regarding today's weather, at least it wasn't snow. but it rained for most of the day, into the afternoon, at times very heavy. i was prepared to stay indoors all day, except i had to go outside and tag a pokestop to keep my streak alive. for lunch i had some yogurt mixed with granola and haymarket blueberries. the berries were good (sweet), which surprised me, because i was expecting them to be tart. i went outside briefly to bring the mountain bike into the basement. i noticed the change was hanging rather loosely, i'll have to take a look tomorrow.

i waited around 3:30pm before i left the house, when it looked like the rain had finally stopped. i took the opportunity to also return some cans at the super market and used the money to buy some hot pockets that were on sale. i don't even remember the last time i had those, maybe not since high school. i recall there was just a single flavor but over the decades the selection has greatly expanded. when i came back home i ate the two stuffed mushrooms karen left me last night, baked them in the toaster oven until the cheese melted. the filling was good - prosciutto ham - but i didn't like how the mushrooms were soggy. i think i'd prefer eating a stuffed pepper shell instead.

today was a maintenance day for my grow closet. my last time was 4 days ago. during this early stage when the seedlings have just emerged, they grow pretty quickly and need frequent checks. one by one, i removed the gravel trays and filled them with water. i checked to see if any new seedlings have germinated. most of the hot peppers are out, as well as the eggplants. i transplanted a few seedlings into empty containers, including a mallow and a cherry tomato seedling. maybe in a few more days i'll have to start thinning out the seedlings. i also added a pluggable DIY computer fan my father gave me, to add some breeze to my seedlings (to toughen them up).

karen came home around 7pm while i was taking a shower in the early evening. i was cooking a cup of basmati rice in the rice cooker. karen knew what it was but had never seen one before, as they cook rice over the stove in mexico. while she was making a vegetable omelette, i cooked up the frozen trader joe's kungpao chicken my godmother gave me. i only wanted to use half, but i didn't realize the ingredients were separated into packets (chicken, vegetables, sauce, peanuts) so i ended up cooking it all. it tasted okay, definitely convenient, the sauce was a little sweat. probably healthier making my own kungpao chicken from scratch if i was to make it again, but i rather try my hands at some general tso's chicken.

karen told me that her canadian friend will be arriving around 1pm on friday afternoon. and then next weekend her boyfriend arrives in town for 2 weeks. so it's going to be a busy april for me, with additional guests living at my place. all this, and a rent reduction!