January 31st, 2016

9:24 am on February 1st, talking about Saturday

Another confusingly titled post, I should have written yesterday, but I took it easy.

I used my new employee card to get into the mall/plaza just before the 9 am opening time- though I had to worm my way through a crowd of people waiting inside the doors away from the cold. Was it really that cold out? I have to ask- the combination of my johnnies (long johns) and a light jog down to Roosevelt had me very comfortable in the weather outside.

I helped Molly with some English distinctions- Avenge vs. Revenge was the big one. I gave an answer, but I wasn't entirely positive I was right, so we jumped on the computer and, though I wasn't as succinct as the written definition, I wasn't wrong.

Tom wondered why Molly was asking me despite his Scottish people (he's apparently Scottish and Australian) inventing this and this and this and on and on- he's given the "my people invented such and such" speech before- and I said "Sure, but did they invent English?"

I was pretty happy with that zinger. Tom gave a (I think) good natured "fuck you" and it was okay.

Molly is one of the native Chinese teachers, er, well, she was- this is Molly's last day, she'll be off to study in Chicago. She's very cutesy, always smiling but has this closed mouth way of talking, which likely has something to do with her braces- they must be about due to come off, her teeth are beautifully positioned. She wears a black jacket and skirt uniform like all the native teachers when they're on the job (er, well, the women, Leo wears whatever he wants it seems...) but her white blouse has a lot of frills to it. It sets her apart. She said she liked the Canadian/American English, so that's why she asked me questions- but it's very possible she just didn't want to ask Tom, who can be unhelpfully enigmatic with his advice.

I had to go back just now and add some details about Molly- I have been kind of skipping out on the details. That's the weekend for you, starting 4 hours earlier than the work week really eats into ones morning writing time and concentration. Yeah, yeah, I should stop complaining.

After classes I went to Carrefour for whatever... I, uh, meant to type water there. That's a slip. But, yes, fine, sub-conscious, I guess "whatever" is accurate. I grabbed some actual sugar donut things, 4 L of water, a replacement package of raisins, and looked high and low for a vitamin supplement- now that I'm at 96% healthy again (that's an approximation that fluctuates during the day- first thing in the morning is pretty much the worst with all the mucous build up over the night) I'd like to maintain my health, but no luck at Carrefour. 

I returned to Roosevelt to have a meal, stripping off my jackets and now very heavy backback. Consciously deciding to unwind, taking the meal slowly, I just sat there for a long time, savouring my meal, letting the watermelon pieces take me back, to that time I ate watermelon and got really sick that night, too sick to sleep, and got to see the original Superman movie for the first time- at least, up until the point where I puked everywhere- and that time I was trying too hard to keep the watermelon juice from my hands that I ended up slamming a door on my finger and getting a big black mark on my nail. And I sat and thought about mental illness, and what it means to be depressed for a long time, until I got up to leave, and as I left I gave a big smile to someone working behind a counter and what was once a blank, maybe tired, expression became a big smile too.

Anyways. I picked up the vitamin supplement at a Shoppers Drug Mart type place at the north end of Roosevelt, but when I showed them the empty box of throat lozenges they couldn't produce any more to buy. They may have thought I was dedicated to that one brand... I don't care, whatever you've got!

So I THEN made a stop at that pharmacy where I bought the lozenges and medicine with Leo the previous week. I tried to make it very clear that the box I was carrying was previously purchased and empty. There wasn't any trouble, and I got a restock of Golden throat lozenges with the middle aged woman on the box. I guess I'm brand loyal now. - 10:10 am