Jamaican ginger beer / Opening ceremonies / Torches / Head superimposition

Eric called me at 6:30 to say he was here - after scrambling to get some things ready, I went outside. I didn't mind stopping at Superstore to grab drinks and such; we talked about our weeks, Geoffrey, Dave, guilt-free showers, how everything was supposedly my fault, and more. Once we got to Superstore, we bought Jamaican-style ginger beer / sour cream in a bigger tub than he wished / lemon-lime pop. In the church parkade, Uncle Eugene told me not to slam the car door really hard, so Eric told him that it HAD to be slammed shut! We stopped by the kitchen so Eric could heat up his quesadillas - Kevin asked me to wheel a cart over, so I did. I ended up having to wheel it back since Cindy said they could carry things up the stairs instead of using energy for an elevator trip. I guess that works, but the elevator trip would have been faster! Jeremy Y. and some girl brought in a strawberry cake for later - YUMMY!

Since Eric wouldn't tell me who was upstairs already (other than Albert and Carmen), I asked Kevin - turns out Raymond was also there. (his group abandoned him) Oh well, I didn't mind pretending he didn't exist - Dave was there too, which was nice. Once we finally got upstairs to the lounge, Dylan was trying to get the CTV stream to work with the equipment inside. I said hi to Cindy, Deb, Pastor John, Winnie, and Vicky as well. We got our food (noodles, quesadillas, shawarmas, butter chicken, Chinese New Year desserts, and other things) - I had to sit down at a table and eat. Dave was across the room, and it SEEMED like he was looking at me some of the time. I dunno, man... too bad I couldn't have sat there since it seemed like the "guy" side of the room, and Raymond was beside Eric too. Oh well... plenty of time later, like on Sunday. (hehe)

Settled in to watch the rest of the opening ceremonies (Teresa came in later) - epic hair, Stephen Harper looking decidedly disinterested in the proceedings, the Georgian team wearing black armbands, k.d. lang (Dylan thought that was a MAN, haha!), the minute of silence for the Georgian luger, rollerblading, Jacques Rogge upping the French content of the ceremony by 100 percent, WAYNE GRETZKY being the final torchbearer in the RAIN, and more. (got home and read Nate's FB status updates to find that I'd missed Vancouver as Middle Earth - and whales!) Dave said that he might have something in a Port Moody bike shop... as long as he loves to cycle, this is probably good!

Dylan asked WHY we had Jamaican ginger beer - because I saw it in the store and decided on it, DUH! (haha) I was happy to view the opening ceremonies since it meant we didn't even have to talk as much, haha. Deb showed us some pictures of her colleague with the Olympic torch - she was surprised it weighed as much as it did, actually. We had some mango ice cream cake, and I learned that Vicky is allergic to mango! Cindy said that Eric was a healthy eater, and I told her exactly why that was. Went downstairs to verify Amy's whereabouts, and saw Chris back! YAY!

Stanley told us about a near-riot which may or may not have happened, and I asked Ivan where his girlfriend was. She was outside the fellowship hall talking to Jessica, so I went back upstairs to grab the cookies - she hugged me in thanks, and has just sent me a wall post saying I'm SO SWEET! (she didn't know there were such cookies!) I explained the cookie thing to one of her friends before I went back upstairs with a piece of strawberry cake - "there's no such thing as too much cake!" I should have just stayed downstairs (just as I should have originally brought the cookies downstairs) because there's no food waste allowed in the upstairs garbage cans. Suppose a tad more exercise is fine, though. :P

As usual, my social tolerance waned before the program officially ended - it might have had something to do with Dylan's promoting of the fundraiser and retreat, both of which I will have little to do with. I told Deb and Cindy (and Eric later) that I wasn't going to the retreat since I had Awana and Sunday School responsibilities. Sure, I could take that weekend off, but I'd really not prefer to! When asked, I said that I'd go to the free concerts - Deb and Dylan plan to go to Granville Island, since that's within walking distance too. Later, Dave said that I was certainly prolific in Facebook - he doesn't even know where I get half the posts from! Eric joked that I do three posts in three seconds - not even CLOSE with this computer, man!

Discussed Andrea, Shally, Richie, Joey, and others who might be working or volunteering at the event. Steph's not there, haha. Went downstairs to talk to Mike and other people for a bit. On the way home, Eric said that I could go to the retreat since there are probably subsidies available - I'm not going for the reasons described above, AND because Mr. Creep could be there, AND because I'd have to directly pay Raymond. NO THANKS! Then he said that he was interested in what I had to say about Dave - HA, I BET YOU ARE! It was an interesting ride home, haha... once I was there, I found some rain-appropriate stuff for the FREE Hey Ocean concert tomorrow if I go!


Trivia fact for Saturday, Feb. 13: Whose head was superimposed on a photo of actress Ann-Margret in a revealing gown for the cover of an 1989 issue of TV Guide? Oprah Winfrey's. The sexy photo appeared on TV Guide's August 26th cover. The unauthorized composite was discovered by Ann-Margret's fashion designer, who recognized the glittery gown from a 1979 publicity shot.