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i woke up at 1pm today. true, i went to bed last night at 6am in the morning, but 1pm is kind of late to be waking up, sunday or not. finally, my body had enough of the sleep deprivation and took control for a change, forcing me to stay unconscious for 7 hours (probably the longest sleep i've gotten in many weeks). i'd slept in the guest bedroom (just for the variety, the spice of life), which was surprisingly cold (only because it was cold outside and i only had a small thin blanket to keep me warm). i had planned on going running, but it was too late for that. i wasn't going out naturing though, too cold. instead, it was all about cleaning, since i was hosting a dinner with family friends tonight. i did 2 loads of laundry, cleaned the tub, vacuumed, dusted, washed the stove, watered the plants (no renewed squirrel damage), moved some junk into the walk-in closet of the spare bedroom, and rearranged the books in my bookshelves (fiction in the guest bedroom, all my nature books in the living room). a mild crisis was adverted when the lightbulb in the fridge blew out: i thought maybe the light switch was busted because it didn't light after i put in a new bulb, but turns out i just had to screw it in even tighter. snouty, floating lifeless in the hospice tank, had an unceremonial toilet burial. my original idea was to bury him in the backyard along with a tombstone made from a tongue dispenser, but it was easier just to flush him, as heartless as it may sound. besides, it's probably more befitting of a water creature to be buried "at sea" than to be interred in a medium he'd never set fins on. my father dropped by around 3pm to cook the turkey in my oven. around 5pm my parents and my aunt came over bringing armloads of food. fortunately i wasn't making dinner, just the dessert (flan). though the dinner party was scheduled for 6pm, the guests didn't show up until almost 2 hours later. we had already secretly been eating, most of the food cold by then. when they finally arrived - my godmother, her son alex (remember: not alex my boss, not alex wong who moved to tokyo), her other son jack's girlfriend (jack was at work and would arrive after 9pm), our family friend (fresh from costa rica), and her daughter vanessa (who's graduating from college) - there was the usual tour of my place followed by photo taking before we started to eat, turkey "bing" style. for dessert, flan and watermelon. approaching midnight was when everyone started to leave. my parents were the last to go, they packed up all the food, leaving some leftovers. dirty dishes went into the dishwasher, the first time this year i'm using that appliance. the weather outside hovered in the 50's, and i thought about moving in some more plants beside the basil, but it's time for some tough love. anyway, whatever plant doesn't die from the frost-like conditions will be killed off by the squirrels. pessimistic gardener i am!