be yourself

i dug out nouwen's bread for the journey again and read all the way to january 17 yesterday. he writes:

"often we want to be somewhere other than where we are, or even to be someone other than who we are. we tend to compare ourselves constantly with others and wonder why we are not as rich, as intelligent, as simple, as generous, or as saintly as they are. such comparisons make us feel guilty, ashamed, or jealous. it is very important to realize that our vocation is hidden in where we are and who we are. we are unique human beings, each with a call to realize in life what nobody else can, and to realize it in the concrete context of the here and now.

"we will never find our vocations by trying to figure out whether we are better or worse than others. we are good enough to do what we are called to do. be yourself!

children of immigrants and the issue of identity

from this past monday & saturday's globe & mail:

"It's disturbing to discover the extent to which second-generation immigrants of colour feel less Canadian than their white counterparts in the same generation of immigrants. The divide between racial minorities and whites, almost nil when they arrive, actually grows among their children. That's the opposite of how this country is supposed to work.

"Visible-minority immigrants are slower to integrate into Canadian society than their white, European counterparts, and feel less Canadian, suggesting multiculturalism doesn't work as well for non-whites, according to a landmark report."

well, stop calling us "visible minorities" and maybe it'd start working better then!! :D


for more this disburbing discovery:
last saturday's article
tuesday's article

wowed #2

excerpts from engadget.com, of steve jobs' keynote address at macworld 2007:

9:42am - "Well today, we're introducing THREE revolutionary new products. The first one is a widescreen ipod with touch controls" The crowd goes wild. "The second is a revolutinoary new mobile phone." (typo not mine. hahaa...)

9:43am - "And the third is a breakthrough internet communications device." Tepid response on that last one, but he almost got a standing ovation on the phone. '

"An iPod, a phone, an internet mobile communicator. An iPod, a phone, an internet mobile communicator.... these are NOT three separate devices!"

"And we are calling it iPhone!"


share the desire!

wowed #1

ever since i got back to kitchener, everyone's been talking about "an inconvenient truth". my housemates, my profs, my classmates, everyone! and then today, i finally saw it IN CLASS. it was our program development & social planning course. we were to pay special attention to the scope of impact, influence, attributing factors when examining just one issue. from the personal to the trans-continental, from the universal to the microscopic... it penetrates all!

needless to say, i've been inspired to do more at least on the personal level. with a few clicks, it brought me to the list of ten things to do at climatecrisis.net:

1. change a light
2. drive less
3. recycle more
4. check your tires
5. use less hot water
6. avoid products with a lot of packaging
7. adjust your thermostat
8. plant a tree
9. turn off electronic devices
and finally...

10. spread the word! hahaaa...

cape town pics

it took me a while to posts my cape town pics... but here they are!! enjoy!!

pictures of cape town & south africa, sep-nov 06

(selected pictures taken by ange, sarah & ryan)

before & now

this is my new room in kitchener...

yesterday:
and today, after some home improvement:


but i was thinking, i prefer the view from my old room more: (or patrick's view of his new room!!!)

look skyward

hehee... never got to do an entry while i was in vancouver & hong kong. maybe that's a sign of being & feeling at home. i'm now in toronto again and will be heading to kitchener to start my last term of school on thursday.

i took this picture on my way to the memorial garden this afternoon. 我發現原來只要有sonlight, 學會望天, 相在世界到處影都是多美!