Tatiana's Wanderings

I called Ayler briefly at 6:30 after Jon said at 6 that they were still eating dinner. Jon said that it was Phone Call Overdose at their place - from what Ayler describes about his phone list, that's probably very true about overload! Ayler asked what I did for the 7 PM cheer for the doctors and nurses; did I poke my head out of the balcony window and yell? I said I did. I asked what HE did for the cheer, which led to a bunch of drumming on a metal object on the other end and Hiero explaining it. That definitely would create some noise and be appropriate! I said that fire engines, police cars, and ambulances showed up right outside my window for the 7 PM cheer. He asked about the world's oldest woman right now - 117 years old - and wondered where I got my Guinness World Records books from. The bookstore, but I was looking these things up online as he asked about them.

I told him that I'd gone for a walk at Minoru Park, then heard nothing, so I hung up. He called back to say that he'd pushed the MUTE button by accident instead of the VOLUME button. "You're lucky I called you back... before you got busy!" Gee, thanks! Totally understandable, and I said I understood it was an accident - not a big deal at ALL! (he needs that) He said he and Hiero were working on a 500-piece puzzle, which he might have told me before, but sometimes he forgets things. Of course I also said THAT was okay because I do the same thing! I told him that I'm glad he's my nephew, too.

Hiero was busy preparing his drumming and Beckett was busy just carrying his blanket around. Sounds normal to me! "Any other ideas about our day before anything? I can't talk to your family because you live by yourself." He wants to talk again in "a few" days, meaning Sunday or Monday. Fine by me! People who complain about loud noises should know that it'll start around 7 EVERY EVENING, and prepare themselves or their pets accordingly BEFOREHAND! It only lasts for about two to five minutes TOPS! Unless you have a baby who JUST got to sleep, then you don't get to complain!


Virgin tombstone?!

After I showered, I went out at 1:25 on a 407 with my Asian old lady shopping cart to do some banking and go grocery shopping. The sidewalk is closed by Brighouse Station because of the loop construction, and Shoppers and Price Smart both have lineups to get inside in the name of social distancing and limiting the number of people! I got Krinos Athena salt x3 for $3 at London Drugs, where they've shut down all cash registers (I think) and two of the infernal self-checkout machines. Then I had to navigate the sidewalk closure and answer a couple of basic travel-related questions at Royal Bank before I was allowed inside to use the far ATM. Even if I knew anyone who had been outside of Canada lately, it's not like I'm seeing them!

Then I went to Price Smart, where there was also a lineup to get inside. Bought NEW No Joke / Solar Flare / Blueberry Plague / Momento de Muerte hot sauces x4 from Pepper North Artisan Foods, GOOD TASTE dumplings x5 (pork and celery / pork and chive / beef and vegetable / cabbage and chicken / cabbage and pork), on-sale Western Family regular soy sauce (carefully opening it in the store first), Maggi Kari Letup noodles, NEW Ottogi Jin Ramen Odong Tong Myon noodles in Spicy Seafood Udon flavor, Doll shrimp wonton ramen noodles, NEW Miss Vickie's Signatures Black Truffle and Parmesan chips, original Western Family chili, and Allen's Malt Vinegar x2. Plastic bags are temporarily free, while you can't bring your reusable bag inside because they're trying to stop the spread of coronavirus. After that, I left because my shopping cart was getting too heavy. I paid my Shaw bill online after getting home at 4 on a 407 and wiping things down, then went out to Price Smart again at 6:30 on a 401 whose bus driver AGAIN didn't see my cart because of the sunlight.

The lineup wasn't too bad and it moved faster at 6:40, which is fine by me. I bought NEW AG Blue Label concentrated household bleach (3.6 litres!), Puritan Irish Stew for St. Patrick's Day 2021, on-sale NEW Goldfish Grahams x2 (Chocolate Brownie / Vanilla Cupcake), on-sale NEW Western Family HOT salsa x2 (which the jar opener DID work on!), NEW Oikos Hint of Banana lactose-free yogurt, Western Family prune nectar / prune juice, on-sale Charmin triple toilet paper, and NEW zinc Jamieson Vitamins x2. Of course I took advantage of the hand sanitizer at a checkout when I left the store, nodding at the masked security guard at the exit. Finally got home at 7:45 thanks to a slightly late 407, and now Paulo wants to get some of that hot sauce!


From Julie: KINDERGARTEN COP 1990 - Boys have a penis and girls have a vagina. KINDERGARTEN COP 2018 - I've got no fucking clue.




( Hot sauce galore, Smokey Mountain Spaghetti and Meatballs, AND MORE! )

From Julie and Anorak UK: Fat Ho Burgers?! Big Dick's Halfway Inn?!




Richmond Public Library is closing on St. Patrick's Day 2020 due to the coronavirus, and our health is their "UPMOST" priority?! You work at a LIBRARY - come on now! UTMOST PRIORITY!

After COFFEE TIME / SHOWER TIME / CLEANING FRIDGE TIME (yucky sticky prune juice!), I went out at 1:30 on a 401 to finally redeem that Pure Nail Bar gift card from Christmas 2019 for a pedicure before going to help with the kids. I thought I'd be on time, but NO... the 3 bus had to be late, a stroller had no idea what to do on the bus, and then there were traffic delays, causing me to be 10 minutes late! At least they didn't have to call me or anything, and it was just after East 13th! It was pretty relaxing, and I got to choose a nail polish color - Shooting Star silver glitter! They had a fancy nail dryer and a fancy pink toe separator!

After I was done at 3:45, I texted Jon and asked whether he was at the park, then went to Save-On to kill time. I should have gone to the park instead since it took him 20 minutes to get back to me saying they were home now. Fine, sure, I'll walk there - not a big deal, of course. Beckett wanted "Didibug!" which Jon asked about - it made sense, but what was it? Hiero drew me a Bat Signal and a lightning bolt, saying I could keep them in my pocket. I pointed out that it would probably fall out of my pocket, so I'll keep them in my wallet's zippered pouch instead! When I got home, I put the Bat Signal / lightning bolt / Cao Starvingbase Noodle HOO! guy in a Ziploc bag for extra protection.

Ayler was blocking Beckett's access to the piano because Beckett would try to play it, and wanted to know if the real Dean could stay later to play "quiet soccer" while Jon taught his sister Lily. I told Dean that he must be special to Beckett - every time someone comes over, Beckett thinks it's Dean! HAHAHA! "Dean! Dean! Dean!" When Harmony got home, she mentioned she was late because the pipeline protesters had been blocking UBC today - UGH! Then she saw silverfish in the bathroom, in her clothes! YUCK! I told her about the time that I had seen one CRAWLING ON MY COMPUTER DESK in summer 2017 - EW! Beckett wanted to say hi to Kayla, and of course was interested in her guitar and the rest of the students.

Jon gave me a tea rag to wipe Beckett's nose with. He's learned "NO!" and uses it frequently! I watched him knock over Jon's violin while he was teaching Willie, and Jon said "NO, BECKETT." A kid named Ethan came for a piano lesson, and his mom stayed in the room. Beckett was very interested in her phone! Ethan asked what I was doing there, so I said that was a good question - what did HE think? Jon answered when he didn't have a response. I read the rest of the DOG MAN book to Hiero, who then wanted to draw Dog Man while Dean and Ayler transitioned to quieter origami.

We had pozole with hominy / chips / Greek yogurt / choy for dinner, plus an almond croissant. Beckett wanted to climb up on the couch and needed my help to sit / stand on the white chair. He picked up the word "funny" and the corresponding grin expression. "FUNNY! OPEN! Block! Magnet! Frog!" Of course he got upset when Ayler stole his stuff... I told Hiero that he had just touched the nose-wiping cloth with Beckett's germs ALL OVER it, so Hiero went by himself to wash his hands quickly! Beckett also showed me where my own eyes / nose / mouth / ears were, with the correct words. He wanted to show me his orange half-shell, so he said "shell" - pretty good!

I left at 7:45, amazingly in enough time to catch the 7:55 3 bus that went to the station. However, I wouldn't get home in time for the second period, because there was an electric scooter that took a minute or so to adjust herself in the bus. She didn't deserve a guilt trip or anything, so I was outwardly patient. Then on the Canada Line at Aberdeen, there was an obstreperous guy who wouldn't get off the train until threatened with the cops by the female attendants! Everyone was craning their necks to look - some old man asked if I was going to save him. Fuck, no! I'll watch from safety! I FINALLY got home at 9:10 during the second intermission. The Canucks played the Coyotes tonight at 7:30, and lost 4-2 thanks to an empty-net goal from behind the Arizona net ALL the way to the other end of the ice.


Fancy nail dryer at Pure Nail Bar.




Fancy pink toe separators at Pure Nail Bar. Nail polish color from their array is Shooting Star Silver.




Pretty Shooting Star Silver toenails!




Better view of the Shooting Star Silver toenails!




I got this weird time glitch on Shiwa's Discord server last night. March 3 is "today" while March 4 is both "tomorrow" and 'today." Okay, Discord...




From Jon and Harmony for Christmas 2019: Pure Nail Bar pink envelope and pink gift card for a pedicure, which I finally used this afternoon!




Biggerstaff tombstone?!




This is from Red's Discord server. Coronavirus as a metal band T-shirt: CORONAVIRUS 2020 World Tour! China and Asia, Europe, Australia, North America, Middle East, South America. SCYTHES! HAHAHAHA!




From Julie: I'm giving up these little glasses of alcohol for Lent. I will be drinking big glasses of alcohol instead.

Leap Year Day issues! February 29!


After COFFEE TIME, I went out at 3:05 on a 407 to help with the kids... of course I just missed a 401! I still got to the station in enough time to kill time at both T&T (premium Shin Ramyun Black noodles, Palmolive Oxy Power Degreaser in an 887mL bottle - my limited Cantonese for "washing dishes" won again!) PLUS Tim Horton's where I got a cheese tea biscuit. Despite some shenanigans, I got to the apartment at about the usual time. Seemed like everyone had a cold and cough, especially Beckett, so I used his hoodie to wipe up his runny nose. Even I was getting one a bit later while reading stories to Hiero, so I used the frog blanket to wipe my own nose... it's probably not the worst thing, and I'm pretty sure they launder it anyway! When I got home, I had peppermint tea / Vitamin C / zinc / garlic.

Beckett just wanted me to get balls from his throwing them around most of the time, even when Barry called me at about 5:50 to try rescheduling a food shopping appointment AGAIN! That's fine - I just dealt with that the same way I dealt with Karen Choo calling me while I was talking to people in the car years ago, namely addressing the immediate situation while still being on the phone call. I didn't care what she thought then, and I didn't care what Barry thought if he heard "here's a boh-boh"! Later after a very early dinner of lotus soup / goji berries / kumquat / miso soup / noodles / vegetables / eggs, Beckett got a word book. I sat him in my lap and read to him, then spied a newer word book with textures. He seemed to like the OWL page at least. Showed Ayler and Hiero the contents of my wallet as I was looking for my scissors.

Later, I spied a Pokemon circle, and got some balls from way behind the couches, requiring me to move them! I got Beckett to say "please" a couple of times for that amount of effort, definitely. When he wouldn't just settle down and sleep, I was drafted in to help by just sitting by the crib to keep him company before he hopefully fell asleep. I told him that it was Auntie, got a fish cushion and the stuffed dragon from the floor to his crib, and also held his hand briefly. He didn't throw anything around - just moved them around and fell asleep within five minutes or so. Harmony thinks he just likes the company vs. being afraid of the dark - last night, she couldn't do anything much because he wanted her to sit around for two and a half hours! AIYA! I left at 7, which was SO EARLY that I got home at 8:05 on a 407. WOO!


Weird Owl Yankovic!




Shin Ramyun Black Pot-Au-Feu noodles!




Palmolive Oxy Power Degreaser dish detergent, 887 mL!




Cheese tea biscuit at Tim Horton's.




Lotus soup with goji berries. Miso soup with noodles, veggies, meat, and eggs.

Frances rescheduled on me very early this morning at 7:30 AM for tonight because her car got hit, which is actually fine. I need time for redrum to make its way OUT! I did go out way later at 3:30 to get some on-sale Webber Naturals 5 mg melatonin gummies at London Drugs. $5 off a bottle! Ended up buying NEW Kracks Chips x4 tubes (sour cream and onion / barbecue / original / wasabi), on-sale Webber Naturals 5 mg melatonin gummies, on-sale Dove lavender and rosemary Nourishing Secrets shampoo and conditioner, on-sale Webber Naturals Wild Alaskan and fish oil capsules, Lindt chocolate hazelnut spread in a small 200g jar, and El Sabroso Salsitas chips! Got home at 4:25 on a 407, which meant I used Shaw Open for 20 minutes at the bus stop.


Webber Naturals 5 mg melatonin gummies!




Kracks chips - Canadian! Original, Wasabi, Barbecue, plus Sour Cream and Onion!




( More chips, dragons, and shampoo! )