I'm 99 or 100 years old, according to the kiddies...

Awana was pretty cool.. great to see the kids back again. However, there'll be an extreme shortage of leaders next week coz of Daniel camp. Hopefully, we'll muddle through. But this week wasn't too bad.. the kids called me by name, gave me their money, and did all (or most of) the stuff they were supposed to do. I made sure my favorite kid talked to me, as well.. hehehe. Hannah and Priscilla also told me that I was either 99 or 100 years old as a joke.. suuuuuuuure I am, kiddies! :P

Avoiding bus accidents

Just narrowly avoided being stuck on a bus for goodness knows how long. I was taking the bus to go to Awana, but then just missed my connecting bus (the 98 B-Line). I was a bit annoyed, so went into the local office supply store to buy some stuff, then caught the next bus in.

Later, I was wondering why the bus was going so slowly.. no, I'm not that impatient, but it certainly seemed slower than normal. Then I noted people on the bus staring out the windows.. there was a big accident involving four buses (including the one I would have been on) and three cars. Thank goodness I wasn't on that bus! (and it's actually been a nice sunny warm-ish day today, too.. which makes the accident even more weird, since it ain't rainy like it's been all week)

Avoid cliques at camp and alkie jokes!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MANDY! Hope you have a great one today! :)

Got a surprise last night.. Eric M. is back in town, so of course there was the resumption of booty jokes galore.. um, yay? (you do NOT want to know what my "booty logo" was, at ALL) Had a great time last night with everyone.. Danielle loved my birthday present (the eponymous Collective Soul CD), and Jen ordered beer. (and to think that Jon restrained himself from making alkie jokes on her birthday card!) Very funny discussions going on, for sure! Nathan told everyone to avoid cliquing up at the Daniel Fellowship camp, and Jon took that into a direction nobody wanted to go. (Camp Luther has like one tree, and no bushes.. that's all I will say)

Now, I'm outta here, to AWANA! Woohoo! :)

Spam email, beer, and Awana

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANDREA.. I hope you have a really good one today! :) Sometimes I wonder what happened to you, but it was good having you in Fellowship!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KODY... I hope you have a good one today! :) It's been interesting getting to know you, and I hope to talk with you soon!

RANDOM REFLECTIONS
I've been wondering.. does anyone else get the "Iraq Most Wanted deck of playing cards" spam email? I'm mightily annoyed by it. Yes, they have a deck of playing cards.. but does that mean they have to spam my mailbox with six of the things per day, at minimum? I was mildly complaining about it to one of you earlier this week.. you said you didn't get any, and that they were directly targeting me. (nice joke ;) ) I'm not being directly targeted... am I? (if I am.. yikes!)

This is for those of you who drink beer.. earlier this morning, I heard a story out of China that they'd invented beer made out of milk. Yup, it apparently has the light foamy head.. plus all the vitamins and goodness of milk. Since I don't like beer that much anyhow (and thus am not a beer purist), I'm not too sure about this new development. But it certainly sounds weird enough to include in here. ;)

Awana starts again tomorrow! That right.. after a five-week break because of Spring Break, concern about SARS, and Easter.. we'll be ready to go again in 28.5 hours! Woohoo.. I can't wait! It'll be great seeing all the kids again.. even if we do see some of them at church on Sundays! Yay.. I feel like doing a happy dance! (I'm very exuberant, I know.. so you'll have to excuse this out-of-character happiness ;) )

SARS paranoia / Mark Donnelly

Talked to my sister last night on MSN: she was making everyone around her paranoid because she has the flu. (which has the same symptoms as SARS) 'Twas only the flu, though. Hey, she got two deferred exams because of it. (apparently, she's gained a lot of weight.. we'll see what her definition of "a lot" is next Sunday at the airport) Apparently, she wants to get something together with Jon, Eric M. maybe, and me to go to a Seattle Mariners baseball game during the summer. We'll see about that one.. sounds good right now, though. Bonding with the constant booty jokes, Crew jokes, and everything else.. wooyeah! :)

I saw a picture in the paper today of the Canucks' "good-luck" anthem singer, Mark Donnelly. He reminded me of Spoz.. or maybe it was the long hair, goatee, and general build. Unfortunately, I don't have another picture of this dude (and can't seem to find one on the Net).. so you'll just have to take my word for it. (believe me, he looks VERY like Spoz) Maybe I'll scan the newspaper picture for G to put on his site. (as Sean was suggesting earlier in the week for a piccie of me)

SARS and biological warfare

Apparently, my sister has the flu.. could it be SARS? Heck, she does live in Mississauga for now.. which is just close enough to Toronto that it cases concern! She even signed in on MSN as "SARS victim".. changing her name from "flu victim." Must be that darn SARS paranoia.. So will I meet her at the airport in a week and a half? Who knows what'll happen at the airport.. aiya!

Oh, and I was reading in the paper that SARS could be Saddam Hussein's biological warfare terror. I don't know about that.. but if it's here to stay because it's spread too widely to be contained.. then we better all watch out. ;)

Facing Minnesota in the second round now...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TRACY! Hope you have a really awesome one today! :) Now.. do I *really* want to know how Alan did on his tryout for Canadian Idol? (hehehehe)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KAL! Hope you have a good one today! :) I know this past year hasn't been the best for you, but it's been a real pleasure getting to know you!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ADAM (Res)! Hope you have a really good one today! :) It's been good getting to know ya.. no more weird stealing jokes, man.

Well, we won the hockey game 4-1, and will now face Minnesota in the second round. Everyone was so pumped for the game, it was crazy! (but very good)

Go, Canucks!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KAREN.. hope you have an awesome one today! :) Remember San Francisco? Very fun times, and it's great seeing you at church too!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHAN.. hope you have a good one! :) It was fun in Band, wasn't it?
A very special happy birthday also goes out to the Whalen quintuplets (Alex, Ben, Emma, Grace, and Mary Kate) who turn three today. Interestingly enough, they were born on their dad Mike's birthday, and their parents' wedding anniversary. Hope you all have a fun day! :)

hmm.. what to put here?
I really have NO idea..
but, GO CANUCKS!

(Game 7 tonight in Vancouver.. winner takes all and moves on to face either Colorado or Minnesota in the Western Conference's second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.. and for the sports-impaired, yes.. this is NHL ice hockey)

I don't feel like eating...

I don't feel like eating today..
is this good?
eh.. perhaps not..

I do need to go food shopping, though..
maybe later or tomorrow!
(depends how lazy I am, hehehe)

Death and mortality

Now, why do I find myself thinking about death and mortality all of a sudden? The last few weeks, I've been thinking about that kind of thing.. this thinking comes and goes in waves. No, I do not have any suicidal ideations or anything like that. But lately, it's been like, "How do I want to go when my time comes? What will it be like to slip into black unconsciousness forever, and will I be aware of it? Will I go to heaven or hell?" Aiya! I just want this to STOP! Maybe what I need to do is talk to my friends who share the same values as I do.. and no, there were no events in my life to set this latest round off, either.

This post sounds morbid, but I'm keeping it here anyhow. :P

Sunrise Service, hilarious quotes about Easter and being a reverend

Got up at 6, and attended the sunrise service. It was quite good, and about what I expected. Kinda caused a bit of a ruckus with a tai chi group at 7:15-ish, but then that was probably because they didn't expect us to be there singing celebratory songs. :) Had a great breakfast at a restaurant afterwards.. I think it was good to experience for one year, at least. We'll see about next year, though it was good. Definitely had good times at church later, as well. Although.. Quan was crying because I'd given her sister candy to share among the three of them, but I don't know if Hien did share. Maybe I should have bought an extra bunch of chocolate eggs for Quan and her friends.. now I feel really bad. Oh well.. always some other time, perhaps.

This has definitely been a week for the funny quotes, too.. always a good thing! :)

HILARIOUS QUOTES OF THE WEEK (6)

"Who? To Spoz?" -- lel, upon my telling her that it took me at least 45 minutes to compose an email to someone. (Tuesday, Apr. 15) [I have NEVER taken 45 minutes to compose an email to that dude.. in fact, the email was to my friend Bill :P]

"dude.. you're having a weird reminiscing moment.. SNAP OUT'VE IT :P" -- Spoz, judging my reaction to his prank "Hot or Not" picture.. hey, allow me my memories of Eric M. and the sun shining upon him in a truly beautiful way! (Wednesday, Apr. 16)

"You were praying for a basket of oranges once, and you got Citrus instead!" -- Nathan to Danielle, while we were discussing weird / amazing answers to prayer. (Friday, Apr. 18) [that was definitely not true :P]

"Violence in hockey doesn't make sense because it's not part of the game, but fighting in football does.. there, it IS part of the game!" -- Alan, trying to "prove" that violence is somehow different when applied to different sports. (Friday, Apr. 18)

"It makes more sense to celebrate Easter while you're in bed sleeping!" -- Shannon (a decided non-churchy person), when she learned that I was debating whether or not to actually go to the Sunrise service. (Saturday, Apr. 19) [no.. it doesn't really.. besides, it was enriching :P]

"I'm an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church, and I keep meaning to go tell the school to list me as a reverend.. it would be interesting to see what would happen in a class if they called out my name like that." -- Corey, telling me why it was all right that his mother slept in today and missed Easter service. (about half an hour ago.. like I really believe that, even though he tells me you can go to some supposedly legit site and have your credentials downloaded from there :P)

Jon's monitor died

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MICHELLE.. I hope you have a really great one today! :) You've been a great friend, and I hope we can continue our friendship!

Easter today.. rejoicing for me! Now, I better get to bed in case I really do want to attend Sunrise Service tomorrow at 6:30 AM. (yikes.. me on little sleep.. but might as well experience the service one of these years..)

Not much to report here in this blog, but in case some of you are wondering why I'm offline (when I'm usually on at blazing speed at my brother's).. the monitor on Jon's computer has died. I'm currently posting this from my dad's computer. That is all.