Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

derek, his friend des (i know him from sfu as well), and i made plans to head down to the states for a day of shopping on wednesday. derek requested for a wake-up call that morning at 10:30am, so at 10:36am i called him.

"okay, i'll call des and see what's going on," derek said.

at 11:07am, i called derek again. "did you go back to bed?" i asked.
"maybe."
"did you call des?"
"maybe not," he answered, "i'll call him now and i'll call you back."

by 11:30am, i thought this day trip to the states wouldn't be happening. but then at 11:40am, derek called me back, "i'm gonna leave in about 15 minutes."

we finally left at about noon. by the time we met up with des, who lives near the airport, it was almost 1pm. des had invited his friend cliff to join us and he drove.

***

des and cliff were apparently playing call of duty while waiting for me and derek to show up. des said he was kinda dizzy from playing the game! haha! i am NOT the only one to get motion-sickness from a video game! cliff made a good point in saying that we grew up playing games like super mario brothers, where there's no 1st-person views. it's one straight line and we control someone going across the screen from left to right -- and sometimes, we wouldn't even be permitted to go back to the left!

***

at the border, we were asked how we knew each other:

cliff: "well, i know him [pointing at des] from school. and he knows him [pointing at derek]..."
derek: "...from hockey. and i know her [me] from high school."

then the guy asked us what we do for a living. cliff answers something about working for rcmp. des says something about radiation therapy. derek says he works in tv, and i said i'm looking for work.

the guy then goes, "are any of you related to her? in a relationship with her?" all the guys shake their heads.

wtf? is that one of those questions they use to try and throw people off? what kinda question is that, and why would he ask it? we were all so confused by that.

***

we stopped at a mcdonald's along the way. i bought a $1 mcchicken! i would have bought a $1 cheeseburger too, but i wasn't very hungry. i didn't even eat the mcchicken right away.

***

by the time we reached the best buy in lynnwood, it was about 4pm! i can't believe it was already so late! some people would normally be on their way back across the border by now! nobody bought anything at best buy.

next stop: target. des bought some altoids. i saw a t-shirt that was too small for me, but for $0.75! i wanted to buy it just to say, "i bought a shirt for 75 cents!" but i didn't. what's the point of owning a shirt that's too small?!

we then hit the kohl's next to it. again, nobody bought anything there.

finally, it was probably about 5:30pm when we got to alderwood mall. i split up with the guys and wandered off by myself. there were no good deals anywhere. ever since i was able to find shirts for $5 or less, i can't even go back to $10 deals! i tried on a couple of things at forever 21, but they were not flattering on me due to my increasingly flabby gut. *sigh* this shopping trip was reminding me of swimsuit shopping: a giant kick to the self-esteem. so instead of shopping for clothes, i gave myself a new task: find a tiny rubik's cube key chain.

at home, the only place i've seen it is at the calendar club store for CAD$9.99. in the states, i still couldn't find it anywhere except calendar club, but for USD$7.99. i don't think those things are worth more than $5, so i couldn't get myself to buy it.

i met up with the guys at 6:30pm, and waited for derek to purchase some twilight-related merchandise for someone on his christmas list. everyone else didn't really find anything either.

we ate dinner at mcgrath's fish house. i ordered a crab and artichoke sandwich. it was yummy.

***

as we drove away from the mall, cliff started feeling sick. so we turned around and went back to the mall parking lot.

"why is it so fucking hot in here?" LOL. i guess cliff was also getting really irritable. he didn't even stop for a woman who was trying to cross the road. so funny.

we parked and cliff ran into the nordstrom's, while the three of us waited in the car. when he got back, we were finally on the way home.

***

derek wanted to stop by a walmart, so we went to the one in burlington, i think. i picked up an ornament-shaped coke bottle ($1) for my mom and a pair of socks ($2.50) for me. i saw some tshirts and thought, hmm. i would wear these, then i looked at the tag. miley cyrus?! i'm not gonna wear any miley cyrus! no way!

des bought five of those $1 coke bottles. cliff bought three coke bottles, and an apple pie-scented candle. derek didn't get anything. LOL. we buy really exciting things, don't we?

***

back at the border:

"where did you guys go?"
"to alderwood mall."
"how much did you spend?"
"a total of about $60."
"between the four of you, you spent only $60? what did you buy?"
"some altoids."
"you went all the way to alderwood to buy altoids?"
"and socks...and a candle...and a 'robsessed' dvd."

LMAO!!! we were all trying not to laugh. the border guy was smirking by the end of his questioning. i guess our story was just too crazy that it has to be true! why would we be making this stuff up?! it was about 11:30pm when cliff dropped us off at derek's car.

***

derek wanted to keep looking for a popcorn machine, so he and i decided to go to a 24-hour superstore. des joined us. "and the adventure continues..."

after superstore, the three of us went to another walmart (in surrey?). i didn't buy anything at either place, but the guys did. by the time i got home, it was 1:30am! it was a long day/night of laughing and shopping so i had a good time. and all i got for myself was a pair of socks!

last weekend, i went to dinner with the assfish people. we went to 'shanghai wonderful' in richmond for some fantastic shanghainese cuisine!

normally, i don't care much for chinese food since i eat it all the time at home. for example, if my family and i go out for dinner, and if i get to pick, the first thing i'd say is, "not chinese food". but when i was invited for shanghainese last weekend, i was reminded that it's my favourite type of chinese cuisine, so i jumped at the chance. i haven't had shanghainese food in so long!

we ordered way too much that night. i would have been content with just the rice cake noodle dish and several helpings of the pork bun dumplings, but there were so many more dishes on top of that. we all over-ate and ended up walking it off in richmond at 8pm/9pm on a sunday night.

at one of the stops, zellers, we came across a box full of plush olympics mascots. when we realized that some of the sumi's were missing their hats, we decided that it must be photographed. N found a whole family of them and lined them up. it was a very funny (but cute) sight:

Bald Sumi:

this blurry photo was taken from my shitty phone