summer hols

Yep, it's summer holiday again.. :)

This year, I won't be going back to MY.. gonna stay here and get some work done.. just moved into a new place last week.. so plenty of getting used to.. new place, new routine..

hope to catch up not only on my research and readings, and also my blogs.. haven't been writing much these past few months.. been lazy.. and cos I want each blog entry to be as perfect as possible, so I was reluctant to post anything half-done.. then I realized that it is just my excuse of not writing AT ALL.. so I'm gonna catch up on some of the entries that I've been wanting to write about.. bug me if I don't deliver..

Here's to 10 weeks of summer holidays!! :) :) :)

Sunday Serenade: give your heart a break

This week we shall give (y)our heart a break... performed by Demi Lovato.. Enjoy!




Have a great week ahead! Give yourself a break and stay safe! :)

Poetry Solace: Of ritual acts

A final piece of poem from Adrienne Rich.. Next time, I'll share some poems from other American poets..

Ritual Acts

(iii)
After all - to have loved, wasn't that the object?
Love is the only thing in life
but then you can love too much
or the wrong way, you lose
yourself or you lose
the person
or you strangle each other
Maybe the object of love is
    to have loved
    greatly
    at one time or another
Like a cinema trailer
watched long ago

(2003)




Have a good weekend! Stay safe!

Sunday Serenade: living in the moment

This week I'm gonna share a song by Jason Mraz that didn't get played much over the air.. this is a very light-hearted song with good lyrics.. Enjoy!

Living in the Moment
If this life is one act
Why do we lay all these traps
We put them right in our path
When we just wanna be free

I will not waste my days
Making up all kinds of ways
To worry about some things
That will not happen to me

So I just let go of what I know I don't know
And I know I'll only do this by
Living in the moment
Living our life
Easy and breezy
With peace in my mind
With peace in my heart
Peace in my soul
Wherever I'm going, I'm already home
Living in the moment

I'm letting myself off the hook for things I've done
I let my past go past
And now I'm having more fun
I'm letting go of the thoughts
That do not make me strong
And I believe this way can be the same for everyone

And if I fall asleep
I know you'll be the one who'll always remind me
To live in the moment
To live my life
Easy and breezy
With peace in my mind
I got peace in my heart
Got peace in my soul
Wherever I'm going, I'm already home

I can't walk through life facing backwards
I have tried
I tried more than once to just make sure
And I was denied the future I'd been searching for
But I spun around and searched no more

By living in the moment
Living my life
Easy and breezy
With peace in my mind
I got peace in my heart
Got peace in my soul
Wherever I'm going, I'm already home

I'm living in the moment
I'm living my life
Just taking it easy
With peace in my mind
I got peace in my heart
I got peace in my soul
Oh, wherever I'm going, I'm already home
I'm living in the moment
I'm living my life
Oh, easy and breezy
With peace in my mind
I got peace in my heart
I got peace in my soul
Oh, wherever I'm going, I'm already home
I'm living in the moment




Have a great week ahead! Live in the moment but stay safe!! :)

Sunday Serenade: 50 ways to say goodbye

This is a very interesting song.. at least to me.. I like the sarcasm in the lyrics and the way they use some Mexican music instrument, not to mention the 3 amigos in the MV, as part of its intro..

50 Ways to Say Goodbye
performed by Train
My heart is paralyzed
My head is over sized
I'll take the highroad like I should!
You said it's meant to be,
that it's not you, it's me
You're living now for my own good,
That's cool, but if my friends ask where you are
I'm gonna say:

She went down in an airplane
Fried getting suntan
Fell in a cement mixer full of quicksand
Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes!
She met a shark under water
Fell and no one caught her
I returned everything I ever bought her
Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies
And ways to say you died

My pride still feels the sting
You were my everything
Some day I'll find a love like yours (a love like yours)
She'll think I'm Superman
Not super minivan
How could you leave on Yom Kippur?

That's cool, but if my friends ask where you are I'm gonna say
She was caught in a mudslide
Eaten by a lion
Got run over by a crappy purple Scion
Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes!
She dried up in the desert
Drown in a hot tub
Danced to death at an east side night club
Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies
And ways to say you died

I wanna live a thousand lives with you
I wanna be the one you're dying to
Love...but you don't want to

That's cool, but if my friends ask where you are I'm gonna say
That's cool, but if my friends ask where you are I'm gonna say

She went down in an airplane
Fried getting suntan
Fell in a cement mixer full of quicksand
Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes!
She met a shark under water
Fell and no one caught her
I returned everything I ever bought her
Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies

She was caught in a mudslide
Eaten by a lion
Got run over by a crappy purple Scion
Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes!
She dried up in the desert
Drown in a hot tub
Danced to death at an east side side night club
Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies
And ways to say goodbye




Have a great week ahead! Be good and stay safe! :)

Poetry Solace: Of terza rima

Continuing with another poem by Adrienne Rich.. this one is from her "fox: poems from 1998 - 2000"..

Terza Rima
9. 
She says:   I gave my name and it was taken
I no longer have my name
I gave my word and it was broken


My words are learning
to walk on crutches
through traffic

without stammering
My name is  prisoner
who will not name names

She says:   I gave my tongue
to love   and this
makes it hard to speak

She says:   When my life depended
on one of two
opposite terms

I dared mix beauty with courage
they were my lovers
together they were tortured


Have a good weekend! Stay safe and take care!

Sunday Serenade: it's time

This week I'm sharing a song from Imagine Dragons.. named It's Time.. Enjoy!

I like the part, "I get a little bit bigger, but then I'll admit I'm just the same as I was".. :p Hope I won't get any bigger..

It's Time
So this is what you meant when you said that you were spent?
And now it's time to build from the bottom of the pit right to the top,
Don't hold back
Packing my bags and giving the academy a rain check

I don't ever want to let you down
I don't ever want to leave this town
'Cause after all
This city never sleeps at night...

[chorus]
It's time to begin, isn't it?
I get a little bit bigger, but then,
I'll admit, I'm just the same as I was
Now don't you understand
That I'm never changing who I am?
[end of chorus]

So this is where you fell, and I am left to sell
the path that heaven runs through miles of clouded hell,
right to the top
Don't look back
Turning to rags and give the commodities a rain check

I don't ever want to let you down
I don't ever want to leave this town
'Cause after all
This city never sleeps at night...

[chorus] x 2

This road never looked so lonely,
This house doesn't burn down slowly,
to ashes, to ashes...

[chorus] x 2





Have a great week ahead! Be safe and stay healthy!!

肝想 - 酒

每天都看到媒體報導酒后駕駛撞死人的新聞。。
撞死的都是人家的媽媽、爸爸、阿公、阿嬤、兒子、女兒、孫子、丈夫、太太、哥哥、姐姐、弟弟、妹妹。。
每次事發之后都會引起公憤，大家都會極力譴責。。
而肇事者每次都會上演道歉、下跪、賠償/和解的戲碼。。
十年如一日，酒駕的案例沒減少。
喝酒的人繼續酒后駕駛，無辜的路人繼續被殃及。。
難道台灣人可以容忍這種情況一直繼續發生嗎？

我認為
要是這些感到公憤、極力譴責的人可以身體力行:
自己不酒后駕駛，也挺身勸阻親朋好友不要酒后駕駛，
這樣總比事后諸葛、集體譴責或謾罵政府無能來得有效。

很多的日本salaryman也是不醉不歸，但他們都不開/騎車，
所以他們最多不過隨地亂睡、亂小便和/或亂嘔吐，很少會傷害到別人。。



除了酒駕，台灣還有個奇特的‘風氣’既是護肝。
一半以上的電視廣告不是‘推薦’護肝/保健品就是推銷酒類。。

少喝酒，肝就不會有事；
肝沒事，就不用吃那些護肝保健品；
這麼簡單的邏輯難道沒人懂啊？？

既然酒要繼續喝，護肝的保健品也要繼續吃，難怪會有那麼多腎臟病人。。

Sunday Serenade: the vision of love

For this week's song selection, I'll be sharing Kris Allen's "The Vision of Love".. Again, the lyrics appeals to me.. maybe I am an optimist after all.. :)

Enjoy!





Have a productive weak ahead! Be happy and stay safe!

Poetry Solace: Of idea

Still from Adrienne Rich...

13.
Trapped in one idea, you can't have your feelings,
feelings are always about more than one thing.
You drag yourself back home and it is autumn
you can't concentrate, you can't lie on the couch
so you drive yourself for hours on the quiet roads
crying at the wheel   watching the colors
deepening, fading    and winter is coming
and you long for one idea
one simple, huge idea to take this weight
and you know you will never find it, never
because you don't want to find it
You will drive and cry and come home and eat
and listen to the news
and slowly even at winter's edge
the feelings come back in their shapes
and colors    conflicting    they come back
    they are changed


Enjoy your weekend! Stay safe!