"Polygamy has its economic advantages!"

I think in order to maintain a good tagging pace, I won't do anything else except that. Oh sure, I'll still go out and stuff, but it needs to be cut down or something. Like I go out a lot anyhow... still, I'll have to this week since mailing of certain things is needed!

When Henry picked me up, his niece Evelyn was in the car with him. She said that her mom and sister were both sick, and wanted Henry to look at various things like stickers and stuff. "But we might die!" we told her... so she just subsided into saying she had the hiccups. I finally remember what the song was that she and her sister learned at Winter Conference: STILL, by Hillsongs. At least, Henry put it on and I still remember what the song was more than eight hours later with much audio stimulation in between! He'd had lunch with Chris and a sick Edmond earlier, which seemed good. Henry said that he couldn't pick me up on the 17th, but did make a point of saying that he could drive me home, and that it didn't mean he couldn't ever pick me up again. Apparently, the previous misunderstanding was brought up during a debriefing session that I missed (which is what I assumed he meant by "the Awana meeting"), and it made a few people nervous! We agreed that it was a shame that the Chinese congregation didn't know too much of the English congregation in general.

I had to tell Jason and Andrew that I could see their "hidden" plate of chips in the toddler room (which serves as the Awana Store) if I went outside the room and looked in. They know they're not supposed to eat during Awana time - in fact, Andrew got a lecture about that last week! Oh well... at least I closed the door when Anita asked me to since it was kinda cold. They had fun with the prices on various items: "square root of 64" on a bag, "1x1+1" on some cheap item, and other such stuff. Might as well let them tag the items like that! Kinda funny, haha. Later, I tried talking to Ian (the autistic kid's brother)... his mom Ada had to tell him what to say to me when I said hi and such! Maybe he's shy or feels overwhelmed by his brother... who was actually swimming today for the first time. He's gonna run around ANYHOW... let him do that in the pool!

At this week's debriefing session, we were reminded of the Awana dinner on the 24th. I didn't know about it when Henry said something about that on the way over, because I haven't been getting the Awana emails recently for some reason! I'd told him about the ridiculously long time it took to turn onto Nanaimo yesterday, and he said that it was due to an accident which was STILL there an hour later when HE went to church! Henry and I got Margaret to sign up for us, haha. He tried joking that he was allergic to beef and veggies, but Anita simply said that he wouldn't be eating with us. Nice way to call his bluff! Later, Henry made sure I had a ride to where I was going... Dylan showed up while I was looking for him! His computerized car is cool... it tells him how many kilometres he has left till his gas tank is empty! He's been out every night this week: planning budgets with Eric, dinner with Vivian, Fellowship, the party we were going to, etc. Definitely exhausting! He also thought that Lesley's 90% French email was a bit much: yeah, I didn't really get it when I first read it at night, but understood it all when I read it again in the afternoon!

Once we got to Lesley's, we discussed who couldn't make it: Cindy was busy, and other people also had pre-existing plans. We looked at the pictures on her fridge and walls, and Jeremy got out a few bottles of beer including some Brooklyn Lager: Jon wanted some for a Super Bowl party tomorrow, so Jer had to bring nine bottles instead of two or three! Dylan just wanted wine while we talked about getting sick / Jeremy's search for a one-bedroom apartment. We discussed how Jon was always late, and his broad perception of time: we've all had experiences with that! Never trust him when he says he'll be there "soon." When Jon and Eric finally got there, Jon asked us to guess what time he'd slept today. "Today" was a key word... we thought MAYBE 4 or 6 AM, but we were wrong. He'd slept from 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM! During the time that we thought he was sleeping, he'd been praying for the environment (among other things like the Downtown Eastside) and consuming things like coffee / chocolate / tea to keep himself awake! Jeremy asked Eric if he'd heard about the Boston AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE bomb hoax: LED displays for advertising are NOT terrorist bombs! Heck, even I had heard about it! Those guys managed to spend two whole minutes on Fox News talking about hairstyles, haha.

The food influenced by Southern France was pretty good: rye with fruit for appetizers, ratatouille, stuffed chicken with mushrooms, couscous, and some pear in sugary sauce for dessert. During the dinner conversation about Wikipedia / the hockey pool / French grammar / exams / teachers pre-slotting you in for a mark / other things, someone remembered that we had to speak French, so Jon and Eric talked for a while in that language. Jeremy's most recent batch of homebrew had a different character than the others, and he asked how I liked it: pretty good, even if I don't know too much about beer / brewing! Then we had a discussion about (Christian) drinking and tolerance: some people don't know when to stop! Jeremy thinks that his next apartment should have a sports bar feel to it: a TV hanging down from a wall, and plenty of small chairs and tables like Dragon Ball. The couch just takes up a lot of room, and is heavier with a hide-a-bed like he'd want since his parents visit occasionally. (although if Mark comes with them, he'll still need a mat on the floor) In terms of space for furniture and such, 500 square feet isn't enough. Lesley's is 934 square feet, and still seems smaller than mine even though I know that can't be right! (but her bathroom seems a bit bigger than mine)

Christon said that he was in France for a French Immersion trip, and he was surprised at the size of the lunch his billets packed him: a couple bags of chips, a litre of water, a huge sandwich, an egg salad, and some other things! At first, he thought it was because THEY thought he was skinny and needed to gain some weight. When he got back to Canada, nobody declared anything in their suitcases even though / because they had wine and all this food wrapped up in clothes. That's the technique Jeremy's using for five bottles of beer he's bringing to Kelowna: he leaves tomorrow at 6:30 AM, and gets back on Thursday afternoon sometime. There was this one guy who DID declare something at Customs from France: he declared his sausage, which resulted in Customs taking it away since you can't bring food into Canada! Lesson learned: NEVER DECLARE ANYTHING!

Jon turned on the TV briefly to check the hockey score: 4-3 is UGLY, especially when the opposition scores four straight goals on you! Christon just hoped that Alex Tanguay scored all four Flames goals! (looking at the scoresheet, I see he only scored one) Then there was the hour and a half that I would like back: the guys talked about finances, mortgages, buying a house / apartment, equity, fixed rate vs. variable rate, property taxes, Chung wanting a 35-year mortgage (apparently not a good idea), land value, and those storage rooms in London being used as apartments. (5 feet by 12 feet is NOT spacious by any stretch of the imagination!) It IS helpful information to know for later reference, but I couldn't really engage myself readily in the conversation. Jeremy brought up polygamy and how that would be economical in terms of land value and pooling salaries ("and all your kids too!"): Jon thought that communal housing would be good too. (Harmony later disapproved of polygamy via phone call)

There was the discussion on global dimming / warming, Al Gore, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, and carbon usage... but that was five minutes long while we were exiting the premises! Jon figures that I have the least carbon imprint since I don't drive, and I only fly when our parents take me somewhere! Jeremy's only carbon imprint is from flying to Kelowna and back because he bikes / walks everywhere else, heh. On the way home, we discussed being a groomsman for a wedding (Jon was asked via email today for his friends Ed and Lydia) / certain jokes / cards / hockey tickets for a Thrashers game (Steph's going with Chris Tse!) / my spoiling the Awana kids with gum and candy / giving the kids Purell / being crazy. Ah, mostly good times because Jon wanted Lesley to make French cuisine at some point!