Good times at Ray's "beat-down" party... got to see Jon H. again, too!

Went out in the rain so I could go to Ray's "beat-down party," as it was described on Facebook; I *just* missed the bus which would have taken me to the Canada Line station in less than two minutes, so I had to wait for the next one, which made me even later! At least getting to Jon H.'s place was straightforward, and it helped that I was on the right side of the street for the house address! Ray answered the door and told the ugfart that his sister was here! Yes, I'd been surprised to be invited to this thing, as I told the ugfart a little later. I was introduced to various people: Ray's fiancée Peggy (they're getting married in May 2011), Lorraine, Alan, Josh, Cindy, Grace, and others. Updated the ugfart on various things, like Auntie Cynthia's death (since others were talking about Peggy's grandpa dying recently) and how / whether I found out a certain thing about Eric. Also told him about Christon, Jeremy forgetting his jacket last week, and more. Tony dropped by with some WARHAMMER stuff, haha.

People were discussing STARCRAFT, Toronto, good jobs at hiding things, barbecues, transit, Markham, "I'm from Ottawa" getting the BLANKEST LOOK EVER, Facebook, Asian stereotypes, the Olympics / torchbearers, Harmony, picking up dessert from the nearby Safeway, Ray's plans, beating Ray up, White Rock, going downtown as a teenager, various people who were (not) coming out, a hormone which causes you to wake up as soon as light hits your eyes (no matter how tired you are!), and more. Eventually, we decided to go to the nearby White Spot. Ray, on this: "You said it was close, Jon! I can't see it!" (after going to the nearest major intersection) Well, if it's a block away or so, NO! You can NOT see it! Hahaha! Discussed apple crumble, salmon burgers, gift certificates (Josh found a plastic lid in his burger last time he went!), the Bedbug Registry (don't sleep naked!), Regent, SERVANTS (in Asia and Cambodia too), church, funny wedding stories, Jon H. coming by ("where are you guys?" text message), Craigslist and human trafficking (posting in the FURNITURE section? REALLY?!) / pimps / drugs / sex / control / the sex trade, and analog microwaves / frozen dinners / houses with NO microwave. We also talked about Vancouver (Josh has been here for only two weeks), Tim Chan, calamari, Matt Mark's sister Agnes, out-of-town guests, birthdays, Ultimate, siblings, Steph, Nathan being back in the UK, Fred and the Whip, Jeremy, pig roasts, duck poutine, people making out by a glass window, and more. Josh wished me a happy belated birthday, which was nice (I did thank him) since I've never met him before and don't expect to see him again!

After walking back to Jon H.'s place, I got the ugfart to drive me to the Broadway Canada Line station. We said goodbye to everyone first, of course. Jon H. said he enjoyed my comments on his Facebook (but I rarely leave those!), I said bye to Ray (we gave each other an awkward half-hug), and I told everyone else that it was nice meeting them. Jon H. said that he'd better get together with the ugfart in 2011 or so, since he hadn't seen him since the wedding! Hey, you're going around all over the place even if Deloitte's offices do have a Vancouver base! The ugfart wondered why I hadn't organized a birthday dinner for myself this year - with all the stuff going on last week, I forgot to do it for this week! Maybe I'll still do it, but that's doubtful in the extreme! Going home wasn't too bad at all, since I didn't have to wait too long for the next train into Richmond. After looking at the 407 bus schedule and overhearing other people talk about it, I figured the bus had just gone since it wouldn't be late because of traffic at 11:30 PM. It wasn't too far of a walk home, and at least it wasn't raining anymore!