Posh with Steph, Chantal, and others: NO XANGA VIDEOS, man! (but penis stories are okay!)

I made it out in time for the bus, thank goodness. It was pretty windy outside, but I managed to find Posh since it was next door to Pearl Castle (recognized the logo from the website), and the entire plaza had a big sign reading "Continental Plaza." Ryan, Karen Grace, Margaret, Vivian, Gabriel, Steph, and Chantal were in the middle of eating when I got upstairs, but I expected that. Chelsea, Jon, and Harmony came later. Chantal and Chelsea had never had hot pot / sukiyaki before, and they seemed to enjoy the experience. Nobody ordered any pork out of respect for Vivian and Gabriel, although Vivian said it was okay. There WAS a "no-meat" pot, which Steph thought Jon might appreciate more. Talked about Boston, road trips, Sea-Tac airport being messy, Fenway Park, joking about white people, souvenirs, hotels, flights, teaching, Richmond / Surrey, Transcendental Meditation, Chelsea's upcoming trip to study religion, Chantal's parents being named John and Melody (weird when you consider Jon married a girl named Harmony!!), and more.

Steph said that Mom was excited about showing Chantal some exotic meats, so they went to a shop after their Banzai Sushi lunch, and Mom told the owner that she wanted to show some stuff to her daughter's white friend. The owner (who Mom knows) just keeled over laughing for a few minutes, apparently! So they saw some "normal" stuff like alligator and such, and then Mom saw a sign which was only in Chinese. She translated it as "bull's peh-niss," which is how she pronounces "boar's penis." Let's just say the testicles were so huge that they had to be in their own bags... the owner said "ball" when Steph asked if they were indeed what she thought they were! That reminded Jon of the restaurant which sells only penises of various animals - yup, it's the old Chinese superstition that you are what you eat... vitality and fertility, I suppose! That reminded ME of the "penis / peanuts" story, which Steph told the entire table - it's still funny! Daniel and Michelle had been laughing REALLY hard at "salty penis or garlic penis" (my mom cannot say "peanuts"), and Dad had given them a GLARE before he informed them that they were BAD since he knew why they were laughing! (my mom had just continued upstairs on her merry way, oblivious to the humor she'd created)

Steph told me that she'd done something with Chantal's cell phone, and now SHE owned a few weird videos of me. Of course, she then had to show the entire table what she was talking about... fighting on the cruise ship, snorting when being asked to take a picture, CACKLING in the townhouse complex parking lot, Mom singing to me in the car, and other such "gems" were shown. Then again, Mom was horrified when Steph informed her that she'd posted her "Hong Kong Itchy Foot" video on the Internet... "euh... you posted it on THE INTERNET?!!!!?" Hahahaha! Then my family did the haiku they'd debuted on my birthday - uh, thanks. I told Jon that I was in for the Sunday Dinner, since that beats having to remember to email him or something later.We also talked about Erin's embarrassing stories in general, Erin being all "innocent" about her and Ben's five-bedroom house (sleepovers?!), Pei Lyn being spazzy, Rachel, racist terms for Chinese people (Steph actually got CALLED that term!), (used) maxipads, and THE ULTIMATE PRICE!!!

Later, Steph was in pain because she'd eaten too much. Chantal especially wondered if she were okay, since they leave for their road trip tomorrow. Steph just thought she'd buy Tums or something, which is probably more portable than Pepto-Bismol happens to be! Discussed musical preferences, country, disliking rap, AC/DC, Bon Jovi, death metal, and other things on the way home. It was a pretty good night out. Got home to find that Cindy had expressed sympathy over my bad experience last week. I also found a bunch of birthday cards and Christmas cards that I'd forgotten about, so spent some time prepping them with greetings and stickers. Of course, now I have to buy more stickers / seals / cheap cards. We'll see about that next month, since it isn't URGENT or anything. I also found some birthday cards and Christmas cards that I can't use now (wrong year, people whom I no longer talk to, etc.) - I had to rip them out and throw them away! It should be fine, though!