No, kids... we don't know whether Jesus and the criminals were naked or wore underwear on the cross!

Henry picked me up 45 minutes early, which I wasn't really expecting - but at least I'd showered and mostly eaten! I explained it to my new Wordscraper opponents as an emergency, since I'd requested a "fast" game, haha. In the car, Henry said that work had been busy - he'd read the STONE SOUP story to the kids, and they'd seemed to really like it. Also talked about Gwyneth and the Lansdowne Mall carnival, issues with lights and noise, Japadogs with real sausages / benito flakes / teriyaki, the shipping container Inukshuk being gone, family dinners, weird cravings (Pho, hot and sour soup, Western-style fish like planked salmon), Teresa running over a squirrel (it was twitching - SO SAD!), Jason Y. running over a SKUNK, seeing dead cats on roads and at bus stops, the snow only staying on the mountains for a week, and more.

At church, I was kept busy by watching the kids, so it wasn't too bad. I saw Eric at worship practice, so decided not to call him later in favor of just talking to him then. Figured that he'd have to be there early, so 8:45 should work. Saw my dad, so told him to tell Mom that I wasn't going to tomorrow's dinner at a restaurant - I'd rather save my sanity! Steph had refused to be a messenger to Mom for me, which was bad. Told Eric to watch out for a baby in a stroller while he was moving something on wheels around - he tried saying hi to the baby, but the boy didn't really respond. Stanley denied having a haircut recently, and Sean L. didn't say anything when I remarked that he'd seemed to grow taller in the two weeks where I hadn't seen him. Linda brought her kids David and Evelyn for their first Awana experience - when I told Golden that they were twins, he told me that Dominic and Samantha also were twins! Rosenda is now a T&T leader in training, so YAY! When I thanked Alan for the lucky money, he just waved it off - SEE, MOM?! NORMAL PEOPLE ARE CHILL!

The kids had weird questions for Lawrence as he told the story of Jesus' crucifixion: "Were they naked? Did they wear underwear?" They had some other one which I never would have thought of as a kid, but I've forgotten what it was already! Hannah and Amanda's mom Catherine talked to me and Chrystal about some Olympic merchandise on sale at TNA at Metrotown (near Danier and the elevators - I thought she'd said "Tina" at first) - "get it now!" Maybe if I had money, but then that goes to pay bills and such FIRST. (plus the dentist, of course...) Chris and Sabrina said that the open house this morning was pretty good - some new kids and people, anyhow. Chrystal said that I smelled good (...) because of my vanilla-mint Trident Splash gum... better than some other brand which she recently tried!

After Awana, Ian asked if I could open the jelly snacks - I said that I had trouble with those, which is why I wasn't having one. Isaac unexpectedly gave me a chocolate Easter egg, so I thanked him - Harrison had some, too. I looked around for Conor, who was looking at all the new toys that Melia had purchased at Wal-Mart as an incentive program for the kids. Tapped him on the shoulder, and said that I had something for him. When I gave him the bag with felts / Transformers / a card / leftover Valentine's Day candy (originally for Margaret J.), he said "thank you" - and did it several more times, especially when his parents were around. They thanked me as well for remembering (Conor sometimes forgets), and asked when MY birthday was... in September, haha. Conor's brother Sean S. wondered why he didn't get anything, and asked me whether it was May yet. "Is it May?" made me think that he was asking me when his birthday was - I DO NOT KNOW! When I understood, I told him that it was March 20, and not May yet. On the way home, Ian and Sean L. played with the balloons and such - we saw orange polar bears by a Canada Line station, haha. (and ran into Paralympic traffic by Nat Bailey Stadium) Emailed Laura back as soon as I got settled, too.

Two Craigslist replies

Since I did have time to look at the replies for my Craigslist ad, here they are!

Good Afternoon!

I'm Laura and I recently secured a 2bdrm groundfloor suite in Richmond. I am looking for someone to share this suite, as the rent here is just the same as a 1bdrm. The landlords are great, the place is clean. I don't care [about the important specified thing], so long as I can have some privacy sometimes, and I'm sure the same goes for you. I work evenings and am currently looking for another job to supplement my income. I have a 9 year old dog named Mac, he is very friendly.

I'm not sure exactly what you are looking for.... but the rent here is $1200, with EVERYTHING included. Wireless internet, utilities, in-house laundry, all that jazz.

If you're interested, give me a call at [number].

Enjoy the sun!

Other than the fact that I'm not sure about the dog, it SOUNDS fine to me.


Here's the other one:

Greetings

How are you doing? Hope you're still searching for a one bedroom apartment to rent in Richmond,Vancouver. i have one which is fully furnished and the monthly rent is $650 incl. bills

let me know if you're interested.

Talia

Craigslist surprises / Dream of keeping communication lines CLOSED! / Birthday cake!

Wow! I posted an ad on Craigslist last night, making sure to specify something important. Got up this afternoon to two replies already - this is good as long as it's not a scam! (Corey would say I'm too cynical, haha) Don't have a lot of time to look at them now (gotta shower / eat / catch up before Henry picks me up for Awana), but will do so later! Speaking of Henry picking me up, he just called to say that he has to prepare some stuff for Awana, and needs to be there at 2 or so... I can definitely do that because I bring a Bathroom Reader everywhere! This is what pot pies were made for, haha. Actually, he just called back to say that he realized he DOESN'T have to be there early, so he'll pick me up at the regular time. Hahahaha, that sounds even better! I'm still having that pot pie, though!

Also had a dream where Eric and I were going around a building, sticking close to each other. After navigating unfamiliar territory, he dropped me off at my place. I promptly slept for a LONG TIME, and then woke up (in the dream) to discover that it was 4:16 PM on a Saturday. Auntie Rebecca had called me, and so had my parents. I resolved to keep the lines of communication CLOSED except when it came to Awana, heh. Woke up in real life soon after that, haha.

You Are Daring and Dazzling

You are funky, eccentric, and charming in unexpected ways. You are constantly inspired and inspiring. You throw caution to the wind, and try to avoid the safe option. You love not knowing what's coming around the corner. You love that the world is full of infinite possibilities - and you'd like to try every combination of them that you can. You are always changing, growing, and expanding your horizons. You never suffer from stagnation or boredom.

The Birthday Cake Test

Blogthings: Waste Time at Work!

Sledge hockey, instant message murders, and geology

High-scoring words of the night:

AGONISED (200 points) - against Linda B. [4W, 5W]
YORE (200 points) - against Sherry O. [two 5W]
UNSWEARS (184 points) - against Shelley R.-B. [3W, two 2W]
EARLAP (154 points; 4W, two 2W), ASTOUND (318 points; 4W, two 2W) - against Judi C.

Skipped curling tonight as advertised, and watched Canada lose 2-1 to Norway in the bronze medal sledge hockey game for the Paralympians. Then I happened upon NBC DATELINE, and saw something called THE INSTANT MESSAGE MURDER. A woman wanted her Internet fantasy lover to murder her husband, which he did... but then he killed himself a few months later. Nice morbid stuff for a Friday night! Then I watched TLC, which I should do more often - comparing your weddings against other brides for a honeymoon prize? Sweet!

Trivia fact for Saturday, Mar. 20: When it comes to geology, what is a hoodoo? A tall, oddly-shaped column or pillar of varying thickness, created by the differential weathering of rocks of varying hardness.

Vexing mice and health / Persuasion (NOT Jane Austen)

High-scoring words of the day so far:

VEX (104 points) - against Sherry O. [4W, 2L on X]
CHOSEN (104 points) - against Kathy T. [4W, 2W]


I think these mice are affecting my health now - that's not a good sign. Sure, they affected Terrence's health last summer, but I thought that I was okay since I was "used" to them. Now, I think it's crunch time!

You Persuade People Through Emotion

You hate to admit it, but people make decisions with their hearts. Their heads don't play much of a role in the equation. So even though you are cool-headed, you know you have to be warm-hearted in order to convince people you're right. You craft your words carefully. You speak to inspire, motivate, and stir up emotions. You know that once someone wants to be on your side, they'll figure out their own reasons why.

How Do You Persuade People?

Work is Hard. Time for Blogthings!

Short phone calls / ALICE IN WONDERLAND / Madcap unreal eyeballs

Auntie Ying has been sick for the past couple of days, so tonight's phone call was thankfully short! (I just hope that a certain person doesn't think me too awkward if I seemingly didn't have much to say to his California stories!) We just chatted about some news article she'd read and passed on to Phil (but I wasn't paying attention to what it was about), the Sunday School material, leaving the younger kids like Jason alone, and the bad examples that Harrison and Amos were to Esther as far as being disruptive went! Not too bad at all... now, I hope to sleep more than I did last night!

You Are Alice

You are curious, brave, and inquisitive. You can't help but be interested in the world around you. You are a bit of a loner and a total daydreamer. Your inner world is very colorful and vivid. At times, your real life seems dull and completely unbearable. You wish you could escape to a whole other world. While you have a wild spirit, you are quite gentle and polite. You tend to observe more than act - and you tread lightly.

What Alice in Wonderland Character Are You?

Blogthings: Quizzes and Tests and Memes, Oh My!

Trivia fact for Friday, Mar. 19: Who coined the words "eyeball," "madcap," and "unreal"? William Shakespeare. "Eyeball" first appeared in A Midsummer Night's Dream, "madcap" in Love's Labor's Lost, and "unreal" in Macbeth.

Expensive Bible covers!

High-scoring words of the afternoon:

STIRRINGS (121 points) - against Douglas N. [two 3W]
INJURIES (310 points) - against Angela V. [3W, 5W]


Went out earlier to get a (red, zippered, handled, Christian fish) Bible cover for my new Bible at Seraphim... I wasn't quite expecting it to be half the price of the Bible! At least I had almost enough money to cover the price, thanks to Alan's lucky money. Corey says he got a package from me at around 3, so of course I accused him of lying, haha. I knew he was trying to pull something over on me when he said that it contained dead spiders and lint, and nothing was taken except eggs and bigs.

Amity with Alice / I hate Daylight Savings Time! / Longest Word Bzoink Survey

High-scoring words of the morning so far:

AMITY (325 points) - against Alice P. [two 5W]


It's way too sunny outside! This is why I hate Daylight Savings Time! At least I was awake for the smoke alarm inspection (the fire alarm is intermittently going on and off in the hallway right now), but SERIOUSLY! I hope I get some more sleep in... preferably when it's DARK, which won't be for another 12 hours. *yuck*

Oh, sorry, I only date ninjas. Created by fallingstupidforyoux and taken 118 times on Bzoink
Do you have a tolerance for snoring, or does it drive you insane?:	Drives me insane.
Do you check your voicemail JUST to get rid of that little icon?:	Yes.
Are you by any means broken?:	Perhaps.
Do you believe in astrology and horoscopes?:	Not really.
Are you one of those people who constantly updates their status?:	Depends what's going on.
When are caps really necessary?:	Yelling or emphasis in a text-only medium.
Are you one of those people who answer surveys with an attitude?:	Depends how snarky I'm feeling.
You know, you should stop that, right?:	Stop what?!
Do you have obnoxious next-door neighbors like I do?:	I have annoying upstairs neighbors who shower at 4 AM!
Are you Irish in any way?:	Nope... wish I was.
Would you like a hamburger?:	Yes, please.
And perhaps, maybe, some fries with that?:	Sure, why not?
*clears throat* Sorry.. that was lame.
Are you good with confrontations?:	Not really.
Don't brunettes have fun too?:	I'm sure they do!
So, uh, how's your back been lately?:	Pretty good.
Do you know how to sign your name in sign language?:	Not really.
What about your family do you love?:	Bad question right now.
Does daylight savings time annoy you and mess up your sleeping schedule?:	YES! I'm up at 9 AM right now because of it... *grumble*
What is / was the hardest thing to learn in Algebra?:	Those darned equations...
What's your favorite sport to watch on TV or live?:	Hockey!
Should we consider cheerleading a sport?:	Probably not.
Quote a favorite movie here::	"It goes up to ELEVEN!"
Do you know what the longest word in the English language is?:	Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis!
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is the answer, btw.
Are you excited to see anyone?:	Not right now - I'd rather have my downtime.
Has anyone ever talked about you right beside you?:	Yes, ALL the time!
When someone is idle on AIM, does it bother you?:	Not unless I want to talk to them right then. *Corey*
If I asked you what sport the Bruins play, would you know the answer?:	Of course! Hockey!
What lyrics explain how you're feeling right now? :	Any ANNOYED lyrics would be right on the money.
What are you looking forward to in the next few days? :	Awana after Spring Break, and true safety in a car!
Quick! Name three things you want right now..:	Bible cover, Salisbury Steak, and more sleep.
What is the last thing that made you feel extremely guilty and why?:	Not saying bye to Billie's mom the last time I stayed over, because it wasn't polite, AND I'd seen her before I left to catch the bus too!
What song have you found yourself listening to a lot lately?:	I don't know... been listening to a lot of Children of Bodom lately.
Do you find it hard to make eye contact with certain people?:	Oh yes, especially this one person in particular...
Do you lie about being happy to someone who made you upset?:	Sometimes, yes.
Are you a fan of music videos?:	Sure, why not?
Who inspires you the most? :	I don't know...
Do you think about your future a lot?:	Maybe.
What is your quote to live by?:	Too many to choose from.
Is there anything you need to admit to someone?:	Perhaps, perhaps not.
Are you good with pronouncing complicated last names?:	It depends.
Do you know anyone with diabetes personally?:	I was going to say "No," but then I thought of this one person...
Doesn't slow internet bother you?:	Yeah, it does.
Do you like the attention on you at all times? :	No, I'm good with fading behind the scenes.
Do you like orange soda? :	Sometimes.
Would you ever consider going to Germany? (If you haven't been already..):	You bet!
Do you miss someone right now? What's their name? :	I hate this question.
Do you read websites like MLIA and FML?:	Sometimes.
So, do you like hockey?:	Yes.
Would you ever move to another country?:	Depends what is there.
Do you chew gum a lot?:	Chewing some right now!
What's your favorite thing to do on the weekends? :	Read!
Are your passwords the same for everything?:	No.
Do you have a favorite record company?:	No.
Does Microsoft Word consider your first or last name as a typo?:	My last name, yes.
Seriously, why aren't you going after what you want right now?:	Too early.
What channel is your TV usually on?:	Sports, or Global.
Is there anything you wish you could tell someone, but can't?:	Possibly.
Who is your favorite actor right now?:	None.
Anything you find creepy that others probably don't?:	Probably...
What is something that makes you metaphorically feel sick?:	Too many things to count.
Do you think it's possible to be friends with someone you wanna be with?:	Could be...
Is there someone you don't ever want to be out of your life?:	Maybe.
When you say you don't care, do you mean it?:	Probably.
Will you be single when spring comes around:	Considering the way my life is going, yes.
Have you ever liked anyone whose name started with a J?:	No comment.
Are you a heart breaker?:	Definitely not.
You've been totally Bzoink*d! Take This Survey | Search Surveys | Create a Survey

Key lime pie, green cupcakes, bagpipes at the Foggy Dew Irish Pub, and houses on the hill

I had to call Jon and Steph to tell them about something EPIC, haha. No, I am not pregnant - holy unexploded bombshell, Batman! Went to Karmie's soon after that - only Stella and I showed up, so we put off the study in favor of talking about baking / cooking / parenting / nephews / kids / clothing / key lime pie and food coloring / green frosting on cupcakes / hockey tournaments in Summerland and the snow up there / Scottish bagpipes / SUPERSIZE ME / Chicken McNuggets / the beach / swimming / green, and more. After I got home, I went to the Foggy Dew for maybe half an hour to check out what was going on there: bagpipes, impromptu Irish jigs, HONKY-TONK WOMEN, MOONDANCE, live band, and more. Lots of Guinness hats, green outfits, and such stuff was around in the loud pub!

Trivia fact for Thursday, Mar. 18: Which U.S. president was living in a house on San Juan Hill when he received news of his election as commander in chief? Herbert Hoover, in 1928. The 57-room house (on San Juan Hill in Palo Alto, California) was the first and only permanent residence that Hoover and his wife, Lou, shared. Now a national historic site, it serves as the home of the president of Stanford University.

St. Patrick's Day / Green bling / Free detergent / Worldwide calls of GOLD MEDAL goal / Beer

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY! Am wearing my green bling sweater, haha.

DAMMIT! This thing just restarted - AGAIN! Definitely time to do laundry around here, again. Oh well. Called Barry to see if we could do shopping - I guess Friday the 26th works, but 11 AM isn't likely to be a good time. But what can you do? I was doing my laundry, and someone had left about one-third of a bottle of liquid laundry detergent. Decided to take it when nobody had come back for it in an hour. Score! (and yes, I poured a bit out to verify that it really was detergent and not something else!)

The "IGGY!" Heard Around The World - via Jon H. and Nate, these are various worldwide calls of Sidney Crosby's gold-medal goal at the Olympics!

You Are Guinness

You are hip, well-educated, and a bit of a beer snob. It's likely that you live in (or at least drink in) the city. You won't drink just anything, though you are somewhat adventurous about trying new beers. You consider yourself a beer aficionado. You are concerned with how you look and how you seem. People admire you, and you enjoy being well thought of. You are a social drinker and rarely drink alone. You feel more at home in a cozy pub than in your own home.

What Type of Beer Are You?

Blogthings: Take a Quiz. Annoy Your Friends.

Erasing deficits, surprising people with Chinese, and Irish snacks

High-scoring words of the night so far:

YAUPON (117 points) - against Jim V. [two 3W] {good deficit-erasing word!}

Before I left for the library, I told Corey that I had finally mailed his thing to him on Saturday. He said he had to mail mine soon, too. Then he said that he'd surprised random girls and Jane with his knowledge of Chinese, haha. Sounds good to me!

[16:52:16] AlenaBrolxFlami: by the way, I finally mailed your thing on Saturday afternoon, using AIR mail :D
[16:53:44] mrptptpt: well, I need to mail your thing. I even braved buying one of the things myself without Jane's help, and the girl was afraid to talk to me, but I used Chinese at the end and surprised her, ha :P
[16:55:04] AlenaBrolxFlami: hahaha, that's super!
[16:58:38] mrptptpt: I surprised Jane, too. I saw a girl with lots of tattoos and piercings and stuff, which is literally the only person like that I've ever seen in Taiwan, so I said she probably listens to better music, and I should go talk to her. Jane said "go ahead," thinking I couldn't... but I asked if she spoke English, in apparently perfect Chinese (I'm perfect if you limit it to one of the few sentences I know really well :P) ... and Jane had never heard me ask anything like that before, so she was shocked :P
[16:59:38] AlenaBrolxFlami: HAHAHAHAHAHA!


Harmony says she can't make Women's Group tomorrow because she and Jon got tickets to see a play with an out-of-town friend. Fair enough, and I was in the shower when she called me back!

Trivia fact for Wednesday, Mar. 17: What is the principal ingredient of the traditional Irish snack known as crubeens or cruibins? Pig's feet.

Tarin might really love her, we don't know... but bombs incapacitate CTU anyway!

Decided to go to the library to watch last night's episode of 24. The library computers are faster than the one I have at home, and I was pleasantly surprised to have my pick of them at 5:30 or so! The episode was pretty intense!

Bubba helpfully recaps the last hour for us, rendering the entire "Previously on 24" stuff at the beginning of the show useless. Arlo wants to know who to report to, Dana or Chloe. You see, he has no problem standing at attention and saluting either one of them. In his pants, of course. Tarin gets a call from Samir, and he's told to bring Kayla with him and get away from the hotel. Tarin is still trying to be nice to Kayla, agreeing to give her a few more seconds, and I have a feeling he's not 100% behind what's about to go down. Or else he really does love her. Some NYPD officer named Sgt. Amos is on the scene, and Jack orders him to set up a perimeter. "Make sure you leave the back entrance completely unguarded so that the hostile can escape, and we can drag this out for a few more episodes," Jack reminds him. Okay, I made that up. Or did I? The NYPD need to learn about subtlety, as Tarin sees several troops brazenly running towards the hotel. All that was missing were the blaring sirens and Sgt. Amos getting on the megaphone and shouting, "Tarin! We have you surrounded!" Tarin breaks down the bathroom door with his shoulder (which was pretty impressive) and grabs Kayla. Jack realizes what is going on, and he orders Sgt. Amos to maintain his perimeter. Sgt. Amos, of course, doesn't listen to Jack and decides to go in after Tarin. Do I need to tell you what's about to happen here?

Tarin kills two police officers (including Famous Amos), grabs a walkie-talkie, and impersonates an officer. Man, he's just racking up those crimes, isn't he? Tarin tries to clear an exit path for himself and Kayla, but Jack realizes what is going on. Tarin manages to escape anyway, as his associate pulls up in a taxi and kills two cops, allowing Tarin to escape. On second thought, it's entirely possible that the guy was just a regular cab driver and not an associate of Tarin's. Jack sees the cab pulled off to the side of the tunnel, and Jack screams at them to come out. Come on, Jack, we all know there's no one in there. Sure enough, the cab is empty, and Jack acts surprised. I'm not sure why. That always happens on this show.

Dana goes to speak with Kevin's probation officer, the guy who played Jimmy James on Newsradio. She tells him that she liked Newsradio better with Jon Lovitz than Phil Hartman. As such, the probation officer immediately knows she's lying. Dana admits she lied over the phone, and knew Kevin might have been the actual reason. Who cares at this point? I think we're all sick of this storyline. Dana also admits to having gone for a romp with Kevin in the back of his van a few weeks ago, and I really hate these writers for making me feel bad for Cole. Dana tries to blow him off by saying that they're in the middle of an emergency, but he doesn't care. And why should he? Half of CTU doesn't seem to care. Hassan's wife blames CTU for losing Kayla, but this one is on NYPD. See? It's not always CTU's fault. Samir orders his men to tie up Kayla while putting her in front of a flag that, I assume, is Kamistan's. Tarin seems conflicted about this. I would be, too. Kayla is pretty cute.

The kidnappers call the Hassans, and CTU, despite the fact that they were expecting this, still have trouble setting up the trace. Ladies and gentlemen – our tax dollars at work. Samir puts it on the Internet, and then tortures Kayla by putting a plastic bag over her head. Meanwhile, most surfers are like "Yeah, I've seen worse stuff at Rotten.com!" Samir wants some file, but Hassan pleads ignorance. What could it be? I'm betting it's a sex tape or something. Nope, turns out it's a confidential Dept. of Defense file detailing the United States' nuclear detection capabilities. Meanwhile, Arlo thinks he's detected where Kayla is, so CTU decides to make up a fake file so that they can buy some time. Jack is indignant about not releasing the actual file, and the Hassans are outraged that he's willing to let their precious Kayla die. "You brought this threat into my country," Jack says coldly. I bet Hassan's wife pulls a Sherry Palmer, and sends the file to the terrorists behind her husband's back.

Tarin shows off his doe eyes to Kayla, and he's clearly conflicted about this. Samir is concerned that Tarin won't be up to the job. "Oh, I'm up to the job," Tarin assures him. You should have seen him a couple of hours ago in the hotel. The probation officer is back, and he wanders onto the floor. He finally says that he knows about the security cameras going out, and he wants CTU's data. Stephen Root is delightfully creepy here. Nice addition to the cast. Dana calls Cole and tells him, "It's over." Cole isn't sure what she means, and she says that the probation officer knows about the cameras. Cole says he'll "talk" to the officer when he gets back, but Dana won't go for it. Just have Jack do it. He seems to get away with everything.

Kayla tries to reason with Tarin, and it seems to have an effect. He makes a split-second decision to take off with Kayla, and they make it to a car. Tarin shows off some nice fighting skills, but ultimately, Samir kills him. Kayla takes off in the car. Well, so much for Tarin. I actually thought that maybe the plan was to have Tarin and Kayla escape so that he could get to CTU and take them out, but I guess not. Kayla calls into CTU, and Jack only cares about where she was being held. How insensitive. She says it was some abandoned bank, and of course, that happens to the only one in the city. Jack and Cole get there, and find that it's completely empty. And yes, I wrote that sentence before it actually happened on TV. Surprisingly, Samir doesn't leave an explosive or anything behind, so Jack and Cole have the run of the place. Samir could have learned a few things from Marwan.

Send in the drones! They pick up Samir and his buddies exiting the building, and Jack and Cole move to intercept. Bubba starts popping the champagne corks, and I have a feeling his celebration is a bit premature. Turns out, Tarin is still alive, as the drone picks up his face. Sure enough, the terrorists let her escape because there's a bomb in her car. Oh man! I was right. Kind of. Jack realizes the plan, and tells Bubba not to let Kayla into CTU. Dana says Kayla is pulling into the tunnel, although it would have been much funnier if Kayla had just popped into CTU and been like, "Hey everyone!" There's a giant EMP inside the car, and it goes off, incapacitating CTU. In other words, just like when Bierko took them out with the nerve gas, those domestic terrorists blew up the building in season 2, and when the Chinese mercenaries held everyone hostage in season 6. Shouldn't the government have a contingency plan for if and when CTU gets taken out by now? Jack realizes CTU is down and decides to bring in NSA. There goes the neighborhood.

COOKIE HEAVEN dream / Essays / Philosophy

DAMMIT, THIS THING JUST RESTARTED! Dreamed that I was in COOKIE HEAVEN (over 10,000 varieties all the time?!) at a large store, since they had Christmas cookies all year round, virtual gifts made real, and lots of cards - I got a couple for Randal while going around the store. ODD! Finally sent off that edited essay to Andrew fairly soon after I woke up at around 2. I did the best I could, heh. The last part was basically nonsense, and I hate to say that. Oh well. Also had to reinstall Semagic because of a stupid error message: "no client specified," indeed!

You Are Skepticism

You live by the philosophy "Question Everything." And you do question everything, including this quiz result. You think people believe in too much, and you think very little is true. You scoff at astrology and psychics. You're not a nihilist - you believe in some things. But you only believe in what's true and tested. You have lots of opinions and theories, but you never take them too seriously. You're always willing to change your mind.

What's Your Ism?

Blogthings: 100's of Fun, Free Quizzes and 3 Stupid Ones

Grandma's 90th birthday dinner, closed malls, weirdness, and BACK TO THE FUTURE

I almost forgot the tax documents on my way out, but it's a good thing I turned back home because I wasn't at the bus stop yet. This meant that I took a later bus than I thought I would, and then I was walking around Zellers and then the outside of Lansdowne Mall trying to find an accessible entrance since the mall was closed by then. My mom saw me from her car, and honked. I would have found Gingeri Restaurant EVENTUALLY (just one more entrance...), but she was like "Get in - you're already late!" At least I kept it reasonably polite, and thanked my dad for still doing my taxes. Jon termed the fact that Dad was doing my taxes as "awesome," which I agreed with.

Congratulated my grandma on her 90 years of life when she was finished ordering food, and told her to open the birthday card. She wondered who the Chinese writing was from, so I asked Jon: he HAD given the card to Cindy to write some stuff in it, as she'd told me on Friday. Grandma also seemed to like the bling on my red sweater - I was sending a subtle message to my parents, since I bought everything I wore MYSELF. Mom says that I have to let her know by next week about some dinner on Sunday night (I won't go), and by the beginning of April about looking after Grandma - I guess that works. Steph reinforced that I wouldn't have to see the parents, which is a bonus! Dad gave me some form that I have to get Auntie Ruby to sign, which is fine. Mom says that Alan Yu gave me a red envelope ($20), so I should thank him later - I KNOW THAT!

Discussed Steph's Tokyo pictures (THE BOOTY LOGO?!), Ceci, Angela and her much older husband, Myles eating real food again since his parents are now home, Brit, prospective trips, my eccentricity, Harmony's new job, my mom's new job right across the street from me (TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT!), Mom recording the gold medal hockey game in PUNJABI for Steph (?!), busing, parking, costs, Alexander Ovechkin's suspension, TMI, how I should go curling to just hang out (NO), courses, too many "jokes," and more. Had fried fish in tomato sauce, veggies, crab, and more. Steph says that not everyone else would laugh as much at dinner... not at MY EXPENSE! True, they tease Harmony about being a cougar, but still. Harmony wondered why Grandma would pay the $197.40 bill, but it's a Chinese cultural thing!

Later, Dad said he could drive me home, but I was good with transit. Jon and Harmony took the opportunity to tease me about sitting next to a certain person - um, we were separated by Eric! (Eric had been running late, after all...) Got home to a request by Andrew to proofread his term paper on fetal alcohol syndrome - sure thing! I can open the Word document as a Google document, thank goodness. Then again, I got home to a funny comment by a certain person about how my name should be "Leslie Renee Elizabeth Roxanna Shaniqua-Jo Ng the III, ESQUIRE." That would be SUCH a mouthful, although it would be hilarious to try making Mom pronounce the "black" name in that set, hahaha!


Trivia fact for Tuesday, Mar. 16: At what speed did Michael J. Fox (as Marty McFly) have to drive to activate the time machine in Doc Emmett Brown's DeLorean in the 1985 film Back To The Future? 88 miles per hour.

Grandma is 90 today! / New Middle Name

Grandma turns 90 today... ugh, birthday dinner! After a month of delaying, I sent Jon / Harmony / Steph an edited version of the conversation I had with Billie about that night in the kitchen.

Your New Name Should Be Leslie Renee

Renee means reborn - a new name, a new you!

What Should Your Middle Name Be?

Blogthings: Discover the Parts of Your Personality that Have Been Hiding

Gutless TORCHWOOD in the asylum, and Satchel Paige

High-scoring words of the night:

PANIER (144 points) - against Kristi M. [two 4W]
GUTLESS (203 points) - against Deidre B. [two 5W, hook off AA to make AAL]


Listened to old-time radio shows, and they had something called TORCHWOOD: ASYLUM on. It was a bit interesting, since I've vaguely heard of it before through LJ or Facebook. Edited a tag just because someone needs his own, haha. And now it's officially the Ides of March!

Trivia fact for Monday, Mar. 15: What reason did baseball legend Satchel Paige give for not knowing how old he was? Paige, who admitted to being 59 in 1965 when he last pitched in the major leagues, claimed the family goat "ate the Bible that had my birth certificate in it." His tombstone has question marks where his birth date should have been engraved. He died in 1982.

Fake chains and jewelry, oh my!

Eric and I had a discussion-filled ride to church... he wondered if I'd decided about Monday yet. Halfway, I said... yes, he's right when he calls it sitting on the fence! We kinda talked about feelings, sure. We walked into service pretty late, so we got seats by Dave in the last few rows. I noticed Mr. Creep in the last row of our section, and took some time to plot how I'd delay myself getting out of there so he wouldn't touch my stuff. (ridiculous, yes...) Also took some time to re-read the prep lesson for today, although the kids turned out to have NO attention span whatsoever! Next time, I should just be like "Jesus did this with his friends, and then taught people that. The End." Hahaha.

After service, I talked to Jon and Harmony (plus Karen Chu from Toronto) briefly in the sanctuary - and noticed Martin talking to Mr. Creep. Well, that's all right. Delayed myself even further by saying hi to baby Mattias, and talking to Melia about fried chicken and the hockey game yesterday. Quickly did a verbal RSVP to Andrea for her wedding in case I forget: Eric keeps forgetting to RSVP to Joe's wedding, and wondered what I'd do at the banquet time. Good question - I don't know! I noticed that the clock in the fellowship hall hadn't been changed yet (much like the one in Eric's car), but that was okay. Harmony said that my mom had copied me in the email, but I didn't want to go through my email looking for it later. Dinner is tomorrow at 7:30 (clash with the beginning of JACK BAUER?!), and will be at Gingeri in Lansdowne.. I think we went there last year, too!

Dave approached me with a smile and a handshake - I'm comfortable with that! We talked about Malibu, fake jewelry and chains at trinket stores ("you can look like a gangsta for $10!"), paying bills, his hanging out with his brother and sister-in-law today, and his status about wanting some double cheeseburgers at McDonalds. You bet I saw it if I even commented on it, man! He made it sound so casual when he said that we should go out for those things sometimes - for SURE! And here I was, telling Eric that it would sound weird if I did the same friendly thing - casual is good, for sure! After a while, we just stood around awkwardly - I noticed that the (lukewarm) coffee had been brought in, so turned my attention to Adam instead. He said his friends had put those TMI status updates in about diarrhea / ShamWows and being lonely / horny... lesson to be learned here? Don't EVER let your friends borrow your Blackberry, dude!

Had some lukewarm coffee, and warned Jeremy about it as we talked about a number of things. Saw Joshua and Keenan, so talked to them for a while - they're so cute! Rolled-up bulletins as swords and guns, oh my! Wished Maxine and Fabian a happy belated birthday, and went upstairs after talking to Chrystal about what she'd done yesterday. Had a BIG class today even with Amanda and birthday boy Conor absent: Ramen, Shira, Amos, Harrison (not setting a good example), Esther, Jason, Micah, Mattias, David, and Evelyn. Micah liked Lego and the Etch-A-Sketch... he even told me to look at some scribbles he'd drawn! I clapped for those, haha. Esther, Micah, and Mattias liked the stickers with the bracelets, though! Saw Ada and Ian on the way out, so I asked Ian if he'd gone to the Awana Sleepover on Friday. He was busy with a friend's birthday party, so I said that he'd missed a chance to stay up ALL night and bug the leaders! (to Ada, I added that I'd seen people's Facebook statuses about being up at 3 AM with a bunch of rowdy kids who hadn't slept yet) Ian said he couldn't do that... "Oh, I can only stay up half the night." Hahaha, sounds good to me if you get some fun in BEFORE you sleep!

After that, it was downstairs to wait for Jon's food class to be finally over - talked to Lincoln and Karen for a bit. I learned that the Daniel Fellowship would also be going curling on Friday at the same time and place - independently thought of, so it's a coincidence! When it was done, I went in and carefully avoided Mr. Creep until he started talking about smacking my brother - you do NOT do that, even as a joke, and even if he can fight his own battles! I had fun talking to Joyce, Grace, and Quan while we partook of homemade fries and ketchup. Cleaned up the dishes in the kitchen - of course Mr. Creep HAD to introduce himself to Eric and Stanley's dad (insinuating yourself into the church janitorial work?), AND eat all the leftover fries! *sigh*

Auntie Rebecca briefly talked to me about my mother issues - no, I haven't talked to her since that night, since I value my mental sanity! I wouldn't go over there for SOUP, either - she says she understands, anyhow. Jeremy demonstrated making a knot out of plastic bags by rolling the excess bag up... it kinda worked, haha. Eventually, we decided on something quick like Pho for lunch since Eric had to be back in Richmond at 2:30. Due to cleaning up and some people's tendencies to loiter, we didn't leave till 1:45. Stanley and Jonathan let Eric and Jeremy know about drumming and school camp conflicting with things on our way out, too. The time might have been enough time to eat, but not enough time to drop me off and then go right back out to Riverport! Of course I understood!

I probably would have rather sat on the side of the table which had Randal, Jen, Christon, and Kevin... not with Jeremy, Eric, and Mr. Creep! Too close quarters, for sure! Jon, Harmony, and Karen had to sit at another table! Talked about agriculture, Daniel being in the UK, Nathan, the Olympics Committees, the Paralympics, school cafeterias, the menu, commercials on TV, and kiddy cereals being filled with sugar! I respect what Jeremy has to say because he has much knowledge about stuff - even if I can't really contribute TOO much to the conversation (I felt stifled!), it's cool to learn some stuff, heh. Besides, he's a genuinely friendly guy! Learned that his parents would be going to Germany at Easter, so won't be here - yay, relatives!

Eric was doubtful that I'd be able to eat my meal really quickly (especially since they seemed to forget about it!), but I did because I am an NG! Hahaha! He wondered what the Ugs were doing later: swing-dancing, yes. Eventually, he had decided that he'd drop me off at Riverport, but I saw 41st coming up and wondered about Oakridge. I know where the bus stops are around there, and exactly where they go... unlike Silvercity! That worked as the best decision, heh.

Later, he advised me that if I were going to the dinner, to tell Steph - and also to not have any drama. Trust me, the drama is ALL Mom! He dropped me off about a block away, apologizing after I thanked him for the ride. Of course it's okay since it's Eric (non-abrupt and non-abrasive!), and I understand time crunches! (he had to get his parents to save him seats at AVATAR - yes, he had the tickets!) After a pit stop at the mall, I went home relatively quickly... called Steph and told her about Phil and Grace. She'd been at work till really late / early, so decided to sleep. Good decision!

Time change / Castles and fairy tales! / Acid

Hey, it appears I got enough sleep even with losing an hour - SCORE! Must be the MDSE, sleep aid, AND being tired in general. Hahaha. I just won't have enough time to properly tag this entry AND the last one before Eric calls to pick me up for church, but it's okay - LATER! Oh, and HAPPY PI DAY for all you geeks out there!

Edit: I had to call HIM as I got a bit worried at 9:25. Ron asked if I'd like to speak AT Eric... hahaha, of course I would! Says he was running late - hey, it works as long as he doesn't have to do sound or any other messy responsibility like that. ;)

You Are the Castle

You are a bit of a homebody and even somewhat of a loner. You function best when you're all by yourself. Other people see you as mysterious and even a little scary. They don't understand how deep and complicated you are. You have many layers to your personality, and there is always a surprise waiting around the corner with you. You aren't as scary as you seem, but you are intense. You require people to confront things about themselves that they'd rather not know.

What Part of a Fairy Tale Are You?

Blogthings: Waste Time at Work!

Trivia fact for Sunday, Mar. 14: When it comes to measuring acidity and alkalinity, what do the letters pH represent? Power (or Potential) of H