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i woke up at 8am this saturday morning to go into client AT's office by north station to do some work. i didn't get enough sleep not to mention the fact that i didn't want to be there left me in a sour mood. when i arrived i was all business, and couldn't wait to get to my computer so i could hurry up and finish my work and leave. just as i suspected, the bug turned out to be a missing flash movie, and it took me just 10 minutes to fix. i didn't leave until 2 hours later, a few more minor issues that had come up. most of the time though, i was waiting for cd's to burn on the slow usb burner (15 minutes per disc). when everthing was done, i left and came home.

i took a shower, changed out of my work clothes, and prepared to enjoy the rest of my weekend, snacking on some leftover french fries. ring ring. the phone. ring ring. who could it be? ring ring.

it was client AT. he was checking the disc and found some more bugs. you know that old saying, "getting hit with a ton of bricks?" that's how i felt. and i knew exactly what the client wanted. we could talk all we want on the phone, but in the end there's only one answer: "how long will you be at the office?" i asked him, adding, "i can be there in 30 minutes." so i changed back into my work clothes, grabbed my bag, and out the door i went. i ran to the train station, sprinted into the subway car before the doors closed, then when i got to north station, i ran to the office. i got there in 30 minutes. "that was fast," said the client. still slightly out of breath, i answered, "yeah...show me the problem."

at that point i had already given up. there i was at the client office for the second time today. my saturday was pretty much over (i didn't have anything really planned for the day anyway, no great loss). i was just going to keep on working, make sure there are no more bugs, and then leave and never come back. it wasn't hard anyway. i had everything done in 30 minutes, then spent the rest of the time waiting for burns again. i helped myself to the free drinks in the fridge. i read all the gaming magazines in the kitchen, as well as all the trade magazines left on a filing cabinet. i learned the secrets to defeating the bosses in doom 3. i learned that there is a severe tomato happening right now. with the sky about to turn dark, we finally managed to produce a flawless cd. my client still had to run the cd to his client (here in town for the weekend for a conference). i said my good byes and left.

here's how i turned a bad thing into a good thing: i originally wanted to go to haymarket but went the wrong way and decided to just go home decide. this second time around however, i made good on my original plan and walked the few blocks to haymarket, where on weekends it's an open market of produce and fish and flowers and meat, all at reduced prices. walking down the corridor of produce vendors, it was like going to a foreign country, the crush of immigrants, the lights, the colors, the sounds, the smells. i bought 6 small pomegranates for $2, 2 canteloupes for $1, and 2 lbs. of medium-sized tomatoes (6) for $4 (sort of expensive, but that's because of the tomato shortage).

coming back, i decided to stop off at the annual holiday bazaar bizarre, the hipster crafts fair. normally it's held at the VFW hall in davis square (one of the epicenter of local hipsterdom), but this year they moved it to the YWCA in central square. i mistakenly went to the YMCA until i saw a sign pointing me in the opposite direction. when i got there, there was a small line outside. apparently there were so many people inside it was on the verge of violating their fire code for occupancy so we had to wait until some people come out before we could go in. once i got inside, it was ass-to-ass crowded with people, a sea of hipsters. i looked for shannon, who came all the way from cleveland to sell some wares. with my bag full of fruits i had a hard time negotiating between the tight squeeze of folks. the vendors were split up into 2 rooms, one oppressively warm, the other less so. i gave the place a quick look, then left without buying anything.

outside the line had become incredibly long, 150 people deep and growing, curious patrons forced to wait in the drizzling rain for their chance to cram inside a room full of hipsters.

i grabbed the subway and went back home.

finally at around 5pm i had my first meal of the day, a small anchovy pizza i whipped up with some leftover ingredients. once i was properly fed, i went over to dan's place where he was hosting a game night. i was there more for the movie, which was a copy of re-animator from netflix that dan had received and wanted to get a big crowd to watch it together. elias was there, sporting a big beard, as well as mike, and 3 of his friends, kevin, john and kristine. they started a game that had a maximum of 6 players, i was happy to sit out, reading an artsy coffee table book, surfing the web. i'm not much for gaming, especially ones that involve a lot of complicated counting and strategizing and imported from germany. you have to really love the games to love that. something about it reeks of game nerd. i was growing increasingly bored and debated whether i should stick around for the zombies or just go home. when dan went to go pick up our wing works order, i went with him. i got the 6 piece gourmet, not particularly hungry after my anchovy pizza.

around 10pm the game store finally closed its doors. mike's friends left, leaving just the four of us to watch the movie. it's scary how much the mad scientist bears a striking resemble to john kerry. when the movie was over, dan gave elias a ride back to his place in cambridgeport. we picked up cymara from the hospital, then dropped mike off in winthrop, before returning back to cambridge to drop me off. i finished watching stacy, that japanese horror movie about teenage schoolgirls turning into zombies.