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.