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i made an english muffin sandwich for lunch, the same recipe as yesterday, except i added some capers. couldn't really taste the capers, i can skip them for next time.

i tried to wake up early so i could run some errands in the morning when the temperature was cooler but why the time i woke up it was already in the 80's. instead i did the exact opposite: i waited until the hottest time of the day in the afternoon to go out. why do something easy when you can do it the hardest?

first stop was the community garden, not to water, but to check on my bitter melons. the green one has started to turn yellow in spots, i predict it will split open either tomorrow or saturday. the while bitter melon is still white.

next i went to the allston trader joe's, i wanted to check if they had ube ice cream. in order to bike there i had to cross harvard square. just my luck that today also happened to coincidence with first year students moving in, so the place was crowded with people. when i made it to TJ, it too was crowded with newly arrived college students. i actually like the annual influx of fresh young people, makes boston not so staid. young people bring a certain energy (and i'm not just talking about the coronavirus) and they're a boom for the local economy. unfortunately they didn't have ube ice cream (there wasn't even a tag for it), better luck next year. instead of bought some plums, some incan corn, a bag of sour jelly candy, and a $5 bottle of moscato sweet wine.

so was it hot? yes, but once you surrender yourself to the heat - knowing that you're going feel warm and be sweaty - it gets a lot easier. just imagine the humidity as a warm safety blanket engulfing you. while i was at TJ my father called asking if i was hope so he could stop by and check out the new fridge. i made it home but didn't have time to call him before he showed up unexpectedly, bringing some meat buns as well. he saw the fridge and agreed that it needs to be shimmed properly, and not with cardboard as they're too soft a material and will make the fridge bounce unnecessarily.

my father was on his way to market basket so i tagged along. last time i was there i saw a man buy several cartons of pineapple coconut häagen-dazs ice cream. i asked him if it was any good, he said it was the best and he always buy it if he sees them. so i was curious and came back to see if i could get some for myself but unfortunately they were all out.

my father dropped me off a block away from my house as i walked the rest of the way, the watermelon in a large canvas shopping bag. i bumped into bruce who was finishing the final mile of his 3 mile daily walk (he walked 2 miles earlier this morning). he told me his place was getting painted soon and that susan had breakthrough covid last month.

once i got home, i watered my front garden before walking down to star market to get some cantaloupes on sale, 97¢ each, maximum of 2. nowhere was this advertised in the store, and i wasn't even sure myself until they finally range me up and i paid less than $2. i actually have too much fruit, and a planned trip to haymarket tomorrow, i'll have even more.

whatever i ate for lunch didn't agree with me and i had a bit of diarrhea after returning home. could it be the capers? that was the only new thing i added to the english muffin sandwich. god knows how old those capers were.

today is andy lau's 60th birthday. to celebrate, i've been watching one of his latest movie, end game. he plays an assassin who gets amnesia and a down-on-his-luck struggling actor surreptitiously switches place with him, not knowing his chosen profession. i'm only halfway through, it's actually a very fun movie. when i first heard about the plot i was so enthralled with the premise that i went online and searched for more "assassin amnesia switch places" films. to my surprise, there was a 2016 korean film called luck key that had the exact same premise, and it seems end game is just a chinese remake. i did some more digging and found out the 2016 korean film is actually a remake of the 2012 japanese film called key of life. the first version of end game i downloaded was in cantonese. it took me a while to realize it was dubbed, and i then found a mandarin version, the original. andy lau speaks mandarin but with a slight cantonese accent that makes him sound congested. there's a running joke in the movie where he thinks he's 30 years old (based on the date of a hospital document).

for dinner i reheated the meat buns. i also took out the smashed cucumbers which i made earlier, leaving it in the fridge to chill. i ate while watching game 3 of the twins-red sox matchup. boston won behind chris sale's pitching and bobby dalbec's 7 RBI night. sale even threw an immaculate inning, the third of his career.

i watered my pilea with mosquito-bit infused aquarium water tonight using the sprinkler bottle cap adapter. i never had this happen before but the water smelled like rotten eggs. maybe because it was exposed to oxygen instead of capped like how i normally store my aquarium water? i don't think the plants will mind though, and any sort of rot is good for the plants since it adds more nutrients.

so the darndest thing happened: tonight was the second full day with the new fridge and i wanted to see the usage number after midnight. however for some strange reason, the values for the past 3 days have changed: tuesday's number went up while wednesday and thursday went down. according to the "updated" data, it said the fridge just used 1.35 kWh of electricity. i'll need to monitor it a few more days to see how that'll change. instead i got some baking soda deodorizers for the fridge, a can of non-stick cooking spray, and a $5 watermelon. i was just thinking the other day i've yet to buy a watermelon this summer. typically i buy one from star market because i can just carry it home, but they haven't had a watermelon sale this year. a watermelon is also a good test to see if i can fit it in the new fridge. does it pass the watermelon test?