yesterday my census supervisor was telling us how she was going to collect our equipment the end of next week. this morning she sent a text to everyone saying things have changed and our work isn't over until the end of october. we are technically on standby even though our area has been completely enumerated. she said we might get 1-2 cases but otherwise we still don't have work. we could turn in our equipment early, in which case the census would consider that resigning, whatever that may entail. she said there is work available for this who are able to travel to some other states still in need of enumeration (southern states).

personally i don't mind if we just get a case or two, maybe good for a few hours of work, milk the census for some grocery money. but i don't like being on standby, not knowing if i have work or not for a particular day until later that morning.

after reading that text this morning, i didn't go back to sleep but woke up early. i used the bathroom, it still feels a little weird being able to flush the toilet. afterwards i took a shower, the hot water is still too hot, i had to mix some cold water so i wouldn't scald myself. afterwards i went down to the basement to turn down the temperature on the hot water heater. that's when i discovered my bathtub drain was leaking into the basement. that i knew already, but now it was leaking much more severely, so that there was a puddle underneath the piping trap. i propped a bucket underneath to catch the water and called alewife co. a bit later to schedule an appointment. someone's coming over on wednesday between 12-3pm.

i went to the community garden to water my plants. all the garlic chive flowers were spent so i cut them all down before they can produce seeds and spread everywhere in the garden. i also pulled up a few dead tomato plants, trimmed any striped mallows, and pulled up some weeds. i brought along a potted hydrangea and planted it in the northwestern corner of my garden, replacing the dead one i'd planted there at the start of the season. i also picked a few hot peppers. returning home, i planted the other hydrangea, replacing another dead one in the garden. i also coiled up the old garden hose that i used to drain my hot water heater.

i wasn't home for long before i left again, this time to the UPS store on somerville avenue to return the two pairs of shoes my sister's godmother ordered but found out they were a size too big. there's a hydrangea bush i pass by fairly often that's been pruned into a ball-shape. for some reason there was hardly any flowers this summer, unlike my hydrangea bush back in belmont.

the new motorcycle battery had finished charging by last night, and i installed it today. it came with new terminal nuts and bolts, all i had to do was to cut some small pieces of silicon tubing to place underneath the nuts to give them some elevation. i put a strap around the battery so it'd be easier to remove once the riding season is over. screwing the battery into the motorcycle, i reattached the wire lead on the positiver terminal (to make jump starting easier). the bike roared to life when i hit the start button, no resistance.

for lunch i made a sub with some leftover ingredients: expiring ham, brie cheese, tomatoes, onions, hot pepper rings, and mustard. it was actually a pretty good sandwich, i surprised myself.

it was still early enough that i became antsy and wanted to take advantage all of this spare time. i kept thinking about taking a ride to chinatown but ended up riding the motorcycle to the malden 88 supermarket sometime after 2pm. i got mostly snacks. i filled up my saddlebags and returned home a bit before 4pm.

in the early evening i fell asleep on the couch, around 6:30pm. i only slept for an hour before waking back up again. for dinner i baked a frozen brick of lasagna in the oven for an hour while i took a shower. i timed it just right so my food would be ready when the celtics-heat game started, paired with a can of woodchuck pearsecco (6.1% alcohol). celtics ended up winning game 5, despite looking lethargic in the first quarter. the series is now 3-2, if boston can win another game sunday night, all bets are off.