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Favorite albums
Whaler by Sophie B. Hawkins - She is one of the few artists that has interested me enough to see in concert in the last few years. I was first taken by the song As I Lay Me Down. I got the CD mostly based on that. As I listened to more and more of the music I realized there were a couple of things that I particularly liked about her. First, this album takes a very feminine and yet assertive voice. It's a very tough line to walk, and it's incredibly sexy. Second, it speaks of love and relationships and rarely, if ever, does it in a painful voice. That's also very endearing.Images and Words by Dream Theater - There's a musical strength to this album. I'm particularly impressed with the percussion. However, I was mostly taken by the words. Such words as "If you're searching for a silent sky, you won't find it here.… So die another day." It is just an incredible combination. Admittedly, I was a little disappointed by the works that followed.
High and Dry by Def Leppard - I like this CD primarily because it reminds me of my youth. I was just getting into high school when I was listening to this album and it reminds me of many things that went on during that time. I also like it because it has an honest non-polished sound to it. Okay, at least the first edition did before they added "Me and My Wine" and the new version of "Bringin' on the Heartbreak". It didn't have quite the rawness of their first album On Through the Night and quite the polished feel of Pyromania. My first concert was Def Leppard's Pyromania tour in 1983.
Favorite music artists
Flans - This is a Mexican group composed of three young women. I remember first seeing them on television and becoming enchanted with them. I then started listening to their music. I was equally captivated by their music. I suppose this was primarily because it all fit well with my mindset at the time. Sometimes the music was happy, silly even. Oftentimes, the music spoke of romantic relationships. However, it often and accurately portrays young love as being imperfect… indecisive, timid, aimless, basically immature love.Favorite songs
More Than Words by Extreme - This song was endlessly played on the radio during my last summer in Miami. Somehow I identified this song with my friends in Miami. It was also the last song I heard as I was walking down the concourse as I left my home.Promise Me by Cover Girls - Through the first few years of college I was crazy about this young woman who was Hispanic/Chinese. It was during this time that she and her sisters threw a party. When this song came on, she asks me to dance with her. There we were on the dance floor and we chatted for parts of it and she sang quietly during the other parts. There we were dancing, swaying to the music. I was intoxicated by her. The song ends and so does the dance. I never told her how I felt and never really pursued. It's all ancient history now, and I stopped feeling that way about her many years ago. However, if I could capture a moment in my life and re-live it; this would be one of them. Note: After not having seen her for over six years, I ran into her in my last trip to Miami; it was nice seeing her again.
Endless Summer Nights by Richard Marx - I simply like the tone of this song. It paints a picture of a perfect moment, and also includes the sadness associated with having lost it. In it there's also a sense of resolution… an understanding that these moments are just snapshots in time and that any attempt to capture them will simply serve to destroy them.
Favorite movies
If You Could See What I Hear - I like this movie because it is one man's search for himself. It is not about rocketships or bombs or speeding buses. It is simply about one man's life. It is also a little sad because he keeps running away from what he is and how that affects others. He is blind. Eventually, he comes to find out precisely what that means and its repercussions.Before Sunrise - The truly amazing part is that this movie has such delicate balance. It is about two young adults, a French woman and American man, who end up spending the day together in Vienna. The movie is so full of delicate advances and retreats and youthful idealism. It is incredibly charming. They're adult enough to understand the real world and young enough to believe that they can overcome it.
The Princess Bride - No real explanation. Just a very cool movie. Very tongue-in-cheek, but still charming.
Better Off Dead - Okay, off all the high school movies that I've watched this is my favorite. I suppose the scary part is that I actually identified with him. It just seems like a caricature of my high school days. "I want my two dollars!"
Favorite books
Job: A Comedy of Justice by Robert A. Heinlein - Okay, some of you are going to crucify me out there, but I like the way that this book mocks basically every religion. I've always been a fan of Heinlein's work and I found this book to be one of his better works. And no, I have not read Stranger in a Strange Land.The Enchanter's End Game by David Eddings - Actually, I like the entire Belgariad series. This one was simply the conclusion. Many things are resolved particularly the dynamics of the relationship between Ce'Nedra and Garion.
Television shows
Party of Five - I know that this show is geared towards younger audiences, but I like it. I like it because it deals with ordinary people put in one extraordinary situation, they lose their parents to a drunk driving accident. The show is not about space travel, nor psychics, nor backstabbing friends, nor Beverly Hills brats or anything like that. The show is believable. It portrays people in situations that many of us have left behind and forgotten about. Shows often include things like… that first big crush when you're thirteen (Claudia), aspirations to do your own thing or follow in your father's footsteps (Charlie), deciding whether or not to go to college (Julia), getting kicked off the team for the principle (Bailey). If anything the show is starting to drift from that a little, with the introduction of Charlie's cancer and Bailey's alcoholism, but it is still a good show.Ally McBeal - Okay, I know it's gimmicky, but I like it. I also like the fact that Ally is a lawyer and a likeable one. She's a woman who can be professional, successful and still feminine.
Star Trek - Hey, I'm an engineer. I also like science fiction.
Friends - Aside from being a incredibly funny show, it reminds me of a group of friends from Miami. I mean we used to hang out and not to much of anything. We were supportive. We could be silly and play all kinds of practical jokes. Whenever one of us had a birthday, he/she would inevitably wind up in the school fountain (similar to the characters in Friends). I see us being friends forever. I rarely ever see them anymore since we're separated by over three thousand miles. You can visit them at The Troll Café.
Favorite places
Walt Disney World - There's something magical about Disney. I suppose that's why they call it the Magic Kingdom. It allows people to regress and be childlike again.Stuff
My Camaro - This is so stereotypically male, but I can't help it. I like my car. Here is a picture. It is a 1969 Chevy Camaro SS. I got it in 1992 (or was it 1993?) shortly after my previous car (a 1985 Ford Thunderbird) died. I don't think a car defines a person, but at least this one has some character. I have also been known to get in trouble while driving this car.
My Del Sol - For years I've had a thing for classic cars. Apart from my other car, a 1969 Camaro, I also drove a 1966 Mustang during parts of college. So knowing that about me, why on earth did I get a Del Sol? Most of you with classic cars realize that they're not reliable. I wanted a car that is reliable, fun to drive, and distinctly different from my other car. This was it. I got it on the Ides of March 1998.
In Spanish, Del Sol means From the sun; pretty cool.
My F650 - Well, I took a motorcycle safety class with Aaron in August. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to go out and get a motorcycle. This is it. I very briefly thought about getting a Harley, but they seemed to be more of an image bike. BMW motorcycles are known to be well built and reliable, so this is what I got. What is a little creepy is that I coincidentally got it precisely six months after I got my Del Sol.
No. It's not blue. It didn't come in blue.
February 28, 1998