Touch the Heart

Today I had the wonderful opportunity of going to a chinese restaurant, and not the regular white boy kind, but the legit Chinese kind. I went with my friend Scott and some of his Engineer buddies. It turns out when you go to a real restaurant they come around with carts and you just take what you like and share around the table! It's called dim sum. It was a super neat experience.

Luckily Scott's friends are experts and one of the even speaks Chinese, which helped with the whole process. We ate cool things like cow intestines, squid, some other weird chewy thing, and various dumplings. My favourite was definitely the lobster dumplings and the Chinese donut things. I have to say, I think they choices of sauces is what makes the difference, I may have enjoyed the tripe with a little hot sauce, but thats probably because I've grown up in the western world, and have a taste for familiar things.

On another note, I expanded my horizon and conquered a personal enemy as I was convinced (by Scott) to eat a piece of pineapple, yes you heard me right, pineapple, a whole piece! Turns out it wasn't as bad as I thought. Don't get me wrong, this hasn't fixed my aversion to fruit, but I think I'm making some progress!

Cheers!

The Ture Meaning of Easter

Mmmm, Easter... I love Easter. I have fond memories of being just a wee lad and waking up to an excitement, finding the baskets that the Easter bunny left for me and my siblings and what might be inside,  partaking in mysterious Easter Egg hunts, indulging in chocolate, and spending time with family. This is usually what Easter is to me, however today, I had a different experience.

Living away from home, I'm not there to enjoy being with my family and seeing the look on my siblings faces when they find those chocolates, but it allowed me to focus on something equally as important. During the Christmas season we here of "the true meaning of Christmas" but for Easter, we don't get all that hype. I'm also guilty of this and so I propose that we take a minute to reflect on "the true meaning of Easter". Easter is the time of Christ's death, and more importantly resurrection! What an awesome day to celebrate! 

Jesus suffered and died so that we might, through Him, be forgiven of our sins. Then He overcame death altogether, also opening the doors for us to do the same! What a peaceful thought, to know what happens when you die, and it's all possible through our Saviour and Redeemer. 

As you probably can tell, being away from the glam and glitz of Easter has allowed me to really focus on the spirituality of the day.

I like to share this with you because the church is a source of peace and happiness in my life, something that brings help in times of need, and therefore, how important is it for me to invite you to come and experience the wonderful things that I have experienced!

I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the church Jesus established and all we believe is true, I am thankful for the peace and happiness it brings. I know Jesus lives. He is risen!

Cheers, and God bless!

The Meaning of Life

I really enjoy life, like really, really! I hope some of you can tell. It's quite an interesting thing life. The best part is you never know where it will take you. The only thing you can do is keep up with it and enjoy the experience. I would have said "enjoy the ride" but thats too cliché, and besides, life isn't a ride, it's an adventure. You never know what trials or what happiness awaits but, just look on the bright side, the more you experience, the more you feel what it is to be alive! So though things change, friends come and go, you might move to a new place, or change your career, just smile and remember to make the most with what you have and give all you can to make the world a better place.

Cheers!

Ouch!

I have a very large knot in my back. It hurts very much. On a completely related note, I watched "The Blind Side" for the first time today, great movie!!! So tonight I was out for a run, I know, me running, what the heck! But anyhow, I realized that I used to run with my head down, always looking at the ground and really paying attention to where I was experiencing discomfort, today this has all changed! For some reason I decided to keep my head up and enjoy the experience. I noticed many things: first, the moon is awesome! I really enjoyed running by the moonlight, made me feel like a werewolf or vampire or something..... I swear I'm, normal, and no that is not a Twilight reference, it's a Vampire Diaries reference, which is significantly cooler, I'm gonna stop here, that's all I have to say. Number two is that because I was enjoying what was around me I was actually able to run longer and faster and feel good about it because I wasn't focused on the pain that running causes. Moral of the story is, keep your head up and enjoy life's experiences, and don't let the pain's drag you down. This is extremely relevant to life now in exam times, don't stress out, you can do it!! The best part is having friends to help you through those painful times, to lift your head up when you can no longer do it on your own, to run beside you and together overcome obstacles. There is nothing I would rather do than lend a helping hand, you all have a friend here, so don''t be afraid to use it!

Cheers!

Meditating 101

I just had my first experience with meditation! I feel a little light headed to say the least. My idea for meditating was quite simple, focus on my breathing. My method: lay on the floor and breath. I ended up meditating for more than half an hour! I didn't think I had it in me! Like really I don't think I have ever been able to focus for more than... oh look shiny!! Anyway I remembered one time our choir in high school had this lady come in and lead a workshop and we did some breathing exercises, I learned to think about breathing like this: there are five "chambers" for your breath; stomach, chest, upper and lower back, and sides. We learned to fill them individually and then together, so I applied that to an extreme today, I started one chamber at a time, then two at a time, then three, four and all together, it was actually surprisingly relaxing. The hardest part was the actually focus, my mind wandered off many times to, "I should probably do the dishes" and "Maybe I should actually start studying for my tests" but I just kept disciplining myself and coming back to breathing. I have to admit when I finished I was light-headed, and you know that feeling when your foot falls asleep, well my hands and my face felt like that, weird right! Maybe I have bad circulation or something, my hands are cold now. I know! I'll warm up with hot chocolate!! I love hot chocolate!! Has anyone else tried meditating recently? How did that go? Let me know! Well time to make me some cocoa!

Cheers!!

Midnight Thoughts: The Sequel

Hopefully I don't develop a habit of staying up this late writing, probably not good for my health, which reminds me, I really need to get more active, maybe start going to the gym... later... well anyway, I was watching Kung Fu Panda today, what a great movie today, and it actually has some really awesome messages in it!! But what also struck me is that it would be wicked awesome to be a kung fu master!! You could do cool flips and stuff, and be all wise and mystic! I actually was in Tae Kwon Do once upon a time, a lot of fun but I didn't stick with it. This got me thinking, is there anything that you have ever thought would be cool to do but never got around to it? Well if you answered yes then I think it is time to make a stand, lets all go out there and try something new, just to see what happens! If you have any interesting experiences let me know, or if you think of something fun that you think every one should try, just throw out ideas!

On another note, don't you just love it when people say nice things about something you've made or done, that satisfaction is the best!! I think maybe it would be sweet if we all try to tell someone at least once a day that you enjoy something they've done, or just compliment them, because how sweet would it be if everyone was complimenting everyone! The world would be a better place, guaranteed!!

Well with these new challenges hopefully I've inspired some to get out there, try something new, and compliment people. You guys are the best!!! Really.

Cheers!

Midnight Thoughts

Well, this blog and many of my recent discoveries are all brought upon by a recent surge of curiosity that has come over me. Referring back to my dictionary.com app, I looked up curiosity, and the definition is "the desire to learn or know anything" which is exactly how I have been feeling! It's fun finding words that describe feelings (wow am I a nerd or what!). But thats ok, I'm just grateful that I have the means to be able to feed my curiosity and to become more knowledgable. This also gives me the chance to share the fun things that I learn with everyone, making me feel like there is a purpose to learning! How about this, if anyone has any questions, just post them and I will try to find the answer, that way we can all learn and grow together! That is actually a sweet idea! Sounds like I'm going to be having a lot of fun in the future!

Cheers!

Now is the time!

Well I finally put my words into actions and made a blog! It feels good to follow through with a spur of the moment idea. I guess this blog's purpose is going to be for me to actually write down my ideas and to keep a record of things that I do in my life, and all in one convenient location!! I am just so glad that I have had this opportunity! I'd like to thank my mom for being a great example to me, and everyone around the table in Block 1912 when we went out for ice cream and came up with this idea, I hope I can make you all proud, but most of all I would like to thank the Academy!

On a more serious note, I think i'll start with my thoughts today. As some people know, today was the last day of classes at the U of A... Yes! I had my last psychology class today and we were discussing meditation. Anyone out there ever try some kind of meditation, if so, why did you try it, and how did it work out for you? I think it will be a good tool for studying. We talked about meditation being a way to focus your thoughts, and I was like "Great! Then I won't be thinking of flying monkeys when I should be studying physics!" For some reason I'm skeptical of the chance of success. Well it's worth a shot I suppose with exams coming up and what not. Any other suggestions on what I should be doing to prepare myself for the turmoil of exam writing?

Today I was also on Facebook and saw a post from a friend oppugning the Conservatives, and praising Elizabeth May's Green Party. This got me thinking, lately i've been trying to stay up to date on the platforms of the top parties but it seems there is a lot of misconception in the minds of my fellow students. Also the trustworthiness of the Prime Minister candidates is a HUGE topic, people keep saying things such as "I don't trust Harper" and "I trust the others less than I trust him" so it seems as though the general population is having trust issues. My point is coming, bear with me... so I think I am going to investigate, with the help of my friend the Internet, and maybe even post my findings on my new blog here! I want to get down to the root of the problem and help us all figure out who we should vote for, you know, with the upcoming election and all.

And with that we are coming to the conclusion of my first post on my blog, hope you all enjoy, but one last thing, I got a dictionary.com app on my phone, cause I'm cool like that, and it has this word of the day feature, today's word, praxis, it's meaning, practice! I thought maybe it was the gangster term but it turns out it's a real word (practice as in I practice medicine, or practicing law or whatever, not so much practicing soccer or something) but yes, it's fun learning new words!

Hope you all have a magnificent day! Cheers!