YAY FOR SIDNEY CROSBY AND A GOLD RECORD!

Eric picked me up at about 8:50 this morning, and said that he wanted me to feel comfortable and NOT run into certain people, since he was leaving pretty much right after service. I told him not to worry, since I planned to go do whatever Jon was doing later for the hockey game. He confirmed that his brother is back in town - cool. It was pretty much a random ride to church, which was fine by me! Once we got to church, Eric said that he hadn't eaten any breakfast - poor guy, heh. When I entered the building, I noticed Mr. Creep was there - he said hi, but I ignored it in favor of being focused on dumping my Coke bottle in the recyclables section in the fellowship hall. Luckily, Dave / Yvonne / Sonya were on the bench outside said hall (waiting to go inside the sanctuary), so I could just talk to them about stuff instead of a potentially awkward moment. Then again, I'd just have read anyhow! When they went inside, so did I.

When Jeremy came in, I talked to him about the plans for the hockey game: apparently, Jon had mentioned the Alibi Room in his email, so I guess I must have skipped over that part. Martin had mentioned a sports bar, but the Alibi Room works! Jeremy's been watching the last couple of games at the Whip - I remember how small the entrance is, and they managed to fit a TV on or near the bar. Of course, only about two dozen people could crowd around and watch it at once! Said hi to Cindy and Dianne before service started, and smiled at Connie in greeting. After service, both Jon and Harmony commented on my red sweater - "there's so much bling, only you would wear it!" Hahaha. Told Jon that I was in for whatever we ended up doing, and made excuses to Auntie Ying, who gave me $40 - more than I expected!

Went into the fellowship hall for some coffee, and said hi to little Mattias and Gavin - neither of them seemed too impressed! Asked Adam why he was up at 4 AM... he said the figure skating gala was being replayed on TV. That makes sense! Talked to Keenan when he said something to me, and then tried talking to his older brother - Joshua tried hiding from me, haha. Andrea attempted to give me her wedding invitation, but I pointed out that my name was misspelled. She apologized, and said she'd give it to me next week - no, she doesn't ALWAYS do that, heh. After a while (during which I saw Eric eating something out of a container - good!), we all left. A whole bunch of people skipped Sunday School today, haha. A guy named Roger said he'd been there before - I recognized him from our baptism. I got a ticket to the church anniversary celebration from Lesley, then heard Randal asking her if he could come. My reaction: "What kind of a question is that, Randal?" Apparently, he had asked her for a ticket before, and she'd just walked away! (I also saw Mr. Creep getting one - I hope we're not seated at the same table!)

Jen, Jon, Harmony, Dianne, Christon, Martin, Karen, Lincoln, Jeremy, Wesley, and I all met up at the Rio Theatre (they were showing the game for FREE) after taking the Skytrain there. Dianne said that she would get Uncle Fatih's (NOT a typo!) pizza from across the street, but we wondered when we'd eat it when the long lineup started to move. After we got our seats, Dianne went outside. While she was gone, Jeremy laughed at a HUGE Rubbermaid tub full of sandwiches - we were WONDERING what the venue's "food in and out" policy was! (Dianne: "What if you need to smoke?!") When Dianne came back in, she asked Christon to remove her jacket from something she was hiding. It was a paper bag... full of 16 slices of pizza that she'd ordered! HAHAHAHAHAHA! She said that the other customer was looking at her like she was crazy while she was stuffing the pizza into the bag! TOO FUNNY!

The hockey game itself was pretty intense, especially when USA cut the lead in half to 2-1. People were saying "LUUUU!" (which sounds like "BOOOO!") every time Luongo made a save or had a brilliant play. We were 25 seconds away from the gold medal when they scored on Luongo - WHAT THE?! I asked Christon what the rules were in international hockey for overtime... he said ten minutes, but the screen said twenty, and THEN a shootout! Then I wondered what Nathan's Facebook status would be right about then, heh. Intermission time covered a Canadian athlete missing gold in Whistler by 1.5 seconds (50k skiing?) - how upsetting! During overtime, SIDNEY CROSBY scored on Miller - we all jumped up and cheered LOUDLY! Of course, we had to stay for the medal presentation / national anthem! Turns out that Canada set a record for the most gold medals ever by a host nation, and surpassed our previous record... 14 Gold, 7 Silver, 5 Bronze, 2 Olympic Records, 1 Proud Country! When the screen cut to a live shot of the Kandahar army base, some random guy sitting in the empty seat next to Jeremy gave it the finger. Christon and I both noticed that, and exchanged a LOOK. The USA team looked upset and teary; this one guy looked absolutely shell-shocked and disbelieving!

A bunch of people decided to leave - Jon and Jeremy decided to get some "grownup beverages," but Dianne / Wesley / Harmony / I decided to check out downtown first. Went on the Canada Line / Skytrain, and high-fived random people... Dianne YELLED A LOT! DOWNTOWN (Granville and Georgia) WAS CRAZY! Some girl spilled beer on Harmony (but apologized after throwing it on the ground), we saw a guy climb up on a lampstand and get yelled down by police with jail threats, people were standing ON TOP OF a bus stop, people were standing on top of a traffic light (and made it break)... horns were honking EVERYWHERE! We decided to check out the German House by Waterfront Station while we didn't have to pay a $20 cover charge since it was before 6. Dianne had my jacket and my ID, which they decided to check at the door. It smelled like beer, and there wasn't really anything (no live music in the afternoons), so we just walked to the Irish Heather in Gastown after seeing Virtue and Moir win gold on a replay of Monday night.

Jon and Jeremy had apparently just finished drinking, but we stayed for Blue Buck drinks and soup (curry / chickpeas or something else) and fries. We told the guys about the sights we'd seen downtown - my issues with escalators came to the forefront, and we just went into Sears at Pacific Centre Mall after getting through a crush of people! (the Sears people were like "just come in!" and of course there were police in the store too) Yes, we had attempted to view the craziness from any windows, but the second floor didn't have any! Harmony said that she might go home after swing-dancing; that class is why they can't attend the anniversary banquet next weekend - and Eric says he's being serious about not attending it either. I guess I'll call Ivan this week, or send him a Facebook message.

After Dianne, Wesley, and I had finished our stuff and paid for it, Dianne and I got mock-mad at Wesley for being a stubborn boy, haha. We talked about going downtown and such, but I left them at Waterfront Station to go home. They wanted to go downtown, and while I appreciated the "once-in-a-lifetime" aspect, I'd had enough of the crowds myself! (the Canada Line is running 24 hours today, and you don't want to go to the airport tomorrow unless you have to, because a LOT of athletes / media / other people are flying out - supposed to be the busiest day ever!) On my way home, I saw a white woman with a Native man, which is something you don't see every day! Got home before 7:40, and checked Facebook feed before it got all mixed up around the "six hours ago" mark, and saw the closing ceremony replay. Neil Young was a good choice, but I don't know about Nickelback / Avril Lavigne / K-OS! The Sochi presentation looked like AVATAR with its blue glowing people and orbs, and John Furlong absolutely MURDERED the French language!