temperature this morning was in the 40's, but i still dressed for warmth when i biked to belmont since the temperature might drop by evening. my mother made jiu niang soup for lunch, including hand-rolled glutinous rice balls. even though the fermented rice was sweet, she added 3 small spoonful of sugar to make it even sweeter.

although it was cloudy at times today, it was dry with a slight wind, and i couldn't resist going out into the backyard to do another flight on the drone. i basically did the same loop as yesterday, towards fresh pond golf course, to belmont acres farm, to burbank school, then back. i didn't lose connection this time (maybe because i updated RC-N1 controller firmware before flying) so i had a complete flight data recording, which said i went out and flew 2.28km this time (1.4 miles). around fresh pond i stopped to check out a pool house i spotted yesterday. not only did this house have a pool, but it seemed to be still in use, which means it has to be heated. i also tried to get a better photo of burbank school, i flew closer this time, but i think i was still too high up.

once i got back, since there was still plenty of juice in the battery, i practiced flying in small circles around the backyard, using a combination of gimbal panning on the left joystick and pitching and rolling on the right. being able to fly in a tight circle is important if i want to spin around a structure or just turning to get a better view.

i downloaded piranesi (epub version) by susanna clarke last week and i just finished reading it today. it started as my bedtime book, but the story was so captivating that i found myself looking forward to bed just so i can read for an hour. the past few days it got to the point where i read it every chance i got, whether just getting out of bed, in the bathroom, lounging on the couch, basically anytime i had some spare time. i discovered the book from a best of 2020 list. the list said to just read the book without knowing anything about it, that it was a mystery of sorts. the author - susanna clarke - wrote jonathan strange & mr norrell - a book i never read but watched the BBC miniseries - so knew the book had a good pedigree. it's also her first book in 16 years, so many of her fans have been waiting a long time for this.

my parents and i had hot pot again for the 3rd straight day. the strategy is to run the air purifier at the same time so it doesn't stink up house. there wasn't much left in the hot pot, we had one last package of sliced lamb.

i biked home afterwards. after using the bathroom and a shower, i settled in for monday night football, a match between the patriots and bills. buffalo is seriously legit this season, and they thrashed new england (38-9), just like the way the patriots have dominated them for 2 decades. the patriots were unrecognizable as the dominant football team for all these many years. it wasn't so fun watching it as a new england fan, but the folks in buffalo must be loving it. i will definitely be rooting for the bills in the playoffs, they deserve to go the distance.