Dire Days.....May 22..... Chantal visits....tables gone ... exhausted but still happy

A no-school night in Vancouver:

2:00

Eda went to bed..... I still can't believe she came here even though her period is troubling her so much.... I am so grateful to have such a good friend...... she is keeping me SANE ....

2:30

I'm still SO WIRED because of the Phap video call and the great time with Eda...this is what LIFE is about.....but it's time to sleep !

7:45

OMG.....now this is a REAL HANGOVER.....

coffee doesn't help.....wine doesn't help......OUCH.....

8:15

Eda is awake..... 

10:30

back home from the bottle depot....I panicked when I realized that I forgot my mask and 2 homeless guys were scanning the incoming electro trash....

Oh....when I flicked all the fuses last night, I also killed the pilot lights of the two fireplaces..... something else to fix :-(

10:45

I go out to check the solar wattage being produced.....ZERO..... back inside....oh...I missed to pop one of the fuses back in.... the one for the outside outlet..... now it works....22.8W....

11:00

I email Chantal......

pressure relief...MUCH needed !

11:15

Chantal replied.... she'll be here in about 1 hour.....

11:45

of course, now is when I feel like a nap :-(

Instead I go to work in the front yard.....

12:15

Chantal has arrived ....

we chat, we eat, then she wants to disrupt my rest day by using Facebook Marketplace to get rid of the ugly gold & glass coffee tables....

Finally, I agree, clean the tables and Chantal takes pictures....

Some man with an Arab or Persian name replies and wants to take them both.... he says it will take 45 minutes.....

40 minutes later....Chantal missed a phone call... we go check...and a woman (wearing a hijab) and an Arab looking man are loading the tables into a minivan...... I thank them for taking the tables...they are very polite and respectful....and I have a vision:

A room with carpets on the walls...those golden tables in the middle with a teapot and lots of small glasses on top....and people sitting on pillows around the table drinking tea .....

These tables have finally found their true home ;-)

Then Chantal wants to head back to the big creek..... first we try to snap the padlock.... only to discover it wasn't even locked..... and it's gorgeous down there by the creek..... I'm grateful to Chantal to have pushed me to go there.....

16:45

Chantal leaves....taking the lard pots and the succulent plant and the Cuisinart coffee maker with her.....

17:15

I email Carlos ... and he replies promptly.... I KNEW that Carlos is one of the most sincere and least phony people I know !

17:45

I feel I NEED a nap....

nap

18;45

I'm killing the hunger feeling with toast, turkey breast, pickles, Kampot pepper... not too bad... should finish that turkey breast soon...

19:20

After a lot of FRUSTRATING button pushing, I've finally managed to turn the pilot light in the downstairs fireplace on again.....the controls are NOT intuitive !!!!

19:45

I carry the orange-flowering tree to the front...... I envision it growing next to the stairs in the front.....much prettier than it growing behind the creek in the back..... I've dug the hole already.... it will be planted just before it starts raining .....

20:00

I start stripping Grandma's bed.....sheets into garbage bags and the down pillows will follow when I have room in the garbage can.....

20:15

a bit of calisthenics....more organizing/cleaning/trashing stuff

An idea....Why put goose-down duvets in the trash....might as well bury the feathers in the garden !

21:00

I email Phap..... "I am still heart-happy because I saw you"

21:15

I'm tired....No Netflix for 2 days.....this is The Life ;-)

21:45

Can't sleep....eat some vanilla yogurt with mandarins..... MISSING Phap....just hoping he didn't meet anyone to fall in love with.....

22:30

checking out male Asian escorts on LeoList....yeah....I know..... but when Chantal asked me whether I thought I felt that I had to be monogamous, I instantly reply: ....Hell NO....I'm not the one who lied, cheated, made a baby, and fucking got MARRIED !  

23:30

try to read (Erich Maria Remarque) and sleep

but NO....I'm moving furniture

....because I'm encouraged by Chantal's action today....the TV stands and crap will go for free and I will have the TV with porn in front of my bed (blush ;-)

Dire Days: May 5 -6 ....Corona Tsunami .....FRUSTRATION.... Bedroom move .... No Eda?!? ....SADNESS

5:45 in Vancouver....

I got my $484 tax refund ;-)

7:15

tipsy and tired....

7:45

can't sleep

an email to Phap  "sleep well my love"

I also reply to Avocado Alex.....

8:30

Sangak with cheese/capers and the other half with a slice of salami.....I'm going to get fat....

The weather forecast for the next 2 weeks......2 weeks of RAIN.....  SIGH :-(

nap

10:00

I stagger into the kitchen...check the Viet phone....nothing....2 seconds later the Canadian phone chimes....a Phap reply...."You too. Have a nice day love. I want to see Han always smiling"...

I MISS him SO MUCH...  he's only 29....and he is such an amazing person.....she doesn't deserve him....

More weeding out junk....it hurts... but it has to go.....George's cell phone goes into the electronics recycling....almost exactly 8 years after he died.....

screw showering for the day

A trip down Westview: A carton of cigs and Sushi/caviar and a snapper fillet.....to be fried and eaten with curry and rice.....

11:15

Back home....eat some sushi.....and I change the lockscreen on my Canadian phone.... 

but then I change it back again.....looking at him every time I use my phone would break my heart while I'm away from him.....

11:30

When I cut the snapper fillet into 3 pieces to be frozen separately, I get the urge...... cast iron pan, olive oil, Kampot pepper, salt, lime, a touch of wasabi.....on Multigrain toast......it's divine....I really know how to cook !

Next time I'll add a hint of garlic and a hint of chili...

12:00

Interest rates are still going up.....the 2-year GIC that I bought now pays 3.61% instead of 3.53% 5 days ago

12:30

I use a thick wooden stick to convert the two UGLY but heavy carriage light stands into a BARBELL.... Amazingly, the wooden stick fits perfectly...and the combined weight of those metal stands is perfect as a barbell.....Happy calisthenics ;-)

13:00

Eda emails....."looks like you're going to miss me this weekend".....oh no...not another one..... 

OMG....the Covid wave is coming....Conrad.....Mika...Chantal....Randy ....maybe Eda next....

and it's POURING outside and it's 5 Celsius at 1pm.....what a hell hole !!!

WHY THE FUCK am I HERE and NOT in Viet Nam?

14:15

The Inglewood psychiatrist calls..... I thank him for turning Grandma into a human being.... he is GOOD....

I use that black insulating sticky tape to insulate the front door and the upstairs fireplace.....that should put and end to or at least reduce that annoying cold draft in the living room.....and should reduce my heating bill.....

15:00

Another one of those phone calls....."you have an Amazon order of $1500....it may be fraudulent"....this time I talk to the guy on the other end.....and I ask him "How much are they paying you to annoy people and to rip people off?"

15:15

I liberated the 3rd charge controller from the van ...

15:30

read more....

Throw more junk in the garbage bin....about 100 cassette tapes in racks....

I talk to Andrea for over one hour....

17:30

Still no Amazon delivery....

read a bit....

18:15

still no Amazon....

18:30

Talk to Chantal....I can right away tell by her voice that she is SICK..... sore throat, fever, chills, etc etc

Talk to Eda....she's still fine.....

19:00

My Amazon order to be delivered by Purolator is officially designated LATE on the website.....what else is new?   Go Canada Go !

nap

21:00

NOW they are saying sorry..... the package is not coming today after all .... FUCK Purolator

I start cooking rice....down to 2 in the freezer....might as well cook now while I'm awake and have nothing else urgent to do....

22:00

I didn't send a "have a good day" email to Phap.....I feel bad....but I have to tone it down.... otherwise I miss him too much......tomorrow morning maybe.....

22:45

OMG....I find pictures from 25 years ago and some even older.....

0:30

awake and hungry.....sangak with cherry jam / hummus.... Must NOT buy the Safeway generic hummus again....NOT good....

1:30

time to get more zzzs

5:45

coffee.... I can feel the result of my calisthenics in my arms and shoulders !

6:15

A lovey email to Phap....

7:00

read and pressure relief....

nap

8:30

I wake up and remember the last few words uttered by me in my dream "It's a betrayal"

8:45

I've put the hand painted 4387 sign in the Van's rear window.....Yes, it looks trashy, but at least the delivery people will be able to see a number now.

Sangak with salami & capers.... not ideal but I was hungry and I can feel muscle ache !

9:15

I've wet-mopped the linoleum part of the floor of the prospective new bedroom, Eda's bathroom, as well as mine upstairs....... productive !

10:00

I've shaved !    I'm a bit down because I haven't heard from Phap (Friday evening over there) but I can't let it make me dysfunctional .... I have got stuff to do ....not only to see him again, but to steer my life in the direction it should be going..... 

11:00

Back in the house....and CRANKY.......absolute traffic gridlock on Westview below the highway.....God only knows why....people did U-ys to get out of it and so did I .....Safeway.....cranky people and NO Covid test kits.... I can't help it and ask the pharmacist "Does ANYTHING work in this country?"

Also at Safeway: Tons of veggie burgers, but all the beef burgers are trash and come with mashed potato and veggies.....FUCK

AND ....nothing from Phap.....doubts are rising again ...... 

11:15

I'm putting the $3.49 Stoufer's meatloaf in the microwave......

Actually not as bad as I had feared...A LOT of Kampot pepper gives it some taste....at least I got some red meat into my body !

11:45

I check on Google Maps....Westview below the highway is still in gridlock...... What a FUCKED-UP city !

12:00

I've had to interrupt mowing the front meadow because my digestive system decided to transport the 'meatloaf' to the waste-end ASAP..... 

At least the front meadow is done for a while...and I cleared some of that wild growth with the lawnmower ;-)

13:15

I've moved all the furniture and my new bedroom is complete...

....including remote-controlled reading light ;-)

I read and sleep very well in my new bedroom...until at 13:45 the doorbell wakes me.....Purolator delivered !

I put 2 dandelion solar lights in the back yard.... and another 2....

14:30

The traffic jam on lower Westview has cleared.....might as well dump all the stuff in the car at the Salvation Army now!

And I drop off the Sony laptop at the repair shop... not sure it'll be worth fixing it...but it'll be a good spare...

15:00

Back at home.....

read a bit.....toast with salami mandarins & cheese....

16:00

Nothing from Phap..6:00 in Vietnam....the thoughts are getting darker....

I try disconnecting the stupid yard flood lights that Albert installed..... no motion sensor, only a daylight sensor....and no OFF button.....I turn the rear one towards the wall and leave the front one for now.....I want to disconnect them, but don't want to be electrocuted in my inebriated state....

16:45

Eda calls....she has no Covid tests...her co-worker offered twice to bring her some but didn't follow through....what is WRONG with people in this country?!?....so she can't test herself tomorrow morning and won't come....

17:00

7am in Vietnam....nothing..... the last email from him was yesterday at 10:00 my time

Precooked noodles with chorizo, capers, and olives...YUM

18:00

nap

19:30

20:00

The rear light is facing the wall and now the twilight sensor makes it flash.....go down and turn it sideways....that seems to fix the flashing.....

18:15

I start laundry, refill all the empty boxes with books and reload the car....

21:00

It's dark enough now.....the solar lights go on.... not exactly what I was hoping for....not exactly in good taste....the colours are a bit too gaudy ....

I try to read and sleep....but NO..... I'm hungry !

22:30

half a ciabatta bun with salami, cheese/caviar, hummus (in three different sections)

23:00

try to sleep again.....