Amazing meeting

Met with Chi-chi to discuss problems with abridgment assignment. His advice was unexpected. Whilst maintaining professionalism by not slating the task as being undoable -for which I respect him - recommended I abridge the 5000 words to 1500 which is more in line with assignments in other creative writing courses in UK. At the same time as feeling relieved by sense of his advice, wished friends had received this too and could have supported each other.

When commented it was good he stayed on at party to dance to steel pan band, Chi-chi indicated he suspected got off to bad start by doing this instead of leaving with lecturers, miffed at arrangements for string quartet band being sabotaged. Chi-chi told me his grandfather was missionary in the Caribbean and returned to China with steel pans and other instruments. Hearing steel pans again reminded him of home and deceased grandfather, Po. Then he told me drumming very grounding thing to do. He'd noticed immediately high stress levels of creative writing students and planned to use some of inheritance from Po to rent out rehearsal studio from time to time to help us let off steam.



Couldn't wait to tell friends great news, and after arranging date for another meeting, rushed off to canteen. Everyone waiting to see how I got on with Chi-chi, as first student to have 1:1 meeting. Cindy particularly uplifted by news of music opportunities as she'd done word recount on assignment and found she'd only reduced it to 4985, not 4980 as previously thought. Véronique pointed out that markers probably wouldn't have time to check word count, at which point, Maya made the obvious comment that 4985 words would look much longer than 20. Then Henri arrived with brown leather bag with five locks, which he laid carefully on table. After much questioning on what was in the bag, admitted had plans to compete with canteen by opening catering service in disused shed in grounds of Fritzonian Institute.



Cindy, emboldened, I suspect, by taking two extra acepromazine capsules for anxiety, reminded him he hadn't made much of an impression on the Institute, or the writer's world in general, by failing to provide catering for Chi-chi's party, at which point some of Henri's hair turned white and he admitted he'd forgotten about having agreed to this.

Then his hair returned to its normal colour as he informed us his cookery book was going fabulously well and at the end of term he planned to invite us to dinner to sample each one of its two thousand recipes.


Spurred on by Cindy's confidence, Véronique told Henri he lacked focus, rushing from project to project, without seeing any of them through. Henri's hair turned white again and he was silent for the remainder of lunch.



Purrs Bakhtin