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Name: Dennis
Location: Canada
Birthday: 3/8/1984
Gender: Male
Interests: Improvisational comedy!
Expertise: Improvisational comedy!
Occupation: Student
Industry: Entertainment
Message: message me
Member Since:
12/6/2002
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| As I began law school three years ago, I wondered if law school would make room for God. This was particularly important to me, because it was God who got me into law school. I had already proven myself to be utterly incapable of managing my academic future. My four years at Queen's University produced a transcript that it would be generous to describe as "mediocre". I was sitting in an office in Ottawa, in a dead-end job, when it hit me that I really had no career options: I was unilingual, under-qualified, and uncertified. I started looking at what I could do to pave a future for myself, and almost by accident I took a practice LSAT. The test opened like a flower in front of me. Whereas before I had endured nothing by academic frustration, I glided through this test as though I were walking on clouds. Question after question I got correct, correct, correct. I couldn't explain how I did it - I simply had a sixth sense about it. When one's success is so out-of-character, and so unexplainable, I think it is manifestly dishonest to take the credit for that success oneself. Friends and colleagues who were honest with me told me that my undergraduate marks would likely keep me out of law school. I decided to take the attitude that, 'If God wants me in law school, He'll get me there.' And He did so. He gave me the ability to ace the Admissions Test, and get into law school on the strength of that result. I wouldn't be in law school without divine providence, and that is why I wondered if law school would make room for God. It turns out that God had precious little to do with the first year law school curriculum at Osgoode. But I saw flashes of Him. I learned a lot of latin at law school. Ex turpi causa non oritur actio. Nemo dat non quod habet. Expressio unius est exclusio alterius. But the first latin phrase I learned after starting law school was not one I read in a textbook. It was at the end of orientation week when we took a trip down to the CNE. Right by the Princes' Gate, there carved into pavement, were some latin words I had not heard before. I photographed them because, at this major turning point in my life, they seemed to be speaking directly to me. As if they had been carved into the concrete, waiting for me to discover them right at this moment in my life: Quaerite Prime Regnum Dei. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God. Who knew that this was the official motto of Newfoundland and Labrador? Not that there is anything wrong with the latin mottos of Osgoode Hall Law School (Per jus ad justitiam: Through law to justice) or my alma mater Queen's University (Spaienta et Doctrina Stabilitas: Wisdom and Knowledge will be the stability of thy times), but given where I was in my life, the guiding principle of Quaerite prime Regnum Dei seemed to fit perfectly. It soon become clear to me that Quaerite prime Regnum Dei would not be the prevailing sentiment at Osgoode Hall Law School. I had wondered if law school would have room for God, but as the year went on it seemed that my colleagues and professors would do their best to ignore even the most obvious Christian or scriptural influences on the development of our common law. For example, we never even mentioned the literary parallelism between Lord Atkin's famous judgement in Donoghue v Stevenson, and Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan. When Lord Atkin said, "The rule that you are to love your neighbour becomes in law, you must not injure your neighbour, and the lawyer's question, Who is my neighbour? receives a restricted reply", he was referring not to any lawyer but a very specific lawyer: the lawyer who, in Luke 10:29, had asked the very question, "And who is my neighbour?" Likewise, the preamble of our Constitution states that Canada is founded upon principles that recognise the supremacy of God and the rule of law. But if you had only done the readings and attended the lectures, you would never have learned this. Even today I meet colleagues who have gone through three years of law school and are shocked to learn that our Constitution recognises the supremacy of God. There are many examples I could cite. However, for me, the past three years can be boiled down to what one's purpose statement was. Why were you at law school? No one told me that I should spend those three years seeking after the Kingdom of God. I would have to say that among the people in the law school community, the pursuit of God was moribund. The search for His Kingdom had been called off. The praise of God had fallen silent. Yet though I had no one to tell it to me, the message I needed to hear was nevertheless carved right into the pavement in front of me. It seems that when the people are silent, even the stones will cry out. Res ipsa loquitor. Soli Deo Gloria. Quaerite prime Regnum Dei. | | |
| As Toronto struggles to build a competitive football club, they managed to stumble into the quarter-finals of the CONCACAF Champion's League, where their opponents are the MLS-Champion LA Galaxy. My darling wife got us a pair of tickets to the Wednesday night game between the two teams at the Rogers Centre as a Valentine's Day gift. That is what I call true love.
The match was cracking. The atmosphere in the stadium was electric, and within twenty minutes it was 2-0 for Toronto FC. But this game, like so many that he has played in, was all about Beckham.
First, the football was indisputably one-dimensional. Toronto had only one strategy, and LA had only one strategy. But while Toronto's strategy focussed on positioning (exploit the left wing), the LA strategy revolved around a person - get the ball to Beckham, so he can send long balls into the attacking third.
The chants, taunts, and hail of boos began the moment Beckham stepped on the pitch. He was jeered every time he touched the ball. When he walked up to take a corner kick, he was showered in red and white streamers by the TFC faithful - and the TFC fanatical.
This is all good and well, but before the game was up, it would cross the line. The chants of "BEEEEECK-UMMMMM" and "DAAAAAAA-VID" became more boorish, and more profane, as the game went on (and as the beer went down). "F*** You, Beckham!" shouted one lout behind me - even though there were children sitting in the area (and even though Beckham didn't even have the ball at the moment).
The abuse was hypocritical of course - for the same reason that Sidney Crosby gets booed in every building he visits. He is the best player in the league, and therefore makes and easy target.
Beckham is the best player in the MLS because he oozes passion for the game. Football pulses through his veins. He lives and breathes the sport. I'm not going to be foolish enough to suggest that he is one of the world's best--Messi he is not--but it cannot be disputed that no one works harder or is more dedicated to their craft. And he is a purist, too. An Englishman in the mould of Terry Butcher, he brings an elegance to the English 'long-ball' game that many thought it was incapable of possessing.
He showed this passion throughout every minute of the game. Halfway through the second half, he threw himself in front of a goal-bound shot that, but for his intervention, would have made the score 3-1. He cleared the ball and thrust his fist into the air, triumphantly, as a signal to his teammates to find that second effort. Fading superstars aren't supposed to show that level of passion and effort in a retirement league.
That is why what happened at the very end of the game was such a mistake, from the perspective of the TFC fans. In the 89th minute, with the score 2-1, LA got a corner kick. As always, Beckham walked up to take it. But this time, in addition to the hail of streamers, someone threw a full can of beer at Beckham. It missed him narrowly, and landed on the pitch. Then another one followed it. And this is where the man's passion shone through. Would Beckham shrink back, and wait for the stewards to clear the debris? Would he wilt into the background until someone cleared the area, and escorted out the offending fan(s)?? Whoever else might have done that, Beckham wouldn't.
He stormed out onto the pitch, picked up the beer can, and shook it at the Toronto FC players. No one in the stands could hear what he was saying, of course, but it's easy to imagine: "What is this?? WHAT IS THIS??? Is this how you do things in Toronto?? Is this how you show respect for the game???"
As soon as I saw the beer can fly onto the pitch, I immediately thought, "Ooh, you shouldn't have done that." The result just seemed too inevitable. Beckham took the corner, the ball bounced around in the six-yard box, and Landon Donovan poked it home. Beckham turned around and faced his tormentors. He pointed at them (because league rules prevent him from showing any other gesture), and gave them a steely stare of defiance that said everything. Toronto was minutes away from recording a famous win, and their fans threw it away because they could not resist poking the sleeping giant.
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| OK, if I blog this now it still counts as a "prediction", and if it comes true, and I'll look like a genius.
Rob Ford will win the Mayor's race in Toronto.
OK, even guessing by pure chance gives me a 50% likelihood of being correct, so here are some real, analytical reasons why I think that Rob Ford is going to win:
Well, it's not just that the last poll to come out before election day had Rob Ford in an 8 point lead. A single poll can easily be wrong. (And granted, it hardly makes me look like a "genius" for saying that the guy with the eight point lead is going to win.)
What I have been saying for a number of days now is that the record turnout at the advance polls is the reason Rob Ford will win. The turnout at the advance polls was something in the ballpark of 77000 voters, way higher than it had ever been.
For some reason (I won't speculate) conservative voters are WAY more likely to vote in the advance polls. Rob Ford is a conservative candidate. In the last two federal elections, there have been a number of ridings where the Conservative candidate actually lost on election night, but won when the advance polls were counted. As an extreme example, take the lopsided riding of Crowfoot. Conservative Kevin Sorenson would have won the riding even if all his competitors had all their votes count, and he was only allowed to count his votes from the advance polls! Whatever the reason is, conservative supporters vote in advance polls more than other partisans do.
So if the aggregate of the recent polls are to be believed, Rob Ford and George Smitherman are going to go down to the wire tonight. But then, when you add the votes from the advance polls, Rob Ford will win, because I guarantee he cleaned up in those ones.
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| Well, I got married. I should probably blog about that, eh?
I was naturally pretty nervous. We had to have our ceremony at 12:00 noon, because even though we planned well in advance, another couple beat us to the 2:00pm slot at the church that day. So there I was at the church, in the morning. Before noon. Did I mention that I was pretty nervous?
The Priest told me not to worry. In 400 weddings, he said, he had never had a groom faint. I told him I was pretty sure that I could break that streak for him. No you can't, he assured me.
Well, everyone started to show up, and I felt like things were going pretty well. I was starting to calm down a bit, which is why I was a little weired out by the fact that Nicola's cousin Charmaine, our wedding planner, was not calming down. In fact, she looked the opposite of calm. She looked almost, dare I say, frazzled. And it wasn't even noon yet!
Charmaine walked up to me, with fear in her eyes, and asked, "Where is Steve Adam?" Ahh yes, Steve Adam. That would be my long time friend and confidant, Steve Adam. The man who had given me a place to crash on all those weekends when I came to visit Nicola in Kingston. The man who met with me once a week during my first year of law school to talk about life, and pray. The man who I had asked to read Scripture at my wedding ceremony. It was five minutes to noon, and he was not at the Church.
This was not a problem, I told Charmaine. Simply split his two assigned Scripture readings between the two other readers. Problem solved. I felt like a genius.
I went to the front of the church and waited for my bride to walk down the aisle. My best man walked me through some breathing exercises to calm my nerves. The music started to play. Someone was walking down the aisle!! I saw on the clock that it was 12:03pm - that means! it must be! Steve Adam!
So, crisis averted, at the last possible moment.
And seconds later, I nearly broke Fr. Bob's streak. When Nicola walked down the aisle with her father, I was stunned. The blood drained from my face. I felt woozy.
Later on, a few of Nicola's friends would tell me that their favourite part of the day was seeing my reaction when I first saw Nicola walk down the aisle.
This girl looked BEAUTIFUL. Stunning. Otherworldly. I'm just glad I found my voice again in time for the vows!
I could not help but intone a heartfelt "Amen" when Fr. Bob stood up and declared, "God is here in a powerful way." It was a great day.
After the vows (or as it is called in the Catholic church, the "exchange of consent" - I learned something new there!), we signed the register, and I got to hear a collaboration between two of my favourite musicians of all time: Jobin Sam of Wool & Howl and Brian Crawford of Esco Williams, singing a tremendous rendition of an old hymn, King of Saints. It was a very powerful moment. An incredible day. One I will never forget. God is good. | | |
| My car is a beast. It might be old and unfasionable, but boy is it reliable. I've never been in an accident with this thing, and for the past 3+ years, it has seen me through a lot. I'm nostalgic about cars or anything, and I'm certainly not nostalgic about this 1996 chick-repellant. But I couldn't help but feeling a bit disappointed when I missed this important milestone, by a mere 700 metres:
But I've been very blessed to have this car. It has held up a lot better through the years than many of its sistren and brethren from the assembly line. Check out this beauty that I came across in Milton (the one on the right). Rusted and with paint peeling, closer inspection of the For Sale sign reveals that the owner is trying to sell it for a mere $400!
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