She may have a hairy Assyrian uncle, but don't go all SPARTA!!!! on him...

Before I went to Awana this afternoon, I spent time updating my Facebook visual bookshelf - Raymond had reminded me about that yesterday when he brought it up. Added a lot of books, with more to come since I *do* read a lot! When Ada picked me up, Ian was eating Frosted Flakes out of the little boxes I remember from years ago. He said hi to me, only adding my name at his parents' prompting... then asked about my Christmas hat - it's close enough to December for wearing purposes, I guess. I don't expect a response from Sean when I say hi to him, but maybe he was sleeping since they'd had brunch earlier. (Ian also ate a granola bar) I napped for a very brief time, too. Since they weren't going to the dinner, I got a ride home from Auntie Rebecca so I was able to make it to that event. Amos, Jason, and I looked at the grey box with shelves - they'd put the red / green / blue jewels back only last week, and already they were all over the place They thought someone was pranking us, so I decided to get Ziploc bags for them - luckily, Amos found smaller half-size ones that we use for the kids' Awana dollars. (I knew they were around, but happened on the bigger sandwich ones first!) Hopefully, that'll keep the jewels safe if the bags are properly closed! Jason saw the backing paper for an emblem, rolled it up, and pretended it was a joint - good thing the kids weren't looking at him!

Andrew showed me a cellphone picture of him with "sexy hair" - he asked whether I thought it was sexy hair, and I had to say that it certainly looked different! Spiked as usual, but with hairspray and such - interesting teens, for sure! While getting information for a membership card / asking about our charter number / noting that Shangguan was a cool last name (yay for Sean S. and Conor!) / asking how Chrystal's name was spelled, Amos said that a kid's address HAD to be located in Vancouver or its environs because the phone number had the 604 area code! Since I couldn't tell whether he was joking, I added: "Yo, it could be outside of Vancouver! I know someone in CHILLIWACK whose phone number starts with 604, man. Although I *do* have to dial the 1 before the number since it's long-distance..." Then Jason told me that his brother thought crystal was a mineral and not a rock... we love Amos, but that's not true! Then he came up with an idea - instead of giving the kids Awana dollars, they should have a preset number (160?) and use a swipe card for store purchases and such! So high-tech, Auntie Vivian exclaimed! I confused Julie with her sister Elaine - AIYA! Then Julie asked to borrow my calculator so she could explain something about molarity and moles to Sarah - I remember those days in Chemistry, and they weren't fun!

As Auntie Vivian was going through the kids' folders, she noticed that Samantha was 18 - someone probably wrote that as a joke. (I wonder if I'll have to be her human shield again tomorrow) After the meeting, we went to have Pizza Hut pizza and salad for dinner. Dad came upstairs to get something from his new office, and wondered why the salad wasn't moving (being eaten) - Mike, Joey, and I told him that we all liked the pizza instead, hahaha! Joey even tried tempting him with the cheese inside an otherwise empty pizza box, and got ignored for his trouble! I shared stuff with Margaret (who hates pepperoni), Auntie Rebecca, Emily (cute yellow Photoshop shirt that Mike made - Mike, Emily, animals, etc.), Lanie (sweet purple top!), Winnie (haircut!), Hilary, and Chrystal. Sean can be pretty non-responsive at times because of his condition (pushing Conor off a chair that HE wanted?!), and Eric's the only one that seems to get through to him. (I did that briefly, which is sweet) Winnie says people can't take pictures in Artona's reception area, yet they do anyhow even if things are copyrighted. Lots of people looking pretty / handsome for grad and such, so why not? I can understand the copyright thing too, though. Luke can only understand Mandarin and a very little bit of English - I went through that communication problem when he and his older brother John were in the toddler class, too.

When Melia said that her hairy ancient Assyrian uncle was coming to her and Angus' wedding, Mike wanted to go all 300 on him - Melia said that it would be a BAD idea! She reminisced about how her grandma would make her and Phil ice cream floats for breakfast before school... that had to have been pretty awesome! (I remember when my mom would let us have biscuits and such as breakfast before school - I LOVED THAT!) Discussed ethnic minorities in our eventual multicultural church (Auntie Rebecca noticed someone for sure!), Harmony in Toronto (Jon just went back for Alan and Liz's wedding!), having the house to yourself, Teresa getting into Trinity to study theology, service to others, the pompom on my Santa hat (Vanessa said that Jon's toque needed one!), Hong Kong jet lag, Genevieve, Tim's birthday party, wonton at Tsim Chai, Eric / Jeremy's feelings about being the only white people in our Chinese church, and Auntie Rebecca's Group Dynamics class back in England. (she could NOT understand everyone's slang and jokes, so kept quiet) Good times, for sure! I was tired when I got home, but figured I'd stay up to blog and possibly do stuff on Facebook - THEN it'll be time for sleeping. If I took a nap just before 9 and got up whenever, I'd find it harder to awaken tomorrow morning... that is NOT what I want! Am discussing fanfiction in Chinese / Taiwanese stores, movie downloads, falling asleep, sarcasm, editing out character names and changing it to Harry Potter, and icons with Corey now... yay for that too!

Of course your breath shows up since it's warmer than the COLD air!

Andrea started a Gmail chat session with me this afternoon, but she thought I was Karen Choo or Karen Lew for some reason - heh, mistakes happen! Just after I called Eric to determine where he was (on his way, and he'd been navigating his contact list when I called), Korey returned a call I'd placed early in the afternoon. He was surprised that I was still home, and said that Eric and I would be late - true, but there wasn't much we could do about it at 7:25! On the way to Fellowship, Eric said that I'd cause craziness during the Fellowship program and that I was a troublemaker - I don't think so! He thought our family birthday dinner for Jon was a bit early; I wasn't available on Tuesday, Steph went to the States on Thursday (and was surprisingly home at 11:15 since they got tired of shopping - we'd just heard a news report where the border wait northbound was 2.5 to 3 hours!), Friday was Fellowship, and I have the Awana Leader Dinner on Saturday. Anything earlier than Tuesday would have been ridiculous since his birthday's on Sunday, haha! Eric went to Pilgrims to get birthday cards while fielding calls from Dylan as he was driving, but the store was actually CLOSED before 8 despite what it stated on their webpage about Friday's closing hour being 9! Remarked on Beefway Meats - I remember passing there every Awana Saturday to pick up Jordan in 2001-2002! Got to church and waved hi to Vivian while greeting Calla.

There was black forest cake for Pastor John's birthday / welcome, so almost everyone partook of some. Jeremy said he didn't want a huge piece which went to me, since he'd had a large #29 stew from Pho as his dinner - I should try that one of these days! The large bowls are filling; when you add the "stew" part to it, that certainly seems like a huge enough dinner even for one whose metabolism burns pretty quickly! Asked him about the brainstorm ingredients for Sunday, and said that Dylan didn't want to go once he saw those since he thinks the meat dish will involve haggis. Jeremy said that some of the curry ingredients would be hard to find (like tamarind), especially since it wasn't going to be made from curry powder! Dylan happened by just at that juncture, and reiterated that he'd already told me how he felt about those ideas - NO RAW DOG, PLEASE! (although Jon really does want haggis - AIYA!) Jeremy said that they were mainly joking, even with the bitter melon cheesecake - Calla said that she probably won't go because of working in the field. (wells at Granville / 41st?) I remembered how Jon had told Steph that it would look weird if she didn't go (she usually never goes to these things), and Calla joked that Steph had been commanded to go. Hahaha, maybe. Went to the bathroom later and encountered Andrea L. there, so we talked briefly - she's looking forward to Christmas, for sure! (too busy with school)

The Nehemiah JEOPARDY game was interesting and sorta competitive, haha. Alan said that we'd won, and that was all that counted... Jeremy was preoccupied with the Dung Gate, and wondered what Bill Clinton's scandal had been called. ("the scandals all end with GATE like Watergate does!") Later, I talked to Raymond about the First Baptist Church and cooking food - gotta wear your glasses to keep from crying if you peel onions! We discussed Eric / Shanghai Wind / upscale stuff vs. hole-in-the-wall atmosphere / Facebook briefly, and he's added me on there already - sweet! I flagged down Karen Choo to ask how she was: we'll figure out something when she looks at her schedule - she feels bad that I have to travel that far and not have a ride back since she's rushing between appointments and such, but I do have to do some mall shopping anyhow! Talked briefly to Cindy and Dianne about turkey / tryptophan / cheddar cheese, then went upstairs to see what was going on. Christon said that my brother was there, and I saw him in his "Reese's Pieces" toque - nice description, Vanessa! I perhaps will wear my Santa hat on Sunday, though it's not quite December yet - oh well, it's not like a house on 41st with a huge Christmas Santa / snowman display out already as of earlier in the week! Talked to Isabel and Emily, answered Danielle's inquiry as to how it was going, stopped Stanley from sneaking up on a napping Jessica with his guitar, told Daniel and others that there was half a cake downstairs in the kitchen (Vivian did it first), and told Jason W. that I might attend the dinner tomorrow. (of course we'll go to Awana, but aren't sure about the dinner!)

Went back downstairs to see Vanessa taking pictures of cake-eating Sam, Joey, Ivan, and Daniel. Sam seriously looked like he had dental problems because of the red cherry jelly filling! I said hi to Angus, who said that he needed a personal assistant because he always responded to Facebook wall posts in his head, but not on the person's actual wall. Vanessa thought that was amusing! Nathan told Jon about the wall comment he posted on Harmony's: "Hi, Harmony! When are you coming to Vancouver to visit? I hear Jon crying in the night - he's SUFFERING without you here!" Jon laughed at that, and I told him that speaking of such, I'd shown her the Booty Logo in photo form - she'd told him, and he thinks I get maniacal and not just gleeful when I draw it. Haha, it's my prerogative! Asked Sam if he were going to McDonalds with Mike and whoever else, but he was unsure. Saw Juliana in the kitchen, so said hi briefly. Rich reminded us that it was 10:30 and we had to leave - it's too cold to loiter outside, but that's what we have to do! Jeremy and Calla were discussing methane and heating the athletes' village at the Olympics, as well as landfills and such. (the church construction site is crazy with sewage pipes, apparently!) Pastor John says that his wife Karmie and daughter Hannah would like the leftover cake, but his son Josiah won't since he seems to like chips better as snacks even if he's not a snack person in general. (the kid will be healthier, for sure!)

I went outside after a bit to discover Sam saying that he couldn't get over the fact that his breath actually showed up in the cold winter air... well, the COLD air beats your warm breath! After discussing snowboarding vs, skiing and wiping out (night skiing - drivers?!), Vanessa asked Ivan for a proper scientific explanation, which we artsy types dismissed as not important - maybe globalization and such would be better, at least according to Jon! He mentioned something about a vegetarian restaurant lunch, and assumed that Eric / Nathan / I would go since we never really respond to the Sunday dinner invites. (he can at least count on us even though there should be some others at Jeremy's to help cook and eat...) On the way home, we talked about steamy windows / being dorks / Eric's frustrating radio / St. Louis / Kieran being home for US Thanksgiving / chilling / prepaying for gas / cigarettes from $5.99 / my being relegated to the backseat / Dallas probably being at Jeremy's for that dinner / my having Dallas' kimchi dishes since August / the ESC Christmas Celebration on December 21 / snacks. Good times, for sure!

Dream of cruise ships, pastel animals, coins, and shootings

I'm going for food shopping on Monday at noon. Hope I don't get in TOO late from Jeremy / Jon's dinner on Sunday night, then! Gotta sleep early and recharge, for sure...


I had a weird dream last night, oh my! Not sure what else is new these days, haha...

* A bunch of my friends and I saw pennies, dimes, pencils, toys, nickels, and other small items galore on the ground near a wooden boardwalk connecting a London Drugs to various other businesses in a strip mall. We gathered as many as possible, in order to take it to Vivian S. She'd mentioned wanting a lot of special small things as an addition to her collection of random things, so we were happy to do it.

* We then took a very long bus trip to Vivian S.'s workplace. The other people on the bus seemed to change seats / pull the STOP REQUEST cord a lot (especially the kids), much to our annoyance. A shaggy-haired guy shared his crazy stories with us, which distracted us from the tentacled animal wanting to gain admission on the bus. Later, we invited the guy to join us - he grinned and introduced himself. Graham proved to be an invaluable addition to our group!

* After we presented our loot to Vivian, she thanked us and decided to see whether her pastel fluffy animals would be welcome on a cruise ship. It turned out that the white, pink, light blue, and other colored animals weren't going to be allowed on board, so everyone was shot quickly through a chute to Vernon. We ended up on an iceberg, which had an imprint of the cruise ship as the Titanic. Apparently, if we went on the right spot in this imprint, we'd get to go on another cruise ship for free without any ridiculous restrictions. That sounded good to us!

* Once we had been beamed inside the cruise ship, some of us went to explore! Calla, Kevin, and I decided to go get something to eat instead. We met T in the dining room, and his hair certainly stood out! He warned us that old people would try to commit crimes very soon afterwards, which actually turned out to be true.

* We beamed out of the cruise ship a while later, and decided to go to Wal-Mart and Ikea to see what was up with the cashiers. True to T's word, there were old wizened white people trying to steal cars. A bunch of the younger people on the premises held them down... but then someone else came in brandishing a gun. We knew that my mom was waiting in a car near the river, so we beamed out of the store and went to find her in this confusing maze of storefronts and alleyways. She said that she needed to leave right away, which we understood. After going back to Walmart / Ikea, we looked at lights and pretty things because the police had corralled the shooter and the old people. Thank goodness they were in jail / booked!

No idea why the heck I had that dream! AIYA!

What position would you play in baseball? pitcher Tall. Throws fast and hard. You can't hit well, but you are a good fielder.

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Steak and chicken tips - thanks, my friend!

Had a good conversation with Karen tonight about Dylan, working with him, Karen Grace / Margaret / Steph, Eric, Vivian, Pastor John, reasoning, comfort, Christmas plans, thinking, nutritionists, family, green tea, Oakridge, mid-afternoon appointments, soup, intense chocolate explosions, Shittake mushrooms, Ivan, Committee work, Korey, Starbucks, steak, chicken, family packs, frozen veggies, Andrea, Christon, working through things, and noodles. She assured me that she wouldn't deny me my space to say stuff, which is good. We agree that going to the Superstore in Richmond is kinda like a long trek - those huge ramps do lend that impression, haha! She gave me some tips on how to cook simple things, which I appreciated. We'll definitely talk on Friday, which should be a good thing! Fresh veggies are okay, but not if you have to go to the store every week for it - or get the ultimate in laziness, which would be individual salad portions sold as a serving. AIYA, haha - the bag salads are cool, too!

What kind of hot beverage are you? Chocolate What more is there to say? You're a great hit with the ladies, and most people take you to bed... make of that what you will!

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The Booty Logo has made an appearance on Facebook!

Hey, I got a Christmas card and stickers from Sheryll! (sheryll) Way cool! That reminds me, I have to write a pile of cards to be sent out - maybe after I post this entry. *aiya*

Talked to Farrah, Corey, and Talia yesterday about LJ logging me out, icons, Jeremy's "and yo!" red T-shirt, smiling when I thought of the snow around Jeremy's place AND about his just taking chips out of my Doritos bag at the Ministry Fair (I didn't mind at all since that's a comfortable kind of friendly love!), English grammar / pronunciation, and clouds looking like the Death Star outside a window. At least it's the moon's reflective surface, and not anything really sinister! When Jon called to say that he'd just left the house, I misheard "I just left" as "Are you dressed?" YIKES! (he'd HOPE that I was dressed, haha) Jon picked me up before 5:40, and we proceeded to amuse ourselves by asking Grandma if she liked his drumming on the steering wheel and dancing around. We tried convincing her that it was fun to play around, but she definitely would prefer that he do it at home instead of in the car even while at a stoplight! Jon derived great satisfaction from legally being in the HOV lane (I don't think we'd do it illegally), and bypassing all the suckers in a long lineup waiting in traffic to get onto the bridge! We listened to a bit of the Minnesota hockey game (Vancouver eventually won 4-2, and Markus Naslund had a HAT TRICK!), and discussed what he'd done today: Mom got him to pay for lunch while Dad was at a funeral (for some CSC guy who got run over by a car), and he went to a chocolate place because he wants to buy some for Harmony.

At Crave, Grandma didn't like the fact that Jon parked on a side street since it was pretty dark. Well, there was no room in front of the restaurant! We made the mistake of almost passing Sun Sui Wah (Chinese seafood place), so she thought that we were going THERE for dinner... nope! She was also less than impressed with the fact that a table which was seated after us got their water and drinks when we hadn't had any yet - that was entirely due to Jon being polite and telling the waiter that we'd wait for the rest of our party to arrive. (we were seated in a former garage which was converted to a heated patio when the owners realized how popular the restaurant was) It took our parents an hour to get to the restaurant because of all the traffic! We had rigatoni, Okanagan Springs Pale Ale, crab cakes, salad, poutine with foie gras mayonnaise, organic beef burgers, and more. Jon was joking about getting a New York steak with truffle fries, but didn't. Discussed Harmony's Caribbean cruise, Jason adding me to Facebook (I just added Dallas and Jessica Leung!), Steph yelling descriptions of the Booty Logo across the room in typical family fashion when Jon was on the phone with Harmony (he doesn't know how THAT conversation got started!), Jeremy at prayer meeting, the Sunday birthday dinner (it'll be weird if Steph's not there), the Leadership Retreat on Saturday, the Awana Leader Dinner on Saturday night, Steph's Stateside trip (must inform Eric of Steph's absence tomorrow), Dylan, Karen, being tired, girlfriend murdering people, hockey, and other things. I just posted the Booty Logo to Harmony's wall - whoops. ;)

Got home and found that Karen had called me twice in the span of a few minutes - I'll call her back tonight! I also had an interesting conversation with K's friend Cory when K had gone walkabout. It's been quite some time since I talked to other people taking over my friends' IM accounts! Ah, capital letters and coherency are a definite plus! It was enjoyable, and I hope to do that again. He seems like an interesting guy and of course doesn't want to see K hurt - I can understand that. Someone also thinks that I have twisted pineapple fantasies, hahaha. Very weird conversations with that guy, but ultimately worth it because of laughter and such. Having people around who make you feel good about yourself is excellent, indeed. :D

Sitting in on Committee meeting

Had an interesting ride with Eric to the Committee meeting which I sat in on to get myself up to speed. Talked to Vivian, Pastor John, Dylan, Karen C., and Eric as well. Dylan doesn't think he wants to go to Jeremy's dinner on Jon's birthday since he thinks that the meat dish will involve haggis! Knowing Jon and Jeremy, that might be true! They have bitter melon cheesecake, natto, and durian on the brainstorm list, for goodness sakes! Also discussed volleyball, hugs, concern, subzero temperatures, Eric's stubborn radio, Edmonton, doodling, and future get-togethers. Then I got home to finally eat dinner, and field a message from Jon about the family birthday dinner: it's tomorrow night at Crave. Should be good times! Discovered that Erin's cousin Jason had added me to Facebook - that was a nice surprise! I recall seeing him recently at church, and greeting him in passing. Hopefully, we can talk more on there!

Bitter melon cheesecake? Say it ain't so!

I am so sad. Not sure what to do... I also believe I've run out of strength. I think I'll just be subdued.


Jon's sent out something for his birthday dinner - I can't believe I'm going to eat at Jeremy's three weeks out of four, which is pretty cool. :D

So it's my birthday this coming Sunday. My typical response to this is to go out and eat at a restaurant somewhere. However, the table is usually so long that it's difficult for people to chat with each other. That, and eating out can be expensive.

So this year, we're celebrating my birthday by having the Sunday dinner to end all Sunday dinners. Well, we won't be eating foie gras or abalone or anything that pricey, but hopefully we can have a whole bunch of people over at Jeremy's house to enjoy some good home-cooked food. Those of you who've had Jer's cooking know that it's pretty quality, sometimes eclectic, and always tasty. We haven't decided what yet to make, but we're brainstorming and would love any suggestions. Here's a few already:

curry (that's pretty generic since you can make a million different varieties)
some seasonal vegetable dish. Maybe more squashes and yam fries
soup?
some meat dish
bitter melon cheesecake
durian delight topped with stinky tofu and natto.

On top of the food that we're going to make I'm also enlisting Christon to make his yummy udon dish and Nathan to make some wacky salad dressing with whatever happens to be in the fridge. So expect a kimchi apple cider vinegar homebrew concoction of some sort. Maybe we can also have someone in charge to do drinks as well.

Here's the catch: Eating at home tends to be pretty affordable. Eating out... well, not always, unless your destination is Bon's. We're going to split the costs by charging everyone $15 up front to cover the costs of the ingredients. The rest of the $ will be given to a worthy cause somewhere, maybe to an organization that's situated in the Downtown Eastside so you can certainly donate more than $15 if you wish. On top of that, Jer and I will try to make sure that our food is local, seasonal, and bought from a local grocery store. So you can feel good about what we're eating on many accounts.

Ah, Nathan's wacky salad dressing... YAY! Not so sure about the bitter melon cheesecake and the durian topped with stinky tofu and natto, but it IS the birthday boy's choice... *raised eyebrow*

What Monarch Are You? Henry VIII You are impulsive, temperamental, and autocratic. You make strong decisions based on your gut reactions. You are true to your friends, but if they betray you in the slightest way, then they're OUT. You like being in a monogamous relationship, but if you feel betrayed, you will tear apart the person that hurt you. You are brilliant! But impulsive. Work on the impulsive streak, and continue being brilliant! Quizzes

Hahaha! That sounds more right than ever! On another note, Sara H. and Michelle G. added me to Facebook - SWEET! :D

Am I really a jellybean?! Oh my!

I remember when Dawn or Erin ate a LOT of chocolate over at our house once, and had a massive stomachache later - Jon had seen them pass his room to get to the bathroom in the middle of the night! K's just called me a jellybean over MSN, and the jellybean thing reminds me of when Justin called me one - thanks, kid, love you too! Then again, Donald called me a turkey once... ah, little kids and random thoughts! John and Talia are cool - morbidity / executions / understanding! :D

Apparently, there's snow around here - not in Richmond yet, though. (phew for not living near SFU!) I fell asleep on the floor with my pillow - it's been a long time since I've done that. Now I feel dirty (not from the floor), so I must shower!

I guess football confuses my mother...

The Internet doesn't seem to work for some reason, so the timestamp for any posts I make will be off until it does. Thank goodness for Linux's Tomboy Notes! ;)

This morning, Jon / Steph / Eric picked me up for church. Steph apologized to Eric (who was eating yogurt and Triscuits) for putting him in "the seat of death" - I just laughed crazily, which led him to ask whether I'd had one too many coffees. Not really... just the one. We joked about Chilliwack being "the Wack," and wondered whether there was really anything to do in that city - probably not much, haha. ("There's a DOWNTOWN?! WOW!") Steph said that I really wanted to know how Korey was when I asked Eric about the "dodgy" sushi there, but I already knew from talking to him on the phone till 2:45 AM! Discussed Barry Bonds and steroids / indictment / people thinking they're above the law because their specific offenses aren't mentioned in the rules of their sport. Jon said that he'd gotten my message yesterday, and said that he'd do a birthday celebration on his actual birthday next Sunday - SWEET! (must sleep EARLY on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday!)

Steph joked that a police officer wouldn't really believe we were going to church because three out of the four car passengers wore BC Lions paraphernalia - ORANGE! (no, we weren't going to the 10:30 street party which requires massive street closures) Took the Arthur Laing to church for a change - ah, memories of when Sam and Michelle took me to Awana! Talked about people younger than we were who drove already - Mary and a blunt William don't think their sister Sarah's a very good driver. It still gives Steph an "I'M SO OLD!" feeling when she sees Julie or Fidela drive, heh. (Fidela will be back for US Thanksgiving next week!) Amused my siblings by telling them about Justin's message asking how things were "down in Ditchmond," haha. Steph also says that Uncle Sam's mom is in very bad shape, and may not last the week - later, I heard that Pastor Edward thinks she'll last maybe two weeks more, and isn't allowed visitors... MORPHINE! :(

Uncle Hansel was backing out of a parking spot at the bank, which led us to joke that he might be the cause of our being really late if he crashed into us. At church, I quickly found a seat next to Jeremy, who was amused with Christon because of a letter switch on the Powerpoint which rendered us as the VECFC instead of the VCEFC. We were amused by the latest fundraising effort (yay for Juliana!) which involved a cookbook and a quick Powerpoint presentation / skit with Latino-Chinese music. Quite the fusion, as I commented to Phil and Grace sitting behind me! Asked Sarah if her mom (Auntie Vivian) were here - yes, she was. Said hi to Hannah, Priscilla, and Natalie before I went outside and waved to Jen and other friends. I should have teasingly told Joey to quit deciding Melia's reproductive future unless he had a say in her and Angus' plans - I saw those Facebook wall posts, haha. ("you should have this many kids at these ages!")

Said hi to Helen and her shy son Nicholas - I was going to call Helen a few days ago because their birthdays were the 13th and the 16th! (I didn't have their birthday cards since I thought I wouldn't see them) Maybe we can get together when she has time off before Christmas! Email reminders can do wonders too, heh. Gave birthday cards to Emily C., Emily L., Melia, and Sophia for John - I *know* Jon has David's, Tim's, Winnie's, and other people's despite denials! Briefly talked to Anita, Jeff, Maxine, Keenan, Isabel, Ivan, Julie, Calla, Mike T., Kevin Lee, and others about labor pains, pregnancy, first-aid courses, ping-pong, Friday night, papers, Bible Study, and yesterday's doings before hearing Steph and Vanessa burst out into the UMBRELLA song - oh my, memories of fireworks finale night! Went to toddler Sunday School, where at least one of the kids was not behaving very well - sigh. Frances had made Play-Doh out of flour and salt from a recipe that Auntie Tracy had given her some time ago, and had gone grocery shopping / cleaning yesterday.

Afterwards, I talked to Andrew L. about rap - he doesn't like it anymore, but says he prefers soft rock. However, he couldn't come up with any particular artists of that genre which he likes, which is fine! Always good talking to him about stuff - he says that rap video which Michelle linked me to yesterday was pretty bad, which I agreed with. Not because rap isn't my thing, but the overall video quality wasn't that great. Jessica had a headache, so I offered her some of my aspirin - she declined, while Andrew T. seemed impressed by my preparedness. Waved to Hien while Natalie told me that she wanted candy, but she was bouncing up and down like she'd already had a bit too much sugar! I contented myself with giving her and Hannah some Excel Fuse gum, after dashing her expectations that I'd always have candy in my backpack. (reminds me of Hien in 2001 or so - "you ALWAYS have gum!")

Asked Mary to give her mom the Awana dues which Amos and I had decided to keep in a Ziploc bag yesterday... not that I don't trust her younger brother William who was also right there. Of course, I then saw their mom a few seconds later coming downstairs! (ARGH, haha) Auntie Vivian thanked me for keeping things going yesterday, and I told her that there had been no major problems. Finally returned a toy car to Wilson which had been in my room for at least three months or so, and which I'd found last week. I'd forgotten to give it back to him after one toddler Sunday School class by virtue of it being in my pants pocket! His mom Jenny told me that he had too many cars - I knew giving it back was the right thing to do, though! Rachel tried tagging me, to which I told her that I could tag her back ALL THE TIME, haha. Told Stanley about my weird dream of his shooting people in the head - I don't think he was too impressed, aiya! (said hi to Michelle too)

Then I was distracted by Hilary, Gwyneth, her sister Evelyn, and others hanging onto Samantha - I told them multiple times to let go. I kept them well back from the older girl, of course. ("We're not going to ATTACK her! *they run to closed washroom door* SORRY!") Samantha later thanked me for serving as her human shield, although she thinks I should have removed my backpack. Not a problem! Gwyneth said that she'd sent me a money tree on Facebook (which I later found to be untrue), and her mom Teresa said that the kid had been sending things to people using her Facebook account. Sounds like good times! Gwyneth to me: "You can go home, sit at your computer, and see the money tree on your Facebook before you say stuff to me on the phone!" Haha, I'm just glad she talked to me first about things! (the likely reaction I'd get if I initiated conversation: "I'M NOT TALKING TO YOU!")

Made my way upstairs to find all my friends gone (I expected this), and contented myself with saying bye to Mike K. / Sam and his brother (in a pink BUBBLE GUM shirt) / Citrus / Gabriel / Margaret. Dad was jokingly hassling Citrus about something or other, and I told him that it was all good UNLESS it was like that gross sex-related remark made LAST week to me and my sister! I made him, Sam, and Mike cringe in agony at the memory of my sister telling the entire table about it! (when my sister told me to be cheerful around my parents this morning, I should have said that it would be fine unless such remarks were made - Eric's family, so he can know about it!) My family and I went to Mui's for lunch, and saw a guy in the parking lot wearing SHORTS. That instantly made me feel really cold - it may be way sunnier than yesterday's intense rain, but that doesn't mean it's shorts weather! It was a pretty good lunch (more oysters and wonton mein, which Grandma DIDN'T criticize like she did last week!), and my mom even gave me a frozen dumpling for later when she ordered them from someone's house! Got a good email at home, too - YAY FOR UNDERSTANDING!


Here is some amusement courtesy of the older female members of my family...

1. Grandma, attempting to pay for a $30 lunch with a $20 and a $5: "That's enough money!" Turns out she thought the $5 was a $20, so I guess I accidentally made her "lose face" by gently telling her that the 5 on the bill was a 5 and not a 20. The reaction I got was "I KNOW!" (they're even colored differently - blue vs. green - but she's old, so I'll excuse her!)

2. Dad, attempting to explain some football to Mom: "The quarters are only 15 minutes long - they used to be 12 or 10 minutes long, but not anymore!"
Mom: "Are you sure they aren't an HOUR long?!"
Dad: "No... they're a QUARTER of an HOUR, which is 15 minutes!"
Mom: "Oh, so the entire game is only ONE HOUR!" (thinking that my sibs will be home sooner rather than later, or not if they go out to eat in the event of a win - that didn't happen!)
Dad: "Not exactly... there are stoppages in play, reviews, and other things..."

3. Mom, hoping for halftime to arrive RIGHT NOW: "Is it halftime yet? Or is it still the first quarter?"
Dad: "No, it's the second quarter. After that, it's halftime." (not bothering with the fact that there were 10.5 minutes left in the second quarter, since that might confuse her even more)
Mom: "Oh... I hope we're winning!"
Dad, upon hearing a score update: "No, the Saskatchewan Roughriders are winning - we're trailing 10-7!"
Mom: "Are you sure?"
Dad: "Yes, they just said so!"

4. Mom, hearing the radio announcers say that a coach was scolding a quarterback: "Is the quarterback on defense?"
Dad: "No, the quarterback is offense." (this would have been fine except for what happened next...)
Mom: "So why is the coach scolding him?! The score's still 10-10..."
Dad: "Eh... his performance wasn't good."
Mom, in a very confused tone: "Oh... so is the second quarterback in the game?"
Dad: "No... he's the third quarterback, and Dickenson is the first, so he might be in the game."
Mom, still confused: "But he had injuries!"
Dad: "Don't worry - he's there!"


Edit: Ah, never mind. The modem seems to have become improperly plugged. Thank goodness I remember Eric's advice from the last time it happened! (turn off computer, unplug the black plug from the modem, press button on top, and it'll work again hopefully!)