my father called me this morning asking if i was awake and told me he was coming over with my new roommate. she came with her uncle (?) and another young family friend who also flew with her from california last night. she seemed really young, like maybe high school age, so i was surprised to find out later that she's actually a graduate student at some new jersey university. the 3 of them spoke shanghainese to each other, which neither my father nor i could understand. the uncle made some comment about the fact that i was barefoot. the other friend remarked about how i don't have a kitchen exhaust fan. i didn't say anything. the first thing the new roommate asked was, "how can i get online?" after everyone left, my roommate went to bed, apparently to sleep off her jetlag.

i view jetlag as a sign of weakness. i remember one time long ago when i went to taipei, my cousin eric brought me to the night market, and i was so out of it after flying for 24 hours that i started to get tunnel vision and i couldn't hear anymore, but i still went out! it's not like they came halfway around the world to get here. they flew out from the west coast, which is only a 3 hour time difference! yet since her arrival, she's been sleeping in her room. 

this new roommate marks the 6th astrophysicist to have stayed at my place this year. though technically not an astrophysicist herself, since she's acquainted with their ilk, i classify her within the same category. there was my kazakh roommate, followed by the lady astrophysicist, then a rapid series of nanjing scientists (cheese-lover, never-going-to-work-guy, milk-poisoner), and now finally graduate student who looks like a high school student. also this year 2 friends stayed in the guest bedroom as well (john followed by jesse). 2009 saw a lot of traffic in there!

i'm still not entirely sure what she's doing in town. i think it's to pass the winter break, and her uncle is supposed to take her (and the other friend) out to see some of the local sights, but none of them are from the area. even her uncle is only here for 2 months (with his wife), arriving here from shanghai a few weeks ago. it just seems like a poorly planned vacation. unless you're into something like skiing, who comes to new england during the winter? not only is it crazy cold (take today for instance), but when it snows it makes a mess of traveling.

she's only here for 12 days though, leaving on the 10th. and then i will have the place back to myself again.

today was probably the coldest day so far this season, with temperature in the teens but wind chill in the single digits and lower. it was so windy that the house actually creaked. i wanted to go riding (and test out the bike computer) but the conditions outside were just too extreme. instead, i spent a quiet day indoors, fixing a plate of salad and an english muffin for lunch (followed by a banana). i haven't measured my blood pressure in a while and took a reading last night: 160/100! maybe it was all that blue cheese. i took a few more readings today, much lower, but still high (i think it was italian salad dressing i used, a wee bit high in sodium). 

around 5:30 my new roommate finally got out of bed, and asked if she could use some of my shampoo for a shower. "no problem," i told her. i didn't see her the rest of the night. her friends never came by again (probably too cold) and neither did i see her make any dinner (nor lunch for that matter). plus, i never gave her the front door key, but i put it on the coffee table, hopefully she can figure it out tomorrow (i'm leaving early in the morning to meet up with eliza in the north end).

for dinner i heated up a pair of hot dogs. took another BP reading, down to 127/87, acceptable. but i still have some blue cheese in the refrigerator!