I finally had a chance to catch up on this book from the defunct A Book Apart. It was published 8 years ago, but most of the information is still relevant because Laura kept the code to the minimal. I enjoyed getting some refresh on accessibility practices. Since the book was light, it was a good transition after reading a heavy novel.

The weather is getting warmer. In the morning, the snow was still soft at Liberty. I snowboarded for about an hour and a half. My legs got tired from trying to tilt my board on its edges. I switched to skiing. My feet were so heavy in my ski boots. I could only do one run and had to take them out to give my feet a massage. They felt fine after that, but the snow turned mushy. I almost fell on the double black. It was too hard to carve, even on ski. Nevertheless, I had some good runs.

I recalled Joon-ho Bong’s Parasite won some Oscars a few years ago. It definitely deserved all the accolades for such a dark, twisted work of art. From the outstanding storyline to the superb cast, this is one of the fucked-up Korean thrillers that I enjoyed. Just watch it if you haven’t.

Hôm nay lật lại quyển sổ tay nhìn thấy những chữ chính tay tôi đã viết: “Thiếu má $28,925”. Đó là tổng số tiền phí đại học tôi đã mượn mẹ. Năm 1997, tôi học ở La Salle University với học phí khoảng $25,000 một năm. Sau tiền học bổng, mỗi năm tôi phải đóng khoảng $7,000. Hai năm đầu, tôi vay nhà nước và ngân hàng. Hai năm sau, tôi vay mẹ. Sau bốn năm, tôi mượn thêm mẹ để trả hết nợ cho nhà nước và ngân hàng. Tôi hứa sẽ trả góp cho mẹ.

Tôi ra trường năm 2001 không tìm được việc. Đến một năm sau tôi mới bắt đầu có công việc chính thức. Việc đầu tiên tôi làm là mở một tài khoản riêng của mẹ và mỗi tháng tiền lương của tôi đưa thẳng vào tài khoản $500. Tôi nói với mẹ, “Má cần tiền thì cứ nói với con nhé”. Mẹ “ừ” nhưng chẳng bao giờ bảo tôi rút tiền. Sau 5 năm tôi trả hết số nợ.

Một trong những ảnh hưởng lớn nhất của mẹ với tôi là cách xử lý tiền bạc. Mẹ dạy tôi rằng, “Có vay có trả.” Mẹ xài tiền của mình kiếm được bằng mồ hôi nước mắt và không bao giờ dùng tiền người khác. Mẹ đã sống rất đúng với câu: “Nghèo cho sạch, rách cho thơm”.

To distract my ears from political podcasts, I tuned into jazz. The Bad Plus’ Complex Emotions is a fantastic distraction. With “French Horns,” the group returns to its funk-jazz vibe, but also expands with rock guitar and fast saxophone. True to his name, Chris Speed blazes his sax solo with such furious speed. Ben Monder sets quiet fire on his guitar. “Casa Ben” kicks off with Reid Anderson’s hypnotic bass and Dave King’s crips drums. Speed joins in with sweet melodic intro. The star is Monder who plays some organic, futurist vibes with such an incredible feedbacks. The whole album is a wonderful treat.

I left my house at 5:30 am and arrived at Whitetail around 7:15 am. I made it to the morning ski clinic. I always loved these clinics. We worked on putting pressure on outside foot.

I went to the line up at 10:00 am. I didn’t get any class. I went to snowboard clinic to learn buttering. It was not my thing. Luckily the training was about 45 minutes. I went riding afterward. I need to relearn to snowboard with my body closed. I have been carving with opening position, which my lead instructor doesn’t like. He didn’t give me any level two class because of that. I am cool with that.

I went back to the line up at 1:00 pm. I didn’t get any class either, which I was glad. I switched to my ski boots and went to the back side. The trails were getting slushy. I didn’t enjoy it too much. I left the resort around 2:30 pm. I was exhausted. Damn, I am getting old.

In the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting, JD Vance killed two birds with one stone. He berated President Zelenskyy and kissed Trump’s ass at the same time. Trump was so flattered that he just played along with his VP. Vance showed the entire world that he had a seat at the table, a real power, and a fucking presidential puppet to back him up. Trump was talking a lot of bullshit, but his VP had a viciousness in his tone. Now that’s an authoritarian in the making and a danger to our democracy.

Today the whole family left the house at 7:00 am so I could make it to the morning line up. We arrived around 8:45 am. I went to the 10:00 am lone up and took a group a lesson. I taught two ladies.

At first, one of them didn’t think she could learn snowboarding. I encouraged her to give it as try. We took it as easy as possible. They turned out to be snowboarding really well. They followed my instructions and made great progress. I was surprised how they could do J turns.

One of the students also signed up for a private lesson and she wanted me to teach her, but her lesson had already been assigned.

I ended up not taking any lesson for the 1:00 pm line up. I went riding by myself a bit then with my wife and then with the kids.

We left the resort around 4:00 pm. It was perfect timing. I’ll be back tomorrow by myself to teach.

I am feeling sick and ashamed watching two fucking American assholes berating a man who is defending his country. America is trying to make a fucking deal with a country that is fighting for its democracy. America cares more about money than democracy. I am so sorry, President Zelenskyy and Ukrainians. The orangutan and his fucking flying monkey do not represent America. They are a damn shame to America. We stand with Ukraine.

Of course I have nothing but love for my four boys, but I sympathize with Xuân. It doesn’t mean that I am favoring him. I just know all my kids strengths and weaknesses.

Without a doubt, Xuân is physically strong. He’s athletic. He’s the only one in the family who competes in swimming. He has no fear riding the scooter at the skateparks. He is a hell of a skier. He makes tremendous progress on snowboarding this season. He eats well and grows fast.

In contrast to his strong physical, his emotion is weak. He lets people’s words get to him. Đạo and Đán seized on his vulnerability and they attacked verbally every chance they got. Even when I told them to stop, they wouldn’t. That was when I exploded and they accused me of favoritism. They could call me whatever they wanted, but I couldn’t just stand by and let them berate their younger brother to tears.

Even little Vương picked on Xuân. When Vương got mad, he would hit his older brother, but Xuân never hit his younger brother back. I wouldn’t want Xuân to hit Vương back either, but my heart hurt for Xuân.

Last Saturday, the three of us went riding together. Vương skied down to the lift first. Then Xuân snowboarded down and pulled a brake. He sprayed some snow on Vương. Vương got mad and hit his forehead with his pole. When I snowboarded down, I saw Xuân holding his head in the snow and crying. I was so mad. Vương could have poked Xuân’s eye with his pole. I yelled at Vương. He got mad and decided to ski back to the base himself. I let him go alone.

I don’t know how Xuân is doing in school when I am not around. I hope he can defend himself. Better yet, I hope he doesn’t let other people’s words get to him. Whenever I am not with my kids. I think about them a lot, especially Xuân. I hope one day his brothers will understand him, love him, care for him, and protect him. That’s what brotherhood is all about.