Seeing babies! / Mom and stress

OCDL Note: I now have 564 Blogger tags.

Steph called at 6:30, stating that if I wanted to see the baby today, I should be out by 7. It was enough time for me to take a shower, call Chinese Eric to see if he was in (nope!), and get a tiny bit more done in Castle Fynn. Dad and Grandma picked me up, and we had to wait for Mom to get off work. Good thing I was tasked with looking after Grandma! Saw a very tired-looking Jon at Women's NICU, and the place still has the baby plaques that I remember from when a few of us visited baby Joshua years ago! I told Grandma that the baby was a boy, and she said "Good" in English, hahaha.

After talking about washing hands up to our elbows / wheelchairs / the birth / natural childbirth (some women are too small for it!) / C-sections (could have saved her a lot of pain!) / gallbladder surgery with Steph and Lisa, Peter / Holly / Auntie Wing / Uncle Joe / Myles / Brittney came in. It was good to see them! We talked about Jon not having much sleep over the past few days, the name of the baby, when they'd get to go home, scars, sibling affection, and such. I saw the baby for a few minutes: he was sleeping, and didn't seem to be hungry despite not eating a thing since birth! Mom took over holding the baby as soon as she saw him, and I told Brittney that there would be plenty of time later if I were to do that... Dad's not in a rush, and Steph thinks Mom is in love with the kid already! Holly was looking it up, and came across the girl version, which apparently means "oak tree." Haha! I think it will grow on me, although I'm not really a fan of most surnames as first names. At least it doesn't sound preppy! (pronounced EYE-ler) Jon thanked me for coming - of course! I'll figure stuff out later, since I may just bus to their place for babysitting or whatever.

Nephew!

BABIES!!!!! My baby nephew was born at 4 AM or so this morning, and the baby had trouble breathing, so is in a special ward. Brother and sister-in-law spent one hour with the baby (after a 40-hour labor!), and are probably not accepting visitors till later. Baby weighs 7 pounds, 5 ounces... my sister and I thought it would be bigger! Steph called at 9 to tell me the news; she said that Mom was on the phone with Pastor Wai-Mui, which sounds reasonable given her religious bent. I'm sure Auntie Gloria knows, and NOBODY SHOULD POST STUFF ON FB ABOUT IT! This means we're aunts now - holy crap.

White Eric, finishing location, LDDUDE BLESSINGS!

White Eric called me at 6:50 to see whether I was going to Fellowship tonight: CHECK YOUR DAMN EMAIL FIRST BEFORE CALLING ME! Geez! I told him exactly what was up, and added that HE believed in prayer, so he could do what he liked in that way. Then Steph called to say that I could make it out if I wanted; Eric had already left, and I felt like catching up on my sleep anyway. I did that, and then figured I'd finally finish the location and tagging project that's consumed my time over the past couple of weeks. That was done at about 9:20 PM, so back to gaming it was!

Got an unexpected phone call about half an hour later from Chinese Eric, which is NEVER a problem! We talked about Nathan being in town till the 2nd (I'll miss him!), personal things, L.A. and New Jersey in the Stanley Cup Final, his being a bit better, how we were, and other things. I know he's been busy with stuff, so any time to call me IS a blessing! At least he doesn't have to play tour guide anymore! He had another call come in, so had to cut this one short; definitely not a problem with this great friend! :D

Legit excuses and throwing religion away!

Sheryll added me to Facebook, so yay for that! Called Steph about things, too. Later, I called Jon about those things - I guess this is a legit excuse to miss Fellowship tonight, so I emailed Eric instead of calling him. Some things are just TOO intimate for a family answering machine... left ONE comment in what used to be my weekly tradition, too. Mom also gave me a bunch of greeting cards yesterday (16th birthday / 21st birthday / new baby / get well soon), but I had to throw out all but four of them since they were religious!

Chen's, SLB, yam ice cream, and skulls

Met my parents at Tim Horton's, and we went to Chen's for dinner... had Happy Family Soup, SLB, meat, and a bunch of other buns. Grandma was okay at dinner, although she asked me a lot about whether I wanted more soup after I told her that I was full. Then we went to the townhouse, where my parents fielded a call from Auntie Wing Yee about stuff. Mom got me a grey purse, a skull necklace, a skull wallet, toothbrushes, and other things; she thinks I carry my laptop around everywhere, which is definitely not the case! She tried getting me to look up some show called SAVING HOPE, and to teach her about updating her Facebook status; she shouldn't update about certain things going on right now! Had shrimp chips, yam ice cream, coffee, and watermelon before waiting to go home, or for news. I only noticed I was wearing my black dragon shirt backwards twenty minutes ago: FAIL! Tuomas K. added me to Facebook from the Puckheads, too. (discussed suitcases and packing tips)


Mom: "Who's Megan Fox?"
Me: "She's an actress."
Dad: "Oh, indecent!"
Me: "What?!"
Dad: "I just mean that she uses her body... that kind of thing."

EXCITEMENT

After swearing a lot because people who call me don't know how to hang up their phone properly, I received a call from my mom's cell. She said stuff about a restaurant in Lansdowne Mall called Rhino [actually Rhino's Kitchen], asked if I wanted to go there for dinner (I have no idea where it is, so NOT LIKELY), Auntie Ruby, Grandma and mah-jonng, food, and more. Hope Harmony's eventual baby doesn't come out looking like tuna sashimi, as in a dream I once had! She said she bought me a new grey purse plus some skulls stuff... sure, later then! I can also give her the containers back, if I don't forget! Paul W. added me to FB via RandomThought, too. I finally got around to looking Rhino's Kitchen up on the Lansdowne Mall site; after swearing at the impossibly small schematic, I finally found the damn restaurant in California Café's old location near Toys R Us. Maybe I will go there instead! Steph called me half an hour later to say that she just got off work, and will see me later. I told Chinese Eric and Corey some stuff via MSN / Skype messages - YAY FOR TRUST! If I meet the family at Tim Horton's in Richmond Centre, it'll be easier!

Gold N Silver Pawn Shop... I'll be on it for you!

Talked to Chinese Eric on MSN last night about the Vegas trip, money from there, souvenirs from the Gold N Silver Pawn Shop in Vegas, his college trip there almost ten years ago (the Vegas experience has changed - I'll let him know!), the LATE new baby, luck, irony if the "feisty" baby comes during that trip, and more. I didn't mind if he took an hour to respond to my original message! Today, I plan to finish the LJ location field project before gaming once more. Maybe I'll complete FFII once more before I go to Vegas! (that is, if the entire known universe doesn't buzz me all the time...) Got a wedding thank-you card / photo in the mail today from Dawn and Eni, too! :D

My MS Paint meme drawing for Matt

I just drew this picture based on Matt's interest of "more than 150 interests" ... or it could be based on his interest of "151." There wasn't enough room to write 151 made-up interests; sorry! :P




I know the writing is kinda small, so here's the list in case you can't read all the made-up interests:

Matt's interests

1. triangles
2. noodles
3. mousetraps
4. vents
5. echinacea
6. folders
7. vitamins
8. ice coolers
9. pasta
10. kettles

11. apartments
12. tinfoil
13. GWAR
14. laundry
15. ovens
16. children
17. toilets
18. uncles
19. David Crowder Band
20. Brian Doerksen

21. tools
22. hanging out
23. A&W
24. fun times
25. winning
26. booths
27. Greek food
28. free stuff
29. upgrading
30. nerds

31. information
32. sparks
33. washing machines
34. peanuts
35. chocolate
36. Kleenex
37. fortune
38. community
39. flowers
40. parties

41. waiting
42. angels
43. bugs
44. eagles
45. housewarmings
46. birthday cards
47. world records
48. settling in
49. good friends
50. burgers

51. whiteout
52. wires
53. relationships
54. fires
55. blindness
56. the universe
57. bookmarks
58. restaurants
59. acerbic wit
60. pawn shops

61. wildberries
62. new things
63. fishes
64. riddles
65. brains
66. editing
67. Greece
68. Final Fantasy
69. spells
70. directions

71. walkthroughs
72. Photoshop
73. nuances
74. moods
75. England
76. angels
77. butter
78. speakers
79. American Idol
80. cabs

81. noise
82. light
83. souvenirs
84. Salisbury Steak
85. being feisty
86. buffets
87. awareness
88. China
89. emailing
90. fur

91. the Ramones
92. mages
93. towers
94. dogs
95. chips
96. batteries
97. beds
98. rulers
99. mountains
100. blindness

101. potions
102. silver
103. antidotes
104. Dracula
105. unicorns
106. Shasta
107. libraries
108. psychology
109. growling
110. Latin

111. squid
112. soda
113. dust
114. giants
115. trials
116. arrows
117. wind
118. hammers
119. feathers
120. goblins

* and 31 more (at least)


from: glowing_dragon
to: matt1993

from: Leslie
to: Matt A. :)


more than 150 interests

OR

151

Cleaning the laptop; payment is reasonable!

Andrew M. said he could come by tonight after dinner to clean my laptop fans or whatever, so that sounded fine to me! Of course, I thanked him for it. Called him at 7 to discussed compressed air (no straws in mine?!), preparation, baby duty, Mom's thinking that text messaging worked on home phones (NO!), and more. When he got here at 8:20, we talked about Memory Express / dust / people named Neville or Hermione (HARRY POTTER!) / Teunis' hard drives and computers / cooling systems / hair / Trillian / Semagic / Skype. We also discussed my Spyro the Dragon (which his son would love), cleaning out fans and bearings, his wife Teresa, his kids (the baby learned to stick her tongue out today!), swimming, dancing at weddings, backyard BBQs, iPads, Vegas, payment (sounded reasonable), "bowed" cupboards, FB messages, my guestbook, all my CDs (I found Corey's MP3 CD part 2 in the Radiohead one!), pictures of my computer, Chinese Eric, and babies. Everything sounded reasonable, so it's fine.

BROOKSIDE chocolate, $100 USD, and fashion

Right before I had to go to the doctor's appointment with Auntie Ruby, I discovered that I had to do a load of emergency laundry when I had no time... NOT IMPRESSED! Of course, I put clothes in the washing machine first before leaving, and THEN discovered I'd forgotten my bus pass not too far from the building. Went back to grab it, then was early for my appointment. Jenny's working there part-time, so it was nice to see her. Flipped through a fashion magazine while I was waiting, and found out that some people eat a lot while they sleep! Sleep disorders are CRAZY! Got a prescription for the drugs I had last time, but they weren't free today - oh well.

While I was at Shoppers Drug Mart after a pudding bubble tea from Big Orange (it was WARM out!), I got on-sale pads which I really DID need. Went to the bank, got $100 USD for Vegas (I didn't care if the exchange rate was $105 compared to $102 or @103), saw Ramynder Greyval at the bus stop, did some more banking, and went to London Drugs. Noticed the Brookside chocolates were on sale, so after selecting an on-sale Captiva Dark Chocolate Brownie from Pepperidge Farms, I got Dark Chocolate Acai Blueberry / Dark Chocolate Goji Raspberry / Dark Chocolate Cranberries / Dark Chocolate Mango Mangosteen. Finally went home after picking up the medicine (saw Roberta Rosner at that bus stop), and now I can relax after eating and putting the new purchases into Ziploc bags in the fridge!

Batteries exploding and penis-shrinking chemicals!

After I ate the last of my Easter candy and found out that L.A. would advance to the Stanley Cup Final, Corey replied to my Skype message about the laptop noises:

[12:04:33 PM] Leslie: and now my laptop is going to die since it's making screechy noises.
[7:55:50 PM] Leslie: I think my computer is going to die - wait, I told you that already. Maybe it needs to be cleaned.
[9:50:49 PM] Corey: sounds like a fan problem
[9:53:35 PM] Leslie: so is the computer going to explode?
[9:59:01 PM] Corey: probably
[10:09:34 PM] Leslie: seriously
[10:10:26 PM] Corey: the explosion is about the same as a standard military hand grenade
[10:13:42 PM] Leslie: I want 100% truth from you
[10:14:05 PM] Corey: well, do YOU think it will explode?
[10:14:54 PM] Leslie: I'm going to fart on you if you don't answer me
[10:15:28 PM] Corey: okay
[10:16:04 PM] Corey: the only way it will explode is if it was made in China
[10:16:14 PM] Corey: their batteries are known for exploding
[10:18:11 PM] Leslie: oh shit
[10:18:23 PM] Leslie: I think Eric got this in Hong Kong
[10:20:20 PM] Corey: if it's a real computer brand, not something weird, it won't explode........ but if you buy cheap replacement batteries from China, they don't follow the proper safety standards, and those literally can explode. you've probably seen stories about phones and computers blowing up in airports
[10:20:49 PM] Corey: that only happens with cheap Chinese batteries. the last time I bought a phone battery here, they assured me it was made in Taiwan and won't explode
[10:21:49 PM] Corey: though I don't really trust Taiwanese brands much more... they caught a huge food company putting poison in basically every drink sold in Taiwan last year, and I almost definitely drank some of it
[10:27:55 PM] Leslie: yeah, I've seen those stories... and you WHAT?! OH MY GOD
[10:28:58 PM] Leslie: how did they catch that?
[10:30:27 PM] Corey: I don't know. I think the government actually bothered to test something and discovered it
[10:31:05 PM] Corey: look it up, it's called DEHP, and appears to be pretty nasty. they used it instead of some food additive, because apparently nobody would notice the difference and the poison is cheaper
[10:31:49 PM] Corey: in general here, people only think things are bad if they get caught. so everyone thinks that company is evil, but if they weren't caught and a lot of people knew it, they'd just say it was business
[10:31:59 PM] Corey: people here lie and cheat an awful lot
[10:32:24 PM] Leslie: I'm not surprised they used it because it was cheaper.
[10:32:29 PM] Corey: not that people in the West don't, either... but the culture is pretty different. EVERYONE in school cheats.
[10:32:42 PM] Corey: they're almost trained to
[10:32:42 PM] Leslie: and I take it that gets glossed over?
[10:33:30 PM] Leslie: what the hell.... according to my search results, DEHP is one of the top six chemical threats to humans.
[10:34:07 PM] Corey: yay!
[10:38:10 PM] Leslie Ng: Penis-Shrinking Chemical Banned?
[10:39:35 PM] corey_t: yeah!!!
[10:42:02 PM] Leslie Ng: Taiwanese products with DEHP named

PEGASUS and doctor's appointments

Made an appointment to see Dr. Ruby at 1:30 tomorrow; I should be fine if I leave shortly before 1. Called Steph at work to tell her this, too. I also edited a LOT of entries, especially those concerning the past.

What fantasy beast lives within you? Pegasus You contain the powers of night, the wisdom of a human, and enough time to spare in case you need to go out to save someone. You are a much stronger breed then the unicorn, for you have a horn and wings. You cannot swim well, but you are taller than most others your age.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

Screechy laptop noises?!

Before I left the townhouse, Mom also gave me some milk / a bottled water / Kleenex / candy. Steph and I discussed maxipad expense, wedding reception seating (Rachel and Viv? I'm in!), wedding reception food (ahi tuna / key lime cheesecake and much more), sanity, the Grand Canyon, US money, Auntie Ruby, health, and downtime in the car. Got home before 6:30 and turned on the laptop; not only did it take longer to start up, it's also making screechy noises! AIYA! Time for more editing work on filters and the past!

"Paying respects to Dad" ... he's not DEAD yet!

Steph woke me up when she called at 11, so I quicky did what I had to do before leaving. (I'd been having a dream where Mark, Joey, Sheena, and others were in a big group in someone's basement: the party game was "Take Your Friend's Bra Off Your head Without Help"! WTF?) Good thing I'd packed my clothes for the trip last night while I remembered! On the way over to the townhouse, we discussed Phil and Grace's new plans - so sudden! When we got there, we talked to Mom about dementia and Minoru while saying hi to Grandma. Called Jon to invite him to lunch, but Harmony had an appointment - this baby is LATE! After a while, we ate a lunch consisting of spaghetti / pizza / spinach / Chinese desserts while talking about Uncle Reuben, Auntie Christine, Alzheimer's, Jane, Dad not happy about no church, Karen Grace saying that her mom talked ALL THE TIME to her brother Edwin's baby (so she feels sorry for it), family stuff, Auntie Dorothy, ovarian cancer, and diet. Mom said that I could go out in the rainy weather to take Grandma out somewhere instead of doing the dishes, so I did. (I'd get butter chicken and stuff like muffins later) While I was at the house, I paid the parents $60 more for the trip - no, I have NOT (and will not) give you $310! We went to Richmond Centre, but Grandma complained that she had to stand and wait for the bus since the bench was wet; I can't say I'm a big fan of it either, but some things just have to be done!

Since she said she wanted to buy toothpaste, we ended up at Shoppers Drug Mart. Luckily, Colgate toothpaste was on sale for a dollar each. She also got on-sale canned Clover Leaf salmon, and two boxes of multigrain Life crackers / wildberry hard candies / a Father's Day card for me. The Kleenex wasn't on sale, so she didn't get any... nor did she get dog food or cleaning supplies. She saw maxipads, and figured she wouldn't have to buy any. Probably a good thing, since she's 92! She gave me a quarter before we went to McDonalds to get ice cream / hot water / a senior's coffee, which she paid for. Then we browsed Yuen Shing very briefly before going back to the townhouse. She thought she knew how to get home, but I wasn't going to lave her alone to do that! Yes, it was probably a lot of walking for her, but I did my duty! Now I'm just catching up on stuff using my dad's IE while Steph is still scanning old childhood photos and uploading some to FB. Guess we're also staying for dinner, which includes rice / taro / ribs.


Mom, upon my sister and my arrival at her townhouse: "Haven't you gone upstairs and paid your respects to Dad yet?!" *sister and I look at each other and burst out laughing* "MOM! Do you want your husband to be DEAD?!" "... isn't that what you say?!"

Grand Canyon, laptop refusing to turn on, hyper / drunk

Got up at 9:15, but missed Eric's call five minutes later anyway. Apparently, I have only a couple of days to decide if I'm going to the Grand Canyon or not; maybe not, since it involves hill walking and an extra expense which my parents will bug me about if I complain! The Internet / computer was being slow earlier, but it seems to be back to normal now, although the laptop refuses to turn on right after I turn it off - it'll just shut down automatically. *fingers crossed* I've decided not to go, actually - too much hill walking, haha. After asking me whether I wanted gingered pickled pig's feet in vinegar with eggs (I am NOT the mother of a newborn!), Mom said Steph is going over for lunch tomorrow since she needs the scanner for photos; she's agreed to drive me, while saying that I seem hyper or drunk. HAHAHA, no! I'd finished a conversation with a good friend, is all. :D

Time to have a shower and then do laundry, as I only have one towel left. :P