Volunteer Church Appreciation Dinner 2009, plus a 4-3 shootout win over the Stars

Eric picked me up at about the time he stated, which was super. We talked about socks and showers, then I went on a big rant about Mr. Creep - if Eric has NEVER heard me talk about vibes before, then he should definitely take that into account, man! I just get a CREEPY FEELING from Mr. Creep (which I should tell Pastor John about), and this time, I'm not going to ignore warning signals! That was to my detriment in 2007-2008, so NEVER AGAIN! It's not that Creep may be socially maladjusted (because my geek / nerd friends and I may be like that as well), and it's not that he's UGLY... it's his odd behavior with the sign-up sheets! Eric tried convincing me that he'd email Pastor John about it: don't worry, I believe you! Then he wondered whether I got a FEELING about other relative newcomers like Chuck / Richie / Jose... nope, I think they're all GOOD people! (even if I thought Richie was too new a few months ago, haha) So most of the ride over was filled with a point-counterpoint kind of thing! (we also discussed squished noses)

Once we got to church, we found that the parkade was FULL, yet it was still open - what the?! When we finally got into the fellowship hall, we found that people were getting their food - noticed a funny fruit piece decoration, haha. Auntie Tracy said that we came at the right time; I said hi to Sabrina and others, then got my food (SO MUCH MEAT!) and headed outside to the tables under the tents. Calla, Stanford, and Johnny ate with me and Eric, and we commented that it was SO COLD outside! Johnny said that it reminded him of the PNE since it had tables like this for people to eat at, then we started talking about the wedding they'd been at this past weekend.

Calla told us several interesting stories; since one was about the bride FREAKING OUT about music, I said that Auntie Brenda had told her daughter Erin that her hair looked HORRIBLE the morning of the wedding. BAD THING TO SAY! Then again, Calla had a friend whose mother repeatedly asked her as they were DRIVING to the wedding whether she was SURE about the decision - "you still have a few minutes to back out - it's not DONE yet!" ISSUES!!!! Then there was the one where an avid recycler was almost literally going to kill someone who apparently had NEVER heard of a blue box before... HAHAHA! (I would have asked Calla to reprise the story for Jon when he finally got to the dinner since he'd appreciate it, but maybe later!)

Lesley came out after a while and asked us where my brother was - running late, probably. It didn't really bother us personally (although I did tell Stanford and Calla the story of how Jon was once 1.5 hours late for a lunch with Danielle) - then we figured out WHY Lesley was so anxious. Seems Jon was performing for the program afterwards! Jon got there within five minutes of THAT, so was soon saying how the amount of meat was disgusting: "Meat is murder," indeed. Then people were wondering where Harmony was - she's so conscientious that she won't mooch, and Jon admires that. (later, Eric was telling her how he'd eaten some of the food for the Sunday School appreciation lunch a few weeks ago, and they hadn't minded!) Then Jon wanted to know who got married on Thanksgiving weekend - apparently, Stanford and Calla are going to do just that next year! Oops, haha.

Eventually, we all went into the fellowship hall, where I spent some time with baby Mattias, who liked my hat. His grandma Auntie Catherine spotted me and wanted to say she hadn't forgotten about my birthday, but she'd just had an operation - NO WORRIES, since I wasn't expecting anything! Talked to Ivan for a bit - school is busy! Seems the planning responsibility for these types of events has shifted from my mom to his, and he hopes someone else takes over for his mom soon! Speaking of his mom, Auntie Ronne was frantically looking for Jon two minutes before the program started. I heard her ask "Where's Jonathan?!" and informed her that he was outside in the foyer. She said "OUTSIDE?!" Hahaha, he was just talking to a bunch of people as usual! Maybe she was afraid he'd delay the program since he had to play for it, haha.

The program went fine - there were no goofy games like last year, haha. ("go find the number of Exit signs!") I noted Calla and Johnny laughing over the fact that Stanford apparently didn't know the song GIVE THANKS - how can you not know how that goes when you've been here for a year?! When the CSCC gave their presentation, I noted an odd bit of translation in the Powerpoint: "Came you with a pamphlet." What the?! (if I'd been sitting with Eric on the other side of the room, he'd have commented on it!) Johnny and I noted the lack of an English translation for a Mandarin folksong and some CANDLELIGHT Chinese song... but Pastor Edward and Auntie Rebecca did a pretty good rendition of THE PRAYER! (everyone started clapping when Pastor Edward did some Italian, haha)

Afterwards, I made sure Matthew Ma #2 knew what my name was, since I said I'd test him on Saturday. Dad wanted to ensure I was going with Eric - you bet! Eric asked if I minded going to Jon and Harmony's house to watch the hockey game faster; nope, so we were on our way after we were given several of the plethora of takeout containers for the dinner leftovers. At Jon and Harmony's, we updated her on the dinner - Dad had told Jon that he made too many mistakes in his LOVE DREAM song, but Jon thought it was still okay. We witnessed a 4-3 win over the Stars in a shootout, because the Stars scored with about two minutes left in the third. Then we watched commentary, highlights, and some of the Colorado Rockies-Philadelphia Phillies baseball game before Christon came over.

We then watched Baraka, which was a very interesting movie. It provoked discussion, all right! Discussed worship, Iran, the crystal cathedrals in Iran, the "shorts" at the start of Film Festival screenings ("sexual content which you may not be comfortable with" featuring a man, a woman, another man, and animals!), films, Googling various things, Matt Stairs, ADVENTURELAND, Citrus, Rotten Tomatoes, hockey and baseball analysis, hockey pools, Cambodia, Hagia Sophia, fruit, grapes, transit, Mecca, Auschwitz, and more. Christon was going to transit home, but upon a quick look at Translink, he discovered that the Skytrain / Canada Line had stopped running already at 12:15! Eric agreed to drive him home, which saved Jon a trip out. On the way to the car, I froze when I saw the few steps leading down to the sidewalk. It's okay to navigate them down during daylight hours, but either my night vision is really bad or I don't feel comfortable without railings. Of course I couldn't say that to Eric, so I merely told him that I almost died the last time I'd gone down those at night. (not true, obviously) He helpfully gave me his arm, which was great - THANKS!

After we dropped Christon off at home (the ramp! construction! long delays!), Eric and I returned to our previous topic of discussion. I may not be giving Mr. Creep a chance, but I don't WANT to get burned by a newcomer AGAIN. Eric thinks I have pre-conceived notions about Creep, and also that his sign-up sheet behavior influenced my reaction when I shook hands with him. Not really, although of course people's actions influence my REACTION towards them! Told Eric that I'd run over my "quota" of words in Creep's direction - no, of course I don't have such quotas when it comes to anyone else, not even Randal! I just don't want Creep to know anything about me... maybe not even my name! Good thing he told me that he's bad with names, hahaha. Due to a comment Christon made, I found out that he's 48 years old and has been to about ten churches so far. Yes, I know I'm not screening him for dating potential (as if!), but I just KNOW when I feel icky around certain people! He made me scream "WHAT?!" in a high-pitched voice when he told me to DREAM of him after I'd exited his car! I don't think I will, thanks!