Goodbye George...

George was a pioneer of his craft, stepping away from the conventional "stand-up" comedians, and introduced his audiences to the world of "reality" based comedy.  His use of profanity and “colourful” vocabularies are both hilarious and controversial.  But it is his observation of the silliness and idiocy of life that makes us not simply laughs but laugh at ourselves.

A career that spans four decades, George was never one to back away from public pressure and is always willing to say what he wanted and believed.  He was certainly one of a kind.  His career had helped inspire today's most popular comedians like Chris Rock, Tom Stewart, Eddie Murphy, Dennis Miller, Bill Maher to name a few.

I'm disappointed and sad to say that I will never have the pleasure and honour to see George perform live.  Below are some of his past routines, they will forever be in my heart.

George...we will miss you. I will miss you.

My City - Toronto

Lately, I took the time to go around the city of Toronto, the city I've lived in since coming from Hong Kong at the age of 10.  This winter has been brutal and when the first sign of spring finally decided to come, I can't help but to grab my camera and take advantage of the beautiful sunlight and landscape.  Here are some of the pictures I've taken...

Toronto Auto Show 2008

I was at this year's Toronto Auto Show last week.  It was great.  But too bad I got there late and it was the last day of the show so I wasn't able to see everything.  I actually missed quite a bit.  Here are some pictures I took.  My favorite is the Mercedes SLK McLaren....My goal is to have one of these on or before I'm 35!  HAHA. 

Dodge Viper

Audi R8

Continental Flying Spur

Aston Martin

Mercedes SLR McLaren

Mercedes SLR McLaren

My Beef With Religion

Ok Sandra, you asked for it.  And now I'm here to rant about religion.

I was born in a Christian family.  Both my parents are devoted Christians who go to church every Sunday, give grace before every meal, and trust in God for almost everything they do.  Being their child it is obvious that they would instill that type of spiritual believes upon me with not much of a choice.  Not to say that their intension was bad, but I'd much rather make the decision for myself.

I remained a Christian until the twilight of my teenage years.  I was, in fact, quite devoted.  Not only did I do everything my parents does, I joined a fellowship, and volunteered to help out in Church events.  I even joined the Church Choir. 

So how did I end up here?  How did I end up hating religion and everything it stands for?

Before I go into my "awakening" story I like to make it clear that although I am anti-religion, I am NOT anti-God.  I believe there is a creator and I do believe ultimately there is a higher being that started it all.  My motto is, "To have God, is to have Faith...Religion is just human".

I was 17 or 18 years old and was a member of a local teen fellowship called Bahamas (I think that how it was spelt).  We meet every Friday after school and on this particular day, we have bible study.  A question was brought up by the group leader. A question to which the responses given by my fellowship-mates have brought me to a rude awakening.  The question was "If it was proven, without a shadow of a doubt, that Jesus never existed, and that the bible is a pure work of fiction, what would you do?"  My group consisted of 7-8 people.  Out of those 7-8 teenagers, 3 of them said "I'd kill myself, because life is not worth living anymore".  "Whoa...did I hear you correctly?  You're going to kill yourself." I asked.  "Yes.  My life would have loss all meaning if Jesus doesn't exist." they responded.  I was quiet for the rest of the session and when the session was over, I immediately stormed out of the church.  I never went back since.

That little incident put me in a position to really evaluate what religion is.  Believing that God will show me the way, my initial assumption was that God will eventually show me back to religion.  That was not the case.  If anything, I have more detest for religion now than I have before.

Answer yourself this question: Why are you a Christian? (I can't say anything else about other religion because I have never experience it for myself, but I think the basic principle remains the same).  Most would answer "Because Jesus loves me..."  I will then ask, "Why do you think Jesus loves you?".  The answer to that will most likely be "Because he died for our sins...."

Stop.

"He died for our sins".  This is really the central theme of all religion isn't it?  Sins.  We are bad people, and we need to be forgiven.  This is how Christian or all other religion recruit new members, but this is also why I will never believe in religion.

You see, religion to me is not about faith but control.  In church, Christians are told be behave a certain way.  We are told to be a living example of how good we Christians are.  We're not allowed to do this; we're not allowed to do that, because it was not a Christian thing to do.  Those who dared to do things unbecoming of a Christians, are sinners!  They are sinners and we must rescue them from wrong path and put them back onto the right path, the Christian's path. 

Bullshit.

You see to control a person you must first destroy his/her will and self-esteem.You must make them believe that their actions and decision are all wrong.  Fear, confusion and guilt are the keys to destroying the will and self-esteem of a person.  These so called "Sins" are nothing more than a mechanism to make someone feel worst about themselves.  "You are a sinner, and therefore will need to love of Jesus to feel better".  "You are a bad person...and you must have Jesus love in order to be accepted".  A person with weak self-esteem will easily give in to these tactics, and he/she will become a devoted Christian.  These so called "sins" are nothing more than, dare I say, brainwashing.

Now I know I'm not perfect, and I am pretty sure I've done things that are socially unacceptable.  But I believe I am a good person at heart and there is absolutely nothing in my life thus far I need to feel guilty about.  I did not injure anyone on purpose, I did not deceive anyone to increase my personal gain, I treat people with respect, and I care about how other feels.  So why am I a sinner?  Why do I need Jesus' love to feel better?

Those of you who are devoted Christian must by now thinks "Simon is very arrogant, and proud."  Yes, I am.  There's a thin line between arrogant and confident.  I'd like to think I'm confident.  Noticed that “arrogance and proud" are also sins.  That's because those two qualities prevent a person from being brainwashed, and even at time allow one to question the validity of religion.

The most dangerous thing religion can do is take away a person’s ability to think for themselves.So assuming that has happened to you yet, ask yourself…are you REALLY a bad person?  Sure, you may have made the wrong decisions at some points in your life, and you may even have unintentionally hurt someone close to you.  But does that mean you are a bad person and need saving?  Isn't there far more serious sins in the world such as murder, and rape?  According to Christian believe, a saint like Gandhi would be suffering in hell right now but a murder like Hitler would be in heaven because Hitler, was a Christian.  Now that makes a lot of sense.

I am not perfect but I refuse to feel bad about myself.I am a good person at heart and I don't need to be a Christian to do good for this world.  I treat people with respect, I help those who need assistances, and I will not bullshit you on things I don't believe.  Ironically as I am writing this, I feel I'm being more Christian than Christians actually are.

Jesus, according to the bible, preaches about love.  Not sins.  In fact, it was Jesus who said "Let those who have not sinned, cast the first stone..."  Jesus never said to anyone, "You're a bad person, unless you walk with me."  Jesus, never judges. 

Then what gives Church the right, to judge you as a bad person?

In conclusion, I like to once again bring out my friend George, who have an interesting, yet humous look at religion:

I'm a Modern Man - George Carlin

I'm a modern man,
A man for the millennium,
Digital and smoke free.

A diversified multicultural postmodern deconstructionist,
Politically anatomically and ecologically incorrect.

I've been uplinked and downloaded.
I've been inputted and outsourced.
I know the upside of downsizing.
I know the downside of upgrading.

I'm a high tech lowlife.
A cutting edge state-of-the-art bicoastal multitasker,
And I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond.

I'm new wave but I'm old school,
And my inner child is outward bound.

I'm a hot wired heat seeking warm hearted cool customer,
Voice activated and biodegradable.

I interface from a database,
And my database is in cyberspace,
So I'm interactive,
I'm hyperactive,
And from time-to-time,
I'm radioactive.

Behind the eight ball,
Ahead of the curve,
Riding the wave,
Dodging a bullet,
Pushing the envelope.

I'm on point,
On task,
On message,
And off drugs.
I got no need for coke and speed,
I got no urge to binge and purge.

I'm in the moment,
On the edge,
Over the top,
But under the radar.

A high concept,
Low profile,
Medium range ballistic missionary.
A street-wise smart bomb.
A top gun bottom feeder.

I wear power ties,
I tell power lies,
I take power naps,
I run victory laps.

I'm a totally ongoing bigfoot slam dunk rainmaker with a proactive outreach.
A raging workaholic.
A working ragaholic.
Out of rehab,
And in denial.

I got a personal trainer,
A personal shopper,
A personal assistant,
And a personal agenda.

You can't shut me up,
You can't dumb me down.
'Cause I'm tireless,
And I'm wireless.
I'm an alpha male on beta blockers.

I'm a non-believer and an over-achiever.
Laid back but fashion forward.

Up front,
Down home,
Low rent,
High maintenance.

Super size,
Long lasting,
High definition,
Fast acting,
Oven ready,
And built to last.

I'm a hands on,
Foot loose,
Knee jerk,
Head case.

Prematurely post traumatic,
And I have a love child who sends me hate mail.

But I'm feeling,
I'm caring,
I'm healing,
I'm sharing.
A supportive bonding nurturing primary care giver.

My output is down,
But my income is up.
I take a short position on the long bond,
And my revenue stream has its own cash flow.

I read junk mail,
I eat junk food,
I buy junk bonds,
I watch trash sports.

I'm gender specific,
Capital intensive,
User friendly,
And lactose intolerant.

I like rough sex.
I like tough love.
I use the f word in my email,
And the software on my hard drive is hard core, no soft porn.

I bought a microwave at a mini mall.
I bought a mini van in a mega store.
I eat fast food in the slow lane.

I'm toll free,
Bite sized,
Ready to wear,
And I come in all sizes.

A fully equipped,
Factory authorized,
Hospital tested,
Clinically proven,
Scientifically formulated medical miracle.

I've been pre-washed,
Pre-cooked,
Pre-heated,
Pre-screened,
Pre-approved,
Pre-packaged,
Post-dated,
Freeze-dried,
Double-wrapped,
Vacuum-packed,
And I have an unlimited broadband capacity.

I'm a rude dude,
But I'm the real deal.
Lean and mean.
Cocked, locked and ready to rock.
Rough tough and hard to bluff.

I take it slow.
I go with the flow.
I ride with the tide.
I got glide in my stride.

Drivin' and movin',
Sailin' and spinnin',
Jivin' and groovin',
Wailin' and winnin'.

I don't snooze,
So I don't lose.
I keep the pedal to the metal,
And the rubber on the road.

I party hearty,
And lunch time is crunch time.

I'm hanging in,
There ain't no doubt.
And I'm hanging tough,
Over and out.