Goodbye, Richie - you'd better come back from Calgary to visit lots!

Eric picked me up after 6, and I told him that I'd tripped over the (spare) computer monitor before leaving because I was too stressed having to leave in a hurry. I really need to get rid of them! Too bad I can't just haul them out myself under cover of darkness... they're too heavy, and I'm not THAT strong! We talked about whether I'd network with Ivan tonight, chilling in the afternoon, my not really needing to buy any food from Safeway on the trip over because there would be lots of leftovers (I told Christon later that I'd felt kinda guilty), Mr. Creep, cards, and whether Dave Wong would make an appearance. He thought that I shouldn't have laughed at Dave's cannibal joke earlier in the day - hey, it was FUNNY, and it isn't like he advocates it in real life! Or at least, we both hope not, haha...

We walked to the party room, which was NOT Alan's entrance that we were somewhat familiar with! Joey / Raymond / Jose / Shally wearing a SHORT SKIRT / Wesley / Christon / Richie / Sonya / Phil / Grace / Stanford / Calla / Dave and Yvonne / Dylan / Deb / Kevin / Vivian / Connie / Jen / Randal / Alan / Tracy / Pastor John / Karmie / Mike K. / Mike T. / Emily / Melia / Angus / Andrea / Cindy / Dianne / Wesley / Ivan / Johnny were there already, and foosball / pool / ping-pong games going on while everyone talked. Put my jacket over Eric's after he'd draped his on a chair, and noted that Ivan was there. Eric made the same observation, and remarked to me that I could talk to Ivan about Friday night - I DON'T THINK SO, BUDDY! Daniel greeted me, so I said hi to him and his wife Michelle while sitting in a chair to relax. Figured I should have worn my sneakers instead of my wine-colored shoes with slight heels since I DIDN'T have to take my shoes off like I'd originally thought! Oh well... a lot of people were signing a giant card for Richie, so I did that too. (some were wearing Canucks-related clothing to bug Richie, hahaha)

A while later, Grace said that we were going to say grace... someone made a funny, and wondered if she were going to say it! That honor went to Pastor John, although Daniel thought it should have gone to Richie: "It's the last time I'll ever hear you pray, man!" There WAS a lot of food: pizza, fried chicken, pasta, sushi, cookies, cake, brownies, salad, fruit, chocolate eclairs, and more! Went to the couch to eat, since I needed a table! Vivian and Jen broke my alone time - no, I wasn't bored if I wasn't eating... just observing the room at large as per usual!

We were likening this farewell party to a wedding since there would be cake after dinner, gift presentations, and a special video which Yvonne put together. The video was pretty humorous, for sure! After the cake-cutting, we took a group photo. Talked to Mike K. about school, discussed life with Brian (who was late), signed a petition about human trafficking as per Deb's request, joined Melia and Emily in "beautifully decorating" the giant card (REJECTED references!), watched people play foosball, and talked to Phil for a while. He said that the guest speaker was indeed here for another week, and humorously sympathized with my wondering who the speaker was on the TV since Eric and I were late for service! Guess I have to prepare for another cringe-inducing sermon next week!

Kevin gave me some money back for the Pocky and Pretz, then wondered about my energy level - downtime tomorrow, for sure! (after Women's Group / Committee Meeting / Fellowship / Awana / church and the farewell? OH YEAH!) Discussed hockey playoffs and Jon's whereabouts with Tracy and Christon. Jon called from a Canada Line station to say he'd be there at some point. I asked Wesley where they'd ended up going for lunch: the Congee Noodle House, which was boring for some reason. I guess it's no Hawkers or Reef, haha. A while later, Jon and Harmony finally did show up - of course, they had beer and some (smoked salmon) cheese to go with Christon's bleu cheese and goat cheese! Christon was disappointed with one of his cheeses, but he DID get it from Extra Foods and not the cheese shop...

A bunch of us tried Monster Ale, raspberry beer, and more while looking at the bookshelves in the party room - interesting stuff, like Miss Piggy's views on life! Jon was busy eating some pasta (sharing it with Harmony) in addition to the stuff which Kevin had packed for him. When Wes came up and wondered why Kevin had packed so little pasta for his lunch tomorrow, we all started laughing! Jon said he'd top it up, which Wes was fine with. Everyone hugged Richie goodbye when we left, since we'll miss him when he goes back to Calgary! Wishes were exchanged, and he was right - it was a bittersweet night! (his mom and sister [three kids and one more any time now] are here, but his dad is there - along with a new job)

On the way home, Eric tried convincing me that the Canucks playoff Game 2 (the one that his family has tickets for) was on Saturday and not Friday, since Phil had looked it up on his phone. In turn, I tried convincing him that he was a little too late for an April Fools joke - he should have gotten on that a couple of weeks ago, man! He said that I now had no excuse for not going on Friday - and that the Living Waters guy had spoken on his own struggle with pornography a few years ago at the Renew / Redefine Conference he went to. (so, not ex-gays) Who knows - he might be planning on speaking about ex-gays on Friday! Maybe I need a particular plan... hee hee hee! Then he tried convincing me that staying longer than Raymond didn't mean anything - it does to ME, haha. After that, he wondered whether I was shifting my weight in the car, and doing something to its springs - I took that as a "fat" comment, of course! CRAZY! I said I'd see him next Sunday when he dropped me off, and he corrected me - of course, I said he was a LIAR. Maybe I'll look it up myself - we'll see.