wechat began pinging me early this morning. wangyang finally gave xiaoshen the tiny statue of liberty figurine i bought her, and xiaoshen was writing to thank me. wangyang also told me later that she delivered the gift. she also added that she saw a store at a shanghai outlet mall called tony wear and said she could send me some tailored pants if i wanted. i told her thanks but i was all set for pants.

the skin on my forehead hurts from the slight sunburn i sustained yesterday courtesy of standing out in the hot sun during the boston marathon. it looked really dark yesterday but has since faded a bit. also i'm starting to get those itchy blisters on my hands again. i'm trying to think what i touched to get them, i think it was the plastic spray nozzle. speaking garden hoses, diana contacted me today, said that she finally moved out all her perennials, and the community garden plot was free for me to do whatever i want with it now.

this was my plan for today: take miguel to market basket, get lunch at tasty burgers and shake shack (both harvard square), then climb washington tower at mt.auburn cemetery. he knew about lunch but didn't know what else i had planned, so naturally when paula boyfriend called him asking if he wanted to take a plane ride (her boyfriend is a licensed pilot), it was an offer miguel couldn't refuse. in hindsight maybe he should've, but more on that later.

of course i didn't mind. anytime i can have the house to myself is a good time. i used the bathroom, showered, then ate the plain dunkin donut donut miguel got for me when he went out for breakfast with karen this morning before she went to work. i always remember their donuts to be dry and cake-like, and my memory remains unchanged. whatever happened to krispy kreme? their donuts still remain the best donuts i've ever had. the closest store to boston seems to be located at the mohegan sun casino. and in new york (the state), the only store seems to be inside of penn station.

i went to market basket for groceries in the early afternoon. that's when i realized how cold it was at 50°F. the warm weather last week and all this weekend has put me in summer mode. i knew it would be cold today, but it still caught me by surprise. 50°F would be considered warm if i was still in winter mode, but not anymore. i think my short haircut also had something to do with it, as i'm used to a full head of hair to keep my head warm. i went back inside to put on my coat, my hat, and gloves.

i got back home right at the same time as miguel. he told me the flight was a disaster. everything was fine initially, but once they were airborne, he began to feel airsick from the turbulence. paula's boyfriend is an acrobatic pilot, so he was ready to do some aerial stunts, but miguel told him it wouldn't be a good idea so they ended up landing 30 minutes later. miguel treated the boyfriend to lunch, but he himself couldn't eat a thing, his stomach still reeling from the flight.

miguel left soon afterwards at 4:30pm to rendezvous with karen at longwood. it was actually his birthday today, and they wanted to try the daily catch restaurant they saw at the north end last friday. the restaurant itself wasn't anything special and didn't have many tables, but there was a long time of people waiting outside, and when they asked someone in line, he told them it was the best food he's ever had and the wait was worth it.

for dinner i heated up a container of three bridges grilled chicken and mozzarella ravioli and half a jar of classico italian sausage tomato sauce. i washed it all down with some polar ruby grapefruit seltzer and a bowl of strawberries.

i watered my plants last night after having not watered them this whole weekend, not since i got back from new york on thursday. i probably waited too long, because one of my mallows was all shriveled up. but never underestimate the resiliency of plants: today when i checked on my mallows, they were all fine, as if nothing happened.

wangyang sent me photos of the W head office in shanghai. when i was in shanghai prior to my arrival in chongqing, i never got a chance to visit the headquarter. not only is it interesting to see, but the thought of some of my former coworkers all in this office makes visiting a tantalizing opportunity. wangyang said she could see me around the place if i ever do visit. i told her i probably know more people in shanghai than in any part of china, although for my money, i would rather visit chongqing and sichuan. but the next time i'm in china, it'd definitely be interesting if i can work in a shanghai visit as well.

karen and miguel came back around 11pm. they said nothing about their birthday dinner, just came back inside the house complaining about how cold it was. miguel was particularly upset about the temperature drop, said it was impossible for people to live that this. somehow watching people suffering through the cold makes me feel warmer inside.