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must've been the three consecutive cans of pepsi i drank at dan's place, because i couldn't fall asleep last night. at 6:30am i was still awake in bed, thinking about maybe just skipping sleep altogether and waking up. eventually elusive sleep did come and i didn't wake up until noon. there was no hurry really, i figured most of boston would be closed anyway, it'd be a good day to just sleep in. besides, it was warm underneath the covers while cold throughout the rest of my house.

i didn't leave the house at all today. from my living room window, with my glass of milk, i watched as neighbors continue to dig their cars out of the snow, a real sense of cantabrigian community. the news reported a few deaths resulting from carbon monoxide poisoning, passengers unwittingly sitting in their cars with snow-blocked exhaust pipes, their vehicles suddenly becoming deadly wintery gas chambers.

james and i played a multiplayer session of diablo 2 expansion over the internet (from attleboro to cambridge). i thought my level 32 barbarian character was powerful, but his level 39 druid was mad crazy: summoning a pack of wolves, a bear, a murder of crows, a swirl of smashing freezing stones, tornados, firestorms, meteorites, tentacles popping out from the ground, it was the most visually intense spectacle of offensive power i've ever witnessed. he was definitely doing the bulk of the fighting while i ran around the various rooms picking up dropped treasures and weapons. we quickly dispatched a few bosses before calling it quits.

for dinner i had some chinese dumplings while watching the latest episode of 24. i was finally able to get in touch with renata, less than a week before she ships out for beijing. she told me not to go to myanmar because it's an "oppressive regime": my reasons for going 1) why hurt the common people who could really use the tourism money, 2) i don't think myanmar is anymore repressive, than say, china, and people go to the middle kingdom all the time (case in point), and 3) never one to follow the status quo, just knowing somebody doesn't want me to go there makes me want to go there even more! she also asked if i'd be writing my weblog during my trip and seemed disappointed when i said no: besides the lack of internet access in some of the more remote spots, just the fact that i won't be a slave to the weblog for 3 months is the real vacation for me.