Baby Olive, Hayden, Silas, Pho Thai Son

I was a bit late meeting Eric, but he said I'd sounded tired on the phone: NO, REALLY?! He joked that I was drunk, asked if I wanted to get tattoos (Steph and Lisa have that covered), wondered if I'd finished MOTHER 1 yet (then said that I was playing DRAGON WARRIOR III one too many times), tested me on PEACHES by POTUSA, said that yesterday's barbecue went pretty well with chicken drumsticks and thighs / raw veggies / watermelon, and said he'd gotten back on Thursday. GOOD THING I MANAGED TO FIX THE ROUTER MYSELF, THEN! I had brought some breakfast biscuits to eat in the car (but forgot water), and he thought they were cookies: close enough, I guess? When we got to church, I talked to Randal about his "nuts" message / waved back at Victor when he said hi / said hi to Jeremy and his parents / officially met Pastor Dan / said hi to Tim, Joshua (whose birthday is today), Keenan, and baby Emma. After service, I talked for a bit to Darren, who's back from Ireland for a month! Talked to Auntie Ying about getting together when Phil leaves, to Auntie Catherine about her father (Mom's attempted guilt trips don't work since I didn't even know he was dead till then! - Auntie Susan said the name wasn't recognizable in the bulletin), said hi to baby Rebecca and her mom Jane, and talked to baby Ayler. He smiled at me and grabbed my finger! ♥ [Harmony told people that the baby loves interacting with others, and babbles all the time!]

Before I went to Toddler Sunday School, I said hi to Benedict, Anita, Amos, and Harrison. Also saw Chung Ming with his wife Ellen: they have a nine-month-old baby girl named Olive! Also saw Dave and Tiffany, who are back in town for a short while - good to see them! Chrystal said hi, so we talked for a bit about Grandma and possible get-togethers; we didn't go see the fireworks since that scene is CRAZY! Said hi to Melia, who has seen puppy Havarti already! I saw Lanie, Quan, Silas, Danny, Anastasia, Hayden, James, Hymn, Natalie, and Ashley at Toddler Sunday School. Talked about toys, dragons in space, drawing, Lego, fake food, caramel popcorn, Chinese / Filipino festivals, and more. After Sunday School, I asked Kevin whether he'd seen Eric; nope! Talked to Andrew and Adam about being tired, my video games, seeing family, and more. Eric came up as I was doing that, and wondered if I'd seen Christon. He was helping to serve food in the fellowship hall for the senior lunch; a phone call later, we were meeting Jon at Pho Thai Son for our own lunch! Talked to Eric about that Native guy I'd seen before Sunday School; apparently, his name is Godwin. Haven't encountered that name in YEARS, man!

PHO THAI SON was interesting! We talked about yesterday's BBQ, Christon spilling iced coffee on us, girl children named Carson (?!), the "Food and Film" Evite (which Jon reminded me of), Jeremy's renovations, intensive French onion soup, weddings, the Olympics, Kent's Kitchen takeout, and more. On the way home, Eric said that we were going to Pastor Bob's on Friday for a Spiritual Care program and potluck dinner - oh, religion! We also learned that Our Lady Peace (4 AM) is adult alternative / classic rock... that's the stuff WE listen to, man! Managed to open my new whiteout, and then started some laundry. Mom wants me to visit Grandma on both Tuesday and Wednesday, too.

BelVita biscuits, lentil chips, and Snyder's jalapeno!

Vicky re-added me on Facebook, which I'm fine with - I somehow couldn't find her yesterday; go figure! Nyssa also added me, so yay for Vegas things coming to fruition! I heard some thunder last night, too! (after reading Benedict and Michelle's updates on thunder) Wanted to get some Pepperidge Farm Cracker Chips at Save-On Foods, but they didn't have them. I bought pink Excel White gum, Snyder's of Hanover jalapeno pretzel pieces (two for $5), blueberry / banana oatmeal and chocolate BelVita breakfast biscuits (two for $6), new Country Mushroom perogies, spicy Thai noodles, and spicy chicken noodles instead. Then I went to London Drugs to get the heavy apple juice, since my logic ran thusly: I wouldn't have to walk so far or long with that weight to the bus stop because it's right at the bottom of the steps! I also got baked Mediterranean Snacks cracked pepper lentil chips there, for another new flavor! Yes, I am a consumer whore. :D

Grandma NO FILTER / Dawn and Eni's wedding

Managed to renew most of my library books before going out to Dawn and Eni's wedding and banquet. Somehow, I needed to survive the afternoon and evening with my parents, and also needed to survive tomorrow! The thought of next Saturday kept me going! Mom told me that she had Princess Cruises chocolates for me, along with some instant noodles. "You should boil them in water first to get rid of the wax!" This time, I didn't even bother telling her that it was an urban legend. They're not the most healthy thing to eat, I know, but that doesn't mean the wax thing is TRUE! (she also had no idea how to pronounce "Eni," or where Albania was!)

We discussed Vegas and who might look after Big G, who at least knew she was on her way to a wedding. It wasn't until later when Steph told her that it was Dawn's wedding that she clued in! She kept offering us something to eat - maybe she was hungry - but I told Steph that she'd offered me cookies while a funeral was actually going on once! (even if I'd wanted to eat them, I JUST WOULDN'T!) Again, she has NO FILTER! She asked Steph how long Pastor Bob was going to talk for, and opined that they (ministers) said the same thing every time! My poor sister was trying to shush her! During the prayer, she told Steph to move her purse and program because someone might take them!

Saw Benedict, Jen, Karen Lew, Vania, Uncle Reuben, Auntie Christine, Vivian, Uncle Timothy, Auntie Lillian, Auntie Catherine, Uncle Y.C., Uncle Hansel, Auntie Cathy, Lawrence, Andrew T., Uncle Cho-Kai, Auntie Anna, Linda Yan, Jenny, and others at the wedding at UBC. Jon talked to Dawn's parents Uncle Albert and Auntie Betty, but I figured I could do that later. I expected some religious content, as Dawn's parents still go to church. Not sure how personally religious Dawn is at this point, but it doesn't matter to me. My parents think that she can work on Eni, which I don't think will help if he dislikes it. I'm not saying there can't be religious conversions or whatever, but it's none of our business! Jon decided to clown around with his tie, and put it around his head for Steph to take a picture. The actual wedding ceremony was pretty good, and PASTOR BOB officiated?! (for some reason - Eric says "declining vision," and I say "only met the guy THREE TIMES!" - I couldn't recognize him at first) I guess it makes sense since he was pastoring in Hong Kong for a number of years. The ug told me about the Whip last week; I'd heard about it, and it seemed to go well. I liked Eni's mom's name, which is a variant spelling of Tatiana. :D

Later, Pastor Bob said it was good to see me there; I assume Jon had finished explaining our connection to Dawn's family since I'm sure he doesn't know that, and Dad came up to bug us jokingly about something. We asked Pastor Bob if he could see a resemblance, and he said yes. Later, we waited outside for some free coffee; I got green tea, and Grandma settled for hot water since there wasn't any hot chocolate. It was good just talking to people afterwards; Geoffrey is so tall now, haha. He says he misses Canada a lot, but will have to stay in Hong Kong for a few years yet! Said hi to Dawn's parents, who did come here from Hong Kong too.

The family decided to go to Granville Island later since it was near the restaurant for dinner. (Steph drove us there since she wasn't going to dinner; I told her that I'd forgotten Lisa's chocolate, but there was no room in Steph's clutch purse for it anyway) Had saffron and pecan bread from a bakery (interesting yellow coloring inside!), ate mango ice cream, and got some cooked sausage; I'll have mine for breakfast tomorrow, I guess! A bird pooped on Harmony's jacket, so she and Dad were cleaning it up! At Dockside, I found a use for Harmony's notebook... writing tag prompts! I saw Auntie Teresa, who said hi to me - since I don't have anything to say to her, I didn't say anything beyond a curt "hi."

Jon, Harmony, Lincoln, Karen Lew, and I spent time talking about housing / Eric Ho / Holly / Richmond / Joyce Station / minimalism in baby stuff / red wine / Mom's alcohol tolerance / upcoming weddings / Myles (Whistler as a wedding venue?!) / Sean C. / Uncle Keith the real estate guy / life updates / Emily Carr / pregnancy / RCMP / Citrus / Richmond / Joyce working for Facebook briefly. Megan and Andy came by with their 20-month-old son Joshua, who liked looking around at things. We said hi to him, although he was shy... understandable! Dinner was chowder or salad; steak, chicken, or vegetarian; coffee, tea, and tiramisu. We laughed at Uncle Albert's speech, but Auntie Betty really brought the religious points home when she spoke! Oh well, at least the speeches (the others weren't Bible-based!) weren't interminably long! Saw Ivan and Karen Choo later; Karen said she DID get my email and meant to respond with a White Spot lunch invite to celebrate our birthdays, but got swamped with work. She says maybe mid-April would work for her; we'll see! I'll have to tell Randal about this tomorrow if I see him, haha. Everyone laughed when Eni said he was looking forward to getting to know Dawn better, hehe.

Afterwards, my parents decided to go to Shoppers Drug Mart. (Mom was frustrated that Grandma kept telling everyone that she'd just gotten back from Hong Kong, and threatened to pack her off to Hong Kong to live with Uncle Michael instead if she wanted to go there so badly!) I was tasked with staying in the car so Grandma wouldn't wander off. She asked me three times in ten minutes what took them so long, asked whether "White Kid" (white Eric) had a girlfriend yet, and told me that she recognized "E," "R," and "S" from the Shoppers Drug Mart. (she was VERY SURPRISED when I told her that particular store location never closed!) She also told me that she knows the English letters for "Shoppers Drug Mart" and "London Drugs" are different, even though she doesn't know what they say! Maybe Lisa is right, and Big G is playing us all for a bunch of fools when she says she doesn't know English! Dad let me return my library books which couldn't be renewed anymore - well, I have one which I haven't finished, but nobody else has requested it.

At home, Eric called me when I'd just gotten in the door; I heard the "beep" and figured I'd catch him online instead! Of course, I had to restart the computer first after I caught up on things. It was then that I got an unexpected offliner from someone, which was nice, but NOT as nice as the news that Vancouver had a 3-2 OT win over Colorado! As I thought, Eric got back to me online to say that I was going to "flip-flop" about going to church. (and bug me about 54-40's SINCE WHEN, and my vision) I have to go tomorrow, though; I won't get a ride to the baby shower from someone if I don't, and I won't get a ride to the Italian food dinner from Steph if I don't go to the shower! Thank goodness the baby shower provides me with an excuse to get out of a thank-you lunch at Tsui Woo! Every time I type "baby shower," I want to type "bridal shower" - WTF, brain?! I also reminded Steph that maybe she should get something for Jane; I just got her a dollar store photo frame in a very small gift bag, but that's just me and my budget!

Berman, vibrators, Calla NOT Kayla, binoculars, Auntie Grace, and Green Village

Surprised Eric this morning by answering the phone with "Wedding Forum - how may I help you?" Hahaha! We discussed many things on the way to church: weddings in general, good friends, Christian music / static / the Shell Busey home improvement show / 99.3 the Fox, his meetings after church today and next week, religion, funerals, morbid stuff, wedding shows, TLC, things working out after all ride-wise, how I was "drunk" / "getting married," flipping through a Henri Nouwen devotional (of ALL the reading material I could have chosen?!), and more. Since he opted to jaywalk when we parked, I went to the crosswalk and avoided an awkward encounter with Randal. I know it shouldn't be, but it still kind of is for some odd reason. As it is, he said "Morning" to me when I exited the Sunfire since he was passing by; I just said "hello" in response.

Got into the sanctuary, said hi to Joanna and Priscilla on the other side (it IS Spring Break!), saw Enoch, then noted Paul's presence. I was determined not to let him have the power to ruin my day, so reminded myself of that. Thank goodness he didn't sit close by, although he did say hi to MY friend Jeremy, whom I am protective of! (Jon also said hi to him) Talked to Nathan W. about his folding the bulletin in creative ways, and noted Jon talking to Jeremy about French Press coffee (incentive to attend Sunday School) and the Whip later. Gave Jon his envelope from Berman and Grace, and noticed that Pastor Bob mispronounced Calla's name as "Kayla" - I'm not even sure HOW that computes in his mind! There was also a very brief question and answer session after the offering; Eric later told me that the plan was to make it a regular part of service. Oh dear... more excuse to leave early!

Made sure to say hi to Grandma and tell her that we'd be going to dinner with Jon tomorrow, even though she won't remember. Auntie Eva wanted to make sure I knew the plans - yes, of course! Went into the fellowship hall and said hi to Deb, Auntie Soo, baby Ava, Adam, Andrew, Lawrence, Amanda, and others. Yes, my parents get back tomorrow from their South American cruise! Checked with Jon about stuff tomorrow, which was fine. Went upstairs and said hi to Mel, Frances, Micah (who wouldn't hold hands with his little friend), little Joanna, Benedict (who said the sleepover went as expected), Martin, Sarah C., Mei Lin, Auntie Vivian, and others.

Saw Jessie, Lanie, Rachel's grandma, new kids named Jared L. (3) and Natalie (1), Ashley (gave her a Kleenex when she cried), David, Evelyn, Ramen, Shira, and James at Toddler Sunday School. Played with toys, cars, Legos, binoculars, and puzzles; also indulged James wanting to touch the subtle bling on my blue sweater, and his seeming need to hold my hands. Learned that Ashley is allergic to hand sanitizer, which does happen. It was fun, and I had missed that whole thing.

Afterwards, I checked with Jon about his teaching at the HOHOHOs, and he figures that he'll start at 3 and be here at 4:30. All I gotta do is tell Grandma not to cook anything at least 20 times tomorrow afternoon, hahaha. Doesn't matter if Jon's invited Eric to the Hog Shack / hockey game plans, although we shouldn't count on Big G to pay for the whole thing! I said hi to Pastor Edward; when Auntie Grace (with Uncle George) spotted me, she gave me a big hug hello! (I'm sure Dave and Tiffany are doing well) Went to Green Village for lunch with Grandma, Uncle Eric, Auntie Brenda, Auntie Eva, Uncle Percy, and Auntie Paula - yes, I can understand Chinese!

After Auntie Eva filled up at the gas station (then bought oranges and milk at the nearby Safeway), she took us back to the townhouse. Grandma took her purse into the washroom - like I told Steph on the phone later, WHO'S GOING TO STEAL IT?! She also forgot where her room even WAS in the house. *sigh* Now she's cleaning while I'm watching UNTOLD STORIES OF THE E.R., KING TUT TOMB STORIES, and more. Some poor guy on this show has a vibrator stuck up his ass, and insists on anonymity. Good luck with that one! (especially since you need a gastroenterologist and anesthesia!)

Feeling better, Aaron, Christine, AGM, 3-2 loss, and snow

I feel better right now about things, which is good.... but now I have nobody to talk with about stuff! UGH! Aaron C. and Christine B. wanted to add me to Facebook - oh, the Puckheads and Canucks fan pages! Taught Troy about typing out emoticons in FB messages, too. Benedict, Vania, Martin, Edmond, and others reminded me about the church AGM, which I'd forgotten about... they did have quorum, although Edmond said that he wouldn't have bothered coming back after lunch if he'd known, since he was really sleepy after eating a lot! Thanks to a REALLY late goal by Dallas, the hockey game (my priority!) went to overtime. Then the Stars scored... FUCKING 3-2 loss! Gerard said it was snowing in Vancouver, which wasn't a surprise for me.

"Why are there ads in your yearbook?!" "There's nothing wrong with 24 pages!"

Before I left for the Awana BBQ, Teunis and I discussed Andrew having to work at 5 AM / gum / timing / Kaili and scheduling / geeky Washington Ren Faires, spaceships / QUAKE / DOOM / his brother Alex moving up north to Fort St. John with his family / his stepdad Jim feeling better. When Benedict picked me up, we discussed leaders / the iffy weather / Billy W. / Danny / Grace / Martin / Brighouse Elementary construction / funny jobs as your old teacher's replacement / the stale job market (grad in forestry is flipping hot dogs at Costco?!) / hockey news / Philadelphia and Chicago staking it all on draft picks / the Canucks getting some black guy. At church, I figured I should have brought a jacket since it was cool out. Since there was no real program aside from eating and having fun, I discussed various things with Chris / Victor / Cynthia (Burnaby North grad with yearbook!) / Julie / Hilary / Margaret / Danny / Elaine / Sarah / Auntie Vivian / Jessica / Lawrence / Alan / Stanley / Eric T. / Golden / Sylver / Phoebe / Zoe / Antony / Steven / David.

I had a "WHAT?!" reaction to the news that Julie wants to name her future son Phoenix, to which Margaret just pointed to me as proof that it shouldn't be a name. We had spicy veggies, and Hilary didn't seem to like them - everyone had some chips / hot dogs / chicken wings / graham crackers / marshmallows / chocolate chips / Smores, though! Stanley had an iPhone shirt on, haha. There were various jokes in Chinese, but everyone was having (immature) fun! Everyone was looking at Cynthia's yearbook - we saw William, Steven, Rick (Jennifer's son looks MANLY now?!), and others in there as well. Stanley didn't like the idea of there being 24 pages of ads (even though they PAY some costs) in the yearbook, so polled everyone as to whether there were ads in THEIRS! There's a VBS orientation tomorrow, but since I never said I was going to help, I won't go.

Saw my grandma at church, so offered her graham crackers and some marshmallows; she took the crackers, but seemed ABSOLUTELY HORRIFIED at the marshmallows, hahaha. Some of us checked out the painting going on upstairs - Cordia and Uncle Rex were helping with some white ocean waves! (I talked to Jeremy Y. and his parents, too - said hi to Vivian / had fruit) Eventually, Auntie Vivian kindly drove me home since nobody was going to Richmond - we talked about ordering things from Awana, my family, and other things.

Background noise, gay marriage, two Christons and math (dream), Ben, eye makeup

When Teunis got home last night, I strongly recommended that he look in the freezer - of course, I had my usual background noise on which included DRAGON WARRIOR videos! We discussed self-esteem, signs, smoking, marijuana, cocaine, New York legalizing gay marriage, Sony / hackers, reminders of good things, frustration, laws, the durian gelato (which he thanked me for), Kaili and dinner / THOR / licorice / Loki, corn syrup, Thai food, Jordan, and more. I called Steph to tell her about medicine and prescribed birth control, too. Apparently, William unfriended me AGAIN - make up your mind!

I had a weird dream in which there were two versions of Christon - one in a wheelchair - and a bunch of people were at a high school reunion in a theatre. We were viewing these old movies of the old graduating classes throughout the years, including a Valentine's Day event where all the girls were going to get something, but they had to find all these greetings scattered through the school. There were fast-forward aging vignettes, orange math textbooks, school supplies, and other things in these movies. Afterwards, this girl with blonde hair wanted me to go up and down the stairs with her in a fun way, even though my CP still affected me in the dream! Later, we all went to Phibbs Bus Exchange on the bus, and talked.

When I got up, I fielded an email from Chris about supposed "dark clouds" all over Richmond and Vancouver (the Awana BBQ will be at church instead), so I had to email him back to say that there weren't dark clouds in MY corner of Richmond, and also joked that he must attract the rain for some reason while driving from here to Vancouver! Since this was a group email, I also asked Ben to call me since I'd given him my number via FB wall post just a bit ago. Then Sarah emailed me to say that it was her fault, as she kept forgetting to email him my address. I told her to do it before she forgot - Ben then emailed me to say that he didn't have my phone number, so asked what was up. I emailed him my phone number, so he called me to say he'd pick me up at about 3:30, and that Sarah would probably arrange something for the ride home since he couldn't drop me off later. That definitely works!

You Are Real

You are an expansive and open-minded person. Most importantly, you are open to the idea that you are wrong. You only know how to live authentically. You're not the type of person who can fake it. There's a lot that you can endure. You have an inner toughness. You are a very warm and welcoming person. You have a kind and compassionate heart.

The Eye Makeup Test

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

Your audio sensitivity is NUTS! / Benedict! / Scott, Quan, and choirs (dream)

When Teunis got home last night, we discussed his extreme sensitivity to noise / no "filter" / traffic noises / being kicked in the crotch / video games / plans with Kaili (of course...) / FINAL FANTASY / WOW / BIOSHOCK / confusion / Jordan / Mormon missions / Tom Yum noodles / weekend plans / slurping / "the camel's nose is already in the tent" (which Nathan appreciated) / Indonesian food (which made me think of Chris W.) / Thai food / seaweed / non-abrupt ends to chats (WTF?) / the bitch Jasmine. Sarah Chau said that Benedict could give me a ride to and from Saturday's Awana BBQ, which is pretty good!

After I got over being subconsciously awakened at 6:30-7 AM, I had a dream with David M. / Julie C. / Michelle C. / Mike K. / other people I knew. We were all going around a building looking for evil people, and saw my dad being totally fake to Scott M. and one of his friends who just came over. I told Quan that Dad really didn't like Scott, then Steph wanted me to help her with Grandma watching TV. Grandma insisted she didn't need it, but I helped anyway. Julie invited me to come hear their choir sing, so I went up to another floor to do so. Sean S., Conor S., and other little kids were there; I had a good time just talking to them, and then the dream just ended at around 9:30.

You Are Not Very Renaissance

You are sure of what you like and who you are. You haven't changed much over your life. You have a depth that is completely unmatched. You like to understand things completely. You are a perfectionist. You notice and are fussy about every little detail. You aren't afraid of adventure, but you don't seek it out. You'd rather tend to your own garden.

Are You a Renaissance Man or Woman?

Blogthings: Waste Time at Work!

Just from reading this quiz, I can tell that Teunis and his geeky friends would be TOTALLY Renaisaance people!

Sausage Egg McMuffins, adultery, SushiHolic, reading books to kids, and more

I only have half an hour to get this out... let's see if I can do this! When Eric called this morning to say that he'd be leaving shortly, I said: "Hello. You are talking to someone whose apartment is currently being invaded. Please leave a message at the beep... BEEP!" Of course, he wondered who would be invading my apartment; I kept it to "Teunis and a friend," knowing I'd tell him more later - THAT doesn't need to be said! Tess kinda apologized after that, but I wasn't really in the mood - nor was I in the mood to acknowledge Teunis' wish for a good day beyond a nod. (I was running REALLY late since Eric called again to say he was here) In the car, I talked to Eric about things; his listening did make me feel slightly better! I'm pretty sure they DO have an "arrangement," but that's none of my business really. At least the car ride wasn't about the usual subjects, except when he decided to break out DARKWING DUCK and DONKEY KONGA themes for me! (he also asked me about Friday - had to do it for downtime purposes, though!) He wondered whether I wanted SushiHolic later on; sure, why not?

Got to church almost on time, and quickly found a seat. When Jon and Harmony came in later, I made a mental note to ask them later about tonight. Communion came, and Randal was one of the servers - oh well, that didn't mean I needed to say anything back when he told me what the bread symbolized! After service, I learned that Jon and Harmony might transit to Tapenade instead - okay, then! Talked to Lincoln, Karen (who forgot her shoe inside the sanctuary - how embarrassing!), Jon / Harmony (signing a card), Jeremy (Lenting sounds of modern culture - so will check out the nuclear reactor video later today), Dianne (Calgary SNOW from David Horne's picture - wishful thinking "NO SNOW FOR THE TWO YEARS I'M THERE!"), Stanley (Sausage Egg McMuffins), and others while saying hi to Grace / baby Micah / Hung / Deb. I stayed away from the coffee machine while having a doughnut because Mr. Creep was in attendance again - I also had to plot my course out of the church later on since he was in the middle of my path while going down the stairs. Luckily, the church sanctuary was still open (they lock it after a while), so I cut through there while saying hi to little Sean. PHEW!

Went upstairs to Toddler Sunday School; saw Anastasia, David (who bumped his head on the wall), Evelyn, Brandon ("no dark!"), Jesse (really late), Ada, Ashley, Mattias ("NO! TRUCK! BANANA! ANIMAL CRACKERS! APPLES!"), Ramen, Shira, and Alexis. Spent time playing with them and reading them DORA books - so cute! Eric came upstairs later as I was reading to Shira - "I don't think she can read that fast," indeed! When I went downstairs, Jeremy invited me to lunch; unfortunately, I had the meeting! I met up with the guys at SushiHolic later; saw Daniel, Victor, Benedict, and Jason there with some of their friends. Victor said he doesn't think I know the others getting baptized with him at Easter - fair enough!

Dylan, Jen, Kevin, Eric, and I talked about programs / sushi / rice / attendance / Calla / Randal / Carmen / Jane / Gloria / Easter Sunrise Service breakfast / fall stuff. I'm not going to some things, that's for sure! Eric and I drove Jen and Dylan home later - at least the next meeting isn't on a Sunday, to accommodate Pastor Tom's schedule from Abbotsford! Diven does seem receptive to an SLB hangout when Nate is back, which is good. I'll send a general email tonight or the next day. (discussed adultery / sweater changes / bling / hockey / baseball) Called Jon to say I could bus to Tapenade, and annoyed Steph with the same thing!

Wasting bandages, Christmas, 5-3 wins, Owen, dentists, and warmth

When Henry picked me up for Awana in the pouring rain, we said hi and then settled down to listen to what turned out to be a podcast of a long Greg Laurie message about Jonah and the whale! We both agreed that we'd NEVER seen people who put their dogs in strollers before, as he apparently has. I found this religious message to be interesting and somewhat topical, which is actually a good thing. When we got to church, I saw Annika acting really excited as she ran for the elevator. Of course, I had to ask her how much sugar she had today: "None... I wanted my friend's candy, but I didn't take any!" Her dad was trying to get her to calm down, haha. Talked to Chrystal about my exciting week: yes, my Hong Kong friend is BACK HOME! Daniel was saying that it was never too early for Christmas; I tend to disagree! (the kids were singing Christmas songs already for singing time... thanks, Eric!) A few parents were looking for a small kid who seemed to have disappeared - yikes! I saw Alan Yu back from wherever he went, so he said that he'd gone on the trip with my parents (news to me), and that they'd also gone to Egypt, which wasn't that clean! Can't say I was too surprised to hear THAT, haha! Benedict kept us informed of the hockey score from his phone since the Canucks were in Toronto; it was 3-2 for us at one point. I also learned that Cynthia's favorite color is black - NICE! I said hi to Auntie Vivian, who said that she was enjoying life; always a good thing! Cynthia wasted a bandage while trying to make Annika feel better - oh well.

Went upstairs to see the kids working on their pizza party invitations, and Henry asked if I wanted anything; nope! Amos and Harrison were being rowdy as usual, while Justin wanted to invite Kayden (who was sitting right next to him) to the party. Mike and Emily tried telling him that he couldn't do that, haha... kids! Eric T. said hi to me while Gerard barreled his way toward the washrooms. I went downstairs again to see Aaron apparently just making his way into the fellowship hall, so I said that everyone was upstairs, but reminded him to check in first. Went upstairs with Aaron, and informed Henry that I'd found one of his kids. After I got back downstairs into the WARM fellowship hall (so nice that the heater's fixed now!), Chrystal figured that Ada wasn't here today - that's what I thought, too! Lanie agreed with me about the warmth, too! So I went back upstairs to inform Henry of this - yep, he could give me a ride home! I asked those parents if they'd found their kid: Owen was with the Sparkies, apparently! Turns out I'd overheard him talking to Hilary in the washroom when I was in there, heh.

A few minutes after I went back downstairs again (and watched the older kids play games - Emily M. was looking at postcards while Jordan received a stern lecture from Chris and Sarah), I noted that it was cold in the hall once more. "It's SO WARM!" isn't necessarily a bad thing, although the church does have to watch its utility costs! I found out that Conor had registered for Awana again after all; YAY! Steven brought a chalkboard eraser to us that was falling apart; Daniel thought Sabrina had fixed it with glue, but apparently it wouldn't stay... tape it was! Had a few crackers, and noted that I'd spilled soy sauce on my WHITE sweatshirt, so did laundry as soon as I got home. Talked to Rachel, Joshua, and Keenan; Tim put a friendly arm around me as he asked how my week was, so of course I wished him a happy belated birthday! He thanked me, and said that they'd gone out for dinner last night with his family, and were going to have Japanese food tonight... nice! I've had too much sushi myself in the past 24 hours, but it's good nonetheless. Aaron said bye to Henry, who said that he'd have to miss the pizza party because he had a dentist appointment! When Henry dropped me off, I said I'd make arrangements with Ada the way I normally do, and wished him good luck at the dentist's! At the front desk, Chris was showing his pet snake off to people! Found out that the Canucks won 5-3, so that's a pretty good thing! Vanessa H. has also invited me for all-you-can-eat sushi on Friday, but I can't come because of Fellowship... good for my wallet, haha!

Confusion, Mr. Creep, Jocelyn, Conor, random kiddy hugs, Randal, and tense meetings

After having to restart the computer THREE times when I got home (and I had left it off from 9:45 to 6!), I think I finally have it working the way I'm used to. It's probably not OPTIMAL by any stretch of the imagination, but it's passable. And now someone by the name of Chun Wai Chan wants to add me to Facebook; for some reason, the name sounds familiar! Maybe I've had them on my list before, via Katherine H. or someone else. HMM! At least I was able to catch up and read amusing status updates / wall posts from Martin, Vania (posing as the former), and Benedict! The comments were GOLD, too!

This morning, I seemed to have issues getting out of the house on time. Luckily, Eric didn't have to do sound or worship duties, but I still should have kept better track of time. Guess I turned off my computer too early, heh. Eric did ask what took me so long, but I was just reading about musical influences. After a period of quiet, I warned him that I'd consumed an energy drink, so we discussed that for a while. NO, THEY DON'T COME WITH ALCOHOL IN THEM! (no vodka, no Kahlua, or anything else!) We also discussed whether he was ready for the AGM (which turned out to be tense as usual) - no, and he hadn't had a timely sleep either. That never helps, and I know it well. Talked about WORLD OF WARCRAFT, the Lich King, his guild, the Awana Conference which I didn't go to, my Saturday being lo-fi, and more.

We got to church just in time for the sermon and a few pastoral comments about the meeting this afternoon. I saw Steph sitting with Jeremy, so made a mental note to talk to her later. Melia, Angus, Denise, and I were all distracted by Mattias looking for pencils and other things to play with! Christon was subbing in as worship leader, and looked well doing it. After service, I did indeed talk to Steph: she said that Grandma was really confused this morning. When Steph went to pick her up, Grandma asked if she were coming to visit! After receiving the answer "No - I'm here to pick you up for church!" ... she went to her room to get her stuff, then asked Steph the same question again when she got ready... AIYA! Then she asked where Jon and Harmony were, as she had a pineapple for them - I had no idea, while Dianne warned her against it since her mom hadn't found those ones to be very good. Steph said it smelled okay! When I said that I'd tried the Red Rain mocha cappuccino energy drinks for real, she asked how I liked the flavor, which she'd found too strong. I said it was PERFECT FOR ME, which she'd thought originally!

For a few minutes, we looked around for Grandma - she couldn't have gone OUT, and she was probably with the other old people! There were a few old people sitting in the chairs near the stairway, a few more just walking around, and some going into the sanctuary. Finally, we found her near the washrooms, so talked to her for a bit. Then I talked to Danielle (about Lisa) and Denise (about Mattias), who seem to be doing pretty well. At least Danielle's cousins are doing better after going through certain things, but of course she's still committed to spending time with them on Friday nights! The small group all understood when her priorities shifted a few months back, for sure! Cindy, Steph, and I all saw Jocelyn - what a surprise! She's back from Japan for only a few more days, and then is going there for a couple of months... after that, who knows? We all hugged her, of course. Steph and I also attempted to say hi to Mattias - no dice, haha. I said hi to Victor, who said that yesterday's conference was LONG - the year we did both the conference AND Awana, everyone wanted to be home before 8!

Then I saw MY WORST NIGHTMARE: Mr. Creep was back! Maybe it's a good thing that Eric and I were late, so I could spend the half-service in contentment. I didn't have any direct or indirect contact with him - good thing I got one of the snacks from the fellowship hall BEFORE going to look for Grandma! Since he was back, I limited my next excursion into the fellowship hall to touching Eric on the arm when Creep was nowhere near (he's too tall to tap on the shoulder - I'M SHORT, DON'T HATE!) and saying that I was going upstairs, and I'd see him at lunch or the meeting. He acknowledged that, and I went upstairs after saying hi to Jeff / Anita / Allison / Joanna. (whom we'd seen on the way in... I'd also waved to Julie C. when we came in, too)

I saw Maxine, her sons Joshua and Keenan, Frances, her sons Micah and Isaac (who's just learned to crawl - he found the zipper strings on my jacket quite interesting!), and other kids in the Toddler Sunday School room. I had to tell Isaac that my zipper strings weren't for eating; not that he was going to try that, but you never know... it could be dangerous for him, too! Of course, he probably didn't understand what I was saying to him either, but English is my default language when it comes to babies and small kids! (actually, everyone except my grandma and her friends)

Ramen, Shira, Mattias, Ada, Arthur, David, Evelyn, and Ashley were in the class today. When I'd gotten myself settled on the floor to play with toys, Ramen came up and gave me a hug! That was pretty unexpected, and it shows that the kids do love us! I got a few more English words out of Mattias, who's going to be a big brother by Wednesday: mainly "truck" and "car." Then Ramen's sister Shira wanted to hold my hand: due to our own height difference, it was more like she led me by the finger around the room to what she wanted to see! Hahaha! David and Evelyn are definitely learning English and using it: we talked about the toy slide, drawings, toys, colors, cutting things out, and more. I helped Ramen and Shira's mom Jessie make a "London Bridge" while she sang something to the kids: later, Shira wanted me to make our own bridge... so cute! I poured some water in a cup for Mattias, also.

After seeing most of the kids go out of the room with their parents, I went downstairs. I saw a brief glimpse of Conor in another classroom, and said hi to his mom Pauline. Even though the elevator took forever (I'm assuming that the seniors were using it), it was worth the wait. Steph and I made sure to say bye to Grandma, since we thought that Auntie Eva was taking her to lunch and then back to the hospice. I saw Quan, Margaret, and others eating spaghetti and meat sauce near the door of the fellowship hall before the quick structure-oriented ESC family meeting. Since I absolutely cannot eat that kind of thing standing up, I went inside with John / Ada / Ian / Sean L. / Ivan's brother Nathan. We talked about borrowing pens, a "Ten Commandments Puzzle Book," Ian's Nintendo DS, chicken sauce, mandarin oranges, and other things. Sean asked me about his puzzles, so I gave him some tips. I asked Ada about yesterday's leadership conference: it was useful for her since she hasn't been to one since Ian was born in 2001!

The lunch was pretty good for what it was - I didn't want to waste the $3 I paid for a lunch ticket, either. After finishing lunch, I didn't want to show up late to the first meeting, so instead waited around in the foyer for the second meeting to start. Saw Hien, so talked to her for a while even if she was ostensibly studying her linguistics textbook. When one of my mom's friends came up to me and asked about my parents, I told her in my bad Chinese that they'd be back in November or something. Hien didn't know that I knew some Chinese - as I said earlier, it's useful for communicating to my grandma and her friends! I was pretty surprised when Grandma entered the church, but didn't really say anything. When the first meeting was finally over, I told Steph that Grandma was in the sanctuary - she was astonished! Turns out they went for lunch (dim sum?) and then back to church, so Steph said that she'd take Grandma back.

As I thought, Pastor John stands by his resignation, although people hope that Pastor Edward postpones his retirement for a while! We sat next to Alan and Tracy, and exchanged comments and such about bylaws / the voting / ballots / extreme paper consumption (just RAISE YOUR HANDS instead of wasting 300 more sheets of paper which you'll have to recycle / destroy!) / declining of nominations from the floor / Robert's Rules / Uncle Stephen / nominations for financial reviewers (various people DECLINED!) / Sudoku / emoticons / apps / Uncle Sam / tabling motions already under discussion / translation mixups (ENGLISH!) / offering DRAMA / family love and treatment. It was funny when Auntie Ruby would say "I'm ___" in her translation, especially if it was a man speaking! I told Steph that I would get Lisa to "attack" her if only I knew her number, hahaha. When I saw Randal's name on the ballot, I knew that I'd vote for Isabel's dad over HIM any day! (but he got elected to the congregational committee... UGH!) I reminded Steph that she still has Jon and Harmony's Italy souvenir for me, and have just called her to see what she's doing on Tuesday evening since I forgot about that earlier... Tuesday could be a go for dinner with her and Lisa, but I'll check to see what time Jon is taking Grandma back from lunch. Although with time taken up by the dentist appointment and transit there, I may be okay! Steph wanted me to talk to the lards (parents) about why Dad isn't the church admin anymore, but I bet that I won't get full answers!

During a break in the tense meeting, I asked Jon where Harmony was - at home. He also said he didn't need to email me about the ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT marathon because I'd hear about it anyway - BAD! Then he reminded me that Grandma would appreciate my visiting her - I KNOW THAT, but I keep just missing the bus! Perhaps on Tuesday, since I'm out already and don't have to make TOO much of a special trip! (my siblings live closer, though that may not be an excuse which holds water!) He also commented that Sean might take more risks than his dad or Tracy, dentistry-wise... I can totally see that! Steph reminded me to CALL AHEAD, since she'd called on Saturday only to find out that Grandma was out at Seniors' Fellowship with Auntie Eva - I shall do that then, and confirm the transit from Oakridge to the hospice later! When Grandma left early with Auntie Eva / Auntie Paula / Uncle Percy, we both went to say bye - yes, I'll probably be there on Tuesday!

When we sang hymns to fill time, Eric wondered why we didn't sing any of the other 300 or 400 songs which were in the hymnal that weren't done to death at previous meetings! I have NO idea, man! He also said that he was taking Pastor John and Hannah home - I ascribed ulterior motives to his saying that he had two extra seats in his car, haha. (Karmie, Josiah, and Noah apparently had to go home early) Christon, Connie, Jon, Eric, Phil, and I discussed conservative people / the pastoral search committee term / Regent friends who may not want to work at our church / Chinese pastors / other things before going home. Pastor John, Hannah, Eric, and I discussed the INTENSE RAIN / coffee / lunch / a free meal at Jon's / computer fixing / Friday's program largely not being applicable to Eric (Chinese TV shows and literature?!) / Cory Schneider being better than Roberto Luongo (Vancouver Canucks goalie controversy again?) / slamming doors / grass getting in the way / shortcuts through parking lots / the "usual" route home / when Deb and Dylan are getting back from the Philippines. Once we'd dropped them off, I vented about Mr. Creep and Randal - contrary to what Eric seems to think, I'm not necessarily going to leave the church because Randal is now on the congregational committee! (I thought about it briefly, but I most probably won't do that) And no, I'm not afraid of shaking Eric's hand either! I'm also wondering if it would be a good idea to write someone a certain email with feelings - probably not, but I'm still thinking about it! Oh sure, I'm feeling without companionship NOW... ugh, why couldn't things have been different?!

Extra downtime ROCKS! / "Showers of Blessing" isn't relevant to Eric! / Yay for Victor!

Eric gave me an extra hour of downtime (he'd played WOW while I edited entries and started word games), which I definitely appreciated! That still meant that I had to go to the eminently-skippable program, but you can't have everything! Of course, I still asked him whether he were insane when he called, haha - it's my THING! When I got out of the building, I was cackling - he wanted to know how much medication I'd taken, and described me as "loopy." He was surprised when I gave him the box of Delecto chocolates more than two months early, haha! We talked about Riverview (what a detour for psychological help!), his being a literal backwards male, possible relationship deal-breakers, donating various game items, whether Teunis had bought STARCRAFT II yet (he seemed surprised that I didn't know - well, he doesn't live with me anymore!), dentist appointments, saving money, government benefits, feelings, DARKWING, Dave and distraction, Eric's being the Joker, marriage, increases, staying single, my being quiet during Fellowship, and more. and more. When we got to church, we met Cordia / Julie / Auntie Tonia / Margaret at the elevators.

We went into the fellowship hall, where we saw Stanley eating a LOT of noodles which he didn't have to pay for: he still complained that it wasn't to his liking, though! Maxine was feeding her kids Joshua and Keenan some sushi, and said that Stanley probably shouldn't say anything. Meh, at least he liked that it was free! I said hi to the kids, then talked to Vania and Jen about 10th / worship / Jason / Eggs Benedict / not waking up in time for breakfast. We noticed that the Powerpoint overhead was upside down: Joshua thought that it was funny, and told me so. Yup, I agree! Tim came in a while later, and wondered why his wife had bought so much sushi and udon - when he offered me five wings, I took them gladly! (Christon was also having some sushi of his own) Later, he said that he was thinking of going to South Africa for a cousin's wedding, but that they might be a distraction! If the new baby's a girl, Maxine can give the kids' clothes to baby Micah. However, they won't find that out till ten weeks from now! I also heard that Karen I. might get induced on the weekend or Tuesday - wow!

By the time I'd finished the wings, the program had already started. I grabbed my stuff and sat by Eric, Alan, and Tracy. Couldn't help but notice the affection that Tracy had for her husband, but tried NOT to focus on that. If things had turned out differently, maybe I'd have some too! Haha! The program as stated ("Sharing Christ With Your Parents") wasn't terribly relevant to me, but as Christon said later, it was interesting to learn more about the panelists' background! Uncle Hansel, Uncle Peter, and Wai-Mui did get $50 Bon Appetit gift cards from Safeway; when Eric's pen ran out of ink, I could see that he had trouble getting another blue pen, so I let him borrow mine. At one point, Alan was playing Solitaire or another card game on his phone! Apparently, buying fish is a good way to show care for your in-laws! (and respect with the ancestor worship can be achieved by just standing there) Not letting ministry interfere with your parental time is probably good advice for those who need it... luckily, I don't! Funny (if irrelevant) piece of advice from tonight: "If your non-Christian parents are sick in hospital, tell us! We'll come visit them! But if they don't like pastors, tell us anyway! We'll still visit them, but we won't tell them that we are pastors!"

I learned that Randal cannot miss Saturday dinner with his parents because his brother Roland (that reminds me of the time I actually DID call Randal "Roland," but thankfully not to his face!) isn't really talking to the family, and his sister-in-law is a nominal Catholic who badmouths her in-laws. He wants to step up his commitment to the parents, and show them that he and his brother are different. True, but you can't be SUPERMAN and drop EVERYTHING for them! Apparently, there's a Cantonese show called SHOWERS OF BLESSING which is on every Saturday night - his parents have looked forward to the show, especially the one on gambling! (apparently, his uncle has a severe gambling problem) Unfortunately, the stuff about the Cantonese Christian shows and the Chinese literature wasn't terribly relevant to Eric! Dianne and I suggested that he and his parents should learn to read Chinese, haha!

I was happy enough when the program ended: while we talked to Uncle Peter about life with a new baby in the house (Winnie and birth! Crying in a big house! Emergency C-sections! Two grandmothers! One great-grandmother! Endless recipes! Vinegar / egg / ginger!), Connie checked the hockey score on her phone. Yes, we beat Minnesota 5-1, and got revenge for the recent shellacking! I told Jon about Steph's email; yes, he and Harmony are pretty busy with chores and such since their friend is coming to town on Monday! When Christon seemed like he was going to tell Jon (who almost hijacked the discussion with the "generational gap conflict" comment) something personal ("I need a drink because of this!"), I respectfully stepped away to ostensibly look at the structural drawings on the chalkboard, AND to get Eric away from the wrong person in Raymond! After a bit, I went back to see what they were talking about: I missed who exactly didn't feel like doing an important duty, but that's fine. All I know is that worship leading cannot be fake, man!

When it looked like Dianne and Wesley were going to join them for drinks, Jon wanted to know if Eric could fix his laptop one of these days. They'd figure it out later, so Eric and I went to the elevator. He made a call while we were waiting, and I guess the "different" woman Teresa assumed we were free to talk to her! We held up our hands in the universal signal for LATER! While I wasn't talking on the phone or overly curious as to what Eric was discussing - I didn't care - I *did* know that he wouldn't be free to talk to her anyway! When he was done, Teresa asked whether we could give her a ride home - he guessed he could... more time having to appear normal for me, haha. There were a whole bunch of people in / getting on the elevator, including Victor and Ernest. Victor said hi to me by name, so I returned the greeting in kind, asking if he'd be going to tomorrow's conference. He said he would be, and asked if I were going. When I said no, he asked why - I might visit my grandma! (depending on bus schedules and such, but he doesn't need to know THAT!) As we passed everyone near the door when we all got in the car, Victor waved at me, so of course I waved back with a smile. Teresa thought he was waving at HER (um, no - he doesn't know you!), so waved and said BYE=BYE! Hahaha... oh well, we DO try to make allowances for her differences! Thankfully, it didn't take long to drop Teresa off, and we fielded inquiries about our weeks, driving schools (Trinity or Young Drivers in Richmond, NOT New Westminster!), and commuting from Richmond in the meantime.

After dropping Teresa off, we got gas even though he had almost half a tank left - I figured I was reading the wrong gauge again when I'd asked about it before! Eric decided to sing to me about my supposed alcohol consumption, and said that he'd accidentally drank wine earlier even if he said he didn't want any because he'd be driving. "You can ask my mother or my father!" Hahaha, that's fine! Then he thought that I could send someone an email: no, I think the time for that is well past! I would have LOVED it, but I was too caught up in appearances! We discussed STELLA'S turning into a beer bistro (Jon lives in the area!), Fat Burger, a gas smell, a Kirin near City Square, silliness, a brand-new Tim Horton's across the street from the Cuppa Joe coffee shop (Jeremy's not going to be too happy about THAT!), wool / hair / black sheep, the program not being relevant to ME personally (my uncle's family is NOT Christian, but we don't talk to them due to drama and cultural differences!), and other things. Interesting discussion, at any rate! Now I'm going to catch up on stuff, and I hopefully won't have to stay up till 5:30 AM to do so, unlike LAST week! (while I did have to restart the computer when I got home, at least I got home around 11 instead of 12:30 AM!)

Dream of pests and JESUS CHRIST online game / Gelato / Oktoberfest

I dreamed that a bunch of my friends and I had taken over someone's house, and were happily doing our own thing in groups when I went outside to do something in the front yard. Imagine my dream self's disgust when I saw these round, translucent, elongated oval-shaped THINGS in the grass! I ran back into the house to warn my friends, but they were horrified at the sight of these pests as well since those were all over the house! Auntie Ying and Benedict said we should pour salt onto them, but Cordia wasn't so sure. Later, Phil said I had about an hour to look up "Jesus Christ" online; Nathan and Citrus encouraged me to do so. Quan said that it would be awesome if I did, while Sylver was trying to study, but got sucked into doing that. So I did, leaving my group with that excuse. It turned out to be an MMOPRG featuring army characters, haha! Not sure why I had the dream!

You Are Vanilla Gelato

You are very likable and popular. People usually have no complaints with you. You are easygoing and flexible. You don't have to be calling the shots to have a good time. You adapt well to a variety of situations. You are good at figuring out how to fit in. You may seem bland to outside observers, but you're really quite subtle and interesting.

What Flavor Gelato Are You?

Blogthings: We Have a Quiz for Almost Everything

Trivia fact for Sunday, Oct. 3: In what month does Oktoberfest begin annually in Munich, Germany? In September. This year's celebration - the 200th - began on September 18 and ends today. When first held in 1810, it began in October, but it was later moved to September to take advantage of the milder weather.

VBS photos, good posting progress (dictator mod), and hardcore icons

Got back up at 1:30, and started looking at Sarah's VBS photos: Sarah, Mary, Mark, Conor, Sean L. looking like he's picking his nose, various kids playing games / doing crafts / dancing on stage, Jordan showing off his butt, Rosenda, Hilary, Bianca looking sad, Reigan, Danny / Benedict / Amos / others at Stanley Park, Chris Lam dressed up in robes, and more such fun times! Angel also messaged me with the progress of the posting thing - seems to be going well, what with 26 comments and ANOTHER post!

Edit four hours later: Steve says I have posting ability again, but I'm not going to test it if Mariah is going to be such a bitch about things!

your HARDXCORE icons.... by emoBITCH1234
Name
Favorite color
LOVE ICON
ANGER ICON
HAPPY ICON
RANDOM ICON
SONG ICON

Yes, having your sister visit for two months IS annoying!

I was just in time to meet Eric today, which was fine - we discussed some neurosis which he thinks I have regarding Mr. Creep (I have to remind Eric to be ever-watchful!), RED DWARF / DARKWING DUCK, INCEPTION / credits / Youtube, confusion on dreams within dreams within dreams, moron drivers, Teunis' computer issues / gum sensitivity, borrowing computer equipment / hardware, taxi drivers, racism, my disapproval of his sitting with certain people, annoyances, and more. Once we got to church, someone was waving at me from across the road - since I'd only had five hours' sleep, I was even less inclined than usual to be nice, haha. (I found out later that it was Daniel, since he told me - whoops!) Looked around for Martin since Benedict was there, but didn't see him - maybe I will have to call him during the week as per Henry's suggestion last night. Sat in my usual spot after getting a rather heavy bag of random crap from Dad's desk; gave one Bubble Tape to Nathan, and one (with assorted gum) to Emily / Nina / Gerard - I let Nathan look at my Dragon Tattoos, and he figures my mom is rich, to give me all this stuff. Hahaha... what I didn't tell him was that sometimes I throw away a lot of stuff since I can't / won't use it! Found out that it was heavy because of three canned pasta items inside - at least THAT is useful, unlike pink or goldenrod trouser socks! (as for the strawberry licorice twists, I dunno... possibly not the batteries!)

Phil preached on culture and circumcision - Jeremy wrote a joke Action Item on his bulletin: "Become Chinese at the Vancouver Chinese and English Free Church." He, Nathan, Christon, and I were quite amused! Then Pastor Edward announced his upcoming retirement in May, citing a lack of energy and tranquility. Later, I asked what was for dinner at his place, so he gave me the printed recipes to peruse: mixed berry salad, rosemary grilled chicken, peach cobbler, and something else. Christon told me later that he'd looked up nightshades - potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and more quite extensive allergies DO make planning a menu more complicated! Talked to Denise about the 12-year-old girls she'd seen at the Backstreet Boys concert on Friday... were they really BORN yet or CONSCIOUS of the Backstreet Boys when they were mega-popular?! Said hi to Brian, commiserated with Andrew about school / class timing / long breaks / one class in one day ("I'm spending HOW long to get over here only to be there for just an hour?!"), watched people carefully, and said hi to little Mattias. Auntie Catherine said later that he liked me since he allowed me to lead him by the hand over to the MEGA BLOCKS in the Cubbies room... NICE!

Went upstairs (saying hi to little Allison on the way) to Toddler Sunday School: saw Frances, Micah, Isaac, Helen K., Helen C., Nathaniel, Cory, Nicholas, Abigail, and other people from the ESC class. I like interacting with the kids! Amanda, Amos, Harrison, David, Evelyn, Mattias, Ashley, Ada, Ramen, Shira, and Jason showed up for class - had blueberries and crackers later as a snack. Harrison and Amos built robots out of Lego, Jason said "NO" every time Ramen poured toys on HIS Lego, David showed me an "owie" on his sister's leg, and Auntie Ying said that her mom is finally here from Toronto. I met her later on while saying hi to my own grandma, who says I never showed up on Tuesday. Who is Dad going to believe, me or a 90-year-old with severe memory issues?! I'm not saying that I'm the most reliable person in the world or anything, but I did not lie about going over to the townhouse... ugh!

Asked Jeremy where Eric was - apparently, he'd skipped Sunday School to go get Pho before guitar lessons. This was news to ME! Eventually after waiting around for everyone to FINISH TALKING, I went to a different Pho place with him / Christon / Lesley / Randal / Jen / Wesley / Kevin. We discussed cooking salmon, chicken marinade, Sunday Dinner, Isabel / Raymond / Cindy / Nathan / Wesley / Vivian / Randal / Jen / me / Teunis / Eric / Christon showing up at Jeremy's later, Lesley's retired sister visiting for two months from Hong Kong in September (SO ANNOYING TO HAVE THAT FAMILY OBLIGATION!), interesting awkward wedding photographs at the restaurant, Barkerville, a Japanese-Korean Anglican church nearby (Main and 30th), lemons, faking things for donations, weird news, someone re-opening a bar without a license for a few days, and more. I had to have some coffee since I didn't have any earlier (there was none) - figured I wouldn't really have time to nap what with blogging obligations and such, haha.

By the time Christon dropped me back off at church (we discussed Cindy's stress / grad banquet / organization / Fellowship Committee / "interesting" driving), guitar lessons were definitely over. Eric was like "You had PHO, so what took you guys so long?" The restaurant was pretty busy, and we'd gotten the last table... the waitresses also seemed to be seasoned pros at avoiding eye contact when we wanted to order! We discussed when Teunis would leave (tomorrow, perhaps - he later confirmed this when he got in), French, things that sounded DIRTY ("drizzle" and "servicing us"), joking payment for rides, cleaning out his dirty mind, STARCRAFT, staying up late, my computer restart issues seeming resolved (RAM stuff?), slow systems, whether he actually TOLD me about guitar lessons (I didn't hear it if he did!), and more. About 40 minutes after I got home, Teunis came in to say that his laundry didn't dry properly - that sucks, as does someone we both know having personal issues. Says he'll clear out tomorrow after he cleans up and such - it's going to be interesting for me to get used to being by myself again, that's for sure! (he's having a bit of a nap since he couldn't get back to sleep this morning) My mom just called to "ask me something quickly" - since I didn't really feel like talking to her, I said that I was waiting for a call from Eric. THAT much is true, but I had lots of time to talk... I just wanted to get this blogging thing out of the way first. ;)


Edit fifteen minutes later: Eric called, so I called my mom back to get THAT over with since I did NOT want to deal with that shit when we got back from Jeremy's. I explained again what had happened on Tuesday - apparently, Grandma thought we were meeting at Dairy Queen or something. Uh, no... Mom says that she'll take the top lock off, and that she believes me. Well, GOOD! :P

Vanity, Benedict, Brazil, and wieners

Bingo of the morning:

BENEDICTS (730 points) - against Jodi B.


High-scoring words of the morning:

ANTIAIR (160 points) - against Jodi B. [two 4W]
BENEDICTS (730 points) - against Jodi B. [5W, 4W, 2W] {different game}
VANITY (150 points) - against Pauline S. [5W, 2W]
ICEBOAT (208 points) - against Joyce P. [two 4W]
BRASILS (288 points; two 4W), CHARTS (448 points; 2W, two 4W) - against Joyce P. {different game}
AJEE (110 points) - against Phil L. [4W, 2W, hook off CLANKY to make AY] {a good deficit-erasing word!}
WIENERS (1100 points) - against Toni S. [4W, two 5W]

Teaching demos, feedback, stupid laws, and left legs

Steph was texting the score updates to Joey, since the poor guy (who got an internship at Ipsos-Reid) was stuck at Joe's wedding rehearsal - she'll do the same on Saturday night, since he's stuck at the wedding banquet! "People shouldn't schedule weddings when the playoffs are here, man!" Hahaha, so true!

I asked Corey how his teaching demo went:

[02:05:58] Flami: so how was the demo?
[02:12:22] Corey: ,kk,kmnkbkdifdoknkkkvnllkninnknnkkniihibibbnbib
[02:12:33] Corey: well, okay...
[02:13:23] Corey: I think I got a decent reaction from it, but I'm clearly not an amazing / comfortable / experienced teacher. I also only got through 25% of my material before running out of time (and the big thing was making them talk a lot, most of which was supposed to happen in the other parts)
[02:14:35] Corey: but the teacher (the real teacher :P) that watched me (not a manager or something, oddly) said I did a good job of keeping them interested, and kept their attention well, and used sentences like "when you have your own class, you'll get plenty of practice to figure out pacing, and new ways to teach" etc.. which sounds good
[02:16:15] Corey: but, I don't think she's in charge of hiring me, so I don't know :P depends on what she told the real boss, I guess. from what she told me, I'd guess she told them I'm inexperienced (they know that), but promising with some practice
[02:17:09] Corey: they also don't require teaching experience, so if my methods are good, then I'd think that's pretty good. I've gotten along just fine with everyone I've met there so far, and the boss (I only talked to her briefly on the phone) seemed friendly enough and spoke English really well
[02:23:03] Flami: that sounds better than the other place
[02:26:25] Corey: the other place didn't give me any real feedback... they just said "okay, we welcome you to work here"
[02:26:39] Corey: but this place is a bit worrying because they really don't tell me a damn thing
[02:26:53] Flami: oh
[02:27:01] Corey: the TEACHERS have been nice, but the people that actually work there (bosses or non-teachers) barely speak to me
[02:27:19] Corey: so it's been great with the students and other teachers, but I don't think any of them are in charge of hiring me
[02:27:27] Corey: it was also odd that nobody watched my demo
[02:27:53] Corey: I'm sure they'll ask the teacher her opinion of me at least, but I figured someone in charge of something would be in on that
[02:28:59] Corey: but, the online reaction to this place is that they're totally legit (most places are not.. for example, the job that screwed me over was actually illegal in the first place since the government has declared it illegal for foreign people to teach kindergarten for whatever reason)
[02:29:34] Corey: aside from that, the online reaction to that place was almost completely negative
[02:29:53] Corey: the only complaints about this place is that some teachers felt unprepared to teach there, just kind of thrown into a room with no plan
[02:30:02] Corey: and sometimes you don't get enough hours
[02:32:46] Corey: those aren't great, but I'll take issues like that instead of stuff that will get me deported
[02:32:46] Corey: those are actual normal work complaints, not illegal or shady stuff
[02:37:52] Flami: that does sound a bit odd, but the actual complaints about this place seem to be normal
[02:38:34] Corey: they rarely enforce the "no kindergarten" rule, but you get deported if you're caught
[02:39:14] Corey: they openly advertise that they have foreign teachers to attract students, and they openly hire foreign people (and don't tell them it's even illegal most of the time).
[02:40:10] Corey: some places actually have airlock type doors, so they can block inspections for a couple minutes before letting the police in, so they can ring a bell that signals the foreign teachers to get the hell out, or get to an older kids' classroom immediately
[02:41:16] Corey: supposedly, the police don't care about it at all, and generally put their kids in kindergartens with foreign teachers. the people want their kids learning English from an early age, so they grow up actually knowing it well. someone in the government basically doesn't like foreign people, and says that puts too much stress on the kids
[02:42:37] Corey: the law is pretty retarded as it is right now, though. basically, there's no fewer foreign teachers, and 99% of the time, the foreign teachers don't even know they're doing anything wrong. with this law, though, someone that doesn't like the school can report their foreign teachers just to screw over that school... or some government official can ruin the day of some foreign people whenever they feel like it
[02:43:12] Corey: they should enforce the rules, or just not have them
[02:43:52] Corey: and now, dinner part one :P then probably an interview for this school, but maybe just observing a class again, and dinner part two later with Jane :P


Trivia fact for Friday, Apr. 16: What notorious Revolutionary War figure is memorialized in a national park with a marble bas-relief of his left leg? Benedict Arnold. The sculpture, in New York's Saratoga National Park, is on the site of a fierce battle that was won by the heroic future traitor, who was shot in his gout-ridden left leg during the fighting. There is no direct mention of Arnold in the bizarre tribute, which is inscribed "in memory of the most brilliant soldier of the Continental Army..."

Awana Hot Dog Day / SIN replacement

DANG IT! This thing restarted while I was out at Awana! Martin picked me up, and I thanked him for the ride - we talked about Dad, Jon, Steph, Harmony, the very rainy weather (and it was so sunny yesterday!), his family moving to Richmond from Vancouver in 2005, his brother being in Hong Kong, engineering, jobs / sun / rain in Hong Kong, the Public Market / Save-On (he lives nearby), expensive plane tickets right now, Jason the new Awana leader and his brother Daniel, Eric T., and more. Then we picked up Jason, and talked about Chris / Billy W. / Sarah / being late. When we got to the parkade, Benedict said that he could see Henry's car - what the?!

The kids seemed to enjoy Hot Dog Day - I gave Conor's drawings back to him, and noted that he was being too loud for his friend, who had to cover his ears! Chrystal said that she'd lost her ID before too, and had to pay a fee to have it replaced. For once, I don't mind it costing money (I don't think I ever paid for Korey's to be replaced after he thought *I* had lost it...), but still. It can be ANNOYING! I've just been reading that it costs $10 for the SIN card to be replaced, so that's okay-ish. Good thing there's a centre really nearby, if I can only find it...

Talked to Ian, Sean, Lanie, Midora, little Eric M., Henry, Angus, Danny, Jordan, Maxine and Tim (Felicity had called Maxine up to say "guess who is teaching your niece violin?!" hahaha - Jon had told us that he recognized her accent; "I know some people from South Africa!"), Keenan, Auntie May, and others: friends with your niece's teacher, it being a small world, Nicholas / Helen, vacations, Hong Kong, "missing kids," Ian and Gabriel being active and messy, chips, pubs instead of high tea, Felico's Greek food birthday stuff, wet chairs, chalkboards (squeaky sounds and nails scratching it - NO!), and more. I didn't get to give Henry his present because he left early, but did give John the present for his family - the kids seemed to like the idea of chocolate and candy canes, hahaha. Saw Dad a couple of times, and at least figured out the time they'd pick me up tomorrow. It was all right, but I only took one bag of chips for home - I'd already eaten a few leftover wieners and a bag of chips, though.

Bad examples by pool noodle slaps / Cute Animal Tagging x2

Henry picked me up today, and we were off... no thanks to construction and delays on Alderbridge, we were ten minutes late! Talked about the Newsboys' Million Pieces (Kissing Your Cares Goodbye) [heard it on the radio!], Bible Study, a discussion on prayer, the cop love triangles on TVB shows, whether the same costumes were actually what Hong Kong police wear, and more. Got to the fellowship hall and told Auntie Vivian and Chrystal why I was late; also, I wished Melia a happy birthday. A bunch of kids (like Conor's brother Sean) wanted to know what was in the Awana store, Conor wanted to give me a high-five because he had a bunch of sections completed today (he cheers me up!), and Martin was RED because he was laughing so hard over Jordan's bathroom mishap! Apparently, Jordan got stuck for some time - Martin, Chris, Benedict, and Jason went to check it out. After the debriefing, Martin / Mike / Eric T. were setting a bad example for Regan and Jinny by slapping each other with a pool noodle. Auntie Vivian walked by as she was putting things away, and just laughed. Seeing Jessica's mittens reminded me to get my own out when I got home, and I have.

Later, I heard that Ada was sick, so got Henry to give me a ride home. He's the only other one who lives in Richmond, so he did it even if he was a bit rushed since he had to go to his sister Teresa's house to watch the girls as she went to Fellowship. His other sister Janet called to see if he wanted to go out for food - he couldn't do that, and ultimately suggested she order pizza or something if she didn't want to go out herself. (he told Teresa that she sounded flustered!) I was glad to be in out of the rain... my place is colder than the fellowship hall originally was, as it was WARM! Now to eat some Pickled Chinese Cabbage and Fish noodles, and do some Sunday School prep!

Leslie's just got their Mayan God Name from Name Generators. It's Ix Chel, the goddess of the moon.


Got these cute animal tagging pictures from Julie C:

Hockey, the Awana store being smelly, and "oh my gosh" being "so funny" - yay, kiddies!

Ada and the kids picked me up, so I said hi to everyone. At church, Benedict let me into the elevator first - how cool. We wondered why the parkade was SO FULL at only 3:45 PM - I was determined to get answers, and I did get them from Uncle Eugene. Apparently, there was a choir workshop since this morning - I wasn't aware it would last all weekend! Said hi to a bunch of the kids (Rachel, Nina, Emily, Gerard, Josie, Priscilla) while checking them in. Eunice was cranky since she'd been up since 6 this morning without a nap - poor girl! Her mom Flora had been in a car accident, but was worried for the kids since they were in the back! Talked to her husband Andrew very briefly, too. Helped Auntie Vivian with the lychee pudding, too - at least she thanked me for it, and Chrystal thanked me for helping with the attendance sheets and explanations of various things! When Ada was leading singing, she asked the kids for an action for "you died." Mike came up to me and Chrystal, then said that he personally thought there wasn't a need for such an action - probably not, no!

Jordan asked me whether I had seen the hockey game last night. No, because I was at church then! He wondered why I'd been there, so I told him. Then he talked to me about needing a bandage, and about how many games he and his brother Thomas have been in. Matthew Ma #2 said hi to me (with the correct name), and Chrystal asked whether he knew that there was another Matthew Ma in Awana - he did. Benedict later expressed surprised confusion, but it's a good thing they're in different clubs for now. Conor's brother Sean wanted me to open the Awana store, then didn't want to go to storytime because it was "smelly." Okay, kid... whatever you say!

Later, Mike was telling Martin NOT to teach Regan to say "I'm fabulous!" with a head tilt. When his sister Jinny came to see what was going on, Mike told her to make sure that her little brother didn't do that at school. Martin wondered why, and Mike said that he didn't want the kid to get beaten up, even if he would figure things out because he's in Grade 4! Brian and his brother Padraic were dancing Russian-style, and we were all amused by that, too.

Sean L. was writing some things on the chalkboard, so I asked him what was going on. "Oh my gosh and oh my dear are SO FUNNY! Red gets 600 points!" is what he told me - hahaha, he's so cute! Talked briefly to Lesley when she came to pick up a couple of kids - she's so tired, and could have gone to sleep right then! I could relate, trust me. The kids were pretty funny today, so that's good. When Melia told them to tell their parents to keep them at home if they were sick on Saturdays, one of the kids asked "What if we have H1N1?" Then DEFINITELY stay at home, girl... hahahaha! On the way home, Ian told his mom to hurry up since he was hungry - haha, oh dear. You can't exactly do that when you're driving!