Tatiana's Wanderings

I went out with a Miniso face mask at 12:30 on a 407. Went to Lansdowne T and T with my Asian old lady shopping cart to see if I could get a box of 50 face masks for $31. After lining up for 20 minutes because the line snaked around the market area of Lansdowne Mall, I FINALLY got inside with a temperature scanner check (which was fine) and managed to get a box from Customer Service. Since I was there anyway, I checked out the noodle aisle. I got Samyang Buldak Topokki noodles x2 and NEW Samyang Buldak Corn noodles x2 / Samyang Buldak Kimchi chicken terrorist noodles x2. My cart was already plenty full and bulky by the time I left at 1, but I decided to walk to Price Smart anyway, where the lineup moves MUCH FASTER! I got Fanny Bay oysters (May 5), Snack Pack vanilla pudding (May 22), plus NEW Snack Pack DRAGON TREASURE and UNICORN MAGIC puddings. Decided to get a NEW on-sale Aero Gold chocolate bar, a NEW on-sale Kit-Kat Gold chocolate bar, NEW Crave microwaveable meals (Bacon and Egg Scramble with Cheddar Cheese, and Chorizo Egg Scramble with Goat Cheese), and NEW limited-edition Tiramisu Oreos.

After that, I went home at 2:45 on a 407 to rest for a bit before going to London Drugs at 6:30. Planters BBQ peanuts (May 16), Pure Standards Products hydrogen peroxide, Arm and Hammer baking soda, on-sale organic Classico tomato garlic pasta sauce for the same $4 price as regular (sale ends May 27), a small Reese's Pieces (May 18), NEW Orange Vanilla Coke (May 8), NEW LaRose hand sanitizer for the same $4 price as regular, Tao Kae Noi wasabi seaweed snacks, Fudge Swirl Lindt truffles for tomorrow (May 2), and Aroy-D green curry for my Uncle Ben's jasmine rice. Got home at 7:25, which is fine by me.


Mamee chicken noodles with corn, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and green peas for lunch!




( Planning ahead, oh my! )

HAPPY EASTER 2020! ZOMBIE JESUS DAY!


Hershey's cookies and cream Easter eggs, Frankford cookies and cream Easter bunny, plus Hershey's Reese Easter Eggies for Easter Sunday 2020!




From Julie: Morticia Addams says, "Revenge is beneath me, but accidents do happen." Skull, knife, and a candle!




Chef Boyardee spaghetti and meatballs with Rotel original tomatoes and green chilies for dinner!




From Shared: Find Your Easter Bunny Name! Wild Lollipop?! Seriously?!

It's MARIO DAY today! After COFFEE TIME, I went out at 3:10 on a 401 to help with the kids. Surprisingly, I just managed to get the 3 despite the elevator buttons not responding to my commands. I got to the house at 4:10 despite an electric scooter not knowing how to maneuver smoothly on the bus (I had to move), but those things can be unwieldy! Thank GOODNESS it stayed on the bus AFTER 16th, so I wasn't delayed any more! Once I got in, Beckett wanted to play with me, but my washing hands coincided with his diaper change. After that, we played with blocks / magnets / balls ("boh-boh!") / Play-Doh. He ALMOST licked the Play-Doh lids, looking at me to see how I'd react. I said that was gross and not to do it. He said "come up / yeah / block / ma-net / open! close! / lid / pease / light / purple / Auntie" a lot. Later, he almost fell down, but I was there to catch him and put him on the couch, where we sat together and "talked" about the "funny" blanket and the happy / sad eggs.

When Ayler told me to guess what time he went to bed last night, I actually got the right time: 10 PM! Apparently, there was a choir concert last night at St. James (Jon's old orchestra hangout space), WITH a rehearsal before AND a mass choral recital afterwards, so nobody could leave early even if they wanted to! I realized that they had scheduled it for the day after Daylight Savings, which is NOT GOOD! Hiero spent his time making Superman signals and wanting Popsicle sticks and special paper. He also was less than polite when he laughed at people. Apparently, roasted broccoli is not his thing!

Beckett wanted me to look out the window at the alley because of the lights - good choice! Hiero wanted me to play a game, but I wasn't up for that. There was a felt book with multiple felt pieces, and Beckett identified an X for Tic-Tac-Toe correctly some of the time. He also knew what the moon was, so he's getting smarter! I told him what a flower was when he identified it as a boh-boh (hahaha), and he picked it up from me. When I took my phone out to take photos that were CLEARLY of the food and NOT THE KIDS, Beckett said "gung-gung"... hahaha, I thought he associated the phone with Uncle Joe last week!

Ayler said that their trip is after Tuesday next week, so I said that I know that they get to listen to TICKET TO RIDE on the ride over. "How do you know?" was easily answered since I saw Jon's Facebook status earlier about borrowing someone's copy. Hiero told us about MINECRAFT, but Harmony wondered where he learned about that. The school computers offer that as an option for ALL the kids, apparently, so Harmony says she'll talk to the teacher about that. I did not volunteer that there was Preschool MINECRAFT - she'd be horrified! I left at 7:30 and surprisingly got home at 8:35, despite the stroller at 16th! If you can't be ready when the bus stops, then don't be surprised if a passenger gets on before you maneuver your stuff off the bus! I know it's safer to wait till the bus stops, but come on now - be aware and at least make your way toward the door!


From Janet on LJ, aka Ghost_Light: Your birth month is your muppet. Ernie, Elmo, Big Bird, Abby, Slimey, Oscar the Grouch, Bert, Snuffleupagus, Rosita, the Count, Cookie Monster, and Grover!




Chili, beans, and cheese!




Red Jello and mango pudding made by Jon!

The Canucks played the Sharks tonight at 7:30, and won 5-2 thanks to an empty-netter from Pearson and other team play!


Squid selfie! No, the squid is not actually up my nose.




A parody of Uncle Kracker's "Drift Away" from Jim: Give me the weed, boys, and free my soul. I wanna get lost in a sticky bowl and drift away. Of course I sent this one to Mike!




From Nate, Extra Fabulous Comics, and Discord: "How about a C?" "Nope." "An R?" "Nope." "Fellas, I gotta say this is some of the most fucked-up shit." REAL LIVE HANGMAN AND EXECUTIONERS!




From The Onett Times: Special dark roast Starman Coffee! Happy? Ness In Every Cup! Latte art of Giygas, hahaha!

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! )