Anime conventions, my celebrity life, and what the HARRY POTTER characters think of me

The computer just restarted AGAIN for the third time tonight!

So, You Went to an Anime Con? by mizuiroashita
Your Name
You spent:	$7,492
What character did you glomp?	Aya Fujimiya
I sang this at Open Mic Night!:	Mezasei Pokemon Master
And proceeded to:	Summon Suzaku
I won the cosplay in my lovely:	Naga outfit

Who would you hang out with if you were a celebrity? by HoLLYWooDx
Name
Age
MTV or BET?
Your shopping buddy would be:	Britney Spears
Your best friend would be:	Justin Timberlake
You get drunk with:	Kid Rock
Your clubbing buddy would be:	Britney Spears
You're hated by:	Christina Aguilera
You're worth:	Nothing
Your style:	Goth

What do the Harry Potter Characters Think of You (For Girls) by SerpentinKatie
Name:
Age:
Color:
Albus Dumbledore thinks:	You're like family.
Arthur Weasley thinks:	Doesn't know who you are.
Bill Weasley thinks:	You're a Hateful Traitor.
Blaize Zabini thinks:	Loves you with all his heart.
Charlie Weasley thinks:	You're hot!
Draco Malfoy thinks:	Hates you! You Mudblood!
Fenrir Grayback thinks:	You better run, because he's hungry.
Filch thinks	You're a rotten filthy rich kid.
Fred Weasley thinks:	That you should be sent to Azkaban.
George Weasley thinks:	You're a dunderhead.
Ginny Weasley thinks:	You're the best person to talk to.
Hagrid thinks:	His hate for you is too deep.
Harry Potter thinks:	He hates you.
Hermione Granger thinks:	You should be sent to Azkaban.
Lucius Malfoy thinks:	You're beautiful!
Luna Lovegood thinks:	You're nice.
Minerva McGonagall thinks:	You're the best in Transfigurations.
Molly Weasley thinks:	You should date one of her sons.
Pansy Parkinson thinks:	You're cool.
Percy Weasley thinks:	You should become Head Girl.
Remus Lupin thinks:	He knows you're a werewolf, and wants you to be his mate.
Ron Weasley thinks:	He loves you!
Severus Snape thinks:	You're a great kisser.
Sirius Black thinks:	You're like a daughter to him.
Tonks thinks:	You're a bitch because you like Remus.

Edit: And it restarted AGAIN at 10:41! UGH!

Saxes, birthday cheesecake, and dragon shirts

High-scoring words of the evening:

NANDINA (297 points) - against Angela V. [two 5W, hook off BOO to make BOON] {a good deficit-erasing word!}
UNBELT (120 points) - against Alice P. [3W, two 2W]
SAX (124 points) - against Rebecca H.-F. [hook off REAM for a plural, 5L on X, 2W]
MELDER (100 points) - against Gail K. [5W, 2W]


This thing just restarted! Henry picked me up a little early, but that was okay. Got to church, and I told him that I'd be at another place next week... of course I plan to call him from that number to remind him later on in the week! I interacted with Olivia and Anne for a little bit, then put my Awana shirt on... their mom Sophia told me that it was backwards (I knew that), and their dad John wondered if I wouldn't be warm. Chrystal said that it was warm outside, but not necessarily inside! After a while of processing kids, I talked to Chrystal for a bit. She got emotional when she said that she was eating a lot of junk food, and couldn't seem to control herself. I can understand - junk food is cheap or a good deal, and you SAY you'll have it in moderation, but oftentimes you just CAN'T!

She said it was like I was inside her head and knew just what she was thinking, haha. Talked about grocery shopping, good deals, living by yourself, Yaohan's three dishes for $10, cheap stuff, and more - it's like the week-expired shrimp crackers that Auntie Vivian offered us! It's RIGHT THERE! Not even Emily is home to stop her, heh. I said that my parents were FINALLY away in China (Alan said something about that), and I was going to look after Grandma for a bit. Auntie Rebecca said something about cheesecake which she bought for Chris' birthday, but I couldn't partake of any since Henry had to leave early to look after his nieces while his sister went to the Children's Hospital Lottery. Maybe he'll take them biking since it's such a nice day! Ada couldn't drive me since John's niece is in town, and wanted to eat in Chinatown... understandable! Wished Chris a happy birthday on our way out, too. Now I gotta do laundry, personal maintenance, and find stuff like my dragon shirt! I'm pretty sure I didn't throw it away...

Edit at 2020: The computer restarted AGAIN! And the elevator doesn't work - ugh, still have to do laundry! But... I FOUND THE DRAGON SHIRT ON MY DESK IN MY ROOM! Yeah, I know - odd place to put clothing. :P

Opera and being adventurous statewide!

Bingo of the afternoon:

STATEWIDE (130 points) - against Joan C.

High-scoring words of the afternoon:

BARIC (109 points) - against Julie F. [two 3W, hook off AW to make CAW]
STATEWIDE (130 points) - against Joan C. [bingo, 5W]


I'm trying out Opera for real this afternoon. Firefox has crashed at least four times, and it's not even 1:30 yet!

You Are Adventurous

You are quite adventurous and brave, but you are also reasonable about it. You don't have to be on an adventure 24/7. You have good judgment and balance. You like to try new and exciting things, but you also pay attention to risk. You're not the type of person who would throw your life away just to go on a new trip or have a new romantic partner. You like your thrills in small, safe doses. You are gutsy in all aspects of your life from career to relationships.

Are You Adventurous?

Blogthings: Quizzes and Tests and Memes, Oh My!

Winter / Chinese Eric talk! / Taiwan earthquakes and teaching / Landlocked navy

This thing just restarted! I was kinda going to play Wordscraper, but I should probably sleep now!

High-scoring word of the night:

WINTERS (111 points) - against Carol-Ann H. [5W, hook off SIZER for a plural]


Talked to Chinese Eric for about an hour before he left to go grocery shopping - it was good! He asked about Jon and Harmony, and marveled at Nathan's hockey dedication. Said he saw the lowlights from tonight's game - he's right that the boys are in danger of being bounced out of the playoffs! He went through a rough patch with Gena, but they're still dating... he also hopes to give me the computer in October or November, if things don't change even MORE with his job and Macau! We'll see!

Corey says there was ANOTHER earthquake over in Taiwan:

[00:14:17] Corey: I think there was an earthquake just now...
[00:14:31] Flami: oh, crap
[00:14:34] Corey: very mild, but I'm pretty sure it was shaking
[00:14:58] Corey: Jane is asleep, and it didn't wake her up at all or anything
[00:15:11] Flami: what time is it?
[00:15:38] Corey: 3:15 PM
[00:16:01] Corey: we had to wake up for my class
[00:18:10] Flami: ah yes... how did that go?
[00:19:26] Corey: well, they got bored at the start when I was trying to teach vocab words.. I was going to prepare an interesting way, but wasn't sure if I had the right book, so I didn't spend time on that. but they told me in the middle that they didn't need THAT much help with those words, so I moved on to more discussion things
[00:21:26] Corey: there were some different people there this week that talked more
[00:23:33] Flami: how much help were you trying to give them? :P
[00:24:20] Corey: it was about directions, so I drew a map and started explaining all the terms
[00:25:41] Flami: "this is north, this is south, this is east, and this is west!"
[00:33:17] Corey: no, I didn't get to those before they asked me to move on :P they were there, though
[00:38:21] Flami: haha... well, I guess that's good to know. what did you do, explain "this is a house and this is a park"?
[00:40:05] Corey: no, words like across from, diagonally, around, ahead, behind, escort, U-turn... I don't know, lots of stuff
[00:40:48] Flami: haha, okay. I guess that works
[01:01:07] Corey: I should find things other than the book to do usually though, that's kind of boring
[01:01:51] Corey: I'm also replacing basically the best teacher there (a guy from Vancouver, who left this area to go to Taipei), so almost no matter what the class is, it's going to be worse for them :P
[01:02:12] Corey: but they gave me one day's notice on it... so I didn't have time for tons of stuff :P
[01:02:15] Flami: VANCOUVER! YAY!
[01:02:21] Corey: this next week, I might be able to plan more
[01:02:25] Flami: no, I don't think you did have time for prep...
[01:02:27] Corey: that's my class now :P
[01:02:33] Flami: SWEET! :D

Trivia fact for Saturday, May 8: What South American country has a navy even though it's been landlocked since 1883? Bolivia, which lost 250 miles of Pacific coastline to neighboring Chile as a result of the War of the Pacific, which was fought for control of the nitrate-rich Atacama Desert.

So... you WANT me to keep you company?! Okay! (babies peeing during ultrasound)

Eric picked me up after 7, and bugged me about stuff as per the usual. I asked if he could give me and Grandma a ride from the townhouse next Sunday, and he turned that into jokingly exploiting a 90-year-old lady for her money in payment for said ride! Crazy times on the way to church, with Riverview references galore - I am not schizophrenic, thanks! I told him that he was denying his own craziness, and needed to accept it with the help of some 12-step program, even if those are normally for addictions! He wondered whether my parents were REALLY going to China, since it could be a trap to lure me into the parental abode, where I'd be put in a cage till they got back. I said that Mom had wanted to put me in Steph's crawlspace, so I wouldn't be surprised if that actually did happen! Then he wondered why I couldn't make it next week - I would, but my grandma is a concern. He figures that she can eat Pho at a different table, or go somewhere with her friends (NOT the dead ones!) where we could pick her up later. Maybe... we'll see. I got emails saying that next week would work for most people - so perhaps I'll have to do it that way.

At the church, we said hi to a bunch of people on our way into the fellowship hall. I noticed Mr. Creep being flanked by Jen and Eric when we DID sit down to listen to the Frog Hollow / Skeena Terrace people talk about what they provide for the community - they'd better watch out! I just tried not looking behind me, especially when Jon and Harmony said that Dave was there... I actually jokingly accused them of lying, haha! It was an interesting talk, although Mr. Creep had far too much input afterwards in a question and answer period! Food banks, accessible services, relationships with other community services, respect for people, and more... pretty interesting food for thought! Ivan mentioned that we'd lost 7-4 to Chicago... AW, MAN! When the talk was done, I told Jon that the Pho lunch had been rescheduled because of Mother's Day - I knew Jon wouldn't have had a chance to check his email. Maybe we can have lunch with Grandma instead! Jon thought I should know when Auntie Teresa is coming to look after Grandma - nope, since I was kinda focused on getting outta there after dinner that time! I also admired some family thank-you cards with Dianne and Martin... those were so sweet, even if it didn't cost us too much to send the food hampers out in the first place!

Decided to go for a joking approach with Dave (just before he talked to Pastor John about stuff - I walked away to give him some privacy AND because I didn't want to seem like I wanted to hang around him a lot :P) - that didn't quite work since he didn't hear my "Man, I thought you fell off the face of the earth!" greeting. Stupid high voice when I get nervous... *ugh* He's still at Kin's, which I knew - but still on the job hunt to pay bills and such! Then he said that I was experiencing "the kaleidoscope of life" - that could be an apt description, all right! He mentioned that he'd seen the post I'd made about the crazy Mother's Day gifts - the thumbnail picture I'd included had cracked him up! Oh yeah... green soap coming out of a huge nose had done the same for me! I said that people (Jeremy and me) DO notice when he's not around, and he said that he IS a church regular - fair enough, because even I have my days where I'm not there! (and it ISN'T because of "weakness" like my mother thinks! UGH!)

Took in a conversation about playing at weddings and such (Gilbert?) with Martin, Phyllis, Harmony, and Jon - knowing nobody at your table is always awkward, even if you're an extrovert who just wants to NOT talk! Talked to Jen, Christon, and Isabel about Jen's party on Sunday - she says she should have had it on Monday night instead! Apparently, the Bible Pictionary game was quite amusing because of what Jeremy had drawn for various clues... John the Baptist and water / walls, the Transfiguration, and other crazy things. Saw Cindy talking to Eric about something, and my email answers the question of WHAT... he's facilitating Bible Study soon!

I joined Wesley, Dave, Dylan, Dianne, Deb, and Kevin in talking about life and such. When the topic got around to Mother's Day, I said that I didn't have to celebrate it - Kevin wondered what was up, so I told him. Dave said that his family usually celebrates it when the restaurants are less crowded... sounds sensible to me! A bit later, he said that he had to "bounce," but would be there on Sunday. I expressed joking dubiousness about that, and he said something about how I could keep him company in the corner of the congregation while he had his dunce cap on... okay, then! I guess this means he WANTS me to sit by him... or as Eric pragmatically put it, he notices that I go out of my way to sit by him anyhow. HA HA HA.

I talked to Martin, Kevin, Wesley, and Dianne about food security, food safety, bacteria, pasta or spaghetti sauce from the dollar store, expiry dates and best before dates, green or curdled milk, and other things. Dianne said that she's excited to be an aunt soon - she's thinking of her brother's baby as hers, haha. She hopes her brother and his wife don't choose "Asian" names like Priscilla for the kid, although they might, knowing them! Kevin brought up transliterated names, too. The guys weren't looking too enthused about this line of discussion, especially when Dianne brought up the fact that the baby girl had peed during the ultrasound. I pointed that out, and said that they looked ready to follow Dave out the door, haha. Dianne said that I rocked, and we gave each other a side-hug. How could you NOT like a baby that does its own thing during an ultrasound?! Even the tech had said something about how she'd never seen that before in ten years! Twenty weeks is your last ultrasound unless you have problems, apparently... and the amniotic fluid is the baby's pee, which it drinks. Kevin said that at least it's sterile - for sure! There was some joking about how Dianne was a bad doctor because she didn't know certain things.

Eric came up to me, wondering if I was ready to leave - you bet! I noticed that the church was apparently giving away books, since there were a couple of piles on the front desk with a sign reading "Please Take One." On the way home, Eric said that I need to control Shane O'Brien so he doesn't take stupid penalties... sorry, but the hockey result is NOT MY FAULT! He noted that Darkwing had been there tonight - yes, but it's not like I talked to him a whole lot! We discussed playing Wordscraper against someone named Sun, LOST characters named Sun and Jin, my being a snorter and weirdo, Tim Horton's, grammatical errors in songs ("between you and I" is NOT CORRECT!), artistic license, Big Sugar's BUTTERBALL, annoying me / pissing me off for the whole weekend, doing sound AND offering on Sunday, various WORLD OF WARCRAFT things relating to orphans / Children's Week / assault, music as background noise being fine WITHOUT the lyrics, weird MARIO videos on Youtube, Mr. Creep, Daniel, and more. Beatboxing and playing the flute?! COOL! I also mentioned that Chinese Eric had sent me some messages over the past few days, and said that he was back in Hong Kong to deal with an emergency there. When I got home, I called Steph to see if she'd be available for lunch with Grandma on Sunday - depends what time she gets back from Francois' wedding in Agassiz. She is staying overnight, since she plans to drink... yeah, getting arrested for that would be pretty awkward, especially with all the cop arrests in the news lately! Left a message on Jon's cell, too.

Edit at midnight: HA. Look who shows up on MSN tonight... good times with Chinese Eric!

Warm or Cool?

Chinese Eric said hi to me again this morning. Even though I wasn't up at almost 7 AM, I still appreciate his effort! Got an email from Deb saying that she and Dylan just realized that this Sunday is Mother's Day. She wonders if we should keep the Pho lunch, or reschedule. Personally, I don't care about Mother's Day, especially since mine will not be in town! (I bet Jon would probably say the same) We'll see what happens, although I hate leaving it up to others since everyone will be like LET'S RESCHEDULE! And what do you know, Eric just suggested that. Grace can't make it, either! Then again, I might not be able to make it either, if we have lunch with Grandma... next week will be even worse, haha. Now Randal's shown up in my inbox with a suggestion for a fellowship program!

You Are a Cool Person

You are calm and collected. You don't make much of a fuss - in fact, no one can tell when you're excited. You are not very emotive and expressive. You tend to temper any feelings with logic and rationality. You are steady and consistent. You are a person of your word, and you like to keep to a schedule. Your energy tends to be at the same level throughout the day. You know how to pace yourself.

Are You Warm or Cool?

The First Rule of Blogthings Is: You Don't Talk About Blogthings

Ruining the attic, no privacy, enjoying freedom, teaching, and factories

High-scoring words of the night:

RUIN (200 points) - against Shari P. [4W, 5W, hook off DANCE to make DANCER]
ATTIC (300 points) - against Milka S. [two 5W]


Forgot to mention that Eric H. said hi to me at 8 AM - I wasn't up then! Called Auntie Ying, who says she now understands my issues with my mother a little more because of her co-workers. Her mom (who's 90) is due to come here for good from Toronto in August, and then they'll go to her village in China the next month. She said that she doesn't know what God wants her to do, so I told her to think of the poor people who might not want to be witnessed to! We discussed Mother's Day, buns, her and Uncle Peter not having any privacy, Bible Study Fellowship, hiking, showers, ping-pong, prayer items (I'm not asking her to pray that a certain person shows up tomorrow!), the program for tomorrow, toddler Sunday School (prep during service), maybe going out for lunch with me and my grandma when her mom gets here, and letting Chrystal enjoy her month's freedom. I agree with Uncle Peter - Chrystal should just enjoy it when her parents aren't around!


Corey messaged me:

[21:48:51] Corey: I was awake and at a class when you yelled at me, ya big dork
[21:49:09] Flami: now you're blocking my poke, you crazy person
[21:49:21] Corey: good thing I went too, because they told me I have a class to teach tomorrow, and they probably wouldn't have done that until late tonight like last week if I wasn't there in the morning... so now I have some time to prepare at least, but damn, tell me more than the day before
[21:49:33] Corey: I bet they knew they wanted me to teach that again last week :P
[21:49:50] Corey: go poke yourself
[21:52:56] Flami: you can't poke yourself on FB!
[21:53:48] Flami: oh, probably... it's the "let's tell them at the last minute" thing which is prevalent with my mother
[22:08:17] Corey: I want to know at the first minute because it's a 2 1/2 hour class, and kinda needs some preparation :P
[22:38:53] Flami: I can definitely understand that!
[22:40:44] Corey: I taught these people last week though, on zero preparation, and it sucked... they don't talk very much, and aren't a very high level class (meaning they'd still be better off with a teacher that speaks some Chinese to help explain things)
[22:41:30] Corey: but I at least know what part of their book they were told to look at last (like 3 weeks ago... their normal teacher moved, then they had a sub, then they had me, now they have me again, so it's been a while since they did normal things)
[22:42:20] Corey: so I can use their book for hopefully like half the class.. probably a bit less, and I have an activity I did last night with really low level students that need tons of Chinese help... it worked, and took up a lot of time there :P
[22:43:01] Corey: so hopefully I can add an article to read or some simple activities, and use up all the time that way
[23:26:02] Flami: hopefully, that will be good... I'm just eating too many buns here :P
[23:35:25] Corey: well, cut it out
[00:05:08] Corey: there's an army guy in the class tomorrow (no idea if he'll be there, he wasn't last week) who does triathalons and stuff, and says he eats tons of food, but he's really skinny
[00:05:26] Corey: the girls made fun of him for being a skinny soldier :P he should be big and tough
[00:15:05] Flami: haha, oh dear
[00:26:51] Corey: well, they weren't too mean :P but they said stuff like "are you going to TRY to get some muscle?"
[00:31:35] Flami: nice

Trivia fact for Friday, May 7: What was produced in the first factory established in what is now the United States - in the Jamestown Colony? Glass, in 1868.

Parental outseeing with tin horns / Idiot thinking I don't have control

Bingo of the evening:

TINHORNS (267 points) - against Sherisse G.

High-scoring words of the evening:

PARENTAL (340 points) - against Cathy T. [two 5W]
JARL (311 points) - against Jenny H. [4W, 2W, 3L on J, hook off PAPA to make PAPAL] {a good deficit-erasing word!}
OUTSEE (160 points) - against Ann W. [two 4W]
TINHORNS (267 points) - against Sherisse G. [4W, 5W, hook off VINO for a plural]
MILKY (170 points) - against Wendy W. [5W, 2W]
HIPPIE (900 points) - against Leslie G. [5W, two 3W]
UNSTRAPPED (180 points) - against Matt P. [5W, 2W]
SURREAL (300 points) - against Celia M. [two 5W]
OXALIS (135 points) - against Jo E. [two 3W]


Some idiot thinks that I can't control the comments on a photo which is in a public group on the Internet. Maybe not, but I can delete said photo. HA. :D

Bloody homicide dream / Frank / Life's Challenge / Fusion for toolheads!

This thing just restarted!

High-scoring words of the afternoon:

FUSION (186 points) - against Stacie N. [2W, two 3W, hook off SECS to make SO / EN]
AMICES (144 points) - against Jonathan A. [two 3W]
ONLAY (275 points) - against Celia M. [two 5W]
TOOLHEAD (328 points) - against Melanie C. [two 4W]


I got up on my own terms today - first time I've been able to do that all week! Had a weird dream where I was going to see the dentist, but I had to go up a set of stairs and sign in with a barrier between me and the receptionist. This barrier looked like a heater, haha. Then everyone there were witnesses to a pretty brutal homicide! These gang members didn't like someone who was proudly blasting N SYNC music, and stabbed them to death - there was a lot of blood everywhere! The police came pretty quickly when called, and we had to tell them what happened in a grid format. After we could leave, the dream somehow skipped a year. I was back at that dentist again, and this time I went straight inside the office - apparently, I could select my dentist. One of them happened to be Dave Wong - yikes!

I went directly to church, where Eric told me that my grandma insisted on spending time with Auntie May. Jon and I went in Auntie Ying's car, where she asked us ALL these questions. When we got to Auntie May's house, we wondered if Eric was going to join us - first, we went into the living room to wait for people who were late. We were under a time crunch, but everyone showed up with mandarin oranges! I woke up soon afterwards. No idea why I had the dream! I've just discovered that Frank Bryson added me on Facebook... I vaguely recall him from Palmer, so I'll add him back. Our mutual friends are Lisa, Chad, Troy, Miranda, Trevor, and Natasha. He also knows Darcy Tweedly, whom I haven't thought of in a LONG time! Wow!

Your Life's Challenge is Being Fickle

The whole world is open to you. You are a smart person with many resources and opportunities. You've lucked out a lot in life. Things always seem to go your way, and you've had many successes. You may be surprised to learn that you are standing in the way of more success by being a bit too irresponsible and flaky. If you stuck to things a bit longer, you would rule the world. You have much more in you than you even realize.

What's Your Life's Challenge?

Blogthings: If Quizzes Are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Take Quizzes

I don't think this is accurate...

Qi, needed naps, No Women's Group, conductors

High-scoring word of the night:

QI (100 points) - against Linda W. [4L on Q used twice, hooked off DINE]

Earlier tonight, I couldn't take being awake anymore, so I simply HAD to take a nap! Had dreams which I can't remember, but that's probably a good thing. Karmie says that her Steveston friend won't be able to join the group, so that's fine even if she did misspell my name! I also just noticed that the dates were wrong for all my facts this past week, and NOBODY TOLD ME! UGH! Good thing I caught it before publishing the weekly edition to my Facebook notes, boring_people, and useless_facts! Semagic makes editing easier, so that's a plus. I'd better go to bed soon if the sun is going to stream in the window EARLY!


Trivia fact for Thursday, May 6: Where was the great conductor Leopold Stokowski born and raised? In London, England.

Combating enslaved octets / Cooking FAIL

High-scoring words of the afternoon:

TOWIE (200 points) - against Rebecca H.-F. [5W, 4W]
OCTET (135 points) - against Tyson A. [3W, 4W]
COMBAT (130 points) - against Gregoria L. [5W, 3L on B]
ENSLAVE (176 points) - against Garry M. [two 4W]
OOGAMY (282 points) - against Matt P. [4W, 5W] {a good deficit-erasing word!}
IODIZE (216 points) - against Sandra B. [4W, 3W]


Note to self: Cook the rice in water FIRST before adding anything like cream of mushroom soup or vegetables to it. That way, you don't waste food OR have a salty inedible mess on your hands.

Ten Commandments

You Are "Thou Shalt Not Kill"

You are a very peaceful person, and you try to avoid hurting a fly if possible. You believe every life is sacred, and you wish there was no killing in the world. You have a kind heart and a passion for social justice. You wish things were more fair. It breaks your heart to know about hunger, poverty, disease, and violence. You are working towards change!

Which of the Ten Commandments Are You?

Blogthings: Take a Quiz. Annoy Your Friends.

Immortal saliva and eyes! / Ryan is NOT stupid! / Dylan and family and BS / Spim and spit

Bingo of the night:

INFLAMES (80 points) - against Lauren D.

High-scoring words of the night:

IMMORTAL (296 points) - against Ann W. [two 4W] {a good deficit-erasing word!}
PITON (144 points) - against Michele A. [two 4W]
REOILED (127 points) - against Lisa K. [2W, 5W]
SALIVA (625 points) - against Jackie O. [two 5W, 4L on V]
EYES (120 points) - against Kim D. [5W used twice, hook off VOICE for a plural]


I retract what I said about Ryan (eyeheartnewlife) being stupid or otherwise disabled. Turns out he is back, and told me that "I also don't intend on relying on a network of a bunch of douchebag lying fucking assholes anymore." YIKES!

Dylan is on the ball this month, since he sent us the Committee minutes and agenda at 9:45 tonight! I was going to remind him in a couple of days, haha. I sent him an email to that effect, and got a laugh and thanks in return! Decided to call Harmony to see about tomorrow night at Karmie's, but the home phone was apparently in use for more than an hour, so I called Jon instead. He was on the Canada Line, and said "Oh, it's down!" in response to my greeting of "Man, whoever's on the phone at your house REALLY knows how to talk!" Then he asked whether I was going to lunch tomorrow - thank GOODNESS that I have pre-existing plans to do with food! I need to stay away from this particular family meal anyway, because of my mental sanity!

He called that "lame," and verified that Harmony was home, but not with him. So I called Harmony's cell - she said the phone had been down for a couple of days. They don't know what's going on, especially since they paid their bill. When I asked whether she was going to Karmie's, she said that she'd actually just sent Karmie an email to say that she isn't going to do Women's Group for the next six months, since she needs a break.

Since she started her new job, she hasn't really had time to rest for the last two months! They're out almost every night - understandable, since she now has less time to do all the stuff she did before! Karmie's just sent me and Jen an email about the next six months, too. Maybe I won't do it, either... I dunno. Actually, I probably won't because of the transportation problem!


Trivia fact for Wednesday, May 5: In the world of high-tech messages, you no doubt know what spam is, but how about spim and spit? Spim is Spam Received via Instant Messaging; spit is Spam Received via Internet Telephone.

Random ideal outfit

This thing just restarted! In honor of the Kent State anniversary, I'm listening to Neil Young's OHIO. (CSNY?)

Note: Which LJ Friend Secretly Wants to Assassinate You? Memegen, by PsykoDragon.

(for girls) Your random ideal outfit by sweethonesty11
Favorite color
Background
Eyes	Blue mascara
Hair	Messy bedhead
Top	Gray sweatshirt with a hood
Underwear	Plain white fruit-of-the-looms
Bottom	Loose white terry cloth sweatpants
Shoes	Classic shell-top Adidas

Fixing trout, amoebae, bikes, and suave writers in brown misty heat

Interesting rack of the evening: TROUTFIX (against Eileen C.)

High-scoring words of the evening so far:

AMOEBAE (108 points) - against Maisie S. [3W, 4W]
BIKE (300 points) - against Maureen W. [two 5W]
APEEK (156 points; 3W, 4W), MIST (104 points; 4W, 2W, hook off CAGES to make EM / SI) - against Erin W.
WRITER (176 points) - against Michele A. [two 4W]
LENSING (146 points) - against Jim P. [two 4W, hook off GRAY for a plural]
HEATED (300 points) - against Anne A. [two 5W]
EMBROWN (174 points) - against Matt P. [3W, 2W, hook off BID to make BIDE]
SUAVE (225 points) - against Terrie A. [two 5W]

Had to put up with people sniffing LOUDLY, as well as two kids playing a game and talking at a fair volume about it. I'll excuse the fussy baby in the stroller, however.

Remaining Kate's bookie with a neural oration / Repairs to kitchen walls

Bingo of the afternoon:

UNDERARMS (105 points) - against Rose-Marie P.

High-scoring words of the afternoon so far:

ORATION (1800 points; two 5W, two 3W), UNIFACE (224 points; two 4W) - against Carole K.
NEURAL (150 points) - against Margaret D. [two 5W]
FAIRED (200 points) - against Shelley R.-B. [5W, 4W]
ZAX (115 points) - against Lisa K. [5W]
SUETY (132 points) - against Toni S. [3W, 4W] {a good deficit-erasing word!}
REMAIN (235 points) - against Janice L. [two 5W, hook off VOTE to make VOTER]
CATE (120 points) - against Maureen W. [3W, 4W]
BOOKIE (425 points; two 5W), CABIN (176 points; two 4W) - against Ina H.
UNDERARMS (105 points) - against Rose-Marie P. [bingo, 4W]
SEAMEN (537 points) - against Ben L. [two 5W, hook off COVE for a plural]


The handyman came back around 2, and had a cool mini-camera to see into the hole that he knocked or punched out of the wall. Said that he and the plumber would get back to me on Friday or Monday, since it was an emergency because of the leak / insulation / cabinets / pipe. Okay, then. Finally was able to get to the library and return my book - the C94 came when scheduled, at least. I also renamed one tag on the faster connection, so that's good. Time to log in under another card number here at the library... ah, the old tricks of summer 2008... ;)

Saving hybrid animals, mice and repairs, Chinese Eric saying hi, smileys

It's the anniversary of the Kent State massacre in Ohio... :(

Had a dream where I was trying to save this hybrid animal from extinction - it had really shaggy fur, and was a combination of a sheepdog, fox, and zebra. Frances was also trying to save it, but these evil people were chasing us into the huge elevator where we were hiding. We closed the door on them, and then stole a bunch of coins on the floor where we got out. The animal communicated with us, and we could tell that it was grateful to us. Later, it was captured and tied to the side of the building. It broke its chain, and sent the house and itself tumbling down the mountain! Of course, it died in the freedom bid, but we didn't expect its fur to just shine in the sun for a while, then create a new animal or two!

Then I was awakened at 11:20 by Hester and the "pest control guy." He actually did some work (surprise!), and found a few dead mice under the sink and near the bookshelf. See, I told him a few months ago that I wasn't going crazy! Then the handyman showed up half an hour later (another interruption as I was trying to sleep), and said he'd be back later to check the wall. I listened to Hester conduct a couple of phone conversations in Mandarin, then she said not to go out because the handyman would be around today - the next time would be undetermined, so it would be no good. She also said to open the patio door since the smell wasn't good for my health - I figure it's coming from the salmon tin in my garbage can, heh.

The handyman showed up again later, talked about jobs and such, and then said he'd be back to put some temporary thing on the wall after he figured that it was mainly dry and not wet in there. Guess he's having lunch and finishing some job in another apartment! Well, we shall see about that. I figured that since I was getting interrupted all the time, I might as well stay up. Zzz... I also got an email reply from Steph about some family dinner and Mother's Day dinner - I really don't feel like celebrating Mother's Day OR the birthday, so I'm not even going to open it. Trust me, I need my sanity! Some people... *grumble*

But I got these messages from Chinese Eric, which at least is a good thing:

[07:39:30] Life is refreshed!: Hey Leslie
[07:39:31] Life is refreshed!: I wish i could have stayed in Van-city for a bit longer and visit you guys
[07:39:31] Life is refreshed!: :P
[07:40:17] Life is refreshed!: i left 2 days after the Canucks Game 2 vs Kings cuz I needed to head back for some emergency back here in HK
[07:40:39] Life is refreshed!: I saw White Eric and chatted for a bit
[07:41:13] Life is refreshed!: I am carrying new projects so i am SUPER busy!!
[07:41:28] Life is refreshed!: haha....i will try to manage and come online for often
[07:42:06] Life is refreshed!: GOOD to see the "BOYZ" get to Round 2
[07:42:41] Life is refreshed!: till next time......latez
[07:42:46] Life is refreshed!:

You Are Stable

On the outside, you are a happy-go-lucky person. On the inside, you are a lot more complicated than that. You are a bit hard to read, and purposely so. You don't want to broadcast your feelings to the world. You are quite mature, and you are able to give back to others. You don't have to make it all about you. Community is important to you. You like to stay involved and engaged in order to lend a hand.

The Happy Smiley Test

Blogthings: Learn Something Surprising About Yourself

Pest control is probably incompetent / HOT Taiwan! / Marco Polo

Caught up on JACK BAUER posts, which is why you see a lot of entries from me in two hours. Speaking of which, Hester called me from another number while the show was on. Of course, I wasn't going to answer it since I had other priorities at the time, but did call her back after it was done. She says the "pest control guy" is going to come tomorrow morning... well, I really think he's incompetent, but we'll see what happens when he does come to the suite! Reminded her about the smoke detector problem AND the wall problem - and they want to increase rent when they've done NOTHING to solve these things?! Incredible. *sarcasm*

Corey messaged me about Taiwan:

[01:35:45] Corey: and I went to my kids school place today, and that place seems like a bad idea. they're not friendly, and they don't even speak English (the boss ladies there had to wait for the other foreign teacher to come, just so they could communicate at all with me)
[01:36:09] Corey: plus those kids are tiny.. pretty sure they're kindergarteners... nobody looks older than 4-5
[01:36:33] Corey: I'm living with a 5-year-old that goes to that school, so I have one for size reference :P
[01:42:18] Flami: yeah, I know that those kids can be quite small
[01:48:21] Corey: well, 5 and under is illegal
[01:48:29] Corey: I don't really feel like getting deported
[01:53:33] Flami: I wouldn't, either
[02:01:26] Corey: it's also fucking hot here
[02:01:48] Corey: it's probably not even hot compared to the summer... the other foreign teacher said they might turn the AC on in JUNE............
[02:05:15] Flami: how hot can it get?
[02:56:47] Corey: hot as hell, probably... it's like 90 today, and humid


Trivia fact for Tuesday, May 4: What world-famous early explorer's dying words were "I have only told the half of what I saw"? Marco Polo, who uttered these words to a priest who urged him to confess and retract his "fables."

Dana gets interrogated... well, waterhosed, if you know what I mean!

President-select Hassan lauds President Taylor for bringing peace in our time. You know, Neville Chamberlain thought that, too. President-select Hassan also thanks the American government for their efforts to rescue her husband. She doesn't seem too broken up about his death, though, and why should she? She got his job, custody of the child, and all his property, and didn't even need to hire a divorce attorney. Terry takes a call from Bledsoe, and then has a roundabout conversation with Logan about what to do with Dana after they extract the information. Terry clearly insinuates that they had all decided that Dana was to be killed, to which Logan agrees, but explicitly states that he "doesn't know what they're talking about – if you know what I mean." Not very subtle on his part. Usually, he just gives the Michael Corleone stare or plays dumb. He's usually not overtly sinister like this.

Bledsoe is waterboarding Dana, and she is adamant that she doesn't really have any proof. She holds up under the torture, which isn't a surprise. She had to act opposite Freddie Prinze Jr. all season. That will test anyone. Jack and Cole are at the location, and Jack tells Cole that they'll have to cut a deal with Dana. Cole doesn't seem happy about that, but Jack sells him on the idea of taking down the people in charge. Jack and Cole coordinate their offense, and Jack reveals to Cole that the gun he had handed to him back at the warehouse as a show of trust was actually empty. Cole realizes that he's been had, and looks a little ashamed of himself. Don't feel bad, Cole. Christopher Henderson fell for it, too. Chloe wants a psych evaluation for Jack when he arrives at CTU. Yeah, that's going to help.

Jack and Cole are trying to take out the guy on the roof. They should do the Three Amigos thing and throw a rock at him. He's standing so close to the edge of the roof that he'd just fall off. Instead, Jack insists on resorting to fisticuffs and – well – you don't need me to tell you what happens, do you? Jack and Cole enter the building, and they use a lot of hand signals. Jack draws the mercenaries away, then uses his skills of logical persuasion to get the guy running point to disclose Dana's location. Okay, he just puts his gun to the guy's nuts. Of course, Jack gets to Dana, but Bledsoe immediately puts his gun on Dana and threatens to blow her head off. Cole and Jack seem to be at a disadvantage, or at least Cole does. Jack shows his awesomeness by shooting Bledsoe in mid-threat. Even Cole looks dumbfounded. Or maybe he's excited. It's hard to tell with him. Chloe realizes that she's been had, and she puts out an APB on Jack. Yeah, that's smart – get the NYPD involved.

Jack wants the evidence in exchange for letting Dana go. Dana wants her immunity agreement, but that's not going to happen. Dana gets sassy with Jack, and that's a bad move. He pulls the car over, and throws Dana against a wall so that he can choke her. By the way, there's no one around, which would be fine if we weren't in Manhattan. She finally admits that her evidence is in a safety deposit box. Isn't it always? Maybe CTU should just start seizing everyone's safety deposit boxes. Chloe warns Cole that Jack is merely out for revenge, and her words seem to have an effect. He shoves Jack to the ground, and Jack pulls out his piece. They have a great conversation that goes something like this:
Cole: You were gonna shoot her, weren't you?
Jack: No, I wanted her to think that.
Cole: Really?
Jack: Really.
Cole: Pinky swear?
Jack: Cross my heart and hope to die.

You can tell the writers are just playing out the string right now.

President-select Hassan is still taking questions when President Taylor gets the bad news that Jack is on the loose. President Taylor also has an irate Logan on the phone, but Taylor gets even more irate because Logan has her on speaker. That's really rude, you know. Logan wants to put someone inside CTU – Terry. Oh, that's good. I thought he wanted to put another mole in CTU. Not that they would notice. Logan and the Russian minister have a sit-down, and Logan tells him about the Dana situation. Logan doesn't feel that Taylor has what it takes to take out Jack, so he wants the Russians to do his dirty work for him. Logan tells him that Terry is inside CTU, and will feed them information about Jack via an untraceable phone. The minister takes it, but looks disappointed that it's not an iPhone.

Jack lets Cole take Dana into the bank, and she continues to try to persuade him into letting her go. Meanwhile, Jack hangs out in the lobby, not looking at all suspicious. Chloe is spouting off a bunch of instructions, and Arlo is being negative. Just like Chloe used to be. I guess there's nice symmetry in that. Terry shows up, and he has a hot assistant with him that we haven't seen until now. We need to learn more about her, says I. Meanwhile, am I the only one concerned that there's still a rotting corpse somewhere inside the walls of CTU?

Dana gives her sob story to Cole, and recalls how she got recruited into the KGB. Dana tries to appeal to Cole's emotions, but Cole is not swayed. Or maybe he is. Or maybe he's just thinking about what he's going to do after this show goes off the air. Maybe She's All That 2: She's Still All That? Cole thinks he outsmarted Dana by insisting on opening the box, and finds a gun inside. He smirks, but his triumph is short-lived as there's also an explosive device. The bomb knocks Cole unconscious, and wouldn't you know it, it's the best acting he's done all season.

Dana calls 911, and tells them Jack is robbing the bank. That's not cool. Haven't enough cops been harmed today? CTU gets the call about Jack, and Terry wants absolute confirmation that it's really him. What does he want? A DNA sample, a sworn affidavit, and an ID from Jack's grandma? That's my Jack – always killing people and torturing terrorists. Terry then makes a call to the Russian hitman. He also gives explicit instructions for the hitman to take Jack out once he's in custody. And he does this on the floor! In full view of everyone! Hey, they didn't notice when Dana did the same thing, so I guess that's no shock. The cops have Jack – or do they? Jack easily subdues one of the cops, and he does the Joe Pesci thing by shooting the other one in the foot. That's what you get when you don't dance when Jack tells you to.

Dana walks out of the bank, and makes sure we know she's evil because she has a scowl on her face. Jack chases after her, and they decide to have a firefight on the streets of New York. She runs into a construction site to try and hide. Jack follows her in, and they keep playing. He tosses his jacket onto the staircase, and she falls for it like an idiot. She shoots at his jacket, and runs out of ammo in doing so. She gets the last laugh, though. After all, she totally ruined Jack's favorite leather jacket.

Jack wants the evidence, and Dana puts it on the ground. Now the only question is whether Jack will kill her. Dana tries to beg for her life, but Jack isn't having it. He shoots her, but it looks like she might still be alive. No silent clock, so I guess that answers our question. Everyone on Twitter seems to think she's dead. Not so fast, people. If there's one thing I've learned on this show, it's never to assume that anyone is really dead. I still think Terri Bauer is alive somewhere, and is going to come back for the finale. So what happened to Michael Madsen? Did he just disappear? Is he off somewhere with the other members of the DIVA Squad?

Rotating and resizing for an instant upland visit

High-scoring words of the evening so far:

AFT (200 points) - against Maureen W. [two 5W]
DATTO (327 points) - against Ivy F. [4W, 5W, 2W]
ROTATE (200 points) - against Kathi V. [two 5W]
RESIZES (114 points) - against Catherine B. [2W, 4L on Z]
UPLAND (452 points) - against Linda W. [5W, 4W, 2W, hook off WOVE to make WOVEN]
VISIT (200 points) - against Jeremy D. [2W, two 3W, hook off CANOLA for a plural]
INSTANCY (390 points) - against George M. [two 5W] {a good deficit-erasing word!}

Donkey Punch Shampoo?!

Went to London Drugs and was back home within half an hour, which is pretty good! Was windy out, but it was okay... I plan to crash my parents' place on the 10th since they won't be around! I can always make something up to tell Auntie Teresa and Grandma, haha. Got a card, a gender-neutral bib, and a package of three bottles for newborns, as I had Megan's baby shower in mind. (the sippy cups and Shrek shampoo were for older babies, and I wanted my gifts to be used now) I hope the kid isn't allergic to cotton, polyester, plastic, polyurethane, or latex! Also got some Ritz cheese mini-sandwiches and a toothbrush for myself, and didn't have to wait even a minute for the 407 home! Gotta wonder who decided to market the Donkey Fruit Punch shampoo... o_O

Ryan is stupid! / Cute Grammar Dog / Jane Austen Name

Noticed that Ryan (eyeheartnewlife) unfriended me on Facebook. That, or he's deleted his account... but the search engine still lists someone as a mutual friend. Weird, but whatever. Actually, a grammar fan page (which I've now had to leave) still lists him as a friend, but my friends listing doesn't. So I don't know if he's blocked me from seeing his stuff or what - I do know that I can't message / tag him OR see his profile and such. I'd love to apply these settings to Kelli (neonrose5), haha!


Cute grammar dog:

Your Name is Mrs. Maria Atkinson

How quick come the reasons for approving what we like! - Jane Austen

What's Your Jane Austen Inspired Name?

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

WHAT THE FUCKING HELL IS WRONG WITH MY SUBCONSCIOUS?!

WHAT THE FUCKING HELL IS WRONG WITH MY SUBCONSCIOUS?! I dreamed that my family had gotten together one evening with a bunch of my friends and the kids. I was in the shower for some reason, and saw some red graffiti on the wall clearly authored by James! (rushmixtape5) His friend Tyler B. had added an "apostrophe plural" on the word LOOKS, so I made them both apologize after I got out of there. Lesley and Dianne were knocking on the door, but I dropped the F-bomb a few times, which was totally uncharacteristic of me! They took the use of the word FUCK in stride, heh. When I finally came out, I was informed that Irene was looking for a Caribbean place, but not the HIMALAYA one which looked like the restaurant around #5 / Cambie. (seriously, it had the yellow sign with red block capitals!)

My mom decided to take her to Broadmoor Mall at the other end of Richmond, since we used to live in that area. Once there, we saw that the Blockbuster Video and the clothing store had been replaced by a huge Caribbean place with postcards for a quarter, rocks for a dime, $8 or $10 placemats, foodstuffs, and lots of other things. Mom wasn't interested in that sort of stuff, preferring to drag my dad to browse the supermarket next door. Everyone else went to the Caribbean place! I saw Ian L., Andrew H., and other kids just sitting on the sidewalk outside the place, and told them that I used to live in the area, and the Caribbean place used to be a Blockbuster Video AND clothing store. For some reason, they already knew this, but wanted to go to the Caribbean place anyway.

We were looking around at the nice placemats (had pictures of various locations on them) and everything else - Irene LOVED this! - when Steph called everything to a screeching halt because she'd lost the nose pad for her glasses AND a contact! Everyone looked for these items on the floor and one table of placemats - we finally found them. I admired more placemats, and mentioned to Steph that I'd get one for our resident Caribbean expert friend (who else but Dave Wong?), but didn't know which one he'd like the best. My parents came in later, and took us somewhere else. Dad got me alone, and was in a wifebeater. He said that he knew I was embarrassed about my financial situation, and couldn't afford both a baby shower gift and a dinner gift. I said that it was my decision to possibly not attend the dinner for Ellen, but he said that I had to, and that he'd help with money. He whispered these things to me, and then repeated that he could HELP. I noticed that his breathing changed, and he was experiencing feelings which you shouldn't with your daughter around. I tried to scream for my brother (who was in the next room), but no sound came out. Luckily, I woke up before things got too far along - he had gotten naked, but that was it. WHAT THE FUCK. Took some time to get my breathing back to normal, too! Maybe it's a good thing I won't have to see my dad as well as my mom for two weeks!

Softening Ed, eight hours of editing time, and earthshine

High-scoring words of the night:

EDS (114 points) - against Janice L. [two 5W]
SOFTEN (427 points) - against Lyndsey M. [two 5W, hook off CANE to make AN]


I spent more than eight hours composing, editing, and tagging my last entry! Guess I'm OCDL, all right!

Trivia fact for Monday, May 3: What is earthshine? Also known as earthlight, it's the faint glow of sunlight reflected from Earth onto the otherwise dark part of the moon. It's best seen during the moon's thin crescent phase.

It was just me and Jeremy at Pho! / Meeting Jen and others at the Whip / Iridescent Trout

Before I left for church this morning, I stuffed Amanda's jacket into my blue bag - it fit, all right! When Ivan picked me up in his blue car, his mom and siblings were there also. In order to appear more polite in front of my mom's friend, I said "morning" to Auntie Ronne / put a bit more emphasis on thanking Ivan for the ride / said hi to Natalie and Nathan, who soon were playing some (dangerous) car games involving hand slapping. At one point, I jokingly wondered if they were killing themselves over there, and also made the apparently funny observation that those were some dangerous games! (Nathan wanted to hit his sister's nose!) They'd watched the hockey game and ICE AGE last night, apparently. When we got to the parkade, there was nobody watching it - Nathan and I went up the stairs and into the sanctuary.

We talked about there not being anyone around at 9:40 AM, Phil and Grace being at Whistler, staying for the sermon since he's now in Grade 4, the school Ivan went to in North Vancouver, his going to Thompson, and placing his bag on the seat. (I didn't care if he did - plenty of room this week - but he didn't want to) Asked Karmie whether we were meeting this Wednesday - yup! I felt someone sit down near me - it was Jeremy, so I said hi and made a mental note to ask him about lunch later. Jordan and Thomas showed up, as well. Later, Pastor John brought up money and other things - that provided amusement for Jeremy and me, all right! Then Joey wondered who the rose was for, but Daniel had the details on his cell phone: Anita had a baby girl at 4 AM this morning! That was all Jeremy needed to observe to me that babies were inconsiderate jerks! I said that at least I was born at 9:30 PM (decent), but Jon was born at 3 AM! (don't know about Steph, though)

After the quick prayer at the end of service, I asked Jeremy about lunch - he was up for it, although he didn't know if anyone else would be around! That's true, but it didn't matter as long as I could spend time with friends! While people were going up for the Communion, I didn't see Dave OR Mr. Creep, so figured they weren't around. Went to the fellowship hall to get some coffee / cheese sticks / strawberries / goldfish crackers, talked to Julie C. about sugar for the coffee (in the kitchen?), and then bugged Hien about Minute Rice with mushroom soup. Turns out she doesn't like the texture of mushroom soup, either. Since I had a cup of coffee in one hand, my "air-typing" suffered, but I said I could be like "Hey, Hien! I had Minute Rice with mushroom soup as a cream base again!" She then moaned about how cruel I was to her, haha. Pastor John asked me and Jeremy whether we noticed any differences without 30 people there - definitely! Then Jeremy wondered whether I'd noticed that the Doxology key was too high - I had, and wondered whether it was JUST me! Complimented Lucas and Hannah N. on their white orchid, heh.

Turned out to be a good thing that Mr. Creep wasn't around, because Micah came barreling into the room. He headed straight for the stage and the shiny drum set. I went over there and said hi, then kept an eye on him while telling Jonathan Chan that he could teach THIS kid to play drums in the future! Micah was hesitant to play the drums, but got into banging the cymbals and such before asking me where Mommy was. I hadn't seen her around, even! Frances came in a couple minutes later, so Micah looked at her and said "no no no" while banging on the drums. I laughed and told Frances that her son was conflicted! He knows he can't play with them, yet he does it anyway! Frances asked him if he wanted to go home and see Baby, but he said NO. He was probably thinking, "I have a nice shiny drum set here - why do I want to see my brother?!" Hahaha. She wondered where Tim and Maxine were, so I said that they were at the retreat this weeks, and that I'd seen them last week. After a few minutes, Micah got tired of it, and they left. At the door, he got distracted by Julie S.'s stickers, which Mattias didn't seem too interested in.

Just before going upstairs, I asked Jeremy to wait for me after Sunday School so we could see who was up for lunch. He agreed, and then I talked to Andrea about her birthday party last week - she said it was a surprise, and I said I'd heard about it the day after at lunch! Welcomed Chuck back, of course! Saw Winnie with her two oldest kids - Abby, Nathaniel, Noah, and Benjamin were using the area right under the stairwell as a playground of sorts. Told Winnie that I'd received her Evite to Megan K.'s baby shower (sent on Cindy's behalf), and said I wasn't sure how I'd get there. She reassured me by saying that it was the least of my worries, especially since it was six weeks away, but she'd arrange something. Who knows but that I might be able to make it to that AND Chung Ming's dinner, but it all depends on who's going. We'll see. Said hi to Winnie's daughter Megan T., who showed me a bookmark with stickers on it, and told me about an angel. Picked up some toy trucks and handed them back to Megan's brother Connor before going upstairs.

Ramen, Shira, Amanda, Amos, Conor, Harrison, Donald, David, Evelyn, Mattias, and two new kids named Alexandra and Ada (unrelated) were in the toddler Sunday School class today. I told Harrison that he could have a sticker if he looked for a big wheel (which he wanted) in all the Lego that I dumped out of the box, IF he cleaned things up. He tried saying it was clean a few times, but I went and looked - to make things faster, I took his unfinished car. I think everyone got stickers at some point, and of course I gave Conor his frog stickers! Jessie liked my dragon hat - she was born in July 1976, so just a few months before me. Ramen came over with a counting book, so I read it to him. Alexandra talked a lot, too. Various kids took home the Sunday School teaching aids, which helped with the weight of my bag.

When Conor's brother Sean came in, I asked why he'd wondered if it was May yet about six weeks ago - turns out his birthday is May 23. Amanda's sister Hannah came in, so I told her that Amanda had left her jacket at the park yesterday, but we picked it up. At least she thanked me, although I didn't really expect Amanda to - she did give me a paper bird which she'd colored and put stickers on, though! Auntie Ying thanked me right before David started crying and his mom came in. Went downstairs as fast as I could (which actually IS NOT that fast!), and saw Jeremy waiting for me before I was halfway down the stairs. He said that nobody was around (as we'd thought), and the younger guys probably had family stuff to do. Then he suggested Pho - my wallet loves him for that suggestion, haha! I said that he'd probably beat me there, depending on bus schedules (it would be a VERY long walk up Broadway for me, despite the fact he's training for the Sun Run next week) - that was fine with him. In order to minimize the chances of seeing my mom, I didn't see if my grandma was sitting in the chairs near the stairs, and went AROUND the crowd in the foyer instead of wading straight through like I might normally do. Saw Rachel and her grandma at the bus stop, so the old lady gave me a couple of Werther's Originals - those came in handy after lunch, since I actually did NOT have any gum in the blue bag!

The bus actually came relatively quickly for a Sunday, and it turned out that I saw Jeremy biking up the hill while I was on the bus, so his "riding my behind" comment later was quite accurate! Discussed his boring auditing course, Jen's birthday party, Facebook, Tony's comments on how Harmony had probably influenced Jon to get a FB account, Twitter, Jon inviting Jeremy to the Whip for Cask Ale via text message, Mother's Day plans (my parents being in China or the air would make a phone call QUITE hard!), the Internet, memes, movies, "Not Always Right," LOLcats, OMGcats, a 72-year-old healthy woman with the body of a 30-year-old, videos, Dave probably figuring that today would be a good day to NOT be at church since no one would notice, Sunday Dinner, the Sun Run, training, the playoffs, and more.

His cousin once got in trouble at the border since he didn't know what to say to the guards who asked what the purpose of his trip was! ("I'm going to drop off a package to my friend, and I'll be back in a couple of minutes!" might be the truth, but it WILL get you "We have this little room here... a PACKAGE, you say?" hahaha) Jeremy wondered if I'd like to go to the Whip - sure, if he didn't mind my hanging out at his place for a bit. Since he didn't, it was on. We said hi and bye to Jonathan Chan and Uncle Patrick - Jonathan's grandma even waved at me, so I returned the greeting. When it came time to pay the bill, I gave him my toonie from my portion as change from his $10 bill - I joked that this could be one of the last affordable meals we could have since the HST got passed. He said that Toronto had yet another tax on food - I knew this, and detailed my mom's confusion over this! ("But I paid the tax and tip!" "No, Mom... there's ANOTHER tax!")

I went to Kingsgate Mall for a few minutes when the bus finally arrived at the stop. Finding the prices at Shoppers Drug Mart too expensive for toothpicks, I went to the dollar store - they do have weird stuff! I actually made the worker do her job by showing me exactly where they were located ("turn there and then go straight" is NOT very helpful!), then finally found some gum which was right in front of me, but not in the most intuitive location. Was briefly tempted by shiny sticker sheets which were $1 for five, but didn't get any - maybe I should have! Went to Jeremy's, and he figured that I'd stopped to get something - quite right, since the bus wouldn't have taken that long! He anticipated my needs by offering me water - oh yes, it's the Pho thirstiness!

He also read me a pretty boring sample question from his Auditing textbook about wording - it'll be hard to keep his interest in the course! Saw his roommate Ryan a little later, who wondered if there were another Sunday dinner - nope! A while later (after he was done housecleaning), Jeremy called to me from his room - of course I was up for seeing the OMGcat and KnowYourMeme.com videos! We also watched Standing Cat and analysis - hahaha, so amusing! It's all at Video Sift, if you want to search it out for yourself! After Jon texted him to say that there were already a few people at the Whip, we decided to get going once Jeremy had found rarely-worn shoes without a lot of holes at the bottom! Walking in the wet stuff in those conditions is NOT fun... wet socks! I called in the direction of Ryan's room "Coming?" - he said maybe later, but he didn't join us. Discussed (intentional) AutoTune, the pouring rain and conspiracies ("it only rains when you have to go outside!"), Cher, Weird Al, guests, and more.

Met up with Carmen, Albert, Vicky, and Eric at the Whip after walking the few blocks in the pouring rain - it's a conspiracy by the weather, haha. I just had water plus a sip of Jeremy's Black Plague - not even the Cask Ale from Tyler's Crossing on the North Shore! He explained CAMERA (the Campaign for Real Ale), homebrew, cask ale, various drinking establishments, and more to Vicky and Carmen. When Jon called him later, Jeremy said that I was with them - yeah, we'd hung out at Pho and his place before coming to the Whip! I didn't feel so bad about not remembering the secret way out of his place since I'd only exited out that route once before, probably while we were doing the same thing! Carmen told Jeremy to send Jon a text message saying "GET YOUR BUTT OVER HERE! - Kaman." (this in response to a message saying "I'll be there in five minutes" - YOUR "five minutes," or everyone else's definition of five minutes?!) Jeremy had trouble sending a hyphen, haha - it appeared to display, but then erased itself!

We saw Christon's distinctive blue car, and said FINALLY they were here! Nope, it turned out to only be Christon and the birthday girl Jen. Jon and Harmony got there later with Connie in tow. Discussed the retreat, Buddha / Buddhism, Catholicism, "here's to Jen and her many years!" and other such toasts, snow, Grace and Maxine going to Edwin's soon-to-be-wife's (Jane) baby shower, poor Husky dogs outside being SOAKING wet (the owners ended up tying them across the street so they couldn't hear the fighting!), how Connie had found our church, certain Canucks, geeky stuff like Eclipse, how Vicky had found the church, poutine with yam fries, burgers, not eating lunch, nicknames ("Wu-So-Lo," "Jon Ng's brother," "Soft-Spoken Bearded Man"), hair growth, the chalice or goblet of Phillips Cream Ale which made Albert feel medieval, Twitter, the fires in the nearby neighborhood last December (on Christmas Eve, too!), restaurants in the area, landlord conspiracies, and more.

I attempted to ask Eric (sitting one over from me - Jeremy was between us) whether he was going to Jen's party later, but he didn't hear me since the place was so loud. So I perforce got up and tapped him on the shoulder instead. He said that his dad was picking him up, and asked if I wanted a ride - you bet! I'd figured that I'd only go if he were going, but I know it's a long weekend for him. At least we both made it to the Whip part of Jen's birthday celebration, and a car is better than waiting for the bus in POURING RAIN! Went to the bathroom later... pre-peeing is a good thing, haha. Later, Eric asked if I had cash, so I wondered if he hadn't brought any. Turns out he was wondering if I'd brought cash for my stuff - I'd just had water!

Told Jen that I couldn't make it to her party after all (Eric and I *had* been MAYBE replies on her Evite, after all) - she understood that I wanted to take the ride back to Richmond while it was on offer! Of course, I wished her a happy birthday too. We were wondering where Ron was when he showed up inside the Whip - we all said hi, and discussed concerts and such for a few minutes. Jeremy gave me a personal goodbye, which just means he said "Bye, Leslie!" Not as bad as some people were probably thinking, haha. It was nice hanging out with him for sure, as friends! Not that I could have told him that in front of everyone, haha.

Ron and I waited in the car for Eric to get his stuff from Albert's vehicle, then went to Eric's work to pick up his car. Discussed the weather conditions and such, Whistler itself being closed, Pastor John NOT falling asleep in the middle of the sermon (Eric DID ask me how church was), Anita's new baby girl, bunnies, and more. I opted to complete the drive home with Eric even if Ron said he could drive me - it's not like I feel uncomfortable or awkward around Ron, but I had some things to tell Eric about church! His car flag was totally soaked, but his car definitely started up. As soon as I closed the door (success on the first try for the first time in ages, if not EVER!), he asked whether Darkwing had been there. NO!

I don't want to cross the fine line between being annoying and being labeled a stalker, either. So I won't do what I was only half-heartedly planning... yeah... Then Eric sang my name over and over again - at least he wasn't mispronouncing it like he was last week, but I decided that it was better not to bring THAT up! Discussed Committee meeting, the minutes, our not remembering what we were doing in a couple of Fridays (important to know!), Dylan being at the retreat, NOT seeing Mr. Creep this week, emails, whether I'd had any encounters with my mother today (NO, thank goodness! I thought she'd take advantage of the week where most of my Fellowship friends were away - less protection!), and seeing each other on Friday. It was all good to have some time with Eric, haha.

When I got home, I called my sister to update her on stuff like Anita's baby - she wanted to know if I'd gone for dinner last week. Yup, and I only stayed for half an hour! She told me about Phoenix, no plans for Mother's Day for once, her cop friend's wedding in Agassiz, and maybe coming by before leaving on the 18th. Grandma should be happy about that, haha. Hey, Carmen (or "Kaman") is on Facebook, so I'll add her! Or at least I would if she didn't have her settings so that you can't just add her OR send her a message! (reminds me of Hon!) I also reflected that my jealous ex would definitely disapprove of what I did with Jeremy - platonic hanging out and laughing over videos when it was just me and Jeremy in his room? Eating lunch alone with him? Sharing his beer, even if only for one sip? We all know you can't do that when you had / have feelings for the person! *rolleyes*


I GOT MY FIRST FISH BOT SINCE DECEMBER 22, 2008!

[17:57:34] IridescentTrout: I say, old bean, have you seen my hat?
[17:57:48] AlenaBrolxFlami: HA! I WAS WONDERING WHEN THESE THINGS WOULD COME UP AGAIN!
[17:58:08] IridescentTrout: indeed
[17:58:12] IridescentTrout: it was a most excellent hat
[17:58:14] IridescentTrout: very dapper
[17:58:26] IridescentTrout: I don't suppose you might have seen it?
[18:00:40] AlenaBrolxFlami: no, I don't think I've seen any dapper hats today
[18:00:49] IridescentTrout: oh :(
[18:00:52] IridescentTrout: thanks anyway, old bean
[18:04:16] AlenaBrolxFlami: you're welcome
[18:04:49] AlenaBrolxFlami: I might have, if someone I liked would have come to church, but NO... :P oh well

Dream of Jordan and Thomas / Breakfast Test

High-scoring word of the morning:

DROPLETS (178 points) - against Betty C. [4W, hook off FIRM to make FE / IT]


Got up in the middle of a dream where my parents were practically interrogating me, Jon, Steph, and Eric about "these two boys who hug all the time." We had no idea what or who they were talking about, and all four of us got together in a corner to be emotional about it. Eric even said that Dad knew his people better than we did, but that didn't help. After a while, they just left us alone in disgust, ordering us to do the dishes later. We avoided that by the simple expedient of pretending we didn't hear them - we escaped upstairs. This house was HUGE, and Steph kept reminding me to KEEP LEFT if I wanted to get to her rooms. Jordan and Thomas were there - and THEN we knew who the parents had been talking about!

We saw shelves filled with things in the hallways, and they obviously didn't belong to the house at all. Steph said that she was planning to get rid of them one day - maybe by painting over them. (this was a dream - not reflecting reality) We made it to her room, and then the kids wanted us to go with them to a nearby building with lots of toys. Sighing, we did that. There were lots of people there, and the kids wanted to play with the toys... unfortunately, they couldn't play with ALL of them! On the way out (after selecting stuffed animals), Jordan and Thomas caromed over a little girl standing in the entrance. Someone who looked like Jonathan and Joanna Chan's father set to disciplining the boys. We asked who the little girl was - apparently, it was someone's boyfriend's cousin. Then my alarm went off! Not sure why I had it: maybe the Leapfrog game yesterday, or seeing Jordan and Thomas a lot lately. Hmm... time to wrap this one up, though - Ivan will be here in less than five minutes!

You Are a Hearty Breakfast

You are down to earth and mild-mannered. You don't tend to make a fuss. You can be a bit stubborn at times. You know what you like, and you don't tend to change your mind. You like to stay in your comfort zone. You don't really like surprises or change much. You aren't complacent... you're just practical. Why mess with what works?

The Breakfast Test

Blogthings: Free Quizzes for Everyone

Examining anxiety and sorrow / Literally sweating it out / Zachary Taylor

High-scoring words of the night:

EXAMINE (240 points) - against Lyndsey M. [5W, 4L on X]
ANXIETY (500 points) - against Alice P. [two 5W]
SORROW (120 points) - against Lynn B. [4W, 3W]
WASP (156 points) - against Trisha-Sky B. [4W, 3W, hook off TIC for a plural]
DANCER (225 points) - against Jacqui B. [two 5W]


After another nap under the covers, I have sweated this one out - literally! Reminded Ivan via voice mail message that he's supposed to pick me up tomorrow morning. Did some laundry, too - now I feel better!


Trivia fact for Sunday, May 2: What California town is named for President Zachary Taylor? Hint: The answer is neither Zachary nor Taylor. The town of Rough and Ready. Taylor's nickname as an army officer was "Old Rough and Ready." The town was founded by a group of gold rushers from Wisconsin who were organized as the Rough and Ready Mining Company, and led by an ex-soldier who had served with Taylor.