Tatiana's Wanderings

The computer gave me a heart attack at 4:55 when both the keyboard and mouse froze, and the power button wouldn't work until 20 minutes later at 5:20! Andrew says it might not be the power supply, but he has to come by and see first, of course. White Eric said it didn't sound good... yes, I knew that too! He offered to do some tests with Remote Team Viewer on the weekend, so that's fine in the name of social distancing. At least BEFORE all this happened, I talked briefly with Corey on LINE at 12:10 to wish him a happy birthday!


This T-shirt is from Lisa D. and Analytical Grammar / Grammar Planet: "I take for granite people's poor grammar. More pacifically, how there always thinking "for all intensive purposes" is supposably correct."




From One Million Gamers: Your Video Game Name! Mine is Dirty Unicorn World...




From Julie: Denali Brehmer is apparently a woman?!

The Romanovs: The Real History of the Russian Dynasty, Part 1

The Romanovs: The Real History of the Russian Dynasty, Part 2


I left at 4:30 to meet Paulo and Darryl at the Cascade Room (2616 Main Street, near Main and Broadway-ish, more like Main and 10th) for Paulo's belated birthday hangout at 6. I wanted to be early just in case there were stroller / wheelchair delays or elevator shenanigans - surprisingly for once, there were none of those AND I just managed to get a 3 bus which had ten people total in it, but they couldn't find my reservation when I got there at 5:30! I was seated at a high table pretty quickly, though they said they'd move me to a booth once some people left who had been there at 4. Paulo texted me and Darryl said on Discord that he was getting an Uber. We waited to see if Steve would show up (Estefan is in Whistler at the moment), and I finally messaged him. He replied pretty quickly to say he was having a bad day, so no. I showed them both the phone notification, and they joked about guilting him into it since we HAD to find a place that took reservations JUST FOR HIM! Seriously, dude - we could have stayed with the Brassneck Brewery plan!

We were on our phones a lot, which actually is pretty good for me. Talked about Jimbo's opinion on our Superfriends server and how I know I can't change his mind on it (and wouldn't want to - why bother?), the secret chat, all the drama, Holly's opinion on Jimbo not telling us much about his work, the 12 Kings meetup being last year on March 12 already, Brian being sued by some people, and Holly nuking the original server unexpectedly. I showed them some funny toilet paper-related memes, while we tried various food and drink: gin and tonic, Amber something, mushroom poutine, sausage rolls with barbecue sauce (which I spilled on my DRAGON HOODIE - necessitating MORE LAUNDRY when I got home!), white wine, schnitzel, steak, desserts, and more! The Cascade Room was advertising Jameson ginger and lime Slurpees for St. Patrick's Day 2020. Good luck with that!

Darryl said that his buddies might join us, and wondered if we'd mind. I said no, but deferred to Paulo since it was his belated birthday celebration - HE didn't mind, either. Harmony texted me at 7:15 to say not to worry about coming over next Tuesday as they're limiting everything non-essential including public transit trips. They've even cancelled their Harrison Hot Springs vacation next week for Spring Break, which makes sense! If I were a different kind of person, I'd ask if they don't trust me! This is best for everyone's health and safety, though.

Eric M. also texted me: "FYI, VCEFC has been cancelled because of COVID-19 concerns" - that's what I thought would happen when I heard the daily BC health guidelines the other day. MORE FREE TIME FOR HIM! We left the Cascade Room at 8 and walked a block or so to the Colony Bar across the street from Save-On Foods. I'd have gone in earlier to see if they had hand sanitizer, but they probably don't. I told them that my brother lives around there, but that it was probably bedtime for the kids. They joked about invading their place anyway even if the nephews were there, but I knew it was a drunken joke and didn't take it seriously. Paulo offered Darryl a hit of his vape since he'd tried smoking, but he declined due to the pandemic - smart!

We were at the Colony Bar for about 70 minutes or so, with Darryl unexpectedly buying us a round because it was Paulo's birthday. I got a Parallel 49 Jerk Face 9000 beer - I had to order it because of the name! No, I wasn't surprised that Paulo barely touched his beer - they'd already had a lot at the Cascade Room. We discussed alcohol tolerance, Paulo totally forgetting about work once on HOLIDAY PAY, the coronavirus, and whether Darryl's buddies would actually show up. I gave up on them at 9, about five minutes before they DID come in. The guy put his hand out to shake hands - what?! I instinctively shook hands, and then went to wash my hands immediately afterwards since I had to pee anyway. My hand sanitizer was way down in the bottom of my Doge bag, then I had to look for my phone when I got back to the table, which was also in my Doge bag! Habit to look in my coat pocket... not sure what I'll do once it's summer!

Paulo declared that he would call an Uber since he said it was too cold to wait around for the bus for too long. I decided to just wait for the bus since it was more wallet-friendly. The East Indian 3 driver waited THREE TIMES for no reason, holding everybody up on his bus! What schedule is there to make up at 9:30 PM?! You have your breaks now, so that's not a good reason! Of course that made me late for the Brighouse train - it was pretty chilly outside, so I took the opportunity to send Mike a picture of my current footwear at Marine Drive station after fighting with the wifi.

Mike said something about "where's the glim-glam?" so I texted that 1 degree was too cold for bare feet and toeless sandals! (I waited till I was up on the platform since I heard the YVR train announcement from the statue) The train was sparsely populated, too - I got my own little row of accessible seats since an Asian lady moved far away from me instead once I said I needed her seat. I got home at 10:35, thanks to that stupid 3 bus driver - I could have been home half an hour before! Doing laundry seems to have worked for my dragon hoodie, but I can't seem to say the thing for my four towels since I used them to wipe up a flood of water from when I was showering a few days ago. Guess I'll go tomorrow to London Drugs and buy up on-sale zinc citrate, four towels, and maybe a pair of Secret socks!


Knorr Cheesy Spinach Dip for lunch!




( Zinc, bar food, and a special Pi Day 2020 Reddit award! )

After COFFEE TIME, I went out at 11:10 on a 414 to see Sue, the housing manager at CHIMO. I saw a guy clapping his hands like a seal and slapping his knees on the shuttle bus, but he wasn't wearing any headphones that I could see. What the heck?! Since I was going to the building anyway, I also took along the Lays chips and roasted seaweed for Rachel - Numb and Spicy Hot Pot, Wasabi, Kimchi, Deep-Ridged BBQ Pork, and Deep-Ridged Spicy Chicken! Sue seemed pretty understanding and encouraged me to advocate for myself, dropping Dave McDonald's name, so perhaps I'll do that. Squeaky wheel and all of that, I suppose. When the appointment ended an hour later (she thinks I'm animated and have skills and humor?!), it turned out that Daisy was out to lunch at just past 12-ish.

I figured I'd kill time by taking the 410 to Yaohan so I could find some curry cuttlefish at Curry House to horrify Mike with a food photo, haha. Turns out that they only had curry beef balls and the like, and Osaka Supermarket didn't seem to have fresh cuttlefish either! I eventually went to Golden Rice Bowl and ordered broccoli and fried cuttlefish with fried noodles at 12:40 despite the fact that I'd eaten breakfast at 10, but finished the whole thing in one sitting after taking the requisite photo for Mike. That later turned out to be a bad idea since it's been feeling like a rock all evening, but there was nothing I could do other than take two Pepto. Good thing it hasn't made me feel overly BLERGH!

When I was trying to make my way out from Brighouse Station, an older man who slightly smelled like pee caused a delay in the elevator by trying to tell me to go back in the elevator, and THEN held everyone up by moving at a snail-like and glacial pace out the door. Why does it take you 30 seconds to take two steps and then be outside the elevator?! (I described this to Mike later, and he says I have a way with words! HAHAHA!) Time for a cane or walker, old man! I told him to hurry up, and he just gave me a dirty look! I'm not normally an impatient person, but others have PLACES TO GO AND CONNECTIONS TO MAKE!

Good thing this idiot didn't cost me the time I needed to make it across the street to the 406 by Kam Do Bakery! I went back to the CHIMO building, and luckily, the door was open to Rachel's work. So I asked Daisy to do me a favor and give a bag of stuff to Rachel next time she was in, thanks! She thanked me in turn, saying she'd put it in her room. That was nice and brief, and I finally got home at 2:35 WITHOUT encountering any more problems or delays. I'll eventually shower for tomorrow's Dublin Crossing pub hangout once I feel less full...


Lunchtime at Yaohan: fried noodles, broccoli, woodear mushrooms, carrots, and fried cuttlefish. I ate off some of the tempura just so you could see the cuttlefish better.




Vinay Pimplé?! Pronounced Pim-PLAY?!




From Youtube: Gable Tostee and Warriena Wright?! Like ANNE OF GREEN GABLES, cheese toasties, and a female version of Warren?!

PRODUCT WARNING: I am banning Tetley Tea from my apartment. The strings on the tea bags break way too easily! What's the point of having one dangle from your mug?!


From Someecards: Creepy Easter Bunny 26!




From Diane: I'm only having one Guinness on St. Patrick's Day.