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! )

After COFFEE TIME, I had to go out to Knightsbridge at 10:45 AM on a 414 to see Rishu at Touchstone at 12 noon, which meant that it took up three hours of my day AGAIN since it was way past Cambie and Jacombs! I had made up my mind to terminate our professional relationship anyway, even before hearing that her practicum session was finishing at the end of February. (which she couldn't even email me about...) During my 20-minute wait for the 405 in the windy weather, I tried helping out an old man by moving my bag on the bus stop bench, but he wasn't having any of it. I also realized that I accidentally wore my red AMOUR shirt from H and M outside in public on Valentine's Day - whoops!

I aired my grievances, including her non-receptiveness to replying to email in a reasonable timeframe. I chose to help Jon out on Wednesdays because there was no way I'd get a response from her in time if she didn't reply on Monday or even Tuesday - Jon's requests were more emergent, and I like spending time with my nephews! I also told her how someone else with REAL anxiety and other issues might feel to be seemingly "ignored," although I know they aren't a crisis line, but she needs to learn as a student. The new location was also a factor; although she SAYS she offered rides and to meet up with me somewhere, I had to say I didn't remember that. I think it ended amicably enough, although of course I cried and then had to fill out the required feedback forms and surveys. She gave me an unexpected gift of a sticky thing to hold a card or two, and I put it on the back of my phone after politely thanking her for that and the good aspects of our sessions and time together.

Once I finally got back into my bubble zone of Richmond, I noticed a bus stop sign saying that the $3 KFC Mega Popcorn box deal was only on until the 16th. Since I wasn't planning on going out before then, I decided to take advantage of it even if more time and energy would be spent. I tried taking a photo of the Shoppers sign saying they were out of hand sanitizer, face masks, and rubbing alcohol... but discovered that my Compass Card in the new sticky thing was blocking the camera! Luckily, I came across some Dairy Queen workers who weren't busy, and the girl unstuck the corner enough for me to figure things out from there. PHEW! I bought the $3 fried chicken and chilled at Richmond Centre for a while. Saw a cute teddy bear offering hugs, so I also took advantage of that. I finally got home at 3:45 on a 407.


Document Destruction Service! Yes, of course I am aware of the need to shred sensitive documents. The name just appealed to my morbid sense of humor.




What do you mean, the fire door is inside the men's restroom?! Weird location for a fire exit... I needed to check this out for sure!




( No fire behind the door! Teddy bear hugs! Fried chicken! Sold out of things! )

After COFFEE TIME, I left at 12:35 on a 407 for my dentist appointment with Sean on FRASER instead of Oakridge - sigh. I had to leave myself plenty of time for getting lost (seeing Krista at Gilbert and Westminster - "Ontario is a magical place because I've never been there"?!), and had to take a 99 at Broadway / Cambie, and then an 8 Fraser bus around the corner at Fraser till I got to 19th, right across from Glad Tidings church. I would have been there earlier than half an hour early if SOME PEOPLE hadn't hesitated for 45 microseconds at the Brighouse station elevator - BE EFFICIENT AND NOT SLOW WHEN OTHERS ARE PLAINLY WAITING FOR YOU AT THE DOOR! The new location has more space and okay enough wifi, plus actual hooks for your coats and things! I had to have an X-ray, but it's not my fault that my mouth is SMALL! Learned that Sean is getting married in July, too! I have to wait till July to try The Pie Hole across the street because I got fluoride as part of my treatment today. Also got a receipt where the insurance paid 100%, but for some reason, I'm keeping it for now.

Went to the Broadway London Drugs to buy an on-sale Creature Chumper with 1500 Zorbees for Hiero's birthday, on-sale Stemnex 4D Transforming Robots for Ayler's birthday, on-sale Nescafé Taster's Choice instant coffee in a 250g canister, and on-sale Andes candy cane Peppermint Crunch before going to Pho Extreme Xe Lua to have a large #17 and figure out the wi-fi from the nearby A&W. Some guy ahead of me was in a fucking hurry at the exit of London Drugs, saying "excuse me" - nope, we are both directly headed to the doors, so you will have to wait. I should have dawdled even more because he was an impatient ass! It's not like I dropped anything, after all. I also had to deal with THE most recalcitrant self-checkout machine! It wouldn't give me the correct start-up screen (thinking I had items to re-scan), wouldn't give me enough time to find a barcode, wouldn't let me scan something without a barcode (the coffee), and wouldn't let me pay without calling an attendant! UGH! SO TIME-CONSUMING!

Finally got home at 5:20, and saw Hester and Ni, so told them about the mouse / steel wool problem, which luckily I had a photo of on my phone! I did notice an odd metallic clanking sound coming from my bag, which turned out to be two of Beckett's red / white molecule balls from yesterday's throwing activities. No wonder I noticed him standing at my bag looking into it, but he does have plenty of balls, so he should be fine till next week. He did seem interested in the safety fluorescent slap bracelet, too. I'm also going to wash the socks that Harmony loaned me.


Large #17 at Pho Extreme Xe Lua! Steak, flank, tendon, tripe, and fatty flank!




Creature Chumper with 1500 Zorbees!




Stemnex 4D Transforming Robots!




Nescafé Taster's Choice instant coffee!




From Julie: Uncle John's Bathroom Reader BRIEFS and FUNNIEST EVER!




From Julie: Uncle John's Bathroom Reader blurb for BRIEFS and FUNNIEST EVER!




From Julie: Uncle John's Bathroom Reader STRANGE HISTORY! I actually have this one! STRANGE SCIENCE, too!

It's Friday the 13th today!

Mom and Dad wanted to come by today to pick up the "remnants" of the broken Heys suitcase - good thing I found the broken handle INSIDE said luggage before they came by this morning at 10:50 AM, since I thought I'd lost it when it wasn't anywhere on the floor nearby! Dad thought I needed to wash my hair since I wore the old Alaska sweatshirt with dandruff on it - uh, I was chilling at home and didn't need to shower till LATER! Apparently, Mom had to use the bathroom even after going at Dr. Ruby's (and apparently didn't wash her hands at my place - GROSS!) - REALLY?! She also gave me a couple of medium candy canes for the boys in a produce bag (plus chocolate almonds for me in another produce bag), but I was happy to keep them for myself since Harmony didn't want the boys to have too much sugar. Yeah, good luck with that one...

After DOUBLE COFFEE TIME and SHOWER TIME, I went out at 3 on an 401 to help with the kids. Harmony gave me some Children's Hospital Christmas cards with white envelopes, so YAY FOR THAT! I also got a card and stickers from Julie in today's mail, plus a surprising card and stickers from Janina, who deactivated her Facebook profile AGAIN a while ago. That was nice of her, though! Rishu wanted to call me anyway since I "couldn't" make it in to the boonies of Richmond, but was so late about it that I should have just taken a shower at 1 instead of 11:45! Hurry up and wait - UGH!

Got to kill a bit of time at Marine Drive Station, but just spent it online near the statue where I could get a wifi signal from Dublin Crossing pub, and got to Harmony's at about 4:30. She'd warned me about being quiet since Beckett was actually napping, and I said I'd be there soonish. The bus HAD to stop for two minutes at 41st, and then ran into rainy-day traffic crap at 20th or so... I'd rather be safe than in an accident, though! When I got in, the boys were reading a Mercy the Pig book, which I had to finish because Harmony had to tend to Beckett and the lasagna at the same time.

I read a few pages of CHINOOK CHRISTMAS - way too advanced for Ayler! - before I decided just to play with Beckett, who had just come out and was loopy. He gave me a bunch of toy balls and emotion eggs, wouldn't respond "yeah" to my questions for a bit, and just stared at me for a while. Later, he did warm up (I got a hug!) and "read" the 100 Words book, saying something that vaguely sounded like "what's that?" and pointing at a picture. Of course he knew where the balls were, but also called a kid's head a "boh-boh," which Hiero found hilarious! "HAHAHA, he called it a BALL!"

We had the aforementioned lasagna with kale and ricotta, cherry tomatoes, and grapes for dinner. Beckett was only slightly interested in this dinner, but at least did not upend his tray on the table this time. He cried and was upset, only smiling when he saw the Vitamin D bottle. No, of course we wouldn't let him overdose on them. "NA NA NA!" he said about the Rice Krispies - he also seemed to like the Advent Calendar chocolate halves that he was allowed. Beckett said ATTIE to me, so YAY! He liked giving me emotion eggs, rolling some balls, playing with the shells, trying to fit the stacking blocks together ("Na na na!" he'd say when he wanted me to take it out), and finding the balloons on the stacking blocks AND the "Christmas tree ornaments" in the boys' room. Then he was also more receptive to saying "yeah" to my questions and even grabbing some rolled balls himself. At least the baby pop-up toy still made him laugh, so YAY!

When Harmony was out of the room (having told me about location settings on my phone photos for everyone's privacy reasons - which I figured out later at the bus stop), I asked Ayler what he really thought of screen time at school. He smiled and said he liked it because "it's the opposite of what my mom wants." HAHAHA, nice! Hiero said that he knows what the "other" meaning of PEE-PEE is, and was busy giving "presents" to his mom of random toys in egg cartons and boxes. Beckett repeated some words like "wow" and "after" when he heard us say them, with "MOMMY! BECKETT SAID WOW!" as a reaction from Hiero.

Myles dropped by at 8 (when the kids were still up), only to have Ayler accuse him: "Cou-fu is stealing our lasagna!" HAHAHAHA! No, Jon just made a couple of mega-batches! Myles also managed to fix the printer, which Beckett had somehow managed to knock offline. We talked briefly and side-hugged; while Harmony was preoccupied, Ayler said he had a question for me, but I had to come over and look at the computer keyboard. Sure, why not? He just wanted to know about the very top row of Function keys - at least he knows to ask me, because his parents probably won't answer! Beckett said "Cou-fu" and "Attie" for Myles' video, which was cute. Later on at 8:30, Harmony finally let me go - I was surprised when I was home at 9:30! I did say bye to Beckett, giving him a high-five and showing him that big gold "boh-boh" at Richmond Centre. They don't need me on Tuesday because of the kids' Christmas concert, so that's just more time to do some stuff before my trip!


From Julie: When you find some weave on the road, so you make a Snowquesha! HAHAHAHAHA!




From Julie M. and her local news: Noema Alavez Perez is the mother of the missing Dulce Maria Alavez?! Her name is pronounced No-Emma, she's 19, and has a five-year-old and a three-year-old and was going to have another kid soon as of September 2019?! SHE WAS 14 AS A FIRST-TIME MOM?!




Children's Hospital Christmas cards: Let It Snow snowman and a Holiday Greetings reindeer!




( More Christmas cards and stickers! )