There can only be one Dilys!

(Jeremy's Firefox dictionary doesn't even recognize the word "movies" - how exceedingly strange!)

Eric picked me up for Fellowship, and we were off on the usual car ride! Got to church, and decided to eat Pho even if it was 7:30. My excuse was that I hadn't eaten yet, whoops. Saw Chuck, Andrea, and her friend Vicky there - also saw an uncle whom I hadn't seen for some time. I keep wanting to say that his name is George, but I know he has a kid named Tait. Uncle recognized me: his kid is THIRTEEN now, and goes to Pacific Grace! Chuck, Andrea, Vicky, and I talked about weddings / Awana / weekend plans / birthday cards / Andrea's brother Sherman being surprised every year that I remember birthdays. Later, Chuck advised me to do other people a favor and dump the unused lime and bean sprouts into the Pho broth: good idea, since we suspect they get reused! (eww!)

Talked about weddings and games with Raymond: imagine having to re-enact a proposal, oh my! Reminds me of the roast that Jon and Mike did for Emily at last year's grad banquet: now THAT was funny! ("Jon, you be Emily with this wig... we'll re-enact the day she and I first met!") Later, we discovered that Vicky is Jon's friend Dilys' sister - WOW! Cindy had struck up an acquaintanceship with Dilys some years ago at UBC. Then they discovered some coincidences regarding Sexsmith by Langara... they moved on to Vicky's work in China, her wanting to adopt / have beautiful kids with a white guy, and other things. I asked Cindy whether Dianne had left: she had, but Cindy could ask her whether she can do Alan's roast next week! Drifted over to Dylan, Calla, Connie, and Johnny - they were discussing ALEXANDER, LARS AND THE REAL GIRL, and other movies. Discovered that Dylan's girlfriend Debbie is John Law's wife's sister - we didn't know that about Sharon!

After Stanley got us to leave, Eric and I said hi to Tony / Esther (Guatemala was AMAZING!) / Mike / Tony / Ivan / others outside. I playfully punched Mike to represent my brother, even though HE'D do a chest chop, and even if girls CAN hit guys in the chest! Noticed high gas prices: 143.8, and the widest intersection discrepancy ever! (136.4 and 142.6?!) Good thing Eric filled up at the second-lowest price in town! Got home and called Jon to find out where Jeremy was - he'd been at a Starfield concert, which he (Jeremy) assured me was pretty good. Sweet!

Gumtrees and funerals

Bingo of the night so far:

GUMTREES (83 points) - against Laurie P.


The funeral went as you'd expect those things to go... I briefly said hi to both Jason and Derek, and spotted Mabel's husband Ted. Man, he's changed in the few years since he taught Mandarin to me and my sister! The lunch at Top Cantonese Cuisine was good, and Grandma even got some noodles and things at Great Two Supermarket (Kingsway / 52nd?) beforehand. She got me XO Sauce Lobster noodles, and Oyster Sauce Abalone noodles - both by Nissin, heh. Went back to church with Pastor Edward, and Pastor John wondered what I was doing there when he saw me later. I'll ask him about the Cup win tomorrow, hahaha. (or later today, whatever) Got home with multigrain / flax tortilla chips, licorice, lasagna, noodles, and more. Found a rat in the bathroom - explains the skittering I heard a couple days ago! Had to catch it with the bucket and then flush it down the toilet - EWWWWW!

Grandma's gaffe of the day came in the middle of the funeral service, and some relative's tribute to his grandfather. She wanted to know whether I wanted to eat the cookies that Mom packed us... as I told my sister (who suspects Jon was at Dix with Jeremy) later: "Even if I wanted to, I just WOULDN'T!" Yikes! She also told three separate people that her son was surprised that she'd stay here when she didn't know English. Old people, repeating themselves...

Detroit won the Cup!

Bingos of the night so far:

DODGEMS (104 points) - against Leanne F. [hooked off ODDS, on a triple-word score]
TAMARIND (78 points) - against Jason Y.
BITTERNS (80 points) - against Jason Y. [different game than above; on a TWS]
PROLINES (83 points) - against Pat K. [on a triple-word score]
NIDGETS (82 points) - against Anne F. [hooked off DARN]


Vivian came over to the townhouse for dinner, which was quite nice. She got Steph the whole HARRY POTTER series, and we talked about fish paste / fish balls / fresh beef balls (yay for Uncle Gabriel's connections!) / her teaching / interviews / Saltspring Island / meetings at Bridge / a bully kid with a chairperson mom. Man, Steph is gonna arrest that kid in future, heh. Margaret L.'s dad is generous, and got her a car for her 16th birthday! She wants to save up to move out, so took summer school as a teaching option herself. Turns out that Vivian's parents' anniversary is the same day as our parents' - but five years later. Then they figured out that Vivian was born exactly 1000 days after Steph.

Then we watched the hockey game - Detroit won the Cup! (on a rather lame goal...) Steph said that she and others had asked Josiah (a Leafs fan) on Sunday if he'd "lose" his dad's Nicklas Lidstrom bobblehead for money. Then yesterday, Steph had seen Pastor John and asked if his son deserved a raise in his allowance if he got one: "Yes, he gets an allowance... but he deserves a grounding!" All in jest over the epic 3OT game, of course! Cleary is from Newfoundland, so that's why all the Harbour Grace people were cheering! Chris Osgood's parents were there too, yay!

One of the players was on his cell phone, and the kids looked so cute! Later, Steph wanted to party, but I told her that Vivian didn't look like she was up for rowdy stuff - she looked so tired that it would have to be a sedate party! (we had watermelon too - no pineapple!) Guess I'm going to the funeral tomorrow, and then drop Big G off at home. That's fine since I need to get lasagna and stuff - I don't mind if it takes time! (But non-believing relatives?! Oh my...)

Just fielded a phone call for my brother, from a woman named Dancy. Hmm.... o_O

Looked up stuff on Rock 101 for someone (Lights Out classic radio show), and noticed they spelled Kim Mitchell's name wrong in the UPCOMING EVENTS section. (with an extra E!) *shakes head*

Darkened Salmon!

Courtesy of Corey: At what age is a kid too old to breastfeed? I've heard of this case before, oh my!

My mom apparently went to the library twice today (Jon gave her a CD and book later), and she told me that she worked out there. Last time I checked, a library doesn't have those kinds of machines! I know full well that the gym is by the library, but her original statement was a bit misleading! After Mom said that she couldn't hear me since I yelled into the phone for EMPHASIS, I told her that she was getting old and deafer by the year! Then she said that I was a year older than I actually am - um, thanks. o_O

She told me about the menu for tomorrow's dinner: as long as Vivian stays away from the pork soup, curry chicken / fruit salad with prawns / seafood should be ALL good! Also told her about Without A Trace... I asked why she didn't keep her emails from last year because those would have the link I sent her! (TV Links UK doesn't work now!) Apparently, Dad's told her that it affects her email storage space. This is true, but most people do keep them nowadays - God Bless Gmail and such things! (I remember thinking Mark was odd in 2000 when he said he kept emails people sent him, hahaha)


I got salmoned, again!

[19:51:20] DarkenedSalmon: What do you think of Barack Obama winning the Democratic nomination?
[19:53:11] AlenaBrolxFlami: What do I think of Barack Obama winning the Democratic nomination?
[19:53:24] AlenaBrolxFlami: Good for him, I guess.
[19:55:40] DarkenedSalmon: I didn't type that...
[19:56:29] DarkenedSalmon: erg... you got sxaxlxmxoxnxexd
[19:56:30] DarkenedSalmon: read between the x's
[19:56:35] DarkenedSalmon: otherwise it wouldn't have let me send it
[19:57:08] AlenaBrolxFlami: I know you didn't type it. But what do you mean, it wouldn't have let you send it?
[20:00:06] DarkenedSalmon: hm... are you not seeing what I'm typing?
[20:00:59] DarkenedSalmon: um... can you please copy & paste back what I had written to you?
[20:01:04] DarkenedSalmon: things tend to get censored
[20:01:50] AlenaBrolxFlami: I know they tend to get censored, too.
[20:02:05] AlenaBrolxFlami: I know what's happening
[20:02:30] AlenaBrolxFlami: didn't see the other ones... stupid size of Trillian window
[20:02:54] AlenaBrolxFlami: *copy-paste of conversation up to this point*
[20:07:55] DarkenedSalmon: okay
[20:08:00] DarkenedSalmon: other ones?
[20:08:04] DarkenedSalmon: k ...ARRR!
[20:08:06] DarkenedSalmon: it be odd. it happened fer th' first time ter me a few days ago ... ARRRRRRR!
[20:08:09] DarkenedSalmon: an' then 3 times today
[20:08:12] DarkenedSalmon: so strange ... ARRRR!
[20:08:16] DarkenedSalmon: unless they have caught onto it already, if ye put x's between every two letters in a word, they dern't do anythin' ter it
[20:11:14] AlenaBrolxFlami: I get pirate text... they're watching!
[20:12:06] DarkenedSalmon: really? ... ARRRRRRRR!
[20:12:10] DarkenedSalmon: wow ...ARRRRRRRRR!
[20:12:13] DarkenedSalmon: worked last time ... ARRRRRRRR!
[20:12:30] AlenaBrolxFlami: *copy-paste of last three messages*
[20:12:56] DarkenedSalmon: wow ... ARRRRRRRRR!
[20:13:36] DarkenedSalmon: hm.... it added th' "arr" after wert I had typed
[20:13:39] DarkenedSalmon: it hadn't replaced anythin' ... ARRRRRRRR!
[20:14:06] DarkenedSalmon: besides, ninjas arr better
[20:15:22] AlenaBrolxFlami: *copy-paste of explanation*
[20:16:04] DarkenedSalmon: wow ... ARRRR!
[20:16:34] DarkenedSalmon: they just took me words an' made them into pirate words ... ARRRRRR!
[20:17:24] AlenaBrolxFlami: yup, that is normal
[20:17:42] DarkenedSalmon: must be a pretty sophisticated program ... ARRRRR!
[20:17:52] DarkenedSalmon: Avast! er...sorry for th' bad spellin'
[20:17:59] DarkenedSalmon: I be not an English major ...ARRRR!
[20:18:54] DarkenedSalmon: odd that th' frequency has increased so much recently ... ARRRRRR!
[20:19:30] AlenaBrolxFlami: must be, yes...
[20:19:43] DarkenedSalmon: ... ARRRRRRRR! DarkenedSalmon ... ARRRRRR! (11:18:36 PM): ... ARRRRR! ... ARRRRRRRRR! must be, aye... ...ARRR! ... ARRRRRR!
[20:20:40] AlenaBrolxFlami: they have done it to me too
[20:21:39] DarkenedSalmon: be that wert ye had said?
[20:21:43] DarkenedSalmon: o ... ARRRRRRRR!
[20:22:39] AlenaBrolxFlami: [20:18:54] DarkenedSalmon: odd that th' frequency has increased so much recently ... ARRRRRR!
[20:22:40] *** Error while sending IM: This user is currently not logged on

Liven things up with a flippant hatting! / Drugs and monorails

RIP, Bo Diddley. :(


Bingos of the day so far:

UNHATTED (62 points) - against Guy M.
TACTION (83 points) - against Guy M. [different game than above; hooked off HIP]
FLIPPANT (66 points) - against Carrie D.
LIVENER (62 points) - against Jason Y.

Katie V. also played QI twice, hooking off the I in FIX. 42 points, baby!


Man, that 3OT game last night was EPIC! I bet Pastor John watched it all since he likes the Red Wings, haha. Pittsburgh managed to win, forcing a Game 6.

I've been reminded of the time a bunch of us basically took over a Denny's, grabbing chairs from other tables and making our own big one. Didn't Erin do that once near Thurlow, near the fireworks? Haha, that was cool too! Also, my St. Ives Exfoliating Apricot body wash reminds me of the discussion we were having at Jeremy's about how Nathan pronounced "apricot" the wrong way! :P


Had a weird dream last night:

* A bunch of us were going to a camp somewhere in the woods, so my mom said she'd meet me at the bus station. I was at the bus station (clutching my pink bus pass) just in time to hear my mom get on the monorail and scream "Leslie! Are you on this bus?!" (I was thinking "Of course not - thank goodness I lost myself in the immense crowd!")

* Once that monorail departed, I got on another one with a bunch of friends. The bus ride into the woods with a clear blue lake reminded me of the Camp Sasamat trips I used to take as a child.

* This trip into the forest took forever, but we were "rewarded" with a plume of red smoke in the distance. We couldn't tell where it was coming from, and it was eventually established that something was amiss there. So we went to investigate, and found a church almost in flames!

* Dylan put it out, and then we were invited into the church for some hymn-singing as part of a funeral. Nancy [one of the two friends with the same name at my church in real life] was one of the ushers - Grandma wanted to sit next to Auntie Eva and others, so I let her while I sought out my own group. There were pads of paper with foreign-language greetings on them, from Facebook Scrabulous: Hi, Hello, Aloha, Boutye, Jambo, G'Day, Ciao, Salam, Svayks, Kia ora, Howdy, Bonjour, etc.

* After that was done, we got back on the bus. It took us to a glade with picnic tables, where we all disembarked. Sam, Mike, Nathan, and others were concerned about someone else. He had apparently gone 61 days without a regular cocaine dose, and they were only now worried about possible withdrawal effects. We were going to set up some sort of intervention, but the phone rang and woke me up.

No clue why I had that one, as usual...



more graph humor and song chart memes

That was officially the shortest meeting ever!

Went to church this morning with my sister, and we discussed my grandma in her presence. We noted (lack of) punctuation on signs: the one at Fitness World about a summer shape-up program reads like a huge block of text (which we both dislike on the Internet too), and the one at Kensington Community Centre / Park is just "Summer Daycamp! Register Now!" Said hi to Martin while talking about The Message / NIV parallel translations, and asked Jeremy how the dinner on Friday went. That didn't happen, and he found that the plans were different after Johnny went to his place - turns out Dylan didn't read Cindy's email properly! Ah well. Had an interesting Communion where we actively participated - it was better than I thought! Jeremy and I laughed at #7 in the bulletin (SOMETHING IS COMING THAT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!), and noticed Vania's stand detach. Joey's laptop blanked out, too - not good! Saw Jason afterwards - his grandpa's death was unexpected, and I'm going to the funeral since I can't tell him NO! It was good to talk to him, though!

Discussed stuff with people outside: Helen K. is expecting again, and is due on Chalaine's and Grace's birthday. I showed her son Nicholas my dragon hat - he seemed to like it! Saw Winnie's baby Connor, and his older sister Megan gave me a couple of rocks. I put them in my pocket since I wasn't going to dump them on the ground in front of her! I gave her a belated birthday card, and had a bit of conversation with her: she was going to try chocolate cookies at home, but Lesley persuaded her to have them now. Said hi to Phil's parents, and was polite enough to my parents' friend Alan. Went to Sunday School, where Auntie Fonda told me that Arthur had had a nosebleed last week - it had suffused his entire face red! Yikes!

Talked to Chrystal after that, and strolled outside to talk to Jeremy / Kevin / Fidela / Steph / Vanessa / Tony / Eric about lunch plans. Meat, yes; carbs and sugar, NO! Went to Pho with my mom and grandma: when I saw Pastor Eunice, I told Grandma that her friend was there. Grandma wasn't surprising me when she said that Pastor Eunice wasn't her friend: "She's your mom's friend since they knew her when they started the church!" How rude! My sibs signed all the cards I gave them at the shortest meeting ever, and we affirmed Phil's calling to be a pastor here at the church he grew up in. Amusement, Quizno's, subs, candy, Portland, $250 worth of books for three people, racing to make it on time, hymns, Mike K. telling Emily L. that he was here at previous meetings (I'd seen him playing STARCRAFT!), Vivian S., gas prices and expense, attendance, Nintendo, and ignoring Facebook stuff - oh my!m