thou shalt not conform when thou could blaze thy own path..

Dragon & Phoenix

"我送你離開千里之外你無聲黑白;
沈默年代或許不該太遙遠的相愛"

Translation :
"I send you off to a thousand miles away. (My mental image of you) is silent, black and white;
Perhaps a love so far apart shouldn’t exist in this silent era."

Lately I'm listening to Jay's Faraway / Thousand Miles Away in conjunction with the Mid-Autumn Festival.

I can only read 80% of a chinese words in a sentence, so basically that's useless when the whole meaning got lost in translation. But for some special occassions and festivals, I'd listen to it for the ambience.

Here's a nice site any banana can refer to if they love Jay's songs and wanna know the meanings and stuff.

Thank God for Google and the internet. At least now I wouldnt get much confusion over the lyrics and able to immerse myself in the lyrics. I've always hated chinese songs cos nobody would explain to me the meanings, and songs without meanings are like a pretty photo without stories. It's like u remember a face, but u cant remember where u've seen them or what's their name. That sort of thing.

Anyway, whenever I feel lethargic, music can cure that. Music are great to overcome lethargy, play ur favorite records on and let it become ur spirit crutch for the day.

Don't feel like talking? Don't feel like wanna achieve something in ur live? Plug it in and walla. Lethargy gone.

It works for me anyway.

Anyway, listening to his song reminded some of my favorite chinese songs, yes, I got favorites though I dun listen much.

Mostly they are those sentimental artistes; Jeff Chang, Panda Xiong Tian Ping, Wang Lee Hom and lately, Xin Yue Tuan and Powerstation.

Another thing I hate bout the chinese songs, is that they are mostly made of short phrases or misty poetry. A word that stands of two meanings or more, a phrase that spoke of too many secrets and whispers and a paragraph that shares a lifetime of stories behind it. It's really too deep for shallow ppl like me. And darn frustrating. I hate chinese songs cos I'm always questioning what's the meaning behind it? What's the message it's trying to portray? What's the emotions it's trying to express? Too much questions, too little answers. Plus it's too concentrated with feelings that I get overwhelmed by it..*dizzy-eyes..

Here's something worthwhile..

"After a while, you learn
The subtle difference
Between holding a hand
And chaining a soul,"

Yes, I guess human do hav the tendency of holding on too tightly over another person without thinking what is it that that person wants..in another word, smothering the person to death.

"And you learn
That love doesn’t mean leaning
And company doesn’t mean security,"

How many ppl I've met who fear loneliness, who fear being single, or that nobody would take care of them when they get older. They've forgotten, even with havin kids, some might still end up in the older folks home, so where's the security? Which reminds me of a quote: "Be nice to your kids. They'll choose your nursing home.". Thus, it's just a matter of self comfort that their fear overwhelmed their sense of security when they shuld've build the security first before offering it to somebody else. At least, that's wat I think la..

"And you begin to learn
That kisses aren’t contracts
And presents aren’t promises,"

Hmm, this reminds me of a story from a friend who received lots of attention back in her heigh days. Guys would buy her luncheons, dinners, hoping that she'd give something back in return. Sometimes she did, sometimes she didnt. Yupe, her experience might build from the fact that she'd met so many guilty souls along her ride, but is the price she paid worthy for all the mistakes she did? Mayb it's not even mistakes, perhaps it's just lessons. I guess a past tense is only a lesson if one learns, else it's a mistake. Guess everybody's entitled to their own mistakes. No prejudice? No discrimination? Better shut one's mouth then if one doesnt want to be judged.

"And you begin to accept
Your defeats with your
Head up and your eyes open,"

Only if one is humbled with the experience..most ppl are headstrong, stubborn or deaf-earred to ill remarks. Like me actually.

"With the grace of a woman,
Rather than the grief of a child."

The grace of a woman..hmm..how does one define that? Grace of a woman..

One can perceive it as;
- modesty; if a woman is modest, if she is chaste, she becomes worshipful; and prosperity becomes the servant, the handmaid of that family where women are adorned by the ornaments of chastity, modesty and gracefulness.
- substance; they maintained dignity and humility even in the roles in which they were thrust and accepted

For me, I perceive it as the subtle strength of women when they encounter a crisis or how they face happiness with much humbleness. Mothers display such grace, usually.

The Grace of a Woman

"And you learn
To build all your roads on today
Because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans.
And futures have a way
Of falling down in midflight."

Like ppl learn not the put all their eggs in one basket, or their cash in one pocket, or their handphones in their pockets. Wait, the last one is still ongoin, dun guys realise it's gonna mutate the sperms? *tsk tsk..

"After a while, you learn
That even sunshine burns if you get too much."

This phrase just hit me. I've never been sun burnt before, mayb I'm too careful. It's like, if one've never been burnt, how can one relate with another? How can one understand or relate to the pain? And how can one explains it to another how the burn feels like..shuddup

"So you plant your own garden
And decorate your own soul,
Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers."

Girls nowadays are getting the hint. They are buying their own flowers, condos, cars, accessories (a quote comes to mind: "I think men who have pierced ears are better prepared for marriage. They have experience pain and bought jewelry" - Anon). They are climbing the ladders, fix the pipe, pay the bills, take out the garbage. They hav support groups, own shows and blogs, earning the dough and taking self defense classes. U see where I'm going with this? I fear 10 years down the line, girls are gonna be more butch than guys, they are gonna start wanting to do an Angelina-Jolie; raising kids by themselves, so at the end of the day, where's the role of the guys come in? Sperm banks are growing faster than ovum banks, and trust me, those little worms will hav shorter life span than their predecessors. The world in A.I. is nearer than we think. If tat happens, I cant wait to see suicide booths for robots being set up along the streets, tat ought to be fun. An Jude-Law lookalike on the streets..*sigh..

Girls are no longer waiting for prince charming to arrive, they are out there learning horses riding and wielding weapons. They are no longer settling for less as girl power is in. It makes me sympathise the male population; chauvinists are dissappearing as fast as gold bullions, ego maniacs are shunned, SNAG's and metrosexuals are considered gals' new best friends and Las Vegas marriage booths are losing business. Or mayb not as elope-then-annullments might catch up by then. I'm so pessimist; "An optimist thinks that this is the best possible world. A pessimist fears that this is true.".

If this happens, believe me, there will come an age where everybody's gonna just focus on the very basic foundations of marriage. It's a cycle, now we are so enamored with self-sufficiency, later we are gona be obsessed with co-dependence. Or mayb just become friends of benefits. The pattern's too erratic for now.

And you learn
That you really can endure …
That you really are strong.
And you really do have worth.
And you learn …
With every goodbye …
You learn."

Yupe, true, reminds me of the song "Buses and Trains" by Bachelor Girl's; "I was run over by a car, I got hit by a train, and it feels so good I wanna do it again!"

Ok, the last phrase might not be such a good idea. Like wat this blogger suggested, it just portrays the mental health of the person in the worst light ever.

The poem is by After a While by Veronica A. Shoffstall. It was good enuf to take up half of this article.

"I'll show you how to do something once, I'll help you if you mess up twice, but the third time you're on your own. 'Cause that's how it is in the world." - Aretha Robinson on Ray Charles

Labels: Thoughts

posted by M.E. # 10:32 AM

Comments:

I also love jay's "thousand miles away".Been listening to it for over a dozen times.God I love that songs so much.I almost teared when I hear "Fei YU Qing"'s voice.They were so beautiful.

By/nightigale

# posted by

Anonymous : November 04, 2006 9:43 PM

thou shalt not conform when thou could blaze thy own path..

Dragon & Phoenix

Archives