Tatiana's Wanderings

After COFFEE TIME, Eric Ho called to confirm the time he was coming over to watch a lot of hockey, so I had to take a shower! I had the parking pass, bottled water, the Lindt caramel Easter eggs, Lindt Blueberries and Cream / Strawberries and Cream / Milk and White Spring Edition chocolate truffles, the Russell Stover praline chocolates assortment, the Laura Secord peanut-free chocolate assortment, and the Kit-Kat Senses hazelnut chocolate assortment ready for him in a huge Ziploc bag, plus smaller ones as appropriate. That was in a Price Smart plastic bag since I also had Ferrero Rocher hazelnut Easter eggs and Easter Egg Oreo cookies for him. Yes, of course we could have Deb's frozen Great Value All-Beef meat lasagna for dinner, plus a lot of snacks! I also got him to help open my eyedrops and buy me some heavy bottled water (a 24-pack for the rounded-down price of $5) while he was out anyway, and all I had to do was text him my Price Smart card number and address. Phew!

He got here at 3:25 and quickly settled in to watch some Blue Jays baseball. Yes, he definitely thanked me for all the stuff mentioned above! We talked about Korean LEAGUE OF LEGENDS players, always being online, Steph, the Habs and the playoffs, ARE YOU SHUTTING ME?, the Mi Goreng chips (which he thinks are "wicked"), Winnipeg Jets playing the Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators playing the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Canadian dollar falling. Also spoke on Jim Hughson, CBC After Hours (Markstrom / Josh Leivo / Tyler Seguin), Sportspage, Sportsnet Pacific, ownership, excitement, my being able to text him at any time for things like heavy bottled water, Facebook tagging (which he's cool with), my online hockey fan friends (don't remind me of Jimmy...), Quinn Hughes, April Fool's Day (ugh), and opening the living room window. I'm well aware that he thinks my apartment is too warm!

Conversed about the ENDLESS CONSTRUCTION ZONE and closures around here, Google, pay-per-view Canucks games, Hockey Night in Canada / Hockey Day in Canada, the Whitecaps soccer game and the origins of the Southsiders nickname, long-range planning for his birthday (a Thursday - he enjoyed hanging out with me and white Eric last year at Boston Pizza) and Christon's wedding at the Blundell Church / the nearby Kirin, and HOCKEYVILLE. Discussed my new Reddit friends, his lupus making him overheat easily (he's already transitioned to a Toronto Blue Jays T-shirt and wondered if my DRAGON HOODIE was too hot for me - NOPE!), the Korean BBQ chips, the Salsitas, his ranting, bumping into "whoever" (Mike - don't be so vague!), Trudeau, "injury time / stoppage time" in soccer (where they add on time to the game based on injury recovery time DURING the game - can't imagine that in hockey or football), the old days going to Nathan's basement, "ineptitude" being a "big word" for 9:35 at night, his doing the dishes, and his liking to hang out with me. The Canucks played the Stars at 7 tonight... the game went to overtime plus a shootout, and Vancouver won 3-2! At least Eric Ho could go home happy, but he didn't like that the shootout went so long because he has to work tomorrow.

I like these hangouts from the point of view of updated blogging and not having to wait till I go home to start. YAY! Now I just need to relax from constant talking and vagueness!

Most rounds in an NHL shootout: 20?! Most hockey OT periods ever: Eight in the Norwegian League, surpassing the 1936 NHL record of six?!


Great Value All-Beef Meat Lasagna, kindly given to me by Deb on APPRECIATE A DRAGON DAY!




( Old purchases with PEACE AND QUIET! )

From Holidays That Might Get Overlooked: A blue dragon in a cartoon!




From Holidays That Might Get Overlooked: PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON in movie form! Green dragon!




From Holidays That Might Get Overlooked: TOOTHLESS in HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, which I watched with Declan and Elysse when I was at Timberwood Village in January 2018 post-surgery!




From Holidays That Might Get Overlooked: A pink dragon!

It's World Book Day today!


From my ARE YOU SHITTING ME book: Boston Bramlage?! The rest of the family had more normal names: Ronald, Rebecca, Brandon, Beau, and Roxanne...




From Reddit and r/namenerds: A London lawyer is named Friday February Eleven Biddle?!

I showered and did laundry today. The Canucks played San Jose at 7 tonight, and lost 7-2.


From Julie M. and DR. PHIL: Sunshine?!




From Julie M. and DR. PHIL: Ozias?! Apparently, it's a variant on King Uzziah of the Bible. Come on, people - there has to be a middle ground between that and (let's say) King David!




From Julie M. and DR. PHIL: Borden is a boy name?! She thinks of the Borden Cheese Company, while I think of Lizzie Borden! Also, the dude kind of looks like Jeffrey Dahmer from this angle... o_O

FINALLY HOME ON APPRECIATE A DRAGON DAY! I got an egg with salt, milk, and a half-sandwich for breakfast today, and said my goodbyes to Dylan / Deb / Declan / Elysse! Deb even packed me a lunch of last night's pasta and stuff even though Dylan drove me home this morning on the way to school and work?! SO NICE! She even included what looks to be an entire Walmart Great Value store brand frozen lasagna for later consumption whenever! WOW! Steph called later so we could discuss my recovery, NO NEED FOR RUSHING THE OTHER EYE SURGERY while driving me home from the hospital, Mom using my sink as a garbage can for her plastic wrap (which isn't even something that can be washed down the drain!), Henry starting to talk now, and Fraser's daycare.


From Julie: A yellow and red dragon with flowers!




Julie M. saw this Walmart bathroom art of a dragon from December 2018!




From Dragons: Dragon Appreciation Day is January 16, 2019!




From Days of the Year: Appreciate A Dragon Day is January 16, 2019!

I was out of my place at 5:20 when Deb called to see if it was a good time to pick me up on the way to grab the kids from wherever they were after school. Sure, why not? We went to Hugh Boyd where Declan was; Dylan had picked Elysse up earlier since he'd felt sick at work at 2 or so. Declan demonstrated some good reading skills when we waited for Deb at Seafair Complex before getting some gas for the car. Yeah, the sushi and tempura is a good place to start. He told me that he would let his wife choose the names for their future kids - solid choice, my friend! I'm sure he'd like to try Subway sometime, too. As soon as we got home, the kids started talking about negotiating iPad time and toy time - nice!

We had very slightly spicy chicken wings, rice, bass fish, and bok choy for dinner after watching SAMURAI RANGERS and MINECRAFT. Declan wanted to show me his musical SAMURAI RANGERS sword, which is fine. Elysse insisted on watching GLITTER FORCE with GLITTER FORCE MAKEOVER on the iPad during dinner. When she asked me about my cellphone, I said that I'd received it from my dad. Her answer: "DID HE DIE?!" HAHAHAHA, how amusingly morbid!

If I can type with 98% spelling and grammar accuracy on my phone like I am doing "right now," so can everyone else who doesn't have legitimate difficulties with the English language. There, I said it... BOOM!


From my ex-friend Jimmy: Laundry today or NAKED tomorrow!




From Julie: Friendship is like pissing your pants. Everyone can see it, but only you can feel its warmth. Thank you for being the piss in my pants!

The day started early because we all went to church - a poppyseed bagel for breakfast suited me fine. No more MINECRAFT or HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON from last night, that's for sure! It was cold and foggy this morning, but least it wasn't snowy or rainy! I snuck into the church sanctuary and sat in the very last row when we got to VCEFC via the underground parking lot. Auntie Catherine saw me on my way in because she was one of the ushers, so had to hug me hello. I talked to Pastor Dan, Sharon, Emily L., Ivan W., Billy, Stella, Elenor's sister Janet, Helen C., Benedict, and others about my eye cataract surgery recovery progress while I grabbed a spare mug from the kitchen for some coffee.

Later, we went to Swiss Chalet for Elysse's fifth birthday: reading, making mistakes, being angry, chocolate milk, quarter of a rotisserie chicken and garlic shrimp / popcorn shrimp, water, embarrassing (blowjob) positions, Dylan's church meetings, Swiss Chalet coupons, chicken tenders, fries, yummy dipping sauce, what nephews were, Costco / IKEA / Toys R Us at Lansdowne, and dropping Dylan off at church. After about half an hour at home, everyone went to a crowded Costco / IKEA / Toys R Us. No, the shopping carts weren't jungle gyms, Declan! Dylan's parents returned some stuff and we talked about safety, surgery, Deb's patients, astigmatism, DanActive yogurt, fruit, budgeting, calling people by their real names, whining, and Elysse's new HATCHIMAL for $70 at Lansdowne.

The Canucks played the Panthers at 4 today, and won 5-1. Dylan's dad made lamb steak, gai lan, and ribs for Elysse's birthday dinner, and we had chocolate cupcakes with raspberry frosting and HELLO KITTY decorations as dessert. When I thanked him for it, Declan asked why I called his grandpa "Uncle." Well, he looks like he's the same age as my dad's friends and definitely NOT my peer, so there you go! Apparently, Dylan's mom found the icing too sweet, so she gave hers to me instead. Elysse wanted to lie down on her stool to eat the long spaghetti noodles, but that's NOT A GOOD IDEA! Dylan got home in time for his parents to make the drive back to Langley, but I was upstairs on mobile trying to be as unobtrusive as possible.


Lucas, Kumatora, Duster, and Boney make it to the Highway rest area in Chapter 5 of MOTHER 3. They stop by the restrooms. This guy tells them, "I heard there's a ramen shop in this area that's so good it always has a huge line in front of it."




Lucas, Kumatora, Duster, and Boney make it to the Highway rest area in Chapter 5 of MOTHER 3. They stop by the restrooms. This guy tells them, "Or at least that's the rumor, anyway."




Lucas, Kumatora, Duster, and Boney make it to the Highway rest area in Chapter 5. They stop by the restrooms. This guy tells them, "This line HAS to be the one!"




From Pete: The Impeccable Pig in Austin, Texas!