Refraction

My dragonboat team does a lot of visualization before we do a race. My first festival was last weekend and I’m still feeling the effects: everytime I close my eyes I hear my coach calling, “Paddlers ready… Attention please… GO!”

This is also accompanied by random “Ready, reach, NOW” throughout the day.

I love mink so much; it’s a pity she’s seemed to drop out of the music world altogether. Her favourite song of mine is “One Suitcase”, but since I only had her Shalom album handy, I’ve been listening to “世界で一番奇麗な場所” ¹“The World’s Most Beautiful Place”

I was really struck by these (pre-)chorus passages: ²And I was struck by them 4 years ago, too! Look!

たとえば今から後100日しか生きられないとしたら?
僕は、何をするだろう?何を見るだろう?
何を聞くだろう?何を語るだろう?
For example, what if I only had a hundred days to live?
What would I do? What would I see?
What would I hear? What would I say?

たとえば今から後100日しか生きられないとしたら?
僕は、誰に会うだろう?誰に触れるだろう?
誰を愛すだろう?誰を許すだろう?
For example, what if I only had a hundred days to live?
Who would I see? Who would I touch?
Who would I love? Who would I forgive?

(Although I can tell you, if I had a hundred days to live, I would travel for a month – maybe even two. I would wind my way across the world and live out there. I would hope to see people, hear them, touch them, speak to them. Then I’d come home and do the same thing with my friends and family.) ³I might also go skydiving.

I also have some thoughts churning about forgiveness, but I’ll save those for another time.

It’s important to get perspective on things from time to time as I get deeper and deeper into the murky waters of my thesis. (And trust me, they are murky. I do more experiments to clarify things: and then I find more reactivity I have to explain! -sigh- I’m starting to think of it as thesis fodder.)

Happy Pi Day! If I had a little more time on my hands I would have tried to make a pie. 🙂 [/geek]

To live in this world

you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it

against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.

— Mary Oliver, “In Blackwater Woods”

Looking at the BBC’s summary of the Republican candidates for the presidential nomination, I’m rather struck by the fact that I don’t think any of their views align with mine. “Really?” I thought to myself. “I can’t find anyone who I can vote for in good confidence?” There’s been talk about how polarized and extreme American politics has become, but I didn’t think it’d be this bad.

Of course, then I realized it’s because I’m not a Republican, at all, and I ought to look to Obama for ideals I believe in.

Doctor, unbandage my eyes
I feel the light and I’m ready to be out in it
Doctor, uncover my ears
I hear the chorus weeping, I see the people singing

Hey Rosetta, “Yer Spring”

This is a fantastic song from a wonderful Canadian band. ¹Full disclosure: I may have a tiny little crush on the lead singer I saw them in concert a while ago for the second time and was completely blown away; it didn’t matter that I’d gone by myself, as soon as they took the stage all my attention was fixed on the band.

Part of the reason why I love HR! so much is that they always seem to be having fun on stage while putting on a great show. I’ve been to some bigger shows which had more spectacle, but where the band members (or maybe just the vocalist) seemed to be dialling it in—as a fan, that’s not a pleasant feeling at all.

Verdict: For fans of indie rock layered with strings, as well as fans of the Rock. ²Newfoundland

So lately I’ve been reading Dinosaur Comics — I find the absurdist humour pretty awesome most of the time. (The recent one on quantum erotica is good for a chuckle.)

When I was younger, though, I preferred to read about real dinosaurs, even though they (arguably) had less character. I was quite pleased to discover the favourite book as a 6- or 7-year old is still kicking around the school system. I swear The Dinosaur Encyclopedia spent a whole lot more time than it should have at my house and in my locker.

I kind of have a half-crazy urge to order this book down from the satellite campus just to get another look at it 20 years down the road. I wonder how much I’d still remember.

et je rêve d’un courant d’air
d’un éspace clos avec vue sur la mer
d’un silence radio, d’un océan solaire

I always feel guilty for listening (and liking!) KYO’s music; it’s firmly for les ados, after all. There’s a beautiful line in this song, though:

et je rêve de former un arc/en chair et en osmose avec la terre
“en chair et en os” meaning “in the flesh”, of course.

I think I need some new French music.

come on baby, play me something/like ‘Here Comes the Sun’

I am so so so excited to start learning how to play the guitar. My lab mate has lent me his for the time being (I figure I’ll eventually buy it off him) and I can’t stop fiddling with it. I even like tuning it! (He lent me his digital tuner as well :D) Hopefully this is a hobby I can stick with 😀

Also, been listening to Metric’s Fantasies over and over again. Such a good album, how did I ignore it the first time I heard it?

Also, research blah blah blah.

I don’t know what it is about Explosions in the Sky—how do they manage to provoke such an emotional reaction in me without words? I teared up during one of the earlier songs (“First Breath After Coma,” perhaps “The Only Moment We Were Alone”) and definitely had damp eyes for most of “Your Hand in Mine.”

No encore, though, that was a little disappointing. 🙁 Apparently they played right up to curfew! Can’t ask for more than that.