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who needs sleep? apparently not me. it's almost 5am in the morning and i am just now starting to write today's weblog entry. i could of course very well blow it off (there has been precedence, however dangerous), but there are people out there (you know who you are, addicts) dependent on my service of sharing inane details from my so-called life, and i am happy to oblige, you might even say obligated to my (forgive me for bragging) legion of fans numbering about a dozen on a good day. i don't want to let them down, i'll do my best, sacrificing thursday night's sleep in the process. thursday is the new friday anyway, right? i'll pass out sleep tomorrow.

my mornings now start off with the customary watering of the plants. all the plants are healthy, i even staked the three tomatoes. there's something about watching the morning sun hit my vegetables that bring an almost instinctive sense of satisfaction, perhaps shared memory from our farming ancestors. i don't talk to my plants, but whatever song that gets stuck in my head that day, i will hum it out loud as i make several trips with my small watering can.


peppers

moonflowers
(new generation)

tomatoes

i woke up an hour earlier than my usual time so i could call up UPS and ask them about my shipment. apparently i forgot to let them know the floor number when i gave them the business name so they failed to deliver the package once again. i corrected the address, but because the trucks had already left for the day, UPS wouldn't be able to deliver my shipment until tomorrow. the other option would be to go and retrieve the package myself from the UPS warehouse down in south boston (which wouldn't open until noontime). when i got into boston, i went to have a talk with fleet bank, to resolve my mysterious outstanding balance. i still had to pay the $60 in interest and penalty, but after much explaining, i got diana (whom i remembered from last time, but she said she didn't recognize me, must be the contacts) to send a trouble ticket to the people in charge to see if i can get my money back.

instead of running, i walked down to south boston to pick up my package, down summer street. i didn't think it'd be very far, but i ended up going beyond the boston design center, where screen house used to be located. along the edge of the water, i could see (with new found appreciation) a few moon jellyfish floating around. i showed the woman my tracking number and after a few minutes she was able to find my package, slightly beat up, like somebody had some issues with the delivery. coming back with the box, i felt a sense of power now that anyone carrying a box around town immediately becomes a person of suspicion.


boston design center

moon jelly

UPS warehouse
(south boston)

when i got home, the first thing i did wasn't to install the card into my computer and to see if it'll work or not, but rather i quickly raced out into the back porch to see the squirrel damage. like yesterday, dirt was everywhere, but unlike yesterday, there was a casualty, the pepper plant julie had given me was toppled over, looking thoroughly not well, very much wilted. i braced it back up with a stick and hoped that the bitemark wasn't so deep that the plant can't heal itself. i also felt like peter parker, because earlier i stopped by the ace hardware store in porter square looking for coyote urine, and they didn't exactly have it, but they did have squirrel repellent pellets made from garlic, but i didn't that would work so i didn't buy it, and now i come back home and tragedy has struck, and i can't do anything about it except to clean up the mess and hope there won't be a similar attack tomorrow.

the shock of seeing one of my prized plants damaged still fresh in my mind, i tried to drown my sorrows in the only way i know how, and that's to install sweet hardware into my mac. once everything was in place, the card into a spare PCI slot, the ribbon cable properly attached to the 250GB hard drive, the plug in place, i held my breath as i restarted the machine, and was overjoyed when the system was able to recognize the new drive as 250GB. it's at that moment renata called me up and asked if i wanted to have dinner with her (of course!) and her friends (i knew there was a catch) at the bluefin restaurant in porter exchange.

i got there first and waited around until renata showed up, peering into the window of the restaurant, having not seen me yet (story of my life). as the restaurant was starting to fill up, we decided to grab a table for 4 before her friends arrived. "do you already have dinner?" renata asked me as we sat down looking at the menu. "no, i just got home," i replied. "really?" she didn't quite believe me, but was relieved when i was finally able to assure her that i really had indeed just came home.

soon her friends arrived, erin (whom she met on her recent china trip) and erin's friend nick, here in town visiting from michigan. renata gave 2 photos she took from china to erin, and told us how the guy at the photo store gave her a "teacher's" discount on her 300 digital prints. i had never eaten at bluefin before, always passed by and seen others enjoying their meals. erin was no stranger to the restaurant, and started checking off the sushis she wanted from the order form. having just recently had a little too much sushi, i was in no mood for raw fish so instead i went with a beef intestine stew dinner, never had it before, sounded exotic enough that i wanted to sample it. big mistake. if i thought consuming raw fish was bad, try tearing off chunks of tripe with your teeth. i tried to convince them that i was enjoying my meal but the fact that i had a lot of leftover was kind a clue that i really didn't. after dinner, renata really wanted some mochi ice cream cakes, but we'd soon discover that all the stores were closed. leaving porter exchange, erin invited me to go watch videos with them, which on any other night i would, but unfortunately i had plans, as we said our good byes.

these plans involved me going over to dan's, where i interrupted the conclusion of poker night. elias had invited me to a free screening of fahrenheit 9/11 at the coolidge corner theatre, and after the boys were done with the game (i sat in the living room, watching, ironically, celebrity poker on bravo), we (elias, dan, myself, and bob) left in dan's car, ready to get our hate on. it was an employees screening, along with friends and family of employees, with free popcorn and drinks. there was definitely a hipster buzz going around (which i was there, beats me), and i recognized a few people from past coolidge corner events.

sorry folks, gotta go to bed, can hardly keep my eyes opened...will write more tomorrow...about fahrenheit 9/11: i thought it would galvanize me with adrenaline rushing fervor, but after seeing the film, it was vintage michael moore, meandering, long, heavy-handed at times, although still very interesting. nothing i didn't know already, except now with video footage to back up the claims. it's more entertainment than a serious objective documentary, it'll give plenty of ammos on both sides (right: MM is an irresponsible liberal filmmaker, left: MM has finally shown us the truth).

sleep!

emmy lou harris - "do i ever cross your mind"