i got a bag of dried prunes at aji ichiban in chinatown before arriving at the office. i usually scoop them out myself from the many boxed containers of candies and other goodies, but this morning the woman who works there (she recognized me, i go there a lot now) did the scooping for me. i think she only did it because normally when i buy i buy in such small quantities ($2) that it's not good business for her. so i noticed she was pretty generous with the portions, and when i left the store i had $5 worth of goods.
i'd been watching the weather all day, hoping it'd break 40 degrees, which is the cutoff point between wearing shorts or long pants to go running (prefer shorts, 
legs like these you don't hide). it was 39 degrees, i went downstairs to check the temperature for myself, felt warm enough, so i changed into my shorts. note to self: obey the temperature rules! there were parts of the run where i felt warm enough to roll up my sleeves and take off my gloves, but for the most part it was cold. not unbearable, but cold enough that i started thinking to myself, "hmm, it's cold." coming back i ran by the state house and saw that the newsbroadcasting vans with their telescoping satellite dish antennas were already camped out on beacon street. when i got back to the office i microwave heated julie's risotto. i've had a very cheap past few days of lunch, yesterday was renata's lentil soup, and monday free birthday lunch at vinalia. tomorrow i feel like i need some more pampering in the form of smelly tofu.
after work i went with brian, katrinka, and alex kates to the state house where there was a candlelight vigil supporting gay marriages in massachusetts. honestly, going to a vigil wasn't on my list of things to do this evening, 
but i wanted to see what all the excitement was about and i figured i could get a few good photos as well. on the steps leading up to beacon street we were approached by a woman giving out dixie cups and candles. i punched a hole in the cup with a key, stuck the candle through it, and bummed a light from somebody. we stood on the fringe end of the mass of people, the side where there was a lot of car traffic and the police officers kept on telling people, 
"you can't stand on the streets folks, you're going to have to move someplace else." this was my first vigil, i've never held up a candle for any cause before. "so, is this your first vigil?" i asked alex who was standing besides me with his own candle torch. "no, i've taken back many a'nights for women," he told me. there were people giving short speeches on the steps of the state house, 
the "people's house" as they kept on saying. 30 minutes later alex had to leave and i went with him. away from the crowd, man to man, that's when he told me: "vigils are a great place to meet women." ah, secret revealed! although we both agreed that the kind of women we'd meet tonight probably wouldn't be interested in the likes of us. he took the red line to central square (he had an appointment in inman square, something wedding related) while i rode to porter square, up cambridge's longest stairmaster, outside to the silhouettes of women exercising in the gym above cvs, and a short walk home.
alex wong was asleep in his car outside my house when i got back. it's definitely creepy and i told him that after i went inside, took a few minutes to relax, then called him on his cellphone to wake him up. when he didn't answer i thought maybe he had asphyxiated himself from the carbon monoxide but he called back a second later. we watched a series of wednesday night's specials, animal planet's most extreme "toxic animals" (stonefish was on that list, go figure), la guerra de los sexos (this by far is my favorite show even though i don't really know what they're saying), a repeat of sunday night's sopranos, kingdom hospital, and the daily show. i had the final risotto leftover, alex already had dinner in the form of a burrito from anna's tacqueria.
