i'm back!

we came back yesterday at around 11:30-12am. :) so nice seeing the metric system again. there was a beautiful sunset yesterday night, and there were even fireworks that we saw from the highway. (i wonder what the occasion was. so illegal. haha.)

anyway, new york was awesome! fun times! (even though for most of it i had to walk around the city all by my lonesome.) but no complaints here, because it was a great experience - exploring a huge city alone - and i got to do all the things that i wanted to do and more! AND i didn't get mugged. OR shot. haha. i guess new york city isn't as bad as i thought that it was. you just need to be careful.

things i accomplished (this is more for me than for you. haha):
- walked times square (the real one.)
- went to guggenheim
- went to the met
- saw a cinderella story
- went to century 21 (even if only for 10 mins)
- went to the new york public library on 5th ave
- walked in central park (so beautiful. even saw sea otters!)
- saw maxine and auntie juliana
- rode the subway and only went the wrong way ONCE (there are like at least 25 different subway lines! i'm not even joking. or exaggerating. :P
- walked around like there was no tomorrow

i had so much fun. thanks so much liz for being so nice to me and trying to make me feel at home at your apartment. thanks for all those dinners (even though you wouldn't let me pay. :P) thanks for your subway map and for just being the best. we didn't get to go to the brunch place or the museum of modern art...but...we'll go next time!

i remember a time when i used to not like nyc at all, but now i actually miss it. quite a bit. (there's nowhere to walk around here.) but most of all, i miss my jeh jeh.

p.s. liz, hope that you remembered to give my metro card to someone! there's still 2 days left on it :)

mid-trip update

i think out of all the days here in NYC, today has been the most unproductive. so far it's been spent sleeping (got up at around 11 something), listening to liz's music, surfing the internet, and trying to decide whether or not to splurge in an ipod. i've been calculating the cost of buying one in canada and buying one here like there's no tomorrow. i even went to find out what the exchange rate for today was. it's 1.3131. :P haha. it's so tempting. it would save me some money to get one here rather than buy one in canada...and they just came out with a new version! i'm still going back and forth with the whole idea. *sigh* we'll see.

i went to the metropolitan museum of art (aka "the met") yesterday. i took lots of pictures. but i'll have to upload them back at home. i forgot that usb cable thing at home. piece of crap. ;P i originally intended to go to guggenheim as well (it's just a few blocks north on 5th st.) but it was closed. i walked all the way there in the blistering heat and found out that it was closed every thursday. probably for the better though - i walked the met for 2.5 hours straight (with a 30 sec sit down) and my legs wanted to fall off. ah well. at least i'm getting cultured. haha. so hopefully i'll go to guggenheim today. :) it's raining here anyway so it'll be good to spend it inside...

saw a cinderella story with liz at the amc yesterday and i really liked that movie. it was really cute. i want to buy the dvd when it comes out. :) hahaha oh and then afterwards we walked around times square for like an hour trying to find somewhere to eat. when we finally left the restaurant it was like a little past 12 and there were still so many people in times square. i was pretty suprised - i always thought that when people called new york city the "city that never sleeps" they were just exaggerating. silly me.

anyway, i'm meeting up with my cousin maxine later tonight after she gets off work. then we're gonna hang out and later on meet up with lizhead and eat together! (something about a rice pudding resaturant. hmmm. never tried that before.) i haven't seen maxine since Christmas so it'll be nice to see her again. hopefully i'll get to see my "dai-eee-ma" too. :)

okay! so that's the update so far. i'm hungry, so i'm gonna go make my swiss cheese and turkey breast sandwich for lunch. (i've had one everyday for lunch since i've been here.) ha! you laugh now, but i'm saving a lot of money on lunches by making my own! and food is bling bling here. :P anyway the bread, meat and cheese are calling me now. bye! :)

muggy, humid and super hot.

i'm writing this from new york city. if you think that toronto is hot, omg. it's so frickin hot here. it's gross. ewww. but oh well. the trip with anna and alfred was really fun! and i slept for most of it i think. haha. i saw a deer in new jersey. it was like, running around in the neighbourhood like it was nobody's business. kinda wierd.

anyway, tomorrow i'm off to central park (hopefully) and i'm going to bring a book. hahaha. yaY! can't wait. hope it's not TOO bad with the hotness though. alright. there's the update. more to come later. :)

ready to bite the apple. 
  
(so cheese. i love it.)
 
by this time tomorrow i will be in new york city - home of the yankees, rangers and my beloved sister. :) i'm so excited - even though the forecast calls for thunderstorms. meh. how reliable is the weather network anyway? ;) heehee.  regardless of the weather, i'll make the most of it as best as i can. guggenheim, central park, the new york public library (haha. i'm such a geek) are just a few of the places i want to see.  but on the bright side, even if it is raining and i can't go outside there's always mtv. :) 

switchfoot. omg.

went to the switchfoot concert in hamilton last night...

oh they know how to rock.

totally blew me away.

they were amazing.
____________

here's some brainfood for you (emphasis mine). read it. it's good stuff.

WHAT MAKES MUSIC CHRISTIAN? A question was raised to the guys at Switchfoot about why they aren't very direct about their Christianity (specifically not mentioning Jesus) in their songs. Here is Jon Foreman's, the lead singer and primary songwriter, response: It's 2:30am in Philly. We’ve been hitting it hard lately… very hard! The road is long and worthy of resting for. But I just read a question worthy of response. First off, thank you for your compliments. I would love to speak to all of you in person as I've had some great conversations so far this tour and look forward to many more. To be honest, this question grieves me because I feel that it represents a much bigger issue than simply a couple SF tunes. In true Socratic form, let me ask you a few questions: Does Lewis or Tolkien mention Christ in any of their fictional series? Are Bach's sonata's Christian? What is more Christ-like, feeding the poor, making furniture, cleaning bathrooms, or painting a sunset? There is a schism between the sacred and the secular in all of our modern minds. The view that a pastor is more “Christian” than a girls volleyball coach is flawed and heretical. The stance that a worship leader is more spiritual than a janitor is condescending and flawed. These different callings and purposes further demonstrate God’s sovereignty. Many songs are worthy of being written. Switchfoot will write some, Keith Green, Bach, and perhaps yourself have written others. Some of these songs are about redemption, others about the sunrise, others about nothing in particular: written for the simple joy of music. None of these songs has been born again, and to that end there is no such thing as Christian music. No. Christ didn’t come and die for my songs, he came for me. Yes. My songs are a part of my life. But judging from scripture I can only conclude that our God is much more interested in how I treat the poor and the broken and the hungry than the personal pronouns I use when I sing. I am a believer. Many of these songs talk about this belief. An obligation to say this or do that does not sound like the glorious freedom that Christ died to afford me. I do have an obligation, however, a debt that cannot be settled by my lyrical decisions. My life will be judged by my obedience not my ability to confine my lyrics to this box or that. We all have a different calling; Switchfoot is trying to be obedient to who we are called to be. We’re not trying to be Audio A or U2 or POD or Bach: we’re trying to be Switchfoot. You see, a song that has the words: “Jesus Christ” is no more or less “Christian” than an instrumental piece. (I've heard lot's of people say jesus christ and they weren't talking about their redeemer.) You see, Jesus didn’t die for any of my tunes. So there is no hierarchy of life or songs or occupation only obedience. We have a call to take up our cross and follow. We can be sure that these roads will be different for all of us. Just as you have one body and every part has a different function, so in Christ we who are many form one body and each of us belongs to all the others. Please be slow to judge “brothers” who have a different calling and thank you for reading. Oh, to be so young, yet so wise. May God bless Switchfoot.

I'm in total agreement with this. Jon Foreman you are hero material.

Liz, (and anyone else who's interested), i uploaded the pictures from your weekend in toronto. you can find them here. :)