today was my last day working at chez jeff. i will only miss it in that i got paid for my work (although technically not true, i haven't received any money for the past 5 weeks) and for a period of time it gave my life some structure, and when you're unemployed, having structure keeps you sane. sure, i had to wake up at 8am to paint with noxious chemicals and fill my lungs with freshly sanded plaster dust, but it turned me into a morning person, for better or worse. i was up and working earlier than most of my working friends, which gave me a sense of misguided accomplishment. so on this last day of work i prepped the windows of his bedroom and primed them. when i was done by noon, i cleaned up and said my good byes, feeling sort of sad leaving a place that's sort of been my second home for the past two months. despite the hard work, it was the kind of work that you can physically see, and even though there's probably a few more weeks of work, i think it's something jeff can do on his own, and i just needed to take a break from it. i don't envy him though, he's going to have to cross that finish line on his own. i couldn't work for him forever though, all those hours add up, not sure if he realizes this, the 5 weeks overdue invoice i dropped in his mailbox afterwards will remind him.
as if to celebrate, after my shower i used my brand new george foreman grille for the very first time, cooking up two spicy italian sausages. i pressed down on the grille, making the sausages squeal in this horrible noise while globs of fat and oil drip off of the grille into the catch tray. 
i've always thought the george foreman grille was a weight loss product, something to trim the excess oils off of your every day food. so the day that i made the realization that you can use it for just regular grilling, with the added bonus of healthier leaner meats, was an important day. the great thing about the grille is it allows me to cook food that would otherwise be very dirty to cook the conventional method, which is in a pan over the stove. 
i've cooked sausages like that and the oil splatters everywhere. i've also cooked sausages in the toaster oven, and while the splattering is controlled, it's a mess inside the oven. i think i grilled the sausages for over 10 minutes, cutting slits into them to allow more fat to drip out. i also did a foolish thing of grilling topless, so i ran the risk of getting hit with flecks of hot oil. when the sausages were finally done, there was a layer of grease in the catch tray. i ate the links in the living room, they were delicious. i'm going to love this george foreman grille.
i went out and ran some errands, mailing off some bills, picking up a prescription medication at cvs, coming back but not before admiring the blue chicory flowers growing along the edge of somerville avenue.
what followed was a succession of people coming and going. my mother dropped by, bringing with her a box of stir fried lamb for dinner. i showed her manny and daisy's wedding photos. she surprised me when she said that for their wedding, my parents had 500 guests. just as soon as she was leaving, alex wong dropped by and decided he would stay for dinner, ordering chinese food from zoe's. andrew came home around that time, he made some bean cheese rice dish with some spare ingredients. after alex went home, my sister came by with her friend paris to show him my place because they just happened to be in the neighborhood.