Wednesday, November 27, 2013

congrats, Leehom!



From his FB:
王力宏 Wang Leehom
這幾年你們在微博上最多留言是 “趕快找到你的 Forever Love”。 我很幸運遇到了一個可以牽手,共度未來 的女孩子。 因為她不是娛樂圈人,所以你們還不認識她,但我也不希望你們從別的管道認識。 她的名字是李靚(jing) 蕾,今年27歲,目前在哥倫比亞讀研究所,王爸爸媽媽都很喜歡她,希望你們也是。 The past few years your comments here have often been about "hope you find your Forever Love". I'm lucky to have met a girl to hold hands with and share my future. She's not in the entertainment business so you don't know her, but I also don't want to create the opportunity for rumors so… her name is Lee Jinglei, she's 27 years old and a graduate student at Columbia. Wangbaba & Mama love her and I hope you will too.

I woke up to this wonderful picture on my FB feed, and I was totally STOKED. I'm so, so happy for him!!! They look good together - just see that glow on their faces! Good to know that when he writes a love song now I'd know he meant it haha!

Well done, Leehom! ;) Props to you for managing to keep this under wraps so well, and thank you for being upfront about this and sharing your happiness with us. Wishing you Forever Love with your gal! ;)

Update 28-11-2013:
Just want to add a thought. I'm sure she has been preparing herself for the moment when she's thrown into the limelight. But I think that it might still hit her hard, the way I see his fans digging up everything they could about her... I really do wish her the best!

Update 29-11-2013:
Annnnnd... they are married. Lol! Do you hear that? The sound of hearts shattering across East Asia (mostly) haha! I'm really happy for him, and think it's about time too. I think three days on after the first announcement, I'm still impressed at how well he kept this from the public eyes. I'm glad they sealed their love with marriage. May God bless the union and be with them as they journey on life as husband and wife. Much love from Malaysia, Mr & Mrs Wang! Xoxo. 

Thursday, November 21, 2013

this takes the cake!

I've been coming to Miri so often these past few months that I'm calling it my second home, and even the hotel people have begun to call me by name (like I was some kinda VIP =).

So anyway, just now when I got back to my room, there was a knock on my door, and when I got to it.. the guy from the front desk who usu checks me in (I really should get his name tmrw) was standing there with Irene, a chef from the coffee house, who was holding a birthday cake and they started singing Happy Birthday to me! And I was floored, like O_O Hahaha.. I thanked them profusely of course. It was a really sweet gesture, I was so touched! They really didn't have to, especially when it wasn't like I'm a paying customer (my company foots the bill).. Anyway, I've written them a nice thank-you note in the customer feedback form.

So for the second time this birthday, I was taken totally by surprise. So much for wanting to escape the birthday limelight! =) I mean, I would have been more than okay if none of these happened, but I'm so grateful for the kindness of others, on top of the sweetest and most heartfelt messages I got from my closest friends and siblings over FB, Whatsapp, Wechat and Weibo (viva social media!). I'm blessed beyond measure! :)

You can't really see it here, but my face color matched my shirt's. And that small cake fed 42 people (it was the only one left at the shop when my colleague was asked last minute by my boss to get a cake) - quite close to a miracle eh? :) My boss definitely earned a tonne of brownie points from me for this! :)

Shared the cake and the story with my colleagues from KL who also happen to be in Miri. Thanks, Everly Parkcity! :)

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

30 again.

So today I turn 35. Touching the point of middle life (yeah, I'd like to go home at 70 =), crossing the border to the other side of life (whatever that meant). Honestly, I still feel like I'm the same as I was in 2008. It's a good thing right? =)

At this point, I just want to say how grateful I am at life and all the blessings I've received. I am certain I don't deserve any of it, but the grace of God upon my life is so much more than my mind could ever come up with. I thank God for my awesome parents, awesome siblings, awesome husband, awesome friends... all who love me in spite of who I am. I know I can be quite a handful and difficult to understand and just completely lost in my own world sometimes, so thanks for bearing with me. I LOVE YOU GUYS. *sob sob*

Btw I came across this answer below on Quora, and it changed my perspective of time. I don't know what the next 35 years will bring, but I want it to be good and I want it to mean something and I want it to matter and I don't want it to be just about me.. So, what's in store? I don't know and I'm nervous but I leave it to God's hand.. Jesus, guide my way as I go on living one day at a time yo!








Btw I'm Miri this week, and I thought I had escaped to a low-key birthday, but I was surprised by a cake from my boss at dinner just now and had the birthday song sung to me by 30 of my colleagues whom I don't know (plus 11 whom I do), so I was really horrified but touched at the same time hehe.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

my baby bro's all grown up!


Love is in the air! 
It's awesome when one finds another who could make each feel so sure about the future.
Welcome to the family, Yu Fen! :) 

Saturday, November 16, 2013

a life worth reading

I've been on a biography/memoir reading spree lately; it was not intentional, it just happened and I think it's wonderful, especially because it's is one of my favorite genres. I don't usually write book reviews, but this has been a good streak and I would like to remember it, so here goes...

Bill Bryson's The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir
Des Moines (pronounced Deh-Moin) is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa, a fact that had meant little to me, but the city came alive reading Bryson's memoir, a testament of his way with words. Bryson's affection for the world of his childhood was funny and contagious. Among others, he's argued how department stores and movie theaters are two things that were different and better in the 1950s, parts of a life that he observes are not the same anymore.

I've been meaning to check out Bryson's other works as I have on a couple of good authorities that he's a brilliant travel writer. I actually don't fancy travelogues, but those people were really convincing so I'd love to give him another chance, especially after a positive impression this time around, notwithstanding my unfortunate first encounter with Bryson with the Short History of Nearly Everything where I struggled to finish the first chapter before giving up because I found it soo boring. 

Btw, there are two other US cities that I would now pause and pay attention to when mentioned: Rochester, New York and Detroit, Michigan. The former is Leehom's hometown and the latter, Em's. Leehom left NY since he was 17 and has established his roots in Taiwan, but Em looks like he'd have to be pried away from Detroit. I've just finished downloading Anthony Bourdain's take on the Detroit on his show Parts Unknown (thanks, D, for the heads up! =) and I can't wait to catch it.. soon. ^_^



Eminem's The Way I Am
The day before Em's birthday on October 17 (interestingly, LH's birthday is May 17, so excuse me if I felt a sudden affinity with the number 17 ;), I got a gift in the mail. Well, not really a gift, because it was something I bought for myself, but when it came, I was so excited I believe I might have let out a series of squeals in my colleague's presence haha! But yay, Christmas came early! So yeah, I bought Eminem's autobiography from bookdepository.com (awesome site, can't recommend it enough). It reached my desk just before noon, and by 2pm, I had passed the middle section of the 200+ page book. In my defense, I tried to put it down many many times, but I kept picking it up again. I couldn't help it. *hangs head in shame* But considering that it was really easy reading (not unlike reading a diary entry), and that there were a lot of pictures, it certainly wasn't a feat that I had read that much. By the time I got home, I wasn't very far from finishing it; I felt sad and the dread as I turned the last few pages.

The verdict? I enjoyed it very much but c'mon, why wouldn't I! :) It wasn't the greatest piece of written work, but it was a deeply personal piece. Some reviewers said that he skimmed through the tumultuous relationship with his mother and ex-wife, but really, what else could he have said that he hasn't in all his songs about them? That he didn't mean them? I'm quite sure those thoughts were real. He did briefly touch about the gruesome song about his ex-wife Kim, and he'd explained to her that those hateful songs he wrote about her reflected how he really felt and thought in the heat of their arguments so she would be okay with him putting them out. She relented for most part (did she have a choice?), but I feel that he did go too far at one point (he didn't write about it in the book but it's well documented on the internet), where they were on the way to his concert and she asked him if he would play that song and he said no, but I guess booze and/or drug changed his mind and he went all out deriding her on stage, and she felt so hurt and went home and slit her wrist. I hope he was wrecked with guilt over that incident! But lest you think she was a damsel-in-distress, she was also known to physically attacking him.. in public. So yeah, theirs was the real-life version of his hit song (look ma, a pun!) with Rihanna, Love the Way You Lie.

Like his songs, he's candid with what went on in his life and his head. The book provides insight into his early days struggling with poverty and being on welfare, bullies at school, having to constantly move from one home to another and one school to another, an absent father and an addict mom, minimum wage jobs, baby mama drama, and the insecurities of living where they were. It also chronicles his friendship with Proof who was instrumental in making him into who he is -- it was pretty obvious that without Proof, there'd be no Eminem. Sadly, Proof was killed in a bar fight-gone-awry in 2006 and words just can't express what it was like losing such an important figure like that in one's life; he struggled for years to get back on his feet. There was also his unrelenting pursuit of the art of emceeing, and later his explosion and exposure to the world at large. He hadn't expected to blow up like he did, and fame is still something he grappling with after all these years (he still raps about it). People who are familiar with his songs would already know most of the details of his life, but I think even the most hardcore of fans would still be able to find a tidbit or two in the book that they had not known previously.

My favorite chapter would be the one where he talks about being a father. He said that "being a dad makes me feel powerful in a way I hadn't known before, and it's the kind of power that I don't want to abuse. It's the kind of power that helps me overcome the bad shit from my childhood. It's like I'm rewriting my own history." He's always maintained that he's a father first and a rapper second, and he tries to be there for his kids (he has a daughter with ex-wife Kim, and he adopted the daughter of Kim's twin sister, and another daughter from Kim's other marriage, and "all three of my girls call me Daddy and they are loved the same" awww..) every chance he could. And he talks about how he tries to teach his daughters to be responsible and accountable and that their world isn't just a free-for-all and they've got things to do around the house, and how when they are older they'd have to get jobs and learn what it means to earn.. I'm just glad despite his troubled childhood and shaky relationship with Kim, that he would fall so naturally into the role of a loving, concern and involved father.

And this might be the wackiest confession I've ever made here or anywhere: you know how I've always have fears about attempting motherhood? Oh you probably don't because I don't ever talk about it. But it was something that stuck with me for the longest time, and though I do feel more ready now, Em was one person who actually got me to seriously consider that it probably won't be so bad after all (yes, it was that recent), with this verse in particular from Hailie's Song:
Some days I sit staring out the window, watching this world pass me by
Sometimes I think there's nothing to live for, I almost break down and cry
Sometimes I think I'm crazy, I'm crazy oh so crazy
Why am I here, am I just wasting my time?
But when I see my baby, suddenly I'm not crazy
It all makes sense when I look into her eyes
Yup. Who would have thought, right?

Lol, looks like I think I got a bit carried away with this review. To end, I know it's a very fangirl-y thing to say, but I could understand the reasons behind a lot of things he did, whether if they were justified or not, logical or not. He and I, we are kindred spirit, remember? LOL! Quit rolling your eyes!!



Ravi Zacharias's Walking from East to West: God in the Shadows
All I knew about Ravi before this was that he's a prominent Christian apologist. I sat under his protege's tutelage for the book of John. I knew that J is a huge fan(girl) of his. But I've not heard or read anything by him, and I have no excuse.

This book introduced me to him, not in the way he's usually introduced i.e. accolades upon accolades. I was introduced to a boy of low self-esteem who had no interest in academic but one who is affable and well liked. A boy who often for no obvious reason drew the ire of his father and stood meekly in the shadows of his more accomplished brother. A boy who struggled with understanding the meaning of life and drifted in the ocean of purposelessness for a long time before finding his calling that changed the course of his life, and many, many, many lives whom he's touched.

Many people who come to know Jesus have their lives changed 180 degree and that was what happened to Ravi. He became a voracious reader and his confidence grew, and God had him doing things he never knew he could or going places he never thought he would. You can't help but be absorbed in his story and just rad in amazement and awe at how things turned out.

And for the record, my short review here is in no way reflective of how I feel about the book. I won't necessarily say that it's the best of the lot here as each story and each life has its own charms and snags.. but this was definitely well-written and inspirational. Makes me all the more curious about his works. I suppose I should just get my mind ready to be blown away again.



Nadia Bolz-Weber's Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint
I got to know about this book from Richard Beck's review and I was curious enough to buy a hardcover copy of it (usually I'd wait for the cheaper paperback version), also via bookdepository. The heavily tattooed Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber is not your typical pastor, in any conventional sense of the word. Even her life path is unusual as it is presented: engaging, encouraging, irreverent, inspiring and funny.

One thing I loved about this was her brutal honesty. Sure, she swore like a sailor (uncensored in the book), and that would have bothered me a lot, but my tolerance for profanity has risen substantially thanks to Em (I don't know if it's a good thing but life is easier when I don't take offense at everything)(I mean, I still find a lot of things annoying and objectionable, but one less item off the list isn't too bad at all). I like what Beck said when warning reader of the litany of F-bombs in the book: ... to be honest, I get sort of annoyed in needing to give such warnings. Why are so many Christians such pious fragile little daisies? Do we really think Jesus was so easily offended? Goodness sakes, look who Jesus hung out with. 

And may I quote Richard again as to what the book is about:
It's a spiritual memoir that, roughly, moves through three parts of of Nadia's life. The first part covers Nadia's early years growing up in fundamentalist Christianity, her descent into drugs and sex, to her eventual return to Christianity. The second part is Nadia's calling to the pastorate and the founding of House for All Sinners and Saints. And the final part is stories about the growth of the church and Nadia's pastorate. All the way through are raw, powerful and confessional stories of both success and failure, each salted with the crazy juxtapositions created by Nadia's personal history and personality in light of her life as the spiritual leader of a faith community.

What I loved about Pastrix (a word used derisively by some conservative Christians who refuse to recognize female pastors) was how real she was and how forthcoming she was about her struggles with the word of God that most of us would probably think is "unChristian" to utter. I relate to her misanthropic nature and applaud her for fighting it (definitely made me think about how I am right now). Her church, the House of All Saints and Sinners is an all-inclusive church whose congregation would definitely raise more than a few eyebrows in most churches elsewhere. But urm, I'm cool with that. I don't know if I'd fit in there, or anywhere for that matter right now. I feel like I'm on a self-imposed isolation. I feel like I'm drifting. Sigh~ Man, are you guys reading this, I'm confessing left and right in this post. Anyway, I think one of the best things about growing old is realizing that a lot of things shouldn't and don't matter, and I think it's silly how people get up in arms over the wrong things (okay, me included, but yeah, all of us need to grow up). Like Ravi above, her story once again proves that God has a sense of humour most of us would only funny in hindsight, and that his way is wayyy beyond my puny limits, and once again, I put down all my earthly strivings before him and just sit silently at his feet.

Anyway, please allow me to quote Beck one last time: "That's what I most loved about Pastrix, how the bible kept crashing into the messiness of Nadia's life and the life of her crazy and amazing church. Being interrupted by the bible, in hard but often life-giving ways, is something that I can deeply identify with." Check out this video for one of her sermons where she recounted some of the stories she also shared in the book.



Benazir Bhutto's Daughter of the East 
I have just begun on one last autobiography I have in hand but I thought I'd include it in this list, that of Benazir Bhutto, the Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1988 until 1990, and from 1993 to 1996. She was assassinated in a bombing in 2007 (right about the time this book was published).

Her name was something I remember from way back then, and her being the first female Pakistani PM was pretty impressive to me then, and now. I'm only in the first chapter, and she talked about having kids during her tenure (she was then the only head of government in recorded history to actually give birth while in office, I'm pretty sure the record still holds). Of course her detractors had a field day trying to overthrow her, albeit unsuccessfully. Can't help but think she must have been one remarkable lady.

I generally don't read political bios because they are very detailed and those details usually just fly over my head, so... I do hope I'd finish this! If I do, and if I would write about it, I'd just update this page.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

I am going to reject a job offer tomorrow. It's not easy walking away from a higher salary and bigger title and what appear to be a good boss to work for, but I strongly feel that I should not leave yet. There are a couple of projects that I'm working on that I would like to see to completion, and I want to see what else I could make of this job right now. Plus, I've gotten reeeeally comfortable here. Yes, I am trying very hard not to think about the what-ifs. I hope I won't be swayed to change my decision. I just pray that this is the right decision. That said, I don't think there's a right decision per se in situations like this, but argh. I should never have gone to the first meeting. And the second one. Tried to stop the third one from happening, but.. Maybe I shouldn't have been so awesome haha! Argh, where were you when I needed to leave! And bah, my lunch kaki told me today that she's also been offered a job, and it appears to be a good one too. She's still considering but it does look like she will be accepting it. That made me sad. Happy and sad. Mostly, sad for now. :(

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Hi, I'm E and I'm an info junkie. Quora is my drug of choice, and Wikipedia a close second, but I dabble with everything else out there on the interweb that catches my fancy. I love the immediate gratification of having known something I didn't just a moment ago, but it sucks to know that I'm just mindlessly consuming bytes and bits of information and not using them for greater good. I am probably over-stimulated, but what can I say, I love it.

And like the adage that goes, "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing", I'm a pretty dangerous person hehe. Aish, the thing is, knowing that there's so much knowledge out there that's beyond my grasp just make me feel so... stupid. And that's my problem. I hate to feel stupid, so I read, but the more I read, the more stupid I feel. So yeah, classic catch-22!

Srsly, if I could monetize all the information I've read, I should be pretty rich. Or if I could translate them into applicable skills, I should be pretty successful. Or if that would at least make me an interesting conversationalist, I would be the life of a party, and perhaps even my own talk show.

Unfortunately, I'm also an information bulimic -- I probably retain only 1.7% of everything I've tirelessly consumed, the rest are gone with the wind into the dead of the night~

It just hit me as I was reading a wiki entry on rapping as if I have any business knowing more on that subject matter (but it's obvious how I got there, isn't it? :).

Sunday, November 10, 2013

[via]

Wow, we are already ten days into November. Usually I'd be excited about being in this month, but this time around, it seemed to have arrived before I was ready.

Increasingly, I'm finding it hard to breathe. My plate is getting fuller by the day and I feel like I'm about to drop it soon and lose it altogether. And my procrastination is definitely NOT helping so I'm loading up on self-loathing. Been down with fever the past week, and I've actually never recovered from post-vacay fatigue, what more when I've had to travel for work soon after I got back. Sigh~ But really, realizing that my complaints just PALE in comparison to the other bigger stuff that's happening doesn't make it better...

My thought is with the victims of super Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. It's feared to have taken 10k lives so far. 10k! :( I could only pray for relief and reprieve to come soon to the survivors. What does one even pray for during such a time? Was just thinking about the typhoon, and natural disasters, in general, and questioning why they happen. I mean, I get death resulting from human acts (wars, genocide, murder, etc.) - we attribute that to sin - but why didn't God create a world that's disaster-free? Don't we have enough to deal with? Feels kinda senseless. :(

My prayer is also with a dear friend C, who's been diagnosed with a rare condition of having cyst growth in her spine. I.. Gosh, I don't know. It was one of the worst news I've had to wake up to. She sounded okay when I spoke to her today, but she's had a grueling two days coming to terms with the news. She'll be seeing a neurologist to determine the next step. God, please, please, PLEASE let her be okay.

Lord, have mercy.

Friday, November 8, 2013

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Okay, I don't know why I'm doing this (this being singling out another song from MMLP2 and writing about it, because, do I really need to do it? no, I don't.)(...)(oh, how could I not realise it? I'm procrastinating!!), but yeah, I came across another one that I like. It's called Rhyme or Reason, which samples an old song from The Zombies' 1968 Time of the Season. Wow, a 45-year old song... that's o-l-d.

Anyway I like the catchy and almost haunting tune of the original and I like how Eminem has reworked the chorus by changing the words to still rhyme with the original but at the same time turned the meaning of the song the other way around (see comparison below), and how he used the chorus as a Q&A to bring his absent dad into the picture. Even the writer of the song Rod Argent has commented how he "love[s] that it was almost identical in vowel sounds and mirrored the original, but at the same time completely inverted the sentiment of what was being said." Em also did a pretty spot-on impression of Yoda in the song, and oh I learned something from the lyrics: komodo dragons are capable of reproducing asexually, i.e. that the female doesn’t necessarily require a male to lay eggs. You didn't know that, did you? Haha!

excerpt from The Zombies' 
original version
excerpt from Eminem's 
reworked version
it's the time of the season
when the love runs high
in this time, give it to me easy
and let me try
with pleasured hands
to take you and the sun
to promised lands
to show you every one
it's the time of the season for loving

it's the time of the season
when hate runs high
and this time, give it to you easy,
when I take back what's mine
with pleasured hands,
and torture everyone,
that is my plan
my job here isn't done, cause
there's no rhyme or no reason for nothing


probably the only photo of them together
Anyway, it looks like Em tends to write about the same few topics, i.e. the people in his life (or out of it), which are basically himself and how awesome and awful he is, his estranged wife, his beloved kids, his addict mom and his absent dad... maybe it's keeping with the theme of the album (a revisit to the first Marshall Mathers LP), but yeah, he hasn't run very far (except when he creates wacky personas like a serial killer or a deranged fan). So far, I've written about the songs he wrote for his mom and his wife, and now here's this song about his dad.

My first thought was, he's 41, and he's still talking about the dad he never met? But yeah, what do I know about how he feels when I've got my dad around all my life right ? I guess some scars never fade away and time doesn't dish out answers we want. Unfortunately, the missing father figure drove a wedge between his mom and him instead of bringing them closer, and he's said one too many times that he doesn't care about his dad at all or how he's doing and yet, he's referred the old man in as many songs and he still grapples to understand how his dad could just walk out from the family. Actually, I think if I were in his shoes, I'd be as resentful.. I don't know. I'm glad he turned out nothing like his dad. In fact, in a 2010 poll, he was actually voted Best Celebrity Dad, ahead of even Barack Obama. :)

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

So it seems like I'm approaching Eminem's latest album one song at a time. Today I've been looping and listening to track #11 Stronger Than I Was. It's an atypical song for him -- for one, he sang half the song (kinda like what he did on Hailie's Song). He usually gets a lot of flak for singing, and he's admitted as many times that his singing isn't up to par, but to my untrained ears, it's pretty decent, not great, but.. well, it sounds like him, singing, so yeah, it's cool. Maybe it's just me. I like his voice. Sometimes I play his interviews just to hear him talk. Although he often comes off angry when he sings, I find his talking voice soothing and assuring. Maybe it's just me. Anyway, I love this song from the first listen. There's something to it that I can't put my finger on. It feels familiar and foreign at the same time, and I found comfort in that contradiction. I also think his untrained vocal vibed hints of vulnerability and earnestness, and all that made this work. Maybe it's just me.

Some commenters have said that this song was written from his ex-wife's Kim's POV, especially the first part, but I think it vacillates between the two of them. You know, I do sympathize with him in that the two main women figures in his life were of very volatile personalities. I'm not excusing his misogynistic expressions (I feel like I'm doing that every time I try to justify him, but that's not my intention), but having seen the pattern of his trust being violated over and over again, I feel he deserved a break. And he got it. Should he have risen above that after all these years? It would have made an inspiring tale if he has, but the story isn't over yet, right? Anyway, he has mended his relationship with Kim since, and they are now able to work seamlessly as a team of parents to their kids. He's also apologised to her in the previous album in Going Through Changes so I guess it's all good at this point...

Hailie this one is for you, Whitney and Alaina too,
I still love your mother, that'll never change,
think about her every day, we just could never get it together.
hey, wish there was a better way, for me to say it,
but I swear on everything, I'd do anything for her on any day.
there are just too many things, to explain, when it rains,
guess it pours, yes it does, wish there wasn't any pain.
but I can't pretend there ain't, I ain't placing any blame,
I ain't pointing fingers, heaven knows I've never been a saint.
I know it just feels like we just pissed away our history,
but just today, I looked at your picture, almost if to say,
I miss you self consciously, wish it didn't end this way.
but I just had to get away, don't know why,
I don't know what else to say, I guess I'm.. [going through changes]

eminem :: going through changes

But wait, that's not the song I was talking about. It's this one below - do check it out! :) So far, so good, so hmm, what song should I check out next? A bit apprehensive cos I don't wanna break the streak haha!

and I thank you cause you made me a better person than I was
but I hate you cause you drained me, I gave you all, you gave me none
but if you blame me, you're crazy and after all that's said and done
I'm still angry, yeah, I maybe, I may never trust someone

eminem :: stronger than I was


Mm btw I'm falling ill again (got sick a few days in Taiwan too), and I'm traveling again tomorrow to Miri, so say a prayer for me please.

A final parting thought, I've been thinking about this guy (a friend of some friends) who recently died a hero. He was an outdoor enthusiast and operated his own adventure company. He died saving one of his clients from drowning, and his death was apparently a great loss to many. I've read a few testimonies (this for one) about what an awesome person he was, and the many lives that has touched and helped and saved over the years, in church and wherever else he was. Everyone agreed that he lived his life to the fullest and was a commendable steward of that life he was given. He was only 42 and left behind his wife and two kids and I guess the inevitable question on everyone's mind is why the Lord took him home so soon. He wasn't the first person whose departure warranted this question, but I guess it had to be asked. And as expected, God remains silent. Sigh~

I've often wondered how I would be eulogized at my funeral. I don't dream of greatness at all, but I want my life to count for something. I'll leave it to God to decide what that something is, and I pray that I will be faithful when it's entrusted to me.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Eminem's 8th studio album, The Marshall Mathers LP 2, dropped today! He's said that this was a continuation and a revisit of his critically acclaimed album from 2000, in the sense that "...on the first Marshall Mathers LP there were some personal things that I addressed and on this record there are some chapters that I wanted to close. [..] It’s more about going back to the basics of hip-hop and some fundamentals in that sense." [via]

Perhaps to make it obvious, both albums share a similar cover, that of the house he grew up in in Detroit. But content- and sound-wise at first impression, they vary quite a bit, and I think that's just awesome! I'm all for artists taking different creative and sound directions in their new albums because the last thing I want is for them to give me the same thing over and over again. I mean, I'm all for comfort and familiarity but if you are going to repackage the same stuff, I might as well listen to the old albums right?

Four of the songs have been released as singles previously (BerzerkSurvivalRap God and Monster feat. Rihanna), and I love them all! Brand me a die-hard fan, but I really do! :P  He's received a lot of criticism for the songs, but really, I think most of the haters are just complaining for the sake of complaining (on the other hand, it is I who probably should stop reading them). But I guess expectations are high because he named the album after his most well-received one, but I don't get why people want him to sound like and come off a replica of himself 13 years ago -- I prefer to see both albums as bookends of his life then and now, and when you listen to everything from then and now, you're elevated to a vantage point where you could see the story of his life panned out and see how far along he has come and understand him better (this goes the same when we evaluate any other artists' body of works).

Anyway, I've pre-ordered the album on iTunes a week ago (yup, while I was traveling in Taiwan -- photos here! =) and was counting down the days for its release, so yeah, am happy it's Nov 5! Well, it leaked onto the Internet on Halloween, but I resisted checking it out until today (I'm stubborn in the most unnecessary way, I know). I got the clean (of course haha!) deluxe version which came with 21 songs. Twenty one! For USD9.99. The prudent chinaman in me is well-pleased at the what a value-for-money this deal was hahah!

Anywayyyy, while I should be checking out all the songs (I really want to!), I haven't been able to because I'm stuck on listening to this one song: Headlights feat. Nate Ruess, a song Em wrote for his estranged mom, apologizing for the past. The two have a turbulent history and she was prominently targeted in many of his earlier songs when he was venting and ranting and screaming about everything in his life. He had said and rapped some really hurtful stuff, justified or not, against her, so I'm glad he's reached the point in his life where he could offer a song like this as a tribute and an apology. I'm really touched at the heartfelt words and I really wish he would be able say this to her face to face one day, and they would reconcile.. Btw Nate Ruess did a wonderful job on his part too. Everything came together so nicely..

So yeah, I'm getting back to the song. I'll probably write again when I get to #21. xoxo.


once you pulled up in our drive one night as we were leaving to get some hamburgers
me, her and Nate, we introduced you, hugged you
and as you left I had this overwhelming sadness come over me
as we pulled off to go our separate paths, and I saw your headlights as I looked back
and I'm mad I didn't get the chance to thank you for being my Mom and my Dad
so Mom, please accept this as a tribute I wrote this on the jet

eminem :: headlights