Stop Posting on WeChat!; Tony Born on Black Ribbon Day; Tony and Madden Football; American Thanksgiving; Being Unpopular in China

• I tell myself to stop posting on WeChat, but I can't help myself. I just love being silly and posting absurd things on it. I try not to show the world my life; just my absurd notions of what I think is humorous. In previous years, I have made a habit of trying to ignore social media as much as I can during Lent, but this year, I am thinking of getting off starting at Advent.

• My son Tony was born on August 23 which is a dark date for Latvians. It was the date on which the infamous Nazi – Soviet treaty was signed. One of the secret protocols of the treaty was the absorption of the Baltic states by the Soviets. What can I say about this unfortunate coincidence? Well, Tony's birth represents a new hope.

• It rained heavily in Wuxi on November 27^th. Hadn't rained so heavily in the longest time. My plan to go home late to avoid Jenny's tigermothering of Tony was thwarted.

• Tony wants to play the Madden computer football game. He is becoming North Americanized. He knows about the NCAA. I call it the NC, double A. He prefers to call it the N,C,A,A, even rejecting my manner of saying it.

• Somewhere in Wuxi, American Thanksgiving, a.k.a. Overeating day is being observed. I treat it as the start of the Christmas shopping season. This year, I may even use the day to mark the start of my not posting anything on WeChat moments. But then, maybe I won't. I report to you rare reader either way.

• There's one thing worse than being unpopular with the locals in China and that is being popular with them. If you can keep to yourself in China, you don't get invited to many Chinese social gatherings which are a bore. If you are the only foreigner at these affairs, it can feel like a prison sentence. Never does one feel so lonely as when one is with dull company. (Of course, it might be that I have managed to get the locals to ignore me.)