Hey All,

Just wanted to run through some stuff before I go to bed. Got to keep you all updated (basically Kev and Flo, etc.).

From “There is a fly in my Soup-Dumpling” Dept.

Earlier in the week, Jen had told me that we were going to go out on Friday night with her friend Andrew. Well, I’m not sure if he’s even a friend, actually. One weekend in Boston bunking in the same room with him and 5 others would not really qualify him as a friend in my book, but people are different.

So I admit, I wasn’t thrilled. I basically got the low-down on this Andrew guy from Flo, Kevin and Jen, so I kind of knew what to expect. In short, my presumptions of Andrew were slightly negative; he’s kind of goofy.

I wasn’t too hyped on going out with him on Friday. I was whining to Jen about having to “entertain him for the entire evening,” and “not wanting to go clubbing.”

After meeting him though, I definitely was way out-of-line. He’s a swell guy. The only bad thing I can say about him was that he praises everything.

He would say things like: “This is soooo good!”

 

Or: “This is just excellent!”

 

And how could we forget: “This is just sooooo sinful!”

It kind of got annoying. I swear, you could server this guy a plate full of cow manure and he’d like it.

We had dinner at a Shanghainese Restaurant called “Ding Dai Fung” in First Markham Place. They specialize in “Soup Dumplings”. Soup Dumplings are steamed, pork-filled [or any meat] dumplings that when eaten release a lot of juice [soup]. They’re actually overflowing with soup/juice. Very Yummy.

Andrew brought over two friends too, Steve and Eva. They were cool.

Flo and I ordered:

• 18 Pork-filled Soup Dumplings [steamed],
• 6 Pork-filled Dumplings [fried],
• 2 servings of Preserved Pork and vegetables in marinated mustard with egg, a bowl of Vegetable Rice, and soup,
• 1 Pan-fried Turnip Cake,
• 1 plate of Chinese Broccli with Garlic,
• 1 plate of stir-fried Chicken and Cashews,
• 1 plate of Shanghai Noodles,
• 1 plate of stir-fried Rice-Cakes,

For Dessert:

• a bowl of Mango pudding for Steve, and
• a serving of penut and black sesame dumplings in syrup for us.

Jen, Flo and I each ordered a glass of chilled “soybean milk”.

We ordered way too much. It was crazy. We could have done without two dishes, easily. With Andrew’s motivational pep-talks however, we actually finished everything.

We then went to Chapters across the street to walk off our belly full of food.

And then we saw Signs at the Cineplex Odeon.

I liked it.

It’s a movie about recovering one’s faith/spirituality. It is set beneath an alien-invasion backdrop in a rural community. It could have been set in New York with a terrorist attack, and it would have been the same. The alien-thing is just a catalyst for character development.

There were some really tense moments in the movie.

However, answer me this: “Why would aliens attack a planet that is covered by 70% of the substance that is their weakness?”

It would be like Superman attacking a planet made out of 70% green Kryptonite.

Stupid.

All of us liked the movie.

Eric saw it and he liked it too, but most of his friends were disappointed.

Kevin was disappointed as well.

From the “Saturday Walk in the Park” Dept.

Saturday evening, Jen and I went down to Unionville Main Street to walk along the trail in Toogood Pond. It was a beautiful evening: no humidity, comfortable temperature, clear skies. It was a beautiful twilight.

We had some gelato at the gelato stand. Jen got Lindt Milk-chocolate, and I got Pistaccio.

It was a nice evening.

We held hands most of the time.

Earlier in the day we hand went to Loblaws and picked up some ingredients for Chicken Pesto Linguine with Fried Red Peppers, and an salad with fresh tomatoes , pine nuts, goat cheese, and advocado slices.

We also found this nice little Italian restaurant called “The Groto on Main”. Can’t wait to try it out.

Sunday I tuned out and didn’t do much.

From the “Monday Chores” Dept.

Did a lot of chores all day. Bagged some clothes for donation. Cleaned out the guest room of University stuff that I had been collecting over the years.

Lots of junk, but there were some memorable finds:

• An unopened box of Colgate Toothpaste that had expired in Feb of 1999,
• Some pictures back-in-the-day with my old “aerodynamic” hair cut,
• A letter to a friend that I had written back in the summer of 1998,
• Some short-stories that I had written back in 1st- and 2nd-year University [1996-1997]

Now the guest room is clean.

I’m planning to set up a bed in the morning. At least Kev has a real place to sleep now.

If I have time, I’ll throw in a network cable too and a fold-out table. Then Kev and I can MSN each other from across the landing.

Just like old times back in 379 Erb St.

Went out with Jen for coffee and conversation at the Second Cup near her house.

-T