Reel

Whenever I listen to piano music a reel of images plays through my head like a movie. There are no words, but I know the story, and the details of the image leave nothing unsaid.

Gnnossienne No. 1 by Eril Satie .. inspires the same image from my mind every single time I hear it. The background is in fluent motion, but the two images in the forefront remain solitary save for the blinking of their eyes. Expression says it all.

I wish I could take up the initiative and make time to learn to play.

Good and Bad Regression.

Seriously, there is good regression, and then there is bad regression. It's all about picking out what's what in the context of time.

Core

There is a point in your life where you realize that everyone is just keeping up a facade of who they they think are, who they want to be, or who they believe they should be. We live in a culture obsessed with stuff (I'm no exception) and with maintaining an image. Why is this so important? Why can't people just be who they are at the very core of their being? No masks, no fronts, no letting petty things define you. (Though sometimes I am convinced that some minds have been so squandered that this superficial biomass is who they really are, deep-down to their insides).

Why can't people just be happy with who they are when they are stripped of everything else?

Is that not beautiful enough? Worth enough? Interesting enough?

Clash of the .. something or rather.

I went to go see Clash of the Titans yesterday, despite all the bad reviews it received. While it's just as cheesy as its 80's counterpart, the graphics made the movie enjoyable, though not necessarily memorable or a classic. I expected that I would drool over Sam Worthington or some other guy in the movie, but instead I found myself enamored with and enchanted by Gemma Arterton who played the part of Io. I find her to be very lovely, elegant, and refreshing to look at. She is also cast to play the lead female role in the Prince of Persia movie, and I look forward to seeing her on screen again!

Waseda University.

Have you ever wanted something so badly that you kept telling yourself it wouldn't happen, just so that you wouldn't be crushed and disappointed when it didn't?

I was experiencing that these past couple of weeks. I had applied to study abroad on what I liked to term " a whim", but that's far from the truth. I visited the Waseda campus when I went to Japan over winter break, and I thought it was absolutely amazing. A very safe, nature-filled college town with many international students - perfect, right? However, the fact that the program I was aiming for was so competitive encouraged me to discourage myself from getting my hopes up, which is just what I did for quite some time.

The application process was an endless 30+pages of hell, letters of recommendation, transcripts and essays, but I did it anyway. As the notification of acceptance date grew nearer, I began to try and envision myself in the school I wanted to be in, doing exactly what I wanted to do. I could see the acceptance letter in my hands, imagine how I would decorate my apartment or dorm room, and could see myself ambling down streets full of neon characterized signs. My mom is one of those people who believes that you tell the obedient universe what to do, form follows thought, and nothing ever comes out of being pessimistic.

And you know what? I got in.

A majorly discounted year in a top-notch school in Tokyo.

The best part of all this is that I can finish a second degree in less than a year in a different country, though all things considered, I have to allocate enough money first. The experience is worth the cost, though, I suppose.

JuJu, the concept.

My feet are never securely fastened to the ground. I operate free from gravity and my mind is always dodging shooting stars in space, hair a whirlwind of nebular dust and optics a reflection of galaxies beyond.

森