Our last ski season had turned me into a skiing fanatic. I wrote down my experiences on each trip we took, but I wanted to have a quick roundup of the resorts we had skied in. I’ll update it if our list grow in the future,

Attitash Mountain Resort

★★★★☆

Located in Bartlett, New Hampshire, Attitash has two mountains: Attitash and Bear Peak. Unfortunately, we didn’t venture out far since it was our first ski trip after two years on hiatus. We spent three days on Inside Out, which was the green trail near the learning area. It was definitely a great learning experience, but we need to come back to explore the advanced parts of the mountains. Attitash has a small learning area, which is not recommended for beginners.

Liberty Mountain Resort

★★★★☆

Located in Fairfield, Pennsylvania, Liberty is a nice little resort. Since it is only an hour and a half away from our home, our family skied here on weekends. It has a decent bunny slope for beginners as well as steep and mogul slopes for more advanced skiers. My favorites are the double-black diamonds: Upper Ultra, Upper Eastwind, and Upper Strata. I also like the blue Lower Eastwind to work on my mogul skills.

Mount Snow Resort

★★★★☆

Located in Dover, Windham County, Vermont, Mount Snow is a big resort. I took Vương on the Long John, which is a green trail, and we spent almost an hour on there. Skiing with a harness strapped on a three years old was not easy. We fell a couple of times and my feet hurt from plowing to slow him down. I went with Đạo, Đán, and Xuân on the black trails and we had fantastic runs. I wouldn’t mind going back to Mount Snow if it would not be too crowded. It has a huge learning area, which is great for beginners.

Okemo Mountain Resort

★★★★☆

Located in Ludlow, Vermont, Okemo is is huge resort. We went to Okemo when Đạo, Đán, Xuân, and I were already skied double-black-diamond trails at Liberty and Roundtop; therefore, we could take on most of the trails. What we loved about Okemo was that the trails were so long. We skied from blacks to blues and it could take us 15 to 20 minutes to ski. The trails were also wide; therefore, we had plenty of room to turn and to maneuver our way down. We hit double-black diamonds including Big Bang and Rolling Thunder, but they seemed easier than Gunberrel at Roundtop and Upper Strata at Liberty. We will definitely come back to Okemo when we have a chance. Okemo has a long belt carpet and learning area, which are great for beginners.

Roundtop Mountain Resort

★★★★☆

Located in Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, Roundtop is fairly small. Since it is about two hours from home, our family skied here on weekends. Its learning area is tiny. I wouldn’t recommend it for beginners. It has two double-black diamonds: Upper Ramrod and Upper Gunbarrel. Upper Gunbarrel is my personal favorite. Its moguls used to intimidate me, but I found them fun after learning my way around them. In my experience, once you’ve mastered the Upper Gunbarrel slope, you can ski anywhere. Though I haven’t been to double-black diamonds on bigger resorts.

Whitetail Mountain Resort

★★★☆☆

Located in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, Whitetail is a bit bigger than Liberty and Roundtop. Since it is only an hour and a half away from our home, my family skied here on weekends. It has a sizable learning area, which is great for beginners. After my first skiing lesson, I went on Park Place, which is a blue trail, and skied straight down. Needless to say, I was falling like crazy. My personal favorite is the double-black Bold Decision. I also enjoyed the black-mogul Exhibition.

Wildcat Mountain Resort

★★★★☆

Located in Gorham, New Hampshire, Wildcat seems to be an adventurous ski resort. Unfortunately, we didn’t venture out too far. We stayed mostly on Snowcat, which is a green trail near the learning area, since we just returned to skiing after two years on hiatus. Wildcat has a tiny carpet belt. I wouldn’t recommend for beginners. We definitely need to go back to Wildcat to explore the rest of the mountain.

Simplexpression, the website for my wife’s tiny jewelry design studio, gets a refresh. The goal for the update was to replace the typeface. Previously, the site was set in Mrs Eaves, designed by Zuzana Licko. While I always love Mrs Eaves, I don’t want to be depended on Adobe Fonts to serve the font files. I would like the font files to be on the same server.

Warbler, designed by David Jonathan Ross, is a perfect replacement. Warbler is beautiful and elegant. In addition, it is designed for digital screens. Since Simplexpression doesn’t have much text, I only use the beta version of the variable font to take the advantage of optical sizes for text as well as headings. The new logo is also set in Warbler. If you look closely at the logo, you might able to spot the subtle play on optical sizes.

The detail pages were redesigned using CSS Grid to align the photos side-by-side on large screens. In addition, dark mode was added to match the users’ system preference. Take a look and see if you find something you like.

Before I started rollerblading two years ago, I didn’t even know that parks for skaters existed. Once I discovered one after another, my world opened up a whole new level. Nowadays, skateparks seem to be everywhere. Like a kid searching for his next playground, I always googled for a nearby skatepark when I traveled to new places. I used to take my kids with me to discover a new skatepark, but they had lost interest in rollerblading. I adventured out on my own instead.

Wherever I went, I always found the skateboard community to be welcoming and encouraging. Most of the time, I was on my own because I was the odd one out. In occasions, there would be one or two aggressive skaters. For the most part, however, I had always been the only old-ass rollerblader with a helmet and full protective gears. As much as I love skateparks, the fear is real. Dropping into a deep bowl could be quite dangerous. I fell a few times. The helmet, which cracked, saved my head. The knee, hand, and elbow guards saved my body. One time I fell on my butt and I was in pain for weeks. Another time, I twisted my right knee and that took weeks to heal.

These days, I am more cautious at the skateparks, especially the ones that I discover for the first time. I would study the ramps and the bowls first before diving in. Age is definitely a factor and I can’t take the risks. I still have responsibilities, but I love to add a bit of danger into my life. I am always fully-guarded just in case.

I am putting together a list of the skateparks I have visited so far. I might go back and add more in the future, but here’s the list:

Albert I Allen Memorial Skatepark

★★★☆☆

Located in Wildwood, New Jersey, Albert I Allen Memorial Skatepark has decent snake zones with bowls to drop in. I skated here every morning when we stayed in Wildwood for vacation. I am looking forward to going back this summer.

Fort Belvoir Skatepark

★☆☆☆☆

Located in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, this skatepark is small, which is good for beginners. Advanced skaters might get bored.

Herndon’s Skatepark

★☆☆☆☆

Located in Herndon, this skatepark is tiny, which might be good for beginners.

Lake Fairfax Skatepark

★★★★☆

Located in Reston, Virginia, Lake Fairfax Skatepark has a decent bowl and low ramps suitable for beginner and intermediate. It haas bright lights for late-night skating. My kids and I used to skate here quite a bit. They had lost interest though.

Lancaster County Skatepark

★★★☆☆

Located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, this skatepark is close to my sister’s house. It has a huge bowl and a snake zone. When mother was in the hospital in the last two weeks of her life, I came here every morning to clear my mind and to think about her. I cried and fell here by myself. This skatepark will always remind me of her.

Manassas Skatepark

★☆☆☆☆

Located in Manassas, this skatepark is very small.

Matt Hughes Skatepark

★★★☆☆

Located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Matt Hughes Skatepark has decent ramps and a half pipe for intermediate skaters. I skated here in the afternoons when we stayed in Myrtle Beach last summer for vacation. It was not bad.

Nags Head City Skatepark

★★★☆☆

Located in Nags Head, North Carolina, this skatepark has deep bowls as well as snake zones. It is geared toward intermediate and advanced skaters. When I visited it recently, which was a few weeks ago during our spring break vacation, the wooden ramps were not in good shapes. It needs some maintenance. My kids and I only skated here one time.

Overlook Skatepark

★★★☆☆

Located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Overlook Skatepark has ramps only. At the time, I could only skated around the park and small ramps. I’ll revisit it in the future to see how far I have come.

Powhatan Springs Skatepark

★★★★☆

Located in Arlington, Virginia, Powhatan Springs Skatepark has two bowls and a snake zone. I usually dropped in from the bowl of the snake zone. I tried the deep end of the smaller bowl and fell on my ass. I was in pain for weeks. I have conquered the smaller bowl, but I have not attempted the large bowl. I go to this skatepark about three times a week during my lunch break at work. It’s my afternoon exercise away from the screen.

Rodanthe Skatepark

★☆☆☆☆

Located in Rodanthe, North Carolina, this skatepark is small, but has high curved ramps to ride up only. It doesn’t have the top copping to drop down. I couldn’t do much here, but the playground nearby is very nice. The kids loved the playground. We biked here every morning on our recent spring break vacation. The kids hit the playground and I hit the skatepark.

Schuyler Hamilton Jones Skatepark

★★★☆☆

Located in Alexandria, Virginia, Schuyler Hamilton Jones Skatepark has straight and curve ramps. They are high enough to drop in and skate around. My kids and I used to go here on occasions. They used to love it. Even Xuân liked riding his scooter here. Now they are no longer interested.

Scott D. Eagles Skatepark

★★★★☆
Located in Woodbridge, Virginia, Scott D. Eagles Skatepark has the highest half pipe I had seen yet. It also has a steep bowl. The only area I could skate was the street course.

Shaw Skatepark

★★★☆☆

Located in Washington, DC, I only went here a few times during my lunch break. It has a small bowl and a few ramps. It was usually a bit crowed when I went there during lunch hour. I don’t mind skating here once in a while.

Van Dyck Skatepark

★★★☆☆

Located in Fairfax City, Van Dyck Skatepark is perfect for beginners. I learned to skate down straight ramps, curved ramps, and quarter pipe in this skatepark. This is also where I twisted my knee trying to ride the quarter pipe. I still go to this skatepark whenever I can because it is the closest to my house. My kids used to join me in this skatepark. These days, they rather go to the playground areas.

Wakefield Skatepark

★★★★☆

Located in Annandale, Virginia, Wakefield Skatepark is a step-up from Van Dyck Skatepark. It has three areas from beginner to intermediate to advance. I started off at beginner then moved to intermediate. I never thought I would ever go near the advance area. One morning I decided to drop in from the highest curved ramp in the park and hit my head on the concrete. I was blacked out for a minute. The helmet cracked, but I survived. If I didn’t have my helmet, I would have been in trouble. These days, I have conquered my fear and dropped in from that highest ramp. Wakefield is a bit further from my house, but I go here whenever I could. My kids used to join me here, but they don’t like going to this skatepark anymore.

Walker Mill Skatepark

★★★☆☆

Located in Walker Mill, Maryland, this skatepark has a nice variety of ramps and a bowl. I only skated here once since it is about 45 minutes away. My sons liked it, especially Đán when he was on top of of his game.

I didn’t hit the ice rink for almost two weeks. I returned in the past three days to learn the loop jump. I am still struggling with the landing. I kept losing balance and had to put my free leg down. It’s quite a challenge, but I have confidence that I will be able to make it. I just need more time to practice. My only focus now is to nail the loop jump.

For rollerblading, I am practicing the power stop on both my left and right sides. I want to be able to stop at a faster speed. My T-stops aren’t so good either. I need to work on those as well. I also need to pump higher to get myself on top of the half pipe. Dropping in is the only skill that I am getting good at, and yet I haven’t had the confidence to drop in from a steep bowl. I just can’t afford the risk at this age.

Đạo and Đán had completely lost confidence in dropping in. After Đán fell off a high ramp and had a few scratches on his arms and legs, he doesn’t want to go near it again. Đạo is just too intimidated because he hadn’t skated much in a while. Both of them aren’t interested in rollerblading anymore. They rather sit in front of the screen than skate outside. I miss having them at the skateparks with me. I just go alone these days. I am disappointed, but I don’t want to force them to do what they don’t want to do.

Last week, I listened to an interview with Ocean Vương on NPR and he shared that his mother gave him no pressure. She was not the typical Asian tiger mom. She let him do whatever he wanted to do as long as he was happy. If all failed, he could always work at the salon with her. She gave him the ultimate freedom to explore, but he insisted that it was to serve her, not him.

Vương’s story gave me a pause and made me wonder if I have been too hard on my boys. Should I give them the same freedom Vương’s mom gave to him? If I do that, they would just fry their brains in front of the screens and not do much else. I don’t want them to serve me. I just want them to serve themselves. I don’t think Vương’s mom wanted her son to serve her either. He just took it that way.

Of course I wanted my sons to be happy and success is the key to their happiness. My role as a father is to guide them in the right direction. I don’t need to take the credits for raising them well. I don’t care if people would criticize me for my parenting failure. When I was younger, I cared too much about how people perceived me. I was sad and even depressed when I heard people talk shit about me. I worried words would get to my mother. As I was going through my mother’s belongings after she passed, I came across old letters my family members had written to my mother to advise her not to be down about my failures. I don’t know if she took it to heart or not because she never told me. My mother never said to my face, but there were rare moments she revealed that she was proud of me. That was all that mattered.

I had a mild case of gout flare last week. Luckily, I dodged the attack. Let’s back up a bit to see how I got here.

Since my last gout attack, which was over a year ago, I went back to my normal dietary with the exception of consuming beef. I also drank moderately like a bottle of beer or a glass of wine a day. In the past few months, I have been hooked on Twelve5’s Rebel hard coffee, which is coffee with a bit of alcohol. I replaced my morning coffee with my afternoon hard coffee.

Last week, while on vacation, I increased to two cans of hard coffee and a beer or two a day. Last Wednesday, we went to a Thai restaurant for lunch and I ordered a sunrise, which had tequila. In the evening I grilled burgers my wife prepared, but I wisely declined to have one even though I really wanted one. I just asked my wife to let me two bites of hers. Nevertheless, I felt a bit of a pain on the joint of my right foot at night. I knew it was coming. I checked my backpack and the only medication I had was a bottle of expired ibuprofen. I took one pill immediate and it seemed to ease the pain.

Thursday morning, I took another pill and went rollerblading with the kids. I still felt fine to skate. I stopped drinking alcohol. My wife advised me to get a bottle of Aleve. I drove to the the nearby drugstore and grabbed a small bottle. I took two Aleve pills in the afternoon and the pain in my joint subsided. I took another one before heading to bed and ended up with a bit of a stomach upset during the night. On Friday, I took another one in the morning and another one in early evening. The pain was gone. I stopped the pills.

I haven’t had a drink since then. I am so glad that I didn’t have to be out of commission for three or four days, which would cause me to miss ice skating or rollerblading. I am not so sure if apple cider vinegar would work. My internist said it has not been proven. I am just going to stick with Aleve when I get an attack. Aleve could harm my organ system; therefore, I would only take it when I needed to.

I thought this book would be a short and sweet read, but I struggled through it. I plowed through and understood only thirty percent of it. It’s definitely my own shortcomings as a reader.

I must admit. As I was reading this book, my mind was drifting off elsewhere; therefore, I got lost half way through, but I kept reading because I didn’t want to give up. After finishing it the first time, I didn’t get much out of it. I decided to start over from the beginning and to read slowly.

Deborah Levy’s Real Estate turned out to be lyrical and beautiful and I enjoyed it the second time around. Levy writes about her single life at sixty. She and her husband had divorced and her daughters had moved out of her house. In addition to places she was dreaming of, she was searching for characters, the female characters in particular. I love the following passage about estate and language:

None of this real estate belonged to me, but I felt I belonged to it.

I wrote every day in its long, timbered attic and finally acknowledged I did not have a tranquil relationship with language because I am in love with it. I asked myself, what sort of love? Language is a building site. It is always in the process of being constructed and repaired. It can fall apart and be made again.

I definitely recommend reading it slowly for pleasure. It is indeed short and sweet.

After two years of working from home, I finally put together an official office in my bedroom. During the pandemic, I just plopped my MacBook Pro on my ironing board, sat on a high stool, and worked. Last year, I broke the ironing board. I replaced the ironing board with a small glass table and the high stool with an Ikea’s stepping stool. I didn’t want to take up my entire bedroom with office desk and chair since I only work two days a week at home. I also want my bedroom to have as much space as possible.

Last week, my wife bought a used kitchen cabinet to replace another cabinet that looks like a table. The shorter sides of the the cabinet were narrow and the height is just right for a tall stool. I brought it up to my bed it flushed it right next to the dresser. Then I setup the Panasonic Home Sound System my next-door neighbor threw away last year before he moved.

I am using the sound system to play music and I am surprised how good it sounds. I like a bit of background music while I work and I also wanted some soothing jazz when I sleep. I have been listening to Bill Evan’s solo piano albums at a low volume at night. I was actually looking for a used CD player to play my CD collection and the sound system was just perfect.

I am now loving my simple office.

I had always been attracted to French romantic ballads. The melodies were beautiful and French was exotic, but I never paid much attention due to the language barrier. I only began to appreciate French ballads more when I started listening to Dalena and Don Hồ’s Oh My Sweet Love in Vietnamese and English.

I didn’t (and still don’t) know who translated the lyrics into Vietnamese (no credit was given in the album sleeve), but I loved Dalena’s English translations. Musically, Dalena and Don Hồ were a perfect match. His smoky baritone harmonized with her sweet alto. They both sang in choir before becoming solo singers; therefore, they complemented and backed up each other like two lovely doves.

The opening duet track is an example of their wonderful collaboration. They covered Christophe’s classic “Main Dans La Main” and Dalena translated his lyrics as “Hand in Hand.” I transcribed her English version here:

I’ll love you and forever I’ll love you
You’ll always my first true love
My tenderness, my delight, and my pain
I possess you inside my heart

Someday we will be
Together you and me
Hand in hand will be ever in love
It’s so good to find
Love like yours and mine
Hand in hand through time ever in love

Her translation was so simple yet so sweet. Without knowing French, I assumed that she stayed as faithful to the original context as possible. Don Hồ followed up with a rock ballad “My Love Please Be Happy,” which was a translation from Art Sullivan’s “Adieu Sois Heureuse.” I still know the lyrics to these tunes by heart because I used to transcribe them to learn English and to sing along. Here is Dalena’s translation:

You, who had never wanted me
You, never took a chance to trust me
You, would not open your heart
You, always kept us apart

You, never tried to understand me
You, never interested in waiting
You, passed by without a glance
You, never gave us a chance

Goodbye, please be happy
Goodbye, I send you sadly
To the one that I see
Your heart chosen not to be

Goodbye, please be happy
Goodbye, and go with blessing
To the one that today
Soon will take far away

When I tried to google these songs to see if I can find her translations online, but I could not find any. I went back and transcribed them again so I could keep them here. It was a quick task because I still remember most of the songs. Here is “Oh My Sweet Love,” Dalena’s translation of Christophe’s “Oh Mon Amour”:

My love had eyes that see the sea
Through torrential rain falling fast
He lost a dream to cotton clouds
That hear him crying as they pass
The day and hour far beyond
Nothing but tears possessed his heart
The tears I caused

Oh my sweet love, please hear me now
Life waits for you to live somehow
Don’t be afraid somehow you must know
I am here to stay, I’ll never go
I’ll give to you all of my heart
All of my love, all of my life

Her lyrics were so straightforward that even with my limited English back then I could still understand the words. But there are some words that I still could not make out even today. In “Love is a Story of Love,” a translation from “La Vie C’est Une Histoire D’amour,” by Christophe, I could not figure out some of the words; therefore, I put brackets around them. She performed this song solo:

In spite of what you may be thinking
I tell you now that my heart is broken
For when you left the night decided never to end
Life for me had just begun when
You took your love and walk away, and
If there is a happy ending
On you it depends

But this is life, it’s the story of love
I love you, I need you forever
Yes, this is life, it’s the story of love
I love you, I need you and ever

As you turn to go away now
Remember this my dying day, how
You took my heart and [like] a way out
Left me for [dead]
You kiss goodbye so freely given
My love so easily abandoned
Though I really don’t understand [why]
Here what you said:

That life is a story of love
I love you, I need you forever
Yes, this is life, it’s the story of love
I love you, I need you and ever

“Tombe La Neige” by Salvatore Adamo is one of my personal favorite French ballads. I have heard countless Vietnamese singers covering this tune, but Dalena’s version still stands out from the rest. The rumba rhythm was just beautiful and her singing was so heartbreaking. I loved her English translation, “Days of Winter”:

I watch the snow fall
It brings memories of you
Our days of winter
Were the happiest we knew

Days we spent together
I thought we’d last forever
Fireside kisses linger
Sparking promise on my finger

Now I sit and watch the snow
I have nowhere else to go
While cold and lonely seeming
I’ve found happiness in dreaming.

I re-listened to this album and it brought so much memories. Don Hồ used to sing with ease and effortlessness. These days, he over enunciates every word, which makes his singing unlistenable at times. At least he is still an active singer. Dalena had already bowed out.

Đán has been obsessed with Flash. He spends most of his screen time finding ways to install Flash Player on his PC. He explained to me step by step the process of getting Flash to run. He showed me newgrounds.com, which still has Flash games. I haven’t visited that site in 20 years. He even showed me the Flash Browser, which is still in beta. I don’t know if it will ever gain traction.

Even though I repeatedly informed that Flash is dead and unsecured, he kept digging in. I feel bad that he’s just wasting his time, but he feels passionate about it. I don’t want him to end up like I did. I wasted so much time learning Flash in college and I ended up ditching it. All I cared about was making cool Flash animation. I thought I would get paid just creating Flash intros. I was so dead wrong. The reality started sinking in when I could not find a job doing Flash. In addition, I had a Flash burn. I was creating the same thing over and over again and I failed to learn Flash scripting language. I was depressed and thought of quitting web design altogether. I could not do anything else besides Flash, but I also hit the crossroads on my Flash path.

I dropped Flash and hit the reset button. I transitioned over to HTML and focused on web standards. CSS rescued my career. HTML for structure and CSS for presentation made so much sense. They opened up a whole new web design world for me that I didn’t know existed. I was stuck in the Flash bubble for so long. Once I discovered HTML, CSS, and a bit of PHP, I never looked back. They aren’t as sexy and as cool as Flash, but they are accessible and outlived Flash. HTML and CSS are the backbone of the web. Flash came and went. Fancy JavaScript frameworks dominated and faded. HTML and CSS are here to stay.

I still love creating pure HTML and CSS sites because I know they will work for years to come. My fancy Flash creations are completely useless, but my HTML and CSS sites are still usable. If Đán wants to learn about the web, he should learn HTML and CSS. I’ll teach him if he’s willing to learn. In the meantime, I just let him explore on his own. He’s just nine years old. He has plenty of time to learn.

The first time I heard “Oriental Boy,” the lead-off track from Dalena’s Something New recorded for Hải Âu Productions, my reaction was, “WTF, Dalena?” From the stereotypical Oriental riff to the appalling lyrics, I was shocked that she recorded this song. The rap shit was just cringe-worthy:

Karate chop my heart away
Oriental boy, please stay
I’ve seen the east, I’ve seen the west
I can’t decide who I like best
Rock and egg roll chopstick beat
He’s the boy who is so sweet
I’ve seen the east, I’ve seen the west
Now I know who I like best
It’s you, my Oriental boy.

Did Dalena come down with an Asian fever? Did Hải u make her record this horrendous track? Did she write the awful lyrics? Fortunately, it was a cover of a band called The Flirts; therefore, she didn’t write the words. The rest of the album was back to the real Dalena covering pop ballads with her English lyrics. One outstanding track, in particular, is Christophe’s breakup ballad, “Je Suis Parti.” I wouldn’t understand French, but her English translation was clear:

I’m leaving you without regret
Oh the story of love, the time will not forget
I have nothing left. I have nothing left
This song is all. Your song is all.

She croons like a bird with a broken wing. She even breaks down in tears, but stays level-headed. She is leaving his sorry ass with no regret at all because she is done with him like Kim is done with Kanye. That’s my impression anyway.

As for arrangements, Quang Nhật was a decent producer who had created the distinctive style for Hải Âu just like Trúc Hồ had created a unique sound for Asia. It was a loss for the Vietnamese-American music scene when Hải u shut down its production.

I am glad that she tried “Something New” with just one track. So skip the first track and enjoy the rest of the album.