Secrets of Winnipeg

There is more than meets the eye with a city such as Winnipeg. Often people get caught up in the huge city centers such as malls, theatres, parks, etc. However, there is much more to a city if you take the time to explore it. There is such beauty in the small things and Winnipeg is a city which proves this.
Today, I discovered an amazing ice cream parlour with a friend. This place does not receive enough credit for how great it is. Bridge Drive-In has apparently the best ice cream in Winnipeg which is something I have been unaware of for an entire year. Something as amazing as BDI should be advertised by word of mouth much more than it actually is. Then again, maybe it receives its magic in its mystery. Once the mystery is gone, so is the magic. It may not be mysterious in the eerie, creepy sense but mysterious in the unknown, something different sense.
Maybe I am being extremely naive when it comes to this place. Maybe it is well-known and I am just the last to know. However, this place is special to me because it is something new, something different. To me, it holds a certain mystery because I have not been there before. As well, it is a place now where I can hold a special memory. It is a place where I connected with an old friend; someone I was not close with before based on my misunderstanding. Often people judge others based on their own understandings and forget about change of perspective. Not everyone is the same, and so when you are getting to know someone it is best to keep in mind the change of perspective. Their views may be different than yours but they are still wonderful in their own way. This magic I discovered at BDI. Like my friend, it is a place of different perspective. It is not like the mall, the theatre or the park in that everyone loves it. No, it is different and reveals a completely different side of Winnipeg. The secret is, that there is much more to a city or person if you take the time to explore it. The surface will always be there but the heart you have to dig for.

Alberta Bound....soon

Today I decided that I am coming home for Thanksgiving. Originally, I was just going to stay here at Providence and get a ton of work done. However, recently I have really felt like I need to go home for a few days. Since I live in Alberta, I am not able to go home every weekend like most students here. It was so random. I was dead set on not going home Thanksgiving weekend and all of a sudden today I decided otherwise. Unfortunately, I am always deciding last minute on when I am coming home and so my parents are unable to find sales on tickets. Thankfully, they are just happy I'm coming home and do not care how many air miles they have to use. I am so excited for Thanksgiving now and cannot believe that it is less than two weeks away. Crazy.

Mondays are not Fundays

I hate Mondays, and not just because it is the end of the weekend and beginning of the week, but because it just plain sucks. First of all, I have an 8:30 a.m. class and it kills me. Second of all, everyone has an evening class, so I am stuck doing nothing all alone for three hours. Finally, it is care group night. I know that I should love care group; it is a time to get to know the other girls in my dorm. However, it feels like forced bonding. Most of the time we sit in a circle and talk about our feelings which is something I don't like. I already have a hard enough time telling my mom how I feel, why should I feel comfortable about telling a bunch of girls my high points and low points of the week. In conclusion, Mondays are not fundays; there is nothing fun about them.

Dumb Regret

Today I discovered how much I miss volleyball. There was the women's volleyball game today against CMU and it was hard for me to watch. It has been three years since I've played and it is not fun having to watch others play it. Last year I was too scared to try out because I was only a freshmen and figured I had to get used to the school first before joining a sport. I was committed to trying out this year until I saw what seemed to be a million freshmen girls who had legs for days and had been recruited for the team. I chickened out again this year and now I am deeply regretting it. I just do not understand why I tried out for basketball (a sport I've never played before) but not volleyball (a sport I've played for most of my life). Maybe it is because if I fail in basketball I can blame it on my experience where if I fail in volleyball I can only blame it on my skill level. It is going to be difficult to watch the girl's volleyball season this year, but lets hope that I love basketball as much as I did volleyball.

unFORTUNEately

Fortune cookies are seriously my highlight of the day. I look forward to budging in the international line to get a fortune cookie. However, there are people out there that think it is hilarious to ruin this moment of mine. Seriously, a fortune cookie is not the same when it is crushed. Somebody today massacred my fortune cookie and I was not impressed. Shortly after, another somebody tried to stab my other one with a fork but my hand fortunately got in the way. The whole excitement in a fortune cookie is cracking it open. When it is broken, or smashed into pieces, it is not the same. This is a warning to anyone out there. Do not mess with my fortune cookies!

Screamo

I am all for expressing yourself during worship, but when your unique style of worshiping distracts others from focusing on God, I am not a huge fan. 2 a.m. worship for Day of Prayer was amazing; the music, the attendance, everything. However, one thing really bothered me. This guy moved in behind me and caught me off guard. I am used to every one's voices blending together in a beautiful way, but he brought a new style of worship I've never experienced before. All I could hear, above the booming drums, was his voice screaming out the lyrics. When I say screaming, I do not mean like singing the lyrics passionately as loud as he could; I mean ear-piercing screaming. I already hate screamo music, so to have him bursting out every word was a total distraction. In fact he was screaming so loud directly behind me that I could feel his breath moving my hair. I wanted to be open to it but it was almost too much to handle. I think his passion is definitely there but I think next time he needs to take that passion to the very front where it can blend with the loud music.

Just Sitting

One thing I learned today is that it is okay to sit at a table in the cafeteria for an entire hour. What is the rush? I don't understand why people eat and then leave as soon as they're done. That used to be me, but today after I was eating I just sat there. Interestingly enough, people came and left my table and it was awesome. I got to talk to many different people during one meal time. Who cares if you have an empty tray, it is fine to just sit there and visit with people when they're eating. It's kind of like life. As cheesy as it is, it's true. Everyone is always in a hurry and people don't realize that good things come when you just sit and do nothing. Just sitting; it's the new adventure.

Letters from Home

Call me "Old Fashioned" but receiving a hand-written letter is so much more exciting than e-mail, text, or facebook. Honestly, a letter is much more personal because the sender actually took the time to write each word in a beautiful way. Tonight I received a letter from my grandmother. The thing about letters is they seem to come on the most rotten days in order to lift your spirits. Today was no extraordinary day, in fact it was quite dull. I woke up early for basketball practice, 7 am!!! As a result, I spend most of the day sleeping since I didn't get any sleep the night before due to loud fire crackers being set off and a person with a bad cough right outside my window. Therefore, my day seemed like a complete waste of time. However, right after caregroup a surprise shows up in my mailbox to turn things around. There is something about a letter which feels like home. It could be the fact that a letter is written in their very own unique handwriting, rather than the monotonous letters of Times New Roman. Or it could be the anticipation in waiting for a letter. My grandmother told me that I would be receiving a letter from her once a month. This adds to the excitement in post because you look forward to its arrival rather than the instantaneous messaging of e-mail. All in all, I prefer letters.

Thanks Mom

Strangest thing ever: Moms and Facebook. I think it is probably the worst thing when you see you have a friend request and it is from your friend's mom. Your hopes are lifted and suddenly they are shot down. One thing that I am thankful for is that my mom has no desire to get facebook, EVER! We have come to terms that if she wants to know about my life she can simply ask, rather than creep on my wall and photo albums. I have this one friend whose mom has gone too far with Facebook. First of all, her profile picture is a model portrait of her in which her bleach blond hair is blowing in the wind and she is making a kissy face. Weird. Second of all, she has an album dedicated to her children's shoes in which she has tagged all of them with the shoes they belong to. Weird. Finally, she made an album titled "Pictures that can be removed for a small fee" in which she has tagged her children in their most embarrassing child hood photographs. Weird. Lets just say I am glad my mom is computer challenged.

what the..?

Everyone knows the tiny bubbles on the top of fast food drink lids. You know, the ones that the workers are supposed to push in for the kind of drink. Typically, these bubbles are pointless unless used for pure entertainment. I don't know if it is just me, but I like to push the bubbles in as soon as I get my drink; it is just something I do. Most people don't even think about it, they just do it. Today, there is a new phenomenon at McDonald's! These bubbles now have neat designs. Now they are more attractive for pushing when you are bored while eating your Big Mac. It would have to be McDonald's to take an already pointless thing and make it better. All in all, this new invention totally works. It adds character to the bubbles as you push them in and feel a different texture. People can now look forward to eating at Mickey D's even more because of these bizzare, evolved bubbles. Who knew?

Stepping Out

Today I stepped out and did something I am afraid of; I tried out for the basketball team. Someone once told me that good ideas come when they are out of the blue. This proves this saying true. I had no intention of trying out for the basketball team until last night when a couple of my friends convinced me to try out. Even though I have had no experience in basketball and have never tried out for anything before, I overcame my fear and tried out. Surprisingly, it proved to be the best experience ever. Although the conditioning was tough and I am clearly the worst of the team, it was fun. Plus, I MADE IT!! I am excited for the upcoming basketball season, its challenges it presents and the potential for improvement. If I had not stepped out today, I think I would be writing this blog about rejection; once again.

Bravery of One

Sometimes it is amazing to see who people can be. The type of people who appear fearless and strong. Something as simple as having a genuine conversation with someone who most people ignore. It inspires me to witness something like this. For most of us, we pass by these people who seem strange and socially awkward. In fact, most of us go out of our way to avoid them. I am guilty of this. Almost everyday I refuse to sit at a table which is full of people I judge as abnormal. However, these people are just being themselves, while the rest of us are pretenders. When I see a pretender shake off this label and become Christ-like by making an effort with someone who is different, I am jealous. It is a weakness to hide in our own bubble, and so I wish that we all had the strength to reach out. It is something I wish to work on. Someone today stepped out and it amazed me.

No Risk, No Reward.

Rejection. It is something that most of us fear on a daily basis. Whether its rejection from a friend, someone of particular interest, audition or tryout; we all face it. This knowledge should be a comfort however, the feeling of being alone with rejection will never go away. It is simply pride. No one wants to feel incompetent; that they will never measure up. Rejection is the brother to failure. When we are rejected, we fail and thus our pride is wounded. However, if we let the risk of failure haunt us then we would all be standing still; watching the minutes pass as we are motionless. I have let the fear of rejection become an obstruction to what I want far too many times. It is time to move forward and take risks. No risk, no reward.

Dine and Dash

Banquets, not a huge fan. There is something about banquets which gets under my skin. Maybe it is the fact that you have to compliment everyone you see on how beautiful they look and it gets to be repetitive. There is no way you can possibly tell the truth, that they are either overdressed or under dressed because that would be cruel. Or it could be the fact that you are served. This may not seem like a bad thing, but who does not want to decide what their proportion size is or if they would like vegetables or not. Finally, it could be the awkward table conversations. You may not necessarily be sitting with people you know very well and so casual "what the weather was like today" talk only goes so far. This is a highly pessimistic view of banquets. I understand that it develops community, provides entertainment and serves a well-cooked meal. However, I have found that it is not for me. Eat and leave, that is how it should be.

Genesis of Blogs

This is the beginning, the beginning of various blogs to come. As a green horn to blogging, I am not sure how to go about this. Nonetheless, I will provide mind-blowing, extraordinary blogs that you will think about for days. Actually, that is a lot to promise so instead I will do my best to provide insight into my life and my concerns. Not only will I tackle controversial debates such as if Ichiban destroys Mr. Noodle but I will rant about pretty much anything. Everything is what it is, there is always a reason for why things are the way they are. For instance, I am writing this blog for a reason; to entertain you on the days when you have nothing else to do. As well as to receive a good grade in my class, but mainly for you. Enjoy!