lauryn was already gone when i woke up this morning at 9am, i didn't even hear her leave. while the place was empty, i took some more photos for antonio (the spanish astrophysicist arriving in the fall). i went to the community garden to water my plants around 10:30am before heading to the cafe to work.

i was super busy at the cafe today, didn't even have time to eat, while my aunt and sister's godmother all showed up to visit. my aunt left with a bunch of food while my sister's godmother came by to help her clean her place. she waited for nearly an hour, with no sign of my sister. i even tried texting her but no answer. when she finally returned, she said she didn't take her phone, and made no apology for making her godmother wait so long.

during a lull in the afternoon, i biked to belmont to retrieve an amazon package. a new replacement universal bathtub sink drain arrived. unfortunately it was an exact copy of the temu drain, though 2x the price. i gave it a try anyway, and it also leaked just like the temu one.

the melnor minimax turbo oscillating sprinker (with step spike) also arrived today ($27). what i liked about it is it has the same coverage as our melnor adjustable sprinkler, but in a more compact size and on a garden spike so it doesn't sit on any grass. i swapped out the pulsating sprinkler and replaced it with the minimax, positioned in the center of the old reseeded lawn for most efficient coverage. i then adjusted it so watered just that area.

i watered the backyard garden. i saw the defoliated bok choy in RB1; i'd never seen defoliation like that before, where it ate everything but left just the veins. i also moved in the thanksgiving cactuses because i noticed they were wilting. my father said it was sun scalding, i don't think they're tough enough to live outdoors. the lantana potted shrub - after dropping all its leaves once we moved it outside - have quickly resprouted new leaves. and finally one of the water spinach has sprouted, but still waiting for the other 11 remaining rock wool plugs to germinate as well.

i left belmont by 3:30pm, returning to the cafe. since it wasn't busy, my parents said i was free to go, so i left by 4:30pm, with the sky turning increasing cloudy and looking like it might rain on this very hot (yet dry) day.

lauryn returned home around 6pm. she said they had a pizza party at her office and she ate enough that she wasn't hungry for dinner.

around 8pm i started making my taiwanese paocai. i reduced my vegetables (4.35 lbs. of taiwanese cabbage, 1.26 lbs. of carrots) separately this time, making it easier to drain later. the ratio i used was 1 tbsp of salt per 1 lbs. of vegetable. i sliced the carrots very thin (they taste better that way, versus medium size), it was easier using the madolin the second time around. i kept turning the vegetables (with gloves hands) which made them reduce faster. once they finished, i rinsed them in the sink a few times before mixing everything with sugar (a little over 2 cups) and vinegar (a little over 2 cups), plus some pepper corns and one sliced thai chili pepper. i made sure to give each fistful of vegetables a good squeeze to remove any remaining water before mixing. all the paocai fit neatly into the 12 cups dollar store square container.

lauryn stayed out to chat until almost 10pm. i regaled her with traveling stories, and found out she's been to a few places i'd haven't been to (heilongjiang, south korea, singapore). she revealed that she contracted covid last month while visiting beijing with her grandfather (he didn't get it); thankfully she's vaccinated, twice with the china vaccine, twice with pfizer while she was studying in hong kong. she'd also been qauarantined a few times while traveling back home: 2 day quarantine in hong kong, but another time a 28 day quarantine in shenzhen. she said it wasn't too bad (had her own room with bathroom), though she did have to pay for the quarantine, and the quarantine hotel price was actually higher than market value. she said she met PX at the office pizza party and he told her they know a friend who has a car and they often go out to weekend trips. she also purchased her return flight today, after confirming with me that it was okay for her to leave on september 1st.

while we were talking, i kept hearing thundering outside. it wasn't until i was finished making the paocai that i went to the living room and realized the blinds were still on, and saw that it was pouring rain outside. i didn't think we'd get any rain today, but we ended up about 2 inches worth of rain.

for dinner i ate the braised beef rollup my mother gave me while watching air on amazon prime.