this morning at 8:30am i heard mary working the microwave in the kitchen. because i still don't know her schedule yet, i didn't know when to turn on the heat, so i turned it on manually from my bedroom with my phone. i then go out of bed to show her the bike she'll be riding later today. she was going to come around noontime but better to do it in the morning so she won't need to do it later. soon afterwards she left for the library and i had the house all to myself.

i ate the last of my tea egg for breakfast. i finally wrote an e-mail to my upstairs neighbors telling them about my new tenant. i wonder what they must be thinking, that i seem to have a neverending series of academics living at my place, from both china and europe. around noontime i rode the fuji bike to belmont.

i didn't feel well today. i woke up with a twisted pain in my neck from reading in bed with a short charging cable attached to my phone. and the headaches came back, the ones that sort of sit behind the back of my eyes. maybe i still haven't recovered fully from my NYC trip. i wasn't hungry when i got to my parents place but my mother still made some belgian waffles with the remaining waffle batter mix.

at least i seem to be getting some neck relief: my package of 2m long micro USB charging cables from monoprice. at just 75¢ a piece they were a real bargain for thick 28/28 AWG variety.¹ though purchased from monoprice, they don't seem to be monoprice-branded cables. i did some research later and discovered branded cabled with 22/30 WG (select) and 23/32 AWG (premium) wire gauges. i'll see how these work out. if they end up failing as well (like all the USB cables i've purchased in the past), i maybe need to buy an additional set of cables of even better quality.

feeling tired, i took a nap in my sister's old room around 4:30pm, waking up at 6pm, feeling even groggier than before. hailey was searching for me to feed her, but my mother ended up providing that service. after dinner i biked home around 7pm.

mary was home (naturally), the kitchen lights turn on again. she told me about her bike trip to haymarket today with her friend. she bought a lot of different fruits and wanted to share them with me. i finally asked her if she could keep the kitchen lights off when she's not using them. turns out she leaves them on for safety reasons, which i think is crazy, but i think she'll keep them off now.

¹ after some more research, i discovered that 28/28 is the standard. actually, in terms of wire gauge, the smaller number means a thicker (i.e. better) cable. the ideal wire size is 28/24 (normal data, thicker charging). also, the longer the cable, the less effective it is at charging as well, which might explain my recent slew of 6ft USB charging cable fails. the cheap prices for the cables should've tipped me off!