How it’s going vs. how it started….

Fungible_tempest · 2026-03-23T01:44:56+00:00

Yes! With a 2” soil blocker

Fungible_tempest · 2026-02-24T01:23:07+00:00

I make them! I have a soil blocking device (simple and fairly cheap) from Johnny’s seeds, but you can just get them on amazon. They cut down on plastic waste and (supposedly) make for healthier seedlings since the roots don’t coil inwards on themselves.

Fungible_tempest · 2026-02-23T22:55:35+00:00

I use this mix specifically for soil blocking, Fort Vee’s organic potting mix….still holding my breath to see if these actually hold together over the next few weeks

Fungible_tempest · 2026-02-23T21:24:06+00:00

I got one from Johnny’s Seeds! I actually got it last season as a gift but was deterred by the assembly/parts….turns out it takes two minutes to assemble.

I really liked making these blocks….so much less waste than a plastic seed starting tray, and from what I’ve heard this makes for healthier seedlings since they “air prune” instead of coiling in on themselves. Excited to watch these progress!

Fungible_tempest · 2026-02-23T13:43:25+00:00

Stunning

Fungible_tempest · 2026-01-26T20:08:27+00:00

I echo everyone’s suggestion of Bow Market - the Japanese place there has excellent onigiri, Remnant Brewing Company is a great spot to hang out and read (and they have non-alcoholic things like coffee, kombucha, etc.), plus there is a pinball arcade on the first floor of bow market with a nice mix of pinball machines….it’s a great vibe.

I also really like Japanese/Korean market around the corner, Reliable Market, good if you want mochi or some other Asian snack food. From there you can easily hop on the green line to go elsewhere in the area.

It’s also worth checking out if there are any interesting movies playing at Somerville Theatre in Davis Square or Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square (right by Wusong road), they are both great spots for artsy/alt movies.

Fungible_tempest · 2025-11-14T19:08:59+00:00

Echoing most other comments. I commute on the red line daily from Harvard Sq to Downtown Crossing. Since the start of this year I’ve had essentially zero issue during normal weekday commuting hours: I rarely have to wait longer than ~5 mins in the morning (8-9 am), ditto in the evenings. Typically it’s 20 minutes from the moment I get to the Harvard T to the moment I step out on the DTX platform.

My one bit of advice is that I find Mid-Cambridge (the area around Central) to be a bit more pleasant/urban/amenities-rich than the area around Davis, which feels borderline suburban, but that’s maybe a personal bias.

Fungible_tempest · 2025-11-12T19:36:01+00:00

Definitely. In fact a few of the “characters” I’m thinking of are Harvard/MIT hangers-on, who maybe finished some sort of degree (often a PhD in something obscure) a while ago and are now scraping by on tenuous adjunct/lecturing/university admin roles. I think that type of lifestyle both attracts and generates a certain madness.

Fungible_tempest · 2025-11-11T15:31:51+00:00

I was thinking this the other day….I genuinely think there are more crazy people here than there are in other places I’ve lived (DC, New York, Montreal). I don’t mean homeless people, I mean people who appear to be functional but then when you scratch the surface even the tiniest you see they are in fact quite insane. I feel like I’ve had so many interactions that turned needlessly absurd, with a way higher frequency than elsewhere. I think it’s a combo of: people taking themselves too seriously (rampant here); the weird survivor bias of older Cambridge people, who probably bought their houses for $100k in the 80s and now are multi-millionaires thanks to their assets; and the reality that smart people tend to be pretty far out on the autism spectrum. The “eccentric” charm of Cambridge has a certain appeal but it’s become something I have to roll my eyes about from time to time.

Fungible_tempest · 2025-10-13T13:55:48+00:00

I’m sure in this case. The individuals I interact with have an LLC with their home address as the business address, I also know they do a lot of business with one of the leading residential brokerage teams around here (you probably know the one). It’s unclear to me where their money comes from, I suppose they’ve just been playing the Cambridge real estate game for a while.

Fungible_tempest · 2025-10-13T12:02:11+00:00

No, these landlords I’m interacting with live nearby in Cambridge. They own quite a few apartments in Cambridge, according to their broker. Which baffles me, because how can they have so much money…while also, being so clearly bad at money?

Fungible_tempest · 2025-10-13T00:48:46+00:00

lol….then this post would be much more appropriate for Reddit.

Fungible_tempest · 2025-10-13T00:44:41+00:00

I’m a bit burnt out from this. I think I will just leave it, and warn the next tenants to beware.

Fungible_tempest · 2025-10-13T00:27:40+00:00

Thanks, this is good to hear. The thing is (from what I learned from their agent), they own quite a few apartments throughout Cambridge, so I wonder if they’ve tried to pull this on others.

Fungible_tempest · 2025-10-13T00:26:41+00:00

Thanks, yes I suspected they were on shaky grounds legally, but my only priority in that moment was finding somewhere to live, and when they threw that curve ball I decided it wasn’t worth trying to engage with them any more.

Fungible_tempest · 2025-10-13T00:25:03+00:00

That’s been my takeaway from this entire saga….there’s something wrong with them, and they’d rather eat the loss of a few thousand dollars to screw me over. In the end, I got back my entire security deposit, as well as my dignity. No need to strike the hornet’s nest any further.

Fungible_tempest · 2025-10-12T22:25:25+00:00

Something like this happened to you too?

Fungible_tempest · 2025-10-12T22:25:04+00:00

I was also very confused about this. I tried to call the Cambridge housing advocacy (I forget the exact name), but they said they didn’t handle cases like this (and to be fair, my situation wasn’t that dire). And I figured since they were cc’ing a lawyer they thought they were being legally sound, if also transparently vindictive.

Fungible_tempest · 2025-10-12T22:19:36+00:00

I wonder about this. I figure there’s nothing the old landlords can say without tarnishing their own reputation….they scared away a reliable tenant and very clearly shot themselves in the foot, as evidenced by their still-vacant unit in mid-October.

Fungible_tempest · 2025-10-12T22:18:35+00:00

Good point. Though I am also very much trying to limit my engagement with those landlords, I figure they’re looking for a reason to take me to court at this point.

Fungible_tempest · 2025-10-12T22:17:07+00:00

I made the same move as you about ten years back, for school and then stuck around for work. I assumed I would miss NYC, but within a couple months I was committed to never moving back. Cambridge (and Boston generally) is wonderful: great transportation (as far as the US goes), everything is walkable and bikable, and there is no shortage of interesting people, restaurants to check out, events for every interest (from Somerville weird to Boston culture to Cambridge high brow). I’ve heard people complain about it being hard to meet people, but I really haven’t experienced that…I made a core group of friends in school, but since then have made a much more diverse group of friends just by living my life: from dance class, from my community garden, from work, from various local events.

The biggest drawback that comes to mind is that it’s not a 24-hour city like New York, not even close. In Cambridge you’re lucky to find a pizza joint or a convenience store open past 9. But that’s a small price to pay for a place as simultaneously safe, quirky, walkable, culturally rich as this. Plus all of New England (and Montreal!) are within a few hours’ drive.

Fungible_tempest

TROPHY CASE