I am not my mother's daughter-in-law, and I do not bend to her guilt trips!

Dad and Grandma picked me up to go to church this morning - Mom wasn't in the car, and I learned that she'd go later with Steph. Apparently, I was going to lunch with them since there was no Sunday School, and I had to help with the toddlers. Way to assume, although that's how things went anyhow! :P When we got to church early, I spotted Jon and Harmony talking to Darren about worship, so I joined them. Harmony said she hadn't gotten home from Myles' birthday thing till 1 AM: ROCK BAND, Steveston Pizza, non-competitive playing, and more! Talked to Juliana's boyfriend for a bit, then rehashed the last time I'd been at karaoke to Harmony: that was at least a couple summers ago at IKON, with Myles / Holly / Dallas / others maybe, before Jon and Harmony started dating! Saw Ben and Erin after I got a couple bulletins from J-Mak, so had to say hi to them after greeting Phil and Grace - talked about Montreal, romantic trips (except for a fight), Toronto, weddings, the seniors' lounge on the second floor, couches being nice for people of any age, the fellowship hall as a hangout, the elevator, tomorrow's reception, and more! Greeted Hannah and Priscilla as well - Grades 8 and 6 already?! Man, these kids grow up FAST!

When we finally sat down, I saw Gillis sitting next to Calla, so I momentarily wondered what Stanford thought about that, haha. Oh well, he doesn't seem like the jealous type, but one never knows! I shook hands with that exuberant girl (Mark's friend) I'd noticed at Friday's BBQ: turns out she's from Edmonton, and her name is Amelia! Saw Derek L. and Jessica Lai, whom I haven't seen for a LONG time - so good to chat briefly! Harmony asked Randal about his mom (currently in hospital having surgery for tumors - cancer), and he said she was doing all right. She can't do ANYTHING when she gets home tomorrow, so I guess it's good that his dad can cook well enough to feed the family! Even though he took a morbid joke to Ginger totally the wrong way, we can still be civil - and I probably wouldn't wish his mom's death on him, at any rate. I'm too nice for that. :D

As we went up for Communion, I gave my sister a thumbs-up signal since I wasn't about to "pollute" the solemn time with the usual NG affection! (a fist in the air directed at her) After the service, I went out very slowly because of the people in front of me - I said hi to Nathan / Martin / Christon, at least. Harmony and I spotted Dallas, so we started chatting to him and Danielle. He'd taken transit to get to church, and thought that Broadway B-Line could be faster next time, so I told him of my experience on Friday to dissuade him! Mike then tried ushering us into the fellowship hall because sound actually DOES travel amazingly well from the foyer to the sanctuary! Remembered that I had forgotten OUTLANDER for Harmony, but I can give it to her tonight - it's packed away now, and so is my wallet. (my brother was surprised I'd forgotten it, but I was rushed out of my place at 9 AM, man!)

Got to talk to Steph and Gillis for a bit, which is always good. On one of my forays out of the room, Eric intercepted me to give me money - he said it was reimbursement for the organic crackers at refreshments time, which I stuck in my pocket. (that reminds me - I have to ask him about Bible Study at Vanessa's on Friday... tonight, then!) Saw little Hannah dancing with her baby brother Gavin in the foyer - SO CUTE! Later, I crossed the room in order to intercept the ugfart from his conversation with Isabel and Calla, and I noted that a certain perfidious blackguard (Raymond) crossed the room in the other direction at the same time to avoid me. Like THAT wasn't REALLY obvious! Seriously, I was going to talk to MY BROTHER or one of the other twenty-five people on that side of the room who were NOT Raymond! Don't set yourself so high, buddy... you're not worth my time, and definitely not THAT important!

Presumably in response to a karaoke-related comment from my brother, Calla was saying that she didn't sing in public or in the shower at home since people could hear her. I totally understood about how church singing wasn't PUBLIC because other people can "cover" your voice! Told Jon that I'd call Eric later on, since Jon and Harmony might just bus after they have a nap in the afternoon. I said hi to baby Mattias, who seemed to look up at my hat - I guess he likes them, unlike Olivia when she was a baby, haha. His mom Karen tried getting him to go to Margaret since he was getting heavy, but he was having none of it! He didn't seem too interested in my blue shiny shirt, but maybe he will be in my gold-and-white sweater! (which I'm currently wearing because I thought I should change from the shirt and jeans, in view of the cool windy weather at lunch)

After a while, I realized I was losing track of time since there was no Sunday School - I said my goodbyes to Jon, Steph (too bad she can't make it to Eric's thing since she's working!), Gillis, Dallas, and others before I headed out. Then I got distracted by baby Mattias trying to grab Emily C.'s iPhone while she was trying to take a picture of him. Headed upstairs, to be greeted with Auntie Bessy's news that I would be Auntie Ying's helper for the rest of the year - sounds good to me! I was pleasantly surprised to see Conor S., whom I remember from Awana a couple years ago. He's now FIVE, and talks a lot in English; when I last saw him, he was pretty shy! Amanda was discussing all kinds of things with him: zombies, vampires, waterguns, being wet, felt colors, Conor's brother Sean (whom I also remember), Conor's beads in a plastic Easter egg (which his brother had given him), pineapples, bees (in the toilet), drawing apples / trees / rainbows / porcupines, and more. I had to throw a couple of felts away because they were too dry - it happens!

There was another new kid named Anne, whom I thought was named Annie at first because that's what Auntie Bessy kept calling her. She wrote her name out for me on the back of her drawing, which was fine. Lucky thing I didn't call Conor "Conrad," but he corrected Auntie Bessy himself after about five times. Amanda then noted a coincidence: all three kids were five years old, and there were five people in the room! SWEET! After Sunday School, I went downstairs to see what was going on - I told Sean and Conor's mom where the fellowship hall was, because her boys are in Awana again this year after a break. Saw Ada, Ian, and Sean: Ian's getting to be a big boy, and he's old enough now to just look for his parents downstairs, at eight years old! Offered the kids some Oreo cookies, which they took after being prompted to say thanks. They're still so cute, haha. (Gabriel's grandma thought I'd made them myself, which prompted disparaging comments about my cooking ability from my own grandma... oh, SHUSH!)

Intercepted Henry after seeing Benedict / Martin / Chris / Danny pass by - he'll pick me up on Saturdays again, which sounds good to me! Said hi to Michael's mom, Polly, Karen, Land a few other people. Recognized a few of the Awana kids from last year, including Nicholas - Joey was telling me that there could be a few more kids because of VBS, so I guess I'll see about that on Saturday! Decided to use my idle time and call Eric at home: he could give me a ride tonight, and was receptive to the idea of carpooling to Erin's reception tomorrow. (I didn't even ask my parents to see what the arrangements were, haha... but there turns out to be just enough space, with Steph going to work and such)

Went to Mui's for lunch with the parents and Grandma - Mom (with a SHORT haircut) says she bumped into Rosenda and Auntie May (with Ian and Gabriel) at London Drugs yesterday, and Rosenda apparently has something for me because of my birthday. Reminds me, I have a card to give her for her own birthday, which passed a month ago! Then she assumed that I'd let Grandma live with me over Christmas - um, no. She then said that I'd be over at the townhouse for two more weeks because she and Dad are going to Hong Kong for Gordon's wedding: that's slightly better. "Be a good daughter-in-law," she said... uh, that's HARMONY and not me! Later, she just assumed that I'd be going to the Steveston docks with them to buy fish if there wasn't any parking at Yaohan. "I'm not like YOU, who goes out for dinner!" That was the worst attempt at a guilt trip EVER!

At least I told her that I needed to get home and shower, which I've done while composing this entry. While that's part of it, I also need downtime to relax a little! On the way home, Dad referred to me as "Stephanie" - um, I do believe that's your OTHER daughter! Yes, of course I'll tell Eric about the arrangements for tomorrow, but I won't tell him an earlier time - I give him more credit than they do, and we are NOT always late! AIYA! It's not like WE have to be there earlier or anything, although the parking will be a nice bonus if we can get the parkade! Good timing to be finishing this entry, since Eric just called to alert me to his presence nearby!