Tag: Rod Stewart

Ole friends as mirrors

We finally met, at Starbucks. 3 classmates. 39 years and a huge ocean in between.

We could have just waited. Starbucks is opening up in Vietnam soon.

But there we were: the skinny, the fat and the ugly (me).

Past, present, past. Time interlacing.

No preset agenda. No chronological order, or Robert’s rules of order.

Not a multi-level recruiting session. Just a Jr-high get-together after 4 decades apart.

My daughter works at State. My son got eye problem etc..

Me? I am fine. Just can’t help observing, taking it in and connecting the dots. For instance, I don’t think the richest 1% read latest non-fiction about their own exploitation in “the Age of Greed” etc..They are too busy living it.

Or, the failure of “strategic hamlets” during the war (as revealed in the now-declassified Pentagon Papers) has unintended consequences in the rise of Vietnamese women in the manicuring industry (if you zoom out 40 years).

Lately, the only tree I see growing, is Dollar Tree.

In fact, America needs to grow money on tree.

Back to seeing ole friends. They kept looking at me, I them.

We served as mirrors to one another.

No, I don’t touch the guitar any more.

Nothing to scream about,not at this age, not at this time.

I am not Rod Stewart or Barry Manilow.

Those guys got good mileage.

Every one got their 15 minutes.

On YouTube or otherwise.

(picture of a couple kissing during the Vancouver riot went viral).

Make love, not war.

Google it, tweet it, “like it”, +1 it.

Electronic communication in abundance, yet we lost touch, almost 40 years until a high-tech friend started our Yahoo group to mend bridges.

So, via group-mail, attachment (photo), google map, 3-G mobile phone, finally, we meet over coffee and where else but Chinese buffet.

I told you, it’s the age of electronics and globalization.

We could have waited for Starbucks to come to Vietnam.

We could have just stay put.

Hold it. Build it. They will come. As they have always.

Columbus dispelled the myth that the Earth was square.

But once proven his point, he set out to claim the Earth his spoil.

Gun and steel, plus a lot of germs.

Or, the opposite, agent Orange, to defoliate and deform everyone in its path.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110617/ap_on_sc/as_vietnam_us_agent_orange

I am glad my friends are all right.

The one who was a bit on the wild side, got a daughter who did him proud.

The one who was on the quiet side, can’t wait for me to come and visit again.

I wonder how many social web I have missed out, due to war and its hidden costs.

Yes, we are alright, but the 4 decades in between have just been a big hole. So big that it could hold a 7,000-page Pentagon Papers , or a life-time of loss.

Maggie, I still have something to say

Saw Rod Stewart on TV, mute out sound at the gym.

Still with the spiked up hair, shiny suit and swaying.

Staying power and loyal fan base.

My daughter asked “what’s that word to mean someone who because of him/her, you model after”. I tried “influencer”, “role model“, “mentor” and hit the note with “idol”.

Those are people we project ourselves onto. They sing for us, say for us, and hopefully act on our behalf.

In this wikileaky time, it’s harder for idols to go un-dethroned.

Traffic cameras at every stop, pop up ads at after every click and commercials followed after Rod Stewart (Dr Gregory, plastic surgeon). See I remember. The demographics (middle age women with purchasing power parity).

Saw a young blond girl holding the sign “homeless and hungry”  on 95 Highway.

New economy and old wound.

Two-tier society in Colombia exhibited in two Misses Colombia, one from the slum, the other the society.

Yet we still have the one and only Rod Stewart, still with something to sing (I got a kick out of you). Boombox or I-pod, his hoarse voice still comes through, assuring us that despite our ups and downs in life, there is still room for celebrating our humanity, starting with the heart and working our way out. When the center is right, you can rest assured that everything else is alright. That’s all our parents could ask from us, and I from my children. The rest, we say a silent Serenity prayer, “grant us wisdom to know the difference between that changeable and unchangeable nature within us”.  Maggie, love is unchangeable. Just its expressions. That’s what I want to say to you.