when i arrived at the cafe, my father was videochatting with my taiwanese cousin (大表哥), confirming the details of the battery charger he wants my mother to buy and bring back. my cousin tried to contact me first but i was biking at the time and didn't answer my phone.

another slow day. not much to do, but the extra thick chalk markers (15mm) arrived so i wrote up some sidewalk billboard signs. they have a chiseled "calligraphy" tip which makes it hard to do the sort of lettering i'm used to. in the end i did some simple free writing - nothing fancy - just to have something out there. the best sign is still the one my sister's friend wrote up - she has very beautiful letters, my sister tells me she's a school teacher, so maybe that's way.

i returned home by 3pm, just in time to power wash the backyard deck. paul had already turned on the water and connected the hose (as promised), and they also cleared all the furniture from their upstairs deck. i rolled up my pants and changed into a pair of rubber boots and waterproof jacket, since from past experience i knew i'd be soaked by the end. the weather wasn't ideal - temperature in the cool 50's with overcast skies and rain arriving in a matter of hours - but better to get it done and out of the way.

i started from the bottom and worked my way up, because i knew there's be a lot of dripping water, but in hindsight i don't think it made much difference. the pressure washer is so strong that it had a tendency to fray the wood if it's soft, but it's either pressure washing or scrubbing my hand which takes much longer. i tried to be careful, not to get the nozzle too close or stay in one spot for too long.

i started at 3pm and didn't finish until 5:30pm, a full 2-1/2 hours of non-stop power washing. by that point it'd started raining, but i didn't even notice because i was already soaked. i put everything away and went back inside to change into some dry clothes. i didn't see my upstairs neighbors the whole time, and they didn't try to talk to me through the window, since technically they're supposed to be in covid quarantine. paul did send me a thank you e-mail afterwards, i sent him some instructions on how to apply the australian timber oil.

my celery seeds have finally germinated, but they're so tiny, at first i thought it was mold. can they really grow into full adult celeries? even if i fail, i still have plenty more seeds to germinate.

for dinner i made myself a caesar salad with extra croutons. now that the weather is warming up, i can start eating salads again and not feel like i didn't have enough hot food to keep my body warm.

i started watching HBO's tokyo vice, about an american newspaper journalism investigating the yakuza. haven't finished the first episode yet but it's pretty interesting. it's my new show to watch, along with picard and julia.