2009 Recap: Chocolate, PEACEFUL, fire oil, and more!

This is the 2009 Recap. Fitting for the last day of the year, no? Vanessa just called, so I need to leave. Yay for having done this in draft form!

JANUARY

* Watched Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story and Fargo at Nathan's with Jeremy, Jon, Nate, white Eric, and Christon for New Year's. Good thing Raymond couldn't make it! (way too much snow, as well...)

* Finished Blogger tagging, FINALLY! YAY! :D

* Went to Elaine and Matt's wedding reception. It was cool enough, but it was too bad I couldn't also make it to Jon and Harmony's engagement party at the Alibi Room! Heard the beer there was EXCELLENT! A few days later, I hung out with my brother's future family - it was FUN, unlike some other times I could name! :P

* Watched BLADE RUNNER / DR. HORRIBLE'S SINGING BLOG with Teunis, Erik, Erica, Kaili, Scott, Alicia, and Kyle. Quirky stuff, AND morbid... yay for death via eyeball-gouging! :P

* Watched the premiere of 24 with Nathan, Jon, Steph, Eric, Vanessa, Phil, Grace, Jeremy, and Christon.

* Watched BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and the first nine episodes of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT at Nathan's - Jon, Nate, Phil, Grace, Jeremy, and I had a good time! Also discussed DIM SUM / DUMPLINGS... good times!


FEBRUARY

* Teunis made it out for a Fellowship potluck - good times!

* Got a package of sixteen movies and some Mongolian fire oil from Corey: that rocked!

* Celebrated my sister's and grandma's birthdays within a week or so of each other. Met sister's friend Jonathan into the bargain, too.


MARCH

* Sent Corey and Janina some Tim Tams, and Corey got a bunch of other stuff too: Mars Bars, Aero bars, shredded pork, shredded salmon, Mirage, Wunderbars, Maltesers, and Coffee Crisp! I bought on-sale (dark) chocolate for myself, too: Guylian, Lindt 99% Excellence, Lindt cherry coulis-chili Creation, 90% chocolate, Aero bars, Mars Bars, Aero bars, Mirage, Wunderbars, (original / classic dark / chewy caramel) Tim Tams, and more!

* FINALLY got together with Billie for dinner. I could justify skipping Bible Study for once, but couldn't do the same for ONE ordered Alaska roll that turned into FOUR! (not to mention how we didn't get any miso soup despite also ordering it... never going back to Broadway's Fish on Rice AGAIN!)


APRIL

* Celebrated Vanessa H.'s birthday with her friends, including Kyle. Nice to see him again, and I said more than two words to him!

* Celebrated Mom's old-style birthday, then watched CITY OF LOST CHILDREN at Erik's - good times!

* Began going to the old Green Village a lot with Alan and Polly. Man, they are obsessed with that place. :P

* Saw ALEX LEE at Oakridge, of all the people! It was SO GOOD to see him! :D


MAY

* Celebrated Danielle's birthday / grad at Melia and Angus' place - this was most notable because someone found a box full of USED CONDOMS in the pool room when we were cleaning up! EWWWWWWWWWW!

* Celebrated Erik's birthday at his place with Teunis, Kaili, Alicia, Kyle, Scott, and other people. Watched SWEENEY TODD later on, too - that was great!

* Raymond decided to end our friendship - what a perfidious blackguard!

* Went to the townhouse for Spoons / Steveston Pizza / Timothy's frozen yogurt with Steph, Jon, Harmony, Vivian S., Gabriel, Karen, Lincoln, Richie, Christon, Daniel, Michelle, Vanessa, and Melia.

* Went to Harmony's bridal shower, Guu at Aberdeen for dinner, and Leisure for shaved ice afterwards with the girls. Good to see Holly and Brittney again, despite parking debacles!

* Got stuck in Metrotown's back corridors with Billie - interesting!


JUNE

* Jon and Harmony got married... family weddings are strangely surreal, haha.

* Megan had her bridal shower - I was determined to make it out to this event since I couldn't make the actual wedding. It was much fun! (met Bryant's girlfriend Shirley, too!)

* Terrence came to town for a few days, and mostly stayed at my place. We had sushi a lot, watched Up, had $12 steak at Hamilton Bar & Grill in Yaletown, went to Shoppers Drug Mart / London Drugs / Pearl Castle / IHOP, added each other to Facebook, and watched a bunch of Food Network TV.

* Alan and Tracy got married... I couldn't make it to the wedding, but did get to give them my congratulations in person soon afterwards.


JULY

* Was finally determined to move out - I couldn't live with the stupid mice anymore! Krista had a nice offer for me, YAY! Unfortunately, her dad put the kibosh on it, citing "winter jobs" - PAH!

* Finally hung out with Chrystal in Richmond! Boston Pizza, London Drugs (Fit-Overs!), and Shoppers (scents!) was a good time! Then I went to the townhouse to see Rachel and Lisa, and their mom.

* Went to the Jazz Festival with Jon, Harmony, Jen, Shally, and Jeremy - FUN TIMES! Sound Gallery was very cool!

* Had a good "last hangout" at California Café in Lansdowne with Chinese Eric just before he left again for Hong Kong. Nathan and I had a good time joking about wieners, and then being serious when we gave him advice about a certain situation. Then Eric hung out at my place, and I showed him the wedding pictures. Good to hug him goodbye for now!

* Megan and Andy got married... wish I had a man for these occasions, heh.

* Started the LOCATION project... going back through all my entries was challenging, but it had to be done!

* Got together with Krista and a bunch of her friends - yay for seeing her back in Tsawwassen from Fort St. John! Saw Kyle, Vanessa, and Teunis again... very good for that! Finally met Teunis' friend Wolfie, AKA Jazmin. Interesting!

* Hung out with Krista and Erik at Bubble Queen (at the old Fair Bee location), Future Shop in Lansdowne, and at Erik's to watch Coraline. Good times!

* Got together at the townhouse to celebrate Dad's SIXTIETH birthday!

* Hung out with Billie at Liu's Taiwanese Restaurant and Richmond Centre.

* Saw Brüno with Krista and Vanessa - the air conditioning was really nice in the 33° heatwave!


AUGUST

* Edmond and Alysia got married... why was summer 2009 the WEDDING TIME for everyone?!

* Hung out with Billie at Richmond Sushi and other places, then she slept over - yay for killing that significant memory dragon!

* Looked after Grandma for two weeks while the parents were on a cruise with Alan and Polly. Man, she has memory problems, and issues with impatience / being rude!

* Went to the 2009 Grad Banquet - yay for catered food! Nathan's HOLY MO-FO trailer was HILARIOUS! The beef jerky underpants were an interesting touch... o_O

* Jon and Harmony took me and Grandma out to Chen's for dinner, which was nice.

* Steph took us out to Kisamos in Steveston for dinner... Grandma was actually positive about the food, sort of.

* Grandma took me and Steph out to Timmy's Kitchen in Steveston for dinner. Later, Steph and I went to e.tea on Rupert with Steph, Karmie, Maxine, Grace, Harmony, Sheena, Connie, and Jen. Good times, although I hear matcha kept Maxine up ALL NIGHT!

* Two days later, Grandma took me / Jon / Harmony out for lunch at the same Timmy's Kitchen. At least it was a different meal... we later had Timothy's gelato as dessert, then waited while she bought prawns on the dock.

* Had a homemade ramen / dumpling Sunday Dinner at Jeremy's - Wesley and Lincoln were new additions! I got so discombobulated when I got to Jeremy's that I went up the wrong set of stairs, and actually sneaked into Apartment 206! Luckily, nobody noticed... that would have been AWKWARD! Took the Canada Line (in operation for almost a week by then) for the first time in order to get home - quite nice!

* Met up with Teunis and Jasmine at the Oakridge White Spot - good seeing both of them!

* Erin and Ben got married - yay, weddings! Jon and Harmony had their housewarming on the same day, too! It was especially fun after 7:30, because that's when a certain person LEFT!

* Saw FM for the first time in YEARS - SO GOOD!

* Went to the Richmond Night Market with Jon, Harmony, Dallas, and Nathan. Good times with lamb skewers, dragon's beard candy, curry fish balls, and weird DVD / knife displays!


SEPTEMBER

* Had the Awana orientation session - pretty good times, for sure.

* Celebrated Eric's birthday at Rocky Mountain Flatbread Company, and then at Millennium Karaoke near Aberdeen. It was mostly fun, but there were too many Chinese songs! Stupid person who shouldn't have been there... *grumble*

* Erin and Ben had their Vancouver wedding reception - good times!

* Dylan and Deb got married in Bellingham: too bad Johnny had to miss both that AND my birthday! Awana also started on the same day, so I had to miss the wedding. That was okay, though - time with the kids went FINE!

* Nathan had his farewell since he went to the UK the day after my birthday. Too bad Danielle invited a person who shouldn't have been there! Good thing he didn't show up! Brian, Calla, Michelle, Daniel, Brent, Danielle, Jen, Eric M., Christon, Stanford, Jon, Steph, and I had lots of fun at Kishu Star and Dragon Ball!

* Celebrated my own birthday at Kelsey's in Ironwood with Teunis, Billie, Jon, Harmony, Steph, Christon, Andrea, Jeremy, and Eric. Teunis then came to stay for a few days - ah, the peripatetic life with TUBS of stuff!

* Had a Sunday Dinner, and finally saw Dallas again. Met Jeremy's new roommate Ryan, as well. Yay for Hungarian vegetable recipes and good times!


OCTOBER

* Went to Jon and Harmony's to watch the Canucks-Flames season opener with them and Christon. Jon left birthday wishes for Jeremy, and we looked at their extensive tea collection, heh. Too bad we lost 5-3!

* Went to Posh for dinner with Steph, Chantal, Jon, Harmony, Chelsea, Karen Grace, Margaret, Ryan, Vivian, and Gabriel.

* Got to meet my great-aunt (who gave me $200 total!) and my mom's cousin Eric for the first time ever. Yee Poh stayed longer than we thought she would, and Grandma decided to go to Hong Kong with her!

* Started to see a CREEP around MY church. Discussed things a LOT with both Erics, Danielle, Harmony, Jon, Christon, Jeremy, Jen, and other people.

* Grandpa Marr died. :(

* I finally got to sleep over in Coquitlam with Billie! YAY!

* Managed to get a lot of candy over Halloween weekend - yay for Kids' Carnival and 50% off candy at Buy-Low at Kingsgate Mall before a Sunday Dinner at Jeremy's!


NOVEMBER

* Had lunch at Peaceful Restaurant with Danielle, Jon, and Harmony. Quite a good time!

* Went to Women's Group at Karmie's for the first time ever, and liked it enough to keep going!

* Started to get Christmas cards and things from the awesome people at and on my friends list! So good! :D

* Hung out with Vanessa once she was back from Victoria for a few days - good seeing Kyle again too, for sure.


DECEMBER

* Parents went on a Singaporean cruise, then to Hong Kong for Gordon's wedding - and then picked Grandma up. I just housesat for them, which was a good mini-vacation from the MICE and CRAPPY MANAGEMENT!

* Was invited to the Women's Group cookie exchange - I was going to not show up since I can't bake, but Grace said that others faced the same dilemma. So I just bought an assortment of Voortman's cookies, haha.

* Had dinner with Jon, Steph, and Harmony at the PEACEFUL restaurant - it was good times. :D

* Dessert night and bubble tea - yay for seeing Darren and Fidela!

* Saw Grandma back home again - YAY!

* New Year's Eve - hanging out with Vanessa H. at Tapioca Express, and then going to Nate's with Christon / Jon / Harmony / Eric / Jen for BAD MOVIE NIGHT II.