Sausages and banana = phallic breakfast / Harmony and Jane's baby shower / Italian food

I had sausages and a banana for breakfast. Yes, yes, I know.... phallic symbols out the wazoo on a "religious" Sunday morning. :P Since Nada Surf's POPULAR was on the radio when Eric called, I gave him the greeting "Wash your hair every two weeks, got it?" (which could have backfired if Veronica was on the other end!) He was bemused, and told me that there surely must be other options! Of course, of course... later, he said that he'd never heard the song. On the way over, we talked about jerks / feelings / online people / Paul / "avoidance" / yesterday's wedding / my grandma's questions about him. We also established that April Fools is next week exactly (I'M NOT GETTING PUNKED IN REAL LIFE OR THE INTERNET!), and that Easter is the week following. I don't think I'll be going to Good Friday service this year since the description doesn't sound appealing... I do KNOW it's not about that, but "sitting in relative darkness and silence for 45 minutes" is not something I can do these days unless I'm trying to sleep! I also told him that I wouldn't go to curling this Friday even if there IS one more open spot, and wondered why he'd tried calling me a couple days ago. "One more opportunity to go to Bible Study" doesn't wash with ME! At least he didn't put on the Christian station this week!

At service, we learned that Auntie Rebecca would be leaving the church to return to Hong Kong since she has "received signs from God" that it's time to look after her elderly in-laws and mother. (I think we'll all miss her jolly laughter and concern!) We also learned that Micah had had fevers and seizures recently, leaving Phil and Grace VERY worried, and praying desperately! (I'd totally understand that) At least they know what to do about it now! Later, I saw ELAINE! Talked to her for a bit about China, New Hampshire (where her husband Matt's family is), starting a family because it's time, and "waiting on God to determine their next ministry step." I'll think of her a lot, and same with Auntie Rebecca! Chatted to Andrew L. about things before saying hi to Billy and his sons Benjamin and Noah. Said hi to Deb and a smiling baby Declan before trying to secure transportation to the baby shower from Tracy or Yvonne; I called Steph from the church phone (with Uncle Eugene right there) to see if she could do it. ("Go have lunch with the lards instead of sushi by yourself - it'll be free, and I can pick you up!") Tracy gave her directions and said she'd drive me, but she still had to go home and organize stuff. I didn't even ask her since I knew about that! Yvonne had the same worship meeting that Eric was going to; right after that was squared away, Eric wondered if I had a ride out of there. YES! Said hi to Amanda, Dylan, Anita, Allison, Wes / Esther / their daughter, Frances, her son Micah, and Elaine again. Elaine had to decline lunch since she's spending a lot of family time with her nieces and nephews before she moves again! UNDERSTANDABLE! Also talked to Randal about seeing Karen Choo last night; he figured that the "normal" way of contacting her was good enough, haha!

Saw Danny, Ashley, Ramen, Shira, Ada, Mattias, James, Jessie, Anastasia, and Lanie at Toddler Sunday School. James wanted to build a submarine, and Mattias wanted to build a tablecloth (?!) and a tram like the ones in San Francisco. Ashley didn't want to do much else except color her picture of the seasons and weather, which was fine. Afterwards, I secured my place at lunch with Mom, and we left pretty much right away. Said hi to Auntie Paula, Uncle Percy, Auntie Eva, Auntie Evie, Alan (who said Polly was at a choir practice - they'd been to Tsui Woo just yesterday, which IS NOT SURPRISING IN ANY WAY), Auntie Helen, and others at lunch. Mom was worried that I wouldn't get enough to eat (so she really ordered too much ha-gow / noodles / eggplant / chicken feet / green onion pancake / dim sum in general), and Denise later said that everyone was running late anyway! When Steph got there after eating lunch, people told her to eat some more, which she reluctantly did.

After getting to the party room at Tracy's place, we found MORE food in the form of fruit and veggie platters / Costco chocolate croissants / mango juice / chocolate chip cookies / other items. (we had fudge cake later) Talked to Harmony, Amy (she and Brian are getting married in August), Jane, Connie, Yvonne, Grace, Deb, Tracy (who's due in September), Denise, and Steph about various topics: CHOCOLATE IN DIAPERS! SUCKING MILK OUT OF BOTTLES! WINNIE'S KIDS! CHANGING A CREEPY BABY DOLL! THE HUNGER GAMES! CLOTH DIAPERS OR DISPOSABLE DIAPERS! BABY ISSUES! DECLAN! BABY POOLS! Dylan, Brian, Jon, and Edwin showed up after having some beers ("man shower"?!) to help with the heavy lifting and eat some food. Later, the Ngs and Ho decamped to Jon and Harmony's newer place for a few minutes while deciding what to do before dinner; we walked to Kafka's Café for the Syphon / peppermint tea (Steph got it for me) / water / coffee. We talked about hipsters, clam chowder, soccer games, Paul being unreachable (whatever!), Alan drinking wine, pregnancy, Jon singing random songs (without profanity) to the baby (who can be "Baby Ug"), Jane being a sweet girl, pre-natal fitness, chemistry, and more before busing to the dinner location.

The area at Main and Terminal brought back some Greyhound memories for me, but I'm VERY over that (kind of) relationship! Campagnolo Restaurant was pretty good; we talked about soup, pasta, pizza, grappa, Purdy's hedgehogs, hazelnut, Caesarean sections, the cervix, pregnancy, Dawn's family, Alice, Glen Clark, Uncle Daniel's family (we're SURE he has secret lunches with Megan since his wife disapproves of their son-in-law, and Phil before him!), our cousins, Eni / real estate, hockey news, Auntie Catherine and Uncle Y.C., TMI, the MOM'S BATHTUB READER which Mom got for Harmony (she didn't regift the largely-unread one I got her YEARS ago), and more. Grandma was in a worse mood than the last time we took her out for dinner, that's for sure! She doesn't like Shanghai food, but she was SMILING and laughing a couple weeks ago when it was just the younger family members! At least I survived the busy weekend, and have the rest of this week to regroup before SATURDAY!