Category: Memory

Music…

Take on Me

Hunting High and Low

a-ha

and Words

Talking away
I don’t know what I’m to say
I’ll say it anyway
Today is another day to find you
Shying away
I’ll be coming for your love. OK?
Take on me (Take on me)
Take me on (Take on me)
I’ll be gone
In a day or two

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

I grew up a child of the 80’s.  The melding of video transformed the experience from merely listening to music to seeing moving images.  I spend hours tuned to MTV, though somewhat in the background.  We never got the “stereo hookup” that they kept pushing on the commercials.  I imagine they were merely RCA outputs that piped that signal from the television through your stereo.  It was just as well, as the televisions in our house were either large console television, about the size of a fireplace, or a modest 13″ set that sat in my bedroom.  Their speakers were tinny and miserable, but they resembled the washed-out screens that flashed those grainy images.

I discovered music alternating between preset stations on the radio and whatever played on MTV.  My sisters and I were fascinated by the videos.  For weeks, the VJ’s spoke about Rick Springfield’s video premiere for “Don’t Talk to Strangers”, to which we tuned intently.  We imagined it would be a monumental event from all the hype; we didn’t anticipate it would be literally just the playing of the video and then promptly on to the next video…  No other videos by Rick Springfield, nor interviews.  We were more perplexed than disappointed.

Continue reading “Slowly learning that life is okay” →

Music…

Amanda

Third Stage

Boston

and Words

Babe, tomorrow’s so far away
There’s something I just have to say
I don’t think I could hide what I’m feelin’ inside
Another day, knowin’ I love you

And I, I’m getting too close again
I don’t wanna see it end
If I tell you tonight, would you turn out the lights
And walk away knowin’ I love you?

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

On a fall weekend morning in 1986, I pack my 1966 Mustang, my new-for-me car to the brim, but it still couldn’t contain all the things I needed.  My family, my mom and sisters, packed the remainder of my belongings.  Next, we embarked on a nearly hour-long trip down the coast to Coral Gables.  I drove south on I-95, the familiar freeway that travels all the way up the East Coast, down to where it ends; it empties onto US-1.  Finally, we arrive at our destination, a couple of blocks off US-1.  I pull into the unfamiliar parking lot, lock the car, and walk to the front desk of Pearson Hall.

The desk bustled with chaotic activity; to this day, I don’t know how I got situated.  I gave them my name and it started from there.  The young people, likely other students, simply cross-referenced me in lists on clipboards.  They efficiently found my dorm room, handed me a key, and gave me directions.  My dorm room was in the 1R wing; it sat between the ground floor and the second floor, up half a flight of stairs.

Continue reading “The chaotic beginnings of higher education” →

Music…

Highway to Hell

Highway to Hell

AC/DC

and Words

Livin’ easy
Lovin’ free
Season ticket on a one way ride

Askin’ nothin’
Leave me be
Takin’ everything in my stride

Don’t need reason
Don’t need rhyme
Ain’t nothin’ I’d rather do

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

I spent the summer before my senior year in Miami.  However, I didn’t sit surfside on the beach as you might expect; I spent it in a classroom.  I spent the school year sharpening my skills at mathematics and programming.  I didn’t know what I’d be doing with it; I simply knew that I was good at it, and I enjoyed it.  In the mid 1980’s there were really only two activities for computers:  games and word processing.  And really, we had game consoles for the former as well.  There were a handful of us who opened the inches of documents in three-ring binders that came with computers.  We meticulously looked at these tomes and cryptic references to something called BASIC, and that’s how we started programming. 

Truthfully, I didn’t even know about the summer program.  Ms. Barba, one of my teachers, pulls me aside and mentions it to me, she encouraged me to apply.  I don’t even remember the application; I honestly think that she simply wrote me a glowing letter of recommendation or perhaps placed a phone call.  This is the same teacher who guilted me about cutting school too frequently years before, “Mr. Wong, you’re out of school more often than you’re in school.”  However, she watched me changed course over the two years that followed.  I’m eternally thankful for her faith in me.

Continue reading “Paved with good intentions” →

Music…

Only You

13 Reasons Why (A Netflix Original Series Soundtrack)

Selena Gomez

and Words

Looking from the window above
It’s like a story of love.
Can you hear me?
Came back only yesterday,
Moving farther away.
Want you near me.
All I needed was the love you gave.
All I needed for another day
And all I ever knew;
Only you.

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.

Years ago, I heard there was some hoopla about a show on Netflix as it established its own streaming platform; its name was 13 Reasons Why.  While I heard that there was some controversy about its content, I intentionally avoided reading about it until I had an opportunity to watch it.  I absentmindedly put it on my list as I continued to watch other shows, where it stayed dormant until I was ready.

It would not disappoint.  The show starts and ends with a warning about its content, that it talks about teenage suicide.  Sadly, one concern is that there would be copycat suicides, and yes, tragically that does occur.  The warning upon starting the episode is absolutely appropriate; it spins of a haunting tale of a young woman as she ends her life.  Watching each situation may break your heart or lead you to celebrate.  Though going through it from beginning to end was distressing.  If you have yet to watch it, you absolutely should.  It is that good.

Continue reading “An unexpected flashback” →

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” →