Lulu's Diary: Where's Lulu Now?

Lulu Yan | Oct 19, 2011 6:00 pm | 8 comments | 1615 reads

"Lulu's Diary" was a magazine column that ran from 2003-4. Lulu was one of Beijing's It Girls who commented on the movers and shakers in the city. Her identity will forever remain a mystery.

Oct 2011 - Hello sweeties,

It's been many years since I last wrote my diary for this magazine. I spent many of them in New York. I am now back in my beloved home town of Beijing, where the restaurants and nightlife scene are so much slicker than just a few years ago.

In some ways, I miss the haphazard social life of Beijing in the early years of this century. Back then, a restaurant opening might be attended by a few fabulously wealthy Chinese businessmen, an assortment of diplomats, some stray artists, and odd mixtures of Chinese yuppies and foreign business people and students. As the city has developed, it's also become more stratified: the rich businessmen have their own clubs, and so do the artists and students.

But then again, I'm now a mother, and more likely to be found outside the kindergarten waiting for my daughter than inside a nightclub having a drink with a good looking man.

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britomart's picture britomart Submitted by Guest on Wed, 10/26/2011 - 14:00

Only one account that I know of, Herbz. I guess I must have joined in 2008, but have actually been around here since before the Beijinger started.

Angel

And I don't post that often cause getting involved in conversations online usually descends into something like this. I like being able to see who I'm talking to when I chat. Otherwise I end up sounding like a pedantic ass, and I really don't mean to.

Doubt wisely; in strange way / To stand inquiring right is not to stray; / To sleep, or run wrong, is. (Donne, Satire III)

Herbz's picture Herbz Submitted by Guest on Tue, 10/25/2011 - 13:25

Lol

How many 2008 bred 1,2 and 3 post accounts do you have?....poor Lauren missed her coffee and got this...

britomart wrote:

The intro was mashed together with absolutely no attempt at relating the Christmas intro sentence to the preceding taxi drivers/felons sentence.

Then the proofreading errors just kept coming...

3rd paragraph: "for cause 27 accidents..." should be "for causing 27 accidents..."

4th paragraph: "for the welfare for the physically disabled..." should be, I believe, "for the welfare of the physically disabled..."

5th paragraph: "a Beijing robber who plead guilty..." should be "a Beijing robber who pled/pleaded guilty..."

6th paragraph: "making stores role out the trees..." should be "making stores roll out the trees..."

Oh, and I don't "style" myself as a DJ, people hire me repeatedly because I pay attention to what they want to dance to, not vice-versa.

britomart's picture britomart Submitted by Guest on Mon, 10/24/2011 - 14:50

I shall now agree with both comments, and in the process make no one happy.

@Herbie...

Yes, "and so do" is a wordier version of "as do", and, in formal written English, would be the preferred form.

And, yes, avoiding the use of "and" more than once in the same sentence is a general rule of writing--although I should point out that the rule is meant to avoid stringing complete clauses together to avoid a run-on sentence.

That said, I must point out that Lulu's sentence is a diary. A DIARY... a conversation with oneself. In this particular case, it's a public diary, but the tone is conversational--and there is not a soul on earth who converses in full, grammatical sentences. Except perhaps the Queen. But I digress.

@Beijing Steve... Yeah, the comment WAS kind of dull, and not really something you'd expect from someone styling himself as a DJ.

But I, who am not a DJ, shall out-dull Herbie... Here is some of more of the grammar pedantry you can't stand! (Sorry; I can't draw a sentence diagram here, so will just have to insert descriptions where appropriate.)

"Back then, a restaurant opening might be attended by a few fabulously wealthy Chinese businessmen, an assortment of diplomats, some stray artists, and odd mixtures of Chinese yuppies and foreign business people and students."

by (followed by compound object) businessmen, diplomats, artists, and mixtures
of (followed by another compound object) Chinese yuppies and foreign …
(compound noun phrase modified by “foreign”) business people and students

In summary (I can almost hear the groans), it's not the cleanest writing style in the world; if it were a formal piece of writing, a lot should be cut or tightened. However, the piece was written as a "diary", so cut the girl some slack.

Doubt wisely; in strange way / To stand inquiring right is not to stray; / To sleep, or run wrong, is. (Donne, Satire III)

Herbz's picture Herbz Submitted by Guest on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 18:04

beijingsteve wrote:
Herbie,
Are your DJ shows as dull as you? Can't stand grammar pedantics.

Hmmmmm, wonder who Beijingsteve could be? Signed up for a user account (3 years ago) and posted only once. Chill out eh?

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