Saturday, October 09, 2010

Calla and Stanford's wedding - STANFORD, STANTON, and STANFIELD?!

When Eric picked me up, he commented on my sneakers; hey, it's not MY fault that my other shoes decided to go kablooey on me, is it?! We discussed his mother calling, "Randal's slow-acting poison in the water," the Joker, iconic theme songs, how to get to the church, not wanting to go home in between, Powerpoint, waking up decidedly after 9, Google Maps and Translink giving you EAST avenues when you type WEST, and more. When we got to the church, he asked if we should leave the umbrella in the car; sure, since we parked right outside! Saw Martin, Kevin, Yvonne, Dave, Vivian, Chrystal, Tim, Maxine, Joshua, Keenan, Randal and Jen (who of course came together), Shally and Jose, David and his sons Ian and Gabriel (Nintendo DS and toys kept them busy), Emily C., Mike T., Raymond (I had to sit directly behind him), Andrea (!!!), Christon, Wesley, and Jeremy; yes, we all sat on Stanford's side because he needs more friends!

Discussed the name theme going on with Stanford and his brothers (STANFORD / STANTON / STANFIELD?!), NAME FAIL (Pamela should never be spelled as PEMILA!), WARIO games, NBA JAM and being ON FIRE, last night's scrapbooking (Christon didn't leave Alan's till after midnight; the rest stayed till 12:30), short weddings (Jeremy's cousin got married on a golf course - the ceremony was only 15 minutes!), seeing my parents / Cindy / Dianne on the other side (I saw Uncle Reuben and Auntie Christine too), Andrea's life in Hamilton (Chuck's at work - hard to get to know people - must be within 25 minutes of the hospital), Christon wanting to get home before midnight to cut a birthday cake for his mom PRIOR TO doing Powerpoint / prayers, and more. Jeremy noticed an organ upstairs, and it was playing what I thought was whimsical music, but then I recognized the MARIA song from SOUND OF MUSIC. (someone expected clouds and mushrooms!) We laughed when the shy flower girl went down the aisle with her mother (better than CRYING all the way down the aisle!), and again when Stanford had to ask for a prompt from the pastor in the middle of the vows! One of the ushers was also named RUDOLPH... OH MAN!

When the pastor recommended that Stanford kiss Calla, we weren't expecting a blown kiss... then he gave us some entertainment by dipping her instead! That must have taken some rehearsal, haha! We discussed whether Johnny would show up in almost ALL the photos, Jon needing to teach in the afternoon (so he'll transit to the downtown banquet), whether our group would fit on stage, coffee at Jeremy's later (Eric and I just went home since he couldn't think of anything else to do), Christon not wanting to go home because he'd be too distracted, whether we knew more than a handful of hymns in the Baptist hymnal (Jeremy was having fun with that!), HE TOUCHED ME being a bad song title, and more. I said hi to Billy, Mel, his baby Isaac, Karen I., little Mattias (his newest word is "flowers" or "fa" in Chinese), Harmony, and more people when we came up for the photo. Jon also commented on my sneakers and the occasion - WHATEVER!

Later, I saw Auntie Anna and Uncle Stanley (who are NOT married to each other!), so of course said hi. Eric and I discussed it being the "perfect" (rainy!) weather to walk home, Powerpoint taking priority over STARCRAFT, possibly calling Ivan this afternoon for tomorrow night since Eric's not going (I do NOT have phone phobia - can't do it if I don't have the number!), my thanking him, being hungry, eating at 11 AM, dropping me off at the mall so I could BUY new shoes (NO HEELS!), and more. Pretty interesting times, though of course it doesn't compare to last week!

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John Lennon, 70, afternoon weddings, Pittsburgh dream, fall-inspired names, RICHIE RICH

Happy 70th Birthday, John Lennon. I wonder what you would have made of the world today - particularly the Internet, and new music technology...

Thank GOD that Calla and Stanford's wedding is in the afternoon! Enough time to check online stuff is necessary! (Candace agrees!) Had a dream about quadruple Vicky Shourounis appearing around me (one of whom was smoking) at a baseball diamond - my mom tried convincing me to go on escalators in the building, but I was having none of it. I got to see the Pittsburgh Pirates take batting practice in their blue uniforms, and got to man their carrels of mail. No idea where that dream came from, and I certainly haven't been watching Alanis Morissette's IRONIC video (where she appears in quadruple) lately!

I got a call from Eric's phone number just now; of course I assumed it was him, so I answered the phone with "Yo." It turned out to be his mother Veronica! Hahahaha, oops! After saying hi and "how are you" (curse this need to be polite! - just kidding!), she said that Eric had had a busy morning (as usual) and was enroute to my place. Told me to enjoy the wedding - should be doable, but of course it won't be like LAST week, haha!



Your Fall-Inspired Name is Dahlia Pumpkin



How delightful!

Trivia fact for Saturday, Oct. 9: Why were most of the cast members over six feet tall in the 1994 film comedy Richie Rich? To make the film's star, Macaulay Culkin (who was almost five feet six when the film was shot) appear shorter and younger. It was Culkin's last child-star role.

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Awkward scrapbooking times at Randal's...

Eric picked me up at around 5:30, and we spent the ride discussing scissors / hair / reading about mass murder / "fusillade" NOT being a made-up or mispronounced word / my being "drunk" as an established "fact" / Randal / slow revenge / cackling / his eating only nine pieces of sushi / Raymond ruining purple for me / red / green / Hyundais / apathy / his Australian character Stanley knowing everything / money / meetings after church not necessarily costing money / Vania attempting to call because she was stuck on the highway. Yes, I did have to cut a knot out of my hair, otherwise it would have been bugging me all evening... as if the scrapbooking session wasn't awkward enough! When we got to church, we saw Christon / Joyce / Cordia waiting... Citrus was there briefly. I settled down to read; unlike last time, I made sure I brought a book! (plus my stickers if needed later)

After the practice, we talked about the baptisms / Alan and Tracy / Randal's place / Randal being a leader who just doesn't have follow-through (Christon claims he doesn't mind if his scrapbook idea was stolen) / dinner. Eric and I stopped by Subway, where he insisted that I have a six-inch sandwich... he also said that I had to come in to yell at the Subway guy. Hahaha, no... parking was hard enough for him, so I didn't want to ruin it by getting out of the car! Don't ask me how I think those two are related... when Eric came back, he said he was performing an act of self-sacrificing love by also getting a dozen cookies for the entire group! He also said that I probably WOULD have yelled at the Subway guy tonight because the guy was doing everything WRONG! "It was like it's his first night on the job - he almost put the wrong sauce on my spicy Italian! Oh, and I got you a toasted sub with onions! Haha!"

On the way to Randal's, Eric and I talked about DARKWING; writing on Facebook walls; closure conversations; drama; my stuff needing to be in his trunk; Dilys / Lesley / Jon's orchestra friend starting with a T all living around Kingsway and Joyce, or Randal's building; awkward times ahead; tomorrow's wedding. Once we were actually there, I pretty much refused to say anything. Randal brought me and Eric some water in Bailey's mugs! Cindy showed up with a TON of supplies like letter stickers, a hot glue gun, various kinds of paper, smelly felts, scissors, other stickers which her teacher friends gave her, and lots more. I was relieved that Randal at least didn't ask us to reimburse him for the Homesense scrapbook's cost! (though Cindy practically gushed about how PERFECT the brown paper and subdued pattern on the cover were...)

We set to working on our pages - I had no creativity whatsoever, so I just expressed myself with the stickers and felts while everyone else cut things out / made things like a fake hockey ticket to a Game 7 Detroit-Vancouver game, various Vancouver landmarks, the Aerosmith (or Red Wings) logo, an Inukshuk, a "horse," and more. (some people even had photos - Eric did, on his camera!) I'm surprised I found enough letter stickers for "Hi Pastor John! / Karmie! / Josiah! / Hannah! / Noah! We will miss you - Leslie Ng. && blessings from Vancouver - VCEFC, BC - goodbye! Thanks for everything!" Cindy thought that it showed my happy style - HAHAHAHA, little does she know that I was only keeping myself busy! This means I'll have to replenish my own supply of stickers, since I totally envy Cindy's collection! Once I saw that Randal was using my stickers, I decided to use his Spiderman and Batman ones; I think it was overkill, since he only used 16, and I must have used 40! Oh well.

We talked about Dianne being in Port Hardy and returning tomorrow, Randal sleeping in the open, bachelor suites, loud lobby people, seals / sea lions / Portland / Newport, her time spent dragon boating, the intense rain there, it raining outside (not good for Calla and Stanford's wedding - at least Jason and Karen had nicer weather!), Chung telling Dylan about the news on Sunday (ironic "Vision Night" indeed!), keeping up with things via Facebook, Cindy's niece Denise, Jeff refusing to let people put pictures of his daughter Allison up there (in his profession, you do need to be careful!), "Where's Waldo?", our weeks, emotional drains, workshops, public speaking, and more. Cindy apologized for talking a lot, but it was fine - glad to hear HER instead of someone else! Kevin mentioned that his Hotmail inbox had been inundated with emails from Wai-Mui, Uncle Hansel, and Uncle Peter; Vicky and I recommended Gmail since it collapses everything into one "conversation," pretty much! At one point, Vicky asked me if I'd finished those wedding leftovers - yup, just today! Eric joked that I could restock at tomorrow's wedding; hahaha, that's the plan!

When we finally got out of there after 11, everyone else thanked Randal for hosting. It's true that we'd have been kicked out of the church about an hour before that! On the way home, I jokingly complained that all this was cutting into my downtime; we also discussed rides to the wedding tomorrow at 12:15-ish (NOT WITH CERTAIN PEOPLE!!! STOP THAT!!!!), Powerpoint, not worrying about the sandwich, ginger, morbidity, responsibility, poop, my winning the STICKER DOMINANCE WAR, fear, phone phobia, threads, #4 / Alderbridge, and more. Thank goodness HE still rocks, unlike certain people I choose not to name!

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Friday, October 08, 2010

Fusillades of bullets, perfidious blackguards, Spanish, and proofreading

Bingo of the afternoon:

MISLAYER (65 points) - against Patricia Y.


High-scoring word of the afternoon:

AMORISTS (100 points) - against Roberta W. [5W]


Eric called while I was in the shower; I bet that it had to do with the perfidious blackguard, and I was right! He greeted me in Spanish, and I told him that Randal would greet me with a fusillade of bullets in a perfectly-crafted act of revenge that's been simmering for three years! Says he has worship practice, so will need to be at the church at 6-ish.... oh sure, just delay the inevitable! He thought Raymond was the perfidious blackguard, but it could be either of them, really! Then I got on the "do it in public" bit - my good deed for the week was telling Randal to proofread his damn email, haha! (whether he has a subject attached to it or not) AWKWARD!

Later, he reminded me via email about snacks - my forgetting last month actually worked out quite well, since it was the week that Mr. Creep HAD to be in town. The less time in a room with him, the better! (especially if my misguided friends are talking to him like nothing's wrong...) Hopefully, he won't decide to ruin the week of the 15th! Then he reminded us about returning to Committee... yeah, yeah. :P

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Prisoner dream with golden chairs! / Scarves

I had a dream which featured a huge house deep in the woods, where my parents were keeping a young boy prisoner. They wanted to see what he would be like if they deprived him of a lot of things during his teen years: no real human contact, no great food except that from the cafeteria upstairs which would be passed through his grille, and no great music. This house was connected to a school, so all the students jammed the hallways at lunch with their locker discussions and such. Some students decided to see what was going on at the house, and apparently this meant that the house's foyer had to be crammed with golden chairs. The students discovered the prisoner, smuggled in some real food like decadent dessert and meat, then overpowered my parents to free him. No idea why I had the dream, haha.




You Are a Wool Scarf



You are a smart and sensible person. You plan for the future and always try to be prepared.

You have a great sense of style, but you never sacrifice comfort or function. Your scarf needs to look good and keep you warm!



You know how to take care of yourself. You find comfort easily, and you are good at comforting others.

You are streamlined and efficient. You are very productive. You know how to cut the junk out of your life.

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Tips for stealth in foam from Althea! / China villages / Prayer cynicism / Steam Packets

High-scoring words of the night:

STEALTH (300 points) - against Elaine P. [5W, 4W]
TIP (140 points) - against Susan C. [5W, 4W]
FOAM (276 points) - against George M. [4W, 3W, 2W used twice, hook off RUBIOUS to make AR / MU]
ALTHEAS (600 points) - against Chris W. [2W, two 5W]
KETCHES (133 points) - against Sheila P. [3W used twice, hook off COPE to make SCOPE]
ABO (108 points) - against Margaret S. [two 4W, hook off ELBOW to make LA / WO]


Called Auntie Ying briefly; she said her trip to China's villages was good, if a bit stressful because of her mom. Uncle Peter took pictures; Uncle Y.C. and Auntie Catherine accompanied them, which explains why THEY weren't at church in September! She says that she's praying for the church; we did that LAST time in 2004, and a fat lot of good THAT did! Yes, I'm cynical. I told her about Teunis staying over only because she wanted to know about my month - and no, I still don't talk much to certain people if I can help it! Hello!

Trivia fact for Friday, Oct. 8: By what name do we know the company established in 1839 as the British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company? The Cunard Line.

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Thursday, October 07, 2010

Boa's aloe with faeries and "COOEE!" / Corey, good new classes, and rules

Interesting rack of the evening: BOASALOE, against Alice P. [read this as "boa's aloe"]


High-scoring words of the evening:

KABAYAS (432 points) - against Melissa W. [two 4W]
FAERIE (112 points) - against Cari G. [two 2W, 4L on F]
COOEE (100 points) - against Juliane B. [5W, 4L on C]
COTED (206 points) - against Marcy A. [two 5W, hook off BOO to make BOOT]


Corey came online and told me not to sleep - uh, I don't think that's possible! Told him about Sunday, while he said that he's in his new apartment now. He complained that his throat was dry since he'd had nothing to drink; he didn't have time to make tea this morning, so thought he could use the water cooler at school, but that wasn't the case since they were working on it!


[22:10:39] Corey: this new school is way better than the others. the schedule sucks ass, with class spread out all through the day with lots of wasted time in the middle (like right now, I still have 4 more classes and several more wasted hours until 9:40 PM when I'm finally done), but the classes are extremely easy to prepare for... sometimes, I don't even prepare at all whatsoever
[22:10:43] Corey: and the students are all really friendly and talk a lot
[22:11:26] Flami: well, do you explain things better than the Chinese teachers they're no doubt used to?
[22:11:24] Corey: not all, but most classes have some really talkative people, which makes it nice. I have one problem class, but treating them like kids seems to be working... they're all younger (mostly) and barely talk, and they have a LONGER class....
[22:12:14] Corey: well, yes and no. I can tell them how people really talk, and they can learn proper pronunciation... but Taiwanese teachers, and probably all the students know a hell of a lot more about English rules than I do. I know what you can and can't say, but I'm bad at explaining why
[22:12:38] Corey: here, they just learn endless rules about English, so they're all afraid to make mistakes, and have to think about tons of rules whenever they want to talk
[22:12:54] Corey: you'll never get fluent that way, because you won't speak naturally when you're worrying about tons of rules
[22:13:02] Flami: yeah, I'm kinda bad at explaining why, too... maybe because we grew up with it
[22:13:31] Corey: well, that's exactly why. some people here think foreign teachers are bad because we know less English (oh REALLY?), and Chinese is easy because it doesn't have grammar rules..
[22:13:45] Corey: uh, it does... you just don't have to think about them because it was your FIRST LANGUAGE, dummy
[22:14:41] Corey: I don't have to think about English because it was my first language, I just know it
[22:15:59] Flami: HA... exactly
[22:17:28] Corey: well, I need to get going... more class. I won't be back until after 5 PM here... it's 1:15 PM now. so you probably won't be awake :P so, talk to you later
[22:18:32] Flami: haha, we'll see... talk to you later

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Paying Gwen, sailing, wind, zigzags, growing up, no Steveston Pizza?

Interesting rack of the afternoon: PAIDGWEN, against Janelle I. [read this as "paid Gwen"]


Bingo of the afternoon:

FORESAIL (116 points) - against Shelley R.-B.


High-scoring words of the afternoon:

FORESAIL (116 points; 5W, hook off MI to make AMI, bingo), PREX (144 points; two 3W) - against Shelley R.-B.
ZIGS (280 points) - against Michelle M. [5W used twice, 3L on Z, hook off CHOW for a plural]
UPGREW (1400 points) - against Barbara L. [two 5W, two 2W]
WINDAGE (248 points) - against Janelle I. [4W, two 2W]


Randal thinks we shouldn't have Steveston Pizza because he doesn't know if there'll be enough food for everyone, so proposes that everyone eat dinner beforehand. If we want it at the church, we should call him. That's one hurdle down, but I still won't go unless something else changes! Michelle C. wants me to add her new MSN; done!

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Forgetting Spoz's birthday in a dream / TOO AWKWARD! / Lobster and chicken / Beatles

Had a dream which involved forgetting Spoz's Apr. 2 birthday, a teacher shelling out money to make a "kudiya" (similar to a clarinet-flute hybrid) for every member of her music class, and watching people swim. Latest scrapbooking update: IT'S GOING TO BE AT RANDAL'S HOUSE?! OH, HELL NO! TOO AWKWARD AND IT COSTS MONEY! Not for me, thanks... I'd rather save it! Monday, lobster; Tuesday, chicken; Wednesday, bok choy / HUGE Chinese mushrooms / abalone; Thursday, rice; Friday, noodles... that should do it for my wedding banquet leftovers! Also got a YM message from Corey at 2:11 AM, which read "ooga chaka." Too bad that I was trying to sleep at the time... :(




You Are George Harrison



You are humble and happy to not boast about your accomplishments. You don't let your talent go to your head.

You are both studious and spiritual. You seek to both understand the world and give back to it.



You are very inward looking. That makes you a mystery to most everyone, including friends.

You aren't interested in the spotlight. You'd rather focus on your art - and making the world a better place.

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Ruby asteroids, astral plaids, strict yutzes, Thanksgiving, Chantelle, and the LSAT

Bingo of the night:

ASTEROID (530 points) - against Jenny H.


High-scoring words of the night:

RENAIL (450 points) - against Amy B. [3W, two 5W]
RUBIOUS (500 points) - against George M. [2W, two 5W]
PLAID (325 points) - against Cathy V.-S. [two 5W]
ASTEROID (530 points) - against Jenny H. [3W, two 4W]
YUTZES (255 points) - against Fida W. [3W, 4L on Y, 5L on Z] {a good deficit-erasing word!}
ASTRAL (158 points) - against Rebecca H.-F. [two 5W]
ASTRICT (395 points) - against Yvonne S. [3W, 5W used twice, hook off NINEBARK for a plural]
ZYMOGEN (105 points) - against Janice K. [3W, 3L on Y] {a good deficit-erasing word!}


Whoops, I just realized that Monday is the end of Thanksgiving long weekend! I emailed this to Karen (because I have an eye for details!), and she thanked me for catching that. She says she'll try finding another date for Ebisu sushi, haha. I've also suckered Chantelle into playing Wordscraper; she sent me a SCRABBLE WORLDWIDE invitation, but that excludes the US and Canada, probably for copyright / legal reasons!

Trivia fact for Thursday, Oct. 7: What is the highest score that wannabe attorneys can get on the Law School Admission Test, or LSAT? What's the lowest score possible? The highest is 180; the lowest, 120.

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Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Cigarette and meadow dream / Karen, Cindy, Alan, Tamara, and Annette / Art

I had a dream where I only remember Jon expressing a craving for a cigarette, Harmony putting something in her calendar for twenty years later ("after the kid grows up"), and living in a meadow. What the heck?!

Just when I was going to check my Yahoo email for Karen's lunch email (if she ever did), she emailed me using Ivan's Shaw account. She does want to get together at Ebisu on Monday at 12 - I guess that is doable! For once, Randal does not cite Jen as a source on something, which is probably due to the fact that she isn't in our small group. Cindy CAN be a source of info on scrapbooks from Winners, given her profession of teacher! Now Alan's friend Tamara I. wants to be Facebook friends - sure, why not. I'm up for randomosity today! Also found that Annette Gold unfriended me - oh well.




You Are Loving



You love deeply, and your friends and family especially know this. You are a natural caretaker.

You are generous with your time and actions. You are extremely considerate and thoughtful.



You like to take your time and do things right. You get very absorbed in your interests.

A passionate person like you would be happiest visiting Spain, Portugal, or France.

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Odd vipers having nine barks, elevator dream, XKCD Online Chatter Map, If

High-scoring words of the night:

VIPER (108 points) - against Jane K. [two 3W]
ODDS (175 points) - against Rebecca H.-F. [two 5W]
NINEBARK (120 points) - against Yvonne S. [5W]


I felt really tired at 8, so I had to take a nap. Of course, this left me feeling wide awake at midnight... this explains why I'm up at 4 AM! My dream consisted of elevators and word searches, it seems. Eric thinks we need to have a meeting after church on Sunday to discuss how best to support the Fellowship; sorry, not in my downtime / money budgets! Good idea, however...


I found an XKCD comic of an updated "online chatter" map:






Trivia fact for Wednesday, Oct. 6: What literary classic is about a man who was imprisoned on the tiny Mediterranean island of If? The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas père. If, located two miles off the port city of Marseille, France, was home to a fortified 16th-century castle that was later used as a prison.

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Tuesday, October 05, 2010

Pandas, warthogs, and fogeys doing it in public...

High-scoring words of the afternoon:

PANDA (810 points) - against Titan F. [5W, 2W, two 3W]
WARTHOG (538 points) - against Alice L. [5W, 2W, hook off CEE to make WE / AE, 5L on W used twice]
FOGEY (350 points) - against Wilhelmina H. [two 5W]


Well, Randal's emailed us about the scrapbook concept, and suggests we can do it in public (PROOFREADING?!) at Boston Pizza. Regardless of where my mind takes me when I read "doing it in public," I don't think that's a good idea... DOES HE THINK WE'RE MADE OF MONEY?! I'm definitely sitting out this one, especially if he makes it OPEN INVITE! I am a fan of keeping things exclusive, so we KNOW who's going to show up, and don't have any nasty surprises! Eric thinks they shouldn't have it at the pizza place because of the glue / pizza sauce factors, which at least makes sense.

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Noodles, Chinese mushrooms, and doughnuts (dream) / FINALLY, Johnny! / Hawaiian islands

I had a dream which involved going around places on a train which had an extended viewing deck, Dad holding up a $2 package of fried noodles in a Chinese grocery store to substitute for the equally-priced package of yellow Mung bean sprouts that I was buying, and having a choice of many types of Chinese mushrooms in a store where my mom was. My dream also featured buying three large paper bags of Chinese food from that store (one for a "Linda Bui") and consuming them, Eric calling me at the grocery store (which had Caller ID - I called him back to find that his dad said he left three minutes before), Raymond wearing purple and making trenches on my food plate (I kicked his ass for that!), a white guy in a field full of green grass eating pink sprinkled doughnuts, there being chocolate doughnuts under the grass (as he told his friend Chloe, who was scrolling through Wordscraper games), and more. Weird dream - not sure why I had it, other than Jeremy's viewing deck / the massive quantities of Chinese food on the weekend / Jon bringing up someone named Chloe / scrolling through my own Wordscraper games / Raymond wearing purple / Eric calling me a lot for transportation purposes!

Johnny has FINALLY submitted his official resignation from Committee / sound duty due to personal reasons, mainly because the rigid leadership isn't what he was looking for. I sense a theme here... Dylan has politely accepted it, which is a good thing because I would have been snarky, haha.




You Are Oahu



You're a big city person, and you need the bright lights of Honolulu to keep you entertained.

You enjoy fine dining and high-quality entertainment. You're definitely looking for the best.



You are attracted to culture of all sorts, and you will appreciate Oahu's museums and historical sites.

Not to mention some of the best shopping in the world, which is sure to keep a smile on your face!

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Joking about megahits and a snorting ex! / Lobster / Ian Fleming and James Bond

High-scoring words of the night:

EX (102 points) - against Jennifer F. [5L on X used twice, hook off ATOMY to make AX]
JOKE (100 points) - against Patricia Y. [5W]
MEGAHIT (108 points) - against Julie D. [5W, hook off FLOUR to make MU / ER]
SNORTS (200 points) - against Michelle F. [two 5W]


Had all the leftover lobster earlier, since I was concerned the seafood would spoil. True, it was in the fridge for only a couple of days, but I didn't want to waste it either.

Trivia fact for Tuesday, Oct. 5: Who portrayed superspy James Bond's creator in the 1990 TV movie The Secret Life of Ian Fleming? Jason Connery, son of 007's most famous portrayer, Sean Connery.

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Monday, October 04, 2010

Julie, Yvonne, Sabrina, Thanksgiving, Kleenex, wintergreen, chairs, and Mother Teresa

I've made a decision: since I refuse to support Seraphim unless I absolutely have to (like the Bible cover), I'll just get Julie / Yvonne / Sabrina some regular Thanksgiving cards for their baptisms. I usually never get those because it's pointless to give those (and New Year's cards) to my friends, but I will make an exception. Those should be way easier to find in the regular stores, anyway! It turns out that Randal beat me to telling the news to a certain person - UGH! Teresa sent me a message this morning, since she thought I was up "so early" at 8:50 - hahaha, such is usually not the case! I just leave this on overnight, heh.

Went to London Drugs and bought 99¢ Thanksgiving cards which also seemed like they'd do for the occasion of baptism ("you're special" / "have a beautiful Thanksgiving" / "warm thoughts and friendly wishes"), on-sale six-packs of Kleenex (I'm actually surprised I remembered while I was in the store!), prune nectar (yes, I'm one of THOSE people now!), on-sale wintergreen and cinnamon fire Icebreaker sours, and green tea. Thank goodness that I do have religiously-themed stickers for card decoration purposes! Got emails from Randal and Kevin about this Friday - despite my feelings about the former, I think maybe what I do need is fellowship! (but with "anyone and everyone"?!) Scrapbooking is such a girly idea, yet HE came up with it because of what Christon said! Then again, this IS the man with a pink breast cancer ribbon Bible! Haha, hmm! Now I'll catch up on Wordscraper while I eat!



You Are an Armchair



You are a supporting and caring person. It's likely that you are an old friend to many.

You are inviting and welcoming. You don't mind if people tell you all about their problems.



You need to be needed, and you enjoy having other people depend on you. You find meaning in being the rock.

People can really let down their guard around you and say exactly how they feel. You know all of your friends extremely well.

Trivia fact for Monday, Oct. 4: What gift did Pope Paul VI give Mother Teresa at the conclusion of his 1964 visit with her in India? A white Lincoln Continental, which she auctioned off to raise money to establish a leper colony in West Bengal.

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Rogers Arena, Christon and Jeremy's birthdays, "break-ins," Mr. Creep, and more

Eric called at 6:06 to advise me that he was on his way to pick me up... I also noted that I'm finally feeling better! We discussed the news on the way over; Christon had given him the hint ("What do you think the church would do if Pastor John left?") at Rogers Arena, but he thought it was just a hypothetical. It's no wonder I wasn't invited! I couldn't afford it anyway! (I was thinking the pre-season game was a get-together at someone's house) I said that when I had called Steph, she already knew about it... I also have no idea what's behind my dad's not being the church admin anymore, either. Should have asked Jon tonight, but forgot. We also discussed Randal, anger, moving on, Mr. Creep not being smart to avoid holiday rushes, savory food, people poisoning Randal's mind, hearing what you want to hear, agreeing with one part NOT being agreement with everything, manipulators, cooking sheets, machines, and more.

When we buzzed to be let into Jeremy's building, Eric said that "my pal" had answered the door. I was expecting Mr. Creep (Christon WOULD invite him...), but it turned out to be Raymond, who was wearing purple AGAIN! Jon and Harmony showed up late, and Wesley couldn't make it because he was studying. There were also three new people, whom I didn't talk to much as per protocol. (one of them was the person named Enoch - Jon apparently knows him from Regent) Otherwise, Eric / Jeremy / Christon / Vivian / Vania / Karen / Vicky / Martin / Isabel / Raymond / Randal / Jen / Lincoln / I had a good time. It was pretty crowded, so Jeremy brought out his ironing board for us to put our plates and glasses on! I agree with Harmony that it's much easier than dismantling his closet door! (Jeremy even drilled extra holes into it so it would be lower - he got it for free from the garage!)

Discussed the resignation news, KFC, gravy, fries, poutine, telling stories (Isabel and I were sitting in front of Lincoln who was in an armchair - CLASSIC TABLEAU POSE!), the "break-in" on Friday, Christon's disappointing experience at the Cloud 9 Revolving Restaurant, Stanford's exacting "julienne" standards for the potatoes and such / pranks involving alarms at the Fellowship retreat, Lady Gaga's meat dress (which apparently has been turned into jerky to preserve it!), and more. Christon, Wesley, Jon, and others had made it to the liquor store / Safeway JUST before closing time to get some Hop Head IPA and a cake with "Happy Birthday, Jeremy" written on it! Apparently, everyone who had come over after Fellowship had thrown stones at the window, knocked on the window, and did various other things to try alerting Jeremy to their presence. He did hear noises, but figured it wasn't anything to be worried about.

They figured he was in the shower, but luckily Ryan came home at 11:45 or so, and HE thought they really WERE trying to break in. Jon jumped in front of his car (he would!), and explained the situation to him... Ryan recognized them from previous Sunday Dinners. When they were unpacking stuff, they wondered what would happen if Jeremy came out of the shower without clothes on. They thought he'd gone out of the shower once, but that was a false alarm. When he really DID come out of the shower, he was surprised and very confused when they all appeared in front of him! (I told him that I would be, too) They stayed till about 12:15 or 12:30 - Jeremy DID have to work on Saturday, and midnight signified October 2 and Christon's own birthday!

As for the revolving restaurant, it was Christon's choice for a family dinner, and his dad (a chef) complained about everything! They had a reservation for 7:45, but didn't actually get seated till 8:15 because people were hogging the window view, and the restaurant staff didn't hurry the people up! Chinese people would just stand RIGHT THERE at the table, and stare at you - that would get most people to hurry up! The food was disappointing... they paid $45 for a prime rib, and it definitely did NOT wow them! There's another revolving restaurant around here, but Christon's friend who WORKS there told him NEVER to go there... that's when you KNOW it's bad!

Also discussed the phone going practically non-stop since 6:15, the dinner satisfying all of Vania's cravings, marks, Quebec, "Extra High" beer from Japan, mocha beer, Halloween / Kids Night, passion fruit / papaya cake, Harmony's paella (I was too full even from last night to try some!), rice, salad, and pimentos on the crackers. Talked about leftovers (I have a lot from last night - it works since I don't have to cook for the next few days!), mini chocolate bars, Eric's joke that I get drunk before church (I told this to Jeremy), beer pictures (two-handed beer!), Zimbabwe, long-distance girlfriends, deep-fried cheesecake, DEEP-FRIED LARD, KFC, Vivian taking off the chicken skin (Jon joked that he could superglue it to his face for a Halloween costume), and more. Jen gave Christon and Jeremy some T-shirts that her cousin's girlfriend makes in Hong Kong: they have Christian messages. These had a bastardized version of the McDonalds logo and slogan: "Messiah: He is loving us." HAHAHAHA, too funny!

At around 9:30 or so, we could hear fireworks outside. After trying to figure out WHY there'd be fireworks (it's not a HOLIDAY!) and looking out the window, Jeremy said that we could at least see them from the viewing deck upstairs! Jen was feeling lazy and didn't want to go, but everyone else went... it was the crowd mentality, so she had to go as well. Eric, Jon, Jeremy, and I went upstairs and down the hallway of the fourth floor - we could also see into someone's apartment from there! We saw the last couple of fireworks, and met a couple of other people who had just missed it. We wondered where everyone else was, and found them just waiting in the hallway when we got back because they weren't sure where we'd gone. Dude, how hard is "upstairs and down" to understand?! You gotta go more than a few steps out the door, man! Jon asked whether I was going to be a boob and skip the family Thanksgiving dinner at the lards' place - the presumably hectic nature of next weekend means I must sleep!

While Jen, Randal, and Harmony were discussing UBC job postings and crazy requirements, the guys were discussing ironic emails from Dylan and such in the kitchen as they cleaned up. I found the latter conversation to be more interesting, so joined them. Christon didn't tell Dylan, but he HAD found out from someone! He only has Deb to vent to now, poor guy! Eric said that HE had found out about the Pastor Glen situation through an email since he'd been in Victoria at U. Vic then, but couldn't remember who'd sent it to him. I told him that *I* had sent it, and explained to Christon that my email situation at the time was totally FUBAR - I couldn't check email because the computer was crazy slow! By the time I got to his reply email asking me to explain ("What?! There was a vote?! Please explain!"), he'd already found out more details about what had happened. So then we discussed spiritual formation, discipleship, questions which SHOULD be brought up at the family meeting, and more.

Later, someone HAD to bring up Mr. Creep; Jon was glad to see him, and Jeremy was glad he'd found us! (poor misguided souls...) Apparently, Jeremy and Jon like the new perspective he brings to us because he's a little different than we are; he's not Asian, so doesn't know the unwritten rules about what NOT to say, and can be brash. I'd say he's OUT OF TUNE! Apparently, he thinks Randal and Jen should date; the result was that Mr. Creep and Jen bickered like an old married couple at lunch! I refrained from saying anything about Mr. Creep - unlike him, I definitely DO know the unwritten rules!

On the way home, I reiterated my reasons for not liking him (the sheet signing / his offending me / his being discordant) and said that he wasn't intelligent AT ALL. Yes, I found out about the atrocious spelling and grammar after he'd signed the Kids Night sheet, but still. Also discussed the new people, blogging, and more. When Eric dropped me off, I said I'd see him on Saturday for the wedding - he made no demur (although I'm sure Friday will be a different story) because he was busy trying to rectify my FAIL at slamming the car door! I counted five or six slams, haha. At home, I found that Nathan knew about the situation, and wishes he couldbe here: a sad dire mess, indeed... also talked to Chinese Eric for a bit.

Also found this on my friends page, explaining the fireworks... so of course I emailed it to everyone:

so this is all over twitter right now:




"CelebOfLight

The #fireworks you just saw were for the IBA Annual Conference that started today! Bring back some summer memories? #vancouver #yvr #bc"

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Sunday, October 03, 2010

WHAT THE HECK... RESIGNATION?! UGH!!!!

When Eric picked me up this morning, we discussed intonation / the Lions game vs. the Blue Bombers / toxic vs. venom / his thinking that I need a good relationship with people / my being a snake / the hockey draft / the wedding / "cool people" / being "drunk" / obligations. At church, I couldn't get out of the car because of the grass - unfortunately, Cindy had to happen by and witness Eric reparking the car twice so I could get out! Once I got into the building, my usual row was full; I had to sit behind Jeremy instead! I said hi to him, and he wondered if I'd heard what some people had done after Fellowship on Friday. Apparently, they'd gone over to his place as a surprise, but he was in the shower. His roommate Ryan came home while they were trying to break in, and wondered just what the heck was going on, haha! This is why you don't just SURPRISE people! (the same thing happened to Connie a few years ago, in fact!)

Talked to Chrystal after that, and noted that her aunt was back from China! I assumed that Auntie Ying would be too jet-lagged to attend service, heh. Chrystal's parents and Emily are or will be on the same tour, so she'll get LOTS of alone time! We also discussed the wedding. Went back to my seat to find Connie nearby - she did indeed drive home last night as Jenny was feeling woozy! She packed a bit when she got home at 12:15 AM because of a work trip to Düsseldorf; hopefully, she'll be at church next Sunday after she gets back the night before! Said hi to Joyce, and handed Christon and Jeremy their birthday cards and Guylian chocolates later on. Learned that Julie, Yvonne, and Sabrina will be getting baptized next week (Seraphim baptism cards, or regular Thanksgiving cards?) - along with some other Sabrina (that'll be confusing!) and some guy named Vernus - WHAT KIND OF NAME IS THAT?! Oh, Chinese people...

During Communion, I joked that Stanley (sitting behind me) was being lazy since he wouldn't stand up to "pass the peace" with people, and he got the humor! Then I was surprised to feel a tap on the shoulder, which turned out to be Randal (of all the people) wanting to shake hands with me - FINE, WHATEVER! I followed Raymond and Randal (who happened to be sitting beside me - I kept personal space barriers!) to the other side for the sacraments. Good thing I did, since I saw Mr. Creep in the last row of the farthest section! UGH! Randal impeded my progress back to my seat by shaking Mr. Creep's extended hand, too! However, the announcement that Pastor John was about to make would drive most other thoughts from my head...

HE SAID THAT HE IS RESIGNING BECAUSE HIS VALUES AND VISION DON'T REALLY FIT WITH THE CHURCH LEADERSHIP! I thought that maybe one of his family members had a life-threating illness or something, but as he went on with the emotionally difficult announcement, that wasn't the case. People were shocked, sad, crying, and going through a bunch of emotions! Christon said it was a closely-guarded secret, and offered Connie his hand - I put an arm around her for added support and comfort.

Later, I saw Harrison eating chips and pretzels from a paper cup, so said hi. Little kid interactions usually cheer me up a bit, which is what I wanted. His dad Alex wanted to know if I were in Awana - yes, you DO see me almost every week! Turns out that Harrison got an extra-large Sparky uniform when he's really a small... sure, just exchange it on the 16th! Victor said hi to me, so I talked to him briefly about Awana... I didn't really care if he could tell I'd been crying! When I got into the fellowship hall, I'd pretty much decided to skip toddler Sunday School in favor of the quick forum to talk about the announcement and feelings. Got some coffee, and was talking to people when Auntie Catherine pulled me aside. She gave me a birthday card and a fountain pen (with my name spelled wrong - but she means well), so I thanked her for the belated birthday wishes.

Went over to where Christon was talking to Harmony and Jen, since I figured he'd have inside info on this... Wesley and Jeremy joined us later. Discussed 2004, lessons, this being different than the Pastor Glen situation, dreading today, post-mortem emotions, processing, not demonizing the Deacon Board, losing sleep, Lesley not keeping it together before service (so Jeremy started crying - and wished he could have taken the Communion platter from her), little hints like "re-structuring" / a pre-season game hint given only to Eric, who's good at hiding things (and why wasn't *I* invited?!), Christon telling Dylan to RELAX and RECHARGE in the Philippines (he doesn't know), last week's meeting, stages of grief like anger / sadness / denial / some acceptance, respecting privacy, and more. Chung, Christon, and others will remain on the ESCC and carry out Pastor John's vision of social justice as best they can, so that's good.

Calla, Karmie, Pastor John, Phil, Chung, Pastor Edward, Tim, Jon, and Christon spoke during the forum to clarify feelings and state that this was a final decision. Apparently, he's reconsidered it once already in June, when friends talked him out of the decision; however, he noticed the same cumulative events and patterns. There will be a family meeting to discuss this on the original date of the AGM, so that's why it was moved. Also talked about agony, personal reflections, kind offers, and more. My Sundays are looking busy this month, for sure! At least this time around, I won't have to deal with as much negativity from certain sources.

Afterwards, we all clustered around to discuss things some more; nobody was in the mood to discuss the birthday dinner tonight, but at least the birthday boys will get a break from cooking! Christon might just buy a rotisserie chicken from Safeway and call it done since he doesn't know if he'll have the energy for cooking. I know Jeremy's youth church had something similar happen, where the pastor who baptized him had to leave! People wanted to go out to have a (non-alcoholic!) drink so they could talk about things some more - when Mr. Creep came up to the group since he wanted lunch, Eric indicated that he wanted to go. That's certainly VERY good friendship, since he KNOWS how I feel about him! In the car, I thanked him for leaving - then he said he'd normally go for lunch (NO!), but there were other pressing matters to attend to. Well, good - I'm still glad I had a narrow escape!

He made sure that his family had left for O'Hare's pub without waiting for him, and then we were both mainly quiet / somber / subdued as we thought about things. Even our joking and such was muted! I saw a truck which said DERRICK TRUCKING - good thing it didn't say what I thought it might have! He jokingly thought I was a rude lady for making him check his email for what I'd be bringing, when I could expend a minimum amount of effort to tell him right then! However, I couldn't help him with the start time of tonight's dinner, so he WOULD have to check his email for that... HA! Also discussed what Randal had done during Communion (detailed above), BS small group outing (not sure what they're doing), and non-specific food items.

When I got home, I called my sister at work with the fresh news; Mom had beat me to it, she said. (I guess being the wife of the soon-to-be-retired church administrator has its perks...) I told her about the wedding - yes, the inside joke WAS "it's about time!" She thought it would have been a good wedding since I saw people I hadn't seen for years - oh yes! Also, she thinks that our parents are going to Italy on the 15th or 16th. If next weekend is just as hectic as this weekend (no indications that it WON'T be...), then I just might not make it to the family Thanksgiving dinner! Who knows.

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Dream of pests and JESUS CHRIST online game / Gelato / Oktoberfest

I dreamed that a bunch of my friends and I had taken over someone's house, and were happily doing our own thing in groups when I went outside to do something in the front yard. Imagine my dream self's disgust when I saw these round, translucent, elongated oval-shaped THINGS in the grass! I ran back into the house to warn my friends, but they were horrified at the sight of these pests as well since those were all over the house! Auntie Ying and Benedict said we should pour salt onto them, but Cordia wasn't so sure. Later, Phil said I had about an hour to look up "Jesus Christ" online; Nathan and Citrus encouraged me to do so. Quan said that it would be awesome if I did, while Sylver was trying to study, but got sucked into doing that. So I did, leaving my group with that excuse. It turned out to be an MMOPRG featuring army characters, haha! Not sure why I had the dream!



You Are Vanilla Gelato



You are very likable and popular. People usually have no complaints with you.

You are easygoing and flexible. You don't have to be calling the shots to have a good time.



You adapt well to a variety of situations. You are good at figuring out how to fit in.

You may seem bland to outside observers, but you're really quite subtle and interesting.

Trivia fact for Sunday, Oct. 3: In what month does Oktoberfest begin annually in Munich, Germany? In September. This year's celebration - the 200th - began on September 18 and ends today. When first held in 1810, it began in October, but it was later moved to September to take advantage of the milder weather.

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Kirin, Melissa, Emily, Tracey, Pastor Glen, Lillian, Kelvin, and the wedding banquet

I was expecting a phone call around 4:30, and got one - soon we were on our way to Kirin via the Starlight Casino, which we were surprised to learn was open 24 hours! Talked desultorily on the way there about Walmart and trying to take naps, but failing. Lily apologized to me about having to be at the restaurant two hours early, but I said it was fine. I got to sit around and observe people decorating the place - said hi to Tracey and talked to her about her daughters (Melissa and Emily are 14 and 12 now?!), got a picture with Karen (but not with Jason?), waved to Joe W. (he spotted me first while running after a kid whom I assume was his son Michael!), and said hi to Helen / Warren / Frances / Mel / Kenny / Winnie / Chung Yan / Karen I. / Tim / Maxine / others. Melissa says she remembers me, so that's good. Didn't talk to Joe's exacting wife Nancy, which is probably fine! I got lots of thinking time in, haha. (Eric would say that was a bad thing!) Saw Brad and Natalie, but didn't get a chance to say hi - too bad!

When I migrated to the table I was supposed to sit at, I got the entire thing to myself till 6:30 or so! (Ed even commented on that when he passed by with Joan!) There was a photo booth, which was a cool idea. I definitely took advantage of the decaf Starbucks coffee! Helped Anita watch her stuff while she talked with Daniel, Michelle, and her husband Jeff - I bet it was tiring watching her two kids this morning if Allison wanted to see stuff, and Joanna was in her carrier! Greeted Kelvin (in Seattle with a third kid named Joseph), and talked about the mixed-up news our parents delivered to us about their friends' offspring. I still remember the time when a bunch of us were at the townhouse, and my mom thought his brother Kenneth's wife Daisy was pregnant with a second kid! Nathan had to check Facebook to confirm that, haha. (this was after they had Matthew, but way before they had Rachel) Kelvin and Evelyn don't use Facebook much, so that wouldn't be a good way to keep up with them. He thanked me for coming over and saying hi - of course I want to do that for my old friends whom I never see anymore due to life circumstances!

Talked to Brenda, Josh, his wife Joanna, Connie, Jenny, Ivan, and Karen Choo about Vegas (gambling and shopping!) / purse hooks / the 25-minute slideshow / Paris Hilton and drinking / Blackberries / the pharmacy pill-counting game, MacBooks / Felicia / belated birthday wishes (I'm sure Karen's just being polite when she says Ebisu should be our hangout place) / cameras, baby Nina (so cute!), cakes as a creative avenue, Jason regretting not inviting Mark, and more. There was a lot of food, especially because Rich couldn't make it due to an emergency involving cancer and depression with a university kid he helps! The speeches touched on the 11-year dating period that Jason and Karen had, plus the breakup in between. Wow, I really HAVE known them for a long time; since 1996 or so!

Went over to say hi to Pastor Glen and Lillian, who complimented me on my red bling sweater - yes, it IS sparkly! (Jenny asked if I were hot, but except for a very brief period, no... still recovering from this cold!) Discussed paladins, security, justice, New Westminster, Hope Community Church, Burnaby, updates on life, Awana, Anne / Joel / Michaela, and more. It was good to talk to them! Also talked to Sarah and Vernon about relational challenges / UGM and servants / the cupcakes / Champlain Heights / pianos nearby / computers / Committee work / volunteering / Awana / neighbors / parents / Mongolia / Hannah, Lucas, and Dorcas / my caring qualities / Harmony. Got to congratulate Jason and Karen later - France seems like a good honeymoon destination! On the way home, we discussed bedtime / Nancy and Joe surprisingly not freaking out about stuff / drinking / my not having to cook for a few days. THAT is a blessing, haha!

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