Cooking at SERVANTS

When I got out to meet Jon, it was raining pretty hard. Got some money for my bank account, but realized that I'd forgotten my bank card - guess I'll have to do that tomorrow! The ride over to King Edward was uneventful, as usual... as I thought, Jon came up to me while I was reading. Turns out he had driven to Richmond to teach since the weather was so icky - stopped by his place for about five minutes, and learned he'd be at SERVANTS all weekend, but Harmony wouldn't. Went to SERVANTS afterwards - yup, I did need help down Jon's steps as I'd feared. I expressed fear about someone "jacking" my Russia novel (as Dave Wong would say), so Jon said I could put it in his bag.

Randal and Kevin were there already, with Wesley / Dylan / Pastor John coming later. I helped open cans and stir a big pot of ingredients - discussed worship, strawberries, cinnamon, bok choy, rice, salt, ground beef, chili, onions, garlic, can openers, tomatoes, Stanford cooking at the retreat, Deb being away, childrearing, laundry, the finale party at Steph's, bread, and other things. Wished Wesley a happy birthday, and met a bunch of people who either lived at the house or were guests. Good thing we decided to triple the recipe since about 40 people showed up to eat! Talked to the little kids for a bit, one of whom had pink Lego - I don't think I've ever seen that. Another one also was drinking water out of a cup with a spoon, then offered me rice on her finger - no thanks! (she also wanted to put down some diapers somewhere)

While nobody was in a large room off the second kitchen, Wesley and I checked it out: toy swords, lots of books, nice couches, and more! I decided to start a conversation with Randal, asking him what time he'd left Steph's on Monday. Then he asked whether I liked spicy stuff, since the chili we were eating (one of three pots) was the spiciest - definitely! There was a guy there who probably had issues hearing or something, since he had a whiteboard to write down the questions he had of us. I found myself liking the experience more than I thought, anyway. Jon said that they were trying to tell the difference between Coke and Diet Coke yesterday - sounds like a party, all right! Got a ride home with Dylan, and I didn't mind if he got a little lost heading out of Chinatown. Talked about basketball, his workplace a bit off the Arthur Laing Bridge, Friday's talk, Chuck and Andrea's wedding, laundry being better at his in-laws (no coined laundry!), Toronto Raptors, Toronto Blue Jays, Orlando Magic, Boston Celtics, movies, books, and more.

Quote of the night: "Well, Pastor John stirred it!" - Dylan, on why the spiciest chili looked significantly redder than the least spicy chili. Yes, he was being serious.


EDIT at 2048: Eric just called to inform me that he wouldn't be going to Fellowship on Friday. He's either going to be working late, or be really tired. I guess that project with an impending deadline isn't done yet! So now I have two free Fridays in a row... hmm... Billie and I have JUST made plans to get together then, so that should be fine! (VCC station at 3-ish!) Oh, and she canceled on me due to health reasons... okay, then!