Chrystal going to Korea, meeting Jason Kay and other new people, crazy drivers

As both my dad and Eric had meetings, I thought I'd have to bus home from church today... I ended up not having to do that. Thank goodness for Nathan's spiritual gift of chauffeuring! :D

Chrystal told me that she's going to Korea to teach for a year, and she's leaving on Saturday! She found out in the last week or so, and the sudden nature of this reminded me of when Hannah left for Hong Kong to teach in 2001. That was certainly a surprise!

Jackie called a license plate "the postal code or something" when she announced that someone's car was blocking a newcomer's in the parking lot. That was certainly funny, but at least she can laugh at herself. (I wish I could do that, really... it would save me from being characterized as uptight by certain people)

Paid for my anniversary celebration ticket today, or else I risked losing it to people on a waiting list. Talked to Sheena, Cindy, Christon, Danielle, and Eric about Pho lunch doings; tomorrow night's doings; how other people were irrelevant; my remembering birthdays; Christon's eight-month co-op term in Edmonton; my mom's seeing Jon and Steph in Toronto (her flight got cancelled yesterday, so I was unpleasantly surprised to hear her voice on the phone last night); Sheena's upset over some family stuff; and life in general.

I got unexpected lucky money / red envelopes from Auntie Tonya (little Julie's mom).. she asked if I'd gotten any lai see, and insisted that she should give me some since I helped with the kids in Awana. That was a nice surprise, though totally not necessary. Everyone was wishing each other a Happy Chinese New Year / Happy Valentine's Day... Vivian gave me a Hershey's Kiss and a VeggieTales Valentine's card. :D

Met some new people today, too: Vanessa's school friend Tim, Andrea's cousins Stephanie and Edwin, Phil's school friend James, and someone Auntie Allyn knows called Jason Kay. She introduced him to Citrus since he wanted to know more about Fellowship on Friday nights; Nathan and I spent time talking to him, introducing him to people, telling him more about Friday nights being the best time to meet other people since everyone had meetings / random things to do on Sunday mornings, and giving him bus fare when he decided to go home to Burnaby. Good times, indeed... except that we left Jen waiting in the car, oops.

I asked Nathan to give me a ride home, and he said he could.. no bus for me! Actually, I would have also been happy if he'd dropped me off somewhere along the bus route. We saw more than our share of crazy drivers, and theorized that a few things were making them nuts: the sudden sunny weather, the the Sunday afternoon syndrome where you HAVE to enjoy the last of the weekend, getting last-minute Valentine's gifts for loved ones, and / or a warp in the space-time continuum.

Nathan thought my MSN names this past week were hilarious! It's too bad Jen can't go with me and the two Erics since she's stuck in Langley. But small groups are certainly good for building intimacy in relationships! Steve L. messaged me yesterday: if he were here, I'd invite him in a second. :D But he's halfway across the world... sigh. Ah well, it's all good... we like each other's friendly presence well enough!