Tatiana's Wanderings

Vanessa wanted to get together yesterday for lunch at Mama's Dumplings, but I fobbed her off until Tuesday (when she'll have Cassidy) with an excuse once she wanted me to bus to Coppersmith Place: the Canucks-Sabres game at 1 AND my broken suitcase! She actually messaged me at 12:30 today to say that she's trying not to eat out much, and she has to have dinner with her mom and brothers (who won't be in town for Christmas) on Tuesday, so I got the hint there that she can't make it for this Tuesday. At least this makes my Tuesday much less hectic! PHEW!

Eric M. is still working on the 19th, so can't take me to the airport. He did help me via text message: Apparently, I should leave on the 9:07 407 that morning since domestic flights only need you to be an hour early, but I should perhaps be even earlier. I told him that I might as well build in time to get lost... No, not his suggestion of 8:45 PM the night before - that is even earlier than the anal people who show up to things an hour early and then blame a "late" you for being normal and on time because they’ve been waiting for an hour! Not sure what I'll do for breakfast on the day besides Starbucks coffee bottles - I'll definitely have to remember to shut down my computer and everything else! Actually, I just texted Deb and she says she happens to be off on the 19th, so can give me a ride in the morning - YAY!


Air Canada luggage allowance for suitcases, knapsacks, and bags! 21.5 x 9 x 15.5 inches for a Standard Article, and 13 x 6 x 17 inches for a Personal Article!




Help! We're trapped inside a fish bowl or Christmas snow globe, and we can't get out...




From Julie: Dwynne Farneson?! We both want to pronounce it like DWIN.




From Not Always Right: Grammartif macht frei.

After COFFEE TIME, I had to go out at 11:20 to meet Mom and Dad for my new reading glasses and some lunch. Mom wondered why I didn't turn my cellphone on - why not save battery life if I don't NEED it on all day? She wasn't impressed when I told her that, but whatever! At home, I just use it to briefly check things like redundant Youtube notifications / Facebook messages and texts. When I'm out and about, it's a different story!

We had stew beef noodles, hot and sour soup, long Chinese dumplings (wo-teep), and siu long bao (soup dumplings) for lunch at Dinesty. Dad told me that she was slowing down, so I had to look after her - if I feel like it, maybe. Then we went to the nearby herbalist (whom she asked for dollar store intel when I'd already told her about Dollarama and Dollar Tree) - where I saw testicles apparently for sale - and Staples where Mom got a bunch of clearance stuff. No, I didn't want any of that even if she wanted to buy it for herself.

Mom also wanted to pay for my one pack of 12 blue Z-Grip Pens (January 17, 2019- the last one on the shelf) which I was going to pay for myself at the cash register. Then she played the martyr about it when they weren't the cheap kind ("why don't you get some other kind..."), but eventually paid for them. The next stop was the Dollarama at Lansdowne, where Mom paid for one pair of reading glasses, then stopped by the Smart n'Save for some crunchy Wah Yuen BBQ fried dough. Mom also almost killed herself by crossing the street too slowly at Lansdowne Mall with oncoming traffic - shades of Grandma! Later, we got one more pair of reading glasses at Dollar Tree before they finally dropped me off at home at 1:10 prior to helping Ayler and Hiero with swimming lessons.


Random stuff from Mom and Dad: two pairs of dollar store reading glasses (2.50 and 2.75 - NEEDED: 3.00), a small pack of Cadbury mini-eggs from the dollar store, a 12-pack of Z-Grip pens which I was going to pay for myself since we were at Staples anyway, Every Living Thing by James Herriot, a thin beige scarf, an ORGANICS FOR LIFE tote bag, a blue neck scarf, a thin white scarf, a knitted white hat which looks like a doily, a knitted black and brown hat, a black buttoned SEQUENCE coat, and a thin sky blue zippered Tabi vest.


Pan-fried pork potstickers or wo-teep! Long Chinese dumplings!




Wah Yuen BBQ fried dough!




Touch toothpicks - 1000 regular ones! Mike almost stole them from me by keeping them at his mom's place in Point Grey because she supposedly needed them for a party appetizer in 2014! Thank goodness I took them back when we were there next time... phew!

After COFFEE TIME, Barry called me at 11:50 to see if I could change our food shopping appointment next week from Wednesday to Thursday, which I had no problem with. I left at 12:25 to get to the Burrard eye clinic for my appointment with Dr. Wise for a one-week followup, even if the construction zone around here is annoying. Still got off at Yaletown-Roundhouse and was in time to catch the 6 Davie in the land of the pink bus stops, which is what I know now. I got there at 1:05, but that was fine. The doctor says my eyes still look healthy and are improving, that I can't dislodge the cataract lens even if I tried, and that I could throw out the antibiotic with zero refills, which was fine by me. She says there is no need to rush to get newer glasses because my prescription is not fully formed yet - apparently, a bunch of people DO waste their money and do just that. My next appointment is the six-week followup on Feb. 27 (a Wednesday) at 2:15, which works for me.

Later, I took the opportunity to play with the Shaw wi-fi while I was still at the clinic office, then decided to do my shopping in Vancouver. I should have done it in Richmond or on Broadway to save some time, since some asshole decided to hit me up for some Canadian coins outside Vancouver City Centre under the guise of "a dumb American question" while I was looking at a map. I went to the London Drugs right there to get Scotch Expressions orange masking tape x2 and red $2 MARTEX washcloths x2. They didn't have any duct tape, so I asked an employee where the nearest Staples was - near Burrard Station, which wasn't too far away.

Thanks to the aforementioned asshole, I got three blocks to Burrard Station which was very near the Staples at 1055 West Georgia. I eventually managed to find the entrance, and had to walk a bit to get into the actual store. I bought Z-Grip Pens x60 (June 24, 2018) and black duct tape, temporarily walked in the wrong direction, and eventually got home at 4 on a 407. No more two-hour service gap at Brighouse!

Deb emailed me again at 6:15 to ask how the appointment had gone, and to wonder if I'd seen Declan's orange Beyblade Pokemon stadium and toys. Nope, but it could be anywhere in that alcove or townhouse by now! Someone named Emily Harris added me to Facebook - possibly Kurt's girlfriend, but she never responded to my message asking who she was. What the heck?! Then I noticed that Emilie Mak unfriended me, but that's fine - I only knew her as an Awana kid from 2007!


From Sara, Reddit, and r/funny: The Grammar Police are here to serve and correct... just look at their uniforms!




From Julie M. and DR. PHIL: Zona?! Reminds me of Zoma in DRAGON WARRIOR 3! She also claims that she's been pregnant for three years and seven months...




1500 HEARTS AND LOVE on my Facebook posts!

Habakkuk Baldonado?!




From Julie: Arzavious?!




From Pete and Uberfacts: Grammar Pedantry Syndrome is a form of OCD in which sufferers need to correct every grammatical error.