in my dreams there is a city i've visited a few times that doesn't exist in real life. from where i live it takes a bit of travel to get into the city and the city is so large every time i visit i see some place new but it's always a treat to be there. the train station is a mess to decipher and each time i go it's by a different route but when i arrive i recognize this city from afar. the dream i had last night, a rickshaw driver was trying to get customers just arriving at the station. a white couple had ordered the rickshaw initially, so they immediately climbed onboard. the man was staring at me in a way sometimes tourists forget themselves and rudely stare at everything. there were two more free seats and the driver gave a price. the one other person there - a girl traveling solo - decided to go for the ride, while i thought the fare was too expensive and just left without trying to negotiate, figuring if the drive really wanted my business he'd immediately drop his price to fill that one last seat.

i exited through the security checkpoint, where there was a small crowd of people trying to get inside the station. security was nothing more than a few soldiers inspecting each person when they came in. i wasn't sure how to get out until one of the soldiers pointed to an exit door that i could simply push free. when i got outside the sky turned immediately to dusk. i was on top of a manmade hill that sloped downwards seemingly forever on a surface made of stone blocks. from here i could see the sun setting, the sky turning dark, but golden rays of sunlight illuminating the landscape below, which seemed like a recently built residential area, dotted with houses. it was beautiful and i quickly whipped out my camera to take some incredible images. i dropped my camera pouch and grabbed it before it could roll down the hill. but just before i could take my photos, i woke up.

around 10am GC and i walked down to market basket to get some groceries. i was afraid it'd be crowded but it wasn't too bad, about the density of a typical weekday afternoon. i was dismayed to find GC buying 3 package of white fish and another bag of shrimps. the fish smell i can tolerate somewhat, but the shrimps are the worse, and that particular stink can linger for a day. i casually asked him if he eats a lot of seafood in alabama. he said no, that the only seafood he can afford there are frozen fish fillets, as fresh seafood is typically too expensive. do i have a right to deprive a man his love of seafood? especially since he can't get it anymore when he goes back to alabama? i will remain tolerant for the time being. it's not that i don't want him to eat seafood, it's just the smell i don't like. at least he's not cooking lobster in the house, but give him time, there's still plenty of weeks left.

after some fish noodles for lunch, GC took the bike to meet his coworker friends in harvard square to go down to revere beach. he invited me last night and i was thinking about joining, but his friend didn't want to leave until 1pm, and on a hot and humid summer day like today, that was simply suicide so i didn't want to do it. instead after GC left, i had the house to myself for a few hours. i spent it lighting candles and incense, trying to cover up the fish stink.

i went down to the community garden in the early afternoon to take some photos with my dSLR camera. as much as i love the convenience of the iphone camera, it still can't compare to the dSLR when it comes to image quality. i wanted to get some good photos of the malva zebrina as a posterity measure.

elsewhere in my garden plot:

elsewhere in the community garden:

the temperature reached as high as 82° inside the house. i kept the windows closed as it was hotter outdoors than indoors. but by late afternoon the two temperatures started to converge and i finally cracked open some windows to at least allow some breeze inside the house. my parents were attending some sort of fundraising dinner in chinatown so i didn't go to belmont today.

GC finally came back after 7pm. he was originally supposed to go with 2 coworkers but one of them had other plans (like not dying of heat stroke) so he ended up going to revere beach with only one other person. he wasn't too forthcoming with the details of his adventure, i had to dig it out of him; it's not that he was being secretive, he's just not much of a story teller. he did however go to the porter square star market when he came back where cherries were on sale for $1.57/lbs. after a shower he camped out in the living room to continue his weekend breaking bad binge. he took a break to make dinner, this time a fish and shrimp noodle which really stunk up the house. i sat in the living room, immobilized with blinding annoyance. as for myself, earlier i ate a bowl of korean ramen noodles with an egg and some of GC's cilantro.

the humid and hazy weather threatened to rain but it didn't finally rain until very late in the evening, well after midnight. supposedly tomorrow is going to be hot as well but a dry heat, which is more preferable.