Terry Pratchett, quotes, fantasy, and birds (I'm an eagle!)

Before I went to bed and he took a shower at 3:20 AM, Teunis and I discussed quotes / fantasy / Terry Pratchett's Alzheimer's Disease, books, and homemade sword. Interesting stuff!

You Are an Eagle

You are a deeply spiritual and wise person. Your still waters run deep. You are very perceptive and intuitive. You often see what others are missing. You are both responsible and fearless. You won't be deterred from your destiny. You do what needs to be done, especially when others are afraid to do it.

What Bird Are You?

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

JUST CALL HIM TONY! / Terry Pratchett / 4-3 wins

Note: LJ "Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!" Super Bowl meme.

Mom called me back and sounded less stressed - a win for ME! She wanted to know how to spell Teunis' name so she would know how to pronounce it - HAHAHAHAHA! "It's too hard!" (if she has trouble with "Pavel Bure / Keith Tkachuk," yeah...) Eventually, I told her to just call him "Tony" on Sunday; she wanted to know why I wasn't at Fellowship, so I told her that I took a day off. She thought I shouldn't take a day off, but I needed one after this week... sheesh! The Canucks won 4-3 over Chicago, too. Teunis and I discussed the TV from Rhiannon's (only about 8 months of use on a two-year-old model?!), comedy, Terry Pratchett / DISCWORLD / HOGFATHER / stereotypes, DVDs, politics, WOW dungeons, Skype calls, Alicia, Scott, Viking groups, mortality / death, Vietnam, his mom, laptop design flaws, solder / glue, fixing Kaili's computer, British vs. US pacing, and other things.

Somewhat relaxing on the "day of rest" - CNY Eve 2011 pictures!

Teunis got home around 5, and said he'd had a long day with lots of travel - I'm not surprised, if it involved multiple trips to and from Surrey! Discussed sci-fi books, coffee, solitude, the cost of interruptions, radio shows, fixing Kaili's computer, CNY dinner, pain / shin splints / no hiking, TV / monitors / electronics recycling, WOW, beta games, toddlers and Twitter-type communications, introverts vs. extroverts offline and online, hats, the LICH KING, Amber, Netspeak, and more. Of course he can relax, and with this day of rest, so can I! That is, if I could have gotten away with NOT calling Mom... but I had to. Then I called Steph to vent about Mom's eternal questions about food restrictions / transportation - at least Mandy was a better choice for that! I do NOT stress Mom out a lot - no idea why she sounded that way on the phone, but SHE better not stress ME out!


Here are some Chinese New Year Eve pictures from Shiang Garden:

(my parents' friends Alan and Polly)

(me, Alan, and Polly)

(Grandma)

Monkey Traits!

Got this from one of Sarah Rowlett's friends:

Heavy pancakes, ginger beer, funny business cards, who I've always been

Before going to bed last night, Teunis and I discussed heavy pancakes (I like the change!) / ginger beer / Bhutan and their crackdown on smoking / my wrestled "day of rest" (take THAT, White Eric! :P) / funny "business cards" / Facebook causing his heavily-loaded computer to do funny things / more. Got up today to find that he had already left - Day Of Rest #2 coming right up! :D

You Are Faithful

You are a truly courageous person. You believe in yourself and the people around you. You are a positive thinker and a true optimist. You expect the best from the world. You are independent yet interdependent. You do your own thing, but you're always thinking of the community around you. You are warm-hearted, witty, and even irreverent. You think it's a shame to take anything too seriously.

Who Have You Always Been?

Work is Hard. Time for Blogthings!

Heavy toolboxes, DAY OF REST, and Tom Waits

Teunis and I discussed hair, H.P. Lovecraft / Cthulhu, the Necromicron, sci-fi, Fox News, US news not being trustworthy, Al-Jazeera in Egypt, the CRTC banning usage-based billing (for now?), being night people, the pork in the freezer, Windows vs. Linux, STEAM, Android emulators, culture, and relationships. We also discussed Steph / Chantal / Boston, CBC musical variety as opposed to Rock 101 / Jack-FM, cast iron pots / collapsible portable closets / TV in the storage locker, old friends, weekend plans, his VERY heavy toolbox (I can't lift that sucker up!), trebuchets (stone castle walls!) / British piano-moving companies, help with doors, and more prior to his leaving for dance class and such. White Eric tried calling me later, but didn't get an answer, so resorted to MSN to ask if I were going to Kevin's tomorrow / say that I should learn to give a straight answer to a question. When I said that I was taking Friday as a "Day of Rest," he tried arguing it from the Biblical perspective - I do what I want, and "resting in God's Word" isn't going to cut it tonight! After the last few days around here, I need the break - and Sunday isn't going to be restful what with church / Committee Meeting / CNY dinner! Perhaps if this chocolate is still around, I could share it whenever the next BS is, if I'm up for going to that one! Talked about Vivian and other topics before he signed off - PHEW! I found that Candy had tried calling me at around 9:05 - HA! FOILED AGAIN!

When Teunis got back at 10, we discussed my staying home tomorrow too (my plan all along) / yogurt / sausage rolls (not really DINNER as such...) / replacement monitors and TV / seasoning cast-iron equipment / juice / new spatulas / pancakes / new shampoo / the collapsible closet / storage / shelves. Robin came online and linked me to Tom Waits' Fumbling With The Blues - nice!

Word Facts for Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2011

Word origin for the weekend of Jan. 29-30, 2011: cramp one's style - "Dude! You're cramping my style!" So a surfer, or at least a would-be surfer, might howl at a bothersome neighbor. The term is much older, though, first turning up in the writings of the English essayist Horace Walpole in 1781: "The shackles of translation have neither cramped your style, nor rendered it obscure."

Word origin for Jan. 31, 2011: thimble - In medieval English, the suffix -le often turns up as a means of indicating that something belongs or is relative to something else. In this case, the "thimble" means an instrument that belongs to the thumb, as indeed it does.

Word origin for Feb. 1, 2011: February - To a Roman, "February" would have been a month for fever, the word februum underlying both modern terms. More specifically, a februum was a kind of ritual purification held each year on the fifteenth of the month, involving fasting - sensibly, for food supplies were often short in the last half of winter.

Word origin for Feb. 2, 2011: chow line - The "chow" is a dog bred in China - sometimes as a food source. English-speaking sailors visiting Chinese ports came away with the thought that dogs figured in every meal, and "chow" entered military jargon to refer to any kind of food. "Chow line" is still used in military slang today to indicate the kind of food served in a mess hall, another suggestive term.

Word origin for Feb. 3, 2011: e.g. - In Latin, exemplia gratia means "a freely given example." Shortened to e.g., it is used as a replacement for the phrase "for example." It is often confused for i.e., the abbreviation for the Latin phrase id est, "that is."

Word origin for Feb. 4, 2011: heinous - Something "heinous" is downright nasty. The word comes from the French heine, "hate," and is therefore equivalent to - but somewhat stronger than - our word "hateful." The word is often paired in the expression "heinous crimes." It is pronounced "hay-ness," not (as is often heard) "he-knee-us."

Jordan bugging Angus and Phil for Wunderbars (dream)

All I remember about my dream is extremely crowded conditions at an outdoor fair like the PNE (but it wasn't that or Expo) - Phil and Angus were manning a couple of the ticket booths, and Jordan kept bugging them for "just another Wunderbar, please!!!" I also remember buying a LOT of ice cream tubs, and having to give some away to Teunis - Praline Orange, anyone? No idea why I had that except talking about Jordan, and the crowds at Yaohan / Aberdeen the last couple of days.

Teunis and I also talked (in real life) about nuclear war dreams - that sounds scary enough! Aiya! Robin also sent me a Facebook chat message asking whether I'd heard "the news" - since I have no idea what he's referring to, I'll check Facebook... OUCH! :( Oh, and now Ben / Alyson (_brainsick_ / sufi87) has messaged me - now, that's a blast from the past! I'll just annoy him, since I'm not in the mood for endless IM conversation with randoms right now!

Your Dominant Personality Trait is Inquisitiveness

You are an imaginative and curious person. You are excited to learn about the world. You are interested in all sorts of topics. You like to understand history and how things work. You are both a tinkerer and an intellectual. You probably enjoy working with your hands and more passive activities like reading. You have many interests and hobbies... and you're always looking to take on a new one.

What's Your Dominant Personality Trait?

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

Chinese New Year Eve lunch and dinner... waiting an hour for food is BOGUS!

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR! YAY, YEAR OF THE RABBIT!

Jon, Steph, and I talked about poker night / TMI stuff on the way to the townhouse - coffee and bananas did not work, let's just say. When we wished Grandma a Happy New Year, she gave us a typical response: "It's not until tomorrow!" Considering that we won't SEE her tomorrow, we think that early wishes are just fine! We had SIU LONG BAO, Chinese grapefruit, crunchy taro, Chinese New Year treats, duck wings, almond / coconut Smarties, bok choy, and a whole bunch of other stuff for lunch while talking about the HOHOHOs / Thai House / an APRIL dinner for CNY / pizza / veggies / the news out of Egypt (the TV footage looked fiery!) / shark's fin soup (Jon and I were feeling bad about that, but a 90-year-old isn't going to change her mind!) / Kate's engagement in Finland / banking / Aberdeen Mall / dinner at Shiang Garden with Alan and Polly / when Steph's birthday dinner should be / whether we had to go vegan for Harmony's birthday dinner (we don't if it's on a Sunday!) / the thrift store / Mom's new friends / keys and cellphones / Grandma doing the dishes / Grandma's Lunar birthday / apples / oranges / shirts / toilet paper / all six of us in the kitchen at once ("PARTY!") / the US snow / Sunday plans. After Steph dropped me and Grandma off at the bank (and Jon off at the Canada Line station), I was able to go in with her while she looked at some stuff. It was pretty neat seeing her certificate of Canadian citizenship / Hong Kong money / old passports and documents / amber / jade!

From there, I convinced her to take the Canada Line, although she thought we could just walk the twenty LONG blocks from Richmond Centre to Aberdeen since it was "close." Um, no! Considering she complains about walking two blocks from Lansdowne Station to Dr. Ruby's office, that wasn't happening! Once we got to Aberdeen, we spent a few hours just walking around (looked at jewelry, the bookstore, the bakery, and other things) / resting - she bought kiwis, longan, three Philippine mangoes (one for me), lettuce, bananas (two for me), and more from the supermarket; two packages of cream crackers (one for me), a package of lemon creme crackers (for me), and a package of sultana crackers from a fair booth; $76 worth of dried walnuts / mangoes / spicy peas / fruit from the dried fruit store. While we were resting, she showed me everything in her wallet - pictures, reminders of Uncle Michael / Auntie Leslie / Yvonne / Aaron / Lillian / Cousin Eric / Great-Aunt, cards, and lots more. Contrary to what she thinks, Eric M. and I do NOT go out - he's just a great guy!

It only took us ten minutes to walk from the mall to the restaurant, and I recognized the red-and-gold sign immediately. Dinner itself was good (lobster / shark's fin soup / veggies / mushrooms / other stuff) - I was able to turn my brain off while my parents talked to Alan and Polly about Egypt / Auntie Helen / Bryant / Jordan / Thomas / hockey / their church friends. Alan and Polly even gave me lucky money! However, we had to wait an hour for the food to even arrive (yes, I make allowances for the place being really busy on Chinese New Year Eve :P), and then another 45 minutes to an hour for the fish (Grandma's favorite!) and desserts! We even asked multiple times where the fish was, and got fed some BS line about the kitchen - then they admitted that they gave it to the wrong tables! At home, I told Steph / Jon / Harmony what had happened via phone calls before settling in to talk to Teunis about WOW / eating / the Canucks winning 6-0 against Phoenix / Android emulators while catching up on stuff. I also found out that Olivia C.'s friend Flora Liu wants to add me to Facebook - DENIED!

Chinese New Year Eve / Empathy

Got up just now to find that Chinese Eric had wished me a Happy Chinese New Year via MSN message - aww, so sweet! (haha) Then I checked my email to find one from Jon replying to a Chinese New Year Eve lunch invite from Mom - yeah, it'll be crowded if we go out. As to whether I really want to brave the Chinese New Year crowds at Aberdeen with Grandma afterwards, that's iffy! But we'll see - called Steph to see what was up. Apparently, I didn't just miss it - suppose I can eat there today, haha.

You Are Empathetic

You are often empathetic and compassionate, but it's not always your natural state. You need to understand what's going on with someone before you can truly empathize with them. You want everyone to be comfortable around you, and you do your best to make them feel at ease. You deal with emotions and feelings best when everyone is able to be straightforward about them.

How Empathetic Are You?

Blogthings: A Fine Line Between Insight and Stupidity

No more EnviroCascade TP for me! / National Piss Excellence Day

Listened to jazz for the rest of the night, and discussed Teunis' soldering iron (up to 800 DEGREES?! - takes some time to cool down), schooling, (cutting) classes, German / French, band, woodworking, drafting, industrial education, home ec, hunting classes in Fort St. John (it's a life skill up there - with GUN USE as part of the curriculum!), computer science, oil patch sponsorship, the smell of solder (too much will give you lead poisoning!), glue on chairs, the Canucks winning 4-1 over Dallas tonight, baby Micah, Jazmin, Jasmine, chairs, funny / silly things in WOW, dodgy cables, Randal / Mr. Creep / Nathan / white Eric, and sleeves. I saw a FB event called "National Piss Excellence Day" - WTF?! Finally added Christine Bennett to Facebook, hahaha... and discovered that Cherine Casillan has unfriended me, oh well! Noticed that the Enviro Cascade toilet paper is just thin enough to not totally rip. I'm not buying that again even if it is environmentally friendly!

My Icons! / January 2011 Bubble Tea Tally

Your Icons!! by ixlovexyoux3
Name:
Happy Icon
Sad Icon
In Love Icon
Broken-Hearted Icon
Angry Icon
Celeb Icon
Friend Icon
Animal Icon
Sexy Icon
Random Icon

MONTHLY BUBBLE TEA TALLY, JANUARY 2011 (1)

honeydew @ Big Orange (Wednesday, Jan. 19)

Apple Store, The Source, wires, veggies, busy Yaohan, CNY

When Teunis got up, we talked about banking and storage... no Surrey today because of traffic concerns, but food shopping around here sounds good! I also got an email from Christon about some Yaletown artists event taking place on the 12th - THANK GOODNESS I HAVE AN EXCUSE FOR THAT! (Awana - and if afterwards, GOING HOME TO CHILL!) Says he's praying that the weather holds up - well, it's not like we're going to experience a massive snow dump like the States is right now! (fingers crossed!) It's in ten days - no need to pray so hard (or at all) right now, friend! Hahahaha!

Among other things before leaving, Teunis and I also talked about The Source / Future Shop / the Apple store / Best Buy ("they've completely RUINED my ability to search for actual parts!!!!") / stores for actual electronic parts like transistors / his mixer board / actual milk / the CBC musical variety / Great Big Sea / Betelguese / the news. We went to check out an electronics shop across the street from the mall, which he said was useless because they sold cellphones. Then we checked out the Apple Store in the mall (dodging the perfumes at Sears) anyway, simply because he'd never been to one. (neither have I - lots of shiny iPhones, iPods, iPads, and more technology!) He talked to one guy about programming stuff (for the Android, too), then we went to The Source to see about the wires and (shielded) cables which he needed.

The associate there seemed pretty amused that Teunis was using parts in unconventional ways, haha. We talked about history, violence, war, Mandarin / Cantonese / language study / LONG historical test runs, Japanese, Korean, the City Hall building, Kaili, computers, dropping things, and more on the way to the EXTREMELY busy Yaohan Mall! Yep, Chinese New Year is coming up in two days - the gold and red decorations were nice, though! Discussed price differences, parking lots, illegally-stopped cars, bills, money, help, eggs, soy milk, MeltyKiss candies (green tea / white chocolate / strawberry), oyster mushrooms, dance class in New Westminster, repairs, Asian veggies, food supplies, almonds / cashews / mixed nuts vs. meat, protein, and more.

Cake Colors!

When Teunis got home last night after 11, he said it was -3 outside... sure, he could have some of my pasta with his coffee! He said that the kids at Andrew and Teresa's were silly company - pictures galore, haha! I've written Dylan's birthday card, anyway!

You Are a Brown Cake

You are a very down-to-earth person. You know what the good things in life are all about. You are both affectionate and comforting. You take care of yourself and others. You think that life has a purpose. You try to live well and with meaning. You put your friends and family first. People are always more important than things.

What Color Cake Are You?

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

Stocking up on the light bulbs!

Posted a question as to where I could find 50-100-150W light bulbs in the city, and got a response from Jasmine's sister Jade (bdellovibrio), saying that she'd just bought a whole bunch at the Granville / Georgia London Drugs. She helpfully added that they were 20% off for now... she's remarkably helpful considering who she is! (also got a response stating "the dollar store!" which would have been my other option) I called the nearest London Drugs (which was out of stock), so called that London Drugs - since they still had some, I went straight over there on the Canada Line. I'm ditzy or something since I totally missed the 50-100-150W light bulbs on the shelf the first time... and they were right next to the ones with higher intensity wattage! I used the in-store elevator to go to where I was before, too - the store was across the street, but the downstairs went right next to the Canada Line. Go figure! While I was there, I bought a bunch of coat / clothing hangers since I figured I might as well replace ALL my wire hangers... those were remarkably inexpensive! (then was annoyed because of the LONG lineup!) Got home at 8:35, which wasn't too bad at all. Figured that Teunis would still be out; if not, he probably wouldn't mind my "disappearing," haha.

AMBER, fire oil, staying up all night and all day, and SOURDOUGH

Teunis and I talked about the bathroom fan, using candles (Jon / Harmony and Peter / Holly do so), interesting radio shows (SPARK), sourdough pancakes, a 1258-page book called THE CHRONICLES OF AMBER (only $4?!), and soy milk pudding. Then Krista called and wanted to work on her resume over here... at least this time I'm awake and reasonably functional, unlike Saturday! Apparently, he forgot about dinner tonight at Andrew and Teresa's - this should be good as long as the company is quite fine, haha. Also talked about gas, money, food sensitivities, fire oil, Chinese Eric, white Eric, gluten, sci-fi, and more. Krista came over, so we discussed the changes in Richmond (Burnett! CANADA LINE!), Wal-Mart prices, US food labelling ("chocolate"?), leaving around 4, busing out to PoCo (not a good idea), his seeing Kaili on Wednesday, and naps. Apparently he didn't mind if the radio was left on - okay, then! Krista and I were just mainly being quiet until he got up, anyway. Discussed her inability to eat the sourdough pancakes, life, his alarm, 54-40's Love You All, his falling asleep again, staying up all night and all day, forgetting about stuff, NOT falling asleep in the shower, drywall, insulation, vents, her unfinished house up north, and more.

Zen Rocks

You Are Dreamy

You are a sensitive soul, and you can't help but be constantly affected by the world around you. You are compassionate and kind, especially to creatures and people who are a bit helpless. You are idealistic and philosophical. You dream of a better world for everyone. You are imaginative and creative. You can't help but always do things your way.

The Zen Rock Test

Blogthings: Waste Time at Work!

Misquotations, "QUITTING ONTD," tomatoes, expired soy milk, reading directions FAIL

Wikipedia's list of misquotations

Teunis and I discussed beer for baking bread, Christmas decoration for his shelves, Jessica Leung's cute Cookie Monster cupcakes, copyright law, BIOSHOCK references in WOW (Clarissa), harmonicas for kids, radio shows, pasta (use it!), being able to have tomatoes again if necessary (like in pizza - which he LOVES), budgeting, canning seals for the Granville Island tomatillo salsa, opening the Goji Berry Genesis Juice, ARMY OF DARKNESS, and DR. STRANGELOVE. We also talked about I'M QUITTING ONTD! / drama, decoration for his shelves, being able to do things he loves, my soy milk expiration, microwaves, my FAIL at reading directions, doing the dishes, his cornstarch-based pudding mix (chocolate custard mix), WOW silliness, gnomish battle chickens, exploding sheep, and more. Hey, I don't mind if he does do good things - it's all about letting him be free, haha.

Wikipedia, common misconceptions, female yogurt, and NICE requests

Wikipedia's list of common misconceptions - thanks, Teunis!

I went to my room, shut the door, turned down the radio, and read some interesting things in Ripley's for a while before deciding that I had to take a nap! The only thing I remember from my dream is checking the time (which read 7:21) many times over, and writing stuff about "female yogurt" - WTF, subconscious?! Got up just in time for the Ronnie Woods show, so that was good! Teunis was awake by then, and had figured that it was a good time to take a bath if the apartment was all dark! HAHAHAHAHA! I figure I'll REALLY need naps next week and on Feb. 20 for sure - but I won't have a chance to take one next week, depending on the length of the Committee Meeting... sigh. (I blame V for this)

He showed me a bunch of his WOW characters (both Alliance and Horde - not that I'll remember to tell white Eric that he has 20+ characters!), mentioned a "crocodile with cheese" recipe, said something about a "using your cellphone while driving" radio commercial, and was undecided about food. One of the characters reminded me of Lev / Kevin, actually! (st_kevin / badpoet / badpoet2 / naomh_caoimhin - pronounced "Kevin") Billie NICELY requested that I not tag her in the poo notes anymore, as she's adding people from work - it gets embarrassing, she says. Since she was NICE about it unlike certain other people, of COURSE that request was honored! (tagged Mike K. instead - somehow, I don't think he'll mind...) Teunis and I also talked about bath salts / Jeremy's making his own soap / buns / Christmas baking / butter / eggs / Nutella / hazelnut spread / peanut butter / lemon peel / coffee / pork roast / pork chops.

We get to go to Kevin's house! / ALL-STAR GAME!

When Eric picked me up this morning, he bugged me (in English and French) about the frost / being drunk / what would happen if Dave Wong and Eric Ho were at service at the same time / "being in love with Eric Ho because you got him to drive you to MissionsFest." (CRAZY!) At least it was a sunny day - he wished me a good morning, so I said that we'd have to see about this, haha. Told him that Jon and Harmony would be at MissionsFest this morning instead, and why. I wondered when our semi-annual membership meeting would be, since it's usually around this time of year, what with the Super Bowl and everything else. If it was next week, we'd have to reschedule our Committee Meeting - I'd approve of THAT reason for rescheduling, and not because stupid people are coming in from the airport! Due to a route change, we ended up being just on time for service - Eric definitely had to jaywalk to make it to the sound room! I sat behind Jen and Randal (I thought of days gone by), and said hi to Nathan - he's procrastinating on his homework till later today. Hahaha, I remember doing that... AND getting yelled at by my mother because of it, too! Pastor Tom had a good sermon, but saved the illustrations and jokes for the end - different format, for sure. The announcements answered Eric's and my question about the membership meeting; when I told him later that it was Feb. 20, he wondered if it was against the church constitution and bylaws! No idea...

I saw Grandma on my way to the fellowship hall, and she wanted to know if I was going with them for lunch, so I just told her that I didn't know. In reality, Eric wasn't planning on going with everyone for lunch, but she didn't need to know that! I asked her where Mom was, but she was unclear - I went to the foyer, where I saw Dad (gave him my tax envelope); he directed me to the sound room. Eric gave me a pink plastic bag - a ladle, apple, orange, and some chocolate cookies! Said hi to Hung (who introduced me to his friend Gino), Deb (our weeks were pretty nice), Edwin, his wife Jane, Phil and baby Micah, Grace (no exam track for Micah's piano lessons!), Yvonne, Karen and Lincoln (their Caribbean trip was HOT!), the twins Adam and Andrew, Pastor Tom's wife Sandi (one of her kids was fighting a cold), Cindy, Grace, Lawrence, Joey ("where's Steph lately?" "how's it going with your crutches?"), and more people.

Eventually, I made my way upstairs (saying hi to Rich and Winnie on the way) where I got distracted by Jeff, Anita, and baby Joanna. Once I got to the Cubbies room, I saw a lot of kids still there from the earlier class - Frances and Helen said they had EIGHTEEN KIDS today! Said hi to little Micah, David, Evelyn, Margaret, Ramen, Shira, Mattias (who used a lot of English today like "I got a train!" - GOOD!), Ada, Ashley (who had Chinese stickers), and others. Met Pastor Tom's younger daughter Alexis (the one with the cold) - she definitely wasn't feeling too well, poor kid! The kids seemed to enjoy their time with us, and I reminded Auntie Ying about getting together one day - maybe somewhere central between Richmond and Burnaby, depending on what we're doing!

Afterwards, I went downstairs to see what was up. Eric and Cindy were talking about Dine Out Vancouver, Indian food, Robbie Burns Day, his having haggis for the first time at Alistair's later today, her not being able to make it to Kevin's for Bible Study this Friday since her parents are coming back from their epic trip to China / New Zealand / Australia (a cruise!), Eric's worship music project, and more. Cindy still doesn't know her way around Richmond too well, so got lost on her way to a family wedding yesterday - and it had been raining pretty hard too! She'd apologized to her brother Tony for having to pick her up around #3 / Alderbridge - the addresses AREN'T really posted, and it was hard to see! When we got around to discussing kids' real dietary preferences (fruit vs. candy - they actually hate candy, and will eat fruit like oranges and such!), Jeremy had joined us.

We spent some time discussing sugar, BHT added "for freshness," one healthy thing (like fruit) added to otherwise BAD stuff, and other things before Jocelyn came in and hugged us hello. She's back from Japan for good (more or less) after five and a half years! Christon was around, too - Eric spent time telling him about his dinner plans before we finally left! On the way home, we discussed my "partying with Teunis" (hardly!) / maybe getting him to come out to such unlikely meetings as Bible Study and the GMM (I'm sure he'll be ALL over that... *sarcasm* ) / "the Cheat is not dead!" / "incoming message from the big giant head!" / the All-Star Game from Raleigh (new team format - drafting! - Lindstrom! - the Sedins playing against each other for the first time - the Staal brothers on the same team for the first time - Clay Aiken) / Friday. At home, I figured the best (read: least intrusive) way for me to listen to the All-Star Game was to blast it from the radio in my room, leaving the door open. At least, it's better than turning on the radio in here... once the game and post-game is done, I think I'll turn it back off. According to LJ, Teunis went to bed after 5 AM! I mainly hear a lot of scoring (which is what I expected), and a segment on Wayne Gretzky! Hey, they're calling the FIRST-EVER PENALTY SHOT in All-Star Game history (58 years) - SHUT DOWN BY LUNDQUIST! Edited: Final score was 11-10 for Lidstrom!

SERVANTS at MissionsFest / Winter Personality

Called Jon last night to remind him about the cinnamon, but he's not going to church today; instead, he's going to MissionsFest to hear the founder of SERVANTS speak! I told him briefly about the "where is Chinese Eric?!" drama from Friday, why Teunis is likely to stay here for at least a few months, Steph and Lisa at CNY dinner, and more. Guess I'll see him next Sunday... or maybe Friday, we'll see! When Teunis got back from gaming, we talked about memory / maps / challenges / highways / assumptions, and more stuff.

Your Winter Personality is Comfortable

When the weather gets cold, you love to settle in and get cozy. There's nothing better than being tucked under a warm blanket. You can't help but be influenced by the world around you, and winter is your time to slow down and relax. You are genuinely nice and a joy to be around. You have a natural serenity that makes others feel calm. You are unpretentious and very real. You find it easy to connect to others just by being yourself.

What's Your Winter Personality?

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