As I was stepping out to get dinner, I saw the snow falling fast. I went right back to my room for more instant noodle, smoked salmon, and preserved duck eggs. Fortunately two hours before, I stopped by the motel office to pick out some DVDs. I had been wanted to watch 12 Years a Slave over a decade ago, but hadn’t had a chance until tonight. It is so heartbreaking and heavy. It was eye opening though. American has an ugly history. It has come a long way, but not quite there yet.

I switched to snowboard today. I started off over in Spruce Peak on the green terrains to carve. I didn’t quite get to where I wanted to be yet, but I did see a thin line in the snow. I inserted the shin guards in between the shell and the liner of my booths to help with the heel turns. Unfortunately, they kept sliding out; therefore, I stopped using them.

I must confess, I don’t like strapping up my binding every single time I get at the top of the lift. Some resorts, such as Mount Snow and Whitetail, have a bench at the top of the lifts so snowboarders can strap on easier. I am old and I have a gut. In addition, my jacket is tight; therefore, either standing up or sitting on the snow to strap on isn’t fun. By 11:30 am, I was getting tired strapping on my binding. I am thinking of click-in bindings. I would have to buy a new pair of boots. The combo would just be so expensive.

Around noon, I went over to Mansfield to take some blue runs since I was not hungry yet. As I approached the double-black trails, I was not sure if I should give them a run. The double-black trails at Stowe are no joke. I skied once last spring and I could barely survive the big moguls. Then my adrenaline kicked in and I decided to take a shot. The moguls weren’t too bad this time. The snow was also soft; therefore, it was not so bad. I actually enjoyed the run.

I went back inside for a quick lunch and then headed back to the double-black trails again. I could do a few quick turns. When I didn’t feel comfortable, I just slide down. My legs burned and I took many breaks. After that, I wanted to revisit the black diamond trail I liked last spring. This time, there were moguls from top to bottom. My legs were giving out. My toes started to hurt. It turned out that I strapped my bindings a bit too tight. I couldn’t make anymore turns. I had to do the falling leaf all the way down. Even then I had to take many breaks.

I hate to admit it, but I am feeling old. My body can’t take the challenging terrains anymore. I need to take it easy. I will be back t skiing tomorrow.

After a long day of skiing, I wanted to watch a movie to relax. I have a choice between Wicked and Gladiator 2. Truth be told, I had never watched Wicked in Broadway. I didn’t know anything about The Wizard of Oz. I am glad that I went with Wicked. It is a spectacular musical movie directed by Jon M. Chu. Both Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande were outstanding. Michelle Yeoh added another role to her expanding repertoire. Wicked clocks in 2 hours and 40 minutes and it is only the first part. I guess I’ll have to wait for part 2.

Last night I went to bed early and had about 10 hours of sleep. I woke up to a blanket of snow outside. Luckily the roads were plowed.

To start off my skiing day, I went to Spruce Peak instead of Mansfield. I wanted to see if I could transfer my carving technique I worked on all summer on my rollerblade. I fell a couple of times, but it worked on the easy green. I kept doing it until the lift started to get crowded around noon time. I ate lunch and went over to Mansfield for the big mountains.

It was so foggy that I decided to stick to the blue slopes. Unfortunately the blue slopes had lots of moguls, I could not carve. I did two runs and I was exhausted. I felt like aging is catching up to me.

I decided to head back to Mansfield to practice more carvings. My knees were burning. I did several runs and it was almost 4:pm. Even though I was tired, I decided to give ice skating a try. The rink was rough and I had not ice skated in a while. Though rollerblading helped me remember how to ice skate.

After about half an hour, I was too tired and decided to head back to the motel to relax. Tomorrow I will switch to snowboarding.

On Friday, I went to bed around 10:30 pm, but couldn’t sleep. Around 12:30 am, I decided to just go. I hit the road at 1:00 am in the morning. Around 1:30 am, the tire-warning light lit up. I panicked a little. Then the light went off. Then went on again as I drove further away from home.

I stopped at a service area and checked the pressure on all four tires. They were at 37 PSI, which meant the tires weren’t punctured. I kept on driving until I was too tire and needed a nap. I took 3 naps at 3 different stop areas. The estimated time from my house to Stowe was around 9 hours. I took 12.

I arrived at Stowe Mountains at 1 pm. I took out my snowboard and hopped on the lift. I wanted to try out the carving technique I had been learning in my basement for many months. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out as smoothly as I had thought.

I did 2 runs and I was exhausted. Lacking of sleep and driving 12 hours got me beat. At 3:00 pm I decided to check into the motel to relax and recharge. Let’s try skiing tomorrow.

I have heard of the name Emily Dickinson countless of times, but I have not read any of her work before her letters. Ms. Dickinson sure wrote lots of letters. This collection, edited by Cristanne Miller and Domhnall Mitchell, has 1,304 letters Ms. Dickinson wrote. Many of them she wrote in poems. One of my favorites was the one she wrote to Lucretia Gunn Bullard, about late spring 1864: “The lovely flowers embarrass me, / They make me regret I am not a Bee.”

Another piece that touched my heart was to to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, mid-March 1872:

Dear friend –
I am sorry your Brother is dead –
I fear he was dear to you.
I should be glad to know you were painlessly grieved –

Of Heaven above the firmest proof
We fundamental know –
Except for it’s marauding Hand
It had been Heaven below –

Dickinson

This book is over 900 pages, but it is worth reading Ms. Dickinson’s personal writings.

My Lil Xuân Shine is back writing consistently on his blog. I am so glad that he finds the time to practice his writing. He is showing improvements. Of course, I love seeing my kids blogging. Đạo and Đán don’t write much anymore. I hope they will come back as well. Free-writing or blogging is so much fun. They can write whatever they want. There’s no restriction or limitation. All they need to do is just type, just like what I am doing now. They know at least one person is reading their blog and commenting on them as well.

Turning Beethoven’s masterpieces blues is a fascinating concept and Jon Batiste pulled it off with his imaginative Beethoven Blues. The album kicks off with his fusion of “Für Elise (Batiste).” In this 4-minute piece, he plays classical then injects the blues into it. The album also ends with another version of “Für Elise (Reverie).” In this 15-minute extended piece, he plays improvisational jazz. The result is just mesmerizing. Batiste demonstrates his exhilarating chops in “Symphony No.5 Stomp,” which reminds me of Cecil Taylor’s style. His boogie-woogie skills are undeniable in “Waldstein Wobble.” His rendition of “Ode to Joyful” is fleeting yet relaxing despite hearing my kids played for hundreds of time when they first started taking piano lessons. I’ll be spending more time with this album in the next few weeks somewhere on snowy mountains.

2Advanced Studios was rebooted about seven months ago. The site is the same, but the platform has changed. They replaced Flash with Rive and React JS. The interaction is slick, but accessibility is still an issue. The all-cap typesetting is still horrendous. I am not excited about the return of the bygone era.

I joined George Mason University in October 2011. I designed, developed, and maintained the law school website from 2011 to present. Take a look at the evolution of the law school homepage from Mason Law to Scalia Law from 2012 to 2024.