Tatiana's Wanderings

It's International Bacon Day today!


After COFFEE TIME, Eric picked me up at 12:05 for the wedding. Chinese Eric had texted him "hey" and nothing else, so Eric asked me to see what was up with that. Apparently, he'd asked him whether he'd picked me up yet. The wedding was very religious and traditional on Religion Road at Fujian Evangelical Free Church. I was glad to see Jeremy and Nate at least! Yes, things were relatively quick, but COME ON!

Later, I learned that Jon insisted that we all have lunch at Four Winds Pub in Delta - REALLY? (me, him, both Erics, Nathan, Jeremy, and Wesley) Why didn't you let someone know BEFORE I LEFT THE FUCKING HOUSE?! THAT'S the problem with spontaneity! I did NOT eat anything (the burritos were huge though!), and was very fucking annoyed with everyone - so just read and did not say much of anything. At least I got to talk to Nathan alone for a few minutes about his present feelings on weddings after all that had happened. He had had to do Citrus's wedding afterwards, but said that now it was okay, and thanked me for asking.

After that, SOMEONE also wanted to go for good coffee at Rocanini's in Steveston - can't you think of what I want for once?! We talked about everyone staring at their phone - I was trying to bang out a relatively quick message to Mike with the reliable wi-fi while we were there. THEN we decamped to white Eric's, where Veronica had kindly set up a table and chairs for us in the backyard before going to Van Dusen Gardens with Ron. At least I had water and ginger ale throughout the afternoon.

When we finally got to the restaurant, the parkade proved to be pretty confusing! I was at a table with everyone I knew, but we were stuck at the very back behind two pillars! We saw Deb, Dylan, Martin J. (who apparently also has an autistic kid), Martin T., Randal, Kevin, Isabel, Sheena, Lincoln, Karen, Vivian, and Geoffrey. We discussed the seating, "MORE TONGUE!" (we're known for shenanigans), Quiznos, Singapore, durian mochi NOT being durian MOCHA, hair follicle transplants done by ROBOTS, Samaritan's Purse, that lady who died because a metal straw pierced her brain, and the waiter taking the food platter away after he showed it to us BEFORE scooping it on our plates individually at the back. Some people had too much red / white wine, apparently including Alice's mom, which is how the MORE TONGUE thing came about.

After everything was done, I STILL had to wait around for the cleanup crew (who'd been given thank-you cards beforehand so they couldn't just "forget" about it), and then the loiterers! UGH! We did amuse ourselves at the photo booth, but STILL! Talked to Deb a bit about the summer, to Eric about PowerPoint (that's a VERY VALID excuse to leave...), and to Jon about Tom Lee Music / Hiero not getting any bullet train toys / my being there on Tuesday / speech therapy. Just as Eric and I were about to FINALLY drive away at 10:30, Chinese Eric delayed us by asking where Nathan was. HOW SHOULD WE KNOW?! I said GOODNIGHT rather firmly, and FINALLY got home at 10:40. Yes, I live THAT close to Kirin!


THE WEDDING BANQUET MENU:

* Kirin special platter with roasted suckling pig, sauteed prawns, and scallops with pureed truffle

* deep-fried crab claw wrapped with minced prawn

* bird nest soup with fish maw and Chinese ham

* live lobster in consomme with light ginger and green onion

* sliced wild catch California Mexico brand abalone braised with fish maw, Chinese mushroom, and peatips

* crispy skin free range chicken

* steamed live fish

* special fried rice with dried shrimp wrapped in lotus leaf

* E-Fu noodles stewed with two kinds of mushrooms in abalone sauce

* two kinds of Dim Sum dessert

* Kirin special sweetened soup


What do you mean, Four Winds Pub has no tacos?!




( Most of the food... )


Five years from now (our wedding day), I'll be stabbing you with this same knife. Enjoy the cake, honey!

I showered today. Got Christon and Alice's wedding invitation today - at least both the wedding and reception are in Richmond, so I can probably get white Eric to give me a ride on August 31! KIRIN AND BLUNDELL CHURCH, AHOY!


From Reddit and r/UnresolvedMysteries: Shy'Kemmia Shy'Rezz Pate, AKA Shy-Shy?! This message board posting was made on February 18, 2007! WHAT AN ANNIVERSARY!




From the r/hockey Discord server: Here's a Doge as a scoop of vanilla ice cream! Jesus Christ... I'm fucking melting!

After COFFEE TIME, Eric M. picked me up at 5 so we could go to Golden Spring Restaurant (near the old VCEFC church site) for Beckett's baby banquet. Unfortunately, I forgot his birthday Lindt Excellence dark chocolate bars (Madagascar / Pink Peppercorn) and birthday card on the way out the door, despite leaving a note for myself. I guess I'll have to give it to him at the Felico's dinner like he wanted. UGH! At least he can give me a ride to that one! We talked about his first hockey practice today, his first game on Wednesday, there being a good reason why Steph / Lisa / Fraser / Henry weren't here this weekend, Highway 99, Steveston, and more.

We had seafood soup, sweet and sour pork, chicken, fish, yee mein, red bean soup, jellyfish, Chinese cold cuts, seafood soup, tea, and more for dinner - I got to take leftovers home, too! Dad thought he had to remind me to say hi to Mom, Uncle Richard, Auntie Gloria, Pastor Fulton, Auntie Teresa, Auntie May, Uncle Anthony, Uncle Andre and his wife Anna, Uncle Joe, Auntie Wing Yee, Auntie Vivian (who said that she missed me and wondered where I'd been "hiding"), Uncle Eric, Auntie Brenda, and their other friends. No, I just wanted to get settled first! I did say hi to Holly, Peter, Evander, and Everett when they got there, of course.

When Auntie Catherine got there, we caught up a little later - she remembered my birthday in September as "a special time," and wanted us to get together. She said that Frances is getting baptized next week - ha ha ha, good luck with that! (from what Ellen tells me...) I'm probably not going to go for THAT service, but did personally tell Jon that I would be willing to go to Beckett's baby baptism service if VCEFC ever got around to organizing one. Auntie Catherine also would be willing to meet me in RICHMOND (!) on Saturday the 15th, and maybe invite a friend my age. Okay, then! As long as it's not about religion AGAIN...

I taught Ayler about Talk Like A Pirate Day since he was wearing a pirate T-shirt. He asked what people did for that, and how he could celebrate; he eventually figured that he could wear his shirt and say "Arr, matey!" like I suggested. Good ideas! He did ask about my skin scars, but I told him that it was my choice to make boundaries about my body, just like him. Later, he refused to ask my reasonable question about how Grade 1 was so far; then he didn't want me to see the time on Eric's watch, so he covered it up. Okay, then. I did say hi to Hiero, but Harmony was wearing Beckett all evening, probably to prevent people from taking photos.

Nathan, Jeremy, Randal, Caleb, Rebecca, Jon, Harmony, Eric, and I talked about Batman / Quentin Tarantino / Twitch streams / my new glasses and upcoming eye surgery / my Felico's celebration (Jeremy and Nathan say they'll confirm later) / Danielle travelling these days / FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL / learning to ride bikes from Ron and Veronica / CRAZY RICH ASIANS / JOY LUCK CLUB / Kendrick Lamar / some guy named Danny Miller / addiction issues / rappers / the weird Asian shows on the TV, which Harmony did NOT feel the need to ask the staff to turn off / counting the courses. We saw Alan and Tracy with their kid Noah, so waved at them on their way out of the restaurant. I wished Myles a happy early birthday while saying hi to him, Brittney, and Naomi. Then Eric had to wait a few more minutes while I said bye to everyone that I knew... oh well.

Eric dropped me off at 8:40, which is still pretty good. Time to relax now! Oh wait, Mom wants Jon to choose the location of my birthday dinner AGAIN - yeah, I'm not putting up with that this year. Let ME pick the damn restaurant, although at least the Oakridge area on a Monday afternoon is better than Commercial Drive with Sunday bus schedules! Not saying I'll never go to Commercial Drive, but NOT at the behest of another person ON MY ACTUAL BIRTHDAY! No, I'm not feeling guilty about that. She tried calling me twice, but I was NOT in the mood for yet more social interaction. That's the true introvert nature!


Random stuff from Mom and Dad: $20 cash (making up for yesterday's pizza plus a little more), an old one-litre Proctor-Silex water boiler (half the size of my current one), a pair of white socks, a pair of pink-and-white candy toe socks, and 200 sheets of Hilroy lined paper.


Chinese jellyfish with chili!

I got an unexpected email and phone call from Mom about a phone at Wireless and Richmond Centre, so called them at 1:25 to discover that they had just gone from Richmond Centre. At least I got a relatively drama-free lunch at the nearby Mui's (satay beef and vermicelli noodles with hot milk tea!) and an extra $5 in cash out of it. Talked about a professional cleaning service, Eric M. going to baby Beckett's banquet so I might have a ride, weird advice about giving Barry an extra $5 or $10 cash every time he had to drive me downtown because it's the Chinese way of doing things (NO!), and Mom going deaf because of dishwashing machines at the hospital. Sure, whatever. At least I was back home at 2:05, and showered later!


Vanessa found this road sign with her name on it when she was in Ontario years ago! Norfolk County!

I went out to get my fix of computer time at Brighouse Library on Saturday yesterday, and left the building at 4, but saw the C94 going right past me, so I had to walk from there to Brighouse Station because I forgot about the 410. At least I resigned myself to being late! Ayler and Hiero seemed affectionate with the baby from what I could see. We had pizza for dinner, and I got to take some home!

Discussed Ayler having only four days left of school, my "wrinkly skin," why I was born prematurely, whether I'd held Ayler and Hiero when they were babies (of course!), my holding baby Beckett (who was asleep most of the time), Ayler lying about what I said (chocolate!) when I was RIGHT THERE, Ayler asking Jon's student Pius how much he weighed, Ayler asking Jon about stickers while he was sneezing, my doing some dishes, and Steph not coming to the baby banquet in September. I left at 7:20 and was home at 8:30. Then Andrew called me at 10 to ask for my password because he'd just gotten home from Cultus Lake and assorted things just then, but had started work at 1 AM on Friday. The updates are good!

Since I got up at 7:25 AM, it was COFFEE TIME! Later, I called Seafair Safeway customer service to see if I could return Oakridge Safeway items there instead. Since I could, I made plans to go there to return the Tostitos / Mrs. Renfro's salsa since I can't open it even with the jar opener! Before going out at 12:30, I called Chrystal at work to confirm things for tomorrow since I didn't want to waste a shower later, and we are on! At Seafair, they gave me grief about not specifying the brand and type of salsa since they didn't sell the Ghost Pepper there, so they'd have to throw it out. That's not my problem if I just want to return it - and no, I was not going back to the Oakridge Safeway!

When I got on the 402 back to Brighouse, I was surprised when someone called my name. It turned out that Uncle Peter and Auntie Ying were on that bus, having come from a massage and then doing some shopping later! So of course I talked to them all the way to Brighouse! I browsed Shoppers briefly, then bought Heluva Good dip (French Onion / Dill Pickle) which has a limited shelf life but is WAY EASIER to open, Welch's prune juice (which I could open WITHOUT the jar opener for now), NEW Tasty Bite Thai Lime rice, NEW Tasty Bite Thai Penang Ginger Curry sauce, and a dark blue GOODY toothbrush holder at London Drugs before getting home at 2:40 on a 407 in the rainy weather.


GOODY toothbrush holders!




( Chip dips and rice and sauce! )


From Janina: This black guy says, "Why do you complain about being single, but never get out of your house? I guess Mr. Right is gonna break into your house."




From Engrish.com and Library of Most Controversial Files: Please don't touch yourself. Let us help you to try out. Thanks!




The FINAL FANTASY VI: THE ETERNAL CRYSTALS party is talking to the soldiers at Vector just before the dinner banquet with Emperor Zemus. This armored soldier says, "Someone OUTTA thrash ya!" That's a stupid mistake!