Today is a good day. I finally got my transcript FAXed to Guangdong U, from my Alma Mater, VCU. If I ever had doubts about affirmative action, this experience has been persuasive. Being a prisoner of time, it was important to get my transcript into the hands of this Dean. Polite Emails to FAX or Email it did not move the VCU folks.

Finally, I wrote if their buffoonery caused me to lose this job, I was coming back to clean house, seeking their jobs. Miraculously, the FAX appeared the next day. It's just a matter of gaining confidence from the listener. The Dean just contacted me, we'll talk Monday.

I have been to 2 performances, a Peking Opera, and a ballet last night.

Both were worthy. Not having sufficient understanding of the language or the performance approaches sorrow for me with the opera. The talent and training required are obvious. I'm like the little orphan boy peeping in the candy store. It's on TV, too. Maybe if I keep watching something will happen.

The ballet was a delight, a full company trained in classic Western forms, dancing mainly in Eastern costumes in Eastern narratives with music of mixed origins and instruments. Scenes were made continuous by simple connecting devices like a fan or piece of clothing. The 2 wonderful male leads, ever light, held hands an instant too long---There was a formal scene of waltzing to Strauss, completely convincing.

The audience at both events were horrid. Running commentary at normal voice with ones neighbor was standard. Children who chatted and thumped were celebrated. Cell phone movies and flash cameras were everywhere. The amplifiers were maxxed out trying to override the audience. I almost had a pain down my left arm. I say, fuck the common man.

I climbed a mountain to the top today, same trail I did the first time. It almost killed me then. Today, I could have climbed some more. Elders can come back. There are main trails, wide enough for service vehicles. Small footpaths take off along the main trails, they're for the adventurers. They go everywhere and you don't know where you will end up. My rule is up goes to the top; down will take you somewhere. One day I ended up on a sheer cliff on an almost obscure path, had to back track, got panicky for a moment. That same day going down, I thought I was in a Ninja training camp. It was so steep in 4 places, someone had ripped clothing, tied the ends together to make a hand line to assist in decent.

There are trees and undergrowth, trails for every inclination. Reminds me of the James River Park System, but maybe longer, rougher and steeper.

I am plowing through Dostoevsky's, The Brothers Karamazov. Without looking, I expect he was like Dickens and Tolstoy, got paid by the word.. I just finished one paragraph that was 5 pages long. Someone told me once it was their favorite book. It is interesting, but increasingly it is obligation that makes me read on. Any thinking person understands there is no God, the species is moribund and shit-heads prevail. I and my friends live in a parallel universe. See, I said it all in less than an inch. I may start my E.A. Poe Selections soon, for some relief.

I have found the cheap place to eat: a buffet of maybe 15 items from which you may choose 4 , including duck, beef, tofu and oodles of veggies, pint of rice, cup of soup, for $.45. The dining hall is a little rough. There are 2 really fine restaurants close to my hotel. 2 can dine splendidly for $20. I eat well alone for $6-7. The foods are just too numerous and varied to describe. Chinese eat everything, and it's all good. I sometimes take someone so they can order and broaden my horizon. After all, I am the rich American. I'm getting so I say that now, just to watch their eyes roll. America still rules.

Hopefully, next week I'll have good news on the teaching job. If it doesn't work, will have to wait for another sign.

S.