Sushi and bubble tea, here we come!

Korey's finally here! YAY! Eric is in for our sushi dinner at 7:30 (first date, third wheel - Steph was joking about it yesterday), and for Rose Garden Café bubble tea at 10 with Chinese Eric! (it's on Alexandra Road somewhere...) Chinese Eric's cousin got his flight delayed because of a typhoon, so they're coming on the next available flight - thank goodness for phone and MSN communication!

You have 150 pounds of blueberries at home?! HOLY CRUD!

Eric picked me up a little late, but that was okay because I was reading the Enron book I borrowed for my brother. We discussed Korey, Strong Bad hiatus (baby girl), gas prices, stupid traffic, composting, Pho, family in Victoria, how it's my fault when anything bad happens, bubble tea, and arrangements. When Eric called Korey, he got a certain voicemail message for the first time ever: it IS smart, but tricks people! I shared how I'd hung up on it the first time I got it, and yelled at it the second, haha. Once we got to the church, I joined the revolving party in the kitchen while scavenging some blueberries / Isabel's Terra Bread / Darren's Pho meat / Jon's chicken and noodles. (he wasn't happy about that, haha) Laughed at Chris and Vanessa's bantering about BRIDGE songs (they should busk - but those licenses are annoying!), told Randal that Stanley and I ought to get together with Jon to send him some weird Japanese noise music / metal / System of a Down, marveled at Stanley's SPINACH shirt and cheered when he said he actually bought music (with a free toy), and was amused when Chris convinced Stanley to go to Resonate instead of watching CHARIOTS OF FIRE. ("dude... it's just a MOVIE even if they're having POPCORN!") Someone was playing the theme song on the piano outside, and Vivian said it just highlighted how badly out-of-tune the instrument is: too bad Uncle Johnny's in Hong Kong, doing something much better than tuning pianos! (we later used it as offering music, to everyone's great amusement - "pass the offering box around slowly like it's a relay baton!") Stanley said he wouldn't have enough money for a new church piano... just a guitar and such things to go with it!

Jon said that Chris would definitely need non-leaking shoes in Ottawa, since two of his four pairs leak, and another one might be close to it soon. Chris demonstrated that he knows the difference between NEEDING something and WANTING something: he could get a new pair of shoes now, but then it would be a year till he wore them, and it wouldn't be good for other reasons. (Jon also congratulated him on that) Said hi to the Soon sisters; one of them is almost done with exams, so can actually SLEEP! Talked to Christon about various things like the grad banquet and how he has 150 pounds of blueberries, and learned that Darren's going to Ireland on September 24. Bugged Jon about the birthday cards - ultimately, I only got him to sign one because I'd be seeing Eric H. pretty soon. *sigh*

CHARIOTS OF FIRE was pretty good, and contrasted two rival runners - Jeremy and I shared a bunch of amusement, as per the usual. (I'm Afraid of Americans, French as "frogs," pork not allowed for Jewish people, etc.) During the discussion, I went upstairs to make a quick phone call - it was so noisy in the sanctuary that I had to go to Dad's office for a quieter environment than 50 people talking after Resonate! Grace saw me on the phone and said hi, so I waved back. After going downstairs and getting teased by Chuck ("it's so easy!" he told Andrea :P), I went back upstairs when we were done, and shared my excitement with Grace: YAY, BOYFRIEND COMING! Joey mentioned that they had had a poo pool in Mexico, kinda like baby pools when people are pregnant. Then Chris mentioned that they'd been pretty open with each other about their puking and bowel movements by about Wednesday - I heard later that the kids' water bottles were all dark brown, and Chris got dehydrated. Michelle said that Steph was anti-social by reading HARRY POTTER, and that she was also a pig since she ate a 320-gram bag of Lays chips (almost) all by herself on the trip! (Steph denied being a pig, but she really should watch the eating, hahaha) Janette could have lived without the snoring, but she doesn't take so many things for granted now.

Talked to Phil, Grace, Citrus, and Cordia about birthdays in general. Grace noticed Cordia's "sarcasm is one of the services I offer" shirt, and was amused. That had been a birthday gift, and that set them to talking about how I was really good at remembering birthdays. I recalled the time that Citrus said his parents forgot about his birthday for about two weeks: "did we miss something?!" Hahaha, they're getting up there in age if they can't remember how old their kids are... but then, sometimes we forget these elementary things too. No idea what that says about us... haha. Daniel talked to Calla about David Fellowship, and I agreed with him that our fellowship has more unity / growth in the past year or so! (largely thanks to Karen!) Talked about the corn maze, grad banquet, the Maritimes (I'll talk to Cindy later), Jeremy's jazz band gig conflicting with the grad banquet, Angus and Melia, etc. On the way home, we saw a BAD butt display at the gas station - let's just say that there are SOME short shorts that you shouldn't wear if your butt is of a certain size! (we needed eye bleach!) Vanessa isn't Erin roast material (Erin's wedding roast could easily last two hours!), but in-jokes are fine. Steph's JEOPARDY roast last year of Erin was HILARIOUS: "have a question, but my siblings can't answer!" As I recall, Auntie Brenda was HORRIFIED at the answer! (of course it involved blood!)

Dream of a strange dinner party

Corey thinks I'm not ever allowed to win - well, my Shanghai food dinner obviously beats YOUR dinner of leftovers! Maybe if he'd had something like venison and sumptuous desserts like you'd get on a cruise ship... although I'm sure he'd beat me at GUITAR HERO very handily if I were to ever play!

I had a strange dream last night that at first consisted of me and my friends running from room to room. Then we saw Mom (who got REALLY stressed when we asked to LEAVE) and a bunch of people I haven't thought of in years at a dinner party at Vernon's opulent house. Andrew was helping to serve the food, while Edith and Carina were talking to Judy and others about kids. There were a lot of babies, including Sophia's Olivia who was a bit older than she is now (two?) and talking to me. I saw chocolates, flowers, and a card that my siblings had signed to Olivia. Mom wanted me to throw red wrapping in the garbage, but I knew it was Jayden's stuff. There were two sisters called Over and Night Smith, and I recall thinking that the Bad Baby Names Forum would have a field day with those names! A dad was coaxing his little daughter Harmony to go up to Over and Night to say hi, but she wouldn't. Julie C., my sibs, Eric, a bunch of others, and I were watching a video about this black guy who wanted to go back home in order to convince his brother not to become a male prostitute. Eventually, someone else grew out of the brother's head, and that was the beginning of the consequences if he should become one! Very much a cautionary tale, but I don't know why kids were in the room for THAT!

In real life, I do not know anyone named Jayden - can't say I'm a fan of the name, either! I did know Sam and Connie's son Jaden (and saw him at a recent wedding), but that's all. Haven't been thinking of kids, baby Anne, or others recently either. Very strange.

Eric H. left me messages on MSN, so he rocks! Nathan can't come tomorrow, he himself will be out all day so wants me to call his cell when we're ready to go for bubble tea tomorrow / ask white Eric if he wants to come, and his cousin might not come since he has friends here. Sounds like a good plan to me! Jon just called and wants me to find an Enron book at the library since he has to speak about the scandal at the grad banquet - I wonder who he's roasting, if this is part of a speech! He's already on the bus to church, so can't do it himself. I'll do it then, and hope I'm back before Eric calls at 7-ish!

Edit: Went to library by way of walking in Minoru Park (been ages!), and came back in an hour with an appropriate book. (PIPE DREAMS: GREED AND THE DEATH OF ENRON) Also borrowed PANATI'S EXTRAORDINARY ENDINGS OF EVERYTHING for myself since I was there... the barcode scanline thing on the self-checkout machine is capricious sometimes! It's the perfect morbid reading to while away my weekend with... and I like the letter W, apparently. :P Got back to find that Eric had called me just a few minutes before I was home - he'll be here at 6:40 since he has to be there early to set up movie stuff. He was home for some reason I didn't catch, but whatever. I can live with two Pho meals in three days since I've done it before... I'll just order slightly different things for dinner and lunch! (the last time, it was #36 with beef or chicken!) Now it's time to shower!

Drunken chicken and SLB / Rats will eat you ALIVE!

The meal at Shanghai River was pretty good: drunken chicken, Shanghai noodles, Peking duck, SLB, fish, mushrooms, lettuce wraps, and all the rest... oh my! Mom is NOT ALLOWED to mention weddings at Sunday lunch! (Pho?) Steph seems to think I'll be on my best behavior - probably, haha. Alan and Tracy are engaged, and he probably had a wild time in Los Vegas if his MSN personal message is "never going to drink again!" We discussed Hon's wedding, Dallas, both Vivians, SLB night next Thursday (I won't need a ride from Steph since I'll probably get one from the guys), Korey, Steph eating out too much and her official application, dinners and stuff galore, corporate perks like premium hockey playoff seats and Peking duck afterwards, Alan and Liz's wedding / dinner parties, Nathan, gossip, tomorrow's plans, birthday cards, Shanghai Wind / Shanghai Wonderful, Eric, Mike K. and Chris in Mexico, getting sick, and how we sorta have to translate any comments Grandma makes about Korey on Sunday. My siblings and I still think that she assumes he's white, haha. If that's the case, she'll get a shock!


Yup, I'm posting a morbid facts newsletter for the first time in weeks. Enjoy! :D

Today's Disgusting Yet Truly Morbid Fact!

Richard Kuklinski (April 11, 1935 - March 5, 2006) was a notorious hit man known as "The Iceman" who was connected to the Gambino crime family. Over the course of thirty years, Kuklinski killed regularly. Although an exact number has never been settled upon by authorities, Kuklinski himself at various times had claimed to have killed at least 100 and possibly more than 200 individuals. Kuklinski stated that only once had he felt repulsed in the commission of a crime. He once kidnapped one of his victims, and rather than conventionally murder him, tied him up so tightly that the ropes drew blood. He then left the man in a cave in the wilderness where he was eaten alive by rats that were attracted by the smell of blood. Kuklinski filmed the man's death, and claimed that upon viewing it, he felt disgusted for the first and only time in regard to a murder he had committed. According to Philip Carlo's book Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer, this method of feeding live victims to rats was used multiple times by Kuklinksi. It was common when the victim was required to "suffer." Kuklinski claimed to videotape the deaths for whoever wanted the hit. Police however, have never found any of the videos.

Culled from: Wikipedia
Generously submitted by: Brandon

**********************************************************************

Now, that's a hit man with imagination! I'll have to check out that book.

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Morbid Mirth Du Jour!

Here's a game that will keep you entertained for minutes! Who knows, maybe even tens of minutes?

Thanks to RussianWitch for the link.

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Ghastly!

If you're in the mood to look at some nasty medical images, I have the site for you!

UCSD Catalog Of Clinical Images

Thanks to Liz for the link.

White diamonds and Level 28 scramble / Being Chinese

In a recent Bookworm game, I didn't have to scramble the original letter field till I reached Level 28! I also got a white diamond on the L of the word FAIL because I used "R" and "U" blue sapphires on the word RUES.

Steph says we're going to Shanghai River for dinner. Being that it's only two blocks from my place, I can just walk there. Jon's going into Vancouver for Hon's wedding rehearsal, so he gets a bunch of birthday cards to sign at dinner! When my mom mentioned that it had bad service, I wondered why we were going there: because it's apparently well-known. I should have guessed... how CHINESE. *sigh*

Dan wants me to kill him now. I don't think I will. Wish I could do something, though.

Thank goodness yesterday's bad mood has passed now! Some things can't be explained, and I hope I don't feel like that again anytime soon. Just in case anyone else misinterprets my writing: it wasn't my relationship! I'm satisfied with that one!

Only 41 out of 100 bands?!

Hey, I'm feeling a fair bit better from last night and Korey's stupidity! It helps that it's sunny outside, and that I'm listening to some Matthew Good (Band) songs when the CD drive isn't being weird! Haven't listened to these in a long time - I really should do so more often, haha. I should really get Hospital Music one of these days, along with another copy of the morbid book I gave Cordia for her birthday. She really enjoys freaking Citrus, Mike, Stanley, etc. out with that stuff... I do, too. There are TWO of us! HEHEHE!

Taken from Kaitlin via Myspace bulletin: 100 Bands!

ALTERNATIVE:
[] Breaking Benjamin
[x] Incubus
[x] The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
[x] Linkin Park
[] The Academy Is...
[x] Coldplay
[x] Three Days Grace
[] Yellowcard
[] 30 Seconds to Mars
[] Rise Against
TOTAL SO FAR = 5

COUNTRY:
[] Rascal Flatts
[] Carrie Underwood
[] Leanne Rimes
[] Garth Brooks
[] Dixie Chicks
[] Kenny Chesney
[] Tim McGraw
[] Faith Hill
[] Shania Twain
TOTAL SO FAR = 5

EMO:
[] Hawthorne Heights
[] Panic! At The Disco
[] From First to Last
[] Senses Fail
[] Underoath
[] Something Corporate
[] Hit The Lights
[] Silverstein
[] Dear Whoever
[] Chiodos
TOTAL SO FAR = 5

INDIE:
[] The Hush Sound
[] Eisley
[] Death Cab for Cutie
[] Dashboard Confessional
[] The Killers
[] Yeah Yeah Yeahs
[x] Hot Hot Heat
[] Gym Class Heroes
[x] Franz Ferdinand
[x] Modest Mouse
TOTAL SO FAR = 8

METAL:
[] Slipknot
[x] System of a Down
[x] Disturbed
[x] Metallica
[x] Guns n' Roses
[x] Lamb of God
[x] Slayer
[x] Hatebreed
[x] Killswitch Engage
[x] Avenged Sevenfold
[] CKY
[x] Korn
TOTAL SO FAR = 18

POP:
[] Teddy Geiger
[] Ashlee Simpson
[] Kelly Clarkson
[] Jesse McCartney
[] Avril Lavigne
[] Pink
[] Natasha Bedingfield
[] KT Tunstall
[] Will Young
TOTAL SO FAR = 18


POWERPOP / PUNK:
[] Hellogoodbye
[] Cute is What We Aim for
[] The Click Five
[] Fall Out Boy
[] Good Charlotte
[] Bowling for Soup
[x] Relient K.
[x] Simple Plan
TOTAL SO FAR = 20

RAP:
[] Ying Yang Twins
[] Paul Wall
[] 2pac
[] Jamie Foxx
[] Ludacris
[] Lil Jon
[] Outkast
[] 50 Cent
[] Slim Thug
[] Three 6 Mafia
TOTAL SO FAR = 20

SKA:
[] The Aquabats
[x] Sublime
[x] No Doubt
[] Madness
[] Mustard Plug
TOTAL SO FAR = 22

ROCK:
[] Taking Back Sunday
[] All-American Rejects
[] Motion City Soundtrack
[] Angels and Airwaves
[x] Evanescence
[x] My Chemical Romance
[x] AFI
[x] Drowning Pool
[x] Green Day
[x] Blink 182
TOTAL SO FAR = 28

CLASSIC ROCK:
[x] The Beatles
[x] Led Zeppelin
[x] Black Sabbath
[x] The Black Crowes
[x] The Rolling Stones
[x] The Who
[x] Pink Floyd
[x] Meat Loaf
[x] Queen
[x] Van Halen
[] Poison
[x] AC/DC
[] Journey
[x] The Doors
TOTAL SO FAR = 40

OTHER:
[x] Beastie Boys
[] Doug E. Fresh
[] Soul Sonic Force
TOTAL = 41

Repost as: "I like __ out of 100 bands."

Candy is good, but bad thoughts are not!

Candy would definitely like to meet my mom, and put her in her place. Man, I'd like to see that happen! Thank goodness she called! Discussed George, the dog falling in the pool, hanging up on people, earrings using her dog's baby teeth, Youtube hair metal tribute, saving money, etc. Good times, haha.

Been pre-occupied all day with certain thoughts. Maybe they'll go away tomorrow... it's not helping my relationships with certain people!

Ambiguous human names, KIWI MASCOT, special songs

Wikipedia's list of ambiguous human names

K called at 3:35 while I was reading, and I didn't have the ringer on. Oh well... I just left him one of the most hesitating voicemail messages ever, so I officially suck / fail at being coherent this afternoon. I used Dave Brockie Experience's Damn That Money to cover certain pauses, and I hope my quasi-singing was NOT recorded - there is no way he needs / wants to hear that! :P It was something like "You called... I guess I'll, um, say hi... and um, I'll talk to you later." I'd like to think that usually I'm better than THAT at leaving messages with anyone, like Stephen when WE were dating! Guess I'm having an off day. *sad face* (and... he called again at 5:55! Yes, I officially suck!)

On a more amusing note, WHEEEEEEEEE!? now has a new icon. Being the icon person that I am, I Photobucketed it from Deborah (filteredthrough). In case you're wondering, WHEEEEEEEEE!? is this small insanity club that formed one night through comments on an unsentletters LJ post. (I think it was mine, but I'm not sure) Dan (ringsideriot) and Sophie (fallenback) make up the other members of this club. We were promised buttons, but those haven't materialized... this icon is good enough for now. Someone joked today that a kiwi would be a good mascot, so here we go! Full and icon versions:





Oh, and LIFE is Living Insanely For Eternity. (thanks, Deborah!)


I think it's time to post the Buckcherry Sorry lyrics up - it has special meaning to both me and K, haha. (I liked their song Lit Up a few years back) Speaking of which, K told me about some song called Better Man that he likes... he even tried sending it, but of course Trillian threw a spanner into the works! I immediately thought of the Pearl Jam song, and thought that it wouldn't really fit with his context! Since Photobucket has an ad for this dude named James Morrison (reminds me of the Doors singer and the Access music critic!), I decided to look up the lyrics. Knowing what I do, these verses are extra-touching! Never actually heard the song, but a quick Youtube trip will remedy that...


Song: Better Man
Artist: James Morrison

There was a time
I had nothing to give
I needed shelter from the storm I was in
And when it all got too heavy
You carried my weight
And I want to hold you
And I want to say

That you are all that I need
For you, I give my soul to keep
You see me, love me
Just the way I am
For you, I am a better man
I said you are the reason
For everything that I do
I'd be lost, so lost, without you

Under the stars
At the edge of the sea
There's no one around
No one but you and me
We'd talk for hours
As time drifts away
I could stay here for ever
And hold you this way


Song: Sorry
Artist: Buckcherry

Oh, I had a lot to say... was thinking on my time away
I missed you and things weren't the same
Cause everything inside, it never comes out right
And when I see you cry, it makes me want to die
I'm sorry I'm bad, I'm sorry I'm blue, I'm sorry about all the things I said to you
And I know I can't take it back
I love how you kiss, I love all your sounds, and baby the way you make my world go round
And I just wanted to say I'm sorry
This time, I think I'm to blame... it's harder to get through the days
You get older and blame turns to shame
[Pre-Chorus]
[Chorus]
Every single day, I think about how we came all this way
The sleepless nights and the tears you cried... it's never too late to make it right
Oh yeah, sorry!
[Chorus]

Dream: Encircle my waist if you must, but no cigarette addiction!

Honestly, I prefer chairs to stools - I remember what happened the last time Jon, Jeremy, and I were at the Whip! Not that I fell over or anything, but it seems as if my mobility issues preclude me from sitting on stools gracefully - never mind getting up from those things!

I think I finally recovered physically from the fireworks sometime yesterday - phew! Let's just say that if K were with us, he would have DIED from all that standing around and walking! Like I told him that night when he said that himself, it's not being mean... it's just being honest! Hahaha.

Had an interesting dream last night. Here are some of the highlights:

* sister and me vaulting over a flowered hedge into a pretty garden, after which I decided I was really getting too old for this stuff [comes from deciding I'm too old for the fireworks - no idea about the flowers, though!]
* an Indian Ian making a phone call for his auntie Claire to a healer, then they were catapulted into an ornate house with feather beds and such - not what they were bargaining on! [comes from the OUTLANDER series, probably]
* a newspaper headline about Jamie (jaebird) and her shaggy dog, who looked like the dog Janina (mrshannibal) has - apparently, this Buddy lookalike got into a LOT of trouble and the headline read "DOG PROPERLY TRUSSED NOW, SAYS BEAUTIFUL JAEBIRD" [comes from K calling me "beautiful" the other day, seeing Buddy in photos, thinking too much about dogs in general recently...]
* selecting TV shows from a color-coded listing [no idea]
* a girl sleeping in a white bed with a black man, pillowed on his chest with his arms encircling her waist [no idea... although if I had to guess, I'd say it's too much thinking about certain things, haha!]
* my sister and mom driving these tiny cars, which were inflatable to almost-normal size - they changed their mind about helping me and my friends get away from BAD PEOPLE, but we prevailed! [no idea]
* a thin brown-haired woman sitting at a park table, bemoaning her addiction to cigarettes: "DON'T START! Look, I'm on my 20th already just sitting here - this ashtray is FULL!" [no idea - haven't been thinking about Jen lately, and K's aside about smokers hasn't been uppermost in my mind either!]

Dream: Giant spiders, fire drills, and SUPER MARIO 3

I just got not one, but TWO calls from New Jersey! They're even from different numbers! 205-215-1795 and 201-373-8332... they're probably scammers of some sort. Thank goodness for Caller ID! That feature is a MUST for any future phones I get, since it's very useful. :P

Oh, I forgot to mention the name of a baseball player I saw in the Mets-Cubs game the other day: Angel Pagan. Very oxymoronic, even if it's the Spanish pronunciation.

Seems plans for this weekend are proceeding apace: bubble tea, grad banquet, and other activities, here we come! I remember the night we went out with James and Sanne after Fellowship, and we got this waitress that was MISS HOOCHIE MAMA! Then again, I haven't been to Boston Pizza since it was renovated - but construction around that area is BRUTAL sometimes! Oh well, guess I can figure something out later!

Had a weird dream involving giant spiders in a children's pop-up book coming to life and squishing everyone in a room with a fire drill. Then everyone played a weird game of SUPER MARIO 3 involving Mario in a raccoon suit being able to spit fireballs at various enemies, getting a leaf to fly even though he already had that ability, and ultimately dying at the very end of the level before he got a flower / mushroom / star card. He was small and tried to jump right before the card - instead, he collided with a cloud that had a hammer enemy throwing turtle shells. So much for the extra points you gain when your enemy is converted into gold coins... and I have no idea where that one came from, especially since it's been some time since I've seen the game played! (when Korey had to stay with me to avoid DRAMA) Yikes.

Dream: Four bags of chips and repetition

Shortly after my last post, Eric Ho showed up on MSN and wanted to know whether I'd gotten his messages: I had, and the plans worked for me even though I'm unsure as to time! He figured I was excited about K's coming to visit, which is true enough. We discussed good atmospheric choices for restaurants (memories!), bubble tea, white Eric, Jon at Hon's wedding, Nathan, his cousin Aaron saying that Jon's a cool friend because of his good sense of humor, and how his cousins were in town for the first time on his birthday because of their grandma turning 80. Second star in this case isn't bad at all since he still feels special, we figure! He's definitely disappointed that Fay's not in town because he'd be in more of a celebratory mood if he got to celebrate for the first time in person with his special girl. (and he's another year older too - I definitely know what he's talking about!) Then he asked whether K would be in town for my birthday; I know that is his intent, and it does make things more special for sure! I asked what plans he had: family lunch / dinner, and MAYBE a movie. Maybe I *should* bring his birthday card along on Saturday after all...


Had a nap at around 4, complete with a weird dream: my bed was in my bathroom! I could take a shower and sleep in the same room, but somehow not get the bed soaking wet. Jeremy's voice came over the loudspeaker to remind me that it had been about a year since we started sharing things like bubble tea and utensils without the usual inhibitions about spit and suchlike. (it HAS been about a year, in reality!) Then Nathan chimed in with how I shouldn't feel guilty since that was one of the quirky hallmarks of fairly good friendship (which I agree with in reality)... like I was feeling that way before?! Crazy! I got into five Trillian conversations with various people - Candy seemed very annoyed at me, and sent me a LOT of messages saying that I'd been ignoring her for weeks and telling me about her new friend Dan who would never do that. The reality was that I just hadn't been getting any of her messages, and I tried to tell her so.

Then K wanted me to do him a favor involving affection and the purchase of four family-sized bags of a certain brand of chips, saying that he was going to repeat it. ("I do, don't I? I don't mind affection, as I've now looked it up in the dictionary! To show it, I will repeat what I say. Buy FOUR BAGS of these chips! Four bags! Four bags! Four bags!") When I said I would do him that favor, an animated graphic appeared on my screen: an orange-haired, blue-eyed caveman clad in fur jumping up and down before doing a joyful somersault. I could tell this was a dream because K typed in full sentences with proper grammar and spelling, haha. Interesting stuff, though! I know I was discussing the "Jason Y. and US Lays chips" story with Erin / Derek / Darren / Jon yesterday, and Erin contributed her own story to the festivities too. Maybe that's where it came from... :P

No tile scramble till Level 27 / Dream: 5350 calendar and babies!

In Bookworm-related news, I managed to make it to Level 27 without scrambling the letter tiles in one game over the weekend. In another game, I got a white diamond on the word OUR by using blue sapphires on the last two letters. I used the diamond on the N in the word TEEN. Great game, if a bit addictive!

I think I officially may be too old for the fireworks. I'm still kinda sore a couple days later - guess all that standing didn't help matters! Oh well, it was fun while it lasted - SO MANY MEMORIES!

I'll have to get Jon to sign the August birthday cards at some point on Friday / Sunday because some of them are / will be already LATE! (Connie, Jenny, Erin, Justin, etc.) I thought I was awake-ish last night after I got home, but I misread "12:34" on my clock as "12:04," and also misread "250" on my Caller ID as "358." After an interesting phone call, I went to bed and had a slightly strange dream. That involved a baby Wilson, a slightly-older Ian, toys, a calendar for the year 5350 that had mountains and trees on it (talk about making me feel OLD!), and looking at a zillion new Bathroom Readers with Erin at a bookstore. Then I checked my MSN to find that Chinese Eric had left me a series of messages. In a bonehead move, he'd left his phone at home yesterday - that meant I couldn't reach him anyway! Fay is away until mid-August, but his cousins are coming - I don't mind if they're in for Rose Garden Café on Alexandra Rd. on Saturday night, but I do know that Jon won't be because of Hon's wedding. Not sure about white Eric and Nathan, but Chinese Eric will ask Nate later anyhow. He says it'll be cool meeting my boyfriend, haha. (I'm sure we'll do a birthday hangout, so I don't need to bring his birthday card!) Hey, as long as we have a date for it, I'm good with whatever the plan happens to be! Can't say I'm not used to being the only female in a bunch of guy friends / acquaintances, after all. :)

Apple pop rules!

Erin, Derek, Darren, their parents, and grandma came over to the townhouse for dinner tonight. Steph decided to go out to eat with Daniel and Michelle before going back home, which sorta made sense. We just had a lot of food, with some Manzana Lift (Mexican apple pop) / Jeremy's year-old homebrew / Belgian pink Rosi fruit beer. Jon did bring some Amnesiac IPA ale out, but put it back afterwards. Talked about weddings, Jon's groomsman / MC duty, people at that banquet who got bored with the speeches and said so when the groom came to give HIS, how we'd love to see it if Erin ever emceed a wedding, the expense of weddings (Chinese = "I'll pay the clothing costs for you" vs. Caucasian "Pay for it yourself!"), Phil and Grace making up for lost time, Hon getting married, slideshow presentations, and such topics. Jon joked that he and Harmony were going to elope since it's cheaper, but our parents wouldn't be impressed AT ALL. I know they wouldn't be impressed if I pulled a Mimosa / Tilia, and handed them a wedding invitation with one month to go and said that they could come if they wished!

Discussed Harmony's insomnia as well as sleeping pills - they might not be the best course if you don't want to form a dependency on them, but are fine in the short term. It just gets frustrating when you're lying awake for hours and can't get to sleep! (Jon can't relate to her because he can sleep almost instantly) Erin says that Jeremy asked her and Angus where to get syringe droppers for beer-making (not soap): they'd know, since they're in pharmacy! We talked about the Mexico trip (Darren was going to go last year till he injured himself), the fireworks, that arrest we saw last night, getting home REALLY LATE, their jet lag from China (Derek fell asleep later), past church grad banquets like Erin's roast of Steph two years ago (Nathan doing a Tina Turner backup dancer was so funny that it got the Pho owner to look in at us from the bushes!), the guys roasting Ivan and Chris, Julie and Mei Lin's reciprocal roasts last year, etc. Good times, especially when we saw Tom Glavine get his 300th career win in the Mets-Cubs baseball game. (not that I care overmuch about baseball, but it passed the time - as did some gameshow about games [META] and poker stuff) Told Erin the recent incident where my grandma got really cranky at being asked to change from pajamas into something more suitable when my parents thought Dallas was coming over for dinner - and then got crankier when Dallas didn't come because he slept in! Jon played some Metallica / Green Day on his guitar (ENTER SANDMAN / TIME OF YOUR LIFE) while teaching Darren MORE THAN WORDS by Extreme. Told Erin about Korey, and showed her a picture. Later, I emailed Eric H. and Danielle about the same subject. Erin thinks it's exciting, and I agree! Steph just got home at 10:15, so I said hi to her before I left - Jon was on the phone, so I couldn't really leave. Oh well. :P


I put "pomeranians" in a Google Image Search, and got cute-looking results. Here's one:

No, my boyfriend's not the one you don't like!

This morning, I made Jon sign Rosenda's birthday card at least before I gave it to her during service. It turned out that I had to sign it too, so I wrote something really quickly before we parked the car - good thing that Steph signed all the August cards already! I need to write in the rest of those later on this week sometime, hopefully before K comes. If not, he'll have to live with me writing out various cards, haha. Sat between my usual seatmates, and told them about the fireworks and the absolute MESS of humanity we encountered. Jeremy's bike saved him a LOT of time (no getting home at 1:30 for HIM!), and got Christon interested in biking again - if we'd called a cab when we thought of it, that would also have saved us time! (or if we'd crashed at Nathan's by taking the 22 before we thought of it in the massive Skytrain lineup, although I would have needed certain necessities that I'm not sure would have been in the house even if Isabel is / was there for some of the time!) Told Erin about the food she'll have tonight after picking Steph up: she's excited about that! Gave Rosenda's card to her during a bathroom break, then got back to find that Pastor Edward was making a joke about making fun of both assistant pastors during the sermon because their partners' names were both in there! ("someone's really excited to hear the word Harmony... and Grace is in this direct quote from an author... it changes the heart!") Then I was looking at the church project update, and had to show Jeremy the part about a "mysterious water flow" on the construction site... oh my! o_O

In the parking lot, Jon and I were telling Calla / Nathan / Jeremy / Randal / Danielle / Vanessa / Mike / Emily about the girl we saw get arrested last night. We were making fun of the guy who got into an altercation with her a few minutes before it all started because Jon (with his perfect pitch) could tell that he was singing Rihanna's UMBRELLA song at least a tone off-key! (Jon: "It's like the Richmond Night Market, only with more drunk people!") The girl had told Christon a few minutes before that if anyone else pushed her, she would push back - even if you were being pushed along by the crowd wanting to get into the Skytrain station. The guy asked his friends a bit later if they'd seen what just happened, but got no real answers. Our group had a good view of events, especially Eric because he's tall. (I was leaning against him at some points during the wait, and had to bring my arm up to a socially-acceptable place for a friendly punch when he mentioned that I'd prefer walking to the church and other such jokes) Basically, the guy and the girl got into a shouting / pushing match, complete with personal insults ("whore!" "a man shouldn't push me around!") - just when it seemed things would escalate, a police officer came down and separated them. The girl's boyfriend tried to hold her back, but to no avail. After trying to reason with them, the police officer took the girl away in handcuffs, presumably for being disorderly. Then the guy announced to his friends that he'd relieve the stress of what just happened by singing more stuff that was on his iPod... we lost track of him after that!

Everyone thought that was an interesting story to varying degrees, haha... same with the tub of marijuana story! (I noticed little Nathaniel just behind us, but he wasn't paying attention when we used the word "whore" :P) We figured Calla and Jeremy were lucky since they don't watch TV / the media / music videos on Youtube; therefore, they don't even KNOW about the saturation of Rihanna (like her suggestive videos - she has a thing for taking her clothes off in videos that have nothing to do with the actual lyrics to the song!) or the Pussycat Dolls or even Shakira! (Jon was going to do a "HIPS DON'T LIE" dance just before the fireworks last night when the song came on - NO, BAD IDEA! When he heard the group behind us yelling that it was ONE MINUTE TO THE FIREWORKS, WOOOO... he wondered where Steph was because she would yell like that only SOBER!) We liked rocking out to Rush and the new Ozzy Osbourne - DON'T STOP and Geddy Lee are the best combo ever, haha. Eric and I had seen some kids on the Skytrain asking others if they had liquor, and high-fiving everyone in sight. Thank goodness he looked after me during that whole elevator / escalator fiasco! Yay for good friends! :D

Randal asked Danielle whether she thought Edmonton or Calgary was better: what do you think she's going to say?! (EDMONTON, since that's home for her - she's going there for three weeks) He told me that he'd be going off to Sunday School - good idea! (I told him that Canada won the competition, and that the fireworks were pretty good - Spain should have used their grand finale for the competition, according to Christon) Mike told us that Emily bruised easily - maybe girls do bruise easier than guys, since I know I've had some weird bruises! Talked to Vanessa about K; she's seen him multiple times, which is good. Jon asked who'd do her roast: "Cindy can provide the ammunition, and Steph can provide more stuff!" Cindy's in the Maritimes right now, so won't have regular access in the hotels - even if she does, email might be the last thing on her mind what with sightseeing and all. It's funny how you miss people you haven't seen in a bit even when you know where they are and when they'll come back! We saw baby Anne, whose mom Sophia said that new big sister Olivia isn't over her honeymoon phase: it's only been a week and a half, so I'm sure jealousy will enter the picture sooner or later! Just before I helped the toddlers, I said hi to Eric and heard Sam plotting how to destroy Jeremy's old guitar - they should fundraise and have it be for a good cause, haha.

The toddlers were okay today... I told Auntie Bessy about K's coming to watch me with them, so she won't be totally surprised next weekend. Little Rachel loves talking to me, I accidentally took Wilson's toy car which I'll give back next week, and Amanda tried to sit Sean back on the bench a few times. Sean liked the drawings of water in a Bible story picture book: "SPLASH! OH NO! WATER!" Kid's certainly cute, and definitely much socially improved than when he first came to the class! After that, I looked for the twins but couldn't find them - maybe next week so Andrew and K can bond over stuff like Akon and the Pussycat Dolls. Talked to Andrew, who is a half-boy / half-girl according to Samantha - kids are interesting! Then I talked to Amos and Jason for a bit; at least summer school will be over for them this week! Went outside for a bit and talked to Jon / Danielle / Jeremy / Christon / Stanley about drumming, practice, SLB (I had no time to check email - Christon told me it might be dinner on Aug. 16), guitar group, my relationship status (I'll email Danielle about it, and K is not the one she doesn't like - Palmer kept making fun of HARRY POTTER that time at Pho, and I've not talked to him since January 2006!) / eating / having money to throw around on guitars ($700) and pickups which would cost $100-300 / K being one of Karen Choo's fave people. (Saw Karen and talked to her for a bit about K - next Friday might be bad for her because her cousin's having a wedding rehearsal and then she'll move away forever after the wedding. She doesn't mind if I give K her email address, though! Apparently, the "favorite person" thing is mutual, heh.) Had lunch with my parents at Mui's, then got to the townhouse. Maybe now I'll check my friends list and email before dinner with Erin, Derek, Darren, their parents, and grandma Paula...


Were Ted Bundy and George Bush separated at birth? HAHA, Jeremy would love this!




Hilarious quotes!

Mom, on her love of singing inappropriate things and her insistence that I love it when I really do NOT: "Have you told K that I love to sing? (no) Well, if he's to be my DAUGHTER-in-law..." o_O

Mom, on Grandma's reaction to Korey since she assumes he's white: "Well, you can just tell her that he's Mexican!" (then I tell her that a black person and a Mexican person look quite different) "Well, she's 87... maybe she won't be able to tell!" (I don't think she's COLOR-BLIND or that her sight is phenomenally BAD...)

Mom, on my need to go "do something" (editing this post and such) three times in twenty minutes: "Why do you have to poop so much?" ("do something" does NOT imply bodily functions!)

Mom, on me and Danielle: "You're cougars four or five times!" (we know her intent, but it's still funny! - what she means is that Danielle is five years older than Citrus, and that I'm four years older than K)

Dylan and I are getting too old for the fireworks!

Man, how to sum up last night in a few minutes? I can try doing point form, haha.

* got email from Sophia: she has a new baby girl named Anne, who was born on July 26 - SO CUTE!
* tried making plans with Jon, Eric, and Vivian by phone... we couldn't get Vivian's home number from Jon's cell, so had to resort to asking Mom
* after a long bus ride, I met Jon / Vivian / Eric / Jeremy / Christon / Dylan at Burrard Station... we'd leave Danielle and her cousins on their own (Eric: "Why weren't you on the bus before that one?")
* commence the trek to Simba's African fusion restaurant near the fireworks, while discussing various things (Julie Man and singing / Powerpoint / sound duties / Christon being up before 5 tomorrow to drive his dad to work / Eric needing to wait for me since I slow people down / my book)
* deciding to sit down and eat instead of doing takeout since it would take about the same amount of time (Dylan got claustrophobic in the crowd that was building up on the streets already, and Vivian wondered how he'd survive on the beach!)
* Eric said I could sit down in an empty seat, so I thanked him and read the GEORGIA STRAIGHT while waiting for a table (later, Jeremy served me rice, and was a nice guy in general)
* Vivian and I were going to have goat curry for something different, but it was sold out (we settled for something else, and tried the hot sauce (Jon: "Her stomach can take it, trust me!") and everyone else's curries - Jeremy didn't mind my totally used spoon near the end when I wanted him to try mine!)
* discovered that REDRUM had started.. thank goodness Vivian had what I needed!
* as soon as I got back from the washroom, Jeremy asked if I knew what 4/20 was... OF COURSE! (Dylan didn't, which surprised us - but shouldn't? Christon said that BC bud was really well-known for being good in France, and Amsterdam's stuff wasn't that good even if it was cheap vs. expensive)
* actually found a space on the beach by going through a tent, and did it without getting into a fight (Then we had to listen to drunken remarks from the group behind us involving tits, other body parts, and suchlike - this isn't Mardi Gras or Girls Gone Wild, people! When China came on, they brought up teriyaki chicken and sushi - WRONG COUNTRY!)
* on the LONG way home, Dylan and I decided we were getting too old for walking / standing for long periods of time (everyone had to help me at some point - linking arms, holding hands up a barrier, etc.)
* finally got on a Skytrain elevator (no escalators!), and headed home - so LONG! (talked to Corey for a bit, and then called K who was having wireless problems - I'll GIS Pomeranians!)