Thursday, February 21, 2008

A couple of things...

1. Jess and I went to see Jumper at the matinee last weekend. In the middle of the movie, I look over, we're right next to the aisle, and I see a woman leaning over something on the floor, then I hear this comment, "Is he drunk?" I realized there is a man down in the aisle and his friend and this woman are trying to get him to stand up and he was just limp. I didn't have my cell phone so I asked Jess if she had hers, but she didn't hear me as she was busy watching this as well. So after a few seconds, I jumped up and ran out to inform the ushers that someone needed to call 911, I believe my exact words, in my hurried, frenzied, adrenaline-ridden response was something to the effect of, "There's a man passed out in Jumper, someone needs to call a...a...doctor." I went back to the theater only to find the man, who was probably a college student, being carried out the door by 4 people - and Jess was one of them. My immediate thoughts were, "That looks awkward....somebody, quick! Help my sister!" The guy appeared to be completly passed out, his body dead weight, and I saw Jess's effort to carry him safely, plus she's still recovering from her surgery! She shouldn't have to be the one to carry this guy away. Anyway, they lay him down in the hallway, the woman from the aisle, who wasn't with these guys, was trying to get his attention, get his circulation & breathing steady - it was pretty sluggish. We're standing there watching this, and my legs were just trembling, I assume it was the adrenaline. I've never seen someone really passed out before. After a few minutes, he slowly opened his eyes. His friends said he'd been sick, had the flu or bronchitis for the last few days, had taken some Nyquil, but as far as they knew, wasn't on drugs or alcohol.

So Jess and I went back to watch the rest of the movie - about 25 more minutes. I don't know if they took him away in an ambulance, why he passed out, or if he's okay. All I know is the hallway was empty when the movie ended. So Jordan, I hope that you are okay, I'm glad we were there to help you out, and I'd hope that other people in a similar situation would react the same as these women and my sister - there's nothing like the kindness & concern of strangers. I'm thankful to have played a role, no matter how small.

2. I went to an Ultimate Fighting match last night in WDM. I was actually kind of nervous going - I've heard about them, know of a friend who's actually fought in one, and just was not sure what I was going to encounter. I'm thinking of all the fighting movies I've seen, was picturing blood splurting...and stuff. Well, thankfully, the blood splurting was minimal - only occurred once when a guy got a bloody lip and kept fighting. Some were over in mere seconds, others lasted 2 rounds. Each time I became more and more amazed at the sport of it. I'm thinking, how can these guys go to town kicking & hitting each other, one finally winning, and both able to shake hands and pat each other on the back. I mean, you just got the crap kicked out of you and you're all buddy-buddy now? Maybe that's just the competitive, sore-loser side of me. I have a feeling though that for those guys, it's about the sport, not that they actually want to beat each other up in anger. It's just such a weird situation - guys beating each other up & willingly putting themselves in the situation to take it. Crazy......but is it bad that I really enjoyed watching it?

Saturday, February 16, 2008

New York - Part 3: Niagara Falls - Canada

Day 1: This is the view from New York of our hotel - The Sheraton on the Falls. We tried to play slots at the casino, but they only accepted Canadian money - and for whatever reason we just sucked at getting our money changed - the slots wouldn't accept it, so all I got to show for our attempt was this $5.00 can of coke - really it was $2.00 but I lost the rest in the slots....I guess all the jokes about "dumb foreigners" at Yuk-Yuks comedy club might actually have some shred of truth.
While wating for the comedy show to begin we walked around town, ate dinner at The Spicy Olive, and took a ride in the Skywheel.
Jess didn't like it when I rocked the little pod, but she was a good sport.

Day 2: Viewing the Falls from Canada.
My favorite were these signs posted all along the Falls.......and Jess not seeing it as important to heed their warning.We went to the top of the Skylon Tower by riding up in the little yellow elevator along the outside. It was pretty cool.
The views from the top:
It was both freezing & extremely windy. Jess just about passed out from laughing the first time she saw her hair in this picture. It is pretty hilarious, especially if you click to view the larger image.
Day 3: Visited the Hershey & Coke stores and bought some cool sunglasses at the $15.00 store.Enjoying dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe - notice the Coke as my beverage of choice........not so much for Jess - she enjoyed a margarita as she was legal in Canada. I'm such a great influence on my sister.
We had a blast, totally can't wait for another "sister" trip. Love you, Jess!

Sunday, February 10, 2008

New York - Part 2: Niagara Falls - New York side

We were really excited to be heading to Canada - too bad they don't have to stamp your passport anymore, we took ours anyway, just in case.First we had to cross this bridge onto Goat Island. We stopped at the state park to view the Falls from the U.S. before we crossed the border.There was a statue of Nikola Tesla - I don't know much about him, but he was in the movie The Prestige and was a pretty important inventor who designed the first hydro-electric power plant in Niagara Falls.
Jess & me on Goat Island.
We took a tour down to the Cave of the Winds.

They take you down in an elevator. When the weather is nice, they let you walk up these wooden walkways right to the bottom of the Falls. We were about a week or two too late so this is as far as we were allowed to go.Before I left for the trip, my Grandma kept reminding me to be careful and not get to close to the Falls because I might fall in. Well, I took this picture just to make her nervous. Jess and I took several "daring" pictures and made a collage for her for Christmas.



Right over Horseshoe Falls the mist was making icicles on all the trees and bushes.

Friday, February 08, 2008

Wrestling...

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Look on me and answer, O Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; my enemy will say, "I have overcome him," and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me.
Psalm 13
David's just better at putting his thoughts & wrestlings with the Lord into words than I am. Thanks David for speaking what my heart feels, for the truth you remind me of when it feels like the enemy is winning. The Lord has been good to me. I rejoice in my salvation, I will sing to the Lord.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

OZZY'S BACK!!

I look forward to this day twice a year, and my favorite Ozzy is in the bunch! Not to mention James and Yau-Man. Should be exciting.

Monday, February 04, 2008

New York - Part 1: RIT/NTID & Lake Ontario

Alright, time to post some pictures! I'll have to do them in phases - I just don't have time to get them all loaded to my blog at once. Yay for internet at Panera!

I was so excited when I got to RIT/NTID - November 15th and it was still fall colors everywhere you looked! I was really nervous that all the leaves would be gone by the time I got there, but thankfully they hung in there.



Jess and I just have this thing for taking silly pictures of ourselves, I'm not sure when that started.


We also spent a couple of hours at Lake Ontario. We ate lunch at the park and played on the shore.

It was beautiful, but FREEZING!! Especially out on the end of this pier. It was so windy, we almost got blown away, and we were soaked from all the waves.



I love this picture - especially the birds flying away!

As we drove along the lake, we kept seeing this sign, so we followed the arrows and it took us to this dead-end park. I really am not sure what it was all about. Maybe I just need to learn more about our history.