Monday 28 August 2000

Pic of the day: See, I did buy it!

You sang to me

"All the while you were in front of me, I never realized;
I just can't believe I didn't see it in your eyes.
I didn't see it; I can't believe it; oh but I feel it...
when you sing to me.
How I long to hear you sing beneath the clear blue skies
and I promise you, this time I'll see it in your eyes.
I didn't see it; I can't believe it; oh but I feel it...
when you sing to me."

"You sang to me", Marc Anthony.

I said I would buy it, didn't I? This was the last song that you sang for me before we parted. You were sitting in that oversized chair in your dad's living room - you know he loves those chairs - and playing this song that I could not remember I had ever heard. And you were singing along, the voice I've always loved. So you are not a famous performer, but you can sing pretty well. And besides, you are you.

The bright daylight was flowing in through the large windows, and mingled with the words of the haunting song. "Oh, but I feel it ..." I've never been good at that, at feeling things instead of seeing them or knowing them. I still am not, and likely now will never be. Yet I heard something hidden deep within those words - when you sang to me.

I wanted to tell you how much I wished I could sing like you do. I can sing alone, and I do that a lot. But I can't sing with others ... I don't get the tune right, nor the rhythm. I am too far apart, from all and everyone. I've inherited that from my mom, I think. It sure goes way back - my grandma used to give me chocolate in church when the congregation started to sing. It took a while before I caught on. You have no idea how much I longed to merge my voice with others, and above all with yours. But all I could think to say was that I miss singing more than I miss sex. And I couldn't say that, now could I?

And so when the song ended I asked you to show me which it was, so I could play it and think of you. And now I've done that. And I also bought some melon yoghurt. And a coloring book. And I've been thinking about you, and I've been missing you already. And I suppose I always will miss you, a bit. And certainly when I hear that song and miss something there - your voice, and the light in your eyes.

Farewell, my dearest friend. Farewell, and Godspeed.

***

Hey, as y'all see, everything changes. Already the old Greeks knew that... And another thing that changes is the price of music CDs. I was shocked as I found that this quite ordinary CD cost kr 199.50 or almost $23. Boggle boggle boggle! Now in all honesty, there was another shop a short walk away selling it for kr 179. But even so. This is how they deal with the problem of music piracy, eh? Bite their leg. I was opposed to music piracy when I went to work this morning. Now I'm not so sure. And there's also the way they screw their artists - sometimes really in the most profane meaning of the word, too - I really am not so sure anymore. Perhaps it's all for the best that the card house come tumbling down soon.

I don't want to pirate myself - too much karma for a programmer such as I used to be - but there are other alternatives. I expect to spend some time on MP3.com in the future (if any) and possibly the Norwegian-flavored site somewhat misleadingly called Freetrax (many of the sounds are pay to download, but at least it's outside the big labels).

***

In other noteworthy news, I bought a chocolate today. This penicillin tastes horribly bitter. The chocolate tastes, well, chocolate. The ideal combination - on average, it tasted little worse than bland. Highly recommended. (As if I needed to recommend my readers to buy chocolate! Hah!)

And another sweet thing: Climbing to near the top of my favorite online comics is Avalon High, a well drawn, funny and sometimes moving description of some of the kids at Avalon High School, somewhere in Canada. Cute!

As for why there aren't more comics about middle-aged single economists / programmers / instructors, your guess is as good as mine. Probably better.