It's interesting how music can affect your mood. Today I finished reading a book and decided to switch my iPod on while riding the MRT. I listened to the last half of Jay-Z's album, 3 Juanes songs and the first half of Jack Johnson's album. Heh, all start with J... I'm a lazy scroller. Anyway, the Jigga album made me introspective... his lyrics are deep and they made me think about life and reflect. Juanes made me feel sad, though I can understand most of the words in his songs, I struggle to understand the nuances and implications... I've heard his music is political and is full of underlying meanings, which I can't quite grasp in my poor Spanish... but his music is always passionate and either makes me feel very sad or very happy... Jack Johnson instantly relaxed me, his simple songs about simple things with a deep undercurrent, set against the backdrop of acoustic or slide guitar... very soothing... even when he's singing about Earth's downfall. Makes you think that life is always worth enduring with some curiosity.
Just now, in Starbucks... they were playing Hallelujah, one of my favourite songs... so majestic, so sad, so... ahhh love it.
On books...
I've recently finished two books. Ma Jian's "Red Dust" which is about his own journey through China in the 80s and the things he learned about contemporary China. The book really gives an amazing insight into the many places where the system has completely failed, the entrepreneurial spirit of the Han Chinese and the different ways and marginalisations of the minorities in China.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez' "Memories of my Melancholy Whores" was a book I originally intended to read in Spanish but even though I have it on my shelf at home, didn't get around to it yet. Heidi picked it up so I borrowed it and read it, an interesting book. Written in Garcia Marquez' unmistakeably archaic yet beautifully poetic style, it reads more like a long poem than a book. It's a meditation on old age, sexuality, love and beauty...
Recently I've been frequenting coffee chains (particularly Starbucks) due to the availability of free wireless there and me being eager to catch up on lost surfing time while I was laptop-less. I've bought a new laptop by the way, it's an Asus and... it's new and sleek, let's see how long it takes me to dirty it. Anyway, I'd like to recommend Starbucks at 1 Fullerton to anyone here on the island... the place is a typical Starbucks of course but it's right on the waterfront and for some reason, this water area doesn't get anywhere near the amount of tourists as the Clarke Quay, Boat Quay water areas... so hit it up for some relaxin and surfin by the water, that's what I do. Note: espresso coffee is terrible in Singapore, but at least readily available in the chain stores... at least they have manual machines and not automatic ones or, even worse, instant coffee *Shudder*.
AIESEC work has been picking up here. Attended an MC meeting to get instructions from boss, presented at an NTU LC Gathering, had a lengthy coaching chat with Alvin (LCP elect), modified the AI JD template, met with Jing Wen (VPPD) to get a further grasp on the direction of the portfolio here and have some more things lined up in the coming days. Woohoo! Work!
So it's adios from me for now, and should blog more often. HEH. Currently in the midst of finalising a Job Description for a short CEED in Thailand! Woo!
posted by LX @ 12:55 AM
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