~*...the grrlz bday...*~

i woke up early sunday morning to go to movie church. yes, i actually went to church two weeks in a row, and i did so by choice! crazy eh? it was the second part of the series god@the movies: the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe. i met thalia and her friend janelle at the theater and we found ourselves a spot to sit. i really love the way pastor bruxy carvey approaches his lessons. he does so in a way that is not so in your face, a way that allows you to glean whatever lessons you hear from his message without judgement or prejudice.

they showed a clip from the bbc movie when the little girl met the faun in narnia. the faun invited the girl back to his place for toast and sardines, and cake! the little girl obliged. when the clip was over, pastor bruxy said "wow, all it takes are sardines and toast to get little girls to come back to your place. that definitely won't work with my kids, but hey, i guess things were different in the uk back then." good on ya bruxy, ya hit it dead on, dealt with it, and then moved on to something else.

even edmund was tempted by the white witch with turkish delight and power. all it takes to get a little boy to come back to your castle is turkish delight and the promise of royalty.

the sermon got me thinking about who god is. actually, it was my conversation with my mother the week before that got me thinking. ok, i'm always thinking about who god is to me. in the movie what the bleep do we know, one of the scientists said "trying to describe what god is is like asking a fish to describe the water in which it lives."

i think the problem with most people's definition of god is that they believe that he is some entity that is separate from us, deserving of our time, our worship, or penance, in exchange for a reward of eternal life that they will receive when they die. do i believe that god exists? of course i do. to me, god is the part of all of us that we believe is greater than us...and there are an infinite number of ways to create god. she's not just in some of us, she is in everyone. by believing in something greater than us, we become greater than who we once were.

pastor bruxy said "your kingdom is the range of your effective will." i kinda liked that. thy will be done. if you think it, if you believe it, then you are it. "thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." why wait for some promised land when you can make heaven a place on earth...oooh heaven is a place on earth!

after movie church we went to the dairy queen at union station to pick up a birthday cake for thalia and karen. they both share the same birthday, december 12, and funny enough they were born in the same year too. thalia and janelle went to zelda's in the gaybourhood for brunch while i stopped off at darryl and isa's to drop off the cake. karen then came and picked me up and we headed over to zelda's to meet up with thalia and company.



zelda's brunch buffet is fabulous, just like their restaurant. thalia had a good turnout of friends, and my friend terri even showed up to share some good company and a great brunch. and c'mon, all the sausage and bacon you can eat! who could ask for anything more?





after zelda's, thalia, karen, janelle, and i went to the science center to see gunter von hagens' body worlds exhibit. it is an anatomical exhibition of real human bodies that runs until february 26, 2006. the primary goal of the exhibit is health education through the use of a preservation method called plastination.

from www.bodyworlds.com

The invention of plastination is an aesthetically sensitive method of preserving meticulously dissected anatomical specimens and even entire bodies as permanent, life-like materials for anatomical instruction. The body cells and natural surface structures retain their original forms and are identical to their condition prior to preservation, even at a microscopic level. The specimens are dry and odorless, and remain unchanged for a virtually unlimited amount of time, making them truly accessible. These characteristics lend plastinated specimens inestimable value both for training prospective doctors and for educating non-professionals in the field of medicine.

the exhibit was mind blowing. looking at bodies that once lived, just the vessels that once housed a soul. or does the soul still exist in the body even after a person is dead? no matter what you believe, the exhibit was beyond educational. it was a trip! looking at brains after the person had suffered a stroke, or the lungs of a person who smoked cigarettes, or a woman who was pregnant with the fetus still inside her when she died. it was fascinating. slices of human life right in front of you, preserved for your educational pleasure. they were pieces of art.



this skateboarder was actually in this position, with nothing else holding it up. if you touched him, he would have fallen over.



many of the pieces had parts opened up so you could see what muscles were being used. they even had a camel that was plastinated.


if you get the opportunity, go see this exhibit. it will teach you what's beneath your skin. it will remind you that in the end we are all human beings, despite what colour our skin is or what religion we claim. if you want to donate your body for plastination, go here. those crazy germans *lol*

thanks to my friend andrea gurekas for hooking me up with passes for the exhibit. i only wished we had more time in the science center...man that place is fun. i think the last time i was at the science center was in 1997 for the citrus rave. yup, we raved inside the science center...and they had all of the exhibits open too. they had two parties there. i still can't believe we partied there. i remember there being five fire alarms during the night. all it took was one raver to light up in the building, cigarette or otherwise, and the fire alarm went off. 10,000 people outside of the science center freezing, waiting to get back in...it was just nutz! and raving!

after the body worlds exhibit, we ended up at darryl and isa's for dinner and the finale of survivor. survivor used to be a weekly thing at darryl and isa's. i have many fond memories of yelling at the television every thursday night before little v arrived. after 11 seasons though, i&d kinda lost interest. maybe it had something to do with a new baby, or maybe because jj abrams decided to go head to head with survivor by putting alias on at the same time. whatever the reason, it was good to be in darryl and isa's new place to watch the finale.



umm, can this baby be any cuter? well, looking at her parents, you just knew their offspring were going to be deadly gorgeous.

karen had also just got her new snowboard gear delivered that week, so we took the time to put it together at isa and darryl's place. even baby valentina helped with the installation. she's starting to feed the extreme part of her personality before her first birthday. that's a good baby.

dani won survivor. we ate chicken wings and cake. enjoyed some lifted spirits together, and darryl and isa gave me a christmas present...fear the power of darth tater! together he could rule the universe as father and spud!

happy birthday thalia and karen. thanks for your hospitality isa and darryl. i will miss you guys like crazy!

help me decide where to live on my messageboard!

~*...normaste...*~

~*...aggressive shredding...*~

on saturday, my boy alex treated me to an amazing day on the slopes at mt.st.louis moonstone. it took us just over 90 minutes to ride all of the runs they had open, then spent the rest of the afternoon in the park.



i love snowboarding, and riding with someone who is aggressive on the slopes as i am is a hell of a rush. alex pushes it hard on the hill, and also has no problems throwing himself off jumps in the park. i also got to try out his new stick. he's riding last year's burton t6. holy shit man does that thing rip down the hill. its goddam fast! a bit too thin and short for my big ass feet, so the toe drag sucked, but overall its a sexxxy board. it felt really good in the park, and in the air.



we ran into my friends alex and erin on the slopes too. always good to shred with more snow addiktz.



after an incredible day on the slopes with alex, i passed out in preparation for a very intense sunday. i will gladly give up saturday night shenanigans in exchange for a day on the slopes. snow is priority.

help me decide where to live on my messageboard!

~*...normaste...*~

~*...christmas at queen's park...and darth vader...*~

on friday i rode my bike through my first snowstorm on my way to queen'z park to hear my mother sing in the civil service choir. the snow wasn't really snow, at least not after it hits the ground. in the city, snow is dark grey slush, and its not very pretty. riding a bike in it got me where i needed to faster than if i walked, but i got splashed a few times and my clothing bears the battle wounds of a slushy day in the tee dot.

i really enjoy listening to the civil servant's choir sing each year. even though my mom is a retired civil servant, she still makes an effort to be part of the choir each year. singing christmas carols inside of queen'z park is also kewl. not too often do i get to hang out inside of queen'z park, yet alone sing christmas carols.



the lieutenant governor of ontario, james bartleman, was the honoured guest. when he arrived, they introduced him with god save the queen and oh canada! what the hell does the lieutenant governor do, besides being the queen's representative. what is he lieutenant governing over?



either way, james bartleman read his yearly christmas welcome, and then we got back to the singing. at the end of the concert, they invite audience members to come up and sing the hallelujah chorus from handel's messiah. i love this part. it gives me the chance to sing with my mom, stand on the stairs of queen's park, and totally sing off tune ;)

my friday night was a repeat of the week before...a night in playing video games with graham. my job was to get beer, more specifically the extra strong ale from the amsterdam brewery known as avalanche. man, this beer is 8% alcohol and kicks you in the teeth! the amsterdam brewery is located at king and portland, or as i was soon to find out, used to be located at king and portland. the saving grace of the amsterdam brewery is that the beer doesn't get any fresher than when you buy it at the brewery, and most importantly its open until 11pm on friday and saturday nights. when you missed the 9pm closing time of the beer store, the amsterdam brewery saves lives.

so i walked to the brewery from kensington market only to find the doors locked. on the door was a sign saying "we've moved to 21 bathurst street" with a little map. it didn't look that far. boy was i wrong. they new brewery was in an old abandoned warehouse at bathurst and lakeshore, which took me about 30 minutes to walk to from their old venue. the new space is huge, and i'm happy that the freshest beer in the city now has a new and larger home to bring amsterdam goodness to more people...but holy shit is it ever far. okay, maybe just farther away from my house than they were before, and in winter that's a big deal. whine some more norm, whine some more.

i cross the bridge over the train tracks and make it to the new and improved amsterdamage brewery. the dude workin the store rekognizes me and i continue my whine about the move, how its so far from my place, blah blah blah, poor me. it also seems as if the amsterdam brewery no longer makes avalanche beer, which only intensified my already whiney demeanour. sometimes i can be such a queen. as i moaned about how much of an effort it was to get beer that's not even going to be brewed anymore, the guy working there gave me a coupon and said "here's a free six pack coupon that you can give right back to me now and grab a sicfor any of the other beers we do brew". my world and perspektive completely changed direction with the random gifting of free fresh booze *aaaah* thank you so much for the free booze dude!

randnorm gifting. heh, how can i normify everything? normurai. phenormenon. normaste - i honour the norm in you that is the norm in me ;)

with a free six pack (and $12 more in my pocket than i thought i'd have), i took a cab home. we picked graham up along the way. he had just bought our dinner from the bellwoods cafe, home to the 1lb hamburger and fries for $5. it is a challenge eating a pound of ground beef in a single sitting, but possible none the less. graham and i have learned to eat only half of the burger with all of the fries (covered in gravy of course), and save the other half for later. playin vidz, drinkin beer, and puffin rootz can definitely give you crazy munchies.

i had joked to graham earlier that i would give him a present if he bought dinner. when he agreed to buy dinner, i said "kewl, wait, now i have to buy you a present. oh well, the dollar store is on my way home." that was before my journey to a far away land to find free dutch ales *mmmmm* so after dinner, i told graham that i didn't get to stop off at the dollar store to get him a present, but i did have a card for him and that he wasn't allowed to look as i signed it in front of him. then i gave it to him with this bowl i had picked up for him earlier in the evening at roacharama.



graham had recently lost his glass bowl, and this bowl was affordable and wanted to be loved. when the woman who sold me the pipe dropped it on the ground by mistake and it didn't break, i knew this pipe could take the beatingz and the love that graham would share with her. graham was so stoked, and he immediately packed it. i said merry christmas to him, then i said "but wait, i wasn't gonna buy you a christmas present anyways, so this is just a random gifting."

we spent the rest of the night playing star wars battlefront 2. man this game just gets better and better the more you play it. as an elite pure bred clone of the 501st brigade, also known as 'vader's fist', this game lets you live the battles you saw in episode 3, and even the movies after (before) that. you get to fight alongside the jedi, then when order66 is given you get to storm the jedi temple and kill every jedi in sight (and jedis don't go down very easily). but the best was playing the battle that opened episode 4, a new hope: capture princess leia and retrieve the stolen death star plans. many bothans died to bring you this information :p



after all these decades, you finally get to play as darth vader, and in the role in which he was first introduced. slicing through rebel scum with his lightsaber, force choking helpless foes from across the room. this game kicks some serious ass.

darth tater kicks some serious spud.







my messageboard is up. come join us

~*...the family i choose for myself...*~

its starting to sink in. i'm leaving this province two weeks this sunday. whoah! and it seems like the best people in my life are making extra efforts to remind me that i have made a difference in their lives. i keep the best people in my life.

on monday, i went out for dinner with my friend maxxxine. i met maxxxine through tribe, and she's a breathtaking gemini. we had dinner at a vegetarian restaurant on queen called fressen. i always have the best times with maxxxine (the extra xxx are because we're both naughty like that ;). her and i talk so openly about sex its refreshing. actually, i have very few qualms about the topic of sex. i think too many people are afraid to talk about sex which often turns something so natural into something taboo. and we have no problem talking about raunchiness without fear. our conversations must have definitely must have challenged the people around us to think differently, as there's no way that they didn't hear us.



maxxxine also has the most gorgeous piece of sleeve ink. man am i ever a sucker for sleeves *drool* and it takes a lot more than just other people feeling awkward to make me stop enjoying a conversation about sex. i guess there's a certain level of consideration that has to be excercized when others are privy to who you are choosing to be right meow, even if they are not directly interacting with you. i prefer to spend my time on where i'm at, and i love the people i choose to share my life with. they blow my mind in so many ways by being windows to new and fascinating perspektivz.

'there's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that others do not feel insecure around you." - marianne williamson

i'm really diggin the new hsbc ad campaign. they are triggering open mindedness in everyone who comes in contact with their message, celebrating diversity in our pointz of view. when i saw the ads in the subway, i took as many pix as i could before my batteries died. i wrote down the quotes from the other posters.


the world would be a dull place if everyone agreed on everything.



a difference of opinion is a healthy thing.



if everyone though the same nothing would ever change.



an open mind is the best way to look at the world.



everywhere you go you get a different point of view.



czech out this hsbc ad for their current your point of view campaign. i guess no matter what your point of view is, everyone understands the language of money. go bankz! go diversity!

on wednesday, i made my first trip moving stuff to my mom's place. i can't believe i'm leaving so soon. so much to take care of, so many people to see. it was so good to have my mom there for me. i love you mom.

i've learned to enjoy our differing points of view, even found wayz to look at them humourously. we were talking about god, and who he is. i was wondering why god is separate from us.

norm: if i was created in god's image, why am i not god too?
mom: don't be ridiculous. you are not god.
norm: then who is god?
mom: god is the creator, he is the father, the son, the holy ghost. he is the divine trinity.
norm: it sounds like god isn't just one thing.
mom: he is all things.
norm: if god is all things, explain to me again why i'm not god?
mom: *grrrrr*

i posted a ~*...god...*~ thread on tribe. the responses got colourful ;)

if the situation ain't doin for me, i'll just rotate my canvas a bit and try to look at the situation with laughter. with my mom, laughing with her is more enjoyable than fighting with her. i guess that applies to most situations for me.

a day without laughter is a day wasted. so true.

~*...normaste...*~
i honour the norm in you that is the norm in me...tee hee. and so the normification of the universe continues.

~*...movie church!...*~

i woke up sunday morning bright an early. 9am on a sunday is very rarely seen by me, at least not after a good night's rest;) i had promised my sister i would join her for church that morning. you heard me right, i said church, the jesus kind of church. she had been telling me about this new kind of church she was attending at the paramount movie theater. church in a movie theater! and the message was delivered in the form of a video projected on the movie screen. movie church is what i called it.



a relaxed atmosphere. supportive friends. thoughtful discussion. life's tough questions. laughter. music. a church for people who aren't into church. the meeting house is a new take on 'religion', a place where people can take an irreligious approach to spirituality through the christian faith. hey, with a pastor that looks like this, you know you're in for a different kind of sermon.

take a look at the meeting house manifesto and decide for yourself.

"Let there be real harmony so there won't be divisions in the church. I plead with you to be of one mind, united in thought and purpose."
~ 1 Corinthians 1:10 (NLT)

church service began with singing and prayer. it had been so long since i was in any kind of church on sunday morning, and it felt good to sing and clap with other people. hey, it doesn't take much for me to get into singin and dancin. and its the most wonderful time of the year, so singing silent night and joy to the world always puts a smile on my face.

the sermons are recorded the week before at the oakville meeting house, and then played at the other meeting places in brampton, hamilton, north toronto, and downtown toronto. this week's message was about http://www.themeetinghouse.ca/media/2005-11-27-466-notes.pdf. they discussed the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe by c.s. lewis, and the parallels the story had with christianity. the message included video clips from the bbc series based on the book, and was actually pretty interesting and informative. what i enjoyed most about the message was that pastor bruxy was dressed casually, well spoken, and was actually funny. bruxy rekognized that there are so many different ways to fellowship and commune with god, and that for many people they believe that how they celebrate their relationship with god is the way others should too. he doesn't subscribe to that school of thought, and i appreciated hearing this non traditional view of spirituality through christianity. not having 'religion' shoved down my throat, or "this way is better than your way", was refreshing.

i must say, leaving "church" with trance playing loudly in the background was a fun and welcome change to the traditional, conservative, and orthodox ways i remember church to be. on our way out, a very cute woman approached me and said she remembers me from the hospital a month ago. she was sitting beside my friend lori and i in the emergency room after lori's dog bit her in the face. turns out this girl's name was lori too. we chatted for a bit, and i gave her my card. if you're reading this lori, thank you for making me feel welcome at church on sunday.

i think i just might go to church again next week for the second part of god@the movies. and i loved hangin with my sister. i can see why she enjoys this new approach to church, it really is a lot of fun and very welcoming. religion is being taken to new and interesting places. go movie church!

"men never do evil so completely cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction" - blaise pascal <--- hey, she went to my church, unionville alliance church. she has a a beautiful voice, and evidently a beautiful mind.

after church, thalia and i went to hogtown to look at snowboard bagz. thalia bought me a wikkid hogtown snowboard bag for christmas, as well as this burton toque (in red of course). it has removable headphones so i can listen to beatz on the hill and anywhere else a toque is necessary.







i'm looking forward to trying these badboys out on the hills this season. burton also has a helmet with headphones in em, but the headphone part is not removable. i like the option of having them there or not, and i'm not always going to be wearing a helmet. i'll get way more use out of this toque than a helmet. thanks thalia for the early christmas present.

i also got to try on the volcom shaun white pimp suit jacket. that's right, volcom is making formal wear for their customers. velvetine pimp jackets look daam smokin.

if i had an extra $100 i would've bought it, but that's like two dayz of riding in b.c. i'd rather ride than look good in this jacket. so instead, i took a pikcha of myself in the outfit and put it back on the hangar. yay digital cameras.

look, a motorcycle out and about in winter! only in canada!

thalia then treated me to lunch at the all you can eat korean grill house on queen. i love that place. i know thalia doesn't like it that much, but she made an exception for me.

after lunch, we went back to the paramount theater to see charlize theron in aeon flux.

i'm not familiar with the television series or comic book, so i can't comment on how close it was to the original. but i did enjoy the story, the fx were kewl, and charlize theron looked goddam smokin...especially kicking ass. i was impressed at how graphic her battles were too...they had no problems showing blood.

if you're into cyber goth, this film is pure cyber spy porn for you...from the fashion to the spy gear, aeon flux is pure sexxx.


7/10 dreadlocks from this dredi knight.


charlize theron...*drool*

thanks thalia for an incredible sunday afternoon. i'm really going to miss you when i'm gone.

normaste

~*...buying gear and video games...*~

yesterday i went shopping for snowboard gear with my friend karen. when my friends need someone knowledgeable to go with them to buy snowboard gear, i seem to be a popular choice. i'm not complainin. i love snowboarding, and i love buying snowboard gear, even if it isn't for me. i pride myself in knowing what i'm talking about, and my friends seem to rekognize it. if it means that more of my friends are on the hill to shred with, i'll do whatever it takes to get them on the hill faster and with the right gear.

we started at the source for sports at yonge and eligable (eglinton) and tried on some boots. ask anyone who snowboards and they will tell you that boots are the most important part of your set up. you can have the best board, the best bindings, the best clothing...but if you're feet hurt, you won't be able to enjoy your snowboarding experience. unfortunately, the source for sports didn't have the burton sapphire boots, so karen tried on this year's burton freestyle's. she liked them, but we had two more places to go and i knew that once the sapphire's were on her feet she would not want to take them off. burton makes some quality products...their boards and outer gear is a bit overpriced, but their boots and bindings are solid and worth every penny. i'm rockin the 2004 burton motos...they are the best burton bang for your buck, and i ride my shit hard!

on our way to coast mountain sports, we came across a nutcracker. it's the most wonderful time of the year.

coast mountain sports caters mostly to entry level snowboarders (the motos were the best boot they had, and that's just one step above the entry level burton boot). they focus on complete snowboard packages, so most of their boards aren't for advanced riders, intermediate at most. we didn't find much there at all, so we headed over to hogtown extreme sports. i knew we'd find what we wanted there...they've been around since i started skateboarding and the best selection of quality gear in the city.

karen and i walked the underground PATH to get to hogtown from the eaton center. the path links 27km of shopping, services, and entertainment in the downtown toronto core. its a great way to get around the city in the wintertime and stay warm. too bad most of the shops aren't open on the weekend...the path is used mostly during the week. as we emerged from the underground walkway at metro hall, karen decided she needed a rest and took a breather on a hammock.

hogtown had this year's sapphires, and had them in karen 's size. they were even cheaper than the listed price at the source ($288.99). its so fun seeing people's faces when they put on a pair of quality boots. there's no feeling like it. it just feels right. i've seen it so many times. the sapphires (and the hails for men) are worth every penny. they make your feet feel like should in a boot, heavenly. if i had the cash...;)

karen was very happy with her boot purchase. she didn't find any boards or bindings that really jumped out at her at hogtown, at least within her price range. i always recommend spending the most on your boots. the bindings and board aren't as important, and you can always upgrade those. comfy boots are essential, everything else, especially when you are just learning, isn't as important. we then headed to hells belles to try on a different kind of fashion *rraow*

i love trying on clothing, especially goth and cyber goth gear with hotties. who says you have to buy? try things on that you may never even buy. feel what its like to play the role, and take pikchaz of yourself in the outfit. so much fun. and daam did karen look hawt in some of the outfits she tried on. i'd post pix, but one of the reasons why i am allowed to take the pix i do of my friends in this kind of gear is that they are not to be shared with anyone else. sorry.

after playing dressup, karen and i met up with my friend graham at ho su bistro to grab some take out. we stopped at blockbuster video on the way home to rent two video games, soul calibur 3 and star wars battlefront 2. stupid xbox 360 has jacked up the prices of all video game rentals to $8.99! holy shit! at least i get it for a week, and then can hold on to it for a month for a $2 restocking fee.

karen czech'd out boards and bindings online at my place and ended up purchasing this board and these bindingz. sexxxy set up karen. i can't wait to see how hawt you look with your new purchase.

graham and i, being the geeks that we are, played some soul calibur 3. man, this game is the best fighting game evar. so smooth, wikkid graphics, and awesome characters. only available on the ps2, this game sets the bar very high for all other fighting games to beat.

i pulled graham away from gaming to join me in kensington market for a quick drink with my friend tahira. it was her 34th birthday and she was celebrating at the last temptation in the market.

then it was back to my place to finish the night off playing star wars battlefront 2. this game kicks so much ass. you can play as jedis too, including yoda and lord vader himself. we played until we were too tired to stay up, passed out, and woke up this morning to play even more before beginning our sunday. i love playing vids with graham, so much fun and he takes hi gaming seriously...well, not that seriously.

i'm sure gonna miss these kind of evenings with graham when i'm gone. what a great saturday night.

normaste