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JUN

08

2016

i woke up around 5am as soon as there was daylight. i'd slept with the window cracked opened and there was a bit of early morning chill in the air, though not unpleasant. i stayed in bed for another 2 hours before finally waking up, never did get back to sleep.

i discovered another incremental over-the-air update for my oneplus one, 13.1-ZNH2KAS1KN, and allowed the phone to upgrade itself. i didn't notice any difference afterwards with the exception of the home screen icons, which were now fixed (larger and rendered correctly with proper smoothing).

around 9:30am i biked down to the cafe to pick up some taiwanese-style zongzi my mother had made yesterday. i found her in the back, wrapping a few dozen more to give to relatives and friends, and some she'll sell at the cafe. she said this was her last year making zongzi because it was just too tedious. i also helped my father put up the old foscam webcam; it appears the camera will now only tilt up/down, not pan left/right. it's one of our earlier wifi cameras FI8910W, so i'm not surprised it failed. maybe the gears slipped lose and if i disassemble the camera i can put it back in place. or maybe it can't be easily fixed, as i remember the pan mechanism was already a little wonky to begin with and would occasionally stick in the past.

earlier i had the other half of my salad for breakfast. back at the house i didn't have lunch, but instead ate a banana followed by a peach then some rice crackers with a crab meat spread.

it started when i saw a photo of an american veteran standing next to the stilwell bust in chongqing. then i downloaded a scanned pdf copy of the time-life WWII series spotlighting the china-burma-india theater. it was strange seeing old photos of the area ("chungking" the former chinese capital during WWII), which were entirely unrecognizable from the chongqing of today. i also didn't realize how much bombing attacks took place courtesy of the japanese empire (one reason old chongqing looks nothing like new chongqing), nor the number of civilians that were killed.

that then got me into searching for a stilwell biography, of which there is just one definitive book: "stilwell and the american experience in china, 1911-45" by barbara tuchman, which also won a 1972 pulitzer. i couldn't find any online copies (other than an audio book edition and i find those hard to follow, especially for history books rich in details). i tried searching the cambridge library but they only carried the audio version. i ended up going to amazon to see if i could score a cheap edition. the book currently isn't published anymore, but used hardcover copies in good condition were selling for $3 (plus another $4 for shipping). i added one to my shopping cart that was in very good condition.

like yesterday afternoon, i was waiting for the thunderstorms to start. there was even forecast of possible hail. but just like yesterday, the day went by with zero fanfare. i did however open some windows to air out the house a bit, as there was a cool breeze outside, and the inside of the house was a little too warm.

for dinner i steamed 2 zongzi over the stove. my mother called to let me know that binbin visited them at the cafe today and ended up ordering 100 zongzi for her work. i told my mother i'd help her pack some zongzi tomorrow, which would also give me some hands on experience in making them.

i fell asleep on the couch while watching game 3 of the NBA finals between the warriors and the cavaliers. i caught parts of the game whenever i stirred awake. i was happy to see that golden state was losing for a change. i used to be a lebron james hater, but since his return to cleveland, i've been on team lebron in his quest to bring a bit of sports glory to ohio.