Breathing space (1)

Minzhi came last weekend - no, weekend before last - and we had far too much food for dinner (coq au vin using Great Wall wine and potatoes and seafood) and Julian came to find everyone sprawled in the TV den eating Awfully Chocolate cake and watching Ab Fab. On Sunday we bewildered Julian's friends with smatterings of Chinese food and culture (rather more food than culture) and the Botanic Gardens. The Evolution Garden at the Botanic Gardens has signs like Monty Python chapter titles: "The Beginnings of Life", "The Rise of the Ferns", "The Flowering of the World". I want a company to come woo me with dinner and wine and river cruises too (perhaps not the last) - it would be a nice change from begging for a job. Minzhi's place briefly on Sunday night to say goodbye and beer and conversation on Monday night and then I made all kinds of resolutions to do work in the week which I didn't keep. Oh! Bak chor mee at Fengshan, because Kang Jet had the use of his car (Shin Gee/Rosa: So this place only opens for dinner? Me/Kang Jet: Er. Never been here so early before. The important thing to remember is that this place opens until 3 a.m..) and then Bark Cafe at Changi Chapel. I think we should return to Changi Chapel in the daylight, just because. The next weekend was the ACSian theatre production of Chekov's Three Sisters, which was unconvincing. It's possible that lines like "but all the poetry has gone out of my work!" cannot be said with a straight face today. Bar and Billiard Theatre after that where more people came and we managed thoroughly confused Judy's Hungarian friend and then the waiter said hi to Jo. (I tugged on XZ's sleeve as the whole bunch of us walked in and said, I don't think I'm dressed enough for this place. He: That's ok, not everyone's dressed up. Me: I don't think I'm old enough for this place.) Are we at the Chinese New Year week yet? Monday night and Tuesday afternoon spent looking at lomographs and old black-and-white photos of a Japanese sushi chef in Nakano, Wednesday eating too many pineapple tarts and fending off relatives, Thursday at the Beach Bar (bless Louise and her car) where Joanne gave me a piece of green chalk, and then Mortoni's and Balaclava on Friday night (why do we go to Bala?) and crawled through Saturday trying not to move too much.