this morning i had another follow-up appointment with my doctor at 9:30. i didn't bother to ride the motorcycle because it's really hard to find a parking spot in that MGH beacon hill area of boston (even for a motorcycle, and i should know, because i've been ticketed there before). better to travel via MBTA, less to worry about. unlike the last time, i didn't have to wait an hour before i saw my doctor. as i already knew, my blood pressure hardly changed since my last visit, despite the addition of the chlorthalidone. i also casually mentioned a cough i've had since my last visit, probably allergies. he suddenly got serious and said it's probably a side effect of the lisinopril. why i showed no symptoms the first month i've been taking it he couldn't explain, but judging from what i told him about my cough - a weird dry irritating sensation in my throat that suddenly makes me cough violently like i have a hairball - he felt almost certain it was a drug side effect.

so we decided to switch to another drug, 75mg irbesartan AKA avapro. while my previous drug was an angiotension-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor, avapro is an angiotension receptor blocker. avapro is also a name brand drug so it costs more, but my doctor checked with my insurance and blue cross seemed to cover it without any verification hassles. i made an appointment to come back in 2 weeks for yet another follow-up appointment. later while picking up my drug at CVS, i discovered just how expensive avapro is: even with insurance, a 2 month supply costs $60 ($1/pill). it seemed like i got more than i needed as well, since i'm going back to the doctor in 2 weeks and we don't even know if avapro will work for me (therefore i only needed a 2 week supply). at this rate, i'm slowly amassing a large and expensive collection of blood pressure medication that i have no use for. too bad none of them have any recreational usage, other than slowing down your heart rate or narrowing your blood vessels.

since i wasn't very far from city hall and it was a friday, i walked down to haymarket for my semi-weekly fix of cheap produce. large oranges were on sale again, and i ended up buying 15 for $6. i also bought 2 sticks of garlic for $1.50, 7 ears of corn for $2 (weekend barbecue), and 4 avocados for $3. i grabbed the T from government center and made my way home. on my red line train at one point i noticed it was all guys (about a dozen). what are the odds of that happening? i also like to mention one of my pet peeves: people who wear sunglasses on the subway. unless they have an eye condition, there's no need to wear them indoors, especially when we're underground. as a related peeve, i also don't like talking with people who wear sunglasses. there's something unsettling about speaking with someone when you can't see their eyes, like talking with an inanimate object.

after what already felt like a full day, i got back home at 11:00. in my world, anything i do before noontime is considered early. i didn't stay long, just grabbed my helmet and was out the door, to deliver the produce to my parents at the cafe. while i was there i also had some curry rice noodles for lunch. after checking on my plants in the basement, i decided today would be a good day to move them. not that they couldn't do with another week under the grow lights, but it's the same grow lights that seem to be inadvertently attracting flies as well (flies get confused, they think the light coming from the basement is a window or a door), an unforeseen side effect. so i borrowed the car and transported all the seedlings to my place before returning for my bike. i put them out on my back porch to let them get used to the weather before relocating them to the gardens.

with these past 2 days of very hot and dry weather, i stopped by the garden to water my plants. the peas are doing well, every time i visit they're a little bit bigger than before. my only regret is i didn't plant more pea plants; not sure how many pea pods i can actually harvest from my 5 plants (4 if you don't count that one prematurely damaged stunted pea plant).

i've been carefully monitoring the progress of my kimchee. i saw a few tiny bubbles yesterday, which is the sign of fermentation in action. today however there were even more bubbles. a taste test also revealed that the kimchee has already turned sour, a hallmark of good kimchee. after eating a piece, i could still feel a slight fizzling sensation in my mouth. i debated whether to leave out the kimchee for another day to let it ferment further, but decided the flavor was already good enough. so i screwed on the caps and put the jars into the fridge. hopefully now my house won't smell like kimchee anymore.

for dinner i had some leftover macaroni and cheese. sophia went to a bar in boston with her coworker friend dawn. they came back later, around 1:00. sophia's incessant one-track-mind chatter about dating drove me to my room, where i could blog in peace. dawn left soon afterwards, around 2:00.

i watched game 2 between the cavaliers and the magic. it was almost a repeat performance of wednesday night's game. cavaliers took the lead early and built a comfortable 20+ point cushion. but as the game progressed, the magic started to come back. then the worst possible thing happened: magic scores with just 1 second left on the clock, up by 2 points. there was one shot of a young cleveland fan who looked like his whole short life had just been ruined. what happened next can only be described as a miracle: lebron james catches the inbound pass, and in less than a second launches a high arching 3 pointer that goes in. and just like that, the series was tied for the cavaliers at 1-1 instead of 0-2 going into orlando. i still don't think the magic is a very good team, but these 2 games against cleveland - arguably the best team this season - has put some doubt in my mind. the celtics were able to beat the magic 3 times in the playoffs, and one time was a blowout. what was boston's secret? could it just be better defense? maybe the cleveland coach should call doc rivers for some advice.