i didn't eat breakfast this morning and i felt fine. breakfast to me is an unnatural act anyway, since in my normal life back home in the states i usually skip breakfast. it's not that i get hungry in the morning, i just eat for energy, otherwise i feel lethargic until lunch time. but having ate so much last night, there must be still storage of energy in my body.
the CC7 girls are in the office! i saw one yesterday, and another one today. they look completely different when they're not wearing revealing cheerleader outfits and dancing to music. in fact, you could say they look better, with their nerd girl glasses and clipboard, running around the office taking care of contract-related business. the one i saw today was one of the taller girls. i pulled up a chair for her when i sensed she needed to sit down (she was here to chat briefly with loren).
i'm seriously considering using a paid VPN service. i've been looking at expressVPN, which is US$60 for 6 months. i'm just tired of not being able to visit all the sites i normally visit back at home.
a mouse gnawed one of my dove chocolates! i have to find a metal case to store my food in now. or one of those plastic tupperware containers. i'm putting the chocolate in a ziploc bag temporarily. i was going to eat the chewed up piece of chocolate - "i'll just eat around it" - 
but mice might carry disease, better to be safe and toss it out. a mouse also ate some of my white rabbit candy. makes me nervous that i should also protect the food in my own apartment. i have a lot of chocolate - unopened though, so maybe mice can't smell through the packaging. i'm kind of embarrassed by my mice problem, sort of like finding out you have lice. when i dispose of my candy, i hide it so people can't see what happened.
pansusu came to talk to me today in the afternoon. his presence - the lead project manager of the company - caused a mild panic in my work area as everyone was suddenly on their best behavior. he came to let me know that he had to be in shanghai on friday, so that meant he had to leave thursday night, meaning he'd miss our thanksgiving peking duck dinner. "what about wednesday?" he asked me. i said that was fine too. so now it looks like we're celebrating thanksgiving a day in advance!
i couldn't wait to go home and go to the gym. i thought i'd miss the entertainment of running in the sports stadium, but now that the weather is colder, it's more comfortable in the gym, even though i could still run outside no problem. if anything, it's actually a bit warm. plus, i like to show off my running endurance! tonight maybe i'll try actually running 3 miles for a change.
the office dinner was followed by a trip home in one of the medium buses (we left at 6:00). i went to the tailor with my pants to be altered, to be picked up tomorrow night. then i came home and changed into my running clothes and headed to the gym. 
who goes to the gym on a friday night anyway? i have a legitimate excuse, i'm still working tomorrow. but what about the other people? you work out all week so you can go out on the weekends. don't they know how it's done? i took an empty treadmill at the far right end, next to a woman who was just walking it. i started with 10km/h, but increased it to 11km/h because it felt a bit slow. i ended up only going 4000m in 22 minutes. that comes out to 8.8 minutes per mile, which isn't bad, a minute faster than last time. i just can't seem to break that 4000m barrier though. but i'm just getting back into running again, i should take it slow. there was a elliptical machine to my right, which a few women came by and tried out. i was too focused on my running to pay them any attention.
i also love that feeling when i just step off the treadmill and even though i'm only walking, it feels like i'm still running. it's the same feeling i used to get in school after playing on the swings during recess.