I haven't really done much in the last couple of days. After my welcome program finished on Wednesday I've spent a lot of time at home, with exception to doing a little bit of sight-seeing, attending a local London party on Saturday night and going out for breakfast on Sunday morning. For the most part, I spent today keeping out of the rain (or what my housemate likes to call "proper English weather"). So during all this indoor time, I managed to put together a little something with collected pictures and video clips of summer. And I finished it just in time... because I actually DO have school-related stuff to do tomorrow and Thursday.
So I'm thinking that this post doesn't really warrant a roman numeral because it's more of a reminiscing thing than it is newly informative. Whatever... it makes sense to me.
It was a lot of fun to make, and I found myself getting lost in it and sometimes forgetting where I am. I half expected to just pick up my cell phone and call any one of you to meet up for coffee. But no worries... if anything, it kept me from feeling lonely.
Anyway here it is... enjoy!
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Transatlanticism
After I'm gone, I hope you'll remember me. I'll be thousands of miles away, and between us, the cold, stabbing waters of the Atlantic Ocean will rage on.
But even if we live on opposite sides of the world, you'll always be right beside me, warming my mind and my heart. Because distance can never get in the way of the truth we know.
Look up at the moon once in a while. I hope you'll take comfort in the fact that it's the same one that I see. Like the incandescent light that brightens the dark sky, that's what you are to me.
Don't worry my dear, I'll be back soon enough. And I promise you that our lives will be better because of this short sacrifice. I know that nothing worth having comes easy, and I only hope that you'll understand. Because the most important thing in my world is to take care of you and me.
But even if we live on opposite sides of the world, you'll always be right beside me, warming my mind and my heart. Because distance can never get in the way of the truth we know.
Look up at the moon once in a while. I hope you'll take comfort in the fact that it's the same one that I see. Like the incandescent light that brightens the dark sky, that's what you are to me.
Don't worry my dear, I'll be back soon enough. And I promise you that our lives will be better because of this short sacrifice. I know that nothing worth having comes easy, and I only hope that you'll understand. Because the most important thing in my world is to take care of you and me.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Still frames in your mind...
Cheers to some of the best memories a person could ever ask for:
-Fried eggs, couch beds and watching Arsenio Hall
-Living room fort-tents dangerously held up by stacks of books and statues
-Bean bag businesses
-Bicycle face-plants and running into campers because of loose chains
-David the Gnome
-N'Sync choreography
-Chicken nugget black eyes
-Airborn, the movie... Devil's Backbone
-Suggity Suggity Suh Poh Poh
-Pusoy Dos tournaments
-Summer camping trips
-Pool slides and broken bones
-playing it off all cool...
-Being soda-drunk and not understanding solitaire
-Too many people in one cabin, but loving every minute of it.
-"That one time when we sat around reminiscing..."
-Jessica Pesci
-animal mating calls
-homemade horror movies
-the care bear room and the red bunk bed
-late-night delirious laughing
-screwballs and big sticks.. 50 cents for the ice cream man
-lumpia
-monkey-climbing the hallway walls
-lying to your parents thinking that they'll actually believe you
-bloody mary in the bathroom
-scary stories
-white board poop comics
-toejam and earl
-fortune cookie hair
-Jill of the Jungle and Carmen Sandiego
-looking back at everything and being thankful for NOT having the Internet
To my dearest fambam... thanks for all the great memories.
-Fried eggs, couch beds and watching Arsenio Hall
-Living room fort-tents dangerously held up by stacks of books and statues
-Bean bag businesses
-Bicycle face-plants and running into campers because of loose chains
-David the Gnome
-N'Sync choreography
-Chicken nugget black eyes
-Airborn, the movie... Devil's Backbone
-Suggity Suggity Suh Poh Poh
-Pusoy Dos tournaments
-Summer camping trips
-Pool slides and broken bones
-playing it off all cool...
-Being soda-drunk and not understanding solitaire
-Too many people in one cabin, but loving every minute of it.
-"That one time when we sat around reminiscing..."
-Jessica Pesci
-animal mating calls
-homemade horror movies
-the care bear room and the red bunk bed
-late-night delirious laughing
-screwballs and big sticks.. 50 cents for the ice cream man
-lumpia
-monkey-climbing the hallway walls
-lying to your parents thinking that they'll actually believe you
-bloody mary in the bathroom
-scary stories
-white board poop comics
-toejam and earl
-fortune cookie hair
-Jill of the Jungle and Carmen Sandiego
-looking back at everything and being thankful for NOT having the Internet
To my dearest fambam... thanks for all the great memories.
Monday, December 10, 2007
I'll try anything once.
If I actually took the time right now to count all of my blessings, I think I'd eventually lose track of it all. It's been months since I last wrote anything on this blog and maybe it's because I've been suffering from a lack of inspiration. So this time, instead of writing about what the doors of perception are saying about other people... I'm going to talk about myself. I need to.
And by the time I finish, I'll have written everything without the need to talk about music. Because this IS my music.
The world's been a difficult place to deal with lately and all I can seem to think about are my own issues (or perhaps a lack thereof.) Don't get me wrong- I don't mean to suggest that I am in need of any personal drama. It's just that ever since I graduated from college in May, I've plateau-ed and it's just not any fun. I'm much too young to be hitting a midlife crisis... but that's another story.
Anyway, I started the month of November dreading the possibilities of what would come. Historically, November for me has always signified some type of change... usually something emotionally painful or traumatic- perhaps the ending of an important relationship or the birth of a new kind of resentment. In November of 2006, I sort of gained an enemy and lost a few valuable friendships in the process. November = Bad. It's like clockwork.
Naturally, I went through a period of intense depression, pain AND resentment. It has been a REALLY rough year.
But since then, I've been blessed with something so much bigger than a few broken bonds. I discovered something that I actually had all along- something that I took for granted for most of my life- something that I now KNOW stays in the deepest part of my heart all the time and never goes away: FAMILY.
Instead of experiencing the usual painful change associated with the month of November, I made it a point to spend as much time as I could counting my blessings and falling back in love with the people who've taken care of me. It was like trying to avoid a bad superstition by playing all your lucky numbers.
Well now that it's December- I think maybe now, it's time to reflect.
I almost cried tonight, all because my baby brother decided to call me 'just to talk.' I won't go into the details of our conversation because that's private- but what matters for the purpose of this blog is that RIGHT NOW I feel like the luckiest person alive because of how incredible my family is. I really, truly, love them more than anything or anyone else in the world.
And the fact is, I really don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that - which makes me wonder how many other people in the world could be lucky enough to love their parents, siblings and children as much as I do mine. For the sake of mankind, I hope many could say the same although my own observations of the people around me suggest otherwise.
How many families do you know could sit around all together until 3 in the morning just talking about everything (from sex to religion to drugs to EVERYTHING) in a completely open forum? How many families still sit down to have meals together- because they want to- and if they don't, it must've been a weird day? How many families actually ENJOY going on vacations and spending as much time as they possibly can in this life TOGETHER?
How many people can love their siblings so hard that they're almost embarrassed to talk about it to each other in person? Not a lot.
Which brings me here... ranting on a blog because I think it's so important to explain to everybody else just how much I love and adore my family.
And I guess to best exemplify what I'm talking about - I want to recall, particularly, the last few experiences of the month of November 2007.
I flew to San Francisco on Nov. 27 to go job hunting and to spend some time with my brother Josh (who turned 21 the night before). It was a Tuesday. I spent most of the time wandering the city in a state of introspective bliss, while Josh worked during the day. He made me a quasi-itinerary, complete with bus routes to get me from point A to point B. He showed me Clement Street and the Blue Danube. Nights were good. We smoked cigarettes, drank beer, listened to This American Life, visited Twin Peaks and had dinner in Union Square. We talked... and smoked more cigarettes.
My parents, my 17-year-old brother Nathan, my 8-year-old son Francis and my two cousins (who are both 21), drove up that Friday and we all went to Napa/Sonoma to go wine tasting for Josh's 21st birthday celebration. The first night, we all stayed up until 3 a.m. getting drunk and spilling our guts out. Francis played and watched cartoons.
During the rest of the trip in no particular order: My dad had a few tears in his eyes while he talked to us about how important it is to raise our kids to be strong and confident. We were in awe. Our voices were heightened. We drank and smoked cigarettes. We talked about love, pain, marijuana, our dreams, and the right thing to do versus the desirable thing to do. Francis kicked ass with his etch-a-sketch key chain. We wore our jackets outside on the porch while having good talks. We indulged in a flight of wine at a vineyard. We took pictures, drank more wine, had more talks and barbecued. We played scrabble in teams, played ping-pong and billiards, ate late-night bagels with lox, sang songs while Nathan played guitar and smoked more cigarettes.
We went back to San Francisco on Sunday- DEC 2. We showed mom Clement Street. Josh bought a crepe for all of us to share and my cousin drank a sangria outside on the sidewalk. We didn't want to go home. But we had to, and we said goodbye to Josh around 5 p.m. In the car, we laughed about John Stamos until 1 a.m.
TODAY IS DECEMBER 9. Josh is coming home tomorrow night from his trip to NY. He's flying back to SF on Tuesday morning. Tradition will call for a late-night cigarette. It will probably be too late for coffee.
So maybe these experiences seem completely mundane to anybody else - but to me, they're extraordinary. When I have nothing else... these are the kinds of experiences that I can always look forward to having. These are the people I can share my life with... no matter what.
WHAT BETTER MUSE?
EDIT: 12/10/07 11:13 a.m.
I forgot to mention something. I really hope that nobody else takes offense to my entry - it isn't me trying to brag. Really, I'm just trying to share the thought and maybe spread a sense of "family" along to other people who may come across this... to show that it's plausible if you want it.
It took years and years of some serious fighting and (mis)understanding for my family to get to where we are now... Nothing worth having comes easily.
And by the time I finish, I'll have written everything without the need to talk about music. Because this IS my music.
The world's been a difficult place to deal with lately and all I can seem to think about are my own issues (or perhaps a lack thereof.) Don't get me wrong- I don't mean to suggest that I am in need of any personal drama. It's just that ever since I graduated from college in May, I've plateau-ed and it's just not any fun. I'm much too young to be hitting a midlife crisis... but that's another story.
Anyway, I started the month of November dreading the possibilities of what would come. Historically, November for me has always signified some type of change... usually something emotionally painful or traumatic- perhaps the ending of an important relationship or the birth of a new kind of resentment. In November of 2006, I sort of gained an enemy and lost a few valuable friendships in the process. November = Bad. It's like clockwork.
Naturally, I went through a period of intense depression, pain AND resentment. It has been a REALLY rough year.
But since then, I've been blessed with something so much bigger than a few broken bonds. I discovered something that I actually had all along- something that I took for granted for most of my life- something that I now KNOW stays in the deepest part of my heart all the time and never goes away: FAMILY.
Instead of experiencing the usual painful change associated with the month of November, I made it a point to spend as much time as I could counting my blessings and falling back in love with the people who've taken care of me. It was like trying to avoid a bad superstition by playing all your lucky numbers.
Well now that it's December- I think maybe now, it's time to reflect.
I almost cried tonight, all because my baby brother decided to call me 'just to talk.' I won't go into the details of our conversation because that's private- but what matters for the purpose of this blog is that RIGHT NOW I feel like the luckiest person alive because of how incredible my family is. I really, truly, love them more than anything or anyone else in the world.
And the fact is, I really don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that - which makes me wonder how many other people in the world could be lucky enough to love their parents, siblings and children as much as I do mine. For the sake of mankind, I hope many could say the same although my own observations of the people around me suggest otherwise.
How many families do you know could sit around all together until 3 in the morning just talking about everything (from sex to religion to drugs to EVERYTHING) in a completely open forum? How many families still sit down to have meals together- because they want to- and if they don't, it must've been a weird day? How many families actually ENJOY going on vacations and spending as much time as they possibly can in this life TOGETHER?
How many people can love their siblings so hard that they're almost embarrassed to talk about it to each other in person? Not a lot.
Which brings me here... ranting on a blog because I think it's so important to explain to everybody else just how much I love and adore my family.
And I guess to best exemplify what I'm talking about - I want to recall, particularly, the last few experiences of the month of November 2007.
I flew to San Francisco on Nov. 27 to go job hunting and to spend some time with my brother Josh (who turned 21 the night before). It was a Tuesday. I spent most of the time wandering the city in a state of introspective bliss, while Josh worked during the day. He made me a quasi-itinerary, complete with bus routes to get me from point A to point B. He showed me Clement Street and the Blue Danube. Nights were good. We smoked cigarettes, drank beer, listened to This American Life, visited Twin Peaks and had dinner in Union Square. We talked... and smoked more cigarettes.
My parents, my 17-year-old brother Nathan, my 8-year-old son Francis and my two cousins (who are both 21), drove up that Friday and we all went to Napa/Sonoma to go wine tasting for Josh's 21st birthday celebration. The first night, we all stayed up until 3 a.m. getting drunk and spilling our guts out. Francis played and watched cartoons.
During the rest of the trip in no particular order: My dad had a few tears in his eyes while he talked to us about how important it is to raise our kids to be strong and confident. We were in awe. Our voices were heightened. We drank and smoked cigarettes. We talked about love, pain, marijuana, our dreams, and the right thing to do versus the desirable thing to do. Francis kicked ass with his etch-a-sketch key chain. We wore our jackets outside on the porch while having good talks. We indulged in a flight of wine at a vineyard. We took pictures, drank more wine, had more talks and barbecued. We played scrabble in teams, played ping-pong and billiards, ate late-night bagels with lox, sang songs while Nathan played guitar and smoked more cigarettes.
We went back to San Francisco on Sunday- DEC 2. We showed mom Clement Street. Josh bought a crepe for all of us to share and my cousin drank a sangria outside on the sidewalk. We didn't want to go home. But we had to, and we said goodbye to Josh around 5 p.m. In the car, we laughed about John Stamos until 1 a.m.
TODAY IS DECEMBER 9. Josh is coming home tomorrow night from his trip to NY. He's flying back to SF on Tuesday morning. Tradition will call for a late-night cigarette. It will probably be too late for coffee.
So maybe these experiences seem completely mundane to anybody else - but to me, they're extraordinary. When I have nothing else... these are the kinds of experiences that I can always look forward to having. These are the people I can share my life with... no matter what.
WHAT BETTER MUSE?
EDIT: 12/10/07 11:13 a.m.
I forgot to mention something. I really hope that nobody else takes offense to my entry - it isn't me trying to brag. Really, I'm just trying to share the thought and maybe spread a sense of "family" along to other people who may come across this... to show that it's plausible if you want it.
It took years and years of some serious fighting and (mis)understanding for my family to get to where we are now... Nothing worth having comes easily.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
