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i went with julie this morning to her childhood home in peabody, so she could take some photos for her parents who are trying to sell some unwanted home furnishing items. we ended up spending a great deal of time (the both of us) helping her mother and father with various cellphone questions. after about 2 hours we left for the REI in reading. i almost bought some lights for my bicycle but decided against it when julie told me about cheaper options. she ended up getting some cross-country skiing boots.

we came back to my place, parked the car, and walked to pound hall on the harvard campus for the annual cultural survival bazaar. the place was packed with vendors selling various indigenous people handicrafts. some of the stuff looked cool, but the feeling i got was everything was seriously marked-up in price, and there was no bargains to be had despite the 40% tax-deductibility because of the non-profit status of the organization. the floors were covered in oriental carpets, each one with a price tag in case you wanted to buy. i saw a really cool one but it was too pricey. outside the vendor hall people were selling ethnic food. we decided to get some late lunch at pho pasteur on the other side of harvard square. we wandered around a little bit more afterwards, visiting tealuxe and crate & barrel, before walking back home.

i was supposed to go to andrew and maura's game party with renata but she was tired from her weekend of schooling and wanted to just grab dinner instead. she also invited her friend erin (who is a vegetarian) and asked me to pick the restaurant. my plans thrown into a kink, i told her i ate already and a phone call later confirmed what i already knew would happen, that i wouldn't be seeing renata tonight. instead i took a shower and then napped in the living room for an hour before the party.

i bought some wine coolers then walked to maura's apartment. i didn't realize how close it was, just a few blocks away. when i got there it was just andrew and maura. andrew, with his accounting expertise, finally explained to me how "amortization" works. later maura's friend katie would show up, followed by andy and kara. there was some drama as we tried to open the taboo buzzer battery compartment, securely fastened by a screw. with no screwdriver, we used whatever we could, paperclips, scissors, steak knives, with no success. once we decided we'd go with the human buzzer, we played a game of taboo, girls versus boys. the boys had the lead throughout, until finally in the end the girls came back and tied it. game highlights: katie's "luke-ass george" and maura's "cockatoo." maura wanted to watch some "alf" on tv which i thought was kind of weird (she must really love the 80's), until realized she was actually talking about the will ferrell movie "elf". i'd never seen it before, and actually it was supposed to arrive from netflix today (it didn't), but from the 20 minutes i watched, it looks to be a really funny movie. andrew's friend yentz and yentz's lady friend showed up, we played a few more rounds of taboo (until the girls won). i finally left around 1am.