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by this time next week i will be on a plane flying towards asia. this is it, this is my last week. what i originally planned to be a low key 7 days is looking like it's going to be pretty hectic. i started making a list of things i still have to do, and ended up with nearly 2 dozen items. some as simple as "call to cancel HBO" (which still took me 15 minutes) to more complicated "clean panasonic ZS20 sensor" (which involves disassembling the camera).

so besides canceling HBO, i also called jetblue to request a wheelchair service for my grandmother's departure this friday afternoon. i found my quick drying towel as well as my chinese chops (i'll need them in taiwan if i do anything official, it's like a signature). as a bonus to-do item, i called my new health insurance to get my policy number before making an appointment to see my doctor wednesday morning about the weird crunching sound in my left ear.

my father stopped by this morning to help me install the new motion sensor light in my alleyway. the one that i had previously has a busted sensor and won't cycle off anymore. it was something i could've done on my own, but i ended up assisting, turning off the electricity, flipping the light switch indoors, and holding the ladder (my father brought a taller ladder). it was actually pretty easy to install, the only annoyance were the hungry mosquitoes (after spraying some bug repellent they stayed away but not before i got a few bites).

it wasn't particularly hot (temperature in the 80's) but it was an oppressively humid day (70% humidity). i took the motorcycle to belmont (filling the tank first at the nearby hess gas station on mass ave) because i didn't want to arrive all sweaty. my compact 3-cell dell mini battery arrived; now my hackintosh is even smaller than before. a week ago my mother gave me her taiwanese dollars and chinese yuans. today, my godmother dropped her some of her asian currency as well. added to the pot was some money jack gave my father to give me.

we went to binbin's lexington place for chinese dumpling dinner at 6:00. my sister didn't bother coming (she was busy installing an air conditioner in her small bedroom) but my aunt and uncle were already there when we arrived. the place is a rental, but the owners are away, although at one point her other housemate came into the kitchen without saying hi to anybody to make some dinner before disappearing again.

there was 2 variety of dumplings, either garlic chives or dill, with a stuffing of combination pork and beef plus assorted spices. i preferred the dill, only because it's different than regular dumplings. i still like my mother's dumplings, with just cabbage and pork, and with thick skins.

binbin didn't get home from work until almost 7:30, commuting back from boston via car. my aunt wanted to treat everyone to one last dinner before binbin's aunt and mother leave on saturday, but their china flight departs from new york city so they're driving down to manhattan a day or two early to see the big apple before returning home.

i left for cambridge soon after we returned to belmont. with so much moisture in the air, it'd been raining intermittently, quick bursts of showers. my motorcycle was parked underneath a tree so it was relatively dry. humidity was still high and my windshield fogged up, with me craning my head so i could see the road. i made it home without incident. the inside of my house was stuffy and about 8° warmer than outside. after a shower, i put the window fan on the sill to blow some cooler air into the living room. i watched the 2nd episode of under the dome.