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i was stirred out of bed around 9am by a phone call. i didn't hear it at first, but apparently i slept on my cellphone during the night and i felt it vibrating. bruce called to let me know that the butterfly - a girl - had hatched. i got up and went next door to see it. it had hatched perhaps a few hours ago, its wings already open, sitting on a fern in the backyard, waiting for everything to completely harden before flying away. occasionally it'd spread out it's wings, or flex its proboscis like a party favor before curling back in. we could tell its a girl because its missing these black "spots" on the hind wings. i could see the wings were made up of tiny colors scales, and i never realized the body is actually black & white polka dotted, a very pretty butterfly. i tried pulling off the chrysalis from the jar lid, it was securely attached with silk.

i couldn't fall back asleep (despite having slept a mere 4 hours, part of my sleep fasting regimen), and watched a little bit of television before going out for a run (since i didn't run yesterday, only biked, and didn't feel like i got enough exercise). not my usual route, but rather i ran all the way to belmont, 3-4 miles, to get the motorcycle parked in my parents' garage. i didn't have to bring a change of clothes because i had already packed yesterday and gave it to my father to take back home. i ran to the cafe, dropped in briefly, then ran to belmont, all under 30 minutes. i took a shower, changed into my riding clothes, tried to figure out with my father how to install a second cd-rw into the G4 (can't be done, the chassis is designed for a cd-rom drive and a zip drive), then rode back to cambridge. i dropped by my house briefly to pick up some stuff, then rode to dan's place in allston.

elias and mike were already there. cymara, dan's wife, was down in brazil (dan to follow later in the month), so he had the place to himself. while he and mike finished off a game in progress (some sort of balloon riding theme boardgame), i ate some sandwiches i brought with me for lunch. dan's friend brendon showed up soon afterwards, we all ordered chinese food (i got a small order of fried chicken wings), and started a game of zombies, the object being to kill a certain number of zombies (17) or to escape via the helicopter landing pad. during the game you can pick up bullets or hearts, or use cards that have special abilities. halfway through the game dan ran out to pick up our order. i narrowly won (i was the only one close to the helipad, and i had accumulated a lot of zombie kills), but dan was able to race to the helipad first.

while eating our chinese food, we played some too many cooks, a card game with suits like mushrooms, peas, hot pepper, and onions, the theme being you're making a certain kind of vegetable soup. i liked it because it had a food theme. when we were done eating, we started a game of lord of the rings. this was my first time playing this game having seen the movie, so things made a little more sense. this was the expansion edition, and mike got to play sauron, while the rest of us formed the party. we were able to beat sauron after suffering a near fatal "death", but the game was asterisked because there was some confusion as to the rules, which in my opinion is a sign of a poorly designed game. brendon left after the game.

the last game i played was a new one called la citta, which had shades of settlers, but with a focus on developing cities, resource management, and stealing away citizens from neighbor towns. i like the people pieces, looked like tiny ceramic statues. mike and i tied that game, with the tie-breaker being who had more gold, and i just happened to have one gold piece in my bank, so i ended up taking the game, which took us 3 hours to play (from 7-10pm). they finished off the evening playing a camel game and some sort of betting game, i was all gamed out and just sat and watched, eating the rest of my chicken wings. mike left soon after, while elias gave dan and i a ride to coolidge corner for the midnight showing of robocop (1987).

elias, future coolidge corner theatre worker, was able to get dan and i into the joint for free through his connections. outside, a long line snaked down the alley way, kids waiting to go see donny darko, a piece of cinema that to this day still boggles my mind as to how people could love it. we got our snacks then went upstairs. i'm always so curious about the kind of people who go to these midnight showings, like-minded individuals like myself. the movie brought back some memories, one of the first few r-rated movies i saw in the 80's. it wasn't my first time seeing it since then (it's played on cable many times), but i haven't seen it on the big-screen in ages.

after the movie, elias gave dan and i a ride back to dan's place. i got my bag and helmet, then rode home, navigating amongst the throng of drunken bar patrons flooding the streets of allston after all the bars close their doors at 2am. when i got home, i checked up on the caterpillar, it was already larger than what i remembered this morning, busy eating the leaf, chomping instead of nibbling now, full-sized adult bites.