Had another one of those odd Korean "music moments," that seem to pop up occasionally. Yet another one of these stores with the music blaring away outside had Dire Straits' "So Far Away" going, and I had to bite my lip to keep from breaking down right there. I hadn't the capacity to focus at the moment to even concentrate on that brilliant Mark Knopfler guitar solo. I just kept hearing those lyrics. "Here I am again in this mean ol' town, and you're so far away from me/Where were you when the sun goes down/You're so far away from me./So far away from me/So far I just can't see/So far away from me/You're so far away from me." Of all the songs I've ever known, I never figured THAT one would do it to me, but there it is. And here I am. Songs have dug in before. In the days around my divorce, it was "The Thrill is Gone," from B.B. King. I remember with stunning clarity that the guitar riff in that song was also particularly piercing. It just plain hurt, words aside, almost. Other songs have been on my mental playlist while I've been here. Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" is probably at the top of the list, right in there with The Grateful Dead's "Truckin," most notably the portion about, "Lately it occurs to me/What a long, strange trip it's been....." Indeed. I've kept my sanity with the help of Elvis' 30 #1's, and a 2-CD set of Sinatra. Radio isn't really an option, mostly cause my Korean isn't that good, and I haven't heard stations that really play much music anyway. A consequence, perhaps, of the bold assumption that everyone has access to a computer, and owns an MP3 player. I have neither. Others that have passed through my mind? Occasionally, Pink Floyd's "Learning To Fly," and Salt and Pepa's "Express Yourself," probably others I can't recall at the moment. But those are the soundtrack picks for the movie they will never make about my life. And one of the truer measures of my mind. The other one that gets a lot of play is the compilation CD I had a friend burn for the wedding when Martha and I got married, which has Quincy Jones' "For Lena and Lennie," Etta James' "At Last," Randy Travis' "Forever and Ever, Amen," and Bonnie Raitt's "Time of our Lives," which never fails to make me smile, among many other songs. Lots of them blues songs. Go figure. Unless you already have.