Tatiana's Wanderings

I went to London Drugs at 3:25 on a 407, intending to return that Rescue Petz golden retriever and get a more suitable birthday gift for Beckett. Bought an on-sale Gary the Giraffe Squishmallows toy, on-sale NEW Wild Blueberry Jamieson Vitamins, NEW on-sale Wolfgang Puck chicken noodle / tomato soups x2, NEW on-sale Cheez-It CRUNCH Crackers x2 (Sharp Cheddar / Hot and Spicy), and a much-needed on-sale Rubbermaid dish drainer. Got home at 4:25 on a 407, which is fine - I definitely wiped down a bunch of stuff, including the stuffed toy.


( What's Your True Name? SKELETONS! Lots of purchases! )


From Matt: Homestar Runner Wiki has these funny coronavirus-themed logos! From the Strong Bad email SICK DAY: Scan Complete! 423,827 viruses found! A New Record!




From Julie and MAURY: Cece is Michelle's cousin?!

After COFFEE TIME and calling the Lost Property Office too early for them to receive lost Translink items at 1 (UGH!), I went out at 11:10 on a 401 to go to the Gloucester Café to meet Auntie Catherine for my last belated birthday meal, taking the 15 Olympic Village bus down at Bay 2 across the street rather than walk the seven blocks in the iffy weather. So I was ten minutes late - it still was reasonably on time for me! I scanned the restaurant and finally saw her sitting at a table - she hugged me hello, and we eventually ordered two dishes to share with our individual hot milk tea. Seafood spaghetti in a creamy dill sauce AND chicken pineapple satay fried rice with plenty of shrimp and egg! No, I didn't want to take the leftovers with me!

She talked about church and noticed that I didn't need my glasses, so she was surprised - she didn't know about my eye surgeries! We talked about Mattias and Marcus - they're 11 and 9 now?! Chung Yan still watches Canucks hockey, so YAY for that! Auntie Catherine gave me a surprise 100% red silk scarf (probably an Indian scarf), so that was totally good! It was pretty rainy when we left at 1:20 (Harmony texted to say I could come at 3:30 or so), but I assured her that I'd be fine without an umbrella, and definitely didn't want to go to the North Shore or some other Vancouver Public Library! I just killed time at Oakridge with the free wifi, found out that I'd been BANNED from TwoX Chromosomes because of the too-inclusive special snowflakes ("not all women have vaginas" is very weird), and left at 3 on a 41st Avenue bus (then a 3) to get to the house at 3:35.

Beckett was surprisingly awake and definitely wanted to play with me, the baby pop-up toy (he's now strong enough to make it pop up himself once or twice), and the various balloons scattered around the room. He also threw the plastic blocks at me, but I didn't hold it against him. Hiero laughed when he saw that, so I said with a very serious face that it was NOT FUNNY, and let Harmony take care of the rest. Ayler had to read the Monkeys book with me, and Hiero wanted me to read a book that was at least different than the ones I'd read on Sunday. Beckett wanted to see what we were doing / be close to me, but his brothers didn't like that. I had to give him a few hugs because he was upset! I let Ayler use my cell phone calculator after he said that I was still better at math than he is (debatable) and Beckett said, "Na na na NAAAAAAAAA!", which is what he says when he REALLY wants something! (like the Rice Krispies, a couple of which I put in his mouth at snacktime, which he didn't seem to mind)

Speaking of being serious, Beckett had an extremely serious expression on his face when he was signing "MORE" at dinner. He did get more food, but started throwing it around, even decorating my red bling sweater with macaroni and cheese. (we also had squash, turkey, stuffing, and other Thanksgiving leftovers) Ayler asked me why drinking prune juice meant that you had to be on the toilet all afternoon (because I told him that), so I told him that there was a lot of fiber in prunes. He seemed to accept that. After Beckett cried and was let go from the table to crawl around, he knocked over Ayler's silver water cup, causing Ayler to get all wet and then cry and melt down himself.

Beckett threw the balloons around and said what sounded like "cup" - at least, he had the hard C sound down! Ayler wanted to regale me with piano technique, so I let him tell me about it while listening very seriously. I enjoy it when he tells me about his interests! Hiero wanted me to read to him, but I said that I had to watch Beckett to make sure he didn't kill himself. We also discussed global warming in a kid-appropriate way. I left at 7:20 and finally got home at 8:40. The Canucks played Detroit tonight at 7, and won 5-1.


Pepto-Bismol is NOT Annabelle eyeshadow, London Drugs website...




Paper bus transfer in 2019! I sure wish the buses would give out actual Compass Card transfers, though!




Lamp chop for lunch, anyone? Yay for Engrish!




Seafood and spaghetti in a creamy dill sauce as part of a belated birthday 2019 lunch!




Chicken and pineapple satay fried rice with plenty of egg and shrimp!




A red 100% Silk Scarf from Auntie Catherine for my belated birthday in 2019!

After LAUNDRY TIME (with the elevator STILL out of service...) and COFFEE TIME, I left at 12:15 for my Invisalign appointment, barely managing to get there on time thanks to a wheelchair JUST making me miss a Brighouse train at 12:35. (they're definitely entitled to use the elevators and trains - I might have made it with the time it took to wheel the person in and out...) The technology simulator was pretty cool, at least.

I did see Dad, which is what I'd been expecting, so I briefly discussed it and he said no if the insurance didn't cover it. I got brochures and the health angle, also expected. Once I finally got out of there at about 2, I saw Dad waiting downstairs. He unexpectedly gave me a ride home because it was really raining by then, and said a bunch of stuff about money and exactly why Mom thought finding the grave in Cuba was "urgent." (Steph will go with her in October?!) At least I got home at 2:40 so I could finally eat!

My next dentist appointment is on Jan. 8 at 2 - I had to go home, check the actual Canucks schedule, and then call the office to change it from the 7th at 1. Then I decided to finally call Dr. Ruby's office and found out that they can't just do a six-month referral to the eye clinic over the phone, since I legally have to go to the office to set it up. UGH, FINE! I guess I know what I'm doing on the day before my birthday...


Sharky Laguana?!




From Julie: Raven?!




( Coffee and Dr. Dre?! )

After COFFEE TIME / SHOWER TIME / LAUNDRY TIME, Eric picked me up at 6:10 so we could go to Lion's Den plus Bells and Whistles for Randal's birthday thing. Thank goodness for texting! I wore my Spirit of Nature "Canada D'Eh!" moose T-shirt in honor of Canada Day long weekend, of course. Kevin, Eric Ho, Eric M., Jeremy, Randal, and I discussed chimerism in humans, jerk chicken, curry goat, ginger beer, Jamaican patties, working security at the NHL Draft in Vancouver recently, Kaapo Kakko, Jim Benning and the number 6 (NOT 666), my NOT wanting Eric to put his styrofoam (teriyaki chicken) leftovers box in my tote bag without a plastic bag because it would spill all over, Christon and Alice coming really late to Bells and Whistles, my "famous" handwritten birthday card for Randal, Grace hot sauce, the Scoville scale, and the world's youngest mother.

It took 15 minutes for us to get the bill and pay because Kevin wanted our bills to have an additional amount for Randal's stuff. I didn't mind paying part of Randal's bill, but can't we do that among ourselves without wasting time? I don't mind the owner talking to someone in a wheelchair, but that was before she took our request for the bill. We did meet the owner and heard her story, just like that time we were there years ago. I knew the immediate area looked vaguely familiar!

Later, we ordered various beers (Kevin had a Pilsner while I had a Vancouver Special West Coast IPA) and Jon showed up to order garlic fries at Bells and Whistles. I was on my phone (Jon asked how I liked it after I gave him some used printer paper for Hiero's origami creations), but paid attention to CANADIAN BACON while texting Pothead Mike about stuff on Google Hangouts. Eric and I left after Kevin and Jeremy did - discussed chicken and waffles, anime, DARK SOULS, SHINING FORCE, the Nintendo Switch, and cleaning up after Christon's wedding at Kirin. Hopefully, it won't be like the time Mike wanted to help out at Tony and Trish's wedding after an already long day! Got home at 10:30 and discussed the questionable smell outside - at least it didn't smell like shit like on Thursday evening!


Canada D'Eh! moose T-shirt for Canada Day!




Jerk chicken from the Lion's Den!




Grace ginger beer!




Grace hot pepper sauce!




Vancouver Special West Coast IPA from Bells and Whistles!




From Julie: Buff Bernie coloring book?! BUFF BERNIE: A COLORING BOOK FOR BERNIACS!

After SHOWER TIME and COFFEE TIME, I went out to Kwong Chow at 4:50 because I had to go to a Father's Day dinner. I was in time for the 401, at least. Ended up JUST missing a couple of 25 buses at King Edward, but whatever. I was prepared to walk from 25th to 15th because of Car-Free Day, and there were way too many people walking slowly in front of me. There was even someone at the station who stopped RIGHT IN FRONT of me to check her map! Geez!

When I finally got to the restaurant after weaving my way through the crowd of people, Mom said that she'd called me six times. Come on - what's so important that she had to do that?! We couldn't even get a table because Jon and his crew weren't there yet, which is very unusual for Kwong Chow. Since when did they turn into a white place?! Mom just commandeered an empty table because it looked big enough and clean. Dad told her to quit being so impatient, of course. Talked to Ayler, Hiero, Harmony, Beckett, and Jon about Harmony wanting me to help out with the kids in the summer (it IS true!), school ending soon on the 19th, Hiero's origami book, the Oratorio Society concert last week and seeing Auntie Catherine there, Tsim Chai, Holly and Peter buying a house, Myles and Brittney also buying a house, screen time (I know what to do even if I don't follow it...), Alliance and SERVANTS work, ferries, and the Massey Tunnel.

We also discussed Saltspring Island, going to Seattle soon, Eric Ho and the 12 Kings Pub hangout for the Toronto Raptors and Golden State Warriors, Eric Ho taking sports losses pretty personally, what takeout was, Mom trying to tell us again about Maria Tam the missionary (we ALL heard about that last week...), and Mom attempting to give Jon $50 to pay for the meal. Nope, that definitely was not happening! Then we walked to Jon's place where Mom and Dad had parked, and gave Jon some stuff. Hiero enthusiastically showed me his origami book and his store of old printer paper to make new creations - he showed me a boat and then I had to leave, so I said he could show me more stuff next time. Then Mom and Dad noticed someone they knew, so we had to spend at least ten minutes talking to them. Turned out to be Jon's neighbors from Prince George and their baby - one of them is named Jill. So after that delay, I finally got home at 9:30 on a 407. Apparently, my parents didn't automatically plan on driving me home - okay, then.


Random stuff from Mom and Dad: Lipton chicken noodle soup which expires in 2020, Gentlemen and Players: A Novel (Joanne Harris), a tiny tube of macadamia nut shampoo, a pair of random black socks, and a tiny green shampoo bottle.


From Janina: Ladies, you can tell a lot about a man by how dogs react to him. For example, if the police K9 is biting him, he may not be ideal.