Dream of navigating rapids / Elevator impoliteness

I had an interesting dream which involved a bunch of people I know on a few boats. We needed to navigate some rapids and a waterfall - to my surprise, the old ladies really liked it! Inside the boat, some of the kids were squishing the others inside toy buses and such, almost like what we have in the nursery / toddler room at church. I told them to STOP IT otherwise the aunties and uncles would get them with slotted spoons and feather dusters. Sarah, William, Mary, Sabrina, Henry, Eric, and some others supported me on this. Eventually, the kids stopped because the multi-colored carpet was getting too brown and orange for one of them - we knew they'd just take their escapades to another place! However, we figured that the aunties would take care of it - and they did.

We just decided to camp ourselves next to Henry's room - I slept next to the door while everyone else marveled at the security measures that Eric and Stanley's dad had put in place on someone's electronic device. When I got up, I called Henry to ask if he could take me somewhere - unfortunately, he couldn't. Jon and Jeremy convinced us to get in an empty elevator: Jeremy and I sat on the floor with our legs stretched out, and agreed that this was the most impolite we'd ever been in an elevator! (originally, we were standing against the wall, but figured it would be too uncomfortable for me - haha) Quite the interesting dream, haha.


I let Melia know that I couldn't make it to Awana, and then fielded an email from Jon about Sunday dinner. It's at Jeremy's, even though he hasn't asked Jer specifically (haha) - the menu is yam frites (baked and deep-fried), butternut squash / yam / ? soup, acorn squash with rice and sausage, my apple pie, and drinks. Melia called me back to let me know that she got my message - it sucks, but at least I'm one of the best at letting her know I won't be at Awana! Haha. :D

Leslie --

[noun]: A witch-burning ritual

'What did your name mean in ancient times?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Hahaha. Oh dear. o_O

New stylish shirts don't necessarily cost $100, dude!

Gmail has changed its look - a bit confusing at first, but it'll be FINE. :D

Eric picked me up and we went to his place - Veronica thought my NEW SHIRT was pretty nice! I remember that I have Vanessa's birthday dinner on the 11th AND maybe Anita's baby shower on the 10th. (for once, an event which doesn't conflict with Awana... but maybe with the nursery cleaning project!) Steph picked us up, and it was off to the Zone for us! We talked about piranha flowers on Facebook, Steph stuffing her bra for work / a Peggy Bundy costume, MARIO music, Big Sugar's BUTTERBALL, a RICHMOND Fellowship program for once, no Subway / Pho dinner, Henry / Teresa, my being weirder than usual, mega-rolls of toilet paper, clock radios, Mom and Dad spending $400 in the States, dinner with Fred and Dallas, etc. Managed to find a cramped parking spot between a van and a truck that BOTH went over the parking lines, but found a bunch of people already waiting for us. It's funny how you can't drink beer past a certain point at the Zone - as Jeremy joked, utter chaos would break loose if they allowed beer in the bowling area!

Talked to Dylan about his race which necessitates him getting up at 5 AM because it's in Haney: OUCH! Jen and Karen both noticed my new shirt - this was its debut! (I wish I had a picture... maybe later?) Turned out that only Alan, Raymond, Steph, Eric, Randal, Kevin, and Ivan wanted to bowl. Grace, Joe, Jeremy, Cindy, Andrea, Karen, Jen, and I just chilled - $20 a person to bowl?! Jeremy had spent enough at the pub for dinner already, haha. Talked about Phil, co-teaching, the NOISY bowling alley (the music was too loud, never mind the choice of Sir Mix-A-Lot :P), losing our hearing / getting old, and quiet places being nicer because then you didn't have to YELL in order to be heard. (we saw a guy talking on his cell phone... SO NOT GOOD FOR UNDERSTANDING!)

Discussed Chrystal, Awana, cousins, our reasons for not bowling, Kids Night, cruises, babysitting, hanging out sometime, birthday cards, Christmas doings, Korey ("he looks so huge in the picture, and you're so small!"), ironing things out, nerves, and relationships. Then we got into Chuck in Toronto, sleep issues (Cindy: "the three days that I had insomnia were the worst of my life - I wound myself up way too much and couldn't unwind!"), being able to sleep right away (lucky Grace!), Harmony's mind racing and anxiety creation, Big Two / Speed / card games, Cindy not knowing many people in the Fellowship yet (small group / Grace / Connie / Steph), etc. Jeremy's card deck was warped from the rain since his knapsack isn't waterproof, but it's a good thing that he has a new deck at home which hasn't been opened yet! (he had to unstick them from each other, and shuffling didn't work well at all)

There was a time when Grace and Joe went to find a coffee shop, so Jeremy and I were left alone. (Andrea, Karen, and Jen had gone to play racing games at the arcade) We rarely talk about Korey, so I was surprised when he brought him up - told him that K was doing FINE! Then he asked which story was my favorite in the "addictive" FINAL EXITS book: I had to go with Cordia and Stanley's fave, which involves a man wanting to throw a knife out his window to puncture the tire of a man behind him. The knife ricocheted and severed his neck instead! HAHAHA! Jer had read a section or two every night, and liked the one about the man who was fried to death: he wanted to rescue a dog from very hot water, and his skin fell off as he took two days to die! (I told him about the Morbid Facts email newsletter, and maybe I'll link him to it later)

He said that he'd noticed I wasn't there for the past couple weeks: I was sick, and then Eric had to debug a bunch of stuff. Talked about card deck sound effects, cosmic bowling at 9 (white stuff GLOWS, like shirts / the other side of Jeremy's WWJD armband / napkins / lollipops as ghosts from my sister's Halloween work extravaganza - an excuse not to do any work!), the poutine that Grace and Joe brought back, forklifts, his new managerial responsibilities at the furniture warehouse (first interview on the other side is on Monday morning, so he'll Google questions), Phil and Jon co-teaching, whether Jon was at Daniel or David Fellowship, Erin / Karen, Pastor John hopefully being with US since Daniel Fellowship has a lot of leaders like Daniel / Michelle / Citrus / Danielle / Melia / Angus, and life in general. Jeremy didn't like the gender imbalance that was going on! (he was the only guy at our chilling table because Joe went off somewhere, and Steph was the only girl that bowled)

Jeremy noticed my top - he guessed that my new blue colorful shirt cost $100, and was from the Chinese Night Market since it was so stylish. He thought that was what I wanted to hear - kinda true, heh. But it only cost $10, and was from London Drugs - his and Jen's reaction was the same: "London Drugs has SHIRTS and stuff now?!" Hey, it was even $5 cheaper than I thought it would be - and at that point, I needed something to lift my spirits up! Should be WASHED IN COLD WATER AND HUNG TO DRY - I'll probably turn it inside out too when I do wash it, heh. Lotsa shiny things on the front, which I don't want to inadvertently destroy! Steph beat everyone in the first game with a 119 score, and Alan took honors in the second. We wondered where Cindy and Grace were; as I found out, they were in the washroom talking to get away from the noise outside! (it doesn't help that Cindy still doesn't have much of a voice...) Talked about arcades not being much in demand now except for the "vintage" games among people aged 20-30, iPods, Steph liking my firm butt (thanks for telling Jen...), weekend plans, etc.

Pastor John showed up to join us after church - seems he always is asking Dad for a ride, haha. There IS the 401 bus if he hadn't driven to the Zone! On the way home, we discussed Sunday dinner plans: pie / pumpkin / squash / yam fries / wax from candles in jack-o-lanterns / gourds and pumpkins at Eric's. Eric and Steph discussed that GROTESQUE groin injury... a three-inch cut?! OUCH! Also talked about dinners, the time change, Margaret's downtown birthday dinner, etc. Corey now is telling me about fighting / brawling, drugs, relevant scientific journals, addling me, experts, spinach / anchors / Popeye, PORTAL, etc. Interesting night... since I'm home early, I can also sleep earlier! YAY! (tried calling Henry, but didn't get an answer - called Melia instead to let her know about stuff)

Can we all make up our minds here, or what?!

Quick rundown of my day before I need to go, thanks to Eric:

* K called at 2:35 AM, so I talked to him for a bit. Very interesting!

* Took a shower with the hot water, which failed to work last night around 11:30 or so. I'd griped to Corey about it, who thinks the hot water heater wasn't working properly, and blamed me for it. I DON'T THINK SO!

* Got a message from Cerowyn on YM - haven't talked to HIM in forever! "One of these days, you'll be online at the same time as me" indeed... haha! Maybe I should just add him to my friends list on LJ, haha.

* Jon called at 1 to say that he was at the haircut place with Grandma, but that they could pick me up later. Sounded good to me... then he called me at 3 to find that they were STILL there and hadn't eaten lunch yet. AIYA. Then I called him at 4 to state that I changed my mind about going to bowling since I was tired - I know, I got up only a few hours before. He had a few things to do before going somewhere tonight, so couldn't pick me up if I changed my mind again. Fair enough!

I did change my mind, and called Steph and Eric to advise them of the fact. Now Eric's here, so I gotta go!

I'm gonna MAKE the government cover insulin pumps! (or not)

This woman needs an insulin pump BADLY! Government doesn't cover the cost, nor other types of insulin! So heartbreaking... and reminds me that I better start thinking of a list for that community!

For every word you get right, this site will donate ten grains of rice through the United Nations to help end world hunger. Very cool, since every little bit counts.


Talked to Corey last night about Russia R5 DVDs - they rush really nice quality online releases of movies a couple of months after they come out, in hopes of keeping people from pirating them. Hey, it results in great movies MUCH sooner, even though it's not remastered / optimized like a DVD is! Heard a Christmas commercial, and bemoaned ads to Corey - there's some nursery / gardening place where he is that has a LOT of Christmas trees, and it's been that way for a couple weeks! AIYA.

I just heard a commercial for Richmond Lexus, and misheard "Christian" as "Christine." Man, I didn't think my hearing was gonna go THAT quickly! o_O Gotta shower before Chinese Eric calls me later! (Edit at 6: He DID call me to say that his boss called him in for a few more hours of work since his co-worker's not feeling well and can't come in. Says he's really sorry, and is going to California till mid-November to help with a parental friend's business. Hopefully, we can talk on MSN or email when he's there if he can hook up MSN! If not, we'll have to wait to catch up!)


Paris builds pee-proof walls: PARIS - The mayor of Paris, who made environmental concerns a major priority, is taking aim at another threat to the city's cleanliness -- public urination. Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe, who made all self-cleaning Sanisette toilets in streets and parks free of charge in February, is turning to a new method of keeping urination off the streets and in the toilets: walls that pee back, The Telegraph reported Monday. "Le mur anti-pipi" is an undulating wall that features sloping surfaces that reflect urine streams back toward their source, the newspaper said. "The jet of pee is rather oblique. If it meets a sloping surface, it is sent back to the trousers," said Etienne Vanderpooten, a municipal architect who has been working on halting public urination for 25 years. "It is the case of the arroseur arrose (the sprinkler sprinkled)," he told The Telegraph.

Your Score: Paddington Poofter

You are 27% Bogan!

Ponsy Tall Poppy. Born with a silver spoon and probably silver non-spill mug as well. Could probably even make a latte. No time for you.

Link: The Bogan Test written by rolfy47 on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Vodka sauce and frozen raspberries will be interesting, but NOT TOGETHER! / Andrea's pic of me and K

Hey, my sister has Matthew Good Band on her iTunes! ROCK! Haha. :D

I attempted to get to sleep early last night at around 12:15, but it wasn't working. Guess I got SOME sleep before I went food shopping... I bought some Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough under the impression that it was a new flavor I hadn't tried yet, but just found that it wasn't true. I also bought an Oust air freshener under the impression that I had a coupon for it, but I didn't! DARN, I COULD HAVE SAVED THE MONEY! At least I used ten of my eighteen Stouffer's coupons, AND those were $1.50 off anyhow! No, I possibly could not have afforded all 18 even at the sale price, haha. (whether I'd have enough room in the freezer is another issue entirely!) I was / am so tired that I keep misreading things: "Poppy and Sesame" (on a package of Carr's water crackers) looked like "Papaya and Sesame," and "Lenovo Care" (on my sister's laptop) looked like "Lenovo Card." o_O

When I got home, I was putting away the groceries (including frozen raspberries and three kinds of on-sale Classico pasta sauce which Eric can open tomorrow - vodka sauce, Italian sausage / pepper / onion / spicy red pepper - MUST GET MUSHROOM AND RIPE OLIVE!) when Hester called. I decided to ignore that temporarily since I was focused on the groceries / garbage and changing little things on Facebook. Called her back later, to find that the plumber would be here this afternoon to fix the toilet. Thank goodness - dumping buckets of water into the toilet to "flush" it was getting a little old! I got up from a much-needed nap to find my glasses bent in a very strange way. No idea how they landed in a pile of clothing, but I called Factory Direct at 873-5288: good thing they could fix them! Then I decided to see if Eyeworks could, even though there's always a risk of breakage. EXCELLENT that they did, since it saved me a longer trip!

Grandma said that my parents are away till Friday, and that my mom gave me a box of strawberry milkshake Whoppers - YAY, LIMITED EDITION STUFF! She also referred to Dairy Queen as McDonald's, and says that bacon cheeseburgers are on my menu - with a peanut buster parfait. I'm not eating two helpings of each even if they're "buy one, get one free" coupons! Saw an empty bottle of Mills St. brewery (red label) coffee porter, so amused myself by asking her if she drank it - I know it's Jon's stuff! I also answered emails from Danielle and Andrea / a Facebook message from Harmony, and wrote on various people's walls - good times! (I refused to consider even having a Red Bull, haha) Hey, Adam and K took my Facebook quiz and got 30% / 80% - wonder which ones they got wrong, haha.

Just turned on MSN here - I have an interesting variety of offline messages, which GAIM / Pidgin doesn't support! As for present conversation, Corey just wanted to know if the Nigerian police called, hahaha - and wonders how we say "Chilliwack" without laughing since he thinks it's a ridiculous name. Then he says it sounds like the trick-or-treating has begun, and asks if he should throw eggs at the kids having fun outside - NO, VERY BAD! My grandma just came in here and complained because my sister's clothes were on the floor - "SO DIRTY!" Hahaha, so amusing. :D


Andrea finally sent me a long-overdue picture of me and Korey. She's happy for us, and remembers that this is the first time she officially saw us together as a couple... I'm sure a LOT of people could say the same!




As a bonus, here is my sister's current Facebook display picture. It's her classic "COME HERE AND I'LL KILL YOU!" pose, complete with Canucks regalia!

Yay for Chinese Eric wanting to hang out before he goes Stateside for a while!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Mandy (italianbeenher) and Steve (wrathchild) added me to Facebook, and I've been chatting with various people via wall comments all day so far. Learned that Michelle CANNOT give me a ride on Saturday because of a meeting at Lesley's, so who knows - I'll get back to Chris if Henry doesn't by Friday / Saturday. (I don't blame him right now for not getting back to me since he's sick - BUT he got his sister sick as well!) If not, then my plans for Saturday most likely will change! Interesting stuff, indeed! Eric H. called me when I was occupied with other things, so I called him back. We talked about Fay, relationships, Nathan, Danielle (who emailed me back - I AM AT PEACE!), hanging out before he goes to the States (Thursday night works for me!), food options (no idea), nitpicking, girls being different than guys, surface happiness hiding tension, and his Internet outage which resulted in his not getting my week-old email till just now.

It's true that you can never really tell how happy a couple really is unless you're with them 24/7! It'll be good to hang out with him and chill, update his blog, get him on Facebook so he can add me, etc. I don't mind if he calls me after work so I can figure out dinner! (white food, maybe... but then I could change my mind!) Candy also just buzzed me to wish me a Happy Halloween - I know this is important to her because of her religion! BUT there is no way I can talk to her unless she's online - Pidgin and Trillian don't support offliners!

Being in love is a great feeling.... dreaming of browser fairs?!

I had a weird dream that involved a friend getting in bed with Dan and waking up suddenly when she realized that it was the WRONG person! Before, my sister and I were at a craft fair with a lot of tables. We were looking for things from Internet Explorer for Mozilla Firefox, and then she tried to go to the washroom. The washrooms were blocked off by a pile of wood and plungers, so she tried going to the other side. Those were fine, so she told me to hold a pile of blue things and tell Jon where she was. After the fair, we went to see Chrystal and a friend of hers. Interesting dream...

Well, Barry FINALLY called me back, blaming things on his bad memory. At least I have an appointment for tomorrow morning at 10:30 - guess I better turn my phone on, since my music alarm is in no way reliable! (now THERE'S an idea for a practical present...) Also, my mom emailed me to say that Grandma's afraid people will knock on the door tomorrow since it's Halloween - she and Dad are going to the States, Jon's sleeping over at Nathan's, and Steph is helping at the church for Kids' Night till 10 or so when Margaret will drive her home. At least it's the AFTERNOON when I can go over - Dairy Queen coupons (which she rendered as "couple" :P) will be good, haha. Good thing I can probably get a ride home with Margaret, too - it's been ages since she's been over!

Corey told me that he made his own bubble tea, so I said that I was proud of his accomplishment. He always bugs me about being able to have it whenever he wants, but it does take 40 minutes to prepare at first! But you can just make lots of pearls at a time, using them bit by bit... sounds practical. Jane doesn't want to send a bunch of heavy tea in her next box, so he had to perfect a recipe - MORE PEARLS! According to Jane, zhen zhu nai cha (珍珠奶茶) is pearl milk tea in Mandarin. Corey had Jamaican pizza for lunch - it had barbecue sauce on it instead of pizza sauce, and actually tasted pretty good. Sounds like an interesting way to make it, that's for sure. Told him that I was absorbed in too many Facebook applications - AIYA! (pet dragons, Vancouver Canucks, growing gifts / hatching eggs, bookshelves...) Flora, Anthony, and Lawrence added me on there - YAY!

I'm in love with my sweetheart... SO HAPPY AND EXCITED! :D

Would YOU want to be named Apple or Maxim?!

Right now, I'm talking to Corey about unusual names. This came about because I told him what had happened this morning. I also dislike when I put my fingers on the wrong keys, resulting in a really indecipherable piece of writing! Did that just now, this morning, and last night too - I hope I'm not losing it!


(07:45:10 PM) Corey: Hester? people are actually named that? :P is she an old angry lady that kids are scared of? that's the image I get from that name :P
(07:49:56 PM) Flami: yes, people are named that... this is a Chinese lady around 40 or 45
(07:50:27 PM) Flami: as for kids being scared of her, I don't know
(07:52:00 PM) Flami: speaking of unusual names, one of the teens [Gabriel] at church has a friend named Agassi :P
(07:54:31 PM) Corey: well, if you're talking about Chinese people, Chinese people don't seem to have a good grasp on English names :P Jane knows someone that goes by the name "Apple," and apparently in Malaysia, lots of people use Madonna and pop star names and stupid stuff like that
(07:54:43 PM) Flami: yeah, I agree
(07:54:58 PM) Flami: a friend of mine used to know someone named Pinky - yes, she was Chinese
(07:55:10 PM) Corey: I don't see why they even use English names... everyone has an English name and a Chinese name... why don't they just have.... a name? :P
(07:56:11 PM) Corey: and Jane has an aunt that uses Jennifer and they think it's neat because Jane and Jennifer are almost the same! and the way they say it, it sort of is, but they say it wrong :P like, they think Jane is short for "Janeifer"
(07:56:51 PM) Corey: I told them that those were two totally different unrelated names, and they were surprised :P
(07:57:25 PM) Corey: no wait, it wasn't "Janeifer"... they said it "Jennifer" but thought Jane was more like "Jen".. that's it :P
(07:58:02 PM) Corey: Jane's real name is like "zhen zhen" which sounds a lot like "Jen Jen" which is why she uses Jane.. since it sounds pretty close
(07:59:09 PM) Corey: so anyway, the point is, even though these are Chinese people in Canada, they probably still haven't figured out English names yet :P and from some of the weirdass names of people you tell me, I'd say I'm right in at least some cases :P
(08:02:01 PM) Flami: In some cases, yeah... I do know that there was a guy who went to my school - he was named Zen. Someone else in this town is apparently named Zillion Wong. :P
(08:02:33 PM) Corey: it's like when I had Spanish or French or whatever in school, and everyone had to pick Spanish names, and half the class chose some weird name that probably isn't common at all in those countries
(08:03:24 PM) Flami: oh, yeah... I've heard of that happening before
(08:05:27 PM) Corey: I never got the point of that in language classes.... and in Japanese, they'll have some Japanese way to say any English name, and will not try to say it right... and stuff like names of countries being different in different languages... how does that even happen?? I don't see why names should be at all different between languages
(08:06:50 PM) Corey: if I make up a new language how do I name countries and people? :P do I just say "oh... I think I'll call that country Penisblop, and anyone named John... well, in this country we'll say Johnneria"
(08:09:41 PM) Flami: I remember a girl I used to know called Meloney, and a guy I used to know called Winson. Then there's the person on Harmony's Facebook friends list, who's named Wesmond. Oh, and my acquaintance's friend is named MAXIM - like the magazine. Then again, Stanley got his name from the park around here.. :P
(08:09:54 PM) Flami: I don't know about that...
(08:10:10 PM) Flami: speaking of names, there's this baby named Baron! What the..
(08:13:02 PM) Corey: that's a name I've heard before, so I think that's a real name.. just really uncommon
(08:13:31 PM) Corey: if you name your kid Baron, you have to give them "von" as a middle name :P
(08:13:41 PM) Flami: the people at the bad baby names forum would probably tear it apart.. and the kid's middle name is Ross


Here's a baby name generator I found at the bad baby names forum. You take a quiz, and it supposedly matches up with your tastes. I said I liked Summer, rock and alternative, vanilla and peppermint, key lime and cheesecake, blue and purple, and that I'm a Virgo. They gave me the following:

Girls: Arista, Auriel, Celestia, Cordelia, Ivory, Samantha, Sylvia, Tanya, Virginia
Boys: Camilo, Cassius, Dale, Henry, Horacio, Juan, Landon, Roger, Wolfgang
Unisex: Kelly, Quinn, Reagan

The only ones I like out of that list are Celestia (better as Celeste), Samantha, Tanya, Virginia, and Henry. Let's say that the others are okay to horrible!

What did you get?

Stupid toilet flush issues! / Sleazy P. Martini

This morning, I called the apartment manager to advise her that the flush handle on my toilet hadn't been working since Saturday morning. She told me, "Nobody else has as many problems with the toilet as you do, and we just fixed it a month ago!" (not true, since they fixed it on the night of August 27) "You should use it carefully and tenderly; if we find it's YOUR fault, you will be charged. My landlord and boss say it's very expensive for the plumber to come. You should put any problems you have IN WRITING instead of calling." I was not exactly impressed after that, and wish the old management (which left over two years ago) was still in place - Kathy and Kelly probably wouldn't make a fuss about my soap bar ledge in the bathroom, OR the toilet flush handle issue! *sighs and figures again that she needs to move*

At least I had an interesting conversation with Corey about GWAR, Sleazy P. Martini (the manager), 1991 recordings, someone in Arizona who cut up her lover, etc. Interesting news stories, for sure! Daisy, Eric T., and Dennis all added me on Facebook also. YAY! I also want to read THE BELL JAR (Sylvia Plath), and update my Visual Bookshelf on Facebook. Cue double addictions to books / reading and the social networking site, haha! Jon just sent us an email about a Sunday Dinner this week - it's criminal that we haven't had one in two weeks, Jeremy's desire to make yam fries / frites if you're snobbish (hip items in restaurants), using pumpkins and squash for the varieties and it being pretty to look at / their being in season and tasting better now than in the summer, using discarded pumpkins on the roadside if we're feeling extra Asian-cheap (like dumpster diving without actually going into the dumpster :P), and sparing hours to fellowship. Sounds good, although I won't be in for Steph's anxious ticket buying for the CFL West Final and the Lions on Nov. 18 after Sunday School at 1:30! (but she can always sell them on Craigslist if nobody else but Jon is interested)


Edit two hours later: The manager's husband came by to take a look - apparently, the flush valve has a hole in the chain, and it can't connect to the bottom part of the tank. Guess the plumber will be in again - "wait a while," indeed! The toilet tank definitely won't fill back up on its own right away, so I have to get used to weird noises coming from the tank as it attempts to do the impossible and fill up. Yikes. Thank goodness the hospital's across the street? (and is open 24/7, unlike the health centre next door) Hahaha.

Dream of garbage and grandmas / "You're the last people I'd EVER tell!" / Peanuts or PENIS?

Note to self: Reply to Facebook messages and wall posts after I finish this entry. (continue anagram project!) Also, Eric T. added me on there. In the "what a small world" department, I've discovered that Fabian knows Cody! (scotish_mox) Cody tried telling me that he met Fabian at BDSM night at Sincity, but they really used to work at Safeway together. Thinks it's stalkerish that I sent him a message after recognizing his name, but it's not THAT high on the stalker scale; to me, "stalkerish" would be adding him as a Facebook friend without warning / sending him a zillion messages proclaiming my love for him / leaving him a squillion wall posts proclaiming my intentions to hunt him down! Had a half-dream of sneaking away from Trinity on brown wooden steps, putting forbidden stuff in the black garbage bags, and Grandma helping my mom's mom (another old lady from church!) up some carpeted stairs in a conference room. WEIRD!

Went to sleep at 1:35 AM after talking to Corey about anarchy and gunpowder (only in relation to non-deadly smoke bombs!), and was woken up shortly after 9 by the phone beeping at me. I KNEW I NEEDED A NEW CLOCK RADIO! If it were only the alarm, then I'd take my parents' offer to loan me an alarm clock - but the radio keeps going in and out too. I don't listen to the radio in my room very often, but it's nice to know it's there. Should have bought one at London Drugs the other night, darn it. Oh well, maybe this week sometime? My sister says I should save my money - and that I well know - but it's something that's been put off for too long! Meanwhile, my dad thinks that I bought the new 300GB hard drive at my boyfriend's behest - THAT IS CATEGORICALLY NOT TRUE, especially since I bought it in DECEMBER! (months before I met him at Nate's!) Besides, I've discovered that I like waking up to music / the radio instead of an insistently beeping alarm which will just make me homicidal. (certain people would probably say I need to put the qualifier of "more so than usual" in there, har har) Nathan said that XSCargo in Richmond had good deals - I pass there in the CAR, sure! As I was telling Frances and Phil, I definitely need to catch up on my sleep! (which I kinda did when I got home after dealing with the toilet flush not working - thank goodness the hospital's across the street!)

Exchanged banter with Eric, who was sitting right behind me. The sermon illustration and picture of a recliner and remote control certainly provided some laughs! Citrus said he got back yesterday from Hong Kong - had a good trip, though! Said hi to Tony, who's pretty busy - at least he didn't have to work last night and be REALLY TIRED today! Man, I should get his email address one of these days! Went downstairs while chatting with Kevin Li about my running for Fellowship Committee - it's going to be interesting times! Put my stuff down in the toddler room while talking to Karen about the HEAVY RAIN, and then gave Randal some stuff which he's since thanked me for via email. I went outside for a bit (saying hi to Daniel on the way) to find out that everyone was heading to Sunday School - Emily discovered that the back door was closed, so we both ran to the front door. Exchanged "hey" greetings with Jeremy while doing so - good friends and community are important to me!

Discussed Frances' trip to Hawaii with her - like Citrus, she just got back yesterday. It was good that one of her sister Elaine's friends had a car that she and Mel could borrow to go sightseeing while Elaine was at work - so sunny and warm there! The Sunday School kids were kinda on the wild side today - fighting over toys, wanting to play with toys when Frances was trying to tell them a story (the same one I heard at Awana yesterday about Saul going blind on the way to Damascus), leading a chorus of "DRINKING TEA!" ... man, I was glad when it was over! Surveyed the sandwiches downstairs before going to the Pho restaurant and grabbing the last available two tables. We had to squish - Ivan's family was there, and finally got a table when some Asians left. There were even two tables of white people - so not the usual customers! Jon, Jeremy, Steph, Vanessa, and Calla came in after I did - I had a #21, which wasn't quite enough considering I'd had no breakfast except for two Aero bars from 7-11 which I had to hurriedly eat during the 40 Days sharing at service! Quail eggs and chicken are cool, though!

Discussed murder, pot, crazy ladies on talk shows saying that the two innocents in that Surrey drug-related slaying weren't really THAT innocent (YEAH RIGHT...), Calla's new field testing job, etc. Ivan's brother Nathan came over, and we had him guess our ages. Vanessa was 12 or 13, he knew Ivan's age (18), Calla was 16 or 19, I was 16 / 19 / "in between" (the only person with a range!), Jon was 17 or 19, and Jeremy was 21! (I had to call him back for Jeremy, since J had gone to the washroom before this started) Nathan felt Jeremy's stubble ("what beard?!" Jeremy remarked with laughter) and declared it "prickly." Jon said that it would be funny if Vanessa were teaching kids who were actually 12 or 13, since it could be peer-to-peer teaching, but she really teaches kids who are 5 to 7! One of the kindergarten kids apparently thinks she looks like his aunt, but the kid is white! Calla says everyone mistakes her for someone else they know - "did you go to Carlton?!" "... no..." Then Nathan said something about wearing bowties for Ivan's wedding since we asked if he were getting married soon: we'll keep that in mind, even if they be pink with polka dots! Jon then asked Ivan's sister Natalie whether she had any crushes or boyfriends that she was hiding from her parents - her reaction was a rather vehement "You're the LAST people I'd EVER tell!" Vanessa laughed while she said Jon was HORRIBLE, and then added "Oh, she DIDN'T!" Natalie turned around at the door and said "YES, I DID!" which only caused us to laugh more. I told them that Nathan had told me and Eric at the last Summer Conference that he had eight crushes, and he'd even named them for us! (Natalie's close-mouthed, while Nathan's more open!)

Went to the AGM, where people were on their PSP systems, and playing NHL games / logging onto Facebook / checking hockey pool stats on laptops. Joey, Sam, Danielle, Phil, Emily, Andrea, Sheena, Calla, Chrystal, Dawn, Vivian, and I ate a lot of fruit candy that I bought - Joey had bought some as well. I just kept the card tradition alive with an ever-growing pile for both October AND November... and managed to make sure some people's would be given to them! (Jeff, Dawn, Vivian, Chalaine, Grace) It was over at around 3:25, which was speedy... the January one will be REALLY LONG! We were suitably impressed with the progress of the building project, and saw this REALLY THICK BINDER with at least five or six inches of papers in it - SCARY! Uncle Patrick asked Steph what her Chinese name was, so she pointed to my dad doing secretary duties up front with a laptop and said "Ask HIM!" Then there was the Chinese overhead for our "unity" song (THEY'LL KNOW WE ARE CHRISTIANS BY OUR LOVE) - the ESC contingent was kinda lost since most of us couldn't remember anything past the first verse / can't read Chinese in the first place! We had to sing to the Chinese Congregation people since they'd basically sung to us - everyone clapped to try helping us along, heh.

People were joking about the eventual birth weight of Anita's baby - Joey says ten pounds, for which Anita pretended to slap him. Auntie Bessy says six or seven, while Anita figures it'll be an average between her and Jeff's birth weights at seven and a half. Sheena, Daniel, and others were trying to talk to Jon all at the same time about worship on Friday / Sunday - good times. Eric tapped my head and said hello, while apologizing that he hadn't been able to install XP on my computer yet - hey, it's FINE since I understand that he's busy! Told Cindy that I'd gotten her email (bowling in Richmond on Friday as a small-group activity?); Calla said her dad didn't need to be even more stressed out, and mentioned she might not make it on Friday because of work-related reasons (10.5 hours out in the field and OFF BY 4?); Chrystal said she heard I'd been sick; told Danielle that I'd have to email her something again; and Mike said that my siblings were perverted because they were "ogling" his new black bag. (I had to tell Danielle's cousin Kevin that we weren't THAT perverted - and demonstrated with his knapsack!)

Steph told us this funny story from last night: Daniel, Michelle, and a bunch of others were over at the townhouse. They were having a great time when my mom came and offered them peanuts. Nothing wrong with that, but in her accent (and because she doesn't quite know how to say it), "peanuts" got rendered as something very similar to "PENIS" - HAHAHAHA! Daniel's laughter was out of control (as usual), and Michelle fell out of her chair after hearing that! My dad came over to see what was going on, and gave everyone a LOOK - you know, the "YOU ARE VERY BAD!" look. That still didn't stop everyone's laughter, haha - must have been hilarious! Discussed Vanessa's parents being away for a few weeks (she's used to it since they've gone away before - it's just that the first couple days are weirdly quiet!), Dylan being in Ottawa, Christon's not being at the meeting, and birthday dinners for Vivian / Vanessa - Cindy just sent an Evite for Vanessa's 23rd, so I'll reply to that too! (it's on the 11th at 6, at a place called Fish on Rice above Earls on Kingsway - and includes dessert at Melia's later... the next day is a holiday!) Someone wants to know if we can go kite-flying like the dog in the picture... maybe not such a good idea with the weather we're having right now, haha. Great idea, though!

I should really call Auntie Ying more often - she's more skinny now, and apparently her health isn't as good as it used to be. Phil says that now they have to take care of her: I guess that's how the world works, heh. Maybe this week or next... I'm really not sure. She IS nice, though! Told my dad stuff about Windows / Linux / the hard drive on the way home - hopefully, he gets the message that I don't buy things just because my boyfriend said to, especially when the timeline doesn't even MAKE SENSE or GEL! Thank goodness Rich sold his installation lunch ticket to me for next week, since he can always chase after the organizers to get one - that was apparently the last one ever for selling purposes, because my mom tried to buy one just after I gave Rich his money and was out of luck! Steph said she got one for herself, but not for me since she thought I'd be like "I CAN MAKE MY OWN DECISIONS AND DON'T NEED YOU DICTATING MY LIFE!" While I can be like that sometimes, I don't think I'd be like that over Pastor John's LUNCH! AIYA.

Jeremy sent us an email about updates for our small group, and Cindy sent Maxine one about sanitizing the toys in the nursery. "I have a sanitiser that I use for my beer-making. It is called Oxy-San and contains hydrogen peroxide, disodium salt, and magnesium sulphate. It is a "no-rinse sanitiser" as the compounds in it are all low in toxicity, and the residue actually contains yeast nutrients which is good for brewing. We can use it and rinse anyhow since the toys won't be used for brewing." Let's HOPE not! OH MY! o_O (maybe the group can have dinner on that Friday or the Saturday - no Awana because of Remembrance Day!) Cindy noticed that a lot of the toys and equipment have actually been removed from the nursery - THAT'S GOOD! We would just have to mainly take care of wiping down the place and cleaning / removing some of the stuffed animals.