2007 Recap: Steamworks, sudden mojo, and amusing times!

This is the 2007 Recap. Fitting for the last day of the year, no?


JANUARY

* Crashed Kendrick's party, and had a good time for the New Year. Talked to Harmony, Holly, Jon, and a bunch of others about various things. Cool vibe there, haha.

* Steph and Rachel made dinner for our families before Rachel relocated to Fort McMurray. Interesting stuff, to say the least.

* Went to Eric's to watch a pay-per-view hockey game: we ended up winning against the Panthers 4-3 in a shootout! :D

* Watched Casino Royale with my family, minus Steph and Grandma. It was pretty good!

* Auntie Fonda gave me two red yarn toques that she knit herself. They're pretty cool... although she DID give me permission to regift them if I didn't like them, I won't. Better than certain scratchy wool toques, heh. Later that day (and the next night), I went to Nathan's to watch 24 with him / Isabel / Cordia / Quan / Joyce / Steph / Eric M. / Jon / Christon. Damn addicting and SO GOOD - JACK BAUER!

* Auntie Fonda gave me a purple knitted hat: I don't know why she seems to like me so much, but it's cool. :)

* Went to MissionsFest and Steamworks afterwards. Things worked out because of the good laughs I had with Jeremy / both Erics / other people. Saw Jon's Regent friends Ray and Matt again, too!

* Saw PARADISE NOW at Nathan's after the January AGM with him, Jon, Jeremy, Christon, Phil, and Danielle. Suicide bombers and their culture are pretty interesting from a "why would they do THAT?!" point of view!


FEBRUARY

* Got ANOTHER eviction notice from Hester and her Amacon cronies over rent. Dodgy apartment management style is NOT for me! I wanna move, but not have only ten days to do so!

* Fabian, Tony, Nathan, Eric, Jeremy, Jon, Steph, Christon, and I shattered the 21-steamer record at Shanghai Wind by eating 35 steamers of SLB! We are CRAZY!

* Had a "Spinster's Bonding Night" with Steph, Cindy, Isabel, Vivian S., Vivian L., Karen Lew, and Chrystal on Valentine's Day. We watched Intolerable Cruelty and had pizza / junk food at the church. Since we couldn't figure out the church sound system, we had to enlist Mike's help via phone... thanks, dude!

* The onset of stress illness reared its ugly head: MY PERSONAL LIFE IS NOT YOUR WEEKLY SERIAL SOAP OPERA, THANK YOU VERY MUCH! Then it turned into a cold, with redrum being one week late thanks to all this stramash: WHAT THE HECK?!


MARCH

* Hung out with Eric, Kieran, and various friends of theirs to watch what turned out to be a Vancouver Canucks 4-2 loss at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks on pay per view. STUPID DEFENSE AND PENALTY CALLS!

* Attended Chung Yan and Karen So's wedding... good times! :D

* Was supposed to attend Project 416 at ECBC, but instead had a night out of a Seinfeld episode - Chinese Eric's car was towed, the impound lot's debit system was down, the bank machine ate his card... what else could go wrong?! It was hilarious when Eric told his parents that his friends (white Eric, Jon, Jeremy) had to come over and use the washroom, though!


APRIL

* Saw BLADES OF GLORY with Vivian, white Eric, and Steph. It was pretty good in that it exceeded low expectations! Later that day, we had our Good Friday service - pretty good stuff!

* Had 40 people come out for Sunrise Service 2007 - not so freezing as last year, although of course we all had sleep deprivation issues to varying degrees! Also gave Jason and Amos Wong some Dad's variety pack of cookies: I can't believe they've never had 'em! (Jonathan Chan can get his grandparents to buy him some if he really wants, haha!)

* Got into Round 1 of the playoffs against the Dallas Stars - the first game featured quadruple overtime which almost went into quintuple overtime!

* Went to Nathan's to watch Game 3 of the Canucks-Stars playoff series with Jon, Eric H., Jen, and Jeremy. We won 2-1 in overtime! Then we watched JESUS CAMP and the end of ZEBRAMAN... those Christian extremists are very disturbing and make kids grow up too damn fast!

* Discovered the LJ Space Adventures... very cool stuff!


MAY

* Went on a cruise from San Diego to Vancouver with Vivian and Karen Lew. UGH, getting up to be at the airport at 6:35 AM! They completed a 1000-piece puzzle! (watched Children of Men on the plane - SUCH A GOOD MOVIE!)

* Finally got together with Teunis - had two bubble teas in one day at Richmond Public Market / Estea. It was good talking to him in person about a bunch of stuff. Says he has stuff to give me, so maybe he can do that later!

* Saw Harmony in town again, so that was cool. Also discovered Cordia is morbid like me, so sent her a bunch of Morbid Facts links. :D (and gave her the FINAL EXITS book too!)

* Had the 24 finale party at the townhouse with Jon, Steph, Harmony, white Eric, and Christon. Much fun was had! (and people liked the postcards I wrote 'em!)

* Got another message about the Seattle Phone Pranks CD, this one from Tobias (tobiasmoran) on GJ - a blank journal with no content? Oh my. Hopefully, this one will get delivered unlike Matt Torres' CD last year, haha. Later that day, I finished the LJ Space Adventures on my friends list. :D

* Went to the Richmond Night Market with Eric M., Frances, Martin, Raymond, Connie, and Dianne. Gotta do this again for Jeremy's sake!

* Tobias (tobiasmoran) decided he only wanted Records for Sale, which is fine by me - attachment to email, it is! In return, I got three of his favorite Bob and Tom clips (Indianapolis): Trucker Clock, Donnie Baker - Team Names, and Dickens Cider. Seems fair enough exchange to me! Later that day, my family saw Joshua N., who is now married to a Mexican girl named Jessica. Wow! (Jon and I talked to Caleb, too...) Then the Giants won the Memorial Cup over the Medicine Hat Tigers, 3-1... an empty-net goal sure helped!

* Got together with Chinese Eric, finally. Went to the Keg and gave him his cruise postcard and Christmas 2006 card. He also borrowed one of my true-crime books. Very good hangout with New York peppercorn steaks! :D

* Got together with Teunis on the last day of the month. Two times in a month is a pretty good record, haha. Went to Aji Taro and Richmond Centre - yay for the new Sakura anime / manga shop!


JUNE

* Finally met Eric's Victoria buddy Korey - it was certainly interesting!

* Watched SONGS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR at Nathan's with Jon, Jeremy, and Nathan!

* Got 22.8 million points in Bookworm - YAY! :D

* Attended Phil and Grace's wedding and banquet - so nice!


JULY

* Certain regular phone calls made my life happy... K and I also officially decided to date.

* Went to the Richmond Night Market with the guys (Jon, Christon, Jeremy, Nathan, Eric) for Nathan's birthday. Good times - PANTIES ON HOOPS, anyone?

* Got together with Teunis - this time, we went to the Foggy Dew Irish Pub (just two blocks from my place and I'd never been there in seven years!) and Estea. He wants to have dinner at Estea one of these days - that would be cool. Since I treated him to dinner, he'll do the same sometime. Lovely friendship. :D

* Grandma got back from Hong Kong - YAY!


AUGUST

* A group of us went to try Shanghai Wonderful, which is the new location of Shanghai Wind. Good times, haha.

* Had one last dinner at the townhouse with Erin's family before Erin went back to Ottawa / Darren to Ireland. It was definitely good times. :D

* Had a great small group outing with Jon, Jen, Jeremy, Eric, Chuck, and Andrea: homebrewed Scottish Ale on the beach, and Bean Bros. Café afterwards!

* My glasses leg broke off. Yay. Not.


SEPTEMBER

* Had an interesting Sunday dinner to celebrate Eric's pseudo-birthday a few days late. Most memorable highlight: "Let's put kimchi in our bulgogi beef tacos! HAHAHA! Oh, and we've come up with a title for our Christian band's album: CHRISTIAN MUSIC TO MAKE OUT TO by the band PANTIES ON HOOPS! HAHAHAHA!"

* My computer finally conked out - it's not good if it makes grinding noises and then automatically shuts down into BOOT FAILURE mode! Eric installed Linux / Ubuntu on it, which made it work even if I lost all my Windows stuff.

* Dylan had a lunch idea, which definitely worked out well. "Roti canal" is NOT "root canal." Haha. Started the 40 Days of Community that day, too - very good!

* Celebrated my birthday with a bunch of my friends. Citrus said my "speech" was short and sweet just like me - aww, thanks!

* Took the Greyhound for the first time into Chilliwack - the mall there isn't too bad!

* Had a surprise party for Citrus and Mike T. at Montana's in Coquitlam - SO GOOD! Told Darren that I'd HAVE to get Facebook just for him now that he was moving to Ireland - which promise I made good on as soon as the computer worked again. Thanks, BooBoo...

* Had a very interesting Sunday dinner at Christon's - watching Julie do the dishes can be very entertaining! (later found out that Nathan had tagged me / Eric / Christon as various pictures in a room) His house has THOUSANDS of trinkets, oh my! (the church also approved Pastor John to be our new English pastor - YAY!)


OCTOBER

* Called Jeremy to wish him a happy birthday - that was the highlight of THAT night! Yay for good people! :D

* Candy called me to vent - so good to talk to her!

* The Thanksgiving Carnival was pretty interesting - "since Eric's not around, let's talk in Cantonese!" Hahaha, Auntie Ronne - too hilarious!

* Had a Sunday Dinner at Eric's house - the running joke was about the cat serving as extra meat, haha. It was good times, for sure. :D

* Natalie provided a bunch of us with hilarious entertainment: "You're the last people I'd EVER tell if I had a secret boyfriend!" Her brother Nathan was amusing, too - "you're 16 or 19... and he must be 21 because of his beard!" Vanessa was 12 or 13, which would make for some weird peer-to-peer teaching if she taught Gr. 7 kids! (but no... she teaches five-year-olds!)

* My glasses decided to be less than perfect again - this time, on Halloween! Good thing Iris was able to fix it, haha. No trips to Factory Direct for me! Spent time with Grandma, too.


NOVEMBER

* Went bowling, which translated into chilling time with Jeremy (who finished the "addictive" FINAL EXITS book) / Grace / Joe / Andrea / Karen. Was amused when Jeremy thought my new stylish shirt cost $100 at the Night Market - he thought that was what I wanted to hear! Sure, but it really cost $10 at London Drugs! I'd needed something to cheer me up, and that did the trick! YAY, SPARKLES AND SEQUINS! :D

* Had a Sunday Dinner at Jeremy's - the guys had to strip in the kitchen since it was so hot while they were cooking. We bought much yam / squashy goodness! Tony said that we'd have to bring our own dishes and stuff if he ever hosted a Sunday Dinner, heh.

* Had the Fellowship AGM, where I was recognized as a new Committee member. Was amused by Jeremy's idea of gravy-infused burgers. Jon said that Dragon Ball was closed from the 6th to the 29th - what the heck? Maybe it's their holiday, haha.

* Sanitized the nursery's toys with my small group, then went for lunch. It was pretty interesting! Oxy-San is cool, haha.

* Dad started to show his mojo, which greatly disturbed my sister and me. ("After your mom and I have lobster for dinner, we're going to have wine, and then have sex afterwards!" followed ten days later by "Why are you home from the States so early at 9? You're interrupting my romantic time with my wife!") We wanted OUT of the car even though it was moving and we'd probably die! Later that night, we went to celebrate Vanessa's birthday at Fish on Rice and Melia's. We didn't know that it was the last time we'd ever see Melia's grandma alive... :(

* Had a Monday Dinner at Jeremy's with some of the guys - it was quite efficient since Jeremy did all the cooking beforehand. Jon and I met up with Fred at the Whip afterward - yay for Black Plague and joking about cougars! It was a very good night out, for sure!

* Sat in on a Committee meeting, which wasn't too bad. Thank goodness for friends and support!

* Started to get Christmas cards and things from the awesome people at holiday_wishes! So good! :D

* Had a Sunday Dinner at Jeremy's to celebrate Jon's 26th birthday. The closet door and some liquor boxes served as a makeshift table, balanced by some books. It was very fun and amusing - Isabel was jokingly cut off from beer once, even though she'd only had a very little bit. Dallas wins at cooking roast, for sure! Everyone was amused when Tony mistook a directive for a command - hahaha, poor Vivian must have been confused!

* Went to ping-pong and a White Spot dinner (FAJITA SALAD, YAY!); it was good to be with friends! Then Jon and I went to #9 with Cindy, Melia, Angus, Dylan, and Anthony for a second dinner - it was great to just hang out!


DECEMBER

* Experienced problems with my Firefox / Swiftfox browsers disappearing suddenly ALL THE TIME. Twenty-six times in eighteen hours?! That is just NOT RIGHT!

* Finally (?) got my fridge / freezer fixed. I hope this sticks! Yogurt turning black, juice turning fizzy, and milk just fermenting are NOT good signs at all!

* Found out that Justin, Clement, and Fidela's grandma died. It was expected, but still sad news. :(

* Half-decided to give up on GJ because of way too many problems. Thinking of backing up stuff on IJ, but I have no friends there. Boo-hoo. :(

* Got 42 points on QUIZ in Facebook Scrabble - THAT ROCKED!

* Found out that Melia's grandma died, via Eunice's Facebook wall post. *sad* Later, I sat in on another Committee meeting - it wasn't too bad, even with making Eric wait at the door till I got dressed AND the unexpected Pho.

* Had a nice long lunch with Karen at the Oakridge White Spot. Talked about life transitions, relationships, old friends, death, Fellowship, injury, healing, and more. Was home in 45 minutes thanks to the 496... yay!

* Went to a congee house with Ray and the guys: we all found it amusing when he called his Toronto friends up with NO SHAME to ask what a particular dish would be! (this is at 2 AM Toronto time, haha)

* Had the Fellowship Christmas Dinner at Earls - it was good to catch up with Dawn in particular! Eric and I didn't think our seeing K in Chilliwack the next day qualified as a trip since our reaction to "Looking forward to the trip?" was "... WHAT trip?!" Haha... I had to tell him not to worry about it since I'd done the same thing!

* Went to the Wack to see K for his birthday - he was very excited to see me and the presents I got. I dunno... I thought they kinda would disappoint, but at least I was there!

* Went to Melia's grandma's funeral on the 17th.

* R decided to end a friendship with me based on something I'd said SIX MONTHS PREVIOUSLY - of course I wasn't serious! Ah well, I guess he wasn't a TRUE friend anyhow, like I was thinking! If he was, he'd have said something when the incident happened!

* Had the ESC Christmas celebration on the 21st - very good to catch up with people, for sure!

* Went to Dave's place for dinner on Christmas Eve - yay for the tradition! Guinness World Record for the largest rotisserie grills, anyone? ;)

* Had the Awana kids sing at the CSC Christmas Celebration. That was interesting! Good ol' Jordan in a "begging" pose with his hat, haha.

* Saw K in town from the 30th to New Year's Day. That was certainly very good!

* Went to Justin's grandma's funeral on the 29th. So sad!

* Hung out with Eric, his family, and Korey to watch a hockey game (we won 2-1 against Anaheim) and eat dinner - later, Jon said we could go to Fred's, so we went to watch / play ROCK BAND. Good times! (had lots of time with K, which I think we both needed)

* Hung with Eric and Korey again for NYE - the Keg is pretty good for sure!