Category: Memory

Music…

Without You (feat. Sandro Cavazza)

Avīci (01)

Avicii

and Words

You said that we would always be
Without you, I feel lost at sea
Through the darkness, you′d hide with me
Like the wind, we’d be wild and free

You said you′d follow me anywhere
But your eyes tell me you won’t be there

I’ve gotta learn how to love without you
I′ve gotta carry my cross without you
Stuck in the middle, and I′m just about to
Figure it out without you

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

Weeks ago, we replaced our 24-year-old daily driver.  It had served us faithfully, but I worried about an eventual repair that would cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars.  I narrowed it down to two models and arranged for a test drive.  While I do most of the driving, she also needed to drive occasionally.  Whatever we got needed to be something that we both enjoyed driving.  Neither of my choices fit her needs, but we chatted with a very patient salesperson.  Ultimately, we selected something that resembled our old workhorse with modern touches.

Among those modern touches lies an entirely new array of technology.  We migrated the items from our older car into the new vehicle.  Among those contents were cassette tapes for which we had no means to play anymore.  Of course, there’d be new ways to play music.  We rarely listened to music in our older car.  The few times we did we curiously explored the contents of the tapes that still lingered in the car.  Alternatively, we’d scan the airwaves searching for a radio station that may give us a tune we could tolerate for the drive.

Continue reading “The light that burned twice as bright” →

Music…

Theme from New York, New York

Nothing But the Best

Frank Sinatra

and Words

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

I arrive in New York on a mid-September weekend day. I am my wife’s beck and call while she navigates a business trip.  Having stayed mostly put since the pandemic, I welcomed the change of scenery.  Having enough vacation time banked, I happily agreed.  We’d only stay a few days.  It’ll be enough for me to taste the city again.  We booked our flights and off we went.

The flight itself was uneventful.  We arrived early and shuffled through the desks and lines.  TSA wasn’t considerably different today than it was pre-pandemic, which is still slow and inefficient, but a ‘known quantity’.  We arrive at our gate with enough spare time for our flight to JFK airport in New York.  Upon the announcement calling out our group, we boarded.  We arrived in New York, safely and on time; even the process of getting our luggage was surprisingly fast.

Continue reading “I don’t want to be a part of it” →

Music…

The Ballad Of Sleeping Beauty

Whaler

Sophie B. Hawkins

and Words

You don’t know why I’m crazy
I don’t know why your blue
You messed with my head
You messed with the dead
Now I’m gonna mess with you
I don’t know why your lazy
I’m so in love with you
What’s God gonna see
Who’s God gonna know
When’s God gonna help us through

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

In the mid-1990s, I fell in love with Sophie B. Hawkins.  I refer not to the depths of altruistic romantic love, nor did I stalk her or any such nonsense.  I’ll describe it as a deep fascination for her.  She first came to my attention with As I Lay Me Down.  That song prompted me to get this album (Whaler), followed by her preceding album (Tongues and Tails).  I enjoyed both albums, though I won’t tell you that either is the equivalent of Journey’s Escape.

Whaler, in particular, exudes a certain vulnerability and intimacy. Having seen her in concert, I have observed her exert assertiveness and femininity, yet they’re not in contrast; they’re in unison.  Her voice is undeniably feminine; her words unmistakably assertive.  The entire album feels like you’ve come upon her open journal, with words seducing you to read them.  Hearing her music feels almost like an intrusion upon her privacy until she figuratively looks directly at you and winks.

Continue reading “Only love can make a miracle of life” →

Music…

Children

From Hell to Paradise

The Mavericks

and Words

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

Last night as I managed my music library, I shuffled files from one computer to the next.  It’s all in how we now manage what spanned hundreds of discs in jewel cases into what fits into a USB flash drive.  I watched as the software meticulously scanned each file and folder spanning tens of gigabytes, quietly fetching metadata from the internet to enhance my listening enjoyment.  Meanwhile, each album cover magically appeared in my online collection.

Normally, these pictures flash, and I think little of them.  While I’ve structured this blog by reminiscing about a memory from music, the trigger is almost always hearing the music, not merely seeing the album cover.  However, one album cover causes me to stop and immediately transports me back to a moment, just like a scene from Somewhere in Time.  That album was The Maverick’s “From Hell to Paradise”.

Continue reading “A distant country serenade” →

Music…

Brown Eyed Girl

Blowin’ Your Mind!

Van Morrison

and Words

Hey, where did we go?
Days when the rains came
Down in the hollow
Playin’ a new game

Laughin’ and a-runnin’, hey, hey
Skippin’ and a-jumpin’
In the misty mornin’ fog with
Our, our hearts a-thumpin’ and you

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

I adhere to a particular routine on each Friday morning.  They revolve around two tasks.  First, I focus on publishing any scheduled blog posts, such as this one.  Mechanically, it’s just pushing one button, but then comes the details of cross-posting into Facebook, resolving the preview so that it looks pretty, etc.  I alternate between two blogs, so on average you’ll see an update on a particular blog every other week.

Second, I put on a Hawaiian Shirt and take a selfie; those pictures automatically save onto OneDrive.  After waiting a couple minutes for the image to propagate, I’ll fire up Corel Painter.  I copy two different images: the aforementioned selfie and a picture of a tropical setting from past travels.  Next, I carefully edit my image wearing said Hawaiian Shirt and set it into the tropical scene.  Finally, I save it back onto OneDrive for the moment.

Continue reading “Hawaiian Shirt Fridays” →

Music…

100 Years

The Battle for Everything

Five for Fighting

and Words

I’m 15 for a moment
Caught in between ten and 20
And I’m just dreaming
Counting the ways to where you are

I’m 22 for a moment
And she feels better than ever
And we’re on fire
Making our way back from Mars

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

A number of years ago a friend read through my Facebook posts and felt the angst and passion I poured into my thoughts.  While we didn’t agree on everything (no two people ever do), he both encouraged me to write but also suggested that I change my medium.  He observed that my writing may be better suited for a blog and pointed out that WordPress would make it fairly easy.

Spewing words about social justice and yearning for fairness and equality filled those early days when I started to find my voice.  I could’ve very easily diverted the firehouse from a Facebook post into a form on a website.  However, being the prototypical test engineer, that idea violated my sensibilities.  A blog couldn’t simply be a collection of disjointed posts; it yearns for cohesiveness, its own voice.

Continue reading “Turning 100” →

Music…

The NeverEnding Story

Don’t Suppose

Limahl

and Words

Turn around
Look at what you see
In her face
The mirror of your dreams

Make believe I’m everywhere
Hidden in the lines
Written on the pages
Is the answer to a never ending story
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

In many times, I’ve told the story about my aspiration to write.  To be completely honest, I can’t tell you if this calling started upon learning English, though chronologically that’s when it happened.  Was it causal or merely correlational?  My early reading expanded my imagination and horizons.  It inspired me in the way that little else did.  Thus, I started awkwardly at first in high school, though I don’t know if there’s any copy of that writing anywhere.

Years later, I kept an online journal in Geocities.  I stopped writing in it, though it is also long gone now.  There are some services that have mirrors of it on their servers, though I can’t imagine why.  The vast majority of personal websites on Geocities were little more than garbage.  If you search hard enough, you’ll find a shadow of that page.

Continue reading “The Origin to my Story” →

Music…

Goody Two Shoes

Friend or Foe

Adam Ant

and Words

With your heartbreak open
So much you can’t hide
Put on a little makeup, makeup
Make sure they get your good side, good side

If the words unspoken
Get stuck in your throat
Send a treasure token, token
Write it on a pound note, pound note

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

I’ve worked in technology for my entire career.  The technology industry often tolerates their employees dressing casually; I exploited that and often wore jeans, shorts, t-shirts, or even occasionally tank tops.  My friends from work mostly dressed the same.  An occasional peep may wear khakis and polo shirt to the office.  Raymond, who attended prep school, grew accustomed to wearing slacks, buttoned shirt, and tie; he continued this tradition at work.

As my (then) girlfriend and I settled into our lives, she received an invitation to a wedding from a friend; it would take place in Youngstown, OH.  She asked if I would consider attending the wedding with her, and I happily accepted.  However, the discussion did not turn to the logistics of arranging our time off or travel plans.  She marveled that I had never seen me really dressed up.  Therefore, she naturally asked if I had proper attire; I confirmed that I owned a suit.  She followed that question by asking about the shoes.

Continue reading “Angst over a pair of shoes” →

Music…

Ordinary World

Duran Duran (The Wedding Album)

Duran Duran

and Words

Came in from a rainy Thursday on the avenue
Thought I heard you talking softly
I turned on the lights, the TV, and the radio
Still I can’t escape the ghost of you

What has happened to it all?
Crazy, some’d say
Where is the life that I recognise? (Gone away)

But I won’t cry for yesterday, there’s an ordinary world
Somehow I have to find
And as I try to make my way to the ordinary world
I will learn to survive

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

On an ordinary day in the mid-1990’s, a number of us shuffle down to the local Chili’s for a meal.  We, a collection of friends and colleagues from Microsoft, take a break from work and drive the short distance down the street to that restaurant.  We conduct this ritual with alarming regularly, nearly becoming our default place for meals.  I ordered my favorite food item from the menu (the Chicken Crispers), and we sit and chat.

Today, we change our routine and elect to walk around the plaza for a bit before returning to work.  Crossroads sits but a few minutes away.  It distinctively hosts a used bookstore, food court, and collection of tables.  Ever the music enthusiast, I wander into the music store immediately next to the Chili’s, by the name of Silver Platters.  This particular location is considerably smaller than their other locations.  As I browse the collection of CD’s neatly laid out in row after row.  And then this song comes on over the speakers.

“Who is this?!”, I exclaimed.

Continue reading “An unexpected find from a familiar face” →

Music…

I’m Alive

Sign of Angels

Issa

and Words

There’s a feeling deep inside me
Can’t describe it, but it made me see
That life is stronger than both you and me
Once a fire burned so brightly
But your heat turned our love into sand
Don’t ask me, baby
Why it has to end

I’m alive
Without you
And I’m better off alone
Like a queen on her throne

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

Shortly after I arrive at Breakfast Club one morning, my friend Kelly turns to me and asks, “Are you okay?”  These days, we meet over Skype, and it’s currently just the two of us in the room.  He wasn’t asking in an ironic or sarcastic way; he asked genuinely.  While I’m touched by the gesture, I’m honestly a little perplexed.  I don’t post about every minutia of my life on social media, and we meet pretty regularly.  I mentally reflected on recent events and came up blank.

As it happens, it was a response to a recent post in this blog, where I wrote a personal experience towards the end of that post.  Those words genuinely expressed how we felt.  That night and that particular moment shattered us.  It remains to this day, one of the most devastating days in memory.  However, scribing these words have a magical healing, much like draining the poison off a snake bite.

Continue reading “Synergistic Negativity” →