Pig ears, raspberry lip balm, bubble tea

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRIAN.. I hope you have a really rocking one today! :) It's been great knowing you for all these years!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JEN.. I hope you have a great one today! :) Just don't drink TOO much beer. ;)

Went out with Yazmine today.. it was a good time catching up with her and all. I bought a buncha stuff:

habanero chips ("Death Rain".. yup, gotta try some of that extreme spiciness)
raspberry lip balm (might as well try that, too.. seemed good in the store, anyhow)
ice chocolate bubble tea (gotta have it when ya can!)
pig ears (yes, to eat as part of dinner.. and yup, these are literal ears of a pig.. cooked and all)
hot and sour soup (with the dinner.. very good stuff)

The restaurant forgot to charge us for the pig ears (we didn't notice till after we left.. "saved" us $5, plus tax / tip).. they were crunchy and spicy.. good stuff. :) (yes, Yazmine was grossed out.. oh well :P)

Yup.. yesterday night and this afternoon were certainly contenders for "Weird Comestibles Time." Before you ask.. no, I did NOT eat another dictionary. ;)

Ice cream heaven at La Casa Gelato

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EUNICE.. I hope you have a really good one today! :) Richmond Crew / church memories all the way, man!

went to La Casa Gelato for dessert.. the place has hundreds of flavors! Chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, jackfruit, durian (yuck), Death by Mango, pineapple, coffee, garlic, beer, aged balsamic vinegar (yuck), wildberry with jalapeno, dragon fruit, basil Pernod, bubble gum, cherimoya, guava, mango, white chocolate, purple yam, mandarin orange, ginger, jackfruit, spumoni, eggnog, curry.. the list goes on and on and on..

yup, it's ice cream heaven.. :)

Sitting at the computer on a nice day

Such a nice day today.. and what am I doing? Sitting inside doing nothing much.. but hey, I will be going out later tonight. Can't wait to spend time with my brother and friends.. it'll be one of the last times we'll do this without the addition of my sister in the mix. So I'd better enjoy it while it lasts.. hehehehe. ;)

Greg's a quadruplet, and Jay's siblings were supposed to be quadruplets!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DORCAS.. I hope you have a really great one today! :) It'll be good seeing you again in September.. hope you're doing well in Hong Kong.

REFLECTIONS ON MULTIPLES
A few hours ago, I found out that someone I've been talking to on AIM since last September is.. a quadruplet! I didn't know this before now.. I just happened to come across one of his posts yesterday in which he said that he had three siblings exactly the same age as he was. (so of course, I thought the obvious: "he MUST be a quadruplet!") So I asked him, and he confirmed it: that's very interesting stuff, indeed! Not that I'm going to bug him on life as a quadruplet or anything like that, even if I am kind of interested in multiple births and such. If I really wanted to bother with it, I could go to Facts About Multiples and try to look it up on the lists there. (since I do know his first name and approximate age) However, I won't.. I'm not that interested. (that's surprising to some of you, I know.. )

Actually, that reminds me of something an Australian friend of mine told me once: his siblings were supposed to be quadruplets, but turned out to be triplets instead. (since his mum lost one) I still talk to him on occasion, and only just found out his first name a couple weeks ago. (despite talking to him since November 2001) Heck, we share a birthday (separated by a year.. I'm older).. that's cool enough. :)

I've never personally known any quadruplets or higher. There are two sets of quads in BC: the Duncan set, born in 1993 and BC's first surviving set (Alexandra, Lindsay, Rylie, Stephanie); and the DeGoutiere set, born in 1999 and from somewhere in the Lower Mainland. (Daniel, Nicholas, Benjamin, Adam) My sister's friend Ross was a younger brother to triplet girls (Jennifer, Janine, and Kimberly).. or so he / my sister said, anyhow. Heck, I've never known even a triplet.. but it would be interesting to know someone who was a triplet or higher. Before you ask.. no, not just because they're a multiple. Cheh. ;)

NHL Playoffs Primer

NHL PLAYOFFS PRIMER (simple version, coz that's what I can give you people without sounding like a total idiot :P)

Apparently, my explanation of the National Hockey League playoffs made Kal's head figuratively explode. HAHAHAHA.. it's not that hard to understand! At first, there are 16 teams that compete for the Cup in the first round, in eight best-of-7-game series. The top eight teams in each conference advance to the playoffs after the regular season; the seeding system goes like this: #8 team plays #1 team, #7 plays #2, #6 plays #3, and #5 plays #4. Through elimination, eight teams advance from the first round to play the second round, then four teams from the second to play the third, and finally the last two to advance to the final play the last round for the Stanley Cup. All of this can be very draining, given that each of the four series could be as long as 7 games each. But let's hope people understand it now. :P

The gift of caring for people / encouragement

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, YVONNE.. hope you have a good one today! :) Lillian tells me you're enjoying married life in Hong Kong.. it was pretty cool to be at your wedding a couple years ago. Sorta weird to know that we have all these white people (that we'll never meet again) as distant relatives, too. ;) Definitely remember when you were living with us for a while.. you're a good cousin.

Called Andrea earlier: she thinks I have the gift of caring for people / encouragement. Eh.. it's what I do. ;) I'm not sure I should be singled out for it, of course.. that would just smack of elevating myself undeservedly. ;) But it is nice to hear what your friends think of you.. even if all you do is smile, say hi, call them from time to time (or every week), and give them all birthday / Christmas cards. (and occasionally cards for other times, too) I also try to help them, at any rate.. or just be there. So does all that add up to a gift of some sort? Who knows.. but I do try to live up to my billing and reputation. (it's not like I face a LOT of pressure or anything as far as that's concerned) :P

Aussie accents / weird nicknames

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANDREA.. I hope you have a really awesome one today! :) It's been fun at church, and you're a real blessing and encouragement to me.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JAMIE.. I hope you have a great one today! :) It was fun at school and when we lived across the street from each other years ago. I don't know where you are now, but I hope you're healthy and happy.. ah, memories!

Just before I went out tonight, I was reading something about Aussie dubbed voices in commercials in Australia.. that reminds me: I've noticed Aussie (dubbed?) voices in radio commercials here. At least, there's this guy that sounds like Steve Irwin of "Crocodile Hunter" fame in all those recent Craftsman Collision commercials: "avoid the sneaky North American squeezle!" Then there's the Aussie (?) guy in the commercials for DutchMaster SuperBud: "Australia's a big land, made up of big people, who like big things, so if you want big hydroponic plants.. use this!" Weird stuff, but it certainly makes me notice. :) Not that I need either collision services or hydroponics stuff (me, drive a car or grow pot? nah..), but it's cool to hear 'em.. even if the accents aren't real, hehehe. (though of course, I prefer the real thing.. which is something you don't hear that much around Vancouver, boo hoo.. though maybe at Whistler!)

Speaking of weird nicknames that don't come from my usual source(s) of such, someone I talk a lot to has recently taken to calling me "Dragon Queen." Ah well, my current MSN nickname is "GlowingDragonFlame".. that itself is an old ICQ nickname I chose to resurrect, much like a phoenix.. hehehe. So just exactly how do you get "Dragon Queen" from "GlowingDragonFlame," you may ask? Josh is a gamer.. apparently "GlowingDragonFlame" says "Dragon Queen" to him.. go figure. It's weirdly likeable, but I think I'll change the nickname in the next day or so.

And speaking of commercials, the one they have on now for the Kids Help Phone makes me sad.. kiddy abuse and all, y'know. That's all I am going to say on that subject for now.

Internet surveys

INTERNET SURVEYS
Another day, another Internet survey.. now, I've had various permutations of this general "question-and-answer" survey sent to me over the last couple of years. (and I usually answer them, vaguely annoying my friends in the process.. is that weirdly pathetic or what?) It's funny, though.. they always seem to consist of the same types of questions over and over, with almost no variation. Full name, favorite colors / movies / books, feelings about getting married or relationships, names for your future children, (least) favorite smells / sounds, who you expect to (not) send the survey back to you, etc.

Not that I mind the sameness of each survey coming down the pipeline and landing in my email inbox, but at least another one sent to me late last week had different questions on it. (whether you could juggle, whether you carried a donor card, how many keys on your keyring, etc.) Ah, fresh new ways of thinking! (hehehe) So yes.. gimme yer Internet surveys.. I will most probably answer them. ;) (my sister especially knows this well)

Note to real-life friends

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JULIE.. I hope you have a great one today! Now, why is it I seemingly always run into you, Elaine, and your mom at Oakridge mall? ;)

Just a note to my real-life friends who may be reading this, as it seems you're doing so in ever increasing numbers: I will not take random things we discuss (funny or not) and put them into the hilarious quote tally or the usual blog entries just for filler material. I'm not one to take things seriously out of context, malign people unfairly, or blab on about things indiscreetly.. hopefully, you all know that already! ;) Of course, if you feel I have done so.. then let me know. I welcome / value / trust / treasure your opinions, and will do my best to consider them carefully in any decisions I make in regards to this site. :)

Hilarious quotes involving Spoz

You've been waiting for them (okay, maybe not :P).. here are the hilarious quotes of the week! Certainly, I hope the first one provides enough context for SOMEBODY.. hehehe. ;)

HILARIOUS QUOTES OF THE WEEK (4)

"Our laundry powder has little flecks of blue in it.. they make me feel special.. coz.. they're blue and stuff.." -- Spoz, while we were discussing various white powders (flour, sugar, salt, laundry detergent, and snow). (Monday, Apr. 21) [this grew out of a comment I made about how my brother thinks I'm on crack whenever I go into "berserk lunatic laughter mode"]

"Spoz! They've imported Spoz from Australia to sing the national anthems at the hockey game!" -- Jon, to me and Eric M. while we were listening to the hockey game in the Parisienne.. they were about to do the pre-game anthems (Friday, Apr. 25) [yup, I *had* to tell Jon that Mark Donnelly looks like Spoz.. just because he LOOKS like Spoz, doesn't mean he IS Spoz! :P]

"It must have been a shower thing." -- Derek to Dylan, remarking on Karen and Jenny's discussion of the (pretty darned funny) "maxipad fashion show" video at Winnie's bridal shower of late July 2001. (Friday, Apr. 25) [um, yes.. where else would you find a video of maxipads stuck on people's clothing as various fashion accessories {belt, headband, bracelet, etc.}?]

"Did you just breathe in my hair?" -- Nathan to Eric H. (Friday, Apr. 25) [no.. Eric had just yawned, and nowhere near Nathan's hair.. a "yawn of power," as Jen termed it]

go ahead and compete over who gets in here.. and tally up who gets in here the most.. I don't care ;)

Flamsborough

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NATHAN (Dr. Collapso)... hope you have an awesome one today! :) You were a great person to talk to, and I wonder what happened to you; last I heard, you were in Japan teaching English.. a cool Aussie humorous person is always a good thing.. ;)

Yet another weird nickname that doesn't come from my usual source: Flamsborough. Nice one, TLD. :P