[TRANSLATION] "Auspiciousness" - Excerpt from "Will You Remember"
He was so incensed about this that his face was red from arguing by the time we realised it was a misunderstanding.
Leslie was my most superstitious friend. My “westernised” friends didn’t believe in Feng Shui – all but Leslie. Whenever he bought a new home, he always made sure to run it past a Feng Shui master to make sure the house was auspicious. In addition, he always got his fortune told at the start of each year. Even if he couldn’t go himself, he’d always find someone to go in his place. That being said, he wasn’t superstitious to the point that the interior design of his home was fully following feng shui - he valued the actual design more.
On one occasion when Leslie was moving to his new home, a fortune teller told Leslie to bring a pot of water to a friend’s house and boil it. When the water started to boil, he should then bring the pot of water back to his new home as this would bring good luck. Leslie thus sought help from his friends living closest to his new home – after all, moving around a pot of boiling water is no easy task. Finally, he recalled and reached out to a record label executive who lived close to his new home. When Leslie told the record label executive about the fortune teller’s advice, he agreed, but his wife was vehemently opposed to doing so. His wife believed that it would be incredibly stupid to boil water in their home and give it to someone else – as that meant they were willingly giving their own wealth (T/N: water 水 is a way to say money in Chinese) to someone else. This was a no-go as only Leslie would benefit while they would be losing out. In the end, they came up with a solution: both of them would boil a pot of water and gift it to each other. From my point of view as someone who doesn’t believe in such superstitions, this is just a way to keep yourself busy – perhaps even to the point where it’s just stupid. To be honest, I still feel that it was dumb, but maybe that’s why I’m still not rich.
As for releasing albums, he didn’t really care about choosing an auspicious release date, but he was a firm believer in the idea that having ten songs in an album would bring him luck. When working with him for the first time on SUMMER ROMANCE, we wanted to record eleven songs and pick ten of them, but Leslie thought we meant to release all eleven of them. He was so incensed about this that his face was red from arguing by the time we realised it was a misunderstanding. Having *ten* songs was really important for Leslie.
Translated by me (@dailylesliec on Twitter/Tumblr), do not repost without credit. If you like this translation, consider following me or buying me a Ko-fi.
Taken from the Will You Remember fanbook.
i want to write pages long essay about how melissa marr's Ink Exchange rewrote my entire brain chemistry when i first read it as a kid, barely understanding whats going on; then again when i reread it as a teen, with slightly better grasp but still not enough to fully comprehend; then for the third time last night—when i just finally understood it. the love, the hate, the obsession, the possession, the bitterness, the heartbreak, the strength, the selfless love hidden in the selfish acts. how i've finally not just know but understand that sometimes you simply cant evaluate what's going on in a fictional world through the real world's lenses and values, especially when the world itself already explains that this is how we exist; how through that understanding i see Irial as the complex and layered character that he is but at the same time quite simple actually, all he does is motivated by love and duty; how fucked up Keenan truly is as a king but also at the same time well that's what he figured was best; and so many, many, many more.