Last day

Mom was super eager to see dad and left at 1:30, but not before screwing me up. She decided she must bring dad uncle L's old glasses. I couldn't let it go before labeling, and thus spent time I shouldn't have. I myself had to send Y the stuff today and took too long to prepare. The result was me being late for 45 minutes for chiropractor.

Was I in such bad shape that I couldn't think? Made a few bad decisions and got stuck failing to park on Cambie. I lost count on how many sets of lights it took before someone let me finish parking. (T_T)

Didn't even get to call mom despite giving her my phone. Yup, must get her her own. I felt naked without my phone.

Went to pick her up at dad's. He's torn up more clothes. Sigh... (T_T)

The $15 coupon expires today so we went to Z... and ended up buying $23 worth of crackers and cookies. Mostly for dad. It was really busy. Even the cashier asked if there's something that expires today.

Of course I should have stopped at $15, and use the 15% off coupon for the rest. Another proof of my brain not working.

Went to B to see if there's anything worth picking up because I have a 25% off coupon, also expires today. Mom wanted to get the $10 box of Cadbury candies for the nursing home staff. Ideally, we need 32 if they each get one. But somehow mom's "fairy" kicked in and she said we only need 10. That's still $110!!!!!! I just couldn't believe she thought that way. Sigh... (T_T) What's wrong with her???

She was probably hungry so we ate at the food court... at A&W. Worked out to $6.5 each. Not that cheap.

Tried to continue with the logo but couldn't get the font thing to work. Waaaaay too much time was wasted on trying to get things to work on the new machine. (T_T)

I'm definitely in bad shape. It's definitely the vampire... (T_T)

Fonts

Thought I'd be done with the photo shoot, but then I realized there were a bunch of unfinished earrings. By the time I patched them up, the sun was gone. They will have to wait for the next chance. Sorry A... may not be able to return your camera as promised. (T_T)

Eat-out day with brother's gang. They introduced us to this (relatively) new Taiwanese rice noodle fish soup place. Their soup really has no MSG. Sis-in-law is allergic so she knows. The food was pretty good, but there was a puddle on the seat that I didn't notice. Need I say more? By the time I found out, most of it was on my pants and handbag. Sigh... (T_T) The vampire is here and then this... (T_T) Made me feel super gross... (T_T) Why oh why oh why oh why... (T_T)

Have been wasting a lot of time trying to make "the font thing" to work. Of course nothing works. Every turn is a dead end. Even an online solution that worked for others, but not for me. Thanks to a missing link. (T_T) Honestly, I'm completely fed up with Windows 7. Why won't it work for me? Why? Why why why why why why why why?

I'm also fed up with the tablet lag and the keyboard shift keyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!

Photo

Vampire showed up. Didn't get up early enough. Mom gone to see dad with aunt L. His move to a single-occupancy room was completed. Nothing's changed, though. Dad was sitting in the living room tearing up his diaper when the ladies arrived. No staff stopped him. He got to do whatever he likes.

Continued with photo shoot. The cold made the vampire worse. I had to be heavily drugged. It was only 14 degrees when I was done around 6:45. I should be pretty much done except for a few "items in question".

Then, the dreaded image processing. First, gotta sort out which ones to keep. (I've shot multiples... between 3 to 6 each item.) That took a whole day. Then the re-size, brightness and contrast adjustment. Not looking forward to it.

Didn't e-mail T... Didn't e-mail Y... But at least packed Y's bills. I owe Y money for books...

Desobry Assortment

Dated May 2008. (Yikes!) Desobry Platinum Belgium Assortment. This one... I remember well. It looked like one of those cheap overly sweet assortment box, but noooo, it surprisingly good! Besides well-controlled sweetness, you can tell that the ingredients are real. There's real butter in the cookie. Each has a different punch. No unpleasant after taste. If memory serves me right, it was a gift... probably Christmas gift. Not sure who it was from, or where it was bought, though.

Torn

Brother came and removed the board around the concrete threshold. I gave it a sweep and it's ready for cocking... on a later day.

Mom went to see dad after a 2-day break (due to the rain), and came back with 5 pieces of torn clothing. Dad had been on his destroying spree again. The new shirt from cousin B 3 days ago is completely destroyed beyond repair. (T_T) Mom is of course upset. I was too. She's been enslaved to the sewing machine. I still haven't got the heart to ask her for hemming. Sorry, A... I lied. It's gonna take much longer before I can wear those pants. (T_T)

Threshold

Wind storm continued. No photo shoot today. Whole body ache allover. Can't think.... (T_T)

Brother came in the afternoon and constructed a concrete threshold for our back door. Thanks...! I guess I don't have enough push regarding big decision like replacing the whole storm drain system. Mom would not make up her mind. It's brother who knows what to do.

Found a destroyed clipboard. Must be dad.

Wind and rain

It was so windy, fallen trees caused power outage here and there. Luckily no one I know was affected. The sky couldn't quite decide to rain or not. Rain and sun were looped.

Dragged A out to visit the community market. Had a late lunch at Micky-D's. That, was my first time ever to exchange an item. My sandwich was like, someone spilled oil on it. The wrapping paper was soaked clear. Totally greasy, totally gross, totally inedible. The exchange was no problem. The new sandwich was much better, but they still managed to spill the mayonnaise.

The community market was a bit disappointing. Thought there would be more tables. Oh well. I forgot to take any pictures! Aaarrgh!!! It was raining so hard, we went into the nearby corset store and vintage clothing store to wait out the rain. Technically speaking, we could have waited at the community center. Oh well! But I got to find out how much a corset costs: in the $600's! Aaaargh!!!!

Then gave A a hand on cleaning his espresso machine. The stubborn coffee stain was super hard to clean without his specialized cleaner. Came home for dinner, and dose off at my desk. (T_T) Only managed to organize some folders.

Departure

Not sure what I did before sleeping at 4... or was it 5? It was that bad. Alarm was set at 8, but mom bang on my door at 7. Was she holding a grudge against me for not waking me up yesterday???? Hey, I was the victim! I don't even have any energy to confront her anymore. (T_T)

Cousin B and S has a 3-hour jet-lag, so when they usually get up at 8 AM, it's 5 AM here. I was barely functional.

E-mailed M (cousin W's son) around 7:50 to let him know that we were up. S called their hotel room at 8:15. No one was there. Turn out they've gone downstairs for breakfast, and decided to have morning dim sum at a different place which opens at 10. Cousin B wanted to maximize her time with dad, so we went to the original restaurant which opens at 9.

We arrived at 8:50. Sat in the car until 9. Went in, and were shocked to see someone already sitting at a table. (So we were the 2nd.) 2 of the dishes we ordered were not available because not all the kitchen staff were there yet. The food was good. B and S liked it very much. They ordered extra to take to dad.

Brother kept calling. He wanted to meet with us but he also needed to run a bunch of errands. Looking back now, it was pointless because he wouldn't have enough time anyway. Hmmm...

Arrived at the nursing home at 10:30. Dad was sleeping half-naked in his room. Cousin B took him to the garden like yesterday, and fed him the dim sum. She still thought dad was very capable. Sigh...

Cousin H and W (with his family) showed up at around noon, with more food of course. Dad ate almost everything and skipped the nursing home's meal. K (cousin W's wife) looked like she was certain that we were being cruel by sending dad there. She kept trying to give him her own glasses. We stopped her because it will for sure go missing and turn into a meaningless waste. She ended up giving him her magnifying glass. Sigh... This woman is an occult level Buddhist freak who would rather spend time praying at the temple than taking care of her home. (She also has chanting monks audio tapes playing in both living room and dinning room at home 24 hours a day. She is not normal, period.) Of course she has that "I'm superior than you" mentality, telling us what we "should do". I snapped. I'm sick and tired of people who knows nothing about my condition and telling me what I "should do". S I C K - A N D - T I R E D !!!!

It was a really weird sight. First, cousin B being so "sweet" to my dad, stayed 10 thousand miles away when he went to number 2. Mom was aiding him. Like, dealing with his diapers. If cousin B was so "loving", why did she help mom? It was all on the surface, wasn't it? Then all the others (4 of them) competed to "be nice" to dad. It was almost like a bunch of kids trying to gain affection form a pet or something, tempting it with food and toys. Of course they didn't believe how bad dad actually is and how he would drive me and mom off the cliff.

My parking expired at 12:35 and the cousins want to be at the cruise port around 1. Yet they took forever to say bye. Luckily the parking rule was slack. M made a gas stop on the way. Following another car (or being followed) always makes me nervous. On top of that, we ran into street closures near Chinatown! Took a few more turns and a few more minutes, we managed to arrive in one piece. H went with M to return the rental car while the rest of them checked in. I followed them so I could drop them off at the port after the car-return.

OMG... downtown was impossible! One-way streets and volume are already bad enough, there were constructions, lane closures, pedestrians, and the worst of all, no right turns!!!!! I couldn't believe it!!!! Looks like ever since they added those bike lanes, we can't turn right on some intersections!!!! We couldn't get there without going in big circles. And still, every turn, there was something.

M was leading me to the car rental place. The office was in a hotel building, and traffic could not get any worse!!!!! There was no where to stop. I was instructed to wait in the ally while M went inside. Luckily H got out to mark the location for both of us. Turns out the car-return was 6 (or was it 8?) floors underground! Took a while for M to come back. He was pretty shock and shaken by the traffic, and didn't check the bill. He was charged way more. (It was supposed to be $19.99 or something, but he ended up paying 40-something.) I offered to turn around, but he said he could deal with it later.

Just when I thought things would go smooth, the street was broken! It was not downtown anymore, yet I had to go around and around to connect back to the right street. Sigh... (T_T) My condition was deteriorating fast. Almost ran a stop sign on a major street. (Saw the other side with red lights and automatically assumed I had a green light... but noooo I had a stop sign!)

For the second time, I went to the port. (That was actually a container shipping port. I wonder if the cruise company saved money by using such a dingy port.) We beat the 3 PM deadline with ease. After saying goodbye, mom and I went home.

I was still very full from brunch and only ate a few bites. Then I'm not sure why, I started scrubbing the kitchen sink. OK the sink grinder was clogged and it all began with flushing it. Then auto pilot took over. Deep in my heart, I wanted to shoot some more photos of the accessories... but it go too dark from the clouds. Plus, my body was feeling so wrong, I couldn't even think. (My left femur had not ached like this since a few years ago!)

Finally, sat down in front of my desk and started cleaning up e-mails. Downloaded today's photo but didn't get to process them. The only accomplishment was sending an inquiry about my mysteriously delayed Amazon order. Can't believe it took me hours! (Well, of course, I was dosing off at the same time.) Even more amazingly, I got a reply fast!!! I'm so glad they could replace the delayed item with something else. Or else I'll risk getting charged shipping on the already delivered item.

Sorry, A, I didn't have any more energy for the logo tonight. Neither am I finished with your camera. I'm so sorry... (T_T)

Otabe

Dated May 2008... (yikes)... it was a souvenir from my Japanese trip. But I can't remember whether it was the 2008 one or 2006 one... (yikes!) Anyway, Otabe is a traditional Japanese treat with a spoonful of filling inside a square skin folded in half. The final look is triangular. No preservatives, so it expires in 12 days. Not sure if I made it. (I've screwed up before, bringing similar treats in summer as gifts, and they got moldy. The worse was, I only found out after I handed them out. My friend opened it and we ate some together...) The filling is red bean, so the taste was very traditional Japanese, and real. Supposed to be a Kyoto souvenir but nowadays available widely including at the airport duty free.

Arrival

Cousin B's flight arrived at 12:15, so I set my alarm at 11. However... mom came woke me up at 12:15?!?!?!?! WTH?!?!?! What happened to the alarm?!?!?! It was already silenced!?!?!? Did I press the button in my sleep?!?!?! Nothing made sense!!!! Aaaarrrggghhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was pure chaos from that. As I quickly washed up and threw some clothes on, mom said she wanted me to sleep more... in a tone that sounded like she had everything under control... while saying she'd call brother up and get him to pickup cousin B from the airport. Sigh... It was true that... it was my own fault cleaning up till 7, but why did she use such a stupid excuse?!?!?!?!?! If she wanted to wake me up earlier, she could have easily done that! Is she loosing her mind or something? I know she's at least loosing her logic.

I didn't even have time to check if the flight was on time. Amazingly, cousin B's husband S called my cell phone! Wow! She said she wouldn't call! I was glad that we connected, and quickly drove to the airport. Not without delay, though, running into 2 separate road constructions.

They were there already. The pickup was smooth. Then by request, we went to the free-range chicken restaurant cousin K liked so much last time. Brother joined us a bit later despite being the closest. We stayed till 2:20. Brother had to pick his girls up and we parted. We went home (1) to drop off the luggage and (2) to pick up cousin O's funeral video SD card.

We got there at 3:25. Cousin O beat me to dad. Just when I was parking my car, the nursing home called to inform me that she arrived. (But mom later said that she had been waiting for an hour???) We met in the lobby, then all went to dad's room. The file transfer was started right away.

Dad was temporarily moved back to his old room on the 3rd floor before a single-occupancy room opens up. The old washroom was updated and is very nice now. Too bad he'd be switching rooms soon. He had torn up a bunch of... paper towels? or diapers, and the floor was covered with white pieces of something. Cousin B bought him a new shirt. (The knit was unfortunately not strong enough for commercial washing.) And of course we had saved some food from lunch. He just had afternoon snack, but finished all the food.

Cousin B really likes dad. She helped cleanup the floor, and then took him outside for a walk in the garden. She was excited to see him and kept talking to him. I think dad was happy too. She didn't have to deal with his spitting at home and was able to patiently tell him not to spit. Something that I'm unable to do.

It suddenly started raining so we had to come back inside. Dad went to lie down. Cousin B knows a lot of exercise so she taught dad a few. Hopefully he'd remember. (Unlikely.) Then dinner time, and he was allowed to eat in the dinning room today. Cousin B sat with him and aid him with the meal. She's in a waaaaaay better relationship with him than me. Of course she never had to deal with his destructive side.

Meanwhile I had been waiting for cousin H's call, which never came. Brother, on the other hand, kept calling for dinner plan. Cousin W's flight was on time at 5:30. He'd pickup the rental car and then cousin H according to the original plan. So we decided to proceed to the said restaurant. We left at 6:20 and got there before 7.

Brother's gang was there already. Because of church gatherings, they had to leave early, so they ordered 2 dishes and ate first. We had the standard chatting and picture-taking. We waiting and waited, but no calls. I sent cousin H an e-mail, and phoned the hotel to leave my cell number. With all contacting attempt failed, we could do nothing but wait. Brother joked that they would arrive when he left.

Then the time came when brother's gang had to go. It was getting cold so I went back to my car to grab my jacket (and mom's). I came back in, and saw K (cousin W's wife) talking to S (cousin B's husband)! Turn out they had been in the restaurant, sitting at another table all this time! Yikes!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cousin H insisted that they were there before us, but it was impossible because their table was near the door. The restaurant was almost empty when we arrived. Our table was behind a corner and not too visible from theirs. That simple, yet so stupid!!! S O O O O O - S T U P I D !!!!!

Nonetheless, we met up finally, and they came to our table because we had already ordered something (and already finished by brother's gang). Then all over again, the standard chatting and photo-shoot. We'd try to go to morning dim sum tomorrow and then visit dad again. This time, I made sure we have a way to contact each other. M (cousin W's son) brought along his laptop which was a great help.

We wanted to swing by uncle Y's place. Cousin B didn't want to go empty-handed so we bought some old fashion Chinese cakes nearby (happened to be a famous place). I phoned him up, only to find out he was about to drop his niece off to the airport! Yikes... not much luck with meeting people today. It was decided that they would come to our place after the drop-off instead.

Came home, cousin B and S quickly showered and prepared for bed so they could sleep any time. With the 3-hour jet-lag, they must be very tired. Uncle Y came around 10:30 and stayed for an hour. As soon as they left, everyone (except me) went to bed.

Me? I wanted to move the video transfer off my plate. I started copying since yesterday afternoon and hit "cancel" around 12:20 today. Only 4 files were copied over after almost a day!?!?!? Crap!!! I had to disturb A. And the simplest solution worked: plugging into a different USB port! So it was the port!!!! Aaaaarrrgggghh!!!! S O O O O O - S T U P I D !!!!!

And of course, I need to write this before I go to bed. Oh, and shower too. Want to wash my hair but I'd better not.

Funeral (2)

The real deal today. Can't believe I got nervous (from being asked to shoot video) and couldn't sleep. Ended up sleeping for less than 3 hours. Bad... (T_T)

It was raining from early on. I really didn't think I should drive. Luckily brother came to drive me and mom. I started shoot when the car entered the parking lot and didn't check what time we arrived... but we seemed to be in the middle. Bypassing the lineup in front of the room, we went straight to the front. (That was for greeting anyway.) I quickly set up A's camera (thanks A!) and shot a 360 degree pan or two.

Soon the ceremony began. It was mostly the pastor speaking. He was going on and on about how aunt Y was extremely religious and God helped her to the very end... and of course, same as last time when uncle L passed away, the pastor's objective was to advertise for the church. L A M E !!!!

It was all POV. As far as I know, aunt Y had offended tons of people at church and made even more enemy. Of course the pastor didn't mention anything like that. I wonder if he knew.

Cousin D gave a speech which was modified from my mom's writeup. (BTW he never came to pick the piece of paper up physically. It was the picture I e-mailed him.) Of course he didn't mention he got any help, and made it sound like he did all the job. He was still painting himself as a "good boy". L A M E !!! When he read out the sequence of events from the ER to the very last day, he made it sound like he was there all the time, but he wasn't!!!! No mention that it was mom and I who sent her to the ER. (And had to cleanup all the crap she crapped.) No mention it was mom who saw aunt Y's last breath either!!! Geeze... L A M E !!!

Cousin O was half crying when she gave her speech. Of course at funerals, only good things are mentioned. (Don't take me wrong, I'm not against that. It's just that it felt very surreal. There are discrepancies between the description and what I know.)

I'm just glad that I had to shoot video and didn't have to sing. Don't know why, but I really hate singing hymns since I was in grade school. Didn't know A's camera had a limit on clip length and it stopped quite a few times. Just before the pastor finished, the card ran out of memory! That was a 16GB card! Yikes! Luckily I brought mine too. Switching is easy but I missed a few moments.

On our way out, I had to ask for those lucky red envelopes. Cousin D had no intention to hand me one in person by pointing me to the basket. So I took 2, 1 for me, 1 for mom. Geeze... It felt like he was trying to avoid us or something! L A M E !!!

Then we were treated to lunch at a nearby restaurant. This time, amazingly, cousin D (and his wife) sat at our table. What the...? That was so unusual! I suspect he was keeping an eye on us for bad-mouthing him.... I mean, telling the truth. Do I care? Ha! L A M E !!!! (OK maybe I do care because I fell mad.)

Tons of people I didn't know. They might have been church friends of mom at some point, but I didn't know them. When they came to greet mom, they A L L asked me if I go to church. That is none of nobody's business! One lady even brought out bible stories right away trying to pretch to me like I'm a criminal if I don't go to church! I really hated the way she said it. It was not about me, but her showing off her biblical "knowledge". The heck with that. This kind of "infection urge" makes the church look like an occult. The brain-washing is so complete, they're worse than insurance brokers. Do they think I own them my soul or something? It is exactly seeing such people that turns me so off about churches! Super annoying! Super L A M E !!!

Went home and it was 2. I tried to download the videos onto my computers... but the new one was moving painfully slow! AAAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!! It was so slow, it was unfeasible! I couldn't get it working before leaving to meet A. Before that, I also realized the folder structure was different when using more than one camera. Although I'd like to do it as quickly as I could, it still took 2 hours to send cousin O an illustrated e-mail asking her to confirm she's got everything. (And it was well worth it. She did miss a folder. My fault, though, because I didn't watch the transfer.) At the same time, I was cleaning up the photo-shoot setup mess because cousin B will be here tomorrow. Also, I couldn't help but overhearing mom talking to aunt CH, and I had to correct her many times when she gave the wrong facts.

Of course a little late meeting A. Thanks for not getting mad. (Sorry I was the mad one, getting all worked up by cousin D's speech + alpha.) Took him to pick up some packages, ate dinner at Fat Burger, stopped at his place for a bit, and then went home.

The new computer's speakers worked again! Thank God! Otherwise I really would loose heart on updating. At the end, it was a mystery why it stopped working. I suspect the fix was as simple as rebooting.

Thought I could cleanup physically some more, but ended up dealing with the videos and e-mail. Why am I so slow in writing? (... negative thoughts... bad...) Yes, I'm cranky again. It's the weather again.

Funeral (1)

Finally! Got the desperately needed chiropractor visit. However, rained poured down (and I mean pour) soon after, so my shoulders are tensed up again.

As usual, checked out DeSerres after that. Found some misplaced beads in the dollar bin. They were not part of the moving sale but the staff let me have them for a buck each because they've packed the stuff. Yay~!! Also picked up some more dollar beads, 10 cents scrapbook paper, and sketch books for my nieces' Christmas presents.

Traffic was bad probably thanks to the rain. Barely got home at 6:05. Brother's daycare kids left early so they could eat dinner early too. It was me that was the latest. So I quickly microwaved some leftovers and got ready. Who knew brother would still be late. Again, traffic was bad. We go there at 7. Supposed to be 6 to 8. Not a ceremony but a visit.

Cousin O came all the way from the east again, bringing her son. Plane ticket was robbery! 2 Westjet round-trip tickets cost $2000! She was delayed by traffic too and missed the flight by 5 minutes. Luckily she could still use points at a different airline for 2 one-way tickets, keeping the return trip from Westjet. Yikes...

We stayed till the end (8). Took lots of pictures. This was the first time I've ever taken pictures at a funeral. Well... technically speaking, it was only the informal relative gathering. The real one is tomorrow. Cousin O asked me to take video so she could show her daughter back east. I hope I won't screw up tomorrow.

Shoulder

(Picture was taken on July 1st and unrelated to subject.)
What have I done wrong? My left shoulder is sore on the touch and weights 50 pounds! Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch!!!!! (T_T) It only gets this bad once or twice a year... (T_T)

Finally finished with the photo album for the cousins coming this Friday. Adding description was the most time-consuming part. I hope I can prepare them for dad's condition.

It's been a beautiful sunny day but I didn't get to take any pictures. That album took a whole day. (T_T)

Hopefully tomorrow's chiropractor appointment would relieve my shoulder pain. When you're in pain (doesn't matter if you're aware of the pain or not), you can't think of anything else. You just can't think. Period.

Garden Pop Pan

Picture dated May 2008, but I'm sure the box itself is a lot older than that. (Yikes...) I kept the box for storage purpose. It's so old, I bet the packaging probably changed more that once.

Anyway, this is one of my favorite crackers. The taste and texture are good. But best of all, is its "healthiness". Well... again, back then I didn't read the labels and it might still contain unhealthy stuff. BTW, it leaves behind green onion and garlic after taste. Not for everyone.

Photos and computer

Didn't expect to see the sun today as the weather report said it would be cloudy. After an involuntary 2-day break, I could finally continue with the photo-shoot.

Cousin D said he'd come pickup mom's write-up, but he never showed up. Brother came for a haircut late afternoon. And he forgot to take my old phone. (For niece G.) No rush, but the sooner he picks up, the sooner I can get rid of clutter.

Took A to Richmond for computer parts. Thanks for the bridge and cables. Thanks for helping me set them up. Too bad it didn't work. At the end I lost audio. That can wait.

Organized my file system so both computers have the same structure. Processed dad's photo collection for the 3 cousins coming this Friday. Gotta prepare them for the shock. Did not get to work on the logo again. (T_T) Did not get to re-hook up the scanner. It's no longer support by the newer OS, so it's going back to the old machine. (T_T)

Missed appointment

As their arrival date draws close, my cousins have been calling often. Especially about the arrangement on pickup day. Today cousin B called and of course we talked for a long time. I missed 1 call on the land-line and 3 on my cell.

Turn out all of them was A! Totally didn't expect him to show up at my doorstep. Seemed like he wanted to surprise me. I, on the other hand, had not have a chance to wash my hair (supposed to do it last night but too cold) and haven't even brushed my teeth after lunch, all thanks to the long distant call. So, it was a rush, and I felt gross.

He came to help me with the "new" computer some more (thanks), but even more problems showed up. (Damn Microsoft for screwing up the Chinese hand-writing input!!!! Grrrr!!!!) Then I took him to shop for parts in Richmond and hit 2 stores. It was eat-out day with brother's gang after he finished church at 6. Technically specking I needed to be home by 6:15, which I barely managed.

However, all of his church friends didn't want to cook, so everyone ate out. Originally he'd come pick mom and I up. But now I had to go join them. Parking was hell. Pure hell!!!! Couldn't beleive I lost it because of that. Sigh.... (T_T)

There was a wedding banquet and a birthday party, so our food came very slow. (No wonder parking was hell.) Mom kept worrying about dropping off funeral flowers note to aunt L as she goes to bed super early (like 9). We barely made it.

Thanks to A's help I was able to transfer with a portable HD. Way faster than the USB but still very slow. Hmm...

Then, then. At bed time, I finally found the answer to my extreme crankiness. I can't beleive I missed my last chiropractor appointment!!!!!!! Aaaarrrggghh!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was Friday, the day aunt Y passed away! Of course my rhythm was upset because I had to drive mom. Sigh... why am I so stupid???? (T_T) (T_T) (T_T) (T_T) (T_T) (T_T)

Donation and recycling

Slow start today. The plan was to help A drop off some cloth donations and electronics recycling. This time he was late, so I went off to do my own stuff. Continued with setting up the computer... The printer doesn't show up in PS... or maybe I just simple need to reboot.. but couldn't because it's still transferring files from the card reader... Last night while it was "fixing bad files", I smelled burning plastic from the machine. After cancelling the operation, the smell went away. Very alarming. I'm sure something is burnt inside the tower.

Meanwhile, cousin D called to inform us about aunt Y's funeral arrangement. Aunt L kept calling every half and hour or so trying to reach mom, who's gone to see dad. She managed to catch her when she stepped through the door, and announce the funeral news before I had a chance to relay cousin D's message. Aunt L likes to be the boss when it comes to this kind of stuff. Info queen? (Or, in a worse sense... likes gossiping.)

I didn't get to wash my hair, oh well. Nonetheless, got dressed and just before I put on my shoes, cousin K called. Thinking it would be quick, I took over the call, not realizing cousin H also wanted to talk to me about this Friday's arrangement. 3 cousins coming from different flights are gonna come see dad before boarding a cruse the next day. And the call took me 35 minutes thanks to cousin H talking about unrelated stuff (like her $49 Chinese trip and Google Voice etc). I promised A to arrive in 20 minutes. Of course this call made me break my promise. (T_T)

Murpher's law? I hit almost all red lights on my way. (T_T) Thanks for not getting mad at me, A. Then we went to the donation box and then recycling depot. He couldn't resist picking up some corn and strawberry from a farm van on the way. Thanks for sharing! Dinner at Zakushi. Haven't been there for a few months and their menu had changed. I miss the tofu salad. The skews were excellent, though. So was the black sesame ice-cream.

Gone

Aunt Y passed away in the afternoon. I didn't go visit today. Mom was there when it happened. She was so shaken, she had to ditch her original plan of taking the bus home, and called me for help. I can understand that. She was there at 1:30, and tried to get aunt Y to eat some soup. Aunt Y ate a few spoonful, and started coughing up phlegm. She failed to spit it out and it went down... the wrong way. Nurses were called and they tried to clear her airway, but it didn't help her breathing. She was suffocating. The whole ordeal from soup to end took about 10 minutes. In other words, if mom didn't urge aunt Y to eat that soup, she might not have chocked to death... (this sounds... kind of horrible... doesn't it...? Of course I can never tell anyone this...)

Stopped by the Broadway Michael's for some storage boxes and paper that are on sale. Bought some grocery at Whole Food so I could park in their parade... Some jerk from Oregon parked badly and left dents and scratches on my car. Grrrr!!!! Mom didn't want to cook so we bought take-out Vietnamese sandwich and beef noodles for dinner.

Our neighbourhood was chosen to participate in a pilot recycling program and given an extra kitchen waste bin today. (It was just left at our doorstep. Same for everyone else, though.) Mom had been saying it wouldn't work because food waste stinks. (And she's right...) Perhaps that's why the city waited till summer is over. How are they gonna deal with next summer? Oh, and we don't know when this pilot program ends.

Fixed up the new computer a little. File transfer is super slow! (Of course I only have the means to use USB memory and SD card.) Didn't get to take pictures or work on L's logo again. Very tired...

Ginger Thins

Dated May 2008, (yikes...) Ikea's Ginger Thins. It's strange that I haven't written anything on this already, but I'm too lazy to check. (Sorry!) Back then this sweet cracker was a buck a box, a very good deal. Delicious too! The sweetness is just right, and feels healthy. Kind of addictive. I never checked, but I get the feeling that there's unhealthy stuff in the ingredients. Nowadays London Drugs carries other flavours (lemon is one that isn't available at Ikea) and Costco sometimes sells it too. I think the best deal is still at Ikea.

Rain

(Picture was taken on July 9th and unrelated to subject.)
After 2 days of clouds, the rain finally came. Achy grumpy whiny cranky. (T_T)

Caught a little bit of sunshine around 3 and started shooting. It was cold! The wind was strong. Strong enough to shift my backdrop dress. The sun didn't last. Thank A for the tripod, I kept shoot until 6:45... pretty much until my hands were frozen. However... the photos had poor quality anyway... (T_T)

Cardiovascular

Dad's appointment at 3. Had to leave at 2 because I forgot to phone the nursing home last night. (Mom had been on the phone all night, and I was stupid enough not to use my cell.) It wasn't an issue, thought, because mom had inform the floor staff yesterday when she visited. The only concern was that dad may have been dressed in overall and the doctor cannot access his belly.

The parking lot was full so I parked in the driveway illegally. Murphy's law was right. Dad was dressed in overall. So mom had to change him. For the first time, dad said he wants to go home. (Actually through mom. I didn't hear it myself.) Mom kept saying he can come home if he stops spitting and tearing up diapers. Of course it's impossible.

Dad's grafts are stable and we're asked to take another CT scan in a year, which can be cancelled if nothing's wrong. Things went smoothly except for mom forgetting dad's cane at the clinic. I still cannot understand why dad has to take both the cane and walker. Sigh... So I had to run back to retrieve it before parking expired.

Then we took him back to the nursing home. Mom gave him some moon cake and saw him finish eating afternoon snack before going. She also took his glasses home to repair. The legs were bent outward and kept falling because of poor fitting.

We went across the street to see aunt Y. M the pastor was there. (Someone I don't know.) He was singing hymns to her. We waited until he was done. Then he left quickly soon after greeting us. Was he trying to give us privacy? Or was he in a hurry? Aunt Y looked worse. She didn't have much energy and kept dosing off. Her lunch was untouched. (It was already pass 4.) Mom talked about dad and then not much else. Seemed like there was no good conversation material. So we left. It was already 5. (Little did I know that it would be the last photo I took of aunt Y...)

I kept doing off at my desk and didn't progress with L's logo. (T_T) Not sure what's on her mind, but mom was obviously preoccupied and didn't turn the fan on. The Vietnamese ham she was stir-frying must have used low quality ingredients and made the house stink like recycled crappy cooking oil. I turn the fan on, only shocked to find out the switch was sticky with thick grime! Gross!!!!

So after dinner, I cooked up some Pink Solution and cleaned the fan. Only the outside of the enclosure, though. The fan itself is a 2-poeple job which I can't handle. I ended up cooking 3 batches of Pink Solution and took 3 hours to clean that thing. Sigh... (T_T) Meanwhile mom kept dosing off in front of the TV. I bet she wouldn't even notice I've made the shell sparkling clean. (Yes she knew I was cleaning, but she wouldn't know how dirty it was before.)

Then dad's glasses. Turn out it wasn't his! He had taken someone else's glasses and has been wearing them without even noticing! Geeze!!!! Mom then showed me a "supposed to be identical" pair at home. Their size difference was huge!!!!!!!!! No wonder why it kept falling off!

Dad's other pair of glasses looked dirty so I did a dish detergent soak. Mom said it was expensive. I took the right nose pad off and wrote dad's name on the inside, and saw the lumps of black grime! Grossss!!!!! OK, rubbing alcohol did the job. But still gross. Might as well clean the other side. Then I noticed the frame was in excellent condition despite the plastic ear hook (?) was largely corroded. This might be gold. Mom could be right. Since the name on the nose pad can be easily removed, mom thought that dad's gonna loose it (or gets stolen) soon, so the decision is not to give him his glasses. He no longer reads anyway. Besides, he's at the point where you can't give him anything. He's lost a nice wrist watch, his electric razor, his hair comb, and who knows what others? Chances are, he'd throw them away himself. (T_T)

Failed to progress on anything today. Not L's logo. Couldn't even take a single picture of the accessories. Didn't write to T either. (T_T) But I did a lot of cleaning. As anticipated, my back started aching before midnight. (T_T)

Photo shoot

(Hello Kitty driving... Picture was taken on July 1st and unrelated to subject.)
Photo shoot continued... took all day and did nothing else today.

Moon festival

Day 4 of my accessory photo shoot. Thanks so much, A, for lending me your camera. Much appreciated. All of a sudden today was super windy. (Which explains his headache and my locked hips.) Not good for shooting earrings. (T_T) I should have shot them yesterday. (T_T)

Nonetheless, it went relatively smoothly until mom interrupted me to book Handidart for dad's medical appointment. So I did. When I told her the pickup times, she didn't like it and asked me to cancel the booking. (T_T) Well, Handidart may not be able to fit your schedule tightly and you usually end up waiting for half an hour for each ride. In this case, the ride would come an hour before appointment time. Then another half-hour on the return trip. Since dad has uncontrollable spitting, it would be extremely difficult to take him to any public places, not to mention having him wait. So, Handidart was a bad idea to start with.

After wasting 20 minutes or so on the calls, I return to the photo shoot, only to find out I've lost macro mode. Failed to figure it out after fiddling around for a few minutes, I had to call A for help. (Sorry for interrupting your work!) Turn out it was something as simple as getting too close. (But that was strange because I didn't move the tripod.)

The shoot continued until I got interrupted by the knock. (That was why I've been grumpy especially around the Handidart call time.) The wind had been troublesome but I somewhat managed. (Had to shoot many pictures of the same subject hoping one would turn out clear.)

Mom kept wanting to got see dad today because it's moon festival. It's a family reunion occasion just like Christmas. But we had just been there yesterday, and I was busy with the photo shoot. Not sure how many more sunny days we'll have, this has priority. Sorry! Mom even said she'd take the bus. But can I let her? Besides, tonight was eat-out day with brother's gang. It would be risky to let her go on her own.

As usual, I bought Taiwanese style ice-skin moon cakes every year, and this time is no exception. I anticipated brother's gang would come by after dinner to have dessert. But mom insisted that I take the moon cakes to the restaurant and eat them there. They need refrigeration! If I do that, we will have to finish them all today. No leftovers. With all the events piled up to this point, I got mad enough. But of course I had no choice but to bring them along. It borders me a lot that mom is becoming more and more unreasonable and making bad decisions.

Brother agreed with me on keeping the moon cakes at home. But of course it was too late. We were all too full to eat them at the restaurant. But it's moon festival. He ended up coming to our place for dessert anyway. And I brought the cakes for nothing.

I bought 2 of each of the 5 flavours. There are 6 of us. Each cake was cut in 3rd. We each get a piece of the different flavours that added up to 1-and-2-thirds cake... which was quite a lot. Mom said she was full and didn't finish her portion. But I know she was saving hers for dad. I didn't buy dad's share because the cakes need refrigeration. Mom knows that, yet she still do it her way. I can't deal with her. She can do whatever she wants and I'll just shut up.

Spent the night sorting through today's photos. Didn't get to deal with aunt Y's family photos again. Didn't get to write to T again. (T_T)

Takenoko-no-sato

From April 2008. "Bamboo-shoot country"(?) ... Sorry, I really can't remember much about this one. Usually it's chocolate coated, but this was a limited edition with red bean coating. The cookie part should be just right in both taste and texture. The red bean coating should be fine too...

Lucky or not

It's 911's 10th anniversary. It's been 10 years already? Yikes! I still remember that day. I was still working at M. I miss that job...

Got up at noon, got the knock, good. Washed my hair and had lunch, and it was after 2. Needed to go back to the cell phone store for 2 unfinished business. (1) Forgot to ask if the phone book on my old phone can be transferred to the new phone. (2) Forgot to spin the lucky wheel. It was just before 3 when I left.

Turns out my old phone was too old and not compatible with anything. Oh well! Luckily I can access phone numbers through my Google account, so I just have to update that. Then I tried my luck on the lucky wheel... and got "free blue tooth with activation". Yikes! That was supposed to be very lucky since it was only limited to 10 a day (as the lady said). However, she had already completed the registration and can't add that to my receipt, she couldn't give it to me. She even said she's already given me a car charger. (But hey, that was because I signed up for auto payment, a totally different deal! So it boiled down to "she couldn't give it to me". So what the heck was that? Was I lucky? Was I unlucky? I looked at it as something I was entitled to, missed the chance to pick up last night, and was then denied. It sent me high up and then squashed me to the bottom of the sea. Could I feel good about it? Could you? Of course not! I whined a bit and ended up getting a mug and shopping bag. Better than nothing, I guess. But I couldn't help but feeling my glass was half empty. Bad.

Then it was moon cake time. Tomorrow's moon festival. As usual, I went to the Taiwanese bakery for their $1 ice-skin moon cakes. Got 2 of 5 flavours = $10. Looks cheap but it adds up.

Got home around 4, and mom was impatient about going to the nursing home because she wanted to see how dad eat dinner (dinner time around 5). I was hungry so I washed some blueberry to eat. (Ended up with too much acid in my stomach.) Dad finished moving and he's got a single-occupancy room one floor down. Right off hand, none of his 2 walkers were there. I found one on his old floor, and the other one was taken to repair. He had taken it apart yet again. That's the 3rd time in a few day. Sigh... (T_T)

He got way too many complains from other residents about his spitting, so he's now set up to eat alone in his room. The moment I entered his room, I smelled crap. Pretty sure he crapped his diaper. He's also started wearing the overall mom made. So he can't access his diaper (to prevent him from tearing them up). The staff was busy with feeding other residents, so dad was left with dirty diaper while eating dinner. As usual, mom brought him extra food. She saw him until he almost finished, and we went to see aunt Y across the street.

Aunt Y has also moved to the 16th floor to line up for hospice. She looked worse probably from not being able to eat. No IV either. Dark circles under her eyes came back. She's already bed-ridden. It's only a matter of time before her energy level falls below consciousness.

The other lady in the room (double-occupancy room) kept calling me over and had me hand her drinks, every 2 minutes. She just wanted attention. I shut the curtain so she couldn't see me, but aunt Y insisted that I had it partially open so that she could see the clock. I said I would open it again when I leave, but she just wouldn't listen and started to get mad. Sigh... (T_T) F#@k! I haven't been feeling that well myself and I had no patience dealing with nonsense. I did give the bell to that other lady and she kept calling the nurse. The nurses came and it was the same thing. Handing her drinks, and putting the cup back, and switching to the other cup. It was nothing urgent. Nothing but wanting attention. What a waste of time and resources. Then I realized that someone must have intentionally put the bell out of her reach. Oh well! They can fix that later.

A called saying he's got corn for me. Coooool~ Thanks! By requested, I stopped by a supermarket for mom to pick up 2 pumpkins on our way to A's.

Came home and it was pass 7:30. Blood sugar level dangerously low. Ate yesterday's pastry buns for dinner. Mom later steamed 2 more ears of corn from A. She ate one right away, I ate half and felt full.

Then the rest of the night was spent dealing with the address book. It took a long time. I had phone numbers on my old phone, and e-mail addresses on my G-mail. They needed to be consolidated. It was hot and I was grumpy. Thinking a little web radio might help, I tried it on the "new" computer.... but of course it wouldn't go smoothly. First there was no plugin. Second, the firewall didn't allow any download. Third, the most stupid reason, the speaker wasn't plugged in. The "old" computer now gets the "old" monitor so it's got no speaker = no radio either. With the heat and my monster mode, I lost it. Nevertheless, needed help from A again. Gotta find out what that mystery USB coming out from the monitor was. It was almost midnight. I was short tempered. The online ratio didn't work, all the USB ports behind the machine was used up, a few things behind the monitor needed to be plugged in, which meant my messy desk needed to be cleared, and I need to craw under the desk which usually gives me a stomachache. Did I mention it was hot? Tried to text on my new phone and it kept switching the words I typed. (And I did not spell it wrong!) Extremely, extremely frustrated. And of course, A was unfortunate to be there when I exploded. I'm so sorry... (T_T)

Two new

Computer and cell phone. One each.

Ran out of battery again soon after I started shooting. A said he'd lend me his camera. Wow thanks!!! Which meant I needed an emergency cleanup. The floor was full of lint and thread thanks to mom's sewing projects (dad's overalls). So I yanked the vacuum cleaner from downstairs and tried to vacuum... but it didn't pick up any lint or thread! Why why why why why?!?!?!?!

Then mom came back. She said the vacuum cleaner cannot clean those, and it was written on the instructions. Huh?!?! But it's a vacuum cleaner?!?!?!!?

No choice but to pick up that stuff by hand. The reacher from XS Cargo came in handy. While I was doing that, A showed up. This was the first time ever that he came all the way to my place. Wow! It's gonna snow tomorrow!!!!!!

He sat with me through some simple camera operations. Then also help me set up the "new" computer. After a bit, it was decided that I need some sort of wireless card or something. So we went to pick one up at Aberdeen. After that, we stopped by the new cell phone place. They were having back-to-school sale. I couldn't resist. My old plan only gave me 50 minutes per month. This past labour day tricked me. Statuary holidays are not free, only weekends and nights are. All of a sudden I only had 8 minutes left for the rest of this month. I was fed up enough so I switched tonight. It wasn't easy as I didn't know my account number. A was helping me with his i-pad, trying to do some online maneuvers. After many failed attempts, the lady suggested that I go to the other provider's store nearby to retrieve my account number, which I did. In order to take full advantage of the deal, I made my smart phone debut. Yup, they got me.

Came back with A and we continued setting up my "new" machine. He noticed my wireless security was low and helped me change it. However, I screwed up while typing the long password, and ended up wasting a lot of time and effort. A ended up having to move the machine and monitor to my router to set things right. I'm so sorry, and a million thanks.

After dropping him off, I came back and tried to hook up my other tablet. It was... 4 or 5 years old? But brand new unopened. The driver wouldn't install! It was not compatible with Windows 7! Yikes! Luckily the online version worked. The 2 bundled drawing software had problem installing too. That was worrisome but not too difficult to fix. However, that, took up the rest of the night. Didn't have time to read the new phone's menu. Didn't transfer any files to the "new" computer. And I'm going to bed later and later. (T_T)

Photo shoot

Was gonna do it yesterday, but ended up doing it today. Long over due photo shoot of my craft fair stuff so that I can try selling them online. (There's one more chance this November.)

It wasn't as difficult as I imagine. Why did I procrastinate??? Hmm... However, soon after I started, my camera battery began to run out. Yup, it was my fault that I didn't charge it the night before, but I thought I still have plenty! It was 3pm, mom was waiting for me to take her to see dad. (I managed to persuade her to go later as dad is supposed to be move to another floor by today.)

Not sure how many more sunny days we'll have, I panicked and tried to buy a replacement battery. Luckily, I phoned the place up to check stock first, and found out they don't do walk-in retail. Only online sales that can be picked up in person. Today's online order deadline was already cut off. The soonest would be Monday. So much for the plan.

Couldn't do anything but to wait for my old battery to charge. Meanwhile I kept searching online for another replacement battery store. 1.5 hours later, I resumed photographing. The sun was setting and lighting condition changed. The pictures would not be the same. (T_T)

Mom had been impatient. The 10-grain congee was not fully ready. Nonetheless I ate some while mom ate turkey and greens. She wanted me to stop and continue eating after we come back. Sigh... So I only ate half portion. (T_T)

We went to see dad first. He was moved form the 3rd floor to the 2nd floor because a single occupancy room had opened up. He's not fit to share a room with anyone anymore. However, while he's alone in his room, he'd dismantle stuff! The move was not 100% complete. Both of his walkers were not there. I went upstairs and got his 2-wheel one. Turns out he had taken apart the stroller again! (T_T) It's sent for repair.

The new room has a bigger washroom for wheelchair access. Mom seems to like that. There are 2 lamps. I fear that dad may destroy them like he did on the 3rd floor. It's only a matter of time.

Of course he kept spitting. (T_T) We dropped off the new overalls to a staff for labeling and then went across the street to see aunt Y. She was sleeping. Mom woke her up, and she complained that no one help feed her. She just couldn't reach the table so we helped her sit up and position the food better. She was able to feed herself. However, she was still unable to swallow properly, and gave up after only a few spoonful of thickened soup. Mom gave her a fig from our backyard and she ate half. Last time she was able to eat the whole fig.

Stopped by Pricesmart to use the blueberry raincheque. Came home, ate the other half of our dinner. Kept dosing off at the desk again.

Estimate

The building company I picked up at PNE promised to come by for a drainage system estimate at 3. I waited until 4:30 before calling the guy (M) up. He said he was running behind, and should be able to come at 5:30. Meanwhile A seemed like meeting me. He said I should ditch M for being late for 1.5 hours. However, I really need this estimate. Did he not understand that? Right off hand I felt that he was selfish to have said that. That I should slack off on real business so that I can go meet him. Why couldn't he come to meet me if he really want to see me? Which makes this whole thing sounds like he just want a ride home. (T_T)

M called around 6 and postponed to 8:30. Sigh... If only he would set this up in the first place, I could have met with A. (T_T) I managed to go for a walk nearby before he showed up.

Turns out he's a contractor and would need to send real drainage people to look at my house. (Don't want any delay but do I have a choice? Grrr...) At least I got some info on building a new house. Very expensive. We're not likely to go that. (T_T)

Kitkat Hokkaido Red Bean

From April 2008... Yikes~!!! Made with red beans grown in Hokkaido. According to memory, it did taste like red bean and was quite nice. However, it was not milk chocolate, but white chocolate on the outside. So, milk was dominant. Not exactly my cup of tea.

Hospital (5)

Brother wanted to visit dad since he didn't have a chance this past Sunday. He also wanted to see aunt Y. So he came to pick us up after dropping off his girls.

We dropped by aunt Y first. Cousin O return had gone to lunch with cousin D. She return to Toronto today so we wanted to have lunch with her. Oh well. We waited for half-an-hour for her, and decided it would work better to go see dad across the street first.

Dad's stroller had gone missing again. The staff were busy with lunch, so I didn't ask about the stroller. Chances are, dad had taken it apart again. Sigh... And, surprisingly, dad didn't wan to eat the food! Hmm... it must taste bad or something. It was mah po tofu and rice. A nurse was going around feeding the residents. Dad got fed too. Although he pushed the dish away to the far corner, he'd still eat if someone feeds him.

Then we return to aunt Y across the street. Cousin O was back. After chatting for a bit, it was time to go. She insisted to take transit so brother dropped her off at Langara station. Dad's nursing home called, reporting about the stroller (which we knew already) and checked our progress on dad's overall. I told her we've been busy with aunt Y so it would take a little longer.

Then the 3 of us ate lunch near our place. Brother had to pick up the girls at 3 so we didn't have much time. I had chiropractor too. It was 2:40 when we got home, and I had to leave immediately. I was only 5 minutes late at the chiropractor which was rare. (I'm usually 15 - 30 minutes late.) They were also running on time which was rare too. So I had time to check out DeSerres' moving sale. Now the price looked better. I got a bunch of scrapbook paper.

Worked on L's logo but kept dosing off at the desk... (T_T)

Hospital (4)

Mom went to the bank to clean up some money business with aunt Y and cousin O. (Giving back the money aunt Y kept at mom's to cousin O.) Then as usual, we went to see dad and aunt Y in the afternoon.
Dad's stroller was fixed. The staff would keep it outside his room at night since it was when he takes things apart. A nurse showed me the "details" of the dismantled lamp. It was horrible! Dad had taken all pieces apart, right down to the smallest ones. (T_T)