Tatiana's Wanderings

The Romanovs: The Real History of the Russian Dynasty, Part 1

The Romanovs: The Real History of the Russian Dynasty, Part 2


I left at 4:30 to meet Paulo and Darryl at the Cascade Room (2616 Main Street, near Main and Broadway-ish, more like Main and 10th) for Paulo's belated birthday hangout at 6. I wanted to be early just in case there were stroller / wheelchair delays or elevator shenanigans - surprisingly for once, there were none of those AND I just managed to get a 3 bus which had ten people total in it, but they couldn't find my reservation when I got there at 5:30! I was seated at a high table pretty quickly, though they said they'd move me to a booth once some people left who had been there at 4. Paulo texted me and Darryl said on Discord that he was getting an Uber. We waited to see if Steve would show up (Estefan is in Whistler at the moment), and I finally messaged him. He replied pretty quickly to say he was having a bad day, so no. I showed them both the phone notification, and they joked about guilting him into it since we HAD to find a place that took reservations JUST FOR HIM! Seriously, dude - we could have stayed with the Brassneck Brewery plan!

We were on our phones a lot, which actually is pretty good for me. Talked about Jimbo's opinion on our Superfriends server and how I know I can't change his mind on it (and wouldn't want to - why bother?), the secret chat, all the drama, Holly's opinion on Jimbo not telling us much about his work, the 12 Kings meetup being last year on March 12 already, Brian being sued by some people, and Holly nuking the original server unexpectedly. I showed them some funny toilet paper-related memes, while we tried various food and drink: gin and tonic, Amber something, mushroom poutine, sausage rolls with barbecue sauce (which I spilled on my DRAGON HOODIE - necessitating MORE LAUNDRY when I got home!), white wine, schnitzel, steak, desserts, and more! The Cascade Room was advertising Jameson ginger and lime Slurpees for St. Patrick's Day 2020. Good luck with that!

Darryl said that his buddies might join us, and wondered if we'd mind. I said no, but deferred to Paulo since it was his belated birthday celebration - HE didn't mind, either. Harmony texted me at 7:15 to say not to worry about coming over next Tuesday as they're limiting everything non-essential including public transit trips. They've even cancelled their Harrison Hot Springs vacation next week for Spring Break, which makes sense! If I were a different kind of person, I'd ask if they don't trust me! This is best for everyone's health and safety, though.

Eric M. also texted me: "FYI, VCEFC has been cancelled because of COVID-19 concerns" - that's what I thought would happen when I heard the daily BC health guidelines the other day. MORE FREE TIME FOR HIM! We left the Cascade Room at 8 and walked a block or so to the Colony Bar across the street from Save-On Foods. I'd have gone in earlier to see if they had hand sanitizer, but they probably don't. I told them that my brother lives around there, but that it was probably bedtime for the kids. They joked about invading their place anyway even if the nephews were there, but I knew it was a drunken joke and didn't take it seriously. Paulo offered Darryl a hit of his vape since he'd tried smoking, but he declined due to the pandemic - smart!

We were at the Colony Bar for about 70 minutes or so, with Darryl unexpectedly buying us a round because it was Paulo's birthday. I got a Parallel 49 Jerk Face 9000 beer - I had to order it because of the name! No, I wasn't surprised that Paulo barely touched his beer - they'd already had a lot at the Cascade Room. We discussed alcohol tolerance, Paulo totally forgetting about work once on HOLIDAY PAY, the coronavirus, and whether Darryl's buddies would actually show up. I gave up on them at 9, about five minutes before they DID come in. The guy put his hand out to shake hands - what?! I instinctively shook hands, and then went to wash my hands immediately afterwards since I had to pee anyway. My hand sanitizer was way down in the bottom of my Doge bag, then I had to look for my phone when I got back to the table, which was also in my Doge bag! Habit to look in my coat pocket... not sure what I'll do once it's summer!

Paulo declared that he would call an Uber since he said it was too cold to wait around for the bus for too long. I decided to just wait for the bus since it was more wallet-friendly. The East Indian 3 driver waited THREE TIMES for no reason, holding everybody up on his bus! What schedule is there to make up at 9:30 PM?! You have your breaks now, so that's not a good reason! Of course that made me late for the Brighouse train - it was pretty chilly outside, so I took the opportunity to send Mike a picture of my current footwear at Marine Drive station after fighting with the wifi.

Mike said something about "where's the glim-glam?" so I texted that 1 degree was too cold for bare feet and toeless sandals! (I waited till I was up on the platform since I heard the YVR train announcement from the statue) The train was sparsely populated, too - I got my own little row of accessible seats since an Asian lady moved far away from me instead once I said I needed her seat. I got home at 10:35, thanks to that stupid 3 bus driver - I could have been home half an hour before! Doing laundry seems to have worked for my dragon hoodie, but I can't seem to say the thing for my four towels since I used them to wipe up a flood of water from when I was showering a few days ago. Guess I'll go tomorrow to London Drugs and buy up on-sale zinc citrate, four towels, and maybe a pair of Secret socks!


Knorr Cheesy Spinach Dip for lunch!




( Zinc, bar food, and a special Pi Day 2020 Reddit award! )

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND 2020, EVERYONE! NEW YEAR, NEW DECADE!





FINALLY HOME AFTER A FLIGHT! I left the house with Steph after thumping my suitcase up the stairs from the guestroom, hugged the kids, and Steph noticed Havarti was sad because she knows what a suitcase means. We drove 45 minutes to the airport; why WOULD she take a $20 or $30 toll road to save one minute?! I hugged her goodbye, then got selected for a pat-down because I accidentally left my phone in my pocket. UGH! At least a kind employee got me a zoomer to go all the way to my YYZ gate after the elevator! The flight itself was uneventful - I was seated in front with the babies and children, but played with my new friend, the year-old baby boy next to me.

White Eric picked me up as advertised after I landed at 2 today. Wow, time change! Haha. I had to walk the length and breadth of YVR because the outside exit for domestic arrivals was all the way at the front. Sweating for sure! I was home by 3, and everything seemed okay, but THE MICE MANAGED TO CHEW THROUGH THE STEEL WOOL IN THE BATHROOM?! YUCK!


At 12 AM the night before New Year's Eve, it will be Ramones time. It will be 2020, 24 hours to go. I wanna be sedated!




From The Onett Times: Happy Blue Year!




From Not Always Right: Dilbert says, "I have now officially lost all faith in human intelligence."




Quandae Shanoah Stewart?!




( ONTARIO TRIP! )

After COFFEE TIME, I had to go out at 4:10 on a 407 for a Kwong Chow dinner. Since I was out anyway, I bought three pairs of London Naturals foam scour sponges, a Snapple half and half iced tea / lemonade for aspirin purposes, and a bag of 20 KitKat chocolate mini-bars for National Chocolate Day for Ayler and Hiero at London Drugs. We had fish congee, spicy tofu triangles, a different kind of Chinese fish, pork intestines with pickled vegetables, green beans with spicy beef, half a chicken, and tomato fried rice with red sauce / white sauce / shrimp / pork for dinner. Ayler tried his first pork intestine since he was curious about them, and chewed through half of it before deciding he didn't like them that much. Hiero didn't want to try one at all.

Beckett was in a high chair and screaming happily. He was being shielded from the "evil" TV, and the family made care plans for this week. The boys seemed to like their Seattle trip, even if one of them dumped a plastic dinosaur down the toilet this morning at the AirBnB! They told us about the monorail, the water table at the Children's Museum, the chocolate shop, the $25 per person baseball game with hot dogs, Pike Place Market being really crowded, and more. Seemed like a fun trip for sure! The kids wanted to race on our way to their house, but that wasn't a good idea right after dinner! I apparently have to wait for the lards' call on Wednesday morning - no melatonin the night before, PLUS coffee and the phone on then, before going to Aberdeen and Parker Place!

I finally got home at 8:05 on a 401, and no, I did NOT want to be dropped off at 49th instead of 41st simply because it was easier for Mom. Even Dad was annoyed! Mom also wants to NOT pay for three pairs of reading glasses instead of "just two since it would be too expensive" - if she balks at that, I'm sure she's not going to like the cost of any proposed Invisalign! Sorry, Sean...


Random stuff from Mom and Dad, inside a Safeway bag: a tiny bottle of Mayanik Habanero Pepper Sauces Habanero Chile Verde sauce, Red Rose Tea in Orange Pekoe flavor x5 teabags, plus three random pairs of thin socks. Green-blue, blue and white, plus white and blue!


20 mini Kit-Kat bars!




Mayanik Habanero Chile Verde sauce!




Red Rose Tea in Orange Pekoe flavor!




Kermit Sprinkles?!

Brian and Holly seemed to be making plans for $4 wings at Moxie's tonight, so in a moment of rare spontaneity, I decided to join them, Paulo, and Darryl. Turns out Jeremy and Jeff were invited too, but that was okay. I thought Brian was giving Paulo a ride too, but I guess not. At least he was willing to give me a ride through all the construction crap at about 6! After navigating through cul-de-sacs near Bridgeport, we finally found a way to Moxie's after he met me at the hospital entrance and talking about Pettersen / Quinn Hughes. Of course I had to wear my new red DRAGON HOODIE!

We found everyone except Paulo at the back patio, so we settled in on ordering wings. Of course I had to have some hot wings since it wasn't a share plate like last time! I got hot wings AND salt and pepper wings (which were dry, but that's okay), plus Brian offered a honey garlic wing to me, so I took it. We talked about cooking a Big Mac and Coke in a rice cooker (only in Japan), online people, the Rock's cheat day of a massive sushi meal, Instagram, Caesar salad, Paulo finally being able to make it, MAGIC: THE GATHERING, various meetups, cheap Costco food, other wings deals, sashimi, 7-11 food, getting a microwave from Craigslist, and our plans for the rest of the week.

Said bye personally to Darryl before going off with Brian and Paulo for a few minutes of air. We then talked about some personal stuff, not being able to tell if things were jokes or real invites, a need for a mental break being understandable, the brain telling us that things are false even when we try to convince others that they're real, and directions. Yes, I was thanked for listening - I like this! I got home at 8:55, which wasn't too bad at all.


This mug is from Pronunciation Studio: Yes, English can be weird. It can be understood through tough thorough thought, though.