Tatiana's Wanderings

Ayler called me at 3 to talk about Beckett going around with a blanket on his head (the same one that Hiero pulled off - and then Hiero was upset for five minutes), playing a six-page version of PACHELBEL'S CANON which took seven minutes to complete, knowing a couple of six-syllable words ("onomatopoeia" and "responsibility"), his doing online school tomorrow, Beckett's boh-boh and eggs, talking to his list of people (Uncle Joe / Auntie Wing Yee / Eric / Randal / Jeremy), his liking to talk (I can tell!), and their lunch of tuna melts. He said he goes outside and likes to play tag if he can, but plays CONNECT FOUR inside, and also reads books and keeps Beckett safe when he can. I told him that his pieces were nice (except for Hiero / Beckett crying - which he said "sorry" for later), and thanked him for playing... also when he played the Willowbrook Waltz.

He gave me his grandparents' phone numbers, said that he had reached me first before I called them, and described a magic trick he could do in person. I heard Beckett say "Auntie," so I told HIM that as soon as I can, I will go over there so we can hang out. Ayler asked how old the oldest man was, since the oldest woman ever was 122 years old. I looked it up: 116 years old ever, and a man was JUST awarded a Guinness World Record for being 112 years old. Ayler asked whether Jeanne Calment had been in good health - well, she did smoke a lot (being in France) and ate tons of chocolate, but other than that, I guess so. Ayler told me that he liked being creative and writing stories - awesome! I should tell him about my "goat royalty" stories as a kid around his age, haha.

He asked me whether I had allergies because of the cherry blossoms and spring; I told him that I did not, but I was apparently very lucky. Harmony had told him that I was born prematurely - I am a dragon like he is, which is why I gave him the red-and-yellow stuffed dragon that Beckett has in his crib now. Hiero is a Snake, and Beckett is a Dog. I told him that learning was a good thing, while he wondered if my clock did minutes and seconds - apparently, he tells Jeremy what time it is and counts it up!

He asked me whether I knew that his dad's "special sleep window" was 11:30 PM to 3 AM, since that's when Jon can sleep best. Haha, no! I do not currently have trouble sleeping, so that's good. He ended the call at 4:05 or so, during which I could hear Jon in the background, so he was home then. We can talk next on Wednesday after his online school and everything else - no, I'm not likely to be available before then at 8:45 AM! He told me, "I'm glad you're alive because then I can talk to you, and you can take care of us. If you die, my dad will be the oldest, right?" HAHAHAHA!


Nacho tombstone?!

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 I had COFFEE TIME, Barry picked me up at 10:50 and we went banking and to Price Smart. I got on-sale Sunlight Morning Fresh 64-load laundry detergent, on-sale Kellogg's All-Bran Buds, GOOD TASTE and JOY dumplings x5 (Pork and Celery / Lamb and Onion / Pork and Tri-Treasure / Pork and Vegetable / Pork and Chive), Earth's Own almond milk, on-sale Knorr Sidekicks x5, Kozy Shack tapioca pudding, Dentyne Ice spearmint gum x3, MyKuali Penang White Curry noodles, Shin Ramyun Noodles black noodles (Paulo can try one pack), and a Samyang Fire Noodles 2X Spicy pack so Paulo can try one.

Also bought Vedan Bah Kut tea noodles, on-sale Six fortune straw mushrooms x4, Stouffer's Homestyle Beef Pot Roast, bananas, Ibumie Penang White Curry Mee noodles, NEW Breyers Natural Vanilla Bean ice cream for next month, NEW Maeda-en Gourmet mango sorbet mochi, NEW on-sale Activia yogurt x2 (cherry / blueberry), on-sale Kraft Dinner x2 (Alphabet Shapes / Smart Vegetables), and a Canada Dry ginger ale FridgeMate since I just finished my existing Canada Dry ginger ale before it expired on July 8. Got a "spend $50 and save $10" coupon good from June 27 to July 17, too! Maybe I can get Chinese Eric to help with that, so I texted him since we could be hanging out next month for a BC Lions / Edmonton Eskimos CFL game. After getting home at 12:45, I paid my Shaw and hydro bills online at home before showering.


Big Crazy in Richmond - the old logo is better than the new one!




Cheese Bong Wang mini fish sausages?!




( Snapple, Quaker, Burt's Bees, and more! )

After COFFEE TIME, Eric M. picked me up at 5 so we could go to Golden Spring Restaurant (near the old VCEFC church site) for Beckett's baby banquet. Unfortunately, I forgot his birthday Lindt Excellence dark chocolate bars (Madagascar / Pink Peppercorn) and birthday card on the way out the door, despite leaving a note for myself. I guess I'll have to give it to him at the Felico's dinner like he wanted. UGH! At least he can give me a ride to that one! We talked about his first hockey practice today, his first game on Wednesday, there being a good reason why Steph / Lisa / Fraser / Henry weren't here this weekend, Highway 99, Steveston, and more.

We had seafood soup, sweet and sour pork, chicken, fish, yee mein, red bean soup, jellyfish, Chinese cold cuts, seafood soup, tea, and more for dinner - I got to take leftovers home, too! Dad thought he had to remind me to say hi to Mom, Uncle Richard, Auntie Gloria, Pastor Fulton, Auntie Teresa, Auntie May, Uncle Anthony, Uncle Andre and his wife Anna, Uncle Joe, Auntie Wing Yee, Auntie Vivian (who said that she missed me and wondered where I'd been "hiding"), Uncle Eric, Auntie Brenda, and their other friends. No, I just wanted to get settled first! I did say hi to Holly, Peter, Evander, and Everett when they got there, of course.

When Auntie Catherine got there, we caught up a little later - she remembered my birthday in September as "a special time," and wanted us to get together. She said that Frances is getting baptized next week - ha ha ha, good luck with that! (from what Ellen tells me...) I'm probably not going to go for THAT service, but did personally tell Jon that I would be willing to go to Beckett's baby baptism service if VCEFC ever got around to organizing one. Auntie Catherine also would be willing to meet me in RICHMOND (!) on Saturday the 15th, and maybe invite a friend my age. Okay, then! As long as it's not about religion AGAIN...

I taught Ayler about Talk Like A Pirate Day since he was wearing a pirate T-shirt. He asked what people did for that, and how he could celebrate; he eventually figured that he could wear his shirt and say "Arr, matey!" like I suggested. Good ideas! He did ask about my skin scars, but I told him that it was my choice to make boundaries about my body, just like him. Later, he refused to ask my reasonable question about how Grade 1 was so far; then he didn't want me to see the time on Eric's watch, so he covered it up. Okay, then. I did say hi to Hiero, but Harmony was wearing Beckett all evening, probably to prevent people from taking photos.

Nathan, Jeremy, Randal, Caleb, Rebecca, Jon, Harmony, Eric, and I talked about Batman / Quentin Tarantino / Twitch streams / my new glasses and upcoming eye surgery / my Felico's celebration (Jeremy and Nathan say they'll confirm later) / Danielle travelling these days / FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL / learning to ride bikes from Ron and Veronica / CRAZY RICH ASIANS / JOY LUCK CLUB / Kendrick Lamar / some guy named Danny Miller / addiction issues / rappers / the weird Asian shows on the TV, which Harmony did NOT feel the need to ask the staff to turn off / counting the courses. We saw Alan and Tracy with their kid Noah, so waved at them on their way out of the restaurant. I wished Myles a happy early birthday while saying hi to him, Brittney, and Naomi. Then Eric had to wait a few more minutes while I said bye to everyone that I knew... oh well.

Eric dropped me off at 8:40, which is still pretty good. Time to relax now! Oh wait, Mom wants Jon to choose the location of my birthday dinner AGAIN - yeah, I'm not putting up with that this year. Let ME pick the damn restaurant, although at least the Oakridge area on a Monday afternoon is better than Commercial Drive with Sunday bus schedules! Not saying I'll never go to Commercial Drive, but NOT at the behest of another person ON MY ACTUAL BIRTHDAY! No, I'm not feeling guilty about that. She tried calling me twice, but I was NOT in the mood for yet more social interaction. That's the true introvert nature!


Random stuff from Mom and Dad: $20 cash (making up for yesterday's pizza plus a little more), an old one-litre Proctor-Silex water boiler (half the size of my current one), a pair of white socks, a pair of pink-and-white candy toe socks, and 200 sheets of Hilroy lined paper.


Chinese jellyfish with chili!

After COFFEE TIME and the fire inspection / "Terminix pest control" with Hester, I left at 2:45 for Jon's with the Crunchy Raspberry / Crunchy Mint / Crunchy Raspberry M and Ms for Harmony, plus the dessert chocolate. I bought a BBQ pork bun from Kam Do Bakery, of course. I got to the house at about 3:25, and they were definitely home because I heard fussing from inside. The kids were eating the last of a snack, and Jon's student Kayla came in just a minute after me. The boys were okay for the most part, but still had volume issues. Hiero told me that the tiny playing cards were from the doctor, and Ayler said "that is that" when I asked him what my San Francisco shirt said. Jon called him out on that, and also on his telling me to guess whether he went to school today. Ayler climbed on me and wanted to get my hat - NO! Hiero wanted to drive his truck on me - okay, I guess so.

One huge burrito plus 1/4 of Hiero's AND half of his black bean burger was more than enough for dinner! (plus Ayler's leftover peppers and tomatoes from snacktime) We talked about reading and writing, Hiero knowing the concept and word of "exhaustion," Hiero drawing "a delicate maze," the new baby, Harmony going to Dragon Ball for some well-deserved bubble tea, Ayler changing teachers, Ayler drawing a monster, Ayler knowing how to read the word "flowers," and Harmony thanking me for all the chocolate. No, I didn't want any as I had quite a lot at home! (I ate one piece for dessert when I got home at 7:40 on a 407, before brushing my teeth)


Random stuff from Mom and Dad: assorted washed cutlery, 3/4 of a bag of Old Dutch ripple chips that expired three days ago (with a rubber band around it, but still... I have enough junk food as it is!), two Good In Every Grain zipper pulls in the tiniest Ziploc bags ever (a sandwich bag would be just fine next time), and $5 cash.


From Julie M. and Wish: A painting of a naughty frog on the toilet by 5D Diamond!