The University of Texas at Austin has a beautiful web site for the Office of Communications and perspective students.

Fixing up the house makes me think about my old man. My father and his entire family in Viet Nam are into construction and they are making quite a decent living at it. If I were to live in Viet Nam, I would have followed the same career path. Actually, I thought of him a lot lately and all the anguish I had accumulated over the years have gone. What if he was around me all these years? How would I turn out to be? One thing I know for sure, I would have a much stronger confidence.

When he arrived in the States for a few months, our family went to Dutch Wonderland, an amusement park close to where we lived. Dad lost his glasses in a bumper car ride. He asked me to report to the staff, but I refused. I was shy and didn’t have enough faith in my English skill to do so. He went to up to the guy and made the gesture of the glasses. The guy understood him right away and returned his glasses.

Until this day, I could never forget that bold and strong impression of him. That particular moment gives me strength and confidence on numerous occasions. I would get nervous whenever I have to give a class presentation, but somehow thinking back to that time made everything seem fine. My father was not embarrassed, so I shouldn’t either. I thank him for that.

I called him on New Year Eve and he broke into tears even though we didn’t talk that much. Men have less communication, but we understand what each other mean.

Miss Narcissus Pageant shows off her unique talent. It’s a very impressive video.

Hong Ngoc drops out of 5 Dong Ke, a fantastic female-vocalist group, after marrying Le Minh, lead member of MTV, a male group no one cares about. The group is now left with Bao Lan, Huong Lan and Thuy Linh. Hope they’ll do well with the adjustment.

That Will Make Your Head Spin, including Diphallia, Polymastia, Hermaphroditism and a Japanese/Filipina porn star whose goal is to have 1,000,000 sex partners before she retires from the business. She has had a gangbang with over 1,400 guys in one session (supposedly).

What a gorgeous-looking site.

A new remix of “My President Is Black” featuring Jay-Z, Young Jeezy responds to O’Reilly’s recent comment on the Factor. He rhymed: “Bill O’Reilly eat a dick, nice try, you’re really being a racist asshole in a nice tie/and tell Dennis Miller his show suck anyway, and I’d rather watch Jimmy Kimmel anyday…”

I have a cousin who is a month older than me. Technically, she’s my niece, but we’re more like cousins. She lived next door to my house in Viet Nam and so we hung out together. We fought and we made up. She scratched me and I pulled her hair. When we were five, we crossed many big streets to go to the park far from our house to use the playground. I could still remember the shock on her mom’s face when our family was searching all over town for us.

In kindergarten, my cousin left Viet Nam to go to America. I came to class the next day and all I did was cried because she wasn’t there. The teacher made me stood outside of the class. I climbed out of school and went back to the playground. I missed my cousin. When I went home, my mom whipped my ass. I didn’t hear anything from my cousin for a while until I received toys, gums, chocolates and letters from her. I was so happy that she still remembered me.

Six years later, we moved to America. I was anxious to see my cousin again. When we finally met, my cousin had changed. She no longer spoke Vietnamese. We didn’t talk much. She had more conversations with my nephews than me. I felt left out. The good thing was we reconnected again when my family moved to her grandma’s apartment. I remembered ordering pizza, eating instant cup noodles and watching TV together.

Then my cousin moved again to a better school district. She went to white school and picked up the whiteness. I stayed back in black school and picked up the blackness. She was into pop-rock music while I was into hip-hop. Despite our differences, we hung together occasionally. My cousin didn’t know how to ride a bike until she was a little older. One time we were riding downhill, she lost control and slammed into a parked car. The lady who was the owner of the car cajoled us into calling her mom and made her mom paid for the little damage.

In college, we went our separate ways, but somehow we both ended up on the creative field. She took up graphic design and I took up web design. We both graduated at the same time, but she never became a graphic designer. Now I am married and about to become a father, yet she still enjoys her single life. That’s my cousin.

A time lapse video of a baby playing with his toys. Almost four hours packed into two minutes.

Lunar New Year to many Vietnamese abroad is simply just another day. Many of us can’t be around our family to celebrate. To many of us, Vietnamese New Year only exists in our memory. The good old spirit that could never be forgotten. We can’t expect to get the same vibe we had in our childhood anymore. In fact, I don’t expect much anymore. As long as I could be around the love ones and could think about those from afar, I am satisfied. Although I really don’t know all of you who come to Visualgui.com, as long as you’re here, you are visiting my house. So I wish you all a happy, prosperous Vietnamese New Year.