came to work this morning to see dirt on my desk and snippets of grass. immediately i thought, "oh, the mice must've did that," but it didn't hit me until i saw the mouse poo poo. mice were eating my cat grass! which, as dan observed, is pretty darn ironic. who would've thought mice would be interested in something like grass? but the evidence can't be denied. regardless, my cat grass is nearing the end of its life. i might be able to reclaim some past glory with a grass cut, which amanda was finally willing to offer her much sought after service, but i suddenly had a change of heart.

with the bosses down in florida attending the fetc (they say it's all business, but i bet they're having a lot of fun, i am a green eyed monster of jealousy!), it was the perfect time to take a leisurely lunch (it's the least i can do for not being hand picked to attend a convention in sunny florida!). unfortunately, i couldn't get a single person to come out with me (the social pariah streak continues, everyone else is a nice hardworking coworker, unlike me) so i ended up going into chinatown alone. i decided to go to the apollo grille, which i've been to on many occasions (with dan and elias, with amanda rawson), but i've never been there for lunch. since i got there right during the peak of lunchtime rush hour, there were no more tables for me to sit. i opted for a seat by the sushi bar. i ordered the spare ribs box lunch special ($10.50, not cheap, but i think i deserved it) and waited patiently for my meal to arrive, scribbling some notes into my journal ("you are not a nobody. you are a somebody. people love you. like eskimos."). first came a hearty serving of hot miso soup, which i drank quietly while reading the kirin placemat that described the different kinds of sushi. shortly afterwards my main course came. no tempura like at suishiya, and overall perhaps a more bland offering (no spicy soy sauce for dipping, no wasabi or ginger), but it was a definite change from the usual box lunches, and the servings seemed bigger. you got your assortment of pickled cucumbers and baby onions, tasty spare ribs in sweet korean bbq sauce seasoned with chives (even included a piece of rib bone with some meat to be gnawed upon), cube of tofu with shrimp topping, a lightly dressed salad with slices of oranges, a ball of rice speckled with sesame seeds, three pieces of maki coated with roe eggs that bursts in your mouth, and some slices of sweet potatoes. other than the spare ribs (and the bits of shrimp and imitation crab), i thought it was a very vegetarian box lunch. probably healthier, and no less tasty. while i was finishing up, an asian girl sat next to me, alone as well. before i could muster up the courage to talk to her, her order came, this big smelly bowl of fish broth, which turned me right off, and i quickly ate the rest of my food (i ate the whole thing other than the parsley garnish and a few slices of tomato and lettuce), paid my bill ($11 + $2 for tip), and left, whistling in the wind after another satisfying lunch.

i stopped by the sun sun supermarket to buy some snacks. picked up a few asian duck pears, and an assortment of candy. it was here i bumped into a friend of my mother's, mrs.chou, also doing some shopping. upon seeing me she immediately remarked in chinese, "oh, you've become a little fat!" if you're familiar with chinese culture, you will of course realize it's quite common to call people fat, it's not considered rude at all (just like how it's also not rude to ask you your age or how much money you make - those crazy chinese!). the americanese in me of course reeled back in horror. i casually laughed it off, hoping nobody else heard her comment. after that little exchange, i paid for my stuff and walked back to the dtx t stop where i took the train back to the office.

we also made a delivery tonight. there was a point where we debated whether to send it out or not because at the last minute we discovered a nasty little bug that'd take too long for me to fix tonight and be able to burn enough cd's to go out. but we delivered it nevertheless, although now these bugs are starting to haunt me. bugs can be really fustrating. i feel like it's all my fault since i programmed most of it, but i can't seem to dig out the root of the problem. i pray to the gods of coding that tomorrow i will have a brief moment of clarity, where my mind will my lucid and i'm not thinking about something else, like food, or my weekend, or what's on television. anyway, with barbara being sick today, it was amanda, carrie, and i manning the battle stations. it's definitely cool to see that even though there was nobody telling us what to do, we still did everything. the team doesn't just fall apart when the project manager is gone! by late afternoon carrie and amanda, dressed in matching red and black ensembles, came upstairs to shake me down, playing that whole good cop bad cop routine. a final push to complete some more crucial bugs, a few burns, and that cd was out the door, carrie driving amanda and i to one kendall, amanda delivering the packaged goods, amanda being dropped off at the kendall t station, and carrie giving me a ride to harvard square.

at harvard i went to grendel's den. as soon as i stepped inside, julie appeared besides me, arriving at almost exactly the same time. we were lucky enough to find two vacated seats by the bar, where julie proceeded to dazzle me with cute stories about her new kitty cat. later her friend lyle joined us. i sat next to this seasoned boozer, some old man no less than 55 years old, who was actually there scoping out the babes. i watched him go across the bar to talk with this young lady who surprisingly didn't tell him to f*ck off but instead indulged his drunken slobbering, maybe out of pity, i hope it wasn't out of genuine interest. shooting blanks, he came back to the seat besides me, but not without brushing up behind julie. during the whole time we sat at the bar, i could feel him watching her, but he didn't have the courage to say anything because she was talking to three guys (joel showed up as well). later throughout the course of the evening we all moved to tables. for dinner i had the calamari linguini which i only paid $3 for (normally it'd be $8) because i happened to order right before happy hours ended. aside from the linguini, i had a total of 2 cokes.

a low voter turnout tonight, usual pub club goers such as klea, eliza, dave, or elias were nowhere to be found (i'm sure each one had their good reasons). who did show up: julie, lyle, joel, keith, ann, dan, roy, and a few other friends of julie whom i don't remember their names.

roy was amongst one of the first few people to leave (it's usually the other way around, he usually outlasts everyone). joel persuaded dan and i to go watch him eat pizza slices at pinnochio's across the street. while we chatted and joked inappropriately, i nostalgia-ized about when i use to come to pinnochio's hanging out in harvard square, while casually drinking an ibc root beer from the bottle ("look! it almost looks like i'm drinking a real beer! who's the bad ass!"). i guzzled the rest of the beverage as we were leaving and it felt nasty as the carbonation built up in my stomach. nothing that a strong manburp couldn't fix! buuurrrp! we did a three way split (actually, dan came with me through the station before embarking on his merry way) and i found myself on a busride home, chatting with more family friends, that couple i'm constantly running into on the bus. we talked about my recent house hunting adventures and they still seemed to be fascinated with my september trip to turkey last year.

i got home to find my package of t-shirts had arrived in the mail. can't wait to put one of them to good use tomorrow...