One night in Beijing

All fancy restaurants were fully booked at Friday night. Never would I know the night in Beijing had I stayed in my apartment.

Loft reminded me of Eight over Eight in Sanlitun, the guests who came all the way from France in the early winter of 2004, Catherine who said the place was for lovers to break up, Betty haggling with the Italian restaurant manager with her broken English…Shining wine glasses on polished mahogany tables under pale yellow lights didn’t appeal to me; they felt lofty.

I don’t like business socializing. I’m always a quiet listener, an attentive observer. Having met more and more people, I gradually have the eye to judge. The sophistication of our clients from CITVC astonished me. How can environment shape a person? Change a person? We were the same back at school, but those years in society can make a person unrecognizable. My cousins and old classmates whom I haven’t heard of for years must be like strangers to me today.

Movies, pictures, memories

Gladiator, on HBO last night. This is the first film I watched in university, in Beijing, 7 1/2 years ago. The same movie, a different me. The scene I walked into the screen room on the 4th floor of the library with my roommates was still etched in my mind. It’s weird. I have bad memory, but some ordinary moments in the past just linger there…

The past three years with a diary seems alive; is it the diary that makes it so, or it really is? But the 18 years in my hometown is dim, as if I had slept them away. All I can remember is the dingy classroom, mountains of books on the desks, clouds of chalk dust dancing in front of my eyes… Maybe I just don’t want to leave any space for that period – it was locked deep in my subconscious.

Then the four years in Beiwai is something I’d like to keep forever… Those memories are like pebbles on the beach, waiting to be collected. I’m so afraid they would be washed away by the tide of time.

Last month I found an album with pictures of me at school. Alas, I can barely remember my classmates’ names. Shattered memories…

No title

The most comfy way of writing is lying inclined to a pillow with the laptop on my thighs on a cold winter day. A fireplace in the room would be nicer. Then my thoughts begin to wander around. It’s all but a temporary escape from reality. I treasure every moment I can calm down and do some writing, with the sunlight casting in…

Don’t know how to start this new page because nothing new has ever happened yet. Don’t wanna go out; nothing is more pleasant than snuggle into bed and enjoy the sunshine of winter.

I spent the whole weekend huddling in the sofa watching dvds, dazzled by different stories and styles. Movie is a healer to loners.

Year end

If I were asked about the greatest achievement of 2007, it must be joining SPE.

Holiday season. Not in the mood for work. I ended up spending the holiday at home, but my mind wasn’t really there. It’s like a trip back to the 90s. The concept of family has become so vague… So is the festival…

The curtain falls on 2007. The other day a friend asked me what my New Year resolution was, a question I’d never thought about. I don’t wanna set any goals, don’t wanna be pressured. My old 12.31 diaries were mostly reviews of the past, so the word resolution is pretty strange to me. Well, this year, I want it different...

Counting down

It was like yesterday that we discussed in the dorm how old we would be by 2008. The fact is it’s right around the corner. No changes to me, still like a twig floating in a creek. I’m more and more afraid of changes, even a small setting on the computer would make me uncomfortable.

A debating topic we had in university came to my mind: work to live or live to work? By that I found my problem, after a long time of rumination. I live to work, but work can’t fill all my life. It’s not my choice, because I don’t have a choice at all.

Beaujolais Nouveau Day

I'm so honored to be invited to this party on the third Thursday of November. From Landmark Building to Block 8, a bustling area of Beijing's nightlife.

Reception girls in white dresses are young and fetching – a new generation of competitors. I sat in an obscure corner, chitchatting with my old colleagues. I used to be a member of the family. Nobody noticed me in the dark, but I believe my card with the Sony Pictures logo was enough to overtake everyone, everything.

Kiev restaurant

It’s been a busy week. We had dinner with a partner at Kiev restaurant Friday evening. Russian folk music and Ukraine singers in uniforms seemd to have brought the older generation to a time long forgotten.

That’s what I like about the job – chances of going out, seeing interesting things, trying exotic foods… I call them sparkles. Moving to the right job is like opening a window and suddenly, a complete new world is in front of you.