"End of summer" survey

Now that Awana's back in session, it feels like summer's come to an end for me. I know it's not the official end of summer till the 21st or so, but might as well post this now that GJ's not being pissy! (and I might start on that other project, too...)

Here's an "end of summer" survey from Amy, via Myspace bulletin:

Spent the night with someone? Yes.

Drank until your stomach hurt? No.

Laughed until you almost peed your pants? No.

Vacation? Not really.

Tanned? Not much for tanning.

Went to a camp? Not unless Summer Conference counts...

Swam? No.

Went to the movies? Yep.

Gone shopping? Yup.

Had a job? Uh-huh.

Gotten freakishly bored? Yes.

Gotten sunburned? No.

Made a bonfire? No.

Been outside during a lightning storm? No way!

Been to another state? No.

Changed something about your appearance? Not really.

Gone on a road trip? No.

Kissed someone? No.

Been to a concert? No.

Been in trouble with the cops / parents? No.

Had a memorable moment? Yup.

Had a horrible moment? Indeed.

Lied to your parents? Yes.

Snuck out? No.

Gone skinny-dipping? No.

Made new friends? New acquaintances, sure... although I'm sure Dallas will become a friend rather than my just being "Jon's sister." (haha)

Lost old friends? Can't say that I have, no.

Missed a friend? ... yes.

Gone on vacation with no parents? No.

Slept under the stars? No.

Thought about school? Not really.

Been to the beach? Yes.

Eat fast food? Yes.

Talked about the government / war? No.

Stole something from a store? Nope.

Went out to a restaurant with friends? Yes.

Talked with someone over an hour on the phone? No.

Woke up before 10? Yes... Sundays and too-sunny days, anyone?

Reunited with an old friend? Not really.

Thought about a special someone? Not really.

Hoped they thought about you too? As if THAT would happen. :P

Can you look at summer and say you had no regrets? Yup.

European names, meeting new people, losing interest in things, musings

Well, at least I've caught up on blogs, if nothing else gets done today. Oh, and I've also ranted to Corey about Windows Genuine Advantage... I thought I disabled that whole thing back in July! How incredibly annoying.

Dawn's been in Vernon for the long weekend, and she went with her boyfriend (Eni)... Jen thinks he, his brother, and their friends all have lovely-sounding European names. I can't say since I've never met them, but give me the ones like Tatiana and Mikhail. (yeah, I like the Russian ones, haha) I can't believe she did a cliff jump into the water... I wouldn't do that sort of thing myself for fear of heights and the gigantic plunge, although some people I know would say I need to experience some thrills like that. Yeah, whatever!

Speaking of Jen, she met a bunch of new people. One of her new friends happens to be roommates with a guy who's in the New Pornographers: he gave her a free band T-shirt, which is sweet! She went to the Korean dinner, and wants those recipes that Dallas is getting from various online sources, heh. She also has stuff about uncertainty and hanging out with more people... yeah, I'd imagine that certain things always have some uncertainty to 'em. (that sucks!)

Vivian has tales from school which involve being misinformed about certain classes, timetable changes, information sessions, and reworking her agenda to look more messy with the coils and such. No wonder she's so ticked off if she thought she got to school on time... but really could have gone later or such! Man, I'd feel the same way!

Dave relaxed during the long weekend, and went to the CNE with Tiffany. He finds these things less interesting as he gets older.. maybe the appeal of winning stuffed animals at those booths has lost its lustre. I tend to think it's going on all the rides that you lose interest in... and once you have to pay for things like food / admission / rides yourself, you NOTICE the expense and won't go! But maybe that's just me being cheap again, haha. (Why can I be cheap with that kind of thing and not the books / food thing? Eh, I guess we all have our vices... and shopping is one of mine sometimes. Blerk.)

Jon's posted the Citrus Lemon Episodes via a link since a video embedding won't work. He's kinda nervous about Regent studies, but the flexible hours / summers and curiosity about the stuff he's taking will motivate him, har har. "Worship Pastor / Master of Christian Studies" and lots of musings on responsibility / simpler lifestyle (reassuring for our parents, indeed...) are all well and good, then.

Spoz has changed his layout, and it looks pretty sweet! Then again, it makes me think of fall with all the leaves on it... ah well, it IS coming up for sure! He had a bunch of weekender photos and shots of guitarists, beer, Coke, and the landscape with his own commentary. Gotta love those photo updates... :D

Now it's time to (hopefully) disable that Windows Genuine Advantage for good! I WILL PREVAIL!

People Who Have Given Me Postcards That I've Kept

Yup, the first of two postcard-related entries. These are the people who have given me postcards that I've kept. (postcards received!)

I also have a bunch that I bought myself from P.E.I., Alaska, Toronto, and other places.


Family: 3
Judy Gilbert: 1
Connie: 1
Elizabeth: 1
David and Elaine: 1
Dawn: 5
Jim (harryroberts): 1
Denise Eulert (Baker): 1
Lisa (fallingforever): 1
KQ (sjenkins): 2
Christine (occipitaldruid): 1
Katya (katzk): 4
Charlotte (charshark): 10
Vivian: 2
Samara (mystic_notions): 1
Caroline (riadsala): 1
Kadri (bad_habit): 3
Sheryll (sheryll): 2
Carmina (on_the_ground): 1
Dewitta (doublu): 1
Janina (mrshannibal): 10
Savina (bodha): 1
Amy C. (letmypidgeonsgo): 1
Saara (sinnarn's friend): 1
Frane Kalanj (bodha [Savina Kalanj]'s uncle): 2
Corey (dwcorey): 1
Randal: 2
Lindsay (yours_for_life): 1
Tracey (bttfbabe): 1
Karine (karineinthepool): 4
Katariina (valkeakuulas): 1
Kelli (neonrose5): 1
Casey (chickabimbo): 1
Steph: 1
Leslie (sexnseafoam): 1
Didu (didu): 1
Shelley (always_bryn): 1
Live (blackballoon): 1


Total: 68

Dreams of Awana being held at the mall

Awana even invades my dreamspace now, since I dreamed of Awana being held at the mall. Auntie Eva was there to watch the flag ceremony, and she blew me a kiss. Dunno what that was about, but I was also drawn into conversation with a woman who looked like Auntie Belinda! (Jason, Janette, and Andrea's mom) The kids also had use of a swimming pool, if they could get to it in this maze of packed shops and blacktop asphalt roads! (West 33rd turning into West 37th? Oh my...)

I also called Melia to ask if she'd gotten any answers as to who could drive me / who lives in Richmond... she hadn't, and was caught up in assigning the clubbers too. So then I got Auntie Rebecca's phone numbers, but she wasn't answering either. At least Melia says it's okay if I can't make it today, which is what it's looking like!

I hate how this thing changes focus to whatever else is in the taskbar at random times when I'm typing / clicking the browser window, and then freezes temporarily! Damn stupid computers... I think I'll restart after this and then catch up on blogs! Good thing, too... Automatic Updates are being triggered, too.

I might make a whole bunch of backdated LJ / GJ entries later with my 2003 Blogger posts, so that LJ / GJ / Blogger are all streamlined and remarkably similar. :D

You Should Wear Charcoal

Cool and relaxed, you always look forward to the start of fall. Gray represents your peace with the world and your surroundings.

What Fall Color Should You Wear?

Reminds me of Charmaine and her mom Wylene... they'd always wear grey!

You Are 70% Feminine, 30% Masculine

You are in touch with your feminine side. Sensitive, intuitive, and caring are all words that describe you. And you're just masculine enough to relate to both men and women.

Are You Masculine or Feminine?

Taking over Dragon Ball, Thalia / Thaliana, dumpster diving, Big Boy's Blue Cheese Dressing

Note: LJ Future Daughter / LJ friends having kids / LJ My Little Pony / LJ Hollywood / LJ Zodiac Animal blogquizzes. (by Josh, Kate, and Yvette)


Jon was taking over Dragon Ball with Joey, Richmond people, Daniel, Nathan, Michelle, and everyone else at Resonate: he reinforced my determination not to host Matt Louie since I don't know him. Mom comes up with the weirdest ideas... o_O (he didn't know Melia's cell number, and Steph wasn't answering her phone, so I called her house number and got it from her dad... I still haven't called her yet, heh)

I like the names Thalia and Thaliana. Just saying. :)

Earlier, Corey told me about dumpster diving. Then he insisted that he could call me free with VoIP services... instead of using a deaf relay thing to mess with me as he did in March... uh, sure!

[20:34:14] Corey: what's the sweetest deal ever? like when I got my bass guitar directly from the people selling it for like $350 for $150, brand new? :P
[20:39:25] Flami: Machine Gun Farts (thanks, Eric...): I got this book for free
[20:42:00] Corey: I think my bass guitar was a better deal :P
[20:42:14] Corey: but free is always nice
[20:58:02] Flami: yeah, and I got some other free stuff yesterday too... like a cushion, candy, another book, some other dollar store stuff..
[21:01:00] Corey: you should go read about dumpster diving! people that do that claim to get lots of free stuff
[21:07:41] Flami: yeah, I've heard about that... not sure it's for me..
[21:17:23] Flami: although I guess my parents made me do it once
[21:20:28] Corey: you can get free groceries that way! :P
[21:25:33] Flami: .......... are you sure?
[21:28:09] Corey: people claim to
[21:30:46] Flami: I've heard about dumpster diving outside restaurants, so maybe that part is true..
[21:37:15] Corey: no, that's the absolute worst place to do that :P you want to dig through rotten food?
[21:37:56] Corey: grocery stores throw away tons of food daily, still in the original packaging, sealed and all :P while I still don't know about eating out of the trash, technically those things should be fine
[21:38:30] Flami: where did you hear this?
[21:39:06] Corey: there have been some SA threads about it, and I've seen stuff about it before
[21:40:12] Corey: let's say they get a brand new shipment of cereal... the oldest on the shelf probably doesn't fit, so they throw it away. other things, they're only allowed to have on the shelves for so long, even though really there's nothing wrong with it. so yeah, you're getting the older stuff that way, but hey, you get what you pay for :P
[21:41:29] Corey: people also suggested factories... like they had a Frito-Lay plant in one of the threads... the dumpster was basically just full of sealed bags of chips... one guy said there was a Pepsi plant or something like that... he'd go there every week and load up on the cases of cans they left in the dumpster, sealed and in boxes and everything.. then sell them at school :P
[21:44:17] Flami: wow....... that's pretty much something there if you're resourceful or something..
[21:44:59] Corey: people also highly suggested dorm dumpsters at the end of a semester... rich kids that don't care about anything throw away computers, stereos, video games.. tons of sh*t :P all perfectly good most of the time, they just don't want to haul it home
[21:45:29] Corey: my friend Sean found a full box of Nintendo games once while emptying out his dorm (found by the dumpsters)
[21:45:43] Corey: I always forgot to check that out at my school :P
[21:46:13] Corey: basically the point is, stick to places that throw away clean things in packaging.... minimize the actual garbage you have to sift through, since that's f**king gross :P
[21:47:22] Corey: some people claimed they barely paid for groceries anymore... some people took pictures of their trips, and really most of these dumpsters they dug through were basically just a metal box containing products, not trash :P any real trash was sparse and sealed up in plastic bags
[21:47:48] Corey: I still don't know that I'd want to do that so much... but it looked like pretty easy work to me
[21:51:47] Flami: yeah, I can imagine that would be relatively easy pickings, but like you, I'm not sure I'd want to do that a whole lot, if at all.


Oh yes, and this is what Spoz says about the "Trainspotter Hamsterette" nickname he made up for me years ago... thanks so much for the "help," dude! :P

[01:08:05] Flami: you're FINALLY on.... so I can ask you one question!
[01:08:25] Flami: y'know that "trainspotter hamsterette" thinger you made up for me a few years back? is that some sort of TRAINSPOTTING reference?
[01:08:50] Spoz (stoned groooooove): um..
[01:08:53] Spoz (stoned groooooove): dude..
[01:08:56] Spoz (stoned groooooove): the amount of silly sh*t..
[01:09:02] Spoz (stoned groooooove): I've INVENTED in the last 3 years..
[01:09:12] Spoz (stoned groooooove): would fill up the entire USA Library of Congress..
[01:09:21] Spoz (stoned groooooove): or.. something along those lines..
[01:09:26] Spoz (stoned groooooove): getting me to remember a tiny instance..
[01:09:33] Spoz (stoned groooooove): since buried in the dusts of time..
[01:09:46] Spoz (stoned groooooove): would be like throwing that entire library into a force 5 hurricane..
[01:09:55] Spoz (stoned groooooove): and then getting a dyslexic to find it..
[01:10:02] Flami: : .......... thanks....
[01:11:39] Spoz (stoned groooooove): anytime ;)
[01:11:51] Spoz (stoned groooooove): but no..
[01:11:51] Spoz (stoned groooooove): doubtful it'd be to do with the movie..
[01:12:22] Spoz (stoned groooooove): more.. anorak wearing, sticky tape over the glasses with a notepad.. jotting down serial numbers kind've trainspotter..
[01:12:29] Flami: okay!


Big Boy's Blue Cheese Dressing

Recipe By: Gloria Pitzer
Serving Size: 2 Preparation Time: 0:05
Categories: Salad, Dressings, Copycat

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

1/2 Cup Sour cream
1/2 Cup Milk
1 Cup Kraft mayo
4 Ounces Blue cheese -- crumble
1/8 Teaspoon Onion powder

Use electric mixer to combine all ingredients until smooth. Tightly cover and refrigerate. Use within 10 days.

Who should have been killed in freak stingray accidents instead of our beloved Croc Hunter?

I've caught up on at least 110 journal comments, and I'm sure there will be more to come. But at least I've cleared the backlog... and my stats will not drop! By the way, NOBODY criticizes my entries for having run-on sentences if they can't even get "amount / number" right! *rage*

Taken from Kaitlin, via Myspace bulletin:

Let's make a list of all the people who should have been killed in freak stingray accidents instead of our beloved Croc Hunter:

1. Debaser: Ann Coulter
2. JohnnyMaid: Dean Arthur Schwartzmiller
3. Mistress Nani: Rush Limbaugh
4. Adam & Amanda: George W. Bush
5. Ashley: Sharon Osbourne
6. Laura: Jack Hannah, f**k that dude. Steve Irwin pwnt that b**ch.
7. Jimmy: Michael Jackson, that piece of sh*t
8. Roach: Nazi Pope
9. doompaul: Jonbenet Ramsey... oh... wait... oops.
10. blissfully insane: Paris Hilton, Martha Stewart, Oprah
11. Naked In A Poncho: Carrot Top!! and Steven Segal.. I hate him!
12. Jeff: EVERYBODY but me, and three midgets!
13. Eric Moore: All Rap Artists & Hip-Hop Fans
14. Satan's Grrrl: AFI (yuk!)
15. Ave Satanas: President Bush & Osama while they are buttf**king each other.
16. BRUTALDAVE: that fag Justin Timberlake
17. HELLRAISER - them f**kin rappers Insane Clown Posse - them f**kin fag a**clowns
18. Tina - JOHN KERRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and SLIPKNOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
19. necrochrist - Matt Heafy. F**K TRIVIUM!!!!!!!
20. Sanguis Morbis - That Whigger FAGGOT, "Necro" for ripping off established Metal bands! DIIIIEEEEEE!!!!!
21. Son of the Black Ram - my entire town
22. you all knew I'd say this: JOHN TRAVOLTA. [neztgoq]
23. Leslie: People like Palmer, and those idiots who abuse / make fun of disabled people!!!! (haha, bet you thought I'd say "people with atrocious spelling and grammar," right? haha...)

Internet annoyances, quizzes and Memegens on hypochondria and more

The Internet was NOT cooperating with me today... how bloody ANNOYING! First, it was GJ being pissy for a while. Then, it somehow selected ALL my tags on my tag page... not good! So the sum total of what I've done in the past few hours has been removing one misspelled tag / managing to draft one entry (which has now been posted) / putting some surveys in my "To Be Posted" draft / emailing Jon to say that at least one extra person will probably be showing up on Sunday at Jeremy's / checking a bunch of entries I couldn't comment on. Oh yay... I need to go back and comment on their ridiculous spelling / ideas! (no, I haven't gotten to my 90+ journal comments yet either... maybe in the next two hours...) At least I'm cheered up when I remember what someone called me last year: "wacky green slime woman," heh. Love you too!

Why am I listening to Christina Aguilera's What A Girl Wants?! *changes radio station*
ESN = Event Subscription Notification
I got my new BCID card in the mail.. yay for that! :D

You Are 12% Hypochondriac

While your physical health isn't always perfect, you don't freak out about it. You know there's only so much you can do, and worrying doesn't change anything.

Are You a Hypochondriac?

You Should Wear Cherry Red Lip Gloss

Wild, fresh, and totally alluring.

What Color Lip Gloss Should You Wear?

What should you wear today? by Chica1990
Your name is:
Your favorite thing is:	Hanging OutChocolateBoysPartyingSportsDancingBloggingWatching TVFlirting
Your top:
Your bottom:
Your "bottom":
Your accessory:
Your shoes:

Eh, I dunno. I'd never wear that shirt... and while I like the shoes, I'd be eternally afraid of tripping in them!

Homework Survey: Are You Swamped?

Take this survey now - it's easy!

Do your teachers give you too much homework?

Complete this survey to see how other people answered!

I answered this as if I were still in school, haha.

Find Your Wacky T-Shirt by MemeGen Surveys
Name:
Gender:	MaleFemale
Your Personal Style:
Shirt Design:
Like it?	Click the image for more!

Hahaha! Simply brilliant! (although I am not a witch...)

No, I'm NOT over Steve Irwin's death...

Steve Irwin, lovingly known as the Crocodile Hunter, died on Monday doing what he loved; capturing wildlife on film in its own domain.

While filming stingrays in the Great Barrier Reef, Steve Irwin was slashed through the heart by one of the poisonous barbs on a stingray's tail. He was paralyzed instantly and died later that day, leaving a loving wife and two children behind.

Irwin and his wife were very much in love, and now she will have to face life without the person she needs. His two young children will grow up without knowing the wonders of their father.



If you ever watched The Crocodile Hunter, you'd know what an impact that Steve has made on the past decade of research. He bravely went where no man has gone, and he has achieved milestones in zoology and other forms of science.

Kids, teens, and adults alike will join in their mourning of this great, charismatic Australian.



Remember Steve Irwin, loved by all. Remember our Crocodile Hunter.

Please, if you can repost stupid things about what color Skittle is your love life, you can surely repost this thing to remember an important figure in this world.

Pulseware's Personality Test

I was going to do this when I saw it on Amanda's journal, but forgot about it when I had to restart the computer / got caught up in my busy real life. Thank goodness I saw it in Renee's journal just now!


My Personality

Neuroticism	82
Extraversion	57
Openness To Experience	12
Agreeableness	26
Conscientiousness	21

Test Yourself Compare Yourself View Full Report MySpace Codes, MySpace Layouts and hi5 by Pulseware Survey Software

Full Report Results:

Neuroticism 82
Extraversion 57
Openness To Experience 12
Agreeableness 26
Conscientiousness 21

You are neither a subdued loner nor a jovial chatterbox. You enjoy time with others, but also time alone. You can be very easily upset, even by what most people consider the normal demands of living. People consider you to be extremely sensitive and emotional. As a practical person, you like to think in plain and simple terms. Others describe you as down-to-earth, practical, and conservative. People see you as tough, critical, and uncompromising... and you have less concern with others' needs than with your own. You like to live for the moment and do what feels good now. Your work tends to be careless and disorganized.

This report compares you to other women between the ages of 21 and 40 in Canada. It analyses you based on each of the five broad personality domains of the Five-Factor Model (Goldberg, L R. 1999), and the six subdomains at each level.


Neuroticism

Overall Score 82
Anxiety 76
Anger 89
Depression 76
Self-Consciousness 82
Immoderation 42
Vulnerability 62

You can be very easily upset, even by what most people consider the normal demands of living. People consider you to be extremely sensitive and emotional. You feel tense, jittery, and nervous... and often feel like something dangerous is about to happen. You may be afraid of specific situations, or be just generally fearful. You feel enraged when things do not go your way. You are sensitive about being treated fairly, and feel resentful and bitter if you think you are being cheated. You tend to lack energy and have difficult initiating activities. You are sensitive about what others think of you. Your concern about rejection and ridicule cause you to feel shy and uncomfortable around others. You are easily embarrassed and often feel ashamed. Your fears that others will criticize or make fun of you are exaggerated and unrealistic, but your awkwardness and discomfort may make these fears a self-fulfilling prophecy. You often resist any cravings or urges that you have, but sometimes you give in. High levels of stress can lead to you feeling panic or confusion, but usually you cope with day-to-day pressures.


Extraversion

Overall Score 57
Friendliness 68
Gregariousness 67
Assertiveness 66
Activity Level 63
Excitement-Seeking 41
Cheerfulness 20

You are neither a subdued loner nor a jovial chatterbox. You enjoy time with others, but also time alone. You genuinely like other people, and openly demonstrate positive feelings toward others. You make friends quickly and it is easy for you to form close, intimate relationships. You find the company of others pleasantly stimulating and rewarding, and you enjoy the excitement that crowds provide. You are an active group participant, but usually prefer to let someone else be the group leader. You lead a moderately-paced life. You like some energetic activities, but also like to relax and take it easy. You enjoy some excitement and risk-taking in your life. You are not prone to spells of energetic high spirits.


Openness To Experience

Overall Score 12
Imagination 53
Artistic Interests 29
Emotionality 20
Adventurousness 0
Intellect 18
Liberalism 49

As a practical person, you like to think in plain and simple terms. Others describe you as down-to-earth, practical, and conservative. You are a moderately imaginative person who enjoys a good balance between the real world and fantasy. You are not interested in the arts, and do not display aesthetic sensitivity. You tend not to express your emotions openly and are sometimes not even aware of your own feelings. You prefer familiar routines and for things to stay the same. You can tend to feel uncomfortable with change. You prefer dealing with either people or things rather than ideas. You regard intellectual exercises as a waste of your time. You like the security of tradition, but sometimes have a desire to bend the rules and challenge conventional thinking.


Agreeableness

Overall Score 26
Trust 58
Morality 0
Altruism 89
Cooperation 34
Modesty 21
Sympathy 31

People see you as tough, critical, and uncompromising... and you have less concern with others' needs than with your own. You mostly assume that people are honest and fair; however, you are wary and hold back from trusting people completely. You believe that a certain amount of deception in social relationships is necessary. You are guarded in new relationships and less willing to openly reveal the whole truth about yourself. You find helping other people genuinely rewarding, and are generally willing to assist those who are in need. You find that doing things for others is a form of self-fulfillment rather than self-sacrifice. You do not enjoy confrontation, but you will stand up for yourself or push your point if you feel it is important. You feel superior to those around you and sometimes tend to be seen as arrogant by other people. You are not affected strongly by human suffering, priding yourself on making objective judgments based on reason. You are more concerned with truth and impartial justice than with mercy.


Conscientiousness

Overall Score 21
Self-Efficacy 21
Orderliness 29
Dutifulness 44
Achievement-Striving 8
Self-Discipline 75
Cautiousness 12

You like to live for the moment and do what feels good now. Your work tends to be careless and disorganized. Often you do not feel effective, and may have a sense that you are not in control of your life. In general, you tend to be disorganized and scattered. You sense of duty and obligation is average, and although you are mostly responsible, you can sometimes be unreliable. You are content to get by with a minimal amount of work, and might be seen by others as lazy. You have strong willpower and are able to overcome your reluctance to begin tasks. You are able to stay on track despite distractions. You often say or do the first thing that comes to mind without deliberating alternatives and the probable consequences of those alternatives.

RandomThought dream: ThornsofHavok getting murdered?!

I had an RT (randomthought) dream! It basically involved David K. (korczyk) and Jamie (thornsofhavok13) meeting in coffee shops and on trips with friends, including Josh. (aint_no_nothin) Jake (zeblith) was being duplicitous and cheating on Becky (noisyevergleam), and we could figure that out since they kept going back to smell Gerald's (jairoski) bottle of green shampoo / green stick of deodorant with a green Dove-like lid.

Lance (godsstepson) was in the dream, and of course he still didn't like me there... which I expected. However, he did manage to speak at least half-civilly to me at some points, such as when I asked him what the drawbacks were of travelling in the MPV van. All he said was that you had to lean far forward in your seat because of the seatbelt angle if the van was going any higher than 50-60 KPH... that apparently made your stomach and innards feel really horrible. He had a sour look on his face, but I didn't blame him.

After that, I dreamed that Billy (fdolarhyde13) and Bliss (dear___somebody / window_seat) put on a show for everyone else. It involved a re-enactment of how David and Jamie tried running from their front yards to meet each other, but soon realized that would be impossible since one of them lived in Maryland and the other somewhere far away! A few weeks later in the dream, we got the most awful news: Jamie had been murdered on her way home by vagabonds. David cried a lot, and we were there for him as best we could be. I woke up when we met a bunch of other RandomThought people for a huge cathartic get-together... including Jo (thisisallido) and Ronnie (hopefulworeason).


I have 78+ journal comments to get cracking on, but I'll do that after I restart this temperamental beast and get some more sleep. Yeah, I had to set my alarm to get up today in order to meet my dad in the parking lot so I could get my stuff back and also return things to my mom. I guess I'll be setting my alarm tomorrow at some point, too... I just don't know if I have a ride or not, heh.

Comment catch-up, not lunch! / Vania fart trauma / Jeremy knowing poo humor / Bennigan's Onion Soup

Note: The Awesome LJ Quiz of Doom / Resident LJ 4: Chain of Command / Clue LJ Style blogquizzes. (by Krystal, Amand Dubois, and Chloe)


Ah, maybe I can post something "on time" right now! Reason for all these posts at an incorrect time of day lately? It's just because I don't want to put two timestamps TOO close together in my journal... yes, I know. I'm weird and OCDL like that. ;) (I'd also like to say that I remember a boy named Travis James Laramir at camp many years ago, heh)

Reminder to self: I CAN'T AFFORD TO GO OUT FOR LUNCH TOMORROW! Well, I could since it's free... but then I'll have to take the bus home - more money spent - and wreck my plans of having the day to myself since I'm definitely not bowling! Besides, I need to seriously catch up on comments and such... bleh, I hate when I fall behind at that! (as I have twice this week already with 60+ comments on the back burner, ugh!) I can check my inbox since that's quick, but not my comments since I like responding to every single one... and when it takes a long time (an hour or more!) to get everything right in my updates pre-posting because of a maddeningly slow computer sometimes, you can see why I don't have time for comments!

I'm sure CosmicJohn will be back with his "Encyclopedia Dramatica link" responses to all my comments in the latest LJ News post, but I don't really care. Heh, and I said a few days ago that he should die... I'll downgrade that to exquisite torture on the rack. ;) (from which he could very well die anyhow, muhahaha) A comment I just left in that post reminds me: yesterday at Dragon Ball, Steph and I accidentally introduced Jeremy to our family's juvenile sense of humor. (and the other day, we were talking about farts and traumatizing Vania many years ago... the fun never stops around here :P)

Heh, I've just been reminded of the Eradicators' prank call Poo on the Porch... a senile old lady calls up her neighbors and insists that they've pooed on her porch, but then the neighbors say she's left boxes of their own stuff on their porch! Hahahaha! However, I've also been reminded of that time when my mom believed I was pregnant... yes, that's happened before. Word to the wise: staying over at your male Internet friend's house does NOT necessarily result in pregnancy, especially when you two didn't do anything which could possibly result in such a thing! o_O

Edit: Upon checking my inbox, it seems that Teunis is in for Jeremy's homemade Pho on Sunday, and could bring Jasmine if she's willing. That sounds fine, and I'll email some shake orders to Dallas as soon as I get answers... and make up my own mind, too! (no durian, though... Terrence's bubble tea was enough, thanks!) I should get Jon to add these people to his dinner email list, and eliminate the middleman.. ah, now I understand Steph's rationale with Katherine and the restaurant cheque for the grad banquet! (I'll ask him about that later, haha)

You Are Jennifer Aniston

"Girl next door" with a free spirit. You're low-key and naturally sexy. Since you're sweet and approachable, people are attracted to your upbeat attitude. And even when life doesn't go your way, you always eventually turn things around.

Are You More Like Jennifer or Angelina?

Bennigan's Onion Soup

Recipe By:
Serving Size: 8 Preparation Time:0:00
Categories: Soups, Vegetables, Meats

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

1/2 pound Firm white onions -- sliced
1/4 cup Butter

2 tablespoons Corn oil
3 tablespoons Flour
1 quart Chicken broth
1 quart Beef broth
8 slices French bread
Swiss cheese -- shredded
Parmesan -- grated

Sauté onions in butter and oil until onions are transparent, but not well-browned. When tender, turn heat to lowest point and sprinkle with flour, stirring vigorously. Pour into Dutch oven, and stir broths in. Heat thoroughly and divide among 8 oven-proof bowls. Float a slice of bread atop each serving. Mix equal parts of cheese to smooth paste and spread over bread. Place all bowls on oven rack 4" from broiler heat, and broil until cheese melts. Serve at once. Leftover soup freezes well up to 6 months.

Bob Dylan, Andy Warhol, discontinued free iced coffee promotion, going postal, insanity test

Listening to Bob Dylan on the radio reminds me: when my mom dropped me off today, there was a commercial for Bob Dylan's new album Modern Times, and some sort of reference to October 11 that I didn't catch. Then my mom started talking about September 11 and how it would be five years since that happened... yeah, I know. =/

Earlier, she was paying for stuff at Chapters and noticed this giant book on Andy Warhol above the checkout. She asked me if I saw that big book: yes, I did. Then she asked me why it was so huge... I just looked at her, heh. He WAS influential, after all!

Steph emailed a bunch of people about a free Starbucks iced coffee promotion, and Jon emailed everyone on the list to confirm what I'd heard about it no longer being valid because everyone ran amok with that coupon. Now I have a bunch of rude teens to deal with in my comments, so see ya!

P.S. I really need to find an icon that says something like "I am weird!" on it. Earlier tonight, I did find one... but it was only 48x48, so way too small for my liking! :P

You have a 38% chance of going postal!

The chances of a killing spree in your future are pretty low. But discuss any problems you have with a therapist. Or your local barman. Talking about your feelings is very important... well, and emasculating, but let's not talk about that.

How Likely Are You to Go Postal?
Create Your Own Quiz

That reminds me of this:

The Insanity Test

Your SaniTest(TM) Results

Your score is: 133
For easier understanding, the HPLHS SaniTest assessment algorithm converts your raw score to a scale of 1 to 10. This number is your INSANITY INDEX.

INSANITY INDEX 7.47 This score is at the very high end of the middle of the spectrum of madness, and it indicates that you're quite deranged. Your thought processes are likely to be highly confused, and your personality alarmingly unstable. Although you may enjoy occasional bursts of genius and insight, it may be difficult to follow through. Other notable people who scored at this level include boxer Mike Tyson and popular scientist Carl Sagan.

Wikipedia's list of meat animals

I've eaten cattle / cow, steak, veal, rabbit, lamb, pig, boar, deer (venison), chicken, duck, quail, ostrich, pheasant, pigeon, goose, turkey, snake, alligator, frog, anchovy, cod, halibut, salmon, shark, tuna, crab, crayfish, lobster, prawn, shrimp, abalone, clam, mussel, oyster, scallop, snail / escargot, cuttlefish, octopus, squid, and imitation meat out of this list. Might have had buffalo / bison, as well... I don't remember, unfortunately. (but not with Carina!)

This reminds me of 50 Foods everyone should try and the times my mom ate cat and Jon's friend Ty ate dog.

Wikipedia's list of meat animals

* Beef (bovines):
o American Bison
o Cattle
o Steak
o Veal (calves)
o Yak
* Canids:
o Dog
o Fox
o Wolf
* Felines:
o Cat
o Lion
o Tiger
* Equines:
o Horses
o Donkeys
o Zebras
* Lagomorphs:
o Hare
o Pika
o Rabbit
* Marsupials:
o Kangaroo
o Opossum
o Wallabee
* Ovis (sheep):
o Lamb
o Domestic Sheep
o Bighorn sheep
* Caprae (goats)
o Domestic Goat
o Ibex
o Wild goat
o Barbary Sheep
* Suidae (swine):
o Domestic pig
o Peccary (Javelina)
o Wild boar
* Venison (Cervidae):
o Caribou (reindeer)
o Deer
o Moose
o Antelope
o Giraffe
o Red deer
o Rocky Mountain goat
* Primates:
o Gorilla
o Orangutan
o Chimpanzee
o Bonobo
o Human (cannibalism)
o Monkey
* Rodents:
o Beaver
o Guinea pig
o Capybara
o Muskrat
o Rat
o Squirrel
o Greater Cane Rat ("Grasscutter")
o Paca (Agouti or tepezcuintle)
* Cetaceans:
o Whale
o Dolphin
* Pinnipeds:
o Walrus
* Other mammals:
o Bear
o Elephant
o Raccoon
o Rhinoceros
o Weasel
* Poultry (birds):
o Chicken
o Duck
o Game birds:
+ Dove
+ New World quail
+ Ostrich
+ Pheasant:
# Grouse
# Partridge
# Quail
+ Pigeon
+ Woodcock
o Goose
o Turkey
* Reptiles:
o Turtle
o Lizard
o Snake
o Iguana
o Crocodile
o Alligator
* Amphibians:
o Frog
o Salamander
o Toad
* Fish:
o Anchovy
o Cod
o Eel
o Halibut
o Salmon
o Shark
o Tuna
* Insects:
o Grasshoppers
+ Chapulines
o Ants
+ Escamoles
o Bees
o Cockroaches
o Beetles
+ Jumiles
o Larvae:
+ Grubs
+ Caterpillars
* Crustaceans:
o Crab
o Crayfish
o Lobster
o Prawn
o Shrimp
* Other arthropods
o Scorpions
* Mollusks:
o Abalone
o Clam
o Conch
o Mussel
o Oyster
o Scallop
o Snail (also see escargots)
o Cephalopods:
+ Cuttlefish
+ Octopus
+ Squid
* Artificial meat:
o Imitation meat
o In vitro meat

Sunday dinner, part 4: Vietnamese

Hey, Jon emailed a bunch of us about Sunday dinner again... apparently, it's not at Lesley's, which is fine by me! Jer's place should be fine for that, especially if he's making it, haha. Forwarded it to Jasmine and Teunis... it'll be good eating, people! ;) (of course, I still have to figure out how to get there from wherever the Awana orientation is, but there's some time for that!)

For this week's Sunday dinner, we're going to be enjoying the firstfruits of Jeremy's labor. About a year after making a batch of organic Pho, Jeremy has refined his recipe and is making another large pot of it. In order to keep costs down, we're not making it organic style. So you'll get both a lower cost and more pesticides / hormones in your meal! In addition to Pho, Dallas is making both spring rolls and shakes. He requests that you let him know what kind of flavour you'd like -- some suggestions include coconut, mango, guava, durian (Yum!!), jackfruit, soursop -- the choices are endless.

Please let us (me, Dallas, Jeremy) know if you're coming - preferably not last-minute either! We can accommodate a fair number of people, since there is 18L of Pho just waiting to be made. The dinner will be at Jeremy's place, at around 6:30 or so.

For those of you who haven't shown up yet because your friends aren't going, or because you've never hung out with us before, please step out of your comfort zone, get to know other people in the church beyond the usual superficial level, and enjoy some quality homemade food! There's a real community aspect, not to mention some important theology, behind eating together, so I highly encourage you to come out.

Cheers,
Jon

Dragon boats, cheap / free books and other stuff, cooking with beer

I got a lot of free stuff today after I ran my personal errands... if my mom was going to pay for it, I wasn't complaining! But I do hate it when my personal foibles are told to people who should NOT know about them even if it's posted publicly on a blog, like parental types.. you HEAR that, siblings? I'll do something to you when I see you next! (maybe I'll get BP for dinner next week... my mom likes Felicos because it's good and not too expensive overall, but it's MY birthday celebration on Pasta Tuesday even, dammit! :P)

Apparently, Uncle Danny set Mom up with an MSN account. I don't know why, since she doesn't know how to use it. She had like the hardest time EVER trying to figure out how to use email, but maybe the learning curve for MSN will be easier. As Corey said once a few years ago when I told him that Mom wanted to get MSN: "All you do is type a message into a box and press the Send button! How hard can THAT be?!" Probably not that hard for us, but it'll be interesting to see how long it takes for her to master that art, heh. (if she even wants to, of course... I know some of my friends' parents have MSN and can use it quite handily)


Rundown of free stuff, by place:

* Vietnamese noodles with fish skin / pearl milk bubble tea from Juice King, both from the Yaohan food court (this is where Mom told me that she got me a "30th birthday" mug for me, will get a "60th birthday" mug for herself in a couple of years, and Steph will get me a crazy birthday card this year... knowing them, I can pretty much guarantee that those will be wacky things!)

* Dragon boat figurine of the Seven Gods of Fortune (I wanted something with a dragon on it!), "Happy Boro" (Japanese cookie balls :P), and some Malaysian candy at Daiso (AKA "the $2 store of random crap which Nathan loves" :P) in Aberdeen Mall (she wanted me to get a birthday card about beer for Jon, but I'd already bought two of those :P)

* Selected Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne (The Scarlet Letter / The House of the Seven Gables / Twice-Told Tales) from Turnpage, the "3 books for $10" place at Aberdeen Mall (That was under the $3 for 10 price, which was surprising since some other comparable books were marked at $14.99! My mom was looking at the two wedding planner books that they had.. uh, no need to buy those even if Grandma asked whether Jon had a girlfriend yet! She also didn't know who Nathaniel Hawthorne was, nor had she heard of The Scarlet Letter... fair enough!)

* Bananas and white peaches (which she has now by mistake... I have her tea filters), plus some starfruit (NOT dragon fruit or durian.. she thinks that it'll be rude if Jon and Jeremy use everyone else's money for durian stuff that only they'll drink, but everyone else will have different shakes and such!) at the produce store in Aberdeen Mall (she told me that Jon's friend Matt Mark is staying over somewhere this weekend: I don't know about her idea of letting him stay at my place because I'm busy and such again with Awana!)

* A backscratcher (had one before that I lost somewhere in here), a 1L purple spray bottle (which I was looking for), a cushion with a cat on it / a Hello Kitty heart-shaped candy box (she bought them for me since they were cute), and a Selectum 200-page orange notebook that's not holographic or little (so I don't have to transfer my journal from one bag to the other... I don't know why I didn't think of this before) at Dollar Smart, AKA "the 99¢ store" even if most things in there aren't 99 cents!

* Urban Legends: 666 Absolutely True Stories That Happened to a Friend... of a Friend... of a Friend (by Thomas Craughwell... the last copy on the shelf, which was my trump card for not coming back next week) at Chapters [she also bought Cooking With Beer for Jon's birthday in November... Jon, don't let on that you know about it if you're reading... and DON'T TELL HER I POSTED IT, STEPH!]

Yes, of course I thanked her at least twice for all the stuff. If she tells you any differently, Steph, she's out of it! :P

I realized I forgot to ask for free bookmarks at Chapters, but I figured something out since I am resourceful. Last week, I used the back of these Stouffer's cardbox box coupons to record some stuff. (I definitely won't be using all the ones I've collected over the past few months!) So then I cut those coupons in half and then cut a bit off the ends: voilà! Instant bookmarks! :D


Funny stuff of the day:

* I saw a Brew-O-Poly game at Chapters (plus the newest Guinness / Ripley's books), which reminded me of Kiss-O-Poly. Of course, I decided that my mom HAD to see it... she had her expected reaction of "Oh my God... why would people make a Monopoly game about beer?! Euh..." *laugh*

* Mom was looking at these colorful hand-painted art tiles / coasters at the 99-cent store. There were two designs she liked: one with a teapot on it, and another one with a pot that said "Full of Beans." She turned to me and asked if "full of beans" was some sort of swearing! HAHAHAHAHAHA! Of course, she then asked me whether I was sure about that... there might be some things that I don't want her to know about, but I'm perfectly sure that "full of beans" doesn't have a hidden meaning... especially not one having to do with swearage! *laugh*

Coffee smiley, electric kettle levers, black coffee, Paris Hilton arrest (haha), amusement and anger

My mom gave me some Nescafé coffee a while ago, and this is the first time I've used some. I'm just glad the electric kettle thing she gave me afterwards has a little red lever (NOT the Parisienne fart lever!) that pops up when it's finished boiling water! (otherwise, I wouldn't want to know / deal with the resulting mess... yikes!)

Right now, I have to take it black coz I have no sugar or cream, but that's fine. I just hope I'm not getting some superbug comprised of various colds from Jon / Nathan / Jeremy... I don't feel sick, but one never knows!

Oh, I heard that Paris Hilton got arrested for drunk driving last night... for some reason, I find this amusing. Not that arrests for that kind of thing are inherently funny in and of themselves, but I've never liked Paris Hilton anyhow! HAHAHAHA.

I am... curiously amused. My mom's idea of celebrating my 30th birthday is taking me to the Planetarium next Tuesday for some exhibit on dead bodies and such. Hahaha. Her way of explaining this: "Oh, I'm going to take you to see dead human bodies! You'll like it!"

.... say WHAT?! *laugh* (Kinda reminds me of the Grossology exhibit at Science World that the family went to years ago because she insisted that it was my favorite subject! Interesting though it was, I'm not sure poop and bodily functions would fit that description! *haha* )

Speaking of my mom, she is taking me out for wonton mein and to do my errands. Guess sleeping two hours earlier last night helped, but I still feel tired for some reason... maybe the caffeine will kick in soon?

You Are 62% Angry

You're a pretty angry person, although you might not describe yourself that way. But if you think about it, you probably feel annoyed, frustrated, and disappointed often. All of the emotions above are classic signs of anger. And if these angry feelings are controlling your life, you may need help.

How Angry Are You?

Big Two domination at Dragon Ball / Bennigan's Hot Bacon Dressing

Note: LJ BlogQuest 1 / Dysfunctional LJ Pet Shop blogquizzes, by Amand Dubois.


Eric, Steph, and I met Jeremy at Dragon Ball at 9:30 (he got there 10 minutes before) after discussing whoopee cushions / cool wrestler masks (bright blue, red, and white) / ponchos (Steph got one for herself too, and chose the nicest-looking ones for us) / Grandma / the weekend's wedding and Wilson / the crazy traffic today / Ivan (NOT Karen's husband, but the teen!) breaking his strict Novice driver rules / Christon buying HUGE boxes of candy for 88¢ each from Wal-Mart / in-jokes on the way over. Heck, why buy salad for $6.99 when you can get huge boxes of candy for that cheap price? No wonder Americans are so fat! Apparently, Steph and the others had to do an intervention in the middle of Wal-Mart since Christon looked ridiculous carrying around these wide packages to stock up for home!

Jeremy asked us what "yogo" was: we had no idea, but it made us think of yogurt! It's probably been on the Dragon Ball menu forever before he just noticed it tonight. So he decided to ask the lady there: her answer of "it's sweet and sour" made him think of sweet and sour pork, haha. He ordered a yogo-starfuit mix to see what that would taste like: Steph wanted to try some, but he warned her that he had a mild cold. (so did she, but she refrained from trying it anyhow) Then Steph asked me whether I was a weredragon or believed in them since it was a full moon (sorta?) out tonight and I was crazy... not as far as I know! As I told Jeremy, I may be a dragon in the Chinese zodiac, but I don't think I have any werewolf in me!

A little later while they were playing Big Two (with 17-card hands because I don't play that game), I declared that I wasn't afraid of Jeremy's cold since I was generally pretty healthy, and tried a bit of his bubble tea. It did indeed taste surprisingly like Orange Julius (the tang? the flavor?), so we joked that the secret ingredients there were starfruit and yogo! (never mind the oranges and banana!) I myself had an Oreo cookie-mango pieces mix, Eric and Steph both had Bartlett pear (Eric's had no sugar / no pearls), and Nathan had a blueberry-watermelon with coconut jelly when he finally got there 40 minutes late. Jeremy and Eric wanted to order something spectacular for Jon, so decided on taro / guillingao / yogo / mango pieces. However, Jeremy mixed that up and apparently ordered taro / mango / yogo instead. I guess the number of questions the lady asked only confused him! While normal people get "Pur no pur? Slus? Meelk?" at the counter, Jon and Jeremy get different additional questions such as "All chunks?!" when THEY order stuff! Jeremy noticed that he forgot to use his card when he ordered, so Steph said I should ask since it's never too late with us! (it was only a few minutes after he ordered) I was going to order anyway, and the lady gave Jeremy three stamps on his card... of course I let Jeremy use the free one in the future! (he had 10 stamps filled out, so that means a free bubble tea in the future)

When Jon, Nathan, and Ivan showed up really late, we bugged them about it. Steph then said that Ivan was the youngest there / at our table. Let's face it... I'm turning 30, Nathan's 26, Jeremy and Jon are turning 25, Eric just turned 25 yesterday, Steph's 23, and here we have Ivan at 17! We then discussed the nutso traffic, French 12 and verb tenses (pluperfect, PASSE COMPOSE, subjunctive, and such... good luck, Ivan!), Resonate songs, what Dallas wanted to do for Sunday's Vietnamese dinner (soursop / durian / fruit drinks), Jeremy's domination of the Big Two, the stickiness of the tables and bubble tea quickly making the cards not feel so new as they did a month ago, and other stuff.

Ivan left early, but we stayed till about 10:30-ish so we didn't accidentally play cards till midnight! (people have to take earlier buses still tomorrow... ugh!) On the way home, Steph noted that the whoopee cushion I gave Eric was really tight and you HAD to sit on it in order for it to emit noise. She also found it amusing that it had to be labelled as a whoopee cushion: hey, ours are labelled as well. They thought I was kinda crazy, but it was cool... I wouldn't fall for the "sit on whoopee cushion" trick when I got in the car, and neither would Eric when he filled up his gas tank! Interesting times, as usual... hey, Melia emailed the Awana crew, and included my request for a ride at the end! Sweet!


Bennigan's Hot Bacon Dressing

Recipe By:
Serving Size: 1 Preparation Time: 0:00
Categories: Dressings, Salads, Meats

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

2 ounces Bacon grease
1/4 pound Red onion -- dice fine
2 cups Water
1/2 cup Honey
1/2 cup Red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons Cornstarch
1 tablespoon Tabasco

Place the bacon grease in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and sauté until the onions start to blacken. While the onions are caramelizing... place the water, honey, and red wine vinegar in a mixing bowl. Using a wire whisk, mix the ingredients well. Add the cornstarch and whisk well. After the onions have caramelized, add the Dijon mustard to the onions and stir together with a rubber spatula. Add the water, vinegar, honey, and cornstarch to the mustard and onions and mix. Continue stirring until mix thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat and store in refrigerator until needed. Note: To reheat, use a double boiler. I put the tabasco on the ingredient list if you like it. In different parts of the country, Bennigan's omits this ingredient.

New sushi icon, Eric and bubble tea plans, Wilson and wedding pictures, Steph and crazy traffic

For once, I can post something "on time" today!

I have a new icon... mmm, sushi!



Eric just buzzed me about bubble tea tonight: Jon will join us after his worship practice, which Eric guesses is a longer set for Resonate. ("I find that ours usually last about 1:30, but if he's leaving at 9:30...") He says Steph is supposed to let me know... she hasn't yet. Then again, I don't know if bubble tea is the best financial decision given recent events! So I asked where, and he said the question didn't deserve an answer... eh, shut up about Joe Blow bubble tea! (just a question, so no need to get so defensive about Dragon Ball's being an "obvious answer")

Wilson also sent me a bunch of files from his brother's wedding over the weekend... cool stuff! There's one problem: most of them won't transfer because of errors during file transfer, and the one that WILL transfer takes way too long! Ugh. He says he's going to put them on ImageStation anyhow and invite me when the album's ready, even if it's just a little preview of him and the family. So I took his advice and cancelled the damn thing. He says they're huge files, and his wireless is acting up... that would be it, heh.

Then I called Steph at home, since Eric had done the same thing because she wasn't answering her cell phone... she said she was washing the dishes when we called her cellphone! She told me about the crazy bus traffic today which resulted in her being really late for work, and she took an earlier bus too! It took four lights to turn from Gilbert to Westminster (two intersecting streets), and 23 minutes to get to Fitness World which is like down the block! Crazy UBC people. :P Then she said that she messaged Terrence with "PHD"... I didn't know he had internet access in the Singapore army, either! After that, she let me go... it's way too hard to hold a phone conversation while typing, for sure! At least she says she'll pay for my bubble tea later on, so that's good. She thought I didn't like the poncho when it was $10, Mom's clay jalapeno was $5, and all Jon's masks were $7... not about the money, dude! (but it was cool enough!)

Kotex advertisements, embarrassing pad stories

By complete coincidence, I'm listening to Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society and their song Bleed For Me. :D This icon is also appropriate:


Here's something really funny that Janina posted in her journal, so I'll post it in mine as well. Heh, that's what makes this go round! :D

Dear Kotex,

I recently noticed that the peel-off strip of my pantiliner had a bunch of "Kotex Tips for Life" on it. Annoying advice such as:
* Staying active during your period can relieve cramps.
* Avoiding caffeine may help reduce cramps and headaches.
* Drink 6-8 glasses of water a day to keep you hydrated and feeling fresh.
* Try Kotex blah blah blah other products...

Obviously, the individual behind this was someone who has never possessed a functioning set of ovaries. Go ahead and tell a menstruating woman that drinking 6-8 glasses of water will help keep her feeling fresh. Like we need more fluid inside our bloated bodies from hell... but go ahead... I triple-dog-friggen-dare-ya.. See what happens and report back. I'll wait.

While you're at it, dump out the coffee at work and remove the chocolate from the vending machine. I guaran-damn-tee you that the first responders will be females who just ovulated. Staying active will relieve headaches & cramps... well, guess what! The only activities that interest me are eating.. sleeping.. bitching or crying for no apparent reason... and oh... does ripping someone's head off count as a friggen' activity?????

Look, females don't need or want tips for living on their feminine hygiene products. Younger girls are already hearing "helpful" crap like that from elderly relatives. Veteran females have already concocted their own recipes for survival, many containing alcohol & barbiturates. Printing out crap advice while sneaking in ads for the brand that was already purchased is just plain annoying, not to mention rude, and is enough to send a girl running to the Always brand. It's not a fun time, but DO NOT try to cheer us up by adding smiley faces or bunnies or flowery cutesy crap to your products or the packaging. Put the crap in a plain brown wrapper so we can throw it in our carts discreetly and have it blend in with the wine and beer.

There is nothing more annoying than having a blinding pink package announcing your uterine state to everyone in the store. Why don't ya just add an in-store microphone to the damn package & announce that... helloooo, another female in the store is on the rag!!!!! So take your tips for living and your cute bunnies and the smiley faces and shove them right up your ass!

P.S. How about adding a free sample of Pamprin & maybe a shot of bourbon to your packages instead?


Reminds me of a couple of stories that I have...

1. A bunch of people from church were at Summer Conference in 2000. My brother had to drive back to town to play at a Canada Day gig. So in addition to calling his cell to tell him that he HAD to order pizza for us when he got back (because the food there was TERRIBLE!), my sister also called him to tell him that he had to get some pads from the bathroom at home because of an emergency. (people had them there, but not enough if you know what I mean) So my brother asked her what he should get since he saw a variety of them there... anything was good, said my sister. When my brother got back to the conference and saw everyone hanging out in the lounge, he apparently couldn't get rid of the pads fast enough, so he scattered them all over the floor for my sister and Erin to pick up! o_O

2. My sister and her friend Terrence apparently know some really rich dude in Toronto who would bring caviar / smoked salmon / wine for them to try, and loaned Steph his wheels to go grocery shopping: of course she'd buy stuff for Terrence, but not tell the rich dude! Oh, and apparently the dude was so sheltered (being raised by a Chinese drill sergeant of a father that didn't want his mind "polluted with sexual knowledge") that he didn't know what a maxipad or tampon was until the age of 20! This one time at Steph's residence, Terrence told people this joke: "What sucks blood and has wings, but doesn't fly?" My sister decided to give Rich Dude an object lesson, so she ran upstairs to get some maxipads and tampons for him. On the way down, she tripped and little wrapped packages went flying everywhere. The postman chose this inconvenient time to arrive, and my sister was SO embarrassed since he knew her face! (Mom sent her packages every two weeks or so) Afterwards, Rich Dude opened a package up and asked them if this wasn't a wetnap! Hahaha!

"We weren't hungry till we saw you eating your salad, dude!" / Karma? / Quizzes

Yesterday, Eric H. and I weren't really hungry until we saw Nathan eating his Burger King salad... go figure! o_O

I just talked to my mom on the phone... yes, Jon gave me the bag of stuff yesterday after the movie. No, we didn't do anything after the movie since Nathan was sick and we all needed to drive home / do stuff / sleep! She was surprised that I opened the salsa already, but there's enough room in the fridge for that... not sure that the amount of the stuff in my fridge rivals Eric's or Phil's place, though! Then she told me that she'd talked to Iris the travel agent ("Iris is my friend now"... sure, Mom... it's just like how Flora the waitress is your friend at the #9 restaurant!) about Chinese bus tours. Apparently, there are tours in October that go to Campbell River to see the salmon run and spawn. Sounds interesting, even if I do have to miss an Awana day for that. (reminds me, I need a ride there!)

Then she also told me that next Tuesday could be a "me" day to celebrate my birthday early. My definition of a "me" day is having time to myself, but if she's treating me for lunch and letting me use $20 of her $25 Chapters coupon (then do some shopping), I'm not going to complain THAT much! ;) She also brought up movies after dinner that day... maybe, I guess we'll see! I asked if she was going to the church dinner the next Sunday: maybe not, but my dad is. She told me to think about it like the whole church is celebrating my birthday... uh, yeah, I dunno. I can still think of better things to do on my birthday than that, but who knows... I should really call Nina at some point, maybe tonight. (only drawback is I can't really go anywhere to meet her right now) Maybe if I go to lunch with the family / some friends (and maybe do stuff later that day with people) before going to the dinner, it won't be so bad... *sigh*

Mom then told me to call her tomorrow because it's her day off: she won't be working so many hours for Mei Lin (who has the same name as Julie's friend) in a few weeks, anyhow. She says that she can treat me to wonton noodles and stuff, which is fine by me since I need to go to the bank and post office to get my debit card / bus pass stuff sorted out! I'll have to raid my coin collection again for coins that I can actually deposit in my bank account for a cheque... I could use the $10 bill in my wallet for that too, however. Eh, I guess I'll see... Mom invited me for a salmon dinner, but I'll pass on that since I can't take the bus to her place right now without using a relatively huge amount of money! (I know $2.25 isn't much, but to me right now, it is...) So I'll have to get my ID ready for the bank so they can cancel the debit card, and get $10 in cash (or more?) for the bank so I can deposit it in my checking account so the cheque I plan to mail for the replacement bus pass will go through! (maybe I can ask my mom for a stamp, but I know I have enough money for THAT too!)

Now, I don't believe in karma, but I can't help thinking that this money situation of at least the past couple months is the universe's retribution! Why, you ask? It could be punishment for thinking various uncharitable things about Stephen and HIS low money situation and how he couldn't spend any money on me, even though he was going out to restaurants / smoking cigars / playing poker with his friend Kevin! (although I didn't think anything bad about his being in serious debt!) But as I told Nathan yesterday, I know God is looking out for me since all three things I lost are relatively easy to replace, and it's not like someone stole my wallet and stuff with all my ID in it... ID theft is a big concern these days, for sure!


I had to laugh out loud when I saw the "bathroom habits" quiz below... it comes from being raised in my family! ;)

Guys Think You're Hard to Get

You're the furthest thing from easy. You're proper, reserved, and maybe even a little shy. While you don't need a mini skirt and high heels to attract Mr. Right, being a little more flirty couldn't hurt. A sexy top or little smile may encourage new guys to approach you - and you'll still come off as a nice girl.

Are You Easy?

What Your Bathroom Habits Say About You

You are very independent and self-centered. You don't solve other people's problems - and you don't expect them to solve yours. Your idea of fashion is jeans and a t-shirt. Clean, if you're lucky. You have the perfect blend of confidence and class. You're proud of who you are - but you don't broadcast it. In relationships, you are practical and realistic. You have a romantic side, but you only let it out when it's appropriate.

What Do Your Bathroom Habits Say About You?

What will happen on the first day of school?

• Ruth will come to school wearing only a potato sack and say 'don't ask.'

• Trevor will jam you in the eye with a pen when you ask to borrow one

• Aneil will show how out of shape they are in gym class

• Fraser will invite you to be their alter-ego superhero sidekick

• Christina will try to make out with you because they are drunk

'What will happen on the first day of school?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

The ironic thing about this result? I don't even HAVE a cell phone! :P

Crime Library's list of missing children / volunteer sites

This is how I choose to share life with Internet strangers. :P

Crime Library: Missing Children (reminds me of Soul Asylum's Runaway Train video which they might play on MuchMoreMusic, since they had pictures of missing children in there... so sad!)

This is the second time in two days that I've activated the full-screen option in Bookworm by pressing random keys on the keyboard. Very annoying if I don't want it to happen!

Here are a few volunteer sites for my own reference: Go Vancouver, Volunteer BC, and VolunteerCA. (darn the volunteer appreciation dinner...)

THE ILLUSIONIST / Benihana Japanese Fried Rice

Nathan picked me up at 9:35, and we discussed my day after that. At least those things are relatively easy to replace, but still! He said he's getting sick, and fell asleep in the Fitness World parking lot... good thing he set an alarm on his phone before he did so! He's going to the church appreciation dinner: free food is nice, but it's MY BIRTHDAY! (maybe I'll have to postpone it... I'd love to have the head of whomever scheduled it like that because my birthday's all about ME, dammit! :P) At Silvercity, we met up with Eric H. and then got our tickets before Nathan got some dinner at the Burger King: some salad with dressing. (the Taco Bell was closed, New York Fries wasn't appealing, and he didn't have enough time to go to the nearby Subway which was closed anyhow)

Eric H. told me that his girl identified another movie he watched yesterday: he didn't know the series or the actress' name, but Fay got it on the first try based on his descriptions! He termed it a coincidence, but I really don't think it's such a thing. I reminded him that he ought to send me the list he was compiling of these things: at least he's writing them down somewhere since his memory will probably go! He also told us that some recent research has discovered that McDonalds salads are HEALTHIER than their burgers! o_O

Eric M. called Nathan to say that Anthony couldn't make it, but he and Jon were arriving soon. When Nathan saw them in the theatre looking for us, he made a noise that my brother described as sounding like a castrated pig / cow, haha! Jon gave Eric M. and Nathan some colorful masks that my sister had bought them in Mexico: NACHO LIBRE, anyone? I wished that I had a mask like that in addition to that monochrome poncho (I found that out later), since they looked really cool! But then I probably wouldn't be able to align the eyeholes... damn CP! (the guys tried them on, haha) We discussed the upcoming movies on posters: TRANSFORMERS, SPIDER-MAN 3, and more. (Nathan would love the first one as an early birthday hangout: July 4, not July 15!)

Then it was time to watch the movie. Due to my brother switching rows on me, I slipped on the way up... argh, stupid CP! The preview for HOLLYWOODLAND was based on a true story on one of Hollywood's greatest mysteries: what happened to George Reeves. (NOT Christopher Reeves, as I thought originally.. gee, I'm out of it!) Edward Norton as THE ILLUSIONIST was pretty good: he meets a childhood love later in life, and her prince isn't best pleased with it. Things aren't always what they seem with this movie, let's just say that... we didn't know what was with the opening scene afterwards, though! (Jon and Nathan were saying stuff about bumps) Maybe I'll read the various blurbs about it later for greater understanding...

After the movie was over, we headed out to the parking lot to say goodbye to Eric H. and say how good it was seeing him again. My brother gave me a huge pink Tea Ceremony / Holt Renfrew bag (from Aaron's wedding) full of stuff for me: that Mexican poncho (which I might wear, maybe not TOTALLY!) / Lays regular chips / Southwest mild salsa / the Ikea bag of pamphlets and such / a white Liz Claiborne shirt ($12.99 US!). He also gave Nate some library books and stuff to return for him, and suggested having an Ed Wood night. As long as we get Jeremy to rent the movies from Videomatica or some other store like that, it should be doable! After Nathan and I wished Eric M. a happy birthday again, we left as well. Good times, as usual... at least I also got another Dragonology bookmark today! ("Dragonology: Working With Dragons. Attempting to ride on a dragon should be done only in cases of dire need, or with a dragon's express permission. European Dragon: Draco accidentalis magnus. European Dragon Facts: Lair is a mountain or sea cave. Size is 45 feet long, and 12 feet tall. Colors are red, green, black, and gold. Forms of Attack are flame, tail, claws, and horns. Dragonology is a trademark of The Templar Company. Dragonology logo, graphics, text, and characters are copyright 2005. The illustration is copyright 2003.")


Benihana Japanese Fried Rice

When 20-year-old Rocky Aoki came to New York City from Japan with his wrestling team in 1959, he was convinced it was the land of opportunity. Just five years later, he took $10,000 he had saved... plus another $20,000 that he borrowed to open a Benihana steakhouse on the West side of Manhattan. His concept of bringing the chefs out from the back kitchen to prepare the food in front of customers on a specially designed hibachi grill was groundbreaking. The restaurant was such a smashing success that it paid for itself within six months. Here's a clone recipe for the fried rice at Benihana that is prepared by chefs with pre-cooked rice on those open hibachi grills.

4 cups cooked converted or parboiled rice (1 cup uncooked)
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
2 tablespoons finely grated carrot
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup diced onion (1/2 small onion)
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons soy sauce
salt
pepper

1. Cook rice following instructions on package (Bring 2 cups water to a boil, add rice and a dash of salt, reduce heat and simmer in covered saucepan for 20 minutes). Pour rice into a large bowl to let it cool in the refrigerator.

2. Scramble the eggs in a small pan over medium heat. Separate the scrambled chunks of egg into small pea-size bits while cooking.

3. When rice has cooled to near room temperature, add peas, grated carrot, scrambled egg and diced onion to the bowl. Carefully toss all of the ingredients together.

4. Melt 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter in a large frying pan over medium / high heat.

5. When butter has completely melted, dump the bowl of rice and other ingredients into the pan and add soy sauce plus a dash of salt and pepper. Cook rice for 6-8 minutes over heat, stirring often. Serves 4.

Tidbits
This fried rice can be prepared ahead of time by cooking the rice, then adding the peas, carrots, and egg... plus half of the soy sauce. Keep this refrigerated until you are ready to fry it in the butter. That's when you add the salt, pepper, and remaining soy sauce.

Bus pass office information, ponchos, movie plans

Man, I should have blogged the address of the bus pass program in 2003 when I last lost the bus pass! But I've learned from that experience... I know that I need to mail in a note saying I lost the pass, plus a $10 replacement fee. For some reason, I was thinking that I had to mail in $55! $10 for four months will be much more doable, and I know I have THAT amount of money around somewhere. As for how I spent all my money? Grocery shopping, the replacement hockey Bathroom Reader, Milestones meal, London Drugs purchases, bills (which I paid FIRST!), all the birthday cards / stickers, that Method hand wash / Coast body wash / Life goat's milk soap promotion at Shoppers Drug Mart, and paying people money for various weekender dinners / bubble tea. Yeah, I think I should really watch my spending habits... good thing I have a pass for that movie tonight!

Speaking of the movie, I called Jon to see what was up. He now knows how I lost my bus pass, debit card, and (probably) BCID card... good thing I get a free replacement for the BCID card! He didn't know why I was calling him... cheh! Then he said that Nathan was probably still working in Richmond, so I called him and left a message. Nate called me back to say that he was indeed still on the job, and asked if we needed rides. I figured that we probably did, since I didn't know if Jon had the car! Then I told him to call Jon when he was finished eating, since I'd call Eric to let him know we were going. Eric thought we needed rides, which isn't the case.

I just called the house and when my dad gave the phone to my sister, I was like "You're not Jon!" She says she got me some poncho ("a Mexican hoodie!") from Mexico that I would totally wear, according to everyone else on the trip. (I thought she said "porn show" at first, haha) Then I told her the "fetish" story, and talked to Jon: Nathan did call him to say that he might be working out at Fitness World, and he'd pick me up if that was the case. (he's driving there himself!)

BC Bus Pass Program
Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance
PO Box 9950, Station Provincial Government
Victoria, BC V8W 9R3
Tel: 250-387-4331
Toll-free: 1-866-866-0800 (#4, #3)

Freddy Mercury, too much stress while grocery shopping!

RIP Freddy Mercury. You'd be 60 today. :(

I had so much stress when grocery shopping today! It's true that I got Wacky Mac (colored pasta!), those Mini Chantilly cream puffs (in freezer with the ice cream cakes by the other cakes), some iced tea mix, Trident Juicy Fruit in red / yellow / blue / pink, and Trident Splash in apple-raspberry / strawberry-kiwi. While there, I noticed Western Family peppercorn ranch dressing and Classico vodka pasta sauce. I got Western Family mushroom pasta sauce and honey dijon salad dressing instead. However, that wasn't going to do me any good if I forgot my debit card at home! So then I had Barry drive me back home to look for it after convincing the cashier that I'd be back... ugh, I hate realizing these things at the checkout!

I'd seen a blue card while I was rushing to leave earlier, so assumed that was my debit card and scooped it up. No, that was my Air Miles card! After some fruitless minutes spent looking for the real debit card, I convinced Barry to go to the bank. There was a huge lineup, but I got my money split between accounts. (how did I manage to spend all that money in a couple of weeks?! o_O) While waiting in the LONG lineup (two tellers left while I was standing there!), I was thinking about where that (and my bus pass) could be... I hadn't seen them since that time I went to London Drugs / Milestones. So I thought that since they weren't on the floor, they'd be in my laundry...

Then I realized that I'd left them in my pink-and-white shorts, which I'd obviously thrown away in the production-related accident without checking the pockets first! Oh, F***! So then I asked the teller what to do about a lost debit card: all I had to do was bring in a piece of ID and they'd cancel the existing one and order me a new one. (that didn't sound too bad, except that I had no ID on me right then!) Maybe this coming week... I do know that my trips out will be curtailed as a result of this, so perhaps I can save some money! Heh, I can see that going out to places with my mom might come in handy, haha.

I could get a new bus pass too, but it would cost $55 for only less than four months... I guess I can stick it out, as computer-oriented as I am! Heh. So then Dave drove me back to the store (Barry had to leave and do other stuff), where my purchases were still there after 40 minutes... good thing I didn't get a lot of frozen stuff! I made conversations about Pathways and the clubhouse... bank, thrift store, kitchen, and more! (better than someone else's idea of it, but not more amusing!)

Eric's movie idea is looking better and better with each passing minute... let's watch Edward Norton do magic for our escapism! Oh, and I also finished my rum: 5/30/05 to 9/05/06. Of course, my brother isn't answering his phone... dang. Maybe I'll call Eric himself later on...

Song titles, what people DON'T know or make up for themselves, Daily Confession, and Group Hug

You can't copyright a song title!
Songs that name other people
Ewww! Daily Confession reminds me of Group Hug!
Are you ever shocked by what some people DON'T know?
It frightens me that people don't know these things...

These threads mainly put here for my own reference. But you can look in there, as well.

Who would have thought that people didn't know really simple things, like how cursive is what they tell you to do when they don't want you to print? Then again, people's made-up knowledge is frightening too... like Hong Kong being part of Japan! (this is like my mom thinking that Ottawa is in Quebec...)