Musical Notes
Cómo fue
No sé decirte cómo fue
No sé explicarme qué pasó
Pero de ti me enamoré
Fue una luz
Que iluminó todo mi ser
Tu risa como un manantial
Ileno' mi vida de inquietud
Fueron tus ojos o tu boca?
Fueron tus manos o tu voz?
Fue a lo mejor la impaciencia
De tanto esperar tu llegada
Más no sé
No sé decirte cómo fue
No sé explicarme qué pasó
Pero de ti me enamoré
How it was
I can't tell you how it was
I can't explain what happened
But I fell in love with you
A light that lit up my whole being
Your laughter, like a spring
Watered my life with desire
Was it your eyes ,or your mouth
Your lips of your voice?
Perhaps it was the impatience
Of waiting so long for you
Yet, I don't know
I can't tell you how it was
nor can I explain what happened
But I fell in love with you
When forced to barricade self in office on a Saturday afternoon, repeated listenings to boleros by Ibrahim Ferrer and co. are recommended.
Effects include, but not limited to, feeling the sea-breeze on your face and hearing the call of the waves as you imagine spending a sultry evening on a beach by the Pacific ocean.
Aforementioned sexiest nonagenarian in the world
P/s:- Yet another blogger-from-work inadvertently found whilst indulging in bandwidth suckage at work. That makes five of us.(Refer to this post) Orang yang kerja kat sini takde kerja lain ke? On one hand all of us are complaining of insane workloads and late nights, on the other we have time to blog about said insane workloads and late nights. Hmmm...
Good to know I'm not the only one at risk of being dooced though. If blogging wasn't so private (yet public!) we could start a Bloggers' Club.
Please forgive me for being tone-deaf
This meme of course, requires no introduction. I’m not so much a bandwagon jumper as the guy who’s left chasing after the bandwagon’s dust.
What is the total amount of music files on your computer?
Miniscule. Not allowed to download MP3s at work (where I normally would listen to music that doesn’t contain such profound lyrics as “I’m a little teapot/…/Tip me over and pour me out” (You know you’ve been listening to too many nursery rhymes when “Six a Song of Sixpence” begins to take on satanic undertones). Mr. Nads introduced me to the wonderful (and legal!) world of bittorrent (I know, I know) so I managed to download about 500 MB (Haha!) of Ray Charles, Etta James and James Brown.
I think I had about 2G in my computer at uni, where I indulged in large bandwidth suckage downloaded at will. At one point I had Kisah Seorang Biduan sitting next to Bitch’s Brew and Heart-shaped Box.
Musical multiple-personality disorder, you think?
The CD you last bought?
3 CD-set of The Best of Billie Holiday. One of those Australian jobbies. RM47.90, woohoo! Frankly I haven’t gotten past the 1st CD which already has all my favourites- Strange Fruit, Body and Soul, The Man I Love, Summertime
If Ella Fitzgerald’s voice is like honey, Lady Day’s is whiskey you drink at 3 am to drown the pain.
(I’m imagining, people)
What was the last song you listened to before reading this message?
Misty by Ella Fitzgerald. Still arguing with my Mother over the fact that it’s preferable to the Johnny Mathis version.
Note: Up til last month I thought Mr. Mathis was white.
My all-time, Top 5 records, in no particular order, are as follows:
5?! To quote the Neon, that’s like asking ““So which one of your children would you kill first if God ordered you to do so?”, (ok-lah, not that histrionic, but close). Here goes anyway:
Nessun Dorma from Turandot, Giacomo Pucccini
The ultimate love song. Carreras, not Pavarotti, please.
Tunggu Sekejap from Sarjan Hassan, Allahyarham P Ramlee.
My favourite P Ramlee tune. To me, it just conveys the wistfulness of young love. Listen to it on rainy afternoons.
Why can’t I find a recording of this?
Bohemian Rhapsody Queen from A Night At The Opera,Queen
Operatic rock at its best. Epic. Simple Plan, take note (hahahahahahaha!)
Revolution from The White Album;Across the Universe from Let It Be and Come Together from Abbey Road
Ok, I’m cheating, but who’s counting (or, for that matter, who’s reading?).
Revolution: The most political, apolitical statement by a rock band ever. With a rocking opening riff copied by most 80s big-haired rock bands (I think- do I look like the Neon to you?). Bono, take note.
Across the Universe: “Words are flowing out like/ endless rain into a paper cup/ They slither while they pass / They slip away across the universe”. Sheer poetry.
Come Together: When you’re able to sing out the chorus in A Level Maths class with two of your classmates after your teacher has mentioned, “then these two equations will come together” only to have said teacher say, “Oh, The Beatles?” you know you have a great pop-rock song on your hands.
Signature songs by Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, Etta James which make for compulsory listening on lazy (and not-so-lazy) afternoons
Yes, we have left the constraints of the ‘Top 5 records’ thing. Away with limitations, I say! On with shameless paeans to great singers!
Anything by Frank Sinatra apart from My Way, which reminds me of 70s Las Vegas: Ol’ Blue Eyes. ArrRrrRr. * wink *
The aforementioned Strange Fruit, God Bless The Child, Summertime andThe Man I Love by Billie Holiday: Her voice simply rakes at your heart.
Anything by Ella Fitzgeraldand Nat King Cole : Like honey
At Last, Etta James: Simply joyous.
Dos Gardenias from Buena Vista Social Club, Ibrahim Ferrer: Proof that octogenarians can be sexy. The quintessential Latin American torch song.
Most M Nasir songs, including, but not limited to everything from Canggung Mendonan, most of Phoenix Bangkit (especially Lagam Pak Dogo and Oh, Anak) and all the classics.
Love him or hate him (obviously, since I paid good money to watch Puteri Gunung Ledang for the sake of seeing him as Hang Tuah, I love him), the man has talent.
Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?
No one. Everyone’s done this but me.
BOIW Ingrris Lessons Part 2
Lesson 3
Confound innocent bystanders with your amazing syntax:-
1. 'I hope we do bear in mind this'
2. 'Further to our this morning discussion'
3. 'During yesterday meeting'
4. 'We cannot accommodate any further' (Ed's note: Further what? BS?)
Lesson 4
Justify your existence by attempting to correct other's miniscule grammatical errors, for example, in an email to Big Boss:-
"I have made a minor amendment to (Nads') letter by taking off the "dot" from Bigger Boss' name as his name has no "dot""
Wow. Talk about value-added services.
NB: Thank you all for the contributions to Lessons 1 and 2 below.
Nate: 'That's mean' has become so common I have chosen to ignore it since if I don't I will spontaneously combust in a fit of grammatical apoplexy.
Kudo: HAHAHAHAHAHA. BOIW has never said, 'Can I helpchoo' as she has never offered to 'helpch' anyone. But if we help her her programming matrix does allow for her to say,
'Thankyouk' which I think means, 'Many thanks for doing 90% of my work, I will now proceed to take credit for your efforts'.
The Inggris Patience
So I see kids are now told to watch TV in order to improve their English. I suppose soon the usage of tweenglish terms like "What-eva!" and beginning one's sentences with "like" will now termasuk di dalam skema jawapan peperiksaan. Don't you just love the randomness of the Malaysian Education System? *cue long and oft-repeated diatribe against a system in which the spirit of Malaysia Boleh(blah) (i.e., achieving ridiculous amounts of As because 'I Boleh' as opposed to any love of learning) and ad-hoc/half-baked policies depending upon the Minister du jour (e.g, On-again, off-again Bahasa Baku and scripts for Science and Maths teachers, anyone?) reign supreme*
Anyway, as part of my contribution to menaikkan martabat dan daya saing negara... ad nauseum, and because we all know that my workplace is a hotbed of grammatical excellence I offer you, for your Friday evening perusal:-
Lesson 1: The key
I have, through months of loathing observation, finally derived the secret to understanding BOIW's brand of Inggrish, and it is this:-
Switch your 'R's and 'L's. As in, 'Learry, ah?'
Other examples include:-
1. Mentioned in passing during a meeting;
"Boss said, you want to hire your crones, ah?"
Which of course met with blank stares (could she have meant cronies?). Then the lightbulb turned on and I triumphantly enunciated, "Oh, you mean cLLLLLoooones
2. Again in a meeting,
"Raws, lures and legurations"
Perhaps this is a hitherto unknown variation of Vicar of Nibbleswicke-type dyslexia? Who knows?
Lesson 2: Induce hearers to hapless tears of laughter
Apart from the examples above, you may also, in the spirit of keeping up with the Joneses(tee hee, you'll get the pun later) in the office stress stakes, after someone has mentioned that their period has gone wonky due to stress, disclose your menstrual cycle in the following fashion :-
"Ya lar, I come twice."
Stress. Great for orgasms, yes?
Now, we all know that the BOIW is a pioneer in the field of language destruction. However, lest you think that she is the only decimator of the English language at workplace, fret not. A two-hour observation has resulted in the following gems, courtesy of *** ****, which I have kindly categorised for your convenience:-
Scattered 's's, 'tch's and 't's
1. And thent
2. Aren'tch we?
3. Don'tch you think that...?
4. Carved in stones (because one stone is just not enough?)
5. Explain in details
6. A milestones
7. Thanks you
8. Lets works on it
9. If you feels
Idiomatic idiocy
1. The pyramids are magnanimous
(And so I hear, were the slave-beating, eldest son-murdering pharoahs)
2. 'It's not my teacup'
3. 'I have to play devil advocate'
(I guess in this instance the possessive 's' went to hell)
Tense tenses
1. So that we can combined it
2. That is what we are concerning about.
Lynn Truss, we need you.
* Name withheld to avoid my being dooced
nads went at 12:49