Happy new year!

Today is the Chinese New Year. After church I went with Yuan to see a performance to mark this in the Grafton Centre. This involved the lion dance among other things. This was fairly colourful, with many performers in red, but I am informed that the authentic version in China is much more spectacular.

Pope Benedict XVI has issued his first encyclical Deus Caritas Est, with some very interesting reflections on love.

I've had a mostly fun week apart from work, which is frustrating because I don't really know where I'm going with my project. Anyway, apart from that I've eaten in three restaurants, watched one and a half films and attended three 21st birthday parties. These were all really nice in their own way, so I offer here a couple of randomly selected highlights from each one.

Ruth's (Saturday):
Sampling Jens's classic hot chocolate.
Managing to divert saying Happy Birthday into a half hour debate on the interpretation of Genesis.

Tim's (Sunday):
Getting Claire to melt an ice cube on her hand.
Watching the Wallace & Gromit film.

Jonathan's (Thursday):
Reading Jonathan's Genesis in Lego book (is there a theme coming through here?)
Classic quote from Mark - “These Doritos taste like the smell of burnt transistors.”

On Friday I was signed up to go to formal at Jesus College with Harry's people, but since there were not enough tickets I couldn't go. However, I hosted an overflow party chez moi with pizza and tea. We also played the International Opinion Game.

This evening HT students went to Teri-Aki, a Japanese restaurant which I last went to in the summer just before graduation. Tonight HT booked out most of the restaurant, with over 50 students. I ate thick noodles with bits and pieces and a side dish of spicy mushrooms.

Going to so many birthday parties lately reminds me of the wise words of Larry Lorenzoni:

"Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest."