Tatiana's Wanderings

2019 Yearly Recap!


This is the 2019 recap. Fitting for the last day of the year, no?


JANUARY

* Hung out with Vanessa and baby Cassidy pre-surgery at Lansdowne: Fresh Elements bubble tea, good dumplings at the food court, GOLDEN DRAGON SUSHI, and more! She helped me open the ridiculous eyedrops bottles, too! [Jan. 7]

* Had eye cataract surgery at Mount St. Joseph's - yikes! Luckily, I had love and support from my friends, and my parents DID drive me home! [Jan. 10]

* Had a one-day followup appointment at the eye clinic. Thank goodness that Barry was able to drive me! Things looked healthy! [Jan. 11]

* Crashed at Deb and Dylan's for about a week. Declan and Elysse liked me from the start, and it was pretty interesting and funny. ("I have my dad's old phone, Elysse." "Did he die?!" Haha!) Lots of meals and Swiss Chalet plus lamb and ribs and packed lunches! I appreciated their support, for sure! [Jan. 11-16]

* Had my one-week followup appointment at the eye clinic. My eye still looked healthy and there is no need to rush on any new glasses! I got hit up for cash at Vancouver City Centre, but I said NO. He should have fucked off instead! [Jan. 17]

* Had Hiero's birthday party: glow-in-the-dark bowling at Grandview Lanes! Dylan and Deb kindly gave me a ride back, and Mom did NOT have to insert herself into our post-church plans by thanking them for "looking after" me! [Jan. 20]


FEBRUARY

* Got a chance to three-way call with Kate and Pothead Mike right after the hockey game, which the Canucks won 4-3 in a shootout against the Flames! It was pretty good to hear their voices as we chatted about a bunch of things including Ed Kemper and the RCMP tank in Surrey. [Feb. 9]

( Highlights and lowlights! )

I finally called Chimo's Housing Connect this morning at 9:15. Nancy is on sick leave, but I got an appointment with their housing manager Sue next Tuesday at 11:30 AM. After DOUBLE COFFEE TIME AND SHOWER TIME, I went out at 3:10 on a 401 to help with the kids again. Jon messaged me at 1:45 to wonder if I'd received Harma's text message, but I had not. Yeah, I know she's sick. She wanted me to come earlier, so I just called her instead. Sure, I could come by at 4-ish depending on "delays" and transit time... and it ended up being 4:30 because I just missed another 401 when I was on my way out!

Since Ayler and Hiero wanted to do puzzles in their cramped room, I let them while I hung out and read a book on the couch with Beckett's screams as accompaniment. Eventually, he fell asleep and the boys came out to do Summer Reading. Hiero wanted to sit on my lap while Ayler and I alternated pages. "Can you read upside down, Hiero?" "I can't even read right-side up." Good point! They did tell me about busing to VBS Later, Beckett did come out and wanted to toss everything around as per usual. They gave away the hard blue ball and hard red ball (his favorites!) plus some other stuff because he'd made a dent in the floor, hurt Ayler by indiscriminately tossing things, and had the potential to break a window... YIKES!

Like yesterday, Harmony thanked me for playing so nicely with the baby. We had penne, rutabaga, ratatouille, and honeydew for dinner. Ayler and Hiero did origami tricks with the Summer Reading logs, and Ayler told me about staccato and STORMS OF SATURN, while wanting to know what I felt about his practice runs of OUR DETECTIVE AGENCY. They kept getting better, which was what he wanted! Beckett wanted to play the piano too, so I supported him while he tried playing the high keys, but of course he isn't tall enough yet, so I sat on the piano bench with him in my lap instead.

Later, I made him laugh by playing with the Little Tikes popping toy (yellow and purple) - I pressed on the purple part and it pooped out within a few seconds. He "helped" me by putting his finger on it, haha. As long as it amused him for a bit! He looked up at me and wanted me to repeat that over and over, which is fine. Once Ayler and Hiero finally got to bed at 8:05, I could leave the house - I got home at 9:30 thanks to having to wait a while for the 407. I wish they'd gone to bed ten minutes earlier! Since I figured it wouldn't take forever and I might not miss a train, I held the elevator for a lady with crutches at Marine Drive. Her toes had splayed out - yikes! LUCKILY, I didn't miss the Brighouse train!


Bit fucking extreme: Shoplifters will be prostituted! No exceptions!

I was able to have a phone session with Rachel today, thank goodness! The Canucks played the Devils at 7 tonight... the game went to overtime and a shootout, but Vancouver lost 3-2 after being up 2-0. DAMMIT!


From the Daily Mail: There's a Gloucestershire, England village named Old Sodbury?!




From my Endlessly Engrossing Bathroom Reader #22: WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOU TALK TO YOURSELF?!

DOUBLE COFFEE TIME! I was ready with Eric's Christmas 2018 Almond Roca when he called this morning at 8:55, which I dumped into the backseat when he mentioned Christmas as a reminder. I took an extra 30 seconds to talk to the security guard, who says that he doesn't know how long they'll be posted in the apartment lobby - then I apologized to Eric about it, who didn't say anything much beyond stuff about how he knows the building doesn't have sprinklers. (it would automatically detect fire and BURNING to call 911!) We got to church on time, and I settled into a pew with Myles, Brittney, and Naomi... I definitely hugged Pastor Dan hello and said hi to Joe! Mom and Dad stayed for ONLY the baby dedication, OF COURSE! I said hi to Uncle Joe and Auntie Wing Yee, and waved to Peter, Holly, Evander, Everett, Jon, Harmony, Ayler, Hiero, and Beckett.

After service, I said hi to Lesley / Frances C. (her mom and a possible get-together) / Eva (Harrison's mom - he's now FIFTEEN?!) / Margaret K. / Ivan W. (eye surgery and Sunday Dinner) / Auntie Esther / Harmony (eye surgery support) / Pastor Dan (eye surgery and Sharon being out of town) / Auntie Catherine (hug) / Auntie Cathy (hug) / Emily Y. (Joey in town often and non-profit work for Big Brothers) / Deb (eye surgery support) / Pastor Fulton / Lawrence / Derek C. / Adam L. / Billy (I have the same eyes?!) and Stella (Steph's family) / Rosenda / Sophia / Natalie / Jeff / Anita / Uncle Wayne and Auntie Susan. It was good to see people and say hi... Eric didn't even HAVE hockey because of some international thing going on in that arena, so I got a ride home from him, avoiding lunch with my parents! Of course Mom had my stuff before she and Dad go on a cruise to Cuba and visit Steph's family.

I made sure that I talked to Jon and his crew, of course, patting Beckett's head as I said hi to him. Hiero was playing with a "paper plane," and I helped Ayler with a Nanaimo Bar at the snack table. Eric and I listened to a comedy podcast, then got stuck in traffic to the Arthur Laing Bridge, so we should just have braved the backed-up Knight Street Bridge instead! I finally got home at 12:35 when we'd left the church about an hour earlier... the Canucks played the St. Louis Blues at 12 today, and WON 6-1! I'm just glad that I have unfettered time to blog at my own pace now!


Random (Christmas!) stuff from Mom and Dad, inside a Lush Cosmetics bag: A Spirit "Size 14" thin blue and white pair of pants which Mom thought would "fit" me (ha ha ha... she forgets about the NG butt size!), two random pairs of grey knee socks, Project 7 Coconut-Lime gourmet gum, a pound of Carnaby (Shoppers Drug Mart store brand) Halloween candy and gumdrops in a tub with NO expiry date, a pack of three pairs of women's athletic socks, two pairs of T-Max Heat Holders casual socks (FINALLY, SOMETHING POTENTIALLY USEFUL!), a random pair of white "socks" which don't even fit over my feet, and a Disney Princess Lip Smackers tub in "Birthday Princess" flavor.


Edit: Harmony and Jon emailed me an invitation to an early Christmas Day dinner. Sounds good to me right now!


Happy Hockey Hanukkah!




Project 7 sugar-free Gourmet Gum varieties: Coconut-Lime, Wedding Cake, Rainbow Ice, First Kiss, Peppermint Vanilla, Grapefruit Melon, Front Porch Lemonade, and Birthday Cake! Eight of them, with 12 pieces per package!