To see someone for the last time, I would pay anything. I would sacrifice my job, my everything…
Last chances are hard to come by, but never miss the opportunity.
If I was stuck somewhere 500 miles from where I wanted to be, wouldn’t I drop $50…then maybe $100…then $150…then anything to be where I wanted to be? Especially if it meant the somewhere was where that someone was?
I often have a dream that the world is crumbling. And just like disaster movies, I am on the go, on the run, on the prowl. I am fighting the “monster” to reach the saved destination where the someone will be. Would I kill to be there? Would I do anything against my morals? I don’t know, but my first impulse is…I’ll do anything it takes.
According to Currents, the store where I bought Chris the following sweatshirt, they don’t make it anymore.
Every time, we go to some San Francisco culture event, Chris wears his birthday present. I had swooped into Currents at the last minute, looking for the present. Unfortunately, the dog sweatshirt was not in the right size. But the cat was. Even though it was rather pricey, I bought it. I liked that there was never a pretentious air in the store unlike the other staples along the Valencia corridor.
And Chris loved it. At least once an hour, someone would come up to him and say, “I love your shirt!” And he would put on his hood to show the ears. Then turn around to show his wiggling tail.
When we went into Currents again, he talked to the owner. They don’t make it anymore, he said of the Japanese store.
They often say that to aliens, music sounds like a way of putting sounds together. Why, they would ask. What evolutionary purpose? Pleasure perhaps, their scientists say. But we don’t croon songs to each other to find mates (especially those tone-deaf of us like me). And yet to me, it’s sticky.
In high school, I didn’t know what music was. Having grown up with KOIT 96.5, I only know soft sounds. Contemporary music. And pop music. Then shamefully, boy bands. Only in college did I start building a music taste—first it was techno, then emo, then finally indie twee pop. And with music, I often was enamored by the lyrics. As I started blogging and journaling, the lyrics would say what I couldn’t say.
This list may not represent the music I recommend, but it represents the influencers. Whether it’s shamelessly bad. Or just shamelessly good. These were the songs through lyrics and tones…that influenced some of the things I have done in the past 10 years.
10. Metric – Combat Baby
When I first saw Emily Haines on stage at Riottt in 2006, I knew.
9. Rikki – Suteki Da Ne (Isn’t it wonderful?)
This was the reason I was obsessed with Final Fantasy in college. But I never even played the game. I loved the visuals. And the music even though I spent hours upon hours searching for translation. Back then, the videos were passed around like jokes and this was one I kept.
8. 2gether = U + Me = Calculus
This is how I learned what a parody was. Although I loved the idea of the cute one. He passed away 2 years later.
7. Jimmy Eat World – Lucky Denver Mint
Jimmy Eat World was an excuse for me to enter the world of indie rock. A boy of course was the impetus. Did I even like J.E.W.? I don’t know, but I saw them twice in concert.
6. New Order – Bizzare Love Triangle
I know, not a band of the 2000s. But it was a song that defined moments. I chose it as karaoke so often. It is about a tryst. It is about a triangle. And if I get married, this will be somehow interwoven in.
5. Tai Mai Shu – Freestyle
My sister memorized the words and could recite them in a moment’s notice. I didn’t know what it was back then, but it was my first exposure to a viral video.
4. ‘Po Girl – Long Way Home Listen
Listening to them was a way that inspired my writing. Especially inspiring my lacking lyric writing. I can’t make things rhyme.
Despite the old adage, I love looking in the past. At the beginning of every month, I read the blog entries from one year ago. I subscribe to Photojojo auto-generated timecapsule of my Flickr photos. I ask people regularly about stories about what they used to do. And as I walk the streets, I am amazed how 10, 20, 30 years ago…life was pretty much the same (I learned my coworker who is at least 15 years my senior used to visit her boyfriend regularly in the Mission and hated driving in because she could never find parking…just like now).
A few days ago, in preparation of my annual photographic post I imported my entire iPhoto library from my old powerbook to my new macbook pro. I had only acquiesced to using iPhoto in mid-2005, but as a result, I got into the habit of loading all my photos there. And there were so many photos. So the photos flashed quickly as over 10,000+ photos loaded into my nearly empty iPhoto on my macbook pro.
There was me bowling with other CMUers, the Halloween party where Sam dressed up as Carolyn, the party where I tricked everyone that I was drinking during beer pong when I was only drinking OJ, my graduation, the day I re-met Chris, my housewarming party, a trip to Seattle, my first hike up to the big C, Alex and Sarah’s wedding, Bay to Breakers, the attempts to be truly touristy in San Francisco, the last time Chris wore his favorite yellow t-shirt, the day before I broke my tooth, the night before I got laid off, the trip to NYC and Pittsburgh…all captured.
And so that suddenly inspired me. Unlike many people, I have accomplished blogging every day before. Especially during college. But with constraints (like maintaining career potential for one), I sometimes almost have trouble finding something to say. So inspired by many others, I have the started the 365 project. A photo can have many meanings to the random viewer, to an acquaintance, to someone close and to me. And so it begins (when I actually uploaded photos). Alright let’s go!
