my roommates were already gone by the time i woke up, i didn't even hear them. their bus was departing south station at 7:15am. not knowing when they'd wake up, i set the thermostat so the heat would turn on to 65° at 4:30am. they won't be back until late wednesday night, so i have 3 days of solo living again. walking through the house, i was shocked by how clean it was, antiseptic, like a brand new house practically.

my mother called, asked me to stop by the cafe and pick up the napa cabbage before going to belmont. when i got there my 2nd aunt was all in a panic because she didn't have the right size circular needles for her knit project. when i arrived in belmont my aunt called my mother, who then asked me to return to the cafe to drop off the knitting needles. LSH just happened to be there getting lunch, we chatted while he waited for his food. apparently the government shutdown was affecting him as well, as his advisor told him he wouldn't be in the office this week due to the furlough, and wouldn't even be answering his e-mails while he was away.

i brought back a container of scallion pancakes my aunt had made and ate that for lunch. my mother was watching the two new movies i brought her: the old man and the gun and green book. my father was busy reading the flimsy 50 page TYT TH-9800 manual and listening to air traffic talk on the radio.

today's production was 16.75 kWh, more than what we needed to put us over october's production numbers, with a final december production of 608 kWh.

after dinner i drove the car back to cambridge once again. by then it was already raining a little bit. i spent the rest of the evening watching the final episode of escape at dannemora while the dick clark new year's eve show on ABC played in the background. i saw all the people in time square getting drenched in the torrential freezing downpour, the first time in 30 years that it rained in time square on new year's eve. i kept imagining my roommates wandering the streets of new york, completely soaked and miserable. they said they weren't going to time square, but there's so many people in manhattan they can't go anywhere without seeing a crowd.