Houses For Sale

While I walked around Commercial Drive yesterday, I dropped by two houses that went up for sale a few days ago.  Both are on 4th Avenue (1900 block).

This house is going for $800K+:































This house is going for $700K+:































Snowy 4th Ave:
















Park at Victoria and 4th:

Snowy Commercial Drive

This morning I went out for coffee with Leigh. Very lovely. More on that another time.....

After coffee I went for a walk on Commercial Drive and surrounding neighbourhoods. It'd snowed last night, so there was about 10cms of snow on the ground. Here are a few pictures I took.

Invitation

I got an invitation to visit with Clau this Monday, together with her mother, and her brother Mariano who are visiting from Bolivia. I haven't spoken with her since before Christmas and have decided to meet up with her, even though it'll be a painful and confusing event.

Human relations can sometimes be so painful. If I could ever get a hold of (control) my emotions I'd probably do ok in relationships but that skill eludes me. Or maybe the problem is that I'm not willing to let go of my emotions. Maybe I guard myself so much (ie - I've built a wall around myself) that I'm impenetrable from the outside. Not sure which of the two describes me. Maybe both, maybe neither.

Either way, I'm convinced that this ongoing burden is God's way of teaching me to identify with the human suffering all around me. We are broken pots, badly in need of the mending hands of the Potter.

I'm anxious and anguished about Monday night.

On a different note, today is mom's birthday. Happy birthday mom: may God's richest blessings continue to shower upon you. I look forward to visiting with family tomorrow afternoon and evening.

Madredeus

I've been listening to Madredeus lately:

Haungtingly beautiful.
Peaceful.
Full of lament and longing.
Angelic.
Melancholic.
Elegant.
Dignified.
Stirring the soul.
Nostalgic.
Disarming.
Soothing.


My favourite songs are:

Adoro Lisboa
A Andorinha da Primavera
Ao Longe o Mar
A Vaca do Fogo
O Pastor

Frozen

I'm not sure having as many vocational options as we do nowadays is a good thing. What should I do? I feel numb, unable to decide where to next.

* Work among the urban poor? If so, do I get a "regular" job in the marketplace?
* Pursue ordination in the Anglican Church of Canada? Given the state of apostacy in this church, is it worth it? Do I fight from within or without?
* Do I move overseas for missionary work?

I wish someone just said to me "Cub, your father was an electrician, therefore, you're going to be one too."

No Clau

It's been almost 3 weeks since Clau and I last spoke on the phone. I miss her.

I saw her on the weekend twice (soccer, and at the airport to say bye to "Pekos" Karla), but it was in a group setting, and we didn't really catch up.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have Mercy on me, a sinner.

Stay In Your Cell

I got my new Mac laptop today. The 2nd in 2 weeks. I hope this one makes it past week 1.

I'm realizing that I have a horrible addiction to the internet. It's a sad situation, really, and not having access to the internet for the better part of the last 6 weeks has taught me to live with myself. As one of the famous desert fathers said once, "Stay in your cell. Your cell will teach you everything." So that's what I've been doing.

The past few weeks I've been out of reach for most people: no internet, no email, and no online chatting. I still had my phone(s), but nowadays nobody uses the phone anymore, so I felt like a hermit living in the city. There was a 4-day stint where I only spoke to 1 person per day. It was kinda lonely and boring at first, but then I realized that as Henri Nouwen says, "if you don't have anything to do, you might as well pray", and that's what I did.

Now, a few weeks later, I feel more at peace, with myself, with the world, and with God. Getting on my knees and praying is actually a relief, not a chore. I love doing it. Maybe I should get rid of my laptop.....

As I Thought...

...my replacement Mac needs to be replaced, because it has a defect. A new one will be shipped to me tomorrow.

I like Mac software (as in .. it's more intuitive and smoother to navigate than PC software), but man, Mac hardware's horrible. Absolutely horrible.

Macs Suck

I bought a MacBook last February, and wrote about the conversion here. At this point I must say I regret my conversion. I've had nothing but troubles with this piece of sh*t.

Since the purchase, I've had 2 audio port problems, plus a dvd drive problem. I got a replacement laptop two weeks ago.

Now, a week after receiving the replacement laptop, I have a problem with it again: the audio port is gimped.

In the past 6 weeks I've only had use of a laptop about 1 week and a half. Nice ....

07/08 NYE

This year's New Year's Eve was somewhat quieter than in previous years.

I may come to regret not having a party as I did the past two years, but I just wasn't up to something loud and flashy. My heart's not in the right frame of mind for something like that. I just don't have the energy to party, nevermind organizing a party.

Having said that, I am glad that I did spend the evening with a few friends from the soccerinos. I went to Taki's Taverna for a lovely Greek dinner, and afterwards we went to Tatiana's for a "brindis" with some sparkling wine. Here are a few pics from the evening:

At Taki's (note the feast). From left to right, Cub, Tatiana, Benja, Aram (?), Ruben, and Juanjo:

At Tatiana's for "brindis" after dinner: Benja, Ruben, Aram, Tati, Cub, and Juanjo.

Paul And Jenny

Had lunch with James, Paul and Jenny today. It was great to say P and J, since I rarely see them. They moved to Texas almost a year ago. Mind you, even before they moved south, I rarely saw them.

Here's a pic of us at my favourite resto in Vancouver: Al-Watan. Khalid, the cook, joined us for the pose.

Glenayre Reunion @ Anton's

Tonight we went for an Italian feast at Anton's. So yummmmmmy.....

From left to right: Cub, Judy, Fred, Peter, Tyson, and Gonnie:
















I'm thankful to be able to keep in touch with the Glenayre gang. I miss them. They're great friends.

Pesebre

I got a nativity set for Christmas. It's quite big, but I like it. It's past the advent season, and indeed, christmas has come and gone, but I'll put it up nonetheless and keep it up until the day of Epiphany on January 6th. Here are a few pics I took of the scene, after I put it up in my apartment.

Daytime:















Nightime:















Next year I'll put it up on the first day of Advent.

Christmas With Family

This Christmas was like last Christmas: good. Even with Ted/Karin and family's escapade to Asuncion, the rest of us here in the wetlands had a festive time with family. I stayed the night at my parents' place. Here's how I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Christmas Eve:
* 6:30pm - went to my parents' church for a children's program. It was a good program, a typical North American "musical performance" that had a lot of props and lights and even video streaming, but not too much of a theological backbone. The kids, however, were super excited and enthused about the program, and that was great to see.
* 8pm - dinner at mom and dad's. Heinz, Melanie and family came also. Great dinner, great conversation. Thank you Lord for the blessing of family.
* 11:30pm - midnight mass at Westminster Abbey in Mission. Beautiful, as last year. The sermon was on John 1:1: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...

Christmas Day:
* 9:30am - I went to a church service at St. Matthew's Anglican Church in Abbotsford. It's a small church, but it was a great service. The officiating pastor had such a gentle yet genuine demeanour it was inspiring. I could tell he really loved the Lord and the people he was shepherding. I'm more and more convinced that the perfect church is one that has under 100 parishioners. That's the magic number, because once you have more than 100, it gets big and impersonal.
* 1pm - lunch with the whole family-gang again. Same as last night: good people, good conversation, and good food.
* 6pm - played Rook with dad, Heinz, Terence, and Tanis.

My only complaint is that we still exchange too many presents. No matter how much family members agree that "this year we'll only buy 1 present per person", the resolve is weak and without integrity. The result: everyone gets 5 presents, and those people who only buy 1 present (as agreed to previously) look like stingy idiots.

I arrived back at home in Vancouver around 11pm.

Ambiguity Leads To Alienation

I'm not happy about how things are with Clau. Over the past few months we've become more alienated from each other, even though we see each other more often than ever. Maybe that's the problem, but regardless, I don't get it.

Yesterday at Karla's party she gave me a Christmas present "in passing" .. it seemed more a duty than a real gift. I don't think she meant to hurt me but I think her actions do represent a painful alienation from me.

Months of ambiguity - are we together? are we friends? together in private, friends in public? - are finally catching up to us.

Karla's Birthday, Goodbye

Karla's time in Vancouver is sadly coming to an end. I love her genuine spirit. She'll certainly be missed around here. It was her birthday today, so she made it a 2-for-1 celebration: birthday and goodbye. She goes home to Mexico for Christmas now, then she comes back mid-January for 3 days before returning to Australia.

I wonder how Clau's going to deal with Karla's departure. Those two are so close.....

Trouble

Clau and I are in real trouble, and it breaks my heart.

Sure Enough...

... I got an email today from Carla. She knows that something's up with Clau and I, so she's asked me not to contact her. She needs space for healing.

I totally understand this. I've been in a similar situation before with Sharon. Actually, this happened to me numerous times, now that I think of it.

My guess is that our friendship's ruined.

The Carla Issue

I think Carla found out that Clau and I are considering getting together. This could spell trouble to our friendship.

U-20 World Cup Game

Today a few of us from the soccerinos went to see two U-20 futbol games:

2pm: Jordan vs. Zambia (1-1)
5pm: Uruguay vs. España (2-2)

The games were amazing, especially the second game. Uruguay played with heart, Spain with mind. Interesting that the score ended up a tie.

Here are a few pics from the soccerinos:
















Lunch at Earl's before the game (from left to right): Vero, Cub, Mario, Benja, Karla, Clau, Carla, and Connie.





















Karla and Clau.
















Halftime: Vero, Clau (sleeping), Karla, Carla, and Mario