Tatiana's Wanderings

I got roped into going to a Chinese New Year dinner tonight by Jon's text... so I had to shower, have COFFEE TIME, and give up a few hours of alone time! Left at 4:30 on a 407, and then got to Kwong Chow at 5:35 or so. We talked about the new coronavirus, my reading about Lego Ninjago to Hiero, Ayler asking me weird questions (and soaking up his 90 seconds of screen time with the All-Star Game), Beckett imitating his brother doing an angry face and waving his finger around (so funny!), Beckett saying "yeah" to some stuff (but probably not knowing what it means), Beckett saying MINE! about the plastic bowl from the restaurant, Beckett noticing my bling on my red shirt ("Boh-boh! Auntie!"), and my getting some leftovers AND $10 in lucky money.

I JUST MISSED THE 3 BUS GOING ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE RESTAURANT AT 7:30! Then I had to wait 25 minutes for the next one, then was waiting for at least 45 minutes for info about a 407 not coming at Brighouse. Turns out there was plenty of police activity across the street at Moore's clothing store, which was cordoned off with crime scene tape - the street was blocked off, too. Nobody else knew what was going on since my text alerts only said "detour on X streets" (and NOT WHY) and someone else's app was wildly inaccurate as to where the next bus was. Someone else smelled gas, so figured it was a gas leak - a bus driver FINALLY confirmed it. A poor girl had been waiting for an hour by the time we got confirmed info! I texted Paulo, Eric M., and Harma about it, finally got home at 9:40 on the THIRD 401 I saw, and had to change the CFL light bulb in my living room because it fizzled out!


From Cuya and Twitter: Happy Chinese New Year 2020 with rats, mandarin oranges, and flowers!




From Julie: Happy Chinese New Year 2020 with a rat, lanterns, and flower!




( Food! Happy Chinese New Year 2020 with rats and lanterns! )

After DOUBLE COFFEE TIME, I left at 11:30 for my 1 PM appointment at the Burrard eye clinic. Damn construction and detours! I got there at 12:40 no thanks to a crowded 6 Davie bus with one stroller / two walkers / old people, but STILL had to wait an hour to be seen for five minutes because it was very busy! Since they moved locations three weeks ago according to Elizabeth the receptionist (from 503 to 510), I took a couple of updated business cards while I was waiting. Of course I had to use their bathrooms when my appointment was done!

Then on the 6 Downtown going the other way (also crammed with strollers and walkers), I noted that the Great American Cheesesteak place on Davie (which I'd told Jimmy about on one of the last times I bused to the clinic) seemed to be closed. I sarcastically thanked a black lady with glasses for blocking the bus aisle, making it almost impossible for people to squeeze past her. She mentioned that she had a walker; yes, but MOST people still manage to be courteous and not block the fucking aisle with their clutter, detritus, and impediments!

On the way home, I remembered that I wanted to stop by Big Crazy sometime, so I got off at Lansdowne instead of Brighouse. I bought non-expired Knorr hot and sour soup mixes x8, Paldo spicy cheese Ramyun noodle packs x2, and a proper bowl for my future DUMPLING SAUCE concoctions. (they were selling mixes that expired on March 26 and will expire on May 11...) After just managing to catch the 410, I also bought Doritos Dinamita tortilla snacks in Nacho Picoso and Chili Limon flavors at Shoppers when I stopped by Richmond Centre to use THEIR wi-fi. Finally got home at 4 on a 401 to ROIMU for the first time this year, after stopping by the hospital across the street to use THEIR bathroom since I didn't trust the walking time because of the aforementioned 24/7 construction zone and detours.


From Candy: Ever talk to someone so stupid that they make you squint?!




From Amanda in Kramer's Discord server: Vegemite beef jerky?! QUIRKY COINCIDENCE since it's International Hug An Australian Day today!

Brian picked me up at about 9 last night from the hospital's main entrance, but I had to take a gigantic huge detour because the construction had blocked off the sidewalks right by my place AGAIN! (going through the parking lot and then find the sidewalk by the pharmacy and then cross THREE crosswalks to get to the hospital) He had joked that it would be like Little Iraq trying to get to my place, and this was about right. The chill get-together was for Paulo's 27th birthday, so of course I was going to come out and meet him. Things were fine until we tried finding Fremlin, but I eventually called Holly (who doesn't have a buzzer system or an elevator in her apartment building?!) when Brian eventually found it. She said that she was going to throw her keys down to us, probably because she was tired of going up and down the stairs for everyone else!

When Brian finally figured out the front door lock (the one in my building is recalcitrant as well), we went upstairs to Holly's suite. We met Paulo, and said hi to Holly and Darryl. Talked about bartending, gin and tonic, red wine, beers, smoking (always someone's choice), travel (Jordan and Egypt and Australia), the leftover pizza with pepperoni and sausage, online people in the other Discord server, Gastown, awful dates, hyphenated names, feminism, the 407, friends being in abusive relationships, weird names like Jesus Condom, the closed sidewalks around my place, (looking for) work, Long Island Iced Teas, (video) interviews, San Francisco, Montreal, fudge Oreos, and my Korean BBQ Kettle chips. Of course I let Holly keep them! Turns out that Paulo lives two minutes from me, which is always good just in case. I let Brian drop me off at Birchwood instead of Dogwood, but I was still with it enough to figure out where I was since things looked different. Got in at midnight, which is fine. Good times with FREEDOM!


From Dragons: Luck of the Irish dragon!




From Brad Jansen: A flying red dragon!




From Julie M. and Realm of the Witch: If you're going to make me out to be something I'm not, it'd be cool if you'd make me a dragon. Thanks.




From Instagram and Kramer's Discord server: Smartmouth Beer released a Lucky Charms-flavored beer on March 2 for St. Patrick's Day 2019?!