Back to life.

I'm going back to school! I'm leaving for the big city this weekend and I'm so excited.

This summer has been full of loneliness, disappointment and regret, but more importantly, excitement, new experiences, new friends and fun times.

Every summer it's always the same thing: I didn't spend enough time with this friend and with that person, I watched too much tv, I didn't earn enough money, I didn't look over my notes, mentally preparing for next term, and I sunk into spiritual mediocrity.

But, what can I do? It's summer, right? All I know is that I read what I wanted to, I made two amazing new friends, I laughed more than I have in a long time, I watched just enough of Firefly, I lived as an adult in my childhood home, and I didn't die driving, practising on the 401, and getting my G license.

Just enough summer for me. I'll be glad to get back into my routine.

Missing you...

This summer's been pretty sweet.

I love my job. I really enjoy serving people, and I have a great boss. He's a gentle, friendly Sri Lankian guy. It's funny. I love working for an immigrant. He's pretty serious. He expects hardwork. He's a great businessman. I don't always understand him, but we have a good laugh every once in a while.

I have discovered that my spiritual gift of service can be used in more ways than I thought. I really like meeting people; I have gotten to know the regulars at the diner. It's neat to talk to people in this city and find out what they're all about. The thing with that, though, is that I'm more of an introvert, and too much socializing exhausts me. When the customer finishes her burger and fries, she pays and leaves, and I'm back to bussing tables, handing out menus, taking orders and washing dishes. It's a great deal.

Sooo... what I wanted to blog about. I've had a great time hanging out with people in Oshawa this summer. I've met up with old friends, like Jess from high school, and we've gone to the movies, and jogging a couple times. I randomly ran in to Jamie (a guy who I lived down the street from my entire life, but we never hung out) and we've had sooo much fun hanging out watching episodes of The Office, watching movies and playing Settlers.

The thing with these "new" friends is that in two and a half months, I'll be 500km away again and we won't talk more than once a week. That's just the way it goes. I dislike that part of moving.

And I do want to go back to Montreal and see my friends there once again. But it's not gonna be the same with the people here. It's so hard to be around people for a couple months, and you grow to know and love them, and then everything changes. That happened last summer, and sure we've had a couple chances to hang out this summer again, but it's just not the same and I miss them.

That happened with my friend Jess Zetzman. Excuse me while I reminisce. She's one of the most special, kind, open, caring, beautiful people I've ever met. We had two solid years together... my first two years of university. We spent a lot of time "studying" at her place. We cooked yummy "Lindsay-friendly" (and usually Texan) dishes. We talked and talked and talked. We danced in her living room to Indian music, then we watched Bollywood movies and danced to those too. She played guitar. I usually fell asleep on her futon, and we'd walk to campus together. Those were good good times.

And now she's done. Finished university. She's back in Dallas to continue life with a new job, and a future very far away from where mine is.

I miss you Jessica.

Boys, girls and boogers

Wow. After that week of crapiness AND failing a midterm, I had an awesome weekend. I spent Saturday night hanging out at the Nursing, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering party. It was a really good time of building relationships with people in my faculty. (It's expected that they were mostly guys :P). And I met some great guys at that.

Wooo... I am moving! I've been on the lookout for new roommate(s), but not yet for apartments. It looks promising. It surprised me that there are Christian girls around who are in the same situation and haven't found anyone to live with. I am excited to be living with some new people. I've learned over the past year and a half that being in community, being around Christian girls, is so beneficial to my emotional well-being.
Aviva, one of the gals from the young adults group at my church is looking for someone to live with for next September. But there's also a dancer from Concordia, and a music student from McGill.

I just have one last thing to say: it is COLD! You know it's cold when icicles form on your scarf right by your mouth and the boogers freeze inside your nose.

Winter Conference and my wonderful surprise

From Dec 27th to January 1st I was downtown Toronto at Campus for Christ Canada's annual Winter Conference. It was an amazing time just hanging out with my friends from McGill, new friends from other universities in Ontario and Quebec, and those with whom I travelled to North Africa last summer. We attended sessions and seminars with amazing speakers from local churches, and the Campus for Christ ministry in Canada and the US. I learned a lot about God, ministry, evangelism and especially about myself while at this conference.

The main speaker, Roger Hershey, did an incredible job of speaking about the book of Revelations. He spoke four times during the five days we were there. One thing I took away was an increased passion for sharing my faith in Jesus Christ with others. If you read Revelations, you discover that we have so much to look forward to, if we are a committed follower of Jesus. There's also a lot of destruction, deception, pain and death ahead. By sharing what we know about God, and the reality that belief in Jesus changes your eternal destiny, we can help people avoid a lot of suffering if they choose to accept God's free gift of salvation. I realized what a beautiful picture is painted of heaven, of the new Jerusalem, and I people to have the chance to come there, too.

When I returned from Winter Conference, I spent a day and a half with my mom. It was good. Every time we hang out we enjoy each other more. Maybe a reality of my adulthood?

On the 1st, several hours after I had returned home to my mom's, there was an unexpected knock on the door. I opened it, not really looking out the window to check if it was someone we knew. It was a woman, about 40 years old who looked slightly familiar. I stared for a moment before I realized that it was my Portuguese babysitter, Laura. I gasped quietly, and reached out to hug her. I couldn't believe it. This amazing woman took care of me from age 7 to 13 when my mom was at work. She has two sons, Billy and Anthony, who were like brothers to me.

I hadn't really spoken to her or her sons for 7 years. She remains in my mind a beautiful person who gave of herself to others, not really expecting anything in return. She was influential in my life growing up, and it saddens me that I hadn't seen her for so many years.

She stopped by to say hi... and well, wow. I love the way things like that happen... it's crazy! We spent about 45 minutes chatting about life, catching up. If she had've stopped by a day before of after, I wouldn't have been there. I was in Toronto a day before, and was on my way to Montreal the day after. Laura and my mom promised to spend time together soon, and I will definitely be calling her when I'm home on reading week.

Now I'm back in Montreal, finished my first day of classes of the second semester of my second year. I am determined to tackle this semester with discipline. LOTS OF STUDYING! and lots of fun!!! Here's to a great four months!

Back at home...

I guess you could say this is my third home. The first being the house I grew up in with my mom, second being Montreal. My life continues growing mostly there, and will for the next two and a half years at least, as I complete my education. And most recently, this strange house in Cobourg has become my third. I lived here just over two months this past summer, and it has become a comfortable place to live.

If I were a reporter (do reporters write about nights out with friends? :P)...

What a great time I had last night! Titus, Naomi, Dalton, Lesley, and I went to Boston Pizza for drinks and dessert. And, a little later, after some persuasion, Dan got out of his pyjamas to join us. It was awesome to catch up with "the Cobourg gang". These people never cease to amaze me. :) Titus is working harder than ever, losing sleep over church and his job, but seems incredibly happy. I think he's really enjoying spending time with his girlfriend, Naomi. They've been dating just over a month I think. Naomi has a new-ish job, and is smiley and sporting the cutest jewelery as always. Dalton is back from Briarcrest... drove all the way from Saskatchewan (what a guy!) to visit with Lesley for a couple days before heading off to see his family. Lesley is the one with amazing patience. Her job demands it, and she's humble about it. :) Dan... what is new with Dan? His trip to Vermont was cancelled, which is why he was able to come with us. So yeah, we caught up... it was so much fun. Here's to more good times in Cobourg. I'll be praying for these guys and gals. Blessings in the new year!

New things are happening in the house, too. My dad recently had an accident at work with a grinder. He cut his leg really badly and had to go in for surgery. He's doing a lot better now, getting around pretty well with crutches. And SO, he's "reevaluating things". I heard those words and my ears perked up. What does that mean for him? Well, disappointing as it is, the first thing he mentionned was that he's not going to leave his Corvette in a garage somewhere. He wants to park it closer to home. It's worth a lot of money, and not just the money, it's in really amazing condition, and is not replaceable. A couple other things... he's sticking to hanging out with just two of his friends, Ruth and an English lady named Kathy. That sounds promising. Thirdly, he has been discussing spiritual stuff with the nurse that has been coming to visit, to check up on him and give him antibiotics. He said she confused him with her idea that Christian spirituality, a walk with God, is different from religiosity. Hopefully that'll get cleared up in his head, and he'll understand the idea of a personal decision. This is a new idea: that the motivation for seemingly "religious activities" (reading the bible, praying) isn't out of obligation, but a relationship of love.

I've talked a lot about the outside stuff... as for me, I'm doing well. I'm enjoying being here. My dad's really laidback. He loves that I've got friends in the area. He's really smart, and I've learned lots from him. And, he put me on his car insurance, so I've been driving! WOOOO!
If you reading this, I'd appreciate prayer. Trips home often mean spiritual lows for me. I want to stay "afloat"! ...Thanks :).

The CLicking Factor

Have you ever met someone you immediately click with?

This afternoon on the train back to Montreal I was planning to study. I had my notes out, four and a half hours to fill, and the guy beside me was quiet: half asleep, listening to his MP3 player. Things couldn't have been more perfect. But when we stopped in Cobourg, my sleeping friend got off the train and this gorgeous girl got on, and decided she would sit beside me.

I was a little frustrated when she started up a conversation, but soon realized that I was in for a treat. We chatted the entire way to Montreal. I think I looked back at my books twice during the ride, but don't regret not studying. Jen is really... real. She has an incredibly beautiful personality and it just makes her that much more physically attractive. She's intelligent and funny. She's strong, but at the same time open about her weaknesses. She's a genuine person.

She grew up in Montreal, the eldest of 6 girls. Her family now lives in Cobourg. She grew up with loving parents, but wasn't close with her father. She longs for male attention the way I do. She's had her heart broken once or twice. She wants to find a Godly man and get married, but feels she isn't grown up enough yet. She shared with me some of the stuff that she feels still needs working on. This girl is going to make a great wife and mother someday. We talked about school, family, love, broken hearts :'(, and a lot of God stuff. It was just what I needed. She reminded me of God's power, his sovereignty.

I don't know how to describe it, but there's something special about the connection we have. Something that transcends regular relationships. She's someone who I could be really good friends with. I sure hope we stay in touch.

What is that Clicking Factor? Why I am so drawn to this one person who I met on a train? Does the clicking factor change for connections between members of the opposite sex?

So I've been at home (my first home = Oshawa) for the past four days. How much work would you guess I've gotten done? Uhh... that'd be next to none. Hey, I'm a poet and didn't even know it!
It's all good though... I've had a chance to catch up with my mom and with old friends, RELAX (so important!), sleep lots and think about life.
I went out for coffee downtown TO. today with an old friend. We danced together for a summer or two and she's a great person to be around. She's so optimistic and just seems to be loving life. I gravitate towards these kinds of people, especially when I need a boost of energy.
Some days I wish I had pursued dance as a career. Dance performance students at Ryerson have it good. My friend is a gorgeous dancer (because of her natural talent I'm sure, but the training at Ryerson is pretty stellar), and gets to produce and perform a lot of her own works on a professional stage. This is her last year, and she doesn't have any set plans for the future, but with the training that she's got, she's surely going to do something magnificent! Go Kiri Go!
I suppose there's still hope for the dancing electrical engineering student...


Anyways... something else I've been thinking about, actually, can't keep my mind off of, is this new movie "The Fountain".
I would recommend it to anyone who loves artsy, thinking movies, but also those with a concrete, structured mind like mine. I can't even really describe to you the plot (it's complicated), but it all revolves around the pursuit of immortality, and the belief that the legendary "Tree of Life" from the Bible still exists. Greed is a huge theme, and it has really made me look at my life at realize that more value needs to be put on relationships. It is an incredible movie. Go see it!