Palindromic birthday dinner / Teasing / Duck

Jon and Harmony picked me up at 6:20, and we were off to the townhouse - we discussed Steph's fragile state of health, future plans, diarrhea, Lisa, showering, Lent, and other things on our way over. Auntie Eva opened the door, and I said hi to her dad Uncle Percy before congratulating Grandma on her 92nd birthday. She said, "Cheh! It hasn't come yet!" (which is what I was expecting) Then I gave her that birthday card, and she seemed happy about it... Eric came later, and knew what "GWEI JIE" (White Kid) meant. We had fish, peppers, duck, cake, tea, coffee, DOU MEW, crab, and various other things at dinner. Everyone talked about baby things, changing diapers, bumping into Eric Ho and Kwong Chow, Maxine, Karen I., maternity clothes, babysitting, spanking kids, duck fat, Tuesday at lunch and the passport office, teasing about Eric Ho and Valentine's Day (which I can take), lemon tea, longan, beer, and wine.

We also discussed Facebook messages / tagging / videos, Rice Krispie Squares, Coquitlam, the network security key, babysitting, the Canucks winning 6-2 over the Leafs, the Flames winning 1-0 over the Kings, special honorary ceremonies, and more. Mom gave us apples, oranges, mangoes, ribs, Goldfish, caramel rice cakes, baby stuff, leftovers, tea biscuits, and various other things to take home. Of course, Jon and Harmony bugged me about Eric Ho on the way home, but it doesn't matter to me. I know where my heart lies... ;)

Steph sick, Harmony, Tom Lee, and HOPE

Got a FB message from Lisa saying that Steph was pretty sick and thinks she'll die, and of course thinks that she's going to die. Of course, this means that they can't make it out tonight. Maybe I won't make it out, either - family time is a bit overrated, heh. I know Jon and Harmony can, but that's not the point. I'll figure it out! Then again, Mom says White Eric and Auntie Eva are invited, so we'll see. After a honest email exchange, Harmony says they'll pick me up after she gets Jon from Tom Lee at 6; I guess that works, even if I'll miss some of the hockey game! Hockey mode today depends on HOPE! Decided to replay BREATH OF FIRE II again, also.

Coquitlam / Cocoa butter lotion in SPADES!

I called Eric at home earlier, but his dad Ron said he wasn't there. So then I called his cellphone; Eric said he was going straight to Fellowship from Coquitlam (since he was working there with Mark), and tried convincing me that it wouldn't take THAT long to bus there from here, but I said I'd just stay home and yell at a friend on YM. He said that was a good idea, hahahaha. Glad you agree! Also got an email from Harmony, who says that Randal told her a bit about the conversation we had yesterday about Paul; wow, but word gets around! She wonders if it's okay if she tells Jon, since she thinks they're guilty of jumping to conclusions because they know me well; apparently, Randal thought that someone should speak up for me. THANK YOU! A while later, I went out briefly to Shoppers Drug Mart to get some on-sale spicy chicken noodles, an on-sale sippy cup for Baby Dragon, and a lot of on-sale cocoa butter LIFE lotion since I ran out of Gold Bond.

9 AM pocket dials / CRABS / Skype and Kenny

When I got up, I was surprised this morning when my Caller ID said that Steph had called me at 9 AM, so I called her back to see what she'd wanted at that early hour. She insisted that she hadn't called me, but I said that my Caller ID said so. Then she concluded that she must have pocket-dialed me! We talked about court / our plans for the day / #9 with Rita on Tuesday / the whole "steady boyfriend" question, haha! I figure she assumed Steph was being smart! I then wondered what time Steph was going to Mom's tomorrow, but she asked what time it started.

When I found Mom's email, I told her that Mom was going to buy "CRABS, fish, and steak" for dinner. As Steph said, "I was like UHHH... CRAB is something you eat, and CRABS are something else entirely!" We should tell Mom, but she won't change! Steph will call tomorrow before she gets here at about 6:15 or so, which is fine by me. Hey, I can eat the yellow drippings again! (that'll make an interesting FB status...) Talked to Kenny via Skype messages about personal stuff, too. (I guess MAPLESTORY seems addicting...) After that, I decided to do some laundry before I ran out of things.

Starbucks with Randal = Paul discussion!

Randal called at 5 to say he was outside; I was mildly surprised he remembered where I live, but I guess the hospital IS an easy landmark if he works nearby! We ended up going to the Starbucks near Chapters, where he insisted on treating me to a double chocolate cookie and a mocha. I did try giving him a $20 to pay for it, though... and I *did* thank him for it, unlike CERTAIN OTHER people! Discussed decadent fudge bars, Valentine's Day, the Fellowship AGM tomorrow (our presence is needed for VOTING purposes!), our "not too bad" days, his dad going around Metrotown a lot, Teunis not talking to me anymore (Randal's sorry to hear that), Paul's shady past, Paul being two-faced, Jon speaking in glowing terms of Paul and his "changing," Amy, Ivan, Steph, and the North Shore church where Paul goes sometimes. We also talked about James ("a great friend - too bad he's in Texas, haha") helping me at Christmas after THAT INCIDENT, intuition, Bible Study, Connie, Paul, Deb, Dylan, baby Declan, Christon, his opinion of my email (he agrees with me), and a lot of personal stuff. At home, I "raped" my bank account by paying my hydro bill - at least I'm responsible! That hour or so only served to confirm my suspicions about both Mr. Creep AND Paul, actually!

Coffee is a must, man! / One less year to live!

Had to take a nap earlier, which meant that I missed a message from one of my favorite people in the world... *sigh* However, I did get an email from Randal asking if I still wanted to meet for coffee after he got off work. Sounds good to me, especially if he also offered to pick me up! At least the MARIO music perked me up after the nap, haha. Phil called me later with the passport info I needed (number / dates of issue and expiry), so that's a good thing!

Vivian LIKED my wall post to Steph, where I told her to remember that I was real and she was fake! (a family joke) I also called Steph to wish her a happy 29th birthday, and had to make the message at least somewhat morbid! "You have one less year to have long walks on the beach! What do you think about that?! MUHAHAHAHA!"

3-1 REGULATION win! / My Chemical Romance

The Canucks game against the Avs started out well, with David Booth scoring just 13 seconds into it! At the end of the game, Alex Burrows got an empty-net goal to make it 3-1... FINALLY, a regulation win! Now I can eat dinner while fielding more surprise messages!

Your Night With MCR (My Chemical Romance!!) ;) by Xmarijuana_maidenX
Name
Age
Fave Color
Date	October 12, 2038
Where?	Mikey and Gerard's HouseFrank's HouseHotel
Gerard Will	talk to you, and consider you his best friend for life (yayy!)
Mikey Will	teach you to play his bass
Frank Will	make a blueprint detailing your death o_0
Ray Will	choke you with his Afro
Bob Will	invite you to a drug party (woot woot!)
What MCR Thinks of You	they think you're cool, and would hang out with you again

Waterbridge, Russell Stover, Ganong, Botticelli, and more

After a nap, I still had tons of time before the hockey game to go to London Drugs. I got a bunch of on-sale stuff: Waterbridge letter C for Chrystal, a Russell Stover heart with milk chocolates, a bag of Russell Stover assorted chocolates, some Russell Stover truffles, candy conversation hearts (or "sweet notes") for Steph and Lisa, a Botticelli heart, a Lindor heart, and a bag of Ganong marshmallow hearts. Due to money given me this week from Mom / Alan / Polly, I only had to pay five cents of my pre-existing cash for it! (yay for a free $35!) I also interacted with a six-month-old baby boy, who held my finger while in his sister's arms.

I'd have given some chocolate hearts to Eric yesterday, but I can just imagine what his mom would think if she saw those! She already had a weird reaction to his giving me this laptop, hahaha. Got home and stashed everything in the fridge, then ate the chocolate that Flora gave me yesterday at #9 since I'd forgotten about it... things melt in here quickly for some reason!

Colorful rainbow font messages (dream) / Apology acceptance / Phil

I had a dream where James came online and told me things about dragons in colorful rainbow font, and that's all I actually remember. Interesting! When I got up after melatonin at 11:45, I discovered Phil had finally called / emailed me. Of course I accepted his apology for missing my calls yesterday - he IS busy, after all! Says he'll give me the passport info when he gets home later, which is fine by me!

Then I fielded a YM message from the usual suspect, who actually accepted MY apology for the other night - maybe he needed time to just simmer down, heh. Since I'd hinted that he needed to check his own Yahoo account, apparently he did. His reaction to the Regards ecard was "Awwww... you're so sweet! Yes, we will kick assholes' asses! Love you!" AIYA - I SPENT TWENTY MINUTES ON THAT THREE WEEKS AGO, AND THAT'S ALL YOU GOTTA SAY?! *shakes head*

MAD GREEK with Chinese Eric!

I also got some chili cheddar chips after we went to ICBC - those should be good for the hockey game tomorrow! Chinese Eric called at 6:45, which was fine by me. I made reservations at the "pretty busy" Mad Greek restaurant for 7:30, and he got here at 7:11 - PHEW! Of course, we wished each other a happy Valentine's Day! After I gave him some Canucks stickers that I got at Walmart that time I went with Vanessa, we were outta here after he saw Steph and Lisa's wedding invitation! Unfortunately, he had a bit of trouble finding parking; we should have just walked since it was nearby, but it was okay in the end. He had the chicken souvlaki, and I had the roast lamb. (my water had ice, but his did not)

We discussed family dynamics, travel preferences, saying grace / praying, pregnancy, perspective, prenatal classes, our parents, Christianity / the Bible / that book he borrowed from me after MissionsFest, his cousin having a kid now, stages of life, the church and the 2012 Mayan calendar, doctors, medicine, future hangouts (maybe at a game sometime), the President's Trophy, my parents' reaction to THE ANNOUNCEMENT, Jon / Harmony (impending parenthood) / Lisa / Steph, our health issues, Las Vegas, and Caesar's Palace. Also talked about Teunis ending a friendship, white Eric, the Red Wings winning 21 games in a row, Facebook / Twitter, Chapters, the playoff seeding, the Canucks / the Bruins / last year's playoffs, rice, potatoes, ouzo, nieces / nephews / tomboys / bonding, Nathan coming back in April (and Ciel), and more. Then we attempted to go to Chapters so he could see if they had a book about last year's playoff run, but it was closing by the time we got to the plaza!

After that, we just went home. Almost as soon as I took the computer off "sleep mode" while he was in the bathroom, I got a YM message from the usual suspect, who accepted my apology for last night. Eric came out and saw the screen name, so of course I had to explain about his best friend and her idea of a great name! (DUDE, GET A LESS EMBARRASSING SCREEN NAME!) Thank goodness there wasn't anything ELSE that I had to explain! He signed the guestbook, and wondered whether white Eric was secretly pissed off at me since a bunch of his friends seemed to end friendships with me for no reason at all. I don't know, but that's a nice conspiracy theory! We watched a bunch of funny videos on CRACKED, and looked at some hilarious lists on the site - we could see the Valentine's theme, for sure. Also found THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS for white Eric since I was reminded of it during dinner. It was fun times, for sure!

#9 with Rita and the parents

When Mom called at 12:15, I told her that I couldn't go to the passport office because Phil hasn't given me his information yet. She still invited me to lunch with Dad and Rita, so I went with them to #9. We talked about travel, England, the Pantry, Jon / Harmony / Steph, Rita's turntable from London Drugs, Chinese food, Flora the waitress, the thrift shop, Germany, rent for a huge place, the lease, money, and the Russia cruise in July. Also talked about Rita's nephews living in Powell River, Italy, rock sugar, South America's heat, wonton soup, various noodles, Grandma, how Rita doesn't like garlic, chicken chow mein, Skype and technology, Danny's Wonton House, Ironwood, Lansdowne's past as a race track, and the numerous changes in Richmond in the past 40 years. When I got home with some leftovers, I had a surprise YM message from the usual suspect wishing me a happy Valentine's Day - maybe things will be okay after all. Thank goodness he wasn't online, though; it was great so I could leave apologies for my behavior last night, and I need a nap!

7 AM wakeups, dread, and staying offline

I was up at 7 AM, but that just means naptime this afternoon before Greek food and chilling! Wouldn't want to fall asleep in the middle of dinner, after all. Also, I was kinda dreading it when I opened Trillian / Gmail, but the Regards notification did come through, and I didn't have a message to respond to. Thank goodness! Note to self: stay offline on YM today as much as possible, and DEFINITELY during hockey games. That will certainly reduce the possibility of friction and such with a certain person! I did apologize even if he was probably in a bad mood already, so we'll see what happens. He doesn't seem like the type to hold grudges, heh.

David Lee, Mad Greek plans, Kenny, minor mistakes, smartass remarks

Someone named David Lee tried adding me to Facebook; I thought it MIGHT be the one I knew from church a REALLY long time ago (but "David Lee" is a very common name!), but it wasn't. DENIED! Then it turned out to be Kennedy using her friend's account, and she tried dictating to me what I must do: "DON'T talk to Brandi anymore - she has no respect!" Hahahaha, like I'm going to give in?! You were grounded for a good reason, young lady.

After I had a much-needed nap, I got up to discover that Chinese Eric had tried calling me. Since I won't allow myself to ignore THAT at any time, I called him back. After he worked outside, he just wanted to let me know that his doctor's appointment had been moved, so he might be meeting me even later tomorrow evening. Hey, that's totally fine since it's not like we had a specific time in mind! I wondered if he could eat Greek food (although he was fine at Kalamata, now that I think about it) - he said as long as it wasn't too spicy or had too much lamb and stuff, it should be fine. Then he brought up Mad Greek when I was indecisive about restaurants or even going out to eat. It's VERY close by, that's for sure! Plan of action: He'll call or buzz me when he's about to leave from dropping his mom off and doing some stuff, and then I can call Mad Greek myself to see if it's pretty busy. Sounds good to me!

Vanessa got on MSN right when the first intermission started, so we talked about surprises / minor mistakes / Teunis / Krista / smartass remarks concerning gum and chewing / showers / cleaning up / being moody. Turns out Teunis unfriended me on Facebook because of that remark - hey, if you can't take snark about it, then you don't deserve to be my friend anyhow! Now, I don't have to keep his mail, not that he would want it! Of COURSE the hockey game went to overtime and a shootout... *grumble* Seven of the last thirteen games?! I hate shootouts... at least it was a 2-1 win over Phoenix. Cindy emailed me about the phone message I left yesterday, so PHEW! Phil has not called me back yet... ugh.

Baby Dragon, cruising, passport guarantees, Christian bookstores, and more

I'm all churched-out, and don't want to do it again for at LEAST another two weeks! SO KNACKERED! Eric picked me up after 9, and bugged me about having beef for breakfast: "What if that's what Christon has gotten together for lunch?!" Somehow, I didn't think that would happen... I was right, since we had noodles / subs / grapes / strawberries / kiwis! We talked about BS, Bible Study, unfortunate abbreviations, Phil, Pastor Bob, spoiling the kids with jelly and chocolate hearts, his guaranteeing to the government that I would be too crazy to leave the country (DON'T DO THAT!), Chinese Eric, Valentine's Day, dreaming, what I did yesterday, quotes, MOTHER 3 on Hard Mode, FINAL FANTASY, video games, forums, GARBAGE DAY on Youtube, and more. When we got to church, I told him not to abandon me again - I met him at the church door, heh. Talked to Phil about the passport thing; since it was more convenient to do it at lunch, that worked for me!

Sat by Jeremy and Mark, and talked about wedding invites and furniture clean-out; when I said hi to Pastor Bob, he wanted to know who I was! I suppose that could be a fair question, hahaha. (Eric thinks I "rarely" come nowadays - HEY, I STILL ATTEND CHURCH MORE OFTEN THAN MY SISTER, OKAY?!) It was interesting to have an art slant on the sermon, but I was still looking for coffee afterwards - I asked Jordan, who told me that there wasn't any! Oh well. Said hi and talked to Reigan, Auntie Eva (Grandma arrangements - she'll call - "I'm so behind since I have no computer!"), Auntie Paula (her health - she thanked me for my concern IN ENGLISH!), Auntie Ying (future Vancouver lunch plans?), Sheena (late birthday wishes), Amanda, and Quan. Also talked to Lincoln (busy AND just engaged two days before his Valentine's Day birthday!), Andrew (biology / midterm papers / getting stuff done early), Mom (Polly and Alan's lucky money - she unexpectedly paid me back for the passport photo costs!), Harmony (maternity leave / research into expensive carseats and strollers / naming / a year off / active and kicking Baby Dragon!), Polly and Alan (THANKS FOR THE MONEY! AND AWANA!), Vania (tagging), Deb, baby Declan, Dylan (belated birthday wishes), Sonya, Nathan W., Uncle Johnny, and others. SO MANY BABIES AND CHILDREN!

Went upstairs to Toddler Sunday School; saw James (who leaned on me and held my hands), Mattias (I had to play the role of "kiddy bathroom attendant"), new kids, a baby whom I just called "baby," Jessie, Rachel and her grandma, Jonathan, Anastasia, Ashley, Ramen, and Shira. The kids were really hyper today, but I gave out the candy anyway. They liked the slides, trucks, puzzles, and all the usual toys. Chung told me that he won't let Mattias have sugar; I guess I should have let the kid have one or two jelly hearts before Daddy showed up, haha. When I got downstairs, Grandma didn't know where Mom and Dad were; they were in the front! Said hi to a bunch of people in the fellowship hall, and sat by Mark later at the welcome lunch. He remarked on how little Noah looked like a KILL BILL character with his white dress shirt and black tie, and how all the other kids (Anne / Sophia / Olivia / Nathaniel / Abigail / Joshua / Keenan / Benjamin / Mattias) were running around and creating mayhem. You got that right!

I said hi to baby Marcus / baby Emma and her dad Tim / baby Ava, and talked to Acer / Mark / Geoffrey / some Hong Kong guy / Alan / Tracy / Auntie Lillian about Craigslist job searching from Hong Kong / crowded conditions in Hong Kong / Translink / transit / fare evasion / feeling ripped off / NOODLES FOR US WHEN THE KIDS FINISHED! Told Jon about spaghetti squash exploding, and that funny pee sign. Phil and Eric helped me with my passport documents, which was excellent. Also talked to Sophia and Helen about Steph / family vacations / travel / Strawberry Shortcake gum - Elaine IS coming back in a bit before New Hampshire and her husband Matt's family, as Andrea said a while ago! The family meeting was about transitions, change, questions, inter-generational stuff, worship, devotions, and more. Got a lot of tag prompt writing done, and laughed when Mark inserted pencils in his shoe.

Afterwards, I finally made tentative plans with Randal to meet at the Aberdeen Tim Horton's on Thursday; thank goodness I checked, and there is NO HOCKEY THAT NIGHT! I don't mind if he calls me after work that evening, which is progress. Grandma was still knitting outside since my parents were in a meeting; she asked where Jon was, but I told her that he and Harmony had left earlier to buy baby stuff. Eric wondered whether we had to take her home, but we didn't. She recognized White Kid, but (as I told him later) might not recognize Wu-So-Lo (but he DOES have a mustache now) - she definitely won't recognize Mark! On the way home, we discussed banana bruising / Teunis and Tess / co-existing with Mr. Creep and Paul (who was elsewhere today - PHEW!) / the Fellowship AGM / Greek food / Chinese Eric's health issues and whether he COULD eat Greek food / my parents' cruise / advice / blocking people temporarily or staying offline till I got my stuff done / Texas / NOT BEING IN LOVE WITH MATT! At home, I napped for a bit, then checked Facebook to find the news of Lincoln and Karen's engagement. I immediately called Steph to catch her up on things; Karen Grace is excited about being an aunt, too! Discussed research, passport stuff, money, food, and other things. Interesting, but long day!