Family Digestive

From 2011 November. "Reek Freans Family Digestive". Bought at the same time as the Pecan Passion. My question is, why "family"??? Well, I guess this makes it sound healthy, doesn't it? It's much sweeter then the Pecan Passion, but still not too bad. However, the chocolate has a low melting point (which leads to messy hands) and felt more like icing then chocolate. Of course, a quick check on the ingredient list yielded "chocolatey" instead of "chocolate". It's got "modified" oil. The the third item is the familiar "shortening". Of course, of course. One box is more than enough.

Vamp

Just as expected, the vampire showed up. So much for going downtown. Oh well...
Some more stuff arrived...

Body Slim

Acupuncture body slim????? Photo taken yesterday. (Part of the "missing diary".) No record for today.

Dinner

Thanks L for dinner. (Part of the "missing dairy".)

Chiropractor

Chiropractor day. (Part of the "missing diary".) Took some pictures of sakura in full bloom, and got A's bus pass. The neighbourhood new house is almost completed.

Pecan Passion

From 2011 October. "Peek Freans Pecan Passion". Mom's church friends recommendation. On sale at Shopper's for $2. And it's quite good! It's sweetness is subtle. The pecan tasted like walnut (not a bad thing). The texture is fresh. I could even taste butter, but then it wasn't exactly light. Just when I thought this is an awesome winner, I noticed "vegetable oil shortening" is second item on the ingredient list next to "enriched wheat flour". "Shortening" is trans-fat in disguise! That's right, the box doesn't say "0 trans-fat". Even thought that doesn't mean "no trans-fat", at least not as much as this. (T_T)

Stuff

Ear posts arrived. (Part of the "missing diary".)

Misdelivery

2 more batches arrived... with an extra 2 packages that don't belong to me. The address is about 6 blocks away so I thought I had to drop it off myself. Then within the hour, the mailman came back in a cap. He realized he made a mistake. So I handed it to him and save myself a trip. However... I cannot stop thinking about my still missing package. Would it be delivered to the wrong address and someone decided to keep it instead of returning it??? I really hate to think this way, but can't help it.
Eat-out day with brother's gang. That Taiwanese restaurant is always good.

Sequins

The sequins arrived. Thought I got a hang of the size, but they're still bigger than I thought. As forecast, it rained all day. No walk.

Walk

Was going to take a walk nearby (to the dollar store), but saw the sakura on 51st blooming, so I walked all the way to Main. The way there was super easy as the street slopes slightly downhill. The return trip put me in sweat. Not a bad thing as I want exercise anyway. It only showed me how out of shape I am. And... only one side of the street has blooming sakura. The city was very clever when planting them every other block and calculated the blooming timing. Tomorrow is supposed to rain. If it doesn't, I'm gonna walk down 52nd.

Too bad I didn't bring my camera today thanks to the ache caused by changing weather. Tomorrow... naaah, probably no camera either. But we'll see. Continued on painting beads.

Truly Honey Nut Toasted Os

From 2011 October. Not really junk food, but I eat this as a snack. Very dry. Again, on sale, 2 for $5. Very good deal so I gave it a try. It's acceptable, I guess, despite a bit too sweet, and this sweetness doesn't feel right. I can't say it feels healthy even though it's supposed to be. It also gave me a canker sore and insane sour after taste. Notice: "Os" not "Oats". This must be the catch.

Sakura

The sakura in the neighbourhood. (Part of the "missing diary".)

Sakura

Haven't been to Toshi for a long time. Thanks L. The Main Street sakura are in bloom.

Stuff

Painted some beads... with disappointing result...

Gmail Blogger New look sucks!

Google, give me back the old look. The new look sucks on both Gmail and Blogger! User unfriendly! Hurts my eyes! AAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!!

OK, to be exact, the new look has a greenish tint that no theme can get rid of. Why do you think this is better? It increases eye strain 100 times! Sucks!!!!! And, the icons also sucks. Did you think it removes language barrier and saves space? Noooooo it makes things less clear and makes me more confused!!!!!! Sucks!!!!!!!! Don't take the old one away!!!!!!

Some beads arrived today...

Ritz bits sandwiches

From 2011 October. Peanut-butter this time. Less salty than the cheese variety. It felt quite dry too. The cracker itself should be the same, but this leans towards sweet. I get the feeling that the cheese one is more fattening, but I could be wrong.

Nursing home

Brother came to pick us up to see dad after his oil change. Dad is reverting to his old way. For a while I thought the staff had him under control, but he seems to find ways to beat them. He's tearing up diapers, clothes, even bed sheets again. Why does he have to be so destructive?

It was just the 3 of us but we had dim sum for lunch as it's brother's birthday tomorrow. Mom always favours him. While picking up grocery after lunch, it suddenly stated raining heavily, and then turn into hail! What the heck...?

And then of course, the sun came out late late afternoon. And I twisted my right shoulder while trying to switch computer behind the monitor. Now I have 2 bad shoulders. Great... (T_T) Of course the weather doesn't help...

No sakura

Actually was going to stop by QE park after chiropractor yesterday, but when I went past the isolated 3 trees from the opposite side of the street, I saw dark red... which is the colour of young leaves! So... no motivation anymore... at least for this location. The trees in front of Oakridge was in bloom, though.

Chiropractor

Needed it 2 days ago. By today I might have gotten used to it. Was late and went to the back of the line. Took a little over an hour. Then walked to Michael's. Believe me, it was mainly for the walk. Didn't expect to actually buy anything but I just couldn't resist. Ended up buying a scrapbook paper pad. Half price, seems like a great deal, but still coast just over $16 for 48 sheets, of which not all are good. So... I feel stupid now. (But... but... the good ones are not available as individual sheets so this is still... )

Feast

Brother's b-day is coming up so mom wanted to eat out today. He's got some coupons form the coupon book so we went to a nice Greek restaurant. It was a feast.

Truly Lemon shortbread

From 2011 October. Thank God, this is way better than the strawberry one! Or maybe my expectation was much lower? At least it doesn't taste like cough syrup. The lemon actually goes well with the cream and short bread. The tartness dangerously masks the heaviness and anything unpleasant. I was hungry and ate 5 cookies in a sitting. Then my stomach felt like it was filled with wax, and my heart was racing afterwards! My artery must have been clogging! One amazing thing though: there's no sour aftertaste! If I eat sweets, I usually get that, but not this time. Which means, they didn't use real sugar!?!?!?!?

Actually, I'm wrong. "Sugar" is the second item on the ingredient list. Don't see any sweeteners but there are quite a few "modified" items. Well, it doesn't say "0 transfat".

Festival

There was some kind of East Indian festival in the neighbourhood and traffic was hell. I avoided it all until the very end.

There's some awesome graffiti at the former Block Buster site.

It's late uncle L's b-day so I drove aunt L and mom to visit his grave.
Stopped by to see dad, and then dim sum for lunch.

Airport

Brought pizza over to A's for lunch. Would have given up washing my hair if he'd told me he needed some last minute shopping sooner. Oh well. The stuff from his fridge including ice-cream had to be drop off at my place first. Time was tight but we made it. He's already booked his seats so he only need to drop off his luggage at the check-in counter. Oops... forgot to ask about the weight but he didn't mention any trouble, so I think he was fine. Have a nice trip~!

Beads

Photo actually from yesterday. 2 batches arrived. (Part of the "missing diary".)

Truly Strawberry shortbread

From 2011 October. On sale, 2 for 4 bucks, 350g a box. Good deal. Looked good, but tasted bad. First, the shortbread was stale. (No it's not expired.) Second, the cream was waxy and way too milky. Third, the blob of "strawberry jam" tasted like cough syrup and sticks to your teeth. Overall, it tasted cheap!!! Aaargh!!! I regret buying this! I hope the lemon one is better.

Bike

Photo taken on the 7th. Interesting bike? (Part of the "missing diary". No record for today...)

Sakura park

Went to QE park in the afternoon to catch some sakura.

Notth Van

Met up with A later afternoon and went to North Van. Whole food pizza for dinner.
(Again, a whopping 10 days of diary is missing, so these are written afterwards from the photos.)

Day out

Day out with brother's gang. Went to visit dad first. Then dim sum for lunch. Picked up some bread to GI to feed the ducks. All the way down to dinner. A full day out.

Vegetable Thins Original

From 2011 September. It's been years since I last ate this. Used to be my favorite. Although it says "0 trans fat", it doesn't mean none. (As long as it's below a certain level, they're allowed to say that.) I'm not sure about the "vegetable oil shortening" (vegetable, modified palm, modified palm kernel). Vegetable oil shortening actually shows up twice. Anything "modified" sounds dangerous. The texture is light, fluffy and crunchy. Still tastes awesome. But honestly, I'm avoiding it.

Graffiti

Subtractive graffiti... (Part of the "missing diary". No record of today.)

Chiropractor

Thank God for chiropractor day. Went to mail K's parcel afterwards. Some beads arrived too. (Part of the "missing diary".)

Memory

P came to pick up the tax papers, and told us how faith lead them saw his mother-in-law the last time. Mom told him her experience with aunt Y. However, her story changed. The day she phoned me up, she said she got aunt Y to drink some soup, then she chocked, had trouble breathing, then passed away. Now, she completely left out the soup drinking part. She even said aunt Y couldn't and didn't drink any. Well... I know I'm mean, but I can't stop thinking mom must be erasing unfavorable memories for convenience. I've always wonder, if mom didn't get aunt Y to drink that soup, she might live a little longer...

Eat-out day with brother's gang... at that big soup noodle combo restaurant.

Not sure if yesterday's walking to the bank's causing my lower back aches. Thighs definitely have muscle pain. Glad to hear that M has lost 20-something pounds from hiking. I should really get more exercise. My body is going downhill fast. Not to mention the mysterious aches on my left shoulder.

First sakura

First sakura photo this year. Now that I look back, if I'd listened to A and gone out on Sunday, I could have taken the first sakura photos then. 2 parcels arrived. Pinkys and beads.

Ritz bits sandwiches

From 2011 September. "... with real cheese". Does this mean, it's fake cheese if they don't say "real"??? Yikes!

Ritz is Ritz, no need to explain. Adding cheese makes it more salty but at the same time more moist, which is a good improvement. Not sure if it's the cracker or the cheese, the overall taste is slightly sweet. The mini size makes it addictive too. After all these years, a western snack finally learns from the Japanese and reduce its portion size.

Dream

It's April Fool's but doesn't concern me. Or is this dream a trick God played on me?

2 parts. First part, I was at home. It was in the middle of the night. There was some noise so I peeked through the lace curtains in my computer room window, and saw another room instead of the street. It was kind of like a classroom or some sort of control room with 2 rolls of desks with equipments. 2 beings were in there with their backs facing me. The one almost immediately on the other side of the wall was a guy with short hair. The other being was one roll in front... and it was a little grey. Somehow I felt really scared, and knew that the short hair guy realized I peeked. (Some parts were missing here.) I was with my family and I told mom that we were watched by aliens. Possibly held by them. ("They" felt more like ghosts.) Mom's didn't say anything but her reaction told me that she know it all along.

Part 2. I was with a male friend... but no idea who. We were trying to figure out what physic powers we had. Mine was "magnetic". A Polo-Mint-like metal egg was used. It stuck to my hand and wouldn't fall off. But I can still throw it at will, and "suck" it back. Immediately I was chased after by a bunch of special power people trying to determine who's the strongest. I tried to escape. We were in this building with weird design. Open stairwells going up and down, rounded cone shape walls. They caught up with me near the top. By now there were a lot more of them, but not everyone was trying to catch me. We all got stuck in that section of stairwell and hung out there. There were more but that's all I can remember.