Touque

These days, I am wearing my red touque with orange letters in Tagalog, "MGA AWSTRALYA ANG MGA ESTRELYA," alluding to space colonization and the cold and hot deserts of other worlds. These days, I talk with Greg, my religious Filipino friend, at Starbucks café. We talk about travelling, anthropology, international food, and religion. This morning, I played in the midst of dense fog in a neighbourhood grassy field. At Starbucks café, in the foggy morning, I was drinking my reddish Passion Tango iced tea, which contained hibiscus, lemongrass, cinnamon, passion fruit, pineapple, and so forth. Greg gifted me a chocolate croissant. At Starbucks café, in the grey-sky afternoon, I was drinking the seasonal Oat Nog Latte. (Incidentally, Nog is a dwarf-like Ferengi alien character in the Star Trek franchise.) Kristina, part-Inuit part-Norwegian, was my barista. She has a handsome face, and her mannerisms and style reflect some things about her Inuit ancestors. "Viktor, it's like you're part-Inuit," she told me. She knows that I am from the Philippines. At my table, I exercised with my hand grip strengthener, which I carried in my army jacket pocket. At the café, I greeted Don the alluring white man and Květa the solitary Czech lady, as I exited. It is the 4th of December of 2024.

This winter has been warmer than usual, so far, without snow, here on Lulu Island. In the morning, this 27th of December of 2024, I walked twice to Tim Hortons: Firstly, I ate two hash browns with an oat milk iced coffee. Secondly, I ate a sausage egg English muffin meal, including a hash brown and oat milk iced coffee. I went to Starbucks for an oat nog latte. I missed Greg, my Filipino friend, who left just before me. Then, I went to Yummy Slice pizzeria for a red-can Coca-Cola Zero Sugar. The Filipina vendor Rose was there, so we said "Happy New Year" to each other. I passed by Kin's Farm fruteria. On my way home, in the park's alleyway, I met and talked with my ufologist friend, Michael J., a Dane-French. He amused himself with the red touque on my head, with orange letters in Tagalog: "MGA AWSTRALYA ANG MGA ESTRELYA" (The stars are Australias). I told him it was about "space colonization." There are the cold and hot deserts of other worlds. Then, I went to the house of my "auntie" neighbour, Tita Zeny, to pick up her homemade "dinuguán" or Filipino pork blood stew to bring home. Lunch at home would include Filipino chicken "adobo."

It's sunny today, the 2nd of June of 2025. I'm wearing my hooded red, grey, and black cardigan. I carry a lime green sack with a lizard drawing thereon. I wear a green touque. (I'm a long-time Esperantist.) In the morning and in the afternoon, I went walking to Tim Hortons café to have some varied drinks and a Crispy Chicken Craveable Sandwich. Sometimes, I crave absent things like baklava, cannoli, barfi, halva, and others too sweet and exotic. In the morning also was my 24th visit this spring to the Roman Catholic church on St. Albans Road. 'Twas practically empty in the worship hall. There are many Filipinos in this parish. The grand Empress Tree, called "Kiri" by Japanese, near Bowcock Road, has lost most of its purple blooming glory by now. The species originates in East Asia, and is here on Lulu Island. It looks like the Jacaranda, also purple-bloomed, in South America. Incidentally, as a linguistic note, maybe for many, Japanese Katakana would suffice for their linguistic curiosity, as it does really satisfy the graphic dimension of language learning. Katakana words are like "eye candy."

This morning of the 14th of June of 2025, here on Lulu Island, is quite cloudy and chilly for a near-summer morning. I walked to Tim Hortons café at about 5 o'clock. There, I enjoyed an iced coffee with oat milk and scrambled eggs with sausage bits and potatoes. Yesterday was probably my 42nd visit this year to the St. Albans Road's Roman Catholic church, which I call "Clam Temple" because of its shape. "42" is jokingly famous for some people: In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, the number 42 is the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything, as the supercomputer Deep Thought calculated after 7.5 million years. Yesterday, at the café, Michael from Guǎngzhōu was wearing a black Louis Vuitton shirt with an orange-coloured blossom insignia thereon and grey jogging pants. I was wearing a hooded red, grey, and black cardigan over a military green mesh net vest over a red T-shirt, as well as a green touque, green striped Indian pyjama pants, and mauve garden clogs. We talked about lots of things, including that "socialism" might have a big comeback because of the effects of Artificial Intelligence and robotics in the future. These things could also affect warfare, we were thinking.