I had a rant all written up and then this technology lost it. Was there something expressed that shouldn’t of have been or did I lose something profound? I don’t know but it’s been a busy day and a draining day. Dealing with technical malfunctions just compounds it all. 

It all started last night. With a spring step having accomplished all that I could I wrote as I rode the bus to my folks’ place. I had high hopes for what was about to transpire a big surprise. Even though it takes a bit longer I don’t mind taking the bus all the way there. My dad’s a bit older and driving late at night isn’t the best idea. I called him to tell him where I was going to get off. There was a bit of a climb from the bus stop but I like standing here to wait. It’s not as dingy as the other spot. After a while I began to get a bit impatient. It was getting to the time when the coffee shop was closing down and the attendant started rolling the shopping carts back to the shop. Rain started to fall once the initial frustration passed I began to worry so I called mom. My dad doesn’t carry a cell phone. He is old school that way. It’s way too late to change him but we keep trying. This issue wouldn’t happen if he had a phone. He left almost after I called. I told her where I was and she wondered if he went to that other stop. He would probably realize eventually. So I kept standing there thinking of how I was going to word this news. I saw the bus following mine pass by it wouldn’t be long now. I didn’t mind the rain and I found amusement in my predicament. 

  
My dad was kind of mad at me. I think he misheard what I said. He’s like I had to wait there in the car for so long. I was like I had to wait in the rain all this time. Who had it worse? That was that conversation. I tried to have some fun with it. Play up the poor me card. At home they asked me if I called the number that they gave me. It was a daughter of one of their friends. They wanted us to get together for a coffee or something. They wanted to see if there is a spark but they also wanted to set up my sis with her brother. I had to be honest with them and this kind of ruined the news. 

My parents have a hope that we will find someone who aligns with our traditional culture and faith. With the passage of time it has become something they have fixated on. So our conversation didn’t go as smoothly or joyfully as I expected. It became something a lot more emotionally charged and that reaction kind of hurt. 

  
It was late and in my experience it’s just best to get some rest. I’m exhausted by this point. We have to get up early in the morning to get to the Storage Place fill out their paperwork and get their van on the road. The place has an offer where there is a 10% discount on a six month pre payment and the use of their van for moving things in. I needed something big enough to move the bed. There has been a lot of moisture in the air lately. The forecast called for a lot of rain to fall on this moving day. The van was a good thing one less thing to worry about. 

Mom was up early with the boys and she started to make coffee but the machine broke. She saw some spark from the switch and after unplugging it noticed the whole switch fell apart. This is kind of funny but I still need coffee. Somehow she macguyvered a cup for me. It was all business in the morning collect the few tools that I need to take the bed apart, brekkie and drive to the place. 

We got there early and waited at the locked gates. The attendant sat there in his office. The gates opened and we rolled in pulling up to the closest parking spot. We walked up to the office but the doors were still locked. The customer service guy sat there not paying attention to us. He may have been booting up the computers or just shuffling papers I don’t know. It’s five minutes to eight. Sigh. 

There was something familiar in the way this guy spoke. During the course of our conversation it turns out that he grew up in London but he’s not originally British he’s Greek Cypriate his parents leaving their homeland for something better and he doing the same. It may be that his grandkids will stay here his family has found a place they don’t have to leave from. They are settled or something to that effect. I had to stop talking with him. I’ve been watching the clock and how he types and all the info that still has to be processed. Forty minutes later we are on the road. My dads asking me to do a u turn to get to the highway quicker. I politely turned up the radio slightly and went straight. I’d be charged for anything over a hundred clicks. 

The traffic was winding down after rush hour but there was still a significant amount of it. Eventually I began to feel comfortable behind the wheel of this beast and became a bit more agressive with the gas. I would have to top that off as well. We have four hours. The van is booked by someone else at twelve-thirty. No accidents just volume and since there were two of us we could use the HOV Lane. As we got to the exit and into the city they did a police check and I would have gotten a ticket if there weren’t two of us. 

Parking this beast was not going to be easy. I navigated through the city using the most efficient means for a vehicle this large. Got to my street and did two u-turns before the construction guys allowed me to park in their special restricted spots. We just had an hour to load all the contents inside the flat. I needed my dad there for the mattress and to watch. Eventually he moved things to the door and I those things into the van. The bed went first and in a solid hour the things were moved. There was no talking besides instructions as how I thought things should go. There was some alternative opinions from the other side. It’s nice having such a large van. 

  
The traffic on the way back was a lot smoother. I stuck to the HOV Lane the entire way almost until there were lights up ahead from someone getting a ticket. We stopped at my parents place to get a lock and drop off things I still have to sort. There will be some things that I will pack away after I’m done with them. There are some things to give away. We had one more stop to go in order to top up the gas before unloading the contents. We made it with four minutes to spare. At least that is what I thought since the clock was slow. There were dollies there that we could use to move piles of things to the unit. It beats carrying the stuff around. The unit is just wide enough for a bed. It was unloaded in thirty and signed off for the next guy. 

  
When we got home I had to get ready to leave as I was going to get a ride to the bus stop in order to go back to the city. I’ve got dinner with a friend before meeting up with Barbs. Mom had some dinner ready but the conversation started going sour before we started to eat. The themes they brought upwere canonical  in nature and I’ve drifted from that canon. Their faith has pulled them through much adversity but it has fermented into something a lot more dogmatic. It is an unnecessary strain but they see us abandon tradition and culture for something they don’t understand. Sometimes they get exposure to some firebrand sermon and it influences them unduly. 

It was a long bus ride and I channeled my emotions into digital form through prose. The network connection wasn’t behaving. I was messaging as well or at least trying too. No need to build on the frustrations that were already present. I kept typing away trying to describe my experiences over the past twenty hours. I had some time so I sat in a branch of a popular coffee chain to charge my phone and continue my expression. To my dismay the page came up blank all those words expressed in a moment of heightened emotion lost. I lodged a complaint with WordPress as any consumer is apt to do when the technology fails. It won’t bring those words back but it’ll maybe improve the next iteration. 

As I sat in the Skytrain on my way back to Vancouver I began to write again. The first draft was just practice. There is something to be said about starting new. The events have happened and that’s not going to change. The pain has been deflated somewhat and the emotions calmed with herbs. The train ride is sufficiently long enough to start on this again. I felt better and I understand the dynamics involved with this situation a lot better. They are the parental hopes and dreams that were envisioned as we grew up by our parents.  Those hopes and dreams sometimes collide with the dreams and hopes of the individual being hoped and dreamed about. It is also a test of resolve of a bond to see wheather or not it is deep or merely superficial. 

  
I went to a hip cafe on the Drive. The guy making my americano looked rough sniffling and pale. He chatted with one of his buddies about how sick he has been lately. I wonder if he has sick benefits. He may have rent to pay and he got that bug that has been going around that lays you out for a while. Poor kid. Some old school hip hop played gently in the sparsely populated shop. The rustic wooden tables were arranged to create a maximum amount of seating while still having space to move. It would be about thirty minutes before meeting up for dinner with a friend. I sat there in the shop occasionally peaking out at the pouring rain typing away. 

  
There were three restaurants in close proximity to this place. No need for a hike. When she got there my friend told me that she sprained her ankle outside this place when we were going for a goodbye dinner the last time I left. It’s a circle of sorts. A reiteration of something that happened before but now in a different way. I have a vague recollection of that time. She was laid out with the injury in the following days back then. The memory had been ingrained because of the pain. 

We had a good chat at the restaurant. We decided on the Indian restaurant it was relatively empty but decadent in decor and warm. We ate a number of courses trying out the things she doesn’t make at home. We discussed our situations and my plans going forward. She laughed at my traditionalist schism with my folks but as she comes from a similar traditional background completely understands. I told her how she has matured through her adversity and I hope she continues to grow towards her goals and dreams. She dropped me off at Barbs’ and we talked as much as we could before it was time for me to go. 

We embraced upon seeing each other. It has only been a few days since we last did that. I reiterated my adventures over the past few days and the conversations I had with my folks. It was good for us to discuss it while it is still fresh in order to remove the energy it has. I had a phone chat too with my bro he laughed as he went through the same thing. Understanding the issue is one thing it’s getting things sorted that’s another. We embraced and just allowed the silence to clear our minds as some kind of therapy. Moving emotions.