i had a morning appointment with my upstairs neighbors. neighbor singular since steve decided not to show and it was just paul and me at 10:30am. it was not warm this morning, temperature in the 50's, cool enough to warrant a jacket. we went around the outside of the house looking at things that needed fixing: alleyway, backdoor door, basement door, rotting shingles, and of course the leaking gutters. it actually wasn't too much, but i'm not going to celebrate until i see some prices and know how much it's going to cost me even after we split the amount.
it was a productive meeting though, and i got a piece of neighborhood gossip: the old lady who lives behind us - jane - she died last year (i didn't know this). her surviving children sold the house to a middle eastern man who bought it but has so far not moved in. paul was afraid he's a developer and looking to build a condo (currently it's a single family house), and might decide to cut down the massive oak tree in their backyard that provides us with welcomed shade during the hot summers. paul also told me jeff will once again move back in come may. he'll split his time between cambridge and san francisco because he wife michelle has cancer. i wonder if she had it last year when i had the barbecue, because she was very careful about not drinking anything with citrus, for fear it might affect her medication.
it was still 11am after our meeting was over, still time for me to go on my first run of 2026. but i had to use the bathroom, and find a cracked android app that can play spotify (spotif++), and one thing led to another so i decided to go after i had my lunch, after i watched a little bit of noontime news. i finished the last of yogurt mixed with some leftover expired granola.
i run with my wireless earbuds, but i wanted to try my hearing aids this time, which can stream audio via bluetooth. the quality isn't that great, but if i can kill two birds with one stone (hearing aids that also function as earbuds), it's worth a try. getting my resound vivia to play nice with my pixel 7 was a challenge. i connected the hearing aid to my phone, but only the left one worked. i had to repeatedly put the hearing aids back into the recharge cradle to reset it then make sure the hearing aid app was connecting to the devices before i can then connect it via bluetooth. sometimes it didn't work, sometimes only one connected, sometimes one of them would drop after being connected. only when i finally got it working did i finally leave by 1:20pm.
temperature outside was in the 50's, a little chilly but i warmed up after a few minutes of running. i wore my running shorts and a black turtleneck pullover. running also gives me a chance to catch some nature, but there was hardly any nature to be seen, still too early. of the flowers i saw, most of them were snowdrops. on one street i did spot some crocuses and aconites. daffodils and tulips are also emerging, possibly hyacinths as well, though none of flowers yet, just the tips.
i did my usual barely 2 miles route around the river. halfway through i took off my pullover because i was too hot. there weren't too many people on the trail this time of day, only a handful. the condo building on mt.auburn street that forced the months-long detour has finally been torn down, but construction vehicles were still busy raking through the mountain of debris. hoses continuously spray the area with water to keep the dust (asbestos) from spreading too much.
i made it back home by 2:30pm. a successful run, i didn't cramp up, still have my endurance despite having not run for nearly half a year. the big question is will i feel it tomorrow?
i took my first shower of the day, taking the opportunity to clean the shower curtains as well. with my near-sightedness, i can barely see, but i can still detect colors and shapes and can spot mold or discoloration.
i also did a load of laundry, got a chance to wash my wet bath towel.
with my hair still wet, i went outside again, this time to market basket to get a few things for the cafe and some snacks for myself. i was admiring all the st.patrick's day related foods, especially intrigued by the non-alcoholic guinness.
i couldn't wait to get back home, so i could get back to my cyberpunk. i played until 6:30pm, when the game crashed, which was my cue to stop and get some dinner. i warmed up a packet of bibigo spicy mushroom soup that we bought from costco. it's not bad, has actual non-dehydrated mushrooms and bean sprouts and leek in the soup. it's spicy but not overwhelmingly so, with a strong leek flavor. it'd be a nice base for a ramen. it seems so simple, it got my mind thinking how i could recreate it and be even tastier. i paired it with a jar of kimchi i bought. i haven't made kimchi in a while. i made so much at one point, nobody ate it, sat in the fridge until it turned to sludge. but i'm starting to get that craving again. store bought kimchi is okay, but homemade kimchi is way better, especially the way i make it, with something like a dozen ingredients. kimchi was my first foray into fermented foods. it's worth a revisit.
i played cyberpunk a bit more until 9pm. i finished the mission where i met angie the dog town leader of the animals. i ran 3 different action sequences, one where i agree to help angie for money, one where i kill her and her gang members, and finally one where i threaten her and she leaves the boxer guy alone (for now). i followed that with another mission where i infiltrate a child trafficking ring. i accidentally got spotted and triggered a whole building wide manhunt for me. i could've taken out everyone but decided to quit, come back another time and do it stealth style.
i noticed tonight that good luck, have fun, don't die is now available for streaming. i watched about 20 minutes of it, was already hooked. i knew from the moment i saw the trailer a month ago that i wanted to see this movie. i'm going to finish up for tonight and watch the rest from bed.