i really wish i were going up to the embassy party tonight. julia asked if i would be there, but i finish so late on fridays that no bus or train can get me there in time, and no one is driving up either. plus, i'm trying to put aside money for spring break. of course, the bulk of springbreak would be spent viciously attacking the riddles, but i want to go away for a day or two as well. what i most want is to visit cindy in urbana, whom i've never visited before, although i've read about her apartment so often on her journal, and, whom, despite my having seen her a few times this winterbreak, i miss very much already. all the tickets i can find are well over $300 though, and i don't know that i can spare it. poach in durham, who is much nearer of course, also said i could visit and i always look forward to seeing poach, as well as her roommate, whom i've never met but from hearing about alone, feel i would like already! but i'll have another chance to see her over her graduation weekend, which is the week where i'll be bumming after finals, with my parents not yet here. a third possibility would be to go up to nyc to see addy, who tells me we can get student rush tickets for the nyc ballet for just $10!! i really do want to see a ballet, something i just can't do in charlottesville. also this morning julia asked if i was interested in attending the international ballet festival in dc. it's the perfect plan. i wouldn't have to be away for more than a day, i could easily catch a bus up, and what i save on airfare could be spent on tickets instead! this is our last semester though, and that changes things considerably. because i'll be able to see a ballet another time, but i'll never be able to visit my friends at school again. addy particularly i have not seen, not since august. i did call her in december, on her bday, but as she was in a van going up some mountains when i called the reception weakened mid-conversation and then we were cut off. an oversized envelope arrived today containing an edna st vincent millay biography which addy said she saw at the strand last year and rescued for me. it is on my shelf of honour for the week. we spent sometime looking at incense just now. i especially love the coiled ones which reminds me of the coiled sandalwood incense my mother used to burn - the ash fell off still in the shape of coils and you hope, like apple parings, that they will not break, although they always do. the incense holders are beautiful too, i especially love the wheel ones. pity we aren't allowed incense in our dorms otherwise my room would smell like a temple all the time too. when it isn't smelling of cooking bai mu'er. i am despairing of ever receiving my parcel from home customs has undoubtedly seized it. i remember they opened poach's package once and confiscated her bah kua! i have come to enjoy the rattling of the pot cover, the fragrance of almonds (so suspicious in a detective novel, but so heavenly when bursting in from a icy morning of classes) and the sweet rock-sugar taste of the soup and the steaming up of your glasses.