Tatiana's Wanderings

After COFFEE TIME, Barry picked me up at 9:40 AM for my 10:15 AM eye clinic appointment. As usual, I waited a while to be seen, and got out at 11:25. They had a black chick doing the eye exams, who admitted she was new AND didn't read my file, AND "had" to dilate my pupils, AND didn't bother sanitizing the surfaces while I was in there! Her excuse was that she did it after each patient. Fuck that shit! YUCK! Why would you not do that in patient view, like Elizabeth does?!

Of course I brought it up to Dr. Wise as soon as I could see her, forgetting to ask about any reading glasses prescriptions. Damn people making me sound like a Karen! My next appointment is in a year since she says my eyes still look very healthy and normal. I got Barry to drop me off at Richmond Centre later since I had to get thank-you cards for Steph (a dog which totally looks like Havarti!) / Ruth / Joan, a froggy Valentine's Day card for Fraser and Henry, on-sale Fritos Hoops for Sunday's dinner, and what I THOUGHT were scratch-and-sniff pizza stickers at Shoppers. They turned out to be kiddy Valentine's Day cards! Fuck that dilation shit, indeed! Got home at 1:05 on a 407 to do some greeting card prep, and found out that the I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S NOT BUTTER margarine has an expiry date of January 18. I COULD HAVE GOTTEN IT EARLIER! At least I have some time for that, but STILL!


Fritos Hoops!




Gildan bamboo dress socks - long and thick!




From DaveTheUsher's Discord server: English is weird. Horror, horrible, horrific. Terror, terrible, terrific!

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?! )

I shut up an insulting "lady" on Reddit by mentioning actual violent death like throat-slashing, dismemberment, and stabbing. If she thinks plane crashes and a divorce are violent, and that I'm racist simply for bringing up Mexican jails.... how does a conversation about not liking mushiness on FaceTime IN PUBLIC (at the airport boarding area) devolve into this?!


Take comfort this Labor Day in knowing the pressure to have fun this summer is finally over.




Princehoward Barbecue Yee?!




Grill Vogel?!