My non-working life is very random at the moment. We're back in the always-very-very-busy zone. And opportunities are further circumscribed at present by the stinking air pollution resulting from the forest fires in Indonesia. Today the air quality reading was 271, or "very unhealthy"... Horrible.



So you grab your little pleasures where you can.

Ben's salads have been two such this week. I'm a big fan of these. They offer a great selection; they hit the happy medium between light and satisfying; and they don't overdo the dressing. This week I sampled the house salad (featuring edamame, avocado, and various nuts -- goes nicely with hot pandan and lemongrass tea), and the burnt butter mushroom salad (with blue cheese and crystallized mushrooms -- goes nicely with a glass of Shiraz).

Our only movie this week has been a video of Way Back Home, a Korean tale of a fateful slip of judgment. Featuring a struggling Seoul family caught up with some dodgy friends, it portrays the plight of the mother, who is tricked into smuggling drugs into France. She's arrested and imprisoned, without proper trial, in Martinique, and neither set of authorities seems to give much of a toss. Admittedly, this rendition only flirts with the true story, and it goes on just a tad too long, wringing every ounce out of each harrowing scene of homesickness and despair. But it is definitely moving, challenging you to constantly ask yourself how many there are out there who've been forced to navigate just such a series of misfortunes, and how successfully you yourself would cope if faced with the same.

My university turned up trumps this week by presenting us all with tickets to the Malaysian Open. My first ever live tennis match (mercifully indoors, so smoke-free). We had a great view of the men's doubles and singles final, and thoroughly enjoyed it.



And the ever faithful MPO treated us to an evening of music by Sibelius and Nielsen. I've not yet been to Finland, but En Saga sounds to me Finnish to the core. I have been to Denmark, and Nielsen's big, bold First Symphony is nothing like it... Sibelius's Violin Concerto was played very beautifully by David Fruehwirth. Bless him, he did us a little Dvorak encore. I love it when they do that. Reminds me of one of my most amazing musical experiences ever, in West Berlin, when Daniel Barenboim gave us about six encores. Really. We were obviously loving him, and he was obviously loving to play. Wonderful.

So... Busy, still not totally well -- but lucky, right?