Sharing these excerpts of my college diary, expressed through song, gives me a sense of closure to my undergraduate years. I scribbled these songs in my little moleskine diary throughout the last four years, while still a student at UC Berkeley. These sketches are about being real, being vulnerable, being human, even more than striving for musicality and perfection. My friend, Lynn, designed the cover of Bruised, in collaboration. And my buddy, Jack, recorded most of the songs for me. The lyrics are below, as well as the cover design and audio clips.


Watch Bruised on YouTube.

Bruised
I feel bruised
beat up by this life
Won't someone help me out
help me out of here

Little things
I should brush aside
building inside of me
driving me to tears

I feel bruised
like an overripe banana
browning on some counter
on a lowly tier

But surely someone can pull me up
Heal my inner bruises, make me whole again
If I live for that place above with my love
I can be renewed for eternity

Feel abused
don't think you understand me
Though I know we're the same
same in that we fear

I once mused
that you sheltered ones don't know
But it's a worldly pain
known to all who hear

I feel bruised
but I'll be alright
This is just temporary
soon to disappear



Song Cycle (Praise, Admit, Request, Thanks)
Because you are worthy, because you are true
I'm made to praise you for all that you are
For you are my shepherd, I shall not be in want
You lay me down in green pastures and lead me to still waters
You restore my soul

I must admit I hide these things
I look inside, see emptiness
Do you know I cry in the night?
Do you know why I lose my sight?

I've many requests on my busy mind
but one stands out above the rest
That my desires be aligned with the best,
that I'd look to eternity

Thank you Lord
Thank you for these blessings
You provide my every need
Undeserved, yet I received
Thank you Lord for your gift of love to me
You're the reason that I sing



Quietly
It's over. We're over.
I've lost thoughts of us
to self-centered pride.

It's over. We're over.
I won't make a fuss.
I'll go quietly...

So quietly that you'll never know
how I thought of you so very tenderly
So quietly that you'll never know
that I gazed at you, keeping my distance

It's over. We're over.
It was all in my head
to begin with.

Maybe you just weren't the one for me...

It's over. We're over.
I've no more to say.
We'll end quietly.



Don't Ask Me Out
Don't ask me out
I'll say No!
I'll say Go!

Can't you see I
don't want you?
So don't coo!

Don't mean to hurt you but
know that I don't care for you the same way that you do
Do you understand me?

Don't mean to hurt you but
know that I don't care for you the same way that you do
More like POO!



Sherina (girl in Uganda)
It's a face that is real
with some wounds that won't heal
It's a case to be told
before she gets too old

A cry for simple things first:
thirst, yearnst rest, mirth
Then time to think - mom, dad, sister & brother?

It's face that is real
bound tight by this ordeal
Jack or ace? She didn't choose
Is it fate? Must she lose?

What about justice now?
Will she get it somehow?
But maybe no one cares how she fares?

It's a face that is real
do you think that you can feel?
Set the pace in this race
Will you feel? She is real
Set the pace, win this race
Can you feel? It is real