RIP Billy

Well, I guess I should be celebrating today upon the jubilant news that my arch nemesis has died. In any situation this would be great news. The hunted has outlived the hunter. The hero of the story has outlived his antagonist and become the decorated hero he was destined to be. Then why is this once hunted hero sad? COuld this vile creature not have been my worst enemy. And if not, then why didn't I figure this out before and repair the damaged relationtionship? Okay, enough with the artsy figurative language, it's time to get to the point. The beloved family bird passed away today. He was slowly getting sicker and less energetic so we knew he was going to go soon, but it still feels like a loss even though we had come to terms with the situation months ago.

If you dont know Billy or any of our past tropical birds, he was quite the chatter-box at the worst of times. The best was when he would mess up his phrases and say things that either dont make sense or are a little off-colour (those are my favourite ;)). For example, he would mix up "Art is bald" with "Jesus loves me" and get "Jesus is bald". Who knows, maybe He was and the bird is smarter than the creators of the Jesus videos who always present Jesus as a white male with long dark hair and a beard and nice eyes...white robe with a red sash and the arms wide open in a welcoming way.

Here's to you Billy. From being a good sport during hockey games chearing on the home team to my music critic when practising the piano and always keeping us entertained by riding on heads instead of shoulders and pooing on unwanted company (always a good laugh...after they leave..).

Boersma out!

Hockey pool update: since the first round is very much over I am proud to say I dominated the Boersma clan with a whopping 51 points thus proving that not only am I the most knowledgable hockey fan in the family at predicting the stars (I'm gonna get it if someone in my family reads this) but also that Elias is my new best friend. (Ebay kinda messed up by not changing my choices for the second round so I stepped down until round 3 cus right now im stuck with a bunch of players and Kiprusof who arent even in the playoffs anymore. So much for winning overall out of lots of people...but there's prizes for each round too.)

Violated

I am here to report a felony..I think that's how you spell that. Yesterday night our family car got broken into and they took our stereo and went through my wallet that was wedged between some seats. He or she I guess took all my $5 in loose change and an expired movie pass and took everything out of my wallet. All of which I thought I got back until I looked this morning. I had felt kind of liberated that they didn't get a credit card or anything of much value because that was what they wanted. Instead, all of my friends grad pictures and I think I had a leftover of mine in there are gone. What kind of sick pervert takes stuff like that. I mean, go ahead and take my money, steal the whole car if you want, but don't take something that is of no monetary worth to you. But they mean alot to me. These are my friend's beautiful faces that I am barred to look at in black-and-white in the yearbook with no personal comments to me. The money I can get back, these pictures I can't. Thanks a lot PERVERT!!!

Sorry for the downer, I'm just a little annoyed right now. Better times later.

Take the Plunge

Well, i did it. I made it through my first year of university with scars to prove it. Today was my last final and I now begin the longest summer holidays of my life. Will I get bored? probably. With a dead-end job at McDonald's which I'm hoping to can upon the acceptance to a new work place, and the lack of my favourite hockey team in the playoffs (that's the Canucks by the way) I'm stuck watching hours of playoff hockey that could bore you to tears. For example, the Flames vs. the Ducks game today...it wasnt even exciting! Why do I put myself through the torture of watching teams that knocked my "home-boys" out of the playoff race (how I loathe them) well it's quite simple really. This year I've discovered a beautiful thing called a hockey pool. All you have to do is select your ultimate roster, watch them rock and then rake in the prizes...or at least I'm hoping that's what happens. Although, I think I will get the same amount of joy, if not more, from the mere satisfaction of defeating my siblings. Bragging rights are prime and so sweet especially when you lack the "age and maturity" of your older family members. Who am I proud of today? My good budies Joe Thornton, Dany Heatly and Jason Spezza...keep bringing in the gold guys. These guys could sinlge- or triple- handedly win me an ipod (again vain hopes). What sweet sweet victory.

Evidence that I am the coolest first-year at university of all time (and by cool I mean biggest loser):

- turning off the lights in the Bio lab and asking Adana if the power went out, then realizing it was me.
- being the only one in a huge lecture hall laughing when my math prof stated very matter-of-factly that he loves hazlenut truffles. 9you have to know a bit about my prof to know why thats so funny...i'll leave you guessing)
- falling up the stairs...twice...in a row...ya im a loser
- having the doors of the skytrain close on my backpack
- hitting a prof in the shoulder (there's a story behind that, I dont just go around hitting people)

and soooo many more

ya so thats about it. Yay for summer vacation and 3 cheers for playoffs.

boersma...out!

Jesus, dont let me forget you

"'We are punished justly for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.'Then he said, 'Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.'
Jesus answered him, 'I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paridise.'"

Luke 23:41-43

"The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, 'Surely this man was the Son of God!'"

Mark 15:38-40

Was Jesus forgetful? The request of the man on the cross next to Christ seemed to think so as he poses his request..."Jesus, remember me." A request I'm sure we can all relate to. We don't want to be forgotten by God and no matter how much God assures us He knows us each by name, we still need the affirmation that He wont forget about us. Somehow, I dont see this being likely. Jesus was Lord of the lowlifes, the tax collectors, sinners, prostitutes, you name it. He seeked these people out and treated them with respect, the criminal on the cross included.
I think there is a bit of that criminal in all of us. We follow the crowd and hurl insults at others like snowballs. But then we step back and think, hey wait, this isn't right. Im sorry God, please remember me. Dont forget about me.

We have little to worry about when it comes to God remembering us. He knows every detail about us. It would be like a father forgetting he ever had a child. But what if we turn the statement around? "Jesus, help me not forget you when you come into your kingdom."

Just somthing to think about.

Easter side note:

For those wondering, yes, my mom did offer to hide the easter eggs for us yet again, it's actually kind of amusing. And yes, I am the youngest in my family...the oldest is 24...too old for an easter egg hunt with the same hididng spots in the living room as the past decade? Tell that to my mom (who is an elementary school teacher, if that explains anything). Maybe my family's just wierd, but i get chocolate out of it, i just have to work for it.

till next time

boersma

Evolve This!

Well...I'm almost done my first year of university (1 week left of classes) and that means I have nearly survived 1 semester of BIO 102.

If you can read this picture kudos to your eyes, if not here's the low-down. This is the result of a very boring class, Elly needing to vent, and a sudden urge to learn to write left-handed. Of all the courses I've taken in my university career (there hasn't been many - 8?) this has got to be the worst. You see, this course is all about ecology and evolution, 2 topics I have little to no interest in studying in depth.

I must say though, studying evolution from a non-creationist perspective has gotten me really thinking about my worldview about how and if evolution really takes place, and if so, why? It's interesting to see how the process of evolution scientificly is very similar to the "days" of creation. I'm not gonna get into the whole evolution thing here 'cause I think that would just make a long post even longer.
We have discussions in labs on evolution and it's interesting because at my table in the lab, there's a Muslim, a Hindu, 2 atheists, and me, so we get a variety of opinions and a pretty good debate. Even with this, this class bores me to death and I am barely passing, but hopefully i can pull it together cus this lab is needed for bio majors. If i dont pass....bring on the Kinesiology baby! It's way more fun anyway.
highlights of bio 102:
watching fighting fish go at it
touching a praying mantis - those are wierd bugs!
playing with neanderthal skuls - "dont we look alike?"
aaaaaaaand nothing else comes to mind. 3 months and thats all i had to show for it

boersma out!

p.s. Embarassing Moment!!
So I met my friend nici in the hallway one day and we were talking about my Kinesiology anatomy exam coming up where we have to know bones muscles etc as well as joint movements. So here we are in the SFU hallway doing horizontal flexion (taking extended arm and moving it so your upper arm touches your chest) and I was like "oh ya and there's horizontal extension" as I am saying this, I move my arm so it is pointing horizontally away from me. At this very moment one of the SFU profs walks by and I end up just wailing him in the shoulder. He didnt even flinch! He just kept on walking and I was just like "sorry" and then we burst out laughing. So funny, but so embarrassing, luckily in a school that big, he shouldnt remember me enough to hold a grudge. Phew

"Are you a Christian?"

So, I was at work today taknig a guys order. Ater I gave his his change, he asked me if I was a Christian. Curious as to why, thinking of the song "they will know we are Chrsitians by our love" and pondering if I look like a Christian and, if so, what do Christians look like? I said "Ya, I am. how did you know?". He then pointed at my wristband (make poverty history) and said that was why. He started talking about how his pastor was going to get him one too. So, seeing the common interest in the wellfare of fellow man posed the comment, "Well it is a good cause, for a good organisation." And he said, "Well I wouldn't call it an organisation as such,it's faith." Processing what he said, I ended our conversation with "yes, it is faith, but faith in numbers."

He smiled and walked away with fries in tow, which would seem to be the sole goal of the McDonalds corporation. "Come hungry, leave happy." But I think it was something more. I think he knew he got me thinking about what he said about how it isnt necessarily some sort of organisation set on eliminating world poverty, but that it's a whole lot more.

The elimination of poverty has always seemed like a foreign goal to me, even Jesus told his desciples that "the poor will always be with you." How can we then eliminate poverty all together?

THe customer left me with more than that however. I've been thinking about the reason why he knew I was a Christian. Should the only way of knowing be by the things we wear or the causes we stand for? Can people actually see something different in me? A lot of the time I dont think so. I dont always act the way I should or I do things that I regret. I just encourage anyone who reads this, including myself to try to show to others that you are a Christian by the things that you do and the love that you show.

all for now

boersma out!

ode to pets

...is that a lion? Actually, if all my computer abilities are half as good as I expect them to be, you will see this is one wierd lion. This breed of lion hails from the lowly whalley ghetto. She is one-of-a-kind and the only lion that likes to chase cats. Infact, this fantastic feline is not actually a cat at all. This is none other than the Boersma family dog. This is a Boersma no doubt. Long nose, black and white markings..?...an odd pungent odour, and shockingly good looks. The king of the beasts will rule again in the body of Sadie. This Lab (black lab...if you couldn't tell) cross pitbull...every whalley dog has at least some pitbull in it...my guess is there's a stray one thats really gettin' around to all the ladies if you know what I mean ;)...is the magical mutt known as my family dog.



Since this is an odes to pet plural, I guess I should make some mention of my arch-nemesis the "family" bird. Family in quotations because I like to disown this mad creature of death shown here. Dont be decieved by his calm demeanor and miniscule size. With the blink of an eyelash this sweet little songbird turns into a ruthless killing machine with long talons and a wicked-sharp beak. He likes to suck people in with his casual conversation starters like "hello Billy" and "I like you" and "I am Canadian"...he is quite the charmer, but he lies . This native Australian claims ownership of a country he doesnt belong to. He saya he likes you... then bites you. He follows movies cathphrases like "Hakuna Matata" with a demeaning "Art is bald" (my dad likes to believe that's a lie). But all these negative aspects are completely ignored by me when he pulls a Billy and poos on someones head, or eats food off the dining room table, or falls into the kitchen sink and spends the rest of the day sulking in his cage. He even attempts to have a simbiotic relationship with the dog, trying to land on its head, but that is just completely unnatural. This is Billy...you love him and you hate him all at the same time.


Boersma out!

And now for something completely random...

quote of the day:

"If I ever ace anything in chem, I think I am going to wet myself"

(Elly's take on university)

water polo for the lazy at heart

Well...I'm sitting here at school...and bored out of my mind. hmmm...school and bored, nothing new here I see. I can't find Jackie, so I went to a computer lab so I dont feel like a loser haha. With so many people in one big place, it's hard to find someone you know, and not every person is sociable enough to keep a conversation going. But I'm not going to get into "the people of SFU" here..I'll leave that for a later post. (I was people watching the other day and you wouldn't believe how amusing it can be)

But anyways, I want to tell you about a beautiful thing named inner-tube water polo. It's like Dairy queen icecream cake...who knew the 2 best desserts (icecream and cake) could come together in such a wonderful marriage to make me happy. Anyways, inner-tube water polo is offered as a intramural sport here at SFU and Jackie and I thought it sounded amazing, so we went to sign up, believing the inner-tube's sole purpose was to make it so we wouldnt have to expend as much energy treading water. But wow were we wrong....what a work-out! You actually have to sit in the tube and balance yourself so you dont fall out when you're throwing the ball, and then paddle like crazy with your arms and legs. Wow you get so sore, muscles start cramping but you just fight through the pain and keep going. You get so tired, butit's crazy fun and it looks hillarious to see these big muscular guys flailing their arms to paddle to the loose ball. My main issue is getting back in the tube once I've fallen out in the deep-end. It's so much easier when it's shallow. My team is crazy too...wow good times.

Everyone should get the honour of playing this magical sport at one point in their lifetime. one of these days it will become world-renown and become an olympic sport and the Olympics wont know what hit 'em.

till next time....mwa haha

boersma out!

A finished product

Well..this past Christmas holiday, I set out to do something I have never accomplished before in my life - finish a cross-stitch. I know it sounds lame...but that's just how I am sometimes..lame. So, I went out to a store and actually spent about 4 bucks on this thing, but I have pictures to prove that I did finish it. Even though it didn't take me very long to complete (the thing was pretty small, but I didnt want to feel like a loser in the store buying a learn-to-stitch kid's guide, so this was the best I could do) it feels good to have finished one. And now I have to confidence to believe that it is possible for me to do something constructive rather than destructive all the time. I'm branching out ;) haha.
But thinking about it, a project this small gave me so much satisfaction because it isn't what I usually do. It's not a comfortable thing for me to sit still and focus for a while, but knowing I could complete something that is difficult to me made me happy.

This makes me think about the new project that FVC is doing in funding a school in Sierra Leone. Stepping out of the comfort zone to do something, that just like my cross-stitch, has possibly been contemplated but never completely attempted. I think its an awesome way to spread God's love to people around the globe. Just like Jesus said "Whatever you do for the least of my people, you do for Me". Who needs the money more? In the future it would be great to see sports teams and school groups from FVC to go to this budding school in Sierra Leone and show the people that we aren't just people with really full wallets, but really full hearts as well.

BYOBs: Bring Your Own Bus stop

Don't you just wish sometimes that city buses could cater to your schedule? That they could be like a taxi, but just a whole lot cheaper. And then wherever you need a ride, whenever, you can set out your own personal bus stop on the side of the road and a bus will come running. Like the bus thing on the third Harry Potter...he just sits at the side of the road and a bus comes speeding to him. Unlike the movie, I am willing to pay the bus fare, it doesn't have to be free, I just wish it was more convenient.

This came up the other day. I had to go shopping for my sister's birthday which was yesterday (Happy Birthday Cath ;)) and I had no car to take, so my only options was walking for a long time or taking the bus. I opted for the bus. Now the bus to my area is not very reliable. It often drives past me because it gets too full and it only come every hour. It is also nice however, that it takes me straight to Guildford mall almost as fast as driving.
So...I go to Guildford, pick something up from the Body Shop (yay for sales!!) and then I decide to take the 320 bus to Surrey Central so I can go to some of the stores in a little strip-mall called "The Dell" in lovely downtown Whalley. This is about a 5-10 minute walk from Surrey Central, probably closer to 5...and then another 5 minutes or so to walk to the bus stop that takes me to my house. I look at my watch and see that I have an hour, so i figure it will be about 20 minutes walking so i can get to the bus stop a few minutes early. That leaves me 40 minutes to shop. Now, if you have ever been to the Dell, you will know as well as I do that 40 minutes is too long..it feels more like 4 hours. I was out of there in about 15 minutes. Then I walked to the bus stop only to look at my watch and see that the bus didn't come for another 25 minutes. I can walk home from there in 25 minutes so grumpily i walked home thinking about having a bus just stop for me nicely on the side of the road so i can use my free transit pass for the trip home.

Sometimes I wish life could be more convenient like that as well. As much as I grudgingly walked home from Surrey Central Station, I felt good when I got home for the nice excercise. It wasn't raining, not that cold either, but I didnt take the time to enjoy it because I felt so inconvenienced. I think we need to look at our lives the same way. Just because things dont go as planned, and everything seems to be going wrong, we need to realize that it is not these events that are inconveniencing us from doing what we really want to, but that these events came up for a reason. It is God telling us that He, not I, the He is in control. He wants us to slow down and appreciate the wonders around us, and then all those stickysituations and time when we are so frustrated will just seem wierd. I mean, who ever comes up with an idea like a personal bus stop anyways?

Update: A friend from work asked me to pray for her friends father and to ask others to pray as well. Her friends dad had a brain infection and was given 48 hours to live. Well, that was 4 days ago, and after many prayers spoken I was talking to her yesterday and, miracle of miracles, he is recovering. He now responds to people talking by turning his head and opens his eyes, although his vision is quite blurred. And he's been moving his fingers too. So please just keep praying he will make a full recovery.

Thats all for this pretty long post....till next time

boersma out

A start of something new

Here we are in the beginning of a new year. Does it feel any different? No, not really. Not much changes in the span of a few days, but looking back over the years, you can see that those subtle, over-looked changes are important and happen. Have I changed much from a week ago? I really doubt it, but if I were to look back at myself in January of 2005, I think I would see a bit of a difference. Change is good. It brings out the hope for new beginnings and starting fresh.

I'm not going to get too insightful here, after all it is only 11:00 AM and I'm still rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

So, here lies my first blog of 2006 and my first ever blog. Expect to see more of these over the year from me as I need a scape-goat when procrastinating on doing my homework. And you can expect future blogs to be more interesting because hopefully I will write them when I'm more awake. That's all for now.
hope you had a good New Years.

Boersma out