2 things prevented me from having a good night's sleep last night: the irritating dermatitis on my right palm and the overall sense of creeping itchiness after discovering a tiny tick crawling on my arm at my parents' place. so around 5:00 in the morning i jumped out of bed to take a quick shower and put some ointment on my hand. the sky was already brightening by that point. i slept for about 5 hours and woke up around 10:00.

around noontime i headed down to the community garden to plant 3 cucamelon seedlings and 2 snapdragon clumps. originally i planned on making it a short visit, but i ended up doing some weeding and organizing the plot and didn't leave until 1:00, covered in sweat and dirt and needing to take my 3rd shower of the day (if you count the early morning crazy cleaning).

i made it to belmont by 1:30, deciding to take the motorcycle so i wouldn't arrive all sweaty. my grandmother was already there and my mother made some some thin noodles for lunch.

in the backyard i pulled up most of the wild-sown radishes and a few more wild sunflowers. i replanted the sunflowers but unfortunately forgot to water them. i also set up a mesh climbing fence for RB3. i wasn't particularly dressed for gardening and stopped before i made a mess of myself. i also aerated the compost bin with the aerating tool my father got at OSJL and planted some bamboo in one of our largest planters. i was going to plant some cucamelon seedlings but began to sweat and decided to call it a day.

we were having a chinese duanwu festival dinner at my parents' place so we spent most of the time inside cleaning the house. for my part i did some vacuuming, starting with the living room and working my way down to the other side of the house. my mother and i went to a liquor store on belmont street to get some beer for matthew (we got a six-pack of belgium blonde leffe).

guests were told to show up by 6:00. my father brought my 2nd aunt after he closed the cafe. my grand uncle and 2nd uncle both decided not to come. binbin was the next to arrive, followed finally by matthew and lili. my grandmother didn't even wait before dinner; once there was enough food on the table, she sat down by herself and began eating.

after dinner binbin showed my parents how to use QQ (chinese chat) on their ipads. she also showed matthew how to use wechat on his android phone, another chinese chat app. we also spoke to binbin's parents in china, where it was morning and they were home due to the holiday. my father and i showed my aunt and uncle our kombucha collection.

i didn't leave until almost 10:00. i'd planned on a nice sunday evening of game of thrones followed by mad men and the killing. when i got back, i'd already missed several minutes of mad men, and i ended up having to download the season finale of game of thrones. mad men was predictable for a change: when sally draper returned to the apartment asking for the keys to her house, i knew she was going to find her father in a very compromising position. what did catch me by surprise was discovering that bob benson was gay and he made a pass at pete campbell. i'm not sure if pete was flattered or horrified.

out of curiosity, i decided to do a taste test between black teas: red rose vs. salada. prior to the test, i thought salada tea wasn't as strong. but after the taste test, i think both are about the time, and it'd be very hard to tell the difference. getting close to the bottom of the cup, maybe red rose had a slightly more bitter flavor.