My time is important: DO NOT WASTE IT!

Bingo of the day so far:

TREELAWN (62 points) - against Bev B. [with the new scoring, bingos aren't the advantage they once were!]


High-scoring words of the day so far:

SIS (138 points) - against Mary M. [two 4W, plus hooks off HARLOT and QI]
TWINGED (192 points) - against Bev B. [two 4W]
MIKED (192 points) - against Angela V. [4W]
FRAYS (704 points) - against Angela V. [different game; three 4W]
JETE (210 points), PING (112 points) - against Maureen M. [two 4W for both]
ZLOTY (136 points) - against Billie E. [4W, 2W]
INWOVE (96 points) - against George M. [4W, 2W]


Yay, redrum. It better not affect my enjoyment of the grad banquet! :P

I hate wasting my time needlessly, which is what I did earlier today. I'm wearing a Coors Light T-shirt right now. Maybe I can totally get the beer thing going on by wearing my Corona Extra hat, but I don't require one at home! Next week, I might meet a new Richmond friend - she's looking for new people, as am I. It should be interesting, at any rate!


Seen on AOL News: Xander Jace Riniker, born at 8:08 AM on 8/8/08, weighing 8 pounds, 8 ounces

Xander, born at St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is the eighth grandchild for his mother's parents. And he's not the only one in his family with an unusual birthday: His 2-year-old brother, Kael, was born on 4/5/06

It would have been cool if his brother was born at 1:23. The coincidences are very crazy, but the names aren't that great! :P

How do you NOT know who Heath Ledger is?!

High-scoring words of the night so far:

MESSY (160 points) - against Michael M. [two 4W]
BAA (104 points) - against George M. [two 4W, and the A's were hooked on top of my own BAA - yay for quirkiness!]


Selected incidents from tonight:

* Eric showed up 25 minutes late, and we then discussed how he thinks I'm jokingly psychotic (we both haven't talked to someone much this week, but it's fine) He agreed with me that my new outfit with stylized flowers on it was indeed blue and NOT purple - it's just the pinkish shade that looks purple! (but I have to keep telling him that they're NOT pajamas!) Once I got to church, I said hi to Sam / Sarah / Emily - Hong Kong was pretty cool, they said.

* I saw Jen and Karen at Pho, and we talked about school / Sheena / Greg / Dawn / Ivan / paranoid thoughts / whether we know men are men / caffeine / life / coffee / napkins. (saw Sabrina when I left Pho as well)

* Discussed Wordscraper briefly with Raymond, including the 1024-point word I made. (tried to explain the scoring to Eric later on... he thinks the original Scrabble was more fair, and I agree - it's unlikely I'll make my own custom boards!)

* Kevin told us about an interesting proposal he'd received in the Downtown Eastside: he's definitely NOT up for such things! Give them food, sure... just don't give them actual cash money. It's something we all struggle with as far as the poor are concerned.

* Realized Johnny's smarter than I knew him to be! No, I didn't think he was an idiot before - of course not! He stumbled over the word "drowsiness" in a verse, but I confirmed that he was pronouncing it correctly. When Teresa L. asked what "dissension" meant, the guys and I told her "strife." Then we had to define our definition! Haha! We boiled it down to CONFLICT, often of the unneccessary kind. (no, I'm not making fun of her knowledge of words or anything)

* Johnny actually suggested that Teresa should sign up for a Word of the Day email from Merriam-Webster, heh. I used the word "meticulous" in defining "fastidious," which Kevin had learned in microbiology - it describes a type of organism, apparently! Teresa also asked what "dwindles" meant - we used melting ice as an analogy. Then she asked when we knew what that word meant - in elementary school, or very early high school!

* I didn't know Johnny had been on a missions trip to Africa - very interesting! We discussed money and stewardship of our individual wealth... Teresa kinda thought that rich Christians should live in huts. At least, that's the impression the guys and I got from her questions about why filthy rich Christians don't use their money appropriately. We also told her that different churches account for their funding in different ways - our church has an annual report, as well as meetings. When she told us that "exhortation" was one of the five love languages, we blinked and paused until she clarified that she meant "affirmation." If someone doesn't show your primary love language[s] to you, you're gonna think you're unloved! She then said that she wanted to do all these short-term missions since God had placed a burden on her heart. That's all very well and good, but at least think about your responsibility and such too!

* Discussed DARK KNIGHT with Johnny, Raymond, and Stanley. Teresa wanted to know who Heath Ledger was, so we all looked at her - who DOESN'T know that Batman was his last role before he died of a drug overdose?! Christian Bale played Batman, after all. We talked about pencils / magic tricks (do NOT do that at home, kiddies!) / the Facebook quiz (Raymond got 67%) / fire trucks on fire (kinda ironic) / smashed Lamborghinis (*WINCE*) / corruption / other aspects of the movie.

* Spent some of the ride home trying to convince Eric that I wasn't a crazy psycho, haha. (now that I'm here, I have to convince Corey of the same thing!) I also don't have kegs of beer at home, haha. (discussed Nathan's video and the grad banquet - it'll be SWEET!) Talked briefly about the Olympics being in my country of ancestry - very true, and they'll be here in 2010! Had to wait a long time at the gas station because this girl took her very sweet time filling up, paying, and doing who else knows what. (she should have moved up, man) Accidentally called Eric "Korey" - I swear, this is the first time I've done that! Told Eric that he couldn't go back to another intersection when he was two minutes from my place - I had to go to the bathroom! He said that I could do that at the place where CURRY was spelled with a K - no thanks! (and dropping me off to go to the washroom and THEN going back there is also NOT GOOD!)

Facebook status wars!

Bingo of the day so far:

DARINGS (86 points) - against George M.


High-scoring words of the day so far:

FOOTAGE (226 points) - against Alice P. [two 4W]
LOADER (215 points) - against Michelle C. [two 4W]
FIE (204 points) - against Michael M. [two 4W, 2W, and a hook]
MILTED (144 points) - against Turnbaby B. [three 4W]
AA (48 points) - against Joanna D. [two 4W, plus a hook]
HENGE (149 points) - against Tobey S. [two 4W]

I played JO off Joanna D.'s JOE - triple quirkiness, yay!


Peter and Holly have a very nice day for their wedding, which is good! But I finally cracked. Yikes! Colin W. added me on Facebook, primarily to play Wordscraper. It's gotta be done, haha. Called Eric to make Friday plans: THE INTERSECTION at 6:15 it is, with Pho in the offing! ;)

Michelle and I are having Facebook status wars. Mine was "Leslie has made YUTZ for 1024 points in Wordscraper, baby! Sorry, Michelle!" So she had to put "Michelle is "letting" Leslie win their Wordscraper game... hahahaha." Then I put "Leslie says Michelle isn't "letting" her win at all. She was doomed from the start!" HAHAHAHA, reminds me of Natalie's and my SuperPoke wars!


Writer's Block: Where Names Come From
Is there a story behind your real name or avatar? How did you end up being called that?

Explanation of username: Basically: When I was in Grade 9, I somehow thought I needed a word to describe myself. No, not a word... more like a cool nickname! (or what I thought was cool at the time) Since I wanted it to be at least somewhat meaningful, I thought about what it should be for quite a while, before coming up with Flamster.

F = Friends
L = Laughter
A = And (okay, so I know that generally speaking, connecting words aren't used as part of an acronym unless it's the first word, as in The Sports Network, but I didn't really know that then!)
M = Music

Then I added the suffix "-ster" (as in "Billster") to make the whole thing look better.... there I had it!

View other answers.

Missing people, odd nervous habits, bathrooms, etc.

Writer's Block: Supermarket Grabfest
You have three minutes to grab everything you can from a supermarket. Which items do you go for?

Gift cards (how much money in THAT section?!), microwaveable meals, canned food, etc.
View other answers.


Writer's Block: Water Closets Reconsidered
Post some pictures of outhouses or bathrooms that have given you a lasting impression, and talk about what the restroom means to you.

HAHAHAHA! This is a GOLDEN question! Pity I don't have any answers, though... :P
View other answers.


Writer's Block: Loved Ones Afar
Do you miss anyone right now? What past experiences with this person, or these persons, make it easy for you to miss them?

Yes, I do - and it's the good times of the past. *sigh*
View other answers.


Writer's Block: God For a Day
If you could be God for a day, what three things would be at the top of your to-do list?

I'd do SO MANY THINGS! Hmm...

1. End genocide and wars.
2. End world hunger.
3. Make people be kind to everyone else.

View other answers.


Writer's Block: Less Than Idle Hands
Do you have any odd nervous habits?

Yes, mostly centering around my hair. Man, I'm in for it later... o_O
View other answers.


Writer's Block: Your Topic
Is there a topic you can't stop writing about in your journal? Why do you write about it so much?

Meh...I write about the same stuff all the time. Not sure I CAN'T STOP writing about ONE SPECIFIC THING!
View other answers.


Writer's Block: Feeling Better
What makes you feel better when you're mad?

Taking it out on someone, METAL MUSIC, writing / talking about it...
View other answers.

I will NOT feel this way...

I should NOT be feeling this way, not at all. I'm happy, but not really. Maybe I should go to bed early and quit thinking these ideas! (no, I am not suicidal...)

Best of Craigslist / Pho crawls

Best of Craigslist is certainly amusing! Saw Sean Kemp on Facebook - wonder if he remembers me as Spoz's friend from YEARS ago! Rock 101 just played Green Day (NOT Time of Your Life) and Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit - those count as classic rock now?! Oh my. o_O

High-scoring words of the day so far:

ENTICED (192 points) - against Billie E. [been having a great conversation with her too... have discovered that I am too emotionally attached to certain things!]
BEDEW (304 points) - against Paul C. [two 4W scores, and a triple-letter score on the W!]
YUTZ (1024 points) - against Michelle C. [two 4W scores, plus two 2W scores... 64x the points!]
JILTER (208 points), CACTI (188 points; 4W and two 2W), HOMONYM (144 points; 4W) - against Kathy T.
POI (40 points) - against Alice P. [2W and 4W]

I played QI as part of my MID hook off George M.'s QI - yay for quirkiness!


Jon just sent us an email about the Pho crawl!

Hey folks:

Let this site amuse you for a while. We've joked before about having a Pho crawl, but these guys have done it first. The actual ratings sheet is here. What I notice is that a lot of the good places are on Kingsway....and our Pho place by the church didn't fare too badly. :)

Anyways, have a look.

Yours in Pho,

Jon

Webcams can be fun!

Hahaha. I'm having too much fun with this webcam from K. Decided to try it out on Corey, who thinks that I'm eating the camera whenever I send him weird voice messages. It's not my problem if he has his speaker volume on LOUD since he's watching some movie! :P It's been cool to surprise Billie and Chinese Eric, as well. :D

These are some high-scoring words, yo!

Bingos of the day so far:

AGEMATE (112 points), TAILRACE (130 points) - against Sara H.


High-scoring words since the other day:

BE (74 points), BUYOUT (190 points) - against Michael M.
MUCHO (192 points) - against Alice P.
AXED (192 points) - against Pat K.
DEACONS (224 points) - against Shawnda D.
FENNIER (320 points), AGEMATE (112 points), TAILRACE (130 points) - against Sara H.


I played XI hooking off Michelle C.'s QI, which also made a QI - yay for quirkiness! Why can I get such high-scoring words in Wordscraper, you ask? There are quadruple-word score circles, and even quintuple-word score circles! If you get a bunch of 2W and 3W circles together (or throw a 4W / 5W into the mix), you can get words that score millions of points! Don't believe me? Check out the global stats page! I've also had a couple of missed calls, due to my crazy sleeping habits now. Maybe I'll call 'em later! (Firefox also keeps encountering errors and crashing - aiya!)

Flickr Meme Mosaic

Stole this from Jamie, AKA corporatebeach. :)

Flickr Meme Mosaic




To create your own, search Flickr for your answers to each of the following questions. Using only the first page, choose an image and copy / paste the URL for each image into the mosaic maker here. It works best if you select one- or two-word answers. Here are the questions (and my answers) used to create this mosaic:


What is your first name? Leslie.
What is your favorite food? Wonton mein.
What high school did you attend? Matthew McNair.
What is your favorite color? Black, blue, and purple.
Who is your celebrity crush? Brent Sopel.
Favorite drink? Beer.
Dream vacation? Australia.
Favorite dessert? Ice cream.
What do you want to be when you grow up? Rich.
What do you love most in life? Friends.
One word to describe you? Quirky.
Your Live Journal name? Glowing_Dragon.

Photo credits:
1. feastoffools 2. nimhworks 3. DavidJS 4. Crickets Creations Handknit Scarves 5. musique nonstop 6. Aubrey Sun 7. omnia 8. aknacer 9. Stuck in Customs 10. aliraza* 11. Kalamakia 12. [hailey]herrarasaurus

Note: I don't think I've ever had wonton mein with BBQ duck before. Then again, I could be wrong as I've eaten the stuff for AGES now! HA! I've discovered David Shaler's Flickr profile! :D

Up early again

Why am I up so early? Oh yeah, I went to bed at 11:15 yesterday! Early for me, but it's almost horrifying how quickly I return to old habits! Then again, it can't be that bad... I'll have some chow mein! Also played QIS off Kathy T.'s QIS - yay for quirkiness and hooks! :P

We're only four degrees removed from Hitler?!

What to say about tonight? This afternoon, I spent time installing the newest Firefox version plus bookmarks and things like that. Then I went to Christon's - very interesting times! Quan texted Jon to say she hated pizza, and that people at her work were just lingering around since it was a holiday. Christon asked Eric how Korey had liked THE DARK KNIGHT, Harmony said that Myles and Brittney (her brother and his girlfriend) went to see WALL-E since they'd already seen Batman (parents' idea to see it), and I asked Teunis about whether we should chill our mead. As Jon said, Teunis can out-Jeremy Jeremy! (as in knowing a lot about various things) We had salmon, salad, goat cheese, raw milk cheese, and potatoes for dinner with mead / raspberry wheat ale / water / diet Pepsi / iced tea. Jeremy noticed "Voda" on the multi-lingual MSA bottle, and joked that it really contained vodka instead of delicious water! The dog next door kept barking at us, so Raymond said that we had to pray for peace and quiet! (various raw dog jokes were made, as well as suggestions about pouring beer on it - but then it might leap the fence; NOT GOOD!)

Talked to Raymond about plans, summer, tennis, Terry, porcupines, pets, roofs, dishes, and more. Harmony says Holly and Peter are honeymooning in Mexico, and are getting married at a golf course. Jeremy said they were switching software at work, and it would be crazy for the next three weeks! We attempted to explain Friday's ever-changing venue gong show to Christon, since Dylan had been too frustrated to even say anything about it when he asked! (yay for Shally!) Discussed Citrus, ROCK BAND, Joey, Tony's modified Nazirite vow (excuse not to drink alcohol), Mike really trying to sing SABOTAGE (Tony would pay good money to see that!), Vernon and Sarah's wedding banquet in 2005, Sonny's whereabouts, roasting Nathan at the grad banquet, the Citrus Lemon Episodes, Pho, Becky's real last name being an Indonesian thing that her dad made up, Toronto, Tony's Wal-Mart / security guard experience (terrible if you have Sunday service after an overnight shift!), distilleries, and more. Jon tried using Christon's corkscrew for the mead (which a bug got into later - YUMMY PROTEIN!), which I would be terrible at trying myself. Jeremy said that we were all four degrees of separation removed from Hitler: one of Jer's professors had once known a guy who worked with / under Hitler himself! Tony's in nursing, and was interested in Fidela's going to an Atlanta nursing school - Sheena is into landscape architecture, and some table discussion centred on Richmond library, school board interviews, and similar topics.

Cindy's allergic to shellfish and jellyfish (like those on the cold cut dish at Chinese ten-course meals), and thus always finds herself sitting at Vernon's table at wedding banquets since they have that allergy in common. Jon recalled his allergy shot days, and said that he liked them because he got to see how big his bumps would become - especially when they were TESTING to see if he had them! Harmony was horrified, but Jon put an arm around her and said that he was a GUY - of course he'd have that kind of reaction! Fidela said that her mom thought she was faking it at first when she cried a lot at 10 after having some raw apples. That time in her life sucked since she was allergic to almost every raw fruit except oranges and bananas - she's grown out of it, except in regards to cherries. Jeremy says he's probably slightly allergic to almost everything, and tried a Snickers bar recently to see how he'd react: his throat swelled up a little bit, but he wouldn't do that again anytime soon. Then again, one of Cindy's friends is allergic to SULPHITES, of all things: those are in practically EVERYTHING these days!

On the way home, we discussed weight competitions - our family could win over Harmony's very easily, even if they do add Peter! The rest of the ride was spent laughing at Jon's ideas of a new hairstyle: Harmony wouldn't like it at all if he grafted his scalp hair to his chest, haha! He joked that he'd do that in time for Holly's wedding on Friday... or try to grow his hair really long as a future project. Told Eric about how I can't relate to cerebrally-challenged people, as well. Might have been the 13% alcohol mead, but I found myself using a lot of big words - hey, nobody can say anything about it! Hopefully, I didn't sound too pompous!

THE DARK KNIGHT

Thank goodness Wordscraper changed the look of the board! White-on-white is very hard on the eyes, and circle borders around the "tiles" help, as does being able to see what's under already-placed tiles for scoring purposes. Melia sent us an email: everyone needs to undergo Leadership Training as a refresher. Doesn't sound too bad, I guess. It'll be good to see everyone again!

The guys picked me up after 8 last night, and we discussed things like Margaret / Isabel / ROCK BAND / Radiohead's CREEP / Red Hot Chili Peppers / backgrounds to horror movies / SAW / NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. Eric said that Korey had told him about my past, and so we talked about stealing pens / whiteout / planners: "You should have stuck to pens and whiteout since it would have been easier for you to get away with it!" Note: None of us condones this now, of course. There was an insane lineup at Silvercity, and I found a $5 bill on the floor - I'll give it to Jon tonight as part payment. K and I just sat on the outside stairs while Eric ran in and out for us.

Once we sat down fairly near the front, Eric got us some iced tea and nachos with cheese / salsa. When Eric got back, Korey noticed my brother - it was such a surprise bumping into them! I'd mentioned catching a movie to Jon earlier, but we didn't know which one or where we'd go. At least Harmony got to meet Korey while she was in town! They decided to stay with us, and Korey said that we were interrupting their romantic date - not really, since Harmony's parents, sister, and brother-in-law (almost) were there too in different parts of the theatre! Jon, Eric, and I made very tentative plans for later tonight - if we're carpooling, we don't mind being at Christon's early since Jon has to help cook! I waved to Harmony's dad, and saw Holly and Peter later on.

THE DARK KNIGHT was a bit confusing at first, but it was certainly packed with lots of action! Money laundering, the Joker, Batman, and corrupt people all combined to make it suspenseful... the musical score was amazing too! Talk about evoking emotions! Maybe part of the reason why it's so popular is because Heath Ledger died, as Korey was musing to us. I took a DARK KNIGHT Facebook quiz, and got 60% on it - thanks, Omni!

Irrational upset / June-July 2008 BBT Tally / 544-point words!

Okay, this new "random game / rules" feature on Wordscraper could work out in my favor... and it could do the reverse, as well. I just got 544 points on a single word (MAZED) - sorry, Raymond! Guess it was a combo of two quadruple-word scores and a double-word score! That makes the first time I've broken the 500-point barrier! (Brian P. added me to Facebook, too)

I just took some garbage out, and noticed three new beef noodle bowls (no MSG) sitting on top of one of the recycling boxes. Hey, your loss / craziness is my gain! :D

On the way to church this morning, my dad and brother discussed wedding planning and guest lists. Jon was at a wedding yesterday which had eight bridesmaids and eight groomsmen! (Vernon and Sarah's wedding had "only" six each) Dad said that young people nowadays want everything their way since it's "their day" (wow, triple rhyme!), but that can cause embarrassment to the parents; true, I guess! I noticed a cute stuffed animal and a "Baby Boy" card - Grandma said that Auntie Kwai's son (not sure if it's Wilson or his brother) had a baby boy; cool stuff! Speaking of babies, Tilia had her first kid a while ago - must say something to Auntie Anna when I see her next!

Talked to Mei Lin and Christon about summer and work, then sat between Raymond and Jeremy. Raymond discussed grad banquet and the missions trip: Buddhists at a Christian food bank?! (five hours of sleep a night because of loud leadership training - jumping included - on another floor?!) At least the arts and crafts were good, but he couldn't really say the same about the hip-hop class. The kids love dancing, but the song choices were a bit inappropriate! (Britney Spears' HIT ME BABY ONE MORE TIME, Justin Timberlake's SEXY BACK, etc.) Cindy sent us her perspective via email (coincidence and prayer!), but I talked to her student Roy again - cute kid! We were amused by Pastor Edward's slip-ups, and Jeremy joked that he'd had too much Communion wine. It's not really wine; it's just grape juice!

There was no adult Sunday School (simplified notice to one-liner!), so everyone milled around the back parking lot. I paid money to Grace, and said hi to Frances / Micah / John / Sophia / Olivia / Anne / Auntie Fonda / Eric W. / Arthur / Fidela / others. Quan had some grapes, so a bunch of us took a few. Jon invited her and Isabel to tomorrow's dinner, which now has a venue - CHRISTON'S PLACE WITH A SQUILLION TRINKETS! (all Raymond knows is that it has a wheelchair ramp) Calla, Johnny, Jeremy, Dylan, and others were discussing a beach outing: let's hope they bring sunscreen! Jeremy joked that Calla could give Johnny's grad banquet payment to me since Lesley wasn't around - Calla isn't a grad banquet person, she says. Johnny and Calla both had their swimsuits, which led to another Janzen joke: swimsuits are always appropriate church wear, hahaha! Went home with Eric, which was all right as usual.

I was irrationally upset earlier over Citrus, video games, driving me, and other things. Not doing a good job of convincing people that things aren't all about me! I don't deserve their making it up to me with a movie after 8, but I'll take it - I apologized for my earlier actions. Someone still loves me, at any rate. :)


MONTHLY BUBBLE TEA TALLY, JUNE 2008 (3)

lychee-Chinese pear @ Dragon Ball (Tuesday, June 17)
pomegranate @ Tazza (free; Saturday, June 21)
grape @ Tri-Ty (Wednesday, June 25)


MONTHLY BUBBLE TEA TALLY, JULY 2008 (2)

lychee @ Tri-Ty (Sunday, July 13)
mango @ Tri-Ty (Wednesday, July 16)