Saturday, December 30, 2006

Special-needs stories, Nirvana food, December BBT Tally

Eric M. and Harmony came by at around 6... Eric told me that he'd make me feel really embarrassingly stupid by opening my computer case. He did that while I was talking to Harmony about the books she got me for Christmas - no, I wasn't offended by them! It was more amusing that I had to explain "debauchery" to my mom, haha. Turns out that I was trying to open the wrong side of the case... no wonder it wouldn't open! It's the long side (closest to the grey fan) with the indentation, for future reference. [the right side of the case, from the back... or left if you're looking from the front] While Harmony was here anyhow, I asked her to sign my guestbook.. she seemed to like the whole concept, heh. Eric looked up TSN NHL hockey, IGN GameCube, NHL Depot, Pogo, Yahoo Fantasy Sports (the hockey pool site), Environment Canada's weather site, and Ikea.

After 20 minutes, we left to go to the vegetarian place, discussing various things on the way. Jon called, so Eric said we were on our way from my place. Later, Jeremy called, but Eric couldn't reach the phone since it was in his pocket and he was driving. We got to the restaurant to find it was closed for a week! Jeremy met us outside with his backup umbrella to say that was why he was calling... we decided on NIRVANA Indian food just a couple doors down. Jon was getting out of someone's car, so at least the group was all together! Nirvana claimed to be "the only place in Vancouver with authentic Indian food," haha. Pretty big claim... "then what have I been eating beforehand?!" Apparently, All India Sweets has pretty sweet stuff that's even sweeter than sugar... you get ten times your normal sweetness in one small candy! Whoa.

Dinner was interesting: we talked about math, going back to high school now, RED DWARF, vindaloo, time travel and JFK assassinating himself, what various dishes were on the menu (Jon seemed enamored with the cheese balls :P), Nirvana / Björk / Oasis / Metallica song references ("nothing else matters... possibly maybe... what can we do with Nirvana lyrics since we have no angst?!"), how Jeremy's umbrella got stolen from right under his nose, bubble tea with Chinese Eric later, SLB, various documentaries from the library, etc. The SCRABBLE one looked most light-hearted, while there was one called DISCORDIA and two other serious ones. There was one called MY FLESH AND BLOOD about a year in the life of this lady who adopted a bunch of kids with special needs: Jon and Eric told me that it wasn't REAL flesh and blood... I knew THAT! Then Eric figured that the DVD could transubstantiate into flesh and blood, haha. Eric then told Jeremy something about heatsinks in my computer / 80mm case fans / compressed air... they're geeks, so they should know what they're talking about! He later said he could get the fans for me at NCIS near Richmond Sushi - not online like I thought - but not during Boxing Week coz it'll be crazy! (I agree... Corey says I should figure out what the black thing making the noise is so I can get a new one of those, too! Eh, I'll ask Eric about that on Sunday if I get a chance to talk to him...)

After our meal, Jon discovered that the fennel and something else that they gave you for freshening your breath was addictive... but not in the crystal meth way. Jeremy explained crystal meth addiction to us like this: it releases 20 times the amount of endorphins in your brain than anything else would, even sex. No wonder you can get hooked after just one try! Nah, he hasn't ever been addicted to it, so no worries. We then drove to Jeremy's place, where he figured that he could take us on a more complicated way to get to his apartment than the maze it already seemed to be, haha. After selecting MY FLESH AND BLOOD, we settled in to watch Jeremy do his thing with the projector screen he and Darryl have. Certain menu options seemed to go crazy, and it probably wasn't Jeremy's computer behind the couch! But it was fine after a bit... if people tried to access Jeremy's website, we'd know because the screen would stop and start again! ("STOP LOOKING AT MY WEBSITE WHILE I'M TRYING TO WATCH A DOCUMENTARY!!!")

The story was interesting... nine children with special needs and (in a few cases) fatal diseases like EB (not Electronics Boutique as Chinese Eric thought later on) and Cystic Fibrosis. It showcased a year in their life: many sub-stories there, for sure! Teenage son acting up and totally hating his sisters, the oldest kid at home under a lot of responsibility, kids hanging out with others, etc. One of them even had the name Xenia, heh. (Zen-ya) The oldest son at home had a fatal genetic disease which one of his sisters died from earlier, where you just have the REDDEST open wounds on your skin and have to painfully bathe in bleach and water a few times a week to keep infections down... something about the collagen not holding together properly. Some other child got badly burned on her head while still a baby, others didn't have legs... it was an interesting film, as I've said before. The kids said interesting things at times too, heh. Jeremy, Jon, and I had some India Pale Ale homebrew (even Harmony liked it!)... when Jeremy didn't know anything about beer, he thought that India Pale Ale was actually Indian! Haha, I'm sure that's a common misconception!

After that, we watched a couple of extras / the latest Strong Bad email and the Decemberween Short Shorts before leaving to meet Chinese Eric and others for bubble tea. "What?! Bubble tea in a place that's not Dragon Ball?!" Yes, Jeremy... it was called Kat's Tea House on 49th and Victoria. (Jeremy didn't come with us because 5:30 AM comes early if you have to work or do other things!) We met Chinese Eric's girlfriend Fay (who seemed quiet) and his cousin Aaron from Toronto, and discussed relationship stories.. let's just say I am surprised who brought up certain things, haha. Prayer and silence was good in that case, though! Chinese Eric thanked me for updating his blog for him - I do it randomly, haha. He should also look at it in the future since I just uploaded a SIMPSONS mood theme onto there, heh. Harmony recommended the mango stars (they're good!), Jon mixed rambutan and guava, I had jackfruit, and white Eric had kiwi with no extra sugar. (there was a minimum charge)

It was a good hangout time, and of course we discussed Nathan being in Hong Kong. Good thing he and Harmony met before he went to Hong Kong since he wanted to meet her for some time! Definitely good seeing Chinese Eric again... we discussed plans for the weekend / being rushed to meet everyone and parentals / sports / Toronto / steak / karaoke, too. I joked that I'd wake white Eric up with Purell if he was falling asleep: he wasn't impressed with that idea, haha. (no need for the "white" and "Chinese" indicators now on the weekends, but Jon might go to Willingdon anyhow!)

Now I'm just updating and trying to explain computer things to Corey. Of course there's only so much you can do in a long-distance situation, but he's making it better by sending pictures and such on to me, haha. Speaking of pictures, I should get Jon to send "steamer tower" and "cruise ship bathroom" pictures to Harmony so she'll know what I was talking about at various points during the night. If he can write 1500-word-long emails to her and be very careful about what he says (she's a writing major!) if he can't say it on the phone, then he can certainly do that, haha.

At this point, I don't think I'll even be AWAKE when the Awana party starts tomorrow. Haha, I've even looked at the Evite twice (or three times) now! I know Evite lets you know who looked at the invite, and how many times they did so! Heh... oh well. Better for me to rest, anyhow. :P

Good weather for my UT hoodie if it's gonna be cold.. but maybe not in the rain or at church! :P


Two free bubble teas this month helped a bit with my money situation!

MONTHLY BUBBLE TEA TALLY, DECEMBER 2006 (4)

starfruit-cranberry @ Dragon Ball (Friday, Dec. 1) FREE!!!
pudding-honeydew @ Dragon Ball (Friday, Dec. 15) FREE!!!
blueberry-pudding @ Dragon Ball (Friday, Dec. 22) [Steph paid for it...]
jackfruit with mango stars @ Kat's Tea House (Friday, Dec. 29)

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