Formaldehyde

Are they allowed to preserve food in formaldehyde? Seems pretty poisonous.

Well, today, my mom brought home this package of japanese noodle-type things from this lady at church, and I was so excited. It came with sauce and everything! Anyway, she got it all ready and I scooped some up to eat it when I caught a whiff of it. It was very chemical-smelling. I couldn't quite place the smell, so I took a big bite, and it tasted okay. Then I remembered what the smell was. It totally beyond any doubt smelled completely and totally like formaldehyde. The unfortunate thing was that the last time I smelled formaldehyde was at the funeral home I got to visit, in the embalming room. Blech! I can't even believe they package noodles in anything that even remotely resembles formaldehyde in it's smell. It was absolutely disgusting. No more of those silly noodles for me, thanks!

Things I have learned

1) Sometimes you just have to let things go, no matter how much they irk you, and no matter how much you think people are LYING!
2) Sometimes all you need is a good scrapbooking session to get you going.
3) Funny friends are priceless.
4) Smartfood makes everything okay.
5) Sometimes it's okay not to trust people.
6) We can't be responsible for other people's actions.
7) Being dehydrated makes me cranky.
8) Truth and initiative are good things.
9) Short phone calls can make my day.
10) When you don't know what else to do, you can laugh, and that'll make you laugh because you're laughing at nothing...and you'll be laughing!

The Mostest Bestest...

I have a new position in life. It's being the vice-president of the Mostest Bestest club. Membership is SO elite, that our recruiting procedures are top-secret, and very rigourous. I don't know if you guys would make it in.... Ahahahahaha. We are the mostest bestest Mostest Bestest Club! Wooo hoo-ie-hoo!

Jesus Week debrief!

So this past week at York, we had a whole bunch of seminars and a large event for people who wanted to know more about random things. For example, we had some seminars like:
1) Is the Bible anti-women?
2) Creation vs. Evolution
3) The Da Vinci Code
4) God and suffering (Why is there evil and suffering if God is supposed to be good?)
5) God and sports

And then, Wed. night, we had our big event (even made it on CTV!) called Jesus: Lord, Liar, Lunatic or Legend. Tony Costa came in to talk about the arguments that people have. Basically, some people don't believe that Jesus really existed, or some people believe he existed, but then think he was lying or just plain crazy when he said he was God, and then some people believe He is the Son of God. So yeah, it was neat, we had over 200 people come out to hear about it. The coolest thing was that a girl in my Chinese class came out, and now I get to talk to her about all this spiritual stuff. I love talking about spiritual things! Ahahahaha.

The weirdest part of the whole week actually happened before it, when we were handing out flyers to people about the events. I mean, I've been handing out flyers for events for 5 years, and this time, I wasn't even talking or anything. I was just standing there, with my arm outstretched with a flyer in it, trying to make eye-contact with people...and a girl walked by, looked at me, and SWORE at me! It was pretty un-nice, and frankly, really just rude, really. I was taken aback at first, but it didn't really upset me. I mean, some people get upset when there's talk about God, but people get REALLY upset when it's about Jesus. So yeah, I think that was to be expected, I guess. Still rude, though. But yeah, the great thing was that it made me think about what Jesus must have gone through. I mean, they wanted to CRUCIFY Him. How much did they hate him?! He must have heard some really hurtful things being said against Him, and yet He chose to endure all of that....wow.

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:13

It IS OFFICIAL!!!!!!!!!

I got an e-mail today saying that I am OFFICIALLY accepted to go on a STINT (Short-term international assignment) with Campus Crusade for Christ to East Asia. Who's excited??? I AM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It'll be mid-August that I'll be leaving for a year to go to a closed country in Asia...I am SO excited, because I know this is totally where God is calling me. SO SO excited. Oh man. Time to go to my excited dance! :)

(I'm excited, but I'll miss you all, too!)

"I will sing of the LORD's great love forever;

with my mouth I will make

your faithfulness known

through all generations.

I will declare that your love stands firm forever,

that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself."

Psalm 89:1, 2

Snowy day posting...

I can't believe it snowed so much today. Only Canadians would go out in this kind of weather! And I did! I went to a bowling birthday party, and had such a fun time! I played 3 games. I suck at bowling. Ahahahaha. I won't recount my first 2 scores, except to say that my goal in those games was 50, and the average was slightly higher than that, and one frame I actually bowled into my leg (I'll let you know if I get a bruise), after which the bowling ball deflected and landed in the gutter. Ahahahaha. Oh man, I'm such a klutz. My last game, however, I was suddenly bowling much better, just out of the blue. I decided my goal would be to school Kevin, who was bowling really well but didn't do as well his 3rd game. Anyway, I'm very proud to say, I actually got 100. This is big news for me. I think I've only gotten over 100 once, ever. 100 is good for me! Wooo hooo. Except for bowling into my leg, I think I've mastered my bowling technique. :)

In more exciting news, I was totally encouraged by my friend Richard Chang yesterday. Ha, it's funny, because I don't think we've ever had an extended conversation ever, but yeah, it was neat to trade Asia stories (he taught English in China for a year). Anyway, he had actually heard about my plans for next year, and totally has a heart for Asia. He ended up giving me this great encouragement card with my first support cheque in it. This was so much more encouraging than words can say, because frankly, support-raising intimidates me quite a bit, but I felt like it was God, telling me not to worry about the support. Ahaha, I haven't even started formally support-raising, and I already have support! It's amazing!!! :) So yeah, I've had a good couple of days. :)

I will go before you
and will level the mountains;
I will break down gates of bronze
and cut through bars of iron.
I will give you the treasures of darkness,
riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the LORD ,
the God of Israel, who summons you by name.

Isaiah 45:2,3

Type A Personality

So my sister told me a funny story that was shared by her prof in her class. This woman treats people (I think she's a psychologist), and she was explaining Type A personalities. Now, one of her patients was a man in his 40s who ended up having a severe heart attack. She hadn't seen him at this point, but he was referred to her. She walks into his hospital room, and he's on his cell phone with his fax and laptop setup by the bed. You're really not supposed to be operating electronic equipment in the hospital because it can interfere with the hospital equipment. Anyway, she walks in and immediately she's surprised, because this man has just had a severe heart attack but is immediately back to work. Clue # 1 that he's a Type A personality. Anyway, she decides to do a little more observation before she actually categorizes him, so she walks over and says the following.

Woman: "Hello." Long pause.

Woman: "My...name...is...__________. I'm....here....to....help....you..."

The man is looking at her at this point in frustration.

She keeps talking slightly slower than normal.

He freaks out because he can no longer take the slowness and needs to get to the point.

And then she decides he is indeed a Type A personality.

Ahahahaha, it was so funny, you really just have to say what the woman did out loud. But the thing is, even I would get frustrated if someone talked slow. Ahahahaha.

Amanda's sweet sixteen tmw! My sister keeps making fun of me because I still go to birthday parties and sleepovers. Ahahahah. She's just jealous.

Teary-eyed moment #1285

Did you know that in 1999, 164,000 people died for their faith, standing up for what they believed in?

Wow.

I'm BELLE??

Hahahah, so against my better judgement, I procrastinated and took this rather amusing Which Disney Princess are you? quiz online. Turns out I'm Belle, but I really think they just took that from the dark hair and stubborn thing. Am I adventurous? I really don't think I am.

Oooh, another good cell-phone-mishap-blonde-whatever-you-wanna-call-this-story story. My sister passed me her phone today to look at the pictures she took with it. Unfortunately, I accidentally exit the picture viewer, so I'm back to the main screen. I scroll through the menu options and don't see anything that relates to cameras (I guess for some reason I didn't think the camera was multimedia???). I go back to the main screen and OH, look, there's an option for browser! I think to myself, it must be the picture browser. I click on it. All of a sudden it says "Connecting to network" and I say to myself NO NO NO you do NOT want to surf the NET!!! I immediately hit the red button (guys, at least I know the red button cancels EVERYTHING!), except that for some reason, then it said, "Connecting to GPRS system". I proceed to keep hitting the red button so I won't have to pay for the minute I connect to this stupid internet via the dumb cell phone. But of course, apparently I connect. WHY do cell phones hate me SOOOOO??? After the whole fiasco (I just ended up turning the phone off...ahahaha, I'm such a spazz), I told my sister and she gave me this look like, "WHAT IS your PROBLEM. Learn to use a cell phone." I was rather sheepish after that.

But really, WHAT is the problem? WHY am I so incredibly inept at using cell phones??

In other exciting news, there was some huge incident at York today which required the use of 5 police cars, (I think) 2 unmarked police cars, and a helicopter. Someone said it was a protest, but honestly, is that not a little much to send that many cops to a protest? Most people I talked to said it was really peaceful. Who knows. York is CONSTANTLY having protests, especially between the Israeli and Palestinian student groups. But I've never seen them get overly ugly. I thought it was exciting today though, because there was a helicopter.

Just a quick update and I'll let you get back to whatever you were doing before reading my blog...I got new lenses for my glasses, which meant that I only had contacts for a week (I feel your pain, Matt!), which sucked because I don't wear them that much and they tire out my eyes SO much more. What else...my sister called me a grand total of 15 times on my cell phone today (this is really abuse), I cannot seem to stay up much past midnight anymore, I have way too much to do (what else is new?!), oh, and I have a hilarious Mandarin teacher.

Sample conversation:
Student raises hand to answer a question. Teacher picks on the student. Student decides not to answer the question.
Teacher (don't forget the Chinese accent!): Why do you raise your hand and not give an answer? I feel deceived. This class does not do enough work.

Ahahahaha, "I feel deceived"???? I don't know, maybe it's not funny. I can't tell. I'm noticing I think a lot of things are really funny, when they really aren't. But I think if you knew my teacher, you'd really think she was funny. It's scary in the class now though, because she knows my NAME. i.e. trouble, because she only calls on the ppl she knows the names of now. Okay that's it, but really, come visit me at York sometime and sit in on my Mandarin class. You'll learn a lot about EVERYTHING.

Funny quote of the day: It's okay to sit on the pity pot a while; just make sure you flush when you're done.

What are you waiting for??

If clouds are full of water,
they pour rain upon the earth.
Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north,
in the place where it falls, there will it lie.
Whoever watches the wind will not plant;
whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.

- Ecclesiastes 11:3,4

i.e. if you're always waiting for the perfect conditions to do something (plant, reap, ask for something, etc.), you'll never get anything done! Nike was right all along...Just do it.

Woo Ravi Zacharias!

Ravi's in Ontario! Woo hoo!

www.thewaytruthlife.com

Paranoid Androids...

It's funny how we really are shaped a lot by the experiences we have in our lives. It's all about learning, I guess. My interactions with people in the past shape how I view my interactions with people in the future. I think I feel like I need therapy. Ahahahahaha.

In other news, I saw Zoolander and Amelie again. Zoolander is absolutely the ONLY dumb funny movie I have liked (oh, except for Billy Madison, a long time ago). This movie is SO quotable! "I caught my reflection in the spoon...and then I thought, why don't I do something where I get paid to be this ridiculously good-looking?" or "Ferrari is a softer look. I use it for catalogue work and sometimes shoes" or "What is this? A school for ANTS?.................It has to be at LEAST........ THREE times bigger!" or "Whooo am I?" or "Hello, God?" AHahahahaah. Oh man. So funny. And Amelie is always quirky and fun. :) The little games she plays are fun, but the old man's right, she does it to avoid confrontation, which is not a good thing. Boo games.

Actually, I think games in general are bad (I'm not talking the board kind). People should just be honest with communication!! Clear communication is SO good.

Why do I laugh so much??

That's my question of the day. I honestly feel like I'm very emotional. I'm either laughing a lot, or lately, crying! I know, it's weird. Actually, I take that back. As I typed that, I remembered I prayed a while ago for more passion and more emotion. Ahhahaha. I know that sounds weird, but I felt really emotionally flat for a while, I think probably because of the stress. But here I am, back to emotional Michelle. I'm totally excited for my church's 40 Days of Purpose. I'm going to be part of the worship team every week, which is SO fun! I love it to pieces!

Hm, there was another thing I was going to say, but now I forget what it was. I feel like all this stuff happens in my life that's blog-worthy, but then I forget it by the time I get to the computer (perhaps not so blog-worthy after all?!). Now all I remember is the great boring parts of my day. For example, I skated to school pretty much. I have a prof this semester whose name makes me laugh because I think about My Big Fat Greek Wedding...it's Peter Papadogiannis. Not only is it an alliteration, his e-mail is peterpapa! Ahahahaa. See, it makes me laugh.

Oh, I remembered some exciting news from today. I bought my last textbook for the year. My last textbook for my undergraduate career. Woooo hooo! No more hundreds of dollars down the drain. I'm SO excited about graduating. Did I already talk about how most ppl tell you to cherish the university memories, but how I mean, not that I won't, but I totally think my future will be doubly exciting, so I do'nt think I'll look back and yearn for my unversity days.

I really have to apologize for this boring blog entry. Zzzzzzzzzzz

The Lord will guide you always. - Isaiah 58:11

This is one of my most favourite verses! :)

Stinky butt juice

I know this is probably TMI (too much information), but my cat has a problem with stinky butt juice. He just sat in my lap. And now I have a problem with my cat's stinky butt juice.

STINK!

Girly fun night!

Picture if you will, me, in curlers (really tacky curlers...plastic...ineffective), with a nose strip kinda thing across my nose...striped PJ nightshirt with VERY attractive forest green leggings. Are you picturing it? Now, picture me dressed like that, DRIVING around in PUBLIC.

Yes, folks, that was me last night. I arrived at tacky flannel night and had just finished getting tackified when I got a call to pick some people up at the subway station. So, instead of de-tackifying myself, I opted to go out in public with all this on. I met a woman and her daughter in the elevator, but managed to avoid all other public contact. Ahahahaha. I'm such a dork! There are some pictures of my tacky outfit floating around, but we'll see how it all goes in terms of whether those ever see the light of day.

We played some Spoons, Four on the Couch, the Mennonite Dice Game, and we had a devotion time. It was neat because we talked about how we as women search for significance in different things: appearance, approval...so many things. So many unsatisfactory things. The staff called us out on inappropriate clothing choices (yeah, the slight show of midriff when you bend over is even a little too much for some guys), doing things for approval. We talked about singleness NOT being a time of prep for being married, but as a time to cherish within itself. We need to trust that it IS God's best for us. And yeah, you're single until you're married. Some people call off the wedding seconds before...so really, until you've said the "I Do"s, you're single. We talked about the classic 1) Master; 2) Mission; and 3) Mate...this is the order our priorities should be in.

A lot of the gals stayed up to watch 13 going on 30, but I konked out with the oldies. We had an awesome breakfast this morning though...cinnamon buns, pancakes, oranges, bagels, eggs and cheese, bacon...MMMmmm bacon. It was a good girly-bonding time, and I'm glad we got to do it. I'm glad we got to talk about issues that affect woman in terms of our worldview, too. Goodness knows so much of the stuff we talked about is SO against the grain of everything society today tells us.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. - Romans 12:2

Do you have vision? Need a purpose?

I think something I lack a lot is a huge vision for what my life stands for...what do I want to see happen, and what am I excited that God will do through me? I think He helps me out a lot with vision, and one of the things that's given me an increasing passion for ministry is books! Right now, I'm reading The Heavenly Man, about Brother Yun, a Chinese Christian man who goes through so much persecution and suffering...and so recently, too. China tries to convince the world that they have religious freedom, but they don't. THEY DO NOT. Religious freedom doesn't mean having to confess to believing whatever the government tells you to.

The book is so terrific, I totally recommend it. I think it's a close favourite with Safely Home, but The Heavenly Man is even better because it's a true story!

Need a purpose? My church is doing a 40 Days of Purpose program, where we all go through Rick Warren's best-selling book, The Purpose-Driven Life. I invite you all to come out! I'm really excited for it. You don't have to be a Christian! Let me know!

So much to say...

It's funny, I keep starting all these really long blog entries, but not publishing them lately. I think I talk too much, so it seems it's translated to my blog life, too! I think what I've been thinking about lately boils down to this:

In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted... 2 Timothy 3:12

I remember having a conversation about this verse with my friend a while ago, because he was doing a talk on persecution. This by no means we're supposed to go out and purposely seek out ways to be persecuted, but it makes you think doesn't it? I mean...are you being persecuted? Are you living a godly life?

I think persecution is so tough, but as James said, trials bring us to maturity. It tests our faith, and God proves faithful.

Borrow Mine - Bebo Norman

Take my hand
And walk with me awhile
Because it seems your smile
Has left you

And don't give in
When you fall apart
And your broken heart
Has failed you

I'll set a light up
On a hilltop
To show you my love
For this world to see

You can borrow mine
When your hope is gone
You can borrow mine
When you can't go on
Cause the world will not defeat you
When we're side by side
When your faith is hard to find
You can borrow mine
You can borrow mine

And take my love
When all that you can see
Is the raging sea
All around us

And don't give up
Cause I'm not letting go
And the God we know
Will not fail us

We'll lay it all down
As we call out
Sweet Savior
Help our unbelief

You can borrow mine
When your hope is gone
Borrow mine
When you can't go on
Cause the world will not defeat you
When we're side by side
When your faith is hard to find
You can borrow mine

When you are weak
Unable to speak
You are not alone
God of us, save us
And never forsake us
He's coming to take us
Take us to our home

You can borrow mine
When your hope is gone
Borrow mine
When you can't go on
Cause the world will not defeat you
When we're side by side
When your faith is hard to find
When your faith is hard to find
You can borrow mine
You can borrow mine

Take my hand
Take my love
Don't give in, no
And don't give up

I think what is so great about friends and fellowship is that there are always people praying for you, supporting you, through trials and persecution. And best of all, we have Someone interceding on our behalf constantly!

GUESS WHAT?!

Steven Hayhoe is married. Yes, MARRIED. I know. I know. Who would've thought. But he is, or did, a couple days ago. Ahahaha, apparently, he was always a romantic. Crazy, hey? We're getting to that age.......when will the marriage pool come into effect?!