Another round of Erin's embarrassing stories! / Casey Jones

This thing just restarted, but I'm not surprised! Good thing that I wasn't really writing anything - just doing some bookmarks upkeep, and I'd already pasted links and SAVED the entry! Learning new habits, indeed!

The bus trip out to Erin's was uneventful, save for wondering whether I was going the right way down Brakenridge to McMullen. (which somehow was "McCallum" in my mind) Luckily, I was - I got there shortly after 6 (Steph let me in), to find Erin / Jessica Lam (whom I haven't seen in AGES) / Tracy in the kitchen. Daniel, Winnie, Denise, Brian, Chung and baby Mattias, Eunice, and Vanessa got there later - Jon and Harmony were late, along with Jessica's boyfriend (How?) and Alan. Phil and Grace had been there earlier before the guys' soccer game, and Erin's younger brother Derek was apparently napping. Her husband Ben and youngest brother Darren came downstairs later, so that was the full complement. Since Erin was around for once, we definitely had to get into her embarrassing stories: Vomiting all over a pharmacy customer? Walking into a soccer post in Gr. 8, having a temporary bridge done YEARS later, and then having said bridge fall out of her mouth in front of a customer? (she had to excuse herself and pick it up off the floor!) Maxipad stories?

Having a UTI on her Hawaiian / twisty road to Hana honeymoon? (Denise said it wasn't really related to the "whatever" - sex - and she should know, since she's a doctor) Having a black bra fall out of her shirt during woodworking class, and the teacher draw the attention of THE ENTIRE CLASS to it?! ("Erin, I think you dropped something..." She thinks it's because the bra was inside her shirt already when she grabbed it from a pile of clothes in the morning to wear to school.) Everyone was laughing hysterically - although we had to send Darren out of the room for the honeymoon one since we figured he didn't need to know THAT about his sister! - and we wondered HOW ON EARTH Derek could be sleeping through that noise!

There was SO MUCH FOOD that I eventually took my cheese bread and some cookies home - veggies, a Corningware FULL of cookies, at least two pizzas, Michelle's AMAZING broccoli salad from the home garden (it was the BACON!), hummus, meaty chicken wings, Steph's pasta with cream of mushroom soup / salmon / a pound of cheese, fried rice, BBQ pork, juice, punch, cream puffs, and lots more! We talked about how Michelle hurt her back doing some vacuuming, ICQ (hearing the "uh-oh!" sound from above) / backspacing, Auntie Ying / Uncle Daniel impersonations, how much Alan and others DRANK at Andrea's wedding, Julie, Daniel and Michelle's anniversary trip to Portland on July 1, getting Auntie Anita to dance, nuggets, Eunice's hairdressing / paralegal work, her niece and nephew (Avery and Wesley), and her boyfriend Eddie.

Also talked about old notes in church bulletins, code names for people (Irene was CATWOMAN), Nathan being back soon (my mom wants to have a dinner with him!), Karen I. being pregnant again, Daniel and Nathan's dad selling the house, how Erin should just move everyone over to Ottawa, alternating Christmases, downtime, moving, Daniel's joking contention about baby Cameron being a robot, his brother Connor answering the door naked once, their sister Megan T. being cute, Vanessa bumping into Michael / Amanda / their kids Ethan, Seren, and Megan H. once (the kids are so cute and SO BIG!), Andy and Megan C. not being able to make it (Megan's SO HUGE - she's not due till the end of July!), Sam and Connie's kid Jaden (he must be in Gr. 12 by now - we probably wouldn't recognize him!), where to watch tomorrow's soccer game, and more. Ben just sat there, haha - he probably had fun, though!

We figured that couples should get at least one big trip out of the way before trying for a kid... Dylan and Deb are going to the Philippines. Helen, Joe, Billy, Stella, Kenny, and Winnie all went on a cruise once where someone asked whether they were old enough to go into a certain area of the ship. Billy didn't like that, and tried to impress on the guy that they were all working professionals - "she's a doctor, he's a psychiatrist, I'm a pharmacist, etc." Finally, they had to show their ID anyway! This reminded Daniel of when he and Michelle had been in the UK to see Nathan - they'd been at a bar, and one of the employees had asked him whether Nathan and Michelle were old enough to drink! When Daniel said that they were both 30, the employee said "Even the girl?!" His response: "I'm MARRIED to her!"

Steph said that a certain local news personality probably shouldn't have online videos of her working out ON A BLOG, because she's getting stalked! This creep sent this person a bunch of letters SOAKED IN URINE! That's all she would say, since she probably shouldn't even say that much - and yes, this is Burnaby! Speaking of creepy people, she has this "friend" named Peevers who sends her innocent-sounding text messages with BAD GRAMMAR which is definitely a turn-off! ("your awesum and an unbelievable woman! :)" - our reaction was "PUKE!!!!") She's "using" him for laptop shopping help and such, but we spent some time laughing over his BAD text messages! They'd met in Regina, and she had spent a weekend hanging out with him because she thought they were just friends. Of course, he couldn't be on base with her, and she didn't want to stay in his hotel room! Then there was the groomsman from Melia and Angus' wedding who was taken with her... ew! (We discussed how to be a Wedding MC - Steph seems popular, even if she was pressed into service a week before Jon and Harmony's wedding because their original pick for the job couldn't make it! INCEST JOKES!)

When I stepped away from the table to admire baby Mattias in his cool sweater ("Why are all these people watching me eat? Where am I? I'm going to CRY!"), Steph told everyone else there that Jonathan Gillis had actually LIKED her! (I thought that might have been the case) On a suggestion from the guys, he had got her a Valentine's Day gift of a little bear (with a heart reading "BE MINE") / flowers / chocolates. She'd been trying to dodge him on her way out of work after her night shift because he wanted her to see him later, but he caught up with her to give her this present. She felt bad because she knew that there were lots of girls who would REALLY WANT something such as this, but she had to say something like "I didn't know you gave your FRIENDS such extravagant Valentine's gifts, Gillis..." ICE COLD, baby! When the guys (including a corporal) texted her later, she was like "F*** YOU!" How dare they have a laugh at her expense!

Jon said that he, Randal, and Jeremy all had diarrhea after going to some Kingsway / Clark Pho place for lunch on Sunday. Harmony didn't go because she had a wedding shower to attend; Wesley and Jen didn't seem affected at all, and it was lucky that Eric and I didn't go then! (Eunice asked whether Eric still lived in Richmond, and Erin wondered whether he drove me to church - after that ABUSE from my mother, you bet he does!) No wonder Jon had sounded sleepy and bleh when I called him earlier in the week! Briefly said hi to Derek, who's going to the Philippines soon... I loved the rosemary mint soap in the downstairs bathroom, too! Discussed SERVANTS, rats, wedding keepsakes / thank-you cards, my mom suggesting all these times to meet Erin and Ben for bubble tea tomorrow (maybe after Jon's concert), and more. Jon and Harmony drove me to the Canada Line station; they're moving next month, going to Toronto for Dave's wedding in August, and going to Italy from about Sept. 3-17. I experienced bus efficiency as the 407 was RIGHT THERE after I got out of the Brighouse Canada Line station!


Trivia fact for Friday, June 18: What was the name of the train that ill-fated railroad engineer Casey Jones was operating when it crashed? The Cannonball Express.


Edit: And it restarted again at 1:36! I'm rather tired anyway, so I shall be going to bed!