Hanging out with Chinese Eric at the Keg / Old Bailey online

Eric H. and I hung out tonight, and it was definitely cool. He called me about an hour beforehand, and I was kinda dead scared that he'd cancel again - it's happened before, although with nowhere near the same frequency as Elizabeth! He wanted to know where I desired to eat - the Keg, Boston Pizza, White Spot, etc. I had no idea, so told him that I'd decide when he got here. While I took a shower, the idea popped into my head that the Keg would be lovely since I hadn't been there for a while and it wasn't what I'd usually get if I were by myself. A while later, he got to my place and we were off to the Keg after he opened my stuck bedroom window / a hot pepper jar - of course, I gave him his cruise postcard and long-overdue Christmas card before we left! He noted that it wasn't as hot as it had been the last time he was here- good thing, too - no sweating!

At the Keg, we talked about relationships: him and Fay, Jon and Harmony, Phil and Grace, Citrus and Danielle, Melia and Angus (his trying to jokingly alienate Joey at Chung's wedding), his other friends' experiences, Nathan's advice, whether I liked white Eric (NO!), etc. We also discussed our other friends: his cousins (Aaron and elder brother), taste, his sister Erica, Randal, Steph, etc. I told him about upset and we shared some personal stuff too. He met Marc Crawford (former Canucks coach) at a Chinese restaurant recently (he was probably in town for the Memorial Cup), and has an autograph on a takeout menu as proof. His love for basketball star Yao Ming gets him in trouble with his girlfriend sometimes - "You're going to TWO games when I have a WEEK off work because the lady I take care of is gone visiting people?!" but he gets back at her subtly since he won't hit her or such. ("SURPRISE - I'm here since I really only went for ONE game!") Joked around about various things as we ate our crab and spinach dip... we ended up ordering the same entree: New York Peppercorn Steak with three-cheese butter sauce! Great meals with different sides: baked potato for him, mashed for me. We had a chocolate mint afterwards - he paid for the whole thing, which is part of our usual deal.

Once we got back to my place, we talked about how certain people just bored us - of course we see them more often than the cool uncles and aunties! (sigh...) We discussed the Richmond Night Market - it would be a fun activity, even if the police banned all illegal pirated stuff from the place a few years back when it was still at Lansdowne. Although the multicultural thing is all well and good, it's certainly no longer the CHINESE Night Market as it used to be! Eric decided to take away a bunch of bottles / cans I had for recycling, which was also nice of him. He collected his postcard and Christmas card while blogging, and confirmed that my toilet paper holder was no longer in my bathroom... no clue where it went, then! (I hope that's not something I'll be held accountable for if / when I move out!) Then he noticed my Jelly Belly boxes - we didn't eat those since we were way too full, but discussed Lynyrd Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama and plane crashes instead. I forgot about the blue guestbook, but I'll remember for next time! Eric also borrowed a true crime book - I don't mind since I haven't really started it, and I have lots of other books on the go! His September will be busy for birthdays: white Eric's, mine, and Fay's! Of course he wants to do something special for Sept. 26 - maybe a cheap cruise or something! (first birthday he and Fay would celebrate together for her!)


Morbid Link Du Jour!

Oh, be still my morbid heart!! The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, London, from 1674 to 1834 are online! "A fully searchable online edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing accounts of over 100,000 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court." As you can imagine, I can waste hours here!

Here's a splendid example of what you can find - a case of infanticide from 1757.

Thanks to Agnes for the link.