Fuck politics. Nothing will change. It doesn’t matter if you’re left or right. Senate seats have been bought and sold. White men had decided the fate of this country for hundreds of years. The orange sore loser announced his candidacy again. Fuck him.

Fuck social media. I have no plans to join another social network. If Twitter goes down, I will be out. I didn’t even realize that I have almost 600 Twitter followers and I don’t even tweet much. I tweeted mostly about Vietnamese typography. I should stop using Facebook. I still share rollerblading videos and photos of my kids even though my mother has gone. I still haven’t pulled the plug because I still want to keep in touch with relatives. As for LinkedIn, I tried posting work-related articles, but they hadn’t shown any benefits. I just leave it alone.

My focus is on this blog. It is still a space for me to write whatever I want. I still am responsible for what I say, but I don’t give a fuck. I pissed off so many people already and I don’t even know who read this site anymore. I don’t have any particular audience in mind. I just post whatever I feel like sharing. The adrenaline rush I get from just writing is so damn satisfying.

I am just trying to have some fun and to get my mind of other things in life. My work isn’t like what it used to be. I just want to get paid to feed my family. I don’t want to think about it too much. Push comes to shove, I’ll just deal with it when the time comes. I miss my old boss. I miss the trust and the independence. I had a good run. I can’t complain.

When MODX 3.0 released in April this year, I couldn’t make the upgrade from 2.8.3 for the Law School site because Extras including getResource and Article weren’t compatible. I had to waited out. When MODX 3.0.2 came out yesterday, I ran another test upgrade this morning and I was able to upgrade from 2.8.4 to 3.0.2 successfully. I come across an issue with the log-in page, but it’s just the display. It looks like the CSS file is missing.The new MODX interface will need a bit of time to get used to, but I am so glad that we stay with this CMS. It rocks!

My rollerblading progress has become stagnant. Even with the best protective gears and a helmet, I am no longer taking any risks to advance my skills. The newly renovated Wakefield skatepark is wicked, but I can’t do much. The ramps and bowl are more intimidating than fun. Somehow I am getting more fearful of getting hurt than when I first started. Dropping into the bowl seems so much scarier than before. I am doomed.

Last week, I met Eddie Chung who has a YouTube channel on rollerblading. Watching him flying through the ramps with effortlessness made me even more hesitant to skate. Eddie is a cool dude though. We had a nice conversation. I am not done with blading yet. I just need to find something to work on.

On the other hand, I am looking forward to skiing again soon. I have prepared and tuned up all the equipment for everyone. Xuân and I will ski and snowboard. I will try to learn snowboarding again, but on my own this time. I am confident that I will get it. If not, I will just focus on skiing.

I haven’t been to an ice rink in a while. I am taking a break from ice skating.

When I was lonely, I thought of death.
When I thought of death I was lonely.

I suppose this error will continue.
I shall enter each gray morning

Delighted by frost, which is death,
& the trees that stand alone in mist.

When I met my wife I was lonely.
Our child in her body is lonely.

I suppose this error will go on & on.
Morning I kiss my wife’s cold lips,

Nights her body, dripping with mist.
This is the error that fascinates.

I suppose you are secretly lonely,
Thinking of death, thinking of love.

I’d like, please, to leave on your sill
Just one cold flower, whose beauty

Would leave you inconsolable all day.
The secret of poetry is cruelty.

Jon Anderson

Đạo has been invited to join the Robinson chapter of the National Junior Honor Society. Being part of the NJHS membership is an honor. He has to keep his GPA at 3.5 and above. I am proud of his achievement and his mom has also played an important role in his accomplishment. She constantly had to remind him to complete his assignments and study for his tests.

Grace Li’s debut novel revolves around five Chinese-American ivy-league students who were willing to risk their future to rob museums around the world. In addition to the 50-million-dollar reward, their mission was to return the fountainheads back to China. Even though Li’s writing was concise and easy to follow, this book took me a month to finish. My heart was not in the heist story; therefore, I took a passive approach. Nevertheless, it was a good read on the Chinese-American experience. I passed it on to my oldest son,

By the way, Li’s résumé is quite impressive:

Grace D. Li grew up in Pearland, Texas, and is a graduate of Duke University, where she studied biology and creative writing. She lives in Northern California and attends medical school at Stanford University. Portrait of a Thief is her debut novel and is currently in development at Netflix, with Grace serving as an executive producer of the series.

You choose
the flowers
without petals.
The vase
with
murky waves.
You started
to explain
and then
stopped.

Ben Niespodziany

Hôm nay ngày sinh nhật lần thứ 80 của mẹ vợ tôi. Mẹ đã chung sống cùng vợ chồng tôi từ lúc vợ tôi mang thai thằng Đạo cho đến ngày hôm nay. Tôi luôn ghi nhớ sự giúp đỡ của mẹ cũng như tình thương bao la của mẹ dành cho các cháu.

Trong các dâu và rể, tôi may mắn được gần mẹ nhất vì đã sống chung nhà suốt mười mấy năm qua. Tôi luôn kính trọng mẹ và càng quý mến mẹ hơn sau khi mẹ ruột của tôi qua đời. Tôi luôn cố gắng không làm phật lòng mẹ cho dù đó là điều rất khó. Khi đã sống chung cùng một nhà, những thói hư tật xấu gì của tôi cũng không thể nào che giấu được.

Trong cuộc sống, càng nhiều áp lực càng dễ dàng không tự kiểm soát được chính mình. Khuyết điểm lớn nhất của tôi là không tự kiềm chế được những cảm xúc của mình. Vì thế tôi không có bạn bè thân thiết (ngoài bạn nhậu) và đã khiến cho những người thân xung quanh tôi càng xa lánh. Dĩ nhiên tôi phải chấp nhận mọi hậu quả và sẽ sống mãi với gì mình đã gây ra.

Tôi không phải là một con người trọn vẹn và cho dù có cố gắng cách mấy cũng không thể nào trở thành hoàn hảo. Tôi sống và ôm trọn sai lầm của chính mình. Tôi hối hận là những hành động thiếu suy nghĩ của tôi đã ảnh hưởng đến mẹ và đã khiến cho mẹ buồn. Dù sao đi nữa nước đã đổ ra rồi không còn hứng lại được nữa chỉ hy vọng nước sẽ khô đi theo thời gian.

Tôi biết mẹ không trách móc tôi vì mẹ có một tấm lòng độ lượng và tha thứ. Điều đó càng khiến tôi áy náy và cảm phục mẹ. Điều duy nhất tôi có thể làm là không khiến cho mẹ phải khó xử nữa. Xin chúc mẹ dồi dào sức khỏe để được ở bên cạnh con cháu.

As the winter approaching, we will be traveling to ski resorts; therefore, I wanted to make sure our 2018 Toyota Sienna SE will be in good condition. We have been driving it for almost 50,000 miles and we haven’t done anything other than changing oil and tires. I took it to Khang Auto for the following services:

• Front & rear brake pads
• Transmission fluid
• Brake fluid
• Air filter & cabin filter

Total cost: $540

This was the first time I used Khang Auto. He’s a nice Vietnamese fellow and his price was reasonable. I will definitely come back again.

Insult is injury
taken personally,
saying, This is not
a random fracture
that would have happened
to any leg out there;
this was a conscious unkindness.
We need insult to remind us
that we aren’t always just hurt,
that there are some sources—
even in the self—parts of which
tread on other parts with such boldness
that we must say, You must stop this.

Kay Ryan