The Recently I

Lately, I have been delivering longer posts more than ever, and I think that I’m doing a decent job of that. Not great; decent. But anyway, the reason behind the mini-surge of lengthy posts is that, after a few years of working in my current day job, I found the right balance between doing what I have to do (e.g., my day job, relearning my skills) and doing what I want to do (e.g., enjoying my fandoms, writing here on The Diary). That balance gives me more time to plan and contemplate, and then put them all to writing here in The Diary.

That being said, I miss writing quick posts, and I haven’t made a new blog series in a long time, so it’s time for the debut of a new one: The Recently. Think of it as a page in a slambook where I write the recent things I have watched, listened to, eaten, or done.

Now, let’s begin the first edition of The Recently.

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Song of the Moment C: Foo Fighters’ “Run”

I’ve had many right-song-at-the-right-time moments lately, from hearing Saya’s “Natsu Shigure” during a rainy walk to my favorite cafe last June to hearing the opening theme of Person of Interest (my all-time favorite show) when I typed the exact title during a recent online conversation. As a music fan, I truly love those perfectly-timed moments.

Today, I finally recovered from two weeks of muscle pain and coughing. (Violently coughing at night is not a good experience at all. And I can really feel the aging now. Damn.) Thanks to resting, drinking The Angel’s Cup (which is basically hot honey/citron/ginger tea), and listening more to mellow music, now I’m feeling great physically, and I went back just in time for work. The first thing I did upon my return: open my laptop, open my Spotify app, and look for my favorite songs list (which consists of songs from various genres and music acts). I was curious if the universe and Spotify would deliver at least one perfectly-timed song, so I hit shuffle again.

Continue reading Song of the Moment C: Foo Fighters’ “Run”

Song of the Moment XCV: Nine Inch Nails’ “Every Day Is Exactly the Same”

I admit that Daft Punk’s “Around the World” (a previous Song of the Moment) is still on my rotation this week. I mean, come on, it’s one of my favorite electronic dance songs. But this week, I also decided to listen more to the pioneers of industrial rock, Nine Inch Nails. I started my binge-listening with the essential playlist curated by Spotify.

After listening to half of the playlist, the song that stuck with me is “Every Day Is Exactly the Same” (a single from the Nine Inch Nails studio album With Teeth). I remembered listening to it multiple times in 2019 (one of the darkest times in my life), but it’s only recently that I truly understand the song’s lyrics on the dark side of monotonous routine and blind conformity. (Well, that’s my interpretation anyway.)

Every day is exactly the same
Every day is exactly the same
There is no love here and there is no pain
Every day is exactly the same

The chorus of Nine Inch Nails’ “Every Day Is Exactly the Same”

I’m a guy who loves listening to various music genres, so listening to “Every Day Is Exactly the Same” is a darkly refreshing break from the upbeat Daft Punk classic “Around the World”. That’s why it’s my Song of the Moment.

Nine Inch Nail’s “Every Day Is Exactly the Same”.

Now I’m going to try a different affogato tonight. See you in the next post.

Ω


Header image: Clock image by Phantom Reader of Pixabay. Edited in Adobe Photoshop 2025.

Updated on September 4, 2025.