Lunch

Ate out for lunch again. It's always Chinese food when my dad's around. (Boring!) I forgot to renew my domain yesterday at Aberdeen (expires on July 1st) so we went for more shopping in Richmond. Stayed home for dinner to clean up the leftovers from the previous few days. My cousin's daughter is more interested in food and shopping so we're considering skipping Stanley Park and all other nature-type spots.

Today's activities

Brunch at a Chinese restaurant, shopping at Aberdeen Center, afternoon tea at London Farm, stopped by Superstore, dinner at aunt and uncle's place...

Summer suddenly arrived yesterday and it's been too hot. I know, I know, we being near the coast haven't even reached 30 degrees yet. That's nothing according to a lot of people. But my car doesn't have A/C. I can guarantee you a heat stroke if you come take a ride. Luckily my cousin's rental car has A/C, and we've been using that car.

Visiting relatives

Yesterday... I was dead thanks to the vampire. Didn't get to clean up the place. My California cousin and her daughter arrived today. It's been quite a few years since I saw them. It's gonna be a week of intensely eating out.

Surgery (2)

Missed this yesterday. My mom got freaked out when we found out my dad's bed was in the organ transplant ward. Turn out he was initially placed there because of a shortage of beds. Things got "corrected" even before his surgery was done, and he was placed in the correct urology ward.

So... dad got discharged this morning. Everything went smoothly. It's normal to have some leakage for a while, so my mom suggested him to put a plastic bag on the seat before he sat down in the car. But, but, he refused, saying he's fine and no need to do that. Sigh... If he leaks, the car will stink, and who's gonna clean that up? Not him, I'm sure. This is what I hate the most. He neither looks at reality nor think about other people. All he cares and does is to maintain his manly image. He's always right and whatever he thinks, is the one and only truth. As far as I'm concerned, he's always been the tyrant. My patience with him had long run out. I'm so fed up, I'm ready to kill myself. And yes, he's still stinking up the bathroom. But having 2 tubes each as thick as a pencil inserted into you-know-where, it will take him some time to recover.

As the vampire finally arrived, things only gets worse. Yes, I'm stressed. So stressed, every joint in my body feels like they're twisted backwards. I want to bang my head against the wall.

Surgery

Dad's surgery day. No, Steven, going to bed early didn't work. I ended up sleeping for only an hour or so, and felt half dead all day. (T_T)

Needed to get up at 4:45AM for the 6AM admission time. Surgery started at 8:25AM. Finished at around 9:30AM. After 2 hours in the recovery room, he was sent to the ward at around 11:30AM. Waaaay too much wait. Boring like hell. I was so tired, couldn't read the book I bought. All that time I was dosing off in the chair waiting, and really screwed up my back. It was beyond screwed up. (T_T) Luckily, I was able to switch my usual Thursday chiropractor appointment.

He'll be discharged tomorrow at 10AM. Can't sleep in. (T_T)

Sushi

Got sushi for dinner. (For prostituting my car.)
Dad has to report to the hospital for surgery at 6 AM tomorrow morning. Gotta leave the house at 5:30 the latest. This means I need to get up at 4:45. Will I be able to make it..? (>_<;)

Road kill

It's gotta be the season when young birds are learning to fly. (I hardly see many myself, thus worthy of a picture. But my friend was kind of puzzled about why I was taking pictures.)

Dangerous...?

Interesting name... A bit intimidating, though. (Both the name and the environment.)

Consructions

The mess at Cambie and Marine Drive.

Meiji Rich Strawberry

Airmailed from Japan. Thanks Sora! (^_^)

Straight forward, a strawberry chocolate. It says 77% strawberry on the wrapper. Really?! That's gotta be something! However, the first item on the ingredient list is sugar. Followed by cocoa butter, lactose, vegetable fat, whole milk powder, dried strawberry, yeast, skim milk powder, cream powder, emulsifier (contains soy), sour seasoning, red dye, flavour, antioxidant. So... right from the beginning, the 77% doesn't mean 77% of everything. It seems to refer to 77% of the strawberry content is from dried strawberry. Hmm...

It smells quite strong, a bit milk heavy, though. Taste... wow! It's different! It's not like any strawberry flavoured chocolate I've ever had! Yup, feels very real. Slightly tart, but very real. And there are strawberry seeds too. My complain would be a bit too milky. There's no aftertaste either. I was hungry, so I ate the whole bar in one sitting. That's 45g and 265kcal. 17.7g fat. Aaawww... today's gym effort is wasted.

Tetris galore

Celebrating the last day of spring with Tetris!

Stupid Tetris


Tetris Ninjas


The Original Human Tetris (Straigh forward.)


Human Tetris II (Completely different concept from the above.)

Pretz: Salad

Thanks Sora again for this one. (^_^) It's one of the more common basic flavours. However, this one's a (supposingly) limited time offer that includes a small bag of cheese spice powder.

OK... it's like a sweet cheese that's got a slight bite. Pretty good. Hmm... looks like I'm in the salt craving phase again. Normally this would be too salty.

There's one thing that I can't figure out. Why is this called salad flavour while tasting nothing like salad? A closer inspection reveals some suspicious ingredients, like vegetable oil being second on the list. Doesn't say whether it's hydrogenated or not in Japanese. And... when the list is 10 lines long, it can't be good. (T_T)

Photobucket sucks!

What the #%*@ are they doing? As of right now, 2:10AM, I can't log in. Any attempt to go near their site is redirected to a free web hosting site's ad. Can't log in. Can't even go to the photobucket.com main site.
Photobucket sucks!!!!!!
Their way of forcing ads onto users is absolutely disgusting. I wonder how long my patience with them will last.

More links

More links...

Pop corn with cell phones ! (Apparently a hoax.)

WWII German Camp in Miniatures by Peter Shaw (Looks real!)

Hair hats (Interesting!!!!)

Cat on LSD (1957 experiment... in colour??? I hope that cat was OK.)


Haruhi Suzumiya episode 9 comparison between TV and DVD. Extremly high level "spot the difference".

Happy Father's Day! (belated)

OK I missed the date stamp.
Was going to eat out, but didn't happen because mom said she's too tired. Apparently their church had a giant cake (and my dad ate 3 pieces). So... just bought some mini fruit tarts. Was going to go to the Y, but they close early on Sunday so it's not worth it. Did some homework instead, then day's over. Lame.

Even more lame is the garbage my dad collects. This photo is only a fraction of the tip of the iceberg. He would go to nearby demolition sites to hunt for garbage. He keeps saying they're useful they're useful, but c'mom! When are we ever gonna need those garbage! They're nothing but garbage! G A R B A G E!!!!!!!

Pre-father's day dnner

As usual, my family avoid the exact day on all such occasions (to avoid the crowds, of course). As usual I was hoping to buy some nice fruit tarts for tomorrow. We used to buy cakes, but I've gotten tired of it. By the time I arrived at the bakery at around 5, there wasn't much left. (They open till 7.) So... hope I'll have better luck tomorrow.

To be honest, I'm so tired of eating at the same 3 or 4 restaurants. Why can't my dad try something else? This is what I really, really am sick of aging. Old folks tend to lock themselves up into a tiny box where they feel safe. Not only do they refuse all experiences but the ones they're familiar with, they consider the rest bad. Unfortunately, I seem to be locked up with them. Need to break free. Desperately need to break free...

Black Friday today

Touch wood, nothing bad happened.
Shoplifters... will be killed and eaten?

Hmm... The area above my left bicep hurts as if I've received a flu shot. I think I might have banged on something, but don't remember what... (T_T)

Long day

Got a haircut finally! It's been... almost a year! Then there was something that looked like an accident blocking the intersection of Oak and Broadway. But noooo. It was just a stalled van. Some one (?) jumped the battery and it was fine again. My question is, how did it manage to get into that position in the first place, with trailer in tow, and then stalled?
Just a picture of the nice flowers at my chiropractor's, and an interesting package design of a friend's favorite coffee beans.
There must be something weird in the turkey sandwich I ate for lunch. I've been thirsty like hell.

Alfort biscuits

Alfort: mild milk flavour biscuit (blue box)
Isn't this the Japanese version of "Le Petit Écolier"? (Although I have yet to try it.)
Each box contains 12 bite size pieces. The cookie part is digestive cookie. (Is Le Petit Écolier like this too?) It says it contains gold powder, but I didn't see any. (Is it all mixed in or too small to be seen?) The taste is as it says, mild. Not too sweet and leaves no aftertaste. Pretty nice. As a cookie, there seems to be too much chocolate. It's better to consider this as a chocolate snack. The addictive factor is medium although I ate the whole box in one sitting. (And then felt the weight of the chocolate.)

Alfort: caramel sale biscuit (yellow box)
Sale (sa-lei) seems to be French and means "salty". Yup you can taste the salt, and what a surprise a pinch of salt can do! This one is a lot more delicious than the plain milk chocolate variety. First impression was kind of milk-heavy. But the caramel quickly overwrites it. I just learned recently that putting a little bit of salt into milk tea adds more depth to the taste. It must be the same here. Pretty addictive. If I buy another one, it will be the yellow box.

BTW, what's the difference between a biscuit and a cookie???

Tiny glass jars

Yesterday was so bad, I didn't get to take pictures of the stuff I bought at the miniature show. The cutlery set is $1 plus tax. According to my boss, that's below cost. The glass jars are from about $2 to $6. The one on the far right with the nice stopper is the most expensive. I was hoping to find a flask but no luck. Oh well.

Wind and rain

Did we have a wind storm? The satellite TV lost its signal for a while. And my whole neck, shoulder and back froze solid. Couldn't get out of bed. Haven't felt this bad for months. No energy. Can't think. (T_T)

Miniature show

Missed my chance last year. If memory serves me right, it was raining. After all, Langley is too far away. But I'm glad I can go this year. Wouldn't happen without a friend to be a navigator. Thanks! (^_^) But all that driving made me really tired. Fell asleep in front of the computer. Shouldn't have done that. My back is killing me. (T_T)

Some sites

Just doing some house cleaning...

Brand New (Logo design.)
Design Police (Handy stickers for designers?)
Pennylicious (Money trivia.)
Ron Wise's Banknote world (Paper money around the wold.)
Cats that look like Hitler! (The name says it all.)
Official Seal Generator (Make your own seal.)
Antique Poison Bottle Hall of Fame (Interesting looking bottles.)
Cadmium cancer risk (Yikes... I used to use "cadmium yellow" ink a lot.)
Birth simulation medical training manikin (OMG...)
In your hands (Interesting perspective.)
Blood puddle pillows (Requires sense of humour.)
The Teleporting Cat Trick (Interesting...)
Harpejji (Harp? Not?)
Very funny ads (Addictive.)
The official Gerald Scarfe website (Furniture? Sculpture?)
jeu d oranges (Orange peel sculptures. French site? Can't read...)
Cool Things Finishes of Cardboard Art (Looks cool.)
Is your washing machine OK? (Mold grows inside them.)
Pencil sculpture (Carving a pencil. Nice.)
Bugnits (Bug size miniature sweaters.)
Halloween Costume Masterpieces (Best and worst costumes.)
Stacking bottles (Good idea.)
Breast implants on leg (It's for a tattoo.)
Vegiform (Molds vegetables.)
How to prank a telemarketer (Haha...)
Not a cupid? (Japanese weirdness.)
Sexy cell phone strap (Japanese weirdness again.)
Body parts goods (Japanese weirdness continues.)
How to put on a Fundoshi (Japanese loin cloth.)
Lite Cube 7 (Lights up when dropped into liquid.)
Portable A/C (Is that just a can of compressed air?)
I wanna make ice-cream faces (Making faces out of ice-cream.)
Reaction test (Game)

Phone call

The clinic finally called. It's been 3 months since the pre-op appointment. Although they said my dad doesn't need another one of those, I doubt if the result of the blood test etc. are still valid. After all, his mind has declined quite a bit. Last night he slept with dentures in his mouth again. That was the second time within... a month or so?

Spiderman washing windows

Haha pretty cool! (For the full story, click on photo to go to original site.) Oh and here's the Chinese site where that was from.

Blueberry Pocky

Sent from Japan again. Thanks Sora! (Actually this is available locally too.) Some years ago, there was a mixed berry flavour that I liked very much, but was discontinued. I thought this blueberry one would be similar, but... sadly, I was wrong. It's very artificial despite the 10% blueberry content. The cracker stick seems undercooked and flavourless. The chocolate part is a bit waxy. Most of all, there's a sour aftertaste. No need for a second box.

This is another example of discontinuing a perfect recipe, so that they can use the public as guinea pigs for much worse flavour. But my question is, what do they do with the discontinued flavours?

Microwave computer

Haha! What a wacky way to recycle your old microwave oven. That desktop picture is perfect! (Link 1) (Link 2)

(Sorry, didn't get to continue with yesterday's Pinky cooking. Maybe tomorrow.)

Pinky cooking

Hmm... it's been a while. This is the first time I've ever attempted a 2-sided mold. Hope it works.

The pony tail is already screwed up because it's pushed in too much on the clear half. Should be able to fix it by reheating and reshaping. Will continue tomorrow, probably.

Dinner

My dad doesn't remember what or how much he ate. The dinner came with a drink. He finished it and the cup was taken away. Then he deny the drink ever even came. He was munching in front of the TV. But when my mom asked him how many pieces he ate, he said "don't remember". What ever she said, he replied "don't remember". That, was to shut her out.

He hasn't been putting in any effort to try to remember. He hasn't done anything to exercise his brain. He just thinks he's so good he can do no wrong. No reality check at all. That's the part of his personality that I can't stand. Whatever he says is the truth. Whatever he thinks is the truth. Yeah right. I'm soooo fed up, I've given up a loooong time ago.