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! )

Before COFFEE TIME at noon, I called Chrystal at 11:55 at work to confirm that we were still on for tonight at 7:30. After MORE COFFEE TIME at 5:30, I left at 6:55 in order to meet Chrystal at the Broadway London Drugs at 7:30 in the rain. I had the Ziploc bag full of Canadian maple syrup candies / Gusto Caffé candies / Mastic mints, the scary Halloween candy (ScAero / Scaries / Coffin Crisp / Ghostly Kit-Kat), her Christmas card, a LOT of extra candy, hot chocolate, and her Crème de Pirouline dark chocolate artisan rolled wafers. That grew so out of control that I had to get a spare tote bag for everything instead of a mere light plastic bag! It was pretty heavy, but I managed! Chrystal got there at 7:45 and tried telling me that she really couldn't take all of that, but I managed to convince her with the power of an NG LOOK before we went to Pho Extreme!

She thanked me profusely (saying I was very generous) and was amazed at how I'd managed to take all that from home. Eh, it was only a half hour's trip at most, and I made liberal use of the ground / floor to rest it on, haha! (and the wheeled basket once I got into the store) We talked about the holidays, hot pot, Emily / Mike / Ethan / Melia / Angus / Owen / Mackenzie / Ayler (who wants to spend more time with me!) / Hiero / Fraser / Henry, toddler quirkiness, saying "fuck" for "fork," the siblings fighting, the photos of the kids which I'd brought along, Yaohan / Big Crazy, paying cash, steak / tripe / spicy things, sharing all her goodies with people, plans for the year, floods, her admin work being less busy these days, rides being a good thing, and spam emails. I got home at 9:25 on a 407, which is about the time I was expecting. Good to catch up and unload a bunch of stuff, for sure! Now someone is asking me what tripe tastes like - I DON'T KNOW! It's just tripe to me - very chewy, of course.

Uncle Andrew's office called me at 10:55 this morning - yes, next Tuesday at 4 should work just fine for once for my next dentist appointment with Sean!


From Ripley's Believe It Or Not on May 13, 2015: Jay and Kateri Schwandt have 13 sons in a row! Tyler, Zach, Drew, Brandon, Tommy, Vinnie, Calvin, Gave, Wesley, Charlie, Luke, Tucker, and now Francisco!