end of daylight savings time began last night. that might explain why i woke up at 5am instead of 7am, my internal clock still not adjusting to the new time change. i tried going back to sleep, but i slept in increments, until my phone alarm finally went off at 7am. i was waking up early to go see the cambridge half marathon, like i did last year. i got some good photos, and was hoping to get more of the same this year. what made it easier was the weather: the temperature was already 69 degrees this morning. last year, we were barely above freezing.

i left the house around 7:40am. i only wore a t-shirt, and it was warm enough to wear shorts even. i had my 55-250mm lens, and my fuji 3D camera just in case. i went straight to harvard square, headed to JFK street which the police had already blocked off to car traffic. runners were already advancing up the street, turning down mt.auburn towards central square. i stayed for a few minutes shooting down the length of JFK, but then moved to corner of dunster and mt.auburn, where despite the grey sky, the rising sun from the east properly lit all the runners heading down to central square.

it was so warm that i saw many men (having the luxury of) going topless. the only saving grace was it was also windy, which hopefully gave the runners some relief. i wish i could talk to each runner and learn their motivation for running. are they just addicted? are they doing it for some kind of cause? or maybe some personal reason? everyone has a story as to why they're running.

around 8:30am i heard someone calling my name. i looked and i saw brice! i did wonder earlier if i'd see him. but the odds of picking him out of the crowd? even if i knew he was running? it was probably next to impossible. but for whatever reason he managed to spot me. if you gave me a photo me in a crowd of people, i wouldn't even be able to recognize myself, so i'm not sure how brice did it. he should quit his job and be one of those special face spotters for the police. he caught me by surprise and i was only able to snap a few photos of him while he ran away. i briefly though about chasing him down, but the course wasn't looping back around, so there was no way i could catch him.

i didn't leave until 9am, once the runners started to thin out. even these last stragglers were better runners than me (i can barely run 2 miles without stopping to rest). i parked my bike outside of the new el jefe's tacqueria (already opened this morning), which i think used to be urban outfitters, before developers drove out all the existing businesses so they could put up a new building. i must admit, the new building doesn't look too bad, even though i don't remember what the old building looked it. i also noticed next door was a tiger sugar boba shop, coming soon. what's the rent like in a place like that?

once i got back home, i used the bathroom before taking a shower. i then spent more than an hour doing last minute cleaning: vacuum the guest bedroom, tidy up the kitchen, disinfect the toilet bowl, put new heavy duty tinfoil on the range, throw out the trash.

i informed frances via whatsapp that i sent hans the joji CD. she had no idea, and seemed a little angry at first that hans went behind her back to ask me to send him stuff, but i told her he asked me when we were in new york city, and i said it was a present. she then asked me how i was doing otherwise, and i told her about earlier watching a half marathon, about my taiwanese relatives visiting, and the new astrophysicist staying at my place for 2 weeks. i then asked her how she was doing. that's something i'm starting to pick up on: when people ask how i'm doing, what they really want is for me to ask them the same. frances then told me that she and fredrick were separated since april. this came as a total shock, because i'd just saw them a month ago, and never once picked up on the fact that they weren't together anymore. she said they're still good friends and do occasional family trips together, like going to NYC. still, if she didn't tell me, i would've had no idea. the kids didn't give off any clues either - none that i picked up on anyway - they seemed just as happy as the last time i saw them. it makes me question my own ability to pick up on things like this, that maybe i'm just super oblivious to this sort of stuff.

i finally left for belmont around 11:20am. as soon as i arrived we left for a supply run, heading to the waltham costco to pick up some eggs. instead of first going to costco, we went to the nearby waltham home depot to check out a suitable replacement dryers. we saw similar 7 cu. ft. whirlpool dryers to the we currently have: one with autodry, another with sensor dry ($50 more). we decided if we were to get a new dryer, it'd be with sensor dry ($600).

my mother also wanted to replace the washing machine, which is older than the dryer but still works, even though she says clothes come out with a stink. at first both my father and i thought it was unnecessary, but the more we looked, the more we considered getting a new washer as well. a 5 cu. ft. samsung-brand high-efficiency top load washer with impeller and energy star rated costs just $650. that's when i learned there are 3 types of washing machines: agitator, front loading, and impeller. agitator washing machines are the classic model with the agitator rod in the middle. they are the best at washing, but they use the most water and electricity. front loading washers conserve both electricity and water, but they wash the slowest. finally there are the impeller washers, which behave like front loading machines in how much electricity and water it saves, but have short cycle times like agitator machines. they don't have an agitator rod so there's more room for bulky items, like a blanket. one disadvantage is they're the loudest. i took a bunch of photos and decided to go home and do more research.

costco was crowded - judging by the amount of cars in the parking lot - but it wasn't too bad. even at it's most crowded, it's never "i was afraid i might get trampled" density. once more they've set a limit of the amount of eggs customers can buy: just 4 dozen. we go through at least 4 dozens in just a week, so we'll need to make another costco trip soon, or hope they change their egg policies. we left by 1:30pm.

we drove directly to the cafe to drop off the supplies. i was tasked with visiting hailey, who was home alone. i let her outside to pee then gave her a chewy when she came back inside. we returned to belmont around 2:30pm.

my new astrophysicist roommate texted me around 4pm, said he just got out of the airport and was taking the subway to my place. he estimated he'd get there by 5:30pm. i left belmont and returned to cambridge. with the end of daylight savings, the sun was already starting to set. i cleared out some room in the fridge. i figured he'd arrive earlier, but i forgot he was leaving from the airport, not south station. he did in fact get here close to 5:30pm - 5:20pm actually.

he was hauling a very large suitcase for just a 2 week visit, and wore an oversize brown bomber jacket dotted with astronomy-related patches. i'd never met him before, even though he said he lived in the apartment above my sister's place between 2013-2015. 2013-2014 was the year i lived in chongqing, so that could be a big reason why i'd never seen him before. i gave him a quick tour of the house, told him the wifi password, and demonstrated how to lock and unlock the dead bolt on the front door. i asked what people called him. "dao chong," he told me, which sounds a lot low "dow jones" so that's how i'm going to refer to him (or as DC). i told him there was a super market across the street, but there was also a chinese restaurant and a thai-vietnamese place. he remembered zoe's from when he lived in cambridge: it was a restaurant he'd heard coworkers mention often, but never had the chance to visit. it was also during that time that zoe's had their roof collapse so they were closed for a long time, so DC though maybe it'd closed for good, but was happy to learn they were still around. i left soon afterwards, went back to my parents' place for dinner, told DC i'd return by 7pm.

for dinner my mother made some beef and chinese celery stirfry. she also made some pickled purple radish (they tasted a little bitter for some reason), and we ate the leftover sour bamboo from last night. we also tried the winter hill chad pop beer - featuring lime, lemon, coriander, and salt. to me it tasted just like light beer, i couldn't tell anything special about it. my father said he could taste the salt, but nothing more.

i left by 7pm. when i got back home, DC had already changed into a t-shirt and shorts. he told me he went out and got some fried rice from zoe's. he said it was pretty good. when he was there, the restaurant was crowded with mostly asian customers, which is a good sign of authentic chinese cuisine. we then chatted in the kitchen while i made some tea. i'm a master of chitchatting for pertinent info. prior to working in new mexico, he'd worked in beijing for 5 years. his field of expertise is radio telescope arrays. he'd only just started his new job in NM, been there for just 2 months. it's pretty sparse out there, and the reason why he brought a large suitcase is to stuff it with asian staples when he goes back home, since there are no asian supermarkets where he lives (he hasn't been to albuquerque yet, the closest large city). the only store near where he currently lives is a walmart, and you're basically limited to whatever they have in stock, like when he went to go buy a bed. he told me one reason why he left beijing was things were starting to get too political as the only taiwanese astrophysicist working there. he felt they were using him as a pawn. also the zero covid policy was wearing on him, as he'd been forcibly quarantined no less than 3 separate times. his new job in NM is currently for 2 years, with the possibility of an extension. we cut our chitchat short as he had a conference call at 9pm and needed to do some prep work.

i retreated to the living room where i watched sunday night football between the titans and chiefs. i was rooting for the tennessee but patrick mahomes willed his team to victory in overtime, in a game that will be forever celebrated by kansas city fans.