I’m not sure why, but I just love Final Fantasy, and this particular fan-made video is set to a song called “Gone Forever” by Three Days Grace, one of my favourite bands. Now, I don’t want you to misunderstand the implications of this song. I’m not gone forever from the world of blogging, although it certainly has been ages since I posted here. (I do however feel gone forever as far as a certain thing goes, but that dear readers is TMI.) Certainly, there is a message here, can you hear it?
“…I hope you’re missing me, I hope I’ve made you see, that I’m gone forever…”
Have you ever had one of those moments where you hear a song, for what seems like the first time, and suddenly you connect to the lyrics? As if the song were written just for you, or maybe as if someone you know is singing it to you. I find it interesting how you can hear a song numerous times and yet the lyrics don’t sink in — yet. Until that single moment in time when you actually hear the lyrics and wham! How is it you missed that before?
I’ll share with you just such a song. For me, the first several times I heard it, I really only heard the sound and the instruments and the voices, but not the words. Then one day the words penetrated my brain and suddenly I was hearing poetry, albeit dark poetry, written just for me. Sung just for me.
I did find the song on You Tube (see below) so I could share it with you. Too bad that Three Days Grace hasn’t yet made an official video. Instead, I found this brilliant video master who mixed the song with hundreds of scenes from Final Fantasy VII and it’s actually quite good.
Maybe you already know this song, maybe you already know the lyrics … maybe. If you don’t know this song, stay here with me long enough and you will … trust me.
Let You Down –by Three Days Grace*
Trust me
There’s no need to fear
Everyone’s here
Waiting for you to finally be one of us
Come down
You may be full of fear
But you’ll be safe here
When you finally trust me
Finally believe in me
I will let you down
I’ll let you down, I’ll
When you finally trust me
Finally believe in me
Trust me
I’ll be there when you need me
You’ll be safe here
When you finally trust me
Finally believe in me
I will let you down
I’ll let you down, I’ll
When you finally trust me
Finally believe in me
I will let you down
I’ll let you down, I’ll
When you finally trust me
Finally believe in me
I will let you down
I’ll let you down, I’ll
When you finally trust me
Finally believe in me
I’ve been in Southern California, collectively, for over ten years now and have felt less than a dozen earthquakes in that time. We’ve had more, but generally I sleep through them. This evening we had a 5.0 4.7 (officially) hit and I certainly felt that one, even though it was approximately 60 miles northwest of where I live. It was different from the others I’ve felt in that it was more of a rolling sensation, rather like riding a wave. It rattled my cupboards and jostled my chair a bit. For a moment, my heart raced and I felt a nanosecond of panic that made me a bit queasy. I said aloud, “That, girls, was an earthquake,” but my oldest daughter blamed my elephant-footed, 110 pound upstairs neighbour.
The earthquake is now all over the news.
Maybe this explains the random earache I started having today.
In case you’re into this sort of thing, here is a snapshot of the event. You can link directly to it by following the “California Earthquakes” link on my sidebar to the right.
Let’s hope this isn’t the start of a bigger event.
== PRELIMINARY EARTHQUAKE REPORT ==
Southern California Seismic Network: a cooperative project of
U.S. Geological Survey, Pasadena California
Caltech Seismological Laboratory, Pasadena, California
Version #C: This report supersedes any earlier reports of this event. This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.
A moderate earthquake occurred at 8:39:36 PM (PDT) on Sunday, May 17, 2009.
The magnitude 5.0 event occurred 3 km (2 miles) NNE (24 degrees) of Hawthorne, CA.
The hypocentral depth is 14 km ( 8 miles).
Hawthorne, CA – 3 km (2 miles) NNE (24 degrees) Inglewood, CA – 3 km (2 miles) SSW (209 degrees) El Segundo, CA – 6 km (4 miles) ENE (64 degrees) Los Angeles Civic Center, CA – 15 km (10 miles) SSW (213 degrees)
It’s been a good weekend thus far. Yesterday we loaded up my SUV with fuel and honest intentions in order to make the drive down to our old stomping grounds in San Diego. I desperately wanted to drive the coastal route so I could commune with the onshore flow and reconnect with that sense of belonging that I only seem to be able to feel when I am face to face with the Pacific.
My navigational skills were lacking however, and I blame this directly on fatigue and a distinct lack of advance planning (and not enough good coffee.) Instead of communing with my beloved ocean, I was highly stressed and irritated over the mass of traffic and way the drivers seemed to crawl along at a snail’s pace. More than once I wondered aloud if I had become far too accustomed to the very fast pace of life in Orange County. Struggling against the bonds of the slower pace accomplished nothing more than to tighten my bonds and further increase my annoyance.
After what seemed like forever, we entered into the wonderful familiarity of coastal San Diego and all the aforementioned stress melted away in a blink. One of the things we planned for the day was a trip to the cinema, following a particularly delish Mexican lunch at one of our favourite restaurants in Coronado. What movie we would see wasn’t planned in advance however.
I have to admit, when I was first presented with the idea of seeing either the new X-men flick or the new Star Trek flick I was not particularly enthusiastic about either. I note that I felt more “okay” about seeing Star Trek than I did about another ripped-Hugh Jackman film. Nerdy Sci-Fi won out over Sexy Sci-Fi. And being the cool mom that I am, coupled with the fact that we went to the movies only in celebration of my daughters’ birthdays, I was totally in favour of whatever the kids and their friends wished to see.
While I expected to enjoy Star Trek somewhat (only because I grew up on the original Star Trek as well as the Next Generation) I had the preconceived notion that this new movie would be another Wrath of Khan redo.
Wow, was I surprised with the reality of it. Not only did I not expect to feel any particular affiliation with the plot line, I did not expect to be emotional over the familiarity of the characters, and certainly I did not expect to be moved to tears by a weird sort of grand-daughterly affection for Leonard Nimoy. I didn’t expect to laugh, I didn’t expect to cheer, and I didn’t expect to applaud at the movie’s end. It was a fun ride that I’ll most likely enjoy several times over.
We crammed a lot into our Saturday and yet there were things we planned that just didn’t come to fruition. I try to look at this as just another excuse to go back and visit again soon.
The Stuff You Say