Spanish Banks and GARDEN STATE

I spent time with my brother at the library and Book Warehouse (flipping through a few books) before going to pick up Jen and Dawn; Dawn had some cigarettes that her roommate was selling to Jen. The roomie's one of those "smoking under stress" people, so she wants to quit, but won't anytime soon... Dawn and I both do the "eating under stress" thing, though! After a couple phone calls to Alan, we found where we were supposed to be... my sister arrived later looking done in by the half hour walk from the bus stop. Phil and Megan came later to join everyone else. (me, Jon, Steph, Sheena, Chalaine, both Erics, Silvester, Dawn, Dave, Jen, Alan, Vivian) Since Alan couldn't get a grill, the BBQ was a "make sandwiches" night instead. He asked me whether my group had anything going on: as Jen said earlier (though it sounds bad), the beach trumps worship! Might as well enjoy the last days of summer! Alan also joked with Hon's mom via phone that he'd take her to Hooters for lunch before dropping her off at the airport: they HAVE those in Edmonton, dude!

Dawn's leaving next Wednesday, but at least she gets some "in person" time with Dave beforehand. When Alan saw Dave, he said that he looked thinner: we decided it must be a combination of the 40° weather and walking almost everywhere! (since he's certainly no sports guy :P) Dave's also lost his voice, but we were able to understand him. I was concentrating so intently on a conversation between him and Jen that I apparently didn't hear when both Erics called to me from maybe ten feet away! (Eric M.: "Leslie! Are you with us?! We called your name like three or four times! I think you're out of it!") At least we made some plans for tomorrow: WEDDING CRASHERS and eating at the Old Spaghetti Factory, pending a check of showtimes at Silvercity / phone calls and emails back and forth. Eric H. invited Silvester (who I just learned spells his name differently.. I think he has a limp too, though not as bad as mine) and Jon, but they both declined. (Jon has plans, and Silvester doesn't know about his night yet)

Chalaine, Jen, and Silvester got into a discussion about Starbucks / McDonalds being bad for you: coffee, grease, chemicals, SUPER SIZE ME, etc. Then Chalaine said she'll quit her Sweet Factory job tomorrow, heh. Afterwards, we didn't mind if Jen smoked a cigarette while we sat on a log. (we were getting tired of being possible Ultimate targets, so we left the guys and Steph to find Vivian and Dawn) They're trying to ban smoking in all sorts of places now: good luck trying to ban it in all public places! We saw a couple engaging in PDA in the water, so that reminded me of those public makeout sessions on the Skytrain I'd heard about on here a while back: Silvester had seen it on the TV news, and we all agreed with Jen that it was too much PDA! At least there were no children near the couple, as Jen remarked. There was this cute golden retriever that kept going in and out of the water to swim / fetch sticks: Jen used to have an imaginary dog like that, and has an old dog now at home. (it's 10 years old or something)

There were only a relative few of us because a bunch of people were helping with the Timothy high school camp. When I asked Chalaine when her birthday was (Oct. 11), she got suspicious. Haha, I'm not going to do anything with the information except get her a card! (which I've already bought and prepared, so she can't do anything about that!) Silvester said that he wouldn't remember hers, and that he could never do anything for his own since it blended in with New Year's. (Dec. 31) Steph said that she'd get cheaped out on her birthday if she ever got a boyfriend, since hers blends in with Valentine's Day. (Feb. 16) Vivian's birthday blends in with Halloween, and Chalaine's blends in with Thanksgiving... mine doesn't blend in with anything, so that's cool. (Dawn and Dave disappeared to go for a walk along the beach)

Afterwards, a few of us decided to go watch a movie at Alan's. We went to Blockbuster and picked GARDEN STATE over stuff like HOTEL RWANDA, SIN CITY, HILLSIDE STRANGLERS, WHITE CHICKS, Metallica's SOME KIND OF MONSTERS, SUPER SIZE ME, SIDEWAYS, MEET THE FOCKERS, and others. I saw an interesting book at Alan's: WHEN I WAS CRUCIFIED. (Jesus telling the story from his perspective: especially effective if you've watched the PASSION OF THE CHRIST like I have!) I have a feeling it'll be like the CONVERSATIONS WITH BONO book that I saw my brother reading yesterday: I won't get to read much of these interesting books. (but I'll definitely read A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon when it comes out around my birthday... OUTLANDER finale!)

The movie was pretty good, and I finally know where those icons of the lead dude come from. I've seen them around the Internet, but don't know where they originated. (well, except for the one Robert was using a while back... and that was only because he told us in an entry!) If you haven't seen it yet, you should! On the way home, the guys and I were listening to a replay of the football game and noticed something called an "Edgewater Casino first down." Here we thought that first downs were just that, and didn't need corporate sponsors! That set us to joking about the upcoming hockey season: Cyclone Taylor fighting penalties and Petro-Canada passes, here we come! Jon was also experimenting with Nathan's cellphone since he finally got it from Phil to use while Nate's in Mexico: he has some funky ringtones!

I keep thinking that I should check to see whether Dominic's messaged me back or not, but my days have been spent in going out / catching up... maybe after this weekend. Who knows. On to more good times tomorrow! (well, later today :P)