No matter where the road may take you...

"Street Cafe" by Icehouse affects me like no other song I have across. Other songs from the 80's new wave phenomenon play with my emotions intensely, but none of them come close to matching this one. The opening keyboard melody alone is enough to stir something inside of me; something powerful and mysterious and beautiful. It's a magical feeling; best described as something between euphoria and contented awe and nostalgia. It summons up visions and dusty bottom-shelf memories, respectively, of wonderful times ahead and in my past. I can only think and dream of and feel the finest things in life; the most incredible sensations and experiences, while listening to this song. I will not say that it is orgasmic, for an orgasm, while often intense, comes and goes relatively quickly. Long after this song is over, I am left in a warm, tingly, dreamy state, wanting to simply embrace all the greatest things the world has to offer as I go cloud-hopping. It leaves me hungry for more, anticipatory of what the future has to offer while simultaneously remarkably nostalgic of what I have seen and felt in the past. I could easily imagine cruising a lonely highway through fields of trees or bare lava rock beneath the light of the full moon while listening to this song with a close friend, destinationless, no agenda. The song goes so far as to remind me that the best things in life -are- free and very simple, that we all have more power over our lives and our emotions than we often end up convincing ourselves we do. It could serve as my sole inspiration for fighting through another lousy day, knowing that better things are always in store. It fills me with a sense of uncompromisable optimism and a zest for being alive. I feel as if I have known this song all my life, even as I was introduced to it less than two years ago. Some may choose to live by a holy book; if I lived by anything material, I would live by this song, though the elements of it that affect me most are anything but tangible. A few songs, mainly of the trance genre, have inspired these sorts of emotions within me, but lately... this song has been doing it most effectively to an unparalleled degree. "Street Cafe" represents the epitome of what I look for in a song ... it is perfection, and I feel as if it was tailor-made for my heart and soul.

If there were no tomorrows
if there was just one more chance
I'd take it again
you know I'd take it again


I did at least a couple dozen miles of bicycling today. East from here is a very scenic road which twists and winds along gorgeous primitive coastline. I ended up visiting the remnants of a coastal settlement which was almost entirely swallowed up by a lava flow, and admittedly, it had a creepy ghost town quality to it. I counted about a hundred "no trespassing/keep out" signs along the gravel road which zig-zagged crudely over the young lava rock. I wasn't all too surprised to see a few houses recently built atop the lava. Humans, what am I to do with them? As I stood upon a barren field of lava rock and surveyed the area, I had a difficult grasping that less than a decade ago, I would have been standing in a lush forest, or perhaps in the yard of a native Hawaiian. The quietness in the air was somewhat disturbing, even melancholy. No one had died in the volcanic disaster, so I felt no ghostly presences, contrary to what I typically feel while exploring the Pololu Valley backwoods.

I also discovered a fast food place/ice cream parlour by the name of Verna's at the end of a road, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. The "Kaimu Sunrise" was excellent indeed, consisting of mango ice cream topped with strawberries. It wasn't cheap, either, but I was hot and craving something cold and sweet- it was worth it.

I got quite a bit of sun today... not enough to get uncomfortably red, but enough to feel as if I have obtained my share of sunlight. Perhaps a nice cool moonlight wander is in order for later tonight.

My photo blog has not been getting enough attention lately, and I feel somewhat guilty about not updating it, so I do plan to add some images to Reflections of Resplendency, soon.

One last thing for now. Am I wrong in thinking "forgotten memory" sounds suspiciously like an oxymoron?