It's not exactly walking on water, but...

This semester I've been co-ordinating a missions course, as some of you well know. There have been some personal great blessings from it, as well as great disappointments as the semester has been progressing. However, one small thing that has not ceased to amaze me is how He has managed to make me not late, ever, for getting there to prep and to pray. This is amazing, in that I have to leave exactly at 1600hrs from the office in order to make it home, maybe get some time to eat something, and then get over to the course. However, when's the last time that a doctor's office ever ends exactly on time?
Now, I am a dictator with the clock, so I rarely go overtime by more than five minutes, however, when a minute here and there accumulate, it doesn't take long before you're 20-30 minutes over time (which is why, people, it's important to get to your doctor's offices on time!). Usually, I can't free myself from patient chatter and paperwork till about 1630hrs on a usual day.
Incredibly, however, week after week this entire semester, I have been done seeing patients, finished my charting, EVERYTHING, and clear to go by 1600hrs at the very latest. This is nothing short than a miracle, week after week.
I keep on walking around, holding my breath, waiting for my "luck" to run out, and it has not yet. I suspect it is no longer luck. Even this afternoon, with the slots booked up to the rafters, and several chronic late-arrivals on the list, I still managed to finish everything by 1553hrs. Amazing. Somehow, every single person this afternoon actually showed up early for their appointments. Amazing.
To me, this is a small miracle, as this does not happen on a regular, consistent basis, at all. Heck, I've even had a bit of time to blog about this before I head out! Now that is something that is praise-worthy...

Lilliputian

So last night was the first night, in a long while, that I was the shortest person in the room, by at least 2-3 inches. That was a nice change from the usual from either being fairly average or fairly tall. I know lots of short people complain that they don't like always being the smallest person in the room, but I kind of liked it. In some ways, it made me feel safer, I guess. Like I was surrounded by a wall of big people.
In contrast, in several hours, I will be the tallest person at dinner. Funny that, why I'm noticing height over all other aspects of dinner...

Intangible Morpheus

So, sleep has been an elusive and transient journeyman in my life, as some of you may well know, for various reasons. One thing, however, heartened me that I read recently. The Globe and Mail reported that our propensity to have a straight eight hours may not likely have been the normal sleep patterns of earlier peoples. They suggested that even as recently as the 19th century (ie. anything that is pre-industrial Europe), people would have slept only 3-4 hours at a time, waking up for an hour or two in the middle of the night in order to keep fires going, to check on bread rising, to watch for potential enemies, to make love, to care for braying animals, etc, and then would have another slumber into the dawn. They further suggest that people, like myself, may simply be mirroring how most of society has habitually slept through the ages.
The only problem is, however, that globally, our society now does not allow the 10-12 hours that this type of sleep-cycling requires. It requires that one has about 6-7 hours to sleep every day, and if one needs any longer than this, then they are slothful, lazy, or worse.
Sigh. At any rate, it is good to know that I'm not historically aberrant, just societally aberrant. But I knew that already...

Keeping up with the Joneses

I'm kind of embarrassed: I keep up with quite a few friends' blogs, and, though some have not posted for months, if not weeks, I still do check them regularly. However, one of my friends, who mainly writes about her experiences of food (particularly Chinese food), throwing in a few recipes here and there as well, has had three posts (count 'em! THREE!) over the past weekend.
I'm trying hard by putting this one up too, so at least I can say I had two this weekend, I guess.
I have been up to interesting things here and there, but nothing concrete enough in my head to try to put down on paper (or screen, as it were) yet. I did go over to a friend's church this morning, where he has recently taken over as their pastor. I totally love listening to his preaching, as I always find I learn something significant every time I hear him from the pulpit. Today was no exception to that rule.
However, I've realized it's a challenge to be clergy. I realize that it is an isolating life, which is ironic in a faith that depends on community to have it run properly. However, clergy, being in positions of authority and as the moral compass of the community, need to be able to keep their bearings straight for the sake of the community. Their accountability, their socializing, their ability to really let loose and be themselves, can only really be done in the context and the safety of their friends outside of the church. It is funny, in a way, to see him preach, knowing him as I do, in ways that his congregation does not.
I imagine it is also even more isolating in the context that he is unmarried while serving in this congregation. I think, after a bunch of us went to his ordination service, that I'm his first friend to come to his regular service. After the service was over, I couldn't stay long, but he asked if I wanted to stay a bit for the coffee time. Certainly, I said, but I don't want your congregation thinking that I'm your girlfriend or something. Well, he said, that would actually probably make my life easier. Turns out, several of the older congregants have already suggested hooking him up with daughters and granddaughters, and there are a few single women in the congregation as well. So, I said, sure, I'll be your imaginary girlfriend for now, and then you can dump me when it's convenient for you. We'll see if that has them laying off on him for a while, though I don't think I looked like I was that much competition, to be sure...

Banana boys and girls

I went to go watch the highly-acclaimed Banana Boys with a Japanese friend of mine yesterday. We laughed, we cried, we were moved by the depiction of five Chinese-Canadian boys just trying to find themselves and make it in the world today.
It made us wonder afterwards if we should've invited a few of our white friends to come with us, to see if it made sense to them, if it resonated as deeply for them as it did for us. We somehow felt, no, likely not; probably they would've laughed at the same sequences as we did, not from a deep personal understanding, but because it was just plain funny.
It is interesting how we can turn those things that are the deepest point of pain into humour. How racial incidents and stereotypes can be laughed at, even as we "take it, taaaake it!". And so, we chuckle to ourselves, bracing ourselves for the inevitable onslaught of reality, as we deal with the un-funny real world...

Oh, unionized civil servants are useless!

There's a bunch of happier things to write about, but I am going to speak at how useless our government service representatives are, in BOTH official languages.
I am trying to access a government website in order to pay my taxes. You would figure the government would be interested in such things, as that helps fund their very useless civil servants. However, while trying to access it, the site tells me that my browser in not supported for this function. So, I try another browser: again, I am prevented from accessing the government website.
Confused, I call Revenue Canada. The guy who answers tells me that only IE and Netscape are browsers capable of supporting this particular tax site. Excuse me??? I say, but you should very well know that NOBODY has used Netscape, since, oh, 1994!!!! Furthermore, I point out, it biased in favour of the PC users as Mac users (like myself) would not use IE for Mac if it was the last browser on earth.
The guy says, well, that's just the way that it is. I ask, Is Revenue Canada planning on catching up with the 21st century and use browsers that most people are using now? He says, no. I ask, well, how do you expect me to pay my taxes online if you don't use browsers that are supported by many people? He says, well, maybe you need to rethink what kind of computer you have.
Suffice it to say, that nobody knows who I need to complain to in order to have them consider upgrading the browser servers. But I suppose that just goes to show that industries like the public sector that have no reason or motivation to actually help people, can do so with impunity...

Yes, we can

In light of the whole earth, waiting with baited breath, to see who would be the next leader of the "free world", I write on the day after. I think I've found the whole American election process entertaining to watch, extremely long to the point of exhausting, and thankfully finally over. I am glad with the choice that was made, even though it actually will likely be a bit more difficult for Canada, diplomatically-wise, with this administration-elect.
That being said. if I was Obama's mother, I would be really upset. She spent her whole life raising this child, after his African father left the family when he was quite small, raising him, essentially as a white child, and all the attention has gone to his colour and his father's racial background. I am noting that there have been many stories about his father's hometown in Kenya, and how Kenyans have been celebrating, however, I do question that just because he has some Kenyan DNA in him, whether that, in and of itself, makes him "black" or "African-American". However, it seems that his mother's predominant role and culture in his life has taken a massive back seat in the persona that has been created for him. As such, as his mother, I'd be upset that my culture was basically negated in the formation of my child into the man that he became. This would be particularly poignant if the father of my child had basically no role in child-rearing.
At any rate, I suspect, besides many other factors, that one of the main reasons why he won is the illusion of hope that he represents. How he will fulfill that, I am not sure. However, it bemuses me that the whole world is waiting on Obama to be the fulfillment of hope. Our whole planet is hoping that this one man will change the world. I wonder how we have descended into such folly to believe that one mortal man will be able to change the heart of mankind. I myself do not find hope in man, even if he is Barack Obama. A friend of mine put it best when he said that hope is not found in a political campaign, but in an empty tomb. Amen, amen, amen to that.