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i left for chinatown in the late morning, making a stop at whole foods to return a bike helmet gopro strap that didn't fit. i noticed today there was an amazon storage locker in the foyer of the store. i always thought it was for retrieving items you've ordered, but i realized you can also make returns too, provided you have a QR code or barcode to scan. i tried it, it printed out a sticker for my item, and then i put the item in a bin. it was super easy and i didn't have to interact with a human (always thought they found it annoying to see me all the time returning stuff).

i wore my gopro on the head mount strap over my bike helmet. it was a proof-of-concept to see if it'd actually work and what the footage would be like. i was afraid the strap would fall off but it didn't. the gopro did add weight to the front of the helmet, which came down right above my brow.

i wasn't going to haymarket today (nothing i needed there) which made the trip easier and shorter. i made to it c-mart by noon. i was surprised by how empty it was, judging from all the empty spaces in the parking lot. where have all the people gone? it's the same thing at the cafe, all the customers seemed to have collectively disappeared this week. i searched for hot sauces for my mother. i was surprised to see c-mart now carries sichuan paocai jars, $20 for a small, $25 for a large. they'd look great as a decoration at the cafe, except they smell when you have vegetables fermenting inside, since these jars burp themselves.

next i went to ming's market to get a few more things. i was looking for a particular brand of taiwan spicy sauce but they don't seem to carry it anymore. i might have to go the super 88 in allston, which has a better selection. i did check out their selection of asian vegetable seeds and found chinese mustard. the same seeds i paid $4 on ebay but here they sell them for just $1.99.

coming back, i put the gopro back onto my helmet. i got home by 1:30pm. i checked the footage. having the camera helmet-mounted gives a more accurate POV then having it on the handlebar. it also captures what i'm looking at - which is good - when i'm looking at something interesting - but bad - when i'm repeatedly looking behind me checking for traffic. there's also the issue of horizon tilt. i had the camera on the wide angle setting which doesn't have horizon compensation, but next time i'll try linear mode with horizon adjustment, to give it a smoother recording.

my mother called me when i was just about to leave chinatown, asking for bean sprouts. she told me never mind, that they were going to get some over the weekend. after i changed out of my sweat-soaked clothes and took a shower, i packed my saddlebags with supplies, then took the motorcycle to visit some supermarkets. i went to star market in search of boneless chicken thighs on sale but they were all sold out. i went to market basket for bean sprouts and mini cucumbers. finally i went to the porter square star market for chicken thighs, they too were sold out.

afterwards i stopped by the cafe to drop off the supplies. i realized i didn't have my phone, so google map couldn't track me so there's no record of me visiting supermarkets or visiting the cafe. the bean sprouts turned out to be a crucial purchase (even though my mother told me not to get them) when there was an order of double pad thai. i bought along a sample hydroponic mason jar, with rockwool cube and leca balls, for my father to see. it was my first time experiencing rockwool and leca as well: rockwool looks like fiberglass (though it absorbs water like a sponge) and i didn't realize how dusty leca can be, and yes, they really do roll everywhere if you accidentally drop them on the ground.

i left the cafe at 3:45pm. when i got home, i opened a bottle of kombucha i bought from star market and finished watching glorious (2022), a lovecraftian horror movie, about a man stuck in a rest stop bathroom with an eldritch god. i didn't like it, though it did feature the voice of jk simmons as the unseen creature.

did i mention it was really hot today? temperature approaching the 90's. but it was also dry, so it didn't feel that bad. my upstairs neighbors texted me this morning, said they were gone to maine for the weekend, asked me to bring in any packages. my bathroom started to smell again this morning, because of the heat. it dissipated after i used the toilet and took a shower, the grey water washing away some of that stench in the pipes. i even smelled it when i was outside the house, wafting up from the storm drains.

even though it was a hot day, i did a load of laundry and then ran the dryer. it would've been a nice day to hang dry my clothes (even though it was already a bit late to do so), but i was washing my bedsheets, and those needed to be dried in the dryer.

as i mentioned yesterday, i froze the rest of my lasagna. instead for dinner i made a bowl of luxury korean ramen noodles. i didn't eat until 9pm, and realized there was a patriots pre-season game against the carolina panthers. by the time i watched the game, it was already in the 3rd quarter, and most of the starters had sat down, including mac jones.

sleeping on fresh sheets felt like sleeping in a hotel room. i cracked the window open to allow in some cool breeze.