For the past couple of days, I keep asking myself: am I having a good day or a bad day? How bad is it if I can't even tell for myself? I mean, does it have to be just good or bad? Are days supposed to be so black and white?
Today has been a day of misses. I started off the day by getting up early. Already, the day has started kind of ominous when I'm feeling like I'm walking in a waking dream. Or just really hungover without the alcohol.
Then I was driven to the bank by my good friend, Fiona, since when I opened an account with HSBC, the girl in the front desk told me that I should also set up an internet account and that she would set it up for me. I spent the past week calling HSBC up for a Telepin and in both cases, they told me that I gave them wrong information and refused to give me my pin. I didn't. The girl in the front desk said so. Of course, when we went back today to get my internet banking account set up, we found out that it hadn't been set up. She totally lied. Not that I'm mad or anything since she was pretty busy last week but this definitely set the tone for the day.
I've also called up the Chinese medicine guy, from here on out known as the CMG, for an appointment but today like yesterday the only answer I got, from both his cell and business phone, was the answering machine. The message was the same, "We are closed for Easter and to resume on the 25th of April". Yet, when I visited him on Wednesday, he told me that they were open half day on Good Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Doesn't this sound like a repeat of the bank fiasco? People saying one thing and then doing another?
And to show that this is not just my imagination but an ongoing trend, I had one more errand to run for today and that was a wild goose chase through and through. I wanted, no. I needed to do my taxes, so I went to an accountant that was recommended by a friend's mother. He was supposed to be really good but when I explained to him my situation, his reply was, "Don't do them, since you didn't have any income or assets and just do them next year for the year 2011. Even if you didn't declare non-residency."
I was like, "What? Are you serious?" I didn't really say that though but instead asked him what would happen if the government would happen to audit me. His reply was, "Don't worry about it, you weren't in the country and you can prove it and if worse comes to worse and they take you to court, you'll still win anyways, so don't worry about it." He said all of this with a nonchalant shrug. Okay, so maybe these aren't his exact words but they definitely capture the gist of it.
I didn't like him at all. He just rubbed me the wrong way. So after that, Fiona decided that we should ask H&R Block. It was still tax season so we were hoping that they would still have a little booth in the banks. We decided to go to TD. They didn't have one and the woman at the front desk pointed us in the direction of Shoppers Drug Mart. There was nothing there, the closest thing in that mall was HSBC Finance and they have nothing to do with taxes. Fiona remembered that there was a TD in the next mall over so we assumed that there might be a H&R there. There was not. So we asked the girl in the front desk here. She gave us two possible locations but we already ran out of time since Fiona and I had plans so we went home instead. I was heading to one of the locations later on anyway, so it wasn't like I was giving up.
I was meeting my cousin at Square One after lunch and that's what I did. For the first time since I moved here, I took the bus. I feel like there should be a lot more fanfare when I wrote that but no, nothing. I paid three dollars for the bus fare and instead of the TTC, it is called MiWay in Mississauga. Since Mississauga is considered part of the Peel region and not part of Toronto, it makes sense that they have a separate system. It is fifty cents more. Riding in the bus was a nostalgic experience. It reminded me of when I was riding on the TTC in my university years. The whole trip took around 16 minutes.
Then I had to walk all the way to the other side of the mall just to meet my baby cousin at TD Bank. Seeing him again was great since I haven't seen him for a long time but at the same time a bit disappointing since he brought a friend. Not that I mind usually but it seems like I can't really have a good conversation with him with his friend there. There's this invisible barrier that I just can't cross with his friend there since he needs to look, act and talk a certain way. It kind of reminds me of Avril Lavigne's song, "Complicated".
I asked to meet up with him because his father wanted me to bring him this special flashlight brought from China that's supposed to be up to police standards, meaning: it's supposed to be able to blind people. It's not the only reason, I really did want to see how he was doing and adjusting to life in Canada since he just moved here. The fact that his English is definitely not up to par made me smirk.
Back in Hong Kong, his mother used to ask me to tutor him in conversational English as well as English Lit. He tried his best to distract me into talking about other things with him and I have to say, sometimes he succeeded. He was always up to something. I am definitely not surprised that his English hasn't improved one bit.
Anyway, it was a disappointing trip since our meeting was for about half an hour before his friend and him decided to go back and eat near the school since the food court was completely full. I did find the H&R Block while we were walking around and they couldn't give me an answer. Instead they gave me a number to call. Like I said, wild goose chase. I wanted to enjoy the trip a bit more by going shopping by my foot started getting tired not long after they left and had to cut my window shopping trip short. I feel like I wasted money on a trip I could not properly enjoy. Oh well, this is life.
Despite being let down, I cannot say that the day was bad since none of the things that happened today were really a big deal. It was not devastating nor did it make me sad. A little disappointing maybe but the bus ride made up for it. I didn't realize how much I missed being outside until I was just riding on the bus with no one but my own thoughts and ear buds in my ears, listening to my favorite songs. It was freedom and my kind of bliss.
So I guess today was a weird day for me. It felt like I've been swimming for miles with no shore in sight but the water's nice and warm. I'll take that as a win. I'll take a break and float with the sun shining on my face and live to fight another day.
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