bits and bites

1) i was at loblaw's today buying cherries b/c they're on sale for $1.99 a pound. my mom and i circled the fruit section several times but couldn't find the cherries. finally someone directed us toward the back of the store and there we saw a crowd of people standing shoulder to shoulder around a table and picking carefully through the fruit. as we approached, we saw that all but one of the cluster of people were chinese. we joined them happily. they're good cherries.

2) congratulations are in order: the long awaited pride and prejudice (BBC miniseries) is now in my possession for one whole week. when i placed a hold on the DVD at the public library, it was early january of this year and i was around 350th on the waiting list. almost 6 months later i finally get to watch it and have the satisfaction of knowing i saved the rental money.

3) proverbs 10:9 says "whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out." the longer i work for this company, the more i realize how unethical, deceitful and manipulative my boss is. i won't go into all the details, but suffice it to say that she's essentially stealing from families that can barely scrape together the funds to pay for therapy services. i've said it before and i'll say it again: you'd think people who devote their lives to kids who have disabilities are good people, but not all are. there are people out there who take advantage of these kids. i read psalm 10 yesterday and it pretty much describes the most evil person imaginable. unfortunately, it also describes my boss perfectly. it ends by calling on God's justice:

12 Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand; forget not the afflicted. 13 Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, "You will not call to account"? 14 But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands; to you the helpless commits himself; you have been the helper of the fatherless. 15 Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none.

16 The LORD is king forever and ever; the nations perish from his land. 17 O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear 18 to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.

eureka!

the other day i was talking to my mom about potty training and she reminded me how difficult it had been for me to become nighttime toilet trained. i was fully trained during the day, but i was wetting my bed until i was about 8 years old. i would go in my sleep one or two times per night and i wouldn't even know it unless my mom checked on me and woke me up to change the sheets. my parents tried everything to fix this problem, from drinking chinese herbal medicine to a metal thing taped to my leg that would beep when wet : P i even underwent anesthetic at the hospital for the doctors to make sure everything in my system was in working order, all to no avail. eventually i just grew out of it, i guess. sorry if this is all too much information.

anyhow, then i remembered a recurring dream i had as a child. i would dream that i'm waking up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. i get out of bed and start walking down the hallway. the whole house is dark except for some moonlight coming in from the window. as i approach the bathroom, i see ronald mcdonald watching me from the shadows on the other side of the bathroom door. again, my deepest apologies if you're creeped out by this! but that's just it--i've never been afraid of ronald mcdonald as far as i can remember, unless there was something going on in my subconscious. and i didn't put these two childhood experiences together and realize that there there is likely a connection between them until a couple of days ago (14 years after the fact)!

in other news, the awakening won their first softball game of the season yesterday! 3 more and we have a good chance of making the playoffs : P

my father's daughter

that's who i am. i've always been told that i look just like him--a "beng yun". but i take after him personality wise, too, and i see his influence in my life daily. from him i inherited and/or learned many values and philosophies, my love of music, my grass allergies, my contempt for poor driving (i'm trying to extinguish this one), and so on. he taught me not to be too wussy, how to use a saw, how to drive a humongous car. i love my dad!

i was thinking a lot about my dad today since father's day is fast approaching and he and i got to hang out a bit this afternoon. he helped me get a bike ready for tomorrow's rick hansen wheels in motion fundraiser. we spent almost two hours in the garage fiddling with the bike, adjusting the seat and handlebars, pumping the tires, and i just thought "i have a great dad". i love my mom, too, of course (by the way, for mother's day, char and i made a scrapbook using some old family pictures that can be seen here), but today my appreciation for my dad was particularly salient. i have the utmost respect for him and i hope one day to have that same respect for my husband : P