The Reality of Sisyphus

A young man in his twenties looks past me as we head towards opposite directions on Mount Emei. His 100+ pound load consists of dirt and sand – all of which are used to maintain and build new walking trails on Mount Emei (which is at an elevation of 3,099 meters (10,167 feet) – more than twice the height of the former World Trade Towers that stood at the heart of New York City). He makes less than US$1 an hour.

Wheelchair Gladiators

Will Groulx (Team USA, #10) yells in agony after having just fallen a few centimeters short from crossing the goal line during the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Wheelchair Rugby Gold Medal Match.

Spirit Calls

I've had this past week off to rest and recuperate (China's National Holiday). Yay! In this time, I've been able to do something I haven't done in a long time - compose.

This piece, Spirit Calls, is an idea I've been working on since my travels to Chengdu and Tibet...hmmm, well mainly just after seeing Mt. Everest. I've also had some inspiration from various artists - mostly Jay Chou with his song, Twilight's Chapter Seven (one of my favs). I'm sure you'll be able to hear some of the themes of his introduction in my introduction - it's not hard to miss.

I'm not done with this song. Actually, I'm far from it; but I've got the basic jist down (er... just the first 10 - 11 seconds), but I'm sure you'll be able to figure out where I'm going with this.

Anyway, it took me a loooong time just to do these first couple of seconds (and tons of stressing out because my computer caught this nasty virus yesterday and literally obliterated my computer. I seriously thought I lost all work. Luckily, I was able to salvage some of it - though some of the end parts were lost). Also, kudos to Sean for helping me synthesize and inputting all the "wind" sounds. I don't know when I'll be able to complete this song since our next break won't be till January... but wish me luck!

Comments welcome!