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i actually went to bed early last night, 2am instead of the usual 3-4am. during the night i kept on hearing the phrase, "make use of your space," over and over in my head, as i rolled around making good on that advice. so this morning not only did i wake up before 11am, but i woke up before 10am, just couldn't sleep anymore. it was early enough to actually have breakfast (consisting of cereal). i received some good news in the mail, one of my client's client has signed off on the final pieces of the project, so that project is now definitely over.

UPS tracking told me that i had a package sent to my house yesterday, left on the doorstep, but i never saw anything. i even went out to doublecheck but there was nothing there. i called UPS customer support and they told me to contact the shipper. the shipper told me UPS confirmed it'd been delivered, and asked to check with my neighbors. just so happened steve was outside shoveling the sidewalk, and when i asked him about the package, he said he actually had it, which was a relief, because i was afraid it got stolen from my doorstep.

i watched the winona ryder sentencing today on television. it was hard to miss, a lot of news and entertainment channels were broadcasting live feed of the event. i kept on watching her expression, didn't know whether it was genuine or an act. she is an actress after all, but the same can be said of life, that it's all one big performance anyway, and everyday, each and everyone of one does a little acting to some extent.

close to 1pm, just when i was about to eat julie's leftover pizza for lunch, she called asking if i'd seen her missing wallet. i said no, and minutes later she called back saying she left it at palenque (from last night) and would have to go get it. she also wanted to buy an airport card so she could use starbuck's wireless network, but i told her she could my internet connection for today since the stuff i was doing doesn't require me to be online. so she came to get her wallet, and then we went to microcenter on memorial drive because she still wanted to get the airport card despite the fact that she didn't need it anymore. i needed to visit microcenter to see if they were selling any cheap ethernet hubs, but the cheapest one was $20, and i wanted something even cheaper than that, so i didn't get it. julie ended up not getting the airport card either, 1) because it was $5 more expensive at microcenter than at the apple store in the mall, and 2) she realized she didn't really need one even though it'd be cool. so we left and returned to my place, where julie set up her powerbook in my living room once more and started to conduct her business, microsoft optical mouse in one hand, the nokia cellphone in the other. she had time to reveal that the house she just recently moved to used to be the home of our old boss at screen house, drake roberts. small world!

one of the things i really want to do this winter season is to continue with my quest to photograph snowflakes. i sort of have an idea of how to do it in my head, i've yet to try it. but today i was out on the deck trying to get some snowflake macros using the natural sunlight to hit the flakes just right so i could see them. it was hard, i couldn't really tell if i got one until i "developed" the photos on the computer. i did capture one that had a classic snowflake shape and another one that looked like a clover leaf.

about 6pm julie and i returned to davis square, where we had dinner at the rosebud, my very first time eating in a train car diner. julie told me that many years ago she had actually stolen a mug from the establishment with the consent of the working waitress, and to this day still has that mug. julie had a beer, i had a warm cup of spicy cider. julie had the cajun burger, i had the mussels fra diavolo. the diner was empty when we arrived, but slowly filled up as the evening progressed.

afterwards, after depositing my three unemployment checks at the fleet bank (one for every week that i was supposed to get one but didn't, i'm rich again! i'm rich! until the next mortgage payment that is), we went to the vfw hall for the bazaar bizarre, touted as the "punk craft fair for you," featuring all sorts of punksy alternative crafts. some of the stuff looked really interesting (homemade lamps, switchplates, magnets, comics, jewelry, buttons, dirty pillows, paintings, clothing, christmas ornaments), and so were some of the people there (there was an abundance of lowrider pants, a lot of underwear glimpses, as observed by julie). surrounded by misfits, i felt very at ease. the last time i was in the vfw hall was a halloween party i attended many years ago, back when drake and katrinka were still an item. figuring we'd have to meet at least somebody we knew at the bazaar bizarre, it didn't surprise us that much when we bumped into rob house (a resident of the davis square area) and his girlfriend. there just seems to be a heavy concentration of xtshers in the davis square area!

after making a quick stop back at julie's apartment, i got a ride home. in my house i noticed some food left on the kitchen counter, a present from my parents who paid me a visit when i was out. tomorrow, i get to see the new toyota camry that they bought to replace the nissan maxima.