Hôm cuối tuần đi ăn tiệc. Tôi với anh bạn vừa ăn vừa đứng trò chuyện vu vơ. Vợ anh ấy đi qua và trách móc, “Dạo này cứ đưa phone cho tụi nó”. Thấy anh ấy hơi quê quê nên tôi cười đáp, “Kệ đi chị ơi. Để cho anh được ăn thoải mái một tí”.

Mấy cô vợ ơi, ra ngoài làm ơn giữ mặt mũi cho thằng chồng mình một chút. Về nhà muốn la mắng sao cũng được. Nhiều khi vợ chồng sống chung với nhau lâu rồi nên không còn để ý đến sĩ diện cho nhau. Những lời nói ngọt ngào của thuở ban đầu giờ đã trở thành những lời lẽ đắng cay tột đỉnh. Làm sao ta có thể níu kéo lại một thời đã xa?

Tôi đã xem cái video này trên Facebook khá lâu mà đến bây giờ vẫn còn ám ảnh. Hôm nay chợt xem lại vẫn thấy ngậm ngùi” (Sợi buồn con nhện giăng mau. Em ơi hãy ngủ anh cho thêm viên thuốc).

Sáng nay mở máy rửa chén ra thấy chén bát đã rửa tối hôm qua mà vẫn chưa sạch. Thôi thì chạy lại lần nữa. Khi máy chạy, tôi nghe tiếng nước lẫn tiếng gì đó rất lạ. Để ý nghe kỹ hơn thì ra là tiếng, “Ti… Ti… Tiền…”

Nữ ca sĩ Kiều Nga qua đời ngày 13, tháng 7, năm 2015 tại Orange County, California. Thế là tiếng hát mạnh mẽ, trong trẻo, và truyền cảm đã vĩnh viễn ra đi. Những năm đầu của thập niên 90, Kiều Nga và Ngọc Lan là hai tiếng hát đã chạm đến hàng triệu con tim nơi xứ lạ quê người. Giờ đây hai tiếng hát bất hủ đã được đoàn tụ. Xin cầu mong cho linh hồn của chị Kiều Nga được an nghỉ trong bình yên. Cám ơn chị đã để lại cho đời những tác phẩm tuyệt vời.

The Virginia hip-hop duo brothers are back again after 16 years. While Pusha T remains relentless, No Malice returns to coke rhymes after his unsuccessful attempt as a Christian rapper. With Pharrell Williams holding down the productions, the Clipse slings cocain rhymes on their latest release Let God Sort Em Out. The Clispe brothers have been known for their lyrical skills and they still got them.

The album opens with “The Birds Don’t Sing” with John Legend on the hook. The Clipse brothers unveil their emotions about their dying mother. Pusha pours out his heart, “Sayin’ you was tired but not ready to go / Basically was dying without letting me know.” Malice reflects: “Birds don’t sing if the words don’t sting / Your last few words in my ear still ring.”

From the production to the rhymes, “Chains & Whips” is menace as fuck, especial Pusha: “You know I know where you’re delicate / Crush you to pieces, I’ll hum a breath of it / I will close your Heaven for the hell of it.” Malice references the bible: “You’re gaspin’ for air now, it’s beautiful / John 10:10, that’s my usual / Mamas is fallin’ out in funerals.” Kendrick Lamar drops a dope guest verse too.

“So Be It” sports a Bollywood vibe. Pusha continues with his chilly punchlines: “Fuckin’ with P, get somethin’ immediate / Your soul don’t like your body, we helped you free it.”

Although Malice drops the bible, he still draws his rhymes from it. On “All Things Considered,” he rhymes, “The only sin left is to flirt with vengeance / Made my exit just to make my entrance / Revolving door, maybe I can make a difference.”

What the fuck is “M.T.B.T.T.F.”? Pusha explains on the hook, “She want Mike Tyson blow to the face / Slalom ice, she wants snow on a plate.” Malice reveals his reason for returning to dope rap: “This is the result of my vision / React with precision / But God only knows my intention / But selling dope is a religion.”

On “E.B.I.T.D.A.” (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization), Pusha and Malice take me back to my childhood memory: “Grew up playing real life Contra / ‘Never give up,’ that’s the mantra.”

“Inglorious Bastards” is the definitive dope rap brought to you by the Clipse. Malice reflects: “I was fine getting rich under their noses.”

On the gospel-inspired “So Far Ahead,” Malice is back at it again, “Ain’t no referees up in Heaven / No mistaking me for the reverend / Ushering the money, my confession.”

Then comes the title track, “Let God Sort Em Out/Chandeliers,” Pusha and Malice trade lines, “The feeling that you get when you realize / It was really you that died and we are so alive / Conspiracy theory, you can’t believe it’s us / Soul leave your body like a fentanyl rush.”

Damn! I am so glad Clispe are back after 16 years. They are still on top of their dope game. The Neptunes no more, but Pharrell Williams still bangs out bomb-ass beats.

Một ngày đẹp trời, tôi trò chuyện với thằng con về công việc và tiền bạc. Tôi giải thích cho nó nghe muốn kiếm tiền không phải dễ dàng. Tôi phải làm bao nhiêu việc để nuôi sống gia đình:

1. Làm giám đốc thiết kế trường đại học luật
2. Làm cố vấn về phông chữ Việt
3. Làm thiết kế tự do
4. Làm huấn luyện viên trượt tuyết
5. Làm thêm sửa chữa và buôn bán dụng cụ trượt tuyết

Nó hỏi lại, “Tại sao ba không làm giàu”? Adu!

Bà vợ còn quăng một câu phủ phàng hơn, “Ông chỉ có tiếng mà không có miếng”.

I was in Walmart when my wife called asking me to buy a bag of small potatoes. I looked around, but couldn’t find it. I asked an employee nearby, “Excuse me Miss, where do I find a bag of small potatoes?” She replied with a Spanish accent, “Over there, they took after you.” Then she laughed. I looked down at myself and wondered, “WTF? How does she know?” I picked up a bag of “Little Potatoes.” She said, “See, they are laughing at you.” I was like, “Oh yeah!” I definitely need some hearing aides.

By the way, Little Potatoes has a cute brand.

I picked Emily Witt’s Health and Safety off the shelf because I recognized the author’s name. Emily Witt is a staff writer at The New Yorker. I couldn’t recall if I had read any of Witt’s articles, but I would read any book written by any staff writer at The New Yorker.

Witt writes about her own life revolving around drugs, alcohols, parties, politics, and sex. Witt’s writing is witty and funny. I got a kick out of her quip on Jared Kushner: “Much later, when I worked as a reporter for The New York Observer , her husband, Jared Kushner, was the publisher. He was a real estate scion whose dimples looked like they had been carved into his cheeks with a silver spoon.”

Witt writes openly about her sex life: “Because the venue was illegal, sex acts, drug insufflation, and cigarettes did not need to be confined to bathroom stalls or outdoor areas, which was liberating, and I gave Andrew a blowjob in a room that had been left dark for sex.” Her romantic relationship was tumultuous.

Witt covers politics for The New Yorker during the pandemic. Her book ends up near the end of 2020 when Joe Biden won his presidential election. I wonder if she will write her next book covering the recent years up to 2028.

Health and Safety is deeply personal and emotional. I appreciate how much of her personal life she is willing to share. I enjoyed reading it immensely.

After almost a week, Đạo apologized for his behavior. Of course, I accepted his apology and gave back his phones and laptop. I love him to death, but not unconditionally. I need to be firm with him when I need to.

Đán and I are cool too. We don’t speak much, but I learned about his thoughts and feelings through his blog. His posts helped me started conversations with him. I am glad that I assigned daily blogging to him in the summer. I hope he will continue to write. His posts remind me of my early blogging days. I blogged to get things off my chest and released my tension. They helped. We talked about our struggles. We talked about how do deal with scams and losing money. He thanked me for the talk. I thanked him as well. He can come and talk to me anytime.

I want to treat all my kids the same, but I just can’t. They are different in age. They have their own personality. I can’t apply a blanket approach to them. When they were younger, I wanted us to do everything together, but they have different interest. I need to stop feeling bad for not getting the entire crew together. Of course, it would be ideal to bring everyone together, but it seems selfish for me to demand their time to spend with me. Obviously, whenever they want to, they can always hangout with me. Otherwise, I just going to cut them lose.

Since my dad was hardly around me when I was a kid, I always thought that I needed to spend time with my kids. Now I feel as if I am forcing them to spend time with me when they would rather spend with their friends or digital devices. Now I give them the space to do things on their own. Maybe I am not the best person to be around with. I am too damn boring.

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Last Saturday, all four kids wanted to have a sleepover with their cousins. The house was empty and quiet. Around 11 pm, I asked my wife if she wanted to go out. She refused at first, but was convinced that we hadn’t been on a date night in 17 years.

We headed to Eden Center to check out the new Popup joint. There was a rave party so we decided to check it out. As we stood in line to get in, we were aware that we were the oldest couple there. The bouncer who was even older than me said to me, “Are you sure you want to go in?” I replied, “Hell yeah!” He didn’t bother to check our IDs. He announced to everyone, “We got an OG in the building.” I laughed and replied, “Thanks G. Do you have a senior discount?” I paid $20 entry charges for me and my wife.

Most of the kids were Asian in their 20s. I was not sure if they were Vietnamese or other Asians. They weren’t dancing to the music. They were just standing around drinking. The music was not loud enough and the beats weren’t captivating either. We found a seat over at the food court side. My wife didn’t want a drink. She was on her phone. I was not in the mood for drinking either. I walked around just to check out the scene. Most of them dressed casually. Then I saw two Asian girls wearing thongs exposing their booty cheeks. I headed to the bathroom, but there was a line of boys waiting to take a piss. I went back to our seats. After half an hour of being there, I realized we didn’t belong there. I felt like we were chaperones at a school dance.

The night was still young and we were not in the mood for food. We headed straight to MGM. The casino floor was crowded. We were thirsty. I ordered a beer for myself and water for her. We walked around the casino, but didn’t feel like losing our hard-earned money. We left MGM around 1:30 am and came back home around 2:00 am.

It was not terribly exciting, but we got out of the house for a bit. We tried to rejuvenate our youth, but let’s just face it: we’re fucking old.