24 packets of green tea at once would get me way too wired, dude!

Once I met Eric at the usual intersection, he told me that I was saying troubling things in general. I didn't think so, naturally! We got to talking about the Super Bowl: neither of us really cares about it, but we both know who's playing. I reminded him that there were escalators at Canada Place, because he didn't go in through the food court. (I took the stairs while Randal took the escalator - THEN he disappeared on me temporarily! AIYA!) He said he'd talk to Christon about picking me up tomorrow at 6 from the church for Lesley's thing, then spoke French to me for a bit. After that, we talked about a certain subject - I don't think I'm going to like Eric's emoticons every time he discusses this over MSN! (winks and hearts, indeed...) I said that I wasn't going over to watch 24 precisely because of the amount of teasing that goes on during commercial breaks! (he didn't use his days off solely on me, nor did he really use my fork!) So Eric said that if there weren't any new stories, there wouldn't be anything to say... I don't believe him because they can always come up with something! I also denied my sister's assessment about certain people, which of course led him to believe that she was right. I'm not saying anything to HIM even if he's like family because he'll tell my sister, who will then tell Mom! Doesn't he GET THAT?! AIYA.

When we got to church after waiting seven minutes to turn onto Nanaimo Street, I asked Eric to watch my stuff because I was going to Pho after a pit stop elsewhere. My dad expressed surprise that we were there early (before 6:20!), but Eric needed to restring his guitar and set up for Resonate - they didn't end up having any real practice at all, heh. I went to Pho (letting Eric T. / Stanley / some other dude into the church in the process) and saw Andrea, Karen Choo, and Jen there. They invited me to sit with them, so I did. We talked about Dylan and the situation this past week, Jen's new job, and how the others had to meet Harmony sometime. (whom Liz is NOT since she's Toronto Alan's girlfriend!) Then we talked about Karen's annoying loud / rude ringtone which she needs since she's lost 45% of her hearing in her right ear ("Hey you! Answer your phone!"), frustration at working with Dylan, and January birthday refreshments. It IS a way of letting people know they're appreciated and loved! For some reason, we talked about getting to be boyfriend-girlfriend / Steph and Karen's similarities / other such stuff too. After dinner which Karen paid for, we went back to the church. Steph was going to hug me, but I did the routine of coming at her like a growling bear. Jeremy (who was on drums) wanted to know what happened, so we did it again for a laugh.

Later, Steph gave me some green tea which she got for free from work. She reminded me that I could just boil water and dunk one packet into a mug, while Jeremy suggested that I could pour the whole 24 packets into a pot. Uh, I don't THINK he wants to see me so wired as that amount of caffeine would get me! He knows I'm kinda crazy in a good way, and let's keep it like that for now! I asked her whether she'd brought the 24 tape for Christon, but she forgot it which does tend to happen at 6:30 AM when she leaves to bus to work! On my way out, Steph asked whether the groundhogs had predicted spring or more winter - the Resonate slide said "Happy Groundhog Day!" too. We told her that they'd predicted spring, and Stanley told me that it would be funny if they only saw half a shadow, haha!

Went downstairs, followed by Steph and a couple of her crazy friends like Cindy. When they were kinda loud / hyper near the girls' bathroom, Raymond (a newcomer) looked around as if he were startled by the noise! So I had to tell him not to worry since it was just my sister and her friends, and they were ALWAYS like that... you can hear Steph from a long way away! Then I told Randal to revise whatever plans he may have had for watching those 24 tapes since my sister forgot about them today. He didn't seem too bothered by that, which is good! All he asked me was whether it was on one tape or two or maybe four (!!!), so I told him that they were probably on two tapes - then again, I don't know how my mom tapes things! Guess we'll see, haha. I need to devise a way of asking for the second two hours that doesn't sound weird!

Also apologized to Jen for going off on her like I did last week - she said it was okay after hearing my explanation! (she knew where Karen and Andrea were in the food court, but that didn't necessarily mean that Randal and I did!) The Fellowship signed birthday cards for Rich and Billy, then sang them HAPPY BIRTHDAY. (I didn't know any other Fellowship people whose birthday is in January when Karen asked me at Pho who I'd signed cards for!) During Bible Study, our group kinda made plans for what sort of food we'd be bringing next week: guacamole, tortilla chips, dip, chorizo sausage and melted cheese, and a fruit platter. Should be okay, if I can figure out how to get to Jeremy's or wherever our sub-group will be making the sausage and cheese! Jeremy came downstairs after he was done, and said that deer / farmer sausage had lots of spices in it to cover the gamy taste! No doubt it does!

When I returned from another pit stop, I had to squeeze between Randal and Jeremy into the circle that had formed around the food. (Jeremy: "Yeah, I guess you need to squeeze into the circle!") Jen asked Jeremy how his week had been, and he gave a one-word answer... so she asked if he cared to elaborate on "interesting." It involved not getting past his lack of experience doing one thing, and job offers from his previous employer. Apparently, the boss lost half his hair due to stress in the past six months! At least God prepared Jeremy for all this stuff, and he's taking next week off to go to Kelowna since he didn't spend much time with his parents this past Christmas! Frances asked if my hat was one of those that Auntie Fonda made: yup, and it DOES look like royal purple (as per Jeremy) or Crown Royal (as per Jen) ... very cool, since she's nice! Maisie was taking pictures of everyone, and asked me and Jeremy to pose for one: sure, why not? The "different woman" Teresa came downstairs and was doing the same with her disposable camera. Randal tried taking a picture for her, and later told me and Jeremy that he'd never taken a picture with that sort of camera before.

Randal and Jeremy then got into discussing days off, since Randal had had two this week. I'd ask him certain things, but won't since it's too intrusive, haha. He did such exciting things as grocery shopping and laundry, and talked about convenience / price at Chinese shops and Safeway. There was this one time he braved the crowds at Superstore for the Fellowship's sake, but that is a HUGE store with everything in it! Never again! Jeremy likes Garway Supermarket since their prices are half what Safeway charges for the same thing, and he likes certain other places since they know him by name / face! Jen and Jeremy exchanged phone numbers, then he asked me for mine. I thought he might have had it from the time I called him in November, but I was wrong. No matter, since it had an easy remedy!

Eric came downstairs and said it was time to go home since Steph has a 9 AM run in Stanley Park tomorrow: sure, but there goes her only day to sleep in! Jeremy left with us, and waved bye as he prepared to bike home. We discussed gas prices (even 0.1¢ adds up!), 24 and Committee meeting conflicts this week ("Don't they KNOW what happens on Mondays?!"), and traffic. Then Steph brought up a certain person, and how I should talk to someone or email him about what he's doing tomorrow... I don't think so! Eric asked about the curling on the 17th - I'm not going even if it's from 1-3 so Awana types can make it out to the Richmond Curling Club! Steph said that Jon was at some "Regent sleepover"... hmm. Once we got to my place, I asked Eric if he could pick me up tomorrow. Turns out he didn't talk to Christon about that, so he guessed he could. Sounds good to me!