not only did i not have a roommate for the first time since september, but my upstairs neighbors were out of town as well. it was my first good night of sleep in a long time. everything was so quiet, so peaceful. as is tradition, i moved back into the guest bedroom in order to reclaim it as my own again. i've said it before, but that is the better bedroom, despite the smaller size. it's centrally located in the house and one of the warmest rooms during winter next to the bathroom. it still has a foreign smell which i'll treat with either some scented candles or incense.

i didn't wake up until 10:30am. i watched some stream of ESPN before using the bathroom and taking a shower. for lunch i ate a leftover shaobing i brought back yesterday. in the afternoon i went to star market to pick up some parmesan cheese. i didn't realize it was so warm outside, almost summerlike with the temperature at 69°F. it actually felt a little unpleasant because it was also humid. my mother also asked me to buy 2 6-pack of beers for matthew.

since i had the car, i drove to belmont. my parents wanted persian takeout for dinner but when i called sabzi around 6pm i discovered they were closed. so instead we went to the golden palace chinese place in belmont on concord avenue. at first we thought it was closed because it was so dim inside (that's just how the lights are normally). inside was empty except for one biracial family: a white talkative father, a passive chinese mother, and their 2 small children whom on occasion ran around the restaurant untethered. a few more people came in, but they were picking up takeouts. finally a chinese family arrived, 3 adults and 2 children. they looked like new immigrants, especially since the children still spoke chinese. my parents overheard them chattering in a mixture of mandarin and sichuan dialect. one of the woman was commenting to the chef why their spicy pickled vegetables was so much hotter than typical sichuan variety (that seemed unlikely).

i drove back to cambridge with the dyson vacuum. now that i no longer have roommates, i want to give the place a thorough cleaning that only the dyson can do justice. i spent the rest of the evening vacuuming, including under the beds and behind the refrigerator.