CD's I've Been Listening to This Week

1. Matt Bianco, Matt's Mood

This is a great comeback album for trio Basia Trzetrzelewska, Mark Reilly and Danny White after their first collaboration in 1984. Basia is even much better than she sounds in her solo albums. This is really a nice treat for Basia's and Matt Bianco's cult fans. Very enjoyable, soothing, yet upbeat....

I love I Never Meant To and La Luna.

2. Janis Siegel, I Wish You Love

Despite being a big fan of The Manhattan Transfer where Janis has been the key motor since its founding, I can't very much enjoy her solo albums. That is without exception to this one.

This is definitely not a bad album. Her voice remains powerful and her rendition of some classic hits is at her best. I guess it's just not my mood this week for this kind of soft jazzy vocal.

3. The Yardbirds, Heart Full of Soul

This album is a good one for bringing us back to the 60's, in a great way. This group has graduated three of the greatest rock guitarists of all time: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. You may have been a huge fan of these virtuosos, but it would be worthwhile to spend your time to find out how they sounded 35-40 years ago. Though for Eric's fan, I would rather recommending vintage Cream's albums.

4. Diana Krall, The Girl in the Other Room

This is below my initial expectations. The first few songs are fine and enjoyable, but then I lose my appetite for more. I still like The Look of Love much much better.






5. Kate Bush, Aerial

I have been listening to this CD for more than 3 months since I bought it, almost everyday. This is big treat for huge cult fans of Ms Bush after her latest album, The Red Shoes, 12 years ago. Musically creative, expansive... No more display of her high-octave voice like in her classic Kick Inside album that she composed when she was still 18. It's much more mature and personal, better than the upbeat Red Shoes, and very close to the artistic quality of my favorite The Sensual World.

Single King of the Mountain will attract non Kate fans quickly, but all other tracks will take them some time to delve into and appreciate their beauty. For Kate fans like me, all these long-awaited songs are just flawless.

Reunion with N14-DXD

On Saturday I had lunch with my friend Arun Iyer, whom I have known since our days in Conoco Indonesia 8 years ago, and now works in Bartlesville, Oklahoma but commutes on weekends to Houston. We went to Ciro's, a great Italian family-owned restaurant. As usual, the food was delicious. But that's not what I want to write about.

Mr Iyer happened to buy my car, a 2002 Honda Accord (whose license plate N14-DXD I have always remembered very well), before I left Houston on September 2003. And so he came picking me up at the hotel driving it. And I had a great reunion not only with him, but also with my beloved Accord. Mr Iyer was nice enough to give me a total chance to feel it again behind the wheel and strike a pose with it.

It still felt great on the road, much better than my current rental car, 2006 Chevy Malibu, which only has 5,000 miles on it. The Accord now has put up 51,000 miles on itself, but thanks to Mr Iyer, it has been maintained perfectly well. I didn't notice anything different compared to when I had to pass it to him 2.5 years ago.

Why do I feel so sentimental to simply a car? It's not just a car for me and my family. First of all, this is and will always be my first family car, bought new on the second month after I had settled in Houston.

Secondly, it had taken me and my wife safely and comfortably through more than 35,000 miles of roads, backstreets, highways, deserts, snowy routes, etc. not only in Houston or Texas, but many states within US, from Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Idaho, North and South Dakota, Louisiana, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, California, Oregon, to Washington. Few times it was just me and my wife traveled as far as we enjoyed. Some other times we went on road trips with our friends. Those trips were all memorable.

The picture on the left was taken by my wife when we traveled through the West (California, Oregon, Washington through New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah) on winter 2002 while she was still in early pregnancy of our first child. Yes, we were very adventurous at the time. Now, our first child, a boy almost 3 years old, can't stay quiet at home and always eager to go out... most likely maybe because of our adventures in the past and the fact that he was part of them, at least once...:-)

The picture on the right with our baby boy was taken in our apartment in Houston on August 2003 when he was only 1.5 months old.

What a journey this car has been to in only few years.... What an experience and joys this car had brought to me and my family....

Thanks for everything, N14-DXD!