i biked to belmont in the early afternoon without my laptop. i just took the sero tablet, which fulfills my typical web surfing needs. riding up linnaean street, i saw senator elizabeth warren doing some gardening outside her house while simultaneously chatting on the phone with a set of very impressive telephonic headgear.

my grandmother was in belmont, chatting with my mother and watching chinese soap opera on my mother's ipad via ppstream. my parents really want to get her an ipad of her own but once she returns to california, there's nobody there that can help her set up or troubleshoot if something goes wrong.

it's been more than 10 months since my last haircut. i finally got one from my mother this afternoon. my hair has gotten so long i've been tying it up to keep it out of my eyes. since i'll be going to a hot part of the world, it's better with short hair. i did feel a little sad losing all that day, and i think my mother secretly wanted me to keep it long. but it'll grow back.

when evening rolled around, we got into two cars and went to mulan in waltham. everyone was there except my grand uncle. binbin's mother - who's in town until the 4th of july weekend - wanted to treat everyone to dinner, particularly my grandmother, since it's not often she makes a trip to come out and visit us. business was good and there was a crowd of chinese people waiting outside. it's a miracle we got a table with so many people (they don't take reservations, our party was a dozen large), but the seating arrangement was awkward, close to the kitchen entrance with a table configuration shaped like the star trek enterprise. once the food started to arrive it didn't stop, and it almost seemed like a non-stop feeding frenzy. the waitstaff were also keen on kicking us out the second we finished, to make room for waiting customers.

afterwards my father drove my grandmother and my 2nd aunt and uncle back to their place next to the cafe, while i left with my mother and sister to rendezvous with my matthew and lili back at my parents' place. my aunt wanted to check out our new tablet (compared with a kindle) but also gave me some spending money for my vacation. additionally, she brought some pH test strips from her lab, professional quality ones (german made) that measure acidic solutions. we measured 2 types of kombucha - drinkable and over-fermented (vinegary). the pH was 2.5-3.0 for the drinkable (within range) and 2.0 for the vinegar drink.

everyone left a bit before 9:00. i wanted to race home to catch the season finale of game of thrones - until i remembered that had already happened last weekend. instead, mad men and the killing filled the rest of my sunday evening. i also caught showgirls on cinemax (only 2 weeks left before my free premium cable channel subscriptions expire), could not look away. i remember when i first saw the film i hated it because i took it as a serious film. but now i see it as a campy train wreck, and totally understand how it has a cult following.