Category: Memory

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” →

Music…

Red Sector A

Grace Under Pressure

Rush

and Words

All that we can do is just survive
All that we can do to help ourselves is stay alive
All that we can do is just survive
All that we can do to help ourselves is stay alive

Ragged lines of ragged grey
Skeletons, they shuffle away
Shoutin′ guards and smoking guns
Will cut down the unlucky ones

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

I was in high school when I read George Orwell’s 1984; ironically, it was around 1984.  The words expanded my mind and darkened my heart; I loved that book.  Some allege that, in order to render a book boring to students, teachers need only label it required reading.  This book was required reading, and I loved it nonetheless.  I won’t spend my post detailing the events in the book.  I will say that its dystopian nature and the degree to which the state controlled everything awakened parts of my mind that lay dormant.

While I enjoyed reading other required assignments in high school, George Orwell’s 1984 sits at the top of the list.  I should be grateful that it was assigned reading, because I honestly doubt that I would’ve read it on my own.  On my own, I’ve read other books that others allege as classic must-reads, like Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, but it didn’t have the same impact.

Continue reading “In the shadow of 1984” →

Music…

DJ Play A Christmas Song

Christmas

Cher

and Words

No one on the streets and the city is quiet
I should be asleep by the heat of the fire
But I′m on my way out
And I’m gonna stay out

I can feel the pulse as I walk in the door
Take me through the crowd to the middle of the floor
The red and the green lights
Are hitting me just right

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

From my earliest memory, my dad ran his own restaurant.  We lived in Puerto Rico, and he converted the front end of the residence, in the middle of our street, into a restaurant.  This means that my family has been in the service industry my entire life.  Most people have fond memories of Christmas Day.  They remember Christmas Day traditions with their families, with little else to do.  After all, most businesses close on Christmas Day.  Chinese restaurants do not close on Christmas Day.  My dad didn’t close our restaurant on Christmas Day.

Once my dad passed away, we moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  My mom didn’t speak English and had only a limited education.  She took on work as a seamstress and found side jobs in the kitchens of Chinese restaurants.  However, the rest of my siblings and I started work at an early age.  I started working at the age of twelve by washing dishes.  My sisters similarly worked in the food industry.  In fact, my mom ran another restaurant in Florida.

Continue reading “Another holiday” →

Music…

Something Just Like This

Memories… Do Not Open

The Chainsmokers & Coldplay

and Words

I′ve been reading books of old, the legends and the myths
Achilles and his gold, Hercules and his gifts
Spider-Man’s control and Batman with his fists
And clearly, I don′t see myself upon that list

But she said, “Where d’you wanna go? How much you wanna risk?
I’m not looking for somebody with some superhuman gifts
Some superhero, some fairy tale bliss
Just something I can turn to, somebody I can kiss”

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

As we got a new car nearly a year ago, we finally enjoyed integration with modern technology.  In our case, this meant having digital music in the car as well as a combined playlist.  We both contribute to that playlist.  Honestly, on most trips, we talk instead of playing music.  These trips mostly occur when we start or end our workdays, and thus, we often converse about the events of our day.

However, we do play music when the mood arises.  She is more selective than I am about the songs that we play, whenever she selects the music (hint: most of the time, since I normally drive).  She often skips certain tunes based on mood.  I understand that; I often skip songs even on carefully curated playlists.  There are some songs that I occasionally request we not skip, such as Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’.

Continue reading “My superhero and fairy tale bliss” →