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John,
Too bad about you being stuck with a cold for three days. This will probably be an extremely
long message, lots to catch up on.
My mom’s first stop yesterday afternoon after she left the house was the Save-On-Foods store at South Point. She had planned to first do her grocery shopping there and then browse around Winners, but it started to snow like crazy once she finished at Save-On so she decided just to leave South Point and do her stuff and London Drugs. After London Drugs, she drove to the Semiahmoo Mall and browsed around there for a little bit and then she walked across the street to pick up a few things at Shoppers Drug Mart. There was no snow and it was just raining when my mom got back to the car after walking across to Shoppers so she decided to drive back to South Point and browse around Winners before coming home. My mom saw an ambulance parked outside the Save-On the first time she left South Point. When she first went inside Save-On, she saw a big guy who looked to be around my age. He must have slipped after my mom saw him when she first went in, she heard someone come on the loudspeaker and call for first aid a few minutes after she first saw him and then later as she was leaving she saw him sitting on the bench at the front of the store and the paramedics were there with their stretcher. She heard about a bad car accident on the radio in that area (in South Surrey) just after she left South Point and then later while she was walking across the street back to her car from Shoppers, she saw a car run a red light. Guess it’s a good thing that guy didn’t get hit when he ran the light. My mom saw big cookies when she was in Save-On. They didn’t have Smartie ones though, she saw Chocolate Chunk and this chocolate one that had bits of white in it. She’s not sure whether or not the bits of white are nuts, you know I don’t like cookies that have nuts in them. Maybe I’ll try bringing home a Chocolate Chunk one for my snack if we decide to go on Thursday.
That’s now a record of I believe six times in a row for there not being a paper on our front
porch as soon as you open the door to leave. It’s also a funny thing that yesterday was the
second time in a row that Scott phones you while you’re at my place, last Thursday was
the very first time he phoned while you were with me. He’s never phoned you anytime you were
with me before Thursday.
When you saw me two weeks ago on Monday Jan.21,2008 (the day I had my onion rings at
Dairy Queen), you said that you already knew I probably wouldn’t like gravy and that you thought
I don’t like soup. It is true that I’m not a big soup-eater though I have the MR. NOODLES
brand noodle cups for my lunch some days. Sometimes my mom buys the big cases from Costco and
you can also buy these individually at the grocery store. I only like the chicken flavour, I
don’t like beef so therefore you know I wouldn’t like the beef flavour. And whenever I have one
of these noodle cups or any kind of soup, I don’t eat the liquid. Again, I’m not a big
soup-eater. If I’m having Chicken Noodle soup or Alphabet soup for example, I stop eating as
soon as the chicken’s gone in the Chicken Noodle soup or as soon as all the letters are gone
in the Alphabet soup and again I don’t eat or drink
the liquid. And speaking about gravy, I also don’t like gravy when I have potatoes. I only like
butter with potatoes, mom butters my potatoes for me before I eat them.
You asked me when you were with me yesterday what I like for breakfast. I don’t like eggs,
pancakes, or toast. My mom told me yesterday after you left that deviled eggs are made from
hard-boiled eggs and the eggs that are used in potato salad that I like are also hard-boiled
eggs, I just don’t like hard-boiled eggs by themselves. I also don’t like poached eggs, scrambled eggs, or Eggs Benedict. Whenever I go out for breakfast to places such as White Spot, Denny's, Ricky's, etc, I usually just get a side of bacon with a side of hash browns. You should know that I only like my hash browns either diced or shredded, I don’t like the pan-fried ones. Though IHop’s hash browns are diced, I don’t like them as much as the diced/shredded ones that are at some of the other places I mentioned. My mom makes me homemade diced hash browns for my supper some nights, I think they are the Save-On brand (WESTERN FAMILY) ones. I had some of those for my supper last Friday night (February 1st) with Shake 'n Bake chicken as well as some Save-On coleslaw that was leftover from the night I had fish and chips. My mom has to take me seriously though the next time I have leftover Save-On coleslaw and put my coleslaw in a separate little dish or container. And I did have the last cupcake for my dessert after supper that same night (Friday night), now the cupcakes are
finally gone. My mom got me my Save-On potato salad when she was there yesterday and I had it
for supper last night with Shake 'n Bake chicken leftover from Friday night, I prefer Shake 'n
Bake chicken when it’s leftover though. I think it tastes better when it’s leftover.
I tried some of the Doritos for my snack last night that my mom got, for my snack the
night before (Sunday evening) I had some of my General Mills Cheerios Snack mix
(HONEY NUT CRUNCH flavour) that I like, and for my snack on Saturday evening (evening of
February 2nd) I had some almond butter spread on Carr’s crackers. Carr’s is the brand name for
these tins and boxes of assorted crackers that I like. We still have a big tin of Carr’s
leftover from Christmas and you can also buy them year round in smaller cardboard boxes.
My mom looked out the window when she first got up yesterday morning and saw that it was
snowing a bit, the snow was gone though when I got up and then you know it snowed here again
before you came. My dad phoned my aunt (his sister) who lives out in Mission last
Thursday (January 31st) after you left and she had four inches of snow at that time still
leftover from last week’s snowfall. And my dad drove out to the Valley on Saturday morning
(February 2nd) to visit my grandparents (his parents) and it was snowing here when he
left the house. The ground was only a bit white when my mom got up later that same morning
(Saturday) and then the snow was all gone when I got up. My grandma sent us back a box of
“SEASHELL TREASURES” chocolates made by “Dolce D’or,” I don’t prefer truffles though because I
find that they are too rich. That’s a good thing that I don’t prefer truffles because you know I
got a bunch of other stuff leftover from Christmas still to be eaten, maybe my grandma had a
bunch of stuff leftover from Christmas too (including this box of truffles) and maybe she
was trying to get rid of some of it by giving some of it away. Also when my dad went out that
same day, he brought me back another new scratch to try - “DOLLAR SIGNS” which is a $2 scratch.
On the first game (the one where I have to match one of my two numbers), I matched
one of my two numbers (the number 14) and won $2. If I had matched the number 12 on that
ticket, I would have won $25,000 . The next day (Sunday), my dad got me another “DOLLAR
SIGNS” scratch-and-win ticket with my winnings from the day before and I won $2 again. Later
that same day on the next “DOLLAR SIGNS” that my dad got for me using my winnings from the
second “DOLLAR SIGNS” scratch, I didn’t win anything but I matched two $25,000s on the second
game (the one where I have to match three identical dollar amounts to win that amount). If I
had got one more I could have actually won that amount. And I can’t remember which day this
happened, must have been Friday (February 1st) if that was the only other day my dad
brought home scratches since I saw you last Thursday. Anyway, my dad brought home scratches for
all three of us whichever day this was. He got me a “HOT 25” though my mom was the only one who
won that day, neither my dad or myself won anything.
The new casino (the one in Queensborough) was the one that my parents ended up going
to when you were with me last Thursday (January 31st), they didn’t have any luck there.
My mom thinks that they need to find a casino that pays her something. After the casino, they
came back to South Surrey and picked up my dad’s progressive glasses before they went and did
their grocery shopping. We had a phone call the night before letting us know that his glasses
were ready.
My mom still doesn’t seem very supportive about the idea of me sending anything to Carol for
Valentines Day but if I do end up sending her a card and if I send her a letter with the card,
then could I tell her in the letter that I want to live with her even though I’m
aware that the probability for me living with her
doesn’t look good. She (Carol) also made it clear to me that she wants her own life when
she retires from her school job and after Pete moves out, but I think in my opinion that she’s
making a mistake when she says that she wants to live by herself. I already told you that she
has stomach problems just like I do and another thing that her and me have in common is the fact
that neither of us like to travel too much.
Even after your story that you told me yesterday about your relative who had drug problems, I
don’t think I’ll ever forgive my dad after what happened this last time. I forgave him enough
times in my life and the same thing still happens again later on, sometimes we’ll be good for as
long as eight months before it happens again and I say every time that because this has happened
enough times I can’t trust that it won’t happen again. I feel that this shouldn’t ever happen
again if I live with Carol. You said in your story that you would only forgive your relative
once again if he got some help because you had already forgave him enough times before then. He
got help so you forgave him and then later he went back to the drugs and this time stole your
leather jacket. He got help again and you forgave him again except this time you would keep a
closer eye on him. I also remember you telling me that you and your wife, Dianne, could have a
fight at anytime and that we can’t change the past. And I already knew before you saw me
yesterday that there aren’t any (or probably very few if any) families who don’t fight
and that most families have an argument or a disagreement at some point, if I could live with
Carol I would like to keep any fights that we’d end up having to nothing more than the small
arguments/disagreements that would occur between people like my friend, Mac, and his mom for
example...just two people exchanging words. I’m also keeping in mind the fact that Carol might
not send me anything back if I send her something again. She’s too scared of me, she can’t trust
me to be left alone wit her ever again, and she no longer wants anything more to do with me
after what happened last August that separated us. A few months after she stopped working with
me and just before I met you for the first time, my mom said to me that I never know who the
person I’ll connect with will be and then she said it might be you. Until what happened in
August, Carol and me had never had any problems between ourselves and up until then I had looked
forward to knowing her for a long time and knowing her for as long as she’s around. Even now, I
still rather she be the person I connect with. I never wanted to have the same connection
between Carol and myself that is now between her daughter, Krista, and a boy named Tyson who
Krista use to do respite for.
And I still don’t think I want to ride with my dad in the same car to my appointment next
Thursday morning with the “Fraser Valley Mental Health Support Team.” Here is an excerpt from
the E-mail I sent you on Wednesday
Jan.16,2008 after that nurse came to visit:
> ...I have almost a month to make this decision, either keep seeing the one on Scott Road
(on this side of the river) who I
> have a hard time understanding because she speaks with an accent or regularly drive over to
Coquitlam
to see this other
> one. I still don’t feel comfortable with having this whole assessment done in general,
especially knowing the fact that
> Carol’s not around any longer and not there to support me makes the whole thing even harder
and more uncomfortable for
> me. At this point, it seems now like the days when I used to live in Whalley before I moved to
South Surrey were the better
> days.
And I still don’t feel too comfortable right now about going to my appointment all the way
over in Coquitlam next week. I don’t think I’m ready to go that for that long of a drive right
now, especially knowing that I have to get up early that morning. My parents will probably want
to leave here around 9AM if the appointment’s at 10AM because it could take an hour to drive
over there. I’d therefore probably have to get up around 7 that morning so I have enough time to
get ready and that’s early for me, I’m worried that the night before that day could be a repeat
of the one I had last week where I only got a couple hours of sleep (or maybe this time I
might not get any sleep at all) or where I’m up going to the bathroom lots. I think this whole
thing’s just too big of a step for me for right now.
That nurse also left a bunch of forms with my parents for them to fill out when she came here
on that day last month, She told my mom to phone her
a week before our appointment and she’d come pick them up. My mom called
around 11AM last Thursday (Janruary 31st) and left a message on her machine. She called
back just after you left that same day, she came here and picked up the forms at 11:45AM
yesterday before you came.
Now regarding changing doctors, I told you two messages ago what Carol’s boundaries are for
driving so if I still have to see a physiatrist
once I’m living with her keep in mind that she probably won’t want to drive me if we decide to
permanently switch over to the one in Coquitlam. My psychiatrist’s office (the one on
Scott Road) phoned our house just after my mom left the message with the nurse last Thursday
morning to let us know that they have sent off all their records that they have of me to the
place in Port Coquitlam and then they asked if we’ll still be seeing them. My mom then told them
we’ll decide after we go the first time to the place in PoCo next week.
I asked my mom after you left yesterday and she never remembers me having any arguments with
any friends or teachers when I went to school, but she said that she does remember a few times
when the teachers weren’t very helpful though. You also asked me while we were scanning last
Thursday how many words per minute can I type and whether I learned how to type at school or on
my own. My mom thinks that I learned how to type on my own because we had a computer at home
before I started using school computers for the first time, but I don't remember though how many
words per minute I can type. The last time I knew how many words per minute I could type would
have probably been back when I went to school many years ago.
Here again are the portions from two messages a
go that you said you missed
:
> ...I haven’t done anything more in that binder since doing the front
yard plan in the spring of last year (Spring 2007), I
> already told you that I confined myself to the
couch since what happened a few days after Christmas except for
> going on the computer to lookup stuff for and send
E-mails to you. Maybe we could do some of my scanning when
> you’re here tomorrow afternoon after I have my
snack, I have more pictures piling up waiting to be scanned in and
> then printed out for the binders of dog and cat
pictures that I’m putting together including those ones you saw at my
> place in The Province newspaper of last year’s Pet
Superstars contest so maybe we better get some done
> now before the newspaper pages start turning
yellow.
> ...My shoe size can be anywhere from size 9 to size 11 depending on
the style and the make, the pair of shoes
> that I currently wear every time you and me go out
together are size 9.
And now the portion from the last E-mail I sent
you:
> ...I had four for dessert at lunch yesterday instead of two, and this way they’ll be gone sooner if I have four each time I
> have these for dessert at lunch. These gingerbread men have chocolate on their backs and are
iced a bit on the front,
> but these gingerbread men are a bit softer than the bigger ones I told you that we found at
Save-On before Christmas
> and those gingerbread Santas I got from the Hillcrest bakery the year before.
Those harder gingerbread men from
> Save-On and the gingerbread Santas would be my preference...
You thought that I was getting a lot of scanning done when you were here two days ago, the
pile we were working on that day is just the beginning...After we do the few images I have left
at the bottom of that pile, I have a lot more including more pictures cut out of the newspapers,
old calendar pictures, etc. I left the images we had done on the screen after you left for my
parents to look at sometime while I wasn’t in that room. They thought that the only one we need
to redo is the one that I attached to this message (image2.bmp) in a ZIP file. I left the
images we did yesterday on the screen again after you left including the one that we redid and
they thought everything looks good and we are now all done with that pile. You can see in the
ZIP file that I attached both the first time we scanned that image where you can see newspaper
printings from the other side of the page and compare that to the second image and after I
cropped the edges around some of the second Bitmap file. The first time we scanned this image
last Thursday must have been one of the very first images we did before we started putting the
piece of black construction paper behind our images when we put them on the scanner.
You also see in the above excerpt from the last E-mail that I have confined myself to the
couch since what happened a few days after
Christmas. I haven’t eaten a meal at the kitchen table since before what
happened, ever since then I have eaten all of my meals on the couch with a TV table in front of
me. If I get to live with Carol however, I would eat at the table with her as soon as I’m living
with her. I’m also taking a break from watching the news [except I caught a bit of that Global
National news special that was on last Sunday evening
(see below)] until I’m living
with her, haven’t saw any news since before what
happened. I haven’t been anywhere out of the house since before Christmas
day except going out with you. Just like you, I’ve spent more time on computer than anywhere
else up until
what happened...since
what happened though, the
only times I have been on the computer while you’re not around would be when I type up my
E-mails to send to you.
We had a phone call from my cousin one day last week, the one who lives in Langley near where
Kris lives. Remember I told you that she wanted me to make a slideshow on the computer for her
after I finish working on my grandparents’ home movies. I guess now I most likely won’t be
finishing the home movies if I no longer want anything to do with my own family after
what happened and would
rather be with Carol. Anyway, my cousin said in that phone call last week that she’s in no hurry
for her slideshow to be done even though I probably won’t end up doing that now either.
While we were doing our scanning last Thursday, you were looking at my CDs on the rack and
saw the game “Return
to Castle Wolfenstein.” My parents downloaded it for me for free
off KaZaA for my 20th birthday back in October of 2002 and then I burnt it myself onto a CD.
They said they had to download it because they say that they “couldn’t find a copy of that game
in any of the stores” which I do not believe because I remember going into Future Shop not too
long after they downloaded it for me and saw they had lots of copies. I burnt a copy of my RTCW
CD for my friend, Mac, after I burnt if for myself and then he later bought himself a legal
copy. Maybe I’ll have a legal copy of this game myself sometime in the future. I made it to the
end of and finished RTCW a few months after I got it for my birthday...”I played most of it in
God mode .” Another one of
the old DOS games I played is “
Wolfenstein 3D“ (AKA classic Wolfenstein)
which is the game that RTCW is the sequal to. I finished all six episodes in this series,
while not in God mode that is, but that was
more than ten years ago back when I lived in Whalley and before I even found out that a lot of
these old classic PC games have God mode. I haven’t played any games on the computer for four or
five years until I played that Catz game with you before Christmas, I’d feel safer playing my
games once I’m living with Carol while no longer having to worry about another repeat of what I
said above keeps happening between me and my dad and while knowing that I’ll never have to see
either of my parents again. Maybe one of the things I’d do once I’m with Carol would be play
RTCW again (but not in God mode this time) and write my own walkthrough as I go along and
then print it out in size 24 font and put it all in one binder...I’ll have made my own hint
book. I think that RTCW, classic Wolfenstein 3D, and the “Space Quest” series are all more
popular than and probably a lot more people have heard about these games that the amount who
know about “Entrap.” I guess we were right when we thought last Thursday that you’ll probably
learn what a lot more of the games that I like are as I keep E-mailing you, maybe one day I
could go through all the PC games I have and then send you a list of all the ones that I
currently own and all the ones that I have played.
Also while we were doing our scanning last Thursday, you were looking at our list of phone
numbers which hasn’t been updated for a long time. We still have Carol’s number and all of
David’s numbers on there, we haven’t got any of your numbers on that list yet. Another number we
don’t have on that list yet...My friend, Kris, got his first cell phone not long after Christmas
but I’m not having anything more to do with either of my friends unless I see Carol again. Now
speaking about my cousin, David Freylinger, who passed away two Christmases ago, our home phone
rang one day last week. It was a recorded message saying that “Concept 2 Lighting” owes money.
Concept 2 Lighting (“C2L” or “c2l” for short) was
the name of his own lighting business that he had for the last few years before he passed away.
My dad couldn’t understand the message so he just hung up. If whoever recorded the message
recorded it because he thinks that David is still alive, you think he’d know by now if he’s been
gone for just over two years.
I’ll have a talk with my mom tonight and if you get back to me I’ll write you again tomorrow
with an agenda for if we decide to go shopping on Thursday. Even if we decide not to, I could
still write you again if you get back to me with an alternate agenda for Thursday. My dad’s
thinking about taking Thursday afternoon off again this week, now the fifth time in a row,
because they’re having a Chinese New Year celebration at his work that afternoon and he’s not
really interested in going. If we do decide to shop that day, my dad could stay home and then my
mom could pick him up and then take off with him somewhere for the rest of the afternoon when
she drops off you and me back at my place.
I had originally thought that if I do send Carol a package, I could send with it a list of
everything I got for Christmas as well as either a duo-tang or small binder with some of the
E-mails you and I been sending back and forth. I’m sure there are small bits of information
scattered throughout the E-mails that Carol should know about me. If we decide to shop at
Save-On on Thursday, we could take you next door to Staples while we’re there and my mom could
show you which kind of half inch binders I like. Even a cheap binder from London Drugs or any
other store might work for this if I do end up sending one to Carol either now or anytime in the
future. One thing to think of might be the fact that I would be kept busy in the afternoons
you’re not around putting together the E-mails and this way I wouldn’t just be sitting around.
I’d pay with my own money if it costs extra to send all that I plan to send her, I could even go
to the post office with you to send this and you could show me how to do my own mailing. I could
even show you all the dollar stores in my area and we could look in the dollar stores to find
some Valentines wrap to wrap the chocolates in. You'll know my community of South Surrey in no
time if we go to the post office and if I show you all the dollar stores. We should hopefully
have no problems finding a small box to put the chocolate hearts in and then you could help me
wrap them.
Do you ever notice when I send you E-mails that sometimes I repeat what happens during each
of our visits the last time before I E-mail you like for example what I like to have for
breakfast or your story about your troubled relative. The reason why I do this is incase Carol
ever does see the E-mails, I don’t want her to miss one bit of what happened in my life since
she stopped working with me last August:
• • The night after last Wednesday (January 30th) and
before Thursday, every time I either put my head on the pillow or laid back my left ear would
ring and the ringing in that ear wouldn’t go away until I got up and moved around for a few
seconds. To add to this, you already know my right ear’s been plugged for the last few weeks and
is still a bit plugged now.
• I caught a bit of that Global National news special that was on last Sunday evening while
my mom was waiting for her TV show,
House,
to start. My mom was getting impatient for a while waiting through this news special because she
didn’t know how long it was going to go on for and when her House was going to start. Anyway, I
caught during the news special what should be the two biggest events making news right now, the
Super Bowl and the Super Tuesday. There was a team from Boston that had won every game
until the Super Bowl last Sunday, it was the New
York team that won in the end.
• My mom had a phone call from my dad an hour before you came yesterday. He said that he had
to take the Pattullo Bridge into work yesterday morning. He normally goes Alex Fraser but there
was a Ten Car Pile Up in the tunnel, this pile up
had closed the tunnel for a few hours yesterday morning so most people who would normally go
that way went Alex Fraser causing that route to back up. My mom says that icy conditions are
probably to blame. My mom didn’t first see this story on the news yesterday until only a minute
or two after she got off the phone with my dad, When my dad phoned at lunch today, he said it’s
still snowy in some areas and it was slushy where the one lady in my dad’s carpool lives
(near White Rock Centre) when he picked her up this morning.
• Another story that was on the news yesterday was the one about the UBC engineering students
who hung a Volkswagen from the Lions' Gate Bridge, therefore traffic was also held up in that
spot yesterday.
Wow, John, this is probably the longest message I sent you ever. Maybe the next one will be
shorter than this.
-Neil
P.S. Our evil friend...er make that our enemy...the
dreaded Canada Line car made by Hyundai.
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