reading:
skimmed most of destined for war (15 times in history where dominant power challenged by rising one / 11 times ended in war, 4 times didn’t). idea of wargaming = how easy accidents can escalate to war that neither side actually wants. eg forming alliances as mutual deterrent: if they are binding alliances, can actually make it easier to get dragged by “small” situation into war
annapolis book of seamanship (3rd edition): good! practice. practice, practice
listening to: sinica while cleaning. insight: both nations believe they’re exceptional. chinese exceptionalism = think only china could accomplish this / don’t believe model applicable to others. point: china not particularly friendly to similar regimes (eg wariness with Vietnam despite it being a communist regime). often deflect instead of addressing concerns.
roommates: enjoying living with them ! playing card games. don’t wear masks with people I’ll interact with multiple times within a week. but no particular fear going into grocery store, don’t shower getting back. roommates going to labs, going to meet others, but I don’t wear masks with them. feel grateful to be in US / vaccines
worries: delta / other variants contributing to uptick in cases as predicted, despite high vaccine percentages in MA (84% of eligible have first shot) — it’s not 100%. gathering indoors indiscriminately without masks… went to restaurant which was a big tent, but flaps came down due to rain. kept my mask on and didn’t eat. didn’t feel the least bit of pressure but felt a bit bad not contributing to the cheque. (wearing a mask is easy; my choice is, why not?)
watching: 4k walking tours continue. vietnam: an interesting mix, busy city, roads closed off for kids, fleet of rc cars for kids. cross a busy intersection. on the corner, hammer and sickle flags. in the background, mcdonalds. in front, a kid in an rc car towing another on roller skates. on the side, parents remote control driving kids in mini electric cars
worries: exercise levels low. but did get switch to work with monitor (without the dock) — just need a 2A+ power supply on usbc to monitor, then usbc from switch to monitor. (the portable tablet-look alike monitors)
boston: going to a store without a poncho, no car to dash to, just a wet slog on a bike home
art: watercolor
greek yogurt, vanilla almond granola, and nectarines 
falafel comes in mix, like ground beef 
good ol’ eggs and tomatos 
lot of garam masala. decided to try using it. not used to powder seasoning, toasting it = forms a sludge, but then added food and it was fine. cumin: next time try toast and put straight into uncooked rice in cooker
inspiration for the future, when I’m done doing the fill in the blank audobon bird postcards
things I might watercolor if I get the chance 
someone died hitting one of these daymarks in boston harbor a few days ago. 3am at high speed in power boat
ebike great!! range went from 2 miles to 10 miles after I 1. released front brake 2. pumped up tires
improvements needed: folding pedals, rear view mirror, cargo rack?, replace front brake pads (was impossible to tune properly since one side totally gone — right now only have rear brakes, essentially. scary in boston traffic, where i can’t match speeds, as ebike fastest speed + pedaling is still slower than normal bike)
duckietown edx: lack of communication quite confusing. also realized i have no idea how to use software stack on my own!! to run my own software eg SLAM on the robot hardware :'(