James, you are a fool indeed...

You are a fucking fool. Steven and I aren't close AT ALL. We see each other at church occasionally, and HE IS 16 YEARS OLD! Since you supposedly have another girlfriend now, FOCUS ON HER! I think I'm done with you. Who knows where you find all these girls who supposedly like you... not I!

ANGRY BIRDS / Musical HELP note!

Eric picked me up for church a little late, but that's how we roll. He still jokingly thought I was drunk from last night, but that so wasn't true! I asked him why he didn't SAY anything when he called to let me know he was here, but he was checking his tires since they sounded weird when going over the speed bump, and forgot that he had pressed the CALL button. Good, because I almost went all "Gordon Ramsay" on him like he said! Of course, I'd have to turn such a mode OFF when I got to church - and then Eric asked me WHY. Um, because Gordon Ramsay swears a lot at the contestants in HELL'S KITCHEN?! Got to church, and asked Jeremy where he'd been last night: seems the poor guy was exhausted after a long week, and was in bed. Of course I forgive him! :D

Talked to Auntie Allyn about Grandma, and said hi to Uncle Peter; he just got back from China! Said hi to Amanda when she wanted to see the cute kiddy presentation, of course. Talked to Andrew L. about last night, studying for midterms, studying in general while a friend's party at his place was going on below him (hearing laughter!), Thanksgiving weekend, weddings, "FML" situations (a HUGE midterm?!), and more. Auntie Ying and I agreed that we should get together - she did ask me about last night, then wished me a happy birthday. When I saw Auntie Catherine, she remembered that my birthday is tomorrow. I asked Geoffrey whether he got my email, and he said he forgot to reply! He did wish me a happy birthday, though - he'd been in Houston recently after Labor Day to spend time with his family, and gave me an update on his dad since he'd sent us some email about him. I congratulated Brian on his wedding while saying hi to Jane and baby Rebecca, then asked the ugfart where the baby was. He pointed upstairs, and mentioned that he still wanted to go to Fat Dragon. I suggested that we talk about it at the Kwong Chow dinner today since everyone would be there!

Talked to Auntie Doris about babies and the sleeping baby Declan for a while. After saying hi to Julie C. and Julie S., I went upstairs to see whether I could find baby Ayler. I found him under a rather colorful blanket which Mom had given him - he was awake and fed. Talked to him for a few minutes: "Hello, baby!" is getting a bit stale, haha. I should come up with more to say! When Jon and Harmony left, I said I'd see them tonight. At Toddler Sunday School, Shira and Evelyn tried a hula hoop... they seemed to be having fun after they colored!

David was building his house out of huge interlocking foam tiles as usual ("I don't need your help"), James was reading (he remembers who I am - and sat in my lap), and Ramen talked to me for approximately ten minutes about kindergarten / Sparks (Stanley is his leader) / (drawing) Angry Birds and pigs. His mom Jessie says that he had someone to talk to - yes, and I don't mind doing that! Eric came upstairs later to say he was leaving early, so I got him to help sharpen a pencil first. We discussed Friday's program (part 2 of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer movie at Pastor Bob's), DRAGON QUEST, music, bleeps and bloops, ZSNES erasing EVERYTHING, Ultimate, broccoli, ice cream, language, and more. I'll certainly get back to him!


Funny musical HELP note:

Red Robin's is CLOSED?! Joey's it is!

When Eric picked me up this morning, he was amazed that I was on time - ha ha ha. We talked about the news, my birthday dinner, DRAGON QUEST error messages, Hurricane Leslie (Dennis beat you to it!), and more. When we got to church, I sat near Jeremy and Christon, and we shared amusement over weird music and such in the service. Poor Stanley had to stand in for an absent Scripture reader, and Pastor Dan got excited over the strangest things! After service, I was exiting the sanctuary when that weird Native guy looked at me - I gave him my best "who the heck do you think YOU are?!" look, of course. (Eric got to hear plenty about this "social interaction" later!) Auntie Catherine wished me a happy birthday, so I thanked her; Pat overheard this, and echoed the wishes! I told Jeremy about my birthday plans, but he informed me that Red Robin's was CLOSED - WHAT THE. Lincoln later said that he'd seen the Metrotown location all torn up and under construction, so it must be true! Karen said to send her the details of whatever it ended up being; I also promised Jeremy, Christon, Kevin, and Randal some emails. Lincoln said that there was a Joey's on Broadway, which was like Red Robin's and the Cactus Club, so I said I'd look it up when I got to a computer. (I have, and it seems okay)

I saw Jon later talking to CHUCK, so I had to update the ugfart on everything related to Mom, family drama, Uncle Michael, Aunt Leslie, fighting for the bill, baby LAI-SEE, being HAK-HAI, and "Chinese conflict resolution - don't talk about it." At least they seemed okay with each other yesterday... though now Mom says there's no dinner since Aunt Leslie already made plans. Fine by me - more gaming and non-social time! Chatted to Andrea about pregnancy; they'll come back in February with the baby, heh. Saw Brian and Amy back from their wedding, and talked to Denise about my birthday plans; she's leaving for Hawaii tomorrow since she has to be in a wedding! I said hi to Deb and baby Declan, who was interested in my hat and the bling on my London Drugs shirt. Stanley was confusing Harrison and Amos by saying that he was three times their age, so I asked Harrison how old he was. Then I got him to add seven (his age) and seven, but he didn't know 14 plus seven! When I gave him the answer, he rushed upstairs to tell Amos, haha! Also talked to Gino and Quan briefly about origami paper cranes / Paper Craft / Joseph Wu, and asked Emily about Chrystal - not here today! Vivian told me about the BBQ on Friday, and wondered where I'd been - well, since Eric had to go do something, I wasn't there!

Went upstairs myself to find that Shira was the only person in Toddler Sunday School because David, Evelyn, Ashley, Anastasia, Ramen, and James have all gone to kindergarten! Natalie and Mattias arrived later, with a sleepy Marcus being outside. Talked about toy food, watermelon, light rice crackers, drawing, birds, trains, and more while I did tag prompts. Some of the older kids came in at the end: Jonathan (in Gr. 4), his sister Ashley, Ramen, Anastasia (with her dad Danny), Rachel (in Gr. 4, who hates running around Vancouver Christian School) and her grandma, Arthur, and Esther. When I got downstairs, I saw Sean (who's in Gr. 4) and his brother Ian, who's in Gr. 6 - these kids grow up fast, and I remember when they were babies! Eventually, I talked to Kevin and Christon about Saturday; Eric and I were out of there soon. (Hien and Julie said bye) Not for Pho with everyone else, but to go to the Canucks team store (by PNE / Playland) to see if he could exchange something. No dice there, but it was worth a shot. He said that he should have told me to get a ticket for Friday's dinner, so I should email Randal about it. Maybe I just won't go, is all... and he thinks I'll get Eric Ho to drive me on Saturday, haha. We'll see! Also talked about WINTER, Mantique, DUCK TALES for the NES, save states, no patience to restart a game from death, my being "drunk" or crazy, French "The Cheat is not dead!", and more.

Psycho hosebeast / Chinese Eric planning! / RED ROBINS

I decided to call Chinese Eric at about 6:50, and he'd just got in; we had a great 45-minute conversation, though! As I thought, he HAD called me a few nights ago at 11 PM, but he just wanted to see if I'd bumped into Nathan again since that guy doesn't respond to messages. Nope, I hadn't seen him! White Eric's pizza crawl idea might have been good last week if I weren't feeling terribly! After telling him about the resident who THREW FOOD AT and SPIT AT different care aides today, I updated him on James... so HE says that his ex-girlfriend Little Miss Giggles was basically a psycho hosebeast who was possessive and jealous. She was telling him that she loved him within two weeks, was talking about moving in and having children, and was basically bad news. SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU'RE SELFISH?! Needless to say, he didn't have a very warm welcome from me last night when he told me that he was back online. ("Do I know you? Oh... it's YOU.") Eric concurred with me: BAD NEWS!

We talked about hockey, CFL football (the Lions won today), early birthday wishes for the weekend, cold and windy Hong Kong winters, Havarti, guys exposing themselves, his guy perspective ("they're not running towards you - flasher with trenchcoat!"), lockout talks, TLC reality shows, JERSEY SHORE not being like the SOPRANOS (Mafia!), MSN possibly dying like ICQ did, poker, the blackout on local football games, and birthday dinner details. It'll be the first time he'll be at Kwong Chow without his family, hahaha. Aaron C. suggested Chuck E. Cheese or the River Rock casino, but one's too far and the other's too expensive! Eric's down for two dinners in two days, so Red Robin's is ON! Not that I have to run my own birthday celebrations by him, but if I want him at both (and if he doesn't mind), it's only considerate to take your best friend's opinion and preferences into account! So it's Red Robin's - no Chinese food twice in two days for ME if I can help it, haha. Made a FB event for it, too. Replied to Mandy's emails afterwards, too. :D

Horses in castles! / 17 notifications! / Uncle Michael

I called Eric to see if he was going to the BBQ; surprisingly, he said he wasn't, even though HE sent out the Evite! Odd... he said he was doing something. Hmm! Later, Mom called to say that she had actually talked to Uncle Michael and Aunt Leslie, and they're okay with each other - astonishing! (I have my doubts, of course) Turns out they called Mom and Dad when they got in yesterday, and said that Yee Poh had given Grandma some money to spend. That's nice of her, though! Maybe we can have lunch or dinner with them tomorrow. Also told Mom about what Steph had said about Big G and Havarti, so it doesn't matter to me if we go to Kwong Chow instead next week!

EDIT: Apparently, nobody can make it to lunch with Uncle Michael and Aunt Leslie tomorrow except me. Oh yay, another family thing! It'll make for something to tell my rock, after all. ;)

And now I got an unexpected YM message - DAMMIT!


"You think having a horse will get you in to see the king?" OF COURSE, Reidock soldier!




THIS is why I had 17 notifications after an hour of gaming yesterday... DAMN YOU, JAMES!

Weekly tradition! / Yvonne / SOMETHING AWFUL / Stone statues!

I've missed the weekly tradition, and now that I have peace and quiet, I'll go right back to it since it's been way too long from late May to August... and I also included Chinese Eric on the FAT DRAGON email thread! Replied to Mandy's emails this morning; yes, a certain person IS an idiot! (weekly tradition people seem to think much worse - but I'd agree; DOUCHE!) Vanessa got on MSN to tell me that she and Kim were looking at Cora's breakfast at around 9 or 10 on MONDAY; sounds good. I found a great LP thread on Something Awful for DRAGON QUEST V!


After the events of the Demon Tower, the Hero and his wife Bianca are turned into stone statues!

Giggling, fooling people, capitalization, and assoholics

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, may you get eviscerated by a pack of wild boars! Mr. Texas Person has done it again. After telling me that he misses me, I then take a look on his FB wall a few days later only to find out that - surprise! - he's in a brand new relationship. I wasn't going to talk to him about it... seems she's the type who can't spell her own name and [judging from her posts on his wall] giggles a LOT and Capitalizes Every Single Word.

Sample posts: "My Man! *Giggles*" or "My Boyfriend! *Giggles* " BLAH.



REALLY?! Man, you LIED when you said you'd miss me OR said that you weren't ready for a relationship. I'm just not going to talk to him, anyway. Seems his computer has been down for a couple weeks, or so he says. Yeah, I don't know... *shakes head* At least I'm not feeling as badly about it as I was in Vegas when everything else happened!

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.

Sober / drunk convos, omelettes, discharges, and Kaiser bread

Replied to Mandy's email before I went to bed last night and before I had a "sober / drunk" conversation. Lillian picked me up at 8:50, saving me from further awkward analysis of that interaction! We got to the hospital, and tried convincing Grandma to eat some oatmeal. She thought she was at home, since she wondered where Jon was and who would cook! The discharge to Dogwood went well, and yes, we hope never to see those people again! I went to a café across the street called Dylan's (hahaha), and had an omelette with toast and hash browns while dumping all my change on them; I also brought back a breakfast sandwich for Lillian. She later tried telling me to take it myself, but I'm not a fan of Kaiser bread. We had to see Mom and Dad later, but I elected to go home with Lillian. Good thing, too - I needed some time alone, and also had to call white Eric to make arrangements for tonight. Sure, I could walk to Dylan and Deb's, but it's really hot out!

Lamia Matriarch EIGHTH floor! / Water Crystal not just any old jewel

I was looking in the wrong place for the Lamia Matriarch; it's on the floors after you fall from the basement to the eighth floor! Don't ask how that makes sense - that's FINAL FANTASY IV for you! I restarted the game since the game time of 20:52 was abysmal for that point! (the Babel Tower / Tower of Bab-il) It didn't help that SOMEONE had to buzz me - at least he got the message of "LEAVE ME ALONE!" without my having to say anything. ;)


A Mysidian black mage in the Baron dungeon: "You idiots don't know anything! The [Water] Crystal isn't just any old jewel!"

BLING, ABC Family Restaurant, fans, chilling, and catching up!

Chinese Eric called at about 6:40, and said he'd be here at 7, but got stuck in traffic and was here at 7:25. I just let him in when he buzzed without bothering to verify who it was, haha. AFTER THREE LONG MONTHS, WE HAVE BEEN REUNITED! Catching up, Vegas bling necklaces / postcards / maps (Nevada) / T-shirt / playing cards, wedding photos, Vegas pictures, baby Ayler photos, dinner, chilling, and more were definitely on the agenda! Discussed Facebook, TSN, Edwin Encarnacion, baseball, the Blue Jays winning 11-9 over the Indians, the BC Lions losing 23-20 to the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the Puckheads group (I added him at his own request!), Carol / Stuart, racism, and reminders. Conversed about his wanting to know ALL THE DETAILS (why not?), Marissa / Caleb / Connor, James (who showed good timing by saying hi on YM just as we were discussing him :P), fans, water / apple juice, Vegas hotels, Jon / Harmony / Ayler ("I gotta see the baby before he loses his cuteness!"), TV programs, FINAL FANTASY, COMMAND AND CONQUER, my new large extended family thanks to Harmony and all of Lisa's cousins, Lucas / Liam / Ruth / Sandy / Mike, and dinner options.

We talked about Tokyo Joe's (sushi good if there's a large group only - not for two people), Denny's, Italian Tomato (which Eliza told me about), Korean BBQ (I wasn't REALLY HUNGRY!), closing hours NOT posted on websites (?!), NOT White Spot, and other things. Finally, I had to call Italian Tomato to find out that they closed at 10. Since it would probably take forever to find Bridgeport after 9:10, Eric figured that we might as well go to ABC Family Restaurants next to Yaohan. Sounded fine to me! He had a quesadilla with a garden salad, and I had a chicken pot pie with a garden salad. Talked about grandmas, expensive electronics, iPads, iPhones, plasma TVs, Steve Nash going to the Lakers (not with the Phoenix Suns anymore - A CONTENDER INSTEAD!), T&T, prices, Price Smart, IQ Tester games, Nathan and Ciel, busyness, seeing the baby, changing opinions, a BOBBY LOU burger in Burnaby, and more.

He was fine with going to Price Smart briefly: the 30-count of bottled water was on sale for $4! Since that was what I was going to get anyway, that was even more incentive! I lugged it around the store in a wheeled cart while we checked out the magazines and Asian section. Decided to get some purple yam / taro ice cream while we were there - of COURSE it was fine if I took that on the way out since he had to help with the bottled water! He stopped in briefly to grab his stuff while putting down the bottled water in the kitchen, and I convinced him to sign the guestbook even if it would be abbreviated. YAY! I HOPE IT'S NOT THREE MONTHS BETWEEN HANGOUTS AGAIN!

Interdimensional Rift, Shinryu, trees, Exdeath's evil influence

It only took me ten minutes to defeat Shinryu, using the Masamune-Hermes Sandals-Berserk strategy! Talked to James a bit later; I think things may be improving a little, perhaps.


Hey, there are trees in the Interdimensional Rift! This is a sign of Exdeath's evil influence over the Void, since he was born in the Forest of Moore, and transformed himself into Krile's splinter.

Tacky singing / Skits / Tule perverts!

Eric called at 5:45... yup, I was pretty much ready to go! We discussed church, the screwed-up service order, Christon, tomorrow's plans (I'm game if he's gotta cook early), Pastor Bob, what I did today, the Great Banquet parable, his NOT going to Eunice and Eddie's wedding, Euro 2012, Spain beating Italy 4-0, and more on the way to Floata. At the banquet, we sat with Billy / Stella / Tim / Maxine / Chung Yan / Karen I. / Mattias / Marcus / Lanie. Discussed the crazy wedding that Phil and Grace had been to yesterday (fighting as "entertainment"), the very odd Chinese cultural thing of singing and skits [most of which went WAY over our heads since we don't understand!] to say farewell ("we should do our own tacky songs / karaoke IN ENGLISH when Phil leaves, so EVERYONE can understand!"), Eric saying that he might have a Chinese wedding if he decides to marry a Chinese girl if she wants one, job info, summer plans, the Vegas wedding, Benjamin / Noah / Joshua / Emma, baby Ayler, shrimp chips / chicken / soup / celery / tea, shark's fin soup, the Chinatown Night Market, and more. Said hi to Auntie Vivian, Mary, Reigan, Mike K. and Eric T. (who both liked the SILVER BLING necklace), Harrison (who hates Luongo and Schneider - he likes the Bruins), Andrew L., Hannah W. (who's now taller than I am), Victor, and more people.

I spotted Auntie Ying, so had to ask what she was doing on Facebook. Phil told her that she had to learn because then she can see pictures of Micah growing up, haha. Sounds good enough to me - tempt her with grandchild photos! Of course, she's still learning her way around an iPad, and I can't help her with that. Maybe we'll get together after Phil leaves! I also had to update Chrystal on recent events; things seem genuine, so we'll see. The farewell banquet was kind of like a wedding, as people were clinking on their glasses to get Pastor James to give Pastor Rebecca a kiss in front of everyone! (and there were photos in a certain order) When we went up on stage for our photo, I had to ask Jessica L. to help me down! Of course, I thanked her. On the way home, Eric and I discussed FINAL FANTASY / Irish accents / promotion for a TV show called SUITS / monks / knights / thieves / Mario's Gelati people NOT being happy / odd locations for Drunk Driving Counterattack (going INTO Vancouver instead of OUT OF there?!) / tomorrow.



Hockey-related WTF moments tonight, while Eric and I were listening to Team 1040 [FREE AGENCY DAY!] on the way home:

* Wait... why is Detroit in the Western Conference if they're across the river from Windsor?! (Eric says that this is because there are a lot of teams in the Eastern Conference already) Even I know my geography a bit better than that...

* I misheard "Tanner Glass" as "Canner Plax," and wondered just what kind of name THAT was! (I have a definite opinion on names in my spare time :P)

* Upon hearing that the Rangers (?) replaced someone with Aaron Asham (spelling?), I said: "They replaced him with AN AIR MATTRESS?! Nice! That's one of the weirdest sports transactions I've heard of..." Hahaha, poor Eric had to tell me that I was engaging in creative listening yet again!


This guy in the Tule pub is a pervert (looking at the onstage dancers) who tells us to get our minds out of the gutter!

Dead socks, venting with Billie, and BABY DRAGON for Ayler!

HAPPY CANADA DAY! 145 YEARS OLD!


Of all the people, AUNTIE YING added me to Facebook... eep, hahaha! I'm also losing it since I thought a pair of socks on top of my DILBERT comic book was a dead animal... specifically, an animal that doesn't even exist in real life! (the Sword Rat enemy from FINAL FANTASY IV) Managed to check everything in fifteen minutes after getting up at 9:55 - YAY FOR NO CHURCH! :D

Met Billie at White Spot for our early lunch - of course, I brought some pictures of Ayler in a binder! She was late, but it was all good since I'd also brought a book to read. We discussed James, Chinese Eric, Scott, Sara, Aaron, Evan, NEEDING ALONE TIME AWAY FROM FAMILY AND OTHERS, Vegas, Jamaica, people who just DON'T GET IT when they're being assholes, communication breakdowns, her work stress, Dorna, growing apart from people, bills, the good feeling you get when you finally tell someone exactly what you think of them, forgiveness, burger cravings, burritos, North Vancouver, feelings for other people complicating things, Ken, artwork, ideas, Coke in the freezer exploding, Jeremy, Ryan, Matt, divorces, gossip, Jairus, Montreal, sex, Coquitlam, writing, ideas, and more. I told her what had happened right before Christmas with Teunis, what had happened at New Year's and a bit later with Korey and his stupid friend Amanda, plus what happened a couple weeks ago with Randal. YEAH RIGHT, I DON'T LOVE YOU ANYWAY! After that, I went into Zellers to see if they had cheap shoes - they were on sale, but I couldn't find any in my size, so left to go to Lansdowne instead. I finally found a spare pair in my size which fit, then went to the dollar store to get HUGE gift bags for the crystal plates / a stuffed red dragon for baby Ayler (I couldn't resist) / a farewell card for Auntie Rebecca. I'm normally opposed to giving out religious cards, but it works in this situation - besides, the blurb inside worked best out of the available selection for the occasion!

Needing friends / Surgate Castle Library (donkeys and weight)

Chinese Eric got on MSN at about 8:30 to say that his parents had committed him to a family dinner with relatives tomorrow night, so we'd have to reschedule. Hey, it doesn't matter to me as long as I know! (I understand that pain!) We wished each other a Happy Canada Day, of course! Discussed travel being in season (I know), Calgary people heading down to BC and San Jose, the son of family friends getting married next week to someone else who also works at Microsoft, marriage and hope, workplace romances being fraught with peril if they don't work out, babysitting, disbelief, pure evilness in Korey / his "impending death," James, updating LJ / "THE BLOG," mixing people up, future phone calls to reschedule, yesterday's events, feelings, and more. Always good times... and I'd interrupt cutscenes to talk to him, anyway! Of course, I thanked him for being the awesome friend he is! If he hears from me before Wednesday, then that means I seriously need him... but things should be under control since I'm feeling better than when I sent him the trip update email! (he'll keep that in mind!) Also replied to Mandy's email while I was at it.


Two books at a time will be too heavy for our intrepid hero in the Surgate Castle Library!




Are you looking up ASSES on the A-C shelf at the library, Bartz? :P

Ridiculous! / Fresh details, crystal wedding presents, and overseas people

After I got some pads from Shoppers Drug Mart, I talked to Ryan about some stuff, which makes me feel better! Yes, someone IS ridiculous! Called Mom to see what she was doing tomorrow: the agenda involves visiting Grandma and baby Ayler on the same day, which works for me since I've had a bit of downtime. Then she said something about an RSVP for Myles and Brittney's wedding; it's not the deadline yet, haha. Rather than get embroiled in her Type A personality, I simply said I'd go on Sept. 22 - it's just easier that way. (less drama) She said they could give me a ride to Eunice and Eddie's wedding next week, and some crystal... nice, and I also have her last $40! Also, she reminded me that tomorrow is Friday; I have no idea if I'm going to BS or not, but I can't really afford to go out to eat AGAIN. Too many parties, man...

Later, I finally got to update Chinese Eric on everything (James / Ayler and snoring and the baby banquet / Grandma's deterioration and long-term care home) for half an hour! He was tired yesterday after helping his parents do some stuff, which is very understandable. We figure we'll call each other tomorrow either way if a hangout ends up happening on Saturday - he says he'll call me, but I always seem to beat him to the punch these days. Discussed dating / sex arrangements / short-term dating / the long-term dating model dying, relationships, parenthood, stages of life, writing while details are still fresh in your mind (I do this whenever possible), memory issues, and his not wanting to bore me with philosophical stuff... I wouldn't mind! Also talked about Nathan and Christon in London, arranging things for overseas family friends, Facebook communication, MSN not sending his messages or duplicating them, hesitation in using that medium to communicate something urgent, and more. Yes, we agreed it was nice to talk to each other! Dude needs to come over soon, anyway - he's got a lot of Facebook photos to catch up on! (which reminds me, I should make sure that Jeremy sees the wedding photos on Monday night during the Fried Chicken Bash...)

Pirates getting seasick / ROM restarts are ANNOYING!

Had to do laundry today; bloody hell! Mom said that they could pick Eric up at about 5:10 tomorrow for the baby banquet, and then pick me up soon after - I guess that works! Now, to see if Eric is going to get on MSN tonight, haha. Had to restart FFVA yet AGAIN - this time on a different rom file altogether - because of the stupid random encounter tiles on the Big Bridge being the same as last time and NOT WORKING! If this doesn't work, I'm glad I have a complete bestiary code for my photo albums! (also got INTERESTING news from James just now, har har)


A pirate who still gets seasick!

Helping with cues / BABY TIME! / No stalkers here!

I called Chinese Eric before my Southern (?) dinner of Chicken Fried Rice, but his mom said he was getting ready for dinner... it's all good! Then I noticed that Auntie Catherine had called me, so I returned the call: three-year-old Mattias answered, and didn't say she was in the bathroom this time, hahaha. To help him along with cues after he said she was home, I asked if I could please speak to her. That worked! She'd been holding Marcus, and wanted to see if I could meet half an hour earlier tomorrow. Since I kinda need the extra time just in case anything goes wrong, I split the difference and said 10:45 would be fine by me. Apparently, there was no problem with that!

Later, I called Jon to confirm for tomorrow: he said that Mom was at least halfway accurate when she'd told me that Harmony sleeps till the early afternoon after feeding the baby at night, and added that the lards would be coming over at around 2. Lots of stuff to do on Main till then, I'm sure... he also gave me their address, so I wrote that down for posterity / bus-taking purposes. Should be interesting! I don't mind if I'm given chores to do which could utilize my gifts: ORGANIZING THINGS! Then I tried calling white Eric, but Veronica said he was at Alistair's - DAMMIT, THE ONE TIME I NEED TO MAKE FRIDAY PLANS ON A THURSDAY?! AIYA!

At about 10, Chinese Eric called to ask if I'd called him; you bet I did, good friend of mine! We discussed his new "Facebook phase" so he won't be a dinosaur (but he would like to keep his privacy - VERY understandable!), my not trusting sudden stuff, Korey and the insincere stuff he says, Randal, James and "sudden changes," lupus and the kidney / systemic attacks, Chrystal, the mango / cream cheese sushi at Tokyo Joe's, new food choices, diets and restrictions, white Eric, dating / relationship / marriage advice (he can ask Jon later when he's ready!), red meat / fish / chicken / fruits / veggies, words changing meaning (like "gay" / "dinner" sometimes meaning "lunch" / "sad" meaning "angry" as per Pete's Texas slang), and how people use Facebook for different things. (he doesn't have to use it all the time like SOME do) Also conversed about psychotic people, his going to hang out with his grandma in the next week, reading up on Internet stuff, my grandma and her new situation (Chinese staff?), that "the grass is greener on the other side" phenomenon when it came to singlehood / relationships (unless it's going REALLY WELL), stages of life, baby stuff, how I should say hi to Jon and Harmony for him (of course!), how it was good to have some time of dating / then time for marriage BEFORE kids unless REALLY necessary (I know what he means!), and how his mom knows that I'm a good person / non-stalker material!

She knows that Nathan's friends are usually good people, heh. I just call him every few days to see how he is (and let's not lie here - to have REAL FRIEND time with a familiar voice), not every hour on the hour to harass them, haha! Admittedly, I call him more frequently than I may have used to even years ago, but he says it's all cool. (YAY!) His priority right now is stabilizing his health, which did change his perspective on life for obvious reasons. We got into how some people date for a long time before taking the next step: he's like me in that he'd prefer to know someone for a while first! That was an AWESOME hour-long conversation, which only ended since he had another call coming in - I believe him! Of course I'll talk to him one way or the other (with baby [banquet] updates!) when the crazy weekend is over; he knows this! I told him that he'd better take care of his health and manage it well because I want him around for a LONG TIME to come!

Finished purging! / Random encounter tiles! / Inner strength allows me NOT to struggle!

I finally finished the Facebook photos and notes "purging / re-tagging project" at 2:25 AM, which would have been about an hour sooner were it not for an Internet outage! The photo albums weren't so bad since I was done with them in a couple of hours on the first day, but I had written about 610 notes since October 2007, and had to edit a majority of them for paragraph issues as well! That took about four days or so, with no gaming breaks!

The notes about Korey made Randal think I was struggling with that, so he left some religious-based comfort on my FB wall; I know he means well, though. Trust me, I've found enough inner strength to deal with it in the last four years! If I were truly struggling, I wouldn't have the strength to even OPEN those! However, he IS right in that I'm struggling with some totally unrelated issues - James, for one!

Now I can get back into gaming! But I had to restart the game AGAIN (seven and a half hours in) because of the stupid random encounter tiles with totally missable enemies (Merrow / Flying Killer / Little Chariot / Neo Garula) on the Big Bridge in Galuf's world after Exdeath's castle - no amount of swearing is enough to convey my frustration!

Tokyo Joe's, TRIPLE TOILET PAPER ROLLS, allergies, Ayler, and limiting contact

Discovered the start of redrum an hour before I was due to meet up with Chrystal, so at least that was good timing - it was much less stressful than LAST time in Vegas, that's for sure! Chrystal and I finally did get together for dinner / life catchup tonight, meeting at the London Drugs as usual. I gave her the Las Vegas postcard and Vegas rose pen, plus two Wunderbars since she'd mentioned she hadn't tried them before. We went to Tokyo Joe's for dinner: mango cream cheese sushi, spicy scallop roll, spicy tuna roll, spicy sauce, California roll, cucumber roll, miso soup, and tea! Told her what had happened with James / shattered trust / FEELINGS, and she was understanding. Yes, the moves I've taken are pretty smart: LIMIT CONTACT BECAUSE I CAN'T HANDLE IT EMOTIONALLY, YO! I made sure to say that my online friends and Chinese Eric helped me, as well. (and so is she!)

Then I updated her on everything that happened with the baby and Grandma and the Vegas wedding (escalators / privacy); I realized that Ayler's one-month baby banquet will be THIS SUNDAY. Time goes by fast! She updated me on her company moving: it'll be closer for her! Discussed my parents going to Russia, her parents going to Hong Kong in October, her Seattle aunt and uncle being in town for the summer, and more. After we'd walked for a short distance (and gone into Chapters to discuss 50 SHADES OF GREY), we went our separate ways. I went into London Drugs to get things which I desperately needed before next week: TRIPLE ROLLS of toilet paper x2, and big on-sale containers of apple juice. Discussed pollen allergies briefly with a teen at the bus stop: "there are too many trees," he said. Guess I'm lucky I don't suffer from them, but I didn't say that since it just sounds bad. :P