now that my father has fixed my bathroom sink so i can finally get hot water (by removing the spigot filter, allowing a bigger flow rate, triggering the tankless hot water heater), i've managed to get a better shave the past few days. before i was just using cold water, which don't really open up the pores, and could never achieve a truly smooth shave, regardless of the razor i used. but maybe i'm used to hard shaving, because i managed to cut myself this morning, probably because i was pressing down too hard (something i had to do with cold water shaving).

my parents called me this morning, just as soon as i finished my shower. maybe these few weeks of living together, they'd memorized my morning routine. they called to let me know they'd just arrived at logan airport and was waiting for a taxi to take them home. they said they were exhausted (and had to work the next day) but i couldn't hear it in their voices. i only had 10 minutes to spare so i told them we'd talk later tonight (morning boston time).

a second day of rain, but not as bad as yesterday. i stood outside with ZF, she under her large umbrella, me under my hooded sweatshirt. she sat next to me on the bus. by accident i hit one of the buttons on my blood pressure monitor as it made awkward noises inside my bag. "what is that?" ZF asked, "is it your tea tumbler?" i told her what it was and she immediately asked me to examine her. she unrolled her sleeve so i could put the cuff over her wrist. i was surprised by how warm she was while my hands normally are ice cold in the morning. her reading was a very health 110/75. she told me she's been going to the gym, the one on the top floor of the chongbai mall, the one i used to go to before my membership expired last week. so this is what i know about ZF: she's sporty, she likes karaoke, and she's pretty.

herbert asked me about ms.fu. apparently she sent an e-mail to everyone in our department last night, explaining her disappearance (went to shanghai), and said "maybe" she might come back in 2-3 weeks. that maybe means never. i wanted to tell him the real reason why she left, but i kept that piece of information secret. i just told him she had some sort of medical thing she had to take care of, but also that she wasn't happy, and there'd be a good chance she wouldn't return.

i got busy today, when herbert told me that mr.shin needed an updated manhour comparison table to negotiate with our german owners. herbert had already finished updating all the korean numbers, while i was responsible for the chinese half. my request yesterday from our local admin for old timesheets went unanswered. so i searched for them again, and finally got copies from xiaolong, who sent them via QQ transfer. i spent the next 6 hours (including my post-lunch one hour break) deciphering the timesheets and updating the numbers in a spreadsheet. i was finally done by 2pm, exhausted but happy i finished. after that i didn't want to do anything, just wanted to fizzle away the last few work hours of friday.

i sat opposite WY during lunch, who was sitting by herself now that YW is gone for good. we sat in the seats next to the aisle which turned out to be a bad place to sit as a girl spilled her bowl of soup all over us. i was splattered a bit, but nothing bad, and by this point i'm kind of used to it by now.

i went outside for a late afternoon break, the rain had stopped, and the grounds were mostly dried. i was tempted to do some wandering around after work. the weather for sunday is supposed to be nice, sunny and 75 degrees. i'm going to chongqing for sure, but the question is by myself or with somebody else.

in the late morning i visited the office clinic and had my blood pressure taken by the doctor with an old-fashion stethoscope and pump. his reading was 135/100 buthe wasn't particularly concerned. he also used the office electronic wrist blood pressure monitor (omron brand!) and that gave a lower result, 130/96. i then used my own monitor, which gave the highest numbers, 140/105. without knowing my medical history, he diagnosed the problem as stress and sleep related. i just have to be more vigilant about taking care of myself. but i did feel a little better by the doctor's reassurances, even though i didn't really believe him. maybe i can try some chinese medicine remedies.

pansusu is going to shizhu tomorrow. he wanted to go via car but after learning it's quicker via train, he's going to go take the high speed train by himself. he was asking me all sorts of details, and if i could take the day off tomorrow i'd take him there myself. kind of not sure why he's going, maybe we painted him too good a picture and he wanted to see the place for himself. i'm afraid he's going to be disappointed.

after work i went to the supermarket to pick up some barbecued chicken before coming home and making some rice porridge for dinner. i tried that new rice i bought 2 days ago. it looked like glutinous rice but fortunately it cooked like regular rice, just with rounder grains. my parents called me right when i was getting a second bowl of porridge. we chatted while i finished eating.