Eric is SO smart about money! / Weird dreams with Koreylian undertones

Hahahaha. Eric is SO smart. No wonder why I love him as a good friend! I was complaining about my various money issues, and he says that I can borrow money from someone for tomorrow's lunch with Dave OR go to the bank then. Not that I feel like going out too much, but borrowing works as long as they don't expect me to pay them back right away! (Got bills and unexpected expenses and such this month, it seems - how do I get myself INTO these situations?! Oh yeah... stupid KOREY!)


I've had weird dreams with the Koreylian one showing up as something to be reckoned with. (Eric made up that word!) There was the one where there were letters in a TETRIS game spelling out "moving" and he was behind it somehow. Then there was the one where my friends and I made messes everywhere and didn't want to be kidnapped by skinny black girls - I had MSN conversations with Billie and Corey in that one, and knew that K was lurking out there somewhere... at least my subconscious is back to being weird? Haha.

All shades of apathetic here...

I wish I felt like checking blogs, again. Oh well. I'll never get anything done if I don't sign off MSN (because Korey is bugging me to no end), so disconnection it is! ;)

I also just feel like I signed my life away, again. This sucks.

You don't want to know about maxipad waste, dude...

Eric picked me up early tonight, telling me that I was always online and never idle on MSN - even when I was taking a nap?! ("stop pretending you're not there," indeed!) I told him that I'd fixed that, and we discussed his trip to Kamloops to see Korey settled in. After that, he remarked on the noises I was making - those aren't belches, dude! Also, he blamed me for the bad traffic - NOT MY RESPONSIBILITY! Team 1040 was having technical difficulties, so we couldn't really listen to the BC Lions coverage of their first home opener game! He wanted subs, but forgot about that until we were almost at the church, so it was cash for lemongrass chicken at Pho instead! When I walked into the restaurant, Andrea invited me to join her / Jen / Karen. No problem there! We talked about Winnie's bridal shower and the hilarious maxipad fashion video, our weeks, Korey, exciting stuff in life, Resonate, and how online communication can get easily mixed up. Even accidentally including mushy stuff can have its pitfalls in real life! Oh well, it was an interesting discussion! We all said bye to Cindy when she left with a friend, and Karen and Jen left soon after for church and the 7-11.

Chuck arrived later, so we talked about his place and the mosquito problems in Andrea's bedroom. Andrea had brought some sushi from lunch, so I mostly finished that along with my #36 - vermicelli with beef is pretty good with the cold tea that the Pho place has during the hot summer! It's good to have friends to confide in and share good times with! At 7:50, we left and bumped into Eric and Karen looking for us from church. I gave Eric his dinner and change, and sat next to Jeremy when I got to the basement. At Bible Study, we laughed ourselves silly over some REALLY repetitive passage in Numbers about sacrificing bulls / goats / lambs / rams. I was assigned to read it, but I only got through five or six verses (of 23) before I couldn't continue since we were cracking up. Repetition meant something different in the Old Testament language than it does to us, but it was still funny. There was a passage in Zechariah about rotting bones, which Jeremy found morbidly hilarious. Andrea brought up the time when Dylan couldn't shut us up for at least 5-10 minutes because we were busy laughing over stoning evildoers / strong drink. Then someone noticed that the apparent author of the study guide kept quoting himself at the end of each chapter: Jen, Jeremy, and I were laughing pretty hard trying to come up with hypotheses. ("John MacArthur has a dynasty of little ones named with that name! Senior, Junior, 10 grandkids!") We found out that he was the editor, but it was still funny! HAHAHAHA, good times!

After Bible Study, Jeremy and I talked about our weeks - he's behind, but will catch up later. Then Chuck wondered about certain types of beer, so they talked about that for a while. I actually saw Randal, whom I had thought wasn't there today. Eric was talking to him, but I went up to them and said that I'd forgotten to get him something. (happy face stickers if I can find them?) He said I didn't have to get him stuff, but he definitely appreciated the history eyewitness accounts book I'd gotten him for his birthday. Says he stayed up till midnight or so once reading stuff in it - aww, that's so cool! Then he tried to decipher the Engrish on my T-shirt (NIGHT MARKET!), but gave up. Jeremy's cell phone had a turtle thing on it - longevity for the phone at four years and counting, baby! Andrea and Steph started discussing Facebook, and Jeremy and I were left out of that conversation since we're not on it. I told him that various people keep trying to get me to sign up for it, but I haven't yet! He says we should invent a site that doesn't have faces (or at least has blurred-out ones) or books - HAHAHA.

Went upstairs to see the Resonate people - Daniel kept telling Chris to GO because he had work! Citrus remarked that he had to work tomorrow, but Daniel said that Chris had to work at 11, and it was now 10:30. I asked whether he were serious, and he was - Chris practically ran out the door and leaped down the stairs, with Joey yelling at him to drive safely. Then Jon came in from somewhere, which made Joey remark that he was back already. I asked him where my brother had gone - to dinner at a professor's house? NICE! Steph gave muffins to someone, and we were off pretty soon after discussing a Coquitlam barbecue at Michelle's parents' place tomorrow. We took five minutes to get out of the parking lot because there was an unknown car blocking Eric - Danielle, Mike, Jon, and Cordia were our audience while Citrus was in his car behind Mike's to the right of us. Everyone kept giving Eric directions and we finally were out of there after a bit. Darren had told Steph that Jon gave a bunch of people guitar lessons, and she wondered how it was going: "He teaches us when he's not on the phone with Harmony! Whenever THAT is..." Haha.

After talking about the weddings tomorrow and Timothy camp next week, the discussion in the car turned to redrum. My sister and I were clapping about our being in sync again, even though we don't live together. My brother surmised about the number of maxipads we each threw out - you don't want to know! Eric was just trying to drive without being too horrified since he doesn't have any sisters! Jon told Harmony about what we were discussing, which just added to the laughs.. he doesn't mind it when we discuss such things in front of him. Then there was the discussion about our family thing of slapping each other's legs when we wore shorts - Steph had slapped Joey's legs today and warned him that he shouldn't wear short shorts in Mexico at the end of the month or else! Apparently, the men there are macho and short shorts will cause them to beat their wives or something - that's why Steph had to buy red basketball shorts from the BOYS SECTION last year for that missions trip. No skin for YOU while building a house and having some craft time with the kiddies there - especially tank tops! Of course, Jon told Harmony about this too. We bugged him about sitting on her during a TV party, since she's fragile and skinny! Good times, with many laughs. (then my sibs started yelling embarrassing love declarations out their open windows.... never stops around here!)

Yay for Candy!

I don't mean the sweet stuff that you eat, either. I have entirely way too much of it now, what with a LOT of chocolate-covered raisins (courtesy of Korey) plus some Jelly Belly stuff that Vernon's dad gave me. Maybe I should ration it, or save it for someone like the kids! :D

Candy called me a couple days ago, but I was taking an unexpected nap. I got up afterwards and checked my phone - oops! Oh well, she says that I'll have a package coming soon - apparently, the contents were really hard to fit in an envelope. Guess I'll see what it is when it gets here! :D

Is "ladies night" really as advertised, I wonder?

Had a pretty good time out with Teunis tonight. We discussed the drama going on in our lives, relationships, humor, certain people who turn into cave trolls (Palmer!), dubious Surrey activities, Mormons and their fast approach to dating (six months?!), sharing Jeremy's bubble tea straw without a word of censure, Korey, budgets, new furniture, advice and support, phone bills, meeting interesting people, and more. Tried going to Felico's for Greek food, but it was definitely closed - at least we spent some time on the road with my name on it, haha. Since I'd never been to the Foggy Dew Irish pub despite it being a block and a half from my place, we went there for dinner - salad was a good option, and not Milestones / Wendy's / McDonalds / stuff with green peppers or tomatoes. I must say that they have good Irish lamb stew in that place, and the atmosphere is pretty cool, too. Then we drove around trying to locate the ocean, but that didn't go so well. Estea Beverage Club it was, with "ladies" night on the horizon! He seemed amused when I told him about that whole "bad Erin driving" story - at least LOOK when you go across a major road! I had a coffee slush with pearls (changing it from the unavailable green mango), and he had a pina colada which looked impressive! Definitely good times, and we'll have to go to Estea for dinner one of these weeks since he wants to try it out!

The post office is amazing!

Winamp is bloody frustrating! It took me a couple of hours today to make it work without freezing, and I just NEEDED to listen to some metal music to get frustrations out. Luckily, Corey's DVD is good for that... gotta love that dude! :D

Also, the post office amazes me. It did when Billie got her birthday presents after a long weekend, when I'd mailed them out on a Friday. Now, it sent a package to Kamloops in less than a day?! How crazy is that... of course, I requested that Korey list off all the items in the package since I wasn't sure whether he was joking or not! He said: "I love my package - thanks, babe!" and I was like, "You did NOT get the package already! You are LYING! Fine, make me a list of what's in there then!" Haha, at least he liked it!

One more thing: temporary disconnection to have peace and quiet in order to blog and do other things is soothing! No need for constant attention here!

Oh yay. Redrum has arrived. At least it's in a timely fashion? Haha.

YAY FOR MEETING WITH TEUNIS LATER! :D

Phil and Grace's wedding in photos / SO HOT OUTSIDE!

Randal sent us some pictures that he took at Phil and Grace's wedding. I'd have had the link up earlier, but I was busy taking care of a few things on Saturday night and over the next few days! You gotta admit, he is the man! Haha. ;)

Steph also sent us some ceremony and banquet pictures yesterday, for the non-Facebook crowd. Eric keeps on saying that I will succumb to Facebook eventually, since I'm all about the online contact stuff. Maybe, but it's not happening yet!

Went out today to mail some stuff to Korey - it is SO HOT! Hopefully, I can save the rest of my money in my bank account. I saw these two people cross a very busy intersection on the green light, but it was while the car turn signal was on - no wonder people were beeping at them! My thoughts: "Do you people have a DEATH WISH or something?!" Some lady at the bus stop handed me a nickel, too. Just before I got home, I picked up a new copy of the BC Health Guide at the pharmacy since I knew I'd seen them last week. Korey borrowed the copy I had lying around, so he gets to keep that one if he likes!

FRY white diamonds / Vania and Pussycat Dolls / Starbucks Frappuccino

I got a white diamond in Bookworm on the word "FRY" by using two blue sapphires on the F and the Y. The white diamond was a letter C, which I used on the word "ICK." Good times!

This afternoon, Sophia accidentally called me. It turns out she was using the church directory and dialed the wrong number - hey, it happens! A while later, I went for dinner at the Crab House in Continental Plaza with Vania / my siblings / our parents / Juliana's parents. Vania's dad interrupted us near the end of the meal while we were joking about the church theme - Loving Through Caring is NOT Loving Through Hugging or Loving Through Kissing, or even Loving Through Holy Chest Slaps. (ah, Jon and Jeremy...) He said he wanted us to go around the table and share things which we were thankful for, but it was soon apparent that he just wanted an opportunity to grill Jon about Harmony, haha. Harmony actually called during this interrogation, too. We also talked about certain people's (non-)suitability as drivers for Timothy camp, Sean having no sense of direction ("it's at Broadway / Oak!" "... where's Oak?!"), Isabel and Terra Breads, moving up to David Fellowship, Eric's health issues, summer school, literature, reading about food, exercise, Korey, 30-degree temperatures, Danielle singing, Vania being nominated as Resonate leader, 40 Days of Community, and more. Such a good seafood dinner!

Jon kept on bugging us girls with the Pussycat Dolls song "don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?" I finally had to hit him a few times! He doesn't even like that kind of thing, but it got stuck in his head because it was playing overhead somewhere recently! Erin's going on a cruise to Greece with her family soon, which is all very well and good... but they want to stick the whole family in a small cruise ship room. Five to a room?! Yeah, they'll feel like sardines after a while! Mom brought up nuns for some reason, said that their habits were RABBITS, and added that they were like the Playboy bunnies! My siblings, Vania, and I were all like: "... MOM! NO! HAHA."

After a while, my parents decided to invite Vania's family over to the townhouse since they'd never been there before: sure thing! I went along, and took ten minutes to send someone a quick MSN message on my brother's slow laptop! Oh well, at least it was sent! Listened to our parents talk about old people and such while drinking more tea. Steph went out for a run, and Jon talked to Harmony on the phone. Mom wondered where Jon was when she went into his room to give him some coffee - he was on his loft bed, haha. After about an hour or so, Vania's family drove me home before going home to Surrey. Good times, capped off by a great thing later. :D


Last recipe in that torrent that Corey sent me:

Starbucks Frappuccino

Here's one that I get requests for all the time, and that you won't yet find in any book. This is a clone for Starbucks' "Lowfat Creamy Blend of Coffee & Milk" that you can now find in the all-too-puny 9 1/2-ounce bottles in most stores. Those little bottles will set you back at least a buck, but this Top Secret Recipes version costs a mere fraction of that. Plus, the recipe actually makes enough that you can get a pretty major caffeine buzz. Then, when you get down to the "Tidbits," I'll tell you how to clone espresso with a standard drip machine and ground coffee. Cool!

1/2 cup fresh espresso
2 1/2 cups lowfat milk (2 percent)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon dry pectin*

Combine all of the ingredients in a pitcher or covered container. Stir or shake until sugar is dissolved. Chill and serve cold. Makes 24 ounces.

Tidbits
To make the "Mocha" variety: Add a pinch (1/16 teaspoon) of cocoa powder to the mixture before combining.

To fake espresso with a drip coffee maker and standard grind of coffee: Use 1/3 cup ground coffee and 1 cup of water. Brew once then run coffee through machine again, same grounds. Makes about 1/2 cup fresh espresso to use in the above recipe. Run a pot of water through machine, without grounds, to clean.

* This is a natural thickener found in fruits that is used for canning. You can find it in the supermarket near the canning supplies. It is used in this recipe to make the drink thicker and creamier, and can be found in the original recipe. It does not add to the flavor, and can be excluded if you don't care so much about duplicating the texture of the real thing.

Crazy Nathan and his Sinutabs... / Spaghetti Factory Mizithra Cheese Sauce

Hey, Steph emailed me that picture she took after church service on Sunday! Left to right: Nathan and his Sinutab box, Korey with his arm around me (which he thought I wouldn't notice... yeah right!), and me:




Spaghetti Factory Mizithra Cheese Sauce

Recipe By:
Serving Size: 1 Preparation Time: 0:00
Categories: Sauces, Pasta

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

2 tablespoons Flour
4 tablespoons Butter
1 teaspoon Olive Oil
10 milliliters Garlic -- crush
2 tablespoons Parsley -- chopped
1/2 cup Half-and-Half
1 cup Milk
3/4 cup Romano Cheese
White Pepper to taste

Make a light roux over a medium fire with olive oil and butter. Add flour, and cook flour out of raw state; add garlic. Pour milk and half-and-half in the roux with pepper and parsley. At the last moment, add the cheese. Place over hot pasta.

June 2007 Bubble Tea Tally / Stupid Blogthings and YNR / Quizzes

MONTHLY BUBBLE TEA TALLY, JUNE 2007 (4)

pudding @ / from Dragon Ball (Tuesday, June 5)
honeydew-lychee @ Dragon Ball (Friday, June 8)
jackfruit-mango @ L&G (Thursday, June 21)
pudding @ Big Orange (Wednesday, June 27)


No more Blogthings or YNR for me, since I suspect them of dusting off old quizzes and giving them new titles. Besides, the grammar and spelling errors in those quizzes have finally made me go over the edge! ACK!

This or That? Take This Survey at Quizopolis.com Coke or Pepsi? Coke. Regular pool or heated pool? Heated pool. Hot tea or ice tea? Hot tea. Sunflower or daisy? Sunflower. Red rose or pink rose? Red rose. Salt or pepper? Pepper. Red or Green Apple? Red apple. Red or Blue? Blue. Christmas or Thanksgiving? Thanksgiving. Pink or Green? Green. Hamburger or Hot Dogs? Hamburger. Music or Movies? Music. Heaven or hell? Heaven. Comedy or horror? Comedy. AOL or AIM? AIM. iPod or mp3? MP3. Purse or backpack? Backpack. Myspace or bebo? Myspace. Parision or Sears? Sears. Paris or France? France. Milky Way or Snickers? Milky Way. Vanilla or Chocolate? Chocolate. Phone or Internet? Internet. Steak or Shrimp? Steak. School or Work? Work. Take This Survey at Quizopolis.com

What do you wear to bed? According to our experts, you wear : Underwear Slightly sexy and comfortable, sleeping in just underwear suits you fine. What do you wear to bed? Find out at Quizopolis.com

How insane are you?
	53%
Moderately Insane - You are unexpectedly insane in small bursts, but rational the rest of the time. You are terrifying.
'How Insane are You?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Are you a good boyfriend/girlfriend?
	You have a couple love troubles, but not many. You understand the needs and the wants of a relationship. Just work a little bit harder in showing love, respect, honor, and commitment.
'Are you a good boyfriend / girlfriend?' at QuizGalaxy.com

OUCH... I got owned by someone who's almost six years old!

Happy Canada Day! 140 years old!

(I almost typed "days"... I need more sleep :P)


I got almost no sleep last night since I went to bed at 1:30 AM and woke up at 2:20, 3:01, 3:32, 4:10, 5:20, 6:06, 6:24, and 7:57. Ugh. Eric and Korey picked me up for church really late since they were trying to pack all of Korey's stuff in the Accord. No worries, since my phone was actually on and they called when they were finally on their way! We sat in the very back row (not the "babies and parents" pew), and Eric figured that we should be good enough to not draw attention to ourselves! It would just look weird if they dropped me off at church and continued to Kamloops, haha. Jon was a Communion server for the first time, I believe. I was distracted by Olivia, Ian, and Nicholas - Korey noticed this, and said that they were amusing. Hey, the little kids keep making noise! (Olivia: "SHOES!" Ian and Nicholas: random unhappy noises and crying)

After that, Korey and I made our way to the back parking lot: I am not a speed demon, and he should know it! However, I guess I should learn to slow down! Flagged down my sister to get her to take a digicam picture of me, Korey, and Nathan with his Sinutab box: Korey put an arm around me for the photo, which I thought was sweet. Much better picture quality than what you'd get with a cellphone camera, for sure! Talked about allergies, and told her to send me the picture later - Melissa's family gave her the digicam recently, and gave me a notepad / envelopes / Bath and Body Works Wild Honeysuckle moisturizing soap. How nice of Auntie Yeu Tin... I'll email her after I finish this entry. Korey left when Eric brought the car around to where we were, and people said bye. Talked to Tony, Jeremy, Jon, Steph, Cindy, Dallas, Julie, Sarah, Calla, her university roommate Camilla, and others about the jazz festival / teaching themselves at Sunday School / Wal-Mart "holiday pay" (time and a half instead of double?) / the Roundhouse at Yaletown / hanging out with Megan to give her moral support on her birthday. (AKA the day after her ex's wedding :P) Dallas asked if I were going with them to the jazz festival, but I declined since my sleep pattern has gone all haywire in the last few days! CHEH!

The toddler Sunday School was pretty lively, and little Sean didn't care if I took his hand (with crayon in it) and made him draw / color stuff. Others were easily amused and blabbed in English during the class. After that, I gave Sean's brother Ian his birthday present of a Happy Meal toy / card / teddy bear / caramel lollipop - he had to correct me when I thought July 4 was Tuesday. OUCH... I got owned by someone who's almost six years old! (I then told him that my brain wasn't all there today... partly true, since I was distracted by other thoughts!) Talked to William and Hien about the reception food yesterday, refilled my water bottle in the kitchen, and went upstairs to say hi to Mike / Danielle / J-Mak / Cordia. Danielle and I commiserated about boring family meals where you didn't understand the conversation and didn't have any outs - it'll be rude to read a book at table! It would be easier if we were all back in high school or thereabouts: "Mom, I need to go STUDY and meet with my project group in 30 minutes! Let's GO!" It's not like we're all about leaving as soon as we're done with our meal, but staying to listen to endless chatter is NOT cool, haha.

After a 90-minute lunch at Mui's with Vernon's parents (boring Cantonese chatter :P), Mom and Dad finally drove me home after dropping them back off at church. Can't believe we left at 3, although Pastor Fulton seemed amused at the toilet paper / Kleenex store next to Louis Garden when I pointed it out to him! My family's going to a crab restaurant behind Yaohan for dinner with Vania's and Juliana's families. I heard about this from Auntie Tracy after Sunday School, and Mom confirmed it at lunch. Might hang out with Teunis later in the week as well, to talk about strange stuff. :D