Tatiana's Wanderings

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! )

I took a shower, did some laundry, and had COFFEE TIME before Eric Ho texted me to cancel the BC Lions-Edmonton Eskimos hangout since he had to to stay at work till 7:30 or so. (he COULD say no, but maybe not!) "Are you coming? Yes or no." "Yeah, I have to stay a bit later, so text you later since I have to take a raincheck on the hangout." Fine, I'll just use my $10 off coupon by myself with no heavy things! I went to London Drugs first at 3:10 to get four DEFINITE big reusable bags (I only had four small ones?!), a dark green MARTEX bath towel, a shopping cart with a cooler bag ($54.99 to $24.99 SALE!), and two more London Naturals foam scour sponges.

Luckily, I was able to sort of tuck the cart under my arm and then waited for the bus home - got there at 4:05 on a 401. Later, I went to Price Smart with my $10 coupon at 5:35 on a 401. I got Halo Top birthday cake ice cream, NEW Sapporo Ichiban Tonkotsu ramen noodles, NEW Maynards Fuzzy Peach popsicles, NEW Maynards Swedish Berry popsicles, NEW Magnum white ice cream bars, NEW Magnum Double Cookies and Cream ice cream bars, NEW Magnum double cherry truffle ice cream bars, NEW Magnum Infinity Chocolate ice cream bars, NEW Magnum double raspberry ice cream bars, NEW Magnum strawberries and cream ice cream bars, BIG on-sale Lysol lemon wipes, Maggi curry noodles, and Olay cooling white strawberry and mint bar soap.


Cloverleaf baby clams!




( Baby clams, cereal, ice cream, and more! )

Menu for tonight:

Tortilla chips with salsa verde and salsa rojo
Chicken Tortilla soup
Jicama Salad (vegetarian)
Mole Colaradito Enchiladas (vegetarian)
Agua de Jamaica (zero proof)


After DOUBLE COFFEE TIME, I left at 2:45 on a 401 for Jeremy's. I had the on-sale Brookside Chocolate bars x2 (Roasted Almond and Sea Salt / Cranberry Almond with Blood Orange Flavor) and the four NHL 100 Advent calendars / Waterbridge Belgian chocolate seashells for Jon, plus the Terry's Chocolate Orange / NHL 100 Advent calendar / Waterbridge Belgian chocolate seashells for Eric Ho. Maybe HE could drive me home, haha! It turned out he couldn't since he'd driven downtown because he wouldn't be able to get much parking! I killed 45 minutes at Kingsgate Mall, but got to Jeremy's at 4. Ayler picked up, but wouldn't buzz me into the building for some reason. I tried four times after that, and LUCKILY, Jeremy's neighbors were exiting the building and let me in! (possibly because they saw I was actively trying to be buzzed in) Later, we found out that the kids had left the phone off the hook for half an hour! UGH!

I settled in by Harmony, saying hi to her and baby Beckett, who held my finger and burbled at me. Ayler and Hiero wanted to do THUMB WAR and STELLA STELLA OLA, but I was fine with watching them (and the Rubik's Cube) instead. I read a MR. MEN book to them, plus a book on frogs and one on animal tracks and Curious George. When everyone got there, I managed to get a ride to Broadway Station from Kevin later on. Talked to Randal, SERVANTS friends (Rudy?), Christon, Dilys, Alice, Jesse, Trish, Caleb, Becky, and others about Crown Royal Black whiskey, condos, townhouses, toilets, sanitation, history, vacation, the Christmas holidays, beer, the food, white Eric, Chinese Eric, Condoleeza Rice and the Cleveland Browns, women and guns, chimeras / DNA / transgender people, Uncle Stanley's colon cancer (but he is positive about it), and more. Kevin drove me near Broadway Station at 8:50 in the freezing weather, and I got home at 9:50 on a 407. Phew!

After MORE COFFEE TIME, I left for Jon and Harmony's at 2. I stopped by the Kam Do Bakery to get a BBQ pork bun to eat on the train, then got to the house at 2:45 or so, right on time. I was delayed a couple of minutes by some neighbor lady with a dog who recognized me from Mom's Facebook photos. I didn't really mind talking to her, though. At least the door was open, probably because it was pretty hot outside! When Jon asked, I requested some water. The kids were eating some snacks when I got there: Hiero offered me his peach pit (no thanks!) and Ayler told me that they didn't have any more BBQ pork buns. That's fine, as I'd just eaten one! Then came the usual questions about how long ago and what time I'd eaten it, along with Ayler reciting all the Canada Line stations up to Olympic Village. He's getting smart!

While Jon's music student Justin was over, the kids were pretty loud, but made "gas stations" out of bristle blocks ("Gas gas gas!"), offered me grapes from their plate (sure!), made long trains, and put some tiny playing cards in numerical order. Apparently, they got them from the hospital ("not blood draws - a vaccine!") a couple weeks ago. At least they're not being taught how to gamble yet! Ayler also wanted me to stay for dinner, so I said I'd think about it. Hiero pointed out some holes in my socks - I swear I just bought them, but who knows? I'll just have to get some more later! Ayler asked me whether Jon would have two more music students; I had no idea! Hiero wanted me to read a book about 100 vehicles to him - sure, why not? It's better than fighting with your brother over toy trains and train tracks!

When Justin left, they "gave" him some train tracks, which he of course put back when they weren't looking. Easy to do! When the kids weren't there, I put back the noisy xylophone and the hammer to go with it, but Ayler was okay with catching the balls with his hand. Jon noticed and thanked me, then a woman came over for a piano lesson. Harmony got home and also invited me to stay for dinner, which was ratatouille / zucchini / corn on the cob. Harmony got home and also invited me to stay for dinner, which was ratatouille / zucchini / corn on the cob. She said that she was thinking about taking the kids to the Family Centre, the park, and then to physio on Wednesday, so my coming over around 12:30 would be good. No time for anything but mushroom soup, then!

Ayler said that we could eat the zucchini seeds, and I offered an apologetic "sorry" to Jon and that other student when Hiero squealed at seeing the corn on the cob. "Corn excitement over here!" Then Ayler said that I could stay for "the ice cream" - cute! Ayler thought that Randal would come over - who knows? He did, though. Hiero told me that Uncle Randal was there, so I asked how he knew. Apparently, he heard Randal's voice. Randal was indeed over for music lessons, and he said hi to me. To be polite, I offered him a frosty Hello back. Whatever, I don't care what the kids think. Then Ayler wondered if he'd eaten yet and whether he'd eat later. I said he might eat later if he hadn't already. Ayler asked why he was reading, so I said that he was probably doing it because he liked reading just like me. That's fine for me, but that's all I'm willing to concede.

Harmony brought out one Easter egg each for the kids (which she'd apparently forgotten about for some time), and Ayler asked why I wasn't having any. I had some chocolate at home already, I told him. Harmony said that I could go after dinner, which was fine by me. I actually had to put down my dinner bowl because Ayler requested a hug before I left, which is totally fine. Ayler also wanted me to stay overnight, so I asked him where I'd sleep. "Share Daddy's pillow!" was the answer I got. I told Harmony that she might want to explain why I could NOT sleep in the same bed as Jon, then left after saying bye to everyone except Randal. If the kids notice and say something, whatever. At 7:15, I was home on a 407, and fielded an email from ERIC HO saying that he'd even had to work on his birthday last week! Poor guy! He wants to catch a Lions game, but I looked at the schedule and the only near ones are in September! Not doable if he wants to hang out as August winds down!


From Julie S. and BFUK: I have 20 unread books at home, but I really, really need to buy this one. That's the story of a book lover!




From the r/hockey Discord server: Nick Bonino has an Italian background, so he's enjoying some homecooked spaghetti right out of the Stanley Cup!

MONTHLY BUBBLE TEA TALLY, SEPTEMBER 2012 (1)

mango @ Copa Café (Saturday, Sept. 8) [free, thanks to Uncle Michael and Aunt Leslie!]


Before I called Chinese Eric tonight, I decided to see if I could get my YM working for Trillian. Apparently, my password was wrong, which is bullshit. I perforce reset it after Googling instructions, and it seems to be working. At least, I'm not disconnected after only half a second. This works, even though I never really use the service for anything these days. You never know what randomness may come forth, though! :P

When I called at 9:15, I got the fax machine screech right after Eric answered. He decided to call me back, which works for both our poor sets of ears! We discussed Grandma, Chinese New Year, the Mid-Autumn Festival tomorrow, the "older brother / sister ... UNCLE / AUNTIE" stages of life, mooncake, engrossing reading on the INTERESTING psychology differences between an only child and one with siblings (Nate would know more!), siblings' / classmates' personalities being different, our weeks, Portland, and the beer allowance. Conversed about YOU CAN'T DO THAT ON TELEVISION (Bart the cook was weirdly creepy, he says!) / green slime ingredients, YTV, SAVED BY THE BELL, SQUARE ONE, Halloween / Trick-or-Treating / things like Kids Night being safer (the Awana crew makes it fun for the kids!), the Copa Café, Scientology, Tom Cruise and finding a new wife, Thanksgiving dinner, weird news, the BC Lions not quite coming back from a 19-1 deficit against the Saskatchewan Roughriders (final score - while talking to me to kill time - was 27-20), dating not being easy, Dylan, BS being a "small group," the evolution of cellphones, and more.

He told me to tell white Eric "thank you for making me look up the word which I was supposed to use last time!" Apparently - and I never noticed this - he was going to say "bashful," but added "-ful" to the end of "brash," thinking it would be okay. I'm sure he's learned his lesson, but I know that adjectives and similar words can confuse him, so it's all good! Of course, I will pass on the message! I complained about everything changing their online interface lately (blogging sites like Blogger!), and he says that he has to guide his mom through Hotmail changes every six months or so! I'm not surprised that it happens, especially since MY mom complains that the Facebook "share" button is gone from her iPhone... I'm more inclined to believe Steph, who says it isn't. We know Mom might be losing it, after all. Eric and I ended this conversation at about 10:40, saying that it was nice to talk to the other - SEE? This is what I needed!