my mother was cleaning out her bedroom closet by the time i showed up in belmont. i packed a salmon bagel before i left my place and ate it before i started working. today we'd prepare the hallway and my parents' bedroom. first we cleared everything out, or in the case of the bedroom, moved all the big furniture to the center of the room. next came the vacuuming. there were dust bunnies so scary looking even the vacuum cleaner was afraid. that was followed by the taping and the layering of rosin paper. we went to home depot to pick up some supplies. despite the approaching winter, they seemed to be carrying a lot of cheap plants. for less than $20 i could buy a large tub of tropical fronds. if my place wasn't so sun-deprived, i'd be tempted to covert my living space into a jungle for about $100. after we returned home, we basically called it a day and went to the cafe to get some late lunch.

julie came over in the evening for dinner and to watch the game. i wasn't expecting her but i had enough rice noodle soup for the both of us and she brought over some leftover mocha ice cream. the game quickly turned pear shape so instead we watched the season premiere of america's next top model. once again i pick the plus-sized girl to win, and once again she'll be eliminated because tyra banks hates meaty girls, even though she's no bean pole herself.

after julie left, i went over to rob's place in kendall square to check out their weekly art night. despite the relatively late hour (10pm), there were still a handful of guests mingling in the living room. supposedly they gather together to do something artistic, and for some reason i'd envisioned people painting; instead i found everyone wailing on a musical instrument. befitting a 2.0 social event, by the time i showed up they'd already recorded several songs, made a video, and uploaded some content to myspace under the name "hot cherries."

their friend lorena - a photographer with some lost mojo issues - showed me her nikon D70 which i got to play with. i suggested she should look into renting a fast lens to reinvigorate her creative juices. people started leaving one by one just as rob's german roommate came home slightly drunk (wednesday is the new thursday, and thursday's been friday for a while now). as the clock struck midnight, dave and i became the last guests to leave.