I almost get rid of the habit of keeping a journal, then comes a movie, in which a boy kept a journal to keep craziness away...

Similarly I kept a journal for the last one year and a half to keep my loneliness away, of course, until my work started. Two months on, life gets easier, at least feels much easier. IB is something really tough, not because the trade is hard, but the people you are working with are tough. The impression is that they are all super human with stamina and determination and nothing else but 100% professional from A to D, to MD, no exceptions.

So it is great to get out of the tough environment, with a soft and creamy coffee in South Bank. Just this afternoon, I discovered a Nero Cafe near my home. With a cappuccino (excuse my boring choice, but this is London), I try to keep up with myself of the last month's events.

Indeed London is relaxed. With normally Saturday off and early Sunday morning away from the office, even though Monday to Friday are busy until mid night, I have plenty chance to relax and recharge myself. Even though I cannot see how much progress I am making in the City, at least mere existence says something about me.

But City is not the whole world, even though it appeared to be so for the first two months. Living now with a designer under one roof makes me realize how much life can differ from one individual to another. While my room is full with computer staff and economics journals, the designer has a guitar, a sewing machine and a Toshiba high-tech white laptop and a wooden model. How different is our mind is a question we can never tell. But diversity is what I really appreciate in this lonely city.

It is not really that lonely. Last Saturday ended with a visit to National Gallery. I was absolutely astound with the current free exhibition on From Manet to Picasso. There are no new works borrowed from peer galleries, but a simple re-organization gives the audience a fresh image. The audio guide costs only 3 pounds, and with the explanations, I can free myself from reading the notes on the painting, but focus more on the paintings. A more important benefit is to be away from the crowd's noise, which is inevitable in a popular place in London. But looking close to Van Gogh's paintings, I did not feel anything particular. It could be easily understand that the audience in the 1900 to have the first chance to see the thick texture and three-dimension of paintings as an innovation. But today this technique is so widely used among painters. What impressed me is a painting of grass growing in the garden where Van Gogh stayed during his mental illness period. The painting has no central point and the grass grow wildly and seem to invade every inch of the space. Fully vivid is the eager to grow and explosion of energy. Another form of Van Gogh's passion to paint. He drew nearly 800 paintings in three months near his death. Only he knows the experience of the uncontrollable madness and eager to paint.  

The other exhibition, which I have to pay is on Spanish court painter Velázquez. The idea to go there is from an article from Art Quarterly. Rather than focus on the formal court portraits, the author highlights Valazquez's realistic paintings on ordinary life, like kitchen scenes. Indeed, the technique is great, especially the details of reflecting the different textures of wares in the kitchens, from white eggs to metal containers to the slices of garlic. But I was not impressed by either the realistic paintings nor the royal portraits of princes and kings. Neither poor nor luxury life are impressive if the sprit is missing from the paintings. The Venus might not be the most beautiful one, but it is well-known due to unlimited imagination. The face is vague in the mirror, which left the audience to fill the perfect image. Another shocking painting but less well-known is a portrait of Aesop, the Greek philosopher. This is a timeless painting. The old philosopher is dressed like a beggar, with a book in his hand, an indication of his knowledge. The face is full of wrinkles' and his hair is purely white, aging, destined fate for human being. But the emotion is peaceful. Wisdom comes after suffering, mentally and physically. The more a man suffers, the wiser he becomes?

Perfection can be achieved from different ways. So from extreme realism to impressionism to surrealism to abstractism. We can go through all the famous paintings in our minds like movies. Going forward or rewinding, we cannot say which one is the best, but all of them reflect perfection of each painter who devoted their life in the struggle to seek the ideal painting.

Tonight will be chilly, but chillier is the story of Queen of Spades composed by Tchaikovsky, which is currently on in Royal Opera House. This probably is not my top choice to see an opera on a Saturday evening, but missing out Le Bohemia, I really do not have that many options left. I really should go to at least one concert by LSO on Sunday. 

Indeed my days are not bad. Life is just like the cappuccino I am drinking, from the bitterness of coffee, comes the smoothness and pleasure.