I'm back! And I have some time to blog now, Diana is packing because she's flying to Munich tomorrow. Timing. It's all about timing.

A first: Finally I remembered something I wanted to blog! I did think about something to blog when we were driving here. You see, we had lots of tapes and I had discovered a bag of old ones that I taped to take to America last November which we never listened to because we had a CD player in the car - but that's a different story altogether and shall be told another time. Or not. Anyway, so my tapes were a little bit on the "surprise" side as I did not recall what exactly I had taped (I was tired and it was the day before we wanted to leave - I was late and unprepared as ever, so I taped and taped instead of doing constructive things). Are you still following me?

We're in the car with lots of mystery tapes is what I am saying. So it's late at night, I am driving, everybody is nodding off and the They Might Be Giants tape cranks over to its other side..and it's my Cinerama tape. And this is what I thought of then: I have no ear whatsoever for music. Usually, I listen to it politely, nod and say: "uh-huh" when somebody asks me what I think. Some music I like better than others but I am usually not sure how to react and just wait for others to say whether they like it or not and then I just agree. For example, U2 never did anything for me. Since everybody liked them I figured they were OK to listen to. Bought a U2 CD. Best of. Sometimes I'll buy a CD because I think one should buy CDs once in a while. Most of the time I don't listen to them. I also have trouble telling bands and/or songs apart. This can sometimes be really embarrassing when you start dancing and going "yeah, yeah" and it's some crap that nobody in their right mind would listen to. Then it's time to do a quick double take and pretend you've been making fun of people who enjoy crap like that.

What I can't stand though: I hate "German Top Ten Crap", because when even I can tell it sucks it must really suck. Boo Mr. President! And I don't like dissonant music - discovered again that Bjork will cause my inner ear to constrict in pain. Also free jazz.

But!!! and here's the But!!! (no butt jokes now, I implore you). But!!! once in a while a CD comes along that speaks to me. I don't know why, it just sounds lovely and I listen to it over and over again. It's just a visceral reaction, I don't know what causes it. And my Cinerama CD (Disco Volante, by the way) is one that I really love. Love, love, love. So I am driving along, there's a little bit of sunlight coming up over the horizon, I am singing along (rather quietly so as not to disturb the others - I can't sing in tune if my life depended on it) to Because I'm Beautiful and I'm loving my Cinerama tape even more. Other CDs that come to mind by the way are my Counting Crows August and Everything After or the new Coldplay album. Also They Might be Giants' Flood (I have lots of their stuff but none ever reached the status of the first CD I ever bought). Of the old days: a-ha Hunting High and Low.

There's also classical music...the overture of "La nozze di Figaro" for example. I really liked "Trading Places" (the film with Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy for those young 'uns who only think of home decoration) the second it started because it started with that song. Or Wagner. I don't quite know why I liked Wagner - I thought only people who wear brown a lot and have their hair parted on the side liked Wagner. But I did, too. And trite, trite, trite - but I do love the Ode to Joy. To make another connection to the wide world of movies: I once saw a really crappy film about Beethoven - Gary Oldman was Beethoven, I think and the film professed Beethoven was deaf because his father used to hit him on the ear. Nuff said. But anyway, there was one scene I liked. Father Beethoven had whacked his son (then not Gary Oldman but some unknown child actor) upside the head, he (Beethoven, not the father) ran outside. It was night and he went to a lake, laid on his back and looked up into the stars. You saw the stars, the stars' reflection in the lake and heard Ode to Joy. I always think of that when I hear it. Floating in a pool of stars.

That was what I was thinking about, driving to Berlin at night, avoiding trucks that swerve out into your lane trying to hit you.

What else? Baby Olivia was really cute, if a bit cranky today. Trixi says she usually is quiet and well-behaved. That's what I'd say, too, if it was my baby :) No, Trixi, she probably is..I believe you. Saw a Roadster. They're really trying to lure me in, they're even sending them to Berlin now.