the outdoor temperature broke 50°F today. i even saw a squirrel sleeping out on the deck basking in the sun. so after a breakfast of cereal, i got dressed and went outside. 4 days into the thaw, the puddles are more numerous, their size even bigger. my destination was the jfk street bridge out of harvard square, the angle of the sun in the blue sky perfect for some infrared photography, the easiest way to get instant dramatic photos. and who couldn't use a little bit more drama in his/her life? walking to the square though was like an obstacle course. sometimes my path would be cut off by a snow bank forcing me to walk in the streets, which i'd have to be careful about cars coming up behind me, since i can't hear them over the music. i'd have to navigate around puddles, or occasionally having to leap over them. once in a while i'd slip on some ice (although i never fell down). when i finally got to the charles river, i was surprised to see so many people out running. fair weathered runners! where were they when the weather was 15°F i ask you? i almost wished the weather would go back to subfreezing just so all these sissy athletes would retreat back to their caves. i got some infrared photos, but the sky was starting to haze over (from the rainstorm we're supposed to receive tomorrow), so i wasn't able to capture a perfectly black sky.

afterwards i cut through harvard square, visiting newbury comics briefly. it goes without saying that my nikon coolpix 950 set off the shoplifting alarm once again. the place was packed with kids, a few of them i could honestly say i have t-shirts older than they are. feeling nauseous from all that youth, i quickly left. urban outfitters was no different, wall to wall young people. it couldn't have been the afterschool crowd, these were probably high school kids or younger enjoying the final days of winter vacation before going back to school. i cut across the harvard courtyard to my place then to joie de vivre to pick up some birthday cards. there was an annoying woman there shopping and talking on the cellphone at the same time. it wasn't that she was just talking, but she was having an ordinary loud conversation with her friend on the other line, as if nobody could hear her. those are the most hated kind of cellphone users. i paid for my cards and then returned home, jumping over a few more puddles.

i continued my aim session with amy, she filling me in on 3+ more hours of former bhs alumni gossip. afterwards, i made dinner, gnocchi with basil pasta sauce including ground beef, garlic, onions, and bits of celery. i couldn't go out even if i wanted to, my street has flooded, there is a protective moat surrounding my house. i can hear the cars plowing through the inches of water, like ships crashing through the waves. wonder how bad it's going to get tomorrow when it starts raining? later i fell asleep watching basketball on television. i woke up from a weird dream involving eliza jones, who earlier had called me during spongebob squarepants. the details of said dream as follows:

in this dream we're in eliza's car, driving somewhere. for some reason i just got out of the shower, and i'm wearing nothing but my wet hair, a pair of red boxers and my coat. i thought i had brought a change of clothes but am embarrassed to discover i didn't. we're driving somewhere to check up on something, i think it's maybe some brazilian pastry shop. we pass by but i think the store is closed so we keep on driving. we stop at this set of traffic lights. it's on a slope, for some reason the car is inside a house, a restaurant actually, it looks like we're in the pantry, looking out the door into the restaurant. in the pantry i see a scale and a wooden table topped with bread and produce. there are round tables with patrons enjoying their dinner in the other room, a waiter walks through them holding a serving tray. we're waiting for the light to change so we can drive through, which should be impossible, since we can't squeeze through the doorway but i don't think of it in my dream. however, i do realize the strangeness of the situation so i take out my camera like i always do and i take a quick snapshot, hoping i can get one before the light changes. i try to sneak a photo of eliza, and she notices, and she kind of goes, "no, tony!" but seconds later she's preening, acting casual but really just posing for the camera, the fake natural look. i'm kind of spying at her through the LCD, and she suddenly whips off her top (i think she was wearing a grey sweatshirt of some kind), revealing an athletic sports bra which later magically transforms into a floral bikini top. but that's not what i'm looking at. i'm looking at her abs, which are just rock hard, like she's been secretly training for some abdominal olympics.