Category: Memory

Music…

Slip Slidin’ Away

The Essential Paul Simon

Paul Simon

and Words

Slip slidin’ away
Slip slidin’ away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you’re slip slidin’ away

I know a man
He came from my home town
He wore his passion for his woman like a thorny crown
He said Delores
I live in fear
My love for you’s so overpowering I’m afraid that I will disappear

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

I fell in love in the spring of 1982.  This love oscillates in ardor since then, but it endures.  That love was for the game of baseball.  Before that, I knew nothing about the game, save some basic mechanics.  I didn’t even know how to read the line score.  The letters R, H and E atop the numbers were a mystery.

A major league team had done dismally the previous year, next to last in their division.  The Atlanta Braves had no reason to believe that their fortunes would change in 1982, until it did.  It started with the insignificant practice games of spring training.  Some would claim that it was a fluke.  It was merely momentum that carried their winning ways into the regular season.  It carried them to a 13-0 record.  This baseball team, the target of some jokes, broke the record for most wins starting a season.

Continue reading “A dark abyss with the boys of summer” →

Music…

Magic

Xanadu Soundtrack

Olivia Newton-John

and Words

Come take my hand
You should know me
I’ve always been in your mind
You know I will be kind
I’ll be guiding you

Building your dream has to start now
There’s no other road to take
You won’t make a mistake
I’ll be guiding you
You have to believe we are magic

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

A dear friend is a physicist, though I’m not sure that he technically finished his degree.  We have spent many hours debating the merits of a great wealth of topics.  One such topic was the merits of a natural scientist versus an applied scientist.  Natural scientist seeks knowledge for the pure sake of knowledge; physicist are natural scientists.  Applied scientists seek knowledge that may be applied to some use; engineers are applied scientists.  By schooling (and profession), I’m an engineer.

To illustrate the point, we talked about the lunar landing.  It was a great feat of engineering, impossible to do without the science and math from natural scientists.  While I am fascinated by our aspirations to land on the moon, I also wonder what we’ve learned from landing in the moon.  Specifically, did we discover anything from physically being there that has greatly impacted our lives?  Did the samples of moondust lead us to a great invention?  Are computers faster?  Did we minimize CO₂ emissions?  To be clear, I’m not criticizing anyone for the raw pursuit of knowledge; it’s simply that I find useful discoveries far more intriguing.

Continue reading “You have to believe we are magic” →

Music…

Don’t Stop Believin’

Escape

Journey

and Words

Just a small-town girl
Livin’ in a lonely world
She took the midnight train goin’ anywhere

Just a city boy
Born and raised in South Detroit
He took the midnight train goin’ anywhere

A singer in a smokey room
The smell of wine and cheap perfume
For a smile they can share the night
It goes on and on, and on, and on

Lyric excerpts from AZLyrics.

On Florida afternoon a group of us sit at the local Burger King.  It sits barely a mile from my house, but I rarely go there.  On this particular day a friend drives us there; he too is Chinese.  Most days we eat our typical Chinese fare, which nearly always includes rice.  We celebrate anything that deviates from that norm, even if it’s standard fast food.  First, we order our food and patiently wait.  We eventually settle into a sculpted booth that overlooks the surrounding windows.  We watch the traffic as it zooms past State Road 7 as we talk about something that I can’t hope to remember.

Continue reading “Never stop believin’” →

Music…

Life is Beautiful

The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack

Sixx:A.M.

and Words

You can’t quit until you try
You can’t live until you die
You can’t learn to tell the truth
Until you learn to lie

Can’t breathe until you choke
Gotta laugh when you’re the joke
There’s nothing like a funeral
To make you feel alive

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

Raised on the radio, the early 80’s was a mosaic of music that hold fragments of memories from a partially misspent youth.  While we may select one radio station that fell under the category ‘popular’, ‘jazz’, or ‘classic rock’, that’s the extent of choices you had.  Radios had a handful of presets in which may select, though you were still a captive audience to what they played.  There were cassette tapes, of course, but even they were limited.  In a package the size of a small phone, you may store up to 90 minutes of music; if you wanted more options, you’d need to tote more these compact reels of magnetic tape that stored your music.  Many had bins of these in our cars or backpacks in order to have more options.

Continue reading “An honest tale of addiction” →

Music…

Chances

Slice

Five For Fighting

and Words

Chances are when said and done
Who’ll be the lucky ones
Who make it all the way?
Though you say I could be your answer
Nothing lasts forever
No matter how it feels today

Chances are, we’ll find a new equation
Chances rolled away from me
Chances are all they hope to be

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

We all have those movies we love.  They’re the kind of movie where you can recite large portions of the dialogue; this can be either endearing or annoying depending on with whom you watch the film.  This is the kind of film where you are compelled to finish if you should run upon it as you channel graze.  I have several films that qualify, but certainly The Blind Side is among them.

The film is based on the book by the same name; it is the real-life account of Michael Oher.  It effectively frames the story that is as engaging in its significance as it is endearing.  It’s simply one of those stories that makes you smile.  As the credits roll from the film, they start with a slideshow of pictures and this particular song.  I simply can’t hear this song and not see those pictures in my mind.

Continue reading “Hidden truth of the blind side” →

Music…

Anthem to the Estranged

Blessing in Disguise

Metal Church

and Words

Starved for destination, a beggar man by trade
A desperate man needs more than someone else to blame
Friendless he appears, he hides behind his tears
For things he’s lost, or things he’ll never have at all

The forgotten man wanders misplaced in the world
Obscurity is all the eye can see, and I recall

I’m all alone again

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

On a weekday afternoon, I look out the window in my office.  It is situated on the second floor in Building 85 at Microsoft.  Floor to ceiling windows line the opposing wall of the office, and through them, I see a lush meticulously landscaped landing.  People may toss a frisbee out there on occasion; in fact, I may have played catch with a baseball with teammates once.  On one day, I marveled at a stunning double rainbow as I look out said window.  This was my ‘work’ home for a few years.

Continue reading “Coding at the threshold of hearing loss” →

Music…

Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2

The Wall

Pink Floyd

and Words

We don’t need no education
We don’t need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave the kids alone

Hey, teacher leave the kids alone!
All in all it’s just another brick in the wall
All in all you’re just another brick in the wall

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

On an otherwise ordinary school day, we gathered at the cafeteria in my middle school, Parkway Middle School.  Teachers and administrators shuffled the student body in an orderly manner into the large room.  Long tables normally used as our lunch tables filled the room.  The tops of each table pivoted to a makeshift bench; between the tables and the lunch chairs, they’re all aligned to face the same direction.  We gathered to what appears to be a student talent show.

Continue reading “Having my pudding whenever I want” →

Music…

Wind Of Change

Crazy World

Scorpions

and Words

I follow the Moskva and down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change
An August summer night soldiers passing by
Listening to the wind of change

The world is closing in and did you ever think
That we could be so close like brothers?
The future’s in the air can feel it everywhere
I’m blowing with the wind of change

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

On an otherwise forgettable afternoon or evening in the 1980’s, I channel surf to find a movie.  The movie Gotcha! comes on one of the premium channels; it’s a movie about a young American tourist who travels to Europe.  While I did enjoy the film, I would encourage you to watch it.  It’s worth it even if only to see Anthony Edwards as a naïve, though cocky college student.  I won’t give away the plot save for one thing; he eventually lands in East Berlin.  What?!

Many of you are not old enough to remember that the city of Berlin, and even Germany, was split into two halves, the East and the West.  It now all sounds like a bad joke; it’s reminiscent of King Solomon ordering the baby to be split in half…  Except that they did.  Germany split into two halves, and they erected a literal wall that separated the East and West sides of Berlin.  That was the reality in which I grew up; much like we think of North and South Korea.

Continue reading “The fall of the Berlin Wall and an opportunity to dream” →

Music…

Happier Than Ever

Happier Than Ever

Billie Eilish

and Words

When I’m away from you
I’m happier than ever
Wish I could explain it better
I wish it wasn’t true

Give me a day or two to think of something clever
To write myself a letter
To tell me what to do, mm-mm

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

I rarely track new music artists these days; I find fewer opportunities to listen to new music as I go on my daily tasks.  When I do listen to music, I generally resort to a poorly fitting playlist that I simply call ‘Good Tunes’.  On a lazy Sunday evening, I turned to some music awards show on television.  I listen somewhat absentmindedly on the background as I continue to type away on my Surface Book.  My keys continued to click loudly on the mechanical keyboard as different artist cycle through the awards and the stage.  Most of them whom I recognize only by name, but others whose name I don’t even register.

Continue reading “Found a gem, the light saber was optional” →