:: Monday, December 27, 2004 ::

Kudos to Mike Mak for all these awesome pics! You can get the rest on his website: http://dhsonline.org/mike . This is XTREME sledding, NTCBC style. It was SO Dangerous... and my ribs are killing me. I landed on Richard's head... and I'm still recovering.

:: Jesse 12:58 AM

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What a great time. R-L: Kenneth, Will, Gerrome, Dennis, Me, Nevin, Elaine, Bernard, Jensen, Erica and Richard

:: Jesse 12:56 AM

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That's me with the Chinese head.

:: Jesse 12:55 AM

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... I don't think we expected this much airtime...

:: Jesse 12:54 AM

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...HAHAAH and away we crash.

:: Jesse 12:54 AM

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Crazy.... our first attempt at a voltron run... link arms, 9 guys... and a Stanley Cup to win it all.

:: Jesse 12:54 AM

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...That's 9 guys on 3 sleds. Dennis is still holding the stanley cup....

:: Jesse 12:53 AM

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... pieces pieces everywhere.

:: Jesse 12:52 AM

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Oh shoot... didn't get off to a good start...

:: Jesse 12:52 AM

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.... and ouch... Bernard gets sandwiched between Ken and I.

:: Jesse 12:52 AM

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Kenneth and his Dr.Seuss Hat

:: Jesse 12:51 AM

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Richard on his GT snow racer. Note... he is completely airborne.

:: Jesse 12:50 AM

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This is my HO mobile... it's so dangerous. You can't really steer at all with this one.

:: Jesse 12:49 AM

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Another one of Dennis' pyscho aerial moves (big wipe out afterwards)

:: Jesse 12:49 AM

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Kenneth and his devilish stunts! Look at that vertical!

:: Jesse 12:48 AM

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Dedication, love and perseverance

It was just a few months ago that I was notified that a friend of mine from first year Rez had a sad and tragic incident in her life. Her mother had suffered from a severe set of strokes and was near comatose lying in the hospital. I was so deterred by the busyness of school and clinic that I was soon enough swayed from thinking about it again or doing something about it.

The holidays gave me a second chance to check up on this friend. I had never seen someone close to my age endure a setback like this in their life, and I was absorbing every reaction and emotion that she carried across this hard time. There, in Providence Healthcare Centre, lay a mother of 3, who was slowly recovering from a severe stroke that left her unable to eat, unable to control excretory function, unaware of whether or not her eyesight was still present, limited to simple communication, and a side of her body completely devoid of control. Over this poor mother was a daughter who stayed hours by her side, poured out her dedication despite the consistent physical abuse she received from unaware reflexes, and a perseverance that led her to quit her job and devote all her energy and time to invest in a slim hope that one day her mother would be able to function again.

I stood there in the hospital room watching that dedication and realizing that I had none of that inside me. What love. What proven love. I often speak of the necessity to show love and yet there I was, frozen in my footsteps, unable to speak, unable to understand this love, this dedication, this hope for good... would I be able to do the same? Could I truly understand this friend and support her during this time of need? Sure, I'll pray for you... what does that mean? What on earth could I possibly do?

The Christmas holidays has given me a chance not only to slow down, but to realize, Christ loves us, and even more so, her. Christ walked this earth and saw all the need, all the despair, and He felt it, and He knew what He could do about it. He brought us hope, He gave us life, and that is the answer to all my iniquities. Amen.

:: Jesse 1:25 AM

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Muuuuuuuwah.

:: Jesse 11:28 PM

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Ken and Anne's baby! Mayah Foo. Look at the dimples... such a resemblance to both of em. So many babies. So little time.

:: Jesse 11:28 PM

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Ohhh... what a cute baby. I think she looks like a Bananas in Pajamas.

:: Jesse 11:27 PM

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The love of my life... her name is Priscilla, and she's really cool.

:: Jesse 9:27 AM

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By the way, this is my new cousin. His name is Xavier and he's a mixie! He's the cutest thing ever. I'm so excited to go back home and check out how big and fat he will be. Karyn almost ate a picture of him. He's really chubby and cute and wobbly. I want to eat him too.

:: Jesse 11:11 PM

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I'm having some major internet problems here. 3Web is a horrible company! I'm going monkeys... monkeys... monkeys everywhere... I'm seeing things, aren't I?

:: Jesse 1:09 AM

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Thomas and Becky at ACF banquet 2003. Awww aren't they cute?

:: Jesse 1:54 PM

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This is them a year later... my... how puffy your cheeks are!!!

:: Jesse 12:55 PM

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This is them 2 years later... puffy cheeks and all still. hahaha.

:: Jesse 1:51 AM

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Oh Karyn, we miss you so much here in London... we miss your concern for others, your devotion in prayer, your silly attitude, your lack of attention span, your improving cooking skills and most of all, your company!

:: Jesse 12:54 AM

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A night at Dorothy's for some Christmas Carolling... Darana and Theresa.

:: Jesse 11:37 AM

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Starbucks is my new best friend.

First it was Periodicals A. Sir Weldon, you were good to me for 5 years. However, with my new study partners: Yang, Matthew, Dave and Nancy, I'm finding the mellow jazz tunes and coffee grind at Starbucks a new motivation. There's something about that place that makes me just relax about my academics. Why be so strung up and itching for breaks at the library when the music is ongoing and relaxing all the time? In the last 3 days I've had some of the best marathons of studying at that place... I think I was sitting down once for 4 hours straight. That almost doubled my previous record! I'm so figgity that I can't stay still for long.

Ahhh 3 more exams left. I'm realizing that I don't care much about marks anymore. I'd rather learn these things and be a good dentist. Would knowing that a certain disease appears some obscure fraction of the time causing some obscure percentage of change in some obscure tissue? I dunno... all I know is that I'm tired of regurgitation. Gotta cut down what I'm trying to shove in this noggin of mine cuz I'd rather remember stuff for a bit longer.

One thing is scary though, I'm almost going to be a dentist. The learning is getting exponential, and every day I learn something I didn't know of yesterday... and boy I'm expected to really learn and absorb while I can... while my sponge is still soggy.

There have been the unexpected joys of exam studying. I'm no longer stuck in a 7am arrive at school time schedule... this is the first time I've been able to breathe in a long time. Lyndon (dental resident) came over to jam on our electric guitars... and boy I realize that I don't know a single thing about my guitar. Gotta practice more and more! woohoo.

Yay... the 17th is almost here!!!!

:: Jesse 1:54 AM

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I took the Pocky Personality Test and this is what I got...

what flavor pocky are you?

:: Jesse 1:08 AM

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Yay... I love this time of the year. Pam and Roger's Christmas gathering potluck! I've been so thankful and blessed and priveledged to have such sweet fellowship. The Lord has been faithful since day one and has never let me down! Tonight we not only shared in really delicious food, but in worship, in sharing, in the word... seeing how incredible it is to be in heaven... worshipping the Lord with the multitudes around but having that chance here in London!

I was thinking about how it was just 6 years ago... going to my first potluck at Pam and Roger's, and being so intimidated with the old folk... now I feel closer than family with them! Tonight was one of those nights that are "wonder years" like, where I know one day when I look back I will be able to run in from beginning to end... in technicolour :).



A rare shot of Anita actually smiling, and Cora preppin the food.



Me and Dorothy, a new music masters student... who played Dorothy in Wizard of Oz for TC one year... I'll never forget that. Cora mentioned that we look like brother and sister cuz we're both so tall... er... Cora... not everyone who's tall looks related.



Darana, Jasper and I. It's really cool to see Darana and Jasper here in London... yay more old people to make me feel younger!



Cora, me, Jasper and Justin. Chompin on some food.



Alas... who is the real santa? ho ho ho

The gallery is updated with pics from tonight.

:: Jesse 10:54 PM

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Alas... roomie returns in time for some yummy home cooked food.

:: Jesse 1:15 AM

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Noooooooooooooooooooooo

I got a stomach attack again... looks like the pressure and stress from this semester caught me at the end. It was 7 weeks since my last attack, so I'm quite thankful that I lasted this long without having to endure all those nasty crampy feelings.

Sitting here, studying at my notes, and watching the hours pass by, I've been experiencing these momentary lapses where I lose all concentration on simple things. I was talking to Mark (yay... he's back from Windsor!), and I lost track of how many cups of rice I was putting in the rice cooker, twice. Then I forgot how many cups of water I was supposed to add in relation to the rice (I make rice on a weekly basis). Then as I was pouring in the water, I lost track of how many cups I had put in, twice.

Sometime it scares me how poor my short term memory is. And even right now I for some reason still can't remember how many cups of water to rice I'm supposed to add. I think it's 1.5:1 ? Man... and making it every week too! Gosh... I think my mind has had to be so on the ball during clinic that with simple tasks I'm quite oblivious to them.

This term has been very stressful. Balancing long long days (+10 hours), responsibility as a professsional student, trying to take care of my health, getting adequate sleep, reading the word, and spending time with others... boy I'm glad the holidays are here. Never anticipated a break like this in my life. Yet at the same time, I don't want to watch this life pass by and realize that I didn't fulfil the things that were in front of me. As a dear friend advised me, "Don't look so much into the future, the present is here in front of you... and go on." That advice has kept me going in this hard hard time.

I want to have more control over the things I do instead of watching myself from above making mistakes, saying the wrong things and doing wrong things to others... that I believe the Lord has given me the ability to grasp and believe. No defeat... victory in these little things too!

Ugh... and victory in studying... gosh... gonna slay these exams!

:: Jesse 8:45 PM

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