If you miss a train, you don't need to take a $700 cab ride!

Just before I left today, I fielded this email from Uncle Eric and Auntie Brenda, forwarded to me by my mother: "Derek, our older son, was recently coughing up blood. He went to the doctor for a chest X-ray, but nothing was diagnosed. Subsequently, he was seen by a lung specialist, and a brochoscopy was ordered. There is a tumor on the left lung. A scan is to be done sometime next week, and surgery is to be scheduled. We pray that the cells are not malignant. Derek now attends the Knight Street Alliance, but I believe all of you know and love him, and I can share my burden with you." Man, that sucks! =/ (I'll definitely be praying for them)

Henry and I had a chatty conversation in the car about how his mom just got back from Italy, and wanted them to eat dinner at the new Yung Kee - hey, we both had mutual dinners tonight! Talked about kitchens, girlfriends, rice, Ada being not able to make it out, tidying stuff up, crème brulée, egg whites, meringue, video filming for a coffeehouse, recipes, Chevron, PetroCan, the gas price going up to 119.0 today, Esso being bad for your engine, SUVs soon being a thing of the past, octane (he uses 87 since 91 is so expensive), and how he should get a Japanese car next time! When I got to church, I dumped last week's dues on Auntie Vivian's stuff, and gave the containers back to Golden / Andrew for this week's dues money. (I thought of the perfect change jar for K, too!) There was a schedule change today which left the secretaries with little time to do awards - we'll revise it! The guys tried playing cards, but were kept busy - phew! (Awana Choir - yay!) Amos and I watched the Cubbies play games downstairs - Eric W. didn't do anything! Rachel seemed like she was hyperventilating, and Benjamin / Thomas / Eddy / Amanda seemed to have fun with Zoe's ball. Auntie Kam laughed a lot, especially when Amanda called Eddy "it" - the kids were supposed to pass the ball to each other, but say their name first. (they did warm-ups before playing games - very nice way to get physical exercise in!)

After that, Henry dropped me off at Sun Sui Wah - but not before we saw police tape on Victoria, near Nancy's Wonton House. Must be a murder or a gangland shooting! Haha, I'm not surprised. Got there two minutes before Jon did with his violin - the manager and hostess were having trouble finding the reservation, but they found it in good time with the phone number. Jon actually managed to order tea, which shows his Chinese has improved in the past couple of years! Said hi to Auntie Kwai and Aaron when they showed up, and then spent most of the meal talking to my sibs. Our cousin Wilson is now a bus driver in Toronto, which makes Jon hope it's not for the Toronto Transit Commission! Talked about our cousin Anna and her husband Mike, too. Auntie Kwai says Brigitte (their daughter) will be ten in October - WHAT?! Kids grow up so fast, so her brother Ethan will be older too! We made mental notes to NOT discuss the last time we saw Aaron, since that was his wedding - or maybe Wails' wedding. Saw this MONSTER king crab - wow! Steph found she couldn't get wireless to access the hockey score, but it didn't matter if she knew about it then or in an hour or so. Had shark's fin soup, veggies, free range chicken, a cake roll that Auntie Kwai had brought along (we laughed!), scallops with tofu, rice, and other things - of course we didn't have noodles since that's not a dinner item. *rolleyes*

Asked Steph whether she'd returned the wedding MC library book: nope, so I renewed it when I got home. She asked in turn whether I'd thought about dinner options tomorrow - no, but I had an idea a while later of going to Paesano's. That was definitely cool with her as a change from White Spot or Milestones - we went there back in October 2005, and we had an excellent dinner courtesy of a three-course special for $15 or so: calamari pesto, New York steak with mushrooms, tomato rice soup, roasted leg of lamb, house salad, white chocolate ice cream with a butterscotch centre / whipped cream / raspberry coulis, tiramisu with ladyfingers, and good coffee! Discussed jury duty and hardship (conflict of interest / $20 a day increasing to $50 a day increasing to $100 a day), Jon's haircut, Raymond's age (33), the irony of International Womens Day when Grandma was going on and on about the ugfart, Mr. Tee overworking himself by shovelling snow (alpha male!), Harmony disliking facial hair, dim sum lunch at Gala restaurant (Steph treating Grandma), Jon's teaching, a new "$36 for 10-course meal" place which was featured on the front page of the VANCOUVER SUN, Regina training, and insane expense accounts.

If you miss a train, you don't need to take a $700 cab ride ($600 fare / $100 tip) from Kingston to Toronto when you can wait a couple hours for VIA Rail! Also talked about the time change, Gilbert's wedding, Melia's wedding and her parents wanting to move to a condo, Derek's health, babysitting drunk people, Olivia contributing to Bible Study, the 30-Hour Famine, Vivian's new boxer Churro, what I did in Chilliwack / making myself useful / tidying up the garbage and recycling even though it wasn't my house, the past, transit, gross rice (I might email that picture to everyone!), and age. Steph mentioned that Hien and Mary were being quiet, which led to a discussion on people KNOWING the answer but not saying much, and Stanley saying something inappropriate about a sticker saying "I'm turning a kid's AK-47 into a school!" (he wanted to turn it around) Then she noticed that we were being Chinese by letting the last bit of everything just stay on its respective plate since we were HAK-HAI around our elders... she put the quail out of its misery, and I did the same with the lamb and tofu / scallops!

Auntie Kwai wanted to know when Jon planned on getting married - 2009 is the earliest, for sure! Steph looked up dates like 9/11 (a Wednesday) on her cellphone calendar - no need to "save the date" there! I almost wanted her to look up June 2009 dates, but didn't ask. Took pictures with Grandma, who seemed very happy about it! The extent of my conversation with Aaron was various "thank-yous" and table-taps for tea and forks and such. While the parents were discussing their May cruise / Zion outing, Steph told me and Jon that Mom had been on the phone with Auntie Wing Yee (Harmony's mom) discussing cruises in general. When Mom mentioned going to Brazil with them, Dad just didn't like the idea! He would DIE there because of the heat! He said something about how he'd have to wear a bikini there, so the three of us exchanged a horrified look. This grew worse when Dad added in something about how he or Mom could just go topless - and on that very dubious note, we left! o_O

January cigarettes are GONE! / I love understanding!

I had a weird dream which consisted of my mom addressing a huge crowd of church people. A bunch of us were supposed to help out with the kids outside, but had to let them out through a sliding door. I was late, and had to figure out a way of going through the crowd - luckily, I wormed my way through some old people. Once outside, someone complained that his smokes for January were all gone: nobody took them, dude! Then I went to see the kids, who were playing on this lighted playground as it was rather dark outside. Henry had written a card for Quan in which he used handwriting that looked like Karen Lee's. Nathan (Ivan's brother) was running around with glasses, and little Wilson was with him. We had fun with gold / middle name coincidences / literally pushing buttons before the dream ended, for sure!

As for what triggered this one? Hmm... the sliding door might have been representing the times when I had to open and shut K's window for him - must move the stick first! As for the whole "January cigarettes" thing, that might have been triggered by seeing his cousin's cigarettes / ashtray outside the front door. Not sure about the kids and such, however!


Mom sent me an email saying that John's dad was gravely ill at the hospital across the street, so warned me that Ada might not drive me. Ada herself called me a while later, saying that she was sick - good enough for me, so I caught a ride from Henry instead. I wasn't going to ask Ada about the situation. At least I have a ride to and from Awana, and I must remember to be dropped off at Sun Sui Wah - I'll see Auntie Kwai and Cousin Aaron, who I won't ask about a certain situation! (that was BAD, man!)

As for what else I've done today? Hmm... talking to Z has been cool, of course. I've apologized to someone for my behavior, and that got accepted. I have also got marvelous understanding from K about something, which makes me love him even more. We'll get through this together, like I told him yesterday. I had absolutely no problem at the bank either, so I'll give him the receipt for that next week! (plus a change purse / jar?)

Pregnancy dreams / Chilliwack trip

This is a scattered update on my trip to Chilliwack to see K while his cousins aren't here. Got to the Chilliwack bus depot earlier than I expected on Monday evening, so spent time reading about the Hillside Strangler until the place closed with the arrival of a Vancouver bus at 9. Fortunately, it was lit outside so I could continue reading - K pulled up in a cab, and asked me how it was going - not too bad, thanks. Went to the house, and met a couple of people - then K and I had to talk about some stuff. Later, he went upstairs for a bit, then came downstairs and announced that we were going to pick up some Wendy's food using a cab: "You had SUN CHIPS for dinner... that's not good!" Well, I was certainly up for some mandarin orange chicken salad! K knew our cab driver well, and said that he finally got to meet the "wife / girlfriend / whatever" - yay! Korey gave me a personal note he'd written, which meant a lot to me.

I went upstairs for the first time on Tuesday, telling someone that he had a phone call - wrong person, whoops. Had some Mini-Wheats in the kitchen, served Korey some cereal when I went back downstairs, let the dogs out into their pen in the backyard (I was stern - it went well), and fed the two cats some food since it seemed no one else was going to. (they mewed at me!) K talked to my mom on the phone too. Spent the day looking at AMERICAN IDOL video clips, discussing his cousins, listening to the noise coming from upstairs - his cousin's wife called from Thailand in the afternoon to see how things were going - K said they were going fairly well, even with the then-untidy condition of the kitchen! I even talked to her on the phone briefly, and that went all right - at least they're having a lot of fun already!

K mentioned that I'd fed the dogs and took out the garbage / recycling bags - I do try to make myself useful, heh! I used the computer briefly to see how much email I had (41 inbox messages) - I also noted that his friend Alison had added me to Facebook. I went upstairs to see what was going on. Leif offered me a shot of gin, so I downed it in one gulp - his friends Jesse and Carissa (only 17) were there, and thought this made me look like a pro since I did it without chaser. Hahaha... then Korey came up just in time to watch me take a second shot, which I knew was enough for me. Korey thought that now I loved the dogs! Haha, maybe! I admired Leif's coloring job on a sketch he'd done. K talked to Ryan and Alison, saying that I was getting a cough - I hope I don't make him sick! (I saw more Blog TV conversation - Mr. Crafty is hilarious, taking his shirt off!)

Wednesday, I got to talk to K's mom on the phone for the first time. That went fairly okay! Went to the kitchen to help Jesse tidy, and saw the mold fur on the rice that you see below - I threw away the OLD egg white containers! They both expired on January 21, and one even had the lid off! Listened to more music, watched AMERICAN IDOL, was treated to a (clothed) view of Mr. Crafty's ass, went on cam again for someone since she heard me laughing in the background at the entertaining conversation, and generally had a bit more fun. It probably helped that I didn't confine myself to K's room as much, haha. Went to Superstore to get a few things. Decided to lie down upstairs - the guys came back from outside, and we said hi. The environment downstairs wasn't suitable for sleep, since K was talking to people on Blog TV using a mic, listening to Britney / Christina (she's cool) / R&B. He wanted privacy while talking to Eric at 1 AM - no problem!

On Thursday, I talked to Jesse in the kitchen for a bit about math, welding, college, homework, the mess he was cleaning up, the dogs / cats, and some other stuff. It was good talking to him! Talked to K about some personal stuff, too. Went to the bus depot to catch a later bus, and was surprised when there was a phone call for me just before 6:30. Only one person knew I was there, so I wasn't surprised when K was on the other end - he wanted me to stay another night, even if he had dinner with Cory. I didn't mind (thinking that this is one way I can show that I love him), and was happy with the decision. He wanted me back for another night since he wanted to talk to me about some stuff. Watched AMERICAN IDOL (the top 12!), listened to some awesome guitar stuff upstairs, and of course fed the cats while composing a short grocery list. Went to Alicia's room to grab a pillow since K wanted his extra one - came across the brown cat, and some dog piss on the floor near the washer / dryer. Ew! The music last night seemed to consist of LimeWire downloads: TAINTED LOVE, WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN, I HATE MYSELF FOR LOVING YOU, MICKEY, etc.

Today, I talked to Jesse about cleaning the fridge. Korey and I ran some banking / billing errands. It was good to spend some extra time with him. When I called Eric to make plans with him tonight, the volume on the cordless phone was set to low - I changed it to high since I couldn't hear a thing! K said that I could bring another CD / DVD for music play if I wanted to (when I suggested it) as long as "it doesn't sound like someone killing somebody else," and I don't think the language in the prank calls will annoy him. ;) [even if he thinks some of my music sounds like someone's killing somebody else, haha]

As per plans, I stayed at the Vancouver depot after the bus got in late due to traffic gridlock in Langley somewhere - 5:40 vs. 5:05 didn't matter much to me! Went outside at 7:10, and Eric was there almost immediately - of COURSE waiting in the rain all the time wasn't an option! He said "We're going to Cordova, princess" - nice intersection camouflaging! We talked about NOT beating Jeremy to Union Gospel Mission, Gastown, this week's doings, and other stuff. Joined our group in the rain for a tour of the facilities. It was fine enough, heh... briefly talked to Connie, Cindy, Andrea, and Jeremy.

The Richmondites drove home in the Dodge, and discussed perishables / the time change (early again!) / defenestration via answering machine / my computer not restarting randomly / plans. Got home and discovered 110 email messages and 50 spam messages - went to work on comments and catching up on the important stuff. Steph had called to say that we should go out for dinner sometime since we hadn't in a while - good idea! Talked to Zorron, confirmed the Sun Sui Wah location for tomorrow's birthday dinner for Grandma (Richmond - dropped off - inviting Auntie Kwai and Aaron?), emailed some Type O Negative to Corey (who has it already), and fielded a couple of phone calls from K. He was on his way home, and wanted to say "I love you" before his phone died - and wanted permission to tag the rice photo so Jae could see it since Facebook wasn't working! No problem! I'm not calling him back now since it's late and I should get to sleep myself!


I had some odd dreams this week, too. On Tuesday, I dreamed that my cousin Lillian was hugely pregnant, but my mom had to take her to the abortion doctor since she decided she didn't want the baby. Apparently, it was possible for this procedure to happen. Then I dreamed that my mom was the pregnant one over Christmas time, and we had to navigate a moderately busy airport with a confusing "Ukrainian toilet bathroom setup" and escalators galore. Finally, it was my sister's turn to fall pregnant - I blew gold dust into a chalice / ashtray, but it did no good for her. The next night, I dreamed I was a MARIO character, and jumped on the world-ending flag near the castle a billion times to get turtle shells and new lives. After that, I dreamed I was flying around in a video game world - crazy stuff. I even fell asleep on the way to Vancouver via Greyhound next to a little girl who sang along to HANNAH MONTANA on her iPod.





Explanation: I was at K's cousins' house this past week. His cousin A's friend Jesse was cleaning up the kitchen, and found this bowl of rice with FURRY MOLD! We decided to just throw the entire thing (bowl and all) away. When Jesse went downstairs to show this to K, he said that he puked a little in his mouth when he saw it! Jesse and I laughed and then went back upstairs to continue what we'd been doing. (reminds me of the time my old friend Keith's buddy trusted someone to look after things while he - the buddy - was gone... he came back to find maggots and flies crawling over an entire roast in the fridge since the electricity had been turned off!)

Cancer is a vicious foe! / WitheredSalmon

RANDOM STUFF

1. So much for the computer not restarting on me... it did that while I was in the shower just now. Then again, maybe it was an automatic update - I hope it won't now begin to restart randomly a zillion times!

2, Jeff Healey died of cancer last night at 41 - he will be missed!

3. Ah, it's nice to be able to listen to Children of Bodom / Cradle of Filth / similar stuff again. I missed it! Thanks, C - you rock! Yay for finding the DVD in the Dead Milkmen CD case!

4. I don't mind certain things, but I should leave other things at home depending where I'm going! (yay for sanity!)

5. It's good to find old friends!

6. I got hit by WitheredSalmon!

I got hit by WitheredSalmon!

[12:54:44] WitheredSalmon: WTF?
[12:55:32] AlenaBrolxFlami: Let me guess - you got a message saying something along the lines of how you misspelled "nigger faggot" in your most recent post.
[12:56:04] WitheredSalmon: No.. I got something about "soon, my brothers.."
[12:56:13] WitheredSalmon: Just wondering how someone found this account.
[12:56:45] AlenaBrolxFlami: Ah... well, go look up the.missing.hat on LJ (take out the periods) then.
[12:57:03] AlenaBrolxFlami: You just updated your LJ, right?
[12:57:21] WitheredSalmon: Oh.. connected that stuff? Wow.. yeah.. I updated it a few moments ago.
[12:57:44] AlenaBrolxFlami: Yes... so did I.
[12:58:10] WitheredSalmon: So what does it show me posting as?
[12:59:27] AlenaBrolxFlami: The same as me, I'd imagine... WitheredSalmon.
[12:59:43] WitheredSalmon: Yup.
[13:00:07] WitheredSalmon: Wow.. I forgot this stuff still is going around.
[13:00:31] AlenaBrolxFlami: You have been hit before by the salmon?
[13:00:46] WitheredSalmon: Not by salmon. But by several others.
[13:01:52] AlenaBrolxFlami: The hatbots?
[13:01:57] WitheredSalmon: Yup.
[13:02:28] WitheredSalmon: It's odd... this is the first time in a while I've been visited with one of these.
[13:03:46] AlenaBrolxFlami: This is something entirely different than the hatbots... and I've been visited by the salmon five times now.
[13:04:13] WitheredSalmon: Oh really? Something more evil in its intent, or still as harmless as the hats?
[13:05:06] AlenaBrolxFlami: Hmm... the salmon monitor this conversation, so I advise you to add the aforementioned community to your friends list and read through the posts.
[13:05:32] WitheredSalmon: Wow.. that kinda bothers me on so many levels.
[13:05:34] AlenaBrolxFlami: The people there don't think it's malicious, but it's something different in nature.
[13:05:53] AlenaBrolxFlami: That this is potentially being monitored? Yeah, I know what you mean.
[13:06:27] WitheredSalmon: Are you using straight AIM.. or a secondary program like Trillian?
[13:07:38] AlenaBrolxFlami: I am using Trillian - yourself?
[13:07:48] WitheredSalmon: The same.
[13:08:52] AlenaBrolxFlami: I just got Windows back, so I'm happy to use Trillian - Linux did have Pidgin Instant Messenger / GAIM, but it wasn't the same for some odd reason.
[13:10:05] WitheredSalmon: I've always used some form of Windows.
[13:10:21] WitheredSalmon: Man.. this weather is just too warm for me today.
[13:12:24] AlenaBrolxFlami: Ah, my Windows crashed on me and the hard drive was apparently too borked to recover stuff from, so a friend set me up with Linux from mid-September to last week.
[13:12:36] AlenaBrolxFlami: How warm is it? It's raining here.
[13:13:30] WitheredSalmon: Upper 40's.. snow is still on the ground. Crap is going to turn to ice as temps are supposed to drop. Guess we have a chance for snow tomorrow night.. talking about another Michigan Snowmaker.
[13:15:41] AlenaBrolxFlami: My brother's friend tells me that Michigan is really bad for snow - here in Vancouver (BC), nobody knows how to drive in the snow since we get so comparatively little of it.
[13:16:34] WitheredSalmon: MI can be bad for snow. We got hammered a few weeks ago with 17 inches here in the Saginaw area.. I was unable to drive for two days.
[13:18:10] AlenaBrolxFlami: Yikes, that sounds really awful!
[13:19:13] WitheredSalmon: Not as bad as it could have been. I probably could have driven my Lumina van because I had about 30 lbs. of Legos in the back. But even the fire crews were getting stuck.
[13:22:32] AlenaBrolxFlami: Yeah, true. But if the fire crews were getting stuck, it still sounds bad to some extent. Thirty pounds of Legos? Why so much?
[13:23:23] WitheredSalmon: I do a giant church out of Legos. I was keeping it in the van at the time because I needed the room in the apartment.
[13:24:56] AlenaBrolxFlami: Hey, that sounds neat! Reminds me of the inflatable church, and other Lego creations that I've heard of over the years.
[13:25:33] WitheredSalmon: Here is the link to the work. Let's hope the salmon lets it pass.
[13:27:01] AlenaBrolxFlami: Yup, I see the link. I think they only delete real screen names and then block you if you appear to know too much. (let's hope they let THIS pass!)
[13:28:06] WitheredSalmon: They did, which is nice.
[13:29:29] WitheredSalmon: I even have a picture of me in that link. Though perhaps not the best one that I have.
[13:30:02] AlenaBrolxFlami: It's good they let it pass. Thanks, Mr. (Mrs.?) Salmon!
[13:30:36] AlenaBrolxFlami: Looks like you've been doing this for a number of years - very impressive!
[13:31:06] WitheredSalmon: Yes, I have. The pictures show only the public display ones. Project 08 took me almost 5 hours to break down.
[13:31:28] WitheredSalmon: I'm just a typical 30-year-old guy who has a lot of time on his hands.. LOL.

Then we talked about other stuff - very nice random part to the afternoon! :D


Edit: The pirate speak / rainbow colors have struck!

[14:17:57] AlenaBrolxFlami: Ah. Best to stay away from them then.
[14:18:28] WitheredSalmon: I usually have that guy on iggy.. but fer some reason he used a new ID on me. I were showin' off me Lego work in th' room again an' that be wert set him into over drive. ...ARRRRRRR!
[14:19:03] AlenaBrolxFlami: Ah, the pirate speak has struck.
[14:19:15] WitheredSalmon: Uh oh. ...ARRRRRRRRR!
[14:19:34] WitheredSalmon: Yer color went from blue.. ter rainbow.
[14:21:29] AlenaBrolxFlami: Yes, that's what has happened to others who have been hit by the salmon.

Vegetarian lasagna with eggplant? Interesting!

Christon, Jon, and I walked to Jeremy's - after not speaking into the intercom, we were let in after clarification. It was an eminently walkable distance! (and I even found that to be true later on - alcohol makes me more winded / GIDDY, for some reason :P) This was like the earliest Sunday dinner ever since Jeremy had been making stuff in the afternoon for us. Had Black Bear stout (8.1% alcohol), Hogs Heaven barley wine (9.2% alcohol), and a thimbleful of Scotch (40%) - Jeremy joked about having Christon try his 75% Appleton rum, but we didn't think that would be a good idea. Talked about drinking stories, Russia, Jen / Desmond, Guinness, Ireland, smuggling scruffy Irish lads, spam (recipes), kimchi, gummi bears and Chinese powder, TASTE OF THE WORLD, kickboxing, Fred, Ultimate Fighting Championship, Teresa, Ministry of Prayer, Mei Lin liking THERE WILL BE BLOOD, P.E. teachers and laps, Christian schools, and more. Jon figures his yellow Al Snow T-shirt wouldn't be appropriate, or the Teen Girl shirt - this was prompted by a call Nathan made, saying he'd lost his Strong Bad hat at the coffee shop. The lasagna had eggplant and tofu, and the salad had lentils in it - pretty good stuff!

Jeremy joked that he'd consumed some alcohol before we came over to make himself more sociable - that's one way to push your boundaries and work on your weaknesses! We remembered what Phil had said about his being an introvert married to an extrovert - Jon figures he and Harmony are a introvert / extrovert couple, while I thought that my own relationship was like that. I told Jeremy that Nathan hadn't seemed to know that Isabel was away, which he found funny - sure, there were times when he figured Darryl was away only after a couple of nights spent alone, but you'd think Nate would at least pick up on it even if she was just living in a room of the house! Ray himself was away at a conference, so he couldn't help eat the massive leftovers - four jars of soup, two meals' worth of salad, and over half the lasagna? I myself told Jeremy that I'd be willing to take some leftovers home and help him out that way, but I wouldn't be around this week - Christon picked up on that and asked what I'd be doing, so I told him. Maybe it'll actually go well, haha. (no price difference for Monday vs. Tuesday...) Talked about traffic, Johnny Cash / San Quentin / Folsom Prison / UGM on the way home - A BOY NAMED SUE is hilarious, and so is the "San Quentin, I hate every inch of you" song! [Dan also added me to Facebook - sweet!]

"You can stay out as long as you like, but you have to eat dinner at home!"

Mom made grim predictions about my life choices this morning while giving back my washed jacket and colorful sweater - er, thanks. Then she thought I needed to know certain things right away... no, I did say I needed to know by Saturday! (nothing immediate about that...) When I got to church, I accidentally sat in Phil's spot, so that made for a squishy pew when he came back! Tapped Jer on the shoulder and asked about his phone number - no, he hadn't changed it, but he'd probably been sleeping when I called him at 10 or so! (but at 7:30?!) I explained that I know he's Lenting the Internet in general, so wanted to tell him about the Friday plans; he actually checked his email for that reason at work! At least he appreciated my thoughtfulness! Then he showed me a number on his phone; yes, that was mine! (although I thought he put it in a while ago, but that's okay!) Discussed Friday's Green Lettuce dinner with Raymond, Dylan, Calla, Johnny, Kevin (who said they'd missed me on Friday - the transit options were too annoying, and I didn't know the cross street :P), and Teresa: mild food is all right, but no Chinese-Indian fusion?! During the handshaking portion of the service, a certain someone came up to me (so he knew darn well whom he was talking to :P) and said hello / shook my hand. I wonder what THAT was all about... maybe it was a friendly gesture, and maybe it was about appearances. Hmm, I'll probably not read TOO much into that! o_O

I also went to the very back to say hi to David, Rosenda, Ian, and Gabriel - Ian seemed to like my blue beret, as did Keenan later on. Suppose it looks cool to toddlers, which is a plus! It's not a Santa hat with stars on it, but as long as they like it (and people have complimented me on it), that is very fine. *grin* We all laughed when Pastor Edward said something about praying for a cat, and then all groaned when Andrea said something about Daylight Savings Time - this is the one where we all walk around like zombies because we LOSE an hour's sleep, as I described it to Phil. Went to the back parking lot and said hi to Tony and his dad - then stood around and discussed beer / coffee / wine with Raymond, Martin, Dylan, and Johnny. Said hi to Mei Lin and Cindy after that, then went to Sunday School a bit later. When Auntie Bessy came in, I was writing reminders down in my book - since that is what I was doing the last time she came in, she's going to think I don't like interacting with the kids anymore! That's not true! Grabbed a seat with the kids for the Koinonia luncheon while saying hi to Adam, and gave my jelly stick to Bob - Amanda's sister Hannah S. exclaimed "I get to eat!" when she shared Timbits with the toddlers during Sunday School, heh. (the lesson for them consisted of Harriet Tubman - I remember learning about her in grade school, yay!)

Hannah W., Julie, and Natalie remembered the last luncheon we had, where David combined salt / sugar / pepper / Sprite / sauce on his plate - he did eat it, too! Natalie complained about her brother following her around EVERYWHERE - home, church, school, etc. Sounds frustrating! Julie told people not to read certain journal entries she had in a green duotang, so Sam told her that he didn't have X-ray vision! She got concerned that Benedict was reading it from behind her, and shielded it from Nathan since it was embarrassing - some of it WAS fictionalized, apparently. Mike, Joey, Sam, and Ivan talked about hockey... then Emily got into the discussion about kumquats and shark's fin soup. Lanie had eaten an orange kumquat without the peel, and Stanley thought she shouldn't do that. Maybe it does affect the taste a bit, but I just ate it with the peel on - I guess it tasted okay! Jon came downstairs to joke that he was too cool for us downstairs people (and tell Sam that both of us were legal - anniversary special beer will be consumed tonight!), then Emily shared her strawberry cake with her brother. (Ivan took his brother's, and Hannah took Julie's - too busy playing PSP!) Ivan combined some stuff into a cup, and Hannah wanted him to chug it. He didn't, but did try some. My dad thought it was crazy, but I guess it isn't too bad as far as weird food combinations go! Isabel told us about her jam-packed New York trip for Reading Week with a bunch of her classmates - wow, she actually got a normal amount of sleep! (I said that Nathan didn't know she was gone at first, which she found really funny!)

After that, we had the family meeting to ask Phil questions about the youth pastor application - I told my brother to stop napping, haha. Stella was busy calming her fussy baby son Noah, and Abigail was sleeping in her mom Helen's arms - Anne made a bit of noise, but Sophia was pretty good at distracting her! Later, Sophia asked how I knew that babies normally woke up every three or so hours to be fed in the first few months of life - I don't have personal experience with that kind of thing, but I do know about it! Jon joked that he would get Joey to ask questions for him, but Phil just as jokingly threatened that he'd fly out to wherever Jon ended up and exact his revenge! Challenges, strengths, weaknesses, Grace, vision, and personal journeys were all covered - I should encourage both of them, for sure. Somehow, I don't say as much as I used to - not sure whether that's shyness (around someone whom I've known for a LONG time?!) or what, but it'll be cool. Talked to Dylan, Calla, Nathan ("I am a LION and have come from the PAST!"), Jon, Daniel, and others about bread / coin flips / questions / rest / coffee shops and study solidarity / Christon / Terra Breads and Cobs Bakery products (Michelle just bought bread - Isabel's stuff went to Pastor John and Karmie) / weekend plans / dinner. Lasagna, soup, and salad sound nice and simple! (then we went to Cuppa Joe's on Broadway / Main - caramel mocchiato, wild salmon roll, "you can stay out as long as you like, but you have to eat dinner at home!" [Christon's mom], personality test questions, pee / losing keys, Nathan never really being normal, chemicals such as cyanide / arsenic in water supply, sewage / drinking water in Toronto's supply, etc. - GOOD TIMES!)

I'm a LONE WOLF!

Taken from Mandy via Myspace bulletin:


1. Do you think you can last in a relationship for 4 months? I've done it, and have continued beyond that mark.

2. What color are your eyes? Brown.

3. Who was your last text from? N/A.

4. Do you have a best friend(s)? Sorta, but I'm a lone wolf in a way.

5. What is one thing you question a lot? Meh, there are a few things...

6. Do you lead people on? No, I don't!

7. Are you married? No.

8. Have you ever told someone of the opposite sex / same sex that you loved them? Yes.

9. Is there anyone that doesn't like you because of something you didn't do? Possibly, but there's nothing I can do about that. TOO BAD!

10. Do you miss someone right now? I do.

11. Did any of your friends go out with any of your exes? No.

12. Do you have a cell phone? No.

13. Are looks important? I guess they are to a certain extent...

14. What are you wearing right now? Sweater, fuzzy pants, and fuzzy socks.

15. Are you mad at someone right now? To my surprise, not really.

16. Are you taking anyone for granted? I don't think so.

17. Where do you keep your money? In a super-secret place, haha.

18. When was your last kiss in the rain? Never been kissed in the rain, although I may have come close that time at Richmond Sushi...

19. Would you rather sleep with someone else or alone? Hmm. Tough one. I don't like sharing my bed because there's more room for me, but I wouldn't be averse to sleeping with someone else in the same bed if it were bigger. Haha, I know this might not make sense.

20. How did you wake up this morning? By yawning and stretching and opening my eyes when the alarm kicked in!

21. Which is more romantic: sunrise or sunset? Sunset.

22. What was the highlight of your day? Hasn't happened yet, but Sunday Dinner at Jeremy's will qualify! :D

23. What's the last bone you broke? Never broken a bone in my life, and I don't intend to start now.

24. How many different letters are in your last name? Two.

25. What book did you read last? The Assassin's Cloak: An Anthology of the World's Greatest Diarists.

26. How was your day? Not too bad, I guess.

27. Do you live near your best friend? No.

28. Are you scared of spiders? Depends.

29. What do you think of Fergie? Annoying as hell.

30. Do you believe in love? I do.

31. How old do you want to be when you have kids? I don't know.

32. When was the last time you were so drunk you threw up? I've never thrown up due to being drunk.

33. Do you curse a lot? Not really... only at the computer when it's being temperamental.

34. What do you know about the future? It's X-rated. (Matthew Good Band references RULE!)

35. Do you hate your last boyfriend / girlfriend? No... I just don't talk to him. :P

36. Do you only drink bottled water? Not exclusively, no.

37. Are you happier single, or with a boyfriend / girlfriend? There was a time when I would have answered "SINGLE!" but now I'm happier with a boyfriend. Go figure. :)

38. Most hated food? Durian!

39. What are you doing tomorrow? No idea.

40. What are you doing this Friday? Fellowship, probably.

41. Do you want someone you can't have? Not really.

42. Would you say you are date-smart? I think so...

43. What are you excited about? No idea.