Posts Tagged ‘gorirra’

Working Hard Just To Shake The Yawns

March 2nd, 2011

I added new songs to my home page under “Songs On Repeat.” I’ve been really digging these songs lately, and continuously hitting back on my ipod or car or itunes (too bad you can’t hit repeat on Pandora). I hope you enjoy them too. And in case you weren’t aware, there is a little “play” button next to the song on the home page where you can listen to the song.

It has been awhile since I was able to post one of these, or any post for that matter. My site went through a reprogramming by the great people at Gorirra Consulting. Mix that in with the awesome progress we have had at Matters of Grey (185K visitors per month!) it has been a busy time of life.

As a warning, all three of these songs have some swearing in them.

Green Lightse-dubble Written Thursday
Written Thursday
e-dubble

You may recall that I featured this artist last time I made a Songs On Repeat posting. I also had the privilege of interviewing him for a Matters of Grey post. He went 52 straight weeks creating a new song. I don’t think there is anything I can do for 52 straight weeks, let alone something that takes so much creativity and talent.

Most of his tracks speak of his challenge, working hard, chasing his dream. I can listen to his tracks one after the other, and I come away inspired and motivated. When I am struggling with time for life, jobs, websites, I think of him and his determination. He recently did a mix tape of many of his “freestyle fridays.” You can download it for free. The dude is amazingly talented, and he will continue to kill it in 2011.

His track that I lately can’t get enough of is called Green Lights. This song both pumps me up, and tears me up. I get sentimental for him when he is told by his father of the pride he feels in him for chasing his dream. It also talks about people and situations pulling him down, but he recants that notion by saying that “all he sees is green lights” and that he is going to keep pushing for his dream.

If you know what has been going on in my life lately, you might be able to know why this resonates with me. People and situations may be trying to bring me down, but I’m going to keep pushing through.

cuz’ they keep pullin’ us down
but I ain’t stoppin’
cuz’ all I see are green lights
and even when I’m wrong I mean right
Please believe I-
know I’m gonna need to revise
but this life don’t give retries
so I’m on it
and up at the break of dawn
workin’ hard just to shake the yawns

Rootless TreeLive At Fingerprints: Warts and All
Live At Fingerprints: Warts and All
Damien Rice

Damien Rice is an amazing poet, song writer, singer, musician. He doesn’t have many albums out there, because the process he goes through in writing a song takes such an emotional toll on him. His songs are loaded with emotion.

I love his song Rootless Tree. The original version is an angry song. This live version is stripped down to a pure level of raw emotion.

What i want from this is to learn to let go
No not of you of all that’s been told…
…Let me out let me out let me out
Hell when you’re around

99 ProblemsJay-Z  and The Dap-Kings – “99 Problems” (Prince Ballard Royal Edit)
Free Download
Jay-Z featuring The Dap Kings

I downloaded this track somewhere. Maybe here. It features the brilliance of Jay-Z with a smooth jazzy accompaniment.

Jay-Z raps about being kept down by many different factors of racism and discrimination. But he sees the silver lining in the situation saying that he may have a lot of problems, but he has a good woman and a good support system and he won’t be kept down.

I’m like fuck critics you can kiss my whole asshole
If you don’t like my lyrics you can press fast forward

Earth To Italy

April 27th, 2009

So I have been planning a trip to Italy to travel around as well as to visit my parents.  Finding hotels has not been an easy process.  For instance, during my time in Rome, there will be a sporting event that could equate to our Super Bowl. Google Earth has this great feature where you can turn on icons to represent lodging.  But even with that great tool, almost every place I searched for in Rome ended up being unavailable.  Eventually I found a place through http://www.vrbo.com.  

I figured out general locations where I wanted to be situated in each city.  Then, when looking for a room, often the hotel would claim that they are near that location.  But Google Earth has been a great tool in this.  I would merely punch in the address of the hotel, and it would show me exactly where it was in relation to where I wanted to be.  You would be surprised at how many hotels claimed to be near the Duomo in Florence, only to be not so close.

At this point I have everywhere booked, except for 3 nights – 2 of those nights are in the Cinque Terre.  Here are the screenshots from Google Earth and websites where appropriate.

 
Here is my itinerary:

  • May 7th leave San Diego
  • 8th land in Milan
  • 8-9 Lake Como
  • 10th Milan (I am hoping to  get tickets to the soccer game or the opera as a fallback)
  • 11-12 Venice
  • 13-14 Cinque Terre
  • 15, 16, 17, 18 Florence
  • 19, 20, 21, 22 Montalcino
  • 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 Rome
  • May 28th Fly home

 

Lake Como
La Pergola

La Pergola, Hotel and Restaurant, drawn from a sixteenth century-building, lies by the lake, in a most typical fishermen’s hamlet called Pescallo, right on a shore of the promontory of Bellagio, turning south-east and facing the Lecco branch of Lake Como. The House was drawn from a building dating back to 1500, and assigned to a convent in the past centuries. The centre of Bellagio is but 10 minutes’ walk, among the luxuriant olive trees and mediterranean vegetation spread out on the Spartivento Point.

La Pergola

 

Milan
Best Western Cristoforo Colombo
About a 15 minute walk from the train station and about a 15 minute walk from the Duomo.  Im desperately hoping to get tickets to the Juve v. Milan soccer game, but am considering the opera as a backup plan.

milanhotel

Venice
Hotel Ai Do Mori
They have a crappy website.  They need Gorirra.  But it is only about 10 meters from St. Mark’s Square.  

Venice Hotel

 

Cinque Terre
Vernazza
Ivo Camere
The apartment which is also in the center of the town is accessible via a characteristic “carugio” (small side street) and is steps away from the piazza and the sea. 

vernazzahotel

 

Florence
Brunelleschi Hotel 
Hotel Brunelleschi is located in the middle, pedestrian area of the historical center of Florence, just steps away from the Cathedral and the Signoria Square, from a part overlooking the Via Calzaiuoli.

Florence Hotel

 

Montalcino
With My Parents
Next time I get the address from my parents, I’ll take a Google Earth pic.

montalcino

 

Rome
Private Apartment
its perfect location. From there the most important sights of the City can be reached with a short walk. You are just in the heart of the centre. 200 metres from Piazza Navona and Pantheon, 300 metres from Spanish Steps or Trevi Fountain and, in the opposite direction, just crossing the Tiber, you can reach Sant’Angelo Castel and St.Peter Cathedral (400 metres).

Rome Apartment

This Week I'm Thinking About: Jason Roth