i didn't have to wait this time, they seated me the moment that i arrived. unfortunately i then ended up waiting in the exam room for 15 minutes before the dentist actually came to see me. i was browsing my cook korean comic book on my phone, figuring out what recipe i wanted to make and what ingredients i needed to get from chinatown.
the deep cleaning was less eventful this time around since i knew what to expect. when the dentist cleaned one of my upper molars, i felt some deep nerve pain, enough that my leg jerked involuntarily and i opened my eyes (i had them closed because the dentist had her hands all over my face). that's a problem tooth and needs to get a root canal if not a complete crown. when the cleaning was over i spoke with the dental assistant. i didn't know it at the time (they all wear masks, so i'm never sure whom i'm speaking with), and when i asked her about root canal or crown, she didn't really know the answer. apparently a crown takes 3 visits, a root canal an additional 2 visits. i was going to think about it a bit more before committing to the procedure, but they go me to make an appointment anyway, first week of january.
i was done by 10:45am. from park street it's just an easy straight shot down tremont street to get to c-mart/ming's market. i like that route because it goes by the theater district but also the free clinic, 
where a line of people at least 100+ long was waiting to get tested and/or vaccinated. that reminds me: the dentist and her assistant both asked me if i got my booster shot. the receptionist already took down my info last time, but i showed them a picture of my vaccination card anyway. the dentist said i got my booster earlier (october) than they did.
i only needed to go to c-mart today. i could always tell if it's going to be crowded because the parking lot becomes a logjam of cars, and a long convoy of additional cars are waiting on the street waiting to get in. i would never want to drive to c-mart, have to deal with the parking headache. then inside was crowded with people. everyone was masked, but being surrounded by that many people made me a little worried. i don't understand why it was so crowded for a late tuesday morning. couldn't be because of christmas since it's not really a chinese holiday, and chinese new year isn't until the end of january.
i found the kamaboko my mother wanted. she also asked me to pick up a package of yellow pickled radishes. enoki mushrooms were on sale ($2/package, it was something like $6/package at malden 88 yesterday), as well as shanghai bokchoi (89¢/lbs). i also picked up a daikon radish and some watermelon seeds.
i left c-mart by 11:30am. i then cycled into chinatown proper, to get some vietnamese sandwiches. i went to the shop on washington street (banh mi huong que). everything is more expensive these days and banh mi are no exception: i used to remember being able to get a sandwich for $3; the price now was $6. i bought two, one for me, one for my parents. i got the store specialty.
with my lunch secured, it was time to go home. i brought my gopro and strapped it to the handlebar. i learned from a youtube tv that the proper way to secure a gopro on a mount without it slipping is to use a screwdriver and give it a quarter turn. i did that this morning and sure enough, that gopro was super secure, didn't slip at all. the only thing it did was to rotate on the clamp mount because i didn't secure that tight enough. anyway, i ended up riding around chinatown for a little bit, getting some timewarp footage, before cutting through downtown crossing and getting onto cambridge street by government center to get back home. and instead of home, i decided to go to the cafe first to drop off the supplies. the whole ride took 40 minutes, 5.8 miles. of course by the end i was overheated and sweaty.
i was only at the cafe briefly as they started to get busy with a $100 phone order. if i stayed a bit later, i would've bumped into bin bin and her family, we stopped by the cafe to say hello. later she texted me that she left me a christmas present at the cafe. i checked the webcam logs and saw them. they were all wearing N95 masks, not the flimsy surgical masks we wear. i wonder if their suitcases isn't just filled with face masks.
i came home and ate my vietnamese sandwich. the first few bites were good, but then i hit something weird. there was a thick (quarter inch) layer of pork skin and fat. not only was it hard to chew through, there was no flavor, and eating raw fat made me want to throw up. it was a terrible sandwich, the house specialty is apparently a thick piece of pork skin. i won't go there again, i'll go to the banh mi shop on harrison ave. or just don't order the specialty next time, go with the vietnamese cold cuts.
around 3pm i went back outside. my mother asked me to check out the dollar store to see if they sold any churchkey can openers. the closet thing was a rotating can opener that had a bottle opener and can puncher on either end. i'm going to check some liquor stores, seems like the sort of thing they'd carry by the cashier. otherwise i'll just get this dollar store version. i left the store with some candy.
from there i went in search of a good place to launch my drone, which i was carrying in my bag. i went to the place where i flew from during the summer, the parking lot across from the st.catherine of genoa church. but there were people leaving the parking lot, and also several police cars nearby, so it wasn't a good place to launch.
i kept searching, ended up at landers street, but used the hidden staircase to walk down to osgood park. i've flown here in the past, but it's not as high as i'd like, so my transmission may get blocked. 
one way to compact that is to fly higher, which is what i did. i wanted to check out the ongoing construction happening at union square. they recently bit the elevator shaft for a 20-story building that's probably the tallest building within miles of the area. anyway, i had no transmission problem, the only thing that happened was i flew into a restricted flight path zone and got a warning to either drop down to 150ft or leave the area. i still want to fly from prospect hill park one of the days, one of my best flight was from there, i almost got to kendall square since it has great line of sight being situated on a hill.
i ended my flight around 4pm. i didn't fly too far, i still had 75% battery left. from there i went to market basket to pick up a packet of firm tofu and some korean ramen. i then walked home via the usual shortcut, getting back by 4:20pm.
for dinner i baked a frozen pizza. i can't remember the last time i had a frozen pizza. yes, i eat frozen pizzas, but only the stouffer's french bread pizza kind that can fit inside of a toaster oven. since i didn't grow up with an oven, i'm just not used to eating a round pizza. but i got a big round deluxe pizza, heated it up in the oven at 400°F for 24 minutes. the pizza was okay, i should've gotten thin-crust because this one had really thick crust, so it felt like i was just eating bread with a little bit of cheese and meat and vegetables. i ate 4 slices, left 2 for tomorrow.
later in the evening i redistributed some surge protectors. the one that i had for my entertainment system only has 6 plugs, which isn't enough for all the devices that need to connect to it. i ended up stripping the one from my bedroom which has 12 outlets, but unfortunately it has a very long 10ft cord. i ended up not using that one, but instead used a smaller surge protector on the other wall outlet. i also put another surge protector by the wall to my left, so now i have more outlets than i know what to do with.