Author: Frank

Music…

Symphony (feat. Zara Larsson)

What Is Love? (Deluxe)

Clean Bandit

and Words

I’ve been hearin’ symphonies
Before, all I heard was silence
A rhapsody for you and me
And every melody is timeless
Life was stringin’ me along
Then you came and you cut me loose
Was solo, singin’ on my own
Now I can’t find the key without you

And now your song is on repeat
And I’m dancin’ on to your heartbeat
And when you’re gone, I feel incomplete
So if you want the truth

Lyric excerpts from Genius.com.

I started at my current company in 2020; I continued to work remotely for the better part of 2021.  We proceeded with caution due to the pandemic and gradually reopened the world.  This included our policy to work from home.  However, we grew faster than we could logistically maintain.  We suddenly had more employees than we had desks.  This meant that even if I wanted to come into work in person, I couldn’t (without reserving a hotel desk).  I had far better monitors at home, so I preferred to work remotely.  Therefore, this didn’t impact me.

Eventually, my manager went out of her way to arrange a permanent desk for me with similar equipment.  However, that permanent desk came with strings attached.  Since desks were a limited resource, we were expected to come into the office two to three days per week.  Honestly, I had very few complaints about working from the office.  My wife commutes to Seattle four days per week and meets me in the afternoons near the office, so it worked out well.

Continue reading “A subtle loss from a mere change of scenery” →

Music…

Running Up That Hill

Hounds of Love

Kate Bush

and Words

It doesn′t hurt me (yeah-yeah, yo)
Do you wanna feel how it feels? (Yeah-yeah, yo)
Do you wanna know, know that it doesn’t hurt me?
Do you wanna hear about the deal that I′m making? (Yeah-yeah, yo)

You
It’s you and me

And if I only could
I’d make a deal with God
And I′d get him to swap our places
Be running up that road
Be running up that hill
Be running up that building
See, if I only could, oh

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

An enclosed courtyard sat on one side of our high school, opposite the main entrance.  They strategically placed it near the cafeteria and the snack bar.  Concrete tables covered the courtyard in my high school, circa 1980s.  Upon breaking for lunch, students congregated on these tables.  These tables became islands in an archipelago.  Each table hosted its own collection of people and thus its own culture, or cliques.

I met friends at one such table.  Most arrive early to maximize our time, minutes after the bell rings.  We examine pieces of paper with notes and numbers meticulously scribed.  We also had colored polyhedra with numbers scribed on each face.  We chat quickly to assess where we left off and embark on our adventure.

Continue reading “Living in the shadows” →

Music…

Brain Damage

The Dark Side of the Moon

Pink Floyd

and Words

The lunatic is on the grass
The lunatic is on the grass
Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs
Got to keep the loonies on the path

The lunatic is in the hall
The lunatics are in my hall
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paper boy brings more

And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
If there is no room upon the hill
And if your head explodes with dark forebodings too
I′ll see you on the dark side of the moon

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

I remember a toy rocket I had as a child.  It was molded plastic with stark red and white parts.  This toy resembled a rocket from the space program.  If I were to speculate, it was a replica of Apollo 11.  The red and white parts represented each stage that separated as the rocket progressed towards the moon.  I distinctly remember playing with this rocket in the dining room of my dad’s restaurant.

Along with the toy, I also had a book that demonstrated the separation between the stages and the boosters.  I don’t remember if it came with the toy or not; it might’ve been a separate coloring book.  However, the space program fascinated me, as it did most boys my age (and in that era).  In the back of my mind, I yearned to be an astronaut.

Continue reading “I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon” →

Music…

Eye in the Sky

Eye in the Sky

The Alan Parsons Project

and Words

Don′t think sorry’s easily said

Don′t try, turnin’ tables instead
You’ve taken lots of chances before
But I ain′t gonna give anymore

Don′t ask me
That’s how it goes
′Cause part of me knows what you’re thinkin′

Don’t say words you′re gonna regret

Don’t let the fire rush to your head
I’ve heard the accusation before
And I ain′t gonna take any more

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

I discovered a considerable amount of music during high school.  In many ways, this time in my life was magical.  The radio became a way to listen to music for free.  For the low, one-time cost of a transistor radio, we got unlimited music, and new music at that.  My musical taste centers mostly around hard rock.  In many ways, my journey first started with Def Leppard.  My fascination easily extended to other hard rock bands.

Of course, there were exceptions.  An occasional soft-rock song piqued my interest.  As I entered high school, The Alan Parsons Project’s ‘Eye in the Sky’ dominated the airwaves.  Initially, it didn’t receive my attention, but eventually it won me over.  Many songs play soft-toned music.  The human voices sounded more like dialogue than lyrics.  However, it contained something intriguing.

Continue reading “Casting doubt and the ability to question” →

Music…

Cruel Summer

Bananarama

Bananarama

and Words

Hot summer streets and the pavements are burning
I sit around
Trying to smile but the air is so heavy and dry
Strange voices are sayin′ (what did they say?)
Things I can’t understand
It′s too close for comfort, this heat has got right out of hand

It’s a cruel, (cruel) cruel summer
Leavin’ me here on my own
It′s a cruel, (it′s a cruel) cruel summer
Now you’re gone

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

My sisters and I spent the summer of 1984 watching a movie several times.  They released The Karate Kid in the middle of that summer.  There was a movie theater that showed midnight movies about five miles from our house on Oakland Park Boulevard and 441.  While it was summer, getting out of the movie theater at close to 2 am was fairly common for us.  We were a collection of night owls.

I don’t remember precisely why we continued to pick that particular showing.  We held restaurant jobs where we often worked until 9 pm; that may have been one reason.  It might’ve been the discounted ticket prices at midnight, though I honestly don’t remember how much they were.  I nostalgically remember watching that movie several times in the theater.

Continue reading “A heartfelt story and the summer of 1984” →

Music…

Every Breath You Take

Synchronicity

The Police

and Words

Every breath you take
And every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I′ll be watching you

Every single day
And every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
I’ll be watching you

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

As I grew up in the 1980s, I discovered music through the radio and MTV.  Most music overlapped between radio and video, like a large common area on a Venn diagram.  The Police’s ‘Every Breath You Take’ got significant radio play, but it was endlessly played on MTV.  The video was definitely released in the 80s, since it was shot at a 4:3 aspect ratio.  In fact, they had two subtly different versions of that video.  They filmed the video in black and white but released versions with subtle green and blue tints.  They called them the “blue version” and “green version”.

A few years ago, this song came over the speakers.  I remember the discussion around the song distinctly.  It occurred among teammates with music playing in the open, so I speculate it transpired during a morale event.  I spent way too much of my time in my teens listening to music and can recognize most songs within seconds.  Keep in mind, this song was exceptionally popular in the 1980s, and many recognized it immediately.

Continue reading “My Stalker” →

Music…

Friday

Friday

Rebecca Black

and Words

Oo-ooh-ooh, hoo yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah
Yeah-ah-ah
Yeah-ah-ah
Yeah-ah-ah
Yeah-ah-ah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Seven a.m., waking up in the morning
Gotta be fresh, gotta go downstairs
Gotta have my bowl, gotta have cereal
Seein′ everything, the time is goin’
Tickin′ on and on, everybody’s rushin’
Gotta get down to the bus stop
Gotta catch my bus, I see my friends (My friends)

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

On Fridays, I normally work from home; on this day, my routine is subtly different.  I indulge in a little more sleep since I don’t need to commute.  First, I select a Hawaiian shirt from my closet.  We established a fun tradition; we post selfies wearing Hawaiian shirts online each Friday.  I subsequently take a selfie with sunglasses, edit the photo to add a tropical background, and post it online.

Second, I try to publish blog posts on Fridays.  I aspire to have the blog post finished and ready to publish on Thursday evenings.  On some Fridays, I put the finishing touches that day and publish.  In rare instances, I don’t publish until Saturday.  I maintain the weekly pace of publishing blog posts.  That said, I alternate between two blogs; this is one of them.

Continue reading “Do you know what day it is?” →

Music…

Here Without You

Away from the Sun

3 Doors Down

and Words

A hundred days have made me older
Since the last time that I saw your pretty face
A thousand lies have made me colder
And I don′t think I can look at this the same

But all the miles that separate
Disappear now when I’m dreaming of your face

I′m here without you, baby
But you’re still on my lonely mind
I think about you, baby
And I dream about you all the time

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

A few days ago, I observed news stories as they rotated through the carousel on my home page.  As I watched the images, I saw a picture that I recognized.  That was the picture of the vocalist for ‘3 Doors Down’, and the story was that he passed away.  I clicked on that link.  Brad Arnold died from cancer at age 47.  I honestly don’t know much about the band, nor did I know the vocalist’s name.

I’m not sure precisely when I started to listen to 3 Doors Down, though a band name with a number amuses me (as did Matchbox 20).  I imagine that I first heard their music on the radio, but much like anything, listening to music is strongly mood-driven.  Eventually, several songs caught my attention, and I picked up this album, ‘Away from the Sun’.

Continue reading “Here without him” →

Music…

Far Behind

Candlebox

Candlebox

and Words

Now maybe
I didn′t mean to treat you bad
But I did it anyway
And then maybe
Some would say your life was sad
But you lived it anyway
And so maybe
Your friends, they stand around, they watch you crumble
As you falter to the ground

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

Shortly after I had arrived at Microsoft in 1991, I sat in my mentor’s office while we debugged an issue with audio playback.  It was one of the older Microsoft X-shaped buildings (numbered 1-6); they have since been torn down.  Curtis’s office was a window office in the middle of the wing; it overlooked plants that gave fair cover from the outside.  He also had several lush plants in his office.  These were the days before music streaming.  His L-shaped desk had two drawers filled with CDs, and that’s how we played music.  He introduced me to this tune, ‘Far Behind’ by Candlebox.

In complete honesty, I was lukewarm to grunge music.  I suppose that I was skeptical that any band from the Seattle area that managed to put out an album should implicitly get recognition.  It might’ve been an exciting time, living in the Seattle area, right around the birth of this music movement.  However, I never really engaged with the music scene.  To this day, I don’t own any Mudhoney, Soundgarden, or Pearl Jam.

Continue reading “The mind of my tormentor” →

Music…

Careless Whisper

Make It Big

Wham!

and Words

Time can never mend
The careless whispers of a good friend
To the heart and mind ignorance is kind
But there′s no comfort in the truth
Pain is the all you’ll find

Shoulda′ known better, yeah
I feel so unsure
As I take your hand and lead you to the dance floor
As the music dies
Something in your eyes
Calls to mind the silver screen
And all its sad goodbyes

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

Wham! came onto the scene while I was in high school.  It all started with the dayglow song, “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”.  This is not a post about that song, which, even today, permeates my head as a detestable earworm.  Wham! got enough radio (and MTV) airplay, but they remained mostly in the periphery of my attention.  That’s where this band remained until I graduated high school.

Shortly after I graduated high school, I found my kin.  I sleepwalked through my first eighteen years without really finding other Chinese Americans.  Only a handful of Asian American students attended my high school.  Even when we crossed paths, it felt as if we were still a token group.  Once I graduated, I met other Chinese Americans.  It felt transformative.

Continue reading “How it started with one dance” →