Last season, I documented each day I spent on the terrains. I spent 57 days teaching, skiing, and riding with my family. It was a great way to track my progress. This season, I want to try something different. I only write when I make notable progress.

The first two days back went horrible. I was so excited to be back that I forgot to take it easy. I even forgot to stretch. On the first day back, I hopped on my skis and went straight to the blue and double-black terrains. By 1:00 pm, I was wiped out. The second day, I switched to snowboarding and I did the same thing. Once again, my legs and feet got burned out so badly that I had to wrap up before 2:00 pm.

My body couldn’t handle these winter sports anymore. I either am getting old or was drinking too much during off season that it put a toll on my body. Or that I needed some liquor to keep me going. After I had two sample bourbon shots on Tuesday, I hadn’t had a drink since I started to ski and snowboard.

On the third day, I took it easy. I stretched and started off skiing on the green terrains in the morning. In the afternoon, I went on more challenging trails. Still, I wrapped up around 2:00 pm again. My legs gave out.

This morning I woke up with a migraine. I just wanted to stay in bed and read, but I knew in my heart I had to go. The mountains were calling. I took my time to stretch out in my dorm room. I popped a pill of Aleve, ate breakfast, and managed to catch the shuttle to Stowe around 8:20 am. I needed the Aleve to clear my head.

I told myself that it was going to be an easy snowboarding day. I just needed to ride down the slopes making nice “S” turns. I was not going to work on carving with my body low to the ground. I was not going to touch the snow with my hands. I laid low on the green and blue terrains on the learning side (Spruce Peak). Yet, the blue trail was icy.

After lunch, I headed over to Mansfield to take the Gondola, which opened for the first time today, to the top. I missed riding the Gondola. The blue trails were so nice. They weren’t icy and they weren’t too steep that I couldn’t carve. Unintentionally, my left hand touched the snow on my toe side as I dip low. I didn’t have to try too hard and I didn’t fall down. I tried with my right hand on my heel side and I had a bit of trouble. I fell on my butt a couple of times. I was determined to keep working on it. I hopped on the Gondola once again. I fell a few more times on my heel side before I got a hang of it.

I hopped back on the Gondola two more times before the lift was closed at 3:30 pm. I wanted to do more. For the next two days, I will focus on snowboarding. I had wanted to work on this technique in the last two seasons. I was about to give up this time because I thought my weak, aged body couldn’t handle it. All of the sudden, it clicked and unlocked my riding. I couldn’t believe that I could begin to reach my goal this early on. I still have lots to learn, but I am happy with my progress.

I had been fighting a lot on this trip. I fought against the cold. I fought against my body. I fought against my mind. I fought against my emotions. I fought against my loneliness. I fought against my conscience. Even with my wife’s blessings, I felt guilty for taking this solo trip. I miss her and my kids dearly. Then again, I also needed a bit of time to myself to clear my mind. When I skied or snowboarded downhill, I didn’t zoom down fast like the kids. I just took my time strolling down the hills looking for quiet spots near the trees where I can sit safely to reflect on my life and all the recent events that had happened to me and my loved ones.

In those freezing moments, I looked up at the sky and I could feel deep in my soul that my mother had been watching me from above. I could still hear it in her voice that she told me I had gone crazy. Just a year before she passed away, I started skiing. When I called her on the phone to tell her about my new adventure, she would say, “Mày bị khùng rồi.” I wish she was still here to see my ski and ride. I still love her and miss her every single day.

Last year, December 8, 2024, I watched Wicked after a whole day of skiing at Stowe. Today, I determined to head out to the theater to watched the sequel, Wicked: For Good, despite the snow storm. Obviously, no one else was there except me. I had the entire theater to myself, which was kind of sad. Even though For Good was not as good as the first part, I enjoyed Jon M. Chu’s visual presentation. Ariana Grande was just stunning in different dresses. I didn’t know the back story of Tin Man until now. That’s a wrap for this Broadway adaptation. Maybe I should watch the play on Broadway someday.

My first day back on the slopes and I couldn’t ask for better conditions at Stowe. It started to snow right before I hopped on the 8:00 am-opening chair. In the past, I would kick off the season with snowboarding, but I chose skiing instead. I should have taken it easy, but I dived right in. I skied all over the mountains. By 10:30 am, I was exhausted. My legs gave out after trying to carve.

I took a lunch break and relaxed a bit. I went back out and couldn’t ski anymore at 1:00 pm. I was done for the day. Either I am getting old or I was drinking too much alcohol during the off season, but I felt the pain. Or it could just be how the first day went. If I remember correctly, I got frustrated and disappointed on the first day back. It will get better once my body gets back into the groove.

It wasn’t bad, but I should have known better. I thought that practicing off season should have prepared me for the season, but that was not the case. I hope tomorrow will be better.

On a different note. When I arrived at Stowe yesterday, I went straight to guest services to check on my pass. It was already activated. I also wanted to activate everyone in my family, including Vương, even though he might not be able to ski at all these seasons. The process took a while as the experienced staff trained the three new staff members on how to do dependent passes for employees.

As she handed over our activated passes, the experienced staff told the new staff members: “See! Working here saves you thousands of dollars.” I smiled and replied, “That’s why we’re here.”

I love the network of employees. Any Vail-owned resort I went to, the employees were just so wonderful. We believe in the skiing culture. We work here because we are passionate about the winter sports. I can’t wait to kick off the season at Whitetail soon.

Nguyễn Nhật Ánh is a prolific Vietnamese writer who has been known for his young adult novels. Cho tôi xin một vé đi tuổi thơ, his acclaimed novella, has been translated into English, Ticket to Childhood, by William Naythons. To give a sample of the book, I selected three chapters and set them in Vollkorn, designed by Friedrich Althausen, and Kuhlman, designed by David Jonathan Ross. Although Kuhlman is a work-in-progress typeface, its rough edges work great for the cover title. Vollkorn was one of the early open-source typefaces that supported Vietnamese. I have been wanted to showcase Vollkorn for a long time. I finally got a chance to use this beautiful, readable text face for this project.

Not a whole lot to read, but a whole lot to marvel at Louise Fili’s elaborative identity designs. Ms. Fili has a distinctive style with whimsical lettering and playful typesetting. For a Vietnamese restaurant located in the food court at Grand Central Terminal, she set the name “Nem” in chopsticks. Flipping through 100 of her logo designs give me an idea of how to showcase my own identity design.

I love the typographic treatment on the album cover. It’s the huge word Play in black spreading around the cover with small black text of the players’ name—Theo Croker and Sullivan Fortner—and orange text of their instrument—trumpet and piano.

Play kicks off with “A Prayer for Peace” as the duo sets off the hushed tone for their collaboration. Croker plays the trumpet with such clarity as if he’s singing while Fortner drops scintillating keys to respond to his partner.

“First Light” Croker holds long notes while Fortner plays short ostinatos behind him. It is so calm until Croker switches up with his screeching sound, but his tone is never out of control. “Midnight Bloom” is a short piece (1:24) on the album, but it showcases the two improvisational masters at play. They understand each other. They support each other. They completed each other’s thoughts.

This is what jazz is all about. It’s all on the spot. No practice. No written notes. No pressure. They just Play. So just kick back, relax, pour out some Cordon Bleu, and enjoy the conversations.

Saou Ichikawa’s Hunchback is a beautiful, dark, twisted novella. The book focuses on Izawa Shaka who suffers from myotubular myopathy. She depends on an electric wheelchair to move around, a ventilator to breathe, and a nurse to give her a bath. Her body is trapped, but her mind is running wild. Shaka writes about threesome porn, tweets about wanting to get pregnant so she can get an abortion, and wants to do normal things like a normal girl. Translated into English by Polly Barton, every detail in this 90-page book burned into my fucking brain. I didn’t know a category for disability literature existed, but Hunchback is a groundbreaking literature period. If you have a few hours to spend this winter holiday, read this book.

Yesterday we took Vương back to the Pediatric Specialists of Virginia (PSV) for a check up. After removing his cast, they took another x-ray. The orthopedic checked his arm to see if he was still hurting. Even though he said, “No,” his eyes were red and watery. Seeing his tears hurt my heart.

Since he was in the cast for five weeks, the orthopedic wanted to keep his arm in place for another week or two. She gave us two options. She could put an arm sling on him to remind him that he should take it easy or she could put him in a full cast for another two weeks. I wanted to put him back on the full cast just to make sure that his fracture will be completely healed. I asked him if that was OK with him. Even with tears in his eyes, he nodded “Yes.” He’s now back on the full cast for two more weeks.

I tried to figure out why he was tearing up, but he wouldn’t give me an answer. At bedtime, I brought back the subject again. With a Robux deal, he finally revealed, “I was happy that my arm was healing.” I asked him, “Wait, you were crying happy tears?” He replied, “Yes.” What a sweet kid.

I usually don’t drink bourbon, but tonight I have to break out a bottle of Bardstown (Amrut) to marinate my soul into the blues. I haven’t listened to the good ole blues in a while and Kirk Fletcher’s eighth studio release, Keep On Pushing, fills that gap.

Right off the bat, Fletcher gets down with the 12-bar blues. With Ted Jarret’s “It’s Love Baby,” Fletcher sings the AAB form: “Honey my days and nights are lonely, I need your lovin’ every day / Honey my days and nights are lonely, I need your lovin’ every day / But I think about you baby, 24 hours of the day.”

In addition to his intoxicating vocals, Fletcher is a hell of a blues guitar player. Check out his breathtaking solo on Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup’s “I’m Gonna Dig Myself A Hole” or the deep-down blues on Percy Mayfield’s “Lost Love,” and his begging is so damn hard to resist: “Baby please, baby please come back to me / Baby please, Please come back to me / Because I am a prisoner / I need your love to set me free.”

What I love about the good ole blues is sometimes you can get some life lessons out of it. Al K. Smith gives sound advice in his “Think Twice Before You Speak.” Fletcher preaches: “The graveyard is full of people that talk too much / I know my time is coming but I’m in no rush / Many hearts have been broken because someone lied / My advice is let your conscience be your guide.”

Of course “Every Dog Has Its Day,” as Edward Bocage has penned it and Fletcher shares it: “My friends turn their back on me / When hard times come scratching at me / Hard times, hard times got me now / As Confucius say, every dog has its day.” What can you do about it except to “Keep On Pushing” as Fletcher reminds us, “Don’t get lost in the struggle, gotta live your live with ease / Don’t get lost in the struggle, gotta live your live with ease / That good lovin’ woman, she almost brought me to my knees.”

Good music needs no liquor, but bourbon and blues definitely lift up your spirit or drown you in it. Either way, I enjoy Keep On Pushing.

Yesterday, I brought a bottle of Kirkland Signature 16-Year Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky to a friend’s house. I copped it a few months ago and I wanted to try it with my buddies. Between the three of us, we finished the whole bottle and it felt nice—at least for me.

It was a fine and smooth bottle of Scotch straight out of Costco. It didn’t have a complex taste, but it had a slightly smoky quality and a dollop of sweetness. Because it didn’t have a strong, distinctive personality, it went well with a bowl of spicy bún bò Huế. Of course, it only got better with a bit of HaH! Chili Sauce.

Truth be told, I enjoyed the bottle because of the companionship. Drinking and bullshitting with my two buddies made the dreary, rainy Sunday late fucking afternoon brighter. Cheers, fellas!