Keg gift cards, disinclination to go out in cold weather, healing, and more

Tonight's dinner menu:

Pumpkin Fritters
Winter Salad of some sort
Carbonades Flamandes (aka beef stew cooked in Belgian beer)
Mushroom Risotto
Pumpkin Pie


Chinese Eric picked me up, and we were off to Jeremy's. We talked about SERVANTS, TV, eating a limited amount of beef, the Advent calendar, the hockey game, not being inclined to go out in cold weather, Paul (of course I warned him against the jerk!), Teunis (hard to pronounce!), Safeway, gift cards, restaurants, Starbucks, the J. Edgar Hoover movie, hanging out, and more. Made a brief stop at Safeway to look at their selection of gift cards before he settled on one for the Keg. Christon let us into Jeremy's place, and Eric said that I was pretty sharp since I recognized his voice - haha, that's what happens when you see someone a lot! Met a few of Jon's friends (talked to them about Toronto / Vancouver / black people / chicken knees / chicken feet) while Eric and I settled on the couch.

Eric got me some water, and we had a good time just listening to people! I said hi to Connie, Wesley, Harmony, Holly, Peter (who wasn't surprised to hear Steph was working), Eric M., Jeremy, Mark, Christon, Trish, and others. After I asked Mark how church was today, he said that the new interim pastor gave a sermon today. He mentioned that the guy is also white, which led Raymond to wonder if we'd had any other white pastors. I answered that Pastor Glen had been white, but that was before his time. Randal then said that he'd come to the church right after all that, and wondered why Pastor Glen had been dismissed. I gave them some details about the petitioners and everything else, and then Randal said that he couldn't believe we've known each other for almost eight years! Yeah, it's been a long time - half of which I've spent judging him!

When Randal said hi to me as we were eating dinner (I guess I didn't mind his sitting next to me on the couch since it was crowded...), that started off a long-overdue conversation about books / the past, his past anger, the non-Christian Ginger ultimately being shallow [she got married and her statuses are about Louis Vuitton handbags!] even if she was creeped out by my morbid joke (they broke up soon afterward), Korey's manipulative nature (he doesn't read his status updates), Karen Choo being a good mentor (helping us both through issues) and Ivan Choo. We also talked about Dylan and Karen not getting along (you THINK?!) / Steph and her life / pumpkin ale / meeting people / Vegas / grudges / overanalysis / Bible Study memories. He guarantees that he'll accept a friend request from me on Facebook, so we'll see about that. Then again, he says that I saved him from a hideous marriage! Hahaha, nice!

Randal also mentioned that he saw some potential between me and Teunis for a romantic relationship - not with certain things going on, that's for sure! All I mentioned was the chewing and noise issues, which he thought we could have compromised on. I don't think so! (I should tell him this tomorrow, hahaha) When he said that we didn't talk enough, I was surprised! Then he implied that if I kept loving Teunis and inviting him out to church, he might be a Christian - I don't think so! I accept that he has a great respect for Christianity in general, and that's fine by me! I didn't say that I didn't like his way of thinking, haha! However, I do feel much better now... but I'll still be careful, of course! (he said he feels bad about how we ended off last time in 2007, so we'll see)

When H. Ross came in, we gave each other a high-five! Everyone was congratulating Harmony on her pregnancy, heh. I talked to Christon about the small group formats and such, and had to laugh on the inside when he asked me whether the stuff happening on Fridays around here was resolved yet! I don't think it will be, hahaha. The guys were talking about Youtube videos, the hockey score (Vancouver won 2-1 over Ottawa in overtime), BC Lions news / the Grey Cup, vuvuzelas, STARCRAFT, hockey pools, message boards, and more prior to Gino and Quan dropping by with balot. GROSS STUFF, man! Then Paul took over the computer to look up anime, so BOO! I smiled and said hi to Jon H. while Eric and I were leaving, too! On the way home, we discussed a Grey Cup hangout / his assessment of Paul being cocky (that's actually right!) / help / touch / the election results / appointments / cold weather / hanging out / seeing people only occasionally being good (for sure!) / Nathan coming back at the end of the month / Ciel / more stuff. Pretty good friends, yay!