Tatiana's Wanderings

Red fire-breathing dragon, Kiefer forest dragon, easily distracted by dragons

2020-04-19T00:48:52Z

I called Ayler at 4:15 or so since I noticed he called me earlier. He picked up within ten seconds because he "didn't want to have it ring even though we were playing with trains." He also told me that he and Hiero have "birthday parties" for their stuffed animals every morning - which I knew about - and send the bad ones to "hell" while singing "the Ha-Ha song," which makes fun of the fact that they're now alone. They went out on scooters today, might have burritos for dinner later, and told me a lot about their toy train tracks setup. XL / A / B / C / D, behind the couch, under the couch, and over the mat too! Sounds pretty interesting. I told Ayler to just listen to his parents and the news for coronavirus updates.

Ayler wanted to know what I did today, what I might have for dinner, and whether I'd remember what I ate when we set up the next phone call for Tuesday afternoon sometime. Probably I will - Saturday is Dumpling Night now and for the foreseeable future! We talked about his puzzles, soap, Hiero not wanting to talk to me today, Beckett saying "hello" (any other word apparently means he doesn't want to talk on the phone) and "Auntie," Ayler's "connections" making sure we talked on the phone for at least 35 minutes, and how he doesn't call me every day because he's not sure if I will pick up or not. We did set up the next talk time for Tuesday afternoon sometime. I even briefly talked to Harmony, who had to go because Beckett was crying since Hiero took away his blanket again.

A red fire-breathing dragon 5D Diamond Painting!

From Julie M. and Etsy: Kiefer the lifesize green forest dragon!

Easily Distracted By Dragons!

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VCEFC! / Hiero's 6th birthday party: UBC Gymnastics! / Mango cheesecake! / Puke!

2020-01-20T07:49:29Z

I discovered that Andre had unfriended / blocked me on Facebook - WHAT THE HECK?! Eric picked me up at 8:50 AM so I could use church as a vehicle to get to the Osborne Gym at UBC for Hiero's 6th birthday party. It helps that his hockey is all the way out at UBC, too... and it turned out that his hockey building is practically right next to the Robert Osborne building! He said that the LUFIA music sounded like something crazy was going on at my place - HAHAHA! I packed the Creature Chumpers toy (but forgot the birthday card), a bottled water, my Doge bag, and the other Starbucks Cold Brew before putting my boots on just in case of slush. Made my bag heavier, but it was okay. Eric and I listened to the radio for a bit until some guy came on who just monologues at you all the time - not his thing, and not mine either!

When we got to church, there was still plenty of parking across the street. As I thought, the car door went CLONK into a slush accumulation. Luckily, Eric could pull forward a bit so I could go into the nearby parking lot and then cross the street after getting on the clear sidewalk. I waited around outside the sanctuary, saying hey to Joe. When we were allowed to go inside, I said hi to Geoffrey and Sheena, and was respectful of the service. Hiero was there with Jon (who was preaching today), so I asked him if he wanted his birthday gift now or later... of course he chose now, before the Children's Sunday School.

I realized I'd forgotten the birthday card, but I can always give it to him later. He seemed out of it for some reason, but I wouldn't find out why till much later. Then he was trying to get Jon's attention, but he was busy talking to Pastor Dan. When I got back from the handicapped restroom (seeing empty water jugs inside and hoping a grandma didn't have to use it), Hiero had gotten Jon's attention, who told him to say thank you. I said that he already had (when I prompted him), so of course he didn't have to say it again! I did see Uncle Eric and Auntie Brenda at different times, and an uncle said hi to me as well.

Jon had an engaging sermon on Mark and seeds, at least. Even Julie S. agreed with me later on! I said hi to Sam, Auntie Cathy, Auntie Catherine (hug), Auntie Esther (hug), Cordia's mom, Helen C., Joe T., Ivan, Lesley, Dylan / Deb / Declan / Elysse (who thinks it's crazy that Hiero will be her age by next week AND who was eating sugar cubes), Cordia / Amasiah / Julie S. / Denise (who sent a photo of me to Steph) / Julie M., Auntie Susan x2 (Karen Grace's mom and Vivian's mom), Darren L., Martin T., Acer, and others. I could hear Acer swearing in the fellowship hall while talking about DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS, but whatever.

Soon enough, it was just a little group of me, Eric, Cordia, Amasiah, their friend Jeremy, and Acer since everyone else was staying for the Larry and Bella Mori missionary lunch before Missions Fest later in the month. Once we were shushed by Auntie Ada (Benedict's mom) since the Cantonese service was going on, we moved to the stairs, where I noticed a few minutes later that we were blocking the way, so we stood around a little outside the sanctuary in the "hall" until the bench cleared up. We still had to watch our volume, though!

Jeremy insisted he wasn't a weeb just because he went to Japan with some guys - including Acer's cousin - and had to translate for the group, Cordia said she's accepted who she is, and said that Amasiah was morbid like me - SWEET! We talked about the Japan trip, Japanese people KNOWING when you're "foreign" to them even if you're Asian and fluent in the language, Sharon's health woes in the Osoyoos (being literally stuck at home), 80 cents for a medium bottle of milk tea in Japan, the Mori kids Timothy and Tiffany, Molly, people following others on Instagram, pressuring Amasiah to buy some Pokemon figurine on Amazon since she didn't in Hong Kong, my trip, the snow and slush, anime / manga, otaku people, Discord, and lunch plans. Eric and I went upstairs to see if we could get some extra $2 sandwiches (Benedict had five pink tickets from his mom!), but he decided not to bother or distract anyone in the rooms, which I noticed are now labelled. They even upgraded the water cooler from a huge jug to a black self-cleaning one!

A few minutes later at 1:25, Eric asked if I was cool with going to Broadway / Cambie instead. Sure, why not? We could get fast food burgers, so we went to A and W where he kindly paid for my Mama Burger and we shared his fries before going to Pacific Spirit Park and a parking garage on UBC campus. He pressed the crosswalk button for me in the rainy weather, and showed me which building to go into. I went into the Robert Osborne building, connected to the Wi-Fi, and looked for a specific gym on the Evite to no avail, so I had to text Harmony about it. "No, gym" is not really a great answer to "should I meet you on the second floor?" when there are at least three gyms and lots of lockers in the entire place... as I told Steph, I wonder how many "where is this place specifically?" calls and texts they got before the birthday party.

Jon and Harmony were actually early with the kids, probably because they had to sign a waiver and were nominally hosting 15 kids and their parents. I showed Beckett the balls that he had dropped in my bag, but he seemed too out of it even for just waking up. He did look at them with widened eyes, but said nothing. After I met Hiero's friends Emmett and Huxley (what a name!), I heard that Hiero had puked on the gymnastics equipment when Harmony was explaining what had happened in Chinese to her parents! IRRESPONSIBLE AND GROSS! WHY WOULD YOU SUBJECT KIDS TO THAT?! Even Ayler was complaining of feeling sick at the end of everything later! While I was there, Chinese Eric replied to my text about the All-Star Game, saying he'd get back to me later. Why don't you figure it out first, man? I'm not like my ex Mike who wants an almost-instant response! Uncle Joe and Auntie Wing ended up driving me home after the refreshments since Costco closes early on Sundays, so I got home at 6:25. AWESOME!

Random stuff from Mom and Dad, who definitely wanted the tiny tote bag back if Mom dug through my bag for it: Cao Is Starvingbase Chongqing instant noodles, Paldo Jjajangmen Chajang instant noodles, Country Life pure soap, a random floral soap circle, Princess Cruises Lotus Spa shower gel x2, a shoe brush, a Bath Aquatics h2O+ bath bar, and Ontrue roasted seaweed x2 in green tea flavor! It's MINE after I put it in my bag - come on now, WAIT FOR ME TO GET BACK FROM THE WASHROOM AND THEN ASK PERMISSION! Even Beckett has more respect than that! When he dropped his balls in my bag, he just stood by the bag and didn't go through it... I'm sure he doesn't have the words to ask about the balls, but that doesn't matter!

The Tiger Tiger Sukiyaki noodles did come with a lot of packets in the bowl with the handy lid, all crammed inside!

( Gummies, water jugs, hot water advisories, and party food! )

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ATTIE! A HUG! YUMMY! Snowflakes! Hot flashes! / Santa! / Water hitting a spoon!

2019-12-11T10:54:05Z

After COFFEE TIME, I went out at 2:50 on a 401 to help with the kids. I would have taken the earlier 401, but someone took FIVE MINUTES to maneuver a wheelchair into that bus! I don't expect people to be extremely fast when it comes to that, but I always appreciate the actual wheelchair users who are fast and efficient movers when they see others are waiting! (she was... not, and held up everyone else) There went any extra time I had to buy lotion and dish soap at Shoppers! At Marine Drive, I actually managed to get a 3 within a few minutes, which was amazing! No incessant talker today, thank goodness. Finally got to the apartment at about 4:10 in the rain, and Beckett was sitting on the mat and waiting for me - so cute! I gave the kids some Mars bars and Coffin Crisp plus a Christmas card later on. Hiero confused a CARD for a CAR, asking me where the Christmas CAR was, hahaha! Harmony set him straight, though. (my phone had randomly saved photos of Beckett eating out of a pot earlier, hahaha)

Ayler and Hiero did origami / cut-out snowflake crafts at the table after one too many "no scissors on the ground" directives that got ignored, so Beckett and I spent our time rolling balls to each other / being distracted by "boh-boh" (the bling on my white sweater AND the pom-pom on my Santa hat, which he batted around at times) / "reading" books while sitting on my lap (he picked up "yummy" from me!) / his giving me his blocks and balls and emotion eggs / his saying "yeah" to my simple questions of whether HE would get the balls instead of me (but he didn't) / his knowing where my fuzzy purple winter coat was with all the big buttons. Harmony said that balls were his very favorite thing in the whole wide world, which I can believe! (LOTS OF ALLITERATION!) She'd taken him across the street since there was a Christmas tree with lots of ornaments, and he'd loved seeing all the "boh-boh!" He also wanted to look out the window, but was stymied by the Venetian blind being down, and thus blocking his view. His other window was blocked off by chairs and couches, but he managed to throw balls in that restricted area, which I of course got out for him.

We had pork and mushroom jong (sticky rice) with garlic, cherry tomatoes, gai lan, and water for dinner. Beckett actually ate more than usual, but Harmony thought that was down to the sticky rice, some of which did fall in his bib, but luckily did not smear or smudge on my Heat Holders socks! Ayler told me that he had a Christmas concert next week, and a winter party because his class had received a lot of points to go towards one. NICE! I asked if he was going to have ornaments, but he says no because it's not Christmas. That made sense, I told him. After they learned about butterflies and cocoons and the chrysalis, Ayler wanted to hug me! I said that he could hug me, paused, and added "only if you want to." He did! That was amazing!

Ayler and Hiero didn't like it when Beckett climbed on them, but he's so light! While Harmony was out of the room for a bit, Ayler told me that he gets screen time at school (as does Hiero), and his mom doesn't like it. I had to laugh, since I could see this coming years ago! When I left the apartment at 7:50 (so late!), Harmony said that Beckett had called me "Attie," and he called me that again while pointing to me. HE KNOWS WHO I AM AND WHAT MY NAME IS - SO CUTE!Hiero told me seriously that his school friend knows Punjabi and she wanted to teach him some language skills - good for them! Harmony wanted to know if I could come on Friday the 13th, so I said yes. As it turned out, I hope fervently that I used up ALL my "bad luck" tonight - I kept on missing trains and buses galore! EVERY SINGLE ONE! I got home at 10, which is pretty fucking late!

From Reddit: For the first time since January 10th, 2006 (which was also a Tuesday), the Vancouver Canucks will finally host the Toronto Maple Leafs at 7 PM PST. The Canucks played Toronto tonight at 7, and lost 4-1. UGH!

Random stuff from the family: Novelty HOT FLASHES socks from Hatley, Ontrue roasted seaweed in Wasabi flavor, a pink "XXL" Xi Fu Fen pajama set (more like Small), a light brown Rice Balls (actual brand name) sweater with purple stars from Korea, and a 52mL tube of Colgate MaxFresh Knock Out toothpaste.

From Julie: When you're washing the dishes and the water hits a spoon! WATER IN YOUR FACE AND ON YOUR CLOTHES!

Snowflake art on the bedroom door!

Hiero insisted on having a green heart on the bathroom door! No double-sided arrow, however!

Ontrue seasoned and roasted seaweed in Wasabi flavor! Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Red bling shirt for Christmastime!

White bling sweater for Christmastime!

SANTA HAT TIME!

Thanks for the Hatley socks for my non-existent HOT FLASHES, Jon and Harmony...

A Rice Balls brown sweater made in Korea... thanks for the Engrish, Mom and Dad!

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Beckett saying hi / GIF resizer! / Pencil getting dinner with eraser editor!

2019-09-20T05:34:49Z

GIF Resizer

9/17/19 is also a palindrome date AND MY BIRTHDAY! After COFFEE TIME, I went out at 3:30 on a 401 to help with the kids. I JUST missed the Brighouse train because of someone shoving their way onto the elevator when the door was closing, and ALMOST missed the 3 bus at Marine Drive because someone wanted to let others on the already full elevator! JESUS CHRIST! People already on the elevator have connections to make and places to go - they can wait for the next one! And no, I did not leave really late!

When I finally got to the house at about the usual time, Beckett was fussing and trying to sleep. Ayler and Hiero were doing some origami; no, they couldn't test me on my birthday since that isn't very nice! I got to see Ayler construct a tiny gift box, while Hiero put very small things in his. Ayler wanted me to look at the origami book, so I did - lots of stuff in there for sure! Later, he wanted to see if he was taller than me yet - nope, but he was also cheating (which I told him) because he was standing on the mat and I was standing on the floor. I did tell him - as usual - the demarcation between my neck and my chin. Wow, he's 4 foot 6 already?!

We had dinner earlier than Beckett, and Hiero told me something interesting about making friends in kindergarten. It's good to know the proper names of your body parts, I told him. Harmony asked what I did for my actual birthday: Uh, you're currently looking at it! Turns out Jon believed Mom when she said it was the 16th, so I told her that maybe she shouldn't automatically believe Mom, and take what SHE says with a very liberal grain of salt. Homemade tomato soup, artisan bread, sticky rice (JONG), chicken feet, spicy sausage, soft carrots, and shortbread camel cookies - I declined the relaxing tea, though!

Beckett finally got a little bit of sleep - which I agree that he needed - and then crawled to my chair and pulled himself up to say hi and eat my dragon hoodie strings. CUTE! He wanted me to play with him, so I did - without washing my hands, which I'm sure Harmony wasn't impressed with. Oh well. Sometimes you gotta let the kid lead! He laughed at the baby pop-up toy, clapped and laughed, climbed on my back to try pulling my hair (Ayler says he claws people and pulls their hair now), and seemed way more energetic than Harmony thought he should be. Maybe he just wanted to play with me since he recognizes and likes me now!

Later, he crawled into the bathroom while Ayler was in there, but I was interested to see what he gets up to inside. Turns out that he's smart and knows that his blue basin is inside the shower stall, so wants to put it on his head. I took him out of there to play with better toys on the mat, and he climbed on me when I put the soccer ball on my head. Harmony let me go early at 7:10, which was a change. There was a transit officer on the 3 Marine Drive bus already, which again did not stop anywhere randomly for a few minutes. I still was a couple minutes late for a Brighouse train, but eventually got home at 8:45. Not a bad end to my birthday at all, involving no rushing like LAST YEAR!

From Nita: A pencil is on the phone. "I'll call you back later, okay? I'm having dinner with my editor." The RUBBER ERASER is the editor, hahaha!

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Poop Time! / This toilet paper really cleaned my anus! / No-smell pooping!

2018-03-17T23:15:25Z

From Someecards and Reddit: Poop time via pie chart! Time spent actually pooping, vs. time spent pretending that you have more in you while browsing Internet and using any possible opportunity to distract yourself from upcoming imminent realization that at some point, you have to leave this peaceful, warm, and cozy bathroom and step out back into that harsh and unforgiving world.

From Someecards and FuckJerry: This Cushelle toilet paper "really cleaned my anus!" Thanks for sharing, Janet (49) from Kent...

From Someecards and Memebase: Sing like no one is listening! Love like you've never been hurt! Dance like no one is watching! Poop like no one can smell it. (I fixed our bathroom picture. Wife was not amused.)

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2017 Yearly Recap!

2017-12-31T17:26:40Z

2017

JANUARY

* Finally got a CHIMO / Family Services phone intake done with Jocelyn, then finally finished JONBOUND. [Jan. 6]

* I created a Discord account for whatever reason, probably to talk to Lucas and his weird friends, plus Kramer and his Twitch stream friends. [Jan. 7]

* Finished replaying HALLOW'S END on Turbo Mode. [Jan. 11]

* Unfortunately, I had to get the passport stuff done with my parents. [Jan. 12]

* Visited Vanessa in the hospital after her surgery. [Jan. 13]

* Hiero's third birthday party! Ayler told me that he needed to take more nachos. Sure, why not? [Jan. 22]

* I got my ten-year passport through registered mail! [Jan. 25]

* Finally finished the very difficult MOTHER 2 DELUXE, and started FINAL FANTASY VI: ETERNAL CRYSTALS. [Jan. 28]

( Highlights and lowlights! )

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Autumn Lipstick personality! / Frosting flavor! / James Caan! James Can't!

2017-09-23T00:01:36Z

"Your Autumn Lipstick is Dusty Rose"

You are wise and quietly smart. You often know more than most people, but you tend to keep that to yourself.
You appreciate subtlety in everything. You think most people try too hard, and you always prefer nuance.

You are naturally stylish, and you've got that effortlessly chic thing down. You have an eye for beauty.
No one sees how much work goes into your look, and you like it that way. Your makeup enhances, but doesn't distract.

What's Your Autumn Lipstick Personality?

Blogthings: 100's of Fun, Free Quizzes!

"You Are Chocolate Frosting"

You're the first to admit that you're a bit old-school, but you prefer the term "classic."
Unlike a lot of modern people, you don't believe in depriving yourself. A little indulgence is a good thing, especially if it's frosting!

You take good care of yourself, and you never forget to look after your loved ones. You are naturally thoughtful and generous.
You are the type of person who likes to work behind the scenes. You don't think of yourself as anything special, but people wouldn't want to live without you.

What Flavor Frosting Are You?

Blogthings: 100's of Fun, Free Quizzes!

From Julie: James Caan! James Can't!

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