i can't believe i made it to thursday. when i looked at this week from monday, i honestly didn't think i'd make it all the way through. i figured i would suffer an aneurysm or heart failure, but none of those things happened. like every week, some how i survived and before i knew it, it's the weekend again. just one more day to go, it's a mere formality at this point. i've already broken open the proverbial champagne and switched my mind into weekend mode.

i went to china pearl to have dim sum for lunch. i've gone without dim sum for a while, the last time was back in october. long time weblog readers might remember that i used to go to dim sum every weekend with laurie rogers (an update for those who're curious: laurie moved to oregon and last i heard she bought a house). you can't go to dim sum alone, and as a matter of fact, today was the first time i've ever gone just by myself, and only because i couldn't find anyone else to come with me. i shared a large round table with a middle aged cantonese man who acted like he was the boss of the place, just leaning back in his chair, not ordering anything, sipping his tea, watching the floor. i also shared the table with two "white devils," a man and a woman, from overheard conversations i think they might've been high school teachers, plus the man was having problems with his partner at home and there was some issue with the property tax on a piece of real estate in provincetown. he basically talked throughout the whole time they were together, she just nodded her head and agreed with whatever he said. i started my dim sum with an order of soumai, but i didn't eat until i had my pot of tea and my tray of mustard and hot sauce. to that i added a bowl of douhwa, and of course a serving of tripe as well as a serving of chicken feet (from the corner of my eyes i could see white devils recoiling in fear). i ate while reading the latest issue of weekly dig.

after i finished and paid my bill ($2 for tip, about $11 for the dim sum itself), i wandered into boston common looking for photo opportunities, before returning to the office.

with the work day over, i went to the south station post office to mail off my dead batteries. there was a bit of trouble as the clerk spent 5 minutes searching for the rules and regulation volume when i told him i was mailing batteries (i should've just lied and told him they were soap or small bars of chocolate). so i totally held up the line (there were a dozen people waiting behind me), which was moving slow to begin with, and i thought about just blowing it off and coming back tomorrow, but finally after flipping through the book of restrictions and not finding anything on lithium ion batteries, the clerk gave up and processed my mail anyway.

i came home (getting off at harvard square), took a shower (eating more oily food didn't exactly agree with me), and spent the rest of the night trying to keep cool. dinner came in the form of soup from a can (i had grand cooking aspirations, but since i would be eating prepared meals all this weekend, i couldn't deal with having leftovers in the fridge), and the most exciting thing that happened was watching the new season of celebrity poker (they replaced kevin pollock with david foley, thank god), got to see lauren graham hussle everyone to a victory. she was a real smart player but disguised it underneath a bubbly girlish exterior. sean austin made a stupid move by betting all his chips on the very first hand, and spent the rest of the evening in the loser lounge, trying to put a positive spin on what he did. matthew perry was also in the game, as well this young woman from some WB show and the eldest brother from malcolm in the middle.