Dinner at the Cactus Club... "OMG, is that little Eric?! He's so TALL now!"

Myspace just made my browser crash. Thank goodness that I posted my entry in Our Place before that happened! All I lost were some tags, and I can easily recreate those! (I'd be saying "thank goodness for the autosave feature!" but I stupidly told LJ not to save the draft while posting my friends list placeholder entry :P)

Got a ride from Sam for tomorrow just before I left, so that's good. I killed time in Shoppers looking at various skin care products: Bioré, exfoliating stuff, cleansing products, etc. I didn't buy anything, since I just wanted to see what was available. Afterwards, I went to the Cactus Club. To my surprise, Billy brought Stella and baby Benjamin.. and Andrea came to eat with us too! We talked about Benjamin and babies in general: Nathaniel, Megan, and Olivia were our benchmarks of comparison, heh. Andrea said she'd tried to send me an email thanking me for the Bathroom Reader that I'd given her on Sunday, but it didn't work for some reason. She really likes the facts and stories, and called it a good silly book. Later, I asked Randal if he liked history and anecdotes: he does, but not so much BC / Vancouver history. Eh, the historical Bathroom Readers should still work well for his birthday present. (I need to go out and do some stuff anyhow... and I should ask Helen about Tuesday on Sunday, or email / call her, heh)

Karen got this silly idea to call Auntie Cathy to wish her a happy birthday (since her birthday was yesterday), right in the middle of dinner. That's fine as far as that goes, but don't ask me to multitask like that when I'm in the middle of eating! (cavatappi alfredo served with seasonal crostini... a new item on the menu, which was fine to try once!) As it turned out, Hansel said that Cathy was sleeping, but we left a message on the machine anyhow. Later, we discussed a family cruise, as well as the amenities on the ship. The guys discussed hockey for a bit, too. Then we got into how Karen felt anxious about the chocolate fondue for next Friday, along with the food setup and such for the program and the joint BBQ in a few weeks. It's kinda interesting how psychology and food go together, or at least they did during the discussion! (the balcony's better than the sanctuary for certain programs, beef / chicken / wings are good, money is a more practical gift than stuff for weddings, etc.)

Andrea hasn't eaten beef since she was nine because her grandma used to tell her horror stories about how the cattle would cry before you slaughtered them: they KNEW! Besides, her dad has gout... sort of a "I'll quit if you do!" Randal's still reading the Zen Priest book I lent him, and has a book by Henri Nouwen / Augustine's CONFESSIONS / THE HEAVENLY MAN / other things. Okay... he has a lot of books already, and I'm looking to ADD to the pile?! Haha, that's just what I do! :D

Afterwards, Karen gave me a ride home: seems she thinks that people will get discouraged because so many people are off having babies and doing other things on Friday nights. Perhaps that's true, but there will always be people at Fellowship: it won't DIE! :P She also said that Kevin was at a special family dinner since his mom's going on a trip, and expressed amazement that Eric was so tall now. ("OMG! Is that the little Eric who used to play with Jon?! We used to be taller than he was... now he's taller than we are!") HAHA, I should tell him that... at least she doesn't think we're going out like Maisie and Teresa did / do! :P Apparently, she and Frances and other girls think that my sister has a beautiful singing voice when she leads worship: "Tell her that... it'll build her confidence! She has a hyper energy, and it's different from your super-talented brother!" Haha, I'll get right on that. ;)

I checked my email, and found replies from Melissa ("Thanks for the birthday wishes! I've been distracted by my internship and hockey - who'd have thought the Avs would make it to the second round of the playoffs?!") and Sarah Rowlett. ("Here's my address... I've been out of town, so that's why the late reply! But you don't have to send anything!") Heh, I just might. I also have a few from Myspace... I know the people who want to be my friend there, at any rate. As for the group request.. it's a "hot or not" face community. Not my thing! Besides, it has a rather unsettling sound effect and music when I view their page.. no thanks! :P