Baptisms, sharpeners, Romano's, "I'm REALLY OLD [at six]!", and walnuts in salad

I called Eric just as he and his parents were leaving, but didn't recognize the car that backed into the parking lot... it turned out to be theirs, however. I'd prepared several safe answers in case Ron and Veronica asked me about my parents, but they didn't - phew! We discussed the mountains, snow, Cypress, Grouse, Seymour, working from home, watching Olympic events on TV, the O Zone entertainment, making conversation about Kieran, what Karmie's name was (Ron had called her Grace last time!), Sunrise Service weather guesses, and more stuff on the way over. When we got in the church (saw Eunice / Flora / Isaac on the way in), I wondered if they'd like to go into the sanctuary... then I saw Mom from a long way off, and directed them towards her instead. Then Veronica wondered if I was okay with my stuff... definitely! I saw Steph, who said that I was BAD for not attending Sunrise Service, so I said that Eric's parents were here today. HA!

I went into the sanctuary first (felt a bit guilty at just leaving Eric's parents to fend for themselves - but figured they knew what to do), and noticed Dave sitting in his usual spot. There was just enough room for me to put my stuff down, which was fine. He didn't seem to mind my sitting by him again, haha. We were closer than last week, but I still gave him enough room for his arms, hahaha. Told me some stuff about Kin's Farm Market, which is apparently "balling" from the research he did - nice! (siblings, Queenie, Oakridge, UBC, Chilliwack...) He asked about the Good Friday night service - when I asked what he'd done, he said he'd "peeped" the Chinese one in the morning! HAHAHA! Steph came by to whisper that she'd bombed ABC Restaurant, so I had to tell her that I'd been EPIC in the usual place, haha. She wasn't impressed, I bet! Harmony noticed where I was sitting, and gave me a thumbs-up... when Jon noticed it later after he'd led the first song set, he gave me a LOOK, so I had to shake my head at him.

Jen, Lanie, and Cordia's baptismal testimonies were pretty good - even if they were nervous, the humor shone through. "I thought God was a big cloud with a really huge lens flare! Or maybe some bearded guy with a white robe which always had a blue thing on it!" Dave made some remarks to me about the baptismal tank being a spa, plus some other stuff which I didn't catch... DARN MY HEARING! I couldn't really say "Sorry?" to that, since we were focused on the audio-visual showing on the Powerpoint overhead. At least I knew it was humorous! (I was a bit surprised when I saw Eric's parents go up to take Communion, but figured it was all good... also saw Frances' baby Isaac for the first time - and Micah, too) During the offering, he couldn't find his money in time, so wondered to me whether it would be okay if he just slipped it in later on in the back... should be, I guess! (I need to step up my game too, hahaha) Dave said that we should go to Romano's Macaroni Grill as a group since he hadn't been there in some time - EXPENSIVE, haha! But I did like drawing on the tablecloths.... yes, I'm such a kid. :P

After service, I went to the fellowship hall - my beloved coffee was there, and I needed it! I said hi to Tracy, who wondered if the baptismal candidates would be coming in, because she had cards for them. Usually, they would... but they were out in the foyer taking pictures and such. Discussed the shaky audio-visual, and the position of the baptism tank being such that you can't really get a good view unless you're RIGHT THERE! Then we discussed how FITTING the weekend's weather was - stormy and windy on Good Friday, and beautifully sunny on Easter! After grabbing my own cards, I went out to find the baptismal candidates with coffee in hand. Found Jen first, and Shally said that I was so organized with my cards! Later, I found Lanie - Jon and I were blocking the door as he hugged her in congratulations, and I gave her my card. Last, I found Cordia near the stairs with Quan, Julie, and others... I said I'd hug her, but had coffee in my other hand as I gave her a card. She said she'd hug me, but she had all this stuff! Quan asked if I wanted a picture, so we did that before I went off to talk to others.

Saw Dave with Raymond, whom I ignored as per protocol. I asked Dave if he were joining us for lunch - he did ask me beforehand whether I had any plans afterwards! He said he wasn't, which is fine - I figure he had plans with his mom or something. Said hi to Cindy and baby Mattias, who was much more interested in his cracker than in interacting with us. Phil came up and waved to the toddler, who had a series of great expressions - I agreed with Phil that Mattias had quite a range! His mom Karen said that he knew what he wanted... haha, it's all good. Saw Daniel with Megan's brother Connor, so asked him how the UK was while saying hi to the baby... he said it was fantastic. Asked Eric about his plans afterwards - he said I should be able to see where they were eating later. True, true... Steph reminded me that I should go to Toddler Sunday School; I did that once I tore myself away from the weekly distraction which is the little kids! (Megan danced for me, and showed off her stuffed animal named Sushi)

Said hi to Auntie Catherine before I went upstairs, and Auntie Ying said that her relatives were in town till Thursday. For some reason, I apologized for not calling her a couple days ago! She thanked me for taking over the class, and said that we'd get together next week in Richmond or somewhere. I didn't recall making THOSE sorts of plans, but figured this was a spontaneous thing. She said that it was FINE since we were a TEAM - okay then! On my way to the toddler class, I joked that Hien and Golden were hanging out and texting each other (while standing right by each other in a quiet place) instead of going to Sunday School.

Went into the toddler room, where I tried apologizing to Conor for yelling at him last week - he was more interested in talking about strawberry / chocolate / vanilla ice cream, so it was fine. Said hi to Shira, Ramen, Harrison, Amos, Margaret J., Jason, Jessie, Rachel's grandma, and Amanda too. Discussed the Easter story, and of course Conor wanted to hold the visual aid / pencil / his little notebook. "Me likes holding things!" Hahaha, so cute! The kids drew rainbows, angels, leprechauns, things which didn't make sense, and more. Amanda told me that she was six and a half (... your birthday's in early February), and also that she was REALLY old! HAHAHAHA! Conor just turned six himself a couple weeks ago, and figured that he wasn't old at all... nice! The problem of not having enough Easter egg packages was solved by Ramen sharing with his sister Shira - I never expect to see Margaret! Talked about sharpeners for a broken pencil, pen ink (Conor took one of my pens apart!), smelling each other's shirts, and more. Gave one each to Rachel, Hannah, and Sean when they came in the room, too. Jason kept saying something in Mandarin to me, which of course I didn't understand. Jessie luckily understands a little.. he wanted water! Saw Dave walking around outside the toddler room, haha.

I went downstairs to see if I could talk to Grandma only, since I haven't seen her in a couple weeks. She turned to be in the sanctuary, where of course my parents were. Ugh... oh well, at least I saw Auntie Anita too, which is something else I'd been wanting to do. Grandma asked where I was last week, since she didn't see me - I couldn't answer that because she'd think Eric and I were dating if I told her that I went to lunch with him (and others), despite the fact that we've gone to a LOT of places as FRIENDS for the past 15 years or more! Mom said something about candles, but I pretended I didn't hear her. (bad?) Went into the fellowship hall, where lunch prep was under way. Ducked out to ask Natalie whether she knew if her brother had changed his cell number, or replaced the stolen phone - not really. Said bye to Dave, who was still around - I joked that he wouldn't make a good spy since I'd seen him a few minutes before around the toddler room! He asked if I did stuff with the little kids every week - you bet, even if you joke that they're running amok in there! (as long as they stay in the room - JASON doesn't! - without injury, then it's FINE!)

Went back into the fellowship hall, where people were eating lunch. Grabbed a plate from the kitchen drainer, and did likewise - sat about as far away from Mr. Creep as I could get while being technically across the room from him. (it's a big room...) Steph came in, and said that my scooping salad dressing answered her question as to whether I was eating lunch with the parents or not! (trust me, it's worth the cost to NOT be around them!) She also wanted me to answer Mom's emails about stuff... sorry, those aren't on my radar anymore, AND I'd answered the Grandma question at the last family dinner! Then she talked to someone about the roundabout at the Accent Inn, so I asked her how many times they'd gone around this morning: four times on the way to the restaurant, and ten times after breakfast! CRAZY! I joked that the Accent Inn people were getting ready to call people, haha.

Talked to Noah about the food briefly - he's still shy, but at least he answers me. Spoke to his brother Josiah about hockey and feeling better, too. Karmie said that the Women's Group was meeting again this Wednesday, so after a bit of hesitation, I yelled across three people to ask Harmony whether she were going. She was, and could meet me at the Skytrain / Canada Line station unless it was nasty - at first, It thought she was talking about the Skytrain, but she clarified that she meant the weather! Jon, Jeremy, Christon, and Jen made plans for the late afternoon / early evening (after a much-needed NAP!) to buy Jen drinks to celebrate her baptism.

Jeremy asked me whether Andrea was going to get a planning position with the city of Hamilton when she marries Chuck. I really don't know, but I've heard that one of her other co-workers is going on maternity leave around the same time that she leaves in May! Then I asked how his brother Mark was doing at Queens, and Jeremy said that he was doing okay... he just needs to find a city planning internship. Maybe Vancouver will be hiring since they lose two people next month, haha! I asked Eric if he were going to Richie's farewell - he is, so I asked him for a ride. He told me to call Ivan, even though he's pretty sure Ivan isn't coming. Speak of the devil, Ivan came into the room! I told him that we were just discussing him, and recapped the "does he have a cell phone yet or not?" phone conversation that Eric and I had had last Friday. He finally does, and it's the same number - phew!

Jeremy then rhetorically wondered what we did before cell phones, and I added an equally rhetorical query about what we did before Google. (I was looking up a bunch of stuff last night, to be sure!) Yes, I remember the crappiness of Yahoo! and AltaVista search engines very well! Asked Martin whether I'd forgotten his birthday - he knows I remember anyway, and gave me a hug. Went into the kitchen after paying the hat $5, and bantered with Michelle C. and Hannah W. After some more talk (Christon's family doesn't eat whole wheat pasta - he donated it to Eric), Jon and Harmony dropped me and Eric off at a Canada Line station near their place. Discussed a ridiculous arrangement that one of their friends has - when he told his parents that he was leaving the house to get married, they CRIED! So now, he and his wife have to sleep over at the parents' house EVERY WEEKEND. Man, you'd have to have two of EVERYTHING! Also talked about farro (pasta?), rollerblading around the seawall, interesting walks, Portland's Rose Garden, downtime, Baptisms, the Sun Run (which Jeremy is doing), and more.

I felt like watching my steps down the stairs carefully, as usual these days. Eric decided to take the train that went to the airport, so I reminded him that we'd have to change trains - I suppose it was worth it for him to get out from under the cold air vent! He joked that I'd be deported to Afghanistan because of my biological weapons... whatever, man! He also asked which dish I'd liked the best - I like the walnuts in the salad! Christon got the recipe from the American Food Network site, since their layout is vastly superior to the Canadian site. (you can also search for things, and do an "ingredient to recipe" thing)

I had also told Noah that I liked the pasta - the garlic butter bread was good, too. Then he wondered if I'd had any of the cheese bread, and mentioned that SOMEONE had made it - without close supervision for the first part, too! Oh dear me, haha. At Brighouse Station, he bid me adieu since he was taking the 410 in the opposite direction - if it goes near his house, it's all good since he thought he just missed the 401. Once he was across the street and out of view, I threw away the candles that Mom had given me - I don't USE them, although maybe she's thinking of power outages or something. However, tealight candles might not be of TOO much practical use in that event! At home, I downsized a TEENY bit, and put a pencil sharpener in my bag in case Conor wants to use it at some point. Then I responded YES to Grace's Evite - I'll figure out money issues later, haha. (and cancel my dentist appointment) Learned that Raymond has to leave that farewell party at Alan and Tracy's early so he can get to the airport... it'll be all good if as Eric and I stay longer than he does, hahaha!