Tyrell's veggie chips

From April. Thanks A for this. Looks healthy enough. However, doesn't taste as good as it looks. Feels a bit oily, too hard and dry. The texture also varies too much among the different veggies. I'd like to think it's more healthy than potato chips, but not sure if it's true.

Ophthalmologist

Last night's thunder storm must have cost my body's discomfort. Today had been raining on and off too. No improvement on my back.

Mom's got her final cataract surgery checkup with her ophthalmologist today. Her eyes are fine so she can go get new glasses now. It's good to know that her shingles is v2 and does not invade her eye. However, I've mistaken the appointment at 10:30 instead of 10:50. So we were 20 minutes early. Didn't look at the clock, but I'm sure we were done buying take-out food by noon. Since the expensive FM parcel may arrive today, we didn't go anywhere else and came straight home. I over ate a bit. The sticky rice wrap felt very oily and heavy in MSG than usual. Only had 4 hours sleep last night, so I crashed after lunch. First dosing off at the desk, then finally gave up and went to bed. Slept until 7. Stomach still felt heavy so I ate very little.

After dinner, mom wanted to visit Mrs. K as requested. She asked for help on her fig tree. Mom brought over some sticks and made a long handle for picking figs... but didn't work because it lacks a good blade. Chatted with Mrs. K for a while, then I went to brother's to feed the Guinea pigs. Made use of his free long distant phone plan and talked to M for 2 hours. Also called W but he was still working, so we didn't talk for long.

OT

No yoga class this week because of the statutory holiday. E's appointment got moved to today. She's gonna help me apply for subsidized gym fee. Hope it works out. Met up with A & S for dinner. Thanks!

Turtle shell

(No photo today. This was taken on July 30th.)
It's been raining since last night and I opened my eyes into this 10-ton body. Didn't get up until 2:20. Super achy. Feels like I'm wearing a giant turtle shell. Can't move. Stayed home all day. Continued clearing up old diary posts.

Watermelon

Mom heard brother wrong and thought he'd come and pick us up for lunch, then visit dad, then dinner. From experience, I know that he always eat lunch with his church friends. I still waited just in case. Around 3:45 mom finally made contact and it was decided that we meet around 5:15. So I went to help A with his grocery and pick up the corn and watermelon he saved for me. (And some other grocery items.) Thanks~ Barely made it home by 5:15. (Again, he knew I was in a rush yet he got stuck to me... and pressure was up too... sigh...) Came home and found K fixing our awning in boiling heat! (It faces west.) Mom had called brother to postpone our meeting until K was done. Lucky I brought the watermelon because we didn't have anything to treat K. He was gone by 6 so I phoned brother up. No one was home so I left a message on the machine. Turns out he was nearby already. By the time we got to dad's, it was around 6:30. Thank God the cat was there, so the girls wouldn't be bored. We stayed until dad finished the fruit we brought. A nurse was giving the residences ice-cream pop! Nice treat on a hot summer day.

Then we ate at Honolulu. It's been a while. I finally agree that place is actually not bad. Came home and kept dosing off... until a loud beep (?) outside. It was a cop car stopping a vehicle. Just like the other night! It was just before 11. This cop car was a regular one unlike the last K9 unit car. The 2 cops only talked to the "suspect" and he wasn't even asked to leave his car. He was released after less than 15 minutes. The cop car stayed behind for a bit, and then left, as if nothing had happened. It worries me that there's been such incidents so often. Is my neighbourhood not safe anymore?

Tyrell's salt and pepper

From April. Hand cooked English potato chips. Sea salt & cracked black pepper. Thanks A for this fancy-looking chips in a fancy shop. (Whole Foods.) The black pepper is a bit too strong and masks all other flavour, including potato. OK maybe not the salt. The inside of your mouth gets very hot. The slices are thicker than Lay's, and mostly curled up. Many are puffed or bubbled up. There are 9 items on the ingredients list, including starch, sugar, flavouring, and a chemical-looking name. What I don't understand is, Lay's only has 3 ingredients (potato, oil, and salt) but has way more potato taste.

Hotter

(No photo today. This was taken on July 30th.)
Started cleaning up the diary from March since yesterday and continued today. Weather gets hotter. By just sitting in my room with the computer turn on, my neck gets wet with sweat. Left shoulder is rock-hard and very sore. Neck is super stiff too.

Hot

Huge difference from yesterday. Even the wind is hot. Took aunt L, aunt Y and mom to see dad. Dropped them off after a little bit of grocery-shopping. Was going to walk to the bank to pay my visa bill, but mom strongly insisted that I drive. So I did. My car as usual turn into a sauna so I actually prefer walking. Oh well. Picked up a loaf of bread and went home. I don't even remember when was last time the knock came 2 days in a roll. (But today's was yesterday's leftover.) Dose off a bit.

Print and frame

Got up late. Did a final check on L's picture before going to the photo lab. Then I realized I forgot the lace on the dresses!! Aunt L phoned to rush us for the pickup but I just couldn't make it today with this last-minute fix. Finally went to the lab at around 5:30, half-an-hour before they close. Came home, put the pictures into frames, wrap them up, and phoned L. Unfortunately, he had already left town. Oh well... Next week when he comes back.

I let myself slack off for the rest of the day.

Picture and beads

Finally! L's picture is finished! Yay~!!!!! Of course didn't do anything much besides working on it for months. Oops, forgot about sis-in-law's bead shop order. That one was finally submitted too. A warping 500 bucks!!!! (450 + 50 shipping) I'll have to band myself from buying any more for a whole year.

So, tomorrow still need to do a final check on that picture, then off to the photo lab it goes.

BTW, last night just before midnight, dogs were barking like crazy. It went on for a while so I peek out the window, and saw unusual lighting on the house across the street. It took me a while to figure out that was a spot light from a wagon. It was the K9 unit going after a sedan! They each have a dog but it was mostly the police dog that was barking. The driver was told to take his dog and stand aside while the cop searched his car. Apparently he seemed to be someone known to the police. Too bad nothing was found and he was released. The whole ordeal felt like a drug search. Hmm... my neighbour is not safe at all... (T_T)

Tak Ribice

From April. Thanks A. Looks like Goldfish but tastes completely different. The other fish-shaped one was more like cracker while this feels more like biscuit and more milky. The texture is more puffy too. Not a bad snack, but sticks to your teeth a bit.

Double

Took mom to her shingles followup, and got an appointment myself for skin allergy. The doctor's attitude was clearly different when I actually have an appointment instead of just accompanying mom. Way more friendly and talkative. He just wrote me a prescription on the same ointment from 5 years ago and didn't even look at my rash. (Well, I showed him that ointment first, though.)

This time we didn't have to wait, so there was 18 minutes left for some micro grocery shopping. Then we picked up 2 Japanese bento boxes at Fujiya and ate them at home. Continued on L's picture. Kept dosing off as usual. I only had 5 hours of sleep. Then sis-in-law called about that bead shop. She's interested but checked her mail late. I ended up spending more time going through the site, and throwing more items into my cart and reached the maximum discount level. It's gonna cost me over 400 bucks... Yikes! I can't believe I'm going that...

L's picture is still not done... I'm loosing all fun drawing it. Since when did drawing become such a chore?

Yoga class

Bad me. Failed to sleep early again and got waken up by the second parcel. Estimated sleep time: 4 hours. The corners of my mouth is flaring up as I type this. The parcel's brokerage fee was less then the less one. Strange, but I will not complain. Wait... it's still way too expensive!

Ate some oatmeal and went to borrow A's bus pass. (Thanks!) Of course I forgot to factor in the driving and parking. Didn't check the time but I think I either narrowly made it, or just slightly late. There was a lady who was later than me, so I wasn't the last one. It wasn't exactly what I expected, but nonetheless, had some post holding. I think I'll be able to tell by tomorrow if it's given me any benefits or made things worse.

Session with OT continued after the yoga class. More info exchange. Then I went back to MT and looked at a few shops, and it was 5. Met up with and took him grocery shopping. Thanks for sharing the watermelon, blueberry, and bread!

Came home and kept falling asleep at the desk as usual. (T_T) FMG sent me another mail about closeout sales so... of course I'm looking again. Never learn. (T_T)

Stiff

Didn't sleep well. Opened my eyes with super super stiff back. Didn't get up until super late. Didn't see A despite it's Sunday. Continued with L's picture.

Karaoke

J asked if I'd be interested to see the fireworks. Downtown would be hell so I went against it. photo: karaoke party: food

Plus, it was Andre Rieu's concert movie tonight. I kind of want to go, but not comfortable to ask A. We ended up deciding on a karaoke night. Was gonna do it at S's but he was out and couldn't get home in time to prepare. So we did it at J's.

A had not been feeling well and undecided about going anywhere. (Yet he went downtown earlier.) I didn't want to push him. Then he became very stuck to me. OK, I'm not sure why you're sick, but seemed like you don't care if I also catch it. If you're well enough to get suck to me, you should be well enough to go to J's. It didn't matter if he went or not. I'd still go alone. At the end he decided to go. But we've wasted quite a bit of time, and ended up being the latest. (When he want to grope me, nothing else matter, including trying to be on time to whatever is next.) Grrrr....

Karaoke was fun. I got to dig up a few old anime songs. Then a few episodes of Densha Otoko. The party ended around 2. Yikes... my car insurance had expired before I got to put the new sticker up! I was going to do it before I left home, but (1) needed to bring A the hard-boiled egg, (2) the shop where I'd be picking up the steam rolls might close so I had to go there first. In short, I was in a hurry, and forgot about the sticker until after midnight. Gas price seemed OK so I filled up, and fixed the sticker at the gas station.

Came home, tried to work on L's picture, but kept falling asleep... Ended up going to bed super later again without much done...

Brokeside Mango Mangosteen

From April. Dark chocolate mango mangosteen. Did they put these two together because they both start with "mango"? It's yummy, but the packaging makes you think it's yummier then it actually is. Chocolate + tartness is almost always yummy. However, there's no fragrance. Can't detect any mango at all. And somehow it tastes more like berry. In shot, I cannot tell the difference between this and their other chocolate covered fruit juice center varieties. Hmm...

Shingles

Woke up by the parcel form FM. Fedex had me pay just under $37. That was ridiculous! My purchase was just under $76 and after shipping, total went over $111! And now an extra $37?!?!?! But I had no choice but to pay. After a closer look, custom is actually less than $4. The rest is Fedex fees. F%*^$%# them!!!!!!!! OMG I still have one more parcel coming!!!!! (T_T) (T_T) (T_T) (T_T) (T_T) (T_T)

Back to the shingles. Took mom back to see our family doctor for a fallow-up. No new medicine, only the usual osteoporosis drug. After we ate out near home, mom needed to stop at the bank to pay for some bills. I went with her and saw... a guy with a really fake beard standing at the counter talking to the teller. Then I saw him putting away a gun... a fake-looking gun. Hmm... it was almost comical and I didn't want to believe it was real. Just in case, I went outside to make a call. (If the situation was more threatening, I would have grabbed mom and run. It seemed fine to leave her taking care of her business.) The process was pretty slow. The guy exited, and the bank staff locked the front door. OK, then, it was real. By coincident, uncle and aunt Y came to the bank while the cops were taking statements. Wasted about 30-40 minutes. After a quick washroom visit, I rushed to my chiropractor appointment. The receptionist said lots of their patients work at banks, and from their first-hand experience, robberies are actually very common. Yikes!!!!!

Wardrobe

(No photo today. This was taken on the 5th.)
Cleanup some old clothes and dug up a bunch of really old stuff (over 10 years) that still have the tag. Brand new stuff that I never wore. Hmm... Also many short skirts that are too short for my age now. I don't understand why I bought them, because I hate skirts thanks to my crooked legs. Hope my nieces can use them.

Beads

(No photo today, this was taken on the 21st.)
Got an e-mail form the bead shop so I realized I hardly touched the tip of that site. Continued on the bead hunt and ended up reaching the 50 units level again. If I did it last night, I could have gotten a bigger discount. Can't believe I spent that much money on beads within 2 days... I'm seriously scared...

Shingles

Mom's got a few sores on her face that really concerns her. She thinks it's the "snake" (shingles). So we went to see our family doctor, and he confirmed it. There're some on her right eyelid and could be bad if it gets in her eye. We tried to get the prescription drugs right downstairs but they only have one of the 2 items. We had to go to LD for the eye-drop. Mom immediately took a dose of each. This sounds serious as the eye-drop needs to be applied every 2 hours. I hope mom gets well soon.

Even though I felt sick because of the vampire, the black cloud over my head seems to have lifted. On the other hand, I can also blame it for giving me that black cloud. Hmm...