maybe it had something to do with the nap, or watching a showing of lost souls, but i slept late last night (like, crack of dawn late) and woke up a bit after 10am (reason: to quickly jot down my weird dream). i mourn the loss of saturday morning cartoons: now it's just a wasteland of informercials, news, and a smattering of children shows. even though i could've, i didn't go back to sleep, spending the rest of the day alternating between the red sox double header games and the heroes marathon on the scifi channel.

i made some more rice noodles for lunch. the perfect rice noodle is a combination of these ingredients: some sort of broth (i used homemade chicken stock, but my mother swears beef broth has more flavor), the rice noodle itself (sold in rectangular packets from chinatown), a dash of worcestershire sauce, and sprinkles of chopped cilantro, tianjin preserved vegetable, and fried garlic.

figuring out ways to stay warm, i had on my wool socks, drank my ginger tea, and ate a bowl of microwaved salsa-flavored popcorn (which made the house smell like cheese). rainy, cold weather like this makes me almost forget what nice weather feels like. i crawled into bed to watch the red sox night game and promptly fell asleep. when i woke up two hours later the game was in progress but the red sox were losing badly, which was a complete reverse from their afternoon game where they put on an offensive show to victory (lowell even hit a grand slam homerun).

originally i planned on making some spicy clam linguine but instead i made some spicy ham tortilla wraps for dinner because i was too lazy to do any sort of real cooking. later in the evening i took a hot bath (a repeat of what i did last night). i stayed in long enough that when i came out of the tub i was steamy.

and with little fanfare, today marks the 6th year anniversary of this humble weblog, which was first started back in may 19th, 2001. if you figure that i've made one post a day for the past 6 years (i've only missed a few days), that comes out to more than 2000 entries. when people ask me why i do it, i don't know what to say anymore. originally it was more about posting interesting thoughts, but since inspirations are far and few in between, it was easier just writing about my day, no matter how boring. it's sort of like a journal now, with my most private thoughts antisepticized for general consumption. it's useful for me because it allows me to have total recall of any day within the past 6 years, something that most people can't say the same. i'm just obsessed with the idea of preserving memories, whether it's through writings, or photos, or even mementos. moments are too precious and if we don't write it down or take a photo of it, these moments are lost forever. there are other fringe benefits, like giving me an outlet to practice my writing, a venue to showcase my photos, and a window for friends and families to see what i'm up to these days. of course there are disadvantages as well: my life has a transparency and everything is fair game, and on rare occasions feelings get hurt because of what i say online. i do my share of self-censorship and for the most part don't broadcast the dirty laundry of others (this, after all, is not a gossip blog). but the next time i write about you, or take your picture, consider it a compliment: i do it because i want to remember this particular occasion, to immortalize it for all times. in my eyes, the worst thing that can happen is to be forgotten.

i am at a college campus - (maybe in arizona) - playing battleship with someone. even though i have a tableau (what do you call those things?), everytime i get a hit or a miss, i have to instead mark it with a peg on the entire campus, which is a giant board. there are more ships in this version and they can be placed diagonally. i can see my opponent's board but i don't think about cheating, at least not yet - i'm too busy marking the campus. the place is large, with hills and valleys and sand dunes, like a cross between a golf course and a beach. "B7?" i ask. it's so big that i have to yell across the campus when i forget the coordinates.

later i'm having dinner with a professor at his house. bill murray is also his guest. he is very quiet throught dinner, not the snarky persona he's famous for.

the next day the professor and i are driving somewhere. the car has a sunroof. it gets dark and we pull up to an empty rest area on the side of the road, where surprisingly bill murray is standing there in the dark waiting for us to pick him up for dinner again. it's kind of weird but i don't say anything, he must have his reasons. i notice in the headlights giant caterpillars in the woods. at first i'm scared but upon a second look they're only giant statues.

as soon as we drive away the sky clears up again - it was only dark because we were in a deep shadow area surrounded by mountains. we're now driving down beautiful coastlines; if we're not either going through red clay mesa valleys, then we're driving across bridges that overlook vast swathes of ocean and coastal view. it's more california than arizona. the roadside wildlife is spectacular, and ever moment is thrilling. in the sky soars raptors, and over one bridge we see two right whales. "a hootluu, did you see that?" the white-bearded professor tells me. i look up in the sky. a giant raptor is crisscrossing the road. it looks too geometric to be natural, more like a biplane with transparent spots and colorful red-orange-brown streamers. i see it high overhead, but then another one passes low over us, and i realize it's almost the same size as the car. "i can never quite get used to how big they are," the professor tells us. bill murray for some reason seems very jaded, and continues to stare forward with a slight smile on his face, like he's amused that i've never seen one before.