Category: Uncategorized

From my parking spot in my apartment building I can see into the break room for the movie theatre that’s part of the retail complex that I live above. I haven’t seen anyone in that break room since about November of 2020, when the province ordered all movie theatres closed until further notice.

On Tuesday, I was getting in my car when I noticed the lights were on in the break room and I saw there were movie theatre employees in there. Due to the lifting of certain public health restrictions in the province of British Columbia, people can see movies in a theatre again. This simple thing of seeing employees back in a break room is a sign that we’re heading in the right direction.

I won’t be heading to the movie theatres just yet. I am waiting for my second shot before considering such a thing. Hopefully the wait for that won’t be too long.

Tonight, I held my niece for the second time. The first time, she started crying in less than thirty seconds and I had to hand her back over to my sister. This time, we made it almost a whole minute before she cried. This is progress.

She is six months old today and I got her a talking dog toy. It’s super soft and when you press the dog’s paws, it speaks or sings a tune. I also got her a card but she can’t read yet, so we’ll put it aside for when she can.

I’m seeing my family again this weekend for Father’s Day. Let’s see how long she’ll let me hold her then.

The drywall dude I hired came by today and finished up the job by sanding smooth the wall. It’s now paint ready but I still need to get some quotes for the job. I admittedly have no idea how paint contractors work. If I know which paint I want, do I get the paint for them? Do they buy it for me? If I need a primer coat, can I just let them bring in whatever primer they have handy?

I have so many questions and few answers.

On Friday evening I finally met my niece. She is almost six months old and because of the pandemic, this was the first opportunity for me to see her in person. It was a kind of surreal experience. I think most people have had much less human contact in the last year and a half but here I was on Friday, holding an adorable baby in my arms. It’s been years since I had a chance to hold a baby.

It must have been a surreal experience for my niece too. I was probably the sixth person (not counting nurses and doctors) to hold her in her entire life. Up until last Friday, she had spent her entire life living on Vancouver Island. During the same evening, she also saw my parents (her grandparents) for the first time. So many new faces and places to take in for her.

My niece only tolerated being in my arms for about a minute before she decided the situation was too odd for her since it wasn’t either her Mom or Dad who was holding her. It didn’t matter that my sister was standing right next to me and telling her it was ok. I hand to her over to my sister before she started wailing too much. That’s ok, I’m still a stranger to her and I’ll slowly win her over.

For six months or so, I’ve seen pictures of my niece but it was something entirely different when she was actually in my arms, kicking her powerful tiny legs, looking up at me with a slightly suspicious demeanor. I’m going to try to be the best uncle for her. I’m not sure exactly what that will entail but I will do my best to find out.

For the first time in almost a year and a half, Conan O’Brien did his TBS show with an actual audience in the seats last night. He’s said many times on his podcast during the pandemic that he misses performing in front of people dearly, so having an audience in front of him must have been beyond satisfying.

The timing of the return of audiences for Conan is fortuitous as he only has a handful of shows left before his TBS show ends its run. He’ll be going to HBO Max for a new show. There was originally some fear that he’d have to end his current show without any audience members in the theatre with him but thankfully that will not be the case. The show deserves a proper send off, with his fans in attendance.

I had a drywall dude come over to my apartment this early afternoon to repair the holes that were made when I had the baseboard heater installed and also to repair the crappy job that the original drywall guy did when I had my fireplace removed some years ago.

He was here for less than two hours but he needs to return one more to time to sand and smooth out the wall so it will be ready for painting. Now I gotta line up some quotes for the paint job.

The last phase of my home reno is to get new flooring installed. I currently have some terrible carpet in my living room and bedroom. It sucked when it was new and sucks even more some years later.

It’s gonna be a huge pain in the ass to get new flooring in but it’ll be better in the long run. It’ll be easier to clean and I won’t have carpet to trap all the dirt and dust. I’m thinking of getting a robot vacuum that can also mop floors afterwards. That’ll make things easier. That’s the long term plan. For now, my drywall still hasn’t even been repaired yet!

After receiving three quotes, I chose a contractor to repair my drywall. I didn’t go with the lowest quote, just the one that gave me the most confidence they would do the job right the first time.

They’re coming over to my apartment on Sunday. It will probably take a few visits to get it all done. I hope it all goes well. You never know when it comes to contractors.

As Conan winds up down his show on TBS, he brought back Sarah Silverman to talk about her many appearances on his various late night incarnations. As a bonus, they show a clip from one of my favourite times she visited.

I napped twice day, which I don’t think I’ve done in many years. I had to wake up early to move my car into a different parking spot because they were pressure washing the parkade today.

I napped in the late afternoon and then I napped again after dinner. Both naps were glorious and I felt much better afterwards. During my afternoon nap, I fell asleep with my phone in my hand and I didn’t drop it over the side of the bed. I’ve done this a couple of times now. It’s a neat skill.

I’m hoping I won’t need to nap tomorrow.