so...my office is cold because i have 2 big windows and they're old kinda, the kind you turn it to open and obviously they're not very well insulated during winter. i'm usually wearing a hat, fingerless gloves and have the portable heater on, but then i don't like to do the latter, as it dries out the space and as you all know i have to have the right amount of moisture in the air (i have to sleep with a humidifier on, but not the cold one but the hot one). anyway, lately, i've been taken to wearing a scottish wool BLANKET over my shoulder and basically covering my arms. whenever i get cold, my arms get cold and i don't know why people keep wearing vests. when i wear vests, i just get hot (in the torso) and cold (the arms). so this morning, i thought of a (one of my many) brilliant idea: a REVERSE vest, which in fact would be a ARM "vest."

i thought i was original, but alas, i am not: check out this islamic clothing on ebay. i don't think that'd be particularly warming but i guess there IS a 'reverse vest' per se.

any knitters out there who'd like to knit a REVERSE vest for me? that'd be: something like those mittens with strings so that you don't lose the other pair, so that i'd wear the arm vest through the shoulder and then "wear" through the arms. i think this could possibly be a fashion MUST item!

yes? no?

here's the fact: i love harry potter. i've read all the books and have all the dvds.

here's something HORRIBLE and STUPID (from BBC):

BBC to seek 'real' Harry Potter The BBC is to launch a reality series which will follow a group of children learning magic at a Harry Potter-style boarding school.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice, which will air later this year, will show the children learning card tricks, Latin spells and illusions.
Each week, they will perform for "magic mentors" who will judge their performances and decide who must leave.
BBC executive Anne Gilchrist thinks the show will "inspire and amaze".
Barney Harwood, who currently presents Totally Doctor Who, will front the series as the children progress.
The children watching at home will also get to learn magic tricks, in an accompanying morning series - which is yet to be named.
The magic mentors will give away their secrets and perform step-by-step guides, so children can learn and perform the tricks themselves.

i am absolutely confused.

my roomie's been going in and out of the apt quite frequently - AT NIGHT - IN HER JAMMIES whenever she's home. but usually with a coat, etc.

tonight, she came out of her dark room (see previous blog re: dark room roomie), went straight to the door in her pj's and out of the door.

WHAT"S GOING ON? Pastor J has mentioned that maybe she has an eating disorder. i wonder if she went to the back of the apt building to throw up? what's up with this? while i'm not really freaked as nothing really PERSONALLY affects me, but this is just plain WEIRD.

i really thought she used to go food shopping late at night, as we have a 24-hr grocery right down the street. but now i'm not so sure. it's not like we have a big apt complex (only 6 units!) and not like she got herself an in-building boyfriend.

i'm so confused.

so...maybe i don't understand because i'm not a parent. perhaps my married-with-kids friends can enlighten me a bit.

every now and then, i get a new piano student (which means, a new set of parents to deal with) and usually starts out okay. usually the kid is 5 years old (which is a recommended age for starting piano lessons) and usually, very quick (girls especially are a lot "with it" than boys at that age).

this is the story of a kid, Child A and Mother A.

i got them as a referral in late september. he was - as usual - pretty precocious and more interestingly, he was lightening fast in terms of learning the notes, name of the notes, applying it to playing, etc. which - as you all know - is all quite complex for their little brains.

anyway, it went STUNNINGLY well. by the first 4 lessons, he has grasped the entire note system, and would recognize the notes by SIGHT, play, understand rhythm and everything. i'm not saying he's a genius, but very apt and very involved and happy to have the piano lessons.

enter around 8th lesson - things were slightly going down the hill: he wouldn't respond to my questions, cajoling, nothing. then the Mother A would say "well, you're not doing it right," "are you sure you know what you're doing?"

to say the least, i was QUITE offended.

then, holidays happened and then yesterday was the 12th lesson. he was really not paying attention, really distracted, really not wanting to do it. i recognized that and about to say - at the end of the lesson - let's not continue. i personally don't have the energy to keep a child entertained when his own parents don't do it. Mother A comes to me and says "well, he doesn't know ANYTHING: no notes, cannot tell me what notes he's playing, nothing. how did this happen?" i said "Mother A, you know i've told you how shocked i was, how fast he learned and understood. i believe and KNOW that he knows these things. he just doesn't want to cooperate."

then she pulls this one: "Child A, would you like to continue piano or quit?" Child A says "i don't wanna do it"

Mother A says "okay, it's not working out. i don't know WHAT you did. bye"

i said "excuse me, but we've spent 20 minutes out of the 30 minute lesson. i would like to get paid for at least half of the time"

Mother A just stands there "really? you want to get paid?" i said "i'll wait for you" she takes 10 minutes to write a cheque for $20.

this is what i don't understand and need "enlightenment." the kid is obviously either bored or lost interest or doesn't want to think. isn't it up to the parent to encourage the kid to continue? to go over that small hurdle? if all parents just "gave up" for the "sake of their children's wants," wouldn't the world be filled with no achievers?

but it's not just Mother A & Child A i've seen do this. it's actually quite common this happens (not this particular scenario). Parents just GIVE UP FOR their kids. "Johnny is tired, it's really of no use," "Jane is obviously not interested," etc.

i just don't get it. but the thing about not wanting to pay me, that really got to me. i don't know how i kept my "cool" with little Child A. I said "bye Child A! have fun in School!"

and on an another i-don't-get-why-people-do-this category, check this out. it was actually in today's times. crazy.

HA!!!

From today's Australian:

Thanks but no thanks, Mr Kim
Peter Alford, Tokyo correspondent
18jan07
LAST May, while blithely ignoring international entreaties to stop his ballistic missile test preparations, dictator Kim Jong-il was making his own overtures to Japan's best-known conductor, Seiji Ozawa.While the Vienna State Opera's 71-year-old music director was recuperating from illness in Japan he was approached by an emissary carrying the Dear Leader's request to take the baton at North Korea's national orchestra, the Seoul daily JoongAng Ilbo said.
"I was truly impressed by your conducting," Mr Kim wrote, having watched a video of Ozawa's work.
"I really want to have you as the conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra," wrote Mr Kim.
Ozawa responded that he couldn't, because he was contracted in Vienna until 2009.
He might also have been discouraged by the spreading international furore as Mr Kim's technicians readied the first test launch of a ballistic missile.
The missile's intended target is the US, where Ozawa studied and worked for 40 years before leaving the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2002.
Mr Kim's minions frequently threaten to use their missiles to turn the conductor's homeland into a "sea of fire".
But the Dear Leader replied he had no objection to Ozawa working for the two companies.
Among the more than 1500 learned books he has produced is "Kim Jong-il on the art of opera; a talk to creative workers on the field of art literature, September 1974".
Unlike most of Mr Kim's oeuvre, the existence of this work cannot be questioned: you can get it on Amazon. He offers such insights as: "The opera singer has to sing while acting and act while singing ... similar to the method of depiction used by stage and film actors who speak while acting and act while speaking ..."
One Amazon reviewer lauded it as "the best work of its kind since Pol Pot's 'Maria Callas: the bel canto years'."
In August, however, Ozawa decided to decline the offer.

finally saw the film, an inconvenient truth. it was powerful. i don't know about it being a great movie, but it was very informative and needless to say, very worrysome. but i must say, his voice isn't too...i don't know what the word is because i fell asleep in the middle of it (and i never fall asleep on movies - NEVER!)!!!

haven't heard this song in awhile but it was played at this church i visited today. it moved me.

Artist: Matt Redman

Song: Nothing but the blood

Album: Facedown [" Facedown " CD]

Your blood speaks a better word

Than all the empty claims I've heard upon this earth

Speaks righteousness for me

And stands in my defense

Jesus it's Your blood

[Chorus]

What can wash away our sins?

What can make us whole again?

Nothing but the blood

Nothing but the blood of Jesus

What can wash us pure as snow?

Welcomed as the friends of God

Nothing but Your blood

Nothing but Your blood King Jesus

Your cross testifies in grace

Tells of the Father's heart to make a way for us

Now boldly we approach

Not by earthly confidence

It's only Your blood

[Chorus]

We thank You for the blood

We thank You for the blood

We praise You for the blood

We praise You for the blood

Nothing but Your blood

Nothing but Your blood King Jesus

this is too funny!!!

http://pcworld.about.com/magazine/2103p119id108732.htm

i don't think i could do it. i think i'd be literally lost without my:

• blackberry for email, gmail, yahoo, hotmail, outlook
• blackberry for cell phone
• blackberry for appointments/calendar
• blackberry for phone book
• blackberry for notes
• blackberry for zagat-on-the-go
• blackberry for mobile-google
• blackberry for gTalk-mobile
• home computer to email, gmail, yahoo, hotmail, outlook
• home computer to do second life
• home computer to do banking
• home computer to do shopping
• home computer to do on-line survey/greeting card
• home computer to Google World (google earth, google map, google, froogle, google image)
• home computer to look up dictionary.com
• home computer to look at travel websites, always dreaming, dreaming, dreaming
• home computer to blog
• home computer to d/l music (yikes)
• home computer to AIM, gTalk, MSN Messenger
• work computer to email, gmail, yahoo, hotmail, outlook
• work computer to use MS OFFICE
• work computer to use calculator
• work computer to Google World (google earth, google map, google, froogle, google image)
• work computer to gTalk, MSN Messenger

i think this is a wonderful idea!!!!

from today's TIMES:

January 13, 2007
Basic Instincts
The Bride Became Debt-Free
By M. P. DUNLEAVEY
IF you stopped to name some recent innovations that had enhanced your quality of life, a few things might come to mind — Netflix, leave-in hair conditioner and the proliferation of those big cheap boxes of clementines. But would any financial services top your list?
Sure, it is great to be able to pay bills online or get your tax refund deposited electronically into your bank account. But like so many financial inventions, these add a layer of privacy angst for every ounce of convenience.
If only the great minds in personal finance would spend a few minutes in the shower dreaming up some clever solutions to common money problems. A few humble thoughts while we wait:
REGISTER FOR SOLVENCY The tradition of registering for gifts started out as a way to help young couples acquire basic items they would need to set up their new home: china, linens, a decent cocktail shaker. These days many couples marry later, and so are well equipped on the domestic front. Let’s establish a new tradition of registering for something really useful: debt payments.
Rather than request a knife set that costs more than their combined educations, couples could sign up with the local Debt Registry and ask their nearest and dearest to help pay off those lingering credit card bills. It is not as glamorous as owning a vacuum cleaner designed by NASA, but once their debt was paid off, couples could buy whatever appliances they could afford.
BUY A TICKET FOR RETIREMENT Financial experts marvel that millions of Americans are willing to squander their cash on lottery tickets but are reluctant to employ that same vision and persistence when saving for retirement.
Why blow against the wind? With pensions waning and Social Security ailing, what is needed is Retirement Powerball — a national game that would operate like a typical lottery, with more practical results.
People would buy a ticket and pick their magic numbers, then wait to see who wins a fully funded retirement portfolio. Each week’s jackpot would be divided among hundreds of individual retirement plans. The amounts would be allotted based on factors like your age and how much you had already saved, so that each winner’s portfolio would cover the basics, if not a luxurious life on a tropical island.
TUTOR FOR MONEY How to stem the downward trend in personal savings, the rising tide of consumer debt and vast numbers of bankruptcy filings — especially during the postholiday sale season?
Give people tax breaks for volunteering to tutor those less savvy about basic money management — as well as a deduction for those willing to sign up for financial literacy classes.
If the tax code will not permit such a loophole, perhaps we could adopt another popular method: for every hour you spend untangling your budget, or helping others to do so, you would earn rewards points — redeemable at dozens of national retailers.
FINANCE PARENTS It’s sweet of the Internal Revenue Service to give you the chance to check a box on your tax return to contribute to a national campaign fund. But who wants to put any more money into the political system?
Let’s keep the basic idea, but use those voluntary contributions to create a National Fund for Parents (N.F.P.), which would provide grants to people who needed time off to take care of their children or their own aging parents. The N.F.P. would be a much-needed supplement to the Family and Medical Leave Act — which gives people oodles of time off, without a dime of support.
ROLL OVER YOUR INSURANCE Health insurance premiums are high for a reason; insurers want to hedge their bets, so we all pay the price. Still, unless you need regular medical care, it is hard not to feel sick when you think about how much money you spend each year for a service you do not use.
If only there were a way to roll over some portion of the cost of your premiums to the next year — the same way you can roll over sick days or cellphone minutes or build a cushion in a Health Savings Account with the cash you do not use.
Some people might view this as an incentive to avoid medical care, but ideally the rollover system would motivate people to stay healthy so they could save money.
I’m not saying any of these solutions would be simple to carry out. But I am confident that if we tapped the same intellectual energy that went into developing the torment of those self-checkout kiosks in stores, for example, and used it for more useful amenities, your financial life and mine would be much happier.

this is very funny. from today's NYT:

January 12, 2007
Grooming a Weatherman for His TV Debut, and Hoping He Doesn’t Bite the Host
By ANDY NEWMAN
Chuck the groundhog waddled out of his open carrier and onto the desk in the tiny reception office in the Staten Island Zoo. He walked onto the phone and stepped on a few buttons. A house line rang. “Thank you for calling the Staten Island Zoo,” the female voice said on the speaker. “You have reached the director’s office.”
Chuck left no message, or rather, he left a long, blank message, which is typical Chuck. It was just after 4 on Thursday last week, and Chuck was waiting to clock out and catch the bus.
Every weekend, Chuck, a strapping young hog born in April, goes home with his trainer, Douglas Schwartz, who works Sundays to Thursdays. This allows him to spend as much time with Mr. Schwartz as possible, and on the hourlong trip on public transit (Mr. Schwartz doesn’t drive), to get used to the prying eyes of strangers.
The hope is that when he makes his big debut next month he will not bite Regis in the face, or leave something unfortunate on Diane Sawyer’s desk, or, worst of all, see his shadow in the klieg lights and shrink back into his pet carrier for six weeks. “On Groundhog Day itself,” Mr. Schwartz said, “the limo just appears and whizzes us off to wherever. He has to always be on point.”
Chuck doesn’t get much chance to interact with the public during the week. He lives in a big cage in the zoo’s basement, which Mr. Schwartz says is fine with Chuck but which seems like a waste of the zoo’s sole marquee resident. “I’d like him to have his own exhibit, but it becomes a money thing,” said Mr. Schwartz, the zookeeper in charge of the zoo’s tropical rainforest. “ ‘Do you want reindeer, or does Chuck get an exhibit?’ ‘Well, we want reindeer.’ Reindeer are a very popular attraction with kids these days.”
The clock struck 5. Mr. Schwartz, Chuck and the other working stiffs filed out into the fading winter light. The S53 bus came lumbering, somewhat groundhog-like, down Broadway. Usually, Mr. Schwartz said, the driver makes an announcement along the lines of, “Ladies and gentlemen, Chuck has boarded the bus.” On this day, though, he just made small talk with Mr. Schwartz.
“Seems quiet,” the driver said.
“Yeah, he’s sleeping today,” Mr. Schwartz replied. Inside the carrier, Chuck lay on his back, paws on chest, buck teeth smiling blissfully.
A middle-aged woman sat beside Chuck and began shoveling Oreos into her mouth as she stole glances at the carrier with “Ground Hog” written in Magic Marker on the front. Chuck slept through. The woman got off, and an older woman replaced her. She peeked in.
“Oh, the cat’s sleeping,” she said.
“No, it’s a groundhog,” Mr. Schwartz said. The woman scowled and turned away.
“One time someone on the bus called the zoo and complained that he smelled terrible, and I had to stop doing it for a year,” Mr. Schwartz recalled. “Then we got a new director who said go ahead and do it, and the guy called again, and the director told him where he could stick his opinion.”
This Chuck is the sixth groundhog Mr. Schwartz has trained for the role since 1995 — his predecessor died last spring. Because he was born in captivity (in a zoo in New Jersey), he has been relatively easy to socialize — relatively being the key word.
“The patience involved is staggering,” Mr. Schwartz said. “He’s got a brain the size of a cashew, so you really don’t have much to work with.” And, he added: “They’re known for their aggression, so you’re starting from a hard place. His natural impulse is to kill ’em all and let God sort ’em out. You have to work to produce the sweet and cuddly.”
The bus driver called out, “Grasmere train station,” and Mr. Schwartz and Chuck hopped out and made for the SIRT — the Staten Island Rapid Transit, the island’s one-line aboveground subway system.
Chuck was a bigger hit on the train than on the bus. He was immediately surrounded by four baggy-pantsed teenagers. “Y’all just caught that?” a tall youth asked. A nurse practitioner from Staten Island University Hospital peered into the carrier and grimaced in the way people do when they see a not-quite-cute baby.
“What you got in there?” a man asked. Mr. Schwartz picked up the carrier and flipped it toward him. “Groundhog,” he said.
“Ho!” the man said, jumping back.
A waitress, Joyce Casey, took one look and was smitten. “I swear, do not let me get my hands on him,” she told Mr. Schwartz. “I will keep him.”
At the Prince’s Bay station, almost at the bottom of the island, Mr. Schwartz’s wife, Carol, was waiting.
“He slept the whole way on the train,” Mr. Schwartz said, sounding like a proud father.
“Really?” Carol Schwartz asked. “The whole way? Was he good?”
“He was very good.”
In the living room of the Schwartzes’ town house, Mr. Schwartz opened the carrier. Chuck poked his head out, carefully marked the door with the scent glands on his face, wandered downstairs and hid under a bed. Mr. Schwartz followed him and fished him out, accompanied by much squeaking and whirbling.
Chuck lay on his back in Mr. Schwartz’s lap in a big red chair. He grabbed Mr. Schwartz’s arm and soft-mouthed his hand. Mr. Schwartz stroked his coarse, brown-gray fur. “He could do this for hours,” Mr. Schwartz said.
Chuck’s weekend had begun.

Advanced Global Personality Test Results Extraversion 66% Stability 46% Orderliness 66% Accommodation 63% Interdependence 43% Intellectual 30% Mystical 30% Artistic 83% Religious 90% Hedonism 36% Materialism 56% Narcissism 63% Adventurousness 50% Work ethic 70% Self absorbed 56% Conflict seeking 50% Need to dominate 70% Romantic 50% Avoidant 50% Anti-authority 23% Wealth 30% Dependency 16% Change averse 56% Cautiousness 50% Individuality 63% Sexuality 50% Peter pan complex 76% Physical security 76% Physical Fitness 10% Histrionic 43% Paranoia 43% Vanity 50% Hypersensitivity 76% Female cliche 56%

Take Free Advanced Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Stability results were medium which suggests you are moderately relaxed, calm, secure, and optimistic.
Orderliness results were moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly organized, reliable, neat, and hard working at the expense of flexibility, efficiency, spontaneity, and fun.
Extraversion results were moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly talkative, outgoing, sociable and interacting at the expense of developing your own individual interests and internally based identity.

trait snapshot:
clean, self revealing, open, organized, outgoing, social, enjoys leadership and managing others, dominant, makes friends easily, does not like to be alone, assertive, hard working, finisher, optimistic, positive, likes to stand out, likes large parties, respects authority, practical, high self esteem, perfectionist, dislikes chaos, busy, not familiar with the dark side of life, controlling, high self control, traditional, tough, likes to fit in, conforming, brutally honest, takes precautions

Blessed "Tree"?

Psalm 1
1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

this morning's bible study is the beginning of the Psalm series. this study really moved me. i don't think i've been that alert before at 7:30 AM!

the study was on what we define happiness (blessedness) in our lives. contrary to what people usually believe, this does not mean monetary or emotional happiness but the happiness in the Lord, through His word. at a first glance, it's a very "easy" psalm to read: it's quite breezy, actually. but once you start reading into it and someone in the study brought up the imagery of trees and their deep roots...and certain trees which get burnt in forest fires but still will spring again in a few months' time, etc. - it really got stuck in my head. however we may get charred in real life, whether it's our own struggles of addictions of all sorts (money, glory, ego), the deep root in our love for our Father, and vice versa, it'll keep feeding us, renewing us and growing us (into old trees).

this was a very encouraging morning! made me very HAPPY.

i love helen mirren. she rocks. i just finished watching Elizabeth I. she's so awesome, it's kinda crazy.

last week was pretty crazy with the concert. in the midst of running around in cabs, between carnegie hall & my office, back and forth, the inevitable happened: in a cab, i picked up an umbrella, kinda cool looking too. i was showing it to my co-worker, while pocketting the 'brella, sayin' "i need one, so this is cool."

later that night, i got to a restaurant to meet a friend, and then realized that i left my silk scarf in the cab.

in the weird cab universe, life is fair.

went to the rangers game last night. that was so cool. i love skating! plus hockey is BORING when watching on telly - it's just really exciting when you're there. it didn't hurt that i was in the 2nd row, and sitting in front of Tim Robbins! (he was really into it...and his kids too but his kids...FOUL MOUTHED!! - and tim robbins didn't say ANYTHING!)

okay it's that time again...ROOMMATE UPDATE!

she moved in dec.15 - i've seen her in person 4 times so far. she sleeps when i'm leaving, when i'm home, she's not in yet. good deal, i know.

then i realized that i've never seen her eat (well, only having seen her 4 x, i know), even when i saw her 2x @ home, last 2 nights. so she apparently does eat cuz i've seen dishes washed & drying on the rack. so whatever - or so i thought! last night, after turning off my light, going to bed, then changing my mind, and decided to go to the bathroom one last time, i open the door and i suddenly see her walking towards the kitchen with a PILE of bowls, utensils, from her room!!!! but i swear, i saw her completely pitch black before i went to bed.

what does this mean? (because, her room IS always pitch black - and the door are skewed so that i can tell if there's even a computer light on)

that means she eats IN DARKNESS. what's up with that?

i told my co-worker and he saw a picture of her on facebook and said right there and then, "she's a goth girl."

YUCK

anyway, she's okay - for now. haven't bothered me, so i guess she can continue to eat in pitch darkness.

(how can one eat in such darkness? i don't get it?!?!)

HAHAHA from today's CNN.com

Typo takes tourist 13,000 km out
BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) -- A 21-year-old German tourist who wanted to visit his girlfriend in the Australian metropolis Sydney landed 13,000 kilometers (8,077 miles) away near Sidney, Montana, after mistyping his destination on a flight booking Web site.
Dressed for the Australian summer in T-shirt and shorts, Tobi Gutt left Germany on Saturday for a four-week holiday.
Instead of arriving "down under", Gutt found himself on a different continent and bound for the chilly state of Montana.
"I did wonder but I didn't want to say anything," Gutt told the Bild newspaper. "I thought to myself, you can fly to Australia via the United States."
Gutt's airline ticket routed him via the U.S. city of Portland, Oregon, to Billings, Montana. Only as he was about to board a commuter flight to Sidney -- an oil town of about 5,000 people -- did he realize his mistake.
The hapless tourist, who had only a thin jacket to keep out the winter cold, spent three days in Billings airport before he was able to buy a new ticket to Australia with 600 euros in cash that his parents and friends sent over from Germany.
"I didn't notice the mistake as my son is usually good with computers," his mother, Sabine, told Reuters.

Happy New Year!

Let's see, another time for those "resolutions"...

well, i'll try to be...more....EVERYTHING! nicer, considerate, saver, reader, prayer, etc.

i really don't think i need the New Year's Day to set a goal for myself, cuz i have hard enough time as it is!

anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! may this 2007 be filled with joy, love, much learning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!