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my new roommate finally arrived a half hour after i woke to wait at 7:00. a friend of his picked him up from the airport by car, a tall lanky fellow from brandeis with glasses wearing shorts and flip flops (even though the temperature was in the 30's). as for my roommate, he seemed like the introverted science nerd type. he seemed young too, like maybe early 20's, and had a faint trace of a mustache (which i found amusing, as i am no stranger to facial hair). i'd never met him before, contrary to what i previously though. i found out he's actually going to be in cambridge for 3 years working on his phd; prior to that, he was here for 2 months back in autumn.

he wasn't that talkative and i did most of the questioning. he seemed elated when i showed him the in-unit washer/dryer and was impressed with the backyard. he had a knack with the front door and managed to lock it on his first try. he did ask me where i kept my pots and pans, which i took to be a bad sign that maybe he wants to dabble in cooking (or as i like to call it, pan scratching). another thing he asked about was internet access. that seems to be the most important thing for all incoming roommates (although to be fair, he did ask about the rent beforehand).

he told me (not that i needed to be reminded) that he was only living here temporarily until a space becomes available at my great uncle's place, since my house is "much farther away, half hour walking distance" to his office. actually, only 20 minutes (and faster via bike), and once he's lived at my place for a while, he'll realize it's much better (supermarket next door, proximity to the T, in-unit washer dryer!).

i never know what to say after the initial conversation. what's the proper closing line? welcome to my place, please enjoy the facilities? so i just told him, "i'll let you organize and rest," then left him alone. after a while, he came out of his room and politely asked if i needed to use the bathroom before he used it. then i heard some horrible spitting sounds. later he went out to get some groceries. when he came back he gave me two packages of rosebud tea he brought from his hometown in shandong.

since i only slept for 5 hours (and even then restlessly at that, since i kept on waking up to check the time), i was tired the rest of the day. if i closed my eyes and laid down for just a few minutes i would probably fall asleep.

at belmont i made some ramen for lunch. not familiar with the electric glass stovetop, i had a little accident as i over-boiled the liquid and heard it sizzling as it poured out.

i've been waiting all week to catch the knicks-celtics game. as much as i'd like to see jeremy lin do well, i can't root against the hometown boston team. best case scenario is jeremy lin drops another 30+ points but the celtics still win the game anyway. boston won the game in the end in overtime, with both teams carrying double digit leads at one point only to give it away. lin was deflated early with 2 quick fouls and sat on the bench for most of the first quarter. he didn't have a monster game, but in the final minutes he scored a quick 5 points to cut the celtics lead by 1.

about to return home after dinner, leave it up to my sister to create some unnecessary drama. my parents' flight to taiwan is at 7:00 in the morning so they just assumed my sister would drive them to the airport. when the subject came up, my sister was all incredulous and said nobody asked her. i was angry that my sister couldn't even do this little favor for my parents so i told them i'd bike to belmont tomorrow morning at 4:00 to drive them to the airport at 4:30. my father said it wasn't necessary, that my sister would drive, but she just kept silent. this isn't the first time my lazy excuse for a sibling declined to drive my parents to the airport.

i don't think it's all wishful thinking, but i really do think i travel faster on the fuji road bike than on the trek mountain bike. i'll have to strap on the GPS one of these days to figure out my actual speed. i'll also have to weigh both bikes, see just how heavy they are.

back in cambridge, the guest bedroom light was off (as seen from outside the house), but my roommate's shoes were in the foyer which meant he was home. i still wasn't sure (since some roommates bring more than one pair of shoes) until an hour later i heard him stirring to go use the bathroom. even then i was surprised when he poked his head into the living room to say hello. what was more shocking was what he was wearing: a matching set of pajamas with some kind of brown print pattern (trains?). i can't remember ever having seen a roommate wearing pajamas before. it seems kind of formal, when sleep should be as simple as a t-shirt and underwear. he said he was tired so decided to go to bed. earlier in the afternoon he stopped by the cafe to with his other astrophysicist friend to say hello to my father before my parents leave for their vacation.

where's my replacement laptop charger? it was supposed to arrive last week. i checked the USPS delivery confirmation number and saw that a delivery attempt was made on friday but something went wrong and now the package is being forwarded to a different address. i don't mind the delay as long as it gets here eventually (i've managed to hack my broken charger by wrapping the cord in a special way so it doesn't flex at the weak spot). worst case scenario is for my package to disappear in postal limbo. USPS doesn't have as good a tracking system compared to UPS or fedex.