It's so disappointing that I can't make it!

Called Henry, who actually answered his phone - he didn't elaborate on the stuff he had to do this afternoon, even if he was finished exams. Let Melia know, who said it was too bad that Ada and Michelle both had other obligations - I know! So disappointing! I definitely will be there at Christmas, though! She asked if there was anyone else in my area - I thought of Benedict, but he's more than likely busy with stuff, so he's out. (does he even still live in Richmond? he must...) Of course, I would have run out of time to take the bus if I wanted to get to church in a timely fashion! Oh well... *sigh* At least I informed Melia, and she'll go get mad at Henry now. Then I let Eric know, since our afternoon's plans kinda were contingent on whether I got a ride to Awana - I guess we'll have a limited time together, but it'll be worth the trouble!

Like Dawn and I were joking about yesterday: "You live WHERE? Sure, we'll drive the Coquihalla to get to you, even though it's going to be covered with snow! On second thought, maybe not... sorry!" Hahaha... Chilliwack is way better for driving than Kamloops would be, even though it'll still be at least three hours' driving round trip! More time to shower, and MAYBE see if I can find something at the mall - then again, I don't want to go through that insanity if I don't have to since I'm done my Christmas shopping! It's obvious that both Eric and I don't think of the Chilliwack outing as a trip if our reaction to Vivian / Dawn / Karen asking us "Looking forward to your trip?" is the same: "... WHAT trip?!" Hahaha. Viv elaborated by saying "The ROAD trip! To where Korey is!" Ah, NOW we get it! :P

What Harry Potter character are you? Albus Dumbledore you are wise and help people out

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Commas, Pastor Bear, and substantial salads!

Decided to wear my Old Navy winter coat along with my sparkly shirt (Andrea commented that she liked it) - met Eric and thought about how people will be there for me. Talked about hockey, baseball and steroids, picking up Maisie, how I was supposedly responsible for the bridge closures because of an emergency landing by a Cathay Pacific flight, SIMPLY CRAP being more upscale than Booty Burgers, our imaginations, the rain, and Google maps. Picked up Maisie, who somehow thought we'd be there in ten minutes from the backup going onto the bridge - um, no. Discussed Christmas shopping for nieces and moms - CHOCOLATE, giftcards, cute trinkets, and more! Parking at the Earls was a challenge, as usual - honestly, it shares space with a Swiss Chalet and a number of other businesses! Yikes, indeed! Went to wash my hands before talking to Dylan / Raymond, which I'd complained to Eric about - they smelled like gross bacteria from public transit. ("They just smell, and need soap! Failing that, they need Purell - lucky for you, I don't have any!" "You also need a napkin / Kleenex once we get to Earls - you sniffed at least twice!" "That was my stuffed-up nose... and no, I am not a troublemaker!")

Talked to Grace about Phil, the care I'd shown to Uncle Peter by calling on Tuesday, Grandma's death (hurried breathing, relatives, ambulance, 10:30, peaceful, it not hitting Emily and Chrystal as hard since they didn't live with her), cooking / cleaning, Phil doing sermons / papers, eating in, going to Texas for two weeks on Thursday, Korey, and more stuff. Certainly good to talk to her! We should hang out at her place at some point - maybe in the new year. Tapped Jeremy on the shoulder and said hi: he said that his dark beer tasted like a lager, and thus was disappointing. He urged me to try some, and warned me to be careful since the glass was heavy - he was right about the taste!

Went back to my own table and talked to Dylan / Raymond / Randal / Vivian / Dawn about Black Friday / Boxing Day, Metrotown, Terry getting half-price Armani sunglasses last year, Christmas plans, shopping, work parties (Earls food isn't free, but better than HSBC and the lounge food!), holidays (no Hong Kong for Dawn because of only two days' vacation - but Eni instead!), throwing stuff at each other on Facebook, what we should order (Dylan's sick of turkey), pizza, salads, protein, and more. Tried talking to Pastor John's younger son Noah... I always want to call him Luke, for some reason. He's a pretty good artist for a five-year-old! Talked to his sister Hannah instead: school is fine, but I guess she might HAVE to say that since her mom / teacher's sitting right there! (the kids are homeschooled) She likes to draw too, and ordered penne Alfredo. Said hi to Josiah and talked briefly. Lesley and Andrea said they got my email - signed photo frame instead of a labor-intensive scrapbook it is! Went to sign the photo frame after I ate and talked to Andrea for a while - she'll have to take the loss on her bag with stuff in it, although it's a good thing her wallet wasn't in it NOT was there anyone attacked! (she was gone for five minutes, so there must have been someone hiding in the office!)

Later, I stole Vivian's chair when she went to socialize with others, and I decided that yelling across the table wasn't efficient. (the music's kinda loud, too) Eric was still there after coming over to talk to us about stuff - Dawn joined our discussion about Chilliwack, boyfriends, plans, Eric's two weeks of holiday, New Years, girl dinners, Steph, Cindy, working on undesirable dates (birthday / Christmas / New Years - getting paid time and a half doesn't make up for it!), driving, birthdays, dinner, family, how we were doing, Facebook messages / concern, White Spot's fajita salad (definitely substantial and WITH PROTEIN - yay, Eni!), and more. We decided that giftcards were the way to go for presents these days: "Now they can choose how to spend the money in a substantial amount, rather than you trying to decide which overpriced trinket they'll like this year!" "Yeah... the amount has to be over a certain number unless it's Starbucks or something - it's like, thanks for the discount if it's a $10 card for a restaurant!" Haha, so true! I've missed talking to Dawn, heh.

We also watched Karen do a draft of her photo frame contribution, and I suggested putting a comma in between "HOORAY" and "Pastor Edward" - it DOES look better with one, and Dawn agreed! Finally, I just did it myself since I'd be driven crazy by the lack of one even though the frame wasn't MINE. (Hello Kitty, Pastor Bear, Catholic rosary, Father Edward, "Reverend" not scanning in the "2, 4, 6, 8! Who do we appreciate?" song, ties, shirts, folded hands, etc.) Karen said that we should definitely do a lunch date again, since it was EASY talking to me for more than two consecutive hours - she seemed surprised it took me only 45 minutes or so to get home, haha. Hey, I'm all for another lunch date! I know the "talking for two hours easily" means that I'm easy to be with, which is what Andrea said a long while ago - we don't mind comfortable silences!

Waved to Martin, and tried figuring out with Dylan why my sister wasn't there. I have NO idea what she was doing! Later, we noticed a great-looking pink drink on someone else's table... Eric figured that it must be one of the margaritas, but we didn't know which one, and Dawn wasn't about to ask! ("If you ask the wait staff, they'll automatically assume you want one!") We discussed the expensive desserts - that sundae had better be MASSIVE with LOTS of stuff on it for $6.50! Even the soup was $6 - too rich for our cheap Asian blood, haha. Raymond said that he'd been to Shanghai Wonderful, and had originally heard about it from Facebook pictures - the place isn't a hole-in-the-wall like Shanghai Wind was, and the atmosphere is a bit better. Prices are more expensive, but still kinda reasonable!

Picked up Jeremy's jacket off the floor and told him about it while saying bye to assorted people - he joked that it wasn't worth $300 now that it had been on the floor, haha. On the way home, Eric placed a call to Jon - it went unanswered. We talked about Nathan, digicams, reminders, worship practice, ride status (called Melia, and we'll both call Henry tomorrow), rain, singing to me, craziness / insanity, STARCRAFT / STAR WARS / STAR TREK / WORLD OF WARCRAFT / HALF LIFE 2: EPISODE 2, servers, enemies, being right next to the enemy supposedly being too far to attack them (WTF?!), calling, finalizing plans, and more. He joked that he'd parked 50 miles away from the restaurant since he didn't want to risk towing from one of the businesses in the plaza - yeah, I'm SO sure! Good times, and I'm sure I'll have more of those tomorrow! Yup, I know what I'm in for on the rides to / from Chilliwack, haha. ALWAYS! (but not like the maxipad, hahaha!)

No limiting verbs, and figuring out tag disappearances! YAY!

Ana (daphne486) and Marie (reebee) got my Christmas cards - YAY! Eric called from work to see whether I was going to Earls tonight because I might need a ride. Since I was, he told me to meet him at Cambie / Jacombs at 6:15 - it's been at least six weeks since I've done that, and they better not be filming anything like last time! He says they're not, so that's truly excellent. Might do some very limited shopping beforehand, or mailing stuff out too.

Hey, I can report my Facebook status without using the verb "is" - SUCH a relief to not have THAT limitation! Been doing a LOT of journal upkeep as far as tags are concerned, too. I've finally figured out what makes my tags disappear: accidentally creating new tags, which LJ won't accept. Note to self: Check tags list thoroughly before posting entries!

White Spot at Oakridge - church memories, cute kids, and more!

$80,525 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation is pretty good - especially compared to LAST year! ($61,500?) Also, Calgary wasted Tampa Bay 9-6, with Kristian Huselius and Jarome Iginla both getting hat tricks. Pretty good if you have them in your hockey pools!

Met Karen at Oakridge for a long lunch which she treated me to - I had the fajita salad again, yay! (plus her sausages and bacon, and a hot chocolate) Talked about life / death, (naming) new babies, grandmas dying, transitions and life stages, relationships, K, Billy / Eddie / Stella / Martin / Karen Grace / Margaret / Connie / Elenor / Janet / Vivian / the church founders / Frances / Randal / Auntie Anna / Daniel being the first baby born in the church / Tracey really wanting a kid (Melissa and Emily!) after her son died aged only a few days. Also brought up Eric / Raymond / her brothers Kevin, Rich, and Vance / Eunice and her sisters Pauline and Winnie / Jeremy rambling on beer and the environment / Maxine's "menstrual cramp" labor with Joshua and looking GREAT afterwards (like Karen's sister Melinda) / epidurals to take the pain away (which she mistook to be "epidermal" :P) / Dylan and patience / my sibs, age differences, weekend / Christmas / New Year's plans, Committee responsibilities, RCMP training, motherhood, giving birth, relationships, honesty, security, Ivan W. being short on money from ping-pong, and lots more stuff like parental bad tempers and the Chinese thing of "you're no good!"

There were a lot of people who left the church in 2004 who were Karen's age (Ted / Tracey / Larry / Sandra), so her friends are now people like Jen / Dawn (RIDES!) / Sheena / Andrea. At least we've had healing from that as shown by mingling / respect / Dad shaking hands with Daniel's dad / seeing Lucas back at stuff like Resonate! It also helps that Pastor John is now here - yay for less burden on Pastor Edward! We saw Christon at the restaurant, and I remarked that at least he was getting more sleep than Nathan! It was sad how his mom died suddenly, for sure. (she was in Calgary when she heard, but Daniel said he was fine - friends and people rallied around them!) Karen's grandparents tried to guilt-trip her when she moved out, and even when she married - "your mom will buy the house right next door!" That would not have been good, since all they'd have to do was walk over to nag her about stuff! She held her ground, though! "Luckily," an East Indian man bought it and tore it down to make a ten-bedroom monster house almost extending to the sidewalk!

Hansel and Cathy played an important role in her development as a leader - she'd wondered where to start, so Hansel said that she could drive me to the 7-11 after Fellowship where my dad would meet us. I remember those rides as an important part of getting to know Karen as a person - and our friendship's continued! We agree that independence is a good thing when we move out from under our parents' roof, especially in married life. (no switching bedrooms in your childhood home!) Apparently, my dad came up to Karen and Ivan once and said in a serious tone: "Karen and Ivan. Have babies." Haha. She's on the fence about it, and figures it's fine as long as she hasn't gone through menopause yet! Her husband Ivan thinks she romanticizes it (walks in the park, taking them to school, family activities, Christmas, etc.) since he sees the stressed side of it through being a doctor!

Her friend Polly's children Jonathan and Christina are cute - they're the children of an accountant, so the boy made a list of all the things that Karen bought for them in the summer once. He then showed her the list, and asked her whether it wasn't wasteful! Well, what is she going to do? The money's already been spent, and she isn't going to NOT feed / entertain the kids! (even the high-speed Internet cost was included in the list, along with expected items like snacks / bubble tea / movies) Karen's right when she says that Steph thinks we're practical because we are children of an accountant. Jaden (at six!) knew terms like "arc" and "sphere" - Tracey said the shapes could be circles and bridges! (Jonathan and Christina: "We love Auntie Karen!" Jaden: "We love Pastor Glen!" Hannah / Julie on Pastor Glen's dismissal: "I wrote about it in my diary!") I like working with the kids in Awana and the toddler room - it's developed my patience, even though every mom becomes a yeller at some point! At least any kids I'll have will get a Christian background. Discussed Adela, Sean's long phone calls till 4:30 AM / "I'M SO HUNGRY!" second dinners on Friday, their moms, and more as well. Good times - especially since I got home within 45 minutes or so - yay for the 496!

Yay for trust (accidental mail opening) and magical things! :D



[I'm Mai!] Which Avatar character are you?

Wikipedia Band Meme

Taken from Jennifer / fate_envies_us:


Wikipedia Band Meme

1. Go to the Wikipedia home page and click random article. That is your band's name.
2. Click random article again; that is your album name.
3. Click random article 15 more times; those are the tracks on your album.

Band: Zafu (a round Japanese / Chinese cushion filled with buckwheat!)
Album: Sakuma Hanzō (Let's name our band after a renowned Japanese photographer!)

Track Listing:
1. Weightlifting at the 1996 Summer Olympics (someone in the band is an Olympics geek)
2. The Dark, Dark Hours (someone else in the band must like obscure made-for-television films from the 1950s)
3. Tunisia at the 1984 Summer Olympics (the Olympics geek strikes AGAIN!)
4. Bafodeya benna (someone else in the band must be a science geek)
5. USS Abraham Lincoln (SSBN-602) (another band member must be a submarine geek)
6. Ansa (so many choices here: acronyms, historical wife, Arabic, Latin...)
7. Eleanor Dare (someone else in the band must be an American history geek - the daughter of John White of the Roanoke Colony, indeed!)
8. David Sheepshanks (our band really enjoys English football)
9. Leukemia inhibitory factor receptor (the science geek strikes AGAIN!)
10. Saint Luke Parish, Dominica (someone else in the band is a geography geek, apparently...)
11. Sinfonietta (Prokofiev) (yet another band member must be a musicology major!)
12. Ta-lin Hsu (YES, WE SING ABOUT BUSINESS MOGULS!)
13. Gatton, Queensland (maybe one of the band members is from this town)
14. Thorn EMI (we also sing about defunct British companies!)
15. Megaphone (we like singing about megaphones and audio devices, too!)

Here's the Surrealist version of the above:

My band is Toyotomi Hideyoshi and our new album is List of Scottish parliamentary by-elections.

1. How to Get Kicked Out of the Mall
2. White-fringed Antwren
3. Snowball seed oil
4. Cupar railway station
5. Emil Rosenberg
6. Adventure capital
7. Electronic Battle Weapon 7
8. Tender offer
9. Wil Wheaton
10. Center for Computational Chemistry
11. Neochromis simotes
12. Herb Bergson
13. Ballad of the Green Berets
14. Broadwater Green
15. Australian-Croatian Soccer Tournament

This was autogenerated from random Wikipedia article names. Get your own Wikipedia Album.

Ones are not sevens, even if they be connected to octothorpes!

Corey said he got my Christmas card yesterday, and also a new laptop that wasn't for him - that sucks, haha. Janina mentioned getting my Christmas card too, which is cool. Finally got back into Myspace today - dunno why I never noticed the "Forgot Password?" link before, or maybe it was just never there! I'm going to Grandma's funeral on Monday morning, for sure. I always DID ask how she was, and I want to support them - sleepover on Sunday, it shall be! Tried sending pics of Jon to Michelle, too. Yay for this picture! Hahaha... let's just say that my sibs and I barely fit into a cruise ship washroom. :D



Apparently, my handwriting is way worse than I thought! (I knew it was bad, but to THAT extent?!) Here's a conversation that Corey and I had on the subject:

(06:32:22 PM) Flami: where am I?
(06:40:57 PM) Corey: Canada
(06:42:07 PM) Corey: #706-[rest of address]
(06:42:10 PM) Corey: that's where
(06:42:18 PM) Corey: unless you're not home :P
(06:44:34 PM) Flami: that is NOT where I am, and you know it :P
(06:44:58 PM) Corey: have you moved to Ghana or something then?
(06:50:24 PM) Flami: of course not
(06:50:36 PM) Corey: so you're not in Canada? :P
(06:55:06 PM) Flami: yes, I am in Canada
(06:57:20 PM) Corey: well, you said no to that the first time!
(07:04:29 PM) Flami: that's because the address you gave me does not exist!
(07:05:38 PM) Corey: oh yeah? then which one does? I just read that off the envelope you sent me :P
(07:05:55 PM) Corey: you should probably correct me if I'm wrong because I do plan on sending something to you pretty soon :P
(07:15:11 PM) Flami: well, most of it was correct... but the 1 is not a 7 ;)
(07:16:09 PM) Corey: which one?
(07:23:51 PM) Corey: okay, so it's 106-[house number]... which is how it's written on an old one I just found.. the new one you just sent most definitely has a 7 at the start :P
(07:30:59 PM) Flami: it what?! NO WAY
(07:31:41 PM) Corey: your other 1's are a straight line, no horizontal line on the top or anything...
(07:31:54 PM) Corey: that 1 on the latest letter has a big horizontal line :P
(07:32:05 PM) Corey: it doesn't look at all like a 1, it's a 7
(07:32:06 PM) Flami: why would there be a horizontal line?! I wasn't spacing out...
(07:32:24 PM) Corey: on your other letter, that is clearly a 1.. but not on the new one :P
(07:32:34 PM) Flami: wait... does it have like a line at the bottom? maybe that's why?
(07:32:42 PM) Corey: nope
(07:33:06 PM) Corey: it's a long horizontal line...
(07:33:56 PM) Corey: and looks the same as the other 7 on there :P
(07:42:33 PM) Flami: hmm... odd :P I wish there were a way you could show me what it looked like... sorry, was taking out the trash :P
(07:45:14 PM) Corey: does GAIM do webcams?
(07:45:39 PM) Corey: well, actually that doesn't really matter :P I could just send a picture
(07:46:25 PM) Flami: I have no idea, but that works too
(07:50:11 PM) Corey: I emailed it to you on Gmail
(07:52:36 PM) Flami: do I even use any other email these days?
(07:53:25 PM) Corey: I dunno
(07:55:31 PM) Flami: That's not a 7! That is a ONE with my need to connect the octothorpe and the one since they were close together. :P
(08:02:27 PM) Corey: what the hell is an octothorpe??
(08:02:51 PM) Corey: the pound sign? #? :P
(08:03:02 PM) Corey: it's a separate line from the one on the #
(08:05:29 PM) Flami: I said I tried to connect it - I never said I succeeded :P
(08:11:03 PM) Corey: why would it be connected to a number in the first place?
(08:13:18 PM) Flami: because the lines need to be really connected and joined together!
(08:29:48 PM) Corey: what lines? :P the 1 doesn't have lines to connect! :P
(08:34:02 PM) Flami: the # was a bit close to the one, maybe :P
(09:04:58 PM) Corey: I saw Bathroom Readers at the store today :P a couple of them
(09:05:08 PM) Flami: so did you get any?
(09:05:16 PM) Corey: nope
(09:05:22 PM) Flami: darn, why not?
(09:05:46 PM) Corey: I already have one, don't I? :P
(09:06:39 PM) Flami: my browser disappeared again!
(09:07:18 PM) Flami: I guess so... but the others are cool too :P
(09:09:33 PM) Corey: so do you have the new ones? :P this one was something like Weird World of something or other... I think... mostly red cover. I don't remember what the other one was
(09:23:35 PM) Flami: I have the 20th anniversary one... and I've read the Weird World of Odd (I think)
(09:24:49 PM) Corey: I think that's what it was
(09:25:50 PM) Flami: cool... I was on the phone making plans and such for a funeral, sorry

Another grandma death... I hope these don't come in threes!

After that last entry, I pretty much jumped right into the shower. Right when I finished, I heard the phone ring twice. It was Eric, but he was hanging up at the time I answered. So I called him back - I was slightly surprised to hear that he was at the front door! I buzzed him in and made him wait at the apartment door while I quickly got dressed. Then I got my stuff while he looked to see what kind of craziness I'd been up to on the computer - of course he thought the "pink soap - RUB ME ON YOUR BUTT!" icon was inappropriate, haha. We discussed Scrabble, sleet / rain, laughter, license plates ("LATE NIGHT"), cheesecake (what I should TOTALLY bring to the next Sunday Dinner), liquids, Pho takeout (no soup dishes even though we COULD do it like Maxine has... it's awkward!), hockey (Roberto Luongo hurt?!), his wonky radio, and other things on our way to church. At Pho, I misheard what he wanted to order, but we caught the kitchen just in time - 32 (duck egg noodle soup) is not 42 (lemongrass chicken dish), and that's why ordering by number is bad!

The committee talked about people we've never met, McDonalds, technically renting the chairs we were sitting on (maybe?), Wendy's mandarin chicken salad / Oriental salad, long 16-hour days, and other things. It was an interesting meeting, and I sent out email promptly when I got home. On the way home, Eric asked what I was doing for Korey's birthday. I mentioned that he wanted me to come for his birthday, but I knew Eric was doing that and I didn't want to horn in on the guys' tradition. He was like "Why don't you just come with me then? What time does Awana end? Just don't get a ride, and we can be there on time!" Hahaha. I told him that it looked like I wouldn't - Ada's taking care of other kids, Michelle has to work, and Henry has been absent lately. Eric asked if I had murdered him... why would I want to?

We also talked a bit about Phil and Melia's grandma dying - I'd heard about it via Eunice's Facebook wall post to Melia earlier today, actually. As Eric said, it's still sad even if they knew it was coming for a long time. (I don't think she'd have liked the idea of a photo last time I was there!) We also touched on Justin's grandma dying recently, too. He also threatened to drop me off at the usual intersection even though it was raining, and tried to mockingly push me out of the car. I don't THINK so! Discussed fingernail shaping (little V-like points into teeth!), a mace, battle readiness, "awake and not hibernating," WARCRAFT 3: REIGN OF CHAOS, and my supposedly needing an exorcism because I had acted like I was under possession of a demon twice during the car ride home. That's just my being weird, and you know it! Told him not to crash on the way home, while delivering a mock-punch: yes, he MIGHT be dead if he does!

Got home and called Melia to let her know that I might not have a ride. Emailing / calling Henry would be a good idea, and then she'll contact me in some way - sweet! Also talked to Uncle Peter for a bit since he answered the phone: he says Grandma went to be with the Lord on Sunday, and went peacefully. The "peaceful" bit is a good thing, then. I will never take her off my Facebook list! Both Melia and Uncle Peter thanked me for calling - hey, it's what I do! It's true that I always asked how she was doing, and now I won't have that anymore. Guess it's part of life, and we all knew it was coming - never mind the "quality of life" pronouncement my mom made recently. Her quality of life for the past years might not have been much by our standards, but we know that Grandma was loved. :)

YAY FOR Q AND Z! / Photos of me, trinkets, dragons, and friends!

So GJ isn't going to hell? Hmm. Too little, too late - no communication with the support team, says someone. Still...

Blah. I can't believe I wasted a bunch of time in trying to get the below photos to a bigger size so you could see the features in them, but I guess it didn't work for some reason! Never mind the differences in code between HTML and vBulletin: I should have this down by the present time, since I've done HOW many of these picture posts by now cross-posted on various places?! Aiya. At least the giant versions are on Facebook and Photobucket... too frustrating! Eric called from work to see if I wanted a ride to tonight's Committee meeting - sure, why not? Must take shower and eat dinner before I leave, then... Hey! Maybe if I save the images to the computer first and THEN upload them to Photobucket... let's see. Oh, NOW it works after I change the names slightly so the small versions aren't on there. Good thing I have the time to make it right before I leave!


HA! I GOT THE WORD "QUIZ" IN SCRABBLE FOR 42 POINTS! YAY! Savina (bodha) also got my postcard, which is good. Karen called me, and we discussed friends. It's nice to be informed about things, for sure. Guess I need to be prepared for an eventual trip too! Maybe this weekend, we'll see. Hey, I can also create new tags by renaming my existing ones - with the number I have, that should be easy! I'll just remember to rename the ones that don't get used, haha. I just hope someone special doesn't feel weak anymore - sigh. Also wondering if I *really* need a cellphone...

Vanessa tagged a couple of photos of me on Facebook - sweet! Reminds me that I've been lax in these occasional picture posts, so here's one.


Daniel, Nathan, Eric, and me at Montana's on Sept. 23:




Danielle and me at Montana's, celebrating Citrus' and Mike's birthdays:




Nathan surrounded by Christon's trinkets on October 1:



Comments on the above...

Nathan: "Wow. That caption is so clever, dude." [Surrounded by the glorious riches of Christon Jebus...]
Nathan: "Such an educated sense of humour you have!"
Me: "HAHAHA. Is it the "in" thing now to comment on your own photos, Nathan? :P I still can't believe the number of THINGS that Christon has in his house! Oh man."
Eric: "I'm a picture of a cat? Leslie is a painting of a peacock? And Christon is a herd of Wooden Elephants? You've got it all wrong. Leslie is that case of books, Christon is that hunk of amethyst, and I am the herd of wooden Elephants. You aren't even in this picture. You are some energy drink sitting half open on a counter somewhere."
Me: "Hahaha. I can see myself being a bookcase, and Nate being an energy drink... but Eric being a herd of wooden elephants?! Oh dear."
Nathan: "Hahaha. It's all true.... it's all true... Did I mention that I really like how my blue shirt seems to accentuate my skin tone, and bring so much vibrancy to my suave appearance?"


Nate, Jon, Lucas, Vanessa, and Ivan at Fish on Rice before we went to Melia's:




The Buffalo family with Vanessa at Melia's on Nov. 11: BIRTHDAY #23, BABY! The "shiny blue" in the filename references my new shiny blue colorful shirt with sequins. At bowling, Jeremy thought it cost $100 at the Night Market because it was so stylish! Sure, it was probably what I wanted to hear... but it only cost $10 at London Drugs! Gotta love the Durian Dude's humor! :D




A random dragon at Yaohan Mall, taken by my sister sometime last month?

Banana-filled chocolate... YAY!

Today's mail brought a great surprise! I got a Disney Christmas card from Samara (mystic_notions) - and also a letter, Hello Kitty / butterfly / happy face stickers, seven foreign-language bookmarks / banana-filled chocolate Santa from Savina (bodha) in Austria - SO BLESSED! Brian (tbone) got my Christmas card and postcard over the weekend, too - sweet!

What Philosophy-In-A-Nutshell Are You? Classicism You are classicism! Most prominent in ancient Greece and Rome, classicism is one of the first great philosophical schools of thought. You believe that the universe is sensical, intelligible, and beautiful. You may want to hook up with Aristotle or Plato, as they share your sentiments! You are concerned with ethics, mathematics, and science in both a brainy and personal way. You are smart and intelligent, so put these gifts to good use and don't feel intimidated by the daunting process of logical proof. Personality-Emotion Quizzes

Tiramisu, honeydew egg tarts, tripe, and fryer turkeys!

Jon found out that my pens didn't work because of the cold / angle, but I made him sign cards anyhow - I also made Steph do that while we were eating Pho for lunch. We talked about the Canucks-Penguins game, blowing snow, hospitals, $100 to cover drinks (double rum and coke?), death and babies, weird music, and Christmas parties. Told Steph that she forgot the flaming hot Cheetos, but she can give them to me on Friday - EARLS EVITE! Christon "Get your Christ on!" is leading worship next week, along with Eric / Margaret and Stanley as fixtures every week (like Jon used to do before Gr. 12 and parental directives NOT to do that) / others. Erin, Chris, and Darren are organizing a Shabusen lunch on the 22nd - Jon's teaching, so it sucks that he can't be there. (Darren will be picked up on the 16th from Seattle, the day after Erin gets back) Rachel gets back soon, as does Kate - grousing about speeding tickets by saying that the cops should be focusing on things like murder is NOT gonna help, girl!

When I got to church, Raymond said that he'd gotten my tiramisu via Facebook - throwing things at people is FUN, man! Hehe. Talked to Auntie Esther, who says Wesley is coming back on the 17th and Chris is getting back on the 20th. Winnie came with her daughter Megan, who gave people her stickers - she took mine and Danielle's back, however. Danielle and I shared an understanding look when that happened, heh. Dianne thanked me for the Christmas card - she thought the colors were so sweet, and the Nativity scene drawing was very cute! Margaret and Sam's brother Jeremy had an amusing announcement about care packages: "Remember, school is Biblically useless!" Haha. Everyone let out a gasp when Pastor John announced that Billy and Stella had had a son this morning - only one day after Jeff and Anita's daughter! After service, I said hi to White Guy #2 - Ray had been amused when we told him about the hierarchy of white guys on Friday, haha.

Went outside via the back door since the ramp was icy, and talked to the babies - Keenan looked so cute in his court jester hat! Talked to his dad Tim while Lee gave the baby a birthday present, and the baby seemed interested in my Santa hat and my blue scarf. Hannah, Megan, and others were decorating Grace with happy face stickers while Jen asked me about what she'd seen on Facebook. Told her, Karen Lew, Martin, and Raymond the abbreviated story - that led to a discussion of control and strong people in relationships. Yeah, they'd found Eric's advice to K quite amusing, haha. Phil came up to us and said that the kids were so cute - they were, and now we have enough of them to do a baby calendar! Perhaps a seasonal one for the church building fund... pumpkins, Christmas, spring / summer scenes... it would be a good idea! (Benjamin, his new brother, Anita's kid, Megan, her new sibling in March, Hannah, Olivia, Anne, Joshua, Keenan, Frances' kid when it comes in February, Ian, Gabriel, Nathaniel, Abigail, Nicholas...)

Gave Vanessa some money, which I emphasized wasn't for her - she joked that Daniel had stolen it a minute later. Stayed outside until everyone had left for Sunday School, and went to help the toddlers. Frances and I agreed that it was thoughtful when Rich and Olivia came in with care packages for us from Timothy - card, candy cane, and assorted candy / cookies / granola bars. (I've eaten it all by now, including some chocolate!) Afterwards, I went out to the basement, where Eric joked that I'd be causing trouble with the toddlers - I don't THINK so! Said hi to Vivian and refused Nathan's request for candy. Natalie said that she had some, but it was unfortunately for their dad! Went outside, where we told Jeremy to watch out for grandmas behind him if he was going to slap Stanley!

Gave Christmas cards to Eric and Jeremy: Eric mock-complained that Jeremy's was bigger than his, so Jeremy said that maybe I'd written smaller in Eric's! Eric's response was funny: "Leslie writing small?! Never! She always writes large, and on a slant!" Too true, unfortunately! Talked to Sam (ski trip?), Ivan, Jeremy x2, J-Mak (HONG KONG!), Christon, and others. Eventually, our family went to Pho with Jeremy. Discussed star anise, Mom's cookbook recipes, freaked-out cats, not taking up a whole row of seats, Pho being seemingly out of tripe, onions, hot sauce, Calla's idea for the next Sunday Dinner (breakfast foods and mixed drinks go together for next week - NOT?!), chili oil, turkey in a fryer at Earls, strawberry / honeydew-flavored egg tarts in New York (Jeremy: "New York has EVERYTHING!"), Boston, our surprise that Mom knew the word "reciprocate," etc. My sibs drove me home, and we saw Quan / Joyce at the bus stop near church. We tried yelling at them from our car, but they couldn't hear us - we picked them up at the bus stop instead to drive them home since it was kinda on the way. Talked about work, dishes, chefs, Joey's dad cooking for Joyce sometimes, pasta, instant noodles, steak (flip it in the pan), introducing Joyce to the Booty Logo verbally, the Giants-Blazers game, Vivian's imitation of Tina Turner, Ray, Nathan, sleeping, doing homework, weddings, Harmony getting back on the 30th, etc. Good times, for sure! I'm glad I'm happier now, too. :D

I'm giving up on GJ / Year In Review meme

Mandy (a_phoenixdragon) and Viper / Nutty (Steve and Carol) got my Christmas cards - YAY! Now if only the others would get to their destinations... *grumble* Have decided to give up on GJ, and I'm not sure if I'm moving to Insane Journal anytime soon - the thought of backing up all my old entries on there makes me pause. At least I've updated certain entries in my memories, finally. I've added Ray to Facebook, and Daniel's added me on there. (Phil's grandma - or whoever controls her account, more accurately - has accepted my friend request, at long last!) My tags page seems to load faster in Swiftfox than Firefox, hehe. Michelle C. asked if I had any candid photos of Jon or Phil - no, but maybe Steph does, and she can contact her via Facebook. Joked that she knew Jon has a girlfriend (Harmony), and that Phil is married to Grace. It's probably some Timothy initiative for the assistant pastors, heh. I learned that Michelle L. can't give me a ride this Saturday, so I guess I'll have to figure things out - and reply to the Earls Evite SOON!


Meme fun: Take the first line from the first post of every month of the year. Repost it here as your year in review. (I'm discounting greetings and Stupid Things from Page-A-Day calendars :P) Yeah, it's been an interesting year!

Rachel dropped by briefly with four bags of groceries for tomorrow's dinner. Hehe... a certain person emailed me back about 24 and tapes. I got up today because it was really sunny, although I could have used more rest (and mintiness) since I'm still recovering from stress illness. :P Get annoyed because it's April 1. Mom made a LOT of stuff for dinner tonight - seven dishes! After getting too frustrated with the connection problems on the Audioscrobbler personalized radio, I decided to check out the online radio stations on Shoutcast. I got almost no sleep last night since I went to bed at 1:30 AM and woke up at 2:20, 3:01, 3:32, 4:10, 5:20, 6:06, 6:24, and 7:57.

Grandma treated us to a dim sum lunch at the Gala Seafood Restaurant near Richmond Sushi and Supermarket 2000. I managed to get my glasses fixed at Factory Direct, then spent time buying household / office supplies at Staples and London Drugs after I ate jambalaya rice at the Cactus Club. Christon's house has literally THOUSANDS of trinkets because they stuff hundreds of things in all the rooms - Jon says that it's enough to keep a Chinese village employed in making them! 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. Melia called to say that Awana is cancelled because of the snow.

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'What Award will you get at your High School Reunion?' at QuizGalaxy.com