Month: September 2025

Music…

Blinding Lights

After Hoursy

The Weeknd

and Words

Yeah

I′ve been tryna call
I’ve been on my own for long enough
Maybe you can show me how to love, maybe
I′m goin’ through withdrawals
You don’t even have to do too much
You can turn me on with just a touch, baby

I look around and
Sin City′s cold and empty (oh)
No one′s around to judge me (oh)
I can’t see clearly when you′re gone

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

Back in March 2020, the world shut down.  They instructed us to work from home until it all passed; they non-ironically speculated that it’d be a few weeks.  We packed up our laptops, but our considerably more powerful desktop machines remained at work.  Being nowhere but home started to drive us a bit batty.  Our transition from ‘work’ to ‘home’ mode occurred in single-digit minutes.  A teammate had a brilliant idea; upon ending his ‘work’ day, he’d get in his car and ‘drive’ home.  I don’t know where he went, nor how long he’d drive, but he ‘drove’ home to help him separate from work.

This is genius.  Driving is therapeutic.  I lived in Fort Lauderdale when I got my driver’s license, and their public transportation system sucked.  Most classmates spent their sixteenth birthdays waiting in line for hours to get their driver’s licenses.  While I got my license when I was sixteen, I didn’t do it on my birthday.  Truthfully, I looked upon driving with a certain apathy, though that changed.

Continue reading “The Joy of the Drive” →

Music…

You Belong to the City

Above the Clouds

Glenn Frey

and Words

The Sun goes down, the night rolls in
You can feel it starting all over again
The moon comes up and the music calls
You′re getting tired of staring at the same four walls

You’re out of your room and down on the street
You can feel the crowds in the midnight heat
The traffic roars, the sirens scream
Look at the faces, it′s just like a dream

Nobody knows where you’re going
Nobody cares where you’ve been

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

Miami Vice premiered while I was in high school.  They integrated popular music into their television show, being among the first to do so.  In fact, some popular music was only released initially on their soundtrack.  At least among my age group, this show forced you to watch, even in its Friday night time slot.  However, it wasn’t simply about the music.  Their themes were uncharacteristically gritty; for instance, they killed Jimmy Smits’s character after one episode.  It felt real.

Furthermore, Miami is a few miles from my childhood home of Fort Lauderdale.  We buried my dad’s remains in Miami, so we would drive down to visit them regularly.  The city maintains that unmistakable Latin flavor from my days in Puerto Rico, albeit with a more pronounced Cuban twist.  As I approached my senior year in high school, I spent a summer at the University of Miami studying engineering.  Upon finishing high school that year, I decided to continue my education at Miami.

Continue reading “Belonging to Miami” →