Eid Mubarak

Time flies. It’s 13 Syawal already and I haven’t started my puasa enam. Life has been a bit demanding these days, so waking up early before Subuh is really a challenge. To be honest, I am missing Ramadan.

Eid celebration was great to us, although I had no official leave actually. However, meeting some close relatives reminds me that how short our lives in this world. I remember in one of Raihan’s songs, about grabbing five things before five things happen: “Muda sebelum tua, lapang sebelum sibuk, kaya sebelum miskin, sihat sebelum sakit, hidup sebelum mati”. May Allah accept our little deeds during Ramadan and bless us with many more Ramadan.

Maybe if I have some free time (God knows!), I will write about our Eid celebration. Anyway, this song has been on my head since yesterday. In the meantime before my next entry, I share you the lyrics.

Di hati kulakarkan sebuah impian
Yang aku namakan harapan
Apabila kutentukan arah serta tujuan
Rela kuhadapi cabaran

Jalan ke puncak itu beronak dan berliku
Menyukarkan pendakianku
Namun tetap kugagahi hati yang rapuh ini
Demi hasrat yang suci

Aku sangkakan harapan selembut impian
Yang menguliti tidur insan
Kiranya kehidupan tidak sedemikian
Goyah hatiku oleh kenyataan

Tak harus kuturuti kelemahan diri
Tak daya bertahan diuji
Lalu aku mengumpulkan semula kekuatan
Berlandaskan keimanan

Bahagia

Kekasihku… Lihatlah…
Telah kau hapus luka di hatiku
Oh Sayangku…
Rasakanlah ini anugerah atas nama cinta

Katakan pada dunia…
Kamu dan aku bahagia
Semoga cinta kan terjaga selamanya
Terima kasih Tuhan…
Kau beri aku seorang yang mendampingiku
Di dalam suka dan duka

Kekasihku… Lihatlah…
Telah kau hapus luka dihatiku
Oh Sayangku…
Rasakanlah ini anugerah atas nama cinta

The first time I heard of the song, it became one of my favourite.
To Sayang, I dedicate the song. I mean every word.
With you, I am stronger in facing what lies ahead.
Love you always.

The First Time

One of my favourite songs, best known as sung by the great Roberta Flack.

The first time ever I saw your face
I thought the sun rose in your eyes
And the moon and the stars were the gifts you gave
To the dark and the empty skies

The first time ever I kissed your mouth
I felt the earth move in my hands
Like the trembling heart of a captive bird
That was there at my command my love

The first time ever I lay with you
I felt your heart so close to mine
And I knew our joy would fill the Earth
And last till the end of time
The first time ever I saw your face

Just because.

My Favourite

It’s been a while since I actually paid for music, but I bought this song the other day – You Are My Favourite by Sophie Madeleine of Rocky and Balls, for £2.

:P

The official mashup music video is cool too.

I also bought their song I <3 U Online before, which was both funny and sweet. Of course, both songs are dedicated to my favourite person.

Let Me Explain

Still more videos, from the album Bounce (2002). Please watch in order.
:D

Stand By Me

by Oasis.

6th Avenue Heartache

Somehow, sometime last semester while on the topic of bonds I went from Bowie bonds to David Bowie to Nirvana and the faces in the classroom went blank. Most of them had never even heard of Nirvana! Come on, am I that old or did I just make the wrong choice of music reference? Perhaps they all listen only to Rabbani and Inteam.

:P

But this is The Wallflowers, of course.

All Along the Watchtower

So I’m YouTube hopping like I have nothing else to do.

U2 introduced me to the song. I know it’s a Dylan original but I like the Hendrix version best.

No reason to get excited, the thief, he kindly spoke
There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke
But you and I, we’ve been through that, and this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late

Surrender

I’ve added a link to BFM 89.9 “The Business Station”, my favorite – practically only – radio station for the past year. Not only does it have great news coverage, great interviews, but perhaps most importantly great classic song selection.

And the announcers don’t seem to like the sound of their own voices too much.

And here’s Surrender by Cheap Trick just for the heck of it:

Please Mr. Postman

These are the CDs I have in my car:

1. Aerosmith – O, Yeah! Ultimate Aerosmith Hits
   
2. Bon Jovi – Keep the Faith
   
3. The Carpenters – Yesterday Once More: Greatest Hits 1969-1983
   
4. Coldplay – X&Y
   
5. Earth, Wind & Fire – The Ultimate Collection
   
6. Jon Bon Jovi – Destination Anywhere
   
7. Linkin Park – Minutes to Midnight
   
8. Natasha Bedingfield – NB
   
9. No Doubt – The Singles 1992-2003
   
10. Velvet Revolver – Libertad

They are all original, of course. I don’t listen to them much, however. At the moment, the one sitting inside the CD player is the Carpenters compilation; the second CD, I think, the one with Please Mr. Postman on it.

I don’t usually turn the radio on when driving to work in the morning because I find it distracting. I also prefer not having the radio on when there are others in the car too, because then there’ll be talking, and I don’t like the distraction of trying to listen to the conversation and the radio at the same time. So the radio/CD player only gets turned on when I’m driving home from work. Even then, half the time I’ll be plugged onto the Walkman phone instead.

So, what do they tell about me?

New

A little late, but how can I not post this?

I use Google Reader to keep track of my favorite websites. It’s far more convenient than visiting them one by one. Always, one of the hardest parts of coming back from a holiday is to catch up. There were more than three hundred new items when I logged in on Monday morning. Naturally, I just skimmed through most of them.

New Semester 1 2009/2010 begins Monday. For the first time, I’m not teaching Intro to Econs. I’m teaching Money and Banking instead. Into to Econs is passed over to a part-timer. I think he’s an engineering PhD student. An engineering grad student is teaching economics to human sciences and Islamic revealed knowledge undergrads. Interesting. Good luck to him and to the students. For the first time too, I applied for a seminar room to use PowerPoint for the new course, and end up getting all my classes assigned to seminar rooms. Cool.

I enjoyed taking Money and Banking as an undergraduate partly because we had an excellent professor. I hope that my students will feel the same.

The Breakfast Club

One of my all time favorite movies is The Breakfast Club from 1985. I saw it one afternoon a long time ago. Everybody else in school went to religious school in the afternoon but my parents decided that it wouldn’t do much good. So my afternoons were spent watching the matinee show on TV instead.

Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you’re crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us – in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain...
... and an athlete...
... and a basket case...
... a princess...
... and a criminal.
Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club.

Really cool song too by Simple Minds.

It’s Already Sunday

… but what the heck, the song’s been stuck in my head since Friday morning.

Friday I’m in Love
by The Cure, from the album Wish (1992)

I don’t care if Monday’s blue • Tuesday’s grey and Wednesday too • Thursday I don’t care about you • It’s Friday I’m in love

Monday you can fall apart • Tuesday Wednesday break my heart • Thursday doesn’t even start • It’s Friday I’m in love

Saturday wait
And Sunday always comes too late
But Friday never hesitate...

I don’t care if Monday’s black • Tuesday Wednesday heart attack • Thursday never looking back • It’s Friday I'm in love

Monday you can hold your head • Tuesday Wednesday stay in bed • Or Thursday watch the walls instead • It’s Friday I’m in love

Saturday wait
And Sunday always comes too late
But Friday never hesitate...

Dressed up to the eyes • It’s a wonderful surprise • To see your shoes and your spirits rise
Throwing out your frown • And just smiling at the sound • And as sleek as a shriek • Spinning round and round
Always take a big bite • It’s such a gorgeous sight • To see you eat in the middle of the night
You can never get enough • Enough of this stuff • It’s Friday I’m in love

And I’d love to get one of these too.

Four Seasons

It doesn’t pay to make predictions
Sleeping on an unmade bed
Finding out wherever there is comfort
There is pain
Only one step away
Like four seasons in one day

Crowded House, Four Seasons in One Day (1992)

A beautiful song; they played it recently at the end of an excellent episode of CSI. The video is a bit out of sync, but I think this live performance is way better than the original studio version.

Free

While I finish up marking exam papers.

Free
by The Martinis, from Empire Records: The Soundtrack (1995)

Omnipresent phrase in my mind
Spoken word I’ve said one million times
Who are you to tell me it’ll always be this way?
I close my eyes and I turn around
And leave it all behind

So free for the moment
Lost somewhere between the earth and the sky
So free for the moment
Lost because I wanna be lost
Don’t try to find me

Always try to breeze through my life
Repetitious things I’ve done one million times
Who are you to tell me that I’ll always be this way?
I close my eyes and I turn around
And leave it all behind

What could I do
It’s not such a terrible thing
What would you do
It’s not such a terrible thing

Heartbeat

Just a song I was listening while marking some test papers.

Canada

I just realized recently that all three of my favorite female singers are Canadian. Hmm...

Jaded

Can you help me remember how to smile?
Make it somehow all seem worthwhile
How on earth did I get so jaded?
Life’s mystery seems so faded

Soul Asylum, Runaway Train (1992)

jad•ed (ˈdʒeɪdɪd)
–adjective

1. dulled or satiated by overindulgence: a jaded appetite.
2. worn out or wearied, as by overwork or overuse.
3. dissipated: a jaded reprobate.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)

Heroes

Heroes
by The Wallflowers, from Godzilla, The Album (1998)

I, I wish you could swim
Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim
Though nothing, nothing will keep us together
We can beat them for ever and ever.
We can be heroes just for one day.

I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing, nothing will drive them away
We can be heroes just for one day
We can be us just for one day

I, I remember standing by the wall
And the guns, shot above our heads
And we kissed as though nothing could fall
And the shame was on the other side
We can beat them for ever and ever
Then we can be heroes just for one day

We can be heroes just for one day

I just feel like another song. It is a cover, I know, of David Bowie. David Bowie is an acquired taste, however, so I prefer this (shorter?) version from the Godzilla movie soundtrack by Jakob Dylan and gang.

Speaking of David Bowie, how about some Bowie Bonds?

__________
PS: Heroes season 3: Villains has started!

It’s Just Been a While

... Since we had a song.

That the original is an all-time classic is no question, but the Mary J Blige duet version grew on me too.

One
by U2, from the album Achtung Baby (1991)

Is it getting better, or do you feel the same?
Will it make it easier on you, now you got someone to blame?
You say one love, one life, when it's one need in the night
One love, we get to share it
Leaves you baby if you don't care for it

Did I disappoint you or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
You act like you never had love and you want me to go without
Well, it's too late tonight to drag the past out into the light
We're one, but we're not the same
We get to carry each other, carry each other... one

Have you come here for forgiveness?
Have you come to raise the dead?
Have you come here to play Jesus to the lepers in your head?
Did I ask too much, more than a lot?
You gave me nothing, now it's all I got
We're one, but we're not the same
Well, we hurt each other, then we do it again

You say love is a temple, love a higher law
Love is a temple, love the higher law
You ask me to enter, but then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on to what you got, when all you got is hurt

One love, one blood, one life, you got to do what you should
One life with each other: sisters, brothers
One life, but we're not the same
We get to carry each other, carry each other
One, one.