since i've been helping out at the cafe, it's never gotten really crazy busy. that is until today, where we probably set a single day record. the only other day that comes close was a single day last august, and not counting a handful of holiday event days. was it the weather? it was grey and wet this morning, but by the afternoon we hit the upper 60's and the sun came out, amplified by puffy cumulous clouds. it seems everyone decided they wanted bento boxes or bubble tea today, especially the drinks, they best sellers. later my father told me he went through all the bubble tea straws, as a non-stop torrent of teenagers came in buying bubble tea.

soon after i arrived at the cafe by 11am, it started getting busy, and finally tapered off by 3pm. it was only then i ate something for the first time today, and had a chance to use the bathroom. my aunt stopped by and had some beef noodle soup, my godmother also visited, bringing with her some food (jiuniang, meat buns, black glutinous rice dessert) and asking for my help to help her order something online.

i did a bit of everything: answered the phone, made bubble tea, cooked rice, cooked noodles, assembled bento boxes, wash dishes, microwaved frozen ingredients, went down to the basement to get supplies, made more tea eggs, worked the frying pan, opened the window to ventilate the kitchen, packaged takeout bags.

i also set up the new bn-link smart plugs that i ordered directly from the manufacturer. these included energy monitoring, something the new plugs are missing. they look virtually the same as the bn-link smart plugs that arrived a week ago, except these are model U133TJ while the new ones (without energy monitoring) are U133T. i went back to the company website last night, seems they no longer carry the smart plugs with monitoring anymore. i set up plugs for the bunn coffee brewer and the tea egg slow cooker.

i finally left around 4pm. about 6pm - when my father should've been closing up the cafe - it suddenly got really busy again. busy enough that i called my sister to let her know what was going on so she could stop by the cafe and help out briefly. my father didn't get back home until almost 8pm.

when i got home i tried to fix the leaking outdoor faucet - a washer issue - but i wasn't able to remove the packing nut and release the valve assembly. i didn't have a large enough adjustable crescent wrench to clamp onto the packing nut, and when i tried to use a pair of plumbing pliers, i couldn't get a good enough grip. i'll try again when i can get a larger adjustable crescent wrench.

after that i biked to whole foods briefly to return some crochet hooks and the energy-monitor-less bn-link smart plugs.

i wanted to finish one of my projects tonight - set up the asus router, study for the servsafe exam, make sauerkraut, plant my seeds - in the end i decided to plants my seeds, as that was the more time sensitive project, and the later i start, the shorter my growing season is. even then, i didn't really get started until after 8pm, when i was waiting for my french bread pizza to finish baking in the oven. i made more growing pots by melting drainage holes with a heated awl into 48 plastic cups. i didn't use all of them since i still had leftovers from last season. i put them into 2 gardening trays for easier mobility, 18 cups per tray. i planted: 9 ping tung eggplants, 3 habanero, 6 thai hot pepper, 6 purple serrano, 6 cloudy day hybrid tomatoes, and 6 aunt molly's ground cherries. basically all vegetables from the nightshade family. i put them on two heat pads, hoping they'll germinate faster. i also planted 36 nigella plants. once these seeds have germinated, i'll started germinating my vining seeds: bitter melons, long beans, and buttercup squashes.

my mother called me while i was planting my vegetable seeds. i told her about my two covid-positive neighbors. speaking of which, paul definitely went out today because i saw him on my webcam driving somewhere. he was a wearing a face mask this time, unlike when i spotted him on webcam a few days ago.

i'd set up the plant germination station the guest bedroom - which is the warmest part of the house. however now that i'm using heat mats, that's no longer necessary, and i can set up anywhere. which is good, because the heat mats kind of cook the soil so there's this strong earthy smell - not very good for sleeping (unless you like the idea of sleeping underground). so before i went to bed i moved everything into my storage closet.