In his book of poetry collection, Spring Rain, Tâm Minh translated 50 classic works from poets including William Henry Davies, William Butler Yeats, Robert Frost, Christina Rossetti, and Thomas Hardy. I chose a few pieces that dealt with life and death to create a sample page for Vietnamese Typography. For typesetting, I chose Loretta, designed by Abel Martins and Joana Correia, for text, Mea Culpa, designed by Robert Leuschke, for titles, and Albula Pro, designed by Silvio Meier, for authors. Take a look.

As the man in the house, I am responsible for my family’s livelihood. As a result, I am constantly worried about every little thing and it has increasingly become an emotional stress for me. Even though I know everything will be fine, I still put my mind into stress cases.

When we drove 14 hours from Virginia to New Hampshire and back, I constantly worried that the cargo carrier on top of our minivan would pop open. All of our skis and helmets would fly out and would cause massive collisions, or worse, would kill other people. I slowed down my speed and prayed that we would make it to our destinations safely. Even though we had never experienced anything like that all these time we had traveled, and yet, the worry never left my mind.

As we were driving home last Sunday from skiing, my wife called and asked if I closed the outdoor faucet because she couldn’t turn it and the hose was frozen. Although I knew I had shut off the water, I didn’t disconnect the hose. I became a nervous wreck during the drive home. Thankfully the rain washed away the snow and the temperature increased; therefore, I was able to disconnect the hose from the faucet with some warm water.

On Monday, I found some water on the cover of the toilet seat in our basement and we hardly used that bathroom. I looked up at the ceiling and spotted a small hole. I touched the ceiling and it was wet. I broke off the drywall and found the water running along the beam. I tore off more drywall to see where the leak was coming from. It seemed to start from the outside. I suspect when the snow melted, the water seeped into our foundation and entered our basement. A leaking foundation would be a nightmare and I became extremely worried. I checked the outside foundation, but didn’t find any cracks or holes. I looked up YouTube videos to see how I could seal the foundation.

Yesterday, I went back down to check the leak area and the water was dripping. This time, the water seemed to come directly from the top floor because there was no snow or rain outside. I went upstairs and the dishwasher was running. I looked at the bottom of the Whirlpool dishwasher and spotted water dripping. I placed a small plate underneath to catch the water. I searched up YouTube and found several videos that showed similar issues. The worn-out dishwasher diverter seal grommet caused the leak. My wife placed an order on Amazon and it will arrive tomorrow. I hope that is the only issue. We’ll see what will happen when I replace that piece.

On one hand, I am increasingly feeling more comfortable with fixing things around the house. We don’t need professionals for these small issues. I also understand that they have overheads to pay; therefore, they would charge an arm and leg for something like these. On the other hand, the increase of constant worries is not good for my mental health. I am afraid that I will get a nervous breakdown over things that are unnecessary. I am just hoping that I can hold myself together.

I am doing my best to leave all my worries behind and just deal with issues as they come. Life is too short to worry about mundane things. I hope that my sons will be a better handyman than their father or they will make enough money to hire professional services to take care of everything so I won’t have to worry anymore and just live a peaceful life. Until then, I am just going to be a nervous wreck.

Đán has been struggling with math and I wanted to help him, but I am not sure what methods they taught him in school. I taught him the methods of long multiplication and long division, which I learned when I was a kid in Vietnam. Although he didn’t pay much attention at the beginning, he seemed to catch on. He just needed some hints.

I also incorporated word problems into his math so he can practice his reading comprehension. I tried to come up with scenarios that would align with interests. Here’s an example:

Đán would like to buy a brand new PC, which costs $1,950. If he gets paid $50 each week to clean up the house, how many weeks does he need to work and to save up in order for him to buy his PC?

Then I went a bit complicated:

Our family went to Red Lobster to celebrate Đán’s birthday. Grandma ordered a dish of fish that cost $24. Mom and dad ordered steaks and shrimps, which cost $49, to share. Đạo, Đán, and Xuân ordered mac-and-cheese bowls, which cost $12 each. Đán, the birthday boy, ordered a whole lobster, which weighed in at 4.9 pounds. The lobster cost $15 a pound. Find the total cost for the food then add 20% gratitude for the service. What is the total of the final bill?

He didn’t seem to enjoy the math problem as much as the food, but at least he learned something.

My cousin, Duy, who was a snowboarding instructor, insisted that I should give snowboarding another shot. Yesterday, we went back to Roundtop to take some snowboarding lessons from him.

Đán had already mastered his snowboarding skills and he could do the black slope at Roundtop. Đạo, Xuân, and I were still new. Duy taught us to keep our knees bent and our body constant in a strong position. We just needed to turn our shoulders from left to right to turn. Unfortunately, it was more difficult and it sounded. I kept falling. Đạo and I didn’t make it too far before switching back to skiing. Xuân stuck to snowboarding and did quite well. He liked taking one-on-one lessons with Duy; therefore, I left them on the bunny slope and went on the black slope with Đán.

I loved the thrill of skiing down the black slopes. My parallel turns and hockey stops allowed me to navigate around the steep slopes and moguls. My next goal is to learn carvings. The kids will have a four-day weekend this week. I can’t wait to get back to skiing, which is my focus for now. I might get back to snowboarding one day, but not this season.

Yesterday, we went back to the Liberty resort for the second time. The first time we skied at Liberty was two years ago and we didn’t have Epic passes. We bought packages that included lift tickets, rentals, and group lessons. Đạo and Đán didn’t want to take their lessons; therefore, I used them. I took three lessons on the same day. The instructors knew me. One of them took me on the green terrain and I was scared. Now it feels so easy.

Today I spent half a day skiing with Vương. Using a harness, I took him on the ski lift. The harness also allowed me to help him turn. He enjoyed the “magic seat” as well as skiing with me. It took us almost two hour to stand in line for the lift. It was super crowded.

After Vương didn’t want to ski anymore, I went alone on the blue terrain. The single line moved much faster. I went down three times and it was time to go home. I tried carving and fell on the green slope. I guess I was leaning too far to the side. I need more practice.

Hơn 100 bài thơ qua hơn 100 tác giả viết về quê hương Việt Nam, viết về những địa danh từ Bắc, Trung và Nam, và viết về nỗi nhớ cùng nỗi đau của những tâm hồn tha hương. Tất cả những bài thơ được ông Nguyễn Hữu Lý phiên dịch sang tiếng Anh. Tôi có ý định sau khi đọc xong sẽ tuyển ra một số bài để làm một dự án mẫu đưa vào Vietnamese Typography nhưng tôi không mấy hài lòng về phần tiếng Anh từ cách viết đến ngữ pháp.

Last November, I received a misprinted copy of this little book. Although Oh No had provided me the PDF version, I didn’t read it until I received the corrected print copy. It’s a short book with lots of illustrations and funny explanations to give readers some insights into the world of type design. For type design students, the details and nuances of each letter will serve as an invaluable reference. For typographers, the structure of the letterforms will help them make better type selections. James Edmondson should continue with numbers, punctuations, and diacritics. Just make sure the copies printed correctly before sending them out.

I spent three sessions learning the salchow jump and I still haven’t nailed it. Although the salchow has not clicked, something else has. I went back to the power pulls and I was able to move on one foot for each leg. I have been working on and off on the power pulls for almost a year and they only started to make sense last night. I was so happy about that. I will continued to pull more to gain more power. I will take my time on the backward pulls.

I might switch to the toe loop jump before returning to the salchow. The toe loop jump looks a bit easier, but I am not so sure. Learning on my own is harder than I thought, but I am working at my own pace rather than having to keep up with my classmates. That was stressful about taking group lesson. I don’t want to be the only incompetent skater.

I can’t wait to get back to skiing this weekend. I discovered the carving technique and had been watching several videos on it. Instead of paralleling on my flat skis, I will use my edges by bending my knees and leaning from side to side. Carving will give me more control on steeper slopes. I can’t wait to try it out.

Byer is indeed a Big Beautiful Weirdo and she is damn proud of it. Nn her latest Netflix Special, she didn’t shy from revealing her sexual appetite, her perspective on Black Lives Matter, and her jokes on white women. She also shared her own drinking, eating, shitting, crying, and singing in an airport’s bathroom. She makes you wish that you have the same shameless confidence that she has.

Gaffigan’s Comedy Monster is a light-weight material filled with self-mockery such as ugly and fat jokes. I didn’t get to see his acting on stage because I was listening to his special while driving to work. These days, I just downloaded Netflix Comedy Special on my phone to listen during my commute. It helps getting to work faster and more pleasant. This one is not so bad.