comment. :)

Farewell. May God Bless Ye. |06.01.2001|

Woohoo, some of us got a chance to ride in Marcy's (well, his family's) new Accord 2001 EX-L. Dom felt dissed, but that's really his fault for refusing to drive some people to Summerhayes Grill yesterday :P We all think that Roger N. bought the exact same car as they did. Haha :).
'Twas Bri's and Yo's last day in Ottawa yesterday, so we went out to eat to bid them farewell (though the dinner was for Bri since Yo is a local boy). At the restaurant, I got a chance to meet some well-talked-about people such as Ho-Yin (spelling?) and Lisa. Ho-Yin somehow reminds me of Fred H. I won't get into details.

You know what? I think J should be a mall fair/carnival entrepeneur. I think that there is a positive correlation between one and getting enough stash to own a Prowler (as mentioned in a previous entry). That Prowler has been parked at the corner of Carlingwood Mall since the day the carnival/fair started. I think it will be gone by the time the fair is done. =).

Aside: Ben Allen and Dom played Tetrinet for their first time yesterday. Heheh. Dom is quite good tho, I must admit ;).