4:00
try as I might, I can not sleep
then the Monkey wants to change the pipe on my water pump....NO !!!!
4:15
I might as well do it now..... I call Lifelabs...someone actually answers the phone at this hour.... she emails me my Testing Report.... NEGATIVE
4:30
Where did that native cedar-wood box go? Together with the missing wrist-watches I'm getting wary....especially since someone moved/took the safe combination paper and it looks like someone moved the stuff in front of the safe...... I check the stuff in the living room... all little boxes and containers that contained the Native stuff..... EMPTY... just still sitting there.....
4:45
I bite the bullet .... into the ice-cold (literally) garage with a space heater, a flashlight, and my reading lamp....good thing the safe combination was their old German telephone number....and I still remember it.... I get the safe open on the second try... a moment of fear, but no, there is the cedar box....I must have put it in there before I left....knowing not to trust ditzy Grandma..... but where the hell is her last will and testament.... good thing the house is already in my name ....
5:30
Vietnam closed its borders in March 2020....just after I came back from Phnom Penh...more than 1.5 years ago....
and I should stop despairing... in all my decisions, Karma always seemed to have been on my side....
But this house IS depressing....
TIRED....
emails to Lisa & Phap.....
6:15
shit....the flight cost me $850 and not $650 as I thought ....but that's still way cheaper than the $3000 it would have cost me a week earlier.... Karma again ;-)
Eda replies.... friendly but not loving as usual.... and I can feel my mood dropping already.... I need LOVE but very few people seem to be able to give it ... or maybe I'm just not loveable?
7:15
I simply can not sleep ....too many things to do....
I open another bottle of wine (the coming shortage is adding to my panic) and have a coffee....
lots of flight cancellations in the world because of Omicron
it will be -11 C in Vancouver tomorrow night.... how the fuck am I going to get food and booze?
instead of being productive (still haven't taken a shower after the flight), I keep clicking around the internet looking for good news....
8:15
I finally fall asleep
10:00
First step of today's agenda.....call the car people...... she remembers me and chats on the phone with me for quite a while... and says "Chris, we always have a car for you".
Shower put on long pants and shoes and a hoodie and Grandpa's fur jacket... call a taxi
The Cabbie is NOT wearing a mask and the ride down to Lo-Cost costs me $17....what a fucked up country...
Joana & husband are such nice people... we talk for 15 minutes.... I get a Yaris....first time I drive a car in 2 years !!!! $1500 per month... better than taking a taxi and cheap compared to what Grandma costs.
Liquor store next door... might as well buy a case of Viognier ;-)
The Persian store changed owners...it's a GREAT store now.... and the guy at the cashier first talks to me in Farsi (my tanned olive skin?), is GORGEOUS and chatty... unfortunately he forgets to pack my jam...or maybe it's in the car?
Back home, Nooria has left and Disha, a very pleasant young woman from India is giving care to Grandma.... she is chatty and not shy....
12:45 Elizabeth & some hot young Brazilian guy show up....bring cookies for grandma ..
.. I get right to the point...she needs to go into a home... Elizabeth will help ! ;-)
14:00
Chantal calls..... a good conversation about her being a hoarder and unhappy mother and about me possibly haven fallen for a trickster and hustler
15:00
A Phap email..... "Wish Merry Christmas. Happy. Peace".... I can not help noticing that he doesn't include my name.... Chantal's probably right...
Screw it.... Karma will settle it and I have a job to do... actually many jobs !
16:00
I can't stand anymore and go lie down.... my phone chirping wakes me at 16:45....It's Bill, Elizabeth's husband.... I will meet him on Sunday at 11 in Park Royal.....
nap again
18:15...still tired.... I have a coffee & a disgusting chocolate pudding with cherries
Then I find Grandma's bank statements... Her account really had that little in it....
tired
I sleep for an hour....
Agnes shows up....nice and chatty....
Yes, stuff was taken.... my silver rabbit baby rattle is gone too....
21:00
I can't help it...."it is most peaceful next to Phap", I write.... if he's really just a stupid whore, might as well make him feel a little guilty..... oooh....nasty me.... now I feel guilty....
I talk to Agnes...she's nice
Rummaging around the basement back room, I rip part of my big toenail off... I ask Agnes as an RN whether my plan of self-bandaging makes sense....and yeah, I got it right.....
Annie, Thanh/VH, Dong/QN, and Zu all sent me happy birthday messages today.... WTF?
22:45
sleep
1:00
I wake up hungry.... one cherry Eggo and one cheese/caper baguette....yummy....
back to sleep
3:00
awake again
How do I get a booster shot?..... check booster shot BC......oh, I can register to get vaccinated online...
Then it occurs to me ..... since it is all computerized, they will not know about my 2 previous shots.... and think someone at my age has NOT been vaccinated..... I should be almost 1st in line ...
Look up Power of Attorney..... it doesn't have to be notarized for money issues, only for selling property. But even a notarized one won't allow me to make healthcare decisions for her.
And 50% of people still don't wear masks.... and there are no hand sanitizers at credit card machines. They will never learn.
nap
4:45
awake again..... another coffee, eat some manicotti. Iwona emailed me with birthday wishes...
...WTF is going on ?!?
emails from Joanna/Paris & The Monkey....
5:45
Having a smoke on the balcony, I notice that grandma's curtains are drawn for the first time ever.... it takes me a while to realize that she is getting washed..... during the next smoke I think I faintly hear her annoying screams.... and it hits me .... there are NO noises here, except the creek.... no roosters, no cicadas, no frogs, no dogs, no nothing...and nothing is moving .... none of those divine flocks of white herons, no fishermen in their coracles, no dogs humping at the beach, no villagers pulling the endless net out of the ocean..... nothing.... it's DEAD here....
I start moving all the tax stuff in the downstairs middle room.... and I notice that my Native Converse hightops are not there.... WTF!....
7:00
tired again.....
NOPE
7:30
I start shoveling snow...
. with a shovel whose handle is way to short, so I have to bend down low...they make women's shovels now?
8:30
I call Ingo and we chat happily for 30 mins... better than last time....
9:00
LOL.... I knew it.... the computer system at BC Health thinks I'm unvaccinated, so I got bumped to the front of the line and I'll get my 3rd dose on Dec. 30.
9:10
What to do now?... I feel lonely.... so I eat and drink....
10:00
The call to Hans is a bit disappointing....
10:30
time to have a nap, I think....
OMG, I slept well a lot
14:00
Jessica emailed back....she's not visiting....phony?!?
Grandma is screaming at the caretakers in that nasty way of hers
nap
18:00
Manicotti with salsa..... I'm going to get fat so fast :-(
The keyboard on the laptop stops working..... thankfully a reboot helps.... panic...
18:45
The computer updated and they managed to fuck up the image-editing program..... congrats retards ! (again)
Grandma shit her diapers and won't allow Maryam to change them and even screams at her. I tell her it's not lady-like and that does the trick.
I'm paralyzed with depression....just want to go back to sleep.....
nap
20:30
Phap zaloed..... Have a happy day..... he doesn't clue in about the time difference?
21:00
talk to Disha for a bit.... she has to commute to Surrey by public transit....OMFG....
22:30
tired....but I try to stay awake so I won't be up at 2 am again...
22:45
Disha's asking whether the fireplace has a switch gives me an idea.....yes, the downstairs one has a switch... I turn it on and after a few tries am able to ignite the pilot light..
. and then the fireplace....YEAH !
sleep
1:00
I microwave and wolf down a cabbage roll
2:00
OMG, Freedom Mobile charges $0.75 per minute for calls to Vietnam....
Good thing for Zalo ;-)
