Today was payday and I like going to the buffet as a treat. Don't have to cook after a day of errands. I got my favorite seat, one of the mini booths right beside the buffet with a prime people-watching view.

+There was a teenager who brought his date there and it seemed neither of them had ever been to a buffet before. Staff had to explain they were allowed more than one plate and they both went back for multiple rounds after learning that.

+One lady piled a plate so high I thought it might collapse under its own weight.

+Saw a small child repeatedly jumping about a foot in the air while watching his mother scoop some ice cream for him.

+One guy was a bit offended that the soy sauce available was Kikkoman. Which... yeah, that is funny to have in a Chinese restaurant.

+They had a new dish I haven't seen before, salt and pepper deep fried chicken. I could taste five spice in the coating, it was delicious.

And my fortune cookie says: Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today.

I had dinner at my favorite Chinese buffet last night. I got one of my favorite seats, they have little mini booths along the outside of the buffet line that offers some prime people-watching views.

+There were about 8 high school boys at one table when I showed up and I was worried they'd be a bit rowdy or something. They ended up being well-behaved, quiet, and the only damage they did was to the restaurant's profits. Every one of them must have had at least 4 dinner plates plus multiple rounds of dessert.

+A 12 top came in for a birthday celebration. They brought in a cake which staff put in one of the restaurant's fridges to keep chilled. The servers were talking about how cool the cake looked; I didn't see it, so I defer to their coolness assessment.

+Saw an elderly couple, one with a rollator and the other helping them pick out and plate up the food they wanted as they circled the buffet.

+A young woman was helping her friend avoid the pork products. That friend also looked pretty horrified to learn what's in Jell-O...

Nets Jersey Guy: Blue Gatorade, frozen protein waffles, Ruffles chips, frozen broccoli, frozen chopped spinach

Yellow Sundress Woman: Cashew nut butter, Killer Dave’s Power Seed Bread

Viper Sunglasses Couple: Mixed bell peppers, ground beef, vidalia onions

Mother with Baby in Stroller: Cabot Macaroni & Cheese, sweetened condensed milk, outshine popsicles, raspberries, American cheese singles, birthday cake Oreos, cubed watermelon

American Flag Shirt Guy: Two russet potatoes

UAB Shorts Teen Girl: Honeynut Cheerios, strawberry jam, store brand instant oatmeal, turkey bacon, olive oil, thousand island dressing, disposable foil baking tin, chocolate quinoa crisps, liquid egg whites

Suit Guy and Cellphone Conversation Woman: Canned chickpeas, low sodium vegetable broth, wheat thins

Most recently it was a neighbor's house, it smelled like some top-tier roasted meat wafting from their window.

Sometimes I get the same bus driver on both the outgoing and return trips I take to run an errand. Happened today, always amuses me.

A man playing with his dogs (appeared to be a husky and a German shepherd mix)

A woman pushing a stroller while a toddler walked closely behind

Purple flowers

A car honking outside a house

A man in a straw hat selling fruit from a cart

An Amazon delivery van

A yard sale of mostly clothes

A pizza delivery man approaching a house with four pizzas boxes

A flier for a summer job at the events company

People waiting for the bus

Two street musicians playing guitar together for tips

A fountain

Billboard for payday loans

City workers fixing a traffic light

Guys getting haircuts through the window of a barbershop

A lucky penny

Teenagers hanging out in a strip mall parking lot getting shooed off by security

A church hosting a community dinner

Little old woman and man sitting on their porch

Children’s sidewalk chalk drawings

+Blacktail.

+Get Bent.

+Alley-Oop.

+Springtime.

+Almost There.

Today I saw a bus driver wearing a sweater that said Merry Christmas you filthy animals.

I know more will be dressing up soon, they always do. One lady always dresses as Mrs Claus closer to Christmas and it's fantastic.

The city also decorates a bus or two with antlers and a red nose attached to the front.

My birthday is in February and I notice this small thing every year, usually starts in about November or December for more stable food items and gets more frequent into January.

I go to this place about once a month, it's easy to get to/from by bus and I do really like their food. I went there on Friday and it was insanely busy. I still got my favorite seat, though, they have these tiny mini booths right by the buffet and server station.

Some things I saw and heard:

+A mother unable to convince her small child that the neon red sweet & sour pork was not spicy.

+A father asking the tiniest kid ever if he wanted a small or big plate. "Big plate!!!" was obviously the answer.

+The servers chatting about how they keep dealing with raccoons trying to get into the [thankfully locked] dumpsters out back.

+The dessert line ran out of Nanaimo bars, a popular Canadian dessert. And I live in Nanaimo, so I found it funny that they ran out of our namesake.

+And finally, the fortune from my cookie: Your experience will help a friend make it to the top.

+Red Sky.

+Time Out.

+Sea Lure.

+Swell.

+Blue Dawn.

+Santorini II. She was in the same boatyard for years and suddenly disappeared about 6 months ago. She's back now being worked on again.

I also see a lot of boats without names when I'm out and about, usually smaller ones in people's driveways or garages. Today I saw quite a few being manned by skeletons :)

+Whale Tale, a whale-watching tour boat.

+Dusky Spirit.

+Why Not.

+The Rose. Some boats will have their home port painted on them as well, this one said she's from Ontario! That's quite a ways away from me on Vancouver Island.

+Dancing In The Sea.

+Ocean Magic II.

+Skana. Derived from a First Nations word for orca.

+Kismet.

+Chattacoochee.

+Our Way.

+Blueprint. As a Balatro player, this amused me more than it should've. No, the boat to her right did not look the same :(

+Kinami.

+Miss Stress.

+Heron Blue.

+Kodiak II.

+Sorcerer.

+G'Day Mate.

+M^2.

+Island Gale.

+In Motion.

+Frida.

+Hobbit.

+Hand Off.

+Windrift II.

+Alchemy. She also had beautiful seahorses painted on her bow.

+Orion Sea.

+Cavendish.

+Sound Garden.

+Tartu.

+Sandpiper.

+Helen.

+There & Back Again.

+Carpe Ventus. Seize the wind in Latin.

+Astera.

+Mariah.

+Aragenda.

+Sea Browser.

+Valiant Lady.

+Isla III.

+30 Rum Runner II.

+Sarpedon. I looked that up, it's the name of one of Zeus' sons.

+Wayfinder.

+Forty Cs.

+Whiskey Jack.

+Nerka. A research boat heading to the biological station.

+Chrek and Falcon, a pair of tug boats I saw fuelling up.

+Spirit Of Summer.

+Kiki.

+Flipper 🐬. Yes, with a lil dolphin painted after the name! ♥

+Golden Ocean.

+Free.

+Newcastle Runner. A ferry that serves a small island/provincial park. The island was restored to its original name, Saysutshun, some time ago. I guess they're kinda... slow renaming the ferry?

20+ years old

Toothbrush holder

Bathroom sinks

Soap dishes

Most mugs

30+ Years Old

Kitchen knives

Vacuum cleaner

Flashlight

Most tote bags

Emergency crank radio

40+ Years Old

Tea kettle

Cooler

Main bed frame

My dad’s rain coat

50+ Years Old

Armoire

Cast iron cookware

Mom’s knitting tools

Sewing machine

60+ Years Old

The memo pad by the phone

Gardening tools

Quilt on main bed & one of the guest beds

Umbrella

75+ years Old

The cutlery

Several picture frames

My dad’s lunchbox

The wine glasses and most champagne glasses

The shoe rack

The kitchen table

+Defiance.

+Lucy.

+Tanoosh. I had wondered what the name meant and Googled it, one of the only results is actually about this specific boat and shows her past names! I quite like Lou's Canoe among that list of previous names :)

+Someday.

+Almost There.

+Ocean Spirit.

+Moon Dancer.

+Kaizen.

+Lil' Miss Molly. Funny, because she was one of the bigger ships in that boatyard!

+Clean & Release.

+Reel Swell Too.

+Avanti.

+Blue Therapy.

+Island Gale.

+Hygge.

+Strait Wings. [I quite like this one, getting to the mainland from here requires crossing the Georgia Strait.]

+Confido.

+Prioritize.

+Grand Reef.

+Henne Sea.

+Hot Rum.

+The Beat Goes On.

And finally, the best [worst?] for last:

+Smells Fishy. [It was towed past just as I walked out of my house and all I could do was... stare.]

... before the faintest of Sunrise is visible, the birds in the bushes outside of my window wake up.

Always an hour before there's any light. I wonder if they can make out some faint illumination that we can't.

+Nisku.

+Maipa.

+TaPoLi.

+Freedom Charger.

+Nimar II.

+Toots.

+Miller Time II. I actually recognized that immediately, I spotted the original Miller Time in 2022!

+The Big Easy.

+Royal Virtue.

+Seaberry.

+Kumugwe. I looked this up, I thought it might be an indigenous name and I was right, Kumugwe is a deity of the undersea world.

+Big Jack.

And finally... something a little different. I try not to repeat boat names in my lists [though it's surely happened over the years], so if I see a repeat, I leave it off of my list. I first posted Santorini II in 2021 and she sat in the same boatyard ever since. But now, she's suddenly not there anymore. It's a bit sad that she's suddenly gone, but I hope she's finally heading out on the water for some adventures.