during the daylight hours, i spent my saturday in domestic bliss, running the dishwasher, microwaving some oatmeal for lunch, replacing the batteries of the beeping smoke detectors in the basement, and pruning/training the jasmine bush in the kitchen. in the afternoon, my father drove me to do some crafts shopping, first to toys'r'us in fresh pond to look for diorama items (didn't gind anything, although there was some pretty doll clothes that were more than my budget could afford) then to everett, to michael's craft store. i bought a few items, including several sheets of colored felt, spending a total of $6. we went to petsmarts a few stores down to look at the fishes, then we went to costco, where my father remembered he left his wallet (including his ID, his credit card, and his costco membership card) at home, so we ended up not going. i got a ride home back to cambridge.

i met dan at the boston common theatre at 6:15pm. we walked to chinatown, to korea house, because dan had a yen for bi bim bap served in a stone bowl. i think the last and first time we went there was valentine's day last year, the movie was the count of monte cristo. i remember the place had a dirty feel to it because the walls were "decorated" with graffiti. almost two years later, i see the interior design remains unfortunately the same. the first time we went, the manager of the restaurant had to actually come out and teach us how to eat bi bim bap, which is to mix everything up in the bowl. second time around we weren't going to fall into that amateur trap of not knowing how to eat the food, but nevertheless the waitress had to intervene and tell us to put the hot sauce along with the mixture. throughout the course of the meal, i asked dan a bunch of aquarium questions, to get some insight into the world of fishkeeping. two korean girls sat in the corner table talking on their cellphones the whole time, another long table served a korean family enjoying a lovely hot pot dinner, and before we left, a table of trendy young japanese came in, 1 boy 4 girls.

after we left the restaurant we went to a cvs to buy some contrabands (snacks for the theatre). i was already stocked up from my visit to the porter square cvs before i arrived in boston, but i got another drink and some candy anyway. we walked to the theatre (the temperature was very cold - digital thermometer says 11 degrees right now, although thankfully nothing like the blizzard conditions we experienced last saturday) but were turned away because we got there too early. so we went to the barnes & noble bookstore in downtown crossing, where we browsed for 20 minutes before they closed the store at 8pm. we returned to the theatre, where we were finally allowed entry.

the gods of dining were angry tonight, my friends: after we found our seats, i excused myself and made my way to the bathroom. something i ate did not agree with me, i don't think it was the bi bim bop (not in the stone bowl, the food was so hot it would've killed any germs), but it could've been the side dishes, all those fermented radishes and cabbages, there was a war in my intestines. minutes later i was all better and returned to my seat. there was a point during the movie when it seemed like there was to be another battle, but it was just a false alarm.

this is only my 2nd time watching lord of the rings: the two towers, and the first time seeing the extended version. i like the extended version much better because it explains a whole lot, but i think the average theatregoer would check their watches a few times if they had to sit through this nearly 4 hours movie. i didn't like gollum the first time around, and i dislike him even more the second time. gollum to me is like that mildly retarded friend everyone has, he's slow, he's crazy, and it's hard to understand what he's saying. everyone is too polite to talk about how annoying he is, but no one is brave enough to admit it. i could hear people reacting to gollum's "performance", like they share this rapport with the character, which i can't identify with at all. and just like the first time around, i thought the fact that the dwarf was made the butt of all the jokes was kind of weak. "toss me," gimli says to aragorn, as uruk-hai attempt to storm helm's deep. ha ha, funny. "don't tell the elf though."

when the movie was over (12:20), dan grab the green line home while i took the red. the subway musician was entertaining some drunk guys who paid him $10 to play "glory days" by bruce springsteen. i got as far away from the boisterous activity as possible, moving down to the other end of the subway platform at park street. walking back home from porter square, i had the displeasure of having someone follow a little bit too close behind me. all i could hear was the sounds of his shoes. if you're going to be that close you better pass me. all i could think about was how fast i could turn around and stab the guy in the neck with my pen. when i got home, i noticed the lights were on. mike and wendy were home studying for their final next week. by evening's end, they left, after i told them about all the movies and actors i hated.