Having to be friendly is something I don't like... DOWNTIME RULES! (potluck)

I mailed off a bunch of cards (somehow losing one in the process?!), and bought hand sanitizer / Walker's shortbread in festive shapes from Shoppers Drug Mart - I figured that was just the thing for a Christmas party. Luckily, Jen likes that kind of thing too! On the way to church, Eric said I was trapped because he'd agreed to give Geoffrey a ride home... and then he later agreed to give Maisie a ride home too. Normally, I might not have minded so much, but I was rather worried about the state of the things in my fridge! He said that maybe the TV could be salvaged, even though they hadn't done anything to it yet. Well, I do not want my ex having a chip in it to broadcast images of himself to me, as Eric was joking about. Said he'd forgotten the candy, but I still gave him the Almond Roca bag (the bag I put it in was apparently broken) - I joked that my bag was lighter by two grams, haha. Told him that the room HAD felt lighter when Mr. Creep had left Jeremy's - Eric thought it was just that I was so nervous. NO, MAN - IT FELT LIGHTER FOR A REASON UNRELATED TO MOLECULES AND DENSITY! I was worried about it being icy later on as we went up to the church - he still parked outside, though. Approaching the church, we saw that the parkade was indeed open - sigh.

Went into the COLD fellowship hall, plunked myself down in a chair, and started reading a Bathroom Reader. Jen enlisted some people to help her make snowflakes as they discussed Google and various other subjects. Phil wondered what I was reading - of course it's another Bathroom Reader, haha! Mr. Creep said hi to me just as I'd registered his presence in the room a little later, so I ignored him and kept a vigilant eye on my stuff even though the room was bigger. Talked to Janette (Powerpoint mistake in forgetting to change slides!!), Karen Lew, Vivian, Lincoln, Christon, Dianne, Dave, Yvonne, Deb (the Häagen-Dazs bars being worth the added expense!), Dylan (movies and plans), Teresa (she thought Shally's name was Christina!), Kevin (gave him a card), Jeremy (he also got a card - Kelowna / "spare" envelopes / crazy work and school / sparkling apple juice in lieu of anything alcoholic), Harmony (Jon's whereabouts), Jon (haircut and lards at airport and the CROWDED Alibi Room yesterday for 100 beers), Teresa (swimming), Jen, Janice (Christmas), Rich, Richie, Jose, and others. It wasn't too bad a time, especially since there really wasn't any program other than eating and a bit of worship. I managed to startle Geoffrey, haha... I asked him whether he'd be going home with us, and he wondered if I were Eric - actually, I'm insulted! Later, Jen wondered how the coleslaw was, and Randal described it to her as "dirty socks." Overhearing this, I wondered if it could really be THAT bad, and he told me that he could only have two bites of it - okay, THAT is bad! I didn't have any because I had no more room on my plate!

SO MUCH FOOD: pumpkin pie, cheese, turkey, five kinds of chicken, pasta salad, yams, ice cream, kale stew, mashed potatoes, squash, green grapes, and more! Jon told me to throw away the cream-based / meat-based stuff when I got home, and to sniff the milk and such - he also told me to chill, but I was incapable of doing that. He was also talking to that "dope / represent" dude about the Downtown Eastside, and excused my apparent unfriendliness by saying stuff about my fridge... thanks, now I *have* to be friendly! No, I'm not saying Eric is my chariot either, but I'd had enough people time for the night! Sometimes I just want to shut down even when I'm with people, hahaha. It was COLD outside, but we got gas and such before dropping Maisie and Geoffrey off - when Geoffrey said that he worked for the Ministry of Transportation, I instantly reduced that to its acronym, and then thought of something naughty I read about a certain celebrity and that acronym meaning something rather SEXY in Britain. Of course I had to laugh! Eric wondered whether I was okay - yes, but I refused to explain it to him afterwards. Talked about "Daniel," "see you on Sunday," my being weird, and other stuff. Dude, I like time with my friends... and no, the power being back on was NOT evidence of my neighbors' multiple portable generators! To be safe, I threw away a bunch of stuff which wouldn't get eaten anyhow!


Poo nugget for this weekend: Sour Milk - The early twentieth-century observation by Russian scientist and Nobel Prize winner Elie Metchnikoff, that rural Bulgarians who consumed fermented milk lived long lives has led to the widespread consumption of sour milk. Metchnikoff hypothesized that the lactic acid bacteria present in fermented milk conferred health benefits. Soon after this observation, doctors across Europe began prescribing sour milk to their patients. One hundred years later, healthful bacteria are still found in many dairy products, including fermented milk like kefir.