I participated in this Pingpong competition at my university. Colleagues from a dozen departments play against each other. Yesterday I won one doubles match and lost 2 so I was eliminated from the "sweet 8" list. I belonged to "bitter 16" category. Anyway I was happy I won something. The matches I lost ARE worthwhile because I fought with a good spirit and dealt with the losses with a good sense of humor. Pingpong is a game of finesse so it takes a lot of practice and patience before you can stand amongst those who are competing at a high level of the game.

Sometimes when you are losing, you are winning because you have learned something from others.

Mastering yourself makes your fearless.

Mastering others is strength.

Maybe Laozi is right. Self knowledge and knowledge about others are both very important in getting somewhere in the world.

One thing popped up in my mind yesterday and I thought people in the ancient times were so much wiser....

Zengzi said, "I daily examine myself on three points--- In planning for others have I failed in unconscientiousness? In intercourse with friends have I been insincere? And have I failed to practice what I have been taught?"

I like what Zengzi said.... 吾日三省吾身，为人谋而不忠乎？与朋友交而不信乎？传不习乎？

Having read Honghuang's blog (she has this high-profile family background, google it if you want to know), I begin to redefine what a DRAMA QUEEN means. The dictionary definitions might be more or less the same: a drama queen is someone who is melodramatic or acts in a dramatic manner. Some might defines it as a person who overreacts to a situation.

Honghuang (洪晃) uses this expression 事儿妈 to refer to a drama queen. This Chinese expression of course is very characteristic of Bejing dialect. Whether this usage is accurate is still debatable. Some of the Internet definitions even say drama queen is a positive term to mean someone who is sensitive and knows what is happening around him or her.

In Malaysia, a retired lecturer attempted to sue a columnist for calling him a dram queen lecturer. The lecturer had good reason because in Malaysian English or Manglish "drama queen" is homesexual slur. Queen or queer --- these words do have homosexual connotations.

I think it is dangerous to call a man a "drama queen"....

In Everybody Loves Raymond, Frank said he is streetsmart, not booksmart. I have teaching the fourth years for two years now. What I expect of my students is perhaps to be streetsmart. Survival skills are especially important in a big city like Shanghai. Being booksmart alone cannot prepare the students for the future. They need some knowledge outside the classroom.

Few students are streetsmart. Examples: Many students don't even say hi to their teachers on campus. They never erase the blackboard or pour some tea for the teachers. I am not saying I expect services from my students. I am saying courtesy is most important when they walk out of classrooms and go into work. Show respect. Learn to work with other people. These are what I call streetsmart.

It takes time for people to see how "democratic or free" the western world is. Anything, even a brawl on the street would turn into something of social unrest or instability here in China. The western media is OVERLY biased against China and what is happening in China. I think for a lot of western journalists they let their emotions rule over them and simply discard professionalism. As long as it is about China, it is okay for them to put a negative spin on it. Sensationalism is what it has come to.

Those who have been to China would have very different things to say. I have watched ABC or CNN and listened to BBC or VOA for some time and it is almost a routine to hear them badmouth China.

Last time, the Center had this TEMPEST Shakespearean play on stage. I remember it was presented by the Northern Broadsides. This time it is going to be TNT. I always love plays. I love to read the scripts and feel the power and heat of the words while conjuring up images or moves of a particular scene. It is hard to fall in love with plays when the pop culture is so pervasive and everything.... A few colleagues of mine went to the TEMPEST performace with me and we even had a little chat with the peformers and took some photos. They are very nice people and we told them we enjoyed their performance. We knew they were going to have an encore presentation an hour later so we didn't want to make them more tired by chatting them up.

I am really looking forward to the coming Hamlet performance...

 Photos of 2 actors in TEMPEST. I took some photos of them after the performance.