I misread too much stuff today!

Misreadings, or Signs I Need More Sleep

1. I misread my clock as "6:40 AM" when Eric called this morning, and not as "8:40 AM."
2. I misread a green-and-white sign as "Free Shit Testing" instead of "Free SIGHT Testing." They COULD have fecal testing available somewhere as a business, but probably not advertised on the street...
3. On a wedding card at Loonie Plus, I read "Cherish the Moments" as "Cherish the MORMONS" at first. I was left with a "what the?!" thought until I read it again. It WAS in a curly font, but still. :P
4. "I hate for him not having a computer, since that's a huge form of communication for us." was initially rendered as "I hate him for not having a computer..." (Erin M.)


Eric called me just as I was in the middle of writing my dream details down in longhand - he later said that I sounded barely awake. He was running late, but I had just enough time to get myself ready (and have some coffee) before I too rushed out the door. We discussed the skills competition, Christon, whether we'd talked to Korey last night, my busier week, the skating that got cancelled and then turned into a coffee / drinks "chilling" event, whether I'd be okay getting to the glasses place on Broadway / Ash (yup), and the ULTIMATE FAMILY DINNER tonight. I later decided to just stay out all day until dinner instead of going home - thank goodness for the Firehall library computer! :D (checked my friends list, Facebook, AND email - yay for K emailing me quickly, even though he certainly didn't have to!)

After a somewhat productive Committee meeting (I'm responsible for ALL the birthdays / finding cards, friends, and speeches now?! OH MY!), I decided that I needed to have lunch FAST! What can I say... Dylan's McDonald's burger and Eric's yogurt and Triscuits made me hungry. :P I opted for Pho - when a large #9 didn't make me as full as I'd hoped, I added a salad roll to my order. THAT hit the spot, indeed! Pastor John brought up some good ideas, and I gave the Fellowship cards back to Dylan before I forgot. I'll need to ask him about budget and such later on, although I'm sure dollar store cards will be relatively fine. I was glad that I opted to eat first, since I'd have been ABSOLUTELY FAMISHED by the time I got out of the glasses place with BOTH pairs looking pretty good. Now if nothing untoward happens, I'll finally be in good glasses form for that wedding I'm supposed to attend later on this month sometime. :)

Then I went to Loonie Plus to see if I could find birthday cards which were at least somewhat appropriate in a Fellowship context. I came up with nothing, not even blank cards which would probably do in a pinch. Since I prefer to get all my birthday cards at once, I think I'll go to Richmond Centre sometime next week to see what they have there! (Valentine's card, Dad's birthday card, Ivan's birthday card, 40-ish appropriate cards...) It'll be interesting, for sure! Must take attendance as well, so the "blue jeans" notebook my parents gave me for Christmas will do for THAT! Now I must go before the computer kicks me off! (there's a little timer in the corner that counts down how much time I have remaining out of my alloted hour)

Electric toothbrush in a communal washroom, oh my!

I had a weird dream last night, as usual. At first, I was motoring around on a skateboard through various rooms. I was warning various people about dire consequences should they stay where they were. Nobody listened to me, and even the bright red and bright green room colors did nothing to dissuade them. The bright yellow and bright blue room colors just made them skitter into different corners of the mall with Christmas trees and lights.

Then I joined my friends after giving up on THAT enterprise. I looked for toothbrushes, and found yellow / purple / blue / red / green-and white ones in my black knapsack. Some of them had been used, but at least they were better than nothing! We found an electric toothbrush in a communal conference centre washroom, but Calla said "NO!!!!!!!!!" when we said we planned on using it. Besides the obvious germ factor, she said that she'd done an environmental study on the air in the washroom, and concluded that it was very bad in the field for us. If we used the toothbrush, we would soon fall victim to rats and the plague!

After that, we watched 24 ads / reviews out in the lounge. "The crew needs their coffee, so they'll be right back! Mike Honey SUCKS as a director - all his focus is on Milo, and none on Dennis Hopper or Paul McCartney!" Jeremy came by looking for me; he asked me whether I had money for him. Yup, and I had a red cheque (which looked like a $50 bill) with his name on it in blue ink! Then I wanted to get changed, but didn't want to do so in full view of my friends... Jason Lau and J-Mak were also randomly wandering around the lounge. Vania found a perfect place around the corner from everyone's view, where I'd be screened by a white partition with flowers on it - SUPER! I exchanged my white bra for a red one while I was at it.

Then Vivian S.'s mom showed up to drive a bunch of us to Vernon's wedding. Mom kept on trying to give up guilt trips: "You should APPRECIATE Eric's coming earlier so that Vivian's mom doesn't HAVE to give you a ride!" Well, there wouldn't have been enough room in the car anyhow, so Eric DID have to come along and take the rest of us! :P We tried telling Mom that it didn't MATTER, but she insisted that her perspective was the only right one - we just rolled our eyes and proceeded as we'd planned things earlier! My dad was the only one without a ride, and we noticed him grumbling about taking yet another car to the wedding - he was right behind us, in fact. We passed under a bridge and through tunnels while discussing T&T Supermarket, A&B Sound, ABC Country restaurant, and Jewish kosher laws. What a strange dream.... no idea why I had it, except I probably viewed some ads for JACK BAUER when there won't be any this year! =/

Firefox disappearing, the return of the mouse, Committee meeting, glasses

My Firefox browser's frozen / disappeared more than thirty times tonight - UGH! Jon called to say that I should want people to come out to the skating program, despite my physical limitations - my presence is going to be an encouragement since I'm now on Committee, he says. Maybe, but it'll be more compelling an argument NOT to have one again if nobody comes out! Haha... nah, I'm being too selfish. :P Eric called to make sure that I wasn't going to the skating program - he assumed correctly! He thinks that I should get traps for mice, but we'll see what the management says - I hope it's helpful, but I'm not too optimistic on that!

Steph called later to say that the skating had been cancelled because Britannia didn't have the Fellowship reservation, and some hockey team had the ice. Good thing it isn't MY responsibility, haha. She said that some people had gone out to eat dinner with Vivian L. because she's going to China next week. However, Steph didn't go since she'd already eaten, so she's hanging out with Vivian S. instead. Then she thought that I was referring to a computer mouse - no, I'm talking about a real live ANIMAL here! (haven't heard rustling for about 90 minutes or so - maybe it died! :P) She said that my vision was more important than a mouse - true if it's a computer mouse, but maybe less so for a real live animal.

Mom said that the restaurant is actually near Happy Date / Great One Supermarket, and not across the street from Sears. Good thing I called her to confirm stuff, since I'd never be able to find the place based on her email directions. :P Especially since she doesn't know the English name of the old China Can, which IS Great One Supermarket now. It made me think of Wayne Gretzky when it changed hands, haha. Eric called me later to remind me about Committee Meeting tomorrow since there wasn't an email sent out about it. My reaction was "CRAP! I was going to get my glasses fixed instead! Thanks for the reminder phone call, dude!" He needs to leave early, as do I. Not sure it'll work if the meeting gets moved, but we'll see - at least we have info now! ;)


Here we have Corey's take on things:

(07:21:21 PM) Flami: ACK! I JUST FOUND A MOUSE!
(07:22:09 PM) Corey: did you kiss it? maybe it's a prince
(07:24:06 PM) Flami: EW, are you crazy?!
(07:24:53 PM) Corey: you know, it's like with frogs
(07:25:06 PM) Corey: I think it's at least worth a try
(07:30:19 PM) Corey: where did you find a mouse?
(07:31:54 PM) Corey: the only time I've seen a mouse was in Arizona... I was watching a movie, and a mouse popped its head out from under the TV stand and looked at me.. this is in the middle of the night, by myself in someone else's house... it took like a week to get them to try to do something about them :P my ex-girlfriend had a toy lightsaber in her room, so I used that to scare the mouse whenever I saw it to make it run away and go under the door :P
(07:32:36 PM) Corey: later, I found that like every other animal, the mice in Arizona are several levels of evil beyond normal
(07:32:48 PM) Corey: it was a Kangaroo Rat, known for biting people :P
(07:33:08 PM) Corey: everything there was poisonous or deadly or mean
(07:33:39 PM) Corey: except maybe road runners :P... and they DID have road runners and coyotes there :D
(07:34:04 PM) Flami: under the couch! toy lightsabers sound crazy, haha
(07:35:59 PM) Flami: good thing I didn't do anything to the mouse when it ran out and then scurried back under the couch
(07:36:27 PM) Corey: they're afraid of lightsabers if you have one :P
(07:37:12 PM) Flami: I don't
(07:37:47 PM) Corey: sounds like you should get some traps. you can get ones that don't kill the mouse, and ones that do kill them, but do it internally somewhere that you can't see it...
(07:37:54 PM) Corey: or maybe that's a landlord issue
(07:40:05 PM) Flami: maybe it IS one... I wonder if this qualifies as an emergency
(07:40:29 PM) Flami: pity it's Friday... Eric says I should maybe get a trap or contact the landlord (in writing, as usual..)
(07:42:20 PM) Corey: in writing? go say "dude, there's a mouse in the room!"
(07:43:03 PM) Flami: the last time I tried verbally communicating my problems to the landlord via the phone, she said that I had to do it in writing :P
(07:50:35 PM) Corey: well, tell her she can go s*** a f***
(08:07:28 PM) Flami: somehow, I don't think that'll do anything good :P
(08:12:03 PM) Flami: that mouse is scaring me now
(08:12:18 PM) Corey: go kiss it!
(08:12:27 PM) Flami: EWWWW
(08:12:37 PM) Corey: even if it's not a prince, you'll make friends with it and everything will be cool
(08:15:25 PM) Corey: I just watched Mythbusters, and they did the myth about an elephant being afraid of a mouse :P Adam put one of the mice on his face, and it tried to go in his mouth
(08:15:29 PM) Flami: EWW
(08:15:32 PM) Flami: no, not that
(08:15:50 PM) Corey: they also found that the elephants WERE afraid of mice, despite them thinking that one was ridiculous and wouldn't happen
(08:16:13 PM) Corey: they didn't freak out and run away, but they took notice and backed off and went out of their way to go around the area with the mouse
(08:21:52 PM) Flami: should I leave a trail of food to make it go out the window?
(08:22:37 PM) Corey: how's it going to get out the window? can it get up that high? out the door would probably be easier, then if you can see it leave, stuff something under the door
(08:22:56 PM) Corey: though mice can squeeze through just about anything, so that might not work :P better than nothing, though
(08:23:15 PM) Corey: probably a bit cold to have the window open, too...
(09:05:31 PM) Flami: true, true...
(09:05:48 PM) Flami: my sister just called and said skating was cancelled, so it's a good thing I didn't go anyhow
(09:08:02 PM) Corey: what kind of skating?
(09:08:57 PM) Flami: ice :P I think they rented it out to some hockey team instead
(09:12:38 PM) Corey: you go ice skating? I thought ice was one of your mortal enemies
(09:21:31 PM) Flami: I don't - a bunch of people did... and there goes the mouse again! AAAAAAAAAAA
(09:22:25 PM) Corey: you're doing it wrong!
(09:22:31 PM) Corey: the mouse scream is "EEEEEEK!"
(09:22:58 PM) Corey: I hope that isn't the kind of mouse that chews your face off while you sleep...
(09:23:40 PM) Flami: Kangaroo Rats do that?! AIYA
(09:23:56 PM) Corey: no, those just bite
(09:24:20 PM) Corey: but other types that live closer to oceans... they're known for that on rare occasions
(09:31:36 PM) Flami: I think I know where the mouse would be... but I'm not about to go there to find out..
(09:39:37 PM) Corey: I suppose this would be a bad time to mention the scene from American Psycho involving a rat...
(09:39:56 PM) Corey: they didn't put it in the movie :P the movie is pretty tame compared to the book
(09:41:54 PM) Flami: I don't think I want to know, but I can guess..
(09:43:01 PM) Corey: okay, guess
(10:11:40 PM) Flami: let me see... rat gnaws on face, making it horribly disfigured, and making the skin hang off the bones of the skull :P
(10:12:46 PM) Corey: oh no, much worse :P you probably don't want to know :P
(10:15:08 PM) Flami: probably not, then
(10:26:56 PM) Corey: involves a really nasty giant sewer rat eating someone from the inside out :P and the rat was put there by the killer, and lured "out" by him too... and the inside was a rather personal place on a prostitute that the killer brought home and drugged or did something else to :P
(10:31:43 PM) Flami: sounds delightfully morbid, but maybe not something I'd actually want to see on screen :P
(10:51:03 PM) Flami: and my browser's disappeared for the tenth time tonight :P
(11:01:43 PM) Corey: try pouring lemon juice in your computer
(11:01:54 PM) Corey: isn't that what makes invisible ink show up again? something like that? :P
(11:02:05 PM) Corey: maybe it works on other disappearing things
(11:08:21 PM) Flami: yeah, but I don't think it'll work on a COMPUTER!
{snip}
(12:15:23 AM) Flami: great... now my browser's frozen!
(12:16:52 AM) Corey: next you'll browse your freezer!
(12:22:00 AM) Flami: wrong :P this is NOT helping me get things done - I wish I had a stable browser :P
(12:22:34 AM) Corey: why don't you get Windows back instead?
(12:22:43 AM) Flami: Eric hasn't had time to install it
(12:23:09 AM) Corey: well, complain more

What element are you? Earth You have a lot going on, and yet you still have enough time for everyone you know.

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Lemon drops, sushi, lip balm, coffee chocolate, and Kleenex!

Had a weird dream, which started off with me and Frances in the toddler room. We saw these two older boys in the kitchen, and knew that we used to teach them. Struck up a conversation with them, and observed later that they'd be QUITE good-looking since they had a dreamy appearance! Then we went to a movie theatre and saw Jen, Karen Lew, a girl with ginger hair, Michelle, a gay guy with glasses / his adorable baby, and others. We saw this movie featuring circus performers and slideshow freaks. The baby was crawling all over the place, and wanted some of the two-toned lemon drops which Michelle was passing around. Everyone distracted her with rattles and playthings, yay!

The girl with ginger hair actually hooked her leg between mine, and Jen and Karen decided that it wasn't a good thing. We eventually told her to leave my personal space alone, and we passed Kleenexes around to deal with people's colds and emotional moments, After that, we looked around for a garbage can since we couldn't justify littering the snot-filled Kleenexes on the floor. Then we recovered just in time for Special Sushi Hour at the Japanese restaurant in the London Drugs plaza! The menus looked like the Apple Supermarket color scheme: yellow background with green text, or the reverse. My sister was telling my dad about tempura, and Frances was offering the baby some Chapstick when the dream ended...


Possible triggers:

* talking to Harmony about how sushi had hit the spot for her craving (Toronto's sushi isn't very good, and it's overpriced - kinda like bubble tea!)

* having K offer his Chapstick (one of two) to me at Eric's on Sunday, before he hinted that he'd like me to sleep on his shoulder (I just declined, since I was on my way to grabbing my own in my coat pocket)

* discussing glasses WAY TOO MUCH over the past few days (Lisa's are like my mom's, and Rachel's are sturdy - I wish mine were!)

* seeing those lemon tarts that Auntie Grace made, and the fancy cute chocolates with espresso and such which my mom bought at London Drugs


I just called Factory Direct: they close at 5:30 on weekdays, and 3 on Saturdays! AIYA, SO NOT ENOUGH TIME TO GET DOWN THERE!

I hate this wakefulness that steals over me...

I'd like to know why I can't sleep, since I didn't even have any caffeine! Oh well, at least I had a good conversation with K earlier? Let's hope I sleep soon, otherwise it's going to be DOMMAGE this weekend for sure!

It's safe and comfortable to drink around Dave? WOW!

As soon as I got to the townhouse, Dave and his parents arrived, then Steph came home a bit later. Harmony arrived shortly after Erin's parents and aunt did, and called Jon to see where he was - on his way home from a meeting in New West. We talked about my glasses, familial brands of weirdness, Erin's being in Harmony's old Awana and elementary school, Fred, weddings, Tiffany's internship in Kitchener, the Kansas / Virginia Tech Orange Bowl football game, and "theatre-style around the TV" seating while watching ZZ Top at the Fiesta Bowl. Also discussed Eric and choice, Mom's telling me that I was someone's BOYFRIEND (I didn't know I'd had a sex-change operation recently! :P), Korey (I showed Dave and Harmony some pictures since they've never met him), Toronto, New Year's Eve / Christmas, the beautiful blue water on Harmony's Caribbean cruise, poop, hockey, pay-per-view, and more. Had a lot of food, like the cool seaweed I've had once before - the "highlight" was the winter ale (two servings), cherry beer, and some wine that was 12% alcohol. My sister wanted me to chug it... um, no! Pretty good times, heh. ("it's a safe environment! *tells Harmony the New Year's 2005 story with the wine coolers*")

I got an email from my mom saying that she'd reserved a table of 13 at Chen's Restaurant across the street from Sears for tomorrow at 6:30. Then we all repair to the townhouse for Harmony's ice wine and Mom's mango pudding! (Sunday / Monday / Wednesday / Thursday / Saturday are or were my alcohol days this week, haha!) I guess Myles, Brittney, Holly, and Peter are coming along with Uncle Joe and Auntie Wing - it'll be the ULTIMATE family dinner, for sure! Too bad K can't be there, but there will be other events like this! I've encouraged him to email my parents, and he's done so - I'm proud of him for it! :D

The doctor doesn't want your underwear because he's GAY...

Steph and I made the So sisters laugh with the "tentacles / testicles" story - my mom doesn't remember it. Then we told Uncle Gabriel about it... no, we were not making it up, which is why we told Mom to LOOK IT UP! The things in the soup were TENTACLES, not testicles! If I'd been there, I'd likely have spit out my soup all over the place and NOT apologized for it right away! HAHA. Rachel and Lisa seemed amused by that all night, haha. They brought CRANIUM to possibly play later, but we didn't have time since people had to work the next day. Uncle Gabriel told us a joke about this old couple who went to see the doctor. The doctor didn't know what was wrong with the old man, so he asked for a bunch of samples. (stool / urine / blood) Old man turns to his wife and asks what he wanted: "He wants your underwear!" We all laughed because we got it (the samples are on his underwear already!), unlike Auntie Esther! Rachel and Lisa told us that their mom didn't get it and thought the reason he wanted the underwear was because the doctor was GAY! HAHAHAHA!

We discussed South Carolina Cabernet Sauvignon, red wine, Steph's laser eye surgery, Lisa's DEF LEPPARD reference (POUR SOME SUGAR ON ME - coffee!), the parents' European cruise in May for two weeks ("we can't spend more time in Rome beforehand because it's already booked!"), the passport office, Peru, weddings, my glasses (which decided to break / bend!), being taught to use both hands, lectures, being big eaters (no hunger here!), and RARE BLOODY MEAT! Talked of shady Superstore, dodgy stealing employees (cell phones at the library?), what we did at Christmas / New Year's, being sick, the GOOD roast, wine, Facebook, Dave, Harmony, Jon, etc. Auntie Esther thought that Jon was upstairs having dinner with Harmony and her parents, and it took her a few minutes to realize that it wasn't the case! Just because Steph said that she'd message Jon about CRANIUM and other things doesn't mean he's on another floor! Hahaha! Discussed the Chinese thing of "be good and eat all the food even if you're full!" - those are two separate things, and it doesn't mean you're being bad if you don't eat the food!

Got home and found that Heather M. had added me to Facebook - of course I remember one of my fellow clarinet players in Band! Then I had a lovely discussion with Billie and Corey while trying to find my spare glasses. Bebo, Netspeak, memories, candy, freaks, T&T, candy, gummies, chips, wanting to stab our brains out upon seeing stupid errors, and more - oh my! Quite a good night, on the whole! The Canucks host the New York Rangers for the FIRST time in FIVE years today, and it's PAY-PER-VIEW! AIYA! Also found out from Andrew that there is no Awana this week - haha, he rocks for reminding me to check / read emails! I've found my spare glasses in a case, which was in a drawer which I'd looked in a few times previously! I guess I shall go to Factory Direct tomorrow since it's too late now! Good thing I'm not up for freezing in a skating rink when I won't even partake in the activity because of my balance issues! :P

I am NOT my boyfriend, thanks very much!

I'm listening to my sister's iTunes in order to get Christmas carols out of my head. Yay! Soon after arriving at the townhouse, I checked my offline messages - there was just one! Then my parents said that I had to learn to be more independent - a bit later, they said that they really wanted my boyfriend to learn this, at least far as taking the Greyhound bus here goes. Seems they met Veronica and Ron today while out doing stuff, and asked how Eric was doing. Eric's parents were a bit miffed (Veronica more so) since K had asked Eric to drive him to and from Chilliwack when he was sick already. "He can take the Greyhound bus since it's only $15 or so, and our son could be a pushover! Eric's been sick, and driving all that way there and back isn't good for his health!"

WE ARE SEPARATE PEOPLE, and I'm not responsible for K's decisions, at least not in this circumstance. I'm irritated that my parents chose to start the New Year off with a quasi-lecture, myself. Mom thinks K might lose Eric as a friend because of this behavior, and is concerned about the example he's setting for Eric's non-Christian parents. Dad just thinks that I need to tell K to be more independent - "if he won't listen to you now, he'll NEVER do so!" While I agree with that, and that the situation isn't good for Eric's health which isn't the best ALREADY, it's not like I myself asked Eric to drive him there and back! (I don't think I'd do that, especially while he's been sick!) K did that himself with no prompting from me. I was going to say something about it, but then the So family arrived with their roast. :P


One bit of hilarity out of all this came from Mom after she gave me a jar of candy to take home. "You're HIS BOYFRIEND, so you should tell him that it's not a good thing to do!" .... I am not a guy, thank you very much! o_O

Dream of crowded store aisles and crazy driving to boxes!

I had the requisite odd dream last night:

* I was checking my email, and found two from Korey: "Well, I gave you an answer!" and "Tell me!" So I opened them both, to find what looked like an innocuous poem, but knew that if I read every other line, it would be a bitter piece of writing. Then I forwarded them to some other people, haha.

* My family had to go to London Drugs to stand in some tax lineup in the middle of winter, and we noticed Justin C. there in a suit. He said hi, and then gave my mom some secret directions to follow. Mom piled me, my siblings and some other friends in her car, and off we went. She drove at breakneck speed through this crazy parking lot with a lot of twists and turns. Finally, she reached a chamber with a LOT of empty boxes. She told us to start digging through the boxes for a sacred amulet...

* When we found it, we somehow knew that my mom wanted it for herself to manipulate events in her favor. We didn't want that to happen, so we teleported to a crowded store with extremely cramped aisles. They sold hair products, blue dyes, blonde dyes, jams, jellies, stickers, and all sorts of other stuff. Found a wise old man there, who advised us to give him the amulet. When he took the amulet, he chanted an incantation over it, and made us indestructible!

* We went to the local university, where people invited us to jump through trapdoors. I jumped a floor, and landed on my feet next to a vending machine. There was a knapsack which belonged to Kitty (bornwitch) nearby, and I returned it. She invited us to sit on the benches outside in the sunny weather, which we did. Then we received news that Grandma had disappeared in the cold winter! Everyone went looking for her as we were quite worried, but couldn't find her by the time the dream ended.


Speaking of Kitty, I just got a Christmas card from her today. Reminds me that I should mail the one I have for her... maybe after I go to the glasses place, whenever THAT will be! No idea why I had the dream... too much dungeon-playing, glimpsing Justin in a suit at his grandma's funeral last Saturday, and seeing the empty boxes that Melia gave to Cindy on Boxing Day? (she's moving after eighteen years in that house!)

2008 is here already?!

Happy New Year!

As it happened, we didn't go to Chapters, but stopped by Seraphim instead so Eric could get a Starfield CD for Korey. He was joking about making me go on the escalators at Future Shop - you KNOW why I don't like escalators! I think that the name Randall looks much better with the double L, as in Black Jack Randall of the OUTLANDER series! (never mind that HE was a BAD GUY!) We went to the Keg, and the estimated 35-minute wait turned into a 10-minute wait at the most! Discussed butter, bread, offers of help with bread and cutting steak when it got there, payment to Eric (I was prepared, so paid him back afterwards), red meat, moisturizer, REJECTED pictures, Santa hats, filets, Caesar salad, prime rib, New York steak, Fred's sister being rich, Ryan and Alison's new baby, rum balls, price vs. expense, "feisty" qualities, SAW 5, holding hands, the skills competition on the weekend, joking that I minded watching yet another hockey game, how giving / family-oriented Eric's parents were (three times the amount of snackage needed?!), and more. When Korey brought up staying away from deep-fried foods, I immediately thought of the #4 (deep-fried shrimp cake) that I'd had on Friday at Pho. Ah well, it was only one time to see what it tasted like since Jon and Jeremy had split an order of those recently at a Sunday lunch!

After that, we went to Eric's. K cued up UNASHAMED / BETTER MAN / SORRY, and he almost fell asleep while we were holding each other. That made me think of the time Nathan had caught two of his Christian friends cuddling to I COULD SING OF YOUR LOVE FOREVER - SO WRONG! It was nice just to sit by each other and lean against him. I asked him whether he was happy, and he said he was! Then he talked to his cousin and others briefly on MSN, and reassured me that meeting his cousins wouldn't be that bad. That whole phone incident was months ago, and I truly apologized for that one anyhow! (they aren't HORRIBLE, but I have to get used to the way they are!) At one point, he asked what the vacuuming sound outside was: the family cleaning up the broken champagne glasses from the tray Ron had been carrying!

Eric was watching CSI, and had a special bread delivery - sweet! Ron and Veronica got home later; we all watched the Calgary hockey game, which we lost 2-1. Korey had to wear a huge Santa hat, and Ron took a picture of us since we matched - so cute. We also watched RUSH HOUR 3 - Paris and "brothers" and cabdriver wannabe spies, oh my! I laughed and had snorts of amusement, and it was nice being able to spend time with people too. Helped K with mints / cookies / his eggnog when he requested it, of course.

Diven looked tired and not that happy, and didn't really want to call my sister to see what she was doing. He fielded a phone call from Agnes over wireless network / router / password issues, but didn't want to spend too much time doing that since the hockey game was on then. We told K that Dick Clark had had a stroke, so thank goodness for Ryan Seacrest? Watched Fall Out Boy do a bad cover of Michael Jackson's BEAT IT, Mariah Carey, SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE people, Fergie, will.i.am (Black Eyed Peas), Carrie Underwood, and other such entertainment. Had champagne, and Ron joked that Veronica only got one kiss a year. Stayed till about 12:35, then Eric, K, and I left after warnings to drive safely since people were most likely pickled drunk outside. I had the feeling that everything was fresh and brand new with lights, like I do every New Year's!

YAY FOR HOCKEY!

Yesterday afternoon, I went to Eric's to watch the hockey game. We won 2-1 against Anaheim, and I felt like falling asleep a lot. By the time dinner came around, I was fine - yay for turkey cutlets and veggies instead of the Keg! But we'll do that tonight, haha. Talked to Ron, Veronica, Kieran, Eric, and Korey... looked at his cousin Ryan's photos, watched amusing Bugs Bunny / Tweety Bird / Sylvester the Cat / FUTURAMA cartoons, and played WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE and DEAL OR NO DEAL. K shielded me from seeing a picture on his Facebook, hugged / kissed me a few times while holding hands and sitting on his lap, and said we wouldn't discuss a certain person anymore - THANK YOU! He rested his head on my shoulder for a change - very touching and sweet! Looked at Eric's SLB / Mexico pictures, before calling Jon since K wanted BBT. Went to Fred's to watch the guys play ROCK BAND - quite a night! Hugged Fred thanks and goodbye - at least a perfidious blackguard wasn't the last person I embraced! Discussed beer, the Whip, Jeremy's analytical nature (we DO have that in common to some extent!), ROCK BAND songs, Rock 101 / the Beat 94.5, the KISS song DETROIT ROCK CITY, Rush's TOM SAWYER, Bon Jovi's WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE, Foo Fighters' LEARN TO FLY, Radiohead's CREEP, etc. Good times!

Washing dishes on a conveyor belt in a bus depot?!

Last night, I had a weird dream in which my friends and I were all lost at a bus depot. There was a brown-and-red tile floor, and if we turned down a ramp a certain way, it took us to the station for Powell River. The stations were clearly labeled with the destination city, something which I wish would happen in real life! Ian and Sean were with us, so we had to contain the kids' excitement. Before we could get to the station for Powell River, we were stymied by confusing directions for the ones to Chilliwack and Vancouver. We met a bunch of other kids at a gift shop in the depot, including Jennifer Liang. They wanted to buy a lot of Christmas things and beverages, but we didn't know if we wanted the kids to have a sugar rush.

Suddenly, Auntie Stella (Tracy's mom) appeared and told us all to help her wash dishes on the conveyor belt. This somehow made sense to us, so we went to help. We were washing knives and such one at a time until someone told us to use the clear blue tubs full of soap for multiple dishes at a time. Things were proceeding smoothly when Auntie Stella took our tubs away and told us to just go since we were disappointing her. Bewildered, we left to go to the bookstore. Met my sister there - she was going through a LOT of tabloids, comic books, magazines, puzzle books, and more! Later, we went on a bus that went the wrong way through a historical district of town with plenty of old buildings that had spires. We alerted the driver that he was going the wrong way, and after getting belligerent with us (POWER TRIP!), he finally went back to the bus depot. After finally getting some stickers at the bookstore, we herded all the kids and our gear off to Powell River! That was where the dream ended.

I blame this one on going to the 7-11, browsing the magazines, my sister's hiding MAXIM from the kids, seeing Tracy's mom in the back parking lot, and seeing Eric's photo of the Portland bus depot. (he made me look for clues, darn it! :P) Then again, there was also a bit of talking about Chilliwack and Powell River too, so that might have contributed just a bit. No idea where the washing dishes came from, though!


I got gold Christmas cards from Carmina (on_the_ground), Kadri (bad_habit), and Jennifer (tehgreenfairy) this afternoon! YAY FOR THAT! Shark bookmark, ramblings about Estonia, LJ, replies, cinema, and such are SO GOOD! I say if someone doesn't know much about me, they can always ask OR friend me! Hee hee. :D

2007 Recap: Steamworks, sudden mojo, and amusing times!

This is the 2007 Recap. Fitting for the last day of the year, no?


JANUARY

* Crashed Kendrick's party, and had a good time for the New Year. Talked to Harmony, Holly, Jon, and a bunch of others about various things. Cool vibe there, haha.

* Steph and Rachel made dinner for our families before Rachel relocated to Fort McMurray. Interesting stuff, to say the least.

* Went to Eric's to watch a pay-per-view hockey game: we ended up winning against the Panthers 4-3 in a shootout! :D

* Watched Casino Royale with my family, minus Steph and Grandma. It was pretty good!

* Auntie Fonda gave me two red yarn toques that she knit herself. They're pretty cool... although she DID give me permission to regift them if I didn't like them, I won't. Better than certain scratchy wool toques, heh. Later that day (and the next night), I went to Nathan's to watch 24 with him / Isabel / Cordia / Quan / Joyce / Steph / Eric M. / Jon / Christon. Damn addicting and SO GOOD - JACK BAUER!

* Auntie Fonda gave me a purple knitted hat: I don't know why she seems to like me so much, but it's cool. :)

* Went to MissionsFest and Steamworks afterwards. Things worked out because of the good laughs I had with Jeremy / both Erics / other people. Saw Jon's Regent friends Ray and Matt again, too!

* Saw PARADISE NOW at Nathan's after the January AGM with him, Jon, Jeremy, Christon, Phil, and Danielle. Suicide bombers and their culture are pretty interesting from a "why would they do THAT?!" point of view!


FEBRUARY

* Got ANOTHER eviction notice from Hester and her Amacon cronies over rent. Dodgy apartment management style is NOT for me! I wanna move, but not have only ten days to do so!

* Fabian, Tony, Nathan, Eric, Jeremy, Jon, Steph, Christon, and I shattered the 21-steamer record at Shanghai Wind by eating 35 steamers of SLB! We are CRAZY!

* Had a "Spinster's Bonding Night" with Steph, Cindy, Isabel, Vivian S., Vivian L., Karen Lew, and Chrystal on Valentine's Day. We watched Intolerable Cruelty and had pizza / junk food at the church. Since we couldn't figure out the church sound system, we had to enlist Mike's help via phone... thanks, dude!

* The onset of stress illness reared its ugly head: MY PERSONAL LIFE IS NOT YOUR WEEKLY SERIAL SOAP OPERA, THANK YOU VERY MUCH! Then it turned into a cold, with redrum being one week late thanks to all this stramash: WHAT THE HECK?!


MARCH

* Hung out with Eric, Kieran, and various friends of theirs to watch what turned out to be a Vancouver Canucks 4-2 loss at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks on pay per view. STUPID DEFENSE AND PENALTY CALLS!

* Attended Chung Yan and Karen So's wedding... good times! :D

* Was supposed to attend Project 416 at ECBC, but instead had a night out of a Seinfeld episode - Chinese Eric's car was towed, the impound lot's debit system was down, the bank machine ate his card... what else could go wrong?! It was hilarious when Eric told his parents that his friends (white Eric, Jon, Jeremy) had to come over and use the washroom, though!


APRIL

* Saw BLADES OF GLORY with Vivian, white Eric, and Steph. It was pretty good in that it exceeded low expectations! Later that day, we had our Good Friday service - pretty good stuff!

* Had 40 people come out for Sunrise Service 2007 - not so freezing as last year, although of course we all had sleep deprivation issues to varying degrees! Also gave Jason and Amos Wong some Dad's variety pack of cookies: I can't believe they've never had 'em! (Jonathan Chan can get his grandparents to buy him some if he really wants, haha!)

* Got into Round 1 of the playoffs against the Dallas Stars - the first game featured quadruple overtime which almost went into quintuple overtime!

* Went to Nathan's to watch Game 3 of the Canucks-Stars playoff series with Jon, Eric H., Jen, and Jeremy. We won 2-1 in overtime! Then we watched JESUS CAMP and the end of ZEBRAMAN... those Christian extremists are very disturbing and make kids grow up too damn fast!

* Discovered the LJ Space Adventures... very cool stuff!


MAY

* Went on a cruise from San Diego to Vancouver with Vivian and Karen Lew. UGH, getting up to be at the airport at 6:35 AM! They completed a 1000-piece puzzle! (watched Children of Men on the plane - SUCH A GOOD MOVIE!)

* Finally got together with Teunis - had two bubble teas in one day at Richmond Public Market / Estea. It was good talking to him in person about a bunch of stuff. Says he has stuff to give me, so maybe he can do that later!

* Saw Harmony in town again, so that was cool. Also discovered Cordia is morbid like me, so sent her a bunch of Morbid Facts links. :D (and gave her the FINAL EXITS book too!)

* Had the 24 finale party at the townhouse with Jon, Steph, Harmony, white Eric, and Christon. Much fun was had! (and people liked the postcards I wrote 'em!)

* Got another message about the Seattle Phone Pranks CD, this one from Tobias (tobiasmoran) on GJ - a blank journal with no content? Oh my. Hopefully, this one will get delivered unlike Matt Torres' CD last year, haha. Later that day, I finished the LJ Space Adventures on my friends list. :D

* Went to the Richmond Night Market with Eric M., Frances, Martin, Raymond, Connie, and Dianne. Gotta do this again for Jeremy's sake!

* Tobias (tobiasmoran) decided he only wanted Records for Sale, which is fine by me - attachment to email, it is! In return, I got three of his favorite Bob and Tom clips (Indianapolis): Trucker Clock, Donnie Baker - Team Names, and Dickens Cider. Seems fair enough exchange to me! Later that day, my family saw Joshua N., who is now married to a Mexican girl named Jessica. Wow! (Jon and I talked to Caleb, too...) Then the Giants won the Memorial Cup over the Medicine Hat Tigers, 3-1... an empty-net goal sure helped!

* Got together with Chinese Eric, finally. Went to the Keg and gave him his cruise postcard and Christmas 2006 card. He also borrowed one of my true-crime books. Very good hangout with New York peppercorn steaks! :D

* Got together with Teunis on the last day of the month. Two times in a month is a pretty good record, haha. Went to Aji Taro and Richmond Centre - yay for the new Sakura anime / manga shop!


JUNE

* Finally met Eric's Victoria buddy Korey - it was certainly interesting!

* Watched SONGS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR at Nathan's with Jon, Jeremy, and Nathan!

* Got 22.8 million points in Bookworm - YAY! :D

* Attended Phil and Grace's wedding and banquet - so nice!


JULY

* Certain regular phone calls made my life happy... K and I also officially decided to date.

* Went to the Richmond Night Market with the guys (Jon, Christon, Jeremy, Nathan, Eric) for Nathan's birthday. Good times - PANTIES ON HOOPS, anyone?

* Got together with Teunis - this time, we went to the Foggy Dew Irish Pub (just two blocks from my place and I'd never been there in seven years!) and Estea. He wants to have dinner at Estea one of these days - that would be cool. Since I treated him to dinner, he'll do the same sometime. Lovely friendship. :D

* Grandma got back from Hong Kong - YAY!


AUGUST

* A group of us went to try Shanghai Wonderful, which is the new location of Shanghai Wind. Good times, haha.

* Had one last dinner at the townhouse with Erin's family before Erin went back to Ottawa / Darren to Ireland. It was definitely good times. :D

* Had a great small group outing with Jon, Jen, Jeremy, Eric, Chuck, and Andrea: homebrewed Scottish Ale on the beach, and Bean Bros. Café afterwards!

* My glasses leg broke off. Yay. Not.


SEPTEMBER

* Had an interesting Sunday dinner to celebrate Eric's pseudo-birthday a few days late. Most memorable highlight: "Let's put kimchi in our bulgogi beef tacos! HAHAHA! Oh, and we've come up with a title for our Christian band's album: CHRISTIAN MUSIC TO MAKE OUT TO by the band PANTIES ON HOOPS! HAHAHAHA!"

* My computer finally conked out - it's not good if it makes grinding noises and then automatically shuts down into BOOT FAILURE mode! Eric installed Linux / Ubuntu on it, which made it work even if I lost all my Windows stuff.

* Dylan had a lunch idea, which definitely worked out well. "Roti canal" is NOT "root canal." Haha. Started the 40 Days of Community that day, too - very good!

* Celebrated my birthday with a bunch of my friends. Citrus said my "speech" was short and sweet just like me - aww, thanks!

* Took the Greyhound for the first time into Chilliwack - the mall there isn't too bad!

* Had a surprise party for Citrus and Mike T. at Montana's in Coquitlam - SO GOOD! Told Darren that I'd HAVE to get Facebook just for him now that he was moving to Ireland - which promise I made good on as soon as the computer worked again. Thanks, BooBoo...

* Had a very interesting Sunday dinner at Christon's - watching Julie do the dishes can be very entertaining! (later found out that Nathan had tagged me / Eric / Christon as various pictures in a room) His house has THOUSANDS of trinkets, oh my! (the church also approved Pastor John to be our new English pastor - YAY!)


OCTOBER

* Called Jeremy to wish him a happy birthday - that was the highlight of THAT night! Yay for good people! :D

* Candy called me to vent - so good to talk to her!

* The Thanksgiving Carnival was pretty interesting - "since Eric's not around, let's talk in Cantonese!" Hahaha, Auntie Ronne - too hilarious!

* Had a Sunday Dinner at Eric's house - the running joke was about the cat serving as extra meat, haha. It was good times, for sure. :D

* Natalie provided a bunch of us with hilarious entertainment: "You're the last people I'd EVER tell if I had a secret boyfriend!" Her brother Nathan was amusing, too - "you're 16 or 19... and he must be 21 because of his beard!" Vanessa was 12 or 13, which would make for some weird peer-to-peer teaching if she taught Gr. 7 kids! (but no... she teaches five-year-olds!)

* My glasses decided to be less than perfect again - this time, on Halloween! Good thing Iris was able to fix it, haha. No trips to Factory Direct for me! Spent time with Grandma, too.


NOVEMBER

* Went bowling, which translated into chilling time with Jeremy (who finished the "addictive" FINAL EXITS book) / Grace / Joe / Andrea / Karen. Was amused when Jeremy thought my new stylish shirt cost $100 at the Night Market - he thought that was what I wanted to hear! Sure, but it really cost $10 at London Drugs! I'd needed something to cheer me up, and that did the trick! YAY, SPARKLES AND SEQUINS! :D

* Had a Sunday Dinner at Jeremy's - the guys had to strip in the kitchen since it was so hot while they were cooking. We bought much yam / squashy goodness! Tony said that we'd have to bring our own dishes and stuff if he ever hosted a Sunday Dinner, heh.

* Had the Fellowship AGM, where I was recognized as a new Committee member. Was amused by Jeremy's idea of gravy-infused burgers. Jon said that Dragon Ball was closed from the 6th to the 29th - what the heck? Maybe it's their holiday, haha.

* Sanitized the nursery's toys with my small group, then went for lunch. It was pretty interesting! Oxy-San is cool, haha.

* Dad started to show his mojo, which greatly disturbed my sister and me. ("After your mom and I have lobster for dinner, we're going to have wine, and then have sex afterwards!" followed ten days later by "Why are you home from the States so early at 9? You're interrupting my romantic time with my wife!") We wanted OUT of the car even though it was moving and we'd probably die! Later that night, we went to celebrate Vanessa's birthday at Fish on Rice and Melia's. We didn't know that it was the last time we'd ever see Melia's grandma alive... :(

* Had a Monday Dinner at Jeremy's with some of the guys - it was quite efficient since Jeremy did all the cooking beforehand. Jon and I met up with Fred at the Whip afterward - yay for Black Plague and joking about cougars! It was a very good night out, for sure!

* Sat in on a Committee meeting, which wasn't too bad. Thank goodness for friends and support!

* Started to get Christmas cards and things from the awesome people at holiday_wishes! So good! :D

* Had a Sunday Dinner at Jeremy's to celebrate Jon's 26th birthday. The closet door and some liquor boxes served as a makeshift table, balanced by some books. It was very fun and amusing - Isabel was jokingly cut off from beer once, even though she'd only had a very little bit. Dallas wins at cooking roast, for sure! Everyone was amused when Tony mistook a directive for a command - hahaha, poor Vivian must have been confused!

* Went to ping-pong and a White Spot dinner (FAJITA SALAD, YAY!); it was good to be with friends! Then Jon and I went to #9 with Cindy, Melia, Angus, Dylan, and Anthony for a second dinner - it was great to just hang out!


DECEMBER

* Experienced problems with my Firefox / Swiftfox browsers disappearing suddenly ALL THE TIME. Twenty-six times in eighteen hours?! That is just NOT RIGHT!

* Finally (?) got my fridge / freezer fixed. I hope this sticks! Yogurt turning black, juice turning fizzy, and milk just fermenting are NOT good signs at all!

* Found out that Justin, Clement, and Fidela's grandma died. It was expected, but still sad news. :(

* Half-decided to give up on GJ because of way too many problems. Thinking of backing up stuff on IJ, but I have no friends there. Boo-hoo. :(

* Got 42 points on QUIZ in Facebook Scrabble - THAT ROCKED!

* Found out that Melia's grandma died, via Eunice's Facebook wall post. *sad* Later, I sat in on another Committee meeting - it wasn't too bad, even with making Eric wait at the door till I got dressed AND the unexpected Pho.

* Had a nice long lunch with Karen at the Oakridge White Spot. Talked about life transitions, relationships, old friends, death, Fellowship, injury, healing, and more. Was home in 45 minutes thanks to the 496... yay!

* Went to a congee house with Ray and the guys: we all found it amusing when he called his Toronto friends up with NO SHAME to ask what a particular dish would be! (this is at 2 AM Toronto time, haha)

* Had the Fellowship Christmas Dinner at Earls - it was good to catch up with Dawn in particular! Eric and I didn't think our seeing K in Chilliwack the next day qualified as a trip since our reaction to "Looking forward to the trip?" was "... WHAT trip?!" Haha... I had to tell him not to worry about it since I'd done the same thing!

* Went to the Wack to see K for his birthday - he was very excited to see me and the presents I got. I dunno... I thought they kinda would disappoint, but at least I was there!

* Went to Melia's grandma's funeral on the 17th.

* R decided to end a friendship with me based on something I'd said SIX MONTHS PREVIOUSLY - of course I wasn't serious! Ah well, I guess he wasn't a TRUE friend anyhow, like I was thinking! If he was, he'd have said something when the incident happened!

* Had the ESC Christmas celebration on the 21st - very good to catch up with people, for sure!

* Went to Dave's place for dinner on Christmas Eve - yay for the tradition! Guinness World Record for the largest rotisserie grills, anyone? ;)

* Had the Awana kids sing at the CSC Christmas Celebration. That was interesting! Good ol' Jordan in a "begging" pose with his hat, haha.

* Saw K in town from the 30th to New Year's Day. That was certainly very good!

* Went to Justin's grandma's funeral on the 29th. So sad!

* Hung out with Eric, his family, and Korey to watch a hockey game (we won 2-1 against Anaheim) and eat dinner - later, Jon said we could go to Fred's, so we went to watch / play ROCK BAND. Good times! (had lots of time with K, which I think we both needed)

* Hung with Eric and Korey again for NYE - the Keg is pretty good for sure!

Flushing mice and insects down the toilet!

All I want to do is sleep, but I can't even do that. Cheh. Went to church in the morning after having an unusual dream about flushing mice and insects down the toilet after killing them. I heard people share at service, talked to Fabian and Kevin, sat with the kids for the Koinonia lunch, got advice from Jeremy about the Keg (no steak!), discussed General Currie, and was disgusted at David's combination of Coke / Sprite / sugar / salt / pepper - he said it tasted like barbecue flavor, and even my brother was dubious. (told Julie to get him to come over to our table!) Somehow, a pop lid ended up in my cup - thanks, kids! Steph and Mike were trying to get Noah to lick his elbow, and then I tagged along to 7-11 with my sister / Louisa / Natalie / Nathan. (we had time to kill... Vivian later suggested I go to the skating program even though I don't skate!)

Gave Ian and Sean their Christmas presents, which they thanked me for. Their parents offered me a ride home, which I should have taken because my dad had an emergency meeting which I didn't know about! So I got home at 4 with Eric's guitar, and got a call at 4:25 saying that K's in Richmond now. Oh well.... I guess I can sleep at Eric's somehow, even if the Anaheim hockey game IS on! Hey, Hilary's added me to Facebook too - sweet! Now Eric's knocking at my door and telling me to leave - okay, I'm going!