I dreamt that I was sending a large envelope stuffed with research materials to some academic colleagues in China. I was in my office at the time. I remember closing the envelope and securing it with adhesive tape. As it happened, another Chinese colleague was with me in my office at the time. I do not remember whether this was at MIT or the University of Reading, but I asked him to help me with the address. I had already written it in English. However, I wanted him to write it in Chinese characters, as well. I reckoned the package would get to its destination quicker that way. My colleague agreed to the task. I assumed it would take him less than a minute to complete it, but he went about it very slowly. To my surprise, each character took him more than a minute. Stroke by stroke, he wrote it with painstaking care. Gray and pudgy, he was slowness itself. And so I woke up before he managed to complete the address. It was still dark, and it took me a while to fall asleep again. In the meanwhile, I marveled at my dream. Although I was happy to remember it at all, it struck me as dull beyond belief.