Pointless Post #78

There's nothing quite like the feeling of that first swipe when breaking in a fresh stick of deodorant.  Except for maybe the feeling of using a new glue stick when pasting arts and crafts.
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Gas was 138.9¢/litre.  It's going down!

SAMSON - Coming to a theatre near you

We're going through the Bible in 90 days as a church.  It sounds like a daunting challenge because its a heavy chunk of reading everyday, but I am actually enjoying it.  God is literally revealing stuff to me that I've never thought of before, in new perspectives and is making me ask questions of why and how.  Also, a lot of times I'm just saying "wow" to myself as the magnitude of what I'm reading is finally permeating my mind and soul.  The Bible is pretty amazing that way.  [insert delayed "pop-pop" here] 

There have been many times in the past where I've neglected my Bible and put off reading it, because honestly, sometimes I just found it boring, irrelevant, or hard to understand.  Most of the time, my mind would wander and I'd lose concentration of what I'm reading about, similar to how I read my textbooks during university.  I think because I've really dedicated the time (so far I'm on day 20/90 days) to read with understanding and have given myself over to this B90 Challenge, so to speak, that God is honouring my true intentions and is allowing me to "see" and learn things from the Bible that I may have read countless times before and never truly thought about it any more than it being words on a page.  I should write out what I learn or meditate on, but sometimes I'm just speculating and I don't want to be accused of heresy.  The Bible has a lot of stuff in it and it makes me think about a lot of stuff.  This is a good thing. 

Anyways, I read through Judges a few days ago.  That book is badass.  My apologies for using that word (and for not giving you a warning), but I can't think of a better way to describe it right now.  For the record, I still consider "ass" to be derogatory language and a swear word as it always has been when I was growing up.  I don't use it in my everyday speech because it's rather crude.  But I don't think you'd appreciate how I'm trying to connote my feelings for the book if I were to say "Judges is a really kick-buttocks part of the Bible!"  See what I mean?  However, it is literally kick-buttocks.  A lot of people get their buttocks' kicked (and die).  O__O

I won't go into too much detail, but Samson is a very interesting guy.  There are four whole chapters devoted to him which is a very significant portion of the book (21 chapters in all).  Samson would make a great historical epic kind of film because it has everything that makes a profitable/entertaining action movie.  A major, flawed character, violence, sex, revenge, limited humour, epic battle scenes (this is where CGI is an advantage), tremendous human feats of strength, and a tragic, you'll-only-believe-it-when-you-see-it ending.

In my mind, I sort of have a mashed up picture of Chris Hemsworth from Thor and Kevin Sorbo from Hercules, mostly because they're big guys with long hair, except I bet Samson's hair was even longer, wilder, and even more magnificent (ps - I'm going to do a post about my hair in the future...yes, because I'm that vain) and epic battle scenes from Zack Snyder's 300.  But those guys don't do Samson justice.  A lion jumps at Samson and he catches it and rips it in half with his bare hands.  HIS BARE HANDS.  When some baddies in an enemy city are plotting to kill him, he goes into hiding, and then in the middle of the night, rips the humongous gates off of it's posts and carries it away just for kicks.  Can you imagine returning to your village to see a giant hole in the wall where the city gates once stood?  And of course, there is the time where he goes all hulk-smash and kills a thousand men with a donkey's jawbone.  This isn't a comic book superhero.  Samson was an actual person who did these things, whether you believe it or not.  It's especially fascinating the number of the times "the Spirit of the LORD came mightly upon him," and then something crazy went down.  I counted at least four times.

But then, Judges 16:20 happens, "...but he did not know that the Lord had departed from him."

And that is a sad and somewhat scary thought.  Samson took God for granted, more or less spat in God's face with his actions and by his lack of respect and disobedience and so God basically say's, "Fine, if you think I'm bothering you, I'll give you your space," and just goes.  You almost have to wonder why God didn't "leave" Samson sooner, but that just shows how patient and merciful God is, despite what we're really deserving of.  This is also a sobering reminder of how loving God is to me today, despite all the things I do against Him.  If I continually reject God and disrespect Him in my life, He can easily leave me alone just as He did to Samson. 

This is a good place to pause and think about how merciful and mighty God is, and how insignificant and horrid I am.  And yet God loves me!
  
A fascinating verse sticks out, two verses later in verse 22.  It says that Samson's hair is starting to grow back, even though it was just shaved all off.  So what? Hair does that.  This is why we have barbers and hair salons to this day.  No, there is something deeper to this verse.  The supernatural strength of Samson was dependant on the length of his hair.  And here we see that it's growing again.  God isn't completely out of the picture.  He still loves and cares for Samson, despite his sinful nature and wrongdoings against God.  God is at work in Samson's life in the shadows.  Or in his hair follicles. 

And then BANG, an exclamatory and fitting ending to a very unique story.  A rock ballad plays as the end credits roll.

So in summary, what I'm trying to say is that the story about Samson would make a fantastic summer blockbuster movie, IF it stays true to the biblical truths revealed in the Bible.  I could write a lot more, but I actually never intended my post to get this long.  When I was thinking about writing this post, I thought I would write three sentences at the most, and then this happened.  Oh well.  

Mmmmm, Bible! YEAH! You should read it!

EDIT: November 2, 2012 - I found some pictures from The Bible for Students © 1990 Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton Illinois, with illustrations © 1989 by Blas Gallego, used without permission, please don't sue me!  I'll take them down if you tell me to.

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In other Tim-news, I biked 22.3km in the rain on Saturday and saved myself $4.20 (two 1-zone Faresaver tickets).  But then I also bought myself a hotdog ($1.50) and fries ($2.29) and spent $4.24 (stupid HST) in total at Costco.  Meh, it was worth it.

And my bike light fell off. Time to buy a new one.

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Gas has been about 142¢/litre the past few days and was 140¢/litre tonight.

Pointless Post #77

Today, I went into a costume shop to find out how much a hotdog and/or a banana costume would cost.  You know, just for fun.  I was told that they could cost anywhere from $75-$100, tax included.

Batman Returns is kind of a sad movie.  Also the more I think about it, the more I think that my friend might be right in that he thinks that Tim Burton is some sort of genius.  He's really creative, in an imaginative, distorted, eccentric kind of way.

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Gas was about 147¢/litre yesterday.

Pointless Post #76

Hypothetically speaking, if I were to start a social networking site called "TimBook" or "FaceTim" (....maybe its a network exclusively for Tims around the world.....and no Tams), what are the odds that Facebook would try and sue me?

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Gas hit 150¢/litre today in Vancouver, while it was 128 in Abbotsford. O_O

Fixed my bike light, 'cause I'm cheap

My bike light broke. Or rather, the clip that holds the light to the bike frame attachment broke. So after rubbing the back of the clip on concrete to flatten out the broken edge, I used some plumber's glue to affix it to a piece of corrugated plastic. Then I added a bit of glue gun glue (whatever it's called) along the edges to help make it stick to the plastic as the plumber's glue cured overnight. And then that was that! It doesn't look as pretty as before, but it still works. At least until you see a future post of me whining about how my bike light fell off.

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Gas was 148.6¢/litre yesterday.  It's been in the low 140s for a few weeks now.  EVIL.

Pointless Post #75

Just completed my first ever wedding doubleheader*! I attended a wedding at 10am and then another at 1pm.  Both were beautiful.

I feel like I accomplished something great, mostly because I'm super tired right now, but all I really did was not get lost on the way to the churches, show up on time, pretend to be happy**, and eat all their food.

Oh and to top off an eventful day, I saw a skunk in front of the YWCA on Beatty Street in downtown Vancouver.  It made me reminisce of the time I saw a raccoon by the Vancouver Convention Centre near the downtown waterfront during the Olympics.

Freshpie out!

There's chocolate candy in there!

*Note to self: I wikipedia'd the word "doubleheader" and I already know I've used it incorrectly. 
**Note to readers: that was sarcasm; I really was happy.  Did I mention that both the weddings AND couples were beautiful?

Not All Chips Are Made Equal

I love potato chips.  I love the aroma, their crunchy look, the feel of the grease and salt on my fingers, and most importantly, the wonderfully crispy, delectable, savoury taste that delights my palate and causes it to crave for more and more.

You might assume that if you and I were together at the same dinner or party and there was a communal bowl of chips on the table, that you would soon spot me heaping mounds and mounds of the starchy goodness onto my own personal plate.  Or that maybe I would just park myself and stand there the entire night, feasting away from the bowl.  This is not so.  In this context, potato chips mean almost nothing to me because I have too much social decorum.  I also fear that not all my fellow guests have not washed their hands prior to plunging their grubby paws into that same communal bowl.  I've used public washrooms before.  I notice when people walk out of stalls and don't wash their hands.  It scares me.

I like eating chips alone.  All by myself.  If I could lock myself up in a closet, I would do that.  Except I probably wouldn't because it would be too dark and cramped inside.  Also, I prefer eating chips in front of a television.  For you visual people (which is actually everyone with eyes), here's a graph that explains it further:

As illustrated by my very scientific graph, the number of people that I have to share my snack with is inversely proportionate to the tastiness of the chips that I'm eating.  Don't act so shocked.  This isn't the "Experiencing God's Love" graph.  God's love is eternal.  Potato chips are not.  I need to eat and savour each chip because each one is precious in my eyes.  Even the broken bits and crumbs at the bottom of the bag.  I will not cast you aside.  People don't know how to appreciate chips like I do.  And by people, I mean the dirty ones who don't wash their hands after relieving themselves on the toilet.  

Unlike God's love, I pour out my favour more on certain chips because some are inherently more special and just plain better than others.  Examine these two kettle chips:

You can click on it for a high-res version.

Here's a close up of the one on the left, as I hold it up against the light.  It's a normal chip and predominantly opaque.  It tastes very good.


Here's a close up of the chip on the right.  It's a super greasy and glorious.  This picture doesn't do justice, but it's saturated with so much oil that compared to the other chip, it's translucent.  And it tastes DELICIOUS.

There are periods in my life when I won't be able to come across any of these super, oily chips for bags and bags at a time.  But sometimes, on those predestined and God-ordained days, I might come across one of these chips and I'm just like this guy who found his cheese doodles while trekking around the South Pole (PS- you should watch the video in full with the CC annotations turned on).


Oh who am I kidding.  That's what I do each time after I tear open the bag and inhale a big breath of potato chip bag air. Mmmmm....

La Fin.

October is a Long Time from Now

Watched the Canucks get knocked out of the playoffs tonight.
Drank a glass of red wine from my Spider-Man cup.
Watched the last two episodes of this season's The Walking Dead that I've been neglecting.
Binge-ate a whole box of vegetable crackers.

Tomorrow is a new day.
And until then, go Whitecaps!
...and Chelsea in EUFA 8^D

EDIT, April 24, 2012: Chelsea beat Barcelona to advance to the EUFA Champions League Final in Munich thanks to the first away goal by Ramires, but since I might not have many other chances in the future..... FERNANDO TORRES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Gas was 138.8¢/litre today.  I still hate you, gas companies.

Pointless Post #74

I went for a bike ride on Easter Sunday and filmed these videos. I think they're self-explanatory. They're also a waste of time.

Pointless Post #73

What kind of person has cheetah print car seat covers?
The same kind of person that has a cheetah print license plate frame.

It exists. I saw it with my own eyes on a really ugly gold/beige Hyundai Accent.
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Gas was 144.8¢/litre a few days ago. Today it was at 142. Oil companies, you are dirty evil people.

Teaching English in Korea

Did you know online TOEFL courses are remarkably easy? In other Tim-news (insert drum roll here) I'm going to Korea to teach English to school children at the end of August! It's a 12-month contract, based on a referral from my cousin who used to work at that same school in Jinhae. It's a "sleepy" little town compared to Seoul, so I should be able to bike everywhere I go, because that's what she did when she was there. Just the thought of commuting by bike excites me, let alone living and working in another country. Hopefully I'll be able to do some travelling and perhaps visit some friends during my stay (and maybe relatives in nearby countries?).

The Canucks better win the Cup this year otherwise I'll be forced to order NHL Game Centre Live, but on the bright side, Korea has the best and fastest internet speeds in the world, right? RIGHT?!?!

Passion 2012 > Foo Fighters

I just came home from Passion 2012 in Vancouver not too long ago and I'm still too excited (I'm assuming its joy of the Lord overflow) so I thought I'd write this quick post.

Passion Vancouver took place in Rogers Arena and the last time I was in that building was when the Foo Fighters came to town October 25, 2011. I was super, super, super excited for the Foo Fighters concert. Back in May, I had seen Thor and while watching the end credits, I was introduced to their single "Walk" from their latest album Wasting Light. I didn't realize they had a new album out and after listening to it, I became all fanboy-ish and rocked out to a lot of their songs, old and new. I headbanged to "Bridge Burning" a lot. Or rather, I attempted to headbang because I got dizzy if I threw my head back and forth too hard.

Anyways, I don't regret seeing the Foo Fighters play live. They are gifted musicians and Dave Grohl is also a talented lyricist. There's a reason why their songs are popular and that they've been able to make a good living out of their music. Listening to "Bridge Burning" live (as well as "All My Life") and having it as their opening song was grrrrrreat! Huh, I have a hankering for sugary cereal now. But I don't believe I would go see them (or perhaps any other band in a venue like that) again because other than the music, I had a miserable time.

I paid $60 to sit in the upper bowl. I brought binoculars and I had to use them. Everyone around me sat in their seat the entire time. Many of them also smoked and that's what made my night miserable for the most part. I've never inhaled that much second-hand cigarette and marijuana smoke in my life. I suppose this was partly my fault for staying where I was; I could have moved around to another section where there were less smokers but I paid $60 for this particular seat and line of sight, damn it (yeah, I said "damn," my bad)! The opening acts were also really overbearing and thunderous (which can be blamed on the technical crew - my ears rang for 2 days afterwards). Actually, to be fair, Mariachi El Bronx was somewhat entertaining and creative, but Cage the Elephant was tormentuous. The lead singer's voice was so whiny and the songs they played should not be considered music. But apparently they have fans. Long story short, the night seemed really long. Time crawled.

Ok, so this isn't really a quick post anymore. Oh well.

Fast forward to just a few hours ago, where I got to sit in the lower bowl (paying only $10 general admission for the early bird ticket price) and join perhaps more than 10,000 youth and young adults all give their focus to one person alone, Jesus Christ (the event was geared to university students and anyone aged 18-25, but I wouldn't be surprised if half of the attendees were still in high school, which isn't necessarily a bad thing). The arena was way more packed than the Foo Fighters concert (which can easily be attributed to the ticket price) but the fact that so many young people were willing to forego their regular Friday night foray and instead attend a super-sized church service on steroids says something. And that something is that Vancouver loves and needs Jesus, despite what naysayers or "popular" opinion says. The evening started just after 7:30pm and ended close to 11pm. And that time went by waaaaay too fast! It really was a glimpse of what heaven will be like. Thousands of voices, singing in unison about how great and beautiful God is. Hands clapping in awe and thanks for what God has done, and hands extended above heads, raised in adoration and surrender up to the heavens (or rafters in this case) in honour to the God that blessed them. The extra cool part of it was also being able to sing as loud as I wanted to without having to worry if my crackly voice bothered my neighbours since it was wonderfully loud and the music drowned me out.

I had goosebumps when the opening video of powerful and prophetic Bible verses were being splashed and read across the big screens. Chris Tomlin is a gifted song writer and worship leader (even if all his songs sound repetitive, yes I've heard the criticism) and I felt rather blessed to hear "Jesus Paid it All" when Kristian Stanfill took a turn at leading because I especially love listening to that song when I'm biking. It's an understatement to say David Crowder is a gifted musician because if you've listened to the David Crowder Band's albums over the years, you just know that they are meticulous when it comes to making music for Jesus. And I wasn't alone in my delight when I saw that giant beard walk out on stage and pick up that 12-string(?) guitar.

Corporate worship is uplifting. Corporate worship with old hymns is encouraging. Corporate worship with big beats is super fun. And corporate worship a capella is just heavenly. "Come Thou Fount" is a beautiful song and singing some Gaither ("Because He Lives") made me wish that there were older folks there to worship alongside with us. I think senior citizens who have worked so hard in their lives overseas or in their home country all their life for God's kingdom would have gotten a kick out of seeing so many young people worshipping Jesus (kind of makes me look forward to growing old so that I too can see that some day). The crowd cheered when "How He Loves" started. The first time I heard that song (maybe 5-6 years ago) I thought it was kind of dumb, but now I love it. It's also on my bike playlist. And I wasn't expecting to hear it but I think singing "O Praise Him" made my night. Can you believe that song is nine years old?

Whew, I wrote a lot.

I have a tendency to close my eyes in a group setting when I sing praise songs to help me focus on God, but tonight I forced myself to open them and take in the sight of everyone else doing the exact same thing I was doing. Maybe this is why rallies, marches, gatherings, demonstrations, and armies are all so compelling. One focus, one goal. And in our case, one Saviour. The time really flew by. And there was no second-hand smoke! And as I'm writing this, my ears don't ring anymore!

I wasn't looking forward to Passion Vancouver as much as the Foo Fighters concert I attended, but in economic terms I experienced far greater utility worshipping God with thousands of brothers and sisters over listening to some really catchy guitar riffs with some potheads. For much of the night, I was reminded of Psalm 22:3 which was mentioned in Pastor Kayy Gordon's sermon last Sunday:

But You are holy,
Enthroned in the praises of [your people].

God is good! Hallelujah!

Remembering to pray for Passion Africa and how I can do my part to help end human trafficking and slavery today.

I didn't bring my camera so here's a picture I stole from jo-loves-food's Flickr page from the 2008 Vancouver Passion:


Oh yeah, Louis Giglio showed us Daniel Sedin's helmet and we prayed for him. 8^)

Pointless Post #72

Tall cedar trees are like high rise condos for birds.



I came up with that all by myself!