RLPF.ar

What an insane few days! I had been pushing to sketch more material for the Kennedy Center piece, when the ball dropped that the dancers were doing a residency in New York state and wanted to present my new stuff. The ball dropped? More like a bowling ball, right on my head. I hadn't planned on tidying up the code until later, but actually it was a good opportunity to do it and put my architecture for the piece into a performance situation and see if any bugs escape from the woodwork.

But this meant a lot of last-minute work (which I don't like) and a couple of 1-AM-plus nights (which I also don't like). The result wasn't everything that I wanted it to be, but it was worth the effort. I'm sure that the code structure I tweaked into place over the last couple of days is right for the whole piece -- no need to rethink for the remaining sections -- and I would have had to put together the high-level sequence for the section anyway. None of the work is wasted.

The weather is starting to change -- sunny but actually a bit chilly with the (strong!) breezes flowing through the apartment. Time to drink more warm water, easier with the recently-acquired kettle. (We use this for drinking water, not just hot water, instead of paying for water to be delivered in plastic bottles that may or may not be toxic.) It doesn't whistle; instead, there's some kind of clever reed device that makes a curious whining sound. It gives me the small pleasure of recalling the submarine-crew pepperpots from Monty Python's Flying Circus every time I fill the thing:

"Put the kettle on!"
"Putting the kettle on!"

"Stand by to feed the cat!"
"Standing by to feed the cat!"

The nose hasn't always been to the grindstone. On Wednesday, the provincial government held a party to celebrate the 61st anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, just before the National Day holiday. In addition to the expected government officials in attendance, international business representatives, foreign experts (me) and other teachers were also invited. The affair was nothing surprising for an official function: an elegant setting, mediocre food, and guests keeping to their own circles, hardly mingling at all.

Still, it's fun to play dress up once in awhile. Never mind that the jacket sleeves are too short -- my suit jacket is still in Zhuhai as I write this and I had to borrow one from the department assistant who also accompanied me to the event. Good fit in the shoulders, but the sleeves... I remember having problems when shopping for a light winter jacket in Tianjin back in 2005. Either the sleeves were too short or the jacket was too big for me. I'm a freak!

The Chinese have their own style of pomp and circumstance. I haven't figured out how to characterize the difference between the setting and the American equivalent. Maybe it's purely cosmetic.

Back to work... not quite three weeks until the premiere! I'm not panicking yet, but perhaps I should be.