i woke up at 9am and commuted from bed to desk to get started on the SRM code work. i should move my computers to the guest bedroom, turn that into a home office, just so i can have some separation between personal life and work life. i had some cereal for breakfast while i worked, then two hours later i got dressed and went to the SCS office in boston. more items were sold, kristine's G5 was missing, my office chair was gone, and my replacement seat had a note on it saying it'd already been sold and was being held for the buyer. it's weird, i'm still going into the office yet there's no work to be done, and things are being sold from right underneath our feet. i don't know why the bosses just don't cut us free. we employees are left in this grey area where to come into work is sort of pointless, yet at the same time we're afraid not to go in, for fear of causing any sort of upset that would change our unemployment status (for instance, being fired for dereliction of duty without the ability to claim any benefits). in a way i'm quite sheep-like, and have to be told what to do, although i could decide for myself, in which case i'd decide to stay home for the rest of the month. i personally don't mind going in though, my favorite part of working is the commute anyway. plus, i'm used to my routine, and just out of habit, it feels more natural for me to wake up and go into boston, instead of just working from home. so i stayed for about an hour, saw adam and kristine, then took off, informing the bosses that i might not be in wednesday and thursday.

with julie back from mount washington, and being that it's tuesday, it was my turn to make dinner tonight. so i spent some time in the office printing out a few recipes, then after i left work i went to c-mart to buy the necessary ingredients. it was crowded, mostly older chinese women, i was curious to know what they thought of me with my little shopping basket full of vegetables, checking things off from a little list i brought along.

immediately after getting home i changed into my riding outfit and took the bike to the cafe, to get a few more cooking ingredients from my mother. parked underneath a tree for the past few days, the motocycle was covered in a sticky film of tree sap. i made a mental note to wash it when i got back home. my mother and aunt were just about to have lunch, and since i didn't eat yet, i joined them, my mother making some bubble ice tea for me as well, scolding me for buying elsewhere, for being so frivolous with my money. after lunch i came back home and washed the bike on this hot and muggy day with a hose and a sponge, making it look all brand new again. i went inside and took a shower to cool down on this 80+ degrees day.

it was hot enough that i briefly flirted with the idea of installing the air conditioner (currently residing in the basement), but it was still cool inside my house, and with both fans blowing out to the windows, it felt even cooler. i might change my mind by week's end though, i heard the weather will be just as hot and muggy for the next few days.

i did a little bit more SRM work, before getting started with my cooking close to 6pm. i started off by brewing some red tea for the possibility of making my own bubble ice tea, using no less than 7 tea bags to make a pitcher of red tea. the two recipes i'd be making for tonight were the cold peanut noodles and vietnamese salad with tangy lime dressing, both from digs magazine. i picked those two things to make because i figured they'd provide a cool meal on this hot day. i decided to prepare the ingredients before julie arrived in about another hour or so. i made the dressing for the salad, then i made the peanut sauce, then i practiced my cutting with all the different vegetables & herbs & meat (red peppers, carrots, lettuce, basil, mint, hot chili pepper, onion, garlic, chicken breast). julie, slightly delayed, didn't show up until close to 8pm. she had a card for me, which made me immediately suspicious. "i can open it now, right?" i asked julie. for some reason i had a feeling maybe it was a wedding invitation, but turns out it was a "sorry you got laid off" card in the guise of a birthday card.

i continued cooking the final few steps, taking swigs from the bottle of red wine, trying to finish it (with no help from julie) because i broke the cork with the corkscrew, little bits of cork floating in the wine (anyone interested in wine drinking let me know, i have a $6 bottle that needs immediate consumption). julie told me about her week spent up in mount washington fixing trails. later, she helped me mix the noodles while i tossed the salad.

for once what i made sort of resembled what the recipes described. i was afraid the peanut sauce might be too sweet but it was just fine. the salad was spicy, the chili peppers added some serious kick. we channel surfed while we ate, julie taking control of the remote. first it was some lance armstrong tour de france action on OLN, then julie seemed to be fixated on america's next top model, followed by queer eye, the episode where they fix up the senior citizen widower. she also showed me two books, new england's mountain flowers: a high country heritage and hong kong apothecary: a visual history of chinese medicine packaging. outside we could hear someone going through my trash looking for empty cans and bottles. as julie left to go home, the evening temperature had dropped down to a cool 60's. i took a shower and prepared for bed.

elvis presley & ann margaret -
"the lady loves me (but she doesn't know it yet)"