BULLETS IN POWERPOINT! / Mandarin / Riddim and Spice

Sam's family picked me up pretty much on time, which was fine. I thanked them for the ride, and Uncle Joel told me to take my time getting settled in the car. That is definitely opposite of my parents, who have been known to tell me to hurry up. Of course, Uncle Joel might just have been polite and accommodating, but it's still good. We discussed being VERY CAREFUL with tones in Mandarin ("window" could easily mean "gun," or "holy Spirit" could mean "sex"), dentist appointments, Tony the hygienist, poking your gums with sharp instruments causing bleeding (not lack of brushing), early wake-ups the day after getting home for Christmas break ("thanks, Dad..." "but at least it gets done since I know you have a busy schedule!"), Josiah having lots of energy, getting old, coffee, scanning photos, and more. Noticed that this week's parking attendant was Raymond, but at least he put his money where his mouth was in a figurative sense!

Got into service only slightly late, and found my usual seat by Jeremy - he waved to me, and I smiled back. Hey, it's one of those little rituals! He could NOT get over the fact that this week's Powerpoint contained bullets to start EVERY LINE of the songs... I gotta admit, it was pretty funny! The first thing he said to me was "BULLETS!" - then we caught each other's eye after the next verse or so, and started laughing like crazy again! (Dylan later said he checked it on Uncle Eugene's computer, and it was fine - but not on Powerpoint!) Chuck and Andrea came up to announce their wedding on Saturday, and Jeremy laughed at the way they phrased it. "We just decided to get married - COME!" Hahaha! I'd have thought that nobody would have missed me, but of course there are the kids to think of - and I'd have missed out on lunch and laughs!

Wondered whether he was up for lunch - sure, and there would even be others around this time! I was only half-decided on whether to go to Andrea's bridal shower because of the ride issue, even though I'd have had to transit back home from lunch anyway - GO FIGURE! Went into the fellowship hall and "donated" my butter cookies and bag of candy to the snacks on offer - later, I noticed Mr. Creep (wearing a slightly nicer shirt than usual) take a cookie or two, but I guess it's okay since it's for the community. Talked to Wesley about Dylan and my leaving rather quickly from SERVANTS - after a while, he'd noticed we weren't there anymore! They'd only stayed till about 7:30 or so, anyway. Karen and Lincoln made an appearance: seems they've been busy with trips to the States and such.

Jeremy let me know that there was actual coffee this time: SWEET! He said he took the day off work on Saturday so he could attend both the wedding ceremony and banquet, which is a good plan - I said I'd have to call Eric on Friday in order to plan how to get to the church and dinner myself! (as long as his project with an impending deadline doesn't interfere) Saw Elaine and Matt, but didn't talk to them - but did say hi to Auntie Catherine and Uncle Y.C. Their grandson Mattias was busily eating two bananas in pieces - he certainly loves his food! (his mom Karen is probably pregnant again, too) Calla was holding baby Cameron, who looks almost exactly like his brother Connor did at that age - their mom Winnie brought all three of her kids by herself, which her sister Connie and I thought was pretty amazing! (Megan's five, Connor is 1.5, and Cameron is a few months old) Frances and her baby Isaac (who REALLY looks like his dad Mel) were around, too.

After a while, I went upstairs to a FULL toddler Sunday School class: Amanda, Conor, Mattias, a new kid named Jesse, Amos, Harrison, Esther, David, Evelyn, Ramen, Shira, Donald, Arthur, Jonathan, and Ashley were all there. Jonathan wanted me to know that he didn't care if I pooed on my book - thanks, kid! Then he and Amanda started in on drinking pee, so I told them that I'd actually heard of people doing that; they thought that was pretty gross. For some reason, I took my bulletin and drew the butt part of the Booty Logo... I don't know why I was pandering to a bunch of six-year-olds (Conor included), but they thought that was "EW GROSS!" Probably too much information or not age-appropriate (yesterday, I told Ian [almost 9] that seatbelts prevented your brain from splattering all over the place in an accident - "EW!" was his reaction), but it should be okay. Conor showed me his Awana necklace, and seemed to love the colors. Adjusted straps on overalls, played with the younger kids, talked to the older ones, gave stickers to some of them, and verified that Arthur remembered me. Auntie Ying said she forgot the new material - way to take control from me via teaching, haha - at least I don't have to worry about prep next week! (should probably do more actual prep, too)

When I went downstairs, I saw Auntie Teresa, whom I studiously avoided since she's annoying. I was undecided about going to the bridal shower, talking to Dianne / Karmie / Elaine about it. Eventually, I just decided to go for lunch with everyone - I asked Wesley and Christon (texting Steph about lunch) whether Jeremy had left yet, but he hadn't. Suppose the cookbook can double as the wedding present, too! Cheap? Hell yeah! Dianne said that she got Dennis to take the "bitter beer" picture off - what if her future patients see it? Finally saw Harmony, who said that she'd been sitting behind me during service - I gave her the anniversary present. Of course, she said I didn't have to, but it was fine - when I described the books as retro humor (NOT to be taken seriously), Jeremy said that comedy did have a grain of truth... yup!

We verified that this new lunch place (Riddim and Spice) was cash-only... thank goodness that I remembered my wallet with cash in it, while Jeremy had to stop by a bank machine on his way there! Karen and Lincoln joined us for lunch - Dylan did too, but Martin and Randal did not. I saw Grandma on our way out, but didn't talk to her since I thought we were in a hurry to leave - or maybe I was just projecting my own anxiety about leaving onto the whole group, heh. Dad hailed me as I was about to leave the building - turns out Mom had a bunch of random stuff for me AGAIN. This week's stuff turned out to be infinitely more useful than last week's crap, and most of it was probably bought at Shoppers: four rolls of paper towels, two cans of vegetable soup, two cans of mushroom soup, a small pan (about the only non-useful thing TO ME right now), two bottles of water, whole-wheat linguini (and original Ragu spaghetti sauce to go with it!), and a pink decoration reading "WHATEVER!" On the way out, I told Sam's brother Jeremy that I didn't need a ride home, since I told Sam last night that I'd let him know about that during the day.

At lunch, Wesley wondered where Dave Wong had been - I certainly didn't know, as he would have liked this Jamaican / Caribbean place! Maybe I'll leave him a message later on about it! Discussed the Reef, pickle juice, not knowing that coffee grounds expire after a certain amount of time (Jeremy's parents served coffee out of the same tin for 15 years), homemade Pad Thai sauce, preservatives such as sugar / vinegar / salt, who MIGHT be roasted at this year's church grad banquet, Quan / Hien / Olivia / Vicky / money / Margaret MAYBE fancying Stanley, her sweet song for him last year which he shrugged off (being too much of a boy!), sleeping in, alarms, work calls, Albert, Subway discounts, chicken roti, Epic Expo, GLEE, Eric's whereabouts, Randal and fried chicken, Lent, my being a rebel by ordering some mildly spicy goat curry instead of chicken roti, the intense Grace ginger beer (99 cents at Superstore?), today's worship woes, Deb getting back, and more. I took two quarters back from the tip money, but Dylan was also doing the same. While we were talking about people who seemingly stayed in school all the time, Wesley was trying to figure out what they'd be called. Jeremy and I said "PROFESSIONAL STUDENT!" at the same time, so he grinned at me and said that we were on the same wavelength - FOR SURE! :D

Christon could only drive me to the Commercial Expo Line Skytrain station, which was fine by me... I was very lucky in getting a Waterfront train IMMEDIATELY upon going up to the platform, and decided to go to Oakridge to get something I needed so I could dump it in the laundry. On the way there, I was likened to a terrorist because I took up more room than is strictly necessary - EXCUSE ME?! While I was in Zellers, I noticed that toilet paper was on sale, so I got some of that. I bit the bullet and paid the five cents for a plastic bag - at least the cashier gave me a large one so I could put some of my other stuff in there too! Well worth it, in my opinion. I noticed I was impatient because I was tired, giving one-word short answers: "Do you need a plastic bag?" "Yes." "That will be five cents." "Fine." (thinking "fine, whatever... just give me the plastic bag so I can MOVE ON WITH LIFE!") Got home without incident, and was so tired that I just put everything down on the floor and took a much-needed nap from about 4:45 to 7:10!