Costco hotdogs

I talked to quite a lot of people tonight about stuff..
organic microbrewed green tea root beer, playfighting..
Creation Fest, the "Costco hotdogs" song, Canada stickers..
last night, heaviness of a purse on a tray, hanging out..
photogenic people on ID cards, sticking things up people's butts when they're passed out..
random thoughts, grad school, life, creative foods..
whiteout, preparedness for the end of the world, updates..
motor scooters at Harrison Hot Springs, desserts..
Ann Chan, Rialto cologne, Richmond Crew jokes, plans..
Eric's extremely late wedding banquet RSVP, my aloneness..
Honeybuckets, birthday cards, how I was so very kind..
how it would feel to leave everything behind to die..
family memories, the non-quorum meeting on Sunday, etc.

now that was definitely a great highlight of my week..
I'm not saying whether it trumps last night, of course ;)
as Nathan says, it's all about the good times and memories!
talking to people allows me to know them better, aye?


Last night was a highlight in itself, but tonight was a different kind: talking to everyone, and feeling full of love and laughter! ;)


Talked to a LOT of people tonight, which is what happens when the Daniel and David Fellowships combine to make on big happy group of about 70 people in the church basement! :D


Highlights of the night:

Eric said that the Rialto cologne he sprayed on me a few Sundays ago wasn't his, so I got to keep the bottle since Jon didn't care for it much.

Sean's presentation about why he was going to Mexico on the missions trip was unintentionally funny, as usual.. as I said to Vivian, you gotta love Sean! He said something about how the migrant families down there have families of varying size: "They can have one or two kids, up to fifteen kids or more.. I guess they really like having kids!" Then there was some other comment he made about the city they were going to: "Vincente Guerrero was some general, and I guess they liked him so much, they named places for him all over the country. I got so confused looking it up on the map!" Good ol' Sean! (he doesn't even realize it's funny...)

Cindy asked me whether I'd seen Ann, who was our old Awana director before she got married three years ago. I didn't know she was back in town from Hong Kong, since I'm terrible at keeping in touch with people sometimes.. believe it or not, as you will. ;) She had a hard time last year with SARS, since her husband Eugene is a doctor and got sick himself. But I did see her for a few minutes.. it was SO great to see her! :D

Ryan, Jon, Dave, and Costa were playfighting all during the refreshment time. I can imagine Dave and Jon in Toronto in a couple of months, all right! Ryan was using his girlfriend Karen Grace as a hostage, while another Karen wanted them to get away from her since she bruises easily. It was kinda entertaining... if you weren't in their way!

Nathan, Costa, and I were discussing Canada flags and stickers for some reason. I told Nate that I'd buy him some Canada stickers next time I was at Loonie Plus, which is a dollar store. He said I didn't have to, but that I was so kind to say I would. Then I said, "You know me.. of COURSE I'll give you the stickers!" (I'd do a lot for my friends, believe me!)

Jon was discussing Creation Fest (basically the Christian equivalent of Woodstock) with everyone tonight. We all want Honeybucket T-shirts from him, since he's going there with a bunch of friends on Tuesday. (let's just say that a Honeybucket is something you use to take care of going to the bathroom...) He'll be SO dark when he gets back on Saturday.. the last time he went, Steph and I saw him on our way out for breakfast / church. We almost didn't recognize him.. the sun in the almost-desert had baked him until he was practically black! They'll have a good time, though!

Citrus said that I'd soon be the only one left at home.. I know this very well! We'll all miss everyone who's leaving, of course. He asked when it would be my turn to go, and I jokingly replied: "You never know.. someone might sweep me off my feet and ask me to live with them!" (that won't happen, but we can joke around!)


Jon, Eric, Nathan, Dawn, and I went to Calhoun's (a Bread Garden-like place) to drink some sodas later. We'd had enough dessert, especially Nathan.. his birthday was yesterday. His mom bought him a Mondo Gelato ice cream cake, even though he'd had two desserts beforehand.. so he's feeling a bit burned out on dessert now, naturally.

While there, Dawn and I got to discussing family memories.. our families go way back together! She brought up the time that she and my sister gave me a hard time about using whiteout, and I remembered the time she threw up in the van. (my dad's way of making her feel better afterwards was attempting to buy her some ice cream at McDonald's.. a mother would at least comfort the kid by taking time to wipe their face and say soothing words!)

Dawn thought that between my knapsack and Nathan's man-purse, we could be prepared for the end of the world. We both have a lot of stuff: Kleenex, Purell hand sanitizer, afterbite, money, pens, whiteout, birthday cards, miscellaneous papers, keys, etc. That spawned a discussion of what it would be like to live in certain legendary times (like King Arthur and LOTR), and to know that you'd die when sent off to war.. very interesting stuff.

Nathan saw some organic microbrewed green tea root beer, so he had to try it. Jon and I also had some, and found it very interesting. Dawn asked how it was, and it tasted exactly like what you'd expect: green tea and root beer mixed together. Sure, it looked a bit watered-down from the tea.. but it was nice for a one-shot deal.

I kept spouting random thoughts all night.. Nathan was singing "Meow meow meow meow," and I said it reminded me of that Meow Mix commercial that was popular a few years back. He and Steph used to sing: "Meow Mix, Meow Mix, we'll deliver!" all the time back then. I said that I was full of random thoughts, and Nathan said that was cool.. "That's awesome.. keep it up!" Of course I will.. partners in randomness! :D

We also spent a lot of time looking at Nathan's and Eric's ID cards, and comparing the photos to high school yearbook pictures. Nathan bemoaned the fact that he wasn't photogenic like Wayland: "I look different in every picture! Why?!" Talked about business cards, Jen being back soon from Kenya, Nathan's "hot dogs at Costco" song at Daniel and Michelle's wedding, grad school, and life in general.


Before we left, Nathan told us a hilarious story that he'd heard from a friend who was actually there. This isn't an urban legend, but I'm doing my best to be a part of spreading the story. Nathan's friend is a doctor in Princeton, BC.. basically, this guy came in one day complaining of difficulty urinating. The doctors fixed that, and he went home happy. But then he had difficulty doing a "3-1" and had to go back, stinking up the entire hospital in the process.

The doctors couldn't find anything with an X-ray except a little black dot, so they used a camera probe to investigate further. Turns out it was a black Glad garbage bag with two Safeway bags in it, with a 12-inch foam thing inside those. Seems the guy's friends had a little TOO much fun when he was passed out drunk.. they decided to stick things really far up his ass. Thankfully, the problem was resolved when the stinky things were removed with tweezer-like instruments. Everyone at the table was disgusted by the revolting story, but I reacted like Nathan and found it very funny.. poor guy, though!

We decided we wouldn't do anything like that to Nathan.. we'd figure out less invasive ways of tormenting him. ;) While on the way home, Eric realized that he hadn't RSVP'ed to Vernon and Sarah's banquet invitation yet.. it was due about a month ago, but slipped his mind. Jon reassured him that Vernon (of all the people) would understand about lateness.. the date wasn't really a hard-and-fast deadline, so Eric could be squeezed in. I wasn't so sure about the latter part, but agreed to try my luck at emailing them for Eric, which I did when I got home. Now all I have to do is wait for a reply, as I did ask for one. We never really see them these days at church, and of course at Daniel and Michelle's wedding.. hopefully, he can go. (I try to help out dear friends whenever possible!)



That's about it from here, and I'm sorry about the length. Takes me quite some time to write down, but I know you want to be informed! :D