woke up in the middle of the night around 3:00, already fully rested. when i saw the time and realized i still had nearly 4 more bonus hours of sleep, i went back to bed very happy. i probably could've gotten up very early, but dawdled in bed until it was actually a little bit late. on the bus i sat by myself and cranked up my music to drown out the sounds of conversation.

i talked with pansusu this morning about my parents' arrival next tuesday. he still insists he can get one of the drivers to go pick them up from the chongqing airport. unfortunately his schedule is a little complicated, and originally it looked like he'll be in shanghai when my parents arrive, but he said he'll try to rearrange his schedule, maybe leave for shanghai tonight, so he can spend some time with my parents.

despite getting a good amount of sleep and eating a breakfast (wedge sandwich and a pineapple milk drink), by late morning i was tired again. i blame it all on the cold.

i've got some cold fried chicken waiting for me when i go home tonight. trying to plan ahead and see what i want to eat thursday and friday nights. i guess it all depends if i can smell or not. without the ability to smell (which affects if i can taste anything), i'll just eat something simple, like rice porridge. why waste money on good food if i can't even enjoy it?

* using the bathroom before lunch, i discovered there was no water

i bought another 32GB microSDHC for US$19, for my aunt's new tablet pc. it already comes with 16GB, but more storage is always better.

i was trying to figure out if i should go buy an early morning train ticket to chongqing. the problem is my flight for shanghai leaves at 8:40. the earliest bus leaving changshou is 4:30. it takes an hour to get into the city, so i'll be 6:30 when i arrive. it then takes about another hour by subway to get the airport, so i get there by 7:30. that leaves me with about an hour to check in. the good thing is i don't have any luggage, just a carry on. if i go by train, i get to chongqing by 5:30. that's all good, but the subways don't start until 6:30 so i still have to wait an hour. either way the outcome's the same. might as well live dangerously and go via bus, and hope that i don't hit any early morning traffic.

i told xinaglian i had some chocolate for her and to come by when she needed a break. she surprised me in the late afternoon, as i fished out the box of ferrero rocher from my bag. i told her originally i was going to give the whole box to her, but i discovered a previous box was a little stale, so i was afraid this one was bad too, but turns out this box didn't suffer the same fate. i gave her 2 and watched her bound outside. i decided to follow, figuring she was taking an actual office break. when i found her, she was already with 3 guys from her contract department, and one of them had ate one of the chocolates. "i still have the other one," xianglian told me. i don't like it when i give somebody something and they end up giving it to somebody else.

after work i watched xianglian and her contract group get one on bus while i took the other bus by myself. my day wasn't a total failure though: sarah li (the other cohostess from the new year's even banquet) and i were qq chatting this afternoon and i got her to take me clubbing the next time i'm in chongqing by myself on an extended weekend, which won't be until late march at the earliest. this was my secret wish a few months ago when we were first introduced, and not finally after some social engineering it's in the works. i also found out she too has a winter birthday, december 10th.

back in town, i picked up my 2 shirts. one of them the sleeves were a little short, so the tailor said she'd lengthen them a bit and i could pick that one up tomorrow. i came home to some cold fried chicken, did some laundry, and finished out the evening by ironing 4 shirts.