BIRTHDAYS GALORE!

Eric and I talked about stuff in the car, and figured that it might be best for me to stay one night at the townhouse so my parents don't think I'm defying them wholesale by living with my boyfriend! It'll be nice to have ONE NIGHT without someone asking me what's wrong every time I go quiet. I know he's concerned, but still. Talked to Jeremy, Dylan, Sheena, Christon, Randal, Steph, Margaret, Alan, Sam's brother, Cordia, Danielle, Citrus, Nathan, Cindy, and others. Jeremy wanted to get all capitalist with the 40 Days of Community family food hamper ("free exchange!"), Citrus poked Steph in the belly, Dylan can't go to the Monday dinner but suggests Sunday lunch instead (excellent!), Ivan and Darren now know my real age, Frances wished me a happy birthday, and Sam joked around about hockey pools. Citrus and Eric reminisced about a STARCRAFT game, and Christon says he's having a birthday dinner next Monday - sweet! Must go now since sister wants to sleep - I should, too! At least K doesn't seem mad at me / us!

Dream of K's clothes in my TUB!

The distaff has to understand that sudden plan changes affect other people. I just hope things work out! *sigh*


My subconscious may have saved me a few days ago with a relatively normal dream sequence, but it was right back to Bizarro Land. Read these highlights:

* for some reason, I was expecting someone to come over to my place all throughout this dream

* I felt trapped in my apartment, thinking it was past midnight after I slept for a while in a tangle of blankets (I checked the time on my phone, and it said 11:30 AM despite the darkness outside which suggested it was really twelve hours later!)

* I played a colorful game on my computer which was part RPG, part Mario, and part Tetris - orange, red, blue, yellow, green... so vibrant! :D

* went to church when the sky was light again because I had a leadership meeting to attend (then I told Auntie Rebecca that I had to leave midway through said meeting - she was NOT impressed with me while the others were going upstairs to the balcony via my dad's office from the sanctuary!)

* Julie and Sarah threw me sympathetic glances, but I was able to leave after taking an extra water bottle for my knapsack

* I jumped the entire staircase down from the sanctuary to the front doors (miraculously not breaking any bones), and saw David with his son Ian, who was holding hands with David's grandfather (his great-grandfather)

* on the outside church stairs, I waved to Eric since he was taking Jonathan C. home

* Rich was looking for Uncle Patrick, who happened to be right behind him

* waved hi to David, Grandpa, and Ian - Ian and I had fun walking in the crunchy green leaves outside the church!

* I needed money for bus fare, and managed to steal $2.25 from Kathy S. when some money spilled from her wallet (she didn't say anything about it!)

* I got to my apartment, and found K's blue shirt and beige pants in my TUB - of all the places!

* I wondered what K was doing there since I wasn't expecting HIM, and found him on my bed wearing MY clothes! (he even used my brown-and-white pillowcase as a SHIRT!)

* K tried to get me on his lap so he could kiss me: I was having NONE of that!

* the dream ended when the Awana teens came over and rescued me by taking us to a barbecue at the park / beach


No idea where that came from... SO WEIRD!

HALLOWEEN and deleted scenes?! Oh my!

Mom sent an email to the wrong Leslie, and referred to a hockey pool as a hockey POLL. Close, but no cigar! Apparently, Steph can't make it on Sunday because of hockey pool commitments, so I guess it'll have to be tomorrow night sometime. That'll be good, too! Jon can't make it at 6 because of worship practice, but thinks he can make it at 7:30 - that sounds better to me.


Ah, good times with Corey... he always wants me to see horror movies!

[15:20:14] I eat Kleenex for breakfast!: he says he wants us to see HALLOWEEN! :O
[15:22:28] Corey: I've seen that :-O
[15:23:01] Corey: but not the one in theaters... I saw the workprint, and apparently they added a bunch of murders, changed the ending, and removed the graphic rape scene :P
[15:23:34] Corey: the original is better and Rob Zombie makes everyone swear way too much, but it's pretty good for a horror remake
[15:23:37] I eat Kleenex for breakfast!: .... and he wonders WHY I don't want to see that or SAW :P
[15:26:01] Corey: because you're a wuss?
[15:26:18] I eat Kleenex for breakfast!: COREY!
[15:26:38] Corey: well, that's my best guess :P
[15:27:01] I eat Kleenex for breakfast!: it's so gory - I don't THINK so!
[15:27:20] Corey: Halloween isn't that gory
[15:27:54] Corey: it's definitely not devoid of it, but it's mostly blood rather than blood & guts stuff :P
[15:28:47] I eat Kleenex for breakfast!: I was talking about SAW
[15:29:25] Corey: SAW actually has a decent story.. it's not bad :P the sequel is kinda lame, and I haven't seen the third.. but the first is pretty cool
[15:29:56] Corey: it's not much worse than CSI or any of that stuff that they broadcast at dinner time these days...
[15:30:15] Corey: SAW is grosser than Halloween though, for sure
[15:30:36] Corey: it's a pretty mainstream horror movie though, so really it's not that bad... mainstream stuff is pretty tame
[15:31:29] I eat Kleenex for breakfast!: well, I guess I'll take your word for it since I don't intend to see it
[15:32:05] Corey: go see Halloween at least, ya nerd
[15:32:50] I eat Kleenex for breakfast!: he wants me to, but I swear I will spend the entire movie refusing to see the screen :P
[15:33:14] Corey: why? to be sure to not have any fun?
[15:33:37] I eat Kleenex for breakfast!: I don't know if I want to see people decapitated or whatever it is they do in the film :P
[15:34:34] Corey: well, if you don't go and watch it, I'll decapitate you!! :P I'm not sure if Halloween has any decapitations, though.... I haven't seen the extra murders they added though, so I could be wrong :P
[15:35:35] Corey: besides, decapitation is a natural part of life, and you're a sicko that loves to read about that stuff anyway!! :P
[15:36:28] I eat Kleenex for breakfast!: .... WHAT?! COREY!
[15:37:34] Corey: you don't like to read about decrapitation?
[15:39:09] I eat Kleenex for breakfast!: ...... maybe
[15:40:34] Corey: well those are real decapitations, which is pretty sick stuff :P this is a movie monster doing it, with spurting fake blood and it's not real, which is a lot less sick than an account of someone really doing that :P
[15:43:45] I eat Kleenex for breakfast!: but I like reading accounts of someone really doing it, to a certain extent
[15:49:35] I eat Kleenex for breakfast!: but as for the movie monster thing.... I dunno. as for the graphic rape scene, um... I think I could do without that
[15:50:16] Corey: I told you, that's one of the scenes they took out :P
[15:50:38] Corey: and Michael Meyers doesn't do that stuff, it was one of the guys that worked at the mental institution
[15:51:11] I eat Kleenex for breakfast!: oh, okay... I thought you said they just took it out of the workprint, which is different than the theatre version
[15:51:33] Corey: it's in the workprint, but not the theater version
[15:52:36] I eat Kleenex for breakfast!: ah, that's good
[15:56:35] Corey: why is that good? :P making a horror movie less scary is good? :P
[15:57:09] I eat Kleenex for breakfast!: maybe not on principle, but for my personal taste, I guess it is :P
[15:58:36] Corey: didn't you watch Braindead? that's a pretty gory movie
[15:59:46] I eat Kleenex for breakfast!: yeah, I did ... about three times or so
[16:06:56] Corey: so you're practically a gorehound already, so quit being a wimp :P
[16:11:22] I eat Kleenex for breakfast!: whatever
[16:15:30] Corey: horror movies are also a device used by girls to pretend like they're wimps and get the guy to hold them close :P
[16:17:14] I eat Kleenex for breakfast!: no... they are devices used by GUYS to effect the same thing :P
[16:17:37] Corey: I don't need no stinkin' horror movie to hug a girl
[16:17:56] Corey: and if I'm watching one, I'd rather have the girl quit bugging me anyway! :P
[16:18:17] I eat Kleenex for breakfast!: hahaha, sounds good then!
[16:24:29] I eat Kleenex for breakfast!: ooh, I should get him to watch REJECTED! HAHAHAHA
[16:57:13] Corey: tell him you want to watch Cannibal Holocaust. watch that (I can help you find a copy :P), and he might want to quit watching horror movies with you. then your problem is solved after one movie
[17:04:15] I eat Kleenex for breakfast!: hahaha, oh dear. I think that movie would be too much for me :P
[17:04:39] Corey: well, I haven't watched it :P I do have it here somewhere...
[17:05:28] I eat Kleenex for breakfast!: I take it that the movie is really gory
[17:10:58] Corey: that movie has real gore, on top of being really gory with fake stuff :P
[17:11:15] Corey: they killed real animals... quite graphically.. making that movie
[17:11:53] Corey: plus in at least one country (maybe Italy, where it was made?) a judge ordered the director to produce the actors from the movie, because people thought they really killed people in this
[17:12:11] Corey: The Blair Witch Project ripped this movie off big time
[17:12:49] Corey: a camera crew goes missing in the jungle, and they recover their footage, and play it back.. so it's all this gritty handheld camera stuff that looks a lot more realistic than a normal camera shot
[17:13:28] Corey: and... Blair Witch was kids going missing in a forest and someone recovers the footage and plays it back :P different story, I guess, but the premise was completely lifted from Cannibal Holocaust
[17:13:45] Corey: I'd watch it if it weren't for the animal killings.. I'll take my gore fictional, thanks..
[17:16:23] I eat Kleenex for breakfast!: I don't think I'd watch it, either - and I hope that's not the sort of stuff he'd like to view!
[17:17:59] Corey: aside from the animal stuff, it sounds pretty awesome from what I've seen :P but the animal stuff is really sick stuff... and not quick shots either, they give you plenty of detail on it... I guess most of that is the "cannibal" tribes doing stuff to animals
[17:18:38] I eat Kleenex for breakfast!: yeah.. that is so not my thing :P

Clothing suggestions, movies, and more!

I've had a lo-fi evening, which is cool. Karen and Randal have both changed their responses to my Evite: "Hey, Leslie, sorrrrry. Mister and I are away on that day. Thank you for your invite. Sing-song cheer still true. :) And, Randal, maybe wear your blue T-shirt with smiles on shields of French guards? It is very nice. Oh, and maybe wear the shirt with your dark jeans. Should be right statement for going to friend's birthday night." and "I will go even though I do not know what to wear - but I will definitely wear clothing." Let's just say I hope Randal DOES wear clothing to the birthday party, haha. Jon and Eric H. have also responded: "Yeah, I'll be there. 31, eh?" and "Glad to be invited to celebrate with my GOOD friend.. I WON'T miss it for anything in the world! Your PAL, Eric H."

I talked to Corey and Eric M. about a bunch of stuff, too. Eric H. said hi, so I asked him whether he'd seen the Evite for my birthday thing - I made him check his email, and he said he wouldn't miss it for the world. He was tired from work, but was willing to talk to me! We talked about our days, and he directed me to a movie page for Silvercity since I wasn't sure which movies were out nowadays. Some movies look okay, but don't have late showings - too bad I don't have anything in mind like I did for last year's celebration! (BLACK DAHLIA with Randal, Jeremy, Nathan, and both Erics was pretty awesome - dismembered corpse, oh my!) Oh well, Eric did say that whatever I decide will be the rule of the night because I'm the birthday girl... too right!

Also called my mom in between juggling all this, and she says Grandma is going to Metrotown with Uncle Vincent's mom tomorrow, since the 430 goes directly to Richmond - yup, we've been on that bus inadvertently before! She originally wanted my family birthday meal to be on Saturday night. Even though both my sibs are free, it wouldn't work for me because I'd get home from the first day of Awana at around 7, and I could be really tired and just need lo-fi relaxation! Maybe we can go to California on Sunday night for a slightly later dinner, which would work for everyone since Mom can meet us at the restaurant after work at 7:15-ish! (note to self: tell Jeremy when FORREST GUMP might be on TV again, since he's never watched it)

Are you sure you want to spit out $6 worth of red roses?!

Had an interesting dream involving red roses on a blue pullout couch bed (the contrast!), Jeremy amusing himself by spitting out $6 worth of roses in his bathroom with a gold sink / rose lotion / rose soap, Erin visiting a sick Grandma Carter from ER who had wrapped $5 / $20 bills around everything (including her cups and Bibles), Mike's sister Joanna being rather chunky from hermit living (and NOT being invited to an Awana dinner unlike me / Mike / Margaret), a plot involving newspapers and mosque-like structures, the Biblical book Isaiah having names like Jennifer / Leslie / Liam, and two kids driving a car and drowning under a Richmond mall. Apparently, the atom building in the city map had great Internet access, and two kids on bikes behind that car were missing. Not sure why I had that dream, but it was what saved me from another restless night. o_O

Speaking of Jeremy, he had a most amusing response to my Evite: "I will be there. 31 flavors sounds like the perfect bubble tea combination, and at Dragon Ball, that would only cost about $18.50." Hahaha, I was perfectly happy with having him come by default like he has the past two years since he forgot to reply to those emails, but this is cool too. Eric has this to say: "You will only get those 31 flavors if you go to Baskin-Robbins, and if you do, you WILL be Baskin-Robbins." Haha, whatever you say! Andrea says: "Yay! Leslie, you are all 31 flavors to me and more! Chuck would love to be there to bug ya, but he's on call that day." I don't know why I got Andrea's reply three times in Gmail, but it's all good. :D (We COULD go to Dragon Ball after dinner, but that's kinda far! Steph suggested having people over, but that might not be a good idea...)

Karen says: "If mister and I are in town, I will wear an outfit with a warm, soft celebratory tone that says, 'Hey, it's Leslie's B-Day and I got invited, invited, invited.' (sound effect: more elegant, sing-song cheer than taunt). Advance Happy B-Day to you Leslie! :)" Randal's reply, which caused my sister and me to be greatly amused on Sunday: "I will go even though I, unlike Karen, do not yet know what kind of outfit to wear. Now, what kind of suit should I wear on a birthday?" Sheena's keeping it simple: "Chalaine and I will be coming!" Danielle, upon reading Karen's reply: "Oh my! Well, if I wasn't gonna go before, I'm gonna go now just to hear Karen's singsong taunt. :P Hehehehehe!"

Then we have the people who are undecided / not going... Dawn will do her best to be there, while Teunis says that it's rather quite unlikely since he doesn't have a roadworthy vehicle. Unfortunately for him, I don't have any friends in North Vancouver or Surrey! (not inviting Vania since it'll be far, and I don't know what she's doing - unsure about Nathan's spiritual gift of chauffeuring!) Steph says, "So... it turns out I have training on Monday nights. If you all pray for me and if I end up being more physically fit than I thought I was (ie. If I can pass the physical), then I'll be there. If not, then I'll be with my trainer... :( " I knew about this, so we'll see. Jasmine has school considerations: "31 - I lost track of your age! :P I'm sorry, but I can't go out on Monday nights while at school! (I have an 8:30 AM calculus class on Tuesdays - ouch - and a cell biology lab on Tuesdays that I need to prep for). I hope you have fun." Ah well, it's all good. :D (The Hollywood theme rocks! Joining the Cast? / Ready for My Close-Up / Have Your People Call My People / I'll Never Work in this Town Again)

Greek food and casseroles sound good to me!

I wish people would make up their minds whether to reply or not, hahaha.


Korey called while I was reading; when I took a break, I saw the missed call on my phone, so called him back at his uncle's. He wondered what I was doing with my family for my birthday - I have NO idea. Then he told me about his uncle's satellite TV and the horror movies he'd watched. Told him about the time at Jeremy's, and he reiterated that he liked Greek food a lot. (like the Mad Greek dinner) He really liked the dinner my mom made, and thinks the soup was cool too. It's true that Chinese food is probably better for Eric's diet - which led me to tell him the story of how Dylan didn't know about it till last December as we were planning a Bible Study small group outing.

We thought he'd temporarily forgotten (like I do from time to time - but do make sugar sacrifices in the form of mints and cake), but he appeared not to know! Same with Jon and Harmony's relationship - he didn't know until Jen made a comment about how Jon would know about relationship stuff in the present! HAHAHA, poor oblivious Dylan! He asked whether I noticed that our conversations were getting longer... I had, and it was well over two hours by that point. Told him that Chuck wasn't coming to my birthday thing. Chuck is crazy for teasing me so much, but I'm getting used to it! It was an interesting conversation, though.

Choices, catnaps, and conversations

If he doesn't want to read stuff, that's his choice and I actually respect it. Still buzzing from the good time I had last night - YAY and WHEE! Had a long conversation with K last night, which I guess was okay. My brain was really tired from not enough sleep - a catnap does not necessarily good rest make! Gotta love my friends, of course. :D

Let's NOT make out to Christian music, thanks!

While I was at Jeremy's, I shortened his name more than I have in the past two months or so! Hahaha. YAY and WHEE! (I said that a lot at Jeremy's - maybe it was the beer, hahaha)

After the family meeting, Jon had another meeting to attend; first, he bugged Vivian about coming to Eric's pseudo-birthday, and then let Eric use his phone to call Jeremy to see what he'd bought already for food. Jeremy thought the double zero and the "meat" as "meet" on the Pho Hoa menu was pretty funny, and reiterated that. Eric and I left after talking to Vivian and Karen about the Committee meeting - they hope it's not next Monday so Viv can make it to my birthday thing! Dylan had better not discuss that stuff during the event, har har. We went to Safeway to pick up some more taco shells and sour cream - the trip was ultimately pointless since we didn't use either of those items. Discussed change and such in the car, and we were discussing it briefly at Jeremy's, but he figured that he shouldn't divulge stuff - good call. Apparently, K's also called other people's moms "Mom" - not just mine or Eric's! Maybe Allison's mom, although Eric wouldn't know since he didn't spend much time with her! He knows that I haven't actually talked to her this weekend, so maybe after I finish these posts that I'm so behind on. :P At least he didn't blame THAT on everything being my fault - unlike his hands smelling like garlic after making Alistair's mom's burgers yesterday! (he knows when to stop unlike SOME people, which I certainly appreciate!) I accidentally told him that my mom recommended garlic for that - I meant LEMON, and Eric teased me about that. (Jeremy just recommended rubbing his hands on stainless steel... I smelled Eric's hands afterwards and they just smelled like soap!)

When we got to Jeremy's, we wondered what his buzzer number was. I couldn't remember what it was, and the only thing we both recalled was that it definitely did not correspond to his apartment number! A quick phone call to Jeremy later, we pressed the correct number and were let in. (38, 6, 217?) Jer was juggling phone calls and had JUST finished a phone call to his parents when we got to his apartment! Good thing Eric was leading me, because I wouldn't really remember how to get there despite having been there a few times before! (like the time Dallas had to guide me with the DURIAN!) We discussed soft spots on tomatoes, Safeway's "sale prices" being like regular prices at Donald's Market, his salad spinner, Darryl's old cheese grater not being clean (ew!), magnetic thing for knives and such, his 20-litre beer keg, his CO2 tank (good for flat pop too!), the fridge shelves being on top of the fridge, cooking for two not much more than cooking for one, Ray's WARHAMMER stuff, painting, Linux, background music being Chris Tomlin (half the stuff we sing is from him!), and Weird Al satire. Jeremy's mom had arranged his CDs in alphabetical order, but the Crystal Method isn't supposed to be under T!

Jon arrived when we were listening to BAD HAIR DAY and laughing over the funny lyrics. Jeremy commented that there was a Weird Al song where it SOUNDED like a Nine Inch Nails tune, but it was really an original. (he'd met Weird Al once courtesy of standing around outside for 90 minutes after a concert) Then he brought up the really fast polka version of Queen's BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY, and played it for us - his tape machine worked, yay! The original version sounds really slow next to the polka, that's for sure! (ALAPALOOZA - the first secular tape he bought ... so annoying to cue up songs on a tape - no NEXT TRACK button!) A while later, Jon tried to pour beer from the keg in the fridge - that only spilled some, and made the kitchen smell like beer! We tried calling Nathan multiple times, but figured he was sleeping. Eric texted Vivian to see whether she was coming - when he mentioned using abbreviations like "u" for "you," I had to say: "Ew, gross!" He thinks it's gross, too - but the AutoComplete menu and T9 doesn't make things easy!

We tried figuring out how to make salad dressing - apple cider vinegar and olive oil could work, but SOMEONE added blueberries / maple syrup / beer / who knows what else to a version of homemade stuff. When Nathan showed up later, I was the closest one to the apartment phone (no dial tone), so yelled a question to Jeremy about which number I should press to let him in. After he got lost and then finally found us, we found that he had a "Happy Birthday, White Guy #1" ice cream cake, which the guest of honor couldn't even EAT! The Dairy Queen clerks were white girls, but they were laughing over the inscription and not giving him any dirty looks. We're used to Eric not eating sugar, so just gave him some leftover blueberries instead when it came time to have dessert. Turns out Jeremy's a bit lactose-intolerant... his throat closes and such, and so he only had a little piece. Vivian also got lost while trying to find the apartment, so Eric said that he'd show her up. She gave him a Bailey's mug, which was nice of her even if he can't drink any alcohol.

Jon and I borrowed Jeremy's Linux computer for a bit - we had to do stuff like check up on the Fringe Festival, search bands on Allmusic, write email, look stuff up on a Dutch Wikipedia page / Google, etc. I accidentally created new white space on the screen since I wasn't used to the setup, but it's all good since I'm sure he didn't mind. All his email from a bunch of different addresses goes to one central inbox, and I saw that he HAD found my Evite despite searching by my name earlier! Later on, I took a catnap on Jeremy's bed - it's pretty high up because of a thick mattress! Jon laid on the bed while talking to Harmony later - I could tell it was her because of the falsetto and other such nonsense. She would NOT greet me with "Hi Cougar!" like he tried making us believe; Jeremy said something about a cougar on the prowl, and I half-jokingly told HIM not to start with that teasing reference either! (although I wouldn't MIND a LOT) Vivian didn't know that K was younger than I, and discussed the Walkathon and such with us - Lanie is sporty and wanted to jog, while J-Mak wimped out on a walk. EXERCISE! She walked into Jeremy's room later and saw a picture of the Linux penguin in a frame next to the bed - no clue why he has that instead of more family pictures! A picture covers a hole in the closet door - not Darryl's fault, but his own. Don't move closet doors and bang them against walls, haha.

The bulgogi beef turned out well for being fried - the guys also wanted to put kimchi in the tacos, which I kinda did while thinking of K for the first time in hours. ("he'd think this was revolting, hahaha") Vivian just thought it was really disgusting - at least it wasn't durian! (Jon ordered soursop at the restaurant - yay for no durian again!) We put on some more background music and tried recognizing all the songs in the Alternative Polkas - they're old and remind us of years gone by! Then someone decided to put in Gustav Holst's THE PLANETS, which I remember playing in Band years ago. Nathan recognized some of it, and Jon commented that these pieces were used in movies and such. Vivian and Jeremy were busy arranging an "E" out of 26 of Jeremy's 500 tealight candles - he got 100 for 69 cents at EQ3, and took advantage of the discount! (Some girl there racks up a lot of sales in two weeks to be the best in a month! Bed slats and labels, oh my!) I remember that K thought Veronica gave Eric 26 loonies for losing weight last week - it would be dangerous if Diven lost 26 pounds, believe me! That was his AGE, dude! Hahaha.

Jon commented that I was pretty red from almost a pint of homebrewed Scotch ale, plus a couple sips of the communal Malka porter. Jeremy loved the oil slick that was forming on the communal pint glass, and seemed amused by my face getting really red. Jon thought I needed another glass of beer, but I certainly didn't think so... I told him that he could see me doing that at my birthday thing, but he shouldn't buy any since he's abstaining from buying restaurant beer which he ALMOST forgot about! Eric wondered whether I could even handle the one pint I did have - you KNOW it! Let's just say that Thursday night was brought up yet AGAIN, this time in the context of drinking three beers and some of K's whiskey - I'm going to kill those people, haha. One of the highlights of going to Jeremy's IS the beer - heck, I'm not gonna lie!

Jon mentioned the hypothetical Christian band that he and Jeremy are going to start, along with the equally hypothetical brewery Raw Dog Brewing. It's called Panties on Hoops (he explained that to Vivian, who didn't seem too impressed), and the first album might be called CHRISTIAN MUSIC TO MAKE OUT TO. Apparently, Nathan caught two of his friends cuddling to I COULD SING OF YOUR LOVE FOREVER - that is just so WRONG! Jon said that other songs could be of the "Jesus is my girlfriend" persuasion - to corner the Davie St. market, they could just change it to "Jesus is my boyfriend." EW! Haha. The guys were discussing this at Jeremy's jazz gig on Saturday night - apparently, enough people came to make it worth playing. Too bad I couldn't, but it seemed like a fun time. He wanted to play cards / Uno, but they instead concentrated on picking up marbles with chopsticks. Discussed fork and spoon usage in Thai / Southeast Asian restaurants, and wrong usage of your knife and fork. It's okay to use the fork as a knife at home, but perhaps not while you're out! Then they discussed Sigma and other letter formations - that was when I had my nap, haha. Eric could tell I was tired because I was lying on the couch with my head on the armrest; later, I leaned my head on the sofa armrest, propping it up with my arm. Yeah, Jer was sitting in the sofa at the time, but it was fine. I know he wouldn't do anything to me!

Jeremy mentioned that he'd been stuck in Richmond with Darryl's friends a while back, and he couldn't leave because Darryl was his ride! We jokingly said that Darryl could still have lived in the apartment instead of moving to Burnaby, but that would have been very awkward! ("My wife's going to stay here too!" "Um...") Then we got onto how some people move in with their parents when they get married - it's not funny business anymore after that! I told Jeremy that my grandma had accompanied our parents on THEIR honeymoon - maybe not as a chaperone, but she's afraid in foreign cities. THAT had to have been awkward, even if she was in another room! (Vivian, Karen, Steph, and I all thought that was a JAW-DROPPING revelation on the cruise!) Nathan left early because he needed rest for his Trinity job in Langley (life / career / college advisor!), and Vivian followed suit quite a while later - we discussed her dad watching TV, her cleaning the house, Karen sweeping the floor, the liquor store at Kingsgate Mall, etc. Eric said he'd escort her out; when he got back, Jeremy asked if he'd kissed her goodnight. Diven said no, and Jeremy said that he'd asked just to see if he'd turn red. Hahaha, good idea even though he didn't! It would have been interesting if he HAD, haha. A few minutes later (with Ray STILL not home yet), we left as well. Didn't really discuss much on the ride home, although K had called Eric. Definitely good times, and something I'd do again!

Having someone sit in your lap is pretty sweet!

Listened to gospel music on the way to church, and apparently Grandma didn't mind it either. Courtesy of taking the Oak St. bridge and then Fraser to church, we passed K's favorite restaurant: HO YUEN KEE! Steph asked how he'd liked his time here: since I can't speak for him (obviously), I said that he seemed to like it okay. If there's a next time, I should really take his cues and just be an eating machine with his unwanted food, haha. Told Steph about Randal's response to my Evite: we just KNOW he's getting at a "birthday suit" reference when he wonders what sort of suit to wear to a birthday party since Karen's picked her "outfit" out already! Said hi to Cindy on the way into church, and greeted several more people once inside the sanctuary. Little Keenan was cute with his blue sunglasses, and he gave me a high-five. Joshua waved to me, aided by his dad Tim - those kids are pretty cute! Randal, Nathan, Christon, Jon, Jeremy, and I all shared various bits of amusement during the sermon: Daniel clowning around, certain illustrations Pastor Edward used, random bits of piano music which didn't go with the song, babies making noise that seemed to go with the song we were singing at the time, clapping, echoing, etc. I had the thought that K might not have liked the service since we stood for just about every song - thus, holding hands would have proved to be challenging. But we did make it work that time he was in service, haha. Who knows about the future... :P

After service, I told Randal that I was amused by his response - if he actually DOES show up in that kind of suit, we'd get evicted from the premises, and we don't want THAT! Haha. Eric also clarified the "Kamloops" thing that he typed yesterday - seems he meant "Port McNeill." Then he told me that I should still be mad at K even if I was on my way to being over it - hahaha, sounds good to me! Jeremy, Tony, Brian, Jon, Sheena, Dawn, Jen, Joey, Melia, Mike, Vivian, Karen, and I talked about my birthday Evite. Various people saw it, but didn't respond yet - Jer didn't find it in his email, but had by the time I got to his place. We also discussed the Sunday Dinner / Eric's pseudo-birthday, yesterday's Walkathon / Awana BBQ, Jeremy's lack of a BBQ grill for the bulgogi beef (broil or FRY it on cookie sheets!), upcoming church events, etc. Joey thought that a particular group of guys had too much testosterone: Ivan, Tony, Mike, Sam, Citrus, and others?! OH YEAH. Gave Mike my Awana Sparks Leader Source book, as I threatened him I'd do at the barbecue. Melia showed him what to read, and thanked me - not a problem! He doesn't like reading much, so it's a good thing if I can give him more to read, haha! I told Tony that he may as well GO HOME AND SLEEP since he'd just come from work... no use in staying for a Pho lunch at Pho Hoa!

The toddler Sunday School was pretty good: all new kids, with Amos the only one I knew. He stuck close to his mom Jennifer, who works with some special-needs kids at a daycare with professionals. Little Grace is about six weeks shy of being two years old (and understands Mandarin), so of course she clung to her mom. Aidan's three-ish, and has a good grasp of English despite being an only child and all that jazz. (and was VERY GOOD despite being with a bunch of strangers!) He actually sat right next to Frances when I came in the room, and then plopped right in my lap when we told him to get off a chair during storytime. I haven't had THAT experience since Ian was in the class two summers ago or more! It's surprisingly good to have someone sit in your lap, heh.

Went outside and waved to Hien and Mary, while figuring that I'd go to the family meeting for Pastor John since I was FLEXIBLE and could do that even if I wasn't expecting that in the morning. Stanley was offering me, Dylan, and everyone else some big blue JOLT drink - Dylan ended up taking it, but everyone else declined. We don't want a big energy drink, especially since Jeremy opined that those things are actually NEGATIVE energy and drain you! People wondered if I were going to Pho Hoa with them - since I wasn't short on cash this week, I went with my friends! Thanks, Steph - she took the "free lunch" option, and reminded me that I wasn't a family person anyhow. We had to be split up into two tables at Pho (the place on Nanaimo / Kingsway that the family used to go to all the time after church), and talked about time and positivity and molecules. Phil nodded when I said that we couldn't pick and choose what to believe - laments and sadness are part of the Christian walk, and it would be hypocrisy just to cut that part out because you believe that everything should be positive! Interesting "what the BLEEP?!" show where water could tell about positive things and negative things, haha. So New Age and science-oriented! I was QUIET like I usually am, haha. (puts the lie to someone thinking that I'm only quiet around my parents / family!)

The family meeting was pretty good - Eric and I got in late after yelling bye to Jeremy, and I almost lost my shoe sitting beside Sam's brother Jeremy in an empty seat. Andrea noticed that when Phil slid it over, and gave me an amused look. Yeah, maybe it's time to get shoes that actually FIT, haha. Rich could see what one of the pastor's kids was writing on her Etch-A-Sketch: "This is really boring!" Haha, I bet she and her brothers wished they were outside playing with the other kids! Learned a lot about Pastor John and his family / personal views, and was amused when Katherine forgot to switch to English from Chinese while translating a question. Finished Jon's Slurpee for him, and traded barbs with Ivan and Darren while noticing that Phil and Grace held hands in her lap for some of the session. Very cute! By that time, I was feeling no anger at all - K is lucky I don't get mad very often OR stay angry unless it's really justified. Although maybe Eric has a point about staying mad... I gotta talk to him about stuff, for sure!

Let's start fake Awana rumors before the year even begins!

I am so confused right now that it isn't even funny. HELP!

Ada and I got slightly lost on the way to Anita and Jeff's, but we talked about her husband John and sons Ian and Sean. Don't get me started on how John, Ian, and Sean are all the same name! We talked about Sean's autism, being more sociable in daycare, school, Awana commitment, picking your own berries / corn, her being in Awana before, church community / roots / friendship, Annacis Island, my grandma, Frances, New Westminster, Wal-Mart, the toddler Sunday School, my understanding of Cantonese, and other stuff. When we found Jeff and Anita's, things were about to get underway an hour later than scheduled. Found Andrew and waved hi - he sat between me and Michelle almost the entire night, which led Vanessa to start a fake Awana rumor before the year even began! Asked what he was doing for his birthday: it involves nightclubs and fake ID usage - NOT GOOD, SINCE I DON'T THINK YOUR PARENTS WILL LET YOU DO THAT! He remembered that the South Delta conference was crazy - I tend to agree, and I remember Edmond bemoaning the lack of sleep in a general Awana email, haha.

Waved hi to Henry, Hilary, Jason, Amos, Jessica, Cindy, Zoe, Eric (whose ugly mustache won almost universal disapproval), Chris, Chrystal, Joey, Emily x2, Margaret, and Mike. Eric tried getting us to form letters with our bodies ("C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N, L-I-V-E, E-T-E-R-N-A-L-L-Y"), and then put me on the spot by asking me to assess another group's "leading a song." That's the only reason I rolled my eyes, and he commented on that too. Next time, don't ask me because I hate not being totally prepared for questions! I know, I know - these are my fellow servers, but still. We had pork chops, sausages, chips, salad, and other stuff for dinner: JEFF IS THE GRILL MASTER! Told Chrystal about my birthday thing, and she said she'd email me if she could make it. Eric almost took out Anita's chandelier by hitting his head on it while demonstrating a "big" action on the word "universe" in the "Who's the King of the Jungle?" song - AIYOH!

Mike had fun with Anita's magnets, making various chemicals and then a stethoscope out of them before they rolled all over the floor. Emily wondered why he wore a shirt with "CAPPUCCINO" on it, but he said he'd bought it in Hong Kong - that explains things! We talked about his sister Joanna, whom nobody sees anymore because she's in a "hermit shell" - Joey says that when the guys are over, they make as much noise as possible because they KNOW she's not awake yet! That's not very nice! Then we started discussing Joyce's sister Joanna: nobody named Joanne in our church (although there USED to be), and Juliana isn't even close to that name! Joey and Emily C. finished a LOT of chips between them while signing a card and amusing everyone else, oh my!

We had sessions (which Eric couldn't say) on discipline, leadership, singing, connecting, and responsibilities. Talked to Jeff about Chilliwack for a bit before I left - I didn't really mind leaving when dessert started since I had ice cream in the freezer at home! Not the same as having it with a bunch of people, but whatever. Got home to some INTERESTING messages from Eric M. involving Kamloops, my "boy toy," and my birthday party / living arrangements - hmm! Guess I'll see what happens with stuff afterwards. Danielle, Karen (and Ivan), Sheena (and Chalaine), Steph, Randal, and Eric M. have replied to my Evite so far - Randal wonders what kind of suit to wear to a birthday party, so I instantly thought that it better not be a birthday suit, haha. Maybe I'll tell him that tomorrow after asking Jeremy how his jazz gig went! Speaking of, Phil isn't in for Sunday Dinner - Jon, Eric, and I appear to be the only ones in so far. Gotta see how THAT goes as well, since I almost forgot about it. Currently telling Corey how I misread "perils of the large workplace" as "PENIS of the large workplace" - I don't even want to know how that works! o_O


P.S. If people join in teasing me when my family starts it, I don't like that very much. I don't care if it's in good fun or not, because I don't find that behavior very supportive. I'd prefer if they just said that they didn't want to listen to it at all because it bothers ME and they don't like it. I'm sensitive about things and DO NOT LIKE TEASING! UGH.