the grave and restrained colouring is intended as reminder to myself NOT TO GET OVEREXCITED in the writing of this post, as is the assiduous attempt at punctuation, though not quite carrot-style, for, while in the past two months i've merely been clutching my ticket to my jealous breast, now, as The Date Approaches, i'm getting Feverishly Anticipatory of the 再見，優客李林 concert, more now than ever, having spent the last several days reading the glowing blog reviews by people who've already been to their december and january concerts, and having recently seen, on youtube, clips of their taipei, taichung, and shanghai performance, and having a better idea what i've got to look forward to. when else will you ever hear 李骥 performing a goofy multilingual rendition of 单身情歌? (he begins with mandarin, but goes on in the next stanzas to hokkien and ends with the chorus in shanghaiese! although more correctly he began by forgetting the opening lines and appealing to his partner for help.) and many soul-baring moments! 李骥 is reported to have told the audience during their shanghai concert: “在分開的十年裏面，有很多人問我想不想林志炫，我之前一直以為我們之間沒有發生過真正的感情，但是那次我在北京的計程車上，聽到電臺裏在放《單身情歌》，我一下子就哭了。" (shock horror!) and people in the know assure us that 李骥 has written a new song called 出境入境 (i like the title!) which we will hear at this concert.

for those of you who are too young to know who 優客李林 is, or to remember the mysterious circumstances of their sudden split more than a decade ago, this is their first ever, and very last, concert tour. a reappearance, but also a farewell - hence the double meaning of 再見. i would be thrilled in any case to hear them live, to see them in the flesh, but there is also the additional sense of an ending. while there will be other 林志炫 concerts, we will never, ever see him perform as part of 優客李林 again. taipei, taichung, shanghai, kaohsiung, singapore, kl, and after kl, maybe hongkong, and then 優客李林 will cease to be. bells! i have spent the last decade trying to get over their split up, and now i'm going to have to spend another one getting over this official farewell. that stabbing pain i feel is, xinyi dear, i assure you, not heartburn but heartbreak.