Frantic Mondays came back in full force, just last morning, right after I walked into the office, I felt it, sinking sharp teeth right into my neck.

I opened my outlook. Emails kept rushed in. For a moment I thought the outlook would be actually exploded. Three days’ absence and then I found myself deeply buried in piled-up work. Gosh, this job sometimes really give me an illusion that I matters, what I do matters. Frantic Monday had gone, and now came Dread Tuesday. At 1:30, I sent the last mail out and rushed out of the office---I had a flight to catch at 3:00. Every second counted. The only comfort is that this time, I could have access to the internet, that means, I could deal things on this trip, so perhaps next Frantic Monday would not be so overwhelming.  

I’m not complaining. I don’t travel a lot for work, so I cherished every chance of it. Life has already taught me that all good things come with a price. For me, business trip is the chance to break the routines, to explore the outside world, or simply, to move. I would be beyond ungrateful if I had any complaints about the consequently overloaded work.  

Now far from home, looking outside of the hotel’s window, I saw a sky so different from Chengdu. Somehow, I remembered my last trip to Beijing. I’d planned to write something about it, but haven’t got any time until now.

What should I start with? Dinner at 中8楼？Service in 海底捞？Snow in Beijing? Or the bar in 三里屯? Oh, yes, perhaps I should start with that little bar I already forgot the name.

I’m not the party animal. I went to bars very occasionally, and always with a group. So I’m a bit surprised when I shrugged to S and gave her a why-not look when the bartenders ushered us in. Ok, I admit that my curiosity was piqued because I heard that there would be pole dancing. What can I say? I am a small city girl---I don’t bump into pole dancing everyday.

Anyway, we entered the bar and chose a corner to sit down. One thing I like this bar is no one smoke here. No-smoking-in-public certainly has its good points. A band was performing. The music was great and soon drowned any conversation out. S and I fell into companionable silence. Suddenly I realized that it’s a bit long time that I felt this way.

I believe that everyone is a bit loner in a sort of way. There were times we all need to keep to ourselves. Only in such moments could we be true to our thoughts. I'd never expected that in this bar, crowed with people from different places, along with the familiar beats of drum, I would have found myself in a perfect peace. Tangled thoughts sorted out, buried memories racked up and the images of long lost friends zoomed in. Things work in a funny way, really.