While wandering around Adriance Memorial library yesterday, I encountered Jet, a friend of my uncle from Boston. Haven’t seen him for a while but he still remembered me. Great memory for an 80 years-old man, isn’t he? He told me about his road trip to trace back his ancestors. He was at the library searching for information on his great uncle’s wife who used to live in the area. He also told me that he is pursuing a master degree in History. Although he is taking one class at a time, he has completed 4/10 courses. Isn’t that amazing? 80 years old and still has the determination to learn. After about an hour, I let him go back to his work and headed to Barnes & Noble.

Upon arriving the bookstore, I ran into an elder gentleman who I had met many times at the bookstore and the library but never actually talked. I held the door to let him in as he asked me a few questions regarding of what I do for a living. So I told him that I am a web designer at Vassar College. He was quite interested in technology and asked me if I use Macromedia Flash, Macromedia Director, Adobe Photoshop and so on. After answering his questions, I asked him what he does for a living. He gave a whole spill on how society classifies him as a retard so he taught himself by reading books and following up with technologies. I have witnessed a number of people giving him that “retarded” stare at the library but when talking to this man, his mind is nowhere near retard. Although I haven’t seen his work, he had impressed me his knowledge on technology at the age of 60. I don’t think I will have that much knowledge by the time I hit 50.

After settling down and diving into Lynne Truss’s Shoots, Eats & Leaves, Andrew Meade, Assistant to the Dean of the College, dropped by to say “hi.” Andre is highly respected by the Vassar community and to me he is an extreme down to earth gentleman. It turns out that he is doing his dissertation for his PhD and using the bookstore as a resource. He spends time at the bookstore as much as I do and the only different is that he is doing his research and I am just drinking Caramel Frapuccino and wasting my time.

While these three gentlemen are extending their knowledge to the fullest, I am not doing much. Although I am currently doing fine, I still feel the urge to move forward. I have a wonderful job. I am doing what I always wanted to do. I stay on top of the web game. I hone my skills constantly. Now what? I desperately need challenge. Web design, no doubt, is always a challenge but I can deal with it both technically and creatively to solve the problem.

So what is my biggest problem? It’s still English. Although I have been in the United States for more than 12 years, my English is still something that I haven’t conquered. When I was in college, my concentration was mainly on design and technology. I thought that good design ruled but now I realized content is the king. So English courses were my worst nightmares even though I had a few professors who would go the extra miles to help me out. I just wanted to get it done and over with and now I am deeply regretting it.

After a night of awaking and thinking, I rushed to work this morning and went straight to the Dean of Studies Office to remind them of my application I applied last April 2003. It turned out that they had lost my application; therefore, they hadn’t contacted me. Even though I will have to go through the whole process again I am glad they lost my application because I was applying for Computer Science last year. So now I am gathering my transcript and letters of recommendation to get me back in school. Although I am applying for English major, I am just going to take a few courses to help my writing. However, I will continue if everything goes smoothly. I don’t have to drop a dime on my tuitions what do I have to loose.

I would like to borrow Nguyễn Nhất Huy’s “Tình Mẹ” (Mother’s Love) to show you my appreciation.

“Mẹ đã có phút dấu nước mắt cho con thơ ngây nụ cười. Mẹ đã có những lúc thức trắng cho con bao đêm ngủ say.” (There were moments you hid your tears to bring me laughter. There were times you stayed up all night just so I can have a good sleep.)

Happy Mother’s day! You deserve every moment of it. You mean the whole world to me and there is not a single second that I don’t think of you. You are my love, my life, my motivation, and my inspiration. You spend all your life focus on me. You worked hard everyday just so I can have a better life. You lay all your hopes and dreams on me. All my life, not only you never put your hands on me but also you would never let anyone else touch me. I remember one time you were arguing with dad because he puts his hands on me. Thank you for protecting me all through my life and I am deeply sorry for all the drama I put you through. I know I was not a good kid but you never gave up on me.

Thank you for brought me into this world and never stop loving me. You are the reason that I live and survive in this world. As a kid, I was always sick. Every year, I would spend at least a week in the hospital and you never left my side during those times. At one time, we both witnessed the girl my age passed away in the hospital right next to us. We could not control our emotions. She was just talking to us the day before. Similar to me, she was diagnosed with malaria but her parents brought her to the hospital too late. You would never let that happen to me. You knew exactly when it was time for me to check in the hospital even though we did not have a whole lot of money. Just thinking of all the sweet things you did for me, I cannot hold my tears. You are the greatest.

I pray everyday for your health and I am glad that you are taking great care of yourself. I can’t imagine living in this world without you. I will go insane. You have worked hard all your life, it’s time to relax and enjoy yourself. I can take care of myself now so please do not worried about me anymore. In your heart, I am still your little twelve years old kid even though you have given me plenty of wisdom to stand on my own two feet. I love you with all my heart and I just want you to know, you’re appreciated.

Yes! It’s time to celebrate. I finally drove off with my dream car yesterday. I wanted this baby for years. She’s a precious white diamond pearl 2003 Acura 3.2 TL. I felt in love with her the first time I laid my eyes on her. She is simply elegant. The gold letters make she looks even more luxurious. With the combination of white diamond pearl, gold letters and classy body, she is sexy as hell.

Why didn’t I pick the new 2004 TL? She is very attractive as well but too sporty and too complicated. For me, less is more. With too many bells and whistles, she simply lost that luxuriousness; therefore, I rejected her. Beside, I have to spend seven more grants if I choose her. On both personal taste and financial level, I went for the grandeur 2003 TL.

Had a great weekend with my family. Little Eric is so adorable. Here are some photos of him. My sister seems to be doing good. Took ma to Philly where she bought 12 boxes of Liver Purifier for $480. The seller was so happy. They stopped everything they were doing and tried to explain to me how good the medication is. Ma said it helped her. It is a lot of money but if it can make ma healthy, I am supporting the medication all the way.

Sammy is so cute now. I love to spend time with her. She is so much joy. Boy, I missed that cute little girl already. I love the way she translates English to Vietnamese and vice versa. For example, I asked her what is, “Oh! my goodnesses” in Vietnamese. She replied, “Troi oi! Troi.” She is so much fun. I don’t know how many times she said, “I love you, Cau Doanh.” She looked after me at the door with the sadness on her face when I was about to head back to Poughkeepsie. She said, “Cau Doanh, please don’t go. Stay and play with be Tu.” She made feel so loved and I was just speechless.

I find this post from Lele is really interesting and creative. If you follow my site daily, you can spot right away which statement is mine. When I first started this blogging thing, I was kind of holding back because this is my professional work overall. However, I began to receive emails from my co-workers as well as my family members saying that my site is an inspiration and my blogging is very touching. Even my boss finds it interesting. They have learned so much about me that they wouldn’t be able to learn from our daily interactions. I am glad that they can separate my professional work from my personal stuffs. With my current workload at Vassar, I am not looking for any freelance work so I really don’t give a fuck if my potential clients find this site offensive. It’s all good, baby.

It’s always great to spend time with family and friends. Sammy is so cute with a new haircut. She loves Monsters, Inc. She has been watching it everyday for the past week. Sammy pointed out Boo, the adorable little girl, and said, “That’s be Tu. Ma Tu hong co quay (But Sammy doesn’t misbehave)” She pointed to Sully, the big monster, and said, “Cau Doanh.” Then she laughed at me. I tickled her and made her kissed my cheeks. I kept on demanding her to kissed both of my cheeks. After the sixth times, she got tired of kissing me and just simply pushed my face away. After the movie, I put her to sleep and she was doing the sign language “You go to sleep” just like Sully did to Boo. Man, I love this adorable little girl so much. I hope she will grow up to be successful. I am kind of worry about her being too smart. She might think she will get away with everything because of her smartness and ended up ruin her life. I knew this one girl when she was eight years old. She was a cute little girl and absolute smart and outgoing. I was thinking to myself, “This girl will grow up to be somebody, maybe a doctor or a lawyer.” At the age of eight, she was baby-sitting her little three years old brother while her parents out working days and nights. Even as a smart girl, without directions, she ruined her life. At the age of fourteen, she got pregnant. When I heard the news, I couldn’t believe what I heard. Both she and her boyfriend were still in middle school. How the hell are they going to raise this kid? She dropped out of middle school to take care of the kid. I felt so bad for this poor little girl. She spent her youth babysitting her little brother and now she is spending her teen babysitting her own kid.

While at Wal-Mart yesterday, I spotted a Cambodian girl. I remembered her from high school so I came up and said, “Hey! How’re you doing?” She looked at me and replied, “Sorry, I don’t remember you.” Then she walked off with her boyfriend/husband. I felt mad idiot. Luckily her boyfriend/husband didn’t whoop my ass. I knew her when I was a freshman and she was a senior in High School. She helped me figured out where my classes were and we talked a couple of times. It’s only been eight years and she doesn’t remember me at all.

Another incident happened a couple of months ago. I saw a guy who was in my 8th grade class. I knew what his name was and I even pointed to him the class we were in. The only response I got from him was, “How are you going to pick out my brain like that? It’s been ages ago.” So next time when I see someone I know but I don’t think that person remembers me, I just pretend I don’t remember him/her to save my embarrassment.

My homie called me up last night asking me to come to his grandma’s memory event. This is an annual event which family and friends get together to pay respect to grandma. Although, my friend is Cambodian, we have very similar traditions. The monks will be there to pray pray for his grandma’s soul. Of course, there will be tons of food afterward. Cambodian food is hot and banging. Yep, I am coming home.

Poor Tay

She just came back from her Asia travel and caught a flu. Fortunately, not that deadly flu as we have seen on TV; however, the US security gave her a hard time. They kept her in a separate room for a week until they found out for sure she did not catch that deadly stuff.

Fuck This Host

D3studio went down for more than 12 hours. This host company fucking blows. I tried to switch to another hosting company once but they did not transfer my DNS over. It looks like I am going to have to kiss D3studio.net goodbye and come up with a new name. This shit is fucked up.

A Letter From Ngoc Lan’s Fan

This kind of letter really makes my day and how can I say no to this proposal. Trong, I hope you don’t mind me posting your letter.

Hi anh Donny,

Xin mao muoi viet email nay den cho anh. Toi thay anh co mot trang trong website cua hang anh, danh cho co ca si tai cao bac menh, Ngoc Lan. Toi la mot trong mot so cac ban ai mo co ca si nay rat nhieu. Chung toi thay hien nay khong co mot cai website nao dedicated cho co ay ca, va evidently you are a fan of hers (I’m switching to English here because it suddenly dawned on me that you wouldn’t understand Vietnamese, sorry if I’m mistaken!). Would you be generous with your time and create a website for Miss Ngoc Lan? Of course I would pay for the domain name and I would pay what I could afford, but I’m really asking, no begging, you to help us out. Your site shows your truly amazing expertise and talent (not to mention very good taste!).

Would you be able to help us out with this website for nguoi dep Ngoc Lan? If there’s a charge, please let me know what the charge is and I’ll try to manage within my limited capabilities. But regardless of the answer, would you please reply to my email? I truly appreciate your considering my request. I do not seek anything other than a place for her thousands of fans to come to. She’s been gone over two years now, the wound is still so fresh, the loss so real…

Thank you for your time,

Trong

Can’t believe I have been blogging almost everyday for the past three months. The whole purpose is to improve my writing and I am enjoying it very much. I know my English is really bad but hey, I am working on it. Actually, I was a good writer when I was a kid studying in Vietnam. Ironically, I hated writing when I was in fourth grade. I always bribed the girl next door with ice cream to write my papers. She was not a good writer because I always got C grades on the papers she wrote. My dad caught me one time and beat the hell out of me. After that she was not allowed to come over to my house anymore. I was forced to write on my own and it came to my surprise that I got a B on the first essay I wrote. The teacher actually liked my writing. I began to discovered my talent after that.

In fifth grade, I was selected to represent my class in a writing competition between all the fifth grade classes at my school. Although, my essay was good but I came in second place because the judges said my writing was too violent. The topic was “describe something you did that you regretted.” So I described how I disobeyed one of my teacher and he slapped the taste out of my mouth. I might be exaggerated a little bit but teachers did hit students. Thank God they don’t do it anymore. If I did not remembered a poem or failed an exam, the teacher would slap my hands with his/her wooden ruler. My hands were swollen everyday. After getting hit so much, I didn’t feel pain anymore. Of course, the judges were the teachers so they didn’t admit that they were wrong that was the reason that they gave me second place.

After fifth grade, I left Viet Nam to start a brand new life. I had to learned everything over again. Of course, as a hard headed as I am, I didn’t want to learn. Time drifted away, I lost my Vietnamese and my English didn’t seem go anywhere. My whole life is such a waste so far.

My cousin Yen turns 25 today. She’s a month and a day older than me. I can’t believe time just flied us by. It seems like yesterday that we were riding bikes together. On Saturday, we had a family gathering and celebrated her birthday at the same time. Like always, we had bangin’ ass Vietnamese foods. First, we had “lau,” one of my all time favorite dish. Not sure if there is an English name for it but it’s basically “cook as you eat.” There were shrimps, meatballs(raw), oysters, beef, mushrooms, cabbages, all type of Vietnamese vegetables. They were all fresh and uncooked so you have to do is dip them in a boiling seasoned water (soup) located in the middle of the table on top of the gas stove. Take them out when it cooked, dip them in Sate (hotsauce) and soy sauce, and put them in your mouth. My Gosh, they are heaven, especially with a bottle of Heineken. After that we had steamed salmons with vegetables. Rolled them up with spring rolls and dip into man nem (the real fish sauce that only the real Vietnamese can handled). Then we had bo kho (Vietnamese beef stew with french baguette). I am not gonna go on with desserts and all the sweet stuffs. Damn my stomach was about to exploded.

After stuffed all that foods, we sat together to chit chat about my cousin Minh wedding which is coming this december. He’s currently a MIS professor and his fiance is a maternity doctor. What a perfect match huh? I am so happy for them. He asked me to put together a small site for him so that our family all over the world could access it. I told him I will be glad to do it. So check back later for this special project.