YMCA

Finally got myself goin' to the gym again. Felt groovy good haha! Ran into a high school friend of mine whom I hadn't seen for years. That's just a bonus.

Exercising makes me happy, as it should scientfically speaking. Plus I need it to live well; if I stop exercising, I feel kinda weird. Like something's missing. Besides, my blood seems to flow slower than normal people; exercising should help speed it up. I feel pretty good now after an hour of "total body conditioning", as YMCA calls it...my shins are a bit tired though. Wonder if they're gonna hurt tomorrow. Wanted to sign up for the hip hop class, but it's already full. I'm currently #9 on the waiting list; doubt that I'd get a chance :(

Honestly, I think the biggest incentive to keep fit is found in the ladies shower. It's not exactly a pretty sight seeing those naked women. I s'ppose it's nasty and inconsiderate for me to say this, but really I don't wanna look like them. But anyway, there are always so many middle-aged Chinese si-lai's gossiping in the changing room; sometimes it's beyond funny. I hope I won't end up being like them when I get to their age. A lot of times, I find women scary.

And I've got good news today! James proposed to Jen yesterday on her b-day, and she accepted! That's the first proposal yet in my high-school girl group. That's an end to all the "I'm not gonna get married before 30", "I'm not having kids" girl talk...or at least for now.

Good job James!

Cookies Night

First time I made cookies tonight. We kinda cheated though, since we didn't do it from scratch. There's always cookie mix haha. It's fun doin' it in a group. The butter took a while to melt, but otherwise everything went as it should. And the cookies turned out pretty good, better than simply edible. Now I can say I've made cookies! When you're a girl and you haven't made cookies, and esp. when all the guys seem to have made cookies, it isn't exactly flattering. Would've loved making the cookies from scratch, but judging from what we did, it would've taken more than a night. Maybe?!

Played Cranium tonight. First time again. I liked it. The guys were really funny too, which was even better. So I learnt that wi-fi stands for wireless fidelity. And I also found out what a mollusk was...hm...did I spell it right?

Next week it'd be a Proverbs night. I'd like to find out what it is, and how the study usually runs. Hope that it'd be enlightening. Or at least we can all have a good time.

O I gotta blog this. We were at this house that looked like a box. Literally. Very interesting design, and space-efficient as far as I could tell. Well maybe not so space-efficient as spacious. But it still looks a bit...odd...from the outside. And I met this guy who talks as if he's writing an essay. Interesting...

Feelings and Logic

Can these go hand in hand? What about heart and intuition? People always say "follow your heart". This used to mean the same as "follow your gut feeling" to me. But I've come to realize that these two could point in two different directions. What happens then? Follow the heart? Or the intuition?

The grass is always greener on the other side. Or at least it appears so. At some point, the cow has to decide whether to move on or not. But luckily for the cow, she can always turn back. Or at least I think the cow can always turn back. Thinking back, I've always been sorta on the move. Never quite stopped. Probably because it takes courage to stop. Stopping means taking time to actually feel; in a way, it's a challenge to me.

Feeling happy or sad is simple. Because I can identify it. Other feelings are so hard to fathom. Are human beings really that complex? Or why do we make things so complex for ourselves? Simplicity is beauty. Why can't we be primitive and return to simplicity where 1+1 is simply 2. Simplicity, I'd like to embrace you. I'd like to say, it's 1, not 2. Or 2 not 1.

There comes a time in life to face the facts and not run away from them anymore. There comes a time in life to simply feel and be free. Free from what other people think, free from judgement, free from imaginary burdens. Simply lie down in the pasture and feel. Feel the breeze, feel the sun, feel the breeze again. Smell the grass. There comes a time life to decide whether to stay on the pasture or go on to the next. This time I choose to stay. Not because there's no greener pasture; but because I feel lucky and blessed enough on this pasture and I'd like to stay on it. And I'll learn to feel the breeze, feel the sun and smell the grass. And I'll be free.

"Shall We Dance"

Worked this weekend, yes both days, Sat. and Sunday. Almost was gonna skip the Shall We Dance event. Then I figured if I was my friends, I wouldn't be too happy to show up and find out that the person who invited me didn't come. So I showed up and the bonus was I had a great time, and didn't think about work at all during those 3 hours or so.

The turnout was great, with 70+ people. No idea how many of them were new-comers, since I couldn't tell who actually was a member of the church, and who wasn't. The only people I knew were the people in my fellowship plus a few others. But that didn't matter. Point was to mingle and have a great time. And it seemed like everybody did...at least the people I talked to anyway.

We did waltz and cha-cha. Personally I prefer waltz. Maybe it's a bit more boring, but to me it's a lot easier since it was so...logical. Cha-cha's very much like salsa, except that it's on the off beat. I s'ppose it's in a way more fun...it's about style and you could get really creative with it. As for waltz, I'm not sure. I guess I don't know it enough to comment. But still I like waltz better. Guess my taste has always been more refined, as my friends say.

So this was the first ever outreach event I actually prayed for and participated in. Well there have been others too, which I prayed for only but never participated in. I'm still on a search for a home church. As much as I like what this church does for outreach events, I know deep down this isn't it. Hopefully I'll find it soon. Just afraid that God would say that my home church is the church I'm currently a member of. Sigh...oftentimes what I want isn't good for me, and what I don't like is what's good for me...and also what God wants for me.

David Copperfield's Magic Show

Went to a DC magic show tonight. First time ever. Thought I'd check it out. Gotta try everything at least once, as my life motto goes. Overall, I wasn't exactly impressed by the show; but I was quite "unnerved" by the power of illusion.

It goes without saying that DC pulled a couple of disappearance acts. Let me recap on the performances he made, while they were still kinda fresh in my mind. Hm...He made his entrance onto the stage, and somehow showed up on a motorbike (don't remember that part too well, must've not paid attention to that one). He "passed" through a steel plate, making it looked like a stretchable piece of plastic material. He picked an ice-cream and a jar of pickles out of a regular briefcase. He put a live duck in one container and pulled it out of another. He had some random people from the audience pick a few numbers and when he played a cassette tape which he'd supposedly recorded before, it was exactly the same numbers. He had another person from the audience pick a card out of a deck without him seeing it, and then had a scorpion pick out the exact same card. He picked this girl from the audience and went on a platform together with her, and voom disappeared together, and they both showed up in the slide screen, which was allegedly being shot concurrently in Perth (it was showing the Perth time, the sandy beach, the ocean etc.) The girl never came back, but DC reappeared in the center of the theatre, slipping some sand through his fingers. The last stunt had 13 randomly chosen people (chosen in the musical chair style) go onto a platform in the center of the stage. And of course they all disappeared, and showed up again at the back of the stage. O right, I missed one more...where a car just simply showed up all of a sudden as a piece of cloth was pulled off four poles which we found out later were used to support the car.

So what do I think? DC's cute...hm...haha I think he's a true celebrity at heart. That's pretty obvious as he dramatized most of the performances with a heart-wrenching story behind them. But he did it so smoothly and so strategically it's pretty amazing. No doubt a celebrity with the personality and an illusionist with the brain. In many ways, I found him way more impressive than his stunts. What I found most admirable was that he seemed to truly love what he did...he's still trying to come up with something original, something more breath-taking, something more mind-boggling. I like that very much.

So conclusion? Maybe if I'd gone in ready to be awed, I would've had a much greater time. But that wouldn't be Sandy, would it? No I wanted to try to find out how, and why...as with most things...knew I probably wouldn't be able to, but couldn't help trying. So, no I totally don't think it's worth my $84. But as I said, gotta try things at least once. Well most things.

Sunday School

Back to Sunday school this morning. My last month. I was looking at the kids and couldn't stop thinking how blessed they were. Kept wondering if they knew it. Chances are they don't give that any thoughts. Kids have kids' thoughts.

I took the Lower Elementary girls today cuz the other teacher was expecting to teach the older class. Kinda strange b/c she taught the lower class on the last rotation. When I decided last year that I'd quit after end of January, I had felt OK with the decision. No sense of relief, no sense of loss, but no sense of joy either. Or I guess if I really have to be honest, I came to that decision out of frustration...and cuz I was a bit tired of God.

I do believe God's faithful, even when we ain't. Or at least when I ain't. He let me see something today. I looked at the children this morning, most of them sitting in their chairs. Some chatting, some zoned out, some listening. Then I looked at the girls that I think God gave me...that's when I realized that maybe I do love them. It was such a strange feeling, it's kinda hard to describe. Maybe that's how God feels when He looks at His children.

I dunno if I made the right decision to quit. In ways more than one, I'm scared to miss something that God wants me to do. At the same time, I'm worried that I'm not a good enough teacher. Teaching a student math or physics is one thing, but teaching someone God's way...that's a load way above my shoulders. Strength is from God, so is wisdom, so is grace. Do I believe? Or rather, do I believe enough to act on it? I took up Sunday school b/c it was in my heart that every child be brought up in the word of God, b/c it's a blessing I didn't have, whose importance I've come to realize first hand. Would God be happy if I quit?

Kamloops

Strange that when I was on my way to the airport last night, the snow was worst. Same when I came back today, snow was worst at that time. In fact the flurry just started when the plane landed on the ground back home here. I'm still enjoying the white, so I'm not complaining at all.

Other than my x-neighbor's two-seater I flew in, the plane to Kamloops was the smallest I've ever been in. It's a Dash-8 I think. A little prop plane. No wonder they have so many flights to/from Kamloops every day. I counted the steps as I waited my turn to get on...5 treads, that's it! Climing up into the clouds was an interesting journey....with the engine roaring so bad I honestly started wondering if...

I didn't get to see much of Kamloops just b/c of the timing. Saw a lot of snow and mountains. Not gorgeous mountains like here in Vancouver...they were smaller and looked like they'd been mined (open-pit). The people at the shop were very friendly, and the weld job etc. was quite well done. We got the job done fast and started talking about the mining business in Kamloops, the Sun Peaks, heat exchangers, farm trucks which I knew nothing about, skidooing, fishing...Man those people at the shop knew how to live! It's really cool meeting people like that.

I had good company with this inspector from N. Carolina, whose accent I found kinda cute. Since he'd rented a car, we'd made arrangements the day before that I'd just ride free. It's funny that before we headed out towards the shop, I warned him that I had no sense of direction, and he should turn left whenever I told him to turn right. Well we came to a fork, and I said we should turn left...but unfortunately he listened...and we ended up having to do a u-turn. But all in all, the shop was easy to find. I'm glad the inspector drove, esp. since he made it onto the highway way before I figured that we were already on the highway...or interstate as he called it.

In a way, this short trip felt like a vacation, because there's really no stress at all, and the inspecctor felt like a friend rather than a "co-worker". He's also the second person I've met who would choose mountains over oceans (too bad I don't remember who the first person was). We talked about hiking, caving, family, dating, his horses and farm, his mom's poodle, etc. It was really very relaxing. I was glad I had a day away from the hectics in the office.