today began the first full week of work for the new year. nothing much happened at the office. there was another blackout in yanjia so the dining crew was delayed in our lunch preparation by half an hour. nobody from cost control asked me to come to lunch with them, nor would i either. i'm resigned to the fact that sometimes i may have to eat by myself, but at almost 40 years old, i have enough self-confidence that i don't need to sit at the cool table when i eat. i did however eat with one of the guys from the contract department. i discovered he's from hubei, although he's lived in the shanghai area for almost a decade now.

after our break, i went to go talk to mahui. she got all serious and said if she could ask me a personal question. i said sure. "how old are you?" she asked me. "i'll turn 40 years old next month," i told her. she didn't believe me, said at most maybe 30. i got my taiwan-china entry visa to show her my true age. xianglian was standing nearby, listening to our conversation and chuckling. of course she knows my real age since i've told her before.

after work was when the fun started. and by fun i meant the 4 hours of free time to do as much as possible before i have to go to sleep. first i saw with zengfei. i haven't talked to her at all since coming back from vacation, and i feel terrible not telling her i was leaving before christmas. we had a lot to talk about tonight, as i questioned her about chinese new year celebration traditions.

i got home at 6:30, and immediately started making dinner in the form of rice porridge. it wasn't done until 6:50, as i quickly ate so i could have some time to rest before i went to the chongbai gym for a run. i finished eating at 7:20, waited 20 minutes before leaving for the gym at 7:40. it was chilly but i knew i'd warm up afterwards, my hooded sweatshirt zipped up tight. i can't remember the last time i ran, definitely before christmas, so almost 2 weeks if not more. tonight i decided to take it slow and ran at 11km/h, listening to my newly acquire mp3 player. i returned home half an hour later, 8:20, seemingly now impervious to the cold. i showered, then washed my clothes, finishing the rest of my duck feet as i wait, followed by some bing tang oranges. i then worked on the blog, a bit of yesterday's entry followed by tonight's. it's almost 11:30 now, it's already kind of late, so i need to go to bed now! good night!