Tatiana's Wanderings

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

Wed, 11 Dec 2019 10:54:05 GMT

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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Trapped inside a snow globe! / Dwynne Farneson?! / Grammartif macht frei

Mon, 09 Dec 2019 03:28:42 GMT

Vanessa wanted to get together yesterday for lunch at Mama's Dumplings, but I fobbed her off until Tuesday (when she'll have Cassidy) with an excuse once she wanted me to bus to Coppersmith Place: the Canucks-Sabres game at 1 AND my broken suitcase! She actually messaged me at 12:30 today to say that she's trying not to eat out much, and she has to have dinner with her mom and brothers (who won't be in town for Christmas) on Tuesday, so I got the hint there that she can't make it for this Tuesday. At least this makes my Tuesday much less hectic! PHEW!

Eric M. is still working on the 19th, so can't take me to the airport. He did help me via text message: Apparently, I should leave on the 9:07 407 that morning since domestic flights only need you to be an hour early, but I should perhaps be even earlier. I told him that I might as well build in time to get lost... No, not his suggestion of 8:45 PM the night before - that is even earlier than the anal people who show up to things an hour early and then blame a "late" you for being normal and on time because they’ve been waiting for an hour! Not sure what I'll do for breakfast on the day besides Starbucks coffee bottles - I'll definitely have to remember to shut down my computer and everything else! Actually, I just texted Deb and she says she happens to be off on the 19th, so can give me a ride in the morning - YAY!

Air Canada luggage allowance for suitcases, knapsacks, and bags! 21.5 x 9 x 15.5 inches for a Standard Article, and 13 x 6 x 17 inches for a Personal Article!

Help! We're trapped inside a fish bowl or Christmas snow globe, and we can't get out...

From Julie: Dwynne Farneson?! We both want to pronounce it like DWIN.

From Not Always Right: Grammartif macht frei.

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SUNDAY DINNER 2019 with Belgian food! / Coasters and gibberish! / Santa's Sac!

Mon, 25 Nov 2019 22:26:26 GMT

After COFFEE TIME, I went out at 2:40 on a 401 to a sick Jeremy's for Jon's birthday dinner since Eric could give me a ride home after UBC hockey and helping in the kitchen. I bought on-sale Knorr Sidekicks in Chicken and Broccoli rice and pasta / Homestyle Cheddar / Chicken Fried Rice, some high-visibility fluorescent yellow-green stickers and slap bracelet straps from Dollar Land (FINALLY!), some 100 mL Vaseline lotion in the yellow tube for Ontario from Shoppers Drug Mart, and a small bag of NEW on-sale Takis Outlaw snacks from Buy-Low for the Gwei-Lo at Kingsgate Mall since I got there at 3:20. I managed to get to Jeremy's at 4:35 after cutting through Dude Chilling Park, and Ayler wasn't even there yet to lock me out like he did last year! Eric sent me a text while I was there to ask if I was here yet... crazy! I did give him his Windel Advent calendar and Delecto dark chocolate assortment, and gave Jeremy his Windel Advent calendar too.

The kids got there a while later; Harmony said she was glad I was there already because then I could help her watch Beckett and take him from Jesse later on when he needed a break. Yeah, I let him look at the big screen for a minute - that's not going to get him addicted! Jeremy said there were some unsafe things for babies behind the chairs - yes, I could see wires! Beckett toddled around and wanted to turn off the computer, which Ayler thought was a touchscreen again. I let Beckett touch my fuzzy purple Alia winter coat, go up on the couch (but NOT touch the Japanese painting), hold my hands as he walked around, spout gibberish about the glass table (he can see the carpet!) and point at the lights and new things, and give me all the beer coasters a few times over.

Yes, he could throw those around if he wanted to, but NOT the candles or anything else! NOT SUITABLE PROJECTILES! He was also eventually curious about Jeremy's beard, like Ayler and Hiero had been. Ayler was smart and knew that I would have Advent calendars for them. He has a bonus dragon book since HE is a DRAGON too! The Santa stuffed dog was in my bag later when I got home, but I can give it to Beckett before my trip. Hiero wanted to be Batman or Superman in front of everyone.

I was civil and polite to Raymond when he was in the way and admiring Jeremy's bookshelf while I wanted to get my UTHER book from my bag to show Trish later, and also when I handed him some dishes that needed to be washed. Caught up with Caleb (I saw his uncle William recently!), Becky, Alice, Jeremy, Randal, Jesse, Trish, Lanie, and Christon for sure. (Ayler's math prowess / the Japanese soldier who refused to surrender until his commanding officer said so / my upcoming trip / writing / Jacob's Well / SERVANTS / the Spain honeymoon / buying a new place and moving / a rice cooker / the microwave / Jeremy seeing Steph in the newspaper as a random RCMP officer and confirming with Jon)

I met Jon's friend Mallory, noticed that his friend Jay had a "scent" about him, and "met" his friends Chris and Mallory. Since we all had to leave an hour or so earlier because Jeremy was feeling under the weather (bad timing as he got sick from his co-workers yesterday!), Eric and I actually left at 9 or so! We talked about gluten-free ice cream sandwiches being good for his mom and brother, his staying home at Christmas, FIRE EMBLEM, and a raccoon being outside near the dumpster when we got to my place at 9:30. (it was a milk jug...)

Trappiste Rochefort beer!

Santa's Sac beer, haha!

( Food and safety and more! )

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Gloucester Café! / Beckett and reading! / Pepto-Bismol is NOT eyeshadow!

Thu, 17 Oct 2019 05:02:46 GMT

After COFFEE TIME and calling the Lost Property Office too early for them to receive lost Translink items at 1 (UGH!), I went out at 11:10 on a 401 to go to the Gloucester Café to meet Auntie Catherine for my last belated birthday meal, taking the 15 Olympic Village bus down at Bay 2 across the street rather than walk the seven blocks in the iffy weather. So I was ten minutes late - it still was reasonably on time for me! I scanned the restaurant and finally saw her sitting at a table - she hugged me hello, and we eventually ordered two dishes to share with our individual hot milk tea. Seafood spaghetti in a creamy dill sauce AND chicken pineapple satay fried rice with plenty of shrimp and egg! No, I didn't want to take the leftovers with me!

She talked about church and noticed that I didn't need my glasses, so she was surprised - she didn't know about my eye surgeries! We talked about Mattias and Marcus - they're 11 and 9 now?! Chung Yan still watches Canucks hockey, so YAY for that! Auntie Catherine gave me a surprise 100% red silk scarf (probably an Indian scarf), so that was totally good! It was pretty rainy when we left at 1:20 (Harmony texted to say I could come at 3:30 or so), but I assured her that I'd be fine without an umbrella, and definitely didn't want to go to the North Shore or some other Vancouver Public Library! I just killed time at Oakridge with the free wifi, found out that I'd been BANNED from TwoX Chromosomes because of the too-inclusive special snowflakes ("not all women have vaginas" is very weird), and left at 3 on a 41st Avenue bus (then a 3) to get to the house at 3:35.

Beckett was surprisingly awake and definitely wanted to play with me, the baby pop-up toy (he's now strong enough to make it pop up himself once or twice), and the various balloons scattered around the room. He also threw the plastic blocks at me, but I didn't hold it against him. Hiero laughed when he saw that, so I said with a very serious face that it was NOT FUNNY, and let Harmony take care of the rest. Ayler had to read the Monkeys book with me, and Hiero wanted me to read a book that was at least different than the ones I'd read on Sunday. Beckett wanted to see what we were doing / be close to me, but his brothers didn't like that. I had to give him a few hugs because he was upset! I let Ayler use my cell phone calculator after he said that I was still better at math than he is (debatable) and Beckett said, "Na na na NAAAAAAAAA!", which is what he says when he REALLY wants something! (like the Rice Krispies, a couple of which I put in his mouth at snacktime, which he didn't seem to mind)

Speaking of being serious, Beckett had an extremely serious expression on his face when he was signing "MORE" at dinner. He did get more food, but started throwing it around, even decorating my red bling sweater with macaroni and cheese. (we also had squash, turkey, stuffing, and other Thanksgiving leftovers) Ayler asked me why drinking prune juice meant that you had to be on the toilet all afternoon (because I told him that), so I told him that there was a lot of fiber in prunes. He seemed to accept that. After Beckett cried and was let go from the table to crawl around, he knocked over Ayler's silver water cup, causing Ayler to get all wet and then cry and melt down himself.

Beckett threw the balloons around and said what sounded like "cup" - at least, he had the hard C sound down! Ayler wanted to regale me with piano technique, so I let him tell me about it while listening very seriously. I enjoy it when he tells me about his interests! Hiero wanted me to read to him, but I said that I had to watch Beckett to make sure he didn't kill himself. We also discussed global warming in a kid-appropriate way. I left at 7:20 and finally got home at 8:40. The Canucks played Detroit tonight at 7, and won 5-1.

Pepto-Bismol is NOT Annabelle eyeshadow, London Drugs website...

Paper bus transfer in 2019! I sure wish the buses would give out actual Compass Card transfers, though!

Lamp chop for lunch, anyone? Yay for Engrish!

Seafood and spaghetti in a creamy dill sauce as part of a belated birthday 2019 lunch!

Chicken and pineapple satay fried rice with plenty of egg and shrimp!

A red 100% Silk Scarf from Auntie Catherine for my belated birthday in 2019!

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Thanksgiving 2019 dinner! / Lost bus pass again?! / Beckett and waving! / Books!

Mon, 14 Oct 2019 07:59:45 GMT

Today is No Bra Day! After COFFEE TIME, I went out at 3:10 on a 407 to go to the family Thanksgiving Dinner. Killed time at Shoppers Drug Mart by buying on-sale M and Ms in Hazelnut Spread flavor, on-sale Life store brand honey lemon cough drops (the pharmacy students didn't understand the word "lozenge"...), and NEW on-sale Live Clean foaming body washes: Shea and Murumuru Butter, plus Mango and Aloe Butter! I must have LOST MY COMPASS CARD on the 3 Downtown bus (which I just managed to get at 4 PM) because I couldn't find it when I left Jon's! It definitely wasn't in my pockets or on the floor that I could see. I need to stop stuffing things in my pockets! UGH!

Anyway, I read six whole books to Hiero (BERENSTEIN BEARS / three STAR WARS / one BATMAN / one Monkey book) and remembered to enjoy the moments of him on my lap and listening. Ayler wanted to read the bus timetable, tell me about decimals (in Grade 2?!) and division in Grade 3, and said "Are you kidding me?!" in Cantonese a lot. When Harmony got back with Beckett, he wanted to play with me, so I made him laugh at the baby pop-up toy. He also went up to Mom, who didn't seem to know he was there, so Jon and I had to say that Beckett was saying hi to her! Of course he also wanted to play with the HP printer display, which had changed into Chinese for Hiero-related reasons. Dad eventually managed to fix it, so was blocking Beckett from playing with the display. He wanted to grab my hat, but I said no. Mom said something about SIM cards and Steph's number and phone. Sure, whatever. She also referred to me as "Fat Aunt" with him - UGH!

Due to the dinner configuration, I sat next to Beckett while eating cheese / apple slices / turkey / gravy / kimchi / cranberry sauce / pizza bread / Brussels sprouts / salad. He grabbed my sweater a few times (I JUST washed it!) and threw food around as usual. Later, he wanted to crawl to my chair when he'd finished eating and Harmony had cleaned him up, but was blocked by Ayler's special chair. I did play with him more after I myself had finished eating and washing my hands: he still throws the little Play=Doh container at people, as well as all the balloons that were on the floor.

Then Beckett cried when a balloon popped! He also cried when he was really done with dinner, as in real tears and everything! Later, Harmony had to put him down for sleeping, so we waved goodnight to him. Harmony was surprised when Beckett imitated what I was doing; that was the FIRST TIME EVER that he waved to ANYONE, so I must have the magic touch! (like I did with Hiero in 2014 when he wouldn't let Harmony sleep) Since Jon agreed to drive me to King Edward Station later, Mom and Dad left because there were only 12 inches of room between the carseats in their vehicle. Hiero asked me about that later, using the correct family names, so I gave him an answer. I later discovered that I had somehow lost my bus pass! Jon gave me $6.50, which was it (that's fine) and enough to cover Tuesday's fare as well. Got home at 9:10 on a 401 (I'd missed a 407 by a few minutes) and then thought that maybe the bus pass could be between the couch cushions. If not, then I will call the Lost and Found Office / Ministry on Tuesday morning.

Random stuff from Mom and Dad: Western Family hot and spicy pasta sauce, plus a small silver pan thing.

Live Clean foaming body washes: Shea and Murumuru Butter, Moringa and Matcha Butter, plus Mango and Aloe Butter!

Western Family hot and spicy pasta sauce!

What is with this weird VerifyError Spectrum Plugins error message when I try to post phone pictures on Facebook?!

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Birthday level-up! / Palindrome Week 2019! / Deicide Huxtable?! / Jeramie?!

Wed, 18 Sep 2019 09:10:09 GMT

9/17/19 is also a palindrome date AND MY BIRTHDAY! The Canucks played the Oilers at 7 tonight, and WON 4-2 for my birthday! :D

From Janet, AKA ghost_light: You've leveled up for your birthday! +2 wisdom, +1 age, +5 presents!

It's Palindrome Week 2019! 9/10/19 to 9/19/19 are ALL palindrome dates!

9/17/19 is also a palindrome date! The Canucks played Edmonton tonight at 7 in Game #3 of the preseason, and s.

Deicide Huxtable?!

From Julie: Jeramie?! BAD SPELLING OF JEREMY!

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Sureal Sparx?! / My being an asshole today / SOUTH PARK and outraged millennials

Sat, 14 Sep 2019 04:46:05 GMT

It's the Mid-Autumn Festival 2019 and Friday the 13th today! 9/13/19 is also a palindrome date! Since Luke and Flaps were talking in Spanish in sober Discord, I decided to ask them to do Mom's Spanish translation if she ever forwarded it to me! If it's so urgent, she should have forwarded it earlier today, so I messaged Jon to see what was up with that. Turns out Mom took "forward us" to mean just Jon and Harmony. At least Luke did it in almost no time at all, for which I thanked him. Mom doesn't need to know that a friend I met through the Internet did it, ha ha ha! I had Pete as backup, too.

Sureal Sparx?!

From Julie M., BetaSalmon, and The "Fuck U" Button: This is me wondering how big of an asshole I'm going to be today.

From Julie: SOUTH PARK movie! Here's a Special Report on a Canadian and an outraged millennial, hahaha!

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Baileigh, Braidyn, Mornisha, Ladrea, Shay, Dewayne, Dewaun, JC, and Kiana?!

Tue, 27 Aug 2019 21:12:27 GMT

Chinese Eric texted me to say that his co-worker had gotten him a "great" deal on BC Lions tickets for Sept. 13: only $40 to $50 each! HA HA HA. If this is for BOTH our birthdays, it should be something we BOTH like, and I don't even like football at the best of times!

From Julie: Baileigh?! BAD SPELLING OF BAILEY!

( SO MANY BAD NAMES! )

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Avoiding baby showers, weddings, and bridal showers because of gender concerns?!

Tue, 11 Dec 2018 04:27:52 GMT

From Reddit on October 11, 2018: If you just don't like baby showers, bridal showers, and weddings... SAY SO, RobotRosa! "Highly gendered stuff," my ass!

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Brace yourselves... the NHL preseason is coming!

Sat, 15 Sep 2018 20:48:24 GMT

Barry A. Cook and Kyriakos Gouridaris tried adding me to Facebook - DENIED! Steph called me unexpectedly the other day (the 13th) to vent about Mom and her overly-complicated planning, especially trying to let JON pick the location for MY birthday AGAIN. His kids are not an excuse for everything! Planning with Lisa's side of the family is "we're inviting ourselves over for dinner... boom, done!" She definitely doesn't miss that OR Mom, but does miss me and seeing the boys. Apparently, Mom was trying to get her to come over for my birthday, but if she wouldn't fly over for Beckett's baby banquet last week... at least Lisa, Fraser, and Henry are doing well. I don't care if she can't make it for my birthday, especially if it's just her solo and everyone else isn't part of Mom's "whole family" image! That's offensive!

Then I called Auntie Catherine last night (the 14th), trying to change our Monday plans to Saturday plans like it originally was. Nope, she has car issues and the doctor's appointment is better for her. Well, I felt bad trying to do that, which is something rare for me. Oh well, at least I briefly talked to Chung on the phone, and Auntie Catherine can just meet me in front of Pepper Lunch!

From Hockey Memes: Brace yourselves... the NHL preseason is coming!

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Emerald Lennon Looney and Isla Hendrix Looney are twins?! / DAYLAN?! WTF?!

Thu, 13 Sep 2018 20:47:51 GMT

I went out at 11 to get some cream puffs from Beard Papas, but they only opened at 12! Instead, I walked to a busy Pricemart where I managed to find an on-sale Gizella Pastry assorted cheesecake ($9.99 for New York / mango / strawberry / blueberry cheesecake slices!) which expires on the 20th. All the other cakes and desserts expired from the 15th to the 17th, so not good for my birthday plans. While I was in the line for the self-checkout (because the other lines were really long), I saw on-sale NEW limited-edition Strawberry Shortcake Oreos, so of course I had to grab those! Then I got UNEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA and PLEASE REMOVE ITEM FROM BAGGING AREA error messages - UGH!

Afterwards, I went to London Drugs and actually had to look for the Always bulk pads in packs of 38; thank goodness I found one! While going through my SWISS GEAR wallet, I found that my Strepsils there expire this month (September 2018), so went to the pharmacy next door to get Adam to show me the honey lemon and black cherry Strepsils. I got the latter, and got home at 12:10 on a 407.

From Julie: Emerald Lennon Looney and Isla Hendrix Looney are twins?! Also, Aaron is together with someone named Erin?! HOW CONFUSING!

From Gretchen: Daylan?! Your cousin does not know how to spell DYLAN...

Limited-edition Strawberry Shortcake Oreos!

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Radee Labeeb Prince is a shooter's name?! / The Demicolon and surrealism!

Mon, 11 Dec 2017 04:00:57 GMT

I FOUND A SMALL BONE IN MY PASTA EARLIER! WHAT THE FUCK?!

From the r/hockey Discord server: Radee Labeeb Prince?!

From Sara and r/surrealmemes: The Demicolon!

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Surgate Ghetto: Joys of Cooking with Soylent Green, Tzepish, Jack the Ripper!

Mon, 11 Dec 2017 03:43:20 GMT

The FINAL FANTASY V SPOOF party makes it to Surgate Ghetto. The soldiers ask them who they are. "Galuf Halm Baldesion. I believe you have six warrants for my arrest." Apparently, criminals are treated like royalty there, but they still hate Jews like Faris!

( Lots of weird library shelves in the Surgate Ghetto! )

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