generosity..

well. i honestly dont have a lot to say about this topic. my life in general hasnt been that generous. but generosity has been poured out to me so many times. india is one time that still sticks out. and i know i blogged about this same generosity when tim asked us to write some thoughts on our visit to that country. but i still cant shake the way the people poured out their generosity on us. seriously. i have also been a benefactor of this generosity from my parents, for about 25 solid years, from doug and cindy last year, as well as tim and tara who fed me on a weekly basis, if not more often, and now to bern and deb. those are just the ones that have been recent and so are still on my mind. but serious, if you want to learn about all out, no holds barred generosity, go visit some of the friends we have made in india.

for my arts friends

i thought this one was funny. it was in the saskatoon paper last week. its one of those things thats kind of too bad, but since its true, we might as well have a laugh about it, right?

another succesful trip

another weekend has come and gone, and with it a trip to the queen city. i got to visit an old friend from white city school. grade 6-grade 10 and then some university classes with this guy. now he is a physiotherapist in regina and rolling in the dough. that was a highlight for sure. breakfast on saturday and sunday mornings were priceless...thanks blair for sunday morning. that was what i needed. the weekend also consisted of playing and watching tennis. i must say, jon and i were hitting the ball pretty well this weekend but nothing like, guess who...you guessed it. roger. did any of you watch any of that australian open? there are no words to describe the brilliance of mr. federer. and not only did he win, he didnt drop a set. in 7 matches! the first time that has happened since 1980. and not only did he win 7 matches in a row in straight sets, the fact that nadal wasnt in the final was great too. i like watching him lose. and the final was closer than it would have been if nadal was there. anyway, my prediction is that 'rafa' will disappear. pull a gustavo kuerten and get swallowed up his ugly long shorts. you heard it here first.
arlen made me laugh a lot this weekend. next time you see him, ask him about his appointments at 'sugar-it-off'. apparently thats where he goes to wax his back. nasty hey?

saskatoon update

while all my friends are writing blogs about things that matter like having new babies, ideas about heaven and hell, baptism etc. i have been kind of in a dry spell. a long dry spell. i just havent felt inspired even a little bit to write anything worth reading. to be honest, things have felt really dry for a really long time. to put it bluntly, i just dont care right now. i know that some things with my attitude, my choices and my mindset need to change, but why bother, right? i could blame it on a lot of things, and make excuses till the leafs win the stanley cup (which isnt going to happen in my lifetime) but it all boils down to the fact that deep down, i dont want things to change. kind of a weird place to be in, and for such a long time. so thats where things are right now.
any one have any suggestions?

things that make me smile...

right now, at this very moment, i am watching roger federer's third round match at the australian open against mikael youzhny. watching federer play tennis makes me smile. and i know i blogged about this while me and jon were watching him live in november, but watching him on tv is different now. and although, not quite as good as live, it is still pretty incredible. i can die a happy man knowing that i saw the best tennis player ever, live, 5 times in 8 days. it doesnt get much better than that.

means

matty
Originally uploaded by xjermsx.

one of my favorited bands was in saskatoon on sunday nite. and man. even though i saw them friday nite in regina and was blown away, i was impressed again on sunday. seriously. it was a good way to start a week hanging out with 4 sweet guys and listening to them play some of the best music out there. they are on tour right now so if they are near you, you need to go see them. you will not be dissapointed. other people have posted the link to their new song, but you should go check it out again, and check their tour dates at www.myspace.com/means_music

come and go tea...be there.

today is monday. as i sit in saskatoon, watching the college championship football game, i cant help but think about wednesday. nothing really exciting is happening to me on wednesday, but my little brother is headed to india, and im gonna miss that guy.
yeah, its true, me and kris use to tape his arms, legs and mouth shut with sock tape and beat on him and make fun of him till he cried, but really, he has grown up to be one of the coolest guys i know. i'd like to take credit and say that i taught him everything he knows, but i cant even do that. he is much more intelligent than i, one of the best goalies i have ever seen play soccer, hilarious, and he likes the best hockey team on the planet.
i am super excited for him to hit up india, and get to spend more time there than i did. i am excited to hear his stories, and hear about the things he learns, and the people he gets to hang out with, and im pumped to see what he brings back for me. ok. thats not really that high on the list.
but im gonna miss him. so, nic if you read this, bring me a picture of you with para and mowia. miss ya bro.
and if you are reading this in regina, go to my parents house tuesday nite, january 9th, for his "come and go tea", as he calls it, and give him a hug for me.

what have i gotten myself into...

oh man. this is crazy. school seems like it is going to be harder than i thought. i only have to take 2 classes, but need to maintain more than a 75% average, as well as conducting novel research, or i get the boot. so, that means lots of hard work, and long hours. so here goes. i guess i signed up because i wanted the challenge. looks like i got what i was asking for and more.
by the way, did you guys watch the canada vs usa game this morning? wow. that was fun to watch. toews was solid in that shootout. 3 for 3.
thats all i got.

the year the world was going to end.

we made it through another year. it seems like only a few years ago that everyone thought the world was going to end when we hit 2000. sure made those people look foolish.
now its 2007. crazy. tomorrow morning i head to saskatoon, register for classes and settle in. classes start wednesday. yeah. thats early. i know. doesnt take long for them to get you rolling.
regina has been great the last 2 weeks. lots of relaxing, good meals with good friends. some sweet family time and some hockey.
as of tomorrow, if you are ever in saskatoon...you need to look me up. besides, saskatoon is the new regina. tell all your friends.

kiva.org

for christmas, my parents gave me a 100$ gift certificate for kiva.org.
it is a pretty cool organization where you can use the money in your account to lend to entrepeneurs in developing countries as they attempt to get their business off the ground. the money will be repaid once they make it back, and then you can find a new business to fund, or withdraw your money...so its a neat idea, gives people a chance to make some money on their own but also to get something off the ground that might not otherwise happen. check it out. every little bit helps as usual, and you can always get your money back and take it out at the end. so thats all i got. much better than some more things under the tree that i dont need.

new look. new year.

so its time for a new look. my time in yellowknife is done, and so are my travels to the far east. with things wrapping up in 2006, its time to change things up around here.
so i did. really, all that changed was the color, and the location i am blogging from, but its at least somewhat fresh. as 2006 wraps up, here is my top 10 list for the year...

10-getting a half decent job to start my post undergraduate career

9-winning the yellowknife open tennis tournament singles, and doubles with nic

8-life at the ashbys for a few months

7-supper at tim and taras once a week

6-learning to fish and wakeboard on the n.w.t. lakes

5-cabin trips with joel et. al.

4-coming to regina to visit a few times throughout the year

3-camping trip with cody and arlen

2-road trip to china with jonny sly

1-the tennis masters cup in shanghai. hands down.

there are likely more, but a year is a stinkin long time to remember. so thats all i got for now.

back in the q.c.

it is good to be home! regina feels empty. lacking buildings, and people and vehicles. but i kind of like that.
sorry to kamara for talking so much during the soccer game. i havent spoken to a native english speaker for over a week, so i think i was a little deprived.
anyway, here i am. ready to sleep in my own bed. watch for new pictures on the flickr account in the next day or two.
and maybe some more thoughts when my brain becomes less cloudy.

one last time from china

so its been a cold, but good week in beijing. saw a lot of really old stuff. pretty cool. ate some food i havent had before, and likely wont have again (like dog, sorry to all my pet loving friends. but its true. i ate some dog) and got to hangout with anson. what a good guy. so tomorrow i leave. i get home monday dec 18 at like 8pm. so if you are in the mood for looking at some 1500 or so pictures...ill be glad to share them with you. it will be sad to go, but im super excited to get back home. and into a routine in january.
for those of you i havent told, i am starting grad school in saskatoon january 3rd. the final official word came the other day, so its all set.
so if you are ever passing through the "city of bridges" look me up. serious. it will be nice to have some company. thanks china, its been grand.

"something from the pig's insides"

yep. thats what i ate for lunch. we had chinese dim sum and that was one of the dishes. it wasnt anything like bacon or ham. more like inards. anyway. i tried it, but tried to avoid it after that.
today has been a long day already, but a pretty sweet one. we visited the Ming Tombs. tombs from an emperor that lived and died sometime in the 1500s. and is now buried in the hillside outside of beijing. pretty neat to see.
then lunch, and then off to the great wall. man. pretty cool thing to see. i have seen pictures and heard people describe it but its something else. really. so if you are reading this, or looking at my pictures when i get home...you will probably blow it off like i did. so come see it yourself. my legs were shaking when we got back down. lots of stairs and i am sure that no two on the whole way up are identical in height, length, pitch or size. no jokes.
anson and his family have been very good to me. although i cant understand either of his parents, his dad makes me laugh. he pretty much talked the whole 2 hr drive back home. maybe to the vehicles beside us, maybe to me, or maybe to himself. anyway. things are great in beijing. it is colder than hong kong though. a few more days of seeing the sights and kicking it with anson. and then back to canada for me. see you guys in a couple.

just like that

with the close of harms front door, jon is gone. headed back to regina. just like that. after sharing close quarters with the guy for a month, its gonna be hard not having him around for the last week im in china. this guy is the ultimate traveller. no lies. there isnt a map that this guy cant read. after all, he was trained by a first class institution in how to read maps.
anyway. it was great. we laughed. we sat there in silence, we sat there in awe of the greatest tennis player(s) in the world, we shook our heads in disbelief, we ate some unbelievable food, and laughed at some of the things they offered us on the menu, and we generally just had a really good time. im thankful for friends like that who will drop what he is doing and come to the far east with me. so, jon this is a tribute to you. thanks man. and nice work on joining the european swimsuit club.

the beauty of a straight blade

today was shave day in hong kong.
jon brought his razor, but decided not to use it, and i left mine at home on purpose.
however, yesterday we were walking to the bus and passed a barber shop. i noticed the guy was busting out a shave on a client and was sure it looked like a straight blade razor. now, this is something i have always wanted to do. so i looked into. $40HKD later and we walked out looking like new men.
now if you havent had a straight blade shave...you are missing out. not only is it great that someone else is doing the work for you, its great that its with a blade that, in a single motion, could pretty much end your life. its a trust exercise. trusting someone who doesnt speak your language. so not only is it a great feeling, its also character building. so next time you are near a barber that offers this service...pay him what he asks and get it done. seriously.
check out flickr for the results (looks like something got lost in translation). the photos above are of the guy who did this for me and the tool he used.

tea at the po lin monastery

more pictures are up.
hong kong is still great. it was hot and muggy today. almost too hot. but i shouldn't complain.
it started off with some more tennis and then to an east indian buffet with probably the best food we have had on this trip so far. the buffet included lamb curry, madras chicken, and likely 10 other dishes. so good. we ate and then had a hard time moving after that.
i found a place that will do straight blade shaves. so that is on the menu for tomorrow. they dont do them in canada anymore, so i have to take advantage of it. wish me luck.

starry starry nite

well. that may be a bit of an exaggeration. we were able to see one star tonite. thats all. one star was bright enough to shine through the smog and the light pollution and let its light hit our retinas. so, those of you in darker cities than hong kong, go look at the stars and appreciate them. cause even though they are above this city too, the 8 million people here don't get to see them often. and i think id have to say they are missing out.
today was wednesday in hong kong. jon and i went to the zoological and botanical gardens to hang out with some monkeys, a jaguar, some lemurs, a giant python and some crazy birds. pretty cool to see some of the diversity in the animal kingdom.
lots of walking today, finally led us to meet up with harm after she got off work and go to an egyptian restaurant. another good meal.
somehow we got on the topic of alberta and how none of us really liked it. and jon started talking about ft. mcmurray and how the city wasn't his favorite. we went on with this discussion for probably a good half hour. after we were done, jon got up to go to the washroom, and the guy sitting beside us says "sorry to be nosy, but i lived in fort mcmurray until about 25 years ago.." and proceeded to tell us that he was an alberta boy, now living in china.
pretty weird to be in hong kong, in an egyptian restaurant and have some white guy sit down beside us and listen in on our almost alberta bashing conversation. anyway. it was a good day. we are tired. im gonna go to bed.
jon and i have a date with the tennis court tomorrow morning...

a taste of hong kong

its true. well, not the part about my mom being a belly dancer. that was on the back of a bus that was in front of us here in hong kong. but it is true that i put some new pictures up. some of what we have seen so far, and some of what we have been doing. so go check them out by clicking on the flickr link to the right. more to come.

december 3rd.

we woke up to go to church. i wore shorts to church probably for the first time in december in my life. hopefully not the last. but with the way they are talking about global warming, maybe ill get to do that even in regina someday.
anyway. church was in a ballroom. giant chandeliers, gold everywhere, white satin looking chairs. it was ritzy. but ok.
the day went on. we ate at the "white spot" a supposed 'canadian legend since 1928'. a canadian legend that i have never heard of.
then we went to stanley market. i needed to do some shopping for my good friend hub. a request he sent me asked for an england rugby jersey. so i did it. so hub if you are reading this. your jersey is on its way home.
after shopping we made our way home. got off the subway in the most densely populated area on the planet. thats not a lie. unless harm is full of something. but , there were literally thousands of people crossing the one street at one time. likely the entire population of yellowknife. at one street corner. lining up to run at each other when the walk sign turned to a green walking man. wow.
we made it home and then changed into the closest things we brought to tennis clothes. after 8 days of watching the top 8, and even more of dreaming about it since, we finally got our chance to step out on the court. on december 3rd. in shorts. needless to say our dreaming paid off. man were we good. after i got over the pain from the gash on my hand everytime i hit the ball we even had some decent rallies. it was fun. no. it was the sweetest hour we have had in a long time. and that is saying a lot.
now its december 4th. at least in hong kong it is. time to hit the concrete jungle and see how lost we can get.