"We're going to strip in the kitchen - hahaha!"

I decided to leave my phone on to function as a quasi-alarm this morning, since I knew my family would call me. My brother professed to be shocked when I answered the phone on the second or third ring, haha. Went to church late and got there at around 10, sitting with John and Sharon. That was a different experience than my usual, although I did get to exchange a bit of banter with Mike and Emily behind me - I'd noticed the smell of food from the kitchen around Communion time, but Mike only noticed after the service. ("I TOLD YOU, MIKE! AIYA.") The installation for Pastor John was important, and we managed to pack everything in! After service, I told Jeremy that I had a pie in my backpack - when I took it out later, it definitely had shifted to one side and looked a bit the worse for wear! Oh well. We all watched Alice park her car in the one remaining handicapped spot, while the guys discussed squash / yams / Nathan's new winter hat from Winners with EARFLAPS! Isabel said she'd go to the dinner, while Julie wanted to come just to witness a squash explosion. Someone brought up magic mushrooms and yam fries - Jon thought that would be an interesting combo. Tony said that he had his Saturday nights free now, which is excellent! Said hi to Denise, who's back for a week - SO GOOD to see her!

Went to Sunday School, where the kids were better behaved than last week. They kept bringing up poo, however - boys and their potty humor! *rolleyes* The lunch was pretty crowded - I sat with Daniel, Michelle, Eric, Randal, Chrystal, Steph, Vanessa, and some others. As is often brought up at these events, the basement is a definite fire hazard with a LOT of people crammed into the downstairs! Daniel said he'd die first even if he was kinda close to the exit, heh. Michelle said that the Communion "juice" (usually Welch's grape juice) this morning tasted like childrens' Dimetapp, while Citrus said that it was the leftover cherry pop from Friday night, but it had been unopened! Why were we NOT surprised.... haha. Randal and I were the only ones at our table who seemed to LIKE it, yay! Eric said he'd pass on the dinner! Joey, Ivan, Sam, and some others were making a HUGE tower of Styrofoam cups at their table next to us, and of course Citrus had to knock it over!

Lesley had a great joke which translated well in Chinese: A new pastor had gone to visit someone at a house. After knocking on the door for some time because it was obvious someone was home, he left a piece of paper shoved under the door which read "Revelation 3:20." The following Sunday, he noticed the same paper shoved into the collection plate for offering - the back of it now read "Genesis 3:10." Revelation 3:20 reads "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." Genesis 3:10 reads "He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." Hahaha, it was a joke we had heard rarely, if ever!

We were also talking about how Danielle was trying to disassociate Citrus from citrus fruit and orange colors, since his personality is way more than just those two facets! Steph had a great bag from the States - it fit her laptop and a bunch of other things too! Reminds me of the one from Bentley's, haha. Pastor John had a slideshow of his own to show us his family: some slides went by REALLY quickly, but it was funny! (Red Wings vs. Leafs rivalry - oh no!) After lunch, I talked to a bunch of people. Mike took a squash from Jon, and pretended to be pregnant just to bug Anita. She said that the baby was more like a basketball than a squash, and Jon bugged her by asking if she'd like a few more pounds to add to her load! Haha, good times. Tony said he'd go to Metrotown to walk around, and expressed interest in coming to a future Richmond-based Sunday dinner. (he later said that he could host a dinner, too!) Stanley had really spiky hair which went every which way today - so cool. :D

Went to J.J. Bean coffee shop after talking to Vanessa before she jaywalked across the street to her car. Read the latest GEORGIA STRAIGHT while sitting on a comfortable barstool: Nardwuar the Human Serviette had a great CiTR story about how a DJ was supposed to put on carol ship music at 8, but had heard 9 instead. When 8 PM came around, the carol ships started their broadcast, and heard cursing and muttering about the Christmas tape instead! HAHAHA. Read SAVAGE LOVE, and decided not to look at the CITY SINGLES with rather revealing poses! Caught up on movies (Romanian abortions) / health (removing tattoos because you regret it), news, and more while listening to stuff like the Spice Girls, Sugar Ray, Savage Garden (which Justin used to call "Savage Crap"), the Backstreet Boys ("Hey, Kate... your old lovers have a new album out!"), and Sheryl Crow. ("a change will do you good," indeed...)

Got to Jeremy's (meeting Fred on the way in) and peeled a LOT of yams, read the BC CHRISTIAN NEWS (Korn) / World Vision Gift Catalogue (sheep, goats, pigs, medicine, school supplies, and more!), empathized about crying when peeling onions ("redefine your manhood, Jer!"), talked about garlic (Gilroy festival, medicine, rubbing on bald head), and had fun. Said hi to Ray, who was writing a paper. It got so hot in the kitchen that the guys had to take off their jackets! (singing Nelly, of course - IT'S GETTING HOT IN HERE... LET'S TAKE OFF ALL OUR CLOTHES!) Tony came later, and Isabel / Stanley / Nathan / John H. / Christon have come by as well. Jeremy used a mortar and pestle, which reminded me of a post Spoz made about utterly destroying a CD by torture. GOOD TIMES, haha. Talked about sausage, acorn / butternut / spaghetti squash, olive oil, rice, smoke alarms, how Tony's dad liked it in Vancouver and wants to retire here, passage interpretation, music, and more - Radiohead's new album is pretty cool.