i unloaded the shelving unit and put it on my pack porch to use as a makeshift plant stand. i noticed my cuban oregano leaf (mexican mint) that i had in a small cup of water has grown multiple roots. and my potted prayer plants with nothing but dead leaves? i noticed a fresh new shoot poking out from the soil.
a somerville paddy wagon was behind me while i was coming back; i pedaled to the side of the road to let it pass. but when i got home, the paddy wagon was just outside my house. turns out this had something to do with the commotion i saw yesterday: 3 somerville police SUV was outside my neighbor's house. i didn't know what was going on but if i had to guess, it had something to do with their adult son, who's something of a problem child. the police were back again today to arrest the son. i watched the whole thing go down, 3 cops surrounded him, gave him the courtesy to put on his shoes, before handcuffing and putting him in the paddy wagon. i turned on the police scanner and heard them announce they served the arrest warrant at 9:40am.
after my roommate left for the office at 10am, i used the bathroom and took a shower before heading down to the cafe. it took a while, because i had to pack all the grocery items, along with tying the pack of paper towels to the back of the bike. i stopped briefly to check out multiple bags of VHS tapes somebody had thrown out on the sidewalk. i got the cafe by 11am.
my mother made some more zongzi with some leftover glutinous rice and bamboo leaves. these were plain zongzi because she didn't have any more fillings, but apparently it's the kind that my sister likes. speaking of my sister, for the second week in a row she didn't do her catered meals, so another stress-free wednesday. that didn't mean it wasn't busy. instead of a lunch time rush of business, it was just a steady stream of customers. the busiest time was an hour before closing, which prevented me from leaving as i stayed and helped. my father made some handmade noodles and i had some before i left, fulfilling my dinner obligations.
today was the second and last day of amazon prime. i managed to talk my mother into reluctantly getting some forged santoku knives for the cafe (the selling point was free return if she didn't like them). i tried to get my father to buy the t-fal self-cleaning fryer that was on sale for just $90, but he said the fry basket was too deep - would require at least 2L worth of cooking oil. the way he fries now - although messier - uses far less oil. i did tell him i bought a stainless steel oil storing container, which will make his frying a lot less messy. i also showed him some 12V freezers on sale. he ended up going onto vevor and finding a 55L 12V freezer for $266. we then found the exact same 55L model on amazon under a different brand (euhomy) for just $220. it was too good a bargain to resist (plus it has a free return guarantee) so we ended up getting it. it wasn't an amazon prime deal, just happened to be on sale at the same time by coincidence. my mother was against the purchase, but my father's been looking for a real 12v freezer for a few years ago, ever since he found that 12v thermoelectric cooler. thermoelectric cooling is nowhere as efficient as compressor cooling. he plans on using this new car freezer with our DIY lithium iron phosphate batteries.
i didn't get back home until 6:45pm. not only was lauryn already back at home, but she also made dinner, judging by the heavy food smell in the house. she didn't have the courtesy to close my bedroom door so i can look forward to sleeping with food smells tonight. i turned on the AC as soon as i got back, tried to lower the room temperature. it was 90 degrees outside today. it didn't feel that oppressive because the humidity was low, but it won't stay like that the rest of the week. after a shower, i had a pomegranate popsicle. later i watched the long kiss goodnight (1996). it was a broadcast tv edit so all the swearing was edited out, plus the addition of commercials. it was so frustrating to watch, i almost went online to download the original movie.
i got in touch with alex, who filled me in on some more details of his recent trip. our chat was interrupted by a phone call, by someone looking to schedule a televison interview about his trip, but alex referred the caller to another person.
as i still had a few hours left of amazon prime shopping, and went online looking for something to spend the $100 gift certificate my aunt and matthew gave me for my birthday back in february. originally i was going to get a light box to shoot objects with a stark white background, but then decided to get soft box lights instead, which weren't very expensive but a lot more versatile. i first had to take a crash course in soft box light (led/soft box/spotlight). i ended up going with an octagonal softbox kit ($78) that featured two 135W remote adjustable LED lights along with light stands and sandbags. i like the octagon shape because it gives a more natural reflection compared to square/rectangular (which are more common). these might not be the most heavy duty or commercial-grade, but it'll give me something to play with at least.