so after dinner Michael, janni and i went out to the bar for a little bit. i took some pics but they are dark so hard to see. The one to the left is the inside of the bar. We ended up going to an ex-pat bar that Michael know about. i don't think i can explain why this was so surreal to me but it was probably the weirdest experience of being in Beijing so far. There were very few Chinese people there because it was the night before new years and most people had gone to visit family. Imagine going out the night before thanksgiving or Christmas eve. The music was awful. It was new disco. i was under the mistaken impression that disco had pretty much died but apparently not. Seems like it is still being made and it really is not very good.

this was a dice game that Michael and i played until we got kicked off the reserved table that we had surreptiously taken. i can play the game now, it is pretty much yatzhee (ones are wild and you see how many of a kind you can get). What i cannot figure out is what the fun part is. If you have less then everyone else you drink which is pretty much par for drinking games but usually there is some element of strategy. Other wise you might as well just roll the dice and assign everyone a number. To be fair there seems to be some bluffing strategy but that was getting lost in translation and Michael not really knowing how to play.

since this is the end of friday here is the music recommendation, sade - lovers rock - sony. you know you love this, the production is a little slicker than i normally go for but the voice and lyrics are outstanding. she touches a lot of different subjects on this album and makes you feel each one.