This Weekend and Monday

Blogging is a massive time sink. I've got three days to write about and a lot to say and I have no idea how long it's going to take me to get all this down. I'd be surprised if anyone managed to read this whole post, too. Everything I write is so long and not terribly interesting. Oh well, here goes anyway. Point form to save time. I'll expand upon the good stuff later, maybe. So:

Saturday! Let's break it down:
- Woke up late because there wasn't any BB until the afternoon!
- Got stuff ready for BB while using the computer
- Drove to Cheras alone and got stuck in a jam
- Hung around studying CTS
- Got lunch for some people
- Took the bus to wherever Founder's Day was being held
- Stood in the sun for a real long time for opening parade
- Sat in church for a really long time for praise and worship and a message that I didn't really listen to
- Food. It was the best thing I've ever eaten at a BB event. Meat and garlic bread and mashed potatoes.
- No wait I just remembered Aunty Molly's chicken chop from that one camp. That was the best.
- Closing parade
- Took the bus back
- Drove home with Jan
- Shower
- Nap
- Computer
- Call from Papa
- Went out for dinner without getting ready
- Awesome dinner
- Drove home
- Computer
- Set alarm for 2am, went to couch to sleep until alarm went off so I could take a shower then go right to be completely exhausted.
- I didn't hit the button to save the alarm, so it didn't go off. I woke up on the couch on Sunday morning at seven, but that is later on in the blog post.

Okay, things to expand upon. First, Founder's Day. Founder's Day is a yearly thing done by the Boy's Brigade to celebrate when the organization was founded a century or so ago by Sir William Alexander Smith. It has caused problems in the past, namely, it was boring and I missed my cousin's wedding for it three or four years ago. This year was no exception. My friend from college was holding an open house from twelve to four. Founder's Day was from twelve thirty to four. Of course I always had the option not to attend, but I've been in the company for eight or so years and I'm still only a Lance Corporal. Jan got promoted last week, so now I'm the same rank as my younger brother. My next chance at a promotion is in March, but the lack of commitment I'd show from missing Founder's Day would almost guarantee that my rank would remain the same. So I had to miss the open house.

Except, you know, I didn't. Turns out that it went on until six or so, and then after that my college friends went and hung out and stuff. Ah well. If I had gone there I would have probably missed dinner, and dinner was awesome.

Anyway, the last few semi-interesting things about Founder's Day before I move on. Um, I got really thirsty. After opening parade I found a water cooler and latched on for a couple of minutes. Also, Jan and I ignored the speaker's message and read from the Methodist hymnal instead. We learned that Methodists are different from us, and thus they are funny. Finally, I found out something new about Aolani, my assistant squad leader. Apparently, Jan thinks she (Oh yeah we have girls in our Boy's Brigade company. I think I may have pointed that out before but who can be bothered to remember) might like him. I hope so. That would be fun to watch.

So, moving on to dinner. After waking up from my nap I got a call from my dad asking if Jan and I wanted to go out for something to eat. I said yeah and asked Jan to come, too. I assumed we were going to Burger King or some such place, so I didn't bother to put my contact lenses in or change into some nice pants and shoes. Turns out I had assumed wrong. We were going to have dinner with my dad's friend's sister and her husband and daughter and some of their extended family. I was especially regretting my appearance when I heard that her daughter was around the same age as me. I guess if I'm only going to meet someone once I might as well make a good impression, especially so if that someone happens to be young and female. I guess it's a good thing that I didn't know on the way there that she was also half-Australian and really, really hot.

So we got to the restaurant and it was a Chinese seafood place. I did not have high hopes for the food. We were some of the first people to get there, so I surveyed the menu and tried to figure out what I was going to do. My plan was just to order the lemon chicken, drink the tea, and try not to look like an idiot in front of the girl and her family. My plan was silly.

The night began its climb into awesomeness the moment the first few people arrived. My dad's friend's sister was the first person I greeted, followed by her Australian husband and their daughter, Louise. I was not expecting an Australian husband or Louise. I didn't ask too many questions on the way to the restaurant, so I was just assuming that this family was from out of town, not from a completely different continent. It was a very pleasant surprise.

Louise is really cool and her parents and grandparents are fun and interesting people, so conversation at the table never got boring. The food also turned out to be a lot better than I usually expect from Chinese restaurants. I tried a bit from each dish and I liked everything. By the time the lemon chicken arrived I only had enough appetite for one piece, which was a shame because it was amazing. The last course was crab, which I enjoyed more for the smashing and prying apart than the eating. Before we said goodbye, my dad arranged for Louise's family to come to church with us the next day.

I got to drive back, but it quite torturous. I have forgotten how many times I refilled my glass of tea, but I do remember that it later proved to be too much. A quick stop at McDonald's solved that problem, and we got to get some ice cream.

So yeah, that was Saturday. Took me an hour and a half to write that, so let's move on to...

Sunday!
- Woke up early
- Used "practicing for my CTS presentation" as an excuse to dress up nicer than usual
- Went with my dad to pick up Louise and her parents
- Had breakfast with my brothers and Louise
- Church
- Went to a nearby pond to show Louise the turtles there
- Found by Ian and Jan and informed it was time to go home
- Sat in Ian's new car (Oh yeah Ian got a new car) on the short and rather unnecessary drive back to church. Cool car, though.
- Got to drive home in my dad's car (Power steering and very nice suspension)
- Showed our view, cats, and piano to our guests.
- Attempted to initiate karaoke
- Directed Ian to his college
- Said goodbye to Louise's parents as they went with my dad somewhere to do something or see someone
- Said goodbye to Louise when she went with her aunt and grandma, I think, for a manicure or something.
- Karaoke-ed alone.
- Computer
- Nap
- Woke up to parents watching Iron Chef
- Did overdue Engineering Mathematics Applications homework, and a sketch from the current set of homework. Still have eight questions that are due on Tuesday, though.
- Shower
- Bed

I asked Louise after the service if she wanted to go see the turtles because she sounded interested when I pointed out the lake and mentioned them on the drive to church. It was a good idea. Pictures were taken and awws were exclaimed. Things were nice and then Ian and Jan arrived and told us it was time to go. It wasn't an urgent message, though. Jan stuck around for a little bit to poke an oil-slicked and kinda-sick turtle around with a stick.

Not much was done when we got home. After looking at the view we just kind of sat around. Fortunately we had a kitten to amuse us. I hope the day never comes when Cali gets bored of chasing strings and lasers.

I wanted to play with the piano for a bit, but I only managed Heart and Soul with Louise and The Entertainer before Jan started banging random keys when I was trying to play Hallelujah. He said it was "his turn". I told him that I never bang on the drum set randomly when he's playing and that he doesn't really play the piano anyway, but he's a bit of a stubborn bastard so I let him have his way. When I moved away from the piano the wire got loose and the thing powered off (Oh yeah, it's an electric piano), so Jan couldn't play. I was convinced enough that he couldn't fix it to place a bet on it, but he could, and now he is five ringgits richer and I am five ringgits poorer. I don't think he played anything when he was done, but I'm sure if I tried to get back on he would've kicked me off. That's just the kind of lovely guy he is.

Anyway, after that I wanted to karaoke for a bit, but I couldn't persuade anyone to join me. I was about to sing alone when I got a call from Ian asking me to guide him to his new college via a map on his computer. By the time I was done with that, there was no time for karaoke as Louise's parents were just about to leave with my dad for something and Louise herself was about to be picked up by her aunt and grandmother (I think) to get their nails done or something.

I showed her downstairs to the lobby and waited with her for the car. It didn't take very long to get there, so I said goodbye to Louise and went upstairs to karaoke alone.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention in my point form summary that my dad had some more friends over who wanted to know if the Boy's Brigade was right for their son. I sat around and basically told them yeah, yeah it is.

I ended Sunday late and tired and not really looking forward to college the next day, but nonetheless when I woke up it was...

Monday!
- Got up
- Read three chapters of the Bible about 45 minutes (Approximately 5 minutes reading and 40 minutes falling asleep between verses)
- Shaved, put in my lenses, brushed my teeth and all that
- Walked up twenty flights of stairs
- Took my motorcycle to college
- Hung around until my first class
- Cleaned out my wallet during class and found a six-month-old RM20 gift certificate for Outback Steakhouse
- Went out to eat and get better acquainted with some of my classmates from CTS
- Came back for my second class
- Hung around with various friends until five
- Took a nap
- Used the computer lab while waiting for the last of my friends to leave
- Went home
- Nap
- Wrote this

I spent a lot of time hanging out with people on Monday. I could have actually gone home at twelve, but I decided to stay because friends are cool.

The first group of people I hung out with was Crystal and two of her friends. Crystal was the only other student to get a HD in Intermediate English last semester, and I should have become friends with her earlier. She's fun to talk to and she holds interesting views which I can argue with. We talked about Satanists and college clubs and stuff, and I invited her to Christian Fellowship this Friday. We'll see how that last one goes.

I also met Tanuj, who was in my calculus class last semester, and his friend from the degree program. We talked about smoking and what it was like in the degree program and the certificates of completion for completing Foundation.

Aside from those two I also hung out a bit with Denise's group and Joanna's group and some of the third semester students, but not necessarily in that order. Oh yeah, I also hung out with Effie (or Effe. It is a nickname and thus doesn't really matter. I like it better with an i, though.) and JiaYin. The conversation with those two had something to do with relationships and music and coins and stuff. They were my favorite people to hang out with. Effie is refreshingly honest and blunt about things.

So yeah, that was the highlights of Monday, so I guess I'm done with this post. Took me a little over two hours and two thousand words, but at least I'm finished. I wonder if I would have finished my EMA homework if I had done that instead of this. I guess I'll never know.