CATCH UP AND PURGE!

Though these past 2 weeks have been especially crazy, it has been productive, atypical of what my work environment has been like for the past half year or so. I like prioritizing tasks, juggling multiple activities that all have pressing time constraints. Yet, being able to finally sit down, purge my thoughts and impressions, and reflect on what a crazy journey this has been so far is a nice way to round it off.

Calgary house hunting trip
A brief weekend separated my last day in the Toronto office and the start of my relocation journey to Calgary. Grateful that most of the move details are being looked after by my company, I was whisked away to Calgary to find permanent housing. After arriving in Calgary, I was greeted by Joyce and Ella who offered to pick me up from the airport. But, being on the tight schedule that I was, I only got to spend the car ride with them, as an agent was already waiting for me by the time I arrived at their house (all downtown hotels were fully booked, so the Tangs graciously welcomed me to stay in their home). The first day gave me a chance to get to know the different parts of Calgary. We saw 12 different properties in the 4 different quadrants of Calgary proper. Some were nice, some not so nice. Actually, nothing really stuck out from that first day. I was a little overwhelmed at the end of the first day, barely remembering any of the units that I saw. Luckily, I brought my parents' camera with me and was able to take a video of all the units I saw. The second day was more productive, focusing on fewer locations and layouts. When I left Calgary 2 days later, I had one particular unit in mind. Funny how the prospect of a long weekend makes people easily defer work, so it wouldn't be until after Thanksgiving that I would find out if I had a place to live or not. The morning after I landed back in Toronto, I met up with a rep from AMJ Campbell to do an informal walk-through to get a sense of how what is being moved. They are also going to throw my car onto a train and ship it to Calgary. Since that meeting, I set aside as much as I could to minimize the chance that some of my parents' things might accidentally get moved to Calgary! All the while, I wasn't even sure if there was even a place to move to!

By accident, Tammy took both sets of keys to work!
This gave me a chance to have lunch with Clinton at their new downtown place. This worked out great because I could finally return wine and pop from the wedding banquet that I was guarding. I also wanted to hand off my tent in preparation of the camping trip to Frontenac, since I was heading into the interior a day later than the rest of the group.

Remember, vegetarian means “BAD HUNTER”! My meat fest at Kevin's…
My friends from Queen's thought that it would be nice to have one last meat filled meal before I left for Calgary, very fitting for someone who is a big fan of protein. But nothing prepared me for the jaw-dropping spread that awaited me: a full roasted suckling pig, an amazing roast, meat loaf, and meat lasagna. Someone thought it would be funny to bring a salad and was almost kicked out of the house! We ate and ate and it didn't even feel like we made a dent. We also played some poker. Until 3:30 that morning. It was very memorable.

The ordination of my friend, Tim.
As I continue in my own professional development, it's also great to see others reach milestones in their respective careers. We often take for granted the people that hold different positions within our society: someone is a pharmacist, another is an engineer, yet another is a lawyer. What is often not visible is the journey traveled to arrive there. I first met Tim almost 20 years ago when we were on the same Teen's Conference team. I've gotten to know him quite well over these years, especially from serving together in the John 4:24 ministry. He is a talented musician, public speaker and is someone who can whoop anyone’s butt in Madden. Well, now he is Reverend Timothy Tang, a title which is a simple testament to the amazing ministry that he is spearheading at East Toronto Chinese Baptist Church. I've always known Tim as a visionary, one who has these radical, yet sensible, ideas. It was only fitting that his ordination service was an encouragement to me, from the amazing worship that we had to the genuine words given by the roster of "all star" pastors that were in attendance. The service was capped off nicely by a celebration dinner at Spring Villa where my friend Brian did an amazing job emceeing the evening, in both Mandarin and English. I sat beside Tim's cousin Vivian, who is a fellow marathoner. So, we spent most of the night chatting about running, nutrition and training!

Camping in the interiors of Frontenac Park…
Having discovered in New Zealand that an important part of my worship experience is engaging creation, I could not pass up the chance to go interior camping, perhaps for the last time in 2005. I had a very memorable experience last year backpacking with Clinton in Frontenac and learned that I knew very little about efficient packing and camping technique. Thus, I was determined to pack lighter and be generally more prepared this time round. With Tammy and Clinton just having returned from Pakaswa for their honeymoon, I felt even more honoured to be able to camp with such a seasoned crew. Camping in October is great: you see amazing colours, there are no bugs and generally it's not as busy on the trail. Since the group was one day ahead of me, my plan was to hike in and meet them en route to their next campsite. So, I threw on my pack, plugged in my tunes, topped off my Nalgene and jumped onto the trail. It was such a peaceful trek, having both visual and aural stimuli creating an amazing experience. I thought to myself that the sight of a deer would absolutely top it off, but I had no such luck. I met up with the rest of the group about 3 hours in and we headed together to the next campsite, stopping at a couple of picturesque lookouts along the way. When we got to camp, we had our Thanksgiving "turkey" meal which consisted of powdered mash potatoes with gravy and reconstituted turkey. We then set up camp and gathered firewood. Normally, I think that campfire is not necessary because it involves picking up deadwood which may already serve as habitat for other creatures, the inherent risk of forest fires, and the fact that traditional uses of fires (cooking, heat) can now be substituted with light weight technology (such as a gas stove and synthetic clothing). However, it was really windy at our campsite and it was getting cold. Plus, the threat of rain made us all agree that a campfire would be a good idea for the night. We called it a night after most of the wood we gathered was burned. Clinton placed his wet glove liners on the edge of the campfire to try to dry them out. A strong gust of wind suddenly blew one of them into the fire. I quickly retrieved it for him, but I think that he was secretly trying to have an excuse to buy a new pair! After extinguishing the pretty embers, we made our way to the tents. Unfortunately, the girls' tent was a little flooded and they had to sleep strategically so as not to be sleeping in a puddle of water. We made it through the night and headed back out the next morning. As we were trekking, we all of a sudden saw a deer. Not just one, but a family of three, grazing on some nearby shrubs. What an amazing sight! I took out my camera and took a close up shot of one of them. Finally, I thought, a trophy I can bring home! But it just wasn't meant to be, because during the transfer of the pictures, I somehow accidentally erased it! We ended up eating lunch at A&W's in Kingston and made our slow way back to Toronto. We finished off the trip with a warm shower at Brenda’s gym and a fine meal at Korean BBQ.

Dim sum with Kelvin and Adah and Michael
Thanksgiving also gives out of town friends an excuse to return to visit family and friends. I shared lunch with Adah, Kelvin and their son Michael at Summit Garden. It was a great time catching up! I suspect that the next meal that we will share together will be out on the western part of the continent. Michael is growing so fast!

Lunch with the EPCOR Ontario gang at Pho 66
For old time sake, I had “fire bum” soup with some of the folks still left at the Toronto office. I feel bad for them because the office is really quiet now and I know that they are looking elsewhere. But it was nice recalling some of the good times we had together at the office.

The car is feeling good – IT BETTER BE!
I figured that it would be a good idea to service car before it got shipped to Calgary. I did the front rotors, front pads, rear stabilizer links, and changed the all-seasons to winters. This whole exercise cost me $509.

Small group meeting at Jen/Chun's
After a hearty turkey soup and chili dinner, our small group dived into the book of Obadiah. We also spent time sharing and catching up. What was really touching about this evening was when the group prayed for me, as a sendoff, and gave me a going-away present: a 2 person tent! Somehow, they suspected that I would be heading off to the backcountry of the Rockies to do some exploring! This token is very fitting because this small group has been a shelter of sorts for the past year and a half, giving me a safe and supportive environment to go to every week. I learned so much about community and social justice. I really am going to miss this.

Inevitably, downtown chores…
Had to pick up my race kit for marathon at the Holiday Inn. Doh! They didn’t have the technical shirts (given to the first 1,000 who registered online) available. I also dragged shoes that I have collected over the past decade and brought them down to Nike town in Yorkville, to their Reuse-A-Shoe drop off.

French toast at Fran's...
I had brunch with Sam, Tim, Jo, and Tobin, the newest member of John 4:24 (I have a really cute picture of him playing the drums!). Aside from the delicious french toast feast I had, my time with these dear friends was even more savouring. Having first served with Tim and Jo in 1993 on the TC worship team, we have continued our spiritual journies together in and around music ministry. I hold these 3 very dear to my heart and, ironically, will be moving to a place where I can spend time with their siblings (Tim's brother and Sam's sister). Tim and Jo and Tobin are in HK right now, so I'm sure they're having a blast!

Serenity at Richmond Hill Silver City, Sushi dinner at Aji Sa...
...ummm, good movie, good food. Nuff said.

Gwi Ling Goh (boiled turtle shell)...
I went for Chinese desserts with Tammy and Clinton at Times Square. Actually, they had the boiled turtle jelly, but I did try some. Apparently, it's very good for "hot air", the (literally translated) Chinese term for someone who is dehydrated due to consuming deep fried, oily foods. I used to suffer from this a lot as a little kid, as I would devour bags of potato chips and french fries whenever I could. My nose would start to bleed a lot and my throat would always be dry. So, my mom would force me to drink all this weird Chinese stuff. But, the Gwi Ling Goh is pretty good.

Toronto International Marathon 2005 and Pho lunch with Noreen and Steve...
I ran the 2005 Toronto International Marathon on a windy, yet rain-restrained Sunday morning. Near the end of this run, as I was approaching the finish line, I looked up as I heard my name being shouted. I saw this BIG, JUICY STEAK being waved back and forth, raised high above the crowds. Had I died and gone to heaven? I have never seen such a large piece of meat before - must've been 144 oz at least! I had to snap myself out of this delirium as I almost decided not to cross the finish and make a b-line for this much more desirable trophy. It was actually a steak shaped bath mat fixed to a pole, being waved by my friend Sam with his sidekick Anna who was sporting a beef beret! What a neat way to finish off a marathon. After this experience, I met up with a whole bunch of my Queen's friends, particularly Noreen and Steve who were in town from Ottawa. Never has an extra large bowl of Pho tasted so good. We then rode the streetcar and subway back uptown - stopping to do a headcount at each exit! Steve gave me the new Chris Tomlin CD, which I currently have in my CD player in Calgary. I was also so delighted to have seen my friend Doret cheering me on as I mounted the difficult uphill stretch along University Avenue leading to the finish line!

Dinner with family at mom and dad's
One of the things I will miss most about not being in Toronto is my mom's amazing home cooking. So, it was only fitting that my last dinner before flying out was a family gathering at my parents' place. Like always, I was not disappointed. But what made the meal even more enjoyable was being with my family. Three different generations and 1 yellow labrador shared time, space and conversation. Yes, I will miss them, but I also know that the ties are strong. For some time, my mom was separated from her sisters by great distances, but they remained strong and this is evident every time they gather together.

A separate entry will cover my marathon experience, as well as an interesting message I received from my cardiologist...