An evening stroll in the lightning storm...

A ridiculously, relentlessly hot and dry summer must give way to the occasional thunder and lightning storm. And tonight was the night for that meteorological vicissitude.

I had planned to walk to the store, and I wasn't about to let a little rain or a bit of darkness or a teeny thunderclap or a minuscule bolt of lightning stop me. Actually, it was quite pleasant! It should be done more often, weather permitting. :P

I returned from my evening expedition with new earphones. I have a nasty way of going through earphones. I use mine with my computer at home and with my iPod Shuffle on the road. And somewhere in between I wear them down. The last ones I had have a lifetime warranty on them. I need to look into that.

The new ones were inexpensive, but the construction seems to offer more protection to the wires, especially at the joints, where the wire enters the ear buds and at the plug end. Plus, they come with a cable winder, which is really what I need. Who needs over a metre of cord!? Just the tree-people, and I most definitely do not qualify as one of them. But I digress. The ear buds aren't as cushioned as my previous ones. The sound quality is ok, but not as good as my previous ones I don't think — hard for me to tell as I can't hear what I'm not hearing. Hmm. The sound is not as crisp and maybe some of the bass is getting lost. I can live with all of that as long as they stand up for a while.

I'm not sure how this became a consumer report. :-/

What I do want are headphones! I have no idea how far up the hi-tech scale I want to go. Probably not too far up. And I'm not sure which brand, though I saw some JVC ones I liked. Primarily, they must look nice. I kid! Sorta.

I bought a pair of wedge-heeled clogs the other day. Picture is forthcoming. But now it is late.

Good night, world. :)

To rise above

I hate to follow popular trends purely because of their popularity. I feel that, popular or not, one should act in a way that befits him, do things because he wants to, because it is necessary for him to do so. And so it is in that spirit that I write the following.

•••

While I generally don't go for such fanfare, I am glad that I was in a position to watch Michael Jackson's memorial today. I thought the tribute and farewell struck the right chord. It definitely struck a chord in me...

As the consummate entertainer, he rose above. There can be no denying that he had an impact the world over. I'm not one to idolise people. And yet, for me, as for so many, he is representative of part of my childhood. I don't know how I knew "Beat It" and "Bad" and "Thriller" (and the list goes on), but I did. Everyone did. It was cultural osmosis. I sang those songs. We all sang those songs. We all tried to do the moonwalk... As a human being, he rose above. There were trials and tribulations. Some that I can sympathise with; and others so exaggerated - to match his iconic status - who can begin to imagine how one deals... As a standard for ideals, he rose above. It is this aspect of the memorial that struck a personal note with me. I have been especially conflicted about my ideals in the past week or so, and the memorial was unexpectedly cathartic. I can't say that I have come to any definite conclusions. (Are there any definite conclusions? I don't know. I may never know.) Even so, I must rise above. Beyond doubts, rise above. Beyond reasons, rise above. Always...

•••

This turned out to be much longer than I expected. But then, Michael Jackson's death has saddened much more than I expected. May we all find the strength to rise above.

Life? Ugh, let's not talk about that. Instead...

Shoes!

Here are a few, or so, that have caught my eye recently. So funky! So architectural!

(Wallet safely tucked away.)

This is it—an image of the LOTR DVD Extended Edition. Like a monolith, standing stoutly. Or like Isengard, its sheer, sheeny surfaces giving off the slightest sense of something sinister. But no no, it's all good... and so so... precious! :D