341: POSING FOR ROGERS CHOCOLATES

It looks like I forgot to take a picture for this day because of the time zone changes as I flew home. Here is a picture from the beginning of my trip instead, taken at YVR because we had nothing better to do. 

290: TAKE A WALK

Today, I arrived at work at 9:30 on the dot. I thought I was right on time, but when I walked into the pharmacy, all I got were confused looks and "Why are you here? You're not supposed to start until 10:30" comments. So I went for a walk to take pictures instead.

I saw a woman throwing bread and crackers out of her plastic bag to feed the birds. I caught her in action, with the bread flying from her fingers.

Then I watched in amazement as she dumped the whole contents of her bag onto the ground. 

I saw Jamie during my lunch break and he let me sit on his motorcycle!  Here I am wearing his helmet and gloves...

222: MEETING OF THE MINDS

The birthday boy and his strawberry italian soda with mango stars.

Tonight, there was an impromptu meeting of the pharmaceutical minds. Through discussion with three pharmacists from rival companies and one from a hospital, I learned:

a.) How to politely say no when a customer gives you their dirty, greasy phone because they want you to talk to their friend/mother/father/grandparent/sibling

b.) Stay away from customers carrying bags of feces. And insist that they take their bag of feces with them when they leave.

c.) Wear gloves when you open tubes sent from other parts of the hospital, or else you can get HIV-positive or Hepatitis C-positive blood explode all over your hands

d.) The gay pride parade float from my company this year looked very empty and had a tired looking man dancing in a shopping cart. I've never been, but all my friends tell me that it's fun to go. The float needs some young blood, and my friends suggested that I email head office to say, "Dear head office, I would very much like to be on the float for the gay pride parade. Please give me the day off and reserve me a spot to dance on the shopping cart for next year. I already have a t-shirt and baseball cap with the company logo so you don't even have to provide me with clothing. Thank you kindly." HAH!

e.) Do not order a drink with pearls, coconut jelly, AND mango stars... The menu said there was no charge for adding any of these into my drink, so I decided to be economical and asked to add all of them in. The waitress looked so surprised and confused when I asked for all three. It was not a wise decision, since all the different tastes and textures made it a bit funny tasting.

'Fall in Love' (strawberry, passionfruit, and lemon) with pearls, coconut jelly, and mango stars:

157: TATA FOR NOW

A brief goodbye to Nanaimo, home of Twiggly Wiggly Road, McFeely Drive, Jingle Pot Road, Buttertubs Drive, Town Ho End, Hooker Road, Dingle Bingle Hill Terrace, and many more fun street names. There is a whole Robin Hood area of town (Friar Tuck Way, King Arthur Drive, Sherwood Drive, Sheriff's Way, Jester's Way) and then there's an island with pirate themed streets (Pirates Lane, Treasure Trail, Captain Morgan's Boulevard).

If I were to buy a house in Nanaimo, I would buy it on Twiggly Wiggly Road or Dingle Bingle Hill Terrace. Just saying my address would make me smile. Plus I hear real estate is dirt cheap compared to Vancouver.

118: ALIAS 6.5

This was right beside the door of a shop and I have no idea what it means. Is Alias the address? What do all those numbers above Alias stand for? And why did someone write $PERMY beside it?

108: I FEEL IT IN MY FINGERS...

This is our new friend Remy, who is from a small town in Quebec called Trois Rivieres. We think he is the funniest person in Quebec because he says the most hilarious things. We decided to take funny pictures one day. During his turn for a picture with Rae, he said, "Let's stick our tongues out!" and so they did. For my turn for a picture with him, he said, "Let's put our finger into each other's noses!" He tried to put his finger up my nose, but I was NOT cool with it. Rae said, "Why don't you pretend to put your fingers in each other's noses, but not actually put it in your nose!" He said, "I don't mind. Here, you can do my nose." He then took my wrist and led my finger to his nostril and said, "Doesn't this look believable?" And I replied with, "That's because my finger IS up your nose!" And that is when Rae burst out laughing.

Don't you love how Remy looks totally fine with my finger up his nose?

PS. I washed my hands right after this picture was taken.

96: VIOLET STEMS

Yellow flowers in New Westminister in their purple-stemmed glory.

BTW: If you google "purple stems" like I did, you will find an abundance of marijuana sites. The most common search involving that phrase is actually "purple stems on cannabis".  My aim was to find out the name of this plant, but the only thing I learned from this search is that purple stems on marijuana plants are due to phosphorus deficiency.  At least now I will be able to help out a marijuana grower in need of advice.

64: ATTENTION ALL STAFF

"There have been reports of staff lunches being eaten by other staff members."

This note made me a bit worried about putting my lunch into the staff room fridge today.

54: AGEING GRACEFULLY

According to modern technology, this is what I will look like in 50 years. The one on the left is me if I wear sunblock and wide rimmed hats, while the one on the right is me if I decide to wear SPF 4 while suntanning. It looks like I am NOT going to be a hot grandma.

53: UNDER THE BRIDGE

Graffiti artwork under the Granville Street Bridge.

I went to Granville Island with Giosy to catch a francophone concert. We heard loud drumming as we approached the stage, and we saw the strangest procession when we arrived:

Umm, what was this?!?!

48: "YOU GUYS ARE A BUNCH OF CHANTING WHORES"

- Stephen Colbert, because he thinks Canadian crowds chant too much

I woke up at the crack of dawn to catch a live taping of the Colbert Report. His guests included Michael Buble (above on the left, beside Stephen Colbert) and Bob Costas, the NBC sportscaster, who eventually climbed up on the moose after relentless chanting from the crowd to "RIDE THE MOOSE".

The crowd was huge. I don't think Colbert anticipated that this many Canadians would come to watch his show.

Even Ujjal Dosanjh was there because Colbert had done an interview with him for his "Better Know a Riding" segment. He was giving out free pins. I stuck my hand out for so long because I wanted a pin, but they never gave me one and totally ignored my hand. Niki and Anna both got a pin, but I AM THE ONE WHO LIVES IN YOUR RIDING, UJJAL!!! GUESS WHO IS NOT VOTING FOR YOU FOR THE NEXT ELECTION!

Ujjal's pin:

Ujjal enjoying himself as Colbert played his interview on the monitors:

41: BAAAD ANNA

I dedicate this to my dear friend Anna. She's not your mama's girl; she is a baaaaaad Anna.