石頭帽

A hot topic during (and after) the dinner was its very sitting plan.

I shall not elaborate on the details. For those who were there, we found an in vivo proof of Stephen Hawking's theory that black hole could exist in a miniature scale - such as a human face. For those who missed the opportunity of observing this wonder of the world, the incident could be summarized in one sentence: An important person was not assigned to the head table - he was omitted from the sitting plan altogether.

Of course, it is a matter of personality. BT, EK, and a few other senior members of the department also sat in a corner; they enjoyed an evening of happy private conversation. In fact, many of us could never understand what big deal it is to sit outside the head table - where food has to get down to your stomach via a retro-vertebral esophagus.

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Many of my friends know very well that I have social phobia and always feel uncomfortable to appear in front of a crowd of people in a social function - not to say to sit at the head table. Some years ago, during a casual conversation, a friend of mine commented, "If you were having a chance of getting one magical tool, I suppose your choice would be the disappearing gown of Harry Potter ?"

My answer, even without thinking, was, "No. I would pick the stone-hat (石頭帽) of Doraemon. With the disappearing gown, no one would know you are there. The beauty of the stone-hat is, people around would be aware of your existence, but they would pay no attention to you."

What could be better ?