River, by Joni Mitchell

It’s coming on Christmas
They’re cutting down trees
They’re putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
But it don’t snow here
It stays pretty green
I’m going to make a lot of money
Then I’m going to quit this crazy scene
I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I wish I had a river so long
I would teach my feet to fly
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I made my baby cry

He tried hard to help me
You know, he put me at ease
And he loved me so naughty
Made me weak in the knees
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I’m so hard to handle
I’m selfish and I’m sad
Now I’ve gone and lost the best baby
That I ever had
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I wish I had a river so long
I would teach my feet to fly
Oh I wish I had a river
I made my baby say goodbye

It’s coming on Christmas
They’re cutting down trees
They’re putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace
I wish I had a river
I could skate away on

Sometimes, there are certain songs that you have liked for a long time, and then something happens to you that allows you to understand that song in a whole new way. This is one of them.

Blog Updates

I've added a Buddy list of of links. Please go check 'em out!

p.s. Nevermind, the links don't work for some reason. :(

p.p.s. OH! It works! They're all working now! :D

Luke 16: 19-31 The Story of the Rich Man and Lazarus

I find it incredibly ironic.

Two weeks ago, I did a presentation in Sunday School with another Christian, and we presented the passage of the Rich man and Lazarus. We had been studying for several weeks about how the poor go to heaven and the rich go to hell.

The story in this specific passage is about a sick man named Lazarus, who lies at the gate of a rich man's house. He is so poor and so sick, he cannot go and make a living for himself and buy food to eat. He has sores all over his body, so even if he could walk, he would likely not have been able to find a job with any employer. So, all he wants are the crumbs that fall from the rich man's table and he would have been happy. But, the rich man walks past Lazarus day after day, and he does nothing to help Lazarus, or even to inquire about Lazarus' condition. He just ignored Lazarus day after day. After they both died, Lazarus went to heaven and the rich man went to hell.

I find that it is incredibly ironic how two weeks ago I read about how God judges uncharitable behaviour, and this past weekend, I witnessed it. Instead, the surprising thing is that Clare and I, the semi-non Christians were Lazarus, and the Christians were the rich men.

Christians Leading by Bad Examples

After attending church regularly for a year, and on occasion, Sunday school classes, one thing I've learned from listening to the sermons and studying the scripture is that Christians are supposed to lead by example and be role models of kind, generous and charitable behaviour. What I witnessed today was far from that. So far, I am very disappointed still.

Today, I brought some cakes I made to my church's softball tournament. It's a bake sale, for which all the proceeds will go to a charity, the Canadian Cancer Society. Instead of supporting such a meaningful cause, and supporting our efforts to do something good, what I got from some of my "brothers and sisters" was mockery and put-downs. If they don't want to support my cause, fine; but it is really necessary to continually belittle our efforts.

This is the second time that I have encountered something like that. But this time, it hurts more becuase this time, these are my "brothers and sisters" who have done this to me, not some strangers that I met at another church. I will take this as God's challenge to me. As like in the Bible, there are good Christians and there are no so good Christians. Today, what happened to me was really caused by a few bad apples. I will try to put this into perspective and understand what having faith and dealing with adversity means.

Barry Pepper in "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada"

Barry Pepper's new movie is this one directed by Tommy Lee Jones.

He plays a U.S. border patrolman named Mike, who shot and killed an illegal immigrant worker, Melquiades Estrada. The mistake is covered up by Estrada's body being burried in the desert, but Estrada's friend and ranch owner, Peter (Jones), wants to do his friend the justice of at least returning the body to Estrada's native Mexico for a proper burial.

Mike is then kidnapped by Peter to carry out this journey.

Currently, this film has been screened at the Cannes Film Festival in France, and it has garnered rave reviews. Although Cronenberg's film has also been highlighted by the Cdn. media as a worthy and likely winner, I wouldn't mind if Tommy Lee Jones wins it; this could throw Barry Pepper into the spotlight again. Pepper is such a skilled actor, and I am so happy that he got the chance to work on such a humanistic film. Maybe this will finally put the "Battlefield Earth" nightmares to an end.

CSI: Season Finale, Dir. by Quentin Tarantino

The finale was very exciting for the most part. Where I felt disappointed was when the daughter mentioned to Sidle and Brass that she used to work at a nursery, planting things, and neither of the investigators caught on to that clue. I don't know if the daughter deliberately gave it to them, or if she was just trying to be dramatic at that moment. In any case, if Sidle had picked up on that, they would have been able to find the place where Nick was buried.

Of course, if they had done this then there would not have been the sequence with the fire ants. That was just disgusting. It wasn't as agonizing as watching Nick about to give up and kill himself.

This flaw in the story really bugs me becuase Sidle and Brass are supposed to be very intelligent officers. How could they have missed that clue?

Olive Trees Lyrics

Olive Trees

music by Li Taichang
lyrics by Sanmou

Don't ask me where I came from
From a far away place is my home
Why do I wander, wander far away?
Wander...

For the birds that fly in the sky
For the streams that flow between the mountains
For the vast green meadowlands
Wander far away, wander...

Wait, there's more
For the dreams of the Olive Trees
Olive Trees

Don't ask me where I came from
From a far away place is my home
Why do I wander?
For my dreams of the Olive Trees

Stronach Defects to the Liberal Party

Right now, this is really exciting news. What Belinda Stronach has done she has shown her courage to act on what she believes is right.

Harper and other Conservatives accuse her defection to be motivated by career ambitions. They claim that she has never expressed any doubts to them about the Conservative platform. If that's what they truly believe, then they must not have been listening to what Stronach has been saying to the media and the public over the past three weeks. Namely, she is hesitant to vote down the government's budget to force an election because now is not the time.

Watching Harper giving his statement today in reaction to Stronach's defection, I have even less respect for him. The least he could do is acknowledge other people's concerns, instead of flatly denying them and labelling it with the word "ambition." This shows his narrow-mindedness and his inflexibility. How these qualities make him appealing as a candidate for Prime Minister, someone who is supposed to run a country adn to listen to the diverse voices of millions, is something that I will never understand.

Prof. Eric Reeves on "The Sunday Edition," CBC Radio One

On the drive to church on Sunday morning, Bro and I were listening to The Sunday Edition broadcast. It featured an interview with English Lit. Prof. Eric Reeves about the genocide that is going on in Darfur, Sudan. At one point, Michael Enright, the host, asked Prof. Reeves if Darfur is the next Rwanda in the making. Prof. Reeves responded in a way that really made my heart ache. He said, and I paraphrase:

Darfur is Rwanda in slow motion. It's as if the Gods of History decided to give us another chance, a chance to redeem ourselves for our neglect of what happened in Rwanda. It's as if they said, "we'll give you as much time as you need, and this time there should be no excuse not taking action."

Our second chance is passing us by, and do we even notice it?

Nature Metaphors in "Butterflies"

One thing that I always look for, and which always gives me a delightful little thrill, is when I read about how nature is used as a metaphor in a story. In the Time of the Butterflies has plenty of these. The first one I already described in the post below, about the acaquita tree. This one is about planting flowers.

Dede's sisters, Minerva, "Mate" and Patria have come to appeal to her to join their communist cell. They love their sister, and they want her to be a part of what they believe is one of the most important events of their lives, and of their country's history. Dede is hesitant, because she knows her husband is adamantly against it. As her sisters pull out of the driveway on their way home, Dede goes to the newly dug up area of the garden where she is planting new flowers. She puts the soil back into the earth, then she patches up the bed with rocks lined neatly as a border. As she is patching up this flowerbed, she decides on how she will proceed, and she is satisfied that both the flowerbed and her mind has been made up. And then, she realizes that she forgot to put the seeds in the soil.

What do the seeds represent? I'm not sure at this point, but I will guess that it's her desire, or her determination. To me, this whole sequence of imagery represents Dede's eagerness to help resolve the problem and please everyone, but she will fail because the most important ingredient was left out.

I'll continue reading and see what happens.

Jury Duty Day Two

I only had to attend for half a day, and I am relieved of any jury duty for the next 3 years! =D

Today, I waited in room 167, which is a lot more spacious and better ventilated. The conditions were perfect for reading.

I started reading a novel that my good friend Grace gave me for my birthday last year. It is titled, In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez. It is the story of four sisters who lived through the dictatorship regime of Tujillo in the Dominican Republic, circa 1945.

I was drawn into the book from the first chapter. Alvarez's main protagonist, Dede, doodles a picture of a tree on the back of an envelope, with half of the tree being drawn on the flap. It is a tree that grows at the entrance to the pathway that leads to the house, where Dede's family have lived for generations, presumably. I can sense that the tree has been a landmark of many important family events. Now, a visitor has arrived to research the life of the Mirabel sisters.

This image spoke to me of incompleteness, brokenness, a gap. When the flap is closed, the picture is complete. The picture is broken when the flap is opened. People's memories of the past might be pleasant until one opens up the little envelope inside one's heart, an envelope that holds the sad and painful memories. Opening and closing the flap is easy to do, but does one want to do it?

First Day @ Courthouse for Jury Selection

Sleepy. Hot. Stuffy.

Those are the three words I would use to describe today's events at Jury Selection. That courthouse seriously needs to install a ventilation system. We were breathing the same air all day long. Imagine that! *barf*

I can imagine that sitting on a jury's panel during a trial might be exciting and engaging, but sitting in a room waiting to be selected or rejected is BORRRR-ING! It was even more boring than I had imagined.

Hopefully, tomorrow we'll do something.

YAY! for Steve Nash!

YAY! WOOHOOOO!!

Nash is a very intelligent guy, and he's not afraid to display his political views to the public. *two thumbs up!*

Canada will send troops to Darfur?

It was the fruit of nine months of work by Prime Minister Paul Martin and officials from the defence department, the foreign affairs department and the Canadian International Development Agency.

The initiative stressed that Canada's activities in Darfur are based on the so-called "3D approach," which combines diplomatic activity, development and humanitarian aid, and support for improving the security situation through defence and police involvement.
-Graham Fraser, The Toronto Star, May 8, 2005.

When I first heard about this, some media said that Martin agreed to this because he wanted Kilgour's vote, a man who is an independent MP. Could this be true? Or, is it really the result of almost a year's amount of work by the Cdn. gov't to devise a plan to help the people of Darfur?

I think it's a bit of both. About a year ago, Canada had started appealing to other Western gov'ts that they should all join in with the UN and the African Union to resolve the genocide that is happening in Darfur. Nothing came out of that, and Canada's representatives were clearly frustrated. It seems like they've finally found some tangible way of making a contribution.

At the same time, Martin's gov't needs all the support it can get. If this is truly the motive behind it, then I will have to take comfort in knowing that Martin decided to provide some aid to a cause that is truly worthy.

How Infuriating!

"But Gar Pardy, a retired diplomat responsible for consular issues at the foreign affairs department, said there's only so much Ottawa can do, given that Iran has dug in its heels.

'The Iranians have decided that they're not going to deliver any measure of justice,' he said. 'The options are not great.'

And he cautioned that steps like pulling the ambassador from Tehran — while having value as a public relations gesture — could make life "miserable" for Iranian Canadians and their families back in Iran.

And he said economic sanctions aren't likely to have much of an impact, given that Canada does just $264 million in annual trade with Iran.

'Trade sanctions work if you can get a broad international consensus going,' Pardy said.

Barring any changes within the Iranian regime, the kind of pressure that Canada can impose on Iran 'I don't think would register on any scale.' "

-BRUCE CAMPION-SMITH, The Toronto Star: 66 asylum seekers sent back to Iran, Apr. 2, 2005. 07:53 PM

When I first read about Dr. Shahram Azam's testimony, I was so disgusted I felt physically sick. Then I thought about the courage that Stephan Kazemi is showing to the public, and I felt very sad for him. Then I thought about what the Canadian government has done - or not done, and I felt angry. I was angry becuase I appeared that the Cdn. gov't isn't doing anything.

Then I thought some more, and I realized that the Cdn. government has done something, such as helping to approve of Dr. Azam's stay in Canada, and it probably wants to do more, but its hands are tied. I thought, what can the gov't do?

What Mr. Gar Pardy says in the quoted article above rings very true in my ears now. And that is what the Cdn. government should do. It should recruit the help of other nations like Britain, France, Germany, Italy and others who have journalists who endured this type of ordeal.

I can't believe that the Iranian gov't can do this sort of thing and completely get away with it. This is simply unjust and it infuriates me.

Researching Background to "Satan's Kingdom"

According to a ghost story written by Isabella Taves, which is based on the real life ordeals of her neighbor, there was a house in Satan's Kingdom, near Hartford, Connecticut, that used to be haunted. The house has since been torn down and a condominum was built over it.

U.S. Missile Defense vs. Canadian Views of Security

I have two views on this, and they may seem slightly conflicting.

1. The U.S. has to realize that their sense of security is not the same as everyone else's and the U.S. must learn to accept this. Closing the border to Cdn. beef, cancelling Rice's visit, and not returning PM Martin's phone calls is nothing but childish. These are supposed to be adults, and yet their actions show a lack of ability to think and behave reasonably.

2. PM Martin must not let a sensitive issue like Missile Defense flip-flop like that again. He should have brought this issue out and let his cabinet and the opposition debate it thoroughly. After that, he should have settled with a decision and informed the U.S. gov't on it. Why did he let the media publish one opinion after another, all of which are found to be conflicting at this moment?

3. I am not surprised if the U.S. believed that Canada was going to support Missile Defense, becuase I am familiar with the Canadian Philosophy of Compromise. The Liberal politicians have a particularly stellar way of practicing this policy, and by stellar I mean stellarly indecisive. PM Martin has shown that he is one who reacts to what happens, not one who dictates what happens, and as PM, he should be doing the latter.

Bad Day

I went to the dentist's today for a cavity filling. Ouch! It went well, though. =)

Slang Dictionary

What a cool dictionary! It's funny how a lot of the content are slang for drugs and sex. ROTFL!!!

Dinner with the Laws

Last night, my family had dinner with the Laws. It was a Valentine's Day/New Year's dinner with both families together.

Mr. and Mrs. Law hired a chef to come to their house and cook us an authentic French dinner. Ray, the chef, graduated from a prestigious culinary academy located in Ottawa, which has its headquarters based in Paris.

The starting plate was the most delicious of the evening: roasted fresh fig with ...can't remember what it's called, but it's the liver of a goose, I think. It was very yummy. Next was the cream of asparagus soup, which was so tastey! Following that was the seared scallops and cabbage bundle. We took a "break" with a cup of frozen granny smith apples, mixed with white wine. It was lovely. It would make a nice dessert, I think. After that, we finally had our main course of the evening, which was a veal wrap with red pepper and mushrooms at the centre. It looked really nice. The mushrooms and truffle pieces were so fragrant - I LOVE MUSHROOMS AND TRUFFLES. Lastly was the dessert: an orange flavoured controse with fresh fruits. This was very very yummy. I don't like liquor very much, but the orange juice and fresh fruits complimented it very nicely.

This was the most formal French dinner I've ever had. I loved how Ray came to our table and described every dish that he prepared for us. This was truly an experience that I don't think will be repeated for a long time.

Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Law!