first stop was MGH, where i wanted to get my lab work done (my doctor wants to check my potassium levels now that i'm on irbesartan). i figured with waning coronavirus case numbers, it'd be safe to return to the hospital. they screen everyone coming in. when i told the guy i was here to get my lab work done, he informed me they're closed today and tomorrow.
i thought it was a hospital thing but later realized it's because of the 4th of july weekend. since july 4th (tomorrow) falls on a saturday, today is the observed day. that's why there were so many people out today, more so than usual, more so than on a typical friday. in inman square i saw a long line outside of the free clinic. they must be doing covid-19 testing. most of those waiting in line were young, not sure what prompted so many people to get tested. maybe a lot of them attended one of the many black live matters protests a few weeks back and wanted to make sure they didn't contract anything. the line was so long it snaked around the block.
i arrived at ming's market by noontime. first thing i noticed when i went inside was how long the lines were. i wasn't getting a lot of groceries but i took my time to allow the lines to thin out. i love exploring asian supermarkets (or supermarkets of any kind, actually), i always find something new. while browsing the cooking wine aisle, i noticed they also had some plum wine. this is of course illegal because they don't have a liquor license but i'm not going to say anything. they were moon lake brand, which i've never heard before. one of them was even a choya knockoff, with a similar looking green bottle and actual plums soaking in the wine. i decided to get a bottle, it was only $7.99.
i probably waited longer in line than i did shopping, similar to last time. today was even worse, i think they miscalculated and was understaffed, not realizing that a lot of people had the day off today. i stood behind a trio of cantonese shoppers. two of them were double masking, while a third wore a rain coat, a KN95 mask, a face shield, a haircut, then wrapped her whole head in a clear plastic bag. they were annoying, kept taking turns coming back with more groceries. at one point all three of them were gone, and i ended up having to push their cart to get the line moving. when one of the woman came back, she seemed angry that i'd pushed her cart for her. they were also buying a lot of meats, and left the counter wet with meat juices. one of the woman spoke with the cashier in broken mandarin, as the checkout girl didn't speak cantonese.
even though i arrived at ming's market around 12pm, i didn't leave until more than an hour later, at 1:20pm. i then slowly moseyed my way back to cambridge, along the charles river bike path, then over the mass ave bridge towards MIT. i finally got home a bit after 2pm.
lounging on the couch, i got sleepy and decided to take a short nap around 6pm. i didn't wake up until 8pm, when it was already starting to get dark.
i didn't start dinner preparations until almost 9pm. i decided to cut one of my watermelons first, since i probably wouldn't want to do it after i had my dinner. it took me 20 minutes to render a whole watermelon into cubes. i put most of it away in containers, leaving just a quarter to eat later. i then made another greek salad. at this point i'm kind of salad'ed out. next week, either a quiche pie (to use up my diced ham and pie crust) or red thai curry.