we will know it

It's 2021.11.01 on the lunar calendar today.

Meet Fenton, a corgi residing in Menlo Park. I went up to take LinkedIn headshots of friends pursuing public interest law and unwittingly snapped hundreds of low-res photos. I suppose that's what you get for hiring someone willing to be paid in taro cake :p I thought the taro cake was great—not too sweet and a very pretty purple color—but didn't grasp how good until my friend's mom said it's the best taro cake she's had including ones from her native Taiwan. South Bay people, you may want to pick one up🍰

If in LA, check out the USC Pacific Asia Museum's exhibition. My singing makes a cameo in my friend Alan's interdisciplinary spaceship and it's cool for me to return, having won an art contest there as a kid.

I'm on a media fast so instead of clicking to the NY Times and The Atlantic repeatedly, I sing along to "Ingenuidade" until I'm ready to move onto my next task. I'm currently finishing up tracks for the social art collective's videos and hoping to get a few days off the grid.

no help for that

there is a place in the heart that

will never be filled

a space

and even during the

best moments

and

the greatest times

we will know it

we will know it

more than

ever

there is a place in the heart that

will never be filled

and

we will wait

and

wait

in that space.

Singing Bukowski

After filling up on festivities and friends, do you ever go home and feel an emptiness more acutely than ever? Bukowski's "no help for that" captures such a feeling. It may be apropos in this season.I started setting the poem to music with my classmate Dan in our currently defunct indie electronic rock band. I'm sharing with you here a secret link to a never-before-released and not-yet-finished super rough track to "no help for that." So much potential ... I hope Dan and I can pick back up on our collaboration in the future.Also, here's one other Bukowski poem I set to music from the same NYC period. I recall dropping the grand piano lid on my wrist while recording the video clip and it truly seems a miracle that my arm was unaffected by the mishap. Looking back, New York City was a time of miracles. I'm inviting the numen back into my life with new songs.

The Wake Up

Tune in from anywhere at 6:30 pm PT on Friday the 10th for a timely and pertinent book talk in Oakland. My sister Eunice will be facilitating the conversation with her friend and diversity & inclusion author Michelle, talking about going "beyond performative allyship to enacting real transformation within ourselves and in the world." Excited to watch!

Wishing you a bright holiday season🌟 For Christmas cheer, watch me go caroling around my Animal Crossing island.