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i don't know why, but i couldn't fall asleep last night and didn't actually go to sleep until almost 6:00. netflix is a great enabler of insomnia by the way: after some episodes of family guy on my phone (season 9, i'm working backwards through the entire catalog), i began watching a movie called jailbait (2014), a low-budget terribly-acted woman-in-prison trope that may be a spoof on those classic exploitation flicks from the 70's. i woke up around 9:00 but decided to sleep a little bit more and didn't wake up until 11:00. ah sunday morning!

i had big ideas about going to get some groceries, but figured i could do that tomorrow monday instead. i shambled around the house a bit longer before leaving before 1:00 for belmont, to catch the start of some football games. i packed 2 jars of sichuan paocai, emptying the content of the fermenting station, awaiting fresh supply of cabbage and radish and carrots.

verizon is currently having some sort of fee dispute with FOX so there was no FOX network, so no game. the only broadcast game on verizon FIOS was on CBS, between the chargers and the ravens. i could however still get FOX using a paperclip antenna to receive over-the-air HDTV. that game - the saints versus steelers - wasn't too interesting so i switched back to cable.

the game that i'd been waiting weeks for was at 4:00, between the patriots and the packers, two of the best teams currently playing. green bay seemed to be have the upper hand early on, scoring first and having possess for much of that first half. whenever new england got the football, it seemed they'd have to turn it over in a just few plays. it was a frustrating game to watch if you're a pats fan, since i was hoping to see some exciting offense. new england did manage to crawl back within striking distance, all the way until the end of the game, with the camera catching brady furiously swearing from the sidelines when he realized they ran out of chances to score.

tang tang's friend was home the entire day, doing laundry before she goes back to school tomorrow. originally we were going to bake the 10lbs. turkey i bought earlier in the week, but decided to hold off on it until tomorrow, after her friend leaves. instead my father picked up some burger king takeout before he came home. we gave the friend a burger which she ate in her bedroom1. this was my first BK meal since coming back home; the last time i ate BK was back in chengdu in august. greg the painting guy also showed up around 5:00 to collect some of his equipment from the car so we can finally use it.

i biked back to cambridge around 8:00. it wasn't that cold today, with daytime temperature in the 50's, and nighttime temp around the 40's. there was a good breeze which made for a fine day to fly the string kite i bought in china, but unfortunately football got in the way. since friday night i've been parking my bike at my old spot again, the signpost across the street.

i continued to play around with that loose bit of tooth 3 rattling in my mouth. when i went to go brush my teeth while taking a shower (multitasking), the loose part finally fell out. that will make the job of extract a bit easier come thursday. but now with that tooth missing, the inside of my mouth felt alien, like there was huge gap on the side of my face (the gap will only get bigger once that entire tooth is removed). another thing i noticed was just how in poor shape that molar was, dotted with old badly-patched fillings that ended up staining the tooth in brown and black pockets of continuing decay. how it lasted this long is probably a miracle. i really should've been in much more pain than i was. i'm hoping i can get the rest of the tooth once the oral surgeon pulls it out.

not shy to get my hands dirty in holiday season shopping, i went ahead and bought an HTC re periscope camera for $1002 (original price $200). originally i was going to give it to my sister as a birthday gift but it's one of those presents that i secretly want myself so i may end up just keeping it, giving my sister a handcrafted hollow book safe instead. i'm not even sure what i'd use the camera for, the two ideas that come to mind is a bike camera and also a dog camera (but i'd need to find a harness with a camera mount).


1 ever since she found out on friday that she has to pay for her stay here (as well as the things she purchased with my mother's credit card), tang tang's friend has been particularly anti-social, coming in and out of the house without telling anyone, ordering her own food, and hiding in her room most of the time.

2 so of course as soon as i buy the camera online, it goes on sale for a cyber monday special of $95. doh! i may have to buy another one of these cameras and then return the first one. sure, it's a hassle just to get back $5 but the principle of savings is at stake here!