I know I am old when my little nephew who I used to hold in my arms is now in 10th grade and taller than me. I know I am old when the little boy who used to live next to me and my mom has a son older than my son. I still remember him wearing his diaper running around our apartment and now he’s changing his baby’s diaper. How crazy is that? Now we can talk about fatherhood to each other.

Dana told me that yesterday marked her 17 years living in the States. I then realized that I have been here for 19 years, even though I can’t remember the exact date. Although I have been here for almost two decades, become an American citizen and changed my name to Donny, I never once feel like this is a permanent place. Somehow Vietnam still holds on to me like the color of my skin, which hasn’t get any lighter over the years, even though childhood memory is the only part of me that belongs to Vietnam.

I have changed and so has Vietnam. My relationship with Vietnam is like my relationship with my father who hasn’t been around me all these years. We are connected by blood, but the gap is unbridgeable. We love each other, but we are distanced. I can’t live with my father just like I can’t live in Vietnam. We’re in two different worlds and our lifestyles have changed. My life is better here, but I still don’t feel a sense of home. I don’t yearn to go back just like a kid who grows up and doesn’t want to return home.

When I look at the older generation like my mom and my parents-in-law, I wonder how do they feel? With their limited English, this is definitely a temporary place for them. How do they live on and adapted to the environment that is so foreign to them? Was it because of the hardship in the past that give them the strength?

Often times I see myself living here temporarily for the rest of my life and than die on this land and that’s it. Don’t give me wrong. I love America and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world, but here. It just that Vietnam is also part of me. When I am in this sentimental mood, Trịnh Công Sơn’s “Ở Trọ” comes to mind and his words help me get through: “Tôi nay ở trọ trần gian / Trăm năm về chốn xa xăm cuối trời.” Even life is just an interim and you will go somewhere else after this. So live this short, impermanent life to the fullest so that “Mai kia dù có ra sao cũng đành.”

“I’m the sickest emcee,” a Viet kid rapped on a track called “Vietnamese Noodle Soup.” I concurred. His nursery rhymes make me sick. He compares one of the hottest Vietnamese noodle soups with his lame-ass sex boost: “I’ll cover you in white stuff, yeah I got a lot.” Worst are his ad-lib vocabularies including “un-pho-gettable,” “pho-nominal,” “pho-gettaboutit.” Don’t you want to smack the pho out of him? It’s embarrassing. (via khongcoai)

The each motion piece is now in its own directory. CSS elements are rewritten to place the Flash piece in the center of the browser. I also switched to YouTube’s embed style for much cleaner and simpler codes.

The info page is now featured a “What clients and colleagues say about Donny Truong” section. I have wanted to add this feature a while ago, but never got around to it until a formal colleague at Vassar writes me a nice recommendation on LinkedIn. I will update it as more testimonials become available.

Last month, I converted Visualgui.com’s markup to HTML5 and now my site is featured on HTML5 Gallery, a showcase of sites using HTML5 markup.

Our online venture, Simplexpression, has been neglected ever since we welcomed a new important member into our lives. Now that Dana has a bit of time, more pieces will be added soon. You now can follow us on Twitter to see the latest pieces. I also tightened up XHTML/CSS a bit for better performance and easier to update.

Big shout out to my man Tim for copping the Puppini Sisters necklace on the grand opening day. He gave it to his wife/college sweetheart on the moment they welcomed their lovely daughter into their world. Tim, thanks for making our product part of the special event of your life. I still have to learn a great deal from you on how to be an ideal husband.

Back in my high-school days, I had a friend who was always broke, always failing in school, yet always had at least an above-average chick by his side. One night a bunch of us played cards at one of my friend’s house. The broke bloke sat out because he had no money on him, but he had a chick to play with. We were curious why she was attracted to him and her answer was, “because I am stupid.” Another guy quickly relied, “we could tell.” I was rolling on the floor laughing. It was a joke, but there was some truth to it.

I had witnessed quite a bit of couples like that. I had seen nice-looking girls who ended up with guys who went in and out of jail, didn’t go to school and sometimes treated their girls with lack of respect. I finally got it when a friend whose heart was broken by a jackass told me that she wouldn’t go out with me because I was too nice. Even though I had no intention of asking her out, I wanted to say, “So you want me to treat you like shit in order for you to go out with me?”

After that, I stopped being nice because nice guys don’t really get anything, except for the bills and the crying when she needed someone to talk to. So the answer is yes. Good girls are attracted to douchebags.

The hardest part of a breakup isn’t the pain but the ability to move on. If you’re the one got dumped, the faster you move on, the better off for you because no one feels sorry for your ass. The quickest way to move on is to do the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind style. Yes, you want to get her completely out of your world. So when you and your girl are officially over, go out and get wasted. You drink to celebrate the new beginning, not to ease your sorrow.

The next day you wake up, go through your stuffs and destroy anything that associated with her. Getting rid of letters, pictures and sex tapes not only help you move forward, but also avoid leaving evidence behind. Just imagine your future girlfriend or wife comes upon those things, especially the latter. That’s not going to be a pretty scene.

Once the memories are trashed, go out and find yourself a replacement. The challenge part is that you have to score someone better than your ex. That’s right! Aim high because the sky’s the limit when you’re single. Don’t worry if you get rejected. Just think of them as job interviews. In my days, I got so many rejections that they didn’t seem to bother me anymore. Sure, it hurts your self-esteem and confidence, but it is much less painful than holding on to the past. Beside, you’re not likely going to run into them again later on anyway.

I was drifting off watching Asia 30 Year Anniversary until Anh Minh flashed her cans in “Tinh Yeu Tuyet Voi.” I honestly didn’t see it coming, but it sure grabbed my attention, the voice that is. She sounded confidence in giving Anh Bang’s old tune a new rock flavor. Rock on, girl!

Our good friend (a next-door neighbor in Viet Nam) who lives in Philly has a teenage son. Her son dropped out of middle school because he was getting jumped by black kids either from his way to school or home. Philadelphia Weekly finally picks up on this heartrending story with similar situations:

Dozens of the alleged incidents are relatively minor—name-calling, verbal threats, petty robberies, random punches in the head while walking down stairwells, and general intimidation. But according to Chen, at least six times last school year those minor incidents escalated into massive rumbles where outnumbered Asian students were pummeled by packs of teens, sending several of the victims to hospitals. Like the day last October when a group of around 30 kids allegedly attacked five Chinese students after school in the Snyder Avenue subway station, one block from school. That incident started when a black student walked up to a Chinese kid in the cafeteria, touched his hair and allegedly threw a carton of milk at him. Rumors of threats filtered through the school on the day after the subway rumble, and the notion of continued violence froze Asian students. 


Little Eric got beat up two days since he started school this week. I am worried about him.

I signed the petition to stop the violence and help save Bat Nha Monastary, which is under severe governmental pressure to be abandoned. Find out more info at the Petition Site, sign and spread the word.

Last week Dana and I had determined that we would spend our Saturday working on our retaining wall, a project has been pushed off for way too long. Saturday morning, we went to Hai Ky Mi Gia for a savory breakfast before we work on the project. We did a bit of grocery shopping at Eden and a farmer market near by our house then headed home. It was time to feed Cu Dao. Then we dropped him off at her sister’s house so her mother could babysit him.

Her mother made lunch and invited us to join them before heading to Home Depot. While having lunch, we realized that we didn’t measure the space. We went back to do the measurement so we could get the right amount of bricks. We hopped on YouTube to see how to build the retaining wall.

Now we are ready to head to Home Depot to get the bricks. We would need about 100 pieces so we were thinking of renting a truck. We drove to Home Depot. Instead of making a left turn to Home Depot, we made a right turn into the Korean supermarket. Dana ran in and checked to see if it has what we had been waiting for. A minute later, my phone rang and she said, yes, park the car and come in. Half an hour later we walked out with two big-ass jackfruits about 20 pounds each and the rain started to pour. We looked at each other and knew exactly what each other was thinking. Without a word, we laughed and drove home. We enjoyed the jackfruits. I also made a banging bap xao tom kho for dinner.