i woke up early this sunday morning (8:30), my father coming by to pick me up to work on the motorcycle back in belmont, where we re-installed the newly fixed rear wheel. he left to take care of some business while i took the bike out for a test run. the temperature was in the higher 40's so it was a bit cold but the exhiliration of being back on the bike kept me warm. this is probably the earliest i've ever taken the bike out; in the past i wouldn't start riding until may. i was a little bit scared, i had this vision that somehow we installed the wheel wrong and as soon as i accelerate for the very first time, the wheel and the chain would explode and fly off. fortunately that didn't happen, the bike ran smoothly, although the rear break felt soft, so i came back to the driveway and adjusted them a bit before going out again, once around the reservoir. early spring roads make for treacherous traveling on a motorcycle because there's so much sand on the ground, it's easily to slip on a turn, so i took extra precautions to see that didn't happen. my father came back 20 minutes later and we changed the engine oil. unscrewing the release nut, a warm black sludge poured into the drip pan. my father said he'd never seen engine oil so black before - normally it's a translucent yellow color. when it was all over, there was grease underneath my fingernails and my hands smelled like gasoline - it was a good feeling.

after i got cleaned up, my father gave me a ride back to the cafe (it was still too cold to ride, and besides, it looked like it was going to rain) where i got some lunch, then my mother drove me back home. there was an open house on my street and we decided to take a peek: a 768 square feet unit selling for $360k. condos these days are crazy expensive, but the housing boom is on the wane and soon sellers will have to drop prices if they want to find any buyers. afterwards we drove to the star market across the street to get some groceries. once i got back home, i went straight to bed, didn't get enough sleep last night, yawning the whole day.

i woke up around 5:30, my mother called, said they (my parents) were coming over for dinner with suhan. i got up and did some light cleaning before they arrived. we had lamb chops and some vegetable dishes. after they left, it was me and sunday night's fox comedy line-up. a hot shower, and i think i'm going to bed early tonight.