Parking

There are a lot of joys in expecting a child. People getting giddy about playing with your son/daughter, gifts from family and friends, a new phase in life... But an unexpected joy that I have recently been enjoying is parking at the expectant mothers parking space.

yep. That's right. I get to park in the reserved parking spots in front of Sobeys and Superstore. No longer do disabled people get the sole privilege of parking near the entrances of malls - expecting mothers get one too (although usually one space farther away than disabled parking, but that is ok).

Last week was the first time we tried the parking space. At first it felt awkward because Deb isn't showing yet. However, after a few more times parking in the reserved spots, it feels more natural. The initial fear of someone shouting out "That is for pregnant mothers buddy!" goes away. Actually, I want them to shout out because then I can show them my wife's belly (it is obvious once you part the jacket).

I'm sure the novelty goes away after a while, but once that snow falls, I'm going to be grateful that there is such thing as expectant mothers parking in Canada.

Happy Birthday Deb!

It is my wife's birthday today - November 12th! Top 3 reasons (not in order) why I love my wife:

1) She is very beautiful
My wife is beautiful: on the inside and outside. She has a pure and loving heart that cares for people. She loves God and has her priorities straight. She is very lovely to look at - especially up close!

2) She is very skillful
My wife is the most talented and resourceful person I know! She has a long list of talents (musical, artistic, is a great cook, can sniff out great deals, has a "very superior" IQ (that actually is a real category), and has great fashion sense) and can figure how to make expensive store products on her own at a cheaper cost than buying it.

3) She is very discerning
My wife is one of the most discerning person I know. When she speaks, it is always about the right things and can see through the peripheral stuff.

Happy Birthday Deb!

Love,
Josh

Willow Creek Lesson and Rant

My friend, Stephen, and I were talking about Christian resources when we stumbled upon William Lane Craig's excellent website. In the site, we found an audio blog that responds to a recent research project that Willow Creek church did this past year. The findings were this: the plans and projects that Willow Creek invested in to get people to participate in were not raising up disciples for Christ. Instead, they found that people need to learn how to feed themselves and "aggressively" pursue basic spiritual disciplines. The site that talks about this more in depth can be found here.

What I read warmed my heart because it reinforces the ministry philosophy that I have been taught and that I hold onto as I serve God in my full time occupation and my service at church. However, I find many people hold onto Willow Creek's old philosophy - participation is all that is needed to be disciples of Christ. This is false. What this view leads to is a body of Christ who participates out of obligation to personal relationships (i.e. I am coming out due to social reasons and on strength of friendship) with no self responsibility of growing spiritually. This leads to a self centered approach to service and evaluation of "church" because they believe they need to be served or trained and is the obligation of the church or leaders to provide this service.

Warning: a rant. This is no way a rant on anyone or any conversations I had with people recently, but a response to this small, but visible movement in the body of Christ.

A more extreme version of these "participating" church members start to complain that all they get taught is milk (i.e. Hebrews 5-6) and that they want to be taught "solid food". This comes up often - too often - in my conversations with Christians. I have had 3 conversations on this subject in the last week alone. I believe that anyone requesting solid food in the spiritual sense is not ready for it. In the Hebrews case, it was not anyone who was learning that made this observation or even made the request - it was the teacher, the leader, (the author) who made this observation and brought this up as teaching. The author knew it was time for the group to move on and said so.

However, I find most people who make this observation on their own or request solid food teaching from others are those who are not yet ready to receive it. It is because they have not yet graduated from milk - the application of the basics of Christianity and obedience to commands that apply to all Christians.

More on this later as I read and study more of Hebrews 5-6. Any thoughts?

I'm a Sucker for Restaurant Games and Prizes

Over the past year, I only step into McDonald's if I'm up really early and use that as an excuse to grab a McGriddle (yummy). Rarely do I go in for lunch or dinner - my wife and I prefer Wendy's!

However, I always liked how McDonald's puts on its Monopoly game and prizes. I remember in high school where we would (almost) religiously go to the nearby McDonald's and order food so that we can get the playing pieces to complete a block of property on your personal Monopoly board. I've always won something... but nothing big. A Big Mac here and a small drink there - kind of how I only win coffees and doughnuts with Tim Horton's.

What was the biggest thing you have won? My sister one a year's supply worth of Hubba Bubba from YTV - but that only lasted 2 months as we wasted it and gave it away. =)

My favourite time of year

The fall is here and I'm extoked (word created by Slick by combining excited and stoked together)! I'm especially extoked about firing up the wood stove again.

With the fall colours again, I'm reminded of how creation is so fascinating and how I love being outdoors! This past weekend I was at a retreat and we were blessed with great weather, great fellowship and wonderful teaching! Thanks Rod A. - I can listen to you talk all day long! Special shout out to Sarah B. for helping cook. You are a lifesaver to all the staff. =)

Intense

Last night, Deb and I took in Bourne Ultimatum and it was intense. For most of the movie, I was jumpy as the scenes flew by and the action intensified. I really like what Damon and the crew have done with the movies even though the last two have nothing to do with the books that Robert Ludlum wrote.

What I liked about the movies is that Bourne always knows the next step, planning ahead, and pulling it off while looking cool throughout. And Matt Damon is a good actor.

Too bad this is the last of the Bourne series.

Criss crossed the country

Well, after criss crossing the country... twice... , I am glad to be home. After a trip to Calgary, Abbotsford and Whistler, we arrived home for a week before driving from home to Toronto, then to Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Jasper, Banff, Vernon, Kelowna, and then Vancouver. Being home, I must say Halifax is one of the most beautiful cities in Canada. Here are my top 5 pictures:

Windmill in Eau Claire market, Calgary, AB

Playing basketball with my brother, Calgary, AB

Deb in sunflower field near Winnipeg, MB

Monument to Saskatoon Settlers, Saskatoon, SK
(I like it because it is one of the few night shots I took with a tripod and it turned out okay)

Elk on highway 93 between Jasper and Banff, AB
(I like this one because captured the elk on the car side mirror - artistic)

There are many more pictures, but these are the ones I liked from the limited time I had on Deb's computer. She has all the pics on her computer ... (and thus all the pics on facebook!). =)

In and Out

This summer has been a whirlwind of traveling and crisscrossing the country. After staying in Calgary for support, we headed out to BC for staff training (phenomenal!) and a conference (great speakers) and then heading back to home.

Now, we prepare to head out to Toronto for a friend's wedding and have a driving vacation to Vancouver with some friends. Crazy - but I'm really looking towards it.

One of the things I learned on this past trip was the importance on defining what following Jesus really means. There seems to be a movement in Christianity where Christians are trying to be culturally relevant but along the way, their view of God and Scriptures are being lowered and they inch along to liberalism.

Mark Driscoll, our speaker at conference, rightly pointed out that we can not let culture influence our theology, but at the same time interact with culture so that we are relevant. We need the open hand - closed hand approach. We need to discern what we can let go and what we can't change in terms of our view of Jesus, the Trinity, Scripture and other tenets of faith.

More on this later...

My Wife Knows All the Songs on Radio

At least on LITE 96 in Calgary. It amazes me that she can just pick up a tune and remember it. I don't have that kind of memory. However, I do have a memory when it comes to playing video games.

Recently, I played Super Mario Bros. 3 with a co-worker and it was amazing how we could remember where the 1UPs were and the secret rooms to pick up flutes, hammers and other goodies that help Mario rescue Princess Peach. Why can't I remember Bible verses and where I put my headphones?

I guess there is such thing as selective memory...

Car Sightings

It has been one year since I have been back to my hometown Calgary, but I can see how much one year and a robust economy can change a city. Just being back for 3 days, I have seen 3 different Corvettes and 2 different Mazda RX8s (not to mention other nice cars - but they didn't stand out as much as these ones). Crazy.

Post Project Post

Finally on vacation time! Not that I was looking forward to vacation time as I had a very fun time this past summer, but it is good to rest, sleep in, do some house work, and not have to worry what is the next thing to do.

What to post after such a long time? Well, since I hate reading really long blogs, I will do a 7 pic post of what happened the last 6 weeks (kudos to Timmy Shree for the idea).

Orientation team building exercise

Training

Getting ready to go out into the city

PEI trip

The gang

Great friends and fun times! Missing from pic: Rod

Comments

One addition to this whole Web 2.0 phenomenon (the surge of the Internet after the dot com bust) that I like is the ability to add comments to articles, pictures, blogs... and so forth. It allows interaction between the creator of web material and those who read, enjoy, and/or benefit from the content.

However, there is a dark side to commenting and that is , if unmonitored, this new way to express your thoughts can do more harm than good. That "dark" side are the comments left by those who don't take responsibility for their comments.

An example are the Globe and Mail online newspaper comments section. I'm surprised how often the comments degenerate into name calling and forums for political/religious/personal views (even though the article has nothing to do with those views). It becomes a disturbing read and frankly, a time waster.

Although there are great comments that enhance and educate the topics at hand, I believe that the world of commenting is dangerous because people are more confident behind a keyboard and screen than in real life. They hide... and only stand up and take responsibility for their comments behind their online alias name (if even that - most people just use "anonymous"). If you met them in real life, they probably won't even admit to their view that they posted online.

So, I'm going to start posting comments (i.e. G&M) using my common username and not leave anonymous comments anymore. It won't turn the tide by itself, but it is a start I hope.

Ultimatum

Of all the movies this summer, I think this is the one I'm looking forward to the most:

Supporting a Child

This post is a continuation of the previous one:

So thinking about what I can do, one of my first thought was to do some research on supporting a child in Africa. One of the scenes in the movie was in a re-education facility for children who faced the horrors of war. A lot of children who live in war torn areas are deprived of education and a childhood that we know of here in the West. There are some child support organizations that offer children and their family a new life, both in this world and in Christ.

However, when I was researching some of these organizations, I was shocked to find that the CEO's/presidents of these organizations make six figures in salary and benefits.

What?

Yes, six figures! Not just in the 100,000 range, but in the 200,000 - 400,000 range! I couldn't believe it! Here are children suffering for food, dying, being exploited and the organizations who are there to help are pulling salaries in the hundreds of thousands for one person.

At first, I was enraged and confused. It didn't make sense to me. But after some time, I reflected on the reality of the situation. If I don't give to an organization such as the ones I researched, who would I give it to to ensure that my money is going to be used as I directed?

Not that it justifies their six figures, but they are helping the poor and overseeing the follow up and the things in place to make sure the poor and needy are being cared for. As well, I don't know what these presidents do with their money but they could be giving it away to their own organization to help the poor, the church or other organizations.

At the end of it all, it is not going to deter me from sponsoring a child. There is one organization that's vision and foundation I am quite excited about. As well, their president doesn't make as much as the $400,000 dollar dude. I rather give than not give. The rest I leave up to God cause ultimately, I give to Him.

Blood Diamond

The other night, my wife and I watched "Blood Diamond" - a movie set in Sierra Leone about the civil war and events that surround conflict diamonds. The movie is an excellent piece to highlight the atrocities that people will go to for wealth.

At many points of the movie, I found it very difficult to watch as children were taken at gunpoint to be recruited into guerrilla camps and forced to kill. In a short span, they become "men" doing what desperate men in a mercenary army would be doing.

As the story goes on, my heart went out to Africa and the exhortation and exploitation of the innocent, the poor, the young and the underprivileged. I couldn't sleep for the most of the night after watching the film thinking about the acts of war done by little children and fighting the rage against those who did this to them.

Questions that I pondered:

• What can I do to help?
  
• If I go to Africa, what is the most effective way to help these children?
  
• Why was I born in Canada as an Asian at such a time as this?

Answers to come...

Movies: Do I have a life?

Got this from a friend:

Supposedly if you've seen over 85 films, you have no life. Mark the ones you've seen. There are 239 films on this list. Copy this list, go to your own facebook/blog account, paste this as a note. Then, put x's next to the films you've seen, add them up, change the header adding your number, and click post at the bottom. Have fun!

() Rocky Horror Picture Show
() Grease
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean
() Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest
() Boondock Saints
() Fight Club
() Starsky and Hutch
(x) Neverending Story
() Blazing Saddles
() Airplane

Total:2

(x) The Princess Bride
() AnchorMan
(x) Napoleon Dynamite
() Labyrinth
() Saw
() Saw II
() White Noise
() White Oleander
() Anger Management
()50 First Dates
() The Princess Diaries
() The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement

Total so far: 4

() Scream
() Scream 2
() Scream 3
() Scary Movie
() Scary Movie 2
() Scary Movie 3
() Scary Movie 4
() American Pie
() American Pie 2
() American Wedding
() American Pie Band Camp

Total so far: 4

(x) Harry Potter 1
() Harry Potter 2
() Harry Potter 3
() Harry Potter 4
() Resident Evil 1
() Resident Evil 2
(x) The Wedding Singer
() Little Black Book
(x) The Village
() Lilo & Stitch

Total so far: 7

(x) Finding Nemo
() Finding Neverland
(x) Signs
() The Grinch
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
() White Chicks
() Butterfly Effect
() 13 Going on 30
(x) I, Robot
() Robots

Total so far: 10

() Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
(x) Universal Soldier
() Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
(x) Along Came Polly
() Deep Impact
() KingPin
(x) Never Been Kissed
(x) Meet The Parents
(x) Meet the Fockers
() Eight Crazy Nights
() Joe Dirt
(x) KING KONG

Total so far: 16

(x) A Cinderella Story
(x) The Terminal
() The Lizzie McGuire Movie
() Passport to Paris
() Dumb & Dumber
() Dumber & Dumberer
() Final Destination
() Final Destination 2
() Final Destination 3
() Halloween
() The Ring
() The Ring 2
() Surviving X-MAS
() Flubber

Total so far: 18

() Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
() Practical Magic
() Chicago
() Ghost Ship
() From Hell
() Hellboy
() Secret Window
() I Am Sam
() The Whole Nine Yards
() The Whole Ten Yards

Total so far: 18

(x) The Day After Tomorrow
() Child's Play
() Seed of Chucky
() Bride of Chucky
() Ten Things I Hate About You
() Just Married
() Gothika
() Nightmare on Elm Street
() Sixteen Candles
(x) Remember the Titans
() Coach Carter
() The Grudge
() The Grudge 2
(x) The Mask
() Son Of The Mask

Total so far: 21

(x) Bad Boys
() Bad Boys 2
() Joy Ride
() Lucky Number Sleven
(x) Ocean's Eleven
(x) Ocean's Twelve
(x) Bourne Identity
(x) Bourne Supremecy
() Lone Star
(x) Bedazzled
() Predator I
() Predator II
() The Fog
(x) Ice Age
() Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
() Curious George

Total so far: 28

(x)Independence Day
() Cujo
() A Bronx Tale
() Darkness Falls
() Christine
(x) ET
() Children of the Corn
() My Bosses Daughter
(x) Maid in Manhattan
(x) War of the Worlds
(x) Rush Hour
(x) Rush Hour 2

Total so far: 34

() Best Bet
(x) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
() She's All That
() Calendar Girls
() Sideways
() Mars Attacks
(x) Event Horizon
() Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
(x) Big Trouble in Little China
() The Terminator
(x) The Terminator 2
() The Terminator 3

Total so far: 40

(x) X-Men
(x) X-2
(x) X-3
(x) Spider-Man
(x) Spider-Man 2
() Sky High
() Jeepers Creepers
() Jeepers Creepers 2
(x) Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Little Mermaid
() Freaky Friday
() Reign of Fire
() The Skulls
() Cruel Intentions
() Cruel Intentions 2
() The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2

Total so far: 49

() Swimfan
() Miracle on 34th street - only the original
() Old School
() The Notebook
() K-Pax
() Krippendorf's Tribe
(x) A Walk to Remember
() Ice Castles
() Boogeyman
() The 40-year-old Virgin

Total so far: 50

(x) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
(x) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
(x) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Total so far: 56

() Baseketball
() Hostel
() Waiting for Guffman
() House of 1000 Corpses
() Devils Rejects
() Elf
() Highlander
() Mothman Prophecies
() American History X
() Three

Total so Far: 56

(x) The Jacket
(x) Kung Fu Hustle
() Shaolin Soccer
() Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic
(x) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
() Shaun Of the Dead
() Willard

Total so far: 61

() High Tension
() Club Dread
(x) Hulk
() Dawn Of the Dead
(x) Hook
(x) Chronicles Of Narnia The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
() 28 days later
() Orgazmo
() Phantasm
(x) Waterworld

Total so far: 65

() Kill Bill vol 1
() Kill Bill vol 2
(x) Mortal Kombat
() Wolf Creek
() Kingdom of Heaven
() The Hills Have Eyes
() I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
() The Last House on the Left
() Re-Animator
() Army of Darkness

Total so far: 66

(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(x) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(x) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
(x) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
() Ewoks The Battle For Endor

Total so far: 73

(x) The Matrix
(x) The Matrix Reloaded
() The Matrix Revolutions
() Animatrix
() Evil Dead
() Evil Dead 2
() Team America: World Police
() Red Dragon
() Silence of the Lambs
() Hannibal

Total so far: 75

Now Add them up and...

Put "I've seen X out of 239 films" in the subject line and repost it

So - I have seen 75 films. LOL! So, supposedly, I still have a life according to this list... Whoever made this list had a lot of time on their hands...

Notes: I have seen one of the Ewok movies but can't remember which one... I definitely regretted watching Event Horizon with my friends as we thought it was going to be a cool sci-fi movie but it quickly degenerated to a horror flick. Not cool...

Two big blisters

Recently, I have had the chance to play some indoor soccer with my friends from church. They play in an informal group for fun and they invite me to play when one of the members can't be there and I can be a "sub".
I wasn't always a big fan of soccer until I watched a couple of World Cups. Soccer (or more commonly known as football in the world) truly is a world sport. There are virtually no barriers of entry to play the sport - it is cheap, you can play it anywhere, and it is easy to learn. However, it takes skill to play at a high level.

Back to the title - so while I was playing Tuesday night I noticed that my shoes were getting uncomfortable. It felt like two tiny stones where in the arches of my feet. The next time I was subbed out I took off my shoes to dump the stones out. There were none. Back on the feet the shoes go but this time the pain is more intense. I shrug it off, but it was more difficult to run and play.

After a great time of playing soccer, I get home to see what all the pain is all about. I take off my shoes and lo and behold, two burst blisters were on my arches of my feet - one on each foot. It was gross (I was going to take a picture of them, but I think that would be in bad taste with no one every going to return to my blog). They were about the size of a quarter each and the flap of wet skin just rubbing on the tender part of the blister - no wonder it hurt.

sigh

I need new indoor soccer shoes. Now I hobble alongside my wife.

Great White Sharks

My wife will hate this post, but this video came out of a conversation I had with one of my co-workers, Chris. Crazy video - stupid/brave scientist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jr9uAGkov4

Confession

Lately, I had the privilege of speaking at different venues and to individuals about the need for confession. I believe that people have been shying away from the practice of confession. We don't even use the word confession any more.

It may have been a backlash towards the old tradition of going to confession and confessing to another person (i.e. a priest), but this is a tragedy as confession is the foundation of Christian growth. Without it, we are harbor sin and it prevents us from having true and real fellowship with God and others.

Isaiah 59:1-2 talks about God's ability to save and hear from his people - however, sin separates us from him and how God hides his face from us so that he does not hear our prayers. I believe this is a great picture of how sin breaks our fellowship with God. Our sins of the past, present and the future are forgiven (Hebrews 10:1-10), but we need to confess so that we can allow our prayers to be powerful and effective (James 5:16) and for us to connect with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ (1 John 1:6 to vs. 8 and vs. 7 to vs. 9).

Our generation doesn't talk enough about confession and perhaps that is why there is no revival in our culture and our generation. Perhaps that is why we have a lot of Christians who are not satisfied with their walk with God. Confession means we agree with God our sin. And through it, we can truly be repentitive and move on in our growth.

I got tagged

So, I got tagged by Judy. I never have been tagged before so I consider it an honour. Here are five things that people do not know about me:

1. I used to love techno/rave music. Yes, I must say... I was really into dance music back in the 90's (whoa... that sounds so old). I liked the rap, I liked the beat of the music. I would go to the local library and take out all the rave music they had and made my own dance mixes (like MuchMusic used to have). I also liked popular dance like C&C Music Factory, MC Hammer, Blackbox, Snap (I Got the Power), Technotronic (Pump up the Jam)
2. I know Tai Chi. Some people know I used to practice Kung Fu, but not many people know I used to do a lot of Tai Chi. Tai Chi is fun and relaxing which requires a lot of patience. But little do people know, after a good 30 min. of tai chi, you will be sweating buckets if you are not used to it!
3. I have a brother who is 17 years younger than me. When I used to take him out when he was a toddler, people thought that he was my son. Now, they can't make that mistake because he is getting really tall!
4. I like to read fiction over non-fiction. I like to read epics and always will read fiction over non-fiction. I think it allows my imagination to run free with the story and enjoy an adventure. My favorite books are Lord of the Rings, Tom Clancy novels, John Grisham novels, Robert Ludlum novels, the first 6 or 7 books in the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, Chronicles of Narnia. The only non-fiction book I really like and enjoy the most is the Bible.
5. I love to play old computer games. Like a good epic novel, I love a good epic computer game (although the genre has changed over the years). I like a computer game where you can go discover things, interact with characters and has a good plot. Some oldies are the Police Quest games, Blade Runner, Kings Quest games, and good old 8-bit Nintendo RPGs (Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Maniac Mansion).

So, I guess I have to tag 5 people. Ian L., Tim F., Ian C., Ben J., and Sarah B. Why these 5? They all left comments on my blog the past few posts.

I Can Listen To Rod All Day

A senior colleague, Rod, visited us the past few days and I realized that I can listen to him talk all day. There a few times where I was captured by the stories he told to illustrate a truth from the Word or cast vision on what God can do through a student. It was fascinating.

What I learned from him was the emphasis and importance of prayer and the valuable characteristic of caring and loving a fellow colleague in the Lord.

University Students Don't Know How To Park

Nothing is more frustrating than rushing to meet an appointment on campus only to arrive on campus with no parking spots in sight - especially when parking spots are at a premium because people don't know how to park.

I arrived today on campus and drove by 2-3 parking spots that, if i were to park that car, would have had space for 1 more space for a car to park. Yes, you need skill to parallel park and people say they are horrible, but if you are in there already, why don't you hug closer to a driveway opening or to the parking sign post so that you create another space? You don't need three feet in front AND back of your car!

Now, to give some drivers credit, you could assume that they were tight with the other cars and that a big car in front of them pulled out and a much smaller car took its space, but there are some cases where you clearly see that they could have hugged the car in front of them or behind a lot better. I will take some pictures once I find my digi camera...

Finally, A New Post

Pressure - there are different kinds of pressure. Peer pressure, work pressure, self pressure, then their is blog pressure - the pressure to update your blog.

Anyway, over the past month there were a lot of "blogworthy" events and quotes that I wanted to write on, but it seems that I never get to the computer to write it out. I have come to the conclusion that my lifestyle is not very healthy.

My wife and I had a discussion on this and concluded that life should not be so busy that you come home most nights so tired that you just want to turn off your brain and rest, sleep, wake up and repeat the process again. It is not that your day wasn't productive or effective, but that you pack the day so much that you are in danger of disqualifying yourself from the race in the long run.

Action points to start: 3 times a week, take a walk with Deb; do exercise of some form 1/week

Mel Gibson makes violent movies

I recently watched Braveheart (thanks Matt for the gift) and it was a great movie. I have heard a lot about it, but never watched it. I appreciated the character William Wallace and how he stood by what he passionately believed in and not wavering.

However, after the movie ended, something struck me when I finished watching it - Mel Gibson makes violent movies.

I have watched the Passion of the Christ and heard about The Patriot and his latest movie (can't remember the name), but all of them have very violent scenes in them. Mind you, it may be realistic, but I don't know if I can handle all that violence in real life (ex. Ultimate Fighting stuff). I don't think I enjoy watching that kind of stuff, even in movies.

In discussing with my wife on this topic, she made a very insightful comment. She said, and I paraphrase, "People don't realize the sacrifice in which people go through. For people who live in such times we don't understand the price that was paid. So, we take this stuff for granted and view these movies as gratuitous violence. But you have to look at these movies and try to understand the price the people paid and be thankful". I think is true - that is perhaps why some people like war movies, movies based on true stories, and movies about good and evil.

I have also been reading up on news (a pastime), and have noticed the news articles that highlight how people suspect violent video games have led to violent behaviour. I believe this is true for movies as well. I have watched movies like The Departed and Fearless and I'm becoming more aware of the violence in it.

I think there needs to be a balance when watching movies. I need to be careful that I don't watch gratuitous violence and appreciate the price paid for things like freedom.

All men die, but not all of them really live. Christ came so that we may die and truly live.

Sorry Joe Choi, this blog entry isn't about you - but it was great seeing you over New Year's! What it is about is the incredibly cheap and good looking clothes you can buy at Superstore nowadays. I just picked up a zipper jacket for $15!!!! That is right, $15! And with my PC Points of $20, it was free with $5 to spare to buy other things (like my supercool new gloves with Spiderman-like webbing on the palms). Why do I buy at any other store? I easily saw 3 other items that I could buy because there were so cheap! I had to refrain as I didn't need them, but with styles and prices like these, I told my wife I won't be buying anywhere else (I sound like an ad on tv).

Well, next time I need new jeans or pants, I know where to go...