Windy City Part II

Monday I went to the Museum of Science and Industry. It's conveniently located in Hyde Park so it was only a ten minute walk. I was most pumped about the You! exhibit, although they were also featuring an exhibit about storms and natural disasters. I thought that 4 hours would be more than enough time to go through the museum so I took my time getting ready in the morning and only planned to get there around noon.
Boy, was I wrong.
When I arrived, I decided to start at the lower floors and work my way up to the storm and You! exhibits on the top floor. I started with an exhibit about ideas and innovations for the future. Even if the ideas seemed really far-fetched or seemingly useless, it's amazing what some people can come up with; amongst them were vertical farms to cultivate food in unlikely conditions, aerodynamic cars that reduce drag and fuel usage, and flavoured inks to make food for astronauts while they're in space.
The exhibits on navy technology and German U-boats were surprisingly intriguing! They walk you through WWII history and information about the havoc that the Germans wreaked on the Allied boats, until the Allies captured a U-boat of their very own. U-505 was then donated to the museum, so it is physically kept inside the museum. For an extra fee you can take a tour on board the vessel.
One hour before the museum closing time, I went to the You! exhibit. Participating in an ER experience took 35 min - I got to play the part of a cardiologist on a team of doctors who needed to diagnose a simulation patient. In retrospect I'm not sure why I took part in this; I already know how to measure heart rates and blood pressure. It took up a precious 35 minutes and I had to speed through the rest of the exhibit, missing lots before the museum closed at 4.

I went back to Dan's apartment after to unwind before our night activity - watching the Blackhawks face the Blues at the United Center! Unfortunately Dan and I didn't have any Hawks gear, and our seats were way up high in the sky, but it was still a super fun experience! Dan brought his opera glasses in case we needed to zoom in on something on the ice, but it was hard to track the fast-moving puck through zoom lenses. The Hawks played terrible for the 5/6 of the game, but Marian Hossa saved the day and his team by tying up the game with half of a period left in the game, and then the Hawks managed to win in overtime! I was hoping the game would go to a shootout actually, but it was still an impressive comeback.

Tuesday...
Thanks to brochures and websites, I was able to find out ahead of time that Tuesday the 18th, there would be free admission to the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum (and the Contemporary Art Museum, and the Lincoln Zoo...) I chose these two attractions over the others mainly because they're close to each other, located at the Museum Campus on 11th St along with the Adler Planetarium. I also had wanted to go to the aquarium in DC but was disappointed to see how small and drab it looked, so I was pretty excited to finally see some aquatic animals.
The aquarium did not disappoint! There were lots of tanks of different fish and frogs separated in to lake species or river species, organized by countries. The oceanarium contained beluga whales, dolphins, sea otters and penguins. There was also a separate exhibit for sharks, but I didn't know ahead of time that you needed a wristband to access it.

In front of the Caribbean Reef exhibit (greenscreened)

After a couple of hours wandering at the aquarium, I made it to the Field Museum just in time for a 1pm tour of their ancient Egyptian artifacts. It was a really long tour, over an hour long, and I was glad I went because the docent was able to explain a lot of things I would never have known about Egyptian history and culture just by looking at the pieces on my own, but by the end I was exhausted. I had no energy left to read about the ancient Americans or Myan ruins. And after watching live animals all morning, it wasn't that exciting looking at stuffed animals or bones that just stood still behind glass. I quickly looked through the Precious Gems exhibit, which featured lots of sparkling jewelry; sometimes you wanted to look for a price tag beside the identification card.

Featuring Sue the T-rex

By about 4pm I'd had enough, and took a walk along the lakeshore towards the downtown Loop. I found a bookstore and sat down to have a drink and read a magazine while I waited for Dan and another old high school friend to meet up for dinner. We went to a fantastic Spanish tapas restaurant, Cafe Iberico, where we all partook in grilled octopus, grilled Spanish sausages, paella, and lots and lots of Sangria. The service was wonderful, although by the end they were very anxious for us to leave because they were getting busy and we were sitting around just chatting.
Afterward Dan and I walked towards the bus stop on State street again - my very last time. I will never forget how beautiful the city is at night, and yet a little somber, probably thanks to the Dark Knight.

When I first arrived, Dan likened Chicago to Toronto's cooler, better-looking older brother. It didn't take me long at all to understand what he meant and to wholeheartedly agree.
Could I see myself living there? In an alternate universe not too far off, perhaps. (That would require me to finish Parts II & III of the NBEO...)
Would I come back, or recommend other people to visit it? Absolutely.

The Windy City Part I

Today wraps up my whirlwind getaway to Chicago. With four full days in the city (and two traveling days), I think I did pretty well for myself in getting a feel for the city. I also owe it to my friend Dan who kindly hosted me during my stay, made recommendations, and took me around.

The first thing I did when I got to Chicago was obviously have pizza! We went to Pizza Capri in Hyde Park near where I was staying. Unfortunately the server mixed up our order so we didn't have deep dish, but the pizza was still fantastically cheesy. The tiramisu is also pretty authentic there, but the cheesecake leaves much to be desired. (Probably from being spoiled by the Cheesecake Factory)
After dinner Dan showed me the U of Chicago film society cinema, Doc Films, where he volunteers. Each night you can catch a movie for $5, following a different theme for each day of the week. Later on around 9pm, their annual Blues 'n Ribs night began - live music and free ribs! And beer! I can't remember the last time I was even at a school event, but this one felt like something out of the movies. The building was so grand. There were two huge halls where two bands were doing their own thing, lots of tables set up, and a dance floor. It was neat also because I hadn't really been dancing in a setting other than a club.

Saturday was my day for roaming around downtown on my own. Naturally my stop was Barnes & Noble so I could peruse their travel books for ideas on what to do. Local hotels are also a great resource for brochures and maps of the area. I ended up going to the Chicago Cultural Center
for a tour of the building. The docent was a really sweet and knowledgeable old lady, and it was a great way to get a bit of Chicago history.
After that I of course went to take some pictures of Cloud Gate (the big bean) at Millennium Park, and walked the Magnificent Mile until I reached North Bridge Shops. There I did some shopping and waited for Dan to meet me for dinner, and we ate at an Irish restaurant. I had skipped lunch earlier because I didn't want to miss the tour, and after the tour it was too late, so I devoured my angus burger with gouda, onion and avocado like there was no tomorrow.
After dinner, Dan and I wandered some more. We took a stroll by the Chicago River and headed towards Navy Pier for a fireworks show. Navy Pier was very CNE-esque, with its boardwalks and the midway. It was a beautiful night out and the fireworks were fantastic! Afterward we also walked through the stained glass exhibits featuring works by Louis Comfort Tiffany before heading home.

On Sunday we decided to do a walking tour with the Chicago Architectural Foundation. We got our tickets for the Modern Skyscrapers tour first to make sure it wouldn't be sold out, and then went to Gold Coast Dogs for my Chicago hot dog experience. I was a little nervous at first (a hot dog without ketchup? What's up with that?), but it felt like something I had to just try. At the last second, and when presented the opportunity, I chickened out of having the relish on my hot dog, but otherwise I went the whole nine yards - pickles, onions, mustard and all. And surprisingly, it wasn't bad. It was a very interesting combination and interaction of tastes and textures.
The walking tour was two hours long but it went by surprisingly quickly. It was a fun way just to see the city and learn little tidbits about the buildings. People always talked about the beautiful architecture in Chicago and I thought it was just something for artsy people, but it doesn't take an art major to realize it's a gorgeous city. You literally never get tired at looking at the buildings. I found out there's a penitentiary/correctional facility right in downtown Chicago.
Afterward we took in a movie at the Chicago International Film Festival. The movie we watched, Problema, was only okay, but just being there was cool first for me. The director was there for a Q&A session after the screening, and we were given cards to rate the movie. Definitely makes me pumped for going to the Toronto film festival next year.
By that time, the day was long enough. We went home to make shrimp risotto for dinner, rest our achy feet, and take it easy!

Jump off the log.

Three frogs are sitting on a log in a pond. One decides to jump off.
How many frogs are left on the log?

I heard this during the children's sermon at church today. All the children answered two - three minus one - but I figured that's too simple so I thought the answer would be zero: one frog jumping off would cause the log to become unbalanced, or to spin, and the other two frogs would fall off in suit.
The answer though, was three. The frog had decided to jump off the log, but it doesn't mean that it actually did.

Many times in life, we know the things we should do, and we even resolve to do them: study, start a new diet, do devotions daily. But it all means nothing if we don't actually follow through and do them.

Yesterday I went to the metro station to put money on my farecard. Just as I was about to put in my ten-dollar bill, a man approached me and asked for some change to put money on his card. I didn't know anything about him except that looked a little worse for wear, and he wanted some money to head to Wheaton.
My first instinct was to find a way to talk my way out of it or to say no. But there was no way for me to do that - I obviously had money in my hand, and I didn't need all $10 for bus fare to church tomorrow. So I let him talk me through how to only put $7 of it on my card, and gave him the change for his fare.
As I was handing him the money, I was presented with two options: give him the change and some variation of a cut-eye for bullying me and then walk away complaining to my friend; or give him more than he was asking for. I was still a little shaken though so the best I could do was force out a half-smile. I told him I hoped the money would help, wished him a nice day and left.

It wasn't till later, after the shock had passed, that I was able to appreciate what had happened. So many times I see homeless people in the streets and just pass them, thinking that I ought to do something to help, or even just make eye contact. But I don't. Even though I feel for them, I walk on by. We ought to have compassion for those less fortunate, but what is compassion for if it doesn't lead us into action?

Yesterday's experience put me out of my comfort zone. It was an abrupt, unexpected encounter that forced me to stop thinking and just act. And it's probably just what I needed to wake me out of merely wishing, hoping and feeling, and into doing, helping, and living.

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. - 2 Cor 9:6-8

Eating in Maryland

It's been three weeks since I've been living in Rockville, and here are some of the places I've eaten at so far.

Silver Diner - your typical 50's diner. The menu is just a little small, but has the main necessities. I've had the meatloaf dinner and the open-faced turkey sandwich, both of which were decent. We frequent this joint mostly out of convenience, since it's located a short walk from the apartment. ★★✩✩

Cheesecake Factory - its reputation precedes it and it doesn't disappoint. The meal prices are very reasonable for the monstrous portions, it's just the price of the cheesecake that gets you. I had the spicy meat pizza, which was delicious and also lasted a good four meals for me. You have to stop eating purposefully to leave room for dessert. I had a slice of lemon raspberry cheesecake, which was a great combination of sweet and tart. ★★★✩

Asian Spices - 3333 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington DC - Asian fusion. The deep fried onion cakes weren't by any means authentic, but were still really good. My curry laksa noodles were very tasty, but seemed like it was just the luck of the draw; two of my friends ordered the same but the soup base seemed inconsistent amongst all three dishes. ★★✩✩

Maria's Bakery - 1701 Rockville Pike # B, Rockville - America's version of a Chinese cafe. It had the staples, like Portuguese chicken, spaghetti bolognese, etc. Can't compare to Toronto calibre but not bad when in a bind. ★★✩✩

Chili's - we went for the two-can-dine-for-$20 deal - great value. You get two full-sized entrees and an appetizer to share, from a select list. The Texas cheese fries were fantastically cheesy. I had a half-rack of chipotle ribs, but they come in other flavors too, and loaded potatoes as a side - definite win. Service was great as well. Next time I'll have to try the molten lava cake, and apparently there's a white chocolate version too! ★★★★

The Original Pancake House - I had the pancakes, eggs & hash brown combo, which is a great choice if you want a bit of everything. For a fee you can substitute buttermilk pancakes for specialty ones, so I had blueberry pancakes served with fresh blueberry sauce - well worth the upgrade so that you can try out their different types of pancakes without having to commit to a huge tower of them. They also employ an efficient system of clearing tables by having patrons pay out front, so the wait wasn't very long. ★★★★

Tastee Diner - 7731 Woodmont Ave, Bethesda - great grilled tuna melt, delicious crispy fries. Roast beef sandwich turned out pretty soggy though since they piled the mashed potatoes and gravy on top of the actual sandwich. Small joint, so the service was good, and prices were reasonable. ★★★✩

Work.

from The Book of Virtues, Ed/Commentary by William J. Bennett - c. 1993

"What are you going to be when you grow up?" is a question about work. What is your work in the world going to be? What will be you work? These are not fundamentally questions about jobs and pay, but questions about life. Work is applied effort; it is whatever we put ourselves into, whatever we expend our energy on for the sake of accomplishing or achieving something. Work in this fundamental sense is not what we do for a living but what we do with our living.

Parents and teachers both work at the upbringing of children, but only teachers receive paychecks for it. The housework of parents is real work, though it brings in no revenue. The schoolwork, homework, and teamwork of children are all real work, though the payoff is not in dollars. A child's household chores may be accompanied by an allowance, but they are not done for an allowance. They are done because they need to be done.

The opposite of work is not leisure or play or having fun but idleness - not investing ourselves in anything. Even sleeping can be a form of investment if it is done for the sake of future activity. But sleep, like amusement, can also be a form of escape - oblivion sought for its own sake rather than for its own sake rather than for the sake of renewal. It can be a waste of time. Leisure activity or play or having fun, on the other hand, can involve genuine investment of the self and not be a waste of time at all.

We want our children to flourish, to live well and fare well - to be happy. Happiness, as Aristotle long ago pointed out, resides in activity, both physical and mental. It resides in doing things that one can take pride in doing well, and hence that one can enjoy doing. It is a great mistake to identify enjoyment with mere amusement or relaxing or being entertained. Life's greatest joys are not what one does apart from the work of one's life, but with the work of one's life. Those who have missed the joy of work, of a job well done, have missed something very important. This applies to our children, too. When we want our children to be happy, we want them to enjoy life. We want them to find and enjoy their work in the world.

How do we help prepare our children for lives like that? Once again, the keys are practice and example: practice in doing various things that require a level of effort and engagement compatible with some personal investment in the activity, and the examples of our own lives.

The first steps in doing so is learning how to do them... Good habits of personal hygiene, and helping with meals or bed-making or laundry or caring for pets or any other such household chores all require learning. All can be done well or poorly. All can be done cheerfully and with pride, or grudgingly and with distaste. And which way we do them is really up to us. It is a matter of choice. This is perhaps the greatest insight that the ancient Roman Stoics championed for humanity. There are no menial jobs, only menial attitudes. And our attitudes are up to us.

Parents show their children how to enjoy doing the things that have to be done by working with them, by encouraging and appreciating their efforts, and by the witness of their own cheerful and conscientious example. And since the possibilities for happy and productive lives are largely opened up for youth by the quality and extent of their education, parents who work most effectively at providing their offspring with what it takes to lead flourishing lives take education very seriously.

Work is effort applied toward some end. The most satisfying work involves directing our efforts toward achieving ends that we ourselves endorse as worthy expressions of our talent and character. Volunteer service work, if it is genuinely voluntary and exercises our talents in providing needed service, is typically satisfying in this way. Youth needs experience of this kind of work. It is a good model for our working lives.

The Potter's House

Pastor Raymond gave a sermon on Jer. 18:1-6 . I thought I'd just post it somewhere so it's around, because I thought it was very well presented. He described the process of creating pottery and made spiritual parallels to describe how God molds us.

① Election
Nowadays bags of clay are available from the art store, but in the olden days potters had to dig up their own clay. In spiritual terms, this is equivalent to God's election of his chosen people. We have worth because God chose us.
② Cleansing
Clay has to have all the debris removed, or else it will cause the piece to crack in the oven.
(I didn't write down the analogy for this point, I'm assuming it was forgiveness?)
③ Wedging: knead the clay, and throw it against a surface
☞ to remove air pockets (analogous to pride), God causes suffering, in order to create humility
☞ to achieve plasticity - to make the clay soft enough to mold, yet hard enough to retain shape. In order to be soft enough to be molded by God, we need to have God's Word to treat our spiritual dryness.
☞ porosity - for moisture to escape while drying, without cracking, the potter adds grog (broken up, ground up pottery from past failed pieces). This is the past experiences, both good and bad, that we've had so that no experiences are wasted. These hardships allow us to give advice to others who are experiencing the same thing.
④ Centering
The wheel is analogous to the turning, moving circumstances of life. We need to center ourselves on God's Will, and keep God at the center of our lives or else it's all in vain (Ps. 127:1).
⑤ Molding (Pressure)
This is when the potter starts shaping the clay into what he wants. If it doesn't take the right form, he collapses it and starts over again. God keeps working with a lump of clay until it takes the form He wants. Sometimes we tend to resist God's work, but we need to accept His Sovereignty.
⑥ Waiting (Patience)
The clay piece has to air dry before going into the oven. This is the same as periods of spiritual/emotional dryness. Don't trust emotions!
⑦ Glazing - not necessary or functional
⑧ Firing
Causes irreversible changes in the pottery - it hardens, shrinks, and can hold water (not porous anymore). These are the trials that cause genuine faith.
How do you come out after a trial? Do you become an instrument for noble purpose?

5. Scripture: Kindling for Christian Hedonism.

I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not, how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished. For I might seek to set the truth before the unconverted, I might seek to benefit believers, I might seek to relieve the distressed, I might in other ways seek to behave myself as it becomes a child of God in this world; and yet, not being happy in the Lord, and not being nourished and strengthened in my inner man day by day, all this might not be attended to in a right spirit.

--George Muller

Normal Christian life is a repeated process of restoration and renewal. Our joy is not static. It fluctuates with real life. The preservation of our joy in God takes work. We [must] set our sights on the benefits of Scripture, which sustain and deepen our true happiness. --John Piper

Ch3 - worship.

Reading this chapter on worship has left me feeling partly somber and partly refreshed. It starts off with the encounter of Jesus with a Samaritan woman at a well, found in John 4. In verses 13-14, Jesus says to the woman, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
I definitely know what it feels like to thirst. Especially with the sickness I've been nursing for the past 3 weeks, I wake up with a mouth that feels like I'd been eating cotton balls all night, and a tongue of sandpaper. Throughout the day, sips of water soothe my throat and suppress my rattling cough. The word I use most often to describe this state is parched. Not just dry... but cracked, withered... desperate for a drink of water.
Even though I told this story before at Bible Summer camp, I felt more involved when I was reading it this time. I could identify a lot more with the Samaritan woman... I could see myself in her shoes, talking with Jesus, bluntly thinking about literal water, when all the time, the Son of Man is trying to tell me about eternal life. And then what joy she must have felt when she realized!
How I would like to long for a drink of Living Water. I am familiar with physical thirst, and now also recognize the spiritual thirst in my life. My soul is not quite panting after the Lord right now... But I'll get there.

The lowest stage of worship--where all genuine worship starts, and where it often returns for a dark season--is the barrenness of the soul that scarcely feels any longing, and yet is still granted the grace of repentant sorrow for having so little love... God surely is more glorified when we delight in His magnificence than when we are so unmoved by it that we scarcely feel anything and only wish we could. Yet He is also glorified by the spark of anticipated gladness that gives rise to the sorrow we feel when our hearts are lukewarm. Even in the miserable guilt we feel over our beastlike insensitivity, the glory of God shines.

-John Piper

1. The Happiness of God

I started reading Desiring God in DG. It's all about this idea of Christian Hedonism - that (a) the longing to be happy is universal, and good, and something we should seek to intensify; and (b) true, enduring happiness can only be found in God. Therefore John Piper concludes: "The pursuit of pleasure is a necessary part of all worship and virtue."
The first chapter is about the happiness of God (tagline: Foundation for Christian Hedonism).
If I wrote out a list of traits I would attribute to God, I don't think 'happy' would have made it. Among them might be 'strong', 'omniscient', 'just', 'everlasting', and 'sovereign'. 'Happy' is how I feel when I eat ice-cream. Surely such a fickle emotion is not adequate to describe the Lord God Almighty.
But the author points out several verses of Scripture that describe what pleases God, and what delights Him. And ultimately, it comes down to that God is delighted in... Himself. Does that seem vain? It might... if you used human standards. But if you believe in the sovereignty of God, in His power, that He is not lacking in anything, or needing anything, the only reaction you can really have is simply awe towards such a perfect Being.
Glory, John Piper writes, is not easy to define. "It is like beauty. How would you define beauty? Some things we have to point at rather than define... God's glory is the beauty of His manifold perfections... it signifies a reality of infinite greatness and worth... God's ultimate goal therefore is to preserve and display His infinite and awesome greatness and worth, that is, His glory."
Growing up, we were taught in church to glorify God by obeying His commands - by loving others, tithing, living righteously, and by praising Him with songs and in prayer.
Praising God then, became something we did because we knew we should - give honour where it is due. Since we know so many awesome characteristics about God, we should acknowledge them. But C.S. Lewis writes, in Reflections on the Psalms:

But the most obvious fact about praise - whether of God or any thing - strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honor. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously flows into praise unless (sometimes even if) shyness or the fear of boring others is deliberately brought in to check it. The world rings with praise - lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game ... I had not noticed how the humblest, and at the same time most balanced and capacious, minds praised most, while the cranks, misfits, and malcontents praised least... I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment.

For myself, I do believe shyness or the fear of boring others does interfere with my praising things I enjoy. Even though I enjoy a lot of things, like hockey, reading, certain TV shows... but I usually only talk about them with other people who share similar interests. The last time I remember praise overflowing from me, was probably a couple of years when I got my Macbook. I was totally in love with the Leopard OS (spaces!!) and the sleek look of the applications. (What's the one thing PC users can do that Mac users can't? Shut up.) I raved about Macs for months until I realized that most of my friends didn't care.
But I like what he says, that praising what we enjoy completes the enjoyment. For example, Mike showed me this video about how to do a better wrist shot. I tried it during hockey skills class, and it works! So even though I got lots of enjoyment from this newly found technique, that wasn't enough -- I had to go and tell Vanessa so she could also do it and be awesome too.
Lastly I have to be sure not to fall into the category of cranks, misfits, and malcontents. Sometimes I am too critical, and forget to be awed, inspired, and impressed by others.

This book has ten chapters, which we aim to finish before the end of the term. It's off to an interesting start, and there are several more interesting topics to cover... so stay tuned. :)

Goals.

At DG, we were challenged to set concrete goals for ourselves. I guess these are goals just for the term, but hopefully will help me to build good habits that last longer than that.

Spiritual
- spend more time reading the Word
- read one book of the Bible per month
- spend more time in prayer at the start of the day
- remember to pray with confidence
Action:
- read the daily verses in my devotional planner (can be done during the school day, either during class or at lunch)
- read 'New Testament in a Year' passages daily (in the evening, ie. after dinner)
- read a short passage/chapter from Psalms daily, as a way to relax/meditate (ie. upon returning home for the day)
- wake up early on Wednesdays before class to pray (ie. 7:45am), attend CCF prayer meetings on Sunday night

Physical
- learn how to do a wristshot and snapshot
- become more confident in backwards skating in a game situation
- be able to comfortably do 25 push-ups
Action:
- practice more during hockey skills class
- more push-up contests with Mike

Professional
- maintain Dean's List standing this term
- figure out stuff for American boards
Action:
- don't slack off, go to the library when I need to
- make a study plan for Part I (in August), find out when registration deadlines are

Relational
- spend more time with friends/classmates outside of class time
- phone home more often, talk to my dad
Action:
- email my parents more regularly to update them, and phone home every 4-7 days
- be more proactive about initiating having meals/coffee/etc.

Financial
- tithe 1/10 of this term's bursaries
- be more generous
Action:
- tithe
- buy gifts for friends and family more often

Personal
- read more books
Action:
- finish read The Alchemist before the end of reading week
- find another book to read before the end of term

A good habit to build up in general would be to learn to manage my time better. I tend to waste a lot of time just going on Facebook/Twitter, reading FML,... I don't even know what else. Someone suggested just deleting Facebook, but I don't know if I'm that hardcore. I'll go with these for now and see how it goes.
And... break!