the most sensible thing rj gave us was the youth day cd case which i'm still using today as i pack up my cds. i always thought it was very nice that they didn't decide to get us ring binders or any number of like unusable gifts chosen with the idea of encouraging one to work hard. still, cds take too much space in my overbulging suitcases, and i do have tons of mp3s. so again i come down to choosing ten indispensible discs:

1, 2) the first two ukulele albums, rencuo and huangsidai
3) the butterfly lovers!! this is the takako nishizaki version
4, 5) soundtracks for the english patient and the last emperor
6) the sixth disc of a debussy piano works collection - for the six epigraphes antiques
7) isserlis/mustonen janacek/shostakovich/prokofiev - the only version of podhaka that i've really loved
8) janacek's intimate letters
9) aha - memorial beach (yes, i actually have every aha and morten harket song ever recorded on mp3 but, i do like dark is the night and anyway this album seems particularly good to be listening to lying in bed in the dark.
10) george szell conducting the cleveland orchestra: mussorgsky borodin rimsky-korsakov
11) yoyo ma and bobby mcferrin: hush - for sentimental reasons
12) swingle singers - 1812 (wouldn't you? i'm sure nearly everyone who is reading this owns a copy)