Today is Thursday, December 24th, 2008 and it is now 10:54 AM here in the Philippines.
Music wise, I have been listening to one of my favorite bands, the German industrial outfit "Rammstein" (pronounced phonetically, "Vamm-Shtine" for English speakers).
The band has at times gotten a bad rap because of its clean cut appearance and heavily Teutonic themed imagery both in its music and videos.
Contrary to some opinion, the band is neither Neo-Nazi nor even overtly political. Like alot of Industrial bands they deal in dark almost Gothic themes, but with a modern sheen.
The song I have chosen is "Mutter," one of their biggest hits which came out I believe in 2001. I will post the link, and then the lyrics in English, which I have taken the time to translate idiomatically since the German does not translate well AT ALL, sort of like Japanese signs (smile).
I also want to note that I should have posted it on Mother's Day but just could not wait.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJebY9c-x6A
Lyrics in English:
The sadness of a child no longer young or remembering
I wear my tears across my grey hair, a wet chain
I throw that wet chain up in the air and wish I had no mother
No sun shines for me
No breast to feed me
My throat is choked up
Born without connection
Mother
She denied me succor
Never tucked me in
My father never gave me his name
Fathered in haste and without feeling
But oh...For the mother who was never there
I have vowed tonight
I wish her pain
I wish to help her drown in that pain and afterwards hold her head down underneath the water
Mother
Now her body rots with vermin
What is left to connect us
I will cut with a knife that loves me more, even if it causes me to die.
Onto a more cheerful song perhaps, I have always liked Johnny Cash, but his work with producer Rick Rubin (original Beastie Boys producer, one of the co-founders of Def Jam, etc)
was superb and a perfect way perhaps to leave the world.
Cash was part of the movement in Country Music known as "Outlaw Country," which was the genre associated with Waylon Jennings, Willy Nelson, Hank Williams Jr.and Kris Kristofferson among others. He ws also a drug addict for most of his adult life.
His wife June Carter is in this video, watching him and the words though not written by him are oh so poignant if you care to listen. Since they are in English I will not transscribe them, but they apply to all addicts, and any life misspent to some degree.
The song is one written by Trent Reznor and originally done by Reznor , as "Nine Inch Nails," another Industrial band/performer. Funny rumor about the original song as well; Reznor needed money because he was in W/D from heroin, in LA< and sold the song after he used it on an album of course, for a single bottle of Oxycontin! Supposedly Cash and Rick Rubin went, with bodyguards and tracked down the dealer and beat him into submission after which he wigned over rights to the song. It would be easy to disprove the rumor but I do not have the energy (smile).
I happen to prefer Cash's rendition much more than the original though.
Well, this url does not work so if you wish to see the video, it is on Youtube. Simply use the following keywords: johnny cash hurt (sic)
Book wise I have been reading "Murcheston: The Wolf's Tale" by David Holland. Published by Forge in 2000 the book is suprisingly VERY WELL written. It is a gothic horror book, taking place in England and is about a werewolf. I usually find the genre pretty hoky/corny but this book really is incredible.
So, today is the first day in the NPA unilateral Cease Fire and I am very happy but still playing it close to home. I did not even go to pick up Rizza, et al from the ferry (she left one day late with everyone else). The ferry usually arrives right around daybreak, but there is always confusion in the port, Nasapit.
That is another locale I need to photograph. I really like the village, reminds me of how Mindanao used to be, along with much of SE Asia. Not that Westernised, a true SE Asian village physically and one of the rare places in this country where you can find a wealth of tropical hardwoods used in construction. Teak is a great tree, perhaps my favourite tree.
Some expats travel throughout SE Asia buying up old teak, entire houses, and selling it for lumber as is since antqiue teak costs a fortune in NYC. Although Art Deco is my favourite form of architecture (another reason why I love Cambodia and Laos) , SE Asian teak , in various architecutral styles comes in a close second.
Our chief driver is on the way back to us now with Rizza, my second eldest brother-in-law Nigel, and Rizza's nanny. I have not seen Rizza since her last break from school, about 4 weeks now and I miss her of course.
WE have been married since she was 16, and I was almost 33. I am now going to be 42, just about 9 years have passed!!! By now we had hoped to have at least 6 children (Rizza wants a huge family thank G-D) but I have been remiss.
Up until the summer of 2006 I worked seasonally in NYC as an Excavation Labourer in Local 731 NYC (Excavator and Concrete Laborer {sic}) and primarily worked underground, building tunnels and caissons for bridges. I have a higher education, a BS and almost my Masters in Ethno-Botany but believe it or not my last union scale was a total of 55 US dollars and change per hour (including my supplemental hourly pay which for tax reasons is paid directly from the union and not site employer).
On jobs like WTC, after 9/11 where I worked 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, I was making roughly 4700 US a week!!! It is incredible pay but also incredibly dangerous work and so I earned my keep. History Channel now does a show on my union and Local 147, "Sandhogs" as our type of works and worker is known.
I also had, as I advanced in age, increasing shares of my Clan's finances. We are given shares, modeled on a corporate structure. Then, I invested heavily and also bought into my in-laws very small buisness and since we have amassed quite a nice portfolio.
So...In July, 2006 when Israel invaded Lebanon and I rushed home like all Reserve Soldiers I fought in Lebanon (once again). As a result I decided to just retire from my construction job. I had been going to NYC as I said seasonally, and between that and my Reserve military service in Israel had little chance of realising our dream to start a family.
Rizza wanted babies even before we had our religious marriage, actually since we began our actual relationship when she was 15. I though it more prudent for her to finish her education. She graduated from High School at age 16, like most people here, and then went on to get her Computer degree at San Carlos, a decent university in Cebu City on Cebu.
She is now on her second degree (Nursing now, at Southwestern also in Cebu, where Nigel where graduate, also as a nurse, this spring).
However, she is always very sad because we have no children. We have now decided to practive "Niddui" (pronounced "Nih'doo'ee), which is a subsection of Jewish Law known as "Family Purity" in English. in it a man must sleep in a separate room as soon as his wife spots blood from menstuaration or any other vaginal spotting shows. There after he must stay in the other room until 7 days after the last spotting. In other words, the day her bleeding ends, we must count 7 full days while she checks careully in a ritualised manner for any spotting. If on the 5th day clear she spots again, 7 days begin again. After she has remained spotless for 7 days she must ritually wash in natural flowing water snd thoroughly cleanse herself.
Some Jewish schools, like the so called "Karaites" actually move into different houses or buildings when mensturating and do not even see their men.
In our case I cannot even sit next to Rizza during this time, or even have her pass me something because she is ritually "unclean." This has been the hardest on Rizza because she is extremely affectionate to me but she wants children as I said.
What does "Niddui" have to do with children? Well, in further proof that the Bible is not what it seems to be to non-believers, the ritualisation means that the first day together as man and wife after the 7 days coincides normally, with a woman's natural ovulation. She tends to get pregnant easiest at the time stated. This is why most religious Jews have at least 8 children.
The Jewish faith is very down to earth. It is not prudish at all in fact we are commanded to have sex on the Sabbath (Karaites hold to the opposite, that they are fobidden), as well as every day that our wives wish to have it, as well as much as every day of the week if students and other scheduales if in other professions.
We have ALOT of rituals, such as not touching our women in public, etc but alone? It is on! Hahahah. True though. Rizza and I however do not go that far, we touch in public because she would not have it any other way. She is very insecure so I think that may play a part in it.
I will close here because of the character count and start a following entry...
Music wise, I have been listening to one of my favorite bands, the German industrial outfit "Rammstein" (pronounced phonetically, "Vamm-Shtine" for English speakers).
The band has at times gotten a bad rap because of its clean cut appearance and heavily Teutonic themed imagery both in its music and videos.
Contrary to some opinion, the band is neither Neo-Nazi nor even overtly political. Like alot of Industrial bands they deal in dark almost Gothic themes, but with a modern sheen.
The song I have chosen is "Mutter," one of their biggest hits which came out I believe in 2001. I will post the link, and then the lyrics in English, which I have taken the time to translate idiomatically since the German does not translate well AT ALL, sort of like Japanese signs (smile).
I also want to note that I should have posted it on Mother's Day but just could not wait.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJebY9c-x6A
Lyrics in English:
The sadness of a child no longer young or remembering
I wear my tears across my grey hair, a wet chain
I throw that wet chain up in the air and wish I had no mother
No sun shines for me
No breast to feed me
My throat is choked up
Born without connection
Mother
She denied me succor
Never tucked me in
My father never gave me his name
Fathered in haste and without feeling
But oh...For the mother who was never there
I have vowed tonight
I wish her pain
I wish to help her drown in that pain and afterwards hold her head down underneath the water
Mother
Now her body rots with vermin
What is left to connect us
I will cut with a knife that loves me more, even if it causes me to die.
Onto a more cheerful song perhaps, I have always liked Johnny Cash, but his work with producer Rick Rubin (original Beastie Boys producer, one of the co-founders of Def Jam, etc)
was superb and a perfect way perhaps to leave the world.
Cash was part of the movement in Country Music known as "Outlaw Country," which was the genre associated with Waylon Jennings, Willy Nelson, Hank Williams Jr.and Kris Kristofferson among others. He ws also a drug addict for most of his adult life.
His wife June Carter is in this video, watching him and the words though not written by him are oh so poignant if you care to listen. Since they are in English I will not transscribe them, but they apply to all addicts, and any life misspent to some degree.
The song is one written by Trent Reznor and originally done by Reznor , as "Nine Inch Nails," another Industrial band/performer. Funny rumor about the original song as well; Reznor needed money because he was in W/D from heroin, in LA< and sold the song after he used it on an album of course, for a single bottle of Oxycontin! Supposedly Cash and Rick Rubin went, with bodyguards and tracked down the dealer and beat him into submission after which he wigned over rights to the song. It would be easy to disprove the rumor but I do not have the energy (smile).
I happen to prefer Cash's rendition much more than the original though.
Well, this url does not work so if you wish to see the video, it is on Youtube. Simply use the following keywords: johnny cash hurt (sic)
Book wise I have been reading "Murcheston: The Wolf's Tale" by David Holland. Published by Forge in 2000 the book is suprisingly VERY WELL written. It is a gothic horror book, taking place in England and is about a werewolf. I usually find the genre pretty hoky/corny but this book really is incredible.
So, today is the first day in the NPA unilateral Cease Fire and I am very happy but still playing it close to home. I did not even go to pick up Rizza, et al from the ferry (she left one day late with everyone else). The ferry usually arrives right around daybreak, but there is always confusion in the port, Nasapit.
That is another locale I need to photograph. I really like the village, reminds me of how Mindanao used to be, along with much of SE Asia. Not that Westernised, a true SE Asian village physically and one of the rare places in this country where you can find a wealth of tropical hardwoods used in construction. Teak is a great tree, perhaps my favourite tree.
Some expats travel throughout SE Asia buying up old teak, entire houses, and selling it for lumber as is since antqiue teak costs a fortune in NYC. Although Art Deco is my favourite form of architecture (another reason why I love Cambodia and Laos) , SE Asian teak , in various architecutral styles comes in a close second.
Our chief driver is on the way back to us now with Rizza, my second eldest brother-in-law Nigel, and Rizza's nanny. I have not seen Rizza since her last break from school, about 4 weeks now and I miss her of course.
WE have been married since she was 16, and I was almost 33. I am now going to be 42, just about 9 years have passed!!! By now we had hoped to have at least 6 children (Rizza wants a huge family thank G-D) but I have been remiss.
Up until the summer of 2006 I worked seasonally in NYC as an Excavation Labourer in Local 731 NYC (Excavator and Concrete Laborer {sic}) and primarily worked underground, building tunnels and caissons for bridges. I have a higher education, a BS and almost my Masters in Ethno-Botany but believe it or not my last union scale was a total of 55 US dollars and change per hour (including my supplemental hourly pay which for tax reasons is paid directly from the union and not site employer).
On jobs like WTC, after 9/11 where I worked 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, I was making roughly 4700 US a week!!! It is incredible pay but also incredibly dangerous work and so I earned my keep. History Channel now does a show on my union and Local 147, "Sandhogs" as our type of works and worker is known.
I also had, as I advanced in age, increasing shares of my Clan's finances. We are given shares, modeled on a corporate structure. Then, I invested heavily and also bought into my in-laws very small buisness and since we have amassed quite a nice portfolio.
So...In July, 2006 when Israel invaded Lebanon and I rushed home like all Reserve Soldiers I fought in Lebanon (once again). As a result I decided to just retire from my construction job. I had been going to NYC as I said seasonally, and between that and my Reserve military service in Israel had little chance of realising our dream to start a family.
Rizza wanted babies even before we had our religious marriage, actually since we began our actual relationship when she was 15. I though it more prudent for her to finish her education. She graduated from High School at age 16, like most people here, and then went on to get her Computer degree at San Carlos, a decent university in Cebu City on Cebu.
She is now on her second degree (Nursing now, at Southwestern also in Cebu, where Nigel where graduate, also as a nurse, this spring).
However, she is always very sad because we have no children. We have now decided to practive "Niddui" (pronounced "Nih'doo'ee), which is a subsection of Jewish Law known as "Family Purity" in English. in it a man must sleep in a separate room as soon as his wife spots blood from menstuaration or any other vaginal spotting shows. There after he must stay in the other room until 7 days after the last spotting. In other words, the day her bleeding ends, we must count 7 full days while she checks careully in a ritualised manner for any spotting. If on the 5th day clear she spots again, 7 days begin again. After she has remained spotless for 7 days she must ritually wash in natural flowing water snd thoroughly cleanse herself.
Some Jewish schools, like the so called "Karaites" actually move into different houses or buildings when mensturating and do not even see their men.
In our case I cannot even sit next to Rizza during this time, or even have her pass me something because she is ritually "unclean." This has been the hardest on Rizza because she is extremely affectionate to me but she wants children as I said.
What does "Niddui" have to do with children? Well, in further proof that the Bible is not what it seems to be to non-believers, the ritualisation means that the first day together as man and wife after the 7 days coincides normally, with a woman's natural ovulation. She tends to get pregnant easiest at the time stated. This is why most religious Jews have at least 8 children.
The Jewish faith is very down to earth. It is not prudish at all in fact we are commanded to have sex on the Sabbath (Karaites hold to the opposite, that they are fobidden), as well as every day that our wives wish to have it, as well as much as every day of the week if students and other scheduales if in other professions.
We have ALOT of rituals, such as not touching our women in public, etc but alone? It is on! Hahahah. True though. Rizza and I however do not go that far, we touch in public because she would not have it any other way. She is very insecure so I think that may play a part in it.
I will close here because of the character count and start a following entry...