Listening to Octava reminds me of Kind of Blue. Right off the opening “Invocation,” the vibe is laid-back, relaxed, yet commanding attention. “Green Dreams” is meditative yet uplifting. It is a soothing album to kick back to after a long, stressful day. A few glasses of wine will also help.

Driving home from work yesterday was hell. The AC in my 2011 Toyota Sienna was blowing hot air even though I had it serviced less than three months ago. I called up Khang about the AC as well as replacing the timing cover gasket. He told me to bring it in the next day.

I arrived at his shop at 8:00 am this morning. He had his boy pumped freon without even taking a look at the car. After 10 minutes, the AC pumped out cold air again. I also noticed the AC light stopped flashing. He told me $150. I asked him for an estimate on replacing the timing cover gasket. He told me that he would also have to replace the water pump. My natural reaction was, “Oh really!” He went off, “Am I the mechanic or are you?” He continued, “If you knew how to fix it, you would have.” I nodded and thought to myself, “No shit!” He went on, “You have to trust me. I have many cars here. I don’t need to cheat you.” I replied with a bit of a joke, “Of course I trust you, but I am not sure if I can afford your trust.” Then he asked me, “Did I recommend that you replace the timing cover gasket? I can’t remember, but I must have said the timing valves.” I responded, “Yes you did as part of maintenance.”

I asked a follow-up question, “Will the AC last this time or will it stop working again? You did a service on it less then three months ago.” He replied, “Why didn’t you tell me? I fixed so many cars I don’t remember.” He went on, “If that’s the case, there’s a leak somewhere. I still have to charge you because your car leaked.” I nodded and replied, “Sure.” Then he said, “I am a fair guy. I am not going to charge you for the AC. Why don’t you bring your car back next week when you go on vacation and I will check everything.” Fair enough.

Now I am debating if I should bringing back my car for him to service. I do want to keep this car for as long as I can. I don’t want to keep paying for services, but I also don’t want to buy a new car. I have been thinking of taking the free shuttle to work instead. I don’t want to depend on a car anymore. The cost is just too much to maintain a car. We’ll see.

Kaliii has a sexy voice with a laid-back flow. She got hoes in different area codes—a play off on Ludacris’s infamous “Area Codes.” As a female rapper, she turns the toxic, misogynist raps, which dominated by alpha male rappers, on their head. In “Eat It Up,” she boasts, “I’m a classy bitch, never trashy sis’ / Never had a broke nigga on my mattress.” Then she throws in a little political punchline, “If I had a gold digger with a matching wrist / I’d be up a billy’ if they didn’t tax the rich.” Her delivery is a bit monotonous, but the bouncy beats help.

In his latest Netflix Special, Tom Segura continues with his dark sense of humor. He makes jokes out of shameful, cringeful materials. It is not easy to make uncomfortable content funny and Segura pulls it off with ease. He is so good at telling stories that I have a feeling that he is perfecting the art of storytelling than believing in his own stories.

Yesterday Vương started the Bridge to Kindergarten program to help him make the transition from home to school. Since Vương hadn’t been to daycare, I was surprised that he didn’t cling to his mom or cried when we dropped him off on the first day.

Đạo and Đán resumed their daily writing after a week-long vacation. Xuân resumed swimming competition last evening. Even though he hadn’t practiced the entire time while we were on vacation, he came first on backstroke.

After the competition, Đạo wanted Thai food. We went to 703 Thai Cuisine. Đán ordered a dish called “Crying Tiger Steak,” which came with steamed vegetables and sticky rice. When the food came, Xuân asked to try some steak, but Đán didn’t want to share. I asked him to give Xuân a thin slice to try, but he got mad. He handed over the whole plate and said, “Just take the whole thing and I will have instant noodle later. I replied to him, “If that’s what you want, it’s fine with me.” I wanted to teach him a lesson about sharing.

My wife flipped out and wanted to leave. Xuân cried and begged her to stay. She stayed but didn’t touch her food. The fiasco was childish. We couldn’t even have a nice meal together as a family.

Kevin Sun is a virtuosic saxophonist and a fine composer. As a leader, he leaves plenty of space for his accomplishments and only plays when he finds the right time. “Internal Choruses” is an example of his saxophone blazing in and improvising. His pianist shines on “From the Unseen Center (1) & (2).” From All This Stillness is a captivating modern jazz album. I will spend more time with it for a while.

While vacationing at Wildwood with my family last week, I woke up at 6:00 AM every morning to rollerblade on the boardwalk before everyone else woke up. I skated with my three-wheel YF YouFu. They were a bit bumpy the first day, but I quickly got used to them. I skated about three miles each day. I loved the morning breeze as well as the time to myself. I would love for my kids to join me, but they didn’t want to wake up early. They also preferred biking on the boardwalk.

While spending time at the beach, I was dreaming of skiing and snowboarding. I missed the snow. I still snowboard in my basement each day to learn my stances and my edges. I came across a clip from Thrive Snowboards showing how to ride on the steep slopes. I can’t wait to try out the techniques. I received my Epic pass for next year already. Let’s hope for lots of snow in the coming winter.

The summer is not even over yet, and I already am looking forward to the winter. The grass is always greener on the other side.

I enjoy Jones’s personal poems. I appreciate his openness on racism and same-sex experiences, but I find the connection with him on the grief for his mother. Reading “Saeed, How Dare You Make Your Mother into a Prelude” and “The Dead Dozens” makes me miss my mother so bad. I loved this collection.

If could, and I bet I could, hell-I know I could
write a song that killed anyone who tried

to wrap their throat around it. I’m writing the first
verse right now, riding the rhythm like your mama

straddling the preacher while your daddy looks on
with a mouth full of every moan he can’t have.

Ain’t that what you really want? A stadium full
of white people screaming your stage name

and a smashed guitar where your dick used to be.
Ain’t that what you deserve? God is the only reason

I haven’t already held you down and spat the hook
into your mouth like a poison that will kill us both.

Saeed Jones

Your grief is so heavy,
when we lowered the coffin,
all the pallbearers fell in too.

Your grief is so heavy,
when you cried your last good-bye, the end
of the world said “nigga, get off me!”

You love your mama so much,
Freud came back from the dead
just to study your sorry ass.

You love your mama so much,
when she died, our mamas died too
Some of our favorite aunties caught strays.

I miss you so much,
I don’t even use the word “hello” anymore.
Now, I greet everyone with “good-bye.”

I miss you so much,
sometimes I go to strangers’ funerals
and eulogize your ghost.

Your ghost cries so loud
our ancestors keep haunting me
to complain about the noise.

Your ghost cries so loud
I took my Black ass to a Klan rally
for some candle-lit peace and quiet.

Saeed Jones