Let's eat the expensive oil of oregano soap!

I think tonight can best be summed up (if such a word could be used to describe my posts) in a series of amusing / mundane happenings. After I finish this post, I just may talk to someone but I doubt he's awake... I can do this as long as I'm oriented when Eric calls me, haha. Given the pattern of the last few days or so around here, I should be... I just have to make sure I don't fall asleep again!

Partial list of grads next weekend: Karen Lew (not here), Vanessa (maybe), Melia (maybe), Sarah C., Emily L. Julie S., Ivan, and Chris... should be good times!


1. Eric, on mysterious hairclips and friends: "Well, he doesn't have the hair for that clip! And if he hasn't seen the guy in six years, then I don't think it's the one I'm thinking of! [a friend someone's staying with] Oh, and you always cause trouble / are weird, so don't deny it!" (I agreed with him about the grad banquet, but I disagreed that I was responsible for the BC Lions losing yesterday!)

2. Our Bible Study group, trying to come up with plans for an outing two weeks from now: "Let's spike the punch on the beach so we can avoid the police's all-terrain vehicles! [JOKE] Let's have beer at Jen's! We could have hot pot on the beach, but it's too hot for that even WITH my propane! It's weird how you can smoke pot on the beach, but not drink alcohol. I've had marijuana tea before - it's kinda like chamomile! Oh heck, let's just have a more refined version of going to T&T for meat and buns 20 minutes beforehand!" (Jeremy later tells us that he found some Youtube video of a guy bathing in marijuana - seems he paid $100 expecting to get two ounces of the stuff, but the South African economy is different than ours, so he got 200 POUNDS!!!)

3. Jeremy, on stinky tofu after I told him how we banned my mom from making it in the house: "You know, stinky tofu would be a GOOD COVER for how full your garbage can gets these days with the garbage strike! Or how about stinky tofu deodorant?! I gotta sell that!"

4. Christon, comparing various wacky combos at Dragon Ball: "Oreo cookie, guillingao, and black plum is not really drinkable! But Jeremy's combo beats Jon's because green tea, red bean, and black plum IS drinkable!" (I agreed wholeheartedly, while ordering raspberry-lychee... I also let Jen and Karen use my card)

5. Dylan, on Alan and Liz's wedding in October: "They asked me before if I were going, so I guess I have to!"

6. Dylan, mixing up Eric and Jeremy: "Hey Jeremy, are we doing offering?" (Vivian, Jen, and I all wondered where his brain was since we saw the direction in which he was looking!)

7. Eric, on tomorrow's fireworks plans: "Well, you could always bus downtown and I could meet you somewhere... but if you're going to get lost, maybe I'll just call you after we're done watching the movie at Vivian's!" (sounds good to me, since I'll be sure my phone line is free!)

8. Jon, on Danielle's voicemail: "Hey Danielle, I hope you don't mind... but I recruited everyone (Dylan, Eric, Leslie, Jen, Vivian) to go to the fireworks tomorrow. Can you save us all spots?!" (everyone laughed, and Jeremy remarked that she'd have to check the tide tables to assure herself two metres of space on either side!)

9. Jeremy, on the fireworks in general: "It's like a refugee camp, only it has outhouses and running water!"

10. Jeremy, on soap-making and beer: "Brewing beer is pretty good... Jen, you should come! I want to make the extra room into a beer cooler for the winter. [I say that he better make sure that his guests don't sleep in there] Yeah... 'just sleep in the living room - trust me!' I want to make 20-litre kegs of stuff... I have homebrew on tap! As for soap-making, I have to buy a bunch of lye and make sure the pH isn't too caustic or else my birthday / Christmas present will burn your skin! I don't want castor oil even if it's the cheapest kind... tea tree would be expensive, and oil of oregano would be very yummy. I'd just want to eat it!"

11. Jen, after learning that Jon and I tried talking to Harmony and Korey respectively every day: "Oh good. Now I don't feel like a freak because I talk to Greg just about every day!" (they walked out on POTC 3 since it was REALLY BAD!)

12. Peter, on Benjamin's impending sibling: "It better not be a boy, or it'll be too competitive. Then again, if it's a girl, he might just pick on her! He already gets jealous when Stella's with other kids, such as if she's holding Megan's hand!" (Karen described this as "thinking he owns her!")

13. Jon, on Korey and me: "HAHAHA, he called you a cougar?! That's great! What's the opposite of a cougar? Not a cradle-robber, since that's the same thing! [Eric contributes "cougee"] That's the perfect word! So what does it feel like to be a cougar? No, I can't ask Harmony because she got annoyed pretty fast with that!" (I know just how she feels... and in fact, Jon called JUST to make cougar noises into the phone!)

14. Jon, on Cranium and my knowing word definitions: "THIS is the person you want on your team! She knows this obscure stuff from Bathroom Readers!"

15. Quan and me, trying to get Jon out of our way: "JON! GET OFF US! WE'RE GOING TO TOPPLE A CHAIR!" (which we did)

16. Dylan, on Jon's jumping up and hitting the ceiling: "Jon, you need to set an example! Is the church even technically ours anymore? [after getting confirmation from Jen and Vivian] See?! What if you break the ceiling?"

17. Jeremy, on a beer festival at Dix tomorrow afternoon: "It's not every day you get to sample a cask ale from Brooklyn! Each sample is four ounces, so after eight of them, you're already at two pints!"

18. Jeremy, on International Standards Organization: "Yeah, the hydrogenated [which he kept mispronouncing] fats and trans fats had to come from somewhere... and I want to make something that has ISO as a name! Seriously!" (Eric brings up margarine and butter's marketing as good / bad for you - and if you've been doing something for centuries without incident, the newer stuff that's come out in the past 100 years has got to be the culprit in bad things like cancer!)

19. Dylan, on the fireworks: "I wish I could go, but I've had too much sun and I've been out too much in general." (after hearing this, Jen wonders how he could pass on Korean food!)

20. Karen, on how she met Sheena: "Cindy was trying to comfort her in the bathroom, and I really needed to go!" (there are worse ways to meet people, I guess!)

21. Eric, on the grad banquet: "Have I ever been to Aberdeen before? I know we went for SLB at Northern Delicacy, and then we watched A Fish Called Wanda at my place afterwards. I might have seen Seventh Heaven Café then..." (that movie was too funny - let's sniff socks, boots, and our own armpits whether on honeymoon or not!)

22. Dylan, on my not having a cell phone: "Actually, it's a godsend! You know how people call you with plans, and then change their minds five minutes later. This way, we actually have to make a plan for the fireworks and STICK WITH IT!" (Jon thought it would make things harder, which prompted this gem)

Dreaming of lavender sleeping pills and orange yogurt

I don't know why my subconscious takes me on such weird journeys, but here is all last night's that I remember:

* talking to Dylan and Stanley on MSN; the latter was vainly trying to change my MSN name
* going to the cafeteria with friends to get some yogurt from the available selection: vanilla, orange, and GOAT'S MILK?!
* Ian L. getting confused at his newest older friend's disappearance, and finding her broken blue binder (her mentor described it as a journey to find herself, but dumbed it down for a six-year-old as "she went away for a while to think about herself, but I'm sure she's thinking of you!")
* seeing something about $9.99 quirky weddings in that broken blue binder (it didn't have a back cover!)
* noticing lavender sleeping pills marketed as "Fine Floor Shavings" - apparently, this was to escape the wrath of the resident crazy person, who HATED anything to do with chemical dependency to sleep (even if you needed it!)
* having part of a room with a red carpet and toys for the kids (especially Ian) to play with - they certainly liked that!

Lemon Heads candy is NOT the Lemon Party shock site, thank goodness!

While I was doing Blogger tag / comment upkeep earlier tonight, Melia buzzed me to ask if I remembered what church Kelvin got married in. Since I keep the oddest things around here (including wedding invites and programs), I was able to give her the information. I know that they used Pastor Glen for the wedding, and some other Chinese pastor whom we didn't know. She thanked me a bunch of times before getting back to her nutty search - it must be CRAZY planning your own wedding!

Corey then provided me with a bunch of amusement and a rolleyes moment: he thinks that K and I won't be able to restrain ourselves when we see each other next, and we'll have buttsex at the first opportunity. Uh yeah, I don't THINK so! Then he told me that his Taiwanese friend Jane confused the shock site Lemon Party (which I refuse to link anyone to!) with Lemon Heads candy once. So when he told her that he liked Lemon Heads, she called him sick and disgusting for a while before he asked what the heck she was talking about! HAHAHAHA! Called Jon later to see what was up with Grandma and her dental appointment: he says not to worry about it, and that Uncle Vincent's mom is taking her out. They seem to be good friends, so that's excellent.

Also, I feel a lot better now thanks to talking with a certain someone. That's always a good feeling. :D

Dream of evil person ripping up dolls

Hmm. Two phone calls from unknown people already, and it's not even 11:15 AM. Wonder why the crazies choose to call me NOW... o_O

Right now, I am sad. *sigh* :(

---

I had another couple of weird dreams last night. One started out with a crowded church event: Eric was there, but we didn't expect to see his dad joining in our singing and crazy dancing! During the course of the evening, I got a test result back from Erin's mom, who was supposedly an Advanced Placement teacher. Erin had received her own result back, and didn't like what she saw on the paper. She advised me to rip up my own test results on the periodic table of elements: "You know how Mom grades papers... she's HARSH, even if 20% is better than zero!" After talking about it with a bunch of people, I decided to just rip it up into tiny pieces and throw it in the garbage.

Then the location switched to an arcade, where we played some TETRIS-like game for a while as we tried sending messages to Corey. Trillian's error messages seems to involve Google, and constantly froze on us - we gave up even if the desktop background was a soothing tree / cloud scene! We read about three talking mice in the arcade's history, who were all dead for various reasons. One had accidentally ingested pink apricot insect killer, one had been run over by a truck, and one had been killed by a dog. These mice were very important and their loss was still mourned years later. For some reason, we all went to an alley behind the arcade: it had a very sickly sweet odor much like antifreeze or diabetic breath. There were these drunks and druggies all over the place, and our clothing soon sustained stains of varying colors - including one which was very prominent on my white dress! Someone with us decided to buy three orders of chocolate shakes and meals from a concession stand in the middle of the alley, even though he wasn't supposed to. This dream ended with our getting the food and then high-tailing it out of there!


The second dream that I can remember involved the church, again. This time, it apparently served as political headquarters where people were kept busy choosing appropriate hymns ("Majority in Christ, Minority in Hell") and constantly revising fact sheets and marriages. We were warned about an evil person lurking about who looked like Michael from Arrested Development... he was out to get all the humans who could transform into dolls, and we were warned not to go with him to purchase / drink wine Slurpees. All the doll-people banded together, and they discovered that Korey also had that power: of course, they protected the new person as best they could with their own arms, but that could only do so much. One doll-person looked like the cowboy from Toy Story, and thought that he should be the last line of defense - unfortunately, the evil person got to them right before he stashed them in his car before buying wine Slurpees!

Evil Person ripped the limbs off the dolls, all the while proclaiming that he loved them. Someone had the presence of mind to plant bugs around his car, and so his evil speech (complete with evil grin) was recorded for him to hear. After that, his political career within the church was pretty much over: his ex-wife didn't want to have anything to do with him, and the same went for his best friend who wanted to be a husband. All the dolls regained human status after that, but Korey stayed as a doll until we collected him and went to my grandma's room. There, he demonstrated fluent Chinese (?!), and my sister told him not to expect more than $10 from Grandma's shiny purse. Imagine our surprise when Grandma gave us $20 each! The dream ended shortly thereafter. I have NO idea what those two dreams mean... maybe I've been hearing a lot about / from Grandma, K, money, and Eric? Possibly not, but whatever. Weird stuff from my subconscious!

"My mom just called me a cougar!" AKA "We know what he is, but we're not gonna tell you!"

Grandma treated us to a dim sum lunch at the Gala Seafood Restaurant near Richmond Sushi and Supermarket 2000. Jon and I had amusing fun dipping various food items into the little sauce dish that was provided - Chinese desserts and gai lan (vegetables) with horseradish mustard and red chili sauce, anyone? We weren't suffering at all, and it was cool to freak out both Mom and Grandma with our silliness, haha. The strong tea was pretty good, too. Talked about the CUPE strike - Auntie Cathy's on strike since she works at the Vancouver library, and the garbage situation in Vancouver proper is apparently getting pretty bad! ("bring your garbage home with you from the fireworks!") Jon had heard about the Burnaby oil spill from the Toronto Star, and was surprised when I told him that there was a Youtube video of the incident! He said that New York dim sum wasn't too bad, and that his chopstick skills were all right compared to Harmony's and her friend's!

Grandma was a bit abrupt and dropped a chicken rice wrap on my plate, scattering my chicken bones everywhere - thanks, but I'll get it myself! She asked whether my boyfriend came over or whether we'd gone somewhere last night: we had to tell her that he lives in Kamloops, heh. (Dad was surprised that she knew - all she knows is the basic fact that I have one, haha) Then she asked whether he was white or Chinese, so my brother and I were like "Um..." while giving each other a look - that apparently made her think that I didn't know his ethnicity! We do, but we're just not going to tell you! We'll just say he's white for now, although she'll get a surprise on the day after Hon's wedding! (or even before - we'll see what happens!) She thought we met through the computer, but we told her that K was gwei jie's (Eric) good friend.

Surprise of the day: Mom knows what a cougar is! (the older women who prey on younger men) We were talking about Stone Cold Steve Austin and the OLD Austin 3:16 joke involving Jake "The Snake" Roberts in 1996. ("I just whooped your ass!") This is after Jon and I told Mom that Austin was also a city in Texas (where Grace's family is from), and reminded her that her "favorite" movie is Austin Powers, haha. For some reason, Mom decided to call me a cougar since K is four years younger than I am - that certainly surprised me and Jon! Jon jokes about it with Harmony, but we didn't think Mom knew the slang sense of the word. ("she thinks we're talking about literal cougars, haha") Apparently, Steph told her what one was! Jon's friend Edwin is going out with this 30-year-old woman named Jane, which technically COULD make her a cougar too because Edwin is 26. You wouldn't know that she's my age since she's tiny! I only saw her at Phil and Grace's wedding banquet when I said hi to the "extremely air conditioned" table in a corner consisting of her, Edwin, Brian, Amy, Eunice, Eddie, Dave, Alan, and a few others. Jon himself doesn't know her very well, either. Karen Grace would probably know her better, being Edwin's little sister and all... but that was pretty amusing! You have to imagine my mom suddenly pointing at me and saying "You are a COUGAR!" Hahaha!

365 Stupidest Things Ever Said: July 2007

365 Stupidest Things Ever Said: July 2007

These stupid quotes are from The 365 Stupidest Things Ever Said Page-A-Day Calendar 2007.

Page-A-Day Calendars

It's been way too long since I've done one of these! :P

Sunday, July 1: Clumsy Clichés

"We'll cross that bridge when we fall off it." - Canadian prime minister Lester Pearson


Monday, July 2: No Comment Department

"Tony has a quick look between his legs and likes what he sees." - horse racing announcer Stewart Machin, on jockey Tony McCoy


Tuesday, July 3: You Mean It's Not Sara Lee?

Host: Which First Lady was forced to flee the White House when the British invaded Washington, D.C., during the Revolutionary War? Hint: She makes great snack cakes!
Caller: Little Debbie?
- on the WQXI radio show 2 Live Stews in Atlanta, Georgia (the correct answer, of course, is Dolley Madison; thanks to Mike Ramer)


Wednesday, July 4: Let's Let Senators Be Senators, And Rock Lyricists, Rock Lyricists

America rocks! America rocks!
From its busy bustling cities
To it's quiet country walks
It's totally cool, it's totally hot
I mean, it's like right there at the top
America rocks! America rocks! America rocks!

- lyrics from a song by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), which he described as a "patriotic rock song for children"


Thursday, July 5: Really Quite Talented Dogs

WANTED
DOG
MALE PREFERRED
MUST BE OF COLLIE STRAIN, AND BE ABLE TO LIP-READ AND BE BILINGUAL
- ad in the Macon (Missouri) Chronicle-Herald


Friday, July 6: Thanks For The Clarification

A Thursday story incorrectly quoted Councilman Stewart Clifton as calling mayor Bill Boner a "squeeze-bag." Clifton called Boner a "sleaze-bag." - from the Nashville (Tennessee) Banner


Saturday, July 7: Gender Confusion

"He's like a female Natalie Coughlin." - NBC Olympics commentator, comparing US swimmer Michael Phelps to a teammate. (thanks to Katherine Johnson)


Sunday, July 8: Uncommunicative Communications Departments

COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT
NO TALKING
UPON ENTERING
- sign on door in San Diego (California) company


Monday, July 9: That's One Way of Looking at It

"We are in a three-way split decision for third place." - Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Connecticut), on his fifth place finish in the New Hampshire presidential primary


Tuesday, July 10: Brit, Shut Up

"I kinda think [Mona Lisa's] like my alter ego. Whenever I feel like being mean or bustin' people to get stuff right, it's kinda easier to be called Mona Lisa instead of Britney." - singer Britney Spears


Wednesday, July 11: Thanks For Spelling It Out

"The sun rose promptly at dawn." - in bestselling author Tom Clancy's novel The Teeth of the Tiger (thanks to Louise Murphy)


Thursday, July 12: Love Those Bureaucrats!

"A person shall not be treated as suffering from physical disablement such as that he is either unable to walk or virtually unable to do so if he is not unable or virtually unable to walk with a prosthesis or an artificial aid which he habitually wears or uses or if he would not be unable or virtually unable to walk if he habitually wore or used a prosthesis or an artificial aid which is suitable in his case." - from a Department of Health and Social Services report, explaining mobility allowances for the disabled


Friday, July 13: Guess Dad Was Even More Excited

STUDENT EXCITED DAD GOT HEAD JOB - headline in the University (of Kansas) Daily Kansan


Saturday, July 14: We Don't Quite Trust His Assessment

"Lombardo speaks much better English than what people realize." - Crystal Palace soccer team owner Mark Goldberg


Sunday, July 15: Obviously Mad Mad Doctors

Young woman: Oh, here comes Dr. Carruthers! Hello, Doctor.
Mad doctor: Hello, Mary! I took a shortcut from my laboratory through a garden hedge!
- from The Devil Bat (1943)


Monday, July 16: We Give Up

"Is the south boundary of the north half of the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter the same line as the north boundary of the south half of the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter?" - asked by a lawyer, as recorded in court testimony


Tuesday, July 17: What A Unique Concept!

"Justice ought to be fair." - President George W. Bush, speaking at the White House Economic Conference


Wednesday, July 18: Warm and Friendly Restaurants

"WARNING: Tips for waitress not privilege off customer, and not optional to do! Is custimarry and IS THE LAW for leave tips, otherwise is possibul to face prostection by law! Please be responsivele, leave tip, and no go jail! Have a nice day!" - sign on tables in a Chinese restaurant, New York City


Thursday, July 19: Indeed We Are...

"We are all in the same bucket." - soccer player / coach Bobby Robson


Friday, July 20: He Was Always A Lukewarm Kinda Guy...

"Frank Sinkwich, the 1942 Heisman Trophy winner from Georgia, died early today at his Athens home. He was 70 degrees. [a little later] We have a correction. Frank Sinkwich, who died early today at his home in Athens was 70 degrees." - newscaster Paul Shields, Channel 5 Eyewitness News


Saturday, July 21: Enlightened Males

"I want things my way, but it doesn't preclude having things the woman's way if that's what I want." - actor Timothy Dalton


Sunday, July 22: Precocious Turtles

"The patient lives at home with his mother, father and pet turtle, who is presently enrolled in day care three times a week." - recorded on a hospital medical chart, as reported in Nursing magazine


Monday, July 23: Computer Users With Zero IQs

* Is that the letter zero or the number zero?
* How do you type an uppercase zero?
- actual questions asked by callers to computer tech support lines


Tuesday, July 24: Let's Not Go There

"The Red Sox can't afford to have a pitcher go down on them right now." - broadcaster covering Game 4 of the Yankees-Red Sox ALCS playoffs (thanks to Matt Saltzberg)


Wednesday, July 25: Insights of the Governator

"[With gay marriage] all of a sudden... we see riots, we see protests, we see people clashing. The next thing we know, there is injured or there is dead people. We don't want to get to that extent." - California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, on the dangers posed by gay marriage


Thursday, July 26: We Prefer Branford Marsala

JAZZ RECORDINGS
BY JAZZ LEGEND
MOLES DAVIS
- on a Russian CD label


Friday, July 27: The Press Made It Sound Worse Than THAT?!?

"It doesn't take a ****ing genius to realize that if you get ****ed up on Thursday and Friday, Saturday, Sunday, have to recover on Monday and Tuesday, leaving the only day you have left for work Wednesday, then you're an addictive personality. But, still, my drug usage wasn't as bad as the press has built it up to be." - actor Don Johnson


Saturday, July 28: Curious Italian Directions For Dogs In Trains

"In consented the transport of small dogs that beyond that in baskets or other packings, they could travel untied and always that the travellers allow it. Is consented also the admission in the trains of dogs of big dimension, but only to those that drives the blinds and those from shoot. The dogs of blinds have admitted to the free transport in reason of a dog for each reason. In each case, the dog must be fortified by muzzle." - from a sign in the Pompeii train station (thanks to Lt. JG Ryan Barone, USCG)


Sunday, July 29: Literally Racing Hearts

"My heart was beating about 150 miles per hour." - Marlins catcher Paul Lo Duca, on scoring a run (thanks to Richard Oberholzer)


Monday, July 30: Kind of Important Corrections

"The following corrects errors in the July 17 geographical agent and broker listing:

INTERNATIONAL: Aberdeen is in Scotland, not Saudi Arabia; Antwerp is in Belgium, not Barbados; Belfast is in Northern Ireland, not Nigeria; Cardiff is in Wales, not Vietnam; Helsinki is in Finland, not Fiji; Moscow is in Russia, not Qatar." - correction in Business Insurance magazine


Tuesday, July 31: Snobby Non-Snobs

"One must not be a name-dropper, as Her Majesty remarked to me at luncheon yesterday..." - British arts minister Norman St. John-Stevas

You have good phone timing!

My mom wanted me to go over to the townhouse because they were going to take Dallas to the airport, but I balked initially because of the previous phone plans I'd made with K. Eventually, she said that I could give him their phone number: fine by me, so I left him a message with that info. Dad thinks I need to learn cooking for two, while Mom insists I need to learn cooking in general - probably, and she thinks putting eggs in noodles for protein is a good idea also. Turns out Dallas had given my parents some kimchi, miso, olive oil, and relish... I got everything except the olive oil, and must remember to give Dallas' kimchi container back to him sometime after he gets back.

Said hi to Grandma - I told her that I had a boyfriend, but didn't get into the fact that he's half-black, half-Spanish: she's known for making a LOT of (snobby) comments on things, especially people not from her cultural background because she doesn't understand. I'm not saying she's racist, but her comments can be off-putting! All she said about that was "you're a very good girl" (she's been wanting me to get a boyfriend for YEARS now), asked whether he was calling me now (yes), and wanted to know if he was from church... also a yes. I don't think I'll show her any pictures of him anytime soon... she can wait till the weekend he gets here, haha. At least if she makes comments, he won't understand because we'll probably refuse to translate! (heh) K had good phone timing, calling JUST as my mom finished leaving some long voicemail message with an auntie about Uncle Sam's mom. Gotta love that! :D


Edit: Told Jon about Grandma's yum cha offer, and talked to him about Central Park (confusing but fun) / delayed train rides two hours either way / Dallas' extra food / Harmony / Sean / Hon's wedding. Good times!


Two amusing exchanges, and a few WTH moments:

1. Mom to me: "Why are you going to the bathroom?"
Me: ".... why do you THINK people would go?!"
Mom: "Pee or poo?"
Me: *refuses to answer that, and closes the bathroom door on that question*

2. Mom: "Here, put Stephanie's stingy underwear in her room!"
Me, thinking she's confused "stinky" for "stingy" again: "It's not stinky if it's just been through the laundry."
Mom: "I'm not saying it smells... it's just SMALL!"
Me: "....."

3. Mom: "Do you want some Vijay?"
Me: "... what do you mean?"
Mom: "The thing I put in the fridge!" (I now know she means the V-8 that I put in the fridge for her earlier)
Me: "You mean V-8, Mom."
Mom: "Really?"
Me: "Yes - Vijay is... something else." (I don't think she'd understand that Vijay Singh is a good golfer, or that Vijay Chandra is the 96.9 JACK FM engineer with a bunch of hilarious commercials... some of them are on YouTube, apparently!)

4. Mom, repeatedly: "Remember that the cereal doesn't go in the fridge! Remember to give Dallas' container back to him, and put the other stuff in the fridge! Did you remember what I said two minutes ago?!"
Me: *keeps thoughts of "Am I a THREE-YEAR-OLD?!" to myself*

6. Mom, to Jon: "So where does Harmony's friend live in New York?"
Jon: *gives a location*
Mom: "And she rents a three-bedroom apartment for ONE person?!"
Jon: "... she has ROOMMATES, Mom..."
Mom: "Oh. Well, I didn't know!"

7. Mom: "Did you see Sean?"
Jon: "No, I forgot he was in town. But he'll be here for Hon's wedding soon!"
Me: "Yeah... it's the weekend after next!"
Mom: "How do you know? Were you invited?"
Me: "No... but I do know when it is!"
Jon: "That's because you're nosy!"
Me: "Maybe, but I've heard you talking about it anyhow!"

8. Mom: "This is the third time in two days that I've been at the airport. Same for you and Dad!"
Me: "Uh... I've been at the airport twice in two days. Dad's only been at the airport twice today."
Mom: "But it can work if I say that Dad's been at the airport twice in two days!"
Me: "Um.... never mind." *not wanting to explain how that really WOULDN'T work because it IS NOT CORRECT!*

I hate domestic emergenices - SO STRESSFUL!

Ugh! I hate dealing with domestic emergencies because they are STRESSFUL, especially when I've just gotten in from doing something! (got in at 12:45, and discovered that K had called me not ten minutes before - THEN opened my freezer to discover a rather sad state of affairs!) Good thing I managed to prevent yet another disaster! At least I had a funny MSN message involving pirates and rum when I got up... and one from Sara saying that she preferred medium Nando's Chicken, and might go there tonight. Haha, I love when I can influence people halfway around the world like I once did with Spoz. :D

I went to Save-On Foods later. They were moving lots of things around in the store, which was stressful - I didn't buy any soup or juice because I forgot to do so in the middle of finding other things! They had new flavors of Triscuits which I had to buy: rosemary / olive oil, and cracked pepper / olive oil. I got more than my usual portion of certain things, but that was all right - as long as I save the rest of my money, I should be fine! Had to restock basic fridge stuff because of last week's emergency, but that was okay too. Hey, Phil emailed us to suggest Aug. 12 as a date for the SLB night - he's probably joking, but any response from me would be needlessly snarky right now, so I didn't bother replying. I'd post on message boards to de-stress, but I'd be too emotional (as much as I love the snark sometimes), so maybe I'll just read or something. :P

SLB blasphemy: it's SOUP, not juice!

Jon, Eric, and Eddie replied to the SLB email: Jon greeted us from Toronto / New York, and reiterated the grad banquet date on August 12. A bunch of us will be going for sure - we'll sit SLB out this time! Eric wanted to know if Erin was free on any other days considering Nate's restrictions, and said he was fine with most dates provided. Eddie just wanted us to know that he could make it on certain days, but really didn't like the "juice" inside the buns... he also hoped that didn't offend anyone. I had to reply to say that it was SOUP and not juice inside the buns. BLASPHEMY!

Thank GOODNESS!

Potential disaster averted - PHEW! Now, it's laundry time!

Dream: two babies named Megan in the same family?!

Had a weird dream which consisted of Eric, a bunch of our friends, and I jumping from lifeboat to lifeboat, once at 1:36:18 AM Toronto time according to an announcement made over loudspeaker. We all managed to find the third lifeboat, which had an annoying man on it... thankfully, we got away from him when the boat docked with a cruise ship and we all met in the lounge with a DJ. My friends all had babies and kids - this one family had two kids named Megan (one who DID look like Winnie's Megan), just a few years apart. I have no idea what my subconscious is trying to tell me... if it's that I should have a baby girl named Megan, that'll be confusing! (although Megan Austin doesn't sound that bad... :P)


Erin replied to the siu long bao email to say that the only date she's free is August 12. Danielle then replied to that to wish her a happy birthday in all caps (it's tomorrow), and to say that they HAD to get together before she left shortly after that. If it ends up being the 12th, my siblings and I (plus whoever else is going to grad banquet) won't be able to make it. Looking at those pictures reminds me of good times, though. :D


Random things I learned while I was out at lunch and then picking up my grandma at the airport:

* CityFresh Market (near Chapters) has 1.5L bottles of honey tea on sale for $2 - I should go there more often since they have interesting stuff, such as Pocari Sweat water - which I'd never buy just because of the name... ewww! (they also had Doll instant noodles - I chose Pickled Vegetable flavor, so I wonder how THAT will taste!)

* My mom apparently thinks that I don't know HOW to make ramen, despite the fact I've done so for at least 20 years without a problem. :P

* My brother's getting back from New York today, and his Vancouver flight comes in at 11 PM tomorrow - I might go see him, since it's way easier than waiting for Grandma and Auntie Annie for about an hour in the International Arrivals lounge, which is what we did today! (Grandma needs people with her that she knows, and they were pretty much the last people off the plane apparently - with my siblings, all we do is meet them outside if / when they call as need be!)

* Matilda's husband had to have his leg amputated because of diabetes complications - Jon has to see them sometime because they gave him $1000 to study theology at Regent.

* Auntie Kathy and Uncle Reuben are the same age (65), and have known each other since they were 10 or 15! (Uncle Sam's turning 57 soon)

* My mom doesn't know how to pronounce "inspirational" - I initially thought she was getting me Bathroom Reader #15 (Aah-Inspiring) for my birthday, which of course I already have! (she was really talking about some inspirational one from the Family Christian Bookstore at Fairhaven / Lynden)

* At the red-awning restaurant where we ate lunch, there is a public-service announcement taped to the bathroom stalls (next to the toilet ads) warning against squatting to use the toilets. It also covers Beijing cleaning up their act for the 2008 Olympics, Vancouver having the dirtiest washrooms, and how the people who like to squat to use the toilet should have truly Chinese toilets consisting of a hole in the ground. The impact of this is lessened when I see a mop in a bucket in another stall - and the floors are slippery, too! I'd prefer Chapters washrooms to typical Chinese restaurant washrooms myself... but (as per Danielle and Nathan) when you gotta go, you gotta go!

* Dallas and Vivian were eating at Shanghai Wonderful, but Mom was too stressed to give them directions - poor them!


Oh, and now I check my phone to find that K tried to reach me. Meh, guess I'll sort that one out later!

"This is where I dispose of my manners - dude, don't teach the kids that your dad's a pedo!"

When I got to church this morning, I talked to Sam / Nathan / Christon / Jeremy / Eric / Citrus / Danielle about the fireworks last night. Why did Canada's fireworks appear to go into the water?! Jeremy said that there was at least a meter of space either way at the English Bay mini-donut stand, which definitely means it was less crowded! Citrus was trying to arrange some game with the guys, but Eric's not free this afternoon because he has to pick up hockey equipment. Maybe tomorrow, haha. Nathan was attempting to take a nap on his umbrella handle, which didn't work out too well with everyone around him talking and moving from upstairs to downstairs. We discussed poop - thanks for sharing when it won't come out... Everyone was happy to see Winnie and Megan around - yay, them! Gave Hannah and Priscilla the stuff from my mom - they were pretty happy about it even if it wasn't candy, haha. I saw Eunice, so I waved to her - so good to see her since I didn't last week!

Jeremy and I shared laughs over some parts of the sermon (skipping a bunch of chapters in Nehemiah), the interesting names, Nathan's frustration with his Powerpoint, and some other things. Haha, I like it when we can catch each other's eyes and laugh over stuff - gotta find amusement somewhere! Phil was preaching, and he used the care that Angus showed over picking Melia's engagement ring as an illustration: all I wish is to be that lucky in future! Told Rich to remind me to catch him later if I forgot - as it turned out, I paid for the grad banquet stuff after coming in from the back parking lot, and told him about our food preferences. Let's just say that K and I could do some version of the cruise ship "sharing" that my family and Viv's enjoyed, although not to such excessive measure! Heck, I put us down for different stuff, so that should be ALL good!

After service, I picked up Jeremy's helmet for him since it looked like he'd forget, and then headed out to the back parking lot. Saw Tony and asked him what was going on - apparently, his security training course is expensive and he'll work two jobs at once, at least for a bit. He says he really doesn't like Wal-Mart since it sucks out his youth like a vampire - Jeremy found that amusing, haha. Then again, he doesn't do customer service too well either! Eunice, Nathan, and I were trying to help him find believable excuses for a mental health day since he found himself too hateful these days: FOOD POISONING can be over in 24 hours! (gives him time to watch the SIMPSONS movie with people!) We discussed the Mexico trip for a while - last year, Steph did come back with a tan. I know my mom thinks he likes my sister, who doesn't like him in that way at all - of course, there are certain things you don't ask people, haha. It's good talking to him, though! Saw Fidela, and talked to her about her grandma and Facebook pictures: she might as well look into ways to make them more private, even though some of her friends might get all huffy when they discover they can't see certain albums!

When Emily asked us what we were doing today, I told them that I'd talk to my boyfriend most probably - Fidela asked about him, and realized that she'd seen a picture of him on my sister's Facebook. She's going to China before school starts, so we won't see her until Christmas - we hugged her goodbye, of course. (must save her and Justin's birthday cards till later / when I see her parents!) After I paid Rich the $60 for the grad banquet (I do have someone coming to this thing who wants to be there!), I went to help with the toddlers. Rachel wanted to show me her new toy camera and binoculars, and was all right at sharing them with Wilson and Sean - not so much with Amanda, heh. Told Auntie Tracy that K was coming in a couple of weeks, and she reminded me to tell Auntie Bessy - will do so next week. The only question she had was whether this person was a Christian - since he is, that should be fine. Let's hope the kids react well to this big dude, haha. The kids were okay - it was cute how Wilson and Rachel would save seats and toys for one another, but we encouraged them to SHARE! Sean's cute, but I think he'll be graduating pretty soon - his brother Ian said hi to me, so I asked if he liked dinosaurs. He looked confused, so I told him that his shirt had dinosaurs on it - heh, gotta love kids!

Then I interacted with Gwyneth, Evelyn, Samantha, Rosanna, and Ryan for a bit after Sunday School... I saw Teresa threaten her daughters with a slotted kitchen utensil, smacking it against her hand. Brings back memories which I'd rather keep dormant, for sure! Ryan got hurt a couple minutes after I told him to get off the dirty floor - I didn't see what happened, as I was most likely telling Jonathan NOT to teach the kids that his dad was a pedo! (he tried denying it, but Michelle told me what was up) I was also busy talking to Andrew about some chemical solutions test he has tomorrow, and about how addicted he is to Facebook - he stayed up till 12:30 stalking people in his network because he was bored! (Jonathan says he uses MSN way more than Facebook himself!) After a while, Andrew and I decided to go outside. Saw Dallas there, who was going to Nando's Chicken with my parents, then transporting some of his luggage to their place. Andrea asked if we wanted to have a quick lunch, but we couldn't. Yelled bye to Karen as she left with Ivan, too. We talked about Jon, Harmony, Mexico, SLB, Tony's record, Nathan's email, Toronto on Tuesday (he'll meet Jon in the air!), his dad and cancer, bad roommate stories (rape / murder / not leaving the door locked - this house is NOT a gym!), coagulated milk, Vanier Park and fireworks, Darren in Ireland, Facebook (he thinks I'd get into it, same as what Eric figures - no, I spend TOO MUCH TIME on the computer already!), spicy peri-peri chicken, his independent grandma, canoes, maggots, and some other stuff. I'll definitely have to see him in September when he gets back! I also dispensed of SOME manners while at the chicken place: I used my hands and was messy in general. At least I didn't actually walk on the table / into the food like some ancient kings did! (eww!)

Dream: Auntie Eva collapsing, and bleacher people plunging to death

Wow... it's amazing that I have the $60 ($20 of which is my sister's portion) for the grad banquet! Guess I better save the rest of my money for food shopping! THIS IS FIRM and NON-NEGOTIABLE to my mind. :P


I had a weird dream where Auntie Eva had this distinctive purple coat on at this crowded church function. Everyone could see her obituary with her life history on copies of green paper a few minutes BEFORE she collapsed and died in the middle of the basement floor! It mentioned that she was close to five families, including us and the Chiangs. That is possibly true in real life, heh. Then there was the part where I was lying in someone's front yard just stripping the wheat-like grass of its wheaty properties: that's what I used to do in grade school, haha. I learned that there was a serious incident going on down the street where bleachers full of people had just plunged to the ground, resulting in lots of black-and-white pictures of people rushing up the bleachers and then plunging to their deaths! There was this couple named Brian and Beth living a block away from the disaster who had hacked someone else to death and stored their body in a cooler, and it was discovered that their dog had killed someone else who was now buried in their yard. I have no idea what's wrong with my subconscious... o_O