Isn't it incredible that I've never been invited to parties and to other houses? Imagine the shock of my friends when they heard that...

And thus the huge campaign to make me 'socialized'. First to sleepovers, that failed. Then to school dances, that too failed. Of the former, my mom says she doesn't know anything about my friends. Of the latter, I get dizziness and disorientation with crowds.

Anyway, I've been on skype a fair bit these few days. To Dominic of the resolve that I shall not go to the dance; to Derek of Holst, Mahler and Grieg; To Josiah of dodecaphonic and Jazz scales; To Joseph of how to eat properly; to Lok of how I don't give a damn about soccer.

O grief! How could I have missed the concert by the Shanghai Symphonic Orchestra featuring Mahler's fifth symphony?!?! I was really really sure there was nothing in this season that caught my eye...

I revisited the analogy of the stake of paper; 紙枷鎖. I first knew of it in 《梅蘭芳》 'Forever Enthralled'. It says of the officials fixing a stake made of paper over an opera artist's head and wrists. If it broke, it means that you are showing the authorities your defiance and would be executed. However, the paper breaks easily and thus you can imagine the difficulty in keeping it intact. Somehow I find this analogy fitting to my humble self.

Song of the day: Edvard Grieg- In the Hall of the Mountain King