A few minutes of silence every morning
for the valiance of the birds chirping loud and clear
above these bricks and busy streets.
Bless this shade of green
though black are the feathers of the one crower
coming down from the hidden heights.
Still this mind is not quite silent;
how else has this piece come to be?
And in plugged the man-made melody
as I stepped onto the crowded bus.
When to play safe; how far to go?
I wouldn't mind screwing up and paying for it
-- I'm pretty good at moving on, really --
if only there's no one else to reprimand me.
Then again that wouldn't count as screwing up, now would it?
Risking things could be so much easier
when the only life to ruin is mine;
then again that wouldn't amount to much of a life, now would it?
Happy Vesak Day.
The celebration was great today. Such wonderful coincidences, or in our terms, good karma. Collective good karma. I hope someone else would blog about it in more details, because I don't feel like expressing it in words this time.
The point of fellowship is spiritual growth, but I've really been sticking around for pure personal enjoyment. My cup is often full when I attend talks and the like. Still some points hit through my thick mind-cloud once in a while. I with my loads of attachment may forget them afterwards, but the moment they strike is a truly uplifting experience.
I wonder if there are others like me, loitering around in the proverbial Heaven, and knowing it, but not making full use of the opportunity, passing the days being contented with how things are? I wonder if it's probably fine not to urge ourselves to sip the heavenly nectar, and just be occasionally touched by the wandering butterflies?
Got a scare from my computer yesterday. It just suddenly went off without any warning. When I tried to turn it on again, the power LED blinked once, but the system wouldn't start. Even the blink couldn't be reproduced without unplugging and re-plugging the power source.
Clearly a power problem, so I swapped the power supply box. When it didn't work (the only improvement was the stronger blink since the new PSU had higher wattage) I was at a loss as to how to proceed next. Plugged in my housemate's CPU and went on Google. Cleaned up the accumulated dust that I'd been lazy to take care of. Started the long tedious hardware troubleshooting process: stripping to the bare operatives and adding the peripherals back one by one. Luckily before long I discovered that I had connected one wrong pin in the first attempt. =D It is back to work now, with fortunately no component damage.
Well, my fault. My system has been heating up very quickly for a long time, but aside from minimum attempt at better heat dissipation, I ignored it and kept overloading it with external HDDs and overnight operations. With the higher wattage now (480W, previously 350W) it is noticeably much cooler.
Computers, our darlings. Won't do to just take advantage of them without maintenance spending, huh.
It is still pretty noisy though, a problem that started recently. Not a threatening issue as overheating is, I suppose, but I should probably try a few tips as mentioned here in the next maintenance.
While hunting for Doumoto Tsuyoshi's amusing PVs, I came across this.
Ayado Chie & Doumoto Tsuyoshi, "When A Man Loves A Woman" (Live on Sony's Our Music 2006)
Not my usual taste of music (though I've been fine with this particular song) but this impressed me quite a lot. The emotional effect on me is much greater than the original flowy rendition. (Arguably, for this type of song, seeing it live indeed does that to people, huh.)
Ayado Chie's voice. (Yes, I like it deep no matter if it's male or female.) And such ease. I'm really going to shift slowly into soul if that's where this kind of people is hanging around. I'm sure Eka would be glad to help move this process along. XD
Doumoto Tsuyoshi, an interesting person. I'm a bit partial for him already; always thought he had bad English though =D (as did his partner). He must have practiced hard for this one because he really did fine here. Though, what's up with him instead of her singing "So this man says he loves me"? XD
Well, treating this song as a whole it was perfectly normal, and this man -- as well as many songwriters who rarely come into our attention -- did write a song from a woman's POV before. But given his history of KinKi Kids antics, it kinda caught my attention, ufu.
We all know what an evil that "related videos" feature on YouTube is, so here's another great rendition by Magdolna Ruzsa on Hungarian Idol 2006... and since I'm undecided between the original Percy Sledge's version and the more popular Michael Bolton's rendition, here is their live duet.
Speaking of soul, here is another performance that I really love despite not being into the genre (yet):
Jamie Foxx & Alicia Keys, "Georgia On My Mind" (Live on Grammy 2005)
Such power... I should have made that move into soul long ago? XD I then discovered that Ayado Chie also did a cover, in a pretty unique style too, but I'm the type who stick to the first version that impressed me, which is Alicia's.
Man, this entry is really just one big YouTube link dump, isn't it? (Well, not that big.) I'm unstoppable when excited, heh.
I'm not following American Idol this time round, though. At all. I wonder myself at this lack of enthusiasm, but indeed, weighing the aspects that draw me (music, and... uh, nothing else?) and the aspects I'm simply indifferent about (reality TV, Western show) against my current fascination with J-entertainment (very Asian, and err... unconventional? XD) -- it's pretty clear where all my time will go. ^^
-- attraction --
i don't know you enough.
how old are you,
when is your birthday?
what is your kind of music,
do you play any instrument?
i listen as you talk and answer,
hanging on every word.
i watch as you joke and play,
interpreting every gesture.
help me here,
tell me more;
what are your little habits,
what is your dream?
-- fixation --
i can never know you enough.
who is important to you,
how does your relationship go?
what is your life like,
what have you gone through?
i recall the things you did,
smiling at the memory.
i think of all that draws me to you,
pondering how i'd like you to be.
keep me charmed,
give me more;
how can i get more of your time,
what can i do for you?
-- love --
i will not know you enough.
what i haven't found out,
what difference will it make?
what you never want to show,
why would it matter?
i see how you're shining,
feeling proud of you.
i see the flaws that remain,
affirming what i feel for you.
know i'm here,
be yourself;
how will you grow from now on?
i'll be sure to follow.
---
Sentimentality strikes. XD If it sounds one-sided, it is -- it is meant to draw parallelism between romance and popular fandom.
From about two days ago I've been humming Bee Gees' "First of May" -- the theme song of a J-dorama I've just finished watching, and which happens to fit this time of the year -- but somehow it escapes me that it is Labor Day, until I came in to lab just now and found only one other student.
Eka was profoundly stunned when I told her, as she and colleagues had been awaiting this holiday for months.
Ah, the hazards of flexible working hours. XD
