Stupid delays and accidents! / Scavenging at Granville Island

What a day I had to lead me into the first one of the eighth month! Not surprised that this thing restarted while I was out! Eric says Kieran wants to keep his computer, so maybe I'll see about another avenue I may have... but at least it seems cooler temperature-wise tonight!

I went to take the bus in PLENTY of time to meet Eric this afternoon - however, there was a very annoying accident just FIVE MINUTES from the stop where I normally wait for him! Can't these accidents happen somewhere ELSE?! Man, I was NOT in a good mood, and thought it was a total waste of my time to even come out if these things keep happening to me! (I ultimately got through about 200 pages of my library book, but that wasn't the point...) The bus driver tried to lighten the mood by joking about the heat and things like that on the mike to the entire bus, but I just wanted him to SHUT THE HELL UP! (I might have appreciated it more had I not been delayed and HOT!) I rode the 410 all the way to the 22nd St. Skytrain Station, since the bus detoured along Westminster Highway - I knew I should have disembarked when the bus stopped by the Dairy Queen FOR the accident! (especially when the bus got to the Highway 91 offramp, and into New Westminster)

I instantly thought I should call Eric to inform him of what happened, so in I went to the station. Since I only had a $20 bill on me to cover my later dinner, I had to ask for a quarter from a lady who sighed, rolled her eyes, and said "Oh, geez!" But she gave it to me, which was the goal... I wasn't impressed with her reaction, OF COURSE. Prayed that Eric would at least pick up the darn phone even if it said "PAY PHONE" on the Caller ID before I started swearing into the phone. He did, so I let out a stream of verbiage to tell him what happened, and ask what I should do. He asked where I was, so I told him - his advice was to take the Skytrain to Broadway / Commercial, and to get a Subway order there. I almost got on the Eastbound train instead of the Westbound (which would have made my predicament more pronounced), but I luckily read the signs before any train came into view.

Got to the destination FINALLY, and had to ask the A&W guy where the nearest Subway was. From previous trips to this location, I knew there was one around, but wasn't quite sure where it was. (I don't go all the way to Broadway / Commercial when I want Subway!) He said it was near the Starbucks across the street, and I at least knew where THAT was located. Found Eric inside and beginning an order of the usual (he thought he'd beat me there...), so went in front of a lady to be with him. Didn't note her reaction, but hey... we were finally together! (and I don't mean that in an obsessive way... it was just an EXTREME RELIEF!) I'm not one for excessive hugging, particularly in the middle of a small Subway, so I decided to get 9-Grain Honey Oat bread and turkey / ham... that stuff is GOOD! Was surprised when Eric paid for mine, calling it "compensation for ending up on the wrong end of town" - fair enough, and I did thank him!

After pausing to eat SOME of the sandwiches (and wishing I'd bought some liquid refreshment at the A&W), we were off to Granville Island. Had trouble finding parking (as usual!), but Eric had fun joking that I was evil or something. When we DID find parking, our group had disappeared from in front of the Keg, so Eric called Vanessa. She came up to us, and said we owed her money for our respective grad banquet tickets. I told her that I didn't have it (a special Ziploc bag full of coins), so Eric reminded me that I'd offered him a $20 bill earlier for the dinner (left the food in the car) - I had, and said that she was missing out on exact change in coins! Of course, I gave her the $20 anyhow, and received a ticket in return.

Eric said we should split up (but you're MINE!!!! - in a good way!), and I didn't mind going with Jeremy / Richie / Shally / Grace / Vivian! (I later found out that he had been preventing me from going with Raymond's group before I noticed he was there. Despite Eric's joking about certain things, he does look after me!) We did do a lot of walking to find things on Danielle and Vanessa's list of forty, but Shally and Jeremy both asked if I was doing okay. Jeremy had been on his feet all day (at the warehouse?), so was pretty tired by the time we decided to meet everyone at Nathan's. Sea Villages, three bridges (we "cheated" by using three written "BRIDGES" - we were DESPERATE!), dragons, Performance Works, steel A, "concrete thinking," a yellow crane, psychic reading, cabs and drivers, foreign license plates, and more...

We had to watch out for bird poop at the kiddy water park, and I thought that I should NOT have worn my new shoes (which are scuffed now) on this outing! Let's just say that we saw parts of the Island that we'd never seen before! When members of my group greeted others in the Fellowship going around the Island, I thought we shouldn't talk to them since they were our COMPETITION! Yes, I even thought this about my brother and sister-in-law when I saw them briefly! I was seriously overdue for a drink when we decided to meet at Nathan's. Still had enough lungpower to yell at people and have myself heard from twenty feet away, though! On the way to Richie's car, I said hi to Melia - she asked how I was, so I said I was thirsty. To my surprise, she offered me 3/4 of the water bottle in her bag - SWEET! Of course, I thanked her too - that gave me enough rest from the parched feeling to talk to Richie on the way to Nate's. (discussed his job, Jon moving out, leases, moving, and more)

Got to Nathan's, and discovered a sign on the door: "KNOCK VERY QUIETLY! SSSH! KIDDIES ARE SLEEPING!" Ah yes, the Speidels were at the house, which fact I forgot a couple hours later when Jon wanted to use the upstairs washroom and found it occupied, and suggested he use the downstairs one. Whoops. Said hi to Jon, who thought I'd come with Eric (I didn't know where he was), and hadn't seen me - well, I hadn't talked to him when I did see him for thirty seconds! Since I was still thirsty, I sat down and had like nine straight mini-cups of Coke and Superstore passion fruit pop. Talked to Alan, Tracy, Cindy, Citrus, Dylan, Christon, Jon, Harmony, Deb, Jose, Johnny, Vivian, Richie, Grace, Calla, Stanford, Shally, Nathan, and others: Eric's eventual bee sting, ambulances, stone, working in the heat, lemonade, chips for dinner (I finished my Subway when Eric brought it in), cherries, the Olympics, TMI about the heat and other things, the fireworks / corn maze / paintball tomorrow, movies, wedding planning, Erin / Ben, Grouse Grind on Sunday, BRUNO compared with BORAT, UP, going into shock, family dinners, music books, sightreading, going to the beach, massages, Phil thinking Aeropostale / Abercrombie was retarded on teens already (and then his WIFE came out of the store being HAPPY she bought a shirt from there!), and other things.

I had to correct Alan when he came up with a weird version of "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?" Everyone at the table was looking at me very intently when I gave them this nugget of wisdom, and Grace said I'd done a good job. For sure, since (as I told her later about Alan saying that Eric didn't need an ambulance) you should probably never take him seriously most times! Danielle and Vanessa finished judging photos about an hour into our hangout time, so we looked at that plus a slideshow! After a while, people started leaving, or trying to do chin-ups on the bar outside Daniel's old room. We kept asking if Eric was okay to drive since his leg had been injured, but he said he'd be fine... I was especially concerned since he had to drive me home as well as himself. On the way home, we talked about grad banquet, rides, faraway places, shooting people in paintball, Citrus going DOWN, and other things.