Thumbtacks on my Wall...

I have thumbtacks on my wall
of all the places I have been.
They scatter the globe; a little here
a little there...
There are no markers of the places
I still would like to see,
for they are too numerous
to take count of.

An Insurmountable Peak

"It seemed like we were climbing this insurmountable peak...and the truth is that we are. If we are trying to do it ourselves, trying to figure it out so that it makes complete sense it will be impossible, because His ways are not our ways and His thoughts not our thoughts. But if we surrender (again) the how and when and where we are going to live to God and simply follow the steps that He's given us...then there is nothing insurmountable, nothing to difficult or impossible. Because God is God, and in Him all things are possible."
- Caldwell Family Blog: October 18, 2004 entry

This relates so much to me now, where I am in life. To read of all of the needs they had back, over two years ago, and know that the Lord provided for them - is amazing. I am reminded that he is the Provider... and that we just need to fall back into his arms, and trust that He is there to catch us.

I wish I could sit down with my husband, and talk with this couple over a cup of tea.... i sense that I would be deeply encouraged and moved.

(please!)

I WANT COMMENTS!!!

The Island

I rented this movie after remembering that a friend had told me she had seen it in the theatre and thought it was "okay". Trusting her judgement, I rented it, figuring that even if it was only mediocre- at least I wasn't renting a total waste-of-my-time movie. Anyway, all I have to say is RENT IT. In my husbands words: "It's a gem" & "Incredible". I, myself have not enjoyed a movie this much in years. I was expecting a typical hollywood blockbuster, but instead I was truly entertained and intrigued with the ideas and masterminds behind this movie. Let me know what you think once you have seen it..... leave comments!

David Hasselhoff at his Best!

Rules of Cuteness

"How many rules of cuteness does this image follow?"

Expose Yourself to Art

A Couple Committed to the Arctic

"God has really been revealing Himself to us through this journey. He truly does reign! We have so often seen God as the same size as us, we’ve dreamed small, we’ve believed small and assumed that anything He wanted to do in our lives is according to the proportions we’ve given Him. We know He is God, we know He is big, but we are so used to seeing things in a small scale, that even what is big to us is miniscule in comparison to who He is. God is now reformatting our way of seeing Him, He is widening the scope of our vision, enlarging our dreams; revising the scale we use to see things; He is showing us who He is…and He is GOD." - from The Caldwell Family Blog

I have posted a link to their blog with my other links. I have never even met these people, I just happened upon their blog through a comment they had left on my friend, Julie's, blog. I am going to commit myself to reading every single one of their entries until I am up-to-date because these 2 just seem like an amazing couple. They are getting ready to return to Ontario, but have been serving in the ARCTIC for the past couple of years. Wow!!!

4 Things

So apparently there's this "tag" thing going around where you tag someone and they have to answer this "4 Things" questionnaire. So, being the loner I am I have tagged myself... maybe I'm more interested in myself than I should be... :o)


4jobs I've had:
1. Counselling student at The Schizophrenia Society of Ontario; Toronto Chapter
2. Counselling student at The Salvation Army; Florence Booth House shelter for homeless women in downtown Toronto
3. Coffee lady-person at Zoe's Bakery & Cafe, downtown Toronto
4. Housemother of 12 american teenage girls in the Dominican Republic
5. Therapeutic counsellor of 12 teenage boys and girls at a wilderness survival camp in northern Ontario for two consecutive summers

4jobs I still hope to have someday:
1. Writer/author
2. Mental health and/or addictions counsellor
3. Photographer for National Geographic
4. Own my own quaint little hotel or B&B on the coast of an ocean somewhere... maybe on a greek isle.

4beverages:
1. OJ not from concentrate (Tropicana, Columbian Foodstand OJ)
2. Coffee in any way, shape or form (latte, cappuccino, espresso, regular, etc.)
3. Chai latte made by my hubby Kristopher Stubbe
4. Pina Colada with fresh cocunut milk and Belizian coconut rum (to DIE for... i knew I shoulda brought back more than one 500mL bottle of that rum!) :o)

4things i love about the DR:
1. The mountains
2. The palm trees
3. The ocean
4. The girls in Starr House
and.... (sorry, I couldn't help a 5th!) 5. The rainstorms!!!

4books I'm currently reading:
1. And the Angels Were Silent - Lucado
2. Bella Tuscany - Mayes
3. The Bible
4. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis

4movies I abhor:
1. Arlington Road
2. Interview With a Vampire
3. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the old one... but the new one wasn't that great either)
4. The Wizard of Oz

4people I REALLY miss:
1. Calley
2. Cate (get a blog!)
3. Bethany & Jessika - hey, these two basically come in one package! (Jess, get a blog!)
4. Dione

4tags:
1. Bethany
2. Kris
3. Calley
4. Julie A. (get a blog!)

The Morality of Tourism

The following is an excerpt from my friend, Erick's, blog entitled "van Til World Tour" which can be accessed through the list of my friends blogs on the left side of this screen. The picture's are also from his blog, taken in Bangkok.

"One more thought: as we have been here, I have been doing a lot of thinking as to the whole morality of tourism. I see a place like this, a beautiful island getaway since tourism has been introduced now the streets are full of sunburned, hung-over tourists and there is a McDonald's and Internet cafes and anything else that might be of interest to a paying traveller. On one hand, the tourism is good. It generates income for the country, it brings infrastructure to faraway places like this that may not have had it otherwise. I haven't seen anyone, Thai or otherwise, who isn't well-fed, well-dressed and taken care of. The Thai people who live and work here have a very high standard of living. But on the other hand, tourism has a dark side to it as well. Probably the most vivid example of this is the sex trade. It is rampant here. I remember in the DR we would catch glimpses of it and you knew that it was going on, but here it is wide open and in your face. Every hotel and restaurant and train and bus and whatever else, almost invariably, has had some white guy with a very young Thai girl on his arm. Part of me would like to pass it off to a lame excuse, like that they are friends or that they have noble intentions, but there is far too much of it to play that game. My heart goes out to these girls and I am scared to know the sequence of events that led to the life that they are now trapped in. The police have little or nothing to do with the trade and so it goes along unchecked. And there is more than just the prostitution. More than a few times I have seen Thai people being bossed around and mistreated by pushy selfish tourists and then I am ashamed for us.

So I guess that you can see that there are good but also bad things that come with tourism. I think that it should happen, that people should be free to travel the world and that they should take advantage of that freedom. But I think that as a traveller you are still an ambassador for your country and that should a country open its doors and allow you to explore what is theirs, it should be enjoyed in such a way that enhances the country and the people in it and does not detract. You owe that to people who let you come and be a guest in their country. I think about what it would be like if masses of cash-strapped Thai people started coming into Canada and pushing around my countrymen and using Canadian girls as prostitutes whenever they pleased and I know that no one would stand for it. So it goes without saying that I am at a loss when I see the way these kind, quiet, and polite people are being taken advantage of. Reslolution? At this point, my resolution is to be the type of traveller that adds to the country he is visiting and gives a positive impression of the country he comes from. Things like leaving tips and thanking people and respecting their customs. Ideally, I would like to boot out every rude and selfish and inconsiderate tourist in the entire country, and give away their money to the Thai people to say sorry for all the terrible things that have happened, but of course this is unrealistic and impossible. I am thinking of the quote that says, 'If a man is to change the world, he is first to start with himself.'"

Top 10 List

Below is a list that my friend, Julie e-mailed me after spending some time in Bangkok. Surprising that if I made a top 10 list for the Dominican Republic, it would be EXACTLY the same. Strange that two different countries in two different continents can be so alike.

TOP 10 THINGS I LEARNED IN BANGKOK:

1. It's possible for 4 people to sit on a motorcycle and 12 to fit in the back of a truck
2. You dump your gargabe on the streets after you're done eating
3. There are street vendors everywhere and you can get a meal for under a dollar
4. Many people can speak a little english, tho they preted they know less than they do.
5. You have to barter prices and can almost reduce the price to half
6. massages are done in a big room with everyone lying side by side (with Alison Krause playing in the background)
7. The currency is a baht, and you will spend it faster than you can believe on the markets that fill the streets.
8. Toilet paper is not something provided
9. You can get tuk tuk ride (Like a small golf cart with flashing rides) with as many people who can fit while drinking beer
10. There are women who braid and dread hair every 20 feet, therefore there is a huge population of tourists with such hairdoes.

A Long Little Doggy

Question: Why did the cowboy buy a dachshund?

Answer: Somebody told him to "Get a long little doggy."




Above: Me with our dachshund, "Ellie".

Bora Bora & Fiji: Myth or Reality?

Below: Bora Bora
Below: Matamanoa, Fiji

Below : Society Island, Bora Bora


Below : Bora Bora

Are there really places as beautiful as this in the world? I have been to both Belize and the Dominican Republic, but have not seen anything this.... blue. This... turquoise or breathtaking. Sometimes I wonder if the pictures are altered... if the travel brochures one looks at are embellished to make the water look more transparent than it really is.

Forensic Odontology

When examining bite mark evidence, what type of bite marks are the most useful in identifying the biter and why?

Beautiful Italy

"The solitude of these places sharpens the experience of happening upon them, the sense of discovery that for me lies at the heart of travel."


- from "Bella Tuscany" by Frances Mayes

Gardening Queen

Sore Muscles & Broken Bones

Well... maybe not broken bones, but I came pretty close yesterday! I went down a "use at your own risk" ungroomed terrain trail at Searchmont & paid the consequences!!! It was basically one long gradual slope with nothing but jumps and so at one point I got going pretty fast (you know how downhill skiis pick up speed.... ??) and took about 5 jumps (little ones) before cracking my head backwards off of the ground and somehow twisting my leg so that my ski came off and landed itself vertical in the snow right next to me. Ouch. Needless to say... I'm sore today, but I'm going out again tonight! Well, maybe I should wait until tomorrow.

Comments

don't be a hoser. leave comments on posts that you think are interesting so that i know people read this thing they call a blog.

Blasting Powder

Today i spent the afternoon downhill skiing at Searchmont Resort. It was fun... I almost didn't go because the roads were really bad and it was storming outside. However, I made it and had great fun going down the slopes with the snow blasting in my face. I would say that I am an intermediate skiier, however I have not skiied in the last 5 years so I am definitely having to slow down, practise my turning skills & work on not panicking when I start going too fast. Believe me, this is strange since I used to feel so confident in my skiing that I was a little speed demon! Anyway, I hope to get better by the end of the season and then maybe I'll buy a new pair of skiis too. The ones I have now are probably about 15 years old (i was thinking about it today on the lift)... so I should probably spring for a new pair when they go on clearance. Here's to winter & all the new fallen snow!!!

More on the Asian Backstreet Boys....

CLICK ON TITLE FOR LINK TO THE BACK DORMITORY BOYS WEBSITE TO SEE MORE KEWL VIDEOS!!!







The following is from the website http://www.tian.cc/2005/10/asian-backstreet-boys.html

Two Asian Chinese boys have made a spoof music video of Backstreet Boys' song "As Long As You Love Me".

Frankly these two boys are quite talented.

Not only two of them have performed a song that usually required five white boys with ear pieces, their soundtrack did not skip like Milli Vanilli's during 1990 Grammy Awards.

Update 1: The duo's name is called 后舍男生 or in English "Back Dormitory Boys". Their spoof music videos have been selected by Motorola China to promote mobile phones.

Update 2: The Back Dorm Boys are 韦炜 (Wei Wei, height 189 cm or 6'2") and 黄艺馨 (Huang Yi Xin, height 173 cm or 5'8"). They are university students at 广州美术学院 (Guangzhou Arts Institute) majoring in Sculptures.

The third dorm mate in the background is 肖静 (Xiao Jing) and in most of the videos he was playing the computer game "Counter Strike".

Asian Backstreet Boys

Okay... these guys are THE BOMB. I can't believe how funny this is... but the best part is that I don't know if they are being serious... or trying to be geeks. This is definitely something I can picture Ted Bingham doing... So Ted, this one's for you. The last 20 seconds are definitely the best, so don't let your attention span run out!

Fluorescent Pigs

Scientists at the National Taiwan University have successfully bred three pigs which glow fluorescent green in the dark, marking a breakthrough in stem cell research. (AFP/Taiwan University)

Sexy Guitar Woman

I think this photo is beautiful.

Christmas Light Extravaganza!!!

Everybody MUST CHECK THIS OUT!!! It's amazing!!! It put me in the Christmas spirit all over again! Make sure your sound is on, or you'll be missing out. The beginning is slow, but keep viewing... you won't be sorry! If it is too slow and choppy, try clicking on the title link which will take you to the original page where you can view it better.

Man-Made Beauty at it's Best...

I do not recall where this was, I think maybe in Florida somewhere. There is a man who creates these wonderful works of art in the sand everday. Everday these creations get washed away with the tide, and out he will come again the next day and do it all over again. It is this mans ministry to preach the Lord's word through his labour of love. Amazing, and inspirational.

A Few Quotes from Calley...

"Everything I understand, I understand because of love." - Tolstoy

"The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work that you need most to do and that the world needs to have done. The place God calls you is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." - Frederick Buechner

"I am convinced that calling, when it is truly from God, permeates every part of our lives. It is not an end in itself. It is multi-faceted and not bound by space and time." - Calley Crews

"Christmas in America is great when the focus is on the beauty Christ brings through 4 year old Christmas plays, the choir cantata, baking with family, crisp winter nights, and even simple ascetics. It is more than a choice of consumerism or anti-consumerism...it is the choice to celebrate Him or ourselves. And in choosing Him, Christmas truly comes." - Calley Crews

Darth Vader is SEXY!

Your Daddy Is Darth Vader

What You Call Him: Pa Why You Love Him: He takes you to Disneyland

Who's Your Daddy?

I know how to GET DOWN!!!

You Are a Margarita

You aren't just the life of the party, you are the party! You mix a good drink, bust out some great music, and know how to get down.

What Mixed Drink Are You?

Is this really me??

Slow and Steady

Your friends see you as painstaking and fussy. They see you as very cautious, extremely careful, a slow and steady plodder. It'd really surprise them if you ever did something impulsively or on the spur of the moment. They expect you to examine everything carefully from every angle and then usually decide against it.

How Do People See You?

I welcome your comments on this one!

What?! I'm not naughty!!!

Your Christmas Stocking Will Be Filled With Coal

You haven't been *that* naughty this year Santa is just screwing with you

What Will Be In Your Christmas Stocking?

Lemon Meringue.... YUMMY!

You Are Lemon Meringue Pie

You're the perfect combo of sassy and sweet Those who like you have well refined tastes

What Kind of Pie Are You?

Heck yes I'd eat spiders...

On Average, You Would Sell Out For

$288,265

At What Price Would You Sell Out?

A Bank Teller??!

Your Career Type: Artistic

You are expressive, original, and independent. Your talents lie in your artistic abilities: creative writing, drama, crafts, music, or art. You would make an excellent: Actor - Art Teacher - Book Editor Clothes Designer - Comedian - Composer Dancer - DJ - Graphic Designer Illustrator - Musician - Sculptor The worst career options for your are conventional careers, like bank teller or secretary.

What's Your Ideal Career?

Who Woulda Guessed?

You Are 20% Weird

Not enough to scare other people... But sometimes you scare yourself.

How Weird Are You?

Crowfoot, Blackfoot Warrior and Orator

"What is life?
It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset."

Photograph by Tom Murphy

Mamma C

Job searching is a pain in the butt. I don't want to do it, yet I know that I have to. Fiddlestix! Herein lies the dilemma... Does anyone out there know of anywhere that is hiring mental health & addiction counsellors?!? That would make it a lot easier. Alas...

This week my mother-in-law is coming to visit which is a blessing. Unlike some relationships with mother-in-laws, I quite enjoy mine. I call her "Mamma C" and she calls me "The Lady Virginia"... haha. Only in the morning when I am cranky. Otherwise... she calls me "Gin", which is a nickname reserved only for family members and close friends. You can check out pictures of me and Kris with Carrie (that's her real name) at our website: www.thestubbes.com from when we went on our vacation in the Dominican Republic.

Barclee Butterfly

Hmmm.... here is a picture of my friend, Barclee... whom I used to call "Barclee Butterfly". Kinda neat... some of you know her I'm sure.

iBelieve

Inspired by the world's obsession and devotion to the iPod, iBelieve... is a social commentary on the fastest growing religion in the world.

The iBelieve is constructed using the same materials and precision ball bearing snap fit as your existing Shuffle cap so you can relax knowing your precious soundtrack is safe.

Just toss your old cap habit, pop on the divine iBelieve and rejoice! - from http://riverdell.blogspot.com

I welcome your comments on this post because I think it would be quite contraversial amongst believers themselves.

Banana Bill

The famed 'Del Monte Note', a $20 bill with a Del Monte sticker on it that sold on Ebay for $10,000 is seen at the Heritage Galleries and Auctioneers in Dallas, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2005. The $20 note which is estimated to go for $20,000- $25,000, will be auctioned in their upcoming Signature Auction, to be held January 6 and 7, 2006 in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez) - from http://riverdell.blogspot.com

Frolicking Fun

The other day Kris and I ended up going on a "late night grocery trip", as we called it. Our digital camera that we got for Christmas happened to be in the car, so we had some fun documenting our grocery excursion.... here are some pictures so you can share in the fun!

An Inspiration...

"Simply the thing I am shall make me live." -Shakespeare

Exerpts from "Love and Trust"

Mother, will you think of me in your prayers?

This 21st century is a mess
Oh you can try and fix it
But it breaks
Oh you can try and love it
But it hates
Oh it hates

This is for everything we had
It's the good and it's the bad
It's the state of love and trust
And this is for you
And this is for us

And father, will you comfort me if I call?
This crazy world has lost it's mind
It's our fault
Oh you can try and straighten it
It turns, it turns, it turns
Oh you can try and smother it
But it burns
Oh it burns

This is for everything we had
It's the good and it's the bad
It's the state of love and trust
And this is for you
And this is for us

Oh will you break my fall
Oh when I climb too high?
I always lose my nerve
It happens every time
Oh will you bring me home
Oh when I'm barely alive
It's the state of love and trust
And this is for you
And this is for us

- By Our Lady Peace; Healthy in Paranoid Times album

Being sick sucks.

Well, here I am again! I realized how I really like reading other people's blogs as a way of keeping up with them... so maybe there are some people out there who like reading mine... and maybe that's just wishful thinking but who cares.

Now I am going to take my dog outside to pee, and then have some tea and eat some apple pie & ice cream.