My Philosophy

Its been quite some time since I last shared what was going on. And as a close to my day of paper writing I will share some thoughts which are kinda old, but still thoughts. Many things have happened in the last little while. The biggest thing being Youth Conference is over. And after a successful weekend of musical playing and leading worship for tons and tons of teens I was very tired and slept many hours. This weekend was not a normal weekend, but if you can imagine for a moment the first night being all jittery and realizing that as a band we were where we had been practicing and been getting ready for. The first set was good, but when we got there the next morning we were ready to go and the monitor tech told us that we sounded like a whole new band. It so great to be on stage playing with the God given abilities I have and just letting it all out. I danced, laughed, stood still, rocked, and even perhaps cried. The entire weekend was a moving time and I enjoyed seeing my little, yet taller, brother whos band Fervo played at the music competition, which I helped Judge. Sadly they dident win, but they put on a good show on the stage where famed british rock stars Muse once played. After the famed YC was over I went through a week of strange ups and downs. I was told to read Elijah's story after he had the mountian top experience of Mt. Carmel and the prophets of Baal. I read this story and it reminded me of my situation and how after Elijah was done his work he ran away and wanted to die. I dont think I got that sorrowful, but I felt pretty bad and so I spent a great deal of time not doing anything and I felt bad for it at the time, but in retrospect it was what I needed. Even though I also needed to do homework, which is what I did all day today. Anyways so I am about 3 weeks away from finishing school and I still have no drive to do anything, but I am working slowly at getting things done. And tomorrow is Easter Sunday which is a joyus occasion since it reminds me that in all the history I am studying I am still a child of God's and his providence reigns supreme. So on that note I head off to dream land, where lately I have been having the most ubsurd dreams, anyways until next time.

Magician/Musician

Today was what is known as the "day of prayer" for the upcomming Youth Conference. And since I am in the band leading worship for this Youth Conference I spent today leading worship. It was a solid day of such things as prayer and singing and free food. Then I came home and was stepping into my building when a guy held the door open for me. I said "thank you" and he said "anything for a magician". I did not realize that I looked so close to a magician that I would be warrented being called one. So I took the complement and went on my way. So now I guess I am a magician as well as a musician.

Another Brick in the Wall

I like Pink Floyd, but not half as much as I like Oasis. Speaking of brick walls, I hit one, metaphorically speaking of course. I have 41 days until I graduate from AUC and am a free man. What seems to be the problem then Tim? You are almost there. Well the problem goes by the name of "complete non-caring". And by that I mean I don't care really how I finish the year, if I make it past the finish line half asleep I dont think I would notice too much. I find these feelings to be most agravating since I usually am able to get things done on time and with ease, but this year the assignments which I have to acomplish are so monolithic that at times I cannot see past them to the end of the year. At times I have even contemplated dropping out of school and becoming a construction worker. It seemed like a great plan until I remembered how I spent a few summers ago doing something of that nature and after so much sweat I have grown to dislike the general notion of construction. So with construction out of the picture I suppose that I should simply buckle down and get too it. I talked to my mom today and she told me that it comes down to simple will. I need to put aside all of my wants for a few more weeks and just get things done, without whining too much. I will leave you in an attempt to get some of this thing called "perseverance".

Aura Borealis aka "Northern Lights"

Yes indeed this is a day of Glory. First of all the day was pretty much shot besides the article I talked about a few hours ago, but then the most amazing thing happened. I was going for a walk, and was attempting to find a female to accompany me on such a walk, walks with women are generally quality, but could not rustle up a walking partner so I walked alone, which is also fine since I have good times of solace and contemplation walking by the river alone. So I was on this walk taking it slow and enjoying the crisp air, when I heard the river and decided to walk towards it. So I start walking down this path that is a little darker then the rest and I looked up and saw what appeared to be a patch of green cloud in the sky. I looked harder and saw that it was shifting. Now I am no expert of the night sky, I like to think of myself as a casual friend of the night sky, knowing enough to make myself appear to be smart in the presence of women. So I said to myself, Self you might have some schmeg (schmeg is an undescribable substance) on your glasses making you see poorly. I then cleaned my glasses and the green sky was still there, and it was continuing to move. One sec while I get some Apple Cider. Now I am getting warmer and able to continue the story. So the green sky of movement was still in motion and I decided to stop and gather my thoughts. I stared at the sky for a few minutes and decided that, with my limited knowledge of the night sky, these were the fabled Northern Lights I had heard of and seen only a handful of times, once being in Regina and the other on the way to Mike Schalins current residence "Vermillion". So with the knowledge that I was viewing the Northern Lights I moved to higher ground to watch them for an unspecified amount of time. I stood on a hill and absorbed the lights wishing that I had my camera, but then realizing that one does not need a camera for all occasions, some occasions are meant for simple enjoyment. As I stood on this hill the lights were getting brighter and brighter, and I was fully enjoying myself. I then noticed some people on the path that looked like friends from school, and indeed they were Grace and Kathy. I met them on the path and directed their attention to the sky and they were amazed so all three of us retreated to the crest of the hill to watch the show. The lights came and went in phases and then a batch of lights lit the entire NE section of the sky and the three of us stood in awe of what we just saw. After the bright bright section of display the two ladies were cold so we waited for a few more moments and saw some green spikes in the sky and then began the journey home. I guess journey is much to strong of a word, but after an occasion like the one I had just witnessed I felt as though I could take a journey and survive. And thus ends my story of the Aura Borealis and their profound effect on my day and on the week to come. I will now sip my apple cider and chat with M.Schalin until bed time.

Smells of Ethnicity

I just finished reading an article for class on the development of a multi-cultural culinary culture in Canada from the beginning of the Cold War. It was interesting to see how this one historian wrote about the diversity of food in Canada. Her thoughts were that though we take for granted today that there are so many different foods which we can choose from, once upon a time before 1945 Canada was a fairly plain culinary landscape. With the movement of people out of Europe and then from Asia to Canada, and the subsequent settlement of these peoples all across the nation, those who were attempting to teach the WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) woman how to run her home were suddenly shocked to find that there were so many different varietys of women that one solution would not work for all. So as the development of society marched on ethnic recipies were soon featured in the social propaghanda, I use the word propaghanda in the loosest sense. Chatelaine would be the literature of choice and though there had been many issues in the past there started to be issues with recipies from all over the world. I find this trend of including ethnic foods in modern literature excellent. What an interesting way of finding out about your fellow Canadian, learning what the people down the hall are cooking for dinner. Though it may not always smell good, its interesting. I live in quite a diverse building, and at times there are smells which I find good, and there are times when the smell is offensive. Grouped together these smells are the smells of Ethnicity. In fact there have been times when I will make a comment about how the Ethnicity is thick. I do not mean for this to be racist or anything of that sort, I do wonder if it is puzzling to those who may have just moved here from a different country to see the chubby white dude down the hall cooking rice one day, and then pasta the next, and then having tuna melts, which I think are one of the most canadian dishes ever since what kind of person mixes Cheese with Fish. Anyways I think that I as a proud WASP can learn a great deal from all of the smells and odors emminating from the floors here. To all my friends on Onsite I am sure the smells you are experiencing are much more pungent and interesting then the ones I smell in the elevator.

Truthful Dreaming

It occured to me today, while taking a long and contemplative shower, that when someone tells you a story of how their dream that they had went most people simply accept the truth told to them by the dreamer. The nature of such truth telling I suppose is inherent in the fact that the only person to know how the dream went was the one dreaming. For all purpose and reason the person telling the story could be lying and all the while getting laughs for the crazy dream that they had. I suppose that this could be a tactic for someone who is desperate for social approval, and since no one could prove that the dream was invalid the storyteller, said storyteller could then go on sharing lies for their own benefit, or perhaps simply for the amusement of others. Could one really add a clause to their story saying that perhaps they embelleshed it a bit or made it up one day while bored? Dreams are like these mini adventures in the human mind, which can be funny, odd, scary, and informative all at the same time. For some reason I have not had a scary/frightening dream in quite some time, and yet I know girls who have dreams that wake them up every night in fear. I am quite happy that I don't have to deal with such grief. However on the other side of the coin it is a rare occasion that I dream at all. Only a few times do I remember having vivid dreams of any consequence. I remember one dream in particuar where I was reading histroy textbooks. That was the entire dream was me sitting and reading and reading and reading. I felt kinda ripped off since I had spent the previous week before this dream reading history, and I think that do to such extensive reading I was dreaming about reading. Another dream had me walking through Ben Folds, the famous rockstar's, house. Anyways how would you even know that I had these dreams or if I was just making up some good stories. It boils down to the source, and the critizism of the source (much like those history minded scholars in the 1500's were starting to use to prove that the sources they were using were truthful and accurate). Well thats about all the truth I can handle for today. Sweet Dreams.

Flying Discs and Footballs

Today started out well, I played a good game of squash with friend Sharon Langer. Thats correct this morning, its amazing what time I will wake up to play squash. I was up at 7:45 getting myself fed and ready for some sweet sweat. After said squash game it was off to chapel and then upon comming out of chapel us students were greeted with a blazing sun and a warming day. The sun is currently shining with all its glory making the air all warm and pleasent. So in true college fashion some friends and I headed out to the park for some football and some flying disc type action. So basically this entire entry is to share the fact that I spent part of this afternoon in the sun getting my fix of Vitamin D and also enjoying some sweet recreation.