i'd forgotten about chacarero, that chilean sandwich place in downtown crossing. back in my early screen house days (we're talking the 20th century here), this was one of my favorite places to eat. we'd called it the chicken shack for some reason, and made the lunchtime pilgrimage to wait in the long line to get a sandwich. the last time i went there was back in april 2004, so it's been a half decade hiatus. since that time the filene building that used to house the chicken shack had been demolished. dan instant messaged me this morning asking if i wanted to go. this being his final week in town before he moves, it'd be one of my last few opportunities to see him.

i rode into boston, parked at my usual secret spot on beach street off of lincoln, and then watched to arch street, one of two new chacarero locations. i bumped into dan and the gang (mike, yvonne, deb) as they were heading in. it's been a while since i ordered so i was a bit rusty. i got the large barbecue chicken sandwich, but what i should've gotten was the small regular beef (i couldn't tell the difference between barbecue and regular). the large turned out to be more than i could handle and i only ate half, getting the other half wrapped up. although chacarero is essentially a takeout place, there were about 2 dozen seats, 5 of which we were crammed into. on the far side of the space was an LCD television suspended from the wall. i didn't notice it at first but once i did i couldn't stop looking: it was tuned to VH1 classics with non-stop 80's videos. there was lionel ritchie, tone loc, wang chung, and none other than rick astley. none of the other financial district suit-wearing business people seemed to realize they were getting rickrolled. i pretty much could've stayed there all day slowly working on my sandwich and watching 80's music.

after dan and the gang went back to work, i went back to chinatown to get a few things from c-mart before returning to cambridge. before i left the house i'd taken a mucinex tablet to help alleviate my coughing. it didn't kick in during lunch, but on the way back i started to feel it. mucinex is one of those drugs that makes me tired and wired at the same time. i was all twitchy and kept on repeating the phrase, "jamaica'n me crazy!" over and over again in my head.

it'd been 6 days since i last checked on the seedlings growing in my parents' cafe basement. i had this fear that they had all dried up and died so i was surprised to find them growing well. the last time i saw only basil and possibly cilantro; less than a week later, all the tomatoes and tomatillos have sprouted, as well as the nasturtiums. i'd wanted to move to my place, but since they seem to be doing okay in the cafe, i just might leave them there until they're ready to be transplanted outside. i also gave the leftover chicken shack sandwich to my mother and aunt. they liked it but my mother said it was too spicy.

back at home, the drug continued to run it's course. i was tired but the jitteriness kept me from falling asleep. too bad though because my neighborhood experienced another daytime blackout so i had nothing to do in meantime. i thought maybe it'd be fun to go running when i was so wired but the tiredness cancelled that out. i took a blood pressure reading, it was surprisingly normal (120/80) but my heart rate was at 100. i ended up just reading the latest issue of newsweek on the coach and then watching a movie on the laptop using battery power.

got another installment check from client N. that's two checks in two weeks. i'm actually kind of afraid to eventually receive the final installment because it'd mean the project would then be officially be over and i'd be left with nothing to do. still, i'm not complaining too much about getting paid.

for dinner i had the leftover rice my mother dropped off yesterday, added some hot chili pepper oil i got today in chinatown to spice things up.