I miss these faces...

Olympic Spirit Has Arrived

There’s a certain vibe going on in Vancouver right now and I honestly can’t help myself from grinning ear to ear whenever I hear more or see more. The 2010 Winter Olympics are here: in my backyard, in my city, in my province, in my country and never before have I been so proud to be Canadian & Vancouverite.

Hosting the Olympics is such a huge and momentous occasion for our city/country that I feel like I should be taking in every single second of action and not missing a thing. I am overwhelmed with anticipation for our athletes and excitement for the celebrations to come. Canada won its first gold medal on home soil for the first time in Olympic history on February 15th – Alexandre Bilodeau in Men’s Moguls – and the medal ceremony? Can you just imagine being there, totally engulfed with joy and brimming with pride for this 22-yr old from Montreal? What about our second gold, Maielle Rickers for Women’s Snowboard Cross? It amazes me and brings me inexplicable amount of happiness to know that these folks (and all Canadian medalists) have been training so hard and they get to actually win on home ground. They may never again get to experience that.

And that’s a huge reason of why I’m overflowing with giddiness when it comes to these Games. They’re HERE. In Vancouver! And I get to experience this once-in-a-lifetime event, side by side with millions of others proud Canadians. The city of Vancouver looks absolutely spectacular and God is putting on an awesome show for those visiting this beautiful place; brilliant sunshine, snow-capped mountains and blue skies. Of course, being downtown is an experience of its own and one that I’m itching to be a part of; I haven’t been yet, can you believe it?! But you can bet your bottom dollar that I’ll be there soon with my camera(s) in hand, snapping away at these hundreds of memories that I’ll be able to look back on in 50 years and say “I was there…and there…and there…and there!”

I can’t wait to see the people, the buildings, the red & white, the events, the concerts, the lights, the sounds, the smells, the sights…and I can’t wait to feel the vibe.

Time Needs to Change

Half an hour left to go in my work day; the wind is howling outside, the rain is coming down hard and it’s getting darker by the minute…yup, tonight’s going to be a good night.

For you see, tonight, I plan to do nothing at all. Well not nothing exactly (can you just imagine me sitting on the couch staring at my knees all night? Haha, yea right!). I’ve been looking forward to a night like this for a while now. One where I can catch up on laundry, catch up on reading, catch up on sleep, catch up on little projects, catch up on solitude and silence. I hate the idea of having to play catch up, but when I get the rare opportunity to do so, I embrace it.

Who knew that at my age I’d be yearning for nights at home doing laundry?? Who knew I’d be asking for MORE time in a day, or MORE time in a week? I’ve really been looking at time as something to beat; an enemy if you will. And yet that’s not what God created time to be. Surely time is meant to be used wisely and effectively and productively; and not productively in the sense that you constantly have to be busy ‘doing’ something, but in the sense that you’re doing the ‘right’ things.

Have I been doing the ‘right’ things lately? I really think I have been…and yet why am I constantly trying to beat time and get more out of it? Just 5 more minutes here, just 30 more minutes there…technically, am I abusing time if there is such a thing? I’m certainly not using it as wisely, effectively or productively as I should, but I still manage to get things done somehow. I think abusing time like that works to an extent, but it comes with 4 big consequences: tired body, tired mind, tired heart & tired soul.

The Lord wants our beings to be fresh, awake, rejuvenated, rested and yet also ready for whatever He calls us to. Yes, He can provide energy and supernatural abilities to get things done, but surely He’s not a fan of laziness and ineffectiveness?

I see some ch-ch-ch-ch changes coming along to my ol’ friend Time. Get ready, Time, get ready.

2 of 7

I am the Church of Sardis
I am the Church of Philadelphia

Busy with externals, religious activity, devoid of spiritual life & power – I have faith, but I am timid – I need to wake up, take action – I need God’s power to strengthen me, give me direction, wisdom, understanding and guidance. I need time. I need quiet. I need solitude. I need alone with with Him.

*Sardis & Philly were two of the seven churches that letters were written to in the book of Revelation. Look them up - which Church are you?*

Blessed.

My list is growing. Good Lord, is my list ever growing. First it’s this project, then it’s that proposal, then it’s that research, then it’s just this "little" but still time consuming buy, then it’s the on-going project that never leaves, then it’s another new project that requires all your effort and time, then it’s back to the old campaign, and then it’s accommodating requests, and determining dates and juggling budgets, and then it’s emails, and emails, and emails, and emails! Good Lord, my list is growing.

But I love it and I feel blessed.

G-Rizz Turns the Big 2-8!

Yup, my brother Gareth has officially turned 28. Not that 28 is a ‘big’ year in any way – but it’s big because it’s the first time I can blog about it! And he just so happens to be a very important person to me, so it all works itself out well. So here is an ‘ode’ to Bob (yes, Bob; I couldn’t pronounce his name when I was younger, so Bob it was):

Early childhood memories of Gareth include me breaking his “I-worked-on-this-for-HOURS!” Lego marble structure, playing hide-and-go-seek in his room and me breaking my arm (it was a great hiding spot though), being pulled around the lawn on a cardboard box because all the grass had died and made for a nice ‘skimming’ effect, getting so excited to see the white mould inthe garage because we thought it was SNOW(!), playing with dirt in the back corner by the rose bushes, zapping fireflies in the front lawn, playing on (or getting rolled over by) the ‘jungle gym’, riding our bikes down to the pool when it was hot, and secretly admiring him and his friends from my little ol’ grade 3 point of view….those are just a few…

Then the teenage years roll on by and we begin to see his passion come through; music. He begs my parents for a drum kit and plays incessantly for hours and hours and hours in his small little room with no fresh air and no proper lighting. He loved it and you could see the glee on his face when he really ‘got’ it. Unfortunately, the practicality of it, and the fact that the two grumpy old men downstairs didn’t like it too much, took over and we got rid of the drum set. Then the techno-trance-house-drum-&-base music started and we thought that would never end. “Around the world, around the world…around the world, around the world…” Thanks Daft Punk; you’ll forever be in my memory now. He thrived off of creating new music and putting two unseemingly (is that a word?) good beats together. He got himself some turn tables and records and there the passion began to flourish. Again, hours upon hours of spinning and mixing and it was then that we too realized his potential.

Have you ever seen someone doing something they really love, and been fortunate enough to be a part of it and witness it first hand? That’s what it’s like when I watch G play. Cue the sappy music if you will. Seriously though, I have always admired my brother for his drive, his talent, his enthusiasm, his passion and his love for others. I admire his creativity and the fact that he just writes and draws and designs whatever he wants – and it looks GOOD. Really GOOD.

He is a gifted musician, artist & entrepreneur and I thank God for placing him in my life to laugh with, to argue with, with make fun of my mom with (all with love, of course), to share his joy with & to watch him play. I look up to him for his tenacity and integrity and am thankful that at least one of us got the ‘musical’ genes from my mom & grandpa. He is supportive and always willing to offer some good advice or ideas, whether he thinks I’ll follow through with them or not.

Minus some rough patches throughout the years, we’re pretty close now and I love our relationship. We’re brother and sister, and no matter what your relationship is like with your siblings, you just can’t deny that brothers/sisters share a special bond unlike any other kind of siblings.

So Bob – Happy Birthday brudda. You deserve only the happiest moments in life and I pray that you’ll see God’s love for you soon.
Here’s to another 28 years of “Shagrath”.

Love you,
Thug.

DJ Eldon, doing what he loves...

Brudda & Sista.

Parental Discretion Advised

"Michael Myers is a killer, plain and simple. He does his work without mercy, seemingly without thought, stabbing or stomping or smashing his victims' faces long past the point of death until they are empty not only of life, but even the faintest trace of humanity.

His first victim—already bashed and cut and spitting up blood from a car accident—is decapitated with a piece of glass, and we see Myers sawing fervently (the camera looks on from behind) at the man's neck. He later picks up the head and lets it drop in a field. Another victim, the stripper, has her head smashed into a pane of glass repeatedly. At first she screams, but when she's no longer capable of that, she just jerks. And then she's still and silent—dead—and Myers smashes her face into the shattered pane again.

What may be Myers' most horrific killing takes place offscreen. We hear scream after scream as we watch an unrelated scene. But not content to leave well enough alone, Zombie eventually shows off the victim—in a bathroom covered with her blood—gasping and gurgling her last few minutes of life away while Laurie holds her.

Myers kills at least 14 people and a dog before the end credits fade and his grim, cruel world is mercifully wrapped in black. Most he stabs to death. One he impales on a set of antlers. Another he crushes with his foot—his heel smashing repeatedly into his victim's skull until it looks like a smashed melon. He snaps someone's arm, sending the bone through the skin. He gouges someone else's eyes out.

Myers eats part of the dog he kills. He pushes a car off the side of the road and sets it on fire. He tears through a guard shack with an ax. A van hits a cow. A man pulls a gun on Loomis. The sheriff threatens and points his gun. Someone is shot a couple of times. The end credits feature cutaways to realistic-looking murder scenes, corpses and all. Some of the pictures look as though they were meant to be "taken" during the police investigation of Myers' killings, but not all. "

This, as I’m sure you’ve realized, is a summary of the gruesome, graphic, lewd, inconceivable and down-right sickening scenes that one could see in the newly released movie “Halloween II”. Can I just say....what… the… heck? I am honestly dumbfounded by Rob Zombie and his desire to create a movie like this. And I’m even more dumbfounded by people who would actually pay to see this kind of &*!$. Excuse the ‘language’. Movies like this literally make me sick…am I the only one? I don’t think I am, and yet it’s probably made a couple million in its first release weekend alone. I would love to see some sort of research done, comparing this exact movie to the hundreds of violent acts that may become of it. Perhaps I’m being too harsh, or judgemental, but when God says that our bodies are temples – He’s talking about the eyes & ears too. And no, I’m not saying that every person who sees this movie is going to go scalp someone, but just think about it…it just nauseates me so much to think that a movie like this will be worshipped without a second of consideration. Thoughts?