TDIR Inspired Research on the Celtic Beliefs on the Afterlife

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Did_the_celts_believe_in_immortality

The Celts did believe that a soul lived on after death and would enter another world. It's not the same as reincarnation, but it's similar. Or, maybe it's the same?

Reincarnation
'It was around the first century AD that both the Greek and Roman writers were surprised by the fact that the Druids, a priestly caste of the Celts (see Druidism), believed in reincarnation. The Greek writer Diordus Siculus (c. 60 BC - 30 AD) noted that the Druids believed "the souls of men are immortal, and that after a definite number of years they live a second life when the soul passes to another body." '

Celtic Reconstructionism FAQ
Has a lot of questions with links to answers. Not necessarily on reincarnation, though.

Now, assuming that Cooper based a lot of her book on Celtic folklore and mythology, then the idea of immortality for the Old Ones makes sense in this way: the soul of an Old One doesn't die. It just takes on a different bodily form, or it goes into a different world. Whether it is Merriman's case or Will Stanton's case, this makes sense. After Merlin died, he came to our world. How could it be that Will is so young, yet he could possess an Old soul? Perhaps the soul just reincarnated into his body at birth, and so when he dies, the soul will travel to another body. That body will have to be "awoken" when the time is right. However, Will is the last of the Old Ones, and he is immortal. That means that his soul will not reincarnate into another body. He will simply live forever.

It's actually not clear if Merriman had to go through a similar process as Will did on his 11th birthday, or if Merriman is the same body-form of Merlin way back in King Arthur's time. I think if Will Stanton had to be born ignorant of his special powers, and only realize it once he turned 11, then Merriman would have had to go through the same process. It's just that with an Old One, Merriman could have gone through that process over 3 or 4 hundred years ago.

Dr. Drew (Over Sea, Under Stone)

I'm re-reading The Dark is Rising Sequence for the nth time now. I never noticed how funny Dr. Drew is, the father of the three adventurers in Susan Cooper's novel.

Chapter 2
'Did you go fishing today, Father?' Jane said hopefully from across the table, feeling that it was time to change the subject.

'No,' said Father.

'Don't be stupid,' Simon said ungratefully, still smarting. 'It was raining.'

'Well, Father does go fishing in the rain sometimes.'

'No, he doesn't.'

'Yes, he does.'

'If I may be allowed to explain my own actions,' Father said with heavy sarcasm. 'Occasionally I have been known to go fishing in the rain. Today I did not. Is that comprehensible?'

Chapter 3
But when all three children were upstairs (sent early up to bed because, Father said ominously when Simon imitated a lightship siren right behind his chair, they were all 'overtired'),

師奶唔易做 My Mother is a Belly Dancer (2006)

I just saw this movie on CFMT (cable 14 on Rogers). It's so rare to see this kind of movie come out from Hong Kong*(see note below). The cast does not contain any young pop superstars, and the story is not about how a boy tries to get a girl. Instead, the movie is a candid yet inspiring portrayal of how four housewives (women with children is more accurate) try to go against oppressive attitudes about what a woman's role is, and where her power lies.

Plot:
Four women each have their own problems to deal with at home. One young woman is a single mother; another is aging and loses her husband to a younger mistress; a third loses her job as the garbage lady and is afraid of telling her family; a fourth is emotionally abused by her husband and her young son. One day, they decide to take belly-dancing lessons, given by the housing estate after the original folk dance teacher disappears. Through the dancing, these women start to rediscover the greatness of having self-confidence and self-esteem on your own terms. Then trouble arrives...

In the end, real life catches up to the fantasies, and not everyone has a happy ending...well, at least some have bittersweet endings. Having supportive friends, belly dancing and self-esteem aren't the answers to all their problems, but they are the foundations to building a meaningful and fulfilling life.

Kudos to Andy Lau for appearing in a cameo role to show his support for My Mother is a Belly Dancer.

*ETA:
No wonder the story is so well-written! The screenwriter is Erica Li 李敏, who was a member of the musical group, Dream Theatre. Together with Yvonne Lau, they wrote their own lyrics and released over 5 albums during the mid-80s to early 90s. I knew that she had since moved to the US and become a writer, but I didn't know that she had started writing for the screen. YAY!

花木難 歌詞 Mulan's Disaster Lyrics

作曲：方皓玟
作詞：方皓玟
監製：Edmond Tsang
喜歡 投入到淪陷
單戀者最後全場圍剿我被困
還是我應該慶幸
如何流乾眼淚與裂痕
中毒更深
假使 凡事出必有因
不想講責任 誰曾留低過熱吻
其實我都不算笨
堂堂男子漢未須操心
我極勇敢
為愛竟犯了錯 前路坎坷
雪地太孤獨萬劫不復像最初
除非唱錯一首悲歌要舉世風靡
欣賞表演的觀眾未夠多
隨手可打擊我
每日排著坐任你觀摩
失去他 沒可怕
萬馬千軍流失血汗吧
沿路蓋著腳印的瘡疤
迷戀你的優雅
真與假 亦恐怕
滑過指尖贏取讚頌吧
遙望最劇痛心的落霞

失去他 別驚訝
萬箭穿心來得更瀟灑
蒙著耳願意信的廢話
迷戀你的優雅
為愛竟犯了錯 前路坎坷
雪地太孤獨萬劫不復像最初
除非唱錯一首悲歌要舉世風靡
欣賞表演的觀眾未夠多
隨手可打擊我
每日排著坐直到干戈
喜歡 投入到淪陷

"Mulan's Disasters"
Sung by Renee Dai
Song & Lyrics by Charmaine Fong
Arrangement by Edmond Tsang

Love, so deeply as if conquered.

They surround me on the battlefield, trapped;
Or should I feel fortunate?
How can I cry until my tears are dry?
And, the cracks let more poison in.

Suppose, everything has a cause;
Not to blame, but who left behind a kiss?
Actually, I'm not a fool.
A manly man need not worry
because I'm very brave.

Made so many mistakes in love; the path will be full of hardship.
The field of snow is a lonely and treacherous path like it was at the beginning,
Suppose, I've been singing the wrong love song, yet expecting to be admired by all.
There aren't enough audiences who appreciate it:
Single-handedly, he could strike me down and
Every day, I sit here as you watch and fondle at will.

I've lost him, but I'm not afraid.
Let the sweat and blood flow in battle;
marching along the path full of scabs and scars,
bewitched by your elegance.
Real versus make-believe, how frightening they are
If I could only ski over the fingertip and win all their praises,
But I could only stare at the painfullest heartache of sunsets.

Made so many mistakes in love; the path will be full of hardship.
The field of snow is a lonely and treacherous path like always,
Suppose, I've been singing the wrong love song, yet expecting to be admired by all.
There aren't enough audiences who appreciate it:
Single-handedly, he could strike me down and
Every day, I sit here until I get to fight for him in battle.

I've lost him, but there's nothing to be afraid about.
I look more heroic with thousands of arrows
pierced through my heart.
I cover up my ears and believe all those lies,
bewitched by your elegance.

Made so many mistakes in love; the path will be full of hardship.
The field of snow is a lonely and treacherous path like always,
Suppose, I've been singing the wrong love song, yet expecting to be admired by all.
There aren't enough audiences who appreciate it:
Single-handedly, he could strike me down and
Every day, I sit here until I get to fight for him in battle.

Love, so deeply as if conquered.

王菀之 開到荼蘼 (Kai Dao Tu Mi)

Last week, Ivana took part in a TV music program and she performed Faye Wong's "The Wilting Blossom" live.



The male (a songwriter for another Faye Wong tune) praises Ivana's singing ability and the fact that she does not have a Cantonese accent. She humbly admits that she does, but she also explains that while she was recording her Mandarin album in Taiwan, her producer stressed the importance of accurate pronunciation. That's why she can sing Mandarin lyrics so accurately and clearly.

Ch. 3: 刀斷刃，人斷腸 (Link)

"他們的笑聲，傅紅雪好像根本沒有聽見。他臉上還是全無表情，慢慢地鑽過柵欄，拖著沉重的腳步，一步步往前。他身上的衣服不知何時又已濕透。紫衫少年的笑聲突然一起停頓——也不知是誰，首先看到了地上的腳印，然後就沒有人還能笑得出。因為大家都已發現，他每走一步，地上就留下一個很深的腳印，就像是刀刻出來一般的腳印。"

Translation:
Their laughter didn't appear to be heard by Fu Hongxue at all. His face expressionless, he slowly worked his way through the gap in the gate, dragging his heavy foot, going forward step by step. His clothes appeared damp again. The group of youngsters in purple robes suddenly stopped laughing--it's not known who was the first, but someone saw the footprint left on the ground, and no one could bring himself to laugh after that; because everyone discovered it then, that there was left on the ground a deep-set footprint as if it were carved by a sabre.

I remember when I was younger, I saw the series made by TVB where Hugo Ng played Fu Hongxue. This is one of the most memorable scenes, if not THE most memorable scene for me. And now, reading it in the original text, it's even more powerful! =D

The Bordertown Wanderer: Ch 2 (link)

So far, very little has happened. Some of the major characters, however, have been introduced. Ma Fongling 馬芳鈴 has appeared, and she is a friend of Xiao Bieli 蕭別離, the owner of the tavern. Yie Kai 葉開 is described as a very poor man, whose clothes are tattered and very smelly. The sole of his shoe has worn out, exposing his skin. The skin has swollen due to all the walking he's done, and instead of criticizing the shoes, he criticizes his own feet. He's very funny, but he's also very wise.

Right now, at the end of chapter 2, Yie Kai is traveling in a carriage to the Ma estate to meet the owner, Ma Kongqun 馬空群. Suddenly, Yie Kai hears someone chanting an ominous song that goes like this:
"The sky's a-flutter, the earth's a-flutter, the eyes bleed and the moon is dim. Once you've entered the Ma Estate, swords will clash and men will die. The sky's a-flutter, the earth's a-flutter. Tears like blood, men will die. Once you've entered the Ma Estate, there is no going back."

"天皇皇，地皇皇。眼流血，月無光。一入萬馬堂，刀斷刃，人斷腸！天皇，地皇皇。淚如血，人斷腸。一入萬馬堂，休想回故鄉。"

***EDIT***
Ch. 6 誰是埋刀人 Who Owns the Hidden Sabre?

無論誰只要鼻樑擊碎，頭就會發暈，眼睛就會被自己鼻子裡標出來的血封住，就很
難再有閃避還擊的機會。

No matter whoever is standing close enough, if he struck you on the nose, the force of the blow would fracture the bone and the victim will start to feel faint. Next, the eyes will glaze over with the blood that bleeds from internally. There is no hope of avoiding the strike or to respond to the attack.

邊城浪子 - 序: 紅雪 (Link)

The prologue to The Bordertown Wanderer by Gu Long 古龍 introduces one of the main characters, Fu Hongxue. He is a young man who is assigned the mission of avenging his father's murder of 18 years ago. His mother gives him a black sabre that is covered with red snow. This is where I find it very hard to accept the imagery, as morbidly beautiful as it is. The reason is because Gu Long describes the snow as a powder that has been sitting on the blade of the sabre for the past 18 years. Now, when the old lady unleashes the sabre, the red snow powder actually falls to the ground.

I've grown up with the Canadian winter for almost 30 years, and as far as I know, snow melts. It does not turn into a solid powder form. I'm wondering how this is possible? I'm going to ask the experts at WuxiaMania for their explanation.

Other than the snow turning into powder part, I really like the rest of the descriptions. The language is very descriptive, but not figurative. This is the main difference between Gu Long and Jin Yong that I notice so far. I kind of like it that the language is so simple. The images are clearer and more vivid.

***EDIT***
I asked some experts at WuxiaSociety.com about this, and they helped me to figure out the answer. The red powder that the old lady called red snow, which she also sprinkled on Fu Hongxue, is just red powder. She's pretending it's snow, as is he. It's symbolic, and by having the red powder sprinkled on him, Fu Hongxue is symbolically bound to the murder mystery.

It is important to note that when Gu Long wrote, he wrote with Mandarin in mind, not Cantonese. In Mandarin, hong xue is a homonym of red snow and red blood. So, figuratively speaking, she described to the young man how snow was coloured red by the blood of the massacre. And when she sprinkled the red snow onto Fu Hongxue, it's as if she was splashing red blood on him.

So, I now see how the red powder works as a symbolic object to bind the young man to the murder mystery. Thus, he becomes responsible for having to solve the mystery and avenge his father and all the other members of his family who were massacred 18 years ago.

講不出聲 Speechless

講不出聲 (溏心風暴主題曲)

主唱: 關菊英
作曲: 鄧智偉
填詞: 張美賢

誰人無得到一切的渴求
誰人無攻於心計的理由
平凡人生 天真過後
要怎麼走

如何從委曲中再相信人
誰無狂想 不可告人
難忘時光 必須散席 留下我

*快樂時 抱著時
那是至死不渝朋友
決裂時 你為何以為再拖一會
還有時候

即是多風光都要清醒
有幾多掌聲也是孤清
你只可聽到我大笑聲
哭泣 也未放聲

講不出聲 講不出聲
任由自己 半夜驚醒
我只不過偶爾受了驚
於是 才遺忘本性*

李克勤 - 無言感激 情情塔塔演唱會 2002

In this clip from Hacken Lee's concert from 2002, he talks about the lessons he's learned since his 1995 concert, where only 40% of the seats were filled each night. Since then, he's worked really hard at other jobs that have nothing to do with singing, hoping that one day, he'll get a second chance at having a concert and that this time, there won't be any empty seats left over. On the last night of this concert series, it was a sold out show. Here, Hacken Lee sings Alan Tam's "Words Cannot Convey My Gratitude." He dedicates this song to all the members of his audience, saying that now, he truly understands how it really feels to not have the words to convey the amount of gratitude he feels towards them.

My Newest Guitar Guy Crush

Here's a video of Chi-Ning, from the band 929. He's performing the song titled "Looks Like Stars". I really like this song, but what I love are the guitar riffs, especially the one at the very beginning.

Previous posts on the Darfur Crisis in Sudan. LINK

Last Thursday, I watched this documentary titled Darfur: On Our Watch. I found it very frustrating as I watched the how this war has been going on for almost 8 years, and yet so little has been done about it. The UN, which has been having countless meetings about Darfur all this time, has been able to produce very little work towards bringing the conflict to a close. The major reason up until 2006 was the role China has to play in the decision-making process.

According to the documentary, China has invested a lot into the oil industry in the Sudan. The Sudanese government gets payment for the oil, while the Chinese gov't sends engineers and developers to go to the Sudan to excavate oil. More importantly, the Chinese gov't supplies weapons and arms to the Sudanese military (who in turn supply weapons and arms to militias like the Janjaweed). This is why China has opposed UN efforts - however weak they were - to intervene in the Darfur Crisis.

Another roadblock, and this is a major one, is the definition of genocide. Some claim that what is happening in Darfur is genocide, while others are saying it's tribal warfare. The definition is this: "The systematic and planned extermination of an entire national, racial, political, or ethnic group." From what I've read, the beginnings of the conflict may have been motivated by the animosity between tribal interests. However, at this juncture, when you have one group who consider themselves to be Arabs slaughtering and raping people who consider themselves to be Africans, then it is one ethnic group against another. Then, it is genocide.

At the end of this documentary, I got this message, and perhaps it's a confirmation rather than a declaration: Help hasn't been given to the people of Darfur because they are black. If they were white or if they looked European, member countries of the UN would not have had such a hard time deciding on how to act. They would have acted a lot sooner to put a stop to it. For example, Kosovo in the former Yugoslavia. The US acted very quickly. The US got a lot of support very quickly. This time, it was not as easy and I do believe that skin colour has a huge role to play in stalling the decision-making process. The result is that over hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, raped, maimed and displaced since 2002 when the conflict erupted.

What annoys me is that this issue has not be discussed very much, if at all, in the Chinese media.



http://www.answers.com/genocide?cat=biz-fin
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21143-2004Dec22.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3613953.stm

New English College Pathway Curriculum

Yesterday, I went to a workshop organized by the TDSB on the new grade 11 and 12 English College prep programs. It was lead by instructional leaders Valerie Fraser and Rachel Cook, held at The Highbrook Learning Centre.

The morning session focussed on the new curriculum documents themselves, and what the highlights are from each of the four strands: Oral & Listening, Lit. Studies & Reading, Writing and Media Literacy. The important point gathered from this activity is that the new curriculum is a lot more flexible as far as choice of texts and types of assignments are concerned. The stress now is on how the material is taught, the delivery. Simply, the stress is on skills building to improve literacy. The skills that the new curriculum targets as being important are the listening skills and the media literacy skills. How do we teach this? The answer is using metacognitive strategies. We teach students how to listen by making them aware of how they listen. This goes with writing, reading and media literacy as well.

The afternoon session focussed on metacognition and how it can be used in the classroom to enhance students' skills acquisition. Namely, we could use anticipation guides before, during and after reading or listening to text.

Does this make me feel more knowledgeable about the 12C English course? Nope. I feel like I want to start prepping it right away.

Some of My Fave Novels

I'm going to talk about some of my favourite novels that are set in the Canadian farming country.

1. Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
Plot: Mr. and Mrs. Morrison die in a car accident, leaving behind four children. Luke is the oldest of all at 18, and Matt is second at 17, Kate at 7 and Bo at 2. One part of the story is partly about how they survive on their own. The other part of the story is about Kate and how she lives through adulthood living inside a bubble, and how she comes to realize this truth.
Setting: Crow Lake, a fictional town in northern Ontario located north of North Bay. It's very north, but not as north as Sioux Lookout ;)
Canadian Farming Country: I loved the descriptions about all the living things living in the pond near the children's home. The road that connects the town, Crow Lake, to the rest of the world southward is also a memorable image because Kate describes it as a one-way street. It doesn't allow you to travel northward because nobody ever had the desire to any further north than they already were.
Online Review: I think this is a lovely
REVIEW, one of the best I've read about a book I really like (and there are hardly any)

2. Cure for Death by Lightning by Gail Anderson-Dargatz
Plot: I don't remember much of the plot, and I have a feeling there wasn't much of a plot at all. The story was riveting all the same because there is a mystery death of a young town-girl to solve. Beth Weekes, 15, is the narrator.
Setting: Rural British Columbia. For some reason, I remembered it being set in the prairies, but after researching it on the net, it's confirmed to be BC.
Canadian Farming Country: What I love about the setting is not just the descriptions of the field, but rather the descriptions of what people have to do to make a living on the farm. There is work to be done in the field, and work to be done in the barns and in the home. It's so different from living in the city, which is probably what attracts me to these stories.

3. The Winter Helen Dropped By by W.P. Kinsella
Plot: A young boy befriends a Sioux woman, and a very moving friendship develops.
Setting: Manitoba or Saskatchewan, I can't remember.
Canadian Farming Country: Don't remember much except for a river that is described according to the seasons: winter, spring, summer and fall. A lot of action takes place on or near the river. I guess it's the metaphorical boundary between childhood and adulthood. If you stay within the boundary, life still seems like a fantasy, and the dangers that threaten the idyllic life of a child is merely a threat.

Exporting Generic AIDS Drugs to Rwanda

Click HERE to read my previous post on this topic, written approximately one year ago.

Now, CTV News has reported that Canada is going to be the first country to export generic anti-retroviral drugs to a developing country: Rwanda. Apotex is the name of the company that manufactures the drug, and its name is called Apo TriAvir. Canada is able to do this for the following reasons:

1) Rwanda is unable to manufacture this drug on their own.
2) Rwanda has invoked the "compulsory license" which allows it to import a generic version of a drug, after negotiations have been made with the pharmaceutical company that holds the patent for that drug. This means that some compensation must be paid to the pharmaceutical company.

What's the Catch?

I dunno. The news article doesn't say, but I do wonder how much money Rwanda had to pay to the pharmceutical companies that hold the patent in order to import generic drugs from Canada?

And, when AIDS patients become resistant to the current TriAvir drugs, how will they get to import the next drug? Will this whole process have to be repeated again? How much harder will it be when that time comes to invoke the compulsory license? What road blocks will pharmaceuticals have created by then to further prevent these things from happening?

方皓玟 歡迎光臨 "Welcome"

Go here for lyrics

This is my new favourite singer/songwriter out of Hong Kong. Her name is Charmaine Fong, and this is a song she wrote herself. She's usually a lyricist, but as you will see from the video if you play it, she's a very talented songwriter as well. I first came across this song in the music video version, where the singing is a studio cut. I started to wonder if she could actually sing this live, and here it is. She's just as good. I'm really impressed. I hope she becomes more well-known in HK.

拖字闕 - 王浩信/方皓玟

Charmaine Fong and Vincent Wong

New Electoral System Referendum (click)

Comparison Notes

First Past the Post (FPP) versus Mixed Member Porportional System (MMP)
107 electoral districts and 107 seats versus 90 electoral districts and 129 seats
FPP - you vote for a candidate for one electoral district
MMP - 90 seats are for the Local members, who are the equivalent to the current candidates we vote for in the current FPP system.
- Then there are 39 seats for the List Members. This is what sets the MMP system apart from the FPP system.

List Members
Before an election, each party puts forward a list of members they want to get seats for in the FPP system. If people give 19 of the 39 seats for List Members to Party A, then Party A gets 19 more seats in addition to the FPP vote. If Party B gets 50 votes in the FPP vote, and Party A gets 20 votes, then Party B would win even if it got only 10 votes in the List Member vote. Why? Because the overall total for Party B is 60 votes, whereas Party A only gets 39 votes in total.

What are we voting on?
We are not only voting on a candidate who represents us at the Provincial Legislature. We're also voting for a party. Sometimes, the person you think is the best candidate may not be of the party that you prefer to have running the government. So, in the MMP system, you get to voice both requests. One for the candidate who would best represent you, as well as the party whose policies are most in line with your values.

Since the List Member is selected by the political party and not by us, the public, then how can we make sure that this List Member candidate will work for us? We will have to contact this candidate and convey our wishes to them. This sounds like more work that I have to do to reach a person who isn't necessarily chosen to work for me. So, I'm wondering if this is an effective way for me to make my voice heard?

FAQ Page
Noteworthy is " Can I see an example of how the proposed Mixed Member Proportional System would work?" This question will show you links to the Citizen's Assembly report, where they paint hypothetical scenarios of what might happen, and what implications that would have if we did adopt an MMP system.

Spa Comparisons

The spas I'm going to compare are Summerhill Spa, Concepts Spa and In Beauty Spa.

Hot Stone Therapy
Summerhill................60min for $90
Concepts..................60min for $110
Beauty....................55min for $120

Reflexology Massage
Summerhill................45min for $55 (Includes hot oil treatment)
Concepts..................45min for $60
Beauty....................55min for $80....$65.25 for 45min

RMT Registered Massage Therapy
Summerhill................60min for $85
Concepts..................60min for $80
Beauty....................55min for $85

Basic Facials
Summerhill................45min for $40....$53.40 for 60min
Concepts..................60min for $75
Beauty....................60min for $75

Advanced Facials
Summerhill................75min for $80
Concepts..................75min for $90
Beauty....................75min for $95

Eyebrow Waxing
Summerhill................15min for $15
Concepts........................... $17
Beauty...................(tweezing) $20-25

Pedicure
Summerhill................50min for $40
Concepts..................60min for $48
Beauty............................. $45

Manicure
Summerhill................40min for $30
Concepts..................30min for $25
Beauty............................. $25

Hot Stone Pedicure
Summerhill................70min for $75
Concepts..................75min for $75
Beauty.................... none

Summerhill Spa
154 Cumberland Street
Toronto M5R 1A8
phone 416-924-0531
fax 416-924-7309
welcome@summerhillspa.com

CONCEPTS SALON & SPA
20 Bloor Street Eest
(Hudson’s Bay Centre)
Toronto, Ontario M4W 3B8
Tel: 416.928.6845
Fax: 416.928.0489
conceptdayspasalon@bellnet.ca

In Beauty Spa @ Commerce Gate
Commerce Gate
Unit 12-16, 505 HWY 7 East,
Thornhill, ON. L3T 7T1
Canada
Tel: 905-7629099 / 905-7629199

I have been to Summerhill and In Beauty spas. The facials I got at each location were different, so it's hard to compare how well the facials were done. Judging by other factors, I prefer Summerhill. Summerhill's decor is very homey, making me feel truly relaxed. The music is calming, and the way they position you on the bed is much more comfortable. During the facial, the aestheticians put a pillow underneath my knees, which allows my body to lie in a natural and relaxing position. During the pedicure, I also lay on a bed, with a triangular pillow underneath my knees. I was so comfortable I fell asleep. In Beauty, however, has small rooms that resemble doctor's examining rooms. The bed is very narrow and so you feel cramped, not relaxed.

My best friend has been to Concepts Spa (Hudson's Bay Co.) and she said they dim the lights to create a relaxing atmosphere. I don't know what their decor looks like, though, and it's hard to find pictures on the internet.

Planning for Winter Country Trip

Dates (pending): Thursday, December 27th, 2007 to Tuesday, January 1st, 2008.
Location: Winter country resort, i.e. Blue Mountain


Resources:
- Blue Mountain Brochures Homepage
- BM Resort Map
- BM Shopping and Dining Guide
To receive further information on any of these events, please call Blue Mountain at 705-445-0231


Lodging:
BM Lodging Brochure
Main Village accomodations:
2 Bedroom + kitchen = $2881.45
1 Bedroom + kitchen = $2202.15

Other buildings including the Chateau Ridge and Rivergrass condos are the same price at the moment.


Activities:
- Main activities page for Blue Mountain
This link will give you very detailed infomation on skiing and snowboarding
- Cross Country Skiing
- Snowshoeing and Caving
We can visit the caves by snow-shoeing. This is a very strenuous exercise for people who have never snow-shoed before.
- Snow-free Caving
If we have a terrible winter without snow, we can still go and visit the scenic caves.
- Spa
We will have to call and check for availability and specials as the date nears. For now, you can view what services they offer, and decide for yourself which style of spa you would like. The Scandinavian Spa is very suitable for men as well as women.
- My Touch, Your Spa
Google Map
- Utopia Spa Salon
Google Map
- Kalola Boutique and Spa
Google Map
- Shopping in the Village
We can just walk around and do some shopping as we recuperate from all this strenuous activity.
- Nightlife and Dining
A list of places


Pricing for Skiing and Snowboarding:
- Beginner lesson and equipment = $54 daytime - Includes 90 min group lesson and lift rides
- For $59, you could have a private lesson for 4 friends. You get more attention from the instructor and will learn better as a result.
- Tubing = $4/ride, $22/8 rides - for when we're too tired to ski or snowboard


Special New Year's Eve Activities:
New Year's at Blue Mountain
a) Special Dinner Gala
b) Adult Party Package - $ are not yet available for A and B.
c) Dec. 30 - Othere is a Torch light parade in the village. We should find some reviews of it to see if it's worthwhile.


Neighboring Businesses

Supermarket at Collingwood Plaza
Loblaws
A&P Supermarket - This one is closest to the resort
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=276+Jozo+Weider+Blvd.,+Collingwood&daddr=Hwy+26+%26+High+St.,+Collingwood,&sll=44.501831,-80.254869&sspn=0.029017,0.079651&ie=UTF8&ll=44.498954,-80.270491&spn=0.029018,0.079651&z=14&om=1

Itinerary:
T.B.D.

Hacken's Lee's New Hit: Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

花落誰家
作詞: 林若寧 作曲: Eric Kwok 編曲: Eric Kwok

鐵塔以下青翠山嶺
化作了石油站
鐵塔以上一對鸚鵡
也要各自逃難
鐵塔以下都市璀璨
根本不懂感嘆
花瓣吹散 誰在乎誰著眼

聽說發達只有興建
蓋夠八十層吧
聽說過活只有改變
變到再沒童話
聽說進步黑臉琵鷺
儘管犧牲一下
牠一張臉 已給你記憶風化

當櫻花迫於遷往悄靜月球
天高海闊珍惜不夠
雛菊都給安葬以後
換到繁榮誰來內疚
只許燈飾普照地球
不許花園開墾幾畝
鮮花死了 至感慨愛得不夠

這個四月相對乾燥
吻到有裂痕吧
這個八月天氣很冷
再見快樂炎夏
聖誕晚上感到炎熱
儘管燈飾優雅
當天飄雪你可會有些牽掛

當櫻花迫於遷往悄靜月球
天高海闊珍惜不夠
雛菊都給安葬以後
換到繁榮誰來內疚
只許燈飾普照地球
不許花園開墾幾畝
鮮花死了 至感慨愛得不夠

當櫻花迫於遷往悄靜月球
天高海闊珍惜不夠
繽紛煙花閃照過後
望見層層浮雲漸厚
開採山丘斬去木頭
花開花落不可拯救
儘管擁有 怕一切變得罕有
即使擁吻 怕空氣已不足夠

Going Green

In recent years, a lot of awareness has been raised for eco-friendly lifestyle choices. This ranges from buying organic produce to buying hybrid cars. Let's face it, though. Both of those items are very expensive, much more expensive than the regular environmentally and bodily harmful versions. I live in an area that doesn't have those supermarkets that sell organic produce. As for the car, well, I'll have to get myself a full driver's license before I'll buy a car. Hopefully by that time, I'll be able to afford it!

For now, what I can do is to start by using eco-friendly cleaning solvents around the home. My mom and I have decided that once we finish using up these store-brand cleaners, we'll stop buying them and instead, we'll mix our own cleaning solvents. To do this, I started some research on the internet to find recipes for mixing these eco-friendly cleaning solvents. Here are some websites:

The Grassroots Store
I've been to the location on the Danforth, and I know that there is another location on Bloor St. They have a wide range of pre-mixed powders that you can use to create your own cleaning solvents. You should bring your own containers in which to hold the powders. They also have eco=friendly soaps and shampoos for showering and bathing.

Green Technology: the Environmentally Friendly Solution
This article, written by Lana Christian, is very informative as it explains in ordinary English what is wrong with the store-brand products we use in our homes and offices, and then it gives you alternative suggestions to making or buying products that are more eco-friendly. I love the way she ended her article:
"Everything we do impacts the environment. What matters is how big a footprint we leave on it. We need to look through "green lenses" to minimize that footprint. It starts with you."

Laundry--Ugh!!!
Call me weird, but I would rather clean a bathroom than to do laundry. I don't know why. I love clean clothes; I just don't like doing the work to make them clean. I should be shot for saying this because in our modern age, we are so lucky to have these high-tech washers and dryers that make doing laundry so much easier than it was back in our grandparents' days. For those of you who love doing laundry and would like to help reduce the harm inflicted on the environment, here is an article that gives you some basic tips. It talks about how to choose eco-friendly products in the stores. Unfortunately, if you want to read more of the article, you'll have to sign up.

CBC's Article
It's by the CBC. Enough said, just read it.

Vinegar--Ew!!!
I absolutely hate vinegar. The only types of vinegar I'll have is the red ones you use in Chinese restaurants when you eat seafood, and some brands of salt and vinegar chips. The thing is, I'm going to have to learn to accept--not love--vinegar. Vinegar is like the magic ingredient--not as magical as baking soda, of course--to making an effective and environmentally harmless cleaning solvent. Becareful, though, because it's not always bodily harmless. So, read your recipes very carefully and don't experiment with mixing different ingredients unless you've done your research before hand. This page has a gazillion recipe ideas, but don't get carried away.

An Abstract for Annie B. Bond's book
Read the article, and if you like what you see, buy the book.

Vietnam War: Prior to the War

Interesting facts I didn't know before:
- American "operatives" working for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) had been stationed all over Vietnam during WWII. Their job was to monitor the movement of Japanese troops, helping the Japanese resistance groups and rescuing pilots who had been shot down in the Vietnam.
- American operatives and the Vietnamese worked closely with one another
- Franklin D. Roosevelt had wanted to "liberate" the Indochinese nations from colonial rule after WWII. To him, France and other countries like Britain, had been exploiting the people and the resources of that region for far too long. It was time to put an end to the suffering and exploitation endured by the Indochinese under the French colonialists.
- Indochina refers to: Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. During the period prior to the Vietnam War, Indochina was a region colonially controlled by France. Currently, it is known as South-east Asia.
- Winston Churchill, PM of England, disapproved of FDR's plans to dismantle the French colonial empire in Indochina for fear that FDR will want to dismantle Britain's colonnial empire as well.

Truth:
Based on the stories told to me by my parents, the French presence in Vietnam was not all that negative. The French introduced new foods, and they helped to build more modern infrastructure, as well as religious institutions. For example, the French introduced the baguette, a French bread roll. It became so popular in Vietnam that even today, Vietnamese people still eat the French baguette with their own style of Vietnamese deli meats. The French also built modern hospitals, with foreign-trained doctors, using French medicine. For a lot of the infectious diseases that appeared at that time, having modernly equipped hospitals and French medicines helped a great deal. Lastly, the French presence introduced Roman Catholicism into Vietnam. It is important to note that the French colonialists did not force the Catholic faith onto the Vietnamese, and instead they were actually allowed to continue practicing their own religions, such as Buddhism. From there, they went on to build schools that were run by nuns and priests. My aunt, L.M., attended school in one of the Convents in North Vietnam early on in her education. Therefore, in my family, the previous generation had only positive things to say about the French colonialists.

What I would like to know more about:
- Where did each side of the families of both parents grow up? Did their experience with the French colonialists change as they migrated to other parts of Vietnam?
- How much did the French control the education system? How much was left to the Vietnamese to administer on their own?
- Historically, what is known about the French "invasion" and later, their occupation of Vietnam?

Sources:
Indochina @ Wikipedia
The Vietnam War for Dummies

Lady Jane Grey, 1537-1554

"Many Englishmen also expressed concern that Mary favoured for herself a Spanish marriage which might bring in Spanish nobles to rule England in place of Northumberland and his colleagues. Northumberland arranged for his son Lord Guilford Dudley to marry the Protestant (and anti-Catholic) Jane, hoping through him to gain control over his new daughter-in-law and the reins of England."

"At the time of Edward's death, without Edward's will (which had dubious legal standing, since it ran contrary to the Third Succession Act), the crown would have passed, under the terms of the Third Succession Act and of Henry VIII's will, to Mary and her male (not female) heirs [...]Jane thus did not feature in the line of succession prior to the last draft of Edward's will of June 1553. Only in the last draft did Edward finally include Jane Grey as his heir presumptive, knowing the line of succession included no Protestant-born male children."

"There is little recorded of the doings of Jane as Queen from the 11th through the 13th, most likely a result of illness. Jane herself thought she was being poisoned by the Duchess of Northumberland (her husband's mother), but there was no evidence this really occurred."

"On the 14th, Dudley led a troop of 600 with him, carrying an odd assortment of weapons that had been acquired at the day before. Crowds pressed to watch the men leave, but none bid them God Speed."

"The people started to revolt, crying for Mary to be made Queen. Jane ordered the gates to the tower locked and the keys brought to her."

"Gratefully Jane rose and stepped down, embracing her father as she wept. After a time she finally asked, "Can I go home?" This poor innocent girl actually thought it might be that simple. But alas it was not to be."

"Within only nine days, the people of England had overwhelmingly declared their support for Mary, [...] Mary had Jane and her husband imprisoned in the Gentleman Gaoler's apartments at the Tower of London for high treason, although their lives were initially spared."

"The Protestant rebellion of Sir Thomas Wyatt in late January 1554, [plus] Jane's father (the Duke of Suffolk) and other nobles joined the rebellion, calling for Jane's restoration as Queen." This lead to the pressure that Mary should execute Jane in order to stamp out any other revolters' dreams of restoring a Protestant ruler.

"Jane was then taken out to Tower Green, inside the Tower of London, for a private execution. With few exceptions, private executions applied to royalty alone; Jane's private execution occurred on the orders of Queen Mary, as a gesture of respect for her cousin."

At her death, she read the psalm "Miserere mei deus," pardoned the executioner, and tied the handkerchief around her eyes. Unable to see where the block was, she reached out for it and felt nothing, then started to panic, saying "What shall I do? Where is it?" Someone close by guided her hands to the block, and when she lay herself upon it, she said her last words: "Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit!" Then she was executed.



Sources:
EnglishHistory.net
LadyJaneGrey.org
Lady Jane Grey @ Wikipedia

Why Are People So Captivated by the Alchemical Wedding?

The (Al)Chemical Wedding Of Christian Rosenkreuz
- edited and published by Johann Valentin Andreae
- the 3rd Rosicrucian "Manifesto", published in 1459
- Describes a journey over seven days, in which Rosenkreuz is invited to marry a husband and a bride inside a castle of miracles.
- Chemical developed from the ancient science of alchemy, which believed in the "Sacred Marriage."


The Rosicrucian Order
- Formed by a group of German protestants during the early 17th century.
- Philosophy is stated in three manifestos: Fama Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis, Confessio Fraternitatis, and The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreuz
- Tells of the journeys of Rosenkreuz, who travelled into the Middle East and learned Islamic philosophy
- Different groups have 3 interpretations of these writings: they are either true stories, parables, or they are writings by Francis Bacon, who used C. Rosenkreuz as a pseudonym.
- Some have even concluded that the Rosicrucian Order was a hoax or prank because its origins are so nebulous and the origins of the so-called "manifestos" so mysterious.
- aims to unify ideas in science, art, philosophy, politics and religion


Sources:
Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreuz @ Wikipedia
Order of the Grail.com
Rosicrucianism @ Wikipedia

Researching Background into "Satan's Kingdom" Part 2

Click on the title of this post for part 1.

My fascination with this town continues. I'm particularly interested to know if Satan's Kingdom really existed. Here's the description of the haunted house in Isabella Taves' story.

"The three-storey house was built into a big boulder of black rock, which formed one wall. A Boston architect had built it for his wife, but she had died shortly they had moved in and he wanted no part of the place" (42).

Devil's Hopyard
"Unlike the traditions associated with places named for the Devil, legend and history blend together in the accounts which explain the origin of Satan's Kingdom and Satan's Ridge, both in New Hartford. According to legend, Satan once used the rocky gorge of the Farmington River bearing his name as his exclusive playground."

"The most widely-circulated legend tells of the many times Satan has been seen, sitting on a huge boulder at the top of Chapman's Falls, playing his violin while the evil witches of Haddam stirred a "hell broth for a charm of powerful trouble" in the cauldron-like potholes formed in the rocks below."

New England Towns.org
""In the eastern part of this town there is a rough and mountainous district, formerly designated Satan's Kingdom; and the few inhabitants who lived there were in a measure shut out from the rest of mankind.[...]"

Brown Eyes, Blue Eyes: A Class Divided

This film was first aired on Frontline, the television news magazine show. It features two separate experiments conducted by Jane Elliott, a teacher. She tries to teach both children and adults the meaning of discrimination, and what it feels like to be discriminated against.

Catching Up on Movies

Since the school year had ended, I've been catching up on watching dvds. Here are some of my thoughts (not really a review).

The Lake House
What a lovely movie. It's a romance starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves. Jack moves into the glass lake house that his father built for his mother when he was a child, and in his red mailbox, he finds a letter written by a woman from the future, Kate. They start writing letters to one another despite the fact that they're on two different space/time continua, sharing their daily ups and downs, ideas on life, relationships and so on. Soon, they realize that they are each other's soulmates, and that's when Jack tries to find Kate and meet her in person.

What I found surprising about this story was how easily I allowed myself to get drawn into the impossibility of it, and how willingly I suspended my disbelief so that I could watch the two characters finally come together in the end. The best part of it is that the ending is not as predictable as one might think. I was hooked. Another surprise in this movie was Reeves' acting. Normally, I find him very boring to watch because he doesn't really use a lot of facial expressions or his voice to convey emotions and make the character that he's playing believable to the audience. I don't hate Reeves like some people do, but I wouldn't deliberately go to a theatre to see his newest movie. In The Lake House, he was actually very good. He actually used a variety of facial expressions, and his voice actually acts as much as he does.

Sandra Bullock was excellent. I think she has really grown since her Speed days to become a well-rounded actress. In this movie, she imparted a strong sense of loneliness, vulnerability and a slight sense of frustration at her predicament. She is also strong and practical, knowing when things have become too fantastical and puts a stop to it. Seriously, how can two people from two different times meet?

After seeing this version, I would like to see the original Korean production on which this Bullock/Reeves version is based: Siworae. I wonder if the original Korean ending is the same as the American one?


The Premonition
This movie, again, stars Sandra Bullock, along with Julian McMahon and Kate Nelligan. This movie turned out to be completely different from what I expected at the beginning. The beginning really does look like a suspense-thriller, and a bit spooky, too. In this story, Linda's husband dies in a car crash, and the next day, she wakes up to find that he's still alive. Soon, she figures out that the days of the week are happening out of order. She has to find out how to prevent her husband's death the next time Wednesday comes around. But, then she finds out some info about her husband and now she's not sure if she wants to prevent his death anymore.

I really liked this movie, surprisingly, since I had only heard rather negative reviews about it.

Mr. Shiny & New's Blog

This blog belongs to my friend's husband, and it has a lot of funny articles. Lots of good recipes, too. Here's a sample:

Border Guard
This entry tells of an experience my friends had when they decided one day to rent a car and drive into the US to do some shopping. This is part of the exchange between the husband and the border guard.

""What are you going to do in the US?"
"Drive around a bit, go shopping"
"So you rented a car, drove all the way from Toronto, just to drive around here? You realize you're entering a foreign country?..."

Shameless Promotion for The Shutter

This kind of film begs a second viewing, as many of the setup elements are cleverly disguised as background color, and don't really attract attention to themselves -- in fact, one of the major plot elements turns out to be a gigantic maguffin that ultimately has nothing to do with the real story...
-a review from Bloody-Disgusting.com

July Highlights and Lowlights Part 2

This summer, the Gang isn't going anywhere for vacation because Thai and Cat have to save up money for their wedding next year. *YAY! Congrats!* Instead, we rented my colleague's cottage in Coboconk.

We went on the weekend of July 21st, for 2 nights and 2 days. The drive there took about 2.5 hours, but could have been less if there wasn't the traffic jam, and probably if they (Thai and Eddie) had stuck to the directions given by Beth. Anyhow, by the time we got there, it was 10pm. It was dark, and the signs were hard to read. Because there are no street lights on the cottage roads, we had to rely on the car's headlights. When we saw the number to Beth's cottage, we started to drive into what we thought was the front yard. We stopped, however, because there was actually a swamp in front of us. We backed out and kept going on the road to see if there was another entrance, and sure enough there was. We got out of the car, went around the back and saw the backyard patio deck, and it was gorgeous even in the dark. We couldn't wait for morning to come so that we could actually go outside use the patio deck.

That night, as we unpacked, Cat cooked some noodles and wontons for us for snack. Some people were worried about the quality of the water, and that was a funny story. Beth left me a note that says I have to switch on the water pump. I went to the wrong switch, and after thinking that I had turned it on, there still was no water. Finally, after speaking with Beth on the phone, I figured out which switch it was, and the water started flowing from the taps. I had to convince everyone that the water was clean and not stinky like at the first cottage we went to years ago in Cobourg. It turned out the water was fine and nobody complained about it after the first night. We were all dead tired, so we went to bed early.

The next morning, we a simple breakfast, and after I made sandwiches for lunch, the gang went out on the fishing boat. This was the weekend before the workshop presentation for summer school, so I had to bring some work with me to the cottage to work on. I brought my laptop with me, and on Saturday morning I worked on the presentation script and my article reflection. After lunch, they all came back early, to my surprise. Eddie had a scowl on his face because everyone else couldn't hold it on the boat and had to come back to use the facilities. LOL!! In the afternoon, they convinced me to go out on the pedal boat.

Cat, Clare and I went out on the pedal boat while Thai and Eddie got back in the fishing boat for more fishing. The lake was beautiful, and the water was very clean. We went around the cape and saw two small islands, which we agreed to set as our goal. When we got there, we realized we couldn't dock because there were too many rocks underneath, and we were afraid of lodging ourselves between a crack somewhere, so be back pedalled and to return home. On our return, we were pedalling against the current, and it felt like we weren't going anywhere despite the fact that we were pedalling a lot harder than before. That gave us a good laugh. We got went the wrong way the first time and entered the wrong inlet. We had to come back out and look for the other inlet, which we found easily because the other two girls recognized a Canadian flag on a cottage by the shore. We approached it and saw our inlet. By that time, we were tired so we took a break.

That evening, we had a BBQ for dinner, after the three of us took a nice nap. It was funny because after going out on the pedal-boat plus taking a nap, it was still only 3:30. Time went by so slowly! After getting up from our nap, we started preparing the food for the BBQ as well as the pasta for tomorrow's lunch. That night, the BBQ was great. After dinner, after cleaning up, we played a bit of Wii, and then we watched the horror movie called The Shutter, a Thailand production. Thai and Eddie were thoroughly scared (muahahaha!). Mission accomplished! After that, we had some dessert and went to bed.

The next morning, Thai made us pancakes while I made sausages and fried eggs. I'm not very good at frying eggs and sausages at the same time, so I had to do one thing at a time. It took me an hour! Fortunately nobody complained. After breakfast, I prepared the cucumber salad and the pasta salad for lunch. When that was done, we decided to go for a short hike. After we put on our sunblock and started up the main road, we realized that we could actually go hiking at the Scarborough Bluffs. So, we returned to the cottage again and started packing up. This itself took an hour and a half. By the time we were done, we decided to just leave for the Scarborough Bluffs.

It was a wonderful experience.

July Highlights and Lowlights

Summer school is over. =D =D

July happened so fast I can't even remember much of it. So here it goes...

Summer School
I saw my friends from last year again, Sherrie and Peter. Later, while talking to the instructor, I learned that many of my classmates from ESL Part 2 last summer had taken the Winter course. I heard they were quite a handful as well, LOL!

I met two new friends this summer, and their names are Jung and Michelle. Jung is a Korean immigrant who came to Canada and first arrived in one of the prairie provinces. Imagine that, your first winter in Canada and you have to suffer it on the prairie. Brrr...Jung is a high school teacher for the Peel Board, and she is a very organized person. She had to put up with Sherrie and me for the last two weeks of the course as we prepared our final major workshop. Michelle also works for the Peel Board, but as an elementary/junior teacher. She is soft-spoken, but very funny. Both Jung and Michelle were such wonderful people to work with.

Everyday after class, we went to Jung's condo to work on the presentation. We would stay there until about 10pm at night, then go home to sleep, and wake up 5 hours later to go to class. This happened for two weeks!! During this time, I only had dinner with my parents once, and that was because we were taking the in-laws out to dinner.

Sherrie, Jung and I really learned a lot from this project. For one, we learned about a lot of the dominant theories that currently back-up the ESL programs throughout North America. Secondly, we also learned about advocacy and how that is so important for our ESL students. And last but not least, we learned about how to do professional presentations. We owe a lot to our instructor, Karen, who instilled in each of us the confidence to go and stand in front of 21 of our colleagues and teach them about Academic Language Learning Strategies (A.L.L.S.). This was hard work and it was also nerve-wracking. So much preparation went into problem-anticipation and solution alone. That was one of the most exhausting aspects, to anticipate what problems we might have with the content of the workshop, the delivery, and then the other miscellaneous things that could make or break your whole workshop, depending on how well you prepared yourself for them. The stress was magnified by the fact that we only had 2 weeks to plan this workshop, plus do all the research to gather information.

Sherrie joked at the beginning that we would do so well that by next spring, we'd be invited to present our workshop at the Celebrating Linguistic Diversity conference at OISE/University of Toronto. Soon, that wasn't just a joke, but rather a motivational incentive. In the end, we felt very good about our presentation. Our grade wasn't stellar, but that was because our instructor and the evaluator were looking for opposite things in the criteria. That's okay, though, because really, it's the process of creating and delivering a workshop that counts. I never saw myself as someone who is capable of doing something like this, and now I've done it.

On the morning of the workshop, we arrived at the classroom and realized that there was no electrical outlet near the front of the classroom where the screen was. In our foolishness, we chose not to re-check the room the day before. We were stuck because we didn't bring an extension cord. Jung came up with the bright idea of using the television stand as the extension cord. It worked, but not very well since there was a cord stretching across one corner of the room. During my initial speech, I got caught inside that corner.

The next problem we experienced was a major one: more than half of our audience was late. We can't afford to wait longer than five minutes, but then that means there would be people trickling in during our presentation. That was very annoying and unprofessional on their part. Even though they didn't have class that day with their own instructor, they had a workshop that they signed up for. They should have arrived on time and treat the workshop with the same level of importance as a class. This created so much unnecessary stress for us.

I had one blackout moment in the middle of the presentation where I got tongue tied because I was so nervous about having the blackout. Instead of taking a deep breath like Karen had instructed us to do, I got anxious and tongue-tied.

In the end, we got some very good reviews by the students.

I feel most grateful to Karen, who prepared us so well for the workshop that we were able to go into it with confidence and conviction.

Now that summer school is over, I'm going to get working on prepping my courses! *YAY* (sarcastic).

Workshop

Rebecca Oxford Book
Abstract of book
An Update on Language Learning Strategies
The LLS Survey on PDF format

Ideas for Frankenstein, ESLBO

A Chemistry Lesson--Tools in a chemistry lab
1. Bunsen burner http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jkn/Chem%20151%20Manual%20Intro1&2_files/image030.jpg
2. Test tube http://sps.k12.ar.us/massengale/images/strawb2.jpg
3. Flask http://science.csustan.edu/JTB/LABWARE/LAB-GIFS/Florence-flask.gif
4. Shake flask http://www.fao.org/docrep/t0533e/T0533E12.gif
5. Clamp http://www.biologicalprocedures.com/bpo/arts/1/52/m52f4sm.gif
6. Graduated cylinder http://science.csustan.edu/JTB/LABWARE/LAB-GIFS/Graduated-cylinder.gif
7. Beaker http://core.ecu.edu/chem/chemlab/equipment/images/beaker.jpg
8. Funnel http://core.ecu.edu/chem/chemlab/equipment/images/funnel.jpg

Geography
1. Map of Switzerland http://www.european-vacations.tv/images/maps/switzerland-map.gif
2. Wuertenberg, Germany http://www.yorku.ca/ontbw/img/bw-map.gif
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/KgrWuerttemberg.png/464px-KgrWuerttemberg.png
3. Ingolstadt, Bavaria, GEM http://www.itcwebdesigns.com/tour_germany/oberbay.gif
http://www.coletta.de/kolonien/Koenigreich%20Bayern%201914%20+.jpg
4. Mont Blanc http://www.ski-montblanc.com/IMAGES/UltraTrailTourMontBlanc.jpg
5. Map of France and Chamonix (X) http://www.martynhicks.co.uk/personal/pics/chamonix/francemap3.jpg
6. Mer de Glace glacier, France http://www.answers.com/topic/mer-de-glace



Students can make a travel brochure for these cities or countries.

Updates from June

Highlights:

1. I celebrated my birthday one week early with the Gang. They surprised me by taking me to dinner at Saigon Star. That's when I discovered that Saigon Star had been renovated, and now it looks just like all the other Asian fusion restaurants, like Spring Rolls and Asian Legend. That's not a bad thing, except they changed their menu, too! All the former authentic Vietnamese dishes have all been expunged to make the menu more presentable and easier to read. That means that there's a lot less variety to choose from now.

After dinner, we went to see a movie, Shrek 3. The reviews weren't all that positive, and at the end, some of the Gang said it was quite boring, and I have to admit, the beginning was a bit boring. But, it was still very funny the rest of the way. I liked it and that's what matters most! =P

Then we went to have dessert at Kelseys. We ordered some finger foods and then two apple crumbles a la mode. The waiter even put two candles on it, the sparkly kind when it burns. It was so pretty! For gifts, I got a $50 dollar gift card from T&Ca, and then I got an elegant chrome watch by Guess from Cl. and D.

It was a fantabulous night!


2. On Friday afternoon, I went downtown to the World's Biggest Bookstore to buy a textbook for my summer school course. While riding the subway, I was reading Speaker for the Dead, the 2nd novel in the Ender Trilogy by Orson Scott Card. A stranger sitting across from me interrupted me to ask me if I liked the sequel, b/c he apparently doesn't think sequels are any good. I told him he should try it b/c in some ways, it's just as good as Ender's Game. Some ways.

He went on to tell me about the books he likes, and then I asked him his opinion on Robert Sawyer. Surprisingly, this stranger doesn't think very highly of Sawyer either. He was trying very hard to say that Sawyer is a self-obsessed, self-gratifying and self-promoting writer, but he couldn't say it. I could guess though b/c that's how I found Sawyer as well when I met him. The Stranger said that Sawyer believes he's a much better writer than he is. A lot of his ideas aren't that original. I TOTALLY AGREE!

Anyway, I thought that was so weird how I bumped into a total stranger who also doesn't like Sawyer. To be fair, I only met Sawyer once, and I haven't read any of his novels, only heard and read excerpts. But, the thing that is strange is that I don't feel like I want to read any of his books, especially after having met the writer and have heard the writer read live. This is very unusual b/c what has happened in the past is that when I meet a writer and I listen to him/her read live, the experience is so special and magical that I get sucked into the hype. This time, it was totally the opposite. Could you believe that?

How sad.


3. On Friday night, my mum had to go to her friend's house to help out with preparing the food for the next day's BBQ. My dad drove her, so I was stuck with babysitting Steph. She was okay at first, but then she realized that my parents were gone, and so she started to cry. I asked her if she wanted cookies, and she said no. Then I asked her if she wanted milk, and she said yes. So, I gave her the heated milk and I was hoping she would fall asleep after that. Boy was I wrong!

She wasn't feeling secure enough to fall asleep without my parents at home, so she sat up watching TV. Then she wanted to have cookies, so I gave her the cookies so that she won't start crying again. She had the cookies, and then went back to watching TV. A while later, she wanted to get out of bed and go look for my parents. I wouldn't let her b/c then she'll start crying again. But, she cried anyway. As I was helping her out of the bed, she vomited on me and the blanket! EW!!

I remained very calm, though. I was very surprised with myself. I took the blanket off the bed, put our clothes into the washer, and washed all the sheets. I didn't get to bed until 1:30 am. My parents came home in the meantime, and my mum was not pleased. She glared at Steph and the toddler almost started to cry again.


4. Finally, on my birthday, I stayed at home and filed. I have to file my stuff right away and organize everything, otherwise, I won't feel like doing it any more in the future.

Prom at Atlantis

It was a success!

Researching Aboriginal Canadian Myths and Legends

Tourism Victoria--with info on the Sasquatch, the Cadborosaurus, and a mermaid.

CanTeach.ca--a webportal to many sites

Native American Mythology--at Encyclopeadia Mythica

Turtle Island Native Network

Importance of the Wild Hunt

"[...]a phantasmal group of huntsmen with the accoutrements of hunting, horses, hounds, etc., in mad pursuit across the skies or along the ground, or just above it.^[1] The hunters may be the dead, or the fairies (often in folklore connected with the dead).<sup>[2]"
- Wikipedia

"[...]the Hunt was placed in the Tapestry to be wild in the truest sense, to lay down an uncontrolled thread for the freedom of the Children who came after. And so did the Weaver lay a constraint upon himself, that not even he, shuttling at the Loom of the Worlds, may preordain the shape exactly what is to be. [...] we have such choices as we have, some freedom to shape our own destinies, because of that wild thread of Owin and the Hunt slipping across the Loom, warp and then weft, in turn and at times."
- The Darkest Road, 102

This is why The Wild Hunt is so important to the world in the Fionavar Tapestry. I would also compare it to the pomegranate tree in the Book of Genesis. Both of them make it possible for humans to make our own choices. The pomegranate tree, however, is bad for us. The Wild Hunt could be both good and bad.</sup>

Understanding the World of Fionavar

"And on the north wind there came then the triumphant laughter of the first and falledn god, who was coming down on them like a hammer bringing fire, bringing war" (The Summer Tree, 166)

I never caught this part of the story on the previous readings, and I always wondered why Rakoth Maugrim was so powerful? Why did vanquishing his forces meant that he would be beaten down and incapacitated? Here was my answer this whole time.

Rakoth Maugrim wasn't just one of the gods who turned evil and corrupt, but he was the first god of all the gods. That's why he's so powerful, such that he has the power to create and to unravel. That's why he's called the unraveller.

When the Bael Rangat war ended, the humans and lios alfar had a lot of help from the other gods. It was Mornir, the god of Thunder, who gave power to the magi to helm their own magic, independent from the wild magic of Mother Earth, Dana. From that release Amairgen Whitebranch was able to bind himself to a human source, Lisen of the Wood. From the magic that they created, the humans had a chance. And in the end, they won the war. They were able to bind Rakoth Maugrim to the mountain, Rangat.

Rakoth Maugrim is invisible until he regained so much of his strength that he was able to materialize as flames and smoke. Otherwise, we can only see him through the people and creatures who work his will and carry out the heinous atrocities under his direction. When all of his carnal subjects were destroyed at the end of The Darkest Road, that stripped Rakoth Maugrim of his powers.

Explorations in Arthurian Legends: Chretien de Troyes

Explorations in Arthurian Legends: Sir Thomas Malory

Archetypal Medieval Hero: Lancelot

The Historical Arthur

http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/bios/lancelot.html

King Arthur: A Character Analysis

http://theriverlands.tripod.com/Writings/Guinevere/guinevere.html

Faithful Companions

Culhwch ac Olwen

Lark and Nightingale Symbolism

Links
Sky lark in literary traditions
“A Treatise on the Meaning and Derivations of Armorial Bearing” by W. Cecil Wade, first edition manuscript 1898.
Birds in Mythology

The Animal Files: the Nightingale

Learning about Islam Part 3

More websites to visit and peruse:
NAFAS Online Magazine

Review of Bernard Lewis' "What Went Wrong: Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response" by Juan Cole

The Middle East conflict in a world perspective

LA Times.com "Lessons of modesty from the Middle East," April 13, 2007.

Learning about Islam Part 2

Sources:
Same as the previous post.

Important points and passages:
"The roots of their division can be traced back centuries. When the Prophet Muhammad died in 632, two groups couldn't agree on who would be his successor. The group now known as Sunni believed the new leader (or caliph) should be Abu Bakr (who led from 632-634). The group known as Shia believed Muhammad's son-in-law, Ali (who led from 656-661), was the rightful successor to the Prophet and that Sunnis usurped Ali's rightful leadership."


-Why should the Prophet Muhammad have a successor to begin with? Isn't he made a prophet by God, and not the people? Why did the people feel that they had any say in who "succeeds" the Prophet Muhammad?

" Al Wahhab advocated another of Taymiya's more controversial tenets - that some self-declared Muslims were really unbelievers and it was the duty of orthodox Muslims to conduct jihad against them.

In Taymiya's time, it was Mongol invaders. For al Wahhad and bin Saud, it was the Ottoman Empire, which ruled most of the Arabian peninsula. Bin Saud believed that his campaign to bring pure Islam to the Arabian peninsula justified his wars with other Muslims. "


- The CBC website also says that for modern Muslims, this jihad is of a personal nature whereby individuals have to wage their own struggle between harmonizing their faith with their modern lifestyles.
- This might be especially true for Muslims who are living in the West and are raised on Western beliefs and customs

" In 1932, the kingdom of Saudia Arabia was established."
- The history if worthy of more exploration.

I am particularly interested in the history section of the BBC website. It includes the following topics:

• Ibrahim - the Muslim view of Abraham
• Musa - the Muslim view of Moses
• Prophet Muhammad (570-632)
• Early rise of Islam (632-700)
• Islam in China (650-present)
• Muslim Spain (711-1492)
• Ottoman Empire (1301-1922)
• Mughal Empire (1500s, 1600s)
• Safavid Empire (1501-1722)
• Islam in the UK (1500s-present)
• Slavery in Islam

Learning about Islam

Resources
CBC Indepth
BBC Religion and Ethics: Islam

Important passages for further exploration:
"Islam's deep intellectual tradition may be seen in classic styles of Islamic expression, including maraboutism in Morocco (a saint-centred system of ruler-worship emphasizing Sufism), and the Shi'ite scholarly tradition in the Middle East."

" The history of Islam cannot be separated from the history of Islamic society. Throughout history Islam created political institutions such as the caliphate and the sultanate. But these institutions were eventually challenged as observers watched political revolution take hold in the dominant colonial Western countries.

This erosion is at the root of the political and social turmoil plaguing the Islamic world today."

"Most families in the Islamic world are monogamous, and the practice of polygamy is usually dicated by economic factors and the insistence of Islam to integrate all members of society into a family structure."

The above was all taken from the CBC website.

Currently reading Prince Caspian of the Narnia Chronicles. It's not as exciting a story as I thought it would be. The exciting parts only involve the children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy.

What Kind of Reader Am I?

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Literate Good Citizen You read to inform or entertain yourself, but you're not nerdy about it. You've read most major classics (in school) and you have a favorite genre or two.
Book Snob
Dedicated Reader
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

It doesn't show on the image, but for book snob I got 75%. That is so true! I don't tend to read books that are on the bestseller's lists. For dedicated reader and obsessive-compulsive bookworm, I'm about 60%. That's also very true b/c I have this petpeeve about breaking the spine of the books I own. Lastly, I'm proud to say that I am only 10% fad reader.

Thanks to Grace Granger for recommending this quiz.

The Horse and His Boy, Book 3 in the Chronicles of Narnia

Okay, I just finished reading The Horse and His Boy (HHB) this morning. Bree is so delightfully annoying. He is so full of himself it's absurd! At the same time that I want to smack some sense into him, I also feel like I want to pat him on the back and tell him it's okay to feel inadequate. Most everyone is inadequate and very very few of us are great. Bree just has to get adjusted to the different surroundings and the different animals.

And contrary to my prediction about Bree and Hwin, they don't end up marrying one another. I find it truly hiliarious that Lewis would actually wrap up their story and explain what happened to these horses later on, and point out that they don't end up marrying one another, although they remain good friends. Isn't that just so hilarious? I think so.

I was keeping track of all the topics that I can write essays about. I know there must already be a lot of essays written about these topics, but instead of just passively reading other people's essays, I'd like to write some of my own. Before I do so, however, I'd have to do some more research and take notes. I'll use my blog as my notebook.

Topics:
1. Narrative Style - Lewis tells the story like he's a grandfather telling stories to his grandchildren. At some points in the story, it mentions that the story of HHB was actually recounted to the current narrator by characters like Bree and Shasta/Cor. I find the idea of a horse telling stories so hilarious. I'll be using this word a lot whenever I have to refer to Bree. Another thing I thought was worthy to note was the metafictional quality of the narration, such as when Bree debunks myths about horses that were taught to children through fantasy stories. This story itself is a fantasy story.

2. Background to Lewis' knowledge and love of animals - At some points in the story, I get the sense that Lewis would have been a great advocate of animals, especially horses.

3. Feminism as an emerging force in characterization - Hwin and Aravis are both very strong female characters in this book. Perhaps once I've read all 7 books, I will have a more complete picture of the female characters in the series. Perhaps only then will I be able to assess accurately Lewis' treatment of the Feminist topic in his stories.

4. Aravis and Shasta/Cor's characterization

5. Hwin and Bree's characterization

6. Race, the Other, and the Alienization of Persians, Arabs and Anglo-Saxons - This goes back to my very first thought about this book where I asked the question, "Does anyone find the basis of the story racist?" I suppose I should tweak that question so that it reads: What are some instances in the story that portray the Persian and Arabian cultures as the Other? What impact do they have on generating or perpetuating the alienization of Muslim and Christian peoples and cultures? How do they achieve that effect, if there is one? I do not dare to forget that Lewis comes from an educated British background, of which there inevitably would have to be certain facets that colour his view of the people of other nations and ethnic groups, not to mention the different religious beliefs. This colouring is a product of the upbringing and the time period in which Lewis lived. For this reason, I would not dare to call Lewis racist, but at the same time, I cannot read HHB and not see an underlying current of racial tension, subtle as it may be. This is something that I am very eager to explore in the near future.

7. Aslan as God
Some say that Aslan is more comparable to Christ, but the way he was portrayed in HHB, he appears to have more similarities with God. There's a saying that goes, "God works in mysterious ways." This saying came to mind frequently while reading HHB, especially every time the children and horses were being chased by the lion.

Khalil Fong 方大同 - 春風吹

Taiwanese singer/songwriter. He's a big fan of Michael Jackson, and at the Chik Chak 903 Music Awards 2007, he performed alongside Ivana Wong and Hins Cheung. He even performed the moonwalk very nicely.

This is his new song, Spring Wind Blowing.