chemists are nothing but trouble! the newest assault on my door has been made and it isn't even about soup any longer! left overnight, the note says: "well, i thumb my nose at you, fool!" and then a drawing of someone thumbing his nose. i am ignoring it because the ready-made idiom "wo3 dui4 ni3 chi4 zhi1 yi3 bi2" is too litty for this muddy affair, even when followed by "dai1 zi!" or even "bai2 chi1!" (and certainly not "yu2 zhe3!") and anyhow i can't draw anything, let alone of someone thumbing his nose...(actually, i don't think i know how to write the chi4 in chi4 zhi1 yi3 bi2either...and this is a far profounder reason.)

speaking of chinese in translation, i bought a copy of fifty tang poems when i was in schoenhof's on monday. it has the classical and modern chinese on facing pages, followed by english translations. of course, it was an ABSURD $11 american dollars for the single book. i know that it wouldn't cost but a dollar in beijing's waiwen shudian, and the flap of the book confirms that the whole five volume set costs 72 yuan, which is about $7 US dollars, 1/7th the price, which i could have got in beijing. but i just wanted to read something in chinese badly that day, and i like criticising the english translations. i suppose the poems made me think of cindy's resolution to memorise changhen'ge (is that at all coming along, my love?) and also of 5.10 chinese classes in RJ and arguing with the chinese teacher (whom we all didn't like) about his interpretation of a poem...