Tunnels would make great personal tents!

I forgot to relate this yesterday: people know that Pastor John and Karmie's anniversary is May 4 because of "May the 4th Be With You!" Also, we told Johnny what "playing hooky" meant since he didn't know - skipping out on important responsibilities! Dylan knew there was a young widow at church whose husband died of cancer: the church made sure that Michelle got a job, all right! Steph loved "THE LIST of widows over 60 who won't give in to their sensual desires," haha... even if she did sound a tad bitter over being the "responsible" one in the family! :P

Turns out Henry and I were even later to Awana than last week, but I didn't realize my phone was off the hook after I'd placed a quick call to Steph earlier. Of course, I apologized before I asked if he'd ever been to a bubble tea place called Twinkle. His opinion is that the place isn't very good, although it seemed full on Wednesday night at 11 when Jon / Dallas / I went. All those places can't be busy at the same time, to be sure. Just as we got to church, I asked how his dinner with Joe had been last week: he thought I'd said "General" for some reason. I know I talk quickly at times, yikes! He said that he'd had STEAK - yup, it's a guy thing! Then he wondered what girls would have: for people like me and my sister, we'd have steak for the protein and iron! But for the stereotypical girl, probably salad and water. Not much protein there, I agree!

Talked to Eric T. about his recent grad recital: glad to hear it went well. Discussed stuff with Chrystal, Margaret, Amos, Andrew, Hilary, and Golden about the tunnels / bouncy balls / Awana store merchandise / boomerangs / tables / communication and concern / upset / personal tents for Timothy camp ("nobody will kick you in your sleep!") / combs / pencils / other things. The ride home was filled with Ian's imagination: crackers, "Sean - look!", underwear, hitting himself over the head, superstars, grocery stores, Superstore, tag, making his brother touch his (Ian's) butt, switching lights on and off, McDonalds, swimming, sleeping, copying, and more of the same. Got home and talked to Eric H., Corey, and Z about the day / error messages in Winamp / Lego churches / more.

Feisty bingo of the environs! / More poems on death!

Bingos of the day:

FEISTILY (80 points) - against Barb H. [across a double word score!]
ENVIRON (76 points) - against Pat K.


Andrew's MSN picture is crazy - it's from a haircut he had last November, and he inverted the color so it looked nothing like him! He also wanted help with a poem:

The Dead (Mark Strand)

The graves grow deeper.
The dead are more dead each night.

Under the elms and the rain of leaves,
The graves grow deeper.

The dark folds of the wind
Covers the ground. The night is cold.

The leaves are swept against the stones.
The dead are more dead each night.

A starless dark embraces them.
Their faces dim.

We cannot remember them
Clearly enough. We never will.

More morbid death poems... and the dead grow more dead every day, if that makes sense. I do know that you cease to remember the dead clearly with the passage of time!


Edit at 1855: He later told me that he'd Googled the poem title and author, then found the theme in an essay posted online. I warned him that his teachers could also do that, so told him NOT to plagiarize! He said that he'd done that in his own words, sorta. Fair enough then!

I don't think the Booty Logo is appropriate for little kids!

Bingos of the night:

GREENLET (70 points) - against Danny M.
URIDINES (70 points) - against Rose G.


Had to borrow money from Chrystal to subsidize my Pho dinner - AIYA! After I talked to her, I discussed the Trout Lake barbecue with Christon... the rainy weather could be a factor in the turnout, for sure. Talked to Raymond about Scrabble, to Dylan and Johnny about their new jobs and the commute, and joked with Jeremy / Calla / others about Korean girls and how they don't want to date firstborn sons. (these sons will eventually have to take care of their mothers, hahaha)

Noticed someone was quite quiet, but I figured something had happened to him which he didn't want to talk about. (jfkl;jsdlk;f;sidf;;sdoiuwoieru) Dylan reminded us verbally about next Monday's committee meeting, heh. Saw Mike, Stanley, Chris (got back Wednesday!) and THE HAIR, Ivan, Sam, Lucas, and others. Discussed Oscar's Café, Calla being okay to drive, Chrystal getting home, actions speaking way louder than words, doing Fellowship stuff at work, Stanley's Tostitos, Teresa's questions about the new church building, being fashionably late, Jeremy leaving early, and more.

I remembered meeting Ryan and Alison at Sui Sha Ya - the Booty Logo would NOT have been appropriate for their son! Steph said she had to find the April-May-June birthday cards, and said that a sense of propriety didn't stop me from drawing the Booty Logo at Montana's last September! Then we reminisced about the first time I ever drew the Booty Logo - Dawn's brother Geoffrey was 10 or younger when that happened! Jon called to say that he was in the White Spot on Lougheed after the BBQ: we guess it got dark! (23 or 24 people did turn out for it)

Steph remarked that Vivian S. visited last week when she was sick, and we discussed family memories in general revolving around Dawn suddenly waking up in our house when her baby brother came into the world. (he's TALL now!) Also talked about hockey playoff stats, basketball, phone calls, Eric's Redmond interview next Friday (hint / clue!), interview questions, turning weaknesses into strengths, recruiters, Human Resources, amusing ourselves, bugging your friends' younger siblings by putting on lame accents ("Hey, Jess... HOW'S IT GOING?!"), and more. Good times!

For those of you wondering why this post is timestamped at 4:01 AM, I did go to bed before midnight. I woke up because of a combination of a disturbing dream involving the bathroom tradition (don't ask - you DO NOT want to know!), and not being able to sleep. Man, I should have had minty help... and why do I have a Christmas song in my head now?! (DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR?)

Holding hands at church, oh my! / DQ amusement / SURVEY NOSTALGIA!

Bingos of the day:

UREDINIA (64 points) - against Chantal F.
ERODIBLE (63 points) - against Mel G.
OUTSTAY (77 points) - against Marla S. [across a triple-word score!]
DOORYARD (74 points) - against Matt H.


I had a weird dream where a group of friends and I were in a crazy elevator. It went up a few floors to the 101st, then plummeted us back down to the 15th. We were transported to a mountainside where we saw a bloody nanny goat on the road... Eric said it reminded him of spaghetti! Then we went to church, where Andrea and Maisie were setting up a sparse service which not many people attended. Raymond was there, and it felt right for him to hold Felicia's hand when he sat willingly beside her. Jon came in after he and his friends went shopping at the Bay for Christmas ornaments.

It was a very surreal Christmas service, with the Awana Choir singing their (in real life) TIME song. ("Time, time, God's good time... everything happens in God's good time...") There was a dinner with Rachel which was announced in the green bulletin, but there was also a LOT of blank space where the announcement text should have been! My sister opined that the bulletin people were too old to do that anymore, haha. Interesting dream, and I'm not sure I can relate it to anything going on in my life right now!


Yesterday, I re-read a bunch of very old survey answers / SDMB threads (2001-2003) from various people. Makes me wonder where some of them are doing now, and makes me think of the others... Adam R. (jackelope), Adam F. (Res), Sarah M. (lel), Spoz, Kempy, Stuckey, Terrence, Jemima, Kate, Steph, Jon, Rachel, Sarah Rowlett, Mike C., Darren M., Vania, Christine, Phil C., Phil Y., Alan, Eric M., Gilbert, etc.

Eric thinks my computer has a virus, or that there's something wrong with the motherboard. Man, that sucks... I know the computer likes restarting a LOT lately, and did before. But it did stay on for about 24 hours the other day... o_O

I read a Stephen Covey self-help book about trust and behavior: did you know it's possible to behave yourself back into love? It's also reasonable to behave lovingly toward people, and show them that they're important. Hmm... food for thought!

Hung out with my grandma today - she asked what I wanted for lunch besides muffins. To amuse myself, I told her that I'd have rice. (she thinks rice is a dinner-only food, and noodles are for lunch only) We ended up going to Dairy Queen for a fish burger, two cheeseburgers, Pepsi, and a hot water. Saw a lot of rowdy teenagers from the local high school - figures I'd use Yazmine's phraseology for them! Grandma wasn't impressed by the explanation I gave her about poutine ("it's cheese and fries!"), thought I should change it up by having a variety of burgers instead of just two cheeseburgers, and seemed to believe the picture of popcorn shrimp was chicken. She wondered why I didn't get fries, but I've had enough fries over the past few days to last me for some time! As usual, the language barrier prevented me from explaining that to her properly... but I amused myself by referring to a mythical creation of durian fries, haha.

Dallas and Twinkle / April 2008 Bubble Tea Tally

After that last post, I went to the third floor to see what Jon and Dallas were up to. They were talking about Ebonics, and about whether they'd use it. I was emphatically against using it personally, and so were they. Jon mentioned that he couldn't see Jeremy talking in that "language" since he didn't seem like the type of person who'd desire it. I definitely agreed with that one, and reflected that it was a good thing Jeremy wouldn't! It's a real stretch to imagine him saying certain words for a first-person pronoun that isn't gender-specific, for example! Asked if we were doing drinks, and we decided to do so even if it was takeout... talked about grammar podcasts, Lyn Truss, Harmony's writing, other podcasts, etc.

Paused for a while when we heard noises - I thought it was the TV, but it turned out to be Steph in her room on the phone! Dallas figured he might need to shower, and asked us if he smelled - Jon said we weren't getting close enough to find that out! Lack of towels and soap was definitely no excuse in that house, although not having any extra changes of clothing was a valid enough reason for us. Jon picked out some "non-noisy, non-random" music just for Dallas, and wondered at Dallas' contention that he'd heard the Police GREATEST HITS album before in the company of the ugfart: "Dude, I have over 500 CDs! How can you hear that one more than once when you're with me?!"

CDs may be kinda obsolete these days, but Jon likes the physical touch - people DO go to concerts too nowadays! Some people can just download a lot of music, and that may be enough for them, of course. Talked about Eric being more introverted than Harmony (you can't use the beer method on him!), beer establishments, Vancouver beer tours, Jeremy, stress, Nathan, cash, Seven Dwarfs special drinks, discounts for takeout, specials, sushi, a menu shaped like a cloud, star jelly, Twinkle (near the Michigan Noodle Shop), HARRY POTTER (which Twinkle had as reading material), magazines called MILK and HONEY, sperm and egg, chocolate, mango, karaoke and Hong Kong-style stuff not being part of our culture, and more. Very good end to a sweet night!


MONTHLY BUBBLE TEA TALLY, APRIL 2008 (6)

pudding (and coconut jelly) @ Dragon Ball (Friday, April 4)
pineapple-mango @ Big Orange (Friday, April 11) [FREE!]
starfruit @ Peanuts (Tuesday, April 15)
strawberry-banana-watermelon (and coconut jelly) @ Big Orange (Wednesday, April 16)
kiwi @ L&G (Thursday, April 17)

I patted his face... I didn't put maxipads on it!

Bingos of the night:

CROOKEST (68 points) - against Raymond
POKIEST (78 points) - against Karla M.


Once Dallas and Jon finished moving a bunch of stuff into my apartment, it was off to the liquor store for us! We saw organic beer, lots of expensive Scotch like Glenfiddich (for a friend who just got back from Montreal), and bought LA FIN DU MONDE / Tin Whistle Chocolate Cherry porter / Hop Head beers. Our clerk saw Jon's Daniel Fellowship shirt, so asked about it - we congratulated him on remaining sober for 20.5 years. In the car later, we figured that some people did that for the challenge and to prove to themselves that they could do it - more power to them! Discussed the falafel / turkey club at Sophie's Cosmic Café, distinctive voices in a Toronto group, insomnia, vests, Harmony being introverted (but getting REALLY talkative on one beer), Christon, confidence in speaking to others, and how much stuff Dallas would take to Toronto tomorrow. Got to the townhouse and discussed wine, honey, green apple gum, lemon juice, hummus, Jen, hockey / baseball pools, burping, perverts, bitter melon casserole as a joke dish, and the First Original Science (band) - almost everyone but Jeremy / Nathan / Jon wouldn't like or appreciate the random music on Sunday! (let's loop it and see how long it takes for everyone to go crazy! :P)

Mom told Dallas that the household was very particular about expiry dates - for sure! We also talked about the TV show MEDIUM (dreaming of a carjacking!), how Dallas' mom was coping since late February, swimsuits, and a news story about someone who murdered his mom and now wants part of her estate. My sibs, Dallas, and I talked about Dallas' dish stacking, muffins, Dragon Ball, sleeping, vegetables, Friday's barbecue, exams, pineapples, ice cream, getting ripped off, CRIMINAL MINDS, funerals, every phone call being Harmony (it was really Auntie Gloria), Eunice / SLB.

I mentioned seeing Auntie Grace on Facebook - Dallas contributed someone's nervous farting during an exam, and the MCAT. Saw a picture of Steph with two beers - that led to Strongbow tasting deceivingly sweet, and our parents being the proud owners of a year-long gym pass! Yay for them! I told Mom that I'd seen a picture of her and a gigantic lobster on Facebook - they probably ate it while I was in Chilliwack... oh well. We watched baseball, hockey, the news, sports coverage, and learned about Sean Avey's lacerated spleen!


Classic mishearings of the night:

1. Mom: "So how is your mom coping, Dallas?"
Dallas: "Oh, she cooks pretty well..."
Steph: "... she said COPING!"
*me, Jon, and Dallas are confused since we all heard COOKING*

2. Me: "Yeah... the last time I saw him, I patted his face!"
Steph: "You did WHAT?!"
Me: "I patted his face!"
Steph: "OH.... I heard you say that you put a PAD on his face!"
Dad, attempting to joke: "A used one?!"

Everyone makes a disgusted face, and this cues my tangent to tell them about Winnie's bridal shower. Karen, Connie, and Jenny did a maxipad fashion show, which my mom thought would be expensive. Oh sure, it's a necessity that's way more expensive than it should be!

Consoling lounges / Dallas / "SportsChek" / Cigarette dreams

Bingos of the day so far:

PUERPERA (59 points) - against Josephine S.
CONSOLER (72 points) - against Matt H.
LOUNGERS (66 points) - against Chris N.
ABLEGATE (65 points) - against Mel G. [girl]


Jon says he and Dallas might drop by in the afternoon to drop off some of his stuff after a late lunch (NOW?!) and before dinner. Sounds good to me if they call me later... of COURSE we're allowed to use the rock to keep the front door open! I got another phone call asking if this were SportsChek (a local sports equipment store) - nope, and I haven't knowingly had any of these calls in months! (yay for turning the ringer off! :P) Thanks to what Eric told me two years ago, I know that these people are merely reaching too high when they dial a number. I know Adela tried to help years ago, too - now, she's moved to Hong Kong for a new job for a public relations firm that starts on May 2.

Interesting life vagaries... I also had a weird dream which featured my brother lighting up cigarettes after eating a big meal, and Margaret K. just staring off into space when people tried to ask her questions. What the heck is wrong with me?! o_O

Auntie Grace sent me a message on Facebook to say that Trevor Linden, Ross Rebagliati, and other local celebs would be around for a BC Cancer Foundation Westside Cycling Classic media pep rally tomorrow afternoon. That sounds pretty interesting! I can't bring myself to drop the courtesy title of "Auntie" when she signs her messages "Grace" - although I did that for a time with Auntie Eva, Uncle Hansel, and Auntie Cathy. Guess it's the tradition of respect for your elders, still ingrained in me, and very much a good thing! (I can just imagine if I just dropped all courtesy titles with my parents' friends on the weekend - NOT GOOD, as someone I know likes to say!)


Edit at 1702: Jon and Dallas have showed up with cookware, butter, Alfredo / sundried tomato Classico pasta sauce, garlic spread, Buddha jackfruit, Becel margarine, relish, knapsacks, suitcases, boxes, (sea) salt, steak spice, Jif peanut butter, chiles, Kleenex, baskets, and other things not necessarily related to cooking. Yup, Mom could use some too - but for now, I'll take everything! Of course it's hot in here - I've heard it said that my place is like a sauna, heh.

Dallas and his stuff

Bingo of the night:

CORDAGES (76 points) - against Simon B.


Mom's just asked me to store some of Dallas' stuff here for the summer. I don't mind - give me all of it, in fact! The possessions of three different people can all co-exist peacefully, haha. Z is also telling me stuff about health and sense.... interesting! Also... I need to go to Tsim Chai SOON! Corey's said stuff about caves, midgets, Jane ducking down, showers, crepes, and other things - sounds like interesting times!

Free travel seminars!

Bingos of the night:

ANHNEALER (61 points) - against Emily N.
DAINTIER (70 points) - against Rose G.


Hey, Sabrina and Auntie Grace added me to Facebook - Dave's mom even sent me a message thanking me for the add, haha. Talked a bit to Mom earlier about Dallas moving, Flime, locking / unlocking doors, increased prices at Master Hong's BBQ House, Uncle Alan and Auntie Polly's travel seminar, Wednesday, and other things. Free beige / orange vests?! Hmm. Will need to think about that. Now I'm talking to Corey about laundry, Jane, accidents, and more - always good to talk to him! Mentioned to Steph that Jeremy should bring his homebrew to Jen's dinner... at least she's bringing her own car! I need to look at Vanessa's Evite to see who can give me a ride from the Awana outing that week! Poor Andrew has too many projects - of COURSE he knows I'll help! :D

Poetry help!

Bingos of the night so far:

INCURVED (70 points) - against Andrew Bed.
OUTWHIRL (65 points) - against Audrey O.
GEOPROBES (69 points) - against Mai N.
RATIONAL (60 points) - against Corey B.


The Anxious Dead (John McCrae)

O guns, fall silent till the dead men hear
Above their heads the legions pressing on:
(These fought their fight in time of bitter fear,
And died not knowing how the day had gone.)
O flashing muzzles, pause, and let them see
The coming dawn that streaks the sky afar;
Then let your mighty chorus witness be
To them, and Caesar, that we still make war.

Tell them, O guns, that we have heard their call,
That we have sworn, and will not turn aside,
That we will onward till we win or fall,
*That we will keep the faith for which they died.

Bid them be patient, and some day, anon,
They shall feel earth enwrapt in silence deep;
Shall greet, in wonderment, the quiet dawn,
And in content may turn them to their sleep.

Andrew needed help with this poem... to me, the poem is narrative or descriptive from the point of view of the dead. It's been ages since I've been in an English class, but I think I did okay... there was another war poem, but I've forgotten what it was by now since I accidentally closed the window! He at least thanked me for my assistance - not a problem! Talked to Dan about relationships, smiling, joy, and other such stuff as well. Gotta love good friends! Corey also sent me a mobile "PEE AND POO" message - he is crazy! Just found out Auntie Grace (Dave's mom) is on Facebook!

I'm jealous of engaged people, but appreciative of quiet ones!

Bingos of the day so far:

BREVETS (74 points) - against Raymond
TANGIBLE (60 points) - against Pat K.
UNSUITED (68 points) - against Barb A.


This morning, I overheard Jon talking to Harmony on the phone about cooking and such. She wanted to just use a spice mix for some soup, but Jon wanted her to just use dried herbs such as thyme and oregano and basil. "That's like making pizza with tomato, cheese, and other things which won't go well together! The story Jeremy always tells is how his mom didn't know how to cook when she got married, but now she knows how to prepare a lot of dishes really well! If you overbuy like I do sometimes, give the three pounds of oranges (BEFORE THEY ROT!) to homeless people - they'll appreciate it!" I had to correct a grammar error on his prayer paper: "hear our prayers" is MUCH better than "here" as an alternative! :P

When we got to church, I talked to Mei Lin (Julie M. and exams) / Angus (dislocated shoulder?) / Cordia ("Hien's a short bean!") / Uncle Hansel (finishing a thesis!) / Audrey / Rich ("Natalie always wants candy from me!") / Stanley ("Look at my black and white mix-and-match checkered shoes from two pairs!") and others. Waved to Eric T., Chris, and Sabrina on my way into service, and sat by Raymond and Jeremy. Martin discussed a Benjamin Fellowship committee meeting that afternoon, and Jon invited Raymond to the Darfur rally at the same time. Jeremy told me that he'd been sleeping on Friday - seems the poor guy didn't get enough sleep this past week, but I'm not surprised!

Raymond told me about the videos he saw of Chrystal's surprise party, that dessert party Calla hosted, the surprise birthday dinner for Chuck yesterday... and if that weren't enough, Jen told me about the bridal shower for Elaine yesterday. I wish I were invited out to these things, but then I'm kinda jealous since I know I won't have them. At least Raymond got my Scrabble group invite, and joined... he also said David ate some chalk and lime juice mixed together, with no apparent problems afterward. Oh, kids with iron stomachs! Raymond also said that he'd had one bite of a SUICIDE HOT WING last night, and had to down three glasses of water to get rid of the HOT FIRE! Yikes! He liked my DRAGON hat, and it reminded him to thank me for the dragon egg on Facebook - the eggs and flowers are popular! (Danielle thanked me for a breakfast one a while back, saying it was SO ADORABLE! I should send one to Sara with a note about salsa, hehe)

We laughed at Phil's description of a friend: "She emailed us to say she was dating, then three weeks later to say she was engaged, and now she's having a baby a few months after her wedding!" Said hi to Tony / Eunice / Stella in the back parking lot, and expressed surprise that Ricky was back - he's going to be in Hong Kong for the foreseeable future! Isabel wondered to me about the rain, since yesterday was actually nice - later, we joined Jon and Julie S. as they were talking about last week's 4/20 marijuana rally at the Art Gallery. Julie's dad would be wondering why his daughter was mixed up in this stuff, haha. As I told Jen about how free I felt (while she wondered where Dawn could be), we commiserated about living 24/7 with someone. No matter how much you love them, they'll eventually drive you nuts! Jeremy was just standing there listening quietly - I appreciated that! Noticed that he had a mini Ziploc bag as protection for his cell phone: NICE!

Jon then verbally invited a group of us to a dinner at Jen's house next week - "Hey, White Guy #1 and White Guy #2! Are you free?" Hahaha, I hope Raymond shows up too! It's been AGES since Auntie Beatrice invited us.... like, August 2006? Later, Jon told Sheena and Chalaine that he and Christon were recruiting people to cook for the Sunday Dinners: "We don't require Zagat ratings or Michelin stars! Just enthusiasm! Chalaine, you don't look very enthusiastic about this venture..." I told Jeremy and Eric that they'd confuse my grandma: Bearded Man has none, while White Kid has a pretty fair one going on! Jeremy laughed, and mused about the wood fire smell that was wafting over us: I just commented that it made me hungrier than usual, heh. Kevin and I talked about Earth Day celebrations / blackbirds / the environment before everyone migrated to Sunday School. Jen put on some lip balm a few minutes before this, and Jeremy commented that it smelled like menthol - that was my own reminder to put mine on when I got to the toddler Sunday School, haha.

Amanda asked what I was writing... just reminders! The extent of my interaction with other (little) kids in the basement was my giving Pretz sticks to Johnny and little Sean ("yes or no?"), waving to William, and keeping Sean near his parents! I went to Pho with my family and had #21 - chicken and quail for a change! Got home at 2, which is cool - parents are going to a travel seminar! Auntie Anna referred to me as her "choir daughter," which is true enough - I remember those days in the adult choir years ago! (saw Auntie Candy too) Pastor John, Chung, Sarah, Emily L., Julie S., Cordia, and Sam are going to Hong Kong from July 15 to Aug. 6 for a short-term missions trip. Phil, Jon, Raymond, Cindy, Lesley, Joey, and Grace are to stay here to do Urban Promise from July 27 to Aug. 1 - should be interesting!


Edit: Hey, I got an Evite for next week's dinner! Sweet!