*firmly* parents should learn to be more decisive! granted it's my dad and so not given to being decisive but he's got my mom to help and they've had a lot more practice than i do! for now they have now decided to come for graduation. *wail* why don't they say so earlier? von has had a hotel room booked for his parents within the first month of his arrival at harvard and where are mine going to be? in my room is where. and no, that's not even why i'm making noise. i really really do want them to come, but not for graduation. i want them to see my room and uva and charlottesville and meet my professors, but i wish they'd come this year or any of the preceding years. i really really REALLY do not want to go through the ceremony of graduation. people tell me it's a ritual or a rite of passage but no, honestly, i just have this sense of "how public like a frog!" really. i do not like crowds, especially not one made up by fawning relatives, and what could be worse than to be herded like sheep across the lawn and people looking at you that is all very off-putting i think exits should be made quieter and in private. and for one whole summer they've been telling me they were going to melbourne in december and don't i want to go too? and i kept saying no thanks i don't enjoy australia i won't come home then shall i? (it is true. i can never feel interested in australia, somehow. been thrice and i just have this overwhelming sense of docile mindless boredom. i think you need to be a more outdoorsy person to appreciate australia. i wouldn't mind going to beijing instead, for a book shopping spree. i want an annotated liao zhai!) and then now they say that they're going in november so come on home. and i still can't find an sq ticket and they said not to not fly sq. *crossly* i really like flying sq too but, it doesn't look like there are available tickets, or at least not where i'm looking. in the meantime i'm trying to get out on ana because they fly of d.c. and only one brief stopover in narita. expedia and orbitz kept offering me united (not a chance) or complicated and absurd itineraries like, sq to beijing, and aa from beijing to chicago, then to dc!!! *dagger looks* no. i should really call sq directly tomorrow and see what they can offer.

jeannie next door is trying to play the meditation from thais not very well. it sounds a bit, erm, flat, i think, or it could just be a not very well tuned violin? this is becoming one of those consciousness-edge itches, to use a choonpingism, which comes of hearing a familiar tune, you are mentally humming along and you want her to hit the right note but she doesn't and your expectations are ramming up in your throat. (it really isn't a choonpingism, come to think of it. just one of those tongue twisting phrases he trips ppl up with) yesterday night she had her friend takayo over and i heard them singing the flower duet from lakme. they do sing very nicely!

yen's east asian studies class seems to be full of these amusing erotic texts and sex manuals. what she sent us the other day on how to select women to consort with was hilarious. also the ten desiderata of love which included: display your battle prowess. select a friend to aid your enterprise. don fresh clothes. *roll around* it occurs to me that there might be good fun looking into medieval chinese erotica. for instance, i've never read the jinpingmei. should i? i was just thinking about it recently because it was quoted in an essay i read. i think the ancient chinese were very good at writing about sex. (totally irrelevant did i ever say i first read lady chatterly's lover in chinese? it had a flesh-pink spine.) i am astonished to find that jinpingmei is still a banned book in china, after all these years. at least, you couldn't buy it as it was written, unless you're a literary scholar. the ones available to the public are abridged. you can get some of it, unedited, as etext though. i wonder if alderman library has one in either language. i think i'll go to the library to drop off some books so i have room to sleep again. yen says i could try elizabeth peters. romantic comedy mystery spoofs set in victorian times? sounds like fun!