To Elisabeth (a very bad poem)

How much I have missed you, dear friend.
The mountains are still there,
yet all the fortunes in this world
are not enough
to exchange a glimpse of your smile
(then what is the use of them?)

Yet you are with me, I know,
and I can hear you whisper:
Live this life
and we shall meet again.

P.S. my roommate T.F. died young. I used to send her my writing. I hope she wouldn't mind this bad poem.

Things I want to do (whether I am rich or not)

One of the driving force for start-up employees is the dream of becoming rich some day. Every day I hear my coworkers talking about things they want to do (buy a fancy car, own real estates all over the world, get a flying license, etc) once they "make" it. (No doubt without the day dreaming it's hard to endure the start-up life.) Though I don't share much of their enthusiasm about "making it" (you can say I am older and wiser), I can't but think what I really want to do. (I took 6 months off to sort it out without much success, but my mind seems to be more clear now.) My wishes are small. I am surprised that some of them are even doable whether I am rich or not.

1. driving around the country with my camera, in the footsteps of many great photographers I admire (Robert Frank, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Edward Western, you name it.) Personally I think it's a rite of passage for every would-be photographer.

2. learn to sing. My best friend had proposed this idea many times. She has a soprano voice and I am probably a mezzo. It will be fun to sing duets with her. Also, I'd love to sing the aria "Mi Lusinga il dolce affetto" (Alcina) with my full voice.

3. learn Italian. I have always wanted to read The Divine Comedy in its original, and, Gosh, being able to listen to my favorite opera without translation, that's divine.

4. visiting England, listening to Kate Royal in Covent Garden, eating oyster in Whistable. England to me is like Italy to 19th century writers (so you get the idea). I doubt if my Anglophile can survive a real visit, but at least that will be a cure for my buying countless books about the subject.

OK, enough daydreaming, back to work. Now I will be happy if I can finish everything and go home in 2 hours.

Guardian Interview with Kate Royal

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/apr/24/kate-royal-opera

Interesting, she took one month off every year (no singing). I wish I could do that with my job.

Received My Kindle DX Today

Finally, my kindle DX arrived! In the few hours of owning my newest gadget, I had downloaded (i.e. bought from Amazon.com) 3 ebooks!!! Here is my first impression:

content (integration with amazon.com browsing): ***** (5 stars)
wireless speed: ***** (works better than my home internet connection)
easy to use: *** (it's not iPod, the buttons are not very well balanced)
feature: **** (native pdf support is pretty handy)


Now with my new Kate Royal CD, I am in heaven (almost).

Midsummer Night - Kate Royal's New Album

On stage (if you are lucky enough to see her perform), soprano Kate Royal has the look of a Bond girl and the grace of a princess, with a rich voice melting in your ear like dark chocolate. Attending her recital last year at Berkeley was an event of lifetime to me.

Since event of lifetime doesn't happen every day, I am more than happy to find that her new album just came out lately. Better yet, she's singing the arias of 20th century English operas (something rarely recorded). Usually I don't like 20th century English operas (I prefer the more melodramatic Italian ones), but Ms Royal's performance of Stravinsky's "The Rake's Progress" in her previous album convince me to reconsider. So now I am more than happy to try new things and broaden my horizon.

Still, I am eagerly waiting for her Strauss album, but I know for that I have to be patient. No soprano before a certain age can really sing Strauss's last four songs and Ms Royal definitely hasn't reached that age yet. Right now, she's just too young and too beautiful!

P.S. I don't know who did the promotion at EMI. Her last album's promotion photos were bad enough, the new ones are even worse. For heaven's sake, do they really think making her look like Keira Knightly will sell the CD?

P.P.S Just finished listening to this CD. It's wonderful, even better than Ms Royal's debut. One thing is for sure, Ms Royal has graduated from the "rising star" status to be a true star now. Her singing sometimes reminds me the great German soprano Elizabeth Schwarzkopf. (Yes, I know, another unbelievably beautiful soprano.)

The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Be Careful What You Are Reading!

Some books are dangerous. They reminds you how ridiculous and absurd things often are and you start to question them and eventually become a discontent (at least secretly). Often that's not a good thing, it conflicts with the single-minded "focus" (I sometimes think it's a form of lobotomy) demanded by most jobs. That's why I put away "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" when I started working. The free spirit of the protagonist Poloma makes me sad about my current life.