2.29.08 :: Nice things to report on a leap day
- Scott cancelled the online discussions for NT - YES!!! 40 pages less of reading!
- Small group cancelled tonight, which gives me more time to do my NT paper due on Tuesday! (but I do regret not being able to try out "Learning to Breathe" with the groupies tonight)
- Jimmy Eat World's Chase This Light on myspace - they are impeccable lyricists and musicians (anyone wanna go see them with me if they ever roll into town?)
- No less than 5 people on my facebook are listed to have birthdays tomorrow! And may I throw Jensen Ackles on that list (ha. ha. me being fangirly. what can I say?)
Write comments -:- Read comments -:- Restore screen
-:-:-:-
2.21.08 :: Victoria rediscovers FictionPress.com
Yeah, there really is no way to gauge how good/terrible my writing is, so I'm posting a little something I penned last year (while studying for my history exam) on FictionPress.com. It's the non-fandom equivalent of Fanfiction.net (i.e. it's for original stories).
I've also stuck it, Seven Minutes, up in the writing section. The teaser: Average lifespan on the Western Front in World War I: 7 minutes. It's got blood and guts and gore, and it'll take you about 3 minutes to read. Haha.
Write comments -:- Read comments -:- Restore screen
-:-:-:-
2.19.08 :: On The Waterfront
I think I just found another favourite movie.
I was flipping through the Metro this morning, and one of the ads showed that On The Waterfront was playing on Vision. I had just finished watching West Side Story the other day and was craving some more cinema classics, and following a week of paper writing, I thought, why not?
The characters - especially Marlon Brando's Terry Malloy - were superb. The lines were so realistic (the awkward moments between Terry and Edie were great - very life-like). And, well, I'm a sucker for films with a social conscience, and this one hits hard with a biblically rooted one (oh yes, back in the day when Christians didn't look like ditzes on screen). Father Barry's passionate plea to the men on the waterfront to end the cycle of injustice perpetrated against themselves was quite the highlight for me. Sweet lovin' - that was an AWESOME movie!
However, Vision decided to shorten the film to make it fit into 2 hours, including commericals. Time to head to the local library to borrow the movie so I can watch what I missed.
Write comments -:- Read comments -:- Restore screen
-:-:-:-
2.16.08 :: Quotes of note
"I am the prodigal son every time I search for unconditional love where it cannot be found." - Henri Nouwen
"If we honestly evaluate the premise of the modern church, there's not much about it that's designed to engage the culture." - Ben Ortlip
"We have become famous for what we're against rather than Who we're for." - David Kinnaman
"...the Christian community bears responsibility for cheapening the image of God." - David Kinnaman
"Your best shot at making your greatest contribution in the world is for you to get better at what you are already good at." - Reggie McNeal
"Life can be, and often is, squandered in ten-minute increments." - Reggie McNeal
"In quantum spirituality, postmoderns assume they are connected to God and to other people. This poses an intriguing dilemma to spiritual tribes whose evangelism strategy begins with the declaration to people that they are separated from God!" - Reggie McNeal
"Absent the practice of Sabbath in our lives, we wind up captured by the temporal, immediate concerns. We lose our way, our perspective, and our center. We forget who we are and why we are here. The loss of Sabbath is one of the major failings of contemporary church life in North America. We are substituting frenetic activity for genuine spiritual vitality." - Reggie McNeal
"Billy, if you don�t take a flyer once in a while, you�ll never learn anything new, and life will get very boring." - Bill Hybel's dad
I've been doing a large amount of reading lately, for school and small group. Here are some words to ponder on:
"There's never a reason for grace." - John Ortberg and Laurie Pederson
Write comments -:- Read comments -:- Restore screen
-:-:-:-
2.15.08 :: A nugget found in community
Tonight, we came to this realization: You don't have to fix yourself before coming before God. So come bravely in all your messiness - that's exactly what he wants. And once you are resting in him, you will become like him.
Just one of those things I've heard from other places before, but felt so true when I saw the same light go on inside everyone around me.
Time to chew on it for a little while, dreaming of the day that the larger community I'm in comes to the same realization.
Write comments -:- Read comments -:- Restore screen
-:-:-:-
2.14.08.b :: Ho, clever! 
So this particular fic writer calls her a "charity ho", and I finally followed her link to Sweet Charity, a site that allows people talented in a whole array of things (writing, videomaking, baking, jewelery making, etc.) to create items for sale to various bidders (yes, including fanfic stories and fan videos). The items are also made to the specifications of the bidders, so really, it's a buy-sell site, except all the money goes to the charity of the month. Great way to use your mad skillz for a good cause!
Note: I'm not a charity ho myself. I don't think I can make customized things to order, but it's a good idea to contemplate implementing in the future!
Write comments -:- Read comments -:- Restore screen
-:-:-:-
2.14.08.a :: Fighting poverty: A matter of obligation, not charity
So I get an e-mail from a friend this morning for me to send her a list of places her fellowship can go volunteer at, and I stumbled on that brilliant tagline above in a round-about kind of way on the UN Human Rights Day 2006 website as I was doing my research. How true it is! And what a challenge it is to shift your perspective from seeing poverty from a "when I feel like it I'll do something" view to a "this is a plague of society that needs to go right now" one. As fired up as I can get about social justice, as a pampered middle-class individual, I'm still having trouble adjusting.
Anyway, research for this e-mail also helped me find a website for my beloved Open Door Drop-In Centre. So happy they are now online (albeit slightly outdated)! It would be so cool to intern there! We'll see where God leads.
Thanks, Anna! You've given me some ideas of what to do with the social justice group meeting that are coming up. I'm looking forward to it!
Write comments -:- Read comments -:- Restore screen
-:-:-:-
2.6.08 :: A psalm for Ash Wednesday
Dr. Janet Clarke shared so passionately yesterday in community chapel that Christians need to become practitioners of hope, people who cling on to a defiant hope as the world swirls about in uncertainty and fear. Who else would be equipped for such a tall order but those who have found ultimate hope in Christ?
Defiant hope. I like that.
Here is a psalm to usher in the time of Lent, a time to reflect and prepare anew for the horrific death and glorious resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. What hope it is to know that we have been given abundant life through him! May we edge closer to an abundant life realized this Lenten season.
Psalm 130
A song of ascents.
Out of the depths I cry to you, LORD;
Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.
If you, LORD, kept a record of sins,
Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
so that we can, with reverence, serve you.
I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits,
and in his word I put my hope.
I wait for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
Israel, put your hope in the LORD,
for with the LORD is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.
He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins.
Write comments -:- Read comments -:- Restore screen
-:-:-:-
2.1.08 :: Two important announcements at month's start
1. Lent starts next week on Ash Wednesday, February 6th.
2. If you went to Urbana06 and enjoyed a meal at St. Louis Bread Co., then you'll want to know this. The delectable Panera Bread (the good folks who own the Bread Co.) is moving north! In fact, it's moving right into Mississauga, near Square One. Check out the short news clip on Wikipedia about their move to the GTA. Read: Ceci, they have breakfasts.