Tatiana's Wanderings

Hester's husband Ni interrupted me at 1:20 today to investigate my lamp fixture / light bulb cover note. "No safety concern" and "that's the one that came with the building?" and "I have to think"! AIYA! I also had to be an adult (again) since Auntie Vonnie texted me a couple days ago to say the building insurance had expired, so I let Dad know instead. After a bunch of texts, I finally had to go to TXL in person (at least I know where it is?) today and sign a form, telling Sheryl to just bill my dad's credit card instead since they have the number for that. I left at 2:10 on a 414.

Went to Kwong Chow for some Chinese mushroom / bok choy noodle soup afterwards since I'd only had a strawberry chiffon doughnut at Tim Horton's beforehand, figuring I had just enough time between 3 buses to do so. Then some literal children and their knapsacks blocked my view of the intersection so I couldn't see which bus was coming - I only JUST managed to get the Marine Drive station bus! FINALLY made plans with Frances via text for next Monday, the 17th, at the Oakridge White Spot. "I can pick exactly 6!" she said... dude, you're actively making plans with another person?!

At the station, I went to T&T and got Samyang noodles x3 (regular fire noodles / 2X Spicy noodles / black bean noodles), then went to London Drugs on a 401 since I'd just missed the 407. I got a NEW white Evercare delicates laundry bag WITH A ZIPPER (I opened another package in the store to see if it had a zipper) from Aisle 4, then almost lost it because some lady stepped on it in the lineup for the cash register. The Asian lady in front of me thought the cashier was also Asian (so did I), so spoke Cantonese to her as she bought 15 bottles of on-sale Sunkist Vitamin C and three Arm and Hammer toothpaste tubes.

Turns out the cashier is actually Indonesian and doesn't even know any Cantonese, although she attempted Mandarin. The lady gave me a thumbs-up after I told her that the clerk didn't know any Chinese! The lady BEHIND ME wanted to go ahead of me, but NO - I was AHEAD of her! Then she thought I was stealing from the store because I had a huge reusable bag - I told her off! I finally got home at 6:15 on a 407! ENOUGH OF BEING AN ADULT! I also used Paulo as a reminder service, and complained about things to Mike.


This poop emoji is useful if you're in love with the shit.




Strawberry Chiffon doughnut at Tim Horton's!




Chinese mushroom and vegetable noodle soup at Kwong Chow!




They have pork BLOOD congee here at Kwong Chow...




Evercare delicates laundry bag with a zipper for things that shouldn't go in the dryer, found in Aisle 4 of my nearest London Drugs! Much better for my slipper socks!

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.

After COFFEE TIME, I went out at 4 on a 407 to hopefully make it on time to Do Chay Vegetarian Vietnamese restaurant at Kingsway and Knight. The Brighouse stops have changed because of some construction for a new bus loop - will we ever get to use it? (old Richmond Centre stop is a block back - the Brighouse stop is the old 410 stop) I got there at 5, so killed time by going to the crowded Dollar Tree. I should have just gone into Save-On Foods because I almost killed myself going out of the store since their outside lighting left a lot to be desired. THE STAIRS AND RAMP SHOULD BE LIT UP! I eventually walked back a block to the Save-On, where I bought Teriyaki Noodles Sidekicks and Allen's Malt Vinegar before taking advantage of their wifi connection to copy-paste a NON-MMS text message to Mike into Hangouts instead, and catch up on Youtube comments. No, idiot, you can't police public comments and say "normal" people can't hijack others OR wish staph on me! BAD SOCIAL CUES!

I STILL got to the restaurant first, but hoped that Jon had reserved a table when he wouldn't answer my text messages. Hiero came in a couple of minutes later with Mom, Dad, and a wheeled small suitcase. Dad showed me how the luggage handle worked (push down / pull up), got me to try it out, and gave me some tiny keys which weren't for me. Geez, they're going to set off alarms at the airport! Apparently, they're NOT driving me to the airport anymore - WHAT THE FUCK?! Ayler asked me how many pounds I weighed, only to be shot down by various people.

We talked about monsoon rolls, their running out of coffee, the pub down the street KNOWING they get busy and send people there to wait, tomorrow's plans (Harmony's parents are coming by - so I MIGHT come on Friday if I let her know by Thursday evening), Harmony working on Friday, Beckett liking to look at all the lights, satay noodles, spicy soup noodles, Ayler asking the server about how busy the restaurant gets on weekends (I said he had a question... A TWO-HOUR WAIT?!), Steph meeting Mark Messier, and Dad's choir tonight. It was definitely cold outside when we left at 7:15 or so! I got home at 8:05 on a 407, thanks to Jon and Harmony driving me to King Edward Station. Ayler and Hiero thanked me for my Christmas gifts - I still have time to give Beckett the stuffed Santa dog, I think. The Canucks played Philadelphia at 4, and lost 2-1.


Random stuff from Mom and Dad: President's Choice jalapeno cheddar popcorn, a yellow-green Roots knapsack or backpack to "replace" my reusable bags from London Drugs, two Paderno steak knives, small Cuisinart scissors, a 100 Yen coin, grey Touch Gloves mittens, a Gildan black T-shirt with a golden dragon, an Asian notebook, an embossed pink rose journal, and two random spiral notepads. Mike would be jealous of the Doge bag!


President's Choice jalapeno cheddar popcorn!




Zippered Doge bag!




( Do I really need a packing list? )

I left at 1:35 and just managed to get the 414 at the non-existent 56447 bus stop - PHEW! Went to London Drugs and bought on-sale limited-edition Lays Chips in Cheese Onion and Spicy Cheddar, on-sale McSweeney's Premium Jerky and Meat Snacks Canadian Maple pork jerky, on-sale McSweeney's original and Cracked Black Pepper and Teriyaki beef jerky, a dark blue MARTEX bath towel, NEW Strawberry-Banana Tic Tacs Mixers, and some on-sale Royal Dansk butter cookies for Deb and Dylan. Then I went to see Rachel at the Caring Place, which went fine even after talking about two weeks ago. I got home at 5:15 on a 401, no thanks to a delay. Now I am going to relax! I also just checked my mail - someone sent me THE FARTING ANIMALS COLORING BOOK (M.T. Lott) via Amazon recently... NICE! The amount of white packing Styrofoam material inside the Amazon envelope was not so nice, though! (I should pack it up and send it to Jimmy, ha ha ha... he supposedly HATES it!)

Edit: The surprise in the mail turned out to be from Alice again - AWESOME!


McSweeney's Original beef jerky - proudly Canadian and ON SALE! Shinny hockey in Lake Louise, Alberta.




( More snacks and bad black names! )