It's been a rough 2 days. I guess there's one song I can relate to.
Beyond
For those that listened to some of their parents' old Chinese music (or a friends' parents' old Chinese music, that friend happens to be Chinese, Malaysian, Japanese), there's no doubt that they may have heard of the band, Beyond.I remember back in the mid-90's (vaguely), my dad would bust out his bootleg Beyond CD and play it in the car.
Songs like 光輝歲月 (Glorious Days), 大地 (Great Earth), Amani, 長城 (Great Wall), and the most notable song, 海闊天空 (Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies).
So I got tired of listening to Dave Wang (王傑) and his sad songs because I'm in better moods nowadays to not listen to them.
In fact, it was from watching a live cover of the song 海闊天空 that was done by Wang that I felt like listening to some Beyond.
Brief history lesson.
Beyond was a band that was formed by Wong Ka Kui (黃家駒) and Yip Sai Wing (葉世榮) back in the early 80's. At the time, popular Chinese music was dominated by love songs while rock music was more "underground" to the mainstream media.
Although not the only band to try to hit mainstream in Hong Kong, Beyond was the most successful of the bands. It was at the earlier stage of mainstream publicity that Paul Wong (黃貫中) joined the band as the lead guitarist and Ka Kui's younger brother, Steve Wong (黄家强) joined the band as the bassist. Ka Kui remained as the lead vocalist and guitar player as well as Sai Wing being the drummer.
After the big uphill struggle to garner publicity for the band, Beyond finally went to the top of the mountain among a sea of pop and love songs. It was with this popularity, that Beyond went to the third worlds to promote peace and harmony to the poor through their music. Beyond were also very vocal of South African suffrage and the works of Nelson Mandala.
In 1993, Beyond took their popularity to Japan where they began performing and making music in the Japanese language. This feat was stopped tragically in late June when Wong Ka Kui died after suffering from head injuries from a stage accident that lead to a coma and death.
The music world in Hong Kong and much of Asia were left to utter sadness and silence as news broke out and the immediate funeral which caused the shut down of many streets in Hong Kong.
Beyond continued without Ka Kui but (in my opinion) their music just wasn't the same without him. Although they made several albums afterwards, not many of the songs managed to capture the original and moving lyrics and vocals of the "glory days". Nowadays, the members of the band are pursuing new opportunities and ventures in music but come together once and while to perform.
Back to the blog:
For the past few days, I've been listening to some of the more unfamiliar tracks that I have in my collection and hopefully find more favorites to add to my list. It's a shame that Ka Kui has been gone for 16 years. Just think how different Hong Kong's musical landscape would be if he had been around. Given the power of their lyrics and songs, they may have had some presence in America had things been different.
Here's one of my new favorites. 抗戰二十年 (Combat for 20 years), a song that was once a Ka Kui demo but transformed into a full song and performed by the band.
The Costco Pizza Dilemma
So I went to Costco today simply for the sake of satisfying my hunger (and for some quick window shopping at the electronics side).I ordered a slice of pepperoni pizza, a polish sausage + drink and sat down.
I began to think about what I hear from everyone. "Costco pizza is so good!"
I hate to break it to most of them but I don't think a Costco pizza is a quality pizza at all.
So this leaves me with the question.
Is Costco pizza good? Or is it just good for the price it is offered?
Now the more obvious answer is, yes a Costco pizza is good but I have had better elsewhere but the price takes the cake, er..slice.
Many may disagree with my analysis but I think the best way to analyze this is to look at the qualities of this pizza.
Cheap - At $1.99 a slice. Compare it to most other pizza places, this is a steal.
Big slices - For what you pay for, the size is double what you get at any other pizza place.
Taste - It's a pizza, it tastes like a pizza. Standard
Quality Compared - Decent dough layer, light spread of sauce, thin layer of cheese, fair amount of topings.
From a quality point of view, yes a Costco pizza is a hastely + cheaply made pizza that satisfies the bare minimum of a pizza craving.
For 4$ at some lesser known pizza parlors that serve oven fresh pizza that is made with more richer toppings, the layers are thicker but you get more taste.
Personally, I think Costco pizza is only good because it is cheap. Anyone with a good taste for pizza knows a Costco pizza is not good at all compared to what other places offer.
But in a time of economic uncertainty (we've all heard this one before), if you just want satisfaction from the bare minimum...Costco pizza is the way to go. (and the fact that I only had 3$ in my wallet today). If not, check out the better alternatives out there.
SFSU JEPET
For those who don't know what the JEPET is.The JEPET is the Junior English Proficiency Essay Test.
It is an essay exam that students must take after they have finished English 212 to "prove" to the university that you are truly ready for the literate English-writing world.
Those who fail to pass the JEPET must take English 414 in order to graduate.
Personally, I don't approve of this exam because most students have to be literate to be in college in the first place.
As of today, I have taken English in school for a total of 14 years just like most other students that have attended a San Francisco Public School.
I honestly believe passing English 212 is enough under most standards in order to graduate.
I am not writing this because I did not pass. In fact, I found out today that I did pass the JEPET.
I'm not too weary of what criteria graders must follow in order to pass or fail someone but as of right now I want to assume that most grading was done in a fair and nonpartisan way.
The thing that I am ticked off about is how many people fail that exam. All I ever hear from people are "Everyone I know has failed the JEPET" or "I heard the JEPET was really hard to pass"
In all honesty, when I took the JEPET, it was not hard to me at all. In fact, it was as equivalent to any SAT Essay Prompt, Entrance Exam, In-class Essay. When I finished my exam, I told my friend Kevin, "I'm sure I did pretty well on it. Might have been the best essay I have ever written".
I said that with the utmost confidence because I honestly did my best on that essay. If I had not passed today, I would write the same rant as to why the JEPET was unfair but I would end it by saying "I guess I didn't do my best".
I'm more annoyed by how many people expected me to fail because I am "one of them" or "alike". The problem with that mentality is this. They don't know me well enough. When someone asks me to help them on an essay. I try my best to use the most of my knowledge to help them succeed. I put my heart into every essay I write nowadays because I realize it is not often that a voice can be heard or even read by someone.
An inexcusable response that you might hear me say when I'm not serious is "Well, I've had an essay published into a book before. That should be enough to prove something". While there's some credibility to that. I don't take much pride in that. The essay wasn't even good to begin with.
I'm proud that I did my best on that essay. I'm proud of my integrity because I was probably the only one who believed that I was capable of passing the JEPET.
Valentine's Day
So yesterday was to be considered my first ever Valentines Day.
In many ways, I will always remember that day simply because of what I just wrote.
I was left in an array of different feelings throughout the day. Mostly good, a few bad.
We were originally supposed to watch the sunrise together at the Marin Headlands but we couldn't pull ourselves up and out of bed for it.
I woke up at 8 to see a thick shroud of fog and started to think a lot of the plans had been ruined because of this weather.
The fog was gone and it became a really sunny day at 12 and I met up with Cathy outside her place.
We agreed to ride the boats at Stow Lake but bad traffic prevented us from doing so. Instead I drove along the beach with her until we got to the Embarcadero.
Then we took a ferry to Sausalito. In some ways, the experience was flawed but it was something different and the ferry ride was fun for the most part. The town itself is somewhere I would never go back to however.
Wandered about the place for a long time before finally taking the ferry back to San Francisco around the sunset time.
Grabbed dinner at Chaya Brasserie where I had reservations at. Ate early and lost my request for a table with a view -.-
Then we went off to Cheesecake Factory to grab some tiramisu.
Afterward, we had a strenuous search for Tank Hill. I wish I knew where that entrance was. Didn't succeed and ended up at Twin Peaks. Then the night was over.
Although it was mostly a good feeling that day. I can't help but to feel a sense of incompleteness.
What I mean by incompleteness is both an internal and external issue.
Internally, I feel like I could have done so much more during the more slower and boring times of the day.
Externally, I feel that there were so many factors out there that prevented me from doing more. I won't go into any more details about it since its more of a personal issue.
Overall, I'm satisfied with how most of it went. I'm grateful for having a Valentine. I'm grateful for all the work she had put into the gift and for even making this all happen at the start. I'm grateful for her patience with me and I'm just grateful for having a friend like that.
"Despite some of the flaws with timing and activity. All the good I had done yesterday, were not for me. They were for you." - Terence
I guess the point that I am trying to make is, that despite all my personal flaws and certain anxieties that I've had on my shoulders for some time, I'm grateful that there are people out there that haven't or will not let go of me.
Winterbreak In Review
So it's official, one more week and then the break itself is over.It never hit me as hard as this but this will probably be the most boring and loneliest week ever. Everyone is going back to school this week and I'm going to either be at home finishing Assassin's Creed II or at work.
All things aside, this was a pretty long winter break when i think of everything that has happened over the course of a month and a half.
I spent a better half of the break working but outside of work was a different story. I got to chill with the group again and do the usual but I guess one of the most rewarding parts of this break was reconnecting with an old friend.
In regards to school, I haven't been in the best mood for my own academics in a while. I spent most of last semester dreading about business stats and I was 75% sure that I wasn't going to be able to pass it but one of two things probably happened.
1.) I persevered after clawing and scratching my way through the final trying to rack up as much points as I can.
2.) A miracle happened.
Because I ended up passing that class, I was able to choose all the core classes for my major and on the upside, I wasn't waitlisted for any of the classes I registered for.
So next semester, I will be attending class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This gives me enough time to work or look for a new job. I think its about time I move up the ladder.
Oh by the way, that picture I used for this blog was the only picture I managed to get at New Years. Its funny, for as much as Cathy and I hung out these past weeks, we still didn't get a picture together.
Oh well, maybe next time.
心瘾 - 王傑
I still never get tired of this song by Dave Wong.
心瘾 means Heart Addiction (well, literally) but it probably just means an addiction to love.
With all due respect to his musical talent, its too bad his voice isn't as sharp as this anymore and he's aged a lot since then (1999-2000)
You be the judge:
