Inconvenient conversations, imminent baby, English words, Pho, and unwanted mingling

Right when I was going to leave this morning, Vanessa H. tried to start a conversation about her coming home today / cake / Wednesday. I wasn't really up for it, so I restarted the computer on her - HA! (and now that I *just* got home and reasonably settled at 7:05, she's trying to start one again about the condo: the solution to THIS one is to exit Trillian Astra entirely since I *do* need to catch up and blog! :P) When Eric picked me up a few minutes later, he immediately called me "Dee-Jo" while I remarked on his use of sunglasses in mid-October... yes, I realize that the sun was in his eyes! That reminds me, I do need to get new Fit-Overs from London Drugs (and maybe a case for those?), but perhaps later in the week. We discussed pitchforks, torches, drama, people talking at me from "inside the computer," the upcoming meeting, the usual subjects (DARKWING and Randal), our respective Saturdays (Awana / doing laundry / Committee meeting agenda / BC Lions game - more streakers?!), Grace having cramps this morning, and more. When we got to the church, we were late - we waited outside with Lily, Hannah, and Gavin. They're cute kids! I also waved to Julie C., who was seated on one of the chairs.

We sat a couple rows back from Randal and Jen (of course), while I just tried to focus. Mattias was a bit of a distraction, what with his pencils and everything. After service, I gave him his birthday card - he seemed to like the sticker I put on it, haha. I'm sure he doesn't really know what dinosaurs are, but it's cool. Yvonne thanked me again for the Thanksgiving baptism card I gave her last week, since she thought it was really sweet. Hey, I do it for people I actually kinda know! I saw Auntie Eva at the back of the sanctuary, so made sure that she'd brought Grandma to church. Talked to Adam about staying up late, confirmed that Hien had deleted her Facebook (spending too much time on it - no need for tag removal in that case), talked to Nathaniel about his 3D Eiffel Tower puzzle, gave Mattias a Carr's garlic and herb cracker while Quan gave him a couple of grapes, wished his grandma Auntie Catherine a happy birthday as she was talking to Auntie Doris (she thanked me), and talked to Harmony and Jon about emails / Steph having my Italy souvenir from them / going to the Apple Festival with Holly. Gave Grace a baby card for Micah, and her own (late) birthday card... she thanked me, of course. I wish I could give them more than just a card for the baby, but I'm sure they understand! Told Grace that I'd read her FB status about having cramps or contractions: I'd been like "Please don't have the baby at church even though it might liven things up!" (so of course we were joking about it after Sunday School... Jeremy: "Uh-oh! Grace's water is breaking!")

Told Eric not to leave for lunch without me (not that he would, but still) before I went to see Anita and her daughters - Jeff is in Ottawa till Friday, it seems. Allison was looking at pictures on Emily's iPhone, while Mike was making faces at baby Joanna in her stroller. I joked that Mike was scaring the baby, but he said that she had smiled before in the past when he did this; now, she just doesn't seem interested! A minute later, she started crying... time to take her home, haha! Went upstairs a little later to Toddler Sunday School; Ashley, Ada, David, Evelyn, Ramen, Shira, and Mattias were there. Talked to them about my Snoopy bling sweater which they liked, balloons, slides, people not moving, "car" and "egg" (the first English words I've ever heard Mattias say - WOOHOO!), drawing, colors, toy rings, trucks, crackers, and more. When it was over, I was able to use the elevator to get downstairs for once. (saw Sean and Luke beforehand, who talked to me about "No Whining Week" from THEIR Sunday School class)

Saw Ian, who said hi and wondered if I were going home with them: nope, since my friends and I were going for lunch! Next week it is, I guess! Sean was looking for something in the Lost and Found box, too. When I saw Grandma, I said hi to her. She clasped my hand and asked if I wanted to go for lunch; I told her that we had a meeting later, so no! I asked if people at hospice spoke Chinese, and she said that some did... oh, good! She wants me to come visit so we can have lunch, so that'll happen when I'm free - I can certainly get the address from Steph since I'll need it. I also need at least one day free of people, so the visit won't happen till at least Tuesday! After that, I was in a hurry to get going, but of COURSE we had to stick around and chat as Eric told me to calm down... at least I found out that Jeremy did get my email with the picture, haha! Saw a new guy who looked somehow familiar; I later found out that it was Christon's friend Enoch from that Sunday Dinner, so that's why he's not totally new. Still, though! Apparently, Harmony's brother Myles knows him really well. Wesley, Christon, Enoch, Jon, Harmony, Jeremy, Randal, Jen (who didn't feel like going on Friday night - Jon called her LAZY), Eric, and I went to the original Pho. (talked about little-known shortcuts) Saw a bunch of church people there, and split up into three tables. I elected to sit with Jon and Harmony as we joined Phil, Alan, Tracy, Edwin, and Jane. (let Eric have the arduous job of sitting with the new person AND Randal both!) Talked about the upcoming meeting, business ventures, babysitting, working, ethics, feeling bad for people, going out vs. working, SLB nights, Eddie, shrinking stomachs, being quasi-invited to faraway places like Steveston, whether Alice Wong should be in Parliament right now instead of Richmond, tipping, Nathan, DRAGON'S DEN, church dysfunction as a marketing idea, snoring, spicy stuff, Rob Stewart, and more. When we got back, we were going to park in our usual lane near the sidewalk; half the existing traffic thought we weren't going to do that, so we had to laugh at them when we got out of the car! We then decided that Randal and Jen were just in denial about any feelings for one another, haha! (he DOES go to her house from his place to pick her up ALL THE TIME!)

I asked Connie how her dad was doing at Holy Trinity; after saying that he showed great improvement, she thanked me for asking. At the meeting, Randal HAD to sit by me - as long as I kept a bubble of personal space, it was fine. Found myself thinking of certain people, but of course I realize the time for that is over! Lots of people (like Daniel - "Pastor Glen was FIRED - he didn't RESIGN!" / Edmond / Alysia) shared and had comments; the board unveiled a new five-year plan, which smacked of "distract them from the true purpose of the meeting!" for me. If I were sitting with Jeremy, he would have understood! At least he was in the next row up, so I could just share amusement that way when I tapped him on the shoulder! (we agree that kids know right from wrong, not just adults or adolescents!) Uncle Tony (Eric T.'s dad) told me to tell people not to drink water from the cooler inside the sanctuary - due to the language barrier and my hearing issues, I misunderstood and told Connie that there was no more water in the cooler! He later saw Christon drinking from a cup, and told him not to do that! People commented on shock, the reasons why Pastor John was resigning, missions (stupid Raymond!), points made by Randal (I did NOT clap with everyone else after he made a point), hurt, structure, and more. Eventually, Lesley had a proposal: "We love and respect Pastor John - we need you! With the new board coming in, will you work with them for six months to see if these hoped-for changes are actually going to happen?" Some people had hope at the end of the meeting (which lasted from from 2 to 6, with Uncle Sam and Karen providing rotating translation), while I'm sure others had disillusionment and cynicism!

I thought we could finally go, but Eric was walking between the pews with no purpose whatsoever (other than to get away from me, as he later said) ... then he told ME to MINGLE! No thanks, I hate people sometimes! Then he HAD to talk to Martin, Phil, Christon, Rob Stewart, Jeremy, and others. I eventually talked to Grace and Melia about the baby staying inside through the meeting (Grace still had cramps, but had a Contraction Timer app - Winnie was there, though!); dinner plans; Angus; Phil grimacing, but keeping his cool by not saying anything intemperate; Happy Date; soup; and more. Asked Melia how school was (meh), and wondered if she'd called me on Friday. She'd noticed that I was out with Chrystal, and wanted to know where we were because her cousin was asking! It IS good to get her out of the house, I'm sure... I was out when she called, and didn't exactly have time to call her back when I did get home! My priorities then were calling Eric to see what was up for that night, putting away my London Drugs purchases, and blogging everything that happened! She said that I should tell Eric that I wanted to leave; I tried that three times with no result! (other than "PATIENCE!" / "MINGLE!" / "NOT YET!") Phil said that he almost threw up this morning when Grace told him about the cramps or Braxton-Hicks since he was so nervous, while Grace knew that this meeting was very important as well; she didn't want the baby to come out, or to have her water break in public! Karen was telling her about bloody show, too.

When the guys finally finished talking to Rob Stewart at 6:30, we made our way to the front door. Eric almost looked like he wanted to talk to Joey, Mike, Jon Chan (about hockey pool stuff), and Amanda... I tugged at his shirt sleeve since Uncle Johnny was holding the door open for a bunch of people! Once we were outside, he told Jeremy (who thought that I wanted to catch the hockey game) that he didn't know why I was in such a hurry: I TOLD YOU! I don't want to stay up till 5:30 AM again trying to catch up from being out twice the amount of time that I wasn't home on Friday! On the way home, we discussed Superstore changing its colors from green to blue / the proposed "secret" ESC meeting possibly messing with AGM lunch volunteering or the "important" Friday program of sharing Christ with our parents ("it's not just important to Randal, even though he suggested it!" "Can't we just NOT have it because HE suggested it?!") / Randal / Raymond / thinking about things possibly becoming overanalysis / hating people.

We also talked about trust / Committee duties / "being a hermit" / Mr. Creep NOT being suggested as a possible Committee member (thank GOODNESS!) / "Dee-Jo" / how "drunk" I was (You were with me from 9:30 to 6:55! WHERE DID YOU SEE ME GETTING AN OPPORTUNITY FOR THAT?!) / letting things slide in terms of blogging late at night (NEVER!) / his thinking HE was bad for staying up till 3:30 AM earlier in the week / the Lich King or Death in WORLD OF WARCRAFT / being hungry (LISTEN TO YOUR STOMACH! 25 MINUTES MAKES A DIFFERENCE!) / bread, wine, and cheese at home for dinner / his parents being at the hockey game versus the Carolina Hurricanes. Speaking of the game, the Canucks won 5-1! When I got home, I decided that I had to do my own laundry tonight. Thanks to the computer cooperating in terms of speed AND my exiting out of Trillian when Vanessa tried starting a conversation, I'm all caught up as of now... no staying up really late for me tonight! I've also decided that I don't like these apple / tangerine / watermelon Icebreaker Sour mints - I'll give them to one of the kids next weekend!