laurie and i got together for dim sum this morning. i met her at central square, and after getting her fix of iced coffee (i settled for a small dunkin' donuts orange-mango coolatta), we headed into the city via mbta. laurie, a slight germphobe, tried to avoid touching anything on the train. although chinatown itself was crowded, china pearl was surprisingly the opposite, and after just a few minutes of waiting, we got our own table upstairs. we picked the usuals: chatsubao, soumai, pork ribs, yioutiao, water chestnut dumplings, and coconut pudding cubes. i didn't order the tripe because the tripe cart never came but then i wasn't in the mood for it anymore, already having filled up. at the restaurant laurie discovered a rip in her jeans (located at a blush inducing position), and revealed that her pants always wear down in the same area. after we finished, we got back on the subway where she went back to harvard square to work, while i went to porter square to visit my house.

all the drywalling seems to be done, other than perhaps the large bedroom, which needs a new ceiling. originally the idea was to replace only the ceilings that have the popcorn plaster, but the ceiling in the large bedroom is so old and cracked, it'd be easier to just do a whole new ceiling instead of trying to patch it up. i took the opportunity to wash some dirty towels in the as-yet-untested washer/dryer. threw in the towels, poured in some mountain spring scented tide with bleach alternative, and set the washer on small load. after the rinse, after the spin, i threw everything into the overhead dryer and set the dial to 20 minutes. presto chango! clean fresh dry towels in the comfort and privacy of my own home! the machine does make some noise when it's operating because it's wedged so tightly into a closet - nothing that can't be solved with some strategic dampening. i am having visions of laundry parties, where i invite people over on lazy sundays for brunch and for free laundry. ah, the future. i was also over at the house waiting for gary to call me. in exchange for helping him move some furniture out of his uncle's basement, he'd give me a dining room table and a set of matching chairs. unfortunately he had to work today, and when he got out of work, the uhaul place where he was going to rent a truck didn't have anymore left. and finally, on the phone with shannon, hooking her up with some mac software, figuring out what kind of pocky we were, thinking of some creative ways of making money (block watch and egg selling were discussed).

sitting in the living room, patrolling my streets from the bay window, surfing the web on the cablemodem and ibook, covered in white sheetrock dust, it didn't feel like home. the place went from somewhat liveable when i first got it, if i got rid of the smells of the previous tenants and did some cleaning, to now completely unliveable, with construction dust everywhere (at least they cleared all the debris last friday), the bedroom floors ripped up, and the walls and ceilings all patched in that unfinished style. i think the novelty of having a new place is already gone. now i just want the place to be finished, so i can start moving in, start painting the place, start living there.

i left the house and walked to harvard square. it took 15 minutes to get there, which isn't bad, it's good to have that option in case i'm don't want to pay the $1 to ride the subway one stop from porter to harvard (since i no longer have an mbta pass, being unemployed). straight down oxford street too, which is pretty well maintained, with harvard university on one side and lesley college on the other.