St. Nazaire

 

"Courage is resistance to fear,

 

mastery of fear,

 

not absence of fear"

(Mark Twain)

And so, I'll soldier on!

A Christmas Carol

You may just be the best Christmas gift I have ever received... yet!
But you are, without a doubt, what I hope to get every year.




Thank you!

Ours is the Fury

 

Yeah, I wore antlers tonight!

I drank caipirinhas and beer...

I had my friends all around me.

Yet something was amiss!

It always is...

I'm such a_________ (fill in the blank space)

La vie au Bollywood

"So, I went to the emergency room with what I thought was an appendicitis, but as it turned out, I was pregnant and already in labour (3 cm dilated). Oh, I also don't know who the father is..."

Ecletic Paradigm

Your voice: makes me flutter, makes my heart frequency go awry, makes my senses heightened... I want to be near you, right now. I know I'm not supposed to, but wanting what's not possible, is what makes it impossible to ignore. Wanting what's possible, that's what I'm willing to strive for... With all my twisted frequencies.

Juke me up

Is it "wabbit" season, for Elmer Fudd? Or is it just Sunday night?
I get that communication is everything, but do you realize how petty you sound? Using facebook!? And the thing with the name... GOD!!!
If that was a joke, which I hope it was, it was not a very good one. Do yourself a favour, drop the "e" and go back to the toothpick... You were waaaaaaay more interesting then!

Radio Free Me

"The stars are the greatest thing you've ever seen
And they're there for you
For you alone you are the everything"

Pray, tell: is it wrong of me to think so?

Change

Last day at my job. New days ahead...

"Se vogliamo che tutto rimanga come è, bisogna che tutto cambi." 

 (Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa.)

A stern warning

I said this once and I will say it again:

"Don't go letting your mouth write cheques that your ass can't cash"!

The shoving effect

Who would ever say that being shoved against a wall would have such a lasting effect?
It's not like I never had been shoved before. Just not in that fashion... Just not so good...
My elbow was left with a scratch. The scratch turned into a scar. The scar reminds me of that night. That night was something else.
Every scar has it's own tale and tales are like old friends: they have to be visited, every once in a while. I visit you every time I look at my arm.

Best Music - 2011

Here's my choice of 2011's top 5 music:

The Head and the Heart - Rivers and Roads

Say what you want about "feel good" music... I've probably said it myself. But this is something else... something to look forward to.

Something Fierce - Future Punks

These guys have a very "roll-up-your-sleeve" attitude to punk. I love it. They sound a bit like the clash. I double-love it.

Fleet Foxes - Grown Ocean

These guys are pure brilliance. Saw them live in Lisbon (Oeiras, actually) and not even a technical fault could ruin it! My tube rides are so much better with them!!

Digitalism - Circles

Zé: "Let's go watch Digitalism!!!". Jojo: "Eeeeeeh...". How wrong was I? This is full powered music. And good, too!!!

M83 - Midnight City

This music is unbelievable. It's impossible not to feel it's huge vibe and gentle rhythm. I look forward to watching their show in Lisbon, come 2012.

Huge kudos to the subs bench:

Foster the People's "Houdini"

Kasabian's "Switchblade Smiles"

Noah and the Whale's "Waiting for my Chance to Come"

Ringo Deathstarr's "Tambourine Girl"

B Fachada's "Não Pratico Habilidades" (Huuuuuuge Kudo's for Portugal's most interesting singer/songwritter)

As a friend of mine often says: "uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuupaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"

Armour

"Never forget what you are, bastard

The other won't, why should you?

Wear it like an armour!"

I will...

Lisbon, just not OH

Aparently, Anthony Bourdain comtemplated a third "bifana", whilst in Lisbon. I ate one tonight and I'm still contemplating it...
Lisbon is not short of something amazing and I love walking home after a night at a club. Even if alone...
I'm still learning about this city and Friday I hope to learn somemoah. In two words:

BIN GO - fitness, health and nutrition course

An American Prayer (of Resident Mockery)

"Resident mockery, give us an hour for magic
We of the purple glove
We of the starling flight & the velvet hour
We of arabic pleasure's breed

We of sundome & the night

& for your silky pillowed house

a head, wisdom

& a bed

Troubled decree

Resident mockery

has claimed thee"

(James D. Morrison)

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!

Don't stop!

Funny, how the images line-up in my head...
Why is it that when the wrong feels right, the perceived value is so much higher, than the other way around? I picture myself in situations I've never been in, places I've never visited and it all makes sense. So, why do I have this feeling that the first wrong turn and I will fall by the wayside?
Well, soon enough! In the meant time...

I know I won't!

Twist and Shout

Just had an interesting conversation with my stomach. As it turns out, he's not satisfied with me and demands that I stop this non-sense! I told him that I've made a promise... Guess this means war!
It's ironic that my internal conflicts have turned physical...

Dark Side of the Moon

You'd be 63 today... So Happy Birthday, dad!!!

P.S.: See you on the dark side of the moon.

Yellow Submarine

It seems like yesterday, but I was just a wee 50 Kg lad, when we saw this film together. I was sitting on the floor, as I always did, and you were on "your" chair...
Well, the chair isn't there any more and I hardly ever sit on that floor! The film, however, will be forever something that brings me back to that night!

I dream a little dream of you

For the fourth time. The same dream. The same fountain. The same angle. The same smile. You, me...
I always wake up happy!

Ghost

8 PM, on a bus to to school;

iPod blasting this into my ears;

Looking at my reflex on the window;

Poor lighting casts a weird shadow on it;

I can't believe it;

"Shit! I look like my father!"

My mom's been right all the time...

From Bletchley with love

You need depth to break any cipher. I.e.: a number of messages sent, using the same key, or the same system.

Some ciphers are better left unbroken, though!

One and a half months of credibility

After 3 years in this job, I finally get the sense of how much people value my work. If you take into account that for the better part of the last two, I've not enjoyed it that much, I'd say it's quite an accomplishment. But still, the pay is not bad and it has been giving me time to do the stuff I love (i.e. rugby, music shows and night outs).

I'm about to start handing over my responsibilities and from what I've been gathering, my replacements (they are no less than two!!) are not in any way thrilled! They should have seen this when I arrived... Haha! Ah, the good-old days!
Another person who is not happy, is my boss. God knows, who will talk rugby with him now? Still, I guess he won't be hard to find, come Friday nights...

It's time to turn the page, dedicate myself to my new project and get that thesis under way. Hopefully Supply Chain Management will benefit from my humble contribution!
It's also time for a change in my living quarters. 2 years in the same house is too much, specially when you never liked it that much... A change in neighbourhood will also be nice!

I already have my recommendation letter, a short term plan, a backup plan and a long term one that includes my thesis in one pocket and a one-way ticket, to a place far from here, in the other.
And now the only thing I really need is one and a half months of credibility! Will you take it away from me? Please don't! I'd much rather leave by the large door! You know, I have my pride...

All together now!

Blue and White - Aftermath

My right forearm is badly bruised,
Both my thumbs are ruined,
My right knee is swollen,
I can't turn my neck,
My head hurts 'cause I was knocked out,
We lost, I'm happy and all was worth it!

Blue and White

Tomorrow I get to sweat again and spill my own blood again. Tomorrow I'll don my boots again.

I really wanna know

I'll wait...

Eye gouge

Who's the leader of the club
that's made for you and me?

M-I-C K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

 ("Annunciation (Mouse 12)", Gottfried Helnwein)

The troops

"Yet these, who cling to life with stubborn hands,

Can grin through storms of death and find a gap

In the clawed, cruel tangles of his defence.

They march from safety, and the bird-sung joy

Of grass-green thickets, to the land where all

Is ruin, and nothing blossoms but the sky

That hastens over them where they endure

Sad, smoking, flat horizons, reeking woods,

And foundered trench-lines volleying doom for doom."

(Siegfried Sassoon)


7th of November, 1942: The day "the Torch" was lit.

The unbearable lightness of being

Everyday there's a different version of me. It's the curse of being born with a huge array of interests and no specific talent for anything, other than causing mischief and languages. One thing I can promise, is that all of them agree in wanting one thing: YOU! And they want it a lot...

Gymnopédie

I love the night-time. I honestly believe that if given the choice, I would rather live at night.

At home, I love how everything gets so silent, yet humidity raises the volume of the most minute of sounds. I love how the lights burn so much brighter at night. No wonder why i never go to bed early! Haha!
A glass of full-bodied red and soft music, some good company, or an excellent book about nothing too serious. Sometimes it's even okay not having a medium of distraction... If you think about it, daydreaming makes more sense at night!
Smell the incense burning and think about all the issues that you can't during work, or class, or whatever. Look at the flame of the candles and dive into stuff that will make you fly elsewhere. Think about that trip, imagine yourself as the main character of that book... just go with it.
Do some "life math", if you will. Really, try to figure out the return on efforts so far. Apply some logic, if it helps. Just steer clear of truth tables... they don't work as well at night.
If you don't mind being sleepy, that is... I don't. It's SO totally worth it!

Every one who knows me, knows how much I enjoy a good night out. For me, any night has the potential of being great fun... And if any two people are in the right mood, the zeitgeist will take form and it will spread like wildfire.
I've lost count of the times I left home "just for coffee", and ended up on a bench, with the gang, pouring plastic coup after plastic coup of beer, straight from 1L bottles. In between conversations about nothing and everything, something does come alive. 
I confess, discos are not what I'm about. Still, there's a lot going for an enclosed space, with crazy dark lights, music and ethanol-fuelled behaviours. But what's wrong with a guy and his guitar, belting his own rendition of some soap opera du jour's theme? Everyone knows the lyrics, or maybe just the chorus, but kick in a few cold ones, some people willing to sing their hearts out and it's definitely on!
But then establishments close their doors, the taps run dry and it's time to go home. Oh well, there's still "the walk" to look forward to! It's a bit like Sportscentre: you do the highlight reel, vote for MVP, ask for commentaries from the main intervenients and ask the serious questions: "whose song was that?", "who hooked up with who?", "did you see that girl?". Well, it's been a while since I've seen that girl. Not live and not with my eyes open, at least... Haha!

In a nutshell, "42"!

Wine

"I am Nestor's cup

Good to drink from.

Whoever drinks this cup empty,

Straight away, desire for beautiful crowned Aphrodite will seize him."

(Unknown, scratched on the side of the "Cup of Nestor")

iCoach

"To quit smoking is always a positive thing"

"Just the idea of quitting is unbearable"

"I know someone who smoked two packs of cigarettes a day, was healthy and lived 'till 97, without any problem, what-so-ever."

Where you not supposed to be helping me? Anyway, improvements have been made...

P.S.: what's the deal with the "i"? 

Bullet points with butterfly wings

Today, whilst at work, I reached a sad conclusion: I think in bullet points!!
No, it's not what you're thinking, I do NOT think about the bullet point, per se. It's just that the thoughts, they come to me as raw data, every time I start thinking... as if a shopping list, in the making.
Perhaps that explains why I'm so lousy at expressing my feelings. Or anything else, for that matter... ha ha!

Maybe I think too much...

Peenemünde

I get it! There are sunken costs in these things... You can get more than you give, but in the end, no exit strategy will be of avail.
A late entrance is a guarantee that there's much to learn, to reach unomia. To go over byte after byte of information is nothing sort of a tall order, specially when much of it is bound to remind you that you're late.
When the British first took air photos of Peenemünde, they couldn't find anything worth bombing, until they noticed a shadow... That shadow told them all they needed to know.

So, my questions are:

1. Why would you have an exit strategy, if you don't mean to leave, at all?
2. Can you really be late for something you didn't know existed?
3.  Should we all be looking for shadows?

Like the poms, all I see is crosses, for now. And yes, it bothers me. But then again, since when did that stop me from carrying on?

"To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catchphrase, the 'U-turn', I have only one thing to say: "You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning.""

(M. Thatcher)

1%

Why is it so wrong to be unpredictable?
My friends think they can figure out what's on my mind... Self-esteem's a bitch! It tricks into wishful thinking... I feel like Peisistratos, some times. Where's Phye, by the way?
Routines, they provide us with comfort, in our lives... I have mine and it include following my gut, at times.

"99% of the people do it! And the rest is just a statistical margin of error."

Sometimes my gut goes for that 1%...

Of Montreal

Did I hesitate?

Would I trade it for something else?

Could I want it more?

Will I regret it?

No. No! No!!! Aaaand HELL NOOOOOOO!!!!

Any given Sunday

" On any given Sunday you're gonna win or you're gonna lose."

The All Blacks won it! The Web Ellis Trophy will stay in New Zealand, where it will be cherished by its society, white and Maori alike.

The names of the players will be engraved in shrines, all along the North and South islands and petitions will circulate for Richie McCaw to be named king, Conrad Smith mayor of Wellington, Daniel Carter saint-martyr, Brad Thorn to have a mountain named after himself and so on... New Zealand lives and breathes rugby, they practically invented the modern game, and I'll sleep soundly tonight knowing that "Old Bill" is not being stored in a glass box, in the Élysée, for Mr. and Mrs. Sarkozy's eyes only, but instead will be in a place it could easily call "home".

The RWC 2011 as had its critics. Too much "haka fever", inconsistent refereeing, top-tier nations with more favourable schedules and whatnot. Well, New Zealand time zone issue apart, for me it was thrilling event: Canadian beards trumping Pacific Island muscle, Welsh youth showing that there's fight to be had in the northern hemisphere's rugby, Marc Lièvremont's mo and so on... Oh! And what about the Russian bloke with the Dublin accent... priceless! Hahaha!

I won't name any "My XV", that's just a cliché. But I'll leave you with this:

Brad Thorn: The "Old warhorse" sheds a tear

Winning captain: Richie McCaw can hardly believe himself

 The Legend and the future: The great Brian Lochore, with a young Christchurch player

Glory: "King Richard" lifts "Old Bill"

Champions: The class of 2011 ends the 24 year drought

Haka Kamate: Mandatory celebration

See you in 4 years...

Cumulative Prospect Theory

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about about behavioural economics, and the works of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky.

This may be a secondary effect of going back to school, after three years dedicated to working in a dead-end job, with no real interest in what I do, just because the money's good and it has been allowing me to live a good life. On the other hand, it may just be because things are not what they used to: there's a "February".
There has never been a "February" quite like this one. There were "Junes", "Augusts" and they were good, but this is... something else! Its on the back of my head, all live long day, on every smoke and every coffee cup.

But back to Kanheman and Tversky...

I've been looking closer into the "Cumulative Prospect Theory": according to the authors, a "Framing Effect" occurs, every time people think about the possible outcomes of a certain choice. I.e. when people are faced with a choice, the format in which the outcome alternatives are presented, influences their their decision. Normally what happens is that, on evaluating outcomes, people often use the status quo as a reference point, rather than the final status. In addition, different attitudes towards the risk of gains (outcomes above the reference point) and losses (outcomes below the reference point) come into play, during the decision-making stages, though people are generally more inclined to worry about potential losses, than potential gains (loss aversion). People also tend to overweight "extreme", but unlikely events and, on the other hand, underweight "average" events.
(Full paper here)

This makes sense... Lets go through it:

• Status quo: come end of term and I go to the Isles for a rugby match and visit friends. I've been wanting to go and watch a Six Nations match (Welsh one, at that) and I know that I'll like it. Maybe I'll watch it in Ireland and I'll get to visit Skellig Michael. This is all nice and fun, but still this is nothing of extraordinary, no "February", at least. As I see it, it will be an isolated event, with no repercussion on my future and it's bound to happen, sooner or later, as Wales will play in Ireland again, in 2014.
• "February" is all I've been dreaming of, for the last months. It's my "Garden of earthly delights", something I KNOW it will make me happy beyond belief. It is also something that, in my gut, I feel that it will lead me through a different path in life. Nothing will be quite the same before "February"... The mere sight of it has been enough... It is an "extreme", in terms of gains and it is unlikely to happen again, as some things in life only happen once!

As it stands, the gains derived from my status quo choice are far lower than the ones from "February" and the latter is an unlikely event. As such, according the Kahneman and Tversky, I will always choose "February", no matter how much I stand to loose, or how much I stand to get hurt, in case it shouldn't happen.

 Skelling Michael: I wanna sit here for a while

Walden Pond

"Money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul." (H.D. Thoreau)

I wanna live here... lets?

Friendly advice

When things get complicated;
When no amount of rationalization seems to do the trick;
When the knot is too entangled;
When you lost the ends of the thread;

JUST STOP!

Take a deep breath...

And get back to basics.

"Eyes have seen you
Let them photograph your soul
Memorize your alleys
On an endless roll"

Sunday, Sunshine... on a Saturday morning

Flocks of ash keep falling on my keyboard... "time to quit smoking", is what I guess my laptop would say. Where have I heard that lately? Like I would forget...
Bad 9 AM rugby, bad Sam Warburton, amazing half-Portguese-in-denial Morgan Parra. This straight from Dreamland/ Kiwiland/ Long-White-Cloudland/ Hakaland/ Rugby-is-religionland: New Zealand. Via IP Backbones, Submarine cables, Carrierhouses, ADMs, CPEs and delivered on crappy pirate websites (thank you, crappy pirate websites!!! haha!).
Orange juice+sliced apples+toast with olive paste= bang on! Expresso and Lucky Strikes, again (yay!), means a shower is due, for the complete wake-up process.
There's a game at Olaias (windy Olaias, second home in Lisbon)... Hate that I can't play any more! Grrrh! Miss getting down and dirty, miss scrums, miss tackles, fend-offs, swerves, charges, rucking! (sigh) Hope the guys win today...
Same story on every newspaper (ones that matter, anyway), government cutbacks in 2012's budget... Christmas bonus and paid holidays are going the Steve Jobs way. Tragedy? I think not! We're Portuguese, we can party all night long with some sardines or pork, on bread, a box of red wine, or a crate of chilled "mini" beers... Leave the rioting to the Greek and whining to the Irish, let's stick to what we're good at.
Going through yesterday's CommLog... No comments! No drunktexting, yesterday! Just verytiredbuttryingtohavefuntexting, though I wouldn't blame you for confusing the two... Miss you.

The sun is shining and I gotta an assignment to finish... Bah! Feels like Sunday, there's this playing in my iPod (so good!), except there's no Monday tomorrow.
Got an email from "home" yesterday... Will reply very soon.

Just remembered a funny story about sardines and marketing... God, I'm lame!

Sublime Disorder

Long overdue... Hats off to you, Tizzy!

More here 

The McKinsey Way

When trying to find a fit between what is possible and what you expect to happen, you find yourself playing in the field of things that may yet come to past. You often can't do this about yourself, as you are too emotional, too close to it for comfort, hence the need for the third party, the "best friend ".
The best friend is someone you can trust with accounts of basically everything, that goes on with your life:  things you are proud, or embarrassed of; things that made you happy, or that made you sad. It is the one person you can trust to give you a proper grilling, to bust your chops, to tell it to you straight... It is the business equivalent of  an external consultant.
Like a McKinsey guy, you know you can count on it to be ruthless in his assessment. It will go to great lengths to re-engineer your mindset if it sees fit to do it. It will not be cheap... not by any rate!!!

Though far, you still made me talk and hear myself talking... I bet you're still laughing, you sod! I miss you, bud! Děkuji vám za to! =)

Self-perpetuating

Why do I keep doing this?

Noise Rock... like this too much!

Sogndalsfjøra again

I have hit a brick wall and it shattered into shreds of clay!
But for a moment there, I felt like the dumbest person alive... Just as if a part of my brain had shut and watched passively as the rest went about doing shite! It is a feeling of uselessness, or even despair, when doing the wrong thing sound like a good idea... Yet in the back of your head, you know it's still wrong.
Wish I could say I could not remember the last time it happened... alas, I cannot! Every so often, the warden comes along and parades itself in front of the jail's door, whilst juggling the keys. No use in yelling, no use in crying... the walls are thick, the door is sturdy, the lock is bulletproof and the warden has long years on his belt.
I am where I come from and what I did, but there is still a great deal to build on, so I would hold on writing me off... I'm changing, but there is still some old skin to shed!

I saw something in Sogndalsfjøra... I saw it again! It has been two months now...

Something Fierce

Something Fierce - Future Punks

This is way too good for a Tuesday night...

Scale

Question 1:

What's the marginal cost of a feeling?

Question 2:

Are there scale economies in love?

What's the use? I'm yet to find my heart's break-even point...

Less is more

Less (hair) is more!

Warren Harding is my teacher

"Why would you come to a Finance class? This is packet with GUYS!!!!
You should have enrolled in Marketing... That's where the girls are! You know, CHICAS!!!!"

(God!)

For tomorrow...

Separating economy and society is the first step to fail in understanding it, altogether.
We all weigh our decisions according to our own economic principles and the concept of value is much more than a statistical application.
Everyone plays games and none of us wants to be the "prisoner".
There will always be ups and downs in our lives... we can all trace our curves.
The truth is we're all in it for the money... some in the form of coin, others just want something else.


I wanna fuckin teleporter!!!

The Scottish Highlands

I long to go back

Magic Shane

You make me cry with joy!

"A pure heart full of goodness

Is fairer than the pretty lily,

None but a pure heart can sing,

Sing in the day and sing in the night."

(Calon Lân)

Zen

1

+

1

=

1

Over Under Sideways Down

Just thinking...

The train is coming
It's gonna take me away
My heart is yearning
But I won't see you today

I got it!

I'll tackle this rhyme
I'll side-step space
I'll scrum through time
I'll dive for this tailrace

I'm one day closer...

25 Paces

"Humbert: From here to that old car you know so well is a stretch of twenty-five paces. Make those twenty-five steps. With me. Now.

Lolita: You're saying you'll give us the money if I go to a motel with you?

Humbert: No, no, no. I mean leave here now, and come live with me. And die with me, and everything with me.

 Lolita: You're crazy." 

 

 

:<

I ain't got no Santeria

So maybe I'm one of those guys who refuses to believe in nothing
Maybe I do feel the presence of something "higher"
Maybe I do feel the power
Just don't count on me to be another sheep in your flock
Or some wooden marionette, which you can move with your puppet masters' hands

I am free to believe, to worship and my choice is made...


"Out here in perimeter there are no stars... Out here we're stoned immaculate"

Wake up call

Do you know what it feels like to wake up to something new?
How many times have you literally opened your eyes to an imagery that's in no way similar to your past experiences?
Is it normal to discard a common place for a new stance in life, on a buzz, in a rager?
How many a tear must I swallow until this becomes embedded in me?
How much fuckin' longer must I wait?

"This is the strangest life I’ve ever known."

Universal mind

Once in my lifetime I'd love to tap into the collective thinking!
How great would it be if everyone's ideas, trends, fears, thoughts, were just there for show...
Would I go crazy, or would I survive the universal mind?

The Ox

"I hope I die before I get old"

Genius...

Culture

Try getting a Japanese guy to say "No"...
Try starting a business in Africa without paying someone off...
Try convincing the French that the wine thing is not theirs any more...
Try explaining intellectual property to a Chinese businessman...
Try telling an American that the world is bigger than the US...

"Culture is the software of the mind"

And don't you ever forget it!!!

Sidewinder slept last night

Went to bed drugged and confused

Dreamt the Creosotic dream

Woke up reading from a different clock

Soldiering through the daily journey

Hope this doesn't go full circuit

"imagines ad nauseum"

Trying to understand

Some thing just don't make sense... no matter how many times I try to figure them out, it's just impossible! It's not like I can just ask...

When you stare at a blank page, all you can do is imagine yourself in the author's shoes and deal with the fact that what you'll read is only the fruit of your ignorance, paranoia, wishful thinking, biases, hindsight and whatnot...



I now believe that knowing this has just ruined my day!

Lost Souls Foreva

Then and there we got it higher than anyone around us
I had found something I wasn't even looking for
It struck me as only lightning can, I guess
Only to find out that destiny had pulled a prank on me
I'm learning how to eat the miles with my thought
hundreds of them, at the time, no good measure is considered

Thoughts cannot be stopped and words cannot be unsaid
We're lost souls forever and that's how it should be...

Memories

I remember basking in the sunshine of my ignorance, washing away the days like they were numbers, that no chemical formula would take...
I remember waiting for dusk with a cheeky "mini" bottle of beer, sitting on top of the world, or as high as dune would allow me to go...
I remember the big talks of the small hours, witty and dramatic, some with tears, some with laughter, some with both, some with more...
I remember the lessons on how to look at the summer's clear night sky, and the way to the faithful bear's tail....
I remember not doing it alone, yet I always felt lonely...
I remember thinking that the sun would always set and one day, I with it...

How many roads?

Well, there's the road taken! Then there's the one with the traffic jam...

Not my fault...

Ears, eardrum, tube and channel
They all fill an important role
I assume they don't feature on your instrument panel.
Either that or you have an obstructed ear hole

So, which is it?

In the mean time, won't you please lay off may friends!

New Order

I can feel a new order of things, creeping up my spinal cord.

Am I bracing myself for the ride, really? Nope, just gonna go with it and enjoy every second!

"We're like crystal,
We break easy;
I'm a poor man,

If you leave me;
I'm applauded,
Then forgotten;
It was Summer,
Now it's Autumn."

(Crystal - New Order)