Object ONCE use / Slaves' toilets!

The DRAGON QUEST V hero can cast the spell Identify to see what items can do. "The object will disappear after ONCE use." o_O




Ten years after the hero's father dies, the hero and Prince Henry are slaves to the evil Order of Light, and are being forced to build a temple. When the hero checks this pot in the slave quarters, the game tells you that a horrible stench emanates from there! It seems to be the slaves' toilets!

VAGTABLE dumplings, Pocari Sweat, jellyfish, and Purdy's ice cream

I saw VAGTABLE dumplings at the store tonight! Called Steph to see if she and Lisa are actually going to dinner at Mom's on Thursday, as Mom had told me last night - along with stuff about Grandma's memory issues / money belts / Erin going to the wedding after all / Ben / deluxe hotel rooms / the bullion currency exchange shop near Moore's (which I saw tonight) / how I should get together romantically with Paul (NO!) or Mr. Creep (HELL NO!) or Chinese Eric. She said she was at work, so would call me later. ("most likely") While I was busy working on drafts for future entries, Vanessa unexpectedly called to say that she was in Richmond, and wanted to see if I wanted to go out for dinner. (she asked if I'd heard from Krista who could be visiting her parents, but I know nothing about that) I had literally JUST finished pouring water / soup base / oil into black garlic noodles, but was good to go with whatever we wanted. Not Pearl Castle since the mall could be closed, but maybe Specialty Chicken and Wonton House. Thank goodness I hadn't actually microwaved the noodles yet - I put the bowl in the fridge for tomorrow instead!

After she went to the bank and then to Popeye's for a container, we went to Specialty Chicken Noodle House. Talked about the treadmill, her new car, Teunis, Mr. Creep, Paul, Wayne, Purdy's ice cream, stupid idiots, Richmond, cupholders, her work, moving, the ferry terminal, ferry prices going up, Victoria, Save-On Foods, combo meals (which we ultimately decided against), spicy jellyfish, beef brisket noodles, prawn wonton noodles, gai-lan, tea, separate bills, Vegas, support, and more. I decided to go to Price Smart Foods with her; she was fascinated by the Asian section! Got (VAGTABLE / kimchi) dumplings, seven on-sale Sidekicks for $1 each (Chicken and Broccoli, Sour Cream and Chives, Stroganoff, Creamy Parmesan, Creamy Chicken Fusilli, Tri-Color Alfredo, and Tomato Alfredo), and on-sale peanut butter. She bought some coconut ice cream ($3) and one other thing she needed. We discussed hair dye, cakes, egg tarts, Calpico, Chevron, Pocky, potstickers, candied ginger, vanilla frozen yogurt, Pocari Sweat water, getting gas, and other things before she dropped me off. Now, back to work!

Kung-fu legends Engrish / Punctuation jokes / Chrystal and Mandy

Replied to Mandy's email when I wanted to go to bed, AS USUAL! At least I've finished prepping most of my Christmas cards, even if I won't have time to mail them till tomorrow! Called Chrystal at work (as I tried to do yesterday) to tell her the news about Harmony - we're getting together on Dec. 1 (Thursday) before my family dinner! Paid my Shaw bill, and talked to James briefly on YM.


Here's a funny Engrish picture that Laura found - she says that these are translated names of Chinese kung-fu legends:




This is a list of funny grammar and punctuation jokes that Josephine found:

Excel and STRONG MINT / New bakery / Miyabi Ramen / Chrystal

Before I left, I called Eric to advise him that I wouldn't be going to Fellowship tonight. I told him that I had dinner plans which he couldn't even begin to conceive of, muhahaha. (he was like "... okay...." hahaha) Chrystal called, but I missed it - I assumed she was running late, so I left later than I would have, of course with books to read! She saw me reading (after I bought more on-sale noodles and Excel's newest gum flavor - STRONG MINT!), so thanked me profusely for waiting, while apologizing in equal measure since she accidentally took the YVR train! When we went to London Drugs and looked around at the cereal / snacks / food, I vented a bunch, and she told me that her sister Emily and Mike are going on some Belize adventure package for their honeymoon as something different. We checked out the new bakery near Richmond Centre - egg tarts, "tard" as an unfortunate substitution for "tart," red bean buns, butterfly pastries, cakes, and more.

We decided that we wanted something different than Boston Pizza, so I thought we should try the new ramen place called Miyabi near Save-On Foods. She'd tried Shanghaiese food around that plaza; later, she remembered that it was Dinesty Restaurant, and that it was pretty good. We saw the liquor store, Specialty Chicken and Wonton House, and other things on our way to the ramen place. At Miyabi, we had kimchi udon and short rib ramen in spicy miso; the service was pretty quick and friendly! We talked about Emily, Mom and her opinions, the Awana BBQ, offers of company, safety concerns, Steph / Lisa, Chantal, gum, her awesome supervisor Andrew whom I knew from church, eating junk food like Teddy Grahams at 3:30 AM, and more.

When we decided to check out Chapters, it was closed since it was 9:30 - then we checked out Amato Gelato, but it was cash only. (lots of sorbetto and interesting flavors!) I told Chrystal about the amazing Chapman's cappuccino frozen yogurt, which I could always have at home. She expressed concern about my walking to Shoppers Drug Mart and back once I said we could go there, so we cut the hangout a bit short with goodbyes. I went back to the gelato place and bought durian gelato for some reason - I don't know why I'm doing this as I vented at Teunis just last night, but we'll see. Discovered that redrum had started, too.

Extreme couponing, pronunciation, dialect, food around the world, sour MANGE

We discussed EXTREME COUPONING, the pronunciation of "coupon / Gouda / yogurt / Vancouver," Gay, dialects, soup, kimchi, smoking, studies, schizophrenia, Commercial Drive, his phone, poly / theferrett, SKY OPTICAL, coupons / promotions for cheap glasses (his are ten years old), a phone call from Tess, thorough disapproval, spicy Caribbean rice, What the World Eats, pizza on Sunday (Sunday dinners as "fancy dinners"?!), chicken, flowers, flour, deep-fried pineapple fritters, and more. I called Eric to see what time he'd be by enroute to Kevin's - 6:55 sounds good to me! Vanessa buzzed me on MSN to chat about Teunis / Krista / life, too.


Steph uploaded this picture because Lisa thought I'd like it - see if you can spot the unfortunate typo:

FUCK THE DUCK / Crumbling Cookies

Christon emailed us about a Sunday Dinner at Jeremy's, so I'll let him know about my attendance on Friday at the grad banquet! (I bet this hijacked edition of Jon's past email list includes Mr. Creep) Who knows but that Teunis may like the idea as well, if he's still here... :D


Got this Engrish picture from Nate... HAHAHAHAHA!

You Are Bold

You may not feel like the most adventurous person in the world, but you really are quite daring. You are willing to give most things a chance, and you dread getting stuck in a routine. You're the first of your friends to try a new trend - whether it's food, travel, or fashion. You don't fear not liking something. Even if you try something and hate it, at least you experienced it!

How Does Your Cookie Crumble?

Blogthings: Cheaper Than a Therapist

INCEPTION, DOOM, SALT, and English in Taiwan

This is a conversation that Corey and I just had:

12:13:30 AM Flami: hey, guess what I'm watching right now...
12:27:30 AM Corey: Inception
12:28:19 AM Flami: no, I said RIGHT NOW... there is no possible way that I'm in the theatre and on MSN :P
12:30:36 AM Corey: I could be
12:31:11 AM Flami: true, considering the time difference :P "watching" DOOM: THE MOVIE
12:32:38 AM Corey: but that movie sucks
12:33:06 AM Corey: there's one pretty cool scene where it's all first person like the game, but the rest isn't so hot :P
12:33:26 AM Corey: well, I saw Inception! :P on Sunday
12:33:49 AM Flami: WHY IS EVERYONE SEEING IT WITHOUT ME?!
12:35:14 AM Corey: I saw it with lots of annoying people talking behind us, but at least they're speaking Chinese, so I can filter it out :P
Flami: haha
12:36:36 AM Corey: I wanted to see Salt, since the commercials looked kinda cool, but Jane said Leonardo DiCaprio chooses good movies most of the time, so we should see Inception. then I noticed it was Christopher Nolan (we just watched Memento the night before.. she didn't like it because it's too weird), and decided that Inception was definitely the better choice.
12:39:40 AM Corey: it's pretty good.. probably not as amazing as everyone is apparently saying it is.. some of the characters barely even had their names mentioned, so I didn't know who anyone was, and they kind of change the rules around as it goes (they have explanations for it, but it's just confusing to keep track of)
12:40:12 AM Corey: but yes, you can go see it :P it's pretty cool, and it's not a remake, or even based on a book. just an original movie, for once
12:41:47 AM Flami: I hear it takes place simultaneously in many different time periods or something.
12:43:09 AM Corey: no, not time periods... they can go into people's dreams, very similar to The Matrix where they go into the computer world. the different time periods are dreams within dreams, not time periods. time passes differently in each level of dreaming within dreams
12:45:23 AM Corey: the rules for how they do the dreams within dreams change around, and the ways they use to get out of them change around... so the first half of the movie, it works one way... then they have another way for the rest... they explain it, but there's a lot going on by then
12:45:57 AM Flami: sounds confusing
12:49:12 AM Corey: not too bad... but a bit, yeah
12:52:13 AM Corey: still, one of the best new movies I've seen in a long time. Avatar was good, but that's kind of more like a theme park ride than a good movie... a lot of fun, but the story's nothing too special. I want to go see that again, since Jane never saw it, and it's awesome 3D. it's getting re-released at the end of the month.. not sure if we'll get that out here...
12:52:29 AM Corey: we didn't get Predators even though they advertised it on TV :(
12:52:55 AM Flami: never heard of PREDATORS
12:55:58 AM Corey: Predator 3, basically, which is supposed to ignore the godawful Alien vs. Predator movies and just go back to being cool like the first one with Arnold was... probably less like Predator 2, even though that movie was awesome, too
12:56:21 AM Corey: it's probably not even that good, but I want to see it anyway :P I guess I'll have to wait for the Russian R5
12:57:32 AM Flami: oh, ALIEN VS. PREDATOR...
1:02:40 AM Corey: they both suck. the first one is PG-13, and on Earth instead of space like all the cool AVP comics and games... the second one at least goes back to being rated R and violent, but it's also on Earth, plus some dumbass working on the movie decided to manually make everything super dark... the entire movie... so you can't see anything.
1:02:54 AM Corey: there were trailers for the movie where everything was perfectly clear and looked nice. then the movie came out, and everything was almost black
1:03:40 AM Corey: but the old Predator movies are both cool, and Predators is supposed to be a continuation of those
1:04:54 AM Flami: WOOHOO! LET'S MAKE EVERYTHING R-RATED AND VIOLENT!
1:09:48 AM Corey: a movie called Predator should be..........
1:10:24 AM Corey: AVP was still violent, they just cut away from everything early... you can't see anything, and it sucks. it's an action movie with all the action scenes neutered
1:10:46 AM Corey: making Die Hard 4 PG-13 was pretty retarded, too
1:13:08 AM Flami: that is kinda self-defeating
1:15:05 AM Corey: yeah, so it's stupid. Hollywood is afraid of Rated-R movies these days... there's even horror movies that come out PG-13...
1:15:41 AM Flami: that's nuts
1:16:13 AM Corey: Inception is only PG-13.. lots of Nolan's other movies (except Batman) are R, with lots of swearing and all that good stuff. Inception didn't need to be R, but I bet it's only PG-13 because some studio said he had to make it that way so it's more marketable or something stupid like that
1:18:23 AM Flami: nice. time for bed now - I've had enough shooting as "background music" :P
1:29:44 AM Corey: okay.. goodnight then
1:30:45 AM Flami: To leave you with something funny: one of my friends saw something called "Fuck the duck till exploded" on a menu :P
1:31:08 AM Corey: oh yeah? where can I go to order that?
1:31:52 AM Flami: I'm guessing the UK, by the Euro sign
1:32:00 AM Corey: sometimes restaurants here will give me an English version of their menu, and it's all horrible translations like that.. usually not funny, just nonsensical... it's pretty much useless. I just ask someone else to translate the Chinese menu that makes sense
1:33:15 AM Corey: well, Chinese people seem to generally suck at English... they spend an awful lot of time in school and in extra classes learning it, but they just can't get it..... I explain things every class to the same people, and they don't get it. they REFUSE to pronounce the "s" at the end of anything plural.. they just ignore me when I correct that..
1:33:41 AM Corey: and they refuse to say contractions. they break them up into separate words.. I keep telling them not to change stuff
1:33:44 AM Corey: just read what's there
1:34:23 AM Corey: they'll read the contraction while I'm standing there telling them to, then the very next time a contraction comes up, they do it again... it seems pretty useless to try to fix that
1:34:46 AM Corey: I keep telling them it sounds really unnatural, and nobody does that... but they will not change
1:35:21 AM Flami: intractable, I call it
1:37:32 AM Corey: they also waste their time completely because they're too afraid to make mistakes, so they just don't speak unless almost held up at gunpoint.... Jane says people here are told their whole lives never to make mistakes, so they're so afraid of not being perfect that they just never learn anything, I guess.. people here work and study for almost literally the whole day... even small kids.
1:37:49 AM Corey: you'd think they'd figure out that their system completely sucks and wastes their entire lives, but I guess not...
1:38:00 AM Corey: they spend all that time studying, and don't even learn anything
1:38:09 AM Corey: they memorize lots of shit, but they seem to understand very little
1:42:16 AM Flami: sucks... bedtime for real now - good night.

The less baking done in this hot and humid weather, the better!

After Teunis made a phone call about the States, we were off to get some more supplies and get rid of the monitors / TV. I left a message on Jon's phone to say that we'd get the arugula for tonight's BBQ. Spotted Hester outside, so talked to her about the mice: "Not even the experts in pest control can get rid of them right away! More glue boards! Make your own screen doors!" WTF?! While listening to a comedian on a radio show (anti-Canada rants, anyone?), we went totally the wrong way while looking for the Return-It Depot. Stopped by a Tim Horton's to ask directions - once we went the right way by the Canadian Tire, it looked vaguely familiar to him from a jaunt with Krista. I thanked him for doing this, and he said that it helped out, which is certainly true - yay for wheeled carts at the recycling depot so he didn't have to haul them by hand! Also discussed Leslie Road - Dave had told me that there was a road with my name on it; trust me, I know!

Failed to find arugula or pre-made pie shells at the Yaohan Supermarket, but did find grass jelly drink / coconut juice / his favorite kind of instant noodles. Stopped by the food court to get a couple of Chinese doughnuts (his treat), and told Teunis about the Curry House and their awesome fish balls. That only reminded me about the Committee Meetings we had at Yaohan in the food court, and that also reminds me to email Dylan (whom I'll see tonight) about the upcoming Committee Meeting this Monday, which I have now done. Discussed complimenting Chinese desserts as "not too sweet," the utter paucity of ethnic stores in Fort St. John's (only Save-On Foods, Sobey's, and Safeway), lemon meringue, a Japanese word meaning "useless junk," tomorrow's plans (wandering with Kailee / brother in Surrey / contact in Aldergrove / spare keys / Fellowship), staying here again when he gets back from the States, the Canada Line (busing with a gas mask?), fatal cigarette smoke, routers, and other things.

Went to Save-On Foods, where they DID have arugula / pre-made pie shells / DICK TRACY / a metal bowl (which I can use later, he says) to use in a double boiler with a pot / Cool Whip. Got home and discussed oranges, recipes, Celine Dion and twin boys, old myths about a twin being fathered by a lover, old steel-toed boots, cleaning out the car, Skype, eggs, heavy metal Mozart, Wagner, Romanian orchestras and choirs, pie filling, Therion, mixtures, ovens, graters, eggs, Kyle, juicing oranges by hand, apple pie, apples, potatoes, dishes, radio shows, crepes, lime sorbet vs. mint chocolate chip ice cream, and more. I got Megan's thank-you card and a tax credit cheque in the mail, too!


Spotted at Wah Yuen Noodle House in Yaohan Mall: "Chinese Vegertable Noodle Soup," "Assorted Beef Internal," and "Assorted Beef Internal Dry Noodle." HAHAHAHA!

I'll eat Albert Yip and lobster pills! (Engrish menu) / Ugly orange suitcases

Found this mildly Engrish menu via Katherine:




[17:25:01] mrptptpt: I got a new ugly orange suitcase today :P it may not look pretty, but it will be easy to spot on the luggage carousel :P
[17:25:19] mrptptpt: it's not that ugly really, but it's quite orange on most sides :P
[17:29:25] AlenaBrolxFlami: HA. at least it's bright... although it will also be easy to spot dirt and grime on the suitcase, if it's that orange!
[17:50:29] AlenaBrolxFlami: *picture paste*
[17:55:34] mrptptpt: I had a good Engrish menu in Taiwan. they were nice enough to bring me a menu in English, but it made no sense, so I just had Jane's aunt translate for me from the Chinese one
[17:55:50] mrptptpt: nothing too funny that I saw, just a lot of nonsense
[17:56:49] AlenaBrolxFlami: damn, you should take pictures of this stuff!
[17:59:24] mrptptpt: mail Leslie's package tomorrow, mail Leslie's package tomorrow, mail Leslie's package tomorrow
[17:59:32] mrptptpt: I'm going out, so tell me that when I get back :P
[17:59:54] AlenaBrolxFlami: if you're going OUT, mail it NOW :P (and if you're going out, I'm taking a shower)
[18:01:07] mrptptpt: no way, it's snowing like crazy
[18:01:27] mrptptpt: I'm only going to Wal-Mart and back, it's pretty straight on a main road to get there, it should be okay
[18:01:49] mrptptpt: it's not very cold, so it's just slush everywhere. it's gross out there
[18:04:05] AlenaBrolxFlami: and the weather will be better tomorrow? :P
[18:04:23] AlenaBrolxFlami: and here it's slightly sunny
[18:05:39] mrptptpt: I hope, I still have stuff to do tomorrow
[18:12:52] mrptptpt: so remind me to send your stuff :P
[18:12:55] mrptptpt: I'll be back

This time, JEREMY YUNG catches me out in my sweats! (Beef Triple with Noodles)

Whoops, I got caught out in my sweats again, which makes it TWICE IN A WEEK! Let's just say I wasn't expecting to see Jeremy Y. (waved and said "Hey") on his way to tutoring when I was walking to Sears! Before I went out, I did some editing to get SOMETHING done. At least I got my banking done, followed by a quick lunch of pork balls / noodles / soup / iced coffee at Excelsior Restaurant. It was much-needed, particularly since I have a bad habit of not eating until I absolutely have to! Saw Beef Triple with Noodles in Soup on the menu, heh. Of course, it's supposed to be TRIPE.

Successfully returned that tank top to the Bay, and got a refund on my debit card, which I thought was neat. Found a couple of cheap longer camisoles at Sears - only $17.50 for the pair, even if you don't have much of a selection on clearance! Went to the dollar store to get a comb (ended up with six in a pack) and four packages of gum, as well. Not too bad a time out, I guess... although I guess I need to get ready for another day without the Internet if I'm going to help my sister by staying at her place while Telus installs stuff. Downsized my number of bags when I got home, as well.

Top 10 Gaming Engrish list, major US states

Chris W. linked me to this Top 10 list of Gaming Engrish... ah, poor translations which result in hilarity!

You Are Massachusetts

You are smart, serious, and quite traditional. You don't have a lot of time for junk in your life. It's likely that you're well-educated and hard-working. You live a very goal-oriented life. You are probably socially liberal, but personally quite conservative. You would never be described as wild. But you're more diverse than people give you credit for. You're equally comfortable at a business meeting and at a rowdy sports game!

What US State Are You?

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

I'm getting OLD if I choose LILAC for a BEDROOM...

I accidentally went out across the street because it was way too early to remember crap! YIKES. At least I remembered after two minutes or so of waiting in the wind and rain... on the way over, I learned that the real estate agent was excitable like Mom / the contractor (his brother) apparently only likes one color and that is GREY! / that Mom was also kinda sensitive for some reason. She wasn't impressed when Steph told her not to worry so much: "Not WORRY! Can I just say SOMETHING?!" In my head, I was like "NO! You've been 'saying something' all morning, I bet..." Steph's new townhouse was pretty cold, but then it is a gated community on the other hand. Spent the next few hours looking at the rooms, enduring "jokes" about how I should be in the crawlspace (forcible confinement is an indictable offense!!!!), learning about my sister's work, testing the new stove with non-coil elements, testing the toilet as the most important thing, being amused by the contractor's color wheel (who would know that "Lauren's Surprise" was a shade of BLUE?!), and more. I found I was getting old when I chose LILAC for my sister's spare bedroom - am I that old, and then share my mom's taste too?! OH MY GOODNESS. Just a few years ago, I politely declined a mauve clothing item - now, I don't know!

Had lunch at the Pho place next to Long's Noodle House with Jon and Harmony (Dad told Steph not to tell Mom that she shouldn't leave the door open because it's COLD for the other people... then she really IS sensitive!), then went back to the townhouse so they could have a look at it. Then we went to Vancouver Lighting (which is actually across the street from the Richmond Ikea), where my sister bought $300 worth of light bulbs / lights / track lighting while rolling her eyes at Mom's thoughts and directing me to the BLING chandeliers. My mom wanted me to come over for dinner, but I demurred. (discussed Sean, girlfriends, how "green" the three of us were on a spectrum, Phil, a lamp looking like a pineapple, Tiffany lamps for $4500, and other things) I think I remember my PIN, so might go out to test it before I come back to shower and call Auntie Ying.

You Are Angel

You have a pretty dark past, but you've changed your ways... and possibly not by choice. These days, you try to do your best to be a good person. You have a sore spot for anyone who hurts anyone else. You are a true romantic, but you can't be with the person you truly love. And you are completely torn up about it. At your core, you're a loner. You are light-hearted and funny, but deep down you're really quite tormented.

What Famous Vampire Are You?

Blogthings: Take a Quiz. Annoy Your Friends.

"We are good friends! Every Day Happy!"

Shortly after the last post, I figured I should get going. Told Billie not to forget her umbrella, and we left soon after I grabbed the right keys and my water bottle. She said she'd get a snack after we hugged goodbye, so then she could have change to take the bus with. Waited for the bus, then took my medication as soon as I was seated. When I got to the townhouse, I greeted Grandma, who wanted to know why I'd brought a water bottle; never mind! Mom had left a cheesy pink journal with yellow happy faces and Engrish on it: "Hello! We are good friends! Every Day Happy! Have a good time!" She also left me some Lance Freshness peanut butter crackers - yum!

Steph alerted me to the presence of a note on the table: yeah, we figure a new cellphone will get here when it gets here. No need to panic or check the UPS website! Harmony had evidently done some cleaning in Jon's room here, which is good. Grandma wanted to know whether Steph was eating here - not before her Ultimate game! We read the newspaper and ate a couple of carrot muffins before she left - we can do takeout tomorrow! She wants me to call Eric tonight about grad banquet since she doesn't want to worry about it on Friday - sure, sure. Then again, we both know that Mom wants us to call Auntie Kwai (since she keeps in touch with Auntie Leslie and Uncle Michael) in case anything happens to Grandma. We don't think anything will, although the room did smell like Bengay for some time! (for Big G's back pain)

ENGRISH! / Apparently, I'm strong enough to take a gate off its hinges...

Engrish Funny - thanks, Teresa! HAHAHA, SO HILARIOUS! Who believes they sell "Marinated Rape," for example?

My family picked me up this morning, and I settled in to listen to Jon talking to Harmony on the phone. Apparently, she's in Toronto for another wedding... the conversation covered Jon H., friends, pain, weddings, and other things. When he got off the phone, I asked him what he did to her. "Nothing! She got it in Europe!" Dad gave him some advice about how they should be together right now - well, weddings and such can't be helped. Good thing that listening to what Jon said distracted me from other things, haha. Said hi to Rosenda and her sons Ian (who waved and said hi before going into the elevator) and Gabriel in a double stroller - I knew I had to wear my Awana uniform today, so it was a good thing I carry it with me! Sat with Jeremy again after going down from the second floor, and was amused by a mention of Japadogs (Japanese hot dogs) in the bulletin.

Talked to Sheena, some kids who were chasing Margaret around, Ian and Sean ("36! S! R! S!" while writing "The 15 Mins." on the board), Dylan, Jon, Jeremy, Karen, baby Mattias (Anne and baby cookies), baby Allison, Jeff, Anita, and others. Hugged Chuck goodbye - he thanked me for being a good friend to Andrea. Of course! Nathan had some seven-year-old cheddar that he was trying - after he said that it reminded him of durian, Jen and I didn't want to try it! Saw Erin and Denise, so talked to them a little. (reminds me, I still have to RSVP to Erin's reception thing...)

Went upstairs to look after the kids: Amanda, Amos, Arthur, and Esther were all right just playing. When they got too loud, I took the books and toys away - Lego is a pursuit which is somewhat quieter! They liked pretending Jenga blocks were strawberry / chocolate / vanilla / peach desserts. Auntie Fonda was talking to Rachel's grandma, and was still weepy as I assume she's mourning the death of her cat. (she explained this to them as "I'm not happy.") I didn't mind just watching the kids - she was obviously not in the right frame of mind to tell the kids a Bible story! She thanked me later for just being there - hey, whatever I can do to make it easier! Yes, I did get her messages on MSN, and am not surprised that she closed the program right away when she heard her boss coming! Arthur talked a lot to me about Thomas, Gordon, Lady, and other characters from THOMAS THE TANK... Amos actually brought some figures along, and told me that he had the DVD at home!

After that, I went downstairs to see what Jon was doing - Mom tried telling me stuff, but I was too focused on my brother, haha. I told my brother what I was doing later, so I decided to take the bus home. Jon and Nathan went out of the church later, and said something about Pho lunch - we went to Pho Thai Son. On the way there, Nathan decided to call Chinese Eric on his temporary number, but got no answer. We didn't have all the time in the world to arrange a get-together, as Jon observed. Since we kinda had to be chasing him down, it was a good thing that Eric's mom answered when Nathan tried his house number! He was disappointed that he wouldn't be seeing "the happy couple," but we figured that tomorrow works for all of us as a dinner date. Looks like we'll be trying Burgoo - soups and stews of comfort, oh my!

Over Pho, we discussed the media's treatment of Michael Jackson - he was weird and perverted in life, but now he's SO GOOD and THE KING OF POP in death! Jeremy wondered whether nursing is truly vegan, since humans are technically animals. I mentioned that I'd been reading up on it, and the vegans say it's fine since it's cruelty-free. (or something) We both didn't know about the technicalities - oh well. Nathan and Jon joked about Ponzi schemes, percentages, services, and other things. Jon mentioned that Harmony didn't know that 70s SEXY music was what it was - she just liked the oral sounds of it! Talked about "seductive" power naps, poor Terrence's Facebook status, smoky eateries in Europe, great terraces in Budapest, and other things too before the guys went to get Jon's keys prior to the Jazz Festival.

I experienced great bus luck on a Sunday of all days - I didn't have to wait for any of the three buses I took to get home! Got home, fielded a good message from Vanessa H., and noticed that a prospective landlady had called. I returned the call and was out again within ten minutes. The Ironwood area is cool - unfortunately, I ripped the wooden gate off its hinges because it was stuck. There go my chances at that place, although I didn't know I was that strong! Probably it was old - I didn't want to just waltz in the open garage door! She wanted references and such, especially since she had a few more people interested. "I was going to take the ad off the Internet when you called!"

When I got back to Richmond Centre (with the same bus driver who'd taken me to Ironwood in the first place), I was so thirsty that I went to Shoppers to get two iced teas, which were on sale anyway. Then I took some money out of the bank for tomorrow or later because I was near an ATM. Saw David Shaler smoking a cigarette outside, who said that he'd give me a townhouse because he was building them at Garden City / Westminster with Donald Trump. "You believe me, right?" Haha... we'll see if you're gonna be in the news! (he has a lot of these proclamations, like the one where Joe Biden was going to take him to Washington, or the one where he's a direct descendant of Jesus Christ :P) Finished the two iced teas in ten minutes, then headed home to discuss things with Billie and Corey. Saturday plans sound pretty good!

Wide Face Kiss in the Forest!

Henry picked me up a little later, but that was okay. We chatted a bit about his sister, being up early, Trinity, looking after his nieces, fighting, being hyper, weekend plans, retreats, and more. It was busy in Awana today, what with registration and everything else! Talked to Margaret about bright blue bottle pops, greeted Golden, and had Sean tell me that it was too hot while I took him by the hand on the way to the car. He also said that the collection (of mini-skateboards?) equaled the garbage, while his brother Ian said something about being up at 6:30 to watch TV. I remember Panago Pizza, haha.

One of the kids (Vanessa W.) had another great Engrish article of clothing today:

BACK: "Wide Face Kiss"
LEFT SLEEVE: "Doctor of Forest"
FRONT: "Walk in Forest
(rather well-done fabric owl, with black buttons for eyes)
Naughty Kids
Companion Animal"

HAHAHA! I do find it disturbing that a seven-year-old kid is wearing a shirt with "Wide Face Kiss" on it, though!

Leslie's just got their Prison Name. I just got my Prison Name. It's Sweet Thang.


Facebook quizzes taken from Steve L., Steve B., Jane, and Darren:

Leslie took the What KISS song are you? quiz and the result is You are I WAS MADE FOR LOVIN' YOU. Passionate, exciting, romantic... you can rock and dance.

Leslie took the What's your LUCKY NUMBER? quiz and got the result: 5.

Leslie just took the "What is the name of the person you will marry?" quiz and the result is Dylan. Your guy will be funny and sweet; he'll be romantic and very determined to win you over time and time again. He will be forever faithful to you, even if both you and he move on. He will still love you, no matter what.

Leslie took the What Texting Emoticon Are You? quiz and the result is D=< You're the mad emoticon! Though usually in a good mood, you have a bad temper. The littlest of things make you angry. In your group of friends, you're loved, but you tend to take things very seriously. Your friends know not to kid around with you too much.

A slightly more mature survey... NOT R-rated!

From Flora via Facebook note:

Tired of all of those surveys made up by high school kids? Here are questions for the people who are a little older:

1. What bill do you hate paying the most? Phone bill, since I rarely use the phone. Also, I still have bad memories attached to it.

2. Do you miss being a child? Sometimes.

3. Chore you hate the most? Cleaning the bathroom!

4. Where was the last place you had a romantic dinner? Richmond Sushi... at least, that was HIS idea of one.

5. If you could go back and change one thing, what would it be? I would never have gotten INTO a certain relationship in 2007!

6. Name of your first grade teacher? Miss Plu Dorcey.

7. What do you really want to be doing right now? Running errands, but I can't do that till later.

8. What did you want to be when you grew up? A teacher.

9. How many colleges did you attend? Three.

10.Why did you choose the shirt that you have on right now? The first clean one out of my just-washed laundry... and it's the Engrish one!

11. What are your thoughts on gas prices? Meh.

12. First thought when the alarm went off this morning? "At least it's not accompanied by banging, which also sets off the memory train..."

13. Last thought before going to sleep last night? "I wonder what Fudge Packer really means..." Then I figured it out later...

14. What famous person would you like to have dinner with? Too many choices... let's say Kevin Smith, and be done with it.

15. Have you ever crashed your vehicle? No, since I don't have one.

16. Would you volunteer? Of course!

17. Get up early or sleep in? SLEEP IN!

18. What is your favorite cartoon character? Snoopy!

19. Favorite thing to do at night with a guy / girl? Watch movies.

20. When did you first start feeling old? 27, when my waist started to betray me.

21. Favorite lunch? Noodles with fire oil!

22. What do you get every time you go into Wal-Mart? I very rarely go to Wal-Mart.

23. Do you think marriage is an outdated ritual? You don't want to know my thoughts about it at present, TRUST ME.

24. Favorite movie you wouldn't want anyone to find out about? Not sure if I have one. ;)

25. What's your favorite drink? Water.

26. Who would you like to run into from high school? Maybe a few people...

27. What radio station is your car radio tuned to right now? No car, so no radio.

28. Sopranos or Desperate Housewives? Sopranos.

29. Have you ever had to use a fire extinguisher for its intended purposes? No.

30. Last book you finished reading? Getting into Guinness: One Man's Longest, Fastest, Highest Journey Inside the World's Most Famous Record Book. (Larry Olmsted)

31. Do you have a teddy bear? Yes.

32. Strangest place you have ever brushed your teeth? Um... can't think of one! It's always been inside a bathroom!

33. How old are you? 32.

34. Thing you hate about Facebook? TOO MUCH CHANGE!

Happy girls MUST kiss me in my accomplishments!

Henry picked me up a little earlier, and said that his niece Evelyn was attending Awana today - cool. He was also listening to Team 1040, which was a change; I asked him if he'd listened to the game yesterday, but he'd been too busy. Evelyn at least was polite when I asked her how she was, haha. Listened to the radio guys discuss trash talk, Alex Burrows, Ryan Kesler, and other things. When I heard that the Cleveland Indians were beating the New York Yankees 20-4 in the seventh inning, I had to call Henry's attention to that score. How hard is it to get a few runs? Who knows.

Got to the fellowship hall, and asked Melia about the status of the thing where she asked people to be available to look after the little kids after Awana. People have exams and such, so she / Angus / Vanessa are doing it. She totally understood if I wanted to just go home after Awana, since it wasn't definite that Lee and Lily would be there - the bus schedules on the weekends are NUTS. I decided to take the "out" which she was offering me, heh. Sophia thanked me for her birthday card and the stickers that I gave her daughter Olivia; Helen also thanked me for her and her son Nathaniel's birthday cards. Of course I remembered! Noticed that Vanessa W. was wearing an interesting shirt, so I had to go over there and write down most of the words on there. While I was there, Eunice / Rachel / Ian told me about all their handbook time accomplishments: YAY FOR MULTIPLE PAGES, PATCHES, AND JEWELS!

John asked me if I'd go home with them, but then got Henry to drive me. Fair enough, since they were asked by someone with four people for a ride! I was admiring a cute baby sibling for some of the afternoon. Gave Amanda the stuffed monkey which was supposed to be for Arthur, and gave her big sister Hannah two sticker sheets even if their mom said I didn't have to. At least I unloaded it, and they thanked me when prompted. I even got a hug from Amanda! Auntie May gave me some homemade Chinese treats, which was nice - I said hi to her grandkids Ian (who almost bumped into me) and Olivia, and waved at Ian's brother Gabriel while saying hi to his mom Rosenda. (I saw Lee, who asked if the church kitchen was operational and had running water yet: I have NO idea, but it better be ALL SYSTEMS GO for my brother's wedding in early June! Also waved hi to baby Anne, who's WALKING now - the kids grow up SO FAST!)

Afterwards, I got some Garden chocolate / peanut (kept from the kids because of allergy concerns) / strawberry cream mini-wafers. Good times, and I like helping with the kids. I officially learned that Awana would be extended into July because of those meetings we missed in November while the church was being set up according to code - ah, compensation! That means I need to change my RSVP to Andy and Megan's wedding; now, if only I could remember the website! I won't be seeing Henry next week since he has a test, but he already let Ada know - good thing. I also finally replied to Vanessa's Evite for Danielle's 30th birthday party on May 3 (a Sunday)... a part of me is jealous people get more attention than I did on my 30th! Oh well... I opted to bring potato salad to that affair, so I should remember. (YIKES - at church and all? Maybe I should buy a huge tub on that day!)

EWWW! They have DURIAN FLAVOR cream wafers?! AIYA!

Vanessa's shirt, all in pink text with black borders:

Happy.9
Women.you
Kiss Me
Spring @ Summer
Beauty.s
Happy Girls... Kiss Me
Chaofa lxq to you beauty
23 Polgenjns Refined

The Ayatollah Khomeini in my dreams?! OH NO!

This thing restarted AGAIN - UGH! I had a dream which was set in the middle of the holiday season. My friends and I were living in the mall because everything else was snowed in, and we couldn't really get anywhere. We were all trying to get along okay when my dad decided to disrespect my wishes. Everyone else agreed that I was right, but he didn't see it that way. He tried influencing everybody to see it HIS way, but that definitely didn't work, haha!

Later, he just went off somewhere by himself - my mother was not in this dream. To take our minds off what had happened, someone switched on the TV. Lo and behold, a woman named Nancy Grace (not the US TV personality) was on the news. She was at the funeral for her father, where the Ayatollah Khomeini had taken it upon himself to disrupt the proceedings. He had an EPIC news-worthy fight with the person's security guards, who were all in official uniforms with shiny gold buttons. After that, we had to tell everyone else to watch the news highlights later on! Farrah Fong was carrying a baby around, and didn't think the kids should hear that, but we all overruled her. The dream ended when my alarm went off... I didn't want to oversleep and miss food shopping!

My Little Cook noodle cup has a package for the non-soup, non-oil stuff like mushrooms and bamboo. It is called the Retort Pouch - HAHAHAHA!

Leslie's Soap Opera Name is Sally Fitzgerald.

Your Name's Power is Creativity

Your name's power is that it helps you be creative. Your name conveys both purity and skill. People who meet you can't help but think you are charming. You try to live your life with people you trust, surrounded by nature.

What's Your Name's Power?

She has some awesome Engrish on her orange pants!

DAMMIT. THIS THING RESTARTED AGAIN.

Eric picked me up, and asked how my anti-Valentine's Day went. No, I did not massacre anyone, despite my status of "Leslie is anti-Valentine's Day. But she's pro-St. Valentine's Day Massacre! YAY!" - AIYA! He'd gone to the Keg with Nathan, Christon, and Jeremy: I remember the last time I was there in 2007, heh. Got to service late, so we sat together between little Nathan and Richie. The sermon touched on King Herod's violence, comparing him to Idi Amin / Charles Taylor / Robert Mugabe - I'm surprised Pastor John didn't bring up Pol Pot! Randal had a TOTALLY LAME announcement: "Change is coming! *describes where MONETARY change might be* If you have any change, drop it in the big box which Raymond will be holding - it's for the hamper families!" *rolleyes*

Speaking of Raymond, it's too bad I didn't get a chance to talk to him - I won't be going to the Osoyoos retreat next weekend because (as I explained to Johnny later) I am not a snow person! However, I did get a chance to talk to Jen and Karen about website design and stupid exes who don't understand that NO means NO. (in this case, "No, I don't want to talk to you!") Jen's ex Greg has tried talking to her, but she definitely needs her space; I told them about the whole Korey "CALL ME!" saga. If it's a bad breakup (as mine definitely was), you probably can't pretend everything is friendly! "Oh sure, we can talk on the phone / Facebook, and things will be FINE. Just add me back!" How about NO?! Men... *shakes head*

After that, I interacted with Keenan, whose brother Joshua wanted to play the drums. Nathan saw this later, and wanted to take a cute video. He told me that he didn't like cucumber slices, but his mom said he did - at least he apparently likes pizza now so Maxine says it's easier to have dinner now from a cooking perspective! Keenan kept on careening into us, so Calla figured that the kid thinks any legs are Mommy's - when Benjamin was that age (two years and two months), he was like that too since he didn't recognize people yet. I talked to Phil, Isabel (projects on Reading Break?!), Nathan, and Jeremy: Chris was back for Reading Break, yay! Nathan says they had to wait 45 minutes yesterday, since he didn't want to mess up his "Chinese time" with a reservation - I know how that is! Phil introduced his parents to Keenan with "I have parents, too!" and the poor kid looked VERY confused, haha! Thank goodness I saw little Hannah because then I could give her a Valentine's Day card!

Went upstairs to Sunday School after chatting with Eric for a bit, and gave each kid and Auntie Fonda a heart-shaped cookie from the day's refreshments. Auntie Fonda said she was jealous because little Arthur had a gift for me: hey, more chocolate is good! She prompted him with the gift: "Remember this? What are you going to do?" while I pretended like I didn't know what she was talking about - of course I thanked him! Now I need to buy felts (Auntie Fonda has some thin ones, but they all are running dry), a box for felts and pencil crayons, and a reciprocal non-candy / non-chocolate gift for Arthur this week. (like I reciprocated Rosanna's 2004 Christmas gift of Almond Roca with a teddy bear which was on sale!) It should be quite doable, especially since my Friday night is free. I don't care if I get reimbursed or not, since I let Auntie Fonda think I have some felts and boxes already, haha.

Saw some awesome Engrish (reproduced at the bottom of this entry) on Amanda's pants: luckily, her mom was late picking her up, so I sat Amanda down for the purposes of writing it down in my notebook. I'm sure Amanda was confused, but I simply told her that the pants were funny! Talked to Vivian, Karen, Christon, Calla, Johnny, Dylan, and Stanford about pranks, drywalling a kitchen shut, putting underwear in the freezer, putting crumpled paper in cars, nailing Spider-Man shoes to the ceiling, Tom Cruise movies, Osoyoos, Deb, gag gifts, seeing Steph at Tim Horton's (that is SO stereotypical!), and more. Unexpectedly saw Erin's cousin Jason, so discussed Ottawa, weddings, my siblings, Julie, South Edmonton, some conference called BREAK FORTH, and more - he's cool! Went to the old Green Village with my parents and grandma for lunch with Alan and Polly, which wasn't too bad. At least they didn't discuss kidney stones! (mostly Pastor Eunice's health, Jon's wedding, the Open House, the bazaar, Australia, my parents' August cruise, and more) Alan and Polly tried paying for us, but Mom convinced them to give her the bill instead - ah, fighting for the bill! Good times. :D


The Engrish on Amanda's pants:

(on one leg)
Red Apple
Elasnc in Suspenc
Aneesand
Erpsckets
Accessories Elastic
Base Double
NTS for Double We
And
In Susepnspforad
Or Added Work Ea
Kets
Ssories Red Apple
Enps Eor Added Wo

(on the other leg)
Gangtian
Dou
Wear Deere Pick
For Added Work
Fronts For Dou
Specia
Suspenps For
K
Erer Pockets Spe
Access

Tony's on Facebook now?! OH MY!

Bingo of the day so far:

DERIDING (68 points) - against Katie R.


High-scoring words of the day so far:

MILD (112 points) - against George M. [two 4W]
GOANNA (112 points; four 2W), SAFER (128 points; two 4W) - against Shelley R.-B.
ICE (70 points) - against Shelley R.-B. (5W, hook off EX to make XI) {different game}

MAVEN (224 points; two 4W), BOILER (128 points; two 4W), FUNKS (108 points; 2W, 4W, hook off NAP to make SNAP), DUST (176 points; 2W, two 4W, hook off EEL to make EELS), GANEF (288 points; 2W, two 4W) - against Shelley R.-B. [yet another game]


HAHAHA! I discovered that Tony caved and joined Facebook.... he hopes he doesn't get sucked in like he did with WORLD OF WARCRAFT! (not much chance of his NOT getting sucked in...) I'll suggest a lot of people he knows, hehe. He's already friends with Chris and Ivan... so maybe Mike, Lucas, Phil, Raymond, Steph, Sam, Nathan, Lawrence, Adam, Andrew, Ray, Stanley, Eric, and a few more. Jennifer F. added me to Facebook, as well - sweet for playing Wordscraper!

Oh man, I just discovered English Fail. This is going to be my new waste of time... this, and Snopes! HAHAHAHA, this one is HILARIOUS! :D



The submitter of this picture wrote: "This sign blew me away. I found it in a store that sells school and teacher supplies; I think the place is run by a Korean couple."