Tatiana's Wanderings

Before COFFEE TIME / BRUSSELS SPROUTS TIME / HOT CHOCOLATE TIME, I called Chrystal at work at 10:10 AM to remind her about tonight. I left at 6:50 on a 414 (which actually had the wheelchair ramp slope in use instead of the steps) to get to London Drugs on time at 7:30 or so. Unfortunately, someone caused a delay for me at Brighouse. Why would you try to start small talk with someone in an elevator who obviously isn't paying any attention to you for a 20-second ride?! No, I'm not going to respond to a guy cyclist's "hi, how are you, hope you're okay, ma'am" in an ENCLOSED SPACE, especially because YOU AND YOUR BIKE FUCKING MADE ME MISS THE FUCKING TRAIN AND WAIT AN ADDITIONAL 11 MINUTES! The elevator wasn't on the first floor either when I needed it to be! I saw the train pulling into the station when I had JUST gotten to the stairs outside!

Don't get me started on the three tall white dudes who evidently had something like "Well then! What the?" to say to me when I was running for the train at Broadway on the way home! THEY WERE OBSTACLES IN MY PATH so of course I had to BARREL into them, and I didn't even have time to turn and yell FUCK OFF! Or the guy IN the train who was blocking my path right when everyone got off and I wanted in. People, have some spatial awareness and consideration! Too bad they didn't think I had coronavirus! At least Mike found my text message rants entertaining!

I FINALLY got to London Drugs at 7:45, where Chrystal was waiting for me and wandering near the back of the store. We quickly decided on our default option of Pho Extreme Xe Lua, since Cactus Club would DEFINITELY be busy on a Friday night even if we'd bothered to reserve beforehand! (they made us wait for 45 minutes at my birthday dinner even WITH one!) We ordered a small #1 (special noodle soup for Chrystal), six signature butter chicken wings for $9.50 to share (although she only ate one - we split the bill anyway), and a large #30 Bo Bun Hue noodle soup for me. We talked about my trip (I showed her some photos), her nephews Benjamin and Ethan, Ayler / Hiero / Beckett / Fraser / Henry, my relief that Mom wasn't coming on that trip, the flight delays, toys, that gas leak on Chinese New Year, her sushi Chinese New Year dinner with family, Hiero's UBC birthday party and presents, Beckett learning new words, Hiero being sick, and work not being fun today. I got home at 9:35 on a 407, which I guess wasn't terrible for leaving the restaurant at 8:50...


From James: Might be the best selfie of the year, and it's only January! Cats and dogs!




I got a blue dragon as my home icon on Google Maps on my phone! I set my "home," tapped on the menu icon, skipped the commute, and tapped on the three dots which appeared so I could change the home pin!




Dinner with Chrystal: Bo Bun Hue soup!




Dinner with Chrystal: Signature butter chicken wings!

Since I couldn't sleep because of the neighbors stomping around upstairs at 3:30 AM (FUCK YOU - PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP!), I got up at 6:30 AM and ate my sushi. To my surprise, Chrystal of all the people had texted me last night to say she can't make it to dinner tonight because she has to go out and eat Chinese New Year dinner with her family instead. Sure, I can accept that as an excuse! I cancelled on Rishu since I got up from my much-needed nap at 2:15. At 6:10, Chrystal texted me back: January 31 sounds good to her!


6:30 AM sushi, Roll D!




From Julie M. and the Daily Mail: Busy Philipps named her kids Birdie and Cricket?!




From Reddit and r/raisedbynarcissists: Dr. JONICE Webb?! BAD SPELLING OF JANICE! Yum, jaundice!

I had to leave the house today from 8 to 4 because of the forced water shutoff and the sewer upgrades, and I hope this is the only one till all the construction is projected to end in December! This is NOT helping my budget OR my financial situation! I bought spicy beef noodle Tom Yum soup and Brisk iced tea from Thai Express, EMOJI STICKERS for Fraser at IndigoSpirit, chocolate vitamin bread from Maxim's Bakery (a way better $2.75 value than an overpriced ham and cheese sandwich), plus HATCHIMAL / MINECRAFT / PAW PATROL stickers and a kiddy Valentine's Day card from the dollar store.

Before I bothered going home, I called Hester to see if the water was back on. She said "yes" and hung up! What if I couldn't hear her or had another question?! GEEZ! I got home at 4:40 on a 401.


Emoji stickers for me and my nephews!




KUNG PAO WOK Red Dragon! :D




Chocolate vitamin bread from Maxim's and Honey Pomelo Tea from Vina Vietnamese!




Lucas, Kumatora, Duster, and Boney are reunited in Chapter 5 of MOTHER 3. On their way to defeat Lord Passion at Osohe Castle, they meet this guy near Ed, Nan, and Alle's house. "I'm Rowe, the newest member of the Tazmily Boat Club."




Lucas, Kumatora, Duster, and Boney are reunited in Chapter 5 of MOTHER 3. On their way to defeat Lord Passion at Osohe Castle, they meet this guy near Ed, Nan, and Alle's house. "Stroke! Stroke! Stroke! I'm Paddel, president of the Tazmily Boat Club."




Lucas, Kumatora, Duster, and Boney are reunited in Chapter 5 of MOTHER 3. On their way to defeat Lord Passion at Osohe Castle, they see the stray dog near Ed, Nan, and Alle's house. "Bow-wow. Bow-wow. (I'm a charred dog, not a black dog. Actually, there are some sheep like me, too.)"

I upset Jimmy this morning by asking whether he'd ever make me do something I was uncomfortable with, as per his "sometimes limits were meant to be pushed" statement last night. Apparently, that was meant just for questions. Then I got a bunch of RICK AND MORTY Facebook stickers and general "WTF" messages. I'll have to see what to do about that later. Guess I'm not doing Hug Day with him, which is fine since I'm not a huggy person in general. :P


From Someecards: Creepy Easter Bunny 3!




From Julie: Kadetra?!




From Vanessa: Summer Thyme Creel?!

COFFEE TIME! Jon messaged me yesterday (while I was talking to Helen Y. and Tommy about forgiveness and Jimmy being a turd because of his new Pittsburgh girlfriend Jessica) to say that he'd given me the wrong time for today, so wanted me to come over an hour earlier. Sure, I guess so. Eric M. also emailed me this morning to say that he has to be at Jeremy's at 3 for Saturday food prep, so he'll be here at 2:30 or so. Sounds okay to me - thank goodness I have a book to pass the time, or I can help too! I had Jon's Elmer Chocolates assortment of caramels / fudges / cremes / truffles when I left at 2:10 to attempt to cash Lena's US cheque (SO MUCH LINEUP and can't access it for a while because of my brand-new US money account!) / buy a BBQ pork bun at Kam Do Bakery (no lineup!) / mail Corey's birthday card and Deanna's Christmas card and birthday card at the Shoppers Drug Mart post office (no lineup!) / get to Jon's new place by 3:30-ish. Turns out I managed to find the house (without numbers on the front!) two minutes before his guitar students did, so that was fine - I just had to navigate the logjam of stuff by the door! Ayler was eating cheese and an orange while Jon requested me to help with dishes; sure, why not? Hiero just "played monkey bars" and hid under the table... not very effective, buddy! No, Ayler could not eat all the chocolates for dinner like he'd been hoping! However, he did sit in my lap unbidden to play with the toys. Of course I let him do that without comment!

Later, we played with some science toy discovery kit and 200-piece solar system puzzle, and the kids seemed to be cooperating reasonably well, even if Ayler had been upset earlier because of something else. We had vegetarian shepherd's pie, pomegranate, tea, orange juice, and some salad rolls with peanut sauce for an "early" dinner. Jon was surprised that I hadn't eaten a proper lunch, but when I'd had dumplings already in the morning, a bakery item was fine for me to eat on the train. We talked about Chinese Eric / white Eric / Jeremy, "body acids" (enzymes), it being okay to say no if you don't like something (MY WISDOM!), no school tomorrow (Pro-D days!), words that start with K, a birthday party on Saturday for Ayler's friend, a "mermaid" move at gymnastics (which somehow evolved from church and holding onto bars - very interesting and confusing!), drawing kangaroos / (crappy) stars / "sad people in jail" (what?!) / very simple line snowflakes / letters on a memo pad, a bag of clothes which Mom and Dad gave me, and watching out for a step outside. (Jon later said I could avoid it by taking the laneway out and turning right) The Canucks played the Predators at 5 today, I saw a stream on Jon's laptop when it was 3-2, and I got home at 7:45 (just managing to catch all three buses since I took the 401 and train!) to discover that we'd won 5-3, and Daniel Sedin had finally scored his 1000th point in the NHL! Too bad that Derek Dorsett's career is over now, though.


Random stuff from Mom and Dad: a green Italy Fiorucci shirt, a red / white / black striped Ingmee1 shirt, an aqua Reitman's sleep shirt, a multicolored Alia shirt, a beige and white thin Alia sweater, a flowery "size XXXL" shirt (yeah right...), a lavender Jockey shirt, a dark magenta thin jacket, and a flowery Angel de Kanga T-shirt.


1000 Points for Daniel Sedin! Second player in franchise history to score that milestone number!




In Quelb Village, the FINAL FANTASY V SPOOF party encounters Bashful Wolf. "Gosh. Some old guy keeps diving into the well. Someday, I will too."




In Quelb Village, the FINAL FANTASY V SPOOF party encounters Bashful Wolf. "I don't know if I'll be able to get out, though."




In Quelb Village, the FINAL FANTASY V SPOOF party encounters this wizard after he gets out of the well. "Thanks, guys. This wolf over here keeps sneezing at me and sending me flying into the well!"




In Quelb Village, the FINAL FANTASY V SPOOF party encounters Sneezy Wolf. "People should learn not to stand in front of me if they don't wanna go flying!"