Yes, it’s the hot, humid weather that shuts down my brain. The worst part of day is taking the Metro home. Squeezing into the smelly crowd (myself included) and bumping on one another as the driver slammed on the brake give me a headache everyday after work.

I have no energy left by the time I get home. I don’t want to do anything including blogging. After having dinner, getting Duke to bed and preparing for the next morning, I just want to sit back and Netflixing. That has been pretty much how my days went.

Change is gonna come later this year when I have other commitment and the arrival of a new baby. Blogging will be spared then. Not that the blog is all that active now since I don’t have anything interesting to write. I am getting bored with music reviews and my life isn’t all that exciting anyway. Although my posts will be infrequent, I will keep the blog running to post quick things when I have a moment or if I have new work to show. It will once again server as a portfolio more than a blog.

I read the first edition of Ted Gioia’s The History of Jazz in 2005. At that time I just started to develop my passion for jazz; therefore, the book was informative and overwhelming at the same time. Since then I have spent a tremendous amount of time listening, reading and learning more about jazz and its history.

I intended to visit this book for a while and the release of the second edition is just perfect. Rereading The History of Jazz the second time with a bit of background as a listener makes me appreciate Gioia’s work even more. What a daunting task writing about the complexity of the music that refuses to stand still for over a century. Gioia took us way back to the early nineteenth century with a vivid opening scene:

An elderly black man sits astride a large cylindrical drum. Using his fingers and the edge of his hand, he jabs repeatedly at the drum head—which is around a foot in diameter and probably made from an animal skin—evoking a throbbing pulsation with rapid, sharp strokes. A second drummer, holding his instrument between his knees, joins in, playing with the same staccato attack. A third black man, seated on the ground, plucks at a string instrument, the body of which is roughly fashioned from a calabash. Another calabash has been made into a drum, and a woman heats at it with two short sticks. One voice, then other voices join in. A dance of seeming contradictions accompanies this musical give-and-take, a moving hieroglyph that appears, on the one hand, informal and spontaneous yet, on closer inspection, ritualized and precise. It is a dance of massive proportions. A dense crowd of dark bodies forms into circular groups—perhaps five or six hundred individuals moving in time to the pulsations of the music, some swaying gently, others aggressively stomping their feet. A number of women in the group begin chanting.

From there on Gioia takes us from New Orleans to Chicago to Kansas City and then to New York for lively musical analysis and concise but accessible portraits of eminent jazz figures as well as the overlooked artists who contributed to the ever-changing styles of jazz. Must read for anyone who is passionate about the story of jazz.

Last night when we were about to go to sleep, Dao rubbed my head and said, “Daddy, toc dep [nice hair].” I haven’t heard that compliment for a while. I was flattered even though I know don’t have much hair left.

As I was ironing my clothes, Dao pointed to the iron and said, “Tau chay [running boat].” I love the way he visualizes objects. At the same time he was jumping out and down the bed and all of the sudden I heard a fart noise. He said, “Ouch, Dao pooped.”

At a restaurant, I gave Dao my American Express and showed him how to tuck it into the bill holder pocket. He brought the bill up to the cashier and handed to cashier. He stood there waiting, but she didn’t return the card. He cried out loud and said, “The [card] Dao.” I had to explain to him that she was calculating the bill.

At Pho Hoa, I took him to the men’s room to wash his hands, but before we do that I told him that “Daddy need to pee pee first.” I carried him to the urinal and he me to “bo vo [put in].” I was like, “Say what?”

Dao returns to his crying when I drop him off at the daycare. This morning we met Ms. Ester on the way in. She came over to say hi to Dao, but he turned away, held on to me and didn’t want to interact with her. Ms. Ester used to be able to get him to show her things on his shirt to distract him from crying, but he didn’t even look at her this morning. I said to Ms. Ester, “It’s the morning thing.” Her response was, “It’s ok. It happens when they move to upperclass. I still miss him.” I felt bad and I knew that Dao didn’t mean to do that. He’s just not a good sport in the morning. I explained to him about how not being nice to Ms. Ester, but I doubt that he registered. I took him to class and couldn’t get him to play any toy at all. I had to let him go and let him cry.

Spent quite a bit of time with Ben Webster lately. His tender tone combined with his lyrical phrasing is damn irresistible. Furthermore, he has such a distinctive sound on the tenor that one could tantalizing and idolizing all day long. I enjoy listening to Ben Webster while driving. Here are some of my favorite Ben Webster albums to hit the road with:

Soulville. Backing up by the sensational rhythm section, guitarist Herb Ellis, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Stan Levey, Ben Webster digs deep down into the blues in the title track and plays the heck out of ballads like “Lover Come Back to Me.” He also displays his “Boogie Woogie” chops on the piano.

Stormy Weather. He plays the title track and “My Romance” as if he wears his heart on his horn.

Art Tatum/Ben Webster Quartet. The contrast between Art Tatum’s keyboard improvisation behind Ben Webster’s straight melody playing is quite intriguing. Check out the lovely “My One and Only Love.”

Ben Webster Meets Oscar Peterson. From “The Touch of Your Lips” to “This Can’t Be Love,” this is a fine collection of after-hours ballads played by two jazz giants.

Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster. Bean and Brute on the same records? Need I say more?

One of the perks of spending the Fourth at my sister’s place is that we can cut Dao loose. In fact, it’s the other way around. As soon as Dao saw Eric, he cut us loose. Dao loved to play with his big cousin and he copied everything Eric did. They jumped up and down the bed, chased each other around the house or watched Curious George together. Although five years apart, Dao and Eric played well together. Dao looked up to Eric and Eric liked to show things to Dao. Eric was also very good at being gentle to his little cousin. I am so glad to see the bond between the two of them.

In another month we will find out if our second baby will be a boy or girl. Since I’ll be content with whatever I’ll be blessed with as long as the baby is going to be healthy, I had no need to find out up until two weeks ago when May and Linh spent the weekend with us. I enjoyed having May around so much that now I am anxious to find out of I am going to have a daughter.

May is the complete opposite of Dao. While picking blueberry, I tried to feed May a berry, but she simply refused to open her mouth. I nudged the blueberry a bit, but her lips sealed tight. I tried the same with Dao and he pushed my hand away.

May is cautious, reserved and just lovely. My favorite line from May, “Co chu Donny o day, May khong so gi ca [With uncle Donny by my side, May isn’t afraid of anything].” As we said goodbye for the last time before they moved back to Cali, May gave me a hug and kiss. At the moment, I I knew I would lie a baby girl. Dao is a mama’s boy, so I want me a daddy’s girl. We’ll find out.

Then again, two boys would probably get along well. So either way is good.

I had two vacation days left for the fiscal year. I would lose them If I didn’t take them. I took Wednesday and Thursday off. My plan was to catch up on chores that I have been pushing off because we hardly stay around on the weekends. I had written down the list that I needed to accomplish over two days including: take the Acura to a dealer for an oil change, mow the lawn, cut down the small trees I have chopped down a few weeks ago, replace the broken steps to the deck, fix the towel-hanger rod in the bathroom, and tidy up the house.

Wednesday morning came, the whole plan got wiped out. We woke up at nine and didn’t feel like taking Dao to daycare by myself (Dana already left for work) so I decided to spend a day with him. We packed up and headed to Glen Echo Park. We stopped by McDonald’s for some breakfast and hit 66. Even with the HOV lane, we were stuck in traffic. At ten something, Dao fell asleep. I turned off Curious George and enjoyed Clifford Brown while moving in a snail pace.

We arrived at Glen Echo Park around eleven and Dao was still in deep sleep. I found a shade to park the car and turned off the engine. I turned down the windows and the sun roof to enjoy the morning wind. I reclined my seat and do some reading. I always carried a book with me just in case I get a moment like this. I looked up the trees and watched the wind rocked lightly and produced a soothing sound that took me back to the childhood memories. The afternoons in my grandparent’s garden that I was forced to sleep and bored out of my mind. I hated the sound of the cicadas in the lazy afternoon.

About two hours later Dao woke up so we walked into the park. There was nothing exciting at the time, except for the big carousel. The problem was, “Dao ‘so’ [afraid] of Mary Go Round,” he told me as I wanted to take him for a ride. So that was it. We spent about ten minutes at the park and decided to hit Splash Down Waterpark.

We headed back to 66, the traffic was still jammed so we stopped at the mall to grab lunch and give Dao time at his favorite table train. Around 2:30 we hit the road again to the waterpark. At this time the weather had risen to 90 degrees Celsius. I took him to the children area, but Dao didn’t want to play. He just wanted me to carry him even though I tried all different techniques to get him to play. If May was there, I am sure he would had enjoyed the water with her like they did last Saturday at my sister-in-law’s backyard. Dao needed someone his age to play with. We ended up floating on the lazy river with him sitting on my stomach. We just kicked back and enjoyed the ride until 5pm. I was exhausted and sleepy when we got home.

On Thursday, we took Dana to work and headed to DC. We stopped at the National Air and Space Museum and the National Art Gallery. We had lunch and played ball at the park. We shared Vienna Sausage and crackers for lunch. Recently Dao and I really loved the Vienna Sausage. As we were eating, Dao threw the ball, hit my hand and dropped a sausage on the grass. I put it back into the can and threw it in the trash can and about fifteen minutes later, a man (black probably in his 60s) came by, picked up and ate it. I was stunned. A lady was reading a book under a tree witnessed the same thing so she gave him her orange juice and a few bucks. This was the second time I had seen something like that. Last Saturday, Dana and I saw a white male (probably in his late 30s) also picked up pineapple in the trash can and ate it. About half an hour later, the white man we saw last Saturday also walked by and checked out the trash can. How ironic was it that these men eating out of the trash can while the Smithsonian Folklife Festival was celebrating and selling all kind of food down a block? I sat back, contemplated a bit and realized how lucky we are to have food.

After eating lunch and running around, Dao pooped. I changed him right on the park hiding behind a tree, but I couldn’t just toss his dirty diaper into the trash can after what I had witnessed. I brought it back into the car and wrapped up with a plastic bag. I gave Dao his bottle of milk and strolled him over to huge water fall at the Hirshhorn. He napped for 2.5 hours next to the water fall. I did some reading, but then also fell asleep so I lay down on the bend and closed my eyes, but I kept waking up being paranoid that someone might have taken Dao away.

Around 4pm, we left DC to pick up Dana. So there went my two vacation days. Nothing has done as I had planned, but I am happy to have spent two days with Dao. It’s also a great excuse since Dana not only doesn’t mind, but also encourages me to do so. Work can wait, but the time with your son can’t. He’s only at this age once.

Thanks to NetFlix, my late night entertainment has been watching stand up comedies. After a long day at work, wrestling with Dao at home before he goes to bed and cleaning up the dishes or the house, I get about an hour to myself. I would like to watch movies on NetFlix, but they are about two-hour long. Stand up comedy, which runs from forty-five minutes to an hour, is perfect for a good laugh before the night end. Here are some of my favorite routines:

Patrice O’Neal’s Elephant in the Room. His lines are misogynistic, but highly hilarious. He makes his audience laughs and embarrass as the same time, especially the ladies.

Louis C.K.’s Chewed Up. If a white guy could get away with using “Nigger,” he has his way with word. Louis C.K. pulled that off so effortlessly. The only thing I didn’t like was his daughter’s joke. He went over the top on that one.

Craig Ferguson’s Does This Need to to be Said?. This Scottish-accent guy is simply entertaining. He’s very charismatic.

Whitney Cummings’s Money Shot. It’s a nice change to hear sex jokes from a woman perspective and she nailed it. She’s also very energetic.

Kathleen Madigan’s Gone Madigan: She’s funny, witty and doesn’t give a damn.

Update:

Orny Adams’s Takes the Third: He makes mundane things funny. My favorite is how CVS gives you coupons on the things you just bought.

Couldn’t sleep much last night. Dao’s falling incident still horrified me. I woke up early and just held him tight in my lap while he was still sleeping. I didn’t want to wake him up to go to school. The guilt is killing me. Thankfully, Dana stayed calm and didn’t scold me for my horrendous mistake. She even drove me to my Drupal training today after we dropped Dao off.

At the training all I could think about was Dao. If I fell like he did, I would have at least busted my neck or my head. I kept checking my phone during the training to see if I get a call from his daycare. Whenever I receive a call from them, something is wrong. I didn’t get any call at all today and it was a sigh of relieve. Dao is doing good. I have to say, he is a one tough kid. His bumps are getting flatten and he seems to be even sharper. I took him to the book store yesterday and he pointed out a shape on a back of a Mercedes that looks like an airplane and said, “bay bay [airplane].” As we were driving home, he noticed a wheel on a another car that was wobbling and said, “banh xe hu [the wheel is broken].”

Dao already put the drama behind him even though he would sometimes telling us, “Dao te [fell] mulch.” Then we would ask him, “Dao co con dau khong [Are you still hurt]?” His reply would be, “No.” He started his new class today and enjoyed playing with water and went back to the slides with his buddy Aidan. We have yet to meet his new teacher, but the report showed that he did well on the first day.

Last Friday, Dao’s last day of his previous class, Ms. Ester left us a note:

I can’t express how much I loved having Dao this past months. He grew up, talking with great motor skills, with a kind personality and always with that amazing smile that I love. I miss him already. He is a smart, caring, adorable boy.

Ms. Ester is such a lovely caregiver. We’re so glad that Dao was under her supervision.