EPIC FAIL / "He was summoning me with his eyes!" / Japanese-Caribbean food

This morning started out with Epic Fail and Disappointment on my part, as I kept Eric waiting for a few minutes on a day when he could ill afford that. *sad* Luckily, we just rode mostly in silence after he communicated to me, and I apologized. He said that he was going to jaywalk, so I'd have to make the trek across the street by myself - okay then. Got inside the church, and smiled when I saw Harmony, even if I was a bit sad. I said hi, and told her that I had something for her - I took out the "Not A Chocolate Quitter" fridge magnet I got at the dollar store, and she did like it! Definitely her! She said that she'd bought her sister Holly a couple of board games for her birthday, since she seems to be into them now. Sounds like a good choice!

As I went into the sanctuary, I was still kinda focused on my EPIC FAIL, so didn't do anything except a very obvious nod when Mr. Creep greeted me for the first time in about six weeks. Whatever... I wasn't in the mood to either ignore or scold him. I saw Jordan and Thomas (Awana kids) with Mike, and said hi after I'd put my stuff down in a pew to wait till a bunch of people cleared out. Jordan told me that Mike had taught them to swear yesterday, and then he and his brother stepped on Mike's shoes a lot. Mike said that it was blackmail if they were going to lie to Melia and the whole church, and he definitely wasn't sitting with them after that! Jordan then asked me where I'd been yesterday - I told him the truth! Melia convinced the kids to at least sit by Phil, if not with the other kids and adults. When Martin T. and his friends FINALLY cleared out, I moved my stuff again to sit by Jeremy. He and I exchanged greetings, and then he asked whether yesterday's hockey game had gone into overtime. Seems that he could hear yelling from the apartments across the hall from him at about 10 PM... I confirmed that it did go into overtime.

Then we both saw Dave, and nodded at him in greeting. For some reason, he seemed to be looking straight at me, and communicating "COME HERE!" through looks. I shook my head, and held up three fingers because I'd moved my stuff already - this would be my third move in five minutes! I tried to communicate "YOU come here!" through a look, but that didn't work. Sighing, I turned to Jeremy and joked that I was apparently being summoned. He laughed, reminded me that we were creatures of habit and our usual seats, and gave me equally joking permission to go - I touched his leg in appreciation, and said I'd talk to him later. As I sat by Dave, I wondered aloud what I was going to do with him. Dave laughed and said something about being greasy which I didn't catch. I'll have you know that I took a shower this morning, dude! Maybe he just wants someone to bounce opinions off, or clarification when he couldn't hear - I don't mind being that person, haha... although these days, the verification of what he hears may not be 100% correct!

I spent the whole service being hyper-aware of where Dave was, and we tried not to touch each other too much... or maybe that was just me. Like, we barely touched shoulders or arms! I didn't even do any Sunday School prep during the sermon because he was trying to get some leg room (the curse of being tall?), and my bag was right by his legs. (I didn't want him to have to move, haha) When little Mattias made some noticeable noise on the other end of the pew, I looked over to see what he was doing. With that glance, I was looking into Dave's eyes... HA! I CAUGHT YOU! Breathing and sighing - sure! I didn't even nudge him to open his Bible when the passage was being read, as per my new vow. You bet I cringed at the guest speaker's pronunciation of "Joseph" again! Dave went out after the sermon briefly (I assume to use the washroom), and came back in right after the benediction. To give him some semi-privacy, I collected my things and then went out towards the fellowship hall. Grandma saw me on her way in, and asked why I didn't come over anymore - as I told Eric later, I don't have the language skills to tell her what happened!

I went into the fellowship hall, and put my stuff on the kitchen side of the room. Unfortunately, Mr. Creep was very nearby... I grumbled to myself about having to change my strategy every week, and put it on the other side of the room instead, saying hi to Karen and Lincoln on the way. Harmony said that she and Jon were taking bets on where I'd sit today during service, so I gave her a line which was apparently VERY quotable: "He summoned me with his EYES!" When she told Jon, he just about doubled over in laughter. I didn't care if Dave was within earshot when I explained that he seemed to be communicating with LOOKS, haha. I also asked her where Jon had been yesterday during the wedding... apparently, he'd double-booked himself and forgot to reschedule / cancel his teaching when he did a "yes" RSVP to Joe's wedding invitation! Hahaha!

The coffee pot was taken out, and so I waited for a good time to get some. Dave had some creamer in his hand when I decided to make my move, thankfully ahead of Mr. Creep unlike last week! Talked to Dave, Wesley, and Calla about Bible Study Fellowship and the experience with different leaders - Wes says his perception was quite different than Calla's due to the leader difference. Dave asked me where our off-site Bible Study was, so I told him that we'd still be at church, and explained why. I joked that I shouldn't call our group lazy, but it was more of a transportation problem than anything!

A few minutes later, we went to the kitchen separately to do something about our empty coffee cups. Auntie Catherine stopped me at the door, since she had something for me. I told her to hold on for a few minutes, and then Dave let me into the kitchen. He figured that we had to wash our own cups (which I confirmed), and offered to wash mine - I bumped his arm while saying thanks. Whether he saw Auntie Catherine talking to me or not, it was a nice kindness! I went out, passing Stanley on the way... turns out that Auntie Catherine found the yellow light top that she was going to give me for a late birthday gift. She hoped it fit - I just tried it on, and it does! After delaying myself a little more as I listened to Dave / Wesley / Calla, I finally left at 11:40 to go upstairs. I also talked to Martin J. about how he felt he didn't have enough time for stuff these days.

The toddler Sunday School was FULL with Esther, Amanda, Evelyn, David, Jason, Ramen, Shira, Mattias, Harrison, Amos, Conor, and Donald from Awana. I had to comfort Conor a couple of times when he was upset because Harrison was pushing him, Ramen gave me and Mattias some toy food, I showed Jason how to use a toy stethoscope, Donald said that he remembered seeing me at Awana, and I let Conor color his Sunday School homework (on the seasons!) before the lesson. When Harrison asked if he could do the same, I said that he had to wait - there I go, playing favorites again! Later, Harrison cried and said his pants were wet - Conor asked me why, so I told him to guess why someone's pants would be suddenly wet... he got it. I let Conor keep the teaching aid as usual, but the poor kid lost his robot's sword! As I told his brother Sean, I had seen it around, but had no idea where it was.

Conor had apparently also noticed that I wasn't at Awana yesterday, so I told him the truth as well. I asked if he'd missed me (Jordan would likely have answered "NO!" haha) - he said yes. Aww, so cute! Then he hugged Amos, who was upset because Harrison had accidentally jammed a toy car near / in his eye - ouch! When I went to guide him somewhere, Conor said OUCH, too - so I cut my nails when I got home. No wonder I knew not to shake hands with too many people today! Now that I think about it, Donald might have put the sword in with his stuff - oh dear. At least Jennifer (Amos' mom) offered a replacement from Rick's old collection! Of course, Conor wanted the same one - but we'll see! Auntie Ying wanted to know if we were still meeting for lunch on Tuesday - sure! She said 11, but I vetoed that in favor of noon at Aberdeen Station - hopefully, it'll be interesting enough!

When I went downstairs to the fellowship hall, it seemed that everyone had been waiting for me. Dave smiled and greeted me with "Les! Lunch at the Lion's Den?" Sure, why not? Harmony wondered if I were coming to lunch with them - of course! Note to self: When all these guys go on the retreat in a couple weeks, I should ask Dave to make sure he waits for me after Sunday School. But if he has plans of his own (or nobody does anything), I'm all good with busing by myself even with Sunday bus schedules! Stopped briefly to say hi to Grandma and a friend - Grandma asked what I was doing, so I said that I was having lunch with my friends. Dad asked how I was getting home - not with YOU! Of course, I didn't say that, leaving it at "We're going for lunch!" (indicating Eric's departing figure) Harmony said that she'd sent my "quotable" line to Steph, who gave it a thumbs-up. Thanks...

Jeremy hitched a ride with me and Eric, and wondered if I knew anything about cheap room arrangements for a bunch of Korean people coming over in August. I have no idea about $600-800 rentals, man... I'd say his friend and her family may need to look on Craigslist! It does seem as if certain shady arrangements would have a revolving cast of characters, but I would have little expertise on the subject. Then the guys discussed Web apps, MySQL databases, music archives, and more geeky stuff. We found the Lion's Den pretty easily, and decided to eat outside, running the risk (as we soon found out) of cherry blossoms blowing in our drinks and food! Dave got the first one in his water, while I got the second one in my own water - Jeremy actually had one in his bottle of ginger beer! ("Quick! Go buy a lotto ticket since the chances of that happening are slim!") The ginger beer was spicy, the Hot Pepper sauce was fiery, but Christon's goat curry was even more intense than that! Jen and I couldn't finish our roti - yay for leftovers! Dave turned out to be an eating machine - a Japanese pizza AND a teriyaki dish?!

Jeremy, Jen, Jon, Harmony, Wesley, Dave, Christon, Eric, and I discussed Japanese-Caribbean food / fusion / gentrification / neighborhoods / citric acid supplies / Whistler / kegs of ginger beer / whether Ryan would mind the fridge being taken up with the beer keg / Nathan and Portland / street food / retreating to our rooms / the retreat / nearby restaurants / politicians / "it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission!" / the HST / "Les... shift over!" / big-box stores / Peardrax / more stuff. At one point, Dave leaned over to me and said that he was just thinking about some G.I. Joe things he'd had as a kid. Later, he told me to remind him to get tie-dye T-shirts at the PNE... hahaha, if I remember! Not sure why he chose me to say those things to, but I guess I wasn't fully participating in whatever the general discussion was at the time! Almost everyone went in to hear the story of the Lion's Den, and we signed a calendar, like Jon said he and the parents did years ago. I passed Jon a takeout container for my stuff before going back inside. By the time I got back, he'd packed it for me - THANKS!

After we all paid our bills, we left Dave inside as the last person to do so, and wandered over to the bistro at the end of the block. Everyone was busy checking out the (expensive-ish) prices on the menu, and discussing whether it was reasonable for what you got... the general consensus seemed to be YES. Then Jeremy started laughing, so we wondered what was up. We could clearly see Dave standing outside the restaurant, obviously wondering what had happened to his friends since the table was totally deserted! It WAS pretty amusing! Eric said that he'd seen Chinese Eric at the hockey game yesterday - wow, way to tell us that you're back here, buddy! Jen wanted a refresher on who he was, so Jon did a pretty passable imitation: "Hey man! How's it going, man?!" Hahaha!

On the way home (spotting Dave in the Christon-mobile), Eric talked to me about burying feelings on certain people, and said that they wouldn't remain hidden for long. If this was a reference to Friday's talk, I got it. He also said that he'd seen my mom near Mr. Creep - I'd seen my mother as well, but hadn't talked to her. Resolved out loud to change my strategy when it came to my stuff - I swear, I'll put it upstairs FIRST before coming back down to join everyone! (like I did at the old church, when space was at a premium in the back parking lot) I told him about my getting to the coffee before Mr. Creep, and he thought that my mental state then was unhealthy. It even sounded like that to me when I was saying it out loud - yet it makes sense in my head? Go figure! As he dropped me off at home, I reflected that the Epic Fail was bad. Luckily for me, the CSC took a while to clear out! Then he sang the DARKWING DUCK theme song to me: of course I recognized it as what he played for me yesterday, but added that I would NEVER abuse Dave's phone number like that! Eric said that I could just call him when I was in trouble, unless I now planned on being "in trouble" all the time - I DON'T THINK SO! Did laundry when I got in, too.