Finally meeting Harmony: Dragon Ball, family in-jokes, nicknames
When Sam picked me up, I thanked him for the ride and explained the circumstances to him... eight missed calls is a bit much, heh. We talked about our Christmas plans: spending time with friends and family is what it boils down to, for sure. He thought we were going to be late, but there wasn't as much traffic as he thought there'd be. I figured that everyone was at the mall, haha. In fact, we were so "not late" that we got to the church BEFORE a bunch of people he'd been with earlier! (Joey, Mike, Darren, etc.) Sam wondered how that worked since he actually had to pick me up and THEN go to the church instead of going straight there from Steveston like his friends did... I had NO idea!
Went downstairs to see everyone cleaning up from dinner, and encountered my brother doing a spinning chest chop. I told him that he had to be CAREFUL when doing that since he couldn't tell if anyone was coming into the basement. The reaction I got? "Oh, THERE you are. Go say hi to Harmony. She's in the green jacket, so you'll recognize her." Uh, sure... I told him that Sam had driven me, and went to say hi to my sister first and tell her the same thing. She informed me that the guys thought I was with her: of course not, since she'd come from work! Then she asked if I'd eaten yet (not really), and got me some food from the kitchen: I could eat together with Tony, who'd also come late. I went to introduce myself to Harmony briefly since I had to go eat. That was fine enough. :)
Uncle Patrick and Auntie Esther (Chris' parents) said hi to me, and Auntie Esther even gave me a Christmas gift... how nice! (Christmas card, two small handmade Christmas wreath ornaments, Christmas Digest, a plaque with Romans 8:39 on it, a little Head Bean stuffed animal, and a painted white tin) Dave came up to me and said hi... I'm so glad he's back from Toronto for now! Talked briefly to Tony, who's crashing his co-worker's Christmas party... apparently, a lot of people are doing the same thing! I asked what his last name was: when he said it, I thought it was the same as Billy's brother Tony, but he clarified the spelling when I asked. (it's Li, not Lee) Christon tried getting us to hurry up since the service was starting, but I joked to him that he shouldn't EVER bother me when I'm eating! I finished in good time, and went upstairs as everyone was settling down. I might have sat by Randal, Martin, Chung, and Frances... but really didn't want to bother them. (or that's what I tell myself, haha) Instead, I sat by my sister / Vivian / Harmony / Dave after I gave Mike his Christmas card. (he thanked me for it!) The service was pretty good, and Pastor Edward told us that Tim and Maxine had had another baby recently. (Vivian asked me when Maxine had been due: around New Year's) As it turned out, my original plan DID come to fruition, haha.
After service, I talked to Harmony a little more and learned that her birthday's in March. We discussed holiday plans, what happened to me earlier, whether I was going to the States tomorrow with Christon / Karen / Steph / Jason (no!), the dinner at her house yesterday (intimidating!), and various other things. She knows that Jon can get pretty hardcore with his chestchops and such, so that's good. Joe was back for the service, and talked to Vania for a while about school: of course we said hi to him! The "different woman" Teresa came over after a while and asked me if Harmony was my girlfriend! (uh, no...) I told her that she was my brother's girlfriend, so Teresa asked Harmony all the "interesting" questions we've gotten used to. Eric and I shared an odd look when she got to the "are you married?" question... no, she isn't, and neither was anyone else in the vicinity! (Pastor Edward had gone to eat by this time since he never really eats before sermons) Harmony thought she knew Cindy from somewhere, so they talked for a bit. (Becky? No!)
Christon told Karen that he'd pick her up at 6 AM tomorrow, and you should have seen her reaction! Man, that was priceless! Steph tried to check holiday hours for the outlets on someone's laptop, but couldn't. (later, they found out that it was 9 to 9... perfect if they get started at 7!) He's just kinda cautiously paranoid, which is understandable. Vania tried to get Vivian and Sheena to leave a few times, but they acted just like our parents and kept chatting. I gave Tony a Christmas card before he left with them - he thanked me for it, and said that was nice of me. Dylan hailed me as his queen... well, no. :P But he did tell me that he'd given my brother our three Christmas cards, so I should ask Jon for mine and Steph's. ("Just remind him, okay?") Sure thing... it was good that I'd written out his Christmas card earlier in the week, as I had it handy to give to him right then.
We finally left after we locked up the church and set the alarm after 10, while wondering if the cleaners would come tonight. Maybe they're on vacation, because they usually get to the church at 10 and we KNOW we're in their way because they start vacuuming and stuff while we loiter! (we didn't get any emergency phone calls, though!) Our destination was Dragon Ball, where Harmony had never been to before. We quickly introduced her to a LOT of family affection (jumps / verbal weirdness), in-jokes and nicknames: she'd met my dad earlier while he was doing stuff around his office, so she just has to meet my mom! Told her about Grandma's descriptions of Eric and Jeremy, discussed combinations of bubble tea (Steph paid for my blueberry-pudding... fine by me!), and looked at Steph's shiny new blue 4GB iPod. That came courtesy of Vivian S.'s family as a Christmas / Hanukkah gift, and cost $210. She's definitely not showing that to the parents anytime soon, since they'll lecture her about how she shouldn't have accepted it in the first place and Asian stuff like that. :P Her Hanukkah gift pales in comparison: a Homer Simpson Chia Pet?! She should have given them their gift first, haha... she asked Eric whether he knew that there was a Strong Bad Podcast, and he did. Only one thing is really not online already... the rest is all the emails and such. She won't subscribe to that one, then!
The Dragon Ball lady laughed at me when I ordered the blueberry-pudding combination, but it actually tasted pretty good! Jon says that I haven't gotten his level of "eh, whatever" yet... suppose so! There were bells playing cheesy tunes, and the cool fiberoptic Santa from last week! Steph said that Daniel and Nathan could be her wedding DJs since they like old 80s love songs: Michelle definitely doesn't, haha. Eric told Jon that some lady behind me was using a "forbidden substance," and he meant Purell. Hey, he's lucky I didn't use it tonight! For some reason, the conversation turned to toilet-related issues and the toilet book that my sister wants to get for me. Then Eric brought up the email I'd sent with the Top 10 dirtiest toilets, so Steph told us a story about squat toilets in China when she was there in 1997. Let's just say I wouldn't want to eat around flies, poop, and disgusting stuff like a worker did!
Eric brought out a pink coupon deal from Kingspark Seafood House, and asked if we could translate the Chinese on it.. no! (we wondered why he had stuff with Chinese on it in his wallet, haha) Just show it to our parents, and they'll be able to do it for him! (the deal ends on January 31, so he better do it soon!) Then Steph brought up someone in her company not liking dim sum because it's too "slithery"... shrimp dumplings aren't, but maybe some other things are. She and her other co-workers are trying to get him to try bubble tea, and get this reaction: "Is that the drink you bring into the office sometimes? What goes up the straw?!" From that conversation, we also learned that Harmony doesn't like chicken feet... I do, however! She also got to see our family's attitude toward gift-giving in person when Jon asked Steph if she was getting him Christmas stuff: nope!
Enrico hasn't really responded to my hints that he should come over and just open my computer case for me, but maybe soon. He says I should do it the Zoolander way, and just smash it on the ground... I don't THINK so! Says I shouldn't be using my computer if it's overheated / needing a fan, but what can I do? On the way home, I was told that I should wear my purple WHATEVER shirt to the dinner tomorrow... haha, if I can find it! Eric thinks I should search for it the minute I get home, but I've been on here, so hahaha. :P Steph and Jon squished each other on the way home, and then Jon decided to squish Harmony... she doesn't quite have the frame that our family does, and Eric thought she was crying at one point! Jon said that we should call Eunice one of these days and go to Shanghai Wind with her. Steph asked Harmony if she'd experienced that restaurant, and she said no. We told her about the experience and said that we had to take her there before she leaves on the 3rd! Too bad the Guru won't be there, as Nathan leaves Hong Kong on either the 3rd or 6th depending on flight availability! It won't be the same...
Went downstairs to see everyone cleaning up from dinner, and encountered my brother doing a spinning chest chop. I told him that he had to be CAREFUL when doing that since he couldn't tell if anyone was coming into the basement. The reaction I got? "Oh, THERE you are. Go say hi to Harmony. She's in the green jacket, so you'll recognize her." Uh, sure... I told him that Sam had driven me, and went to say hi to my sister first and tell her the same thing. She informed me that the guys thought I was with her: of course not, since she'd come from work! Then she asked if I'd eaten yet (not really), and got me some food from the kitchen: I could eat together with Tony, who'd also come late. I went to introduce myself to Harmony briefly since I had to go eat. That was fine enough. :)
Uncle Patrick and Auntie Esther (Chris' parents) said hi to me, and Auntie Esther even gave me a Christmas gift... how nice! (Christmas card, two small handmade Christmas wreath ornaments, Christmas Digest, a plaque with Romans 8:39 on it, a little Head Bean stuffed animal, and a painted white tin) Dave came up to me and said hi... I'm so glad he's back from Toronto for now! Talked briefly to Tony, who's crashing his co-worker's Christmas party... apparently, a lot of people are doing the same thing! I asked what his last name was: when he said it, I thought it was the same as Billy's brother Tony, but he clarified the spelling when I asked. (it's Li, not Lee) Christon tried getting us to hurry up since the service was starting, but I joked to him that he shouldn't EVER bother me when I'm eating! I finished in good time, and went upstairs as everyone was settling down. I might have sat by Randal, Martin, Chung, and Frances... but really didn't want to bother them. (or that's what I tell myself, haha) Instead, I sat by my sister / Vivian / Harmony / Dave after I gave Mike his Christmas card. (he thanked me for it!) The service was pretty good, and Pastor Edward told us that Tim and Maxine had had another baby recently. (Vivian asked me when Maxine had been due: around New Year's) As it turned out, my original plan DID come to fruition, haha.
After service, I talked to Harmony a little more and learned that her birthday's in March. We discussed holiday plans, what happened to me earlier, whether I was going to the States tomorrow with Christon / Karen / Steph / Jason (no!), the dinner at her house yesterday (intimidating!), and various other things. She knows that Jon can get pretty hardcore with his chestchops and such, so that's good. Joe was back for the service, and talked to Vania for a while about school: of course we said hi to him! The "different woman" Teresa came over after a while and asked me if Harmony was my girlfriend! (uh, no...) I told her that she was my brother's girlfriend, so Teresa asked Harmony all the "interesting" questions we've gotten used to. Eric and I shared an odd look when she got to the "are you married?" question... no, she isn't, and neither was anyone else in the vicinity! (Pastor Edward had gone to eat by this time since he never really eats before sermons) Harmony thought she knew Cindy from somewhere, so they talked for a bit. (Becky? No!)
Christon told Karen that he'd pick her up at 6 AM tomorrow, and you should have seen her reaction! Man, that was priceless! Steph tried to check holiday hours for the outlets on someone's laptop, but couldn't. (later, they found out that it was 9 to 9... perfect if they get started at 7!) He's just kinda cautiously paranoid, which is understandable. Vania tried to get Vivian and Sheena to leave a few times, but they acted just like our parents and kept chatting. I gave Tony a Christmas card before he left with them - he thanked me for it, and said that was nice of me. Dylan hailed me as his queen... well, no. :P But he did tell me that he'd given my brother our three Christmas cards, so I should ask Jon for mine and Steph's. ("Just remind him, okay?") Sure thing... it was good that I'd written out his Christmas card earlier in the week, as I had it handy to give to him right then.
We finally left after we locked up the church and set the alarm after 10, while wondering if the cleaners would come tonight. Maybe they're on vacation, because they usually get to the church at 10 and we KNOW we're in their way because they start vacuuming and stuff while we loiter! (we didn't get any emergency phone calls, though!) Our destination was Dragon Ball, where Harmony had never been to before. We quickly introduced her to a LOT of family affection (jumps / verbal weirdness), in-jokes and nicknames: she'd met my dad earlier while he was doing stuff around his office, so she just has to meet my mom! Told her about Grandma's descriptions of Eric and Jeremy, discussed combinations of bubble tea (Steph paid for my blueberry-pudding... fine by me!), and looked at Steph's shiny new blue 4GB iPod. That came courtesy of Vivian S.'s family as a Christmas / Hanukkah gift, and cost $210. She's definitely not showing that to the parents anytime soon, since they'll lecture her about how she shouldn't have accepted it in the first place and Asian stuff like that. :P Her Hanukkah gift pales in comparison: a Homer Simpson Chia Pet?! She should have given them their gift first, haha... she asked Eric whether he knew that there was a Strong Bad Podcast, and he did. Only one thing is really not online already... the rest is all the emails and such. She won't subscribe to that one, then!
The Dragon Ball lady laughed at me when I ordered the blueberry-pudding combination, but it actually tasted pretty good! Jon says that I haven't gotten his level of "eh, whatever" yet... suppose so! There were bells playing cheesy tunes, and the cool fiberoptic Santa from last week! Steph said that Daniel and Nathan could be her wedding DJs since they like old 80s love songs: Michelle definitely doesn't, haha. Eric told Jon that some lady behind me was using a "forbidden substance," and he meant Purell. Hey, he's lucky I didn't use it tonight! For some reason, the conversation turned to toilet-related issues and the toilet book that my sister wants to get for me. Then Eric brought up the email I'd sent with the Top 10 dirtiest toilets, so Steph told us a story about squat toilets in China when she was there in 1997. Let's just say I wouldn't want to eat around flies, poop, and disgusting stuff like a worker did!
Eric brought out a pink coupon deal from Kingspark Seafood House, and asked if we could translate the Chinese on it.. no! (we wondered why he had stuff with Chinese on it in his wallet, haha) Just show it to our parents, and they'll be able to do it for him! (the deal ends on January 31, so he better do it soon!) Then Steph brought up someone in her company not liking dim sum because it's too "slithery"... shrimp dumplings aren't, but maybe some other things are. She and her other co-workers are trying to get him to try bubble tea, and get this reaction: "Is that the drink you bring into the office sometimes? What goes up the straw?!" From that conversation, we also learned that Harmony doesn't like chicken feet... I do, however! She also got to see our family's attitude toward gift-giving in person when Jon asked Steph if she was getting him Christmas stuff: nope!
Enrico hasn't really responded to my hints that he should come over and just open my computer case for me, but maybe soon. He says I should do it the Zoolander way, and just smash it on the ground... I don't THINK so! Says I shouldn't be using my computer if it's overheated / needing a fan, but what can I do? On the way home, I was told that I should wear my purple WHATEVER shirt to the dinner tomorrow... haha, if I can find it! Eric thinks I should search for it the minute I get home, but I've been on here, so hahaha. :P Steph and Jon squished each other on the way home, and then Jon decided to squish Harmony... she doesn't quite have the frame that our family does, and Eric thought she was crying at one point! Jon said that we should call Eunice one of these days and go to Shanghai Wind with her. Steph asked Harmony if she'd experienced that restaurant, and she said no. We told her about the experience and said that we had to take her there before she leaves on the 3rd! Too bad the Guru won't be there, as Nathan leaves Hong Kong on either the 3rd or 6th depending on flight availability! It won't be the same...
Labels: bubble tea, chris, computer, dragon ball, emails, frances, harmony, holidays, jeremy, joe, martin, maxed-out tags limit, maxine, michelle, randal, sheena, shiny, teresa, tim, tony
posted by Flami at 2:36:00 AM
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