Ghoststyle just sent me this video he took from the Jazz gig I did with Marsha, Eugene, and Jun.  Thanks Ghost!

This song is one of my favorite songs.  Hope you guys like it!

T


Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyjh6xDMwWI

I heard a ruckus outside.  A woman yelling, something like anger.  I can't make out the words at first, but when I stepped outside the words became clear when I ran into the scene by accident.  "How do you complete this sentence?". The woman asks her puzzled child.  She is a reflection of her mother, lost in her mother's heated questioning, like a deer caught in headlights.  "If you are going to play outside, do you say 'I play outside' or. 'You play outside?'" The mother is now flailing her arms for emphasis.  "The answer is 'I play outside!'"  The words do not begin to make sense to the child, but to me seemed so full of love and emotion.  It wasn't anger as it turned out, just a mother frustrated, wanting her child to learn her homework, sitting on the edge of the family store facing the sidewalk.  The lost child listening attentively to her mother's pleading, a pleading for a better future, a better life, a better version of that reflection that will soon grow unto its own.  I wonder if the child will remember this moment with her mother later.  Or will this moment fade and blend into other moments that make up her memory of Mom.  Will she understand her mother's words are not just about her homework, that they carry a greater meaning and from that moment they shared with a bystander.  She will know that her mother loves her more than she will know from her angry words, that words will lose their meaning over time, and only the meaning in between remains.  

I have received many birthday wishes for peeps on alivenotdead over the past week or so.  Just want to say thank you for all the warm wishes! 

I have been very busy of late.  Just finished a re-run of The Pussycat Theater with Crystal Kwok and Marsha Yuan.  I got to reprise my role as the "Penis," which I have to say is lot of fun to play, no pun intended!  I should get some photos from that soon and will post them shortly! 

Was also the MC for the Fresh Wave Film Festival Opening Party last Friday.  The Fresh Wave Film Festival is a program run by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council that creates opportunities and exposure for aspiring film-makers in HK.  This year, alivenotdead is a media sponsor for the Fresh Wave Film Festival and I am very happy to have had the opportunity to support the ADC and the Fresh Wave Film Festival! 

On Monday, AIDS Concern hosted a drinks gathering for 24 Herbs and all the peeps that helped out with the 24 Herbs MV and the Red Ribbon Campaign.  It was very good to see everyone at the gathering and thanks Loretta for getting me a birthday cake as well! 

On Sat I am singing in a Jazz Show with Marsha!  The show will take place this Saturday, 5/23, at Backstage!  I am really looking forward to this show and to sing with Marsha, Jun, Eugene and the gang!  And we will be doing Jazz no less, so it should be mad fun.  Here's the flyer for the show!



If you are in HK and you wanna hear some Jazz on Saturday, then come to the show!  Hope to see you all there!

Terence

Woke up this morning and received a message from a friend that got me to think about the effect time has on passion.  Passion is like a fire, a raging urge to engulf, to consume, to give, to sacrifice, to rise above the mundane and the routine, to be stronger and brilliant for the sake of someone, something, or some cause.  Passion is like the spark of a match, intense and agitated, a friction that can turn phosphorus and wood into a burning flame.  The question that struck me this morning is, how do you keep the match burning? 

On the surface, it looks like a lost cause.  The brittle wood that makes the match stem can only burn for so long.  A slight breeze can easily kill a flame without shelter.  Angle the match the wrong way as it burns, the fire will not consume enough nourishment and die on the broken stem. 

In love, friends are always talking about how great their "honeymoon" period was and that after some time, their relationship settles. They still "love" their partner, but not like they once did.  That passionate love that compelled them into love has become a habit, a comfort, as if they are moving forward only by the momentum left from the passionate flame that has long since turned into embers and ash. 

In this uphill battle where nature and nurture seems to frown upon a lasting flame, what is it inside us that can help us remember, maintain, and nurture the flame that defines us?  There is no easy answer to this question.  And certainly there are no grand, verbose theories that can be of any use here.

Embers and ash retain the flames potential and can burn once again with the wind.  When we are all so consumed with our daily responsibilities and the trials and tribulations of our lives, we just need to remember to take some time for ourselves away from the fray.  Take a deep breath feel the embers inside glow and radiate an energy once forgotten.  Nurture the muses of our passion and allow ourselves to be wild, simple, and free if just for a moment. 

It is important for all our us to nurture our flame.  Without which we are at the mercy of inertia, like particles drifting aimlessly in space.  For a life that threatens to have no greater purpose, our faith rests in that we believe there is more and that a tiny spark can turn common elements into something beautiful, brilliant, and worth living for. 

T