Today’s walk to and from work was a real slog. February rain, freezing ice pellets, and lots of wind. But you know, it didn’t bother me. On days like this I am usually surprised by just how well music keeps me moving. With good headphones, I see traffic, I feel rain drops on my face and hood, but I don’t hear them. I am isolated. I had blogged about my rituals being reward-based in the past, but I think this is also a crucial part. And sometimes the music catches me off guard. In the middle of the walk home, Opeth’s “Black Rose Immortal” came on, an epic 20 minute long track that has so many amazing musical moments that some times I actually stop to listen for a bit. Like I did this time.
On the subject of music, I’ve been on a bit of a Rush kick lately. I suppose, in part, to recently finishing Dark Hollow by Brian Keene. The more I think about the book, the more I realize how much I enjoyed that novel. No doubt in part to his continual references to 80s metal. There is one passage where the main character is trying to describe a ritual involving Pan (as in Pan’s labyrinth), and the Temples of Syrinx, at which point the other characters in the book start singing “2112″ by Rush. Too funny.
Anyway, reading that book led down memory lane to a moment in the mid 80s — probably ’84, for obvious reasons — when Rush had released their “Grace Under Pressure” album. Some high school kids were listening to it on a ghetto blaster, and I was enthralled. I walked in when “The Body Electric” was on, and Geddy Lee was singing “one zero zero one, zero zero one, ess – oh – ess” and I needed to hear more. It’s not a heavy track, by any stretch, but it was my first foray into the world of Rush and I haven’t really looked back. I probably should have titled this post “Closer to the Heart”.
Today’s track is another tune from the “2112″ album. A Passage to Bangkok is another one of my all-time favourite Rush tunes. Enjoy.
First, I’ve put up a new recipe. Tauhu Goreng is a popular dish in Malaysia, where it is typically deep fried and stuffed with a cucumber and bean sprout mixture, and topped with a peanut satay sauce. My version isn’t deep fried, but I’m happy with it. If you like it, let me know.
This has been a most brutal week at work. I’ve been wrestling with a code problem and I am running out of things to try. It’s probably faster for me to re-write it a different way now, and re-optimize the code. That’s on tomorrow’s agenda. I sort of feel like Reid Richards when the Fantastic Four did battle against Galactus. The best you can hope for is to not die. Maybe tomorrow will be better. It starts with a two hour meeting though, so really all bets are off.
Tonight’s musical interlude is a track called 40:1 by Sabaton. Sabaton is a Polish metal band, and the song is about the Battle of Wizna, where Polish soldiers were outnumbered 40:1 and held off the initial German advance at the beginning of WWII. I sort of feel outnumbered by lines of code at the moment, so it is appropriate.
I want to call it. I really do, I want to believe that winter may be on its way out. But, I know I have March left. Traditionally, we always have a storm right near St. Patrick’s day, and near final exams. But it was pretty nice walking home tonight, bare pavement, no gloves, no hat, and sun glasses. I’ll take what ever I can.
I realize I haven’t “reciped” in a while. That’s not really intentional — I have a plan, and one in the works, but it’s been hard to find nice looking cilantro in town for some reason. The recipe is simple enough, but it needs the herb to be right. Maybe tomorrow.
One more week to go in the photo challenge. It has been, well, challenging. It’ll be relaxing to walk to work on Monday and know that I don’t absolutely need to find something to take a photo of. I am mostly pleased with the photos I’ve been getting, although there are some that I’d wish were better composed, or completely different. Next week, they will be up.
Mellow track tonight, because I am in a mellow mood. It’s an Opeth track, a great song called Face of Melinda. So good.
First, I suppose I should mention the Bab Berdieyinne mosque in Meknes, Morocco — its minaret collapsed yesterday, killing 36 people. I was there, back in September. I walked all around that mosque, in the medina of Meknes, which is designed a UNESCO heritage site. Very sad news indeed.
This is another reason why travel is so important to me. It makes world news much more relevant. I was reading the story on CBC, and some asshat commented and wondered why this was important. Because it simply is.
This is a photo I took when I was there during Ramadan.
On to other stuff. Some times, it’s good to have a plan B. Even if you have no desire to abandon plan A, some times things go pear shaped and you are forced to play a different hand. George Peppard was right, and I really do love it when a plan comes together, but that isn’t often the case. Options are good things to have.
Today’s track is Johnny Cash’s cover of “Hurt”, originally done by Nine Inch Nails. The song hits sort of close to home for a lot of reasons, but the video for it is pretty startling. The flashbacks between Cash in his youth and when the song was recorded make you realize just how frail and fleeting life can be.
Lately, I’ve been looking through photo albums of trips gone by, and it’s really making me want to leave, to travel again. I found this photo from Budapest last night, taken from the top of the funicular on the Buda side of the Danube, looking out over the river, and across to the Hungarian parliament building. Must go back. Must see more of the world. First, pay for house renos. I guarantee that the very millisecond after that’s done, I am GONE. In the mean time, I’ve put that Budapest shot up on my photo page. Seeing these images from my past travels has caused me to compress, coil up. Stored energy for an upcoming adventure.
Reading a Brian Keene novel now. Dark Hollow. Not bad. More supernatural than King, less so than Barker. It’s sort of a guilty bit of brain candy after a steady diet of Frank Herbert, Guy Kay, and some historical non-fiction these last few months. It’s nice to be able to plough through a hundred pages in a sitting, instead of re-reading a paragraph two or three times in order to extract all of the subtle nuances.
Today’s track is Criminals by Katatonia. Live version. Katatonia is a Swedish death metal/atmospheric metal band that started off with the growly death metal vocals, and eventually switched to clean vocal styles because Jonas Renkse lost his ability to sing that way consistently. Mikael Åkerfeldt from Opeth covered the vocal part on one of their tours at one point. They’ve been getting me through this week quite nicely.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about the costs associated with getting the most out of life. Being happy. More importantly, being content. There’s a difference. Happiness is a fleeting thing that we tend to lunge for, stepping or tripping over more important things in the process. Being content is a state of mind. You can be content and not happy. Anyway.
Everything in life has a cost. Material things, obviously, the staples of life. But spiritual things, metaphysical things, things that are often only given to us after periods of painful self discovery and toil. Those things cost. Those things are expensive.
Some times, you may wonder if something is worth the cost. You know what? Screw the cost. Steal it. Pay later. Put whatever it is that you want on life’s layaway plan. If something comes along that makes you content, or damn it, even happy, grab onto it and grip it like grim death. Run with it like you stole it.
Damn the torpedoes.
Today’s track is Wanderer, by Ensiferum. If there was ever a tune that could be a melody for a Kay or Tolkien book, this is it. It starts off with a pan flute, and has a ripping guitar riff a minute in. Good ol’ rock. Nothing beats it.
I have to say, waking up to a day when the temperature outside is hovering right around freezing has been a welcome relief to the deep freeze we’ve been in the last few weeks. I’d love to call it and say that the cold weather is over with, but I doubt it. I think we’ll get a final blast right before March is here.
I’ve been in drone mode, ploughing through projects at work and projects outside of work, with my head down. We’ve a few new hires at work, and while they probably won’t take projects off of my plate, they’ll definitely take projects still sitting on the table. I am cautiously optimistic.
I don’t usually mention television on here, if ever, but Caprica, the spin-off of Battlestar Galactica, has now aired three episodes and I am beginning to get into it. I was worried at first — BSG was simply so good that the risk of ruining it with a bad series based on it was too high. Perhaps there is hope. I am especially intrigued by the family dynamic within the Tauron communities.
Today’s track is a cover of New Model Army’s I love the World, by Anacrusis. They are one of my all time favourite bands.
It’s early, and I sit here with a mug of coffee. Breakfast is a recent memory. Aside from the sound of keys on my Macbook, there is no other sound in the house. I chalk that up to the time of day, the extra insulation on the house silencing outside noises, and the peaceful tranquillity I fleetingly obtain when putting fingers to keyboard.
On the subject of breakfast. It’s been strange not having Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy at my side these last few days. I finished reading it, again, on the weekend, and have now moved onto a stack of other periodicals that have accumulated in the meantime. I love the book, but the ending always leaves me unfulfilled. Call me a sucker, but I like happy endings when I read. Maybe the idea of a happy ending in a book leaves me with the belief that it is possible elsewhere. Arthur Dent really gets a raw deal, first losing Fenchurch to some strange probability paradox, and then, well … let’s just say that things at the Stavromula Beta nightclub don’t work out.
It has been very cold here, these last few days. I suppose I should expect this, since it is the middle of winter and this is Eastern Canada. Still, it comes as a bit of a shock since we’ve had a relatively easy go at it so far. I relish the challenge, getting out in it each day. Sometimes willingly, other days, well… not so much. I am participating in a photography challenge this month, an ‘image a day, every day’, which has provided great incentive. Today is Groundhog Day, but judging by how amazingly clear the moon looks right now, I doubt that we will get off easy. For those Facebook friends reading this, the February images will end up on Facebook after the challenge is done.
Because of the photo challenge, the post for this track is Shutterbug, by Veruca Salt. I’ve been a big fan of theirs for a long time now. Great stuff.
