i didn't go outside at all today, just stayed indoors, even though the snow wouldn't start until later tonight. i thought about visiting one of the supermarkets, but there was nothing i urgently needed, and i didn't want to deal with the storm panic crowds.

today was the calm before the storm. everything seemed very quiet, peaceful, contemplative. it wasn't cold, temperature was in the 30's, but would drop once the bulk of the store arrives by tomorrow.

i watched the news while i ate another spicy jamaican beef patty along with a matcha latte. there was nothing new to report, the accumulation today for boston was still 24+ inches. i knew the last time we had more than a foot of snow was just over a year ago, but the last time boston actually experienced a blizzard was longer than that, back in march 2018. that was a long day for me. my parents were on vacation in taiwan, and i had to first shovel the cafe (with no internet service), before taking the bus to boston later in the evening so i could shovel out my parents' place. i ended up spending the night in belmont so i could clear the solar panels in the morning, but there wasn't hot water in the house (i'd turned it down to vacation mode while my parents were gone for a month), so after a hard day's work, my reward was showering in barely lukewarm water.

the scary thing is that storm can't compare to the potential monster blizzard we're expected to get tomorrow, a historical snowstorm of epic proportions. i think the official snow total for boston from that one snowstorm in 2018 was only 15 inches.

at one point for some strange reason my upstairs neighbors were blaring their music extra loud. i put my mini speaker on top of my living room window frame close to the ceiling and put the sound of air raid siren on full blast for 10 minutes straight, even after they turned off the music.

in the late afternoon i had some salad with italian dressing. by evening i heated up the leftover hot & sour soup i brought back yesterday along with a mantou bun i warmed up in the microwave.

maureen reported snow in jersey city by 8pm while i was still waiting. i thought maybe by 10pm it'd snow, and i set up some of our webcams to take a 10 sec interval time lapse starting at that time. however it didn't snow here until 11pm. the latest snowfall forecast shows boston with 18-28 inches of snow, basically about 2 feet, give a few inches either way.

now i'm going to get ready for bed, eager to wake up tomorrow morning to a magical snowy landscape.