Yesterday evening started off as just a typical Wednesday. I came home from work, ate a quick dinner, then chauffeured Đán and Xuân to their piano lessons. We went back home, dropped Ðán off, then headed to Daddy Volleyball Night. Xuân and Vương would tag along so they could hang out with their scout buddies. Since Vương had a fractured arm, I didn’t take him with us. I didn’t want him to play around, which might make his injury worse.

Dads played several games of volleyball, laughing, and joking around. At around 9:50 pm, Xuân came up to me to inform me that he just vomited after eating half a cookie with his friend. His lower lip also looked swollen. I left the game and took him home. On the way, he complained that he started having chest pain. I called my wife and decided to head to the emergency room instead.

Xuân informed the doctor that his throat and tongue were itchy. His breathing was fine, but he experienced some chest pain. He met all the allergic symptoms; therefore, they administered him allergic medication through the IV line. Benadryl knocked him out. They monitored him until 1:00 am before they released him.

Right after the incident, I asked the other kid’s dad if he knew what kind of nuts were in the cookie. He replied, “Walnut,” and immediately apologized. I told him it was not his fault and it was not his kid’s fault either. His kid did ask Xuân if he had an allergy before sharing his cookie. Xuân didn’t have any allergic reactions in the past, but now we know.

Even though it was not his fault, the dad said sorry. It was just the right thing to say. I am glad that common courtesy still exists. For a minute, I thought we had lost decency. If “Sorry seems to be the hardest word,” simply “Is he OK?” would be sufficient.

Gucci Mane, without a doubt, one of the hardest-working rappers in the game. Even when he was behind bars, he was still pushing bars. In the intro of his latest double album release, Episodes, he boasts, “I shot my shot at the stars, somehow I landed on Mars / I went from bein’ behind bars, now I’m rappin’ my bars.”

Gucci has an ear for beats. Most of the productions on “Episodes” are gritty and lively. Gucci also has mastered the art of flow. When he rhymes slow, his flow is hypnotic. When he rhymes fast, his flow is infectious. Listen to the second verse on “Voices” to see how effortlessly switches up his flow.

On occasions, he throws out some hilarious punchlines. On “Gucci Special,” he rhymes, “Got me a new fun bitch, she comes with a water park.” On “Still Icy,” he brags, “I got so much cash that I named my daughter Iceland / Yeah, this the life and all this money is enticing.” Elsewhere he gloats, “Money like Monopoly, I told speak in Guapanese.” WTF is Guapanese? I am learning a new word everyday.

As much as I enjoy the banging beats, the virtuosic flows, and the witty punchlines, I can’t get past the misogynistic lyrics. In every track, Gucci talks about women in derogatory ways, but these bars are so wrong on many levels: “I think this ho special ed / Way she drools on this dick, swear this ho needs a helmet / The way I keep dick in the bitch / Got her legs shaking like her name Elvis the Pelvis.” Struggling with mental health, Gucci hears “Voices” in his head. I wonder which head he’s referring to. He needs help regardless.

In “Forest,” he plugs his new memoir: “I turned my life into a book, I’m rich off literature.” If Episode the album complements Episodes the book then I won’t look forward to reading it.

The good news is that the cast keeps Vương’s arm in place; therefore, he doesn’t need surgery yet. Because the fractured bone is so close to his elbow, it can be moved. He’ll have to come back next week for another x-ray to determine if he wouldn’t need surgery at all. It’s another week of patiently waiting.

The bad news is that Vương won’t be able to ski this winter. The fracture will need three to four months to completely heal. Our annual winter break ski trip might need to be cancelled this year. Our family skiing experience won’t be the same without him on the slopes. He’s an integral part of the crew. He always led us into the trees. Watching him grow as a skier and riding alongside with him had always been a joy for me. Hopefully, he will be able to join us in January, 2026.

Anyway, shit happens. We’ll just have to adjust our plans and adapt to our circumstances. His recovery is our priority right now. Everything else can wait.

It has been 10 days since Vương’s arm is fractured. Today we need to take him back to the pediatric orthopedic for an x-ray to determine if he would need surgery or not.

The last 10 days seemed like eternity. I constantly have to remind him not to move his fractured arm around too much. I have been praying that he wouldn’t need surgery to put a screw in his bone.

We were talking about skiing at dinner last night and Vương said sadly, “I am not going to be able to ski or snowboard.” Damn! That cut like a knife. If he won’t need surgery, he will be out of his cast in less than 3 weeks.

Needless to say, I couldn’t sleep last night. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. As I am writing this post, I am feeling butterflies in my stomach. I am taking the day off from work because I am not going to be able to concentrate on anything else other than his arm.

This is the first time in my life that I am dealing with bone injuries. I hope it is my last. Vương is the one with the fractured bone and yet it hurts me more than I am being injured myself. I am praying that his bone is healing well and no surgery required.

Today is Election Day in Virginia. I will head to the poll and cast my vote for all Democrats:

• Abigail D. Spanberge for Governor
• Ghazala F. Hashmi for Lieutenant Governor
• Jay C. Jones for Attorney General
• David L. Bulova for Member House of Delegates 11^th District

I urge you to vote for candidates with a D next to their name to resist the current president and his administration. Our constitution is under attack. Our democracy is dying. Our country is falling under autocracy. Voting for Democrats is the only way to take back our government from an authoritarian.

My mind has been fucked up lately and alcohol keeps me floating above my own ocean of emotions. Once the alcohol wears off, however, I am drowning again. I need something else to take things off the edge. I recently discovered Alice Phoebe Lou through her latest release, Oblivion. The acoustic setting calms my mind as her intimate singing soothes my soul.

Right off the opening track, “Sailor,” I dig her angelic, slightly scratchy vocals. Accompanied by a strumming guitar, she sings, “You were once a sailor / Sailing through my mind / I had never given up / On your return to my shores.”

Furthermore, what draws me into Lou’s music is her poetic lyrics. On “Sparkle,” accompanied by subtle piano keys, she phrases softly, “I will not change / For the reasons you think / In a blink of an eye / I’ll have metamorphosized.” Love the way she enunciates that last word.

“Skyline” is a testament that Lou is a great storyteller. Using piano as a device, she narrates the lyrics with poise and punctuation: “There’s a body lying in the middle of a busy street / He’s painted red and staring at the sky / He leans out his car window and says, ‘Get the hell out of my way / I’ll be late, I’ve gotta be on time.”

The entire album is filled with poetic lyricisms and her simple approach makes her songs personal and comprehensible. The whole close-out track consists of, “With or without him / With or without / Without / With or without.” Without a doubt, Oblivion is a masterpiece of minimalism.

I haven’t listened to Lily Allen for a while. The last time I wrote a review of her sophomore album, It’s Not Me, It’s You, was in 2009. When I spotted her latest release, West End Girl, on Spotify, I knew I had to listen right away. I was not disappointed.

On the opening title track, she sets up the narrative over the bossa-nova rhythm. She briefly describes their relationship when she and her husband settled in New York. Then she moved back to London for a lead role. While they were apart, her husband wanted an open relationship because he needed pussy. She agreed because she wanted him to be happy.

Over the heavy electronic production, she started to “Ruminating.” With the assistance of Auto-Tune she confessed, “And I can’t shake the image of her naked / On top of you and I’m dissociated.” She even got jealous, “And I’m not hateful but you make me hate her / She gets to sleep next to my medicator.”

Over strumming guitar and pounding bass in “Sleepwalking,” she revealed her marriage issue: “‘Why aren’t we fucking baby?’ Yeah, that’s what you said / But you let me think it was me in my head / And nothing to do with them girls in your bed.”

On “Relapse,” she declared that her marriage was over: “The foundation is shattered, you’ve made such a fucking mess / I tried to be your modern wife, but the child in me protests.” Just hearing her sing softly, “Pussy Palace,” gets a kick out of me. What things do they have at the “Pussy Palace?” Of course, she knows you wonder; therefore, she discloses, “Duane Reade bag with the handles tied / Sex toys, butt plugs, lube inside / Hundreds of Trojans, you’re so fucking broken / How’d I get caught up in your double life?”

With “Nonmonogamummy,” a collaboration with Specialist Moss, she tried to be open as well: “And now I’m looking at my Tinder, well, maybe I’m more of a Hinger / He wants to take me out to dinner, hope he looks better than his picture.”

The album closes out with “Fruityloop” and she leaves it as is: “It is what it is, you’re a mess, I’m a bitch / Wish I could fix all your shit, but all your shit’s yours to fix.” Based on her divorce, Allen crafted a conceptual album that reads like an open book from start to finish. It’s an honest-yet-ruthless work of art.

Nowadays Xuân and Vương take over the music when we ride in our minivan. They created their own Spotify playlist. Xuân picks most of the songs, which have loopy techno beats and a few weird-accented singing. The type of songs that make me say, “What the heck, guys?” Then there’s a particular song that made me say quietly to myself, “What the fuck, kids?”

The song kicks off with distorted violin playing and random bass plucking. Chilling voices started to sing:

Take my eyes, take them aside
Take my face, and desecrate
My arms and legs, they get in the way
And take my hands, they’ll understand
Take my heart, pull it apart
And take my brain, or what remains
And throw it all away

What the fuck kind of crazy shit is this? Of course, I started to pay attention to what my kids are listening to. The rest of the rhythm section (electric guitar and drums) joins in to rock up the eccentricity. Vocalists continue to sing:

Take my lungs, take them and run
Take my tongue, go have some fun
And take the ears, take them and disappear
And take my joints, take them for points
Take my teeth, tear through my cheeks
And take the nose, go and dispose
Oh, would you go dispose, just go dispose?

Is this some kind of dysmorphia shit? I asked my sons, “How did you guys discover this song?” YouTube, of course. The song is titled “Body” by Mother Mother. It was released in 2008 and I only heard of it recently through my kids. The lyrics are so damn depressing.

Why would you want to take away your body parts and organs? Fortunately, the singers (Ryan Guldemond with Molly Guldemond and Debra-Jean Creelman) explain in the chorus:

’Cause I’ve grown tired of this body
A cumbersome and heavy body
I’ve grown tired of this body
Fall apart without me, body

Of course we have our days when we feel like that as well. It is just an exaggerated expression, please don’t do it. If you want to do something like this, please seek help.

After the kids went to bed on Saturday night, the dads kicked back at the campfire. We passed around two of my favorite Japanese whiskey bottles: Yamazaki 12 and Hibiki Master Select. Around midnight, I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore due to the lack of sleep the previous night. I said goodbye to everyone and went back to our tent.

Despite the cold weather, Xuân was already knocked out after a full day of activities. I opened up the other sleeping bag and found Peanut, Vương’s favorite stuffed-animal dragon. The alcohol got me emotional. Vương was sleeping here last night with his mom, but they went home to sleep because Vương fractured his upper left arm. His mom and I took him to an urgent care nearby to take an x-ray. He had to wear an elbow brace to keep his arm from mobilizing.

Since his left arm was fractured, I helped him with his dinner. Suddenly, he asked me, “Daddy, do you remember the water fountain where you make a wish then toss a coin?” I replied, “Yes, son. I remember.” He asked further, “Does the wish come true?” I hesitated and asked him, “Why do you ask?” He responded, “I wish for my arm to heal.” I promised him, “Tomorrow after camping, I will take you to find a fountain. You have to heal fast so that you can learn to snowboard this season.” He replied, “Yes, I will learn to snowboard with you because you’re a good snowboard patrol.” He meant to say instructor.

As I was tossing and turning in my sleeping bag, I visualized his scrawny body, repeated his words in my mind, and wept in silence. I knew deep down he would be alright, but I couldn’t control my emotions.

Our 2011 Toyota Sienna is crumbling one thing at a time. Both the sliding doors are broken and they are too expensive to replace. The struts hadn’t been supporting the liftgate for a while,
but I didn’t think they would be easy to replace. Fortunately, this YouTube clip shows how easy it is to replace them. The struts were purchased from Amazon for $23.