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jack called yesterday, inviting us to his house for chinese dumplings. of course we were all curious to go, as none of us had been to his newton house after he bought it 3 years ago. as it wouldn't be polite to arrive empty-handed, i went to market basket in the morning to buy a box of clementines. my mother was also insisted on getting a potted flower, and it had to be orchids. MB had one small specimen, but it was more of a miniature bonsai orchid, so my mother said we'd get it elsewhere.

although maybe i would've liked to have gone a whole 2 weeks fermenting this second jar of sauerkraut, i opened the jar anyway on day 12 because judging from the airlock there wasn't anymore fermentation activity, at least not enough to matter whether i opened it today or 2 days from today. it tasted more sour than the first batch, and had slightly more moisture, but i was still surprised that the sauerkraut itself wasn't sitting in a pool of its own juices, as there were hardly any juices left. i filled up an empty pint jar with sauerkraut to bring to my parents' place; even after stuffing the jar, i still had 2/3 left in the quart jar, which shows how much i compressed the shredded cabbage initially.

i had the idea of rigging up an armature to take a selfie video as i rode the bike to belmont. i tried something similar, last year, but the view was from the back with the camera mounted to a selfie stick which was in turn perpendicularly mounted to a tripod strapped to the rear rack. it wasn't a good setup because the camera wasn't back far enough and my backpack blocked any view of myself. this time i used some link armature components but as much as i extended it, it was still too short. so i had a good view of myself, but then mostly sky.

today was the last day of the regular NFL season. on the AFC side, playoff teams were already decided. but in the NFC, three teams were vying for 2 playoff spots - green bay packers, detriot lions, and washington redskins. when the redskins lost to the giants in the late afternoon game, the packers and lions were both automatically in the playoffs, regardless of their game later in the evening. the patriots faced the dolphins in miami. new england continued to fire on all cylinders, winning the game 35-14. just like the last game, jimmy garoppolo came in at the end, saving brady for the playoffs.

my godmother called at one point, asking us if we could give her a ride. after the game, we went to the waverley square star market to look for those orchids my mother wanted. they had orchids, but they were either all in bloom, or mostly buds. i convinced my mother into getting a pair of potted cyclamens instead. my godmother called to let us know she was ready and it was just a short trip to her house nearby.