Today I've had two hours of sleep, caught a flight to Los Angeles, chatted with a fellow alumni on the plane, inspected a property, had lunch with my aunt and grandpa, checked out my parent's home renovation, and attended a USC-Stanford football game. Needless to say, it's been a extremely eventful and exhausting day for me. Going to the game with my dad was especially meaningful because it was something we used to do when I was in high school. There's just something special to me about attending a ball game with your dad and sharing that moment together. There are emotions running, happiness and anger within seconds of each other, and sports just a common language to understand one another. I am incredibly grateful to have these resources available to me and and to build on tolerance and respect.
None shall sleep
The story for a journey is always more interesting than the destination itself. The most unusual journey is my finally hearing Nessun Dorma live for the very first time. To provide a little background, it is an aria from Puccini's Turandot made famous by Pavarotti who sang it beautifully. I've personally fallen in love with the song back in college and it moves me every time I hear it because of the raw power and emotions associated with it. It takes work to enjoy the song. Since it's sung in Italian, it is an extra effort to look up and understand the lyrics.
After I came back from Germany, I promised myself that I would go see Turandot at the first opportunity I got. Sure enough, the SF Opera was playing it on opening night and I had to wait 2 months until that night. The night came, the opera started, the first and second acts set up the aria perfectly, and then it was over. It was infinitely more satisfying knowing the context of the song and how it fits in with the overall narrative and emotions. I'm excited to be able to share more about why I like the song for the rest of my life.
The speed of technology
I've been watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy the past few days and what strikes me is just how dated the series looks. It's been more than 10 years since the movies came out and remember how cutting edge the CGI was back then. The graphics back then were a main draw to the films and I'm just impressed by how far technology has come. Smeagol/Gollum is the main area that stands out as dated. Skin texturing and movement has come a long way. The CGI character on film just like there's a clear delineation between what was actually filmed, thus breaking that suspense of disbelief. While watching the film, I can't help but think what type of media we will use in the future to experience Middle-Earth and tell the story of the Third Age. Maybe it'll be VR or something more like Star Trek's halodeck.
The future is coming hard and fast and I'm happy that I can just be a part of the change. It's important to take a step back and see how far we've gone in such a little amount of time. We forget progress happens one step at a time. When the movies came out, the iPhone hasn't even been released yet. Having said that, I'm still waiting for affordable space travel.
Too much of a good thing
I've always believed that an excess of something will cheapen the overall value of the whole. I don't share much on Facebook or Instagram, but when I do, I believe it to be important and meaningful to share when I do. I don't speak much in general but when I do, I aim to make each comment impactful and have insight. This now applies to the daily written entries I have - can I possibly have so much to say each day that each entry will be important? I am confident that each entry cheapens the overall thought that goes into each entry.
There have been some benefits to writing each day so far. I do have some fleeting thoughts during the day and I take a mental bookmark to remind myself to write a little about it. My memory is terrible and this allows me to collect my thoughts so that I may look back at a future day and ponder a bit more about it - that's the hope at least.