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6am. that's when i went to bed last night. while most of eastern seaboard was getting ready to wake up and go to work, i was finally able to fall asleep. not that i wasn't trying, because i was, but i'm so god damn paranoid now, every itch feels like a flea bite to me, forcing me to turn on the light and turning over the comforter to check for bugs. i was hoping for some deep sleep but once again the clang of metal ladders woke me up at 9am. on the day that i was prepared to wake up and climb up a ladder to clean out the gutters of my house, the gutter guys preempted my plan. not that i mind, it was a dangerous task anyway, better leave it to the professionals. it took them over an hour to finish the job, pulling out fistfuls of leaf debris and tossing them down like dirt bombs. i went out right as they were cleaning up, and watched as they did some kind of circus move to collapse their super ladder, one man holding while the other man climbs up and pulls the second section down. all this for $80. i asked if they wanted me to recommend them to anyone else who might want to get their gutters cleaned, but they told me they were busy as it is and might not even get to everyone on their list. usually in a single season they do about 200 gutters.

my father came over anyway, now unnecessary since the gutters are clean. instead, i went to the cafe for some breakfast then we went to the everett strip mall to look for flea killing carpet powder and flea traps. the powder i found after first trying petsmart, followed by home depot, until finally getting it from target. none of those places sold traps unfortunately.

i got a ride back home to cambridge, where i immediately dusted the rugs with the flea powder. while waiting for the killing agent to work its magic, i went outside and raked the last of the leaves, getting my hands quite dirty. i scared off my neighbor jeff when i told him i got fleas. "i'm starting to feel itchy just talking to you," he said, then crossed the street with his dog. back inside, i vacuumed again for the nth time this week. when the mail came, all my netflix dvd's arrived as well. i also ordered a flea trap online, hopefully it arrives on friday (with 3-day UPS rush delivery).

julie and i met up for dinner. because of the fleas, hanging out at my place was out of the question. instead, we went to rangzen, that tibetan restaurant in central square. the food was okay, nothing to write home about, although the $8 buffet seems like a good lunch bargain. the new thai restaurant next door seemed more interesting (and better business, from the look inside the glass windows). later, we went to petco 30 minutes before they closed to do some shopping. i was looking for more flea removal products, julie wanted to get some taller plants for her vase aquarium.

back at home, i watched zatoichi on dvd, followed by just enough of ichi the killer to feel queasy for the rest of the evening. i saw 2 fleas, they seem to miss me and were in a rush to visit the only grocery store in town. apparently the powder has no effect on adult fleas. apparently i am *this* close to flea bombing the shit out of my place. i hate fleas.