Category: Memory

Music…

Lights

Infinity

Journey

and Words

When the lights go down in the city
And the sun shines on the bay
Ooh I want to be there in my city
Oh-ooh-oh
Oh-ooh-oh, oh-ooh-oh

So you think you′re lonely
Well my friend, I’m lonely too
I wanna get back to my city by the bay
Whoa-oh, oh-ooh-oh

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

I first experienced the city of San Francisco when I was a young child.  My immediate family and close friends flew into the city for a day or so.  It must’ve been around 1976, since my dad was still alive.  I only wore a thin, light blue jacket, made by my mom.  She had meticulously made Chinese knot buttons for that jacket, which certainly made me look like a young Chinese boy.  I remember how much time it took her to assemble each button, and it fascinated me.

I was very cold while we traversed the streets of San Francisco; it was the coldest I had been in my young life.  The skies gleamed a bright blue without any clouds; the sun shone brightly on that day.  I looked up from the sidewalk and gazed upon the buildings that extended up as far as my mind could imagine.  The slope of the streets seared into my short, aching legs.  Though I don’t remember seeing any specific sights, I distinctly remember the city. 

Continue reading “That City by the Bay” →

Music…

The Sad Cafe

The Long Run

Eagles

and Words

Out in the shiny night
The rain was softly falling
Tracks that ran down the boulevard
Had all been washed away

Out of the silver light
The past came softly calling
And I remember the times we spent
Inside the sad cafe

Oh it seemed like a holy place
Protected by amazing grace
We would sing right out loud
The things we could not say

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

After our move from the sunny island of Puerto Rico at the age of 10, I grew up on the southeastern coast of Florida.  My childhood home sat about a 20-minute drive from the beaches of Fort Lauderdale.  Having spent my entire life among palm trees and perpetual sun, I found little need to wander out onto the beaches.  Early on, my life centered around my bicycle.  As I grew older, video games filled my world.

On occasion, we would drive down to Miami to visit my father’s gravesite at a cemetery off Calle Ocho.  For a while, we attended a Chinese Baptist Church in Miami, though that drive proved to be too long on each Sunday morning.  However, we typically remained north of Miami.  The southeast coast of Florida didn’t have a Chinatown where Chinese businesses clustered, like many other cities.  Instead, they were scattered almost at random.

Continue reading “Returning to my sad café” →

Music…

Magic Power

Allied Forces

Triumph

and Words

Something′s at the edge of your mind
You don’t know what it is
Something you were hoping to find
But you′re not sure what it is
Then you hear the music
And it all comes crystal clear
The music does the talking
Says the things you want to hear

I’m young, I’m wild and I′m free
Got the magic power of the music in me
I′m young, I’m wild and I′m free
Got the magic power of the music in me

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

On a typical morning in 2000, I wandered into work.  I was a software developer on Microsoft Windows.  Traditionally, Microsoft prided itself on very lenient flex time, allowing employees to come in whenever they liked and get their work done.  The particular hours didn’t matter.  Unfortunately, some coordination with other teams meant that this was suspended for now.  I arrived around 10 am and immediately looked at the most urgent issues, the stress failures.

Most programmers had several computers.  They instructed everyone to install a recent build of Windows and run a set of stress tests as we left for the day.  All these computers had a remote debugger attached to investigate any problems.  These computers, generally used for testing, were to be returned to normal use by 1 pm.  Arriving at 10 am gave me a three-hour window to investigate any issues we found overnight.  The command used to connect to that computer was named remote, so we referred to each such investigation request as a ‘remote’.

Continue reading “What is my Magic Power?” →

Music…

Come Back and Stay

Love Is No Crime

Bad Boys Blue

and Words

Walk in the rain
Tryin′ to wash away the pain
You went away
I made you cry so many days

Where do broken hearts go to?
How can broken hearts find their way back home?
When nobody cares about you
And you’re feeling blue

Come back and stay, don′t keep me waiting (oh, baby)
Come back and stay, don’t say goodbye

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

On a late weekend night in the 1980s, I arrived at a party.  This Friday started early; I shuffled, half-awake, from Pearson Hall to class in a lecture hall.  Classes mercifully ended by mid-afternoon, after which I went back to my dorm room to pack and change.  Next, I loaded both clothes and books into the trunk of my classic 1966 Mustang and drove to work, which was about an hour away.  Wearing the trademark long-sleeved, white-buttoned shirt and black pants, I walked into the restaurant where I’d spend the next few hours waiting on tables.

My shift ended at 9 pm, so I ran home and showered.  After getting primped and ready, I drive to the party.  I often go with my sisters, who are part of the same group of peeps.  Enterprising young Asians hire a DJ and rent a space for the night, like the Fort Lauderdale or Coral Gables Woman’s Club.  Add a collection of 2-liter bottles of soft drinks and a cover charge.  They’ll turn a modest profit.

Continue reading “Returning to my Neverland” →

Music…

Feels So Good

Feels So Good

Chuck Mangione

and Words

[Instrumental]

We arrive at St. John’s Resort in Plymouth, Michigan, early on a Friday morning after a red-eye.  The hotel desk won’t check us in for a few more hours, but they’ll happily hold our luggage.  We wander to Five Steakhouse, the restaurant a few dozen feet from the front desk, to get breakfast.  We made our order:  a couple of lattes and our respective dishes.

As you might expect, we were exhausted.  After a full day of work, we ran home to finish packing to get on a plane.  We got little sleep during our flight, but sleeping on a plane is never restful.  This quiet meal with coffee and corned beef hash, at least for me, would need to sustain me for a bit.  This day would run long, and we didn’t know precisely what to expect.

Continue reading “Our homebase in a distant city” →

Music…

Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)

Pieces of Eight

Styx

and Words

Give me a job, give me security
Give me a chance to survive
I′m just a poor soul in the unemployment line
My God, I’m hardly alive

My mother and father, my wife and my friends
You see them laugh in my face
But I′ve got the power, and I’ve got the will
I’m not a charity case

I′ll take those long nights, impossible odds
Keeping my eye in the keyhole
If it takes all that to be just what I am
Well, I′m gonna be a blue collar man

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

In March 2020, we received an unconventional message at work.  I attended to some work tasks as the message came in.  Microsoft instructed us to work from home for the foreseeable future due to COVID-19, the pandemic.  They anticipated that this situation might last for about three weeks.  I finished my work day as usual, but I packed up my laptop.  My desktop had considerably more storage (and processing power), but moving it home would be considerably more work.  I could accomplish most tasks by connecting to it remotely.

As the weeks turned into months, I broke down and invested in equipment to streamline working from home.  First came the standing desk that allowed me to work while walking.  Naturally, this also included a desk treadmill.  Next, I invested in some ultra-adjustable monitor mounts to outfit that desk.  With their blessing, I brought home a couple of the 4k monitors from my office desk.  My desk resembled the one from Swordfish.

On an otherwise ordinary day of remote work, they scheduled me for a cryptic late morning meeting.  I click on the link to open the meeting in Teams.  I see a familiar face, the director of my division, and an unfamiliar face, who ends up being human resources.  However, they deliver the news swiftly.  They eliminated my position.

Continue reading “Unemployment” →

Music…

No Green Eyes

Something Up My Sleeve

Suzy Bogguss

and Words

In my heart there always crept
a jealousy that never′slept
It lived on calls that never came
and whispers of another’s name
But your love is a light that shines so honestly
And now because of your true colors I can see.

No green eyes, no blue nights
No jealous heart, no little white lies
You showed me what love looks like
I had the colors all wrong but now they′re right
No green eyes, no blue nights.

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

I rarely listen to country music; only a handful of artists adorn my collection.  A dear friend introduced me to Suzy Bogguss, and I subsequently picked up ‘Something Up My Sleeve’.  I genuinely enjoyed the album, and even today, when reading the song titles, I can hear most of the tunes in my head.  When we found that Bogguss had an upcoming concert in the Seattle area, we decided that we’d go together.

While I enjoy her music, I wouldn’t rank Bogguss among the top 50% of my favorite musicians; my musical tastes are far too diverse.  However, I will honestly list this particular concert among my favorites.  First, her live performance of each song didn’t deviate far from the studio version.  I understand this may be my baggage, but I’d like to hear a performance that closely resembles what I’ve committed to memory.  Second, Bogguss genuinely seems to enjoy herself as she performs; she frequently smiles as she sings or introduces a song.  Lastly, the venue and performance felt intimate.  At times, with her eye contact, it felt as if she was singing just to us.

Continue reading “An intimate concert with a cherished friend” →

Music…

Breathe (2 AM)

Wreck of the Day

Anna Nalick

and Words

2 a.m. and she calls me ′cause I’m still awake
“Can you help me unravel my latest mistake?
I don′t love him, winter just wasn’t my season”
Yeah, we walk through the doors, so accusing, their eyes
Like they have any right at all to criticize
Hypocrites, you’re all here for the very same reason

′Cause you can′t jump the track, we’re like cars on a cable
And life′s like an hourglass glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button, girl
So cradle your head in your hands
And breathe, just breathe
Oh, breathe, just breathe

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

I started this blog over four years ago.  A dear friend who read my impassioned posts on Facebook encouraged me.  While I had never written professionally (and still haven’t), I kept an online journal decades ago.  Furthermore, I do not exaggerate when I claim that my writing led me to find the love of my life, or more accurately, for her to find me.  However, I first put that journal on ice and eventually pulled the plug.  I have told this story several times; for those who have read my writing, you’ll remember.

While WordPress allows the author to scope the visibility of particular posts, I choose not to.  My posts are visible to everyone.  I try to update this blog once every two weeks; it keeps me accountable.  I imagine I’ll run out of songs or memories someday, though until then, the posts continue.  When I first started, I texted the links to the posts to a handful of friends.  One day, I got an unexpected response.

Continue reading “Why I write” →