Taking $4, babies, meetings, selling out the chicken steak ramen, mammals, and more!

As I start this update, it is 3:30 AM. Not sure if this says something about my computer speed, or what... I did have to restart it when I got home! When I finally got out of here, Eric was waiting for me outside - I made as if to walk right into him, haha. He wondered why I didn't come out - maybe because I didn't hear the phone? We quickly got to the car since it was chilly outside, and I gave him $4 because of parking costs and stuff. (I know he only paid $2.50 last week, but still... TAKE IT BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND!) I said that I was glad the program had been changed. He said that all the changes this week had made him go "What?!" - from half an hour to the entire program?! Yeah, I could relate! Then he said something about an email which Randal had sent the group, and a link contained therein about "being a real Christian." I don't think I opened that one (although I wouldn't anyway since HE sent it), although I had the perfect (WRONG) excuse for it: "My computer isn't compatible with MP3 files!" Usually, I wonder WHY the heck I'm opening emails from Randal - he emails us too much, man! Eric also said that he plans to attend the Family Meeting on Sunday; that's in line with my own desires!

Of course, we talked about other things such as a new nickname of "Dee-Jo" that he made up (no idea what that means), and my hangout with Chrystal and my shopping till 6:10. Now he knows what his family is getting for Christmas; I wouldn't know what to get him personally for the occasion, which does sound bad since I've known him for 24 years now! I told him that (among other things) I got papery things and fishy things; he added on "chocolaty things... do cards count as papery things?!" When I said yes to the chocolate, he said that I was even totally beating the stores since Halloween isn't even over yet, and said that it should be fine as long as it wasn't Bernard Callebaut chocolates with no preservatives whatsoever! Nope, it's DELECTO! I also said that the random white guy had made me think of DARKWING because of his use of "bounce" - UGH!

When we got to church, we saw some guy behind his car; I wondered what he was doing, so Eric said I should go ask him... no way! We got to the elevator, and I saw that it was Fred - well, I still won't talk to him since I don't know him closely! At least he had the presence of mind to take us to the second floor; when Eric and I got to our room, Randal got extra chairs for us in our circle. The discussion was about pregnancy, childbirth and airplane flights, and new babies: Tim's surprised that Joshua hasn't said anything yet to Yvonne (who's teaching him at school), while Keenan tells EVERYONE (like Grace within two minutes of seeing her at his house) that his mom is having a new baby in May! Now, THAT is exciting baby news! Grace doesn't want her mom to sit around and do nothing, so she's coming in next week instead. Karen said that HER baby is due on November 4 - interesting!

The roundtable discussion was informative: issues, autonomy, legal entities, boards, "us vs. them" mentality, a possibility of pizza on Sunday if the meeting DOES go that late, safety issues in Camden (New Jersey), liability, missions trips, how the kids are taking the news, membership classes, transferring membership, and lots more! Shally made the mistake of thinking we don't HAVE a Missions Committee: Randal said HE was on it! (I noted that Eric's shoe was too close to him!) Jeremy asked Phil how he would become a member of the church, since he's been thinking about it for at least a couple of years! (later, Jon said that he'd made a joke which only his side of the room had apparently heard: "Marry a Chinese girl!")

After everything, I asked Jeremy whether he had a copy of the picture with the dodgy McDonalds T-shirts: he hadn't, and didn't even know who had taken the picture! I said that I got it from Vania's Facebook, and added that I'd email it to him... I'll have to include Jon's joke, and also tell him that Vania said I should make him get Facebook, haha! He wondered how it looked: it looks fine for what it is, I guess! Of course, he generally looks good unless it's an awkward angle or something! (I know some people think they always look bad in photos, myself included) Speaking of awkward, I recounted Mom's "condom quote" for Harmony and Vivian: yeah, I don't want to be the one to tell my mother that you should be careful what you pay for condoms! Our parents are going to the airport at 7 AM (so in three hours, basically) - Vivian definitely doesn't want to be up any earlier than 6, while my parents live ten minutes away! I asked when Grandma was being dropped off at the hospice (sometime tomorrow by a friend), and when the parents were coming back (Nov. 4); Jon said I should really read Mom's emails! Haha, no... it's quicker to ask them. ;)

Later, I subtly closed a conversational circle with my body so that Randal couldn't hear what we were saying... muhahahaha! We were discussing bubble tea, Dad's last day as church admin today (maybe HE called while I was out earlier!), Kat's Tea House (where we ended up going after getting gas), "drinks" not necessarily meaning alcohol to Christon, my "SNACKS!" email getting lost in the shuffle of the week (which I totally understand with the messy situation we have!), where Jen was tonight (wouldn't RANDAL know?!), Jen's new barista job, Cindy totally forgetting a scrapbook box for Dianne (she apologized profusely to her sister!), and more. While we were waiting for Stanley to photocopy something for Jon, Hien waved to me - I'll ask her about Facebook on Sunday, I guess! I also told Ivan that I'd fallen asleep on Sunday afternoon when Pastor John said he couldn't drive me, and he said it was okay even if he was looking for me all night! When I mentioned getting up at 8 PM, Mike laughed - hey, it's true! Jon told Grace to STAY PREGNANT, but not for too much longer! (haha!) Tim noticed Victor and others from the CSC just hanging out in the parkade - as I said to him: if you can't hang out up there at the church, you can always hang out down in the garage for GARAGE FELLOWSHIP! He likes coming here from time to time, too! Apparently, Jon is taking photos with his band on Sunday afternoon, but will attend the Family Meeting for an hour... if things are still not done by the time that finishes up, he'll come back! At least he's not in a boy band - if THAT were true, I'd puke!

On the way over, we discussed feelings and such. At the bubble tea place, Wesley / Martin / Randal (ugh) / Connie / Christon greeted us. Wesley, Martin, and I all ordered chicken steak ramen (it came with a drink!) - we apparently sold it right out, which sucked for another group who wanted some! Jon said that I was unoriginal - hey, it looked good, and I hadn't eaten yet! When Eric heard THAT, he said I should have told him on the way to church: "That way, I could have gotten you some gross food like McDonalds!" "That's disgusting!" (then Wesley said something about how McDonalds is GOOD - yeah, we know how you roll...) We know that this situation brings up a lot of emotions from 2004, and I know Connie's feeling it!

We quickly got into more intense discussion of what the resignation would mean to us, and named names. I remember vividly that Uncle Hansel does NOT like drums! Martin even looked up Camden on his iPhone, and read us part of the Wikipedia entry - yeah, lots of crime and such there! Wesley said that we'd lost 4-1 tonight, too! Randal had to take over the conversation by telling us about his future plans - luckily, the topic was changed soon afterwards to Dylan's stag. I had heard about his having to call Deb and tell her three reasons why he loved her: "Uh, Deb, this is really hard... hey, she hung up on me because of reception problems!" (sure...) I had also heard about the part where he exhibited bad judgement by selling a flower to a girl whose muscled boyfriend was nearby - good thing there were ten guys with Dylan, otherwise things would have been worse! However, I hadn't heard about their being thrown out of a clothing store because the guys were filming what went on, breaking a rule about cameras and such! "Dylan, you have to buy something from here!" "I'm looking at the price tag - I can't afford THIS!"

For some reason, they were discussing how Randal should be the Supreme Commander of the church - NO! Thank goodness we got off THAT topic! We also discussed a marathon of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT on Halloween - hey, SOME of us need sleep and downtime! Eric apparently took a huge detour to drop Jon and Harmony off later, but we got to discuss Nathan's summer observation that the congregation seemed asleep or like zombies! (plus my zero driving experience) I contributed the word "complacency" to the discussion, heh. Jon warned Eric to be careful while backing out of their parking lot, because Christon had had to call a tow truck once - he was NOT amused since he'd backed over something which wasn't readily visible! Later, Eric discussed my re-creating the human race with Mr. Creep... NOT GONNA HAPPEN! We talked about newcomers, trust, paranoia, La Niña, snow, Ginger, morbidity, humor, WORLD OF WARCRAFT, and the sole reason why I even agreed to go to bubble tea: yes, I did learn a bunch from Christon! It was an interesting time, although I got home at 12:20 or so! I hope never to have to stay up this late again on a Friday / Saturday night, though!


My mom on Thanksgiving, telling them about my brother as a baby: "When he was young, your dad swaddled him in lots of clothes! He looked like a MAMMAL!" (she meant "a mummy")

Now I am SO braindead! For example, I almost gave Grace a MALE birthday card; unfortunately, I'd already written on the card AND envelope, so I had to junk it. Good thing I noticed what I'd written on the envelope's corner: "religious MALE birthday spare," indeed... and now I notice that it is almost 5 AM as I close this entry up. Oh, blogging... the sacrifices I make for you... :P


Trivia fact for Saturday, Oct. 16: What singer's fan club did Hillary Clinton head at her high school in Park Ridge, Illinois? Fabian's. The club consisted of teenager Hillary Rodham and two other girls.