i called my mother this morning at 10:30am to confirm my sister was working today. so apparently that wasn't the case at all, as my sister decided she wouldn't work today after all. if today was anything like yesterday, it'd be another slow day, so i told my mother i wasn't coming in either. all that changed when i checked the webcam at 11:30am and saw the cafe crowded with people. i quickly got dressed and speed cycled to the cafe. my parents weren't surprised to see me, but i'd arrived just when most of the orders had already been fulfilled.

today turned out to be okay, just enough customers to make a little profit, not bad when compared to yesterday. for some reason my parents decided to make a batch of vegetarian buns right around noontime during our busiest period, just to make the day more exciting i guess. they also baked some croissants in the oven. my sister took esmei out to get her official dog license tag and then to the decordova museum (she invited me but i didn't reply because i had to work today because of her). when she came back she brought some more vegetarian pizza. it doesn't taste as good as regular pizza but i ate a big slice of onion and gorgonzola anyway.

my 2nd aunt showed up in the afternoon, bringing with her some supplies she got from chinatown earlier. she even managed to get a dragon calendar from the chase bank, after they originally told her they didn't have any. my aunt and matthew showed up later as well, bringing with them my mother's birthday present: some birthday money and a fully cooked cob-smoked frozen duck.

i left the cafe around 4:45pm. the weather today was in the 40's with a wet overcast. there were intermittent drizzles that were barely enough to wet the pavement.

having eaten bolognese pasta for the past 3 days, i couldn't eat anymore. i put the one final serving of bolognese in the freezer for future eating. instead i made my usual luxury ramen, this time with a pack of spicy buldak ramen. i made ramen because i needed to use up some leftover tofu.

tonight was the second half of a back-to-back with the raptors facing the celtics. a handful of guys weren't playing: tatum, porzingis, horford. but brown was activated after sitting out last night due to a back contusion courtesy of lebron's knee in the christmas lakers game. the raptors have a 12-18 record, but they're not as bad as the 2-29 pistons. and being back-to-back, there could be a chance boston wouldn't have the energy to beat toronto. celtics started well, pulling ahead to a 15-point lead in the first quarter that they kept going into halftime.

but the raptors would not go away, and stayed close, slowly chipping away at that lead, until in the 4th quarter they actually got the lead. then it became a game of could the celtics team impose its will over the raptors and get the win. the game was close, and i was afraid it might go into overtime again, but the celtics got the win, 120-118. every one of the celtics player that played managed to score. biggest surprise was luke kornet - who'd been activated for the past few games but didn't play - he actually started tonight and ended up with 20 points, a career high i think.