Tatiana's Wanderings

I discovered that Andre had unfriended / blocked me on Facebook - WHAT THE HECK?! Eric picked me up at 8:50 AM so I could use church as a vehicle to get to the Osborne Gym at UBC for Hiero's 6th birthday party. It helps that his hockey is all the way out at UBC, too... and it turned out that his hockey building is practically right next to the Robert Osborne building! He said that the LUFIA music sounded like something crazy was going on at my place - HAHAHA! I packed the Creature Chumpers toy (but forgot the birthday card), a bottled water, my Doge bag, and the other Starbucks Cold Brew before putting my boots on just in case of slush. Made my bag heavier, but it was okay. Eric and I listened to the radio for a bit until some guy came on who just monologues at you all the time - not his thing, and not mine either!

When we got to church, there was still plenty of parking across the street. As I thought, the car door went CLONK into a slush accumulation. Luckily, Eric could pull forward a bit so I could go into the nearby parking lot and then cross the street after getting on the clear sidewalk. I waited around outside the sanctuary, saying hey to Joe. When we were allowed to go inside, I said hi to Geoffrey and Sheena, and was respectful of the service. Hiero was there with Jon (who was preaching today), so I asked him if he wanted his birthday gift now or later... of course he chose now, before the Children's Sunday School.

I realized I'd forgotten the birthday card, but I can always give it to him later. He seemed out of it for some reason, but I wouldn't find out why till much later. Then he was trying to get Jon's attention, but he was busy talking to Pastor Dan. When I got back from the handicapped restroom (seeing empty water jugs inside and hoping a grandma didn't have to use it), Hiero had gotten Jon's attention, who told him to say thank you. I said that he already had (when I prompted him), so of course he didn't have to say it again! I did see Uncle Eric and Auntie Brenda at different times, and an uncle said hi to me as well.

Jon had an engaging sermon on Mark and seeds, at least. Even Julie S. agreed with me later on! I said hi to Sam, Auntie Cathy, Auntie Catherine (hug), Auntie Esther (hug), Cordia's mom, Helen C., Joe T., Ivan, Lesley, Dylan / Deb / Declan / Elysse (who thinks it's crazy that Hiero will be her age by next week AND who was eating sugar cubes), Cordia / Amasiah / Julie S. / Denise (who sent a photo of me to Steph) / Julie M., Auntie Susan x2 (Karen Grace's mom and Vivian's mom), Darren L., Martin T., Acer, and others. I could hear Acer swearing in the fellowship hall while talking about DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS, but whatever.

Soon enough, it was just a little group of me, Eric, Cordia, Amasiah, their friend Jeremy, and Acer since everyone else was staying for the Larry and Bella Mori missionary lunch before Missions Fest later in the month. Once we were shushed by Auntie Ada (Benedict's mom) since the Cantonese service was going on, we moved to the stairs, where I noticed a few minutes later that we were blocking the way, so we stood around a little outside the sanctuary in the "hall" until the bench cleared up. We still had to watch our volume, though!

Jeremy insisted he wasn't a weeb just because he went to Japan with some guys - including Acer's cousin - and had to translate for the group, Cordia said she's accepted who she is, and said that Amasiah was morbid like me - SWEET! We talked about the Japan trip, Japanese people KNOWING when you're "foreign" to them even if you're Asian and fluent in the language, Sharon's health woes in the Osoyoos (being literally stuck at home), 80 cents for a medium bottle of milk tea in Japan, the Mori kids Timothy and Tiffany, Molly, people following others on Instagram, pressuring Amasiah to buy some Pokemon figurine on Amazon since she didn't in Hong Kong, my trip, the snow and slush, anime / manga, otaku people, Discord, and lunch plans. Eric and I went upstairs to see if we could get some extra $2 sandwiches (Benedict had five pink tickets from his mom!), but he decided not to bother or distract anyone in the rooms, which I noticed are now labelled. They even upgraded the water cooler from a huge jug to a black self-cleaning one!

A few minutes later at 1:25, Eric asked if I was cool with going to Broadway / Cambie instead. Sure, why not? We could get fast food burgers, so we went to A and W where he kindly paid for my Mama Burger and we shared his fries before going to Pacific Spirit Park and a parking garage on UBC campus. He pressed the crosswalk button for me in the rainy weather, and showed me which building to go into. I went into the Robert Osborne building, connected to the Wi-Fi, and looked for a specific gym on the Evite to no avail, so I had to text Harmony about it. "No, gym" is not really a great answer to "should I meet you on the second floor?" when there are at least three gyms and lots of lockers in the entire place... as I told Steph, I wonder how many "where is this place specifically?" calls and texts they got before the birthday party.

Jon and Harmony were actually early with the kids, probably because they had to sign a waiver and were nominally hosting 15 kids and their parents. I showed Beckett the balls that he had dropped in my bag, but he seemed too out of it even for just waking up. He did look at them with widened eyes, but said nothing. After I met Hiero's friends Emmett and Huxley (what a name!), I heard that Hiero had puked on the gymnastics equipment when Harmony was explaining what had happened in Chinese to her parents! IRRESPONSIBLE AND GROSS! WHY WOULD YOU SUBJECT KIDS TO THAT?! Even Ayler was complaining of feeling sick at the end of everything later! While I was there, Chinese Eric replied to my text about the All-Star Game, saying he'd get back to me later. Why don't you figure it out first, man? I'm not like my ex Mike who wants an almost-instant response! Uncle Joe and Auntie Wing ended up driving me home after the refreshments since Costco closes early on Sundays, so I got home at 6:25. AWESOME!


Random stuff from Mom and Dad, who definitely wanted the tiny tote bag back if Mom dug through my bag for it: Cao Is Starvingbase Chongqing instant noodles, Paldo Jjajangmen Chajang instant noodles, Country Life pure soap, a random floral soap circle, Princess Cruises Lotus Spa shower gel x2, a shoe brush, a Bath Aquatics h2O+ bath bar, and Ontrue roasted seaweed x2 in green tea flavor! It's MINE after I put it in my bag - come on now, WAIT FOR ME TO GET BACK FROM THE WASHROOM AND THEN ASK PERMISSION! Even Beckett has more respect than that! When he dropped his balls in my bag, he just stood by the bag and didn't go through it... I'm sure he doesn't have the words to ask about the balls, but that doesn't matter!


The Tiger Tiger Sukiyaki noodles did come with a lot of packets in the bowl with the handy lid, all crammed inside!




( Gummies, water jugs, hot water advisories, and party food! )

After COFFEE TIME, Barry picked me up at 12:30 for my 1 PM eye appointment at the clinic. Everything is a go for the eye surgery on May 8, and we talked about the nice weather outside. When I got home at 1:45, I had another COFFEE TIME! The Canucks played Chicago at 5:30 today, and won 3-2 in overtime! Bo Horvat got the winning goal, and Elias Pettersen now has the standalone Canucks rookie record for points, passing Pavel Bure and Ivan Hlinka!


From the Daily Mail: There's a small village in Kent, England called Pratts Bottom?!




From my Endlessly Engrossing Bathroom Reader #22: DEFENSIVE TACTICS WITH FLASHLIGHTS?!

The day started early because we all went to church - a poppyseed bagel for breakfast suited me fine. No more MINECRAFT or HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON from last night, that's for sure! It was cold and foggy this morning, but least it wasn't snowy or rainy! I snuck into the church sanctuary and sat in the very last row when we got to VCEFC via the underground parking lot. Auntie Catherine saw me on my way in because she was one of the ushers, so had to hug me hello. I talked to Pastor Dan, Sharon, Emily L., Ivan W., Billy, Stella, Elenor's sister Janet, Helen C., Benedict, and others about my eye cataract surgery recovery progress while I grabbed a spare mug from the kitchen for some coffee.

Later, we went to Swiss Chalet for Elysse's fifth birthday: reading, making mistakes, being angry, chocolate milk, quarter of a rotisserie chicken and garlic shrimp / popcorn shrimp, water, embarrassing (blowjob) positions, Dylan's church meetings, Swiss Chalet coupons, chicken tenders, fries, yummy dipping sauce, what nephews were, Costco / IKEA / Toys R Us at Lansdowne, and dropping Dylan off at church. After about half an hour at home, everyone went to a crowded Costco / IKEA / Toys R Us. No, the shopping carts weren't jungle gyms, Declan! Dylan's parents returned some stuff and we talked about safety, surgery, Deb's patients, astigmatism, DanActive yogurt, fruit, budgeting, calling people by their real names, whining, and Elysse's new HATCHIMAL for $70 at Lansdowne.

The Canucks played the Panthers at 4 today, and won 5-1. Dylan's dad made lamb steak, gai lan, and ribs for Elysse's birthday dinner, and we had chocolate cupcakes with raspberry frosting and HELLO KITTY decorations as dessert. When I thanked him for it, Declan asked why I called his grandpa "Uncle." Well, he looks like he's the same age as my dad's friends and definitely NOT my peer, so there you go! Apparently, Dylan's mom found the icing too sweet, so she gave hers to me instead. Elysse wanted to lie down on her stool to eat the long spaghetti noodles, but that's NOT A GOOD IDEA! Dylan got home in time for his parents to make the drive back to Langley, but I was upstairs on mobile trying to be as unobtrusive as possible.


Lucas, Kumatora, Duster, and Boney make it to the Highway rest area in Chapter 5 of MOTHER 3. They stop by the restrooms. This guy tells them, "I heard there's a ramen shop in this area that's so good it always has a huge line in front of it."




Lucas, Kumatora, Duster, and Boney make it to the Highway rest area in Chapter 5 of MOTHER 3. They stop by the restrooms. This guy tells them, "Or at least that's the rumor, anyway."




Lucas, Kumatora, Duster, and Boney make it to the Highway rest area in Chapter 5. They stop by the restrooms. This guy tells them, "This line HAS to be the one!"




From Pete: The Impeccable Pig in Austin, Texas!

THIS ENTRY IS ALLOWED TO HAVE NON-ALIGNED TAGS.


Tonight's menu:

Heirloom Bean Chili with Garnishes (cheese, rice, avocado, and onions)
Cornbread
Winter Green Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette
Quince and Apple Crisp
Agua de Jamaica
Dark Chocolate Cookie Cheesecake
Beer / Coffee Porter / Pot Filler / Gluten-Free Cider


After COFFEE TIME, Eric picked me up at 6:25 (he had to work from home today) so we could go to Jeremy's. I had his Ganong Delecto dark peppermint creams and Christmas card, plus Jeremy's FROSTY THE SNOWMAN Advent calendar and Christmas card. I'd also decided to give Ayler my old NIV Reference Bible (from 2010) for later in life. HA! Eric and I talked about life on the way there ("Christmas spirit?" "Well, I can't bitch about it being too early to mention Christmas..."), Wo's Restaurant, his not seeing Jon's new place apart from moving help, that Kwong Chow dinner, and his asking if I liked hot or cold yoga. Hahaha, no! I do know there are places near Jeremy's that offer it, though. We passed by the Boiling Point Hot Soup Restaurant which I'd seen on Yelp a couple years ago, too. The Canucks played Toronto at 4 today, and won 2-1, which I heard about later. When we got to Jeremy's apartment, I could hear what seemed like Randal pontificating on something, so I commented on this to Eric in a low voice. After hearing a little more of this "pontificating," I understood that it was the pre-dinner prayer. Oh well!

I saw Ayler and Hiero for two minutes as they were getting ready to leave with Harmony, and Ayler greeted me with "You should be here earlier!" Hahaha! I told him that Eric had had to work from home today, so that hadn't been possible. Then Jon said that I could have been there earlier had I not been too lazy to take the bus. Whatever - Eric had enabled it by being home when I called his cell at 2:30 to see what was going on after he hadn't answered my email reply last night! I asked Ayler if that meant he wanted to see me more, and he said yes. I think that's a good sign, so I said I'd see him on Monday. "And then Wednesday!" he said. No, that isn't going to happen! I managed to offload the Bible to Harmony since she had the cleanest hands out of her and the kids before they left. Later, Jon said that if I didn't hear from him, I should come on Monday - his student had been sick last week, so he'll call to see if the lesson is still going on. I also said that I'd sent Steph his address, so she'll send him that baby card with Henry (but I said "some mail") when she gets around to it. I gave Jeremy his FROSTY THE SNOWMAN Advent calendar, which he apparently really loved because he used to watch that exact FROSTY THE SNOWMAN cartoon religiously as a child! Hahaha, I'm glad that he really loved it! Of course he thanked me! He was also surprised at the pile of mostly change that I dumped on the donations table, deciding to raise my payment by two loonies and a toonie. (Jon's smoker friend Edwin left at this point, too)

I talked to Dilys and Trish about using Ayler and Hiero's leftover mugs (kid cooties can't get us!), wedding card / wedding thanks etiquette, early Christmas decorating / Christmas songs, Jesse's brother Hubert holding hands with a girl named Amanda at their first group meetup at a movie (that worked for them), Steph / Lisa / Fraser / Henry (Dilys had seen Steph and Lisa with my parents at a White Spot on Kingsway [?] while she was pregnant with Fraser), cookbooks, reading books, non-fiction, swearing around kids, hillbilly society, and documentaries after saying hi to a guy named Jonathan / Caleb / Jesse / Christon / Gino / Quan / Rebecca. Then I finally got a chance to ask Kevin whether he'd received the MEGA SUSHI email two months ago (couldn't do it at the Wo's Restaurant dinner), but he said that it must not have come through his inbox, then apologized. Nothing to be done about that!

Later, the phone was off the hook, so some people showed up randomly. I told Dilys that at the last dinner, I had accidentally locked Jon out of the apartment when he came back from taking the kids home with Harmony; I'd locked Jeremy's apartment door out of habit! I shouted over the music to ask Randal about NaNoWriMo, but he hadn't done it. He did say that there was a local challenge to write a novel in three days - yeah, I could never do that! Also, he mentioned that it was too loud with the music and other conversations. Not as bad as the Shark Club, man! I said hi to Ivan, who said I looked the same with my festive "jeweled" shirt and Santa hat - OF COURSE! Dilys asked if the clock chimed - yes, it did! Someone asked whether Jeremy had a VHS collection, but nope! He did have vinyl records, for sure! Christon told us about the Willingdon café $5 meal ministry before he left early.

Later, Jeremy was showing Trish some Christmas ornaments and decorations (including candy canes, which my nephews had recognized) on the Christmas tree. Lots of yearly ornaments and inheritances from his grandma! There was a bird feeder decoration from his grandma, and Eric wanted to ask Jeremy whether there was a leftover Communion glass there. Nobody heard him, so I used my existing NG lungpower to relay the question. Jeremy gave us a look, looked at the decoration again, and laughed - there was indeed a Communion cup! I had to laugh and said that Eric had NAILED IT! Ivan, Randal, Eric, and I talked about "accident" kids like Hiero and Ivan's brother Nathan, kids ten months apart, Richmond life, renting, his paying cheap rent to his parents, night shifts / managerial positions not being worth it for sleep / money considerations, the high gasoline prices (147.9?), Ivan's having to make FOUR trips to and from Richmond / Steveston to the Italian Cultural Centre because Stanley's wedding cake fell through (but they then got 500 different doughnuts from Steveston - PLAN BETTER FOR LESS DRIVING!), a pharmacist job, the new Shoppers Drug Mart near my place, the Richmond Centre Shoppers Drug Mart, patients wanting to set him up with their kids, my mom wanting to set me up with John Law once, how Mom acts when she's drunk (like the mooncake at Thanksgiving lunch 2007 at the townhouse - Kevin said that I had a good memory if Randal couldn't remember what happened WHEN HE HAD BEEN THERE!), Dad and others getting old, and the declining attendance at VCEFC.

I remembered to ask about the small group situation (Crossroads), but everyone in existing positions is overstressed and overstretched because there are fewer people around since they've left for various reasons. Awana is still a thing, but the leader-to-kid ratio is something like one leader to eight kids, as opposed to one leader for three or four kids like when I was doing it with Anita and Melia. The Fellowship situation may be starting up again with another version of David Fellowship, but lots of people have pre-existing small group commitments once or twice a month already, so the connection aspect may not be there if people only go to the big group once a month or so. Eric and I left at around 10:10, after I'd asked Ivan whether the church website had a livestreaming service, but he and Eric just chuckled - nope, probably not, although I do remember that they record the services and put them up at some point during the week.

When we left after I had drunken trouble with my winter jacket (Jeremy laughed - but I did thank him for hosting and all of that), Eric wondered if I'd had an enjoyable evening - I had, and so had he. He reminded himself not to go into robot mode, and I reminded him again when we got near that important turn-off. In the parking lot at 10:30, I asked what it meant if the computer restarted randomly or Windows didn't start up properly some of the time. I'm sure it could be a number of things, but I didn't want to set up something right then. He isn't even going to church tomorrow because he has a lot of work to do! I'll just email him later sometime, but it is time for bed now! Yep, Jimmy seems odd in the "wait a minute - why are you not saying anything?" way, but it's best to leave that alone.

Tonight's menu:

Bo Ssam [Korean pork], served with rice, kimchi, ssam sauce, ginger-scallion sauce, lettuce, and love.
Jap Chae (Korean glass noodles)
Various Banchan: Napa Cabbage Kimchi, Roasted Seaweed, Marinated Bean Sprouts, Soy and Sesame Spinach, Cucumber Kimchi, Garlic Chive Kimchi
Beer: BYOB!
Barley Tea
Aloe Vera Drinks


Eric M. called me at 11:30 from church to say that he wouldn't be going back to Richmond, but could give me a ride back from Jeremy's. Sure, I can bus there, and I didn't have to leave the house really early at 2 PM! That gave me more time to do stuff! After COFFEE TIME (during which I almost left with my pants on backwards), I left the house at 4, and killed a slight bit of time at Kingsgate Mall. The Books, Etc. store is now 90% DVDs and puzzles! I bought NEW Moscow Mule Kettle chips, OXO beef bouillon sachets, and a Hot Beef Pho Mr. Noodles bowl from Buy-Low Foods before walking over to Jeremy's at 5:15 or so. Unfortunately, I had to see my ex-friend Randal, who mentioned to Jon's friend Mallory that he has "a passion for God and wants it to show at work" - THAT'S NOT WHAT YOU DO! I can't believe I ever liked him!

I said hi to Julie S., Ivan, Emily, Sam, Quan, Gino, Kevin, and Caleb after meeting Jon's other friend Eric (from Jacob's Well) / Angel / Mallory. Then I talked to Stanley about my 90% whiskey, his band, Peter Gabriel, the CODEX, weird acoustic dubstep, and the whiskey. I updated both Jesse and Jon's friend Rebecca about my life recently, and talked about the summer / no editing for Holly / not doing well with change / all this unknown stuff possibly impacting people's recovery (Rebecca said that my point was a very good one which she hadn't thought about before), Jacob's Well needing $50,000 and already raising $42,000 in two weeks / all my nephews loving me ("You have to stay longer! Stay all night!") / Ontario hydro bills. One guy in a Youtube / NPR video even had a traffic cone inside his saxophone, haha! Eric and I left early (after I paid $10 and he made a comment about my chips), and I got home at 9:05.

Then I noticed that Chinese Eric had called me at 5:45, so I called him back at 10. He had called me by accident, but he wanted to see if I was up for seeing a Blue Jays-Mariners game this weekend. I thought he meant a literal road trip, but thank goodness he didn't. He says it's been eight months (really six or so) since we hung out here; he's been busy and apparently had a problem with his Hotmail account, but didn't really specify what. (but did say that he had 3500 emails to sort through... JUST DELETE THEM!) We also talked about heat, a sauna, the 162-game MLB schedule, and catching up later. Hopefully, I don't have to do anything else after next Sunday for quite a while! DRAINING!


NEW Moscow Mule Kettle chips!




OXO Beef Bouillon sachets!




Sauteed soy-sesame spinach! (gotta love the alliteration!)




Bo Ssam [Korean pork] served with two sauces, a Ssam Sauce and a Garlic-Scallion Sauce!




( Kimchi and Jap Chae! )