Category: Memory

Music…

Somebody’s Out There

The Sport Of Kings

Triumph

and Words

Is it fate or random chance
How can I decide
Are we victims of circumstance
When destinies collide

All the odds are against you
But somehow you make it through
You can rationalize it away
But it all comes down to you

Half our lives we spend waiting
For the knock upon the door
When it comes, will it be the one
That I’ve been waiting for

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

I first discovered Triumph after the release of their album Thunder Seven; it was released right in the middle of high school.  Triumph is an exceptional band, among my favorites, in fact.  They’re a little different from other bands in that they don’t seem to inspire the unreasonable, fanatical following that other bands develop.  Van Halen, Rush, and Led Zeppelin had fanatical followers.  ‘Their’ band was the superlative; any discussion to the contrary was heresy.

Right after graduating high school, Triumph released the album The Sport of Kings.  I thoroughly enjoyed both albums, but Thunder Seven had a bit more cohesion.  That said, this new album fit the bill perfectly for the start of my higher education.  It melded into the soundtrack of my life.  The energy and optimism of ‘Somebody’s Out There’ made it an instant favorite.  It was the album’s top single.  I occasionally wondered who would become my ‘somebody’.

Continue reading “Precious Cargo” →

Music…

I Love Rock ‘N Roll

I Love Rock ‘N Roll

Joan Jett & the Blackhearts

and Words

I saw him dancing there by the record machine
I knew he must have been about seventeen
The beat was going strong
Playing my favorite song
And I could tell it wouldn’t be long till he was with me, yeah me
And I could tell it wouldn’t be long till he was with me, yeah me

Singing, I love rock and roll
So put another dime in the jukebox, baby
I love rock and roll
So come and take your time and dance with me
Ow!

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

As I approached high school, I lived on the radio.  I discovered reading science-fiction and fantasy novels, and they nurtured my imagination.  However, music fed my soul.  As a multilingual, multicultural person, I used both reading and music to learn the language and get my bearings.  Naturally, I also had television, but that’s an entirely different beast.

My fascination with the radio started much earlier, when we drove around the beaches of San Juan during the afternoon siestas.  We rode in my dad’s blue Chevy Nova with our faces out the windows.  I imagine that I must’ve resembled a dog, but the warm breeze made me happy.  This is where we first listened to the radio.  Our parents eventually got each of us a promotional transistor radio shaped like a Pepsi can.  They ran on a 9-volt battery, with the volume dial on one side and the station tuner on the other.

Continue reading “I may love rock and roll but no longer love the song” →

Music…

Carry On Wayward Son

Leftoverture

Kansas

and Words

Carry on my wayward son
There′ll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don’t you cry no more

Ah
Once I rose above the noise and confusion
Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion
I was soaring ever higher, but I flew too high

Though my eyes could see I still was a blind man
Though my mind could think I still was a mad man
I hear the voices when I′m dreaming,
I can hear them say

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

I remember the angst and the anger.  As I grew up in Fort Lauderdale, I lacked direction.  My dad passed away when I was nine years old, a year before I arrived in Florida.  In many ways, that single event sent me into a free fall for the years that followed.  Perhaps more accurately, it changed the trajectory of my life.  Life before that was not without its complications, but it was considerably simpler.

Though my dad had little to no education, he accomplished a great deal during this modest lifetime.  He became an accomplished chef through apprenticeships in Hong Kong.  He was skilled enough that they sponsored him twice…  First, he moved from Hong Kong to Spain; next, he moved from Spain to Puerto Rico.  He learned English and then Spanish on his own, without formal education.  He eventually opened his own restaurant in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico.

Continue reading “Navigating the sea of the unknown” →

Music…

Knowing Me, Knowing You

Arrival

ABBA

and Words

No more carefree laughter
Silence ever after

Walking through an empty house
Tears in my eyes
Here is where the story ends
This is goodbye

Knowing me, knowing you (ah-ha)
There is nothing we can do
Knowing me, knowing you (ah-ha)
We just have to face it this time (this time, this time)
We′re through (this time, this time we’re really through)

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

My family left Puerto Rico in 1978; we moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  We spent the two summers after that move in Toronto, Canada, and Hong Kong, respectively.  As my sisters and I learned a new language, we did much of this through music.  As my mom shopped in Chinese mini-grocery stores, my older sister got the occasional record of popular music.  Each vinyl disc contained a collection of songs from a particular year, like 1977.

Though in some ways, the joke was on us.  These were definitely popular songs from that year.  However, the songs were not performed by the original artists; instead, they were covered by Chinese artists and repackaged.  A typical record like this would contain covers by artists such as the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt.  In fact, for many years I didn’t know that the first version of Hotel California wasn’t the original.

Continue reading “The sweet voices of my childhood” →

Music…

Stairway to Heaven

Led Zeppelin IV

Led Zeppelin

and Words

There′s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold
And she′s buying a stairway to Heaven

When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for

Ooh, ooh, and she’s buying a stairway to Heaven

There’s a sign on the wall, but she wants to be sure
′Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings

In a tree by the brook, there′s a songbird who sings
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

I arrived in Florida from Puerto Rico in the summer of 1978.  When I first arrived, I spoke mostly Cantonese and Spanish.  I studied English in Catholic school, but I failed that class.  Upon arriving in Florida, I started learning English for real.  In fact, I learned English through listening to music.  I spent many hours listening to the radio on stations such as Y-100.  It was in that way that I discovered bands like Led Zeppelin.

The prototypical Led Zeppelin song that dominated the airwaves is “Stairway to Heaven”.  Naturally, the radio played many of their other songs, but “Stairway to Heaven” was by far their most distinctive.  Yes, I found the song interesting, but many songs were interesting.  The 80s filled my ears full of many distinctive sounds and experiences.  You know how the adage goes, “You’re unique, just like everyone else.”

Continue reading “Epitome of debates in my school library” →

Music…

Wait for Sleep

Images and Words

Dream Theater

and Words

Standing by the window
Eyes upon the moon
Hoping that the memory
Will leave her spirit soon
She shuts the doors and lights

And lays her body on the bed
Where images and words are running deep
She has too much pride to pull
The sheets above her head
So quietly she lays and waits for sleep

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

Nearly two decades ago, I called Peg at home on a weekend day.  We exchanged polite greetings, but I immediately asked her to put her husband on the phone as well.  Once they were both on the phone together, I asked them a question.  No, I asked them that question.  I told them that I had honorable intentions toward their daughter and that I was going to propose.  I wanted their blessing.

Years ago, I watched a scene from the movie Fiddler on the Roof with Paul Michael Glaser.  I noted a very clever conversation where he informs a father about his intent to marry his daughter.  However, he does not ask for permission to marry his daughter; instead, he asks for his blessing.  I learned a lesson from that scene and asked for their blessing, not their permission.

Continue reading “Quietly she waits for sleep” →

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” →