INTRODUCING... Across The Universe

Labels: introduction

HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE, October 27, 1967



Is there anybody going to listen to my story
All about the girl who came to stay?
She's the kind of girl you want so much,
It makes you sorry.
Still, you don't regret a single day.
Ah, girl...


My name is Jude Feeny and this is my story. I won’t spend too much time talking about my past since it’s full of growing up as a lad with only a mother trying to find the love of another. Martha, My Dear mother. I hated that all of the men left because of me. I never cease to scare them off…ev’ry time. That my life as a limey, yeah a shipyard worker. It was okay, I guess, but all it really gave us was loaves of bread and butter everyday. It wasn’t really all that great. The truth is that I kept telling myself to escape and I had enough to do it. But why hadn’t I already? If I stayed here forever with nothing, I’ll say with much regret When I’m Sixty-Four, "why didn’t I leave?"

The only problem was I didn’t have nothing. I had some things. I had me mum and me girlfriend, Molly. I would have a rubber soul if I deserted them like my father did me. Because I know for sure that I won’t be rushin’ back here. But I’ve Got A Feeling something will happen to me that’s worth the lonely-hearted trip.

Labels: journal entry

I’M HAPPY JUST TO DANCE WITH YOU November 3, 1967

I told both of the people I hold dearly to my heart that I’m leaving them and jumping ship in five days. My mom light-heartedly joked, "Finally, when you’re gone I stand a chance with the leftover men in Liverpool." I knew she understood my desire for something more in this world. On the other hand, Molly didn’t take the news the same way. Her eyes floated with tears when she said, "Tell Me Why". Of course I really couldn’t tell ANYONE the real reason why I was going off to America. I wanted to find the man that left me here all these years. He broke me before he completely made me. My father, Wesley Huber I was told his name was. He was stationed here during the war and had a "good run" here. All I could do was let Molly assume I was leaving because of her. But I didn’t like the thought of that.

Just when I thought the decision couldn’t get any harder, Molly made one last attempt to keep me here and whispered:

Hold me tight
Tell me I’m the only one
And then I might never be the lonely one
So hold me tight…tonight.
It’s you…
I don’t know what it means to hold you tight
Being here alone tonight with you
It feels so right now hold me tight…

…and that’s what I did. I held her tightly in my arms leaving nothing but the love that was in the air.

Labels: journal entry

I’LL BE BACK November 10, 1967

T’was The Night Before I was to set sail and nothing was enough to change my mind about it, but it was a close call. One of the hardest things I have to deal with is leaving Molly and she’s not making it any easier. Tonight was our last night together and all she gave me was a Ticket To Ride on a train of guilt. Too bad there were no affordable railways to the Princeton address that led me to my father.

“Who will take me out next week, Jude?”

For all I knew, it better not be Phil Scully. But on a more serious note, what would she do when I’m gone? Most importantly, what will I do? It’s All Too Much to think about. But for the moment I’ll spend the rest of my time drying her tears and swiping the hair out of her exasperated face.

Close your eyes and I'll kiss you,
Tomorrow I'll miss you;
Remember I'll always be true.
And then while I'm away,
I'll write home ev'ry day,
And I'll send all my loving to you.

I'll pretend that I'm kissing
The lips I am missing,
And hope that my dreams will come true.
And then while I'm away,
I'll write home ev'ry day,
And I'll send all my loving to you.

All my lovin' I will send to you.
All my lovin' darling I'll be true.

Labels: journal entry

GOT TO GET YOU INTO MY LIFE, November 17, 1967

I’m finally here. I’m so close, yet so far from him at least. I met some blokes in which some of them became sort of my ‘road mates’ on my journey. They probably just felt that I was nothing more than an extra passenger in the car, but still it was something to think about until I arrived at Princeton University.

I felt like a kid again, having that feeling of excitement, eager to meet my dad. But it wasn’t going to be a smooth ride. That’s all I have to say.

Labels: journal entry

ANOTHER GIRL, November 24, 1967

[UNIT: CONICS]

I didn’t expect to be so welcomed and taken care of in a new place, especially by strangers. I did what I came here to do. I jumped ship from Liverpool to America to see the man who abandoned my mother and I when I was just a wee bun in the oven. I browsed for a Wesley Huber via army records in the archive at the library. As I said, it led me to a Princeton U address. I had it in my head that he was some kind of Einstein, and automatically assumed he was some big-shot ivy-league professor now, but that’s foolish of me. I see the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. It turns out that he’s just a working stiff like meself. It was okay though. I told him how I felt growing up without a permanent father and he tells me how he’s grown into a man without knowing he’s had a neglected son. I threw a couple of impulse insults at him, blaming him for being alone, but generally I knew I still loved him. Why did I come all the way here to do just that? Merely to let us know that both of us exist.

In no particular rush to go back to shipyard work and English pubs, I stuck around for a while. Like I mentioned, the hospitality and newfound warmth had to come from somewhere. His name was Max Carrigan. He looked pretty clean cut, but who knows, he could’ve murdered his granny with a hammer. We were cruising around the roads for a bit before we picked up his sister. I was well aware I had Molly in Liverpool, but there was just something about her— about Lucy. She was as radiant as a diamond with her sky blue eyes. They invited me over as a humbled guest for Thanksgiving, a holiday we Brits don’t have back home. It was sort of like a new life, it was. It was very different and rich with family members who spent their time passing the stuffing from one end of a table to another. The Carrigans argued about politics and education, but most importantly they made a huge debacle in regards to Max’s current status at Princeton. As they predicted, he was just getting by, having fun playing golf around campus and so on. They pestered him with questions complaining about tuition fees and what he intends to do for the rest of his life. Typically Max was annoyed and in his defence asked, "Why is it always about what will I do? Why isn’t the issue who I am? It’s not what you do that defines who you are but rather who you are that defines what you do."

Honestly, I myself have never had to ask these questions before and then they call upon me. The only reaction I get is intensified silence. "Surely, it’s not what you do…but how you do it."
Since it’s just me and me mum, my education itself is rarely a topic of conversation. My only job was to make sure that food made it to the table.

Feeling intolerable about the Thanksgiving dinner, Max and Lucy took me bowling as a treat on them. Ten-pin to be precise. It wasn’t the most romantic place as it typically would be, but it was enough to realize I had fallen for someone new. Really, Molly I am remorseful for having it happen, but there was nothing I could do. Honestly, I Should’ve Known Better.

Since it was such a heated topic at the dinner table, Lucy teased me throughout the night and was curious whether or not the English education differed. I insisted that it wouldn’t make a difference, but I guess there was nothing that stopped Lucy from trying.

She spent a couple of minutes thinking of something to stump me with, as I did nothing else but watch her. That’s what people do, It’s Only Love.


I was told that the arrangement of the ten bowling pins formed a parabola. The division between the carpet and the wooden floor is the x-axis. The pins were placed in four rows where the number of pins in each row was equal to the number of the row. The central and only pin in the first row acted as the vertex that lied directly on the y-axis. The distance from the vertext to a focus point in the fourth row was 4. The focus point on the fourth row was situated at (0, 8). Lucy handed me paper and demanded an equation and the sketch of the graph. She found that the question was too easy so she told me to justify whether or not the parabola passed through the point (4, 5).

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She was satisfied with my answer, but then she challenged me to hit the pins that I spent so much time drawing on paper.




It was later that night that Max asked me to move with him to New York. But what was the rush? I was starting to like it here, especially with her here and all. I guess I made it boldly obvious that I had a thing for his little sister as he automatically became defensive.

MAX: She has a boyfriend, you know. He’s just stationed in the war right now. His name is Daniel.

It’s okay…I have a girlfriend. Her name was Molly.

Labels: DEV question, journal entry, Jude's Drafting Table

WHY DON’T WE DO IT IN THE ROAD?, February 14, 1968

[UNIT: TRIGONOMETRIC IDENTITIES]

It's been a long time since I've written, but this is what happened. Max and I took a strenuous drive across the country in order to get to the Big Apple. Where to next? It’s really hard not knowing what your next move is; it’s A Hard Day’s Night. With a couple hundred bucks in our pockets, we bought an issue of Rap Magazine and we saw an ad for an apartment in the Soho village, which was hardly a place to be cheap up front. Max saw it differently and managed to persuade the landlady Sadie with a two-week advance.

After months of settling in, we met a bunch of exciting people like Jojo, a soulful guitarist looking for work, we discover that Sadie is also an aspiring singer who is getting by. Jojo tells me and Max that the only reason why she let him stay there is because she needed a guitarist and fast. It was only just recently that an opportunity came her way. A renowned music producer in New York has come just to see her act. She only has a week to find a place most appropriate to hold her gig and she’s asked for my help specifically since I sort of majored in architecture and art. Who knows; helping Sadie may bring some good karma in return so of course I was the man for the job.

Just around the corner was The Round Pub, which I felt was most suitable since it wasn’t a drag to move the equipment into and had a sort of vibe about the place. On the contrary, I spoke with the owner of the pub. He negotiated affordable rates, just as long as we could work around a slight problem. The majority of the space inside the pub is used for bartending and customer seating. Sadie needs space for the members of her band, the Po Boys and the equipment as well. It can’t be cramped or the band can’t play comfortably. But they can’t take up too much space as they can’t afford to rid additional seating. She wonders if she has enough room or if she has to lose a part of the speaker system crucial for the band to be heard. She had to make a huge choice that day.

Sadie's stage manager specified that the space they would take up would be equivalent to the sector tan (α + β). α and β aren't directly given but sin α = 12/15, cos β = 12/13 , given that cos α > 0 and sin β > 0. On the other hand, the pub owner says that the maximum area he could give the band was 100 m². Using the information above, find the area Sadie's band would require if the radius of the room was 2 metres.

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It turns out we did have the right amount of room for the band to play— and play they did. The people were all snug and Sadie and the Po Boys rocked out. The night was amazing and a huge success. As for the good karma returning my way? Lucy decided it was time to visit me and Max before her first year of college started. Lucky me.

Labels: DEV question, journal entry, Jude's Drafting Table