We both like being too hot...

Bingo of the night so far:

SALARIES (455 points) - against Angel L.

High-scoring words of the night so far:

TURNKEY (153 points) - against Vivian R. [two 3W]
MARANTA (115 points) - against Itamar R. [5W, 4L on M]
MYTH (430 points; two 5W, hook off ICY to make HI), FOOTIE (173 points; 3L on F, 4W, 2W) - against Cynthia P.
OMNIVORA (110 points) - against Jeff E. [4W]
SALARIES (455 points) - against Angel L. [5W, 4W, 2W, hook off HORN for a plural]

Interesting rack of the night so far: BASEPENS (against Karen C.), RAILSEAS (against Angel L.)


Henry picked me up for Awana, and we spent some time discussing being cold vs. being hot. At least he also would rather be too hot than too cold, and I mentioned my Regina experience to him - he thought I said "China" at first, heh. We settled into listening to the music he had on, after I learned that he would stay home for Chinese New Year and study with a dinner of canned soup. He's right: it's a holiday for our people, but not in general! We managed to take advantage of an open parkade, and strolled in on time. I got to interact with Joshua and Ian M., who waved at me when the Cubbies went to their own room upstairs - so cute! Tried one cola gummy, and one mango gummy - reminds me of the time I bought a LOT of mango gummies, and included a bunch for Corey's graduation in 2006. (it got there at the same time his friend Jane was in town from Taiwan, haha)

A few of us managed to confuse the brothers Heyman and Johnny, and Stanley told me that he was getting into HOUSE. Hey, I might well do that on Mondays too. Then when they were playing SIMON SAYS (renamed to SPARKY SAYS), he told me / Chris / Mike that it would be really funny if Emily said "Sparky says Do A Dance! *pause* Do A Dance!" Hahahaha! I was transported back to memories of Camp Sasamat when the kids sang The Lord Told Noah To Build An Arky-Arky. (we used to sing that on the bus!)

Later, I broke away from the debriefing because I saw Ian M. That meant I could FINALLY give him his way late birthday card, and got a prompted hug in return! Then Ian asked "What about her?" meaning his cousin Olivia, whose birthday is on 9/11 - I made a resolution on the way home to give her animal stickers tomorrow. I helped Sean L. with his jelly candy, for which I got a thank-you. His brother Ian (L., so not the same one as Olivia's cousin) said that I looked like a snowman... thanks, kid! Must have been my brown Regina ski jacket, haha. I'd get Rachel's grandma to fix the button issue, but she won't be there tomorrow. Ah well, maybe next week! I'll just wear the blue jacket instead. Saw Jon afterwards, who asked how I was getting home: Henry, most certainly! Noticed Richie, Pastor John, and Jonathan there too. Auntie Rebecca wished us all a Happy Chinese New Year, too!

Corey and I are talking about DRM, piracy, and stupid crackdowns:

[19:36:58] Flami: the hamsterette: so what have you been up to?!
[19:41:59] Corey: kablorngo
[19:54:25] Flami: well, I can do you one better!!!!!!! :P
[19:55:08] Corey: oh yeah? how's that?
[19:58:41] Flami: blorgy! Ka jorrgy! meep meep mwuhahahaa.
[20:00:02] Flami: now if that isn't better, I don't know what is! :D
[20:00:08] Corey: that's a bunch of nonsense!
[20:00:27] Flami: well, so was YOUR message!
[20:00:41] Corey: nope
[20:01:58] *** "Corey" signed off at Sat Jan 24 20:01:58 2009.
[20:02:01] *** "Corey" signed on at Sat Jan 24 20:02:01 2009.
[20:04:11] Flami: at least I get what Eric is generally talking about when he devolves into what (to me) is nonsense, but you don't play Warcraft, so...
[20:05:33] Corey: daboo!
[20:06:04] Corey: zug dug
[20:06:18] Corey: I played Warcraft II!
[20:07:35] Flami: 3?
[20:08:13] Corey: World of Warcraft looks so stupid, it's hard to describe... and Warcraft III just didn't seem the same... and Warcraft I is pretty primitive... Starcraft seemed cool, but I never got into that one for some reason even though I thought it looked awesome before it came out
[20:08:19] Corey: II! not III!
[20:08:26] Corey: 2!
[20:09:13] Flami: YES, I KNOW
[20:10:22] Corey: most of those games don't do it for me really.. I like the concept, and played a lot of Warcraft 2... these days I mainly play Red Alert 2 if I want something like that.. there's a new Red Alert 3, but it's all 3D... and in other 3D games like that, you can't tell what the hell is going on because everything is all tiny unless you zoom way in, which means you can't see what the enemy is doing :P
[20:10:33] Corey: plus RA3 is full of nasty DRM, same as Spore
[20:12:30] Corey: it might be good, I think I have it... I'll try it out sometime. it's probably similar to Command & Conquer 3 though, which is where I get the "3D can't see crap" idea from.. Red Alert is a Command & Conquer spin-off, set in an alternate reality where Einstein lives longer, and somehow the USSR invades everything with Tesla technology
[20:13:01] Flami: is DRM a virus?
[20:13:11] Corey: Red Alert 3 might be better since it's usually more bright and colorful and cartoony... I don't need realistic graphics, I want bigass tanks and stuff and it should be colorful and stand out from the background and be big enough to SEE :P
[20:13:33] Corey: how do you not know what DRM is in this day and age?? :P
[20:14:05] Corey: and yes, it's a virus (not really) that companies put in their own software to give you a hard time and screw you over
[20:15:12] Flami: hey. I am not Eric. I am not a computer geek.
[20:15:27] Corey: it's copy protection stuff. the new evil one in Spore only allows you to install the game three times, ever (it has to go online and validate your install to allow you to play), and only allows one person to play.. like if we lived together and you had a character going, I couldn't start up a new game with a new character without deleting yours or buying a new copy of the game
[20:15:42] Corey: it's in music and iTunes and games and everything!
[20:15:59] Corey: you don't need to be a computer geek to know what that is :P
[20:18:20] Corey: DRM in games usually completely sucks. there's some that even detects if you have a CD burner (and who doesn't these days), and bans you from playing because you own hardware capable of making a copy if it. others detect Daemon tools (virtual CD drive that lets you use a CD image (a file copy of a CD on your hard drive) like it was a real CD) and force you to uninstall that...
[20:18:37] Corey: pirates use that a lot to play copied games without having to burn to a real disc, but it also has a billion legit uses
[20:19:23] Corey: usually you can't remove the DRM software by uninstalling it, so it sticks around like a virus.. a lot of it wastes your system resources or even causes stuff to crash on you.... that type might as well be a virus
[20:20:18] Corey: Bioshock came out a while back, and nobody could play it because the DRM required an online activation.. so it comes out, huge hyped-up game.. now you have three million people or whatever trying to activate at the same time so they can play it, and the activation servers crash and nobody can play :P
[20:20:24] Flami: that does sound annoying.
[20:21:30] Corey: music DRM makes it so you can only listen to your music in iTunes (or whatever other program) and can't share files by copying it... in extreme cases, it can put a limit on how many times you can even listen to it or delete it after a period of time or whatever
[20:22:47] Corey: it's stupid as hell. it means that if you choose to buy the product and support the company, you have a ton of hoops to jump through, and for something like Spore, what if you upgrade from XP to Vista? that means you've installed it twice. then you delete it because you're not playing it much and need space, then you put it back on later.. that's three installs. now if you ever uninstall it, you're forever banned from playing your own game you paid for because they only let you install it three times.
[20:23:10] Corey: want to play it again? go buy another one
[20:23:55] Corey: guess what happens if you pirate it instead? well, that stuff is all gone and is removed even before the game comes out in stores in most cases, and everything works great and you're all set and can use it however you'd like forever :P
[20:24:04] Corey: that bullcrap only encourages piracy
[20:24:39] Corey: it does absolutely nothing to stop it... other than that, it's not really something you can just stick in your CD burner and copy for your friend, since the DRM has to be cracked.
[20:25:01] Corey: but the cracks are all online, and it's easier to download a torrent than to copy a disc anyway, most of the time :P
[20:25:04] Corey: so it stops nothing
[20:25:22] Corey: just punishes the paying customers, which is a pretty stupid thing to do
[20:25:42] Corey: so there you go. DRM = pure evil
[20:26:54] Corey: meanwhile, Monty Python released their entire library for free on YouTube, and their DVD sales went up 23,000% because of it :P
[20:27:33] Flami: what?! no way. how can music DRM be so stupid?
[20:28:38] Corey: well, there are services (or were, I don't know if they're around now) where you could download MP3s for a monthly fee... then if you stop paying, you lose the rights to listen to those MP3s
[20:29:23] Corey: sometimes they allow one copy so you can put it on your portable MP3 player or something, but usually those will expire after a certain amount of time or something
[20:30:38] Corey: and you should see the HD DRM bullcrap. it's called HDCP, and all devices you're using must be HDCP-compatible or nothing will work. for example, your TV needs to be HDCP-compatible, your player needs to be, and even the CABLE needs to be HDCP-compatible
[20:31:33] Corey: so a situation people are finding now is they have like a Bluray player and an Xbox 360, both using HDMI cables for an HD picture.. but... one HDMI port on the TV... so, get a little HDMI switchbox
[20:32:21] Corey: but uh oh, the switch doesn't tell everything it's HDCP-compatible, and your TV assumes you're a filthy pirate and downgrades the picture so you can't watch it in HD (or it just goes blank completely)
[20:32:56] Corey: or the switch works with HDCP... but if you flip it over to the Xbox and then back to your movie a while later, it gets confused about the HDCP stuff, and you have to turn everything off and start over
[20:33:06] Corey: all so nobody can watch pirated movies
[20:33:22] Corey: and if you want the pirated movie, you can just download it and watch it without dealing with any of that bullcrap :P
[20:34:10] Corey: again, not stopping piracy and just punishing everyone that pays for everything
[20:34:12] Flami: that's crazy
[20:35:41] Corey: video cards on computers now have to be HDCP-compatible (and so does your monitor), or it'll ban you from hooking your computer up to an HDTV and using HD resolutions
[20:35:51] Corey: and various other crap
[20:36:36] Corey: so people get a fancy laptop with a Blu-Ray player in it.. want to hook it up to the TV to watch movies... oh no, your video card doesn't give the magic signal so you can't watch it in HD even though it's perfectly capable of it
[20:37:24] Corey: it'll be cracked so you don't have to deal with it, but then new Blu-Ray movies will give it HDCP updates that undo the cracks and update all your stuff :P
[20:38:21] Corey: so far, 99% of the problems I've seen are just with people that want to watch the stuff they've paid for, not anyone trying to copy or pirate anything
[20:38:56] Corey: there's so many things that have to line up right for it to say "okay, you're not a criminal bastard, you can watch your movie" that stuff is bound to go wrong with most setups...
[20:39:50] Corey: companies are really stupid and think that more and more stuff like that will eventually clamp everything down hard enough to end piracy and copying, but that'll never happen...
[20:41:05] Corey: Spore (the most anticipated awesome looking game, with major widespread appeal for all types of people) was / is rated one-star overall on Amazon with thousands of reviews about the DRM (which isn't mentioned on the box even) being a bunch of crap, so, at least people aren't putting up with it.
[20:41:44] Corey: of course, they then responded by giving people what they wanted... Red Alert 3 came out with the same restrictions, you just get 10 installs instead of 3 or some bullcrap :P
[20:42:13] Corey: I've installed Red Alert 2 like ten times by now, easily.... (and I own TWO legit copies of that one :P)
[20:43:11] Flami: oh dear.
[20:43:30] Corey: oh, and I was going to tell you about iTunes too.. they dropped the DRM just recently..... BUT.... if you already have songs, you have to "upgrade" them to be DRM-free, for like 40 cents a song. for a lot of people that amounts to paying hundreds of dollars on the songs they already bought
[20:44:03] Corey: 40 cents a song adds up when you have a bunch of full albums of songs from iTunes
[20:46:44] Corey: so anyway, all it does is piss everyone off and make things hard on you.. and you're supposed to give them money for that privilege. there's a bunch of Youtube videos around where people rant about the DRM not even letting them play their game, so they had to resort to downloading a crack file from the internet, and they're never buying games from that company again
[20:47:13] Corey: but the trend, with a few exceptions, is to just make bigger and more restrictive DRM
[20:47:31] Corey: they think if they get fancy enough, people won't crack it, which just isn't going to happen...
[20:47:55] Corey: SO... now you should know something about DRM!!!!!
[20:48:01] Corey: (probably a lot more than you wanted :P)
[20:49:49] Corey: ah! one more example! a lady was at my house working on photo album stuff (my mom's customer), and she wanted help putting a song on as background music on a photo CD slideshow she was making... but... the song had DRM in it and that counted as an illegal copy and wouldn't let her do it.. so I had to explain why that was to her.
[20:49:51] Flami: what?! That is crazy
[20:50:22] Corey: so there you go. if she pirated it, it'd be great. but since she wasted her money by BUYING it, she's treated like a criminal when she wants to add music to some photos to show her family :P
[20:51:24] Corey: so DRM is great. that would have been a major loss to the recording industry if her family heard a song she already paid for :P
[20:53:53] Corey: unless companies get a clue, what's going to happen is it's going to be like that in everything until people get so pissed off that everyone turns to piracy, and the music and movie and game industries totally collapse because nobody is buying their broken crap anymore. then maybe, MAYBE they'll change their mind, but so far the solution is to try to sue and jail anyone they can instead
[20:54:28] Corey: it'll probably be a big problem in the near future (it already is really) if nothing changes
[20:58:06] Corey: There's Spore. Scroll down and look at the reviews to see how much people like that stuff :P And there must have been a push of positive reviews (and companies are being caught paying people to post positive reviews on Amazon and other places these days) since it's all the way up to 1.5 stars
[21:20:41] Flami: oh yay... most of the reviews I've seen are bad.
[21:32:53] Corey: well, they also screwed up the game itself... it looked AWESOME in this huge demo / preview thing Will Wright (he's the guy that made SimCity, The Sims, and lots of other games millions of people have played) did a couple years ago, but they totally simplified it and pretty much ruined the whole idea in the end
[21:33:08] Corey: but, the primary complaint there is the DRM rather than the game :P
[21:34:24] Corey: look up Red Alert 3 instead... it seems like more people like the game, but still complain about the DRM a LOT, especially since it's the same DRM as Spore.. and apparently they give you five installs on that one. that's their response to all the Spore hate and protest.. they put the same thing on their next game, but loosened it to five installs from three.
[21:34:37] Corey: if you buy a game, you should have installs until the CD wears out :P
[21:36:00] Corey: that also means nobody in their right mind would buy it used, since it probably wouldn't work anymore... so you don't really own anything for your money. you have a CD that puts it on your computer, and you play it if and when they let you play it. it has no real value anymore, and might even not work for you, much less someone that you sell it to
[21:44:01] Flami: yup, that sounds bad to me
[21:44:54] Corey: $50 rental :P
[21:46:08] Corey: and what happens when the company goes out of business and doesn't exist to grant you extra installs? usually they say if you call them, which isn't free, they'll work with you and give you more installs... so you get to beg to play if you run out of your few installs
[21:48:07] Corey: or like a lot of online games, they just drop support of that game entirely? a lot of online games become worthless fast because they drop the servers for it and put them on a newer game.. without servers they don't work online, and a lot of games now ONLY work online.. those are rentals too
[21:48:14] Corey: so why won't they decide customer support on old games doesn't matter anymore, and never grant installs on games a few years old?
[21:51:02] Flami: bad
[21:51:12] Corey: geez, the installs are worse than I thought.. it even counts if you add a new video card (which as far as programs are concerned is meaningless)
[21:51:24] Corey: check this one out:
"This may well be one of the best games of the year. For that matter, it may well be one of the best FPS games to date! But I'll never get to experience its full glory due to the crippling DRM.

The "security" feature built into the game supposedly allows you to install the game on 3 computers.
[21:51:34] Corey: What they don't tell you is installing any new hardware, or even upgrading a video video driver will cause an new license to be used. Even if they told you, there is no way to de-authorize the computer because that feature has not yet been developed... Wow. That's pretty important to the entire DRM system, right? Leave the honest customer an out? Well, EA doesn't care about you. Here's how I spent my 3 install activations:
[21:51:43] Corey: 1: Install the game and run it one time. Game activates.
2: Buy new video card, install it, run game. Game reactivates again!
3: Loan video card out to friend, use old video card, run game, Game reactivates again!
?: Put my new video card back in, run game, no more activations left.
[21:51:54] Corey: Thanks, EA! You just stole $30 from me! That's what I get for being honest. So from now on, I will be forced to either pirate games using this DRM, or just boycott those games all together. Either way, not another penny of my money will go toward anything with "activations"-based DRM. It only seems fair to steal a game from EA now that they have stolen $30 from me for a game I cannot play.
[21:52:00] Corey: So what was the game like? Well, the menus looked nice, and the first 20 minutes of the game was fun. Very nice-looking, but I can't really say much. I didn't get to experience much of it. I recommend EVERYONE STAY AWAY FROM THIS TITLE at least until a patch is released to remove the DRM, if that ever happens."
[21:52:19] Corey: now that is crap :P I upgrade at least something on my computer fairly regularly, and would at least use those up in a year or so... but I don't keep games installed if I'm not actively playing them anyway, so I'd use even more reinstalling it...
[21:53:32] Corey: games are like 6+ gigs now, each... you can't keep everything installed all the time.. wastes too much space
[22:02:34] Flami: even on the huge hard drives? yeah, I'd imagine that to be the case... yikes.
[22:04:24] Corey: I barely keep any games installed, and I'm always out of room :P my game drive is 250GB
[22:05:47] Corey: it has 16GB free at the moment. and maybe 5-6 big games, if that, installed?
[22:06:05] Corey: there's other stuff taking up room on my hard drive too
[22:07:55] Corey: Oblivion with all the add-ons, and some things to give it better graphics is about 10GB... Command & Conquer 3, 6GB... 7GB of Portal.. like 4GB of Red Alert 2... Knights of the Old Republic is like 5GB... Knights of the Old Republic 2... same... adds up pretty fast :P
[22:12:10] Flami: I should go bug Eric about that and see how much hard drive space WOW takes up

Let's vetch about yucky proofing!

Bingo of the day so far:

FILENAME (144 points) - against Nathalie L.

High-scoring words of the day so far:

ASTIGMIA (226 points) - against Kevin P. [two 4W]
YUKS (216 points) - against Debbie T. [2W, 3W, 4L on Y, hook off TAXER for a plural]
VETCH (105 points) - against Krista V. [5W]
PROOFING (274 points) - against Vivian R. [two 4W]
IROKO (689 points) - against Lara W. [5W, 4W, 5L on K]
FILENAME (144 points) - against Nathalie L. [two 3W, bingo, hook off IT to make NIT]

Interesting rack of the day so far: TROTFAIR (against Annu E.)

If you're the lich king, I can be crazy!

Bingo of the night so far:

ASTRINGED (78 points) - against Chelsea M. [and I won the game on that move! :D]


High-scoring words of the night so far:

BODS (110 points) - against Michael M. [5W; hook off GIVE to make a plural]
SANDMAN (144 points) - against Colin W. [two 4W]


Someone may be a nice enough person, but his spelling is starting to grate on my nerves. Ugh!

Eric picked me up tonight, and we talked about random things on the way to church. He wondered why my blog was now locked (because of STUPID KOREY), went into "lich king" mode where I had to obey whatever he said, wanted to go into "little kid" mode ("why aren't we there yet?"), and asked me random stuff. I just blamed him for certain things, haha. Apparently, he thought I had to dial my RAGE mode down: maybe so. When we got there after meeting Nathan at the door (and translating "pull it open!" for Eric from Stanley's mom), Daniel was leading the singing in the fellowship hall: I narrowly avoided sitting next to a certain person, and instead followed Eric to the very front row of chairs.

After singing the last song (Daniel kindly lent his sheet to me!), I said hi to Martin while noticing Vivian's new short haircut. Raymond said hi, so I returned the greeting in kind while I waved hello to Jen. When Dylan mentioned joining Karen's group, I was a bit anxious: thank goodness we joined Eric / Jeremy / Nathan / Danielle instead! Unfortunately, I zoned out during some of it (and even had a button pop loose from my hat), but did catch an interesting discussion about predestination and whether God chooses certain people to be saved! Jeremy said his parents were different than most others, since they wanted him and his brother to get out of the house. Johnny and I chose to "bask" in the comfy seniors' lounge chairs, and I helped Nathan get shrink wrap off his dinner by lending him my sewing scissors. Danielle was certainly surprised that I had such things, haha! At the end, Stanley was impatiently jingling his keys like he wanted us out of there, haha.

Later, I talked to Calla about Youtube / Boy Meets World / martyrs / reading / the Craigslist forums, and listened while Stanford tried to give Johnny some advice on snowboarding. Apparently, the mountains are like ice - maybe it's a good thing I'm not going to the Osoyoos retreat! After they left, Raymond and I had a nice conversation about stuff.

On the way home, Eric and I discussed how my plans actually kinda failed... yeah, but I still need to talk to Andrea! Also discussed this dream of Korey's clothes in my tub (he was wearing my PILLOWCASE!), my subconscious, FRINGE, my sister, and other things. If he goes into "lich king" mode, I have a perfect right to go into crazy mode, haha! We'll see what MissionsFest Friday holds for us, certainly! Got home to discover a message from Chinese Eric: he got my card and Vancouver postcards, appreciates them, and told me to tell my brother that he'll save the date for the wedding! I certainly will. :D

Poo nugget for this weekend: DrStool.com Questions and Answers - Why Can't You Smell Your Own Poo, But Others Can? This is one of the great mysteries of poo. Keeping track of our bowel movements is an important aspect of our everyday lives. Why else would we be programmed to take that quick glance into the toilet after a bowel movement? Surely, detection of poo's aroma would seem to be advantageous from an evolutionary perspective. For instance, serious ailments such as bleeding and infection can often produce changes in smell. Regardless, it is best to acknowledge the universal smelly nature of poo (even your own) and give a quick courtesy flush halfway through a bowel movement.

Petting zoos and the afterlife

Survey taken from Gretchen:

Name three animals you'd most like to interact with in a petting zoo: Koalas, pandas, and emus.

What are some of your favorite words? DEFENESTRATION, ethereal, and some others I can't remember right now.

Do you believe in an afterlife where you will be conscious and aware of yourself and your past? I've been thinking about that lately.

What image(s) make you turn your head or cover your eyes during a movie? I'm morbid, sure; but extreme gore might do that. Being forced to watch one of the Friday the 13th movies was NOT a good experience!

If you could possess one supernatural ability, what would it be? Does killing people remotely count? Hahaha. If not, then I choose teleportation!

Name two things you would never do, under any circumstances? Go skydiving, and eviscerate someone.

Who are your favorite artists? Too many to list.

What did your bedroom walls display when you were in your teens? Matthew Good Band and Our Lady Peace stuff, mostly.

Do you use profanity? Maybe. ;)

What are three personal goals you have for your future? Be a better person, contribute where I see fit, and pay stuff forward if deserved.

Name a song lyric you initially misunderstood: Too many to list.

Assuming he would answer honestly and fully, what question would you ask former President Bush? "Why push the agenda of terrorism?"

Assuming he would answer honestly and fully, what question would you ask President Obama? "What are you going to do to further Canada-US relations?"

What games have you enjoyed playing most? Word games, mostly.

Name one stupid thing you once did that you wish you could undo: Only one? Hmm. Telling someone how I really felt about them... not saying whether it was good or bad.

What are you afraid of? Too much - rejection, slipping, being anything less than a perfectionist, etc.

If you could relieve yourself of one burden in life, what would it be? I did that last year now, and it still feels GREAT!

What popular song(s) do you consider an abomination to mankind? Anything rap or hip-hop.

What movie(s) have you surprisingly NOT seen? Too many to list.

What are your favorite movies of all time? Forrest Gump, for sure.

If you could have any type of fresh-cut flowers delivered to your home every week, what type(s) would you choose? Roses!

If you were to be recognized for posterity for one thing, what would you like to be known for? Actually making a difference.

What word(s) do you have trouble spelling? None.

What word(s) do you hate seeing misspelled? All of them.

If you could dine alone with anyone from any period in history, which person would it be? Ah, the choice! Hmm. Queen Elizabeth I.

What was your most significant "rite of passage"? Dunno yet.

When you were a child, what do you remember being excited to buy for yourself? Fill-Ins!

If you died tomorrow, what would be your biggest regret in life? Not finding someone who perfectly complemented me.

YummyWeb and assertiveness

High-scoring word of the day so far:

OVERTLY (107 points) - against Heather S.-T. [3W, hook off MODE to make MODEL]

YummyWeb does work, haha! Since I was feeling hungry earlier AND there's still NO hot water in this place, I decided to order something from delivery. I settled on Round Table Pizza, and got a Meat Eater Special: Ham, Pepperoni, Salami, and Lean Beef. Since it's discounted, I was thinking of an Everything Special as well: Ham, Pepperoni, Salami, Green Peppers, Onion, Lean Beef, Mushrooms, Pineapple, Olives, Tomatoes... not too bad!

But I'm not ordering from them again since they had salty pizza last time, and they have shady drivers of East Indian descent - I'm not racist, I assure you. However, I have to be safe! Then they gave me an excuse about how the debit machine doesn't work sometimes indoors... causing me to have to carry my own pizza boxes to my door. That's not how delivery works, even if they did carry it to the apartment building door! Sheesh! What if I had severe mobility issues, and THAT'S why I opted for delivery? People should THINK! I watched VERY carefully for a double-swipe, and there appeared to be none. However, their tip went WAY down because of those concerns I had! HA!

You Are Somewhat Assertive

You are as assertive as you're comfortable with - which ends up being not that assertive. You will tell people what you want, but only in so many words. You're not very direct. Try being a little more straightforward, even if it makes you feel uncomfortable. As long as you're polite and honest, being more assertive will improve your relationships... and your life.

How Assertive Are You?

The Craigslist discussion forums will do it for me!

Instead of playing Spider Solitaire all day in between Facebooking it up, I've recently decided to read the Craigslist discussion forums. Should be interesting, hahaha.

I'm good for chips!

High-scoring words of the night so far:

COYOTE (140 points) - against Mary Anne W.-S. [5W, 2W]
ARGUE (145 points) - against Josephine S. [5W, hook off MOSEYED to make MU]
MASSAGER (570 points) - against Mo D. [2W, 5W, 4W]
HOTBEDS (140 points) - against Diana H. [3W; hook off RAJA for a plural]
BRAWNY (116 points) - against Baz W. [two 2W]
ABYE (225 points) - against Diane J. [5W, 4W]
GRAPHS (105 points) - against Karen H. [4W, hook off ABUT for a plural]
BASINAL (130 points) - against Diane P. [3W, 2W, hook off OVA to make NOVA]


I've figured out that I bought the right number of chip tubes the other day: SWEET! Also called Henry, who can give me a ride home on Saturday - good! Just for fun, I decided to write down all the flavors in my two-layer Delecto Ganong Assortment: Coconut Cream, Chocolate Truffle (2), Maple Nut, Fancy Almond, Strawberry Cream, Cherry, Signature, Almontino (2), Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake, Rum Butter Caramel (2), and Caramelicious. Corey and I are discussing junk food, grapes, carbs, cereal, Scrabble, (online) bowling, and more... yay for random discussions!

Weather note: I hear the fog is finally dissipating, after almost three weeks. But the snow will return?! What the heck.

Weird dream with picture frames and snow

High-scoring word of the morning so far:

GIBBET (236 points) - against Kathy T. [two 4W, hook off AKIN to make TA]

Interesting rack of the morning so far: ROVETREE (against Chelsea M.)


Debbie R. added me for the blood games - what the?! I had a weird dream which involved my friends being in a warren of conference rooms. There were twelve people (including Fidela, Vanessa, Melia, Steph, Dawn, and others) in one crowded room with sleeping bags. They also had pictures of themselves at younger ages in pink flowery picture frames. Jon wanted me to figure out some wedding music, so we met at a cave mouth in the early afternoon to decide what to do. Harmony said she liked my selections of KMFDM songs, notably Torture and Wrath. My mom didn't like it at all, but it wasn't her wedding! Then we went to the Broadmoor Safeway (which was in another plaza) at night, which somehow had fresh snowbanks. I was scared of the icy parking lot, and the dream ended when we were about to get out of the car. WEIRD!

Good thing I'm not taking a shower now, since the water is FREEZING!

Your International Spy Name is Countess Day

Your Code Name: The Pharmacist You Reside in: Venice Why You're a Good Spy: You're agile

What's Your International Spy Name?

Are You A Vampire





You are:


Not A Vampire


You are not a vampire. You can rest easy knowing you can still eat garlic bread.


Are You A Vampire? Find out at Quizopolis.com

Toilet chambers for the afterlife / Boob jewelry

High-scoring words of the night so far:

HEGIRA (135 points) - against Rae J. [two 3W]
AMOEBA (132 points; 4W, 3W), NOOGIE (152 points; 5W, two 2W), DASH (244 points; 4W, 3W), HOUND (168 points; 4W, 3W) - against Debbie R.
CARBOYED (11,250 points; two 4W, two 5W), JOINTS (160 points; 2W, 5W) - against Hilary S.
JOHNNIE (160 points) - against Kathy S. [4W, 2W]
TANGY (275 points) - against Matthew G. [two 5W] {then he deleted the game... HAHAHA!}
VADOSE (358 points) - against Cathy C. [two 5W]

I played VAT off Rae J.'s VAT - yay for quirkiness! Also completed 15 games so far today (against Sara K. / Josephine / Christina / Tammy / Kate / Mary / Diane / Jill / Nikki / Rae / Carolyn / Laurie / Mary Lou / Erin / Wayne), and that's gotta be a record!

Interesting racks of the night so far: ATEATGEM (against Mary C.)

Poo nugget for Thursday, January 22: Doo You Know? Mummy Poo - Ancient Egyptian tombs had special toilet chambers for the pharaohs to use on their way to the afterlife.

Zappy Jack and squished foxes / Egyptian zodiac sign

High-scoring words of the day so far:

ZAPPY (104 points) - against Itamar R. [4W]
JACK (108 points) - against Angela V. [4W]
INCHOATE (1650 points) - against Jennifer H. [4W, two 5W]
JOTAS (115 points) - against Kate E. [5W]
FOX (110 points) - against Alice P. [5W, hook off MACE to make FE]
SQUISHED (226 points) - against Anna J. [4W, two 2W]
BIGGIN (356 points) - against Carmen H. [4W, three 2W]
MOSEYED (270 points) - against Josephine S. [2W, two 3W]

Interesting racks of the day so far: OWNHOTBJ (against Sara H.), TETRAMAN (against Laurie B.), CENTGAFF (against Karen M.), GULLVIMY (against Karen M. in a different game)


OCDL note of the day: I now have 558 Blogger tags.

You Are Jack

You are a natural but reluctant leader. People are drawn to you in times of crisis. And while the role of leader is not something you're totally comfortable with, you will fight hard to keep it. You are obsessed with fixing things and people. You can't rest until everything is better. You have complicated ethics. Doing the right thing is important to you, even though other people may not understand your motives. You are concerned with maintaining your stoic image. It hurts when other people see you suffer. Deep down, you are very moody. You tend to be unhappy, and you have a depressed, self-destructive streak.

Who Are You on LOST?

Character AND word coincidence - SWEET! :D

Mout Ironic, tremendous internal wealth, know how to rapidly connect with others, looks for paternal authority. Colors: male: brown, female: red carmine Compatible Signs: Amon-Ra, Thoth Dates: Jan 22 - Jan 31, Sep 8 - Sep 22 Role: A creator goddess, she was the mother from which the cosmos emerged. Appearance: A woman with the wings of a vulture, holding an ankh, wearing the united crown of Upper and Lower Egypt and also a dress of bright red / blue, with the feather of Ma�t at her feet Sacred Animal: vulture What is Your Egyptian Zodiac Sign? Designed by CyberWarlock of Warlock's Quizzles and Quandaries

Hey, this post is written at 1:21 PM on 1/21 - gotta love those coincidences!

Chinese Star Poo and computers!

Bingo of the night so far:

LAUNDERS (96 points) - against Ivy G.


High-scoring words of the night so far:

GROWS (250 points; two 5W), TOMB (140 points; 5W, 2L on B) - against Rae J.
AUTO (234 points; 5W, two 3W), IRONS (130 points; 3W, 5W, hook off DUCT for a plural) - against Diane P.
OCTAGON (1800 points) - against Lisa C. [4W, 5W, two 3W]
JINX (110 points; 5W), FISH (107 points; 4W, 2W, hook off SWEAT for a plural) - against Anna D.
TENDER (108 points) - against Sara K. [two 3W]
PERFUMY (336 points; two 4W), HERON (108 points; 5W, hook off LEAD to make HA and ED) - against Kate E.

I played JO off Gary L.'s JO - yay for quirky coincidences!

Interesting racks of the night so far: BSMANHOS (against Angela V. - read that as "B.S. Man Hos"), NUNLOOPS (against Kate E.), BARDASIN (against Rae J. - read that as "Bard, a sin!")


Corey and I have been discussing computers again. $589 with an Intel q6600 quad core.. which will take as many tabs as you can throw at it. :P You'd use up the RAM before that slowed anything down. And it has 3GB of that, which is pretty decent. Quad core means you can have roughly 8 billion things running at the same time before it slows down. :P That'd be a good one if you can spend that much. doesn't look like you get a monitor for that, but you have one of those.

[01:54:41] Corey: A quad core and 3GB of RAM should do you pretty well for quite a while. :P Right now, you have a Celeron, which isn't so great. A quad core is overkill for you, if anything. A dual core system would be just fine, if not overkill. But that's actually one of the less expensive systems, so I'd go for the awesome processor.
[01:55:10] Corey: They may even get cheaper. AMD just released their Phenom II line, so Intel is lowering prices to keep people from deciding to give those a try.
[01:57:22] Corey: Basically, that quad core is about the best thing you can possibly get, or at least it was until very recently when Intel brought out the new I-7s that are even better. So that's pretty close to top of the line. All it really lacks is RAM (it has plenty though, but top of the line would mean loading it up with even more), and a good video card.. but what it has would be just fine for you.

Poo nugget for Wednesday, January 21: Ouch! The Chinese Star Poo is characterized by the excruciatingly painful sensation that your rectum is being torn apart from the inside as this poo exits your body. This searing agony is commonly the result of passing a particularly hard, angular-shaped bowel movement. Synonyms: Dorito, Iceberg, Glass Shard. (you should see the picture for this one!)

Jack Bauer shall be blamed for Chip Heaven 2009!

High-scoring words of the evening so far:

SWUM (192 points) - against Carmen H. [4W, two 2W; hook off CALL for a plural]
FARINA (100 points) - against Sara H. [5W, 2W]


Went out earlier to get enough chips to last me through the 24 season, and to try one of the $10 meals at Boston Pizza - pulled pork pizza is pretty good! Read the newspaper and chilled, while liking the music selection. Haven't heard Outkast's Hey Ya!, Len's Steal My Sunshine, or John Mayer's Waiting On The World To Change in forever! Then again, I haven't heard Dido's Thank You in about the same amount of time, haha. (of course it made me think of Eminem's Stan, plus the prank call parody version!) Although I guess the aforementioned John Mayer song is in some ways a polar opposite from the other one I know fairly well... Your Body is a Wonderland does not have the greatest message, heh.

Then I went to London Drugs, where I bought one box of on-sale Delecto dark chocolate AND eighteen tubes (or cans, as Corey says) of the aforementioned Pringles chips (which were also on sale): two 30% reduced fat original flavor, four barbecue, three jalapeno, two sour cream and onion, three cheese, two Extreme Blazing BBQ, and one Extreme dill pickle. (hey, I have till mid-May to think of here!) Told the cashier that I was having a party: what she doesn't know is that it's a JACK BAUER PARTY OF ONE! Hahaha! Now my apartment is truly Chip Heaven, with the "best before" date being in November - PLENTY OF TIME! Plus, I managed to spend just over $50 - that amount surely would have been more if everything hadn't been on sale! :D

I have now heard that Barack Obama is Scottish as well - sweet heritage! Might as well do laundry, too. Ah, it seems I'm just in time. There's a sign on the door which says NOT to use the laundry room from 9 AM to 9 PM on the 22nd because the floor will be fixed at that time!

White poo?! / Dream about handcuffs and pockets

High-scoring words of the day so far:

WIFE (115 points) - against Rob S. [5W; 3L on W]
TINEA (107 points) - against Gary L. [5W, 3W]
COWIER (135 points) - against Wayne S. [two 3W]
ARSINO (119 points) - against Carolyn R. [two 3W]
PEDRO (148 points) - against Angela V. [two 4W] {a good deficit-erasing word!}
WAXY (144 points) - against Pat K. [4W, 4L on Y]

Katya (katzk) got my Christmas card; glad to see the thing made its way to Russia again! Now it's time to go out and see what's up in the world now that Obama's officially in charge, haha.

Poo nugget for Tuesday, January 20: Dr. Stool Says: White Poo - Sometimes occurring after consumption of barium (the chalky stuff you drink before getting an X-ray or CT scan, white or albino-looking poo can also be caused by a blockage in the bile ducts or by various types of liver damage. This poo is rare and typically develops slowly over weeks, sometimes with a simultaneous darkening of the urine. When it comes to poo, white is not right, and a visit to your doctor is a must.


I had a dream involving Veronica insisting that my friends MUST have pockets in their pants - since I already had them, I was good. We went away for a bit to comply with this, and when we got back, Veronica had used a gel pen on the dark walls of the mirror room to write all the words she could associate with "pockets" - this included "pool," "yours," and "IMPORTANT!!!" Then we were whisked away to a house which looked like it was from the 80s, where this disturbed Chinese teen was cuffed to a bedpost. My sister didn't know why things were this way, so we had to explain to her that he was being punished - this was his oubliette, where he would slowly starve to death. After that, we went to the mall to get shiny stickers for the lad's siblings, who were very good and NOT in danger of that punishment by death! The dream ended when we were about to witness the boy's ultimate end - no idea why I had it.

You Got 4/10 Questions Right

You are by no means an Obama expert, but you know a few things about him. You may (or may not) be a fan, but you definitely don't consider yourself an Obamamaniac. You may not know Obama's favorite movie or ice cream flavor, but you know the basics. And that's enough for you to be a fully informed citizen!

How Much Do You Know About Barack Obama?

Overacting about gross grill chaff / Toxic gas and silent clocks

High-scoring words of the night so far:

CHAFFS (105 points) - against Itamar R. [5W]
OVERACT (126 points) - against Christina C. [4W; hook off AT to make OAT]
VIRION (208 points) - against Pat K. [two 4W]
OUTGROSS (100 points) - against Jennifer H. [5W]
GRILLS (188 points) - against Steve L. [two 5W; hook off CLOVER for a plural]
AXENIC (144 points) - against Mai N. [4W; hook off THIN to make THINE]
TWEAKY (1500 points) - against Lisa C. [3W, two 5W]
HOLYDAYS (160 points) - against Lisa C. [5W] {different game}
STORAX (141 points) - against Nikki S. [5W] {a good deficit-erasing word!}


I definitely need to buy snacks tomorrow even if I am sorta trying to save money, oh yes! Just discovered that at least some of my LJ posts are copyright material - sweet! Simon S. added me to Facebook - I think that is Gregoire's alter ego, heh. Watched HOUSE for only the third or fourth time: who knew that epilepsy could start in the testicles, or that you could pass a house inspection (related to your foster kid) by just being concerned about the messy conditions?! o_O

Ah, 24... what would we do without you? Abduction, air ducts, sacrificing your wife, panic rooms and gas, applying pressure to gunshot wounds, and unplugging ventilators - Renee Walker and forced interrogations, indeed. Who the heck IS the first priority here anyway? I'm really sure that the Caller ID would say "FBI" on the phone, ha ha ha. (sarcasm!) Last-minute saving from the panic room are a good thing, I think! Sengala genocide, for sure; and Matobo is popular; even the President admits it. Henry's Secret Service agent is cute, but he's also definitely up to something! Renee is extraneous according to the mole, so she must be KILLED! According to a tape, the Secret Service agent (Brian) killed Roger Taylor... and attempted to kill Henry too! (with spiked coffee) SILENT CLOCK FOR RENEE?! WHAT THE HECK. EDGAR WAS REALLY KILLED, BUT NOT HER!

Mushrooms and punching people in the face! (survey stolen from Billie)

1 MINUTE AGO: Listening to the Stones' Gimme Shelter.
1 HOUR AGO: Reading Ripley's Believe It Or Not!: Prepare to Be Shocked!.
1 DAY AGO: Playing with the kids, having dim sum, and watching Battlestar Galactica / Arrested Development at Nathan's with Jon / Phil / Grace / Jeremy.
1 YEAR AGO: Starting to wonder about things, and getting to know certain people better.

- - - - - - - - - First word that comes to your mind - - - - - - - - -

I LOVE: friends.
I HATE: stupidity.
I FEAR: escalators!
I FEEL: empowered.
I HIDE: much.
I MISS: Eric.
I NEED: truth.
I KNOW: much.
I THINK: lots!

- - - - - - - - - Random - - - - - - - - -

First piercing: NONE! Unless you count my voice sometimes, haha.
Last long car ride: Abbotsford / Chilliwack - poor Eric, haha.
Last movie seen in theatres: Dark Knight - man, I wish Eric (a different one than the one referenced in the previous question) was back...
Last food consumed: Vector cereal... yum, granola!
Last person you called: Jon.
Last CD played: Alexis On Fire, Watch Out!
Last drink: Chocolate milk.

- - - - - - - - - Short Answer - - - - - - - - -

I AM: the Hamsterette.
I HAVE: secrets which you will never gain access to.
I LIKE: being with friends.
I WISH: I could provide good things for my friends.
I DANCE: rarely.
I CRY: when you're too busy to care.

- - - - - - - - - Favorites - - - - - - - - -

Number(s): 12.
Color: Blue, purple, black.
Day(s): Friday.
Month(s): July or September.
Season: Summer.
Ice Cream flavor: Mint chocolate chip.

- - - - - - - - - In the last two days, have you - - - - - - - - -

Cried: Nope.
Helped someone: Yes, indeed! I helped Arthur and the other kids with Lego and the mat.
Gotten sick: Definitely not. I haven't been sick since mid-October!
Gone to the movies: Not at all.
Said 'I love you': Nope! I'm cold-hearted like that. ;)
Written in a diary: Of course.
Had a serious talk: Probably.

- - - - - - - - - Worst - - - - - - - - -

1. Time of day: Mornings, usually.
2. Day of the week: Mondays.
3. Food: Eggplant, which I will NOT eat.

- - - - - - - - - Last - - - - - - - - -

1. Person you saw: Jon.
2. Talk on the phone: Like, an actual TALK? That would have to be when I bugged Nathan last week. As for actual phone calls, that would have to be my brother.
3: Instant message: Corey, of course. :D

- - - - - - - - - Today - - - - - - - - -

1. What are you doing now: Listening to the Rolling Stones' Angie.
2. Tonight: 24!!!!!
3. Wearing: Blue, black, and white sweater / black pants.
4. What did you eat for lunch: Spaghetti.

- - - - - - - - - Tomorrow - - - - - - - - -

1. Is: Going to be for me only.
2. Got any plans: Might replenish my collection.
3. Goal: Enjoy my own company.
4. Dislikes about tomorrow: Possibly encountering stupid people.
5. Likes about tomorrow: Accomplishing something.

- - - - - - - - - ME - - - - - - - - -

How tall are you? 4 feet 11.
Are you still in high school? Nope.
What is your middle name? Cigar Tree. ;)
What is your first name? Leslie.
How old are you? 32.

- - - - - - - - - More random questions - - - - - - - - -

Have you had a headache today? Nope.
Do you have posters hanging in your room? Sort of, if you can call this a poster: a ten-year-old (!) birthday wish on construction paper. (Shirley, Kelvin, Melia, and Emily rock!)
Have you ever seen the movie Hairspray? Twice in the span of just over a year, thanks to Chuck and Anthony.
Are there any life-changing things coming up soon? Possibly.
Do you have a stereo in your room? Does a clock radio count? It gets weekly use for the radio purpose! (used to get daily use, but that's not the case anymore!)
Do you use Windows Media Player? Rarely.
Do you use Netspeak? NEVER! I abhor the stuff... *shudder*
Do you have a large vocabulary? Yup, thanks to reading books!
Do you read during the summer? Of course! I don't understand people who wouldn't.
What time does your favorite show come on TV? 8 PM, but it's only once a week.
Do you like mushrooms? Heck, yes! How people can't is beyond me.
Are you a teacher's pet? No, not really.
Are your computer's speakers on? Yes, but I'm not watching any videos at present.
Do you use Yahoo Messenger? Rarely - last time I used it was on Christmas Day when I talked to Dan about stuff.
Do you know any cops? Three of them, at least!
What do you do when you are bored? Read a book, or watch mindless TV.
Have you ever moved to a different house? Yes.
Do you own anything that is ADIDAS brand? I don't think so.
Where is your mom right now? Home or work, I'm guessing.
What color is your keyboard? Black.
Do you know what you want as your career? Something to do with kids.
What does your kitchen look like? Small and white.

- - - - - - - - - Family - - - - - - - - -

Are you an only child? No.
Do you get spoiled? Not really.
Do you get along with your cousins? We're polite if we have to see each other, but that's about it. There IS the whole "different culture" thing going on, y'know. ;)
Have you ever gotten grounded? Yes. Let's not speak of that dark time.

- - - - - - - - - Even more random questions - - - - - - - - -

Name an overplayed song: Rihanna's Umbrella song.
Does your best friend(s) have a dog? Used to, but she died.
Do you like blue or black ink better? Blue.
Would you punch Robert Pattinson in the face for 500 dollars? I have no idea who that is, so probably not. However, if I needed the money, perhaps I would!
Do you have a job? No, but I'm thinking about it.
Do you have a cell phone? No, and thank goodness for that!
Would you rather have glasses or braces? Glasses.
Would you ever dye your hair green? Hmm... probably not.
Do you like animals? Depends what they are.
Would you rather use tape or glue? How about glue-sticks?!
What brand is your shampoo? Herbal Essences, until I buy something new.
Are you tired? Not really, although I should be.
Would you date Hayden Christensen? No, he's too young for me.
Do you know any REALLY weird people? Oh, quite definitely!
Do you know how to play poker? Hahaha, nope. Maybe Andrew should teach me!
What is one thing that you remember from the year 2005? STEPHEN! Oh wait, that said "a THING" - not a PERSON! Let's see, then... the start of the SLB nights!
Do you bite your nails? Nope.
Did you shower today? You bet I did!
Do you have long hair? Not really.
Is it raining? No, but I bet it's still foggy as heck!
Do you like rain? I guess it's better than snow... but I still don't like it.
When is your birthday? September 17.

- - - - - - - - - Medical stuff - - - - - - - - -

Have you ever broken a bone? Nope.
Do you have asthma? No.
Do you have perfect eyesight? Nope.
Have you ever had braces? Yes.
Have you ever gotten stitches? Yes.
Have you ever gotten burnt? Who hasn't?
What is your family doctor's name? Dr. Ng - no, she is not related to me.

- - - - - - - - - OTHER - - - - - - - - -

Do you have a dog? Nope, and I never have.
Have you ever held a snake? I touched one.
What school do you go to? N/A.
What year do/did you graduate high school? 1994.
What is the most embarrassing injury you've gotten? Hmm. Perhaps a bruise, which I may or may not have received when I slammed against a wall...
Do you wear band shirts? Maybe if I could find a METAL shirt!

Lactose intolerance / Dream about $9.30

Claude Lemieux is coming back into the NHL at age 43, five and a half years after his last game. CRAZY! I also just heard a commercial for TV-tropolis (Channel 48), which brings me memories of 90210 / Melrose Place last summer - oh my.


Poo nugget for Monday, January 19: Lactose Intolerance: An Evolutionary Tale A worldwide study of populations with and without lactose intolerance sheds some interesting light on the condition's history. In ancient China, nomadic Mongolians consumed large quantities of horse milk because they never settled down long enough to turn the milk into cheese. (which has very low levels of lactose) Island residents of ancient China, in contrast, consumed very little milk, as they preferred consumption of mature cheese. These differing practices from thousands of years ago have led to widely divergent rates of lactose intolerance in modern China: very low in Mongolian populations and very high in the Chinese.


I had a weird dream which involved my friends trying to look after a bunch of kids. We were doing quite well - even Richie seemed to get into it, and he was very new at it! Had to stop by a townhouse to get a lot of illegal money, which we completed successfully. Then we went to an airport lounge, where strange announcements played over the system, and we presented ourselves to Auntie Vivian. She approved, and wanted us to see Auntie May in her blue Cubbies uniform. Auntie May liked us a lot, but only gave us $9.30 in change. That was disappointing (and we wondered if it had anything to do with the odd announcements about money), but we had enough cash to carry out our next mission. Unfortunately, I woke up just as we were going to beard the lion in his black den! TOO BAD!

You Are Traditional and Dependable

You tend to conform with the rest of society, even if you aren't trying to. No one would accuse you of being a freak! You are a very active, on the go person. You get restless if you're forced to sit still for too long. You're fun-loving and playful. You never take life too seriously. You seek security in your life. Feeling safe is important to you.

The Sandwich Cookie Personality Test

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT

(The Internet ATE this post right before I submitted it - stupid Firefox errors! That explains the timestamp on this one, when I'd much rather be in bed...)

Jon picked me up, and we discussed Hannah L. picking her nose / interesting song lyrics / beets / persistence on the way to Nathan's. We actually rang the doorbell to get inside, since Eric still has Jon's key from New Year's. While the neighborhood still has snowbanks, it's certainly not as bad as it was last time! Had good conversation with Phil, Grace, Jeremy, and Nathan: DIM SUM / DUMPLINGS, roasted root vegetables, India Pale Ale, drinking, theology, plans, school, work, blogging, narrative, searching, wedding planning, Michelle's help with a forgotten veil (good thing it wasn't the DRESS!), sushi from SUSHI KING (humungous pieces of sashimi!), the eventual 6-5 shootout loss to the Blue Jackets, and the Osoyoos retreat. Raymond had told me who was going, and it's too bad I can't make it since it seems like a truly good group of people. But since I have to take a Saturday off for Jon's wedding, it might not be a good idea to take another one off for this because I'm sure I've missed a Saturday during the abbreviated club year already. Maybe I should call Melia and ask about that since I never saw her this weekend... although as Grace says, there IS Summer Conference! I remember the last one, especially since little Nathan announced to Eric and me that he had eight crushes already! (he got two new ones on the speaker's twin daughters, which we thought was pretty cute!)

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA was interesting in its own way: it's all about Cylons, revealing who IS one, going "back" to Earth after 2000 years away only to find it desolate because of nuclear waste, the characters remembering things which happened in their past, and thirteen colonies. One of the characters even found her own body, which caused her to realize certain things about herself. (she burned her own body, as well) Someone else killed herself after going out with her (ex?) husband, by taking off her wedding ring - she'd given up hope, so morale was low. (not to mention the food supplies!) Jon was half-watching, and half-writing something on the computer.

Phil and Grace watched the pilot episode of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, and then they had to go since Grace had to teach at 10. Jon, Jeremy, Nathan, and I settled in to watch at least eight other episodes (and have gingerbread cookie dough ice cream!) before Jeremy wanted his 16GB stick back - not a problem, if he was willing to wait ten minutes for it to download from there to Nathan's computer! (he's watched all three seasons already) At least things in the show make sense now - you did have to watch the episodes in order, otherwise the subsequent ones won't make sense! Maybe that's why it was cancelled, heh. ("please tell your friends about this show!" says Ron Howard - narrative is very important in the show, especially if it's omniscient!) Jer says the torrent took three days to download because it wasn't very popular or something - I suggested that perhaps it was a seeder problem, to make it appear that I knew something about the process. All I really know is what Corey tells me about them, haha. Episode 3 was unwatchable from the stick, so we all congregated around Nathan's computer to watch it - Nate says that maybe it was a codec problem, which I really don't know anything about.

Jon and I had watched some episodes at Dave's, but not the pilot. Now it all made sense - Lucille Bluth as the controlling manipulative lying mom, George Sr. in prison, Buster as the true mama's boy who is secretly dating his mom's rival (also named Lucille), and Michael as the one trying to hold the family together... but he also likes his brother Job's Spanish girlfriend Marta! Lindsay is Michael's twin sister who loves to shop, and is married to Tobias Funke - he's an aspiring "actor." George Michael is Michael's son, who is attracted to his cousin Maeby - we knew about that, but not that they watched a movie about cousins being lovers! (reminded Jeremy about a situation in his own family - no kids for that couple, because of obvious reasons!)

We watched some hockey highlights: Pittsburgh's uniforms are practically powder blue now?! Jon joked that they could be the Gay Penguins if they had a pink version of the jersey, but it probably wouldn't go over very well! Hahaha! The Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers are in the Super Bowl - hey, they gotta have two weeks of hype to sell the leftover TVs from the holidays! Watched Nathan play a bit of LEGO BATMAN, which looks kinda cute even if it doesn't play very well... then the guys made jokes about how "compassion" and "love" could be interchangeable. Perhaps, but not in the context of your Compassion Child from Compassion Canada! (Jeremy: "You guys have a love child?!" Me: "As a Committee member, I suggest you don't say things like that on a letter!") Jon and I left at 1:15 to find frosted-over windows, so it was SCRAPER TIME! Discussed Craigslist and Facebook on the way home, too. Got home to discover that KQ doesn't have Facebook anymore: fair enough! Qi also unfriended me on there, but that's not a big deal.

"Ma'am, your kid is a SNOT FACTORY!"

High-scoring words of the afternoon so far:

COVALENT (178 points) - against Anna Marie D. [4W, 2W]
ZADDIK (153 points) - against Greta C. [5W; hook off OWE to make OWED]
HAAFS (325 points) - against Ruth-Ann W. [two 5W]
KAPHS (111 points) - against Jennifer H. [3W; 3L on K and P]

Interesting racks of the afternoon so far: BANDYNAN (against Becky O.)


On the way over to church, both Jon and I attempted to get some rest. He asked me about Facebook additions (I don't talk to that person anymore, so I don't know what's up!), and we decided we'd confirm plans later. At church, I made a beeline for Hannah since I saw someone else, and talked to her about stuff - I know she's homeschooled, so no worries! Said hi to Priscilla while I was waiting for someone to come back from the washroom. Saw Raymond in his great white sweater, and we picked up a copy of the annual report - the only problem was that it was the green version in Chinese, which neither of us could read! Instead, we picked up yellow English versions - much better, haha. It was good to sit by him and share stuff like the Bible, our later plans, Dine Out Vancouver, Missions Fest, seeing Terry, ZAS being a word (YOU put it down, buddy... NOT I! :P), and things like that. Yay for regular seatmates who are actually competent, heh. I assured Connie that I'd taken care of her stuff, so we'll see what happens with it.

Said hi to Richie later, and got drawn into a discussion with the new girl Annie about stuff - it's good to have new blood around, haha. Also updated Alan on stuff and cool stories before interacting with the various kids around the food in the fellowship hall. Stanford asked Keenan what his name was, and how old he was - he's not FOUR, and the name isn't Kenyon! (wouldn't be surprised if there ARE four-year-olds with that name running around... bleck!) Calla told Maxine that her brother learned to crawl really quickly since he wanted to keep up with her: seems like Keenan is learning to walk and run really quickly for much the same reason! (I bugged Eric - and confirmed plans before running off - about being a monster around the kids, especially when Keenan hid behind his mom!) Snacked on stuff: Grace and I agree that it's good we have refreshments since we're hungry after service! Talked to Cindy about Steph's work and things like that: you really do have to keep her schedule straight in your head, haha! Jonathan and Olivia also wanted to take the chips and salsa up to Sunday School, and asked me if they could - sure, why not. The Buffalo Wings chips still tasted good for being four days out of date, haha.

Audrey and I later talked about how there were so many babies and toddlers around, plus the multitude of weddings coming up this summer and next year probably too. "People, stop getting married and having kids! We can't keep up!!!" I told her about this friend of K's who had something like six kids by the time she was 28 or so - my sister had had this CLASSIC look on her face when I told her about it, haha! ("WHAT?! *shock and disbelief to the MAX* OH MAN.") Audrey also thought that was a bit excessive, and it reminded her of the woman who had multiple multiples, and was in Guinness for having a LOT of kids - I don't know how they managed, either! Always good to talk to her, haha!

Went to Sunday School after saying hi to Hien, where we actually had kids! Of course I remember Watson, Amanda, Arthur (so cute with Lego!), Jason (he kept crying a LOT!), and Annie's son Ewan - he wanted to be with his grandpa Darius, so of course we let him be. Watson actually talked to me today about how he was with "Big Brother" David, and how Auntie Ping wasn't at church - it's fine that I can understand him now! Good thing we have things for the slippery floor - we kept Ewan occupied as he liked interlocking the various "puzzle pieces," heh. (He only understands English, which is FINE BY ME! I don't understand whatever dialect Jason speaks, but I can muddle along in Cantonese - not so much Mandarin!) This was the first time I'd ever seen Eric and Arthur's dad; Auntie Fonda told him that Arthur and I were good friends. Hey, he is a cute kid!

Afterwards, I fielded Cindy's inquiry as to whether Sean was in our classroom - nope! Went downstairs to talk to Jeremy, Jon, Dylan, Nathan, Christon, Karen, Acer, Calla, Danielle, Mike K., Lucas, Sonya, Ivan, Sam, and more people: congee, being sick, alternative wedding scenarios and songs, Billy and Stella's wedding, going downtown and buying ingredients for tonight's dinner, and more. Dylan wanted to know if Acer got the iPhone application - OH NO, haha. After some discussion, I decided to go with my parents for a dim sum lunch at some restaurant called COME ALONG in English, haha. (they discussed such lovely topics as kidney stones and being bitten at work... with their friends!) Jon had apparently been at a house party at Tim and Olive's yesterday - too much consumption of certain things means he'll have to ramp up eating veggies! It's not going to help if I bring ice cream, but it'll bring costs down. ;)

One memorable menu item: BEEF POTTY WITH VEGETABLES. Um, no thanks! I didn't like the eggplant either, so never had any!