I had a good time at Typographics. The speakers at the main event were inspiring. The experimental presentations at the TypeLab were amazing. Highlights of the conference were meeting DJR to thank him for designing his fonts with Vietnamese and catching up with good old buddy Tim. A designer from Monotype came up to me to thank me for Vietnamese Typography book. That was nice.

After the conference, our family headed to Wildwood for a week-long vacation. I took Xuân and Vương on the tram ride. The nice lady didn’t charge me a fee. She said, “Happy Father’s Day.” That was when I realized it was my day. We had a bit of a rough day with Đán. He is so misbehaving these days. Then again, I had a nice treat at the end of the day from my lovely lady.

I have not been blogging much because I am still reading Frederick Douglass’s biography. I have about 300 pages more to go. It’s an engaging book. I hope to get it done before our vacation ends. I also have been playing around with redesigning this blog. I have not settled on any design it. We’ll see.

My gout attack is going away after a week of Aleve and a bottle of apple cider vinegar. Walking had been a living hell. I can’t wait to get back to normal so I can walk to the beach and ride my bike on the boardwalk with the kids. It’s time to kick back and relax before more kids joining the place. It’s going to be chaotic. I am not looking forward to the arguing and bickering. Four boys of my own already drive me to the wall.

Hôm qua tôi làm một việc đần độn. May mà hậu quả không đến nỗi tai hại. Giờ đây tôi vẫn ân hận về việc làm đó. Đền bù lại là tôi có một ngày dành cho đứa con đầu lòng. Đã lâu lắm rồi hai cha con không có thời gian riêng với nhau. Mới đây mà nói đã mười tuổi rồi.

Chân tôi vẫn còn đau vì gout. Lần này kéo dài hơn tôi dự đoán. Ngày mai đi conference rồi mà vẫn chưa khỏi. Biết làm sao bây giờ. Đành chịu vậy. Hy vọng không phải lết lên lết xuống.

Lúc trước tôi cứ nghĩ những người nổi tiếng (trong nghệ thuật hay trong thiết kế) cũng là những người bình thường. Nhưng thật thất vọng khi họ quá phách lối. Đã vài lần như thế khiến cho tôi mất đi cảm tình. Tôi không phải là người đam mê “celebrity” nên cũng chẳng cần thiết phải làm quen với họ.

Từ 6:30 chiều cho đến 9:30 tối là những giây phút đẹp đẽ và xấu xa nhất trong ngày. Những giây phút được bên cạnh con cái cũng là những giây phút quá mệt mỏi sau những giờ làm việc. Tôi không còn đủ sức lực để làm những việc không cần thiết. Khi con ngủ rồi mới được thời gian riêng. Bây giờ gần 11 giờ đêm và tôi cũng mệt đừ. Thôi hẹn lại sau nhé.

Cuối tuần bị gout hành hạ. Uống thuốc và uống giấm táo cũng chưa hết. Vài tháng nay nhậu hơi nhiều tưởng đâu không bị ảnh hưởng. Thôi kệ có sướng có khổ. Cuộc đời mà. Phải có đắng cay. Hy vọng sẽ khỏi trước khi đi hội nghị Typographics ở New York và đi nghỉ hè ở biển Wildwood.

Gần đây ít đọc sách Việt. Đơn giản là thư viện không có sách mới. Dạo này cũng ít viết tiếng Việt nên bây giờ cố gắng để thôi quên ngôn ngữ của mình. Giờ đây mỗi lần muốn blog không biết phải dùng ngôn ngữ nào. Đó là cái lợi chứ không phải khó khăn khi biết cả hai thứ tiếng.

Tôi muốn viết về vợ tôi nhưng ngại nói là bợ đít. Nhưng không sao cả bợ đít vợ của mình chứ đâu phải bợ đít người khác đâu. Tóm lại là tôi may mắn có người chống đỡ tin thần. Tôi không còn cảm thấy lẻ loi và chán nản. Cuộc sống bận rộn nhưng cũng thoải mái. Vợ tôi được cái là không hà tiện và không tính toán nhưng cũng không quá phung phí nên chúng tôi không xem trọng tiền bạc. Có bao nhiêu xài bấy nhiêu. Còn đi làm được thì không quá lo ngại. Chừng nào mất công việc tính sau.

Thôi hôm nay viết vội thế thôi. Chừng nào dư thời gian sẽ viết tiếp.

Hôm nay tôi dành thời gian riêng với Xuân, thằng con trai yêu dấu thứ ba của tôi. Cũng không làm gì nhiều. Hai cha con đến công viên chơi xe lửa (hai lần), nằm dưới bóng mát, ăn potato chips, và cùng nhau đọc sách thiếu nhi. Chỉ như thế thôi tôi cũng hạnh phúc rồi.

Dĩ nhiên lúc nào đi đầy đủ mấy anh em cũng vui nhưng lâu lâu phải dành trọn sự chú ý cho mỗi đứa để nó biết cha mẹ luôn quan tâm đến nó. Chỉ ba tuổi thôi mà Xuân đã biết rất nhiều. Khi nó không hài lòng là hờn dỗi rằng, “Tôi khóc vì không ai thương yêu tôi cả.” Nghe nó mếu máo mà mình cũng xót xa lắm.

Xuân thường hay gây gổ với thằng Đán nhưng khi đi riêng với tôi nó cư xử rất ngoan. Có lẽ nó không cần phải tranh cãi để được sự chú ý của người lớn. Tôi rất quý mến những giây phút riêng tư đó.

Đã lâu rồi tôi không có dành thời gian riêng với Đạo. Chắc chắn phải tìm cơ hội.

Dear sons,

These letters I am writing you were inspired by Julie Yip-Williams who wrote to her daughters when she was diagnosed with deadly cancer. In her letters, she was completely opened about her dying. Her hope was that her daughters would understand when they get a chance to read her words. I don’t want to wait until I become ill to begin to write to you.

Death is a heavy subject, especially at your age. I am still scared, but I have to accept the reality that I won’t escape death. I am still in good health today, but I don’t know what will happen tomorrow. These days, massive strokes and cancers can easily cut someone’s life short. If it were my turn to go, my greatest concern is you. I hope will remember me, but I want you to live on with your life.

One of the benefits of having four siblings is that you can rely on each other. When I was a kid, I loved this Vietnamese proverb: “Một cây làm chẳng nên non, ba cây chụm lại nên hòn núi cao.” It means one tree alone can’t do much, but three trees together will make a mountain. The four of you can make anything together. Even if I would end up in hell, I would be happy to know that you guys love and take care of each other. So don’t cry for me. Just remember my wish.

Sorry, this letter is a bit dark, but I want you to understand how I feel about death before it would be too late. I can’t take time for granted. Last week, one of my friends passed away unexpectedly. A few weeks before his death, we were going to get together with him. He met Đạo and Đán, but not Xuân and Vương. Unfortunately, we lost our chance. He had a massive stroke and could not recover. Life is short. So don’t wait before it’s too late.

Love,

Daddy.

If you are looking for some enlightening reads, check out the following essays from The New Yorker:

• “R. Kelly and the Damage Done” by Jim DeRogatis
• “Ocean Vuong’s Life Sentences” by Jia Tolentino
• “What ‘Always Be My Maybe’ Understands About Making an Asian-American Rom-Com” by Jiayang Fan
• “Keanu Reeves Is Too Good for This World” by Naomi Fry
• “The Unexpected Profundity of Curious George” by Rivka Galchen
• “How Dr. Seuss Changed Education in America” by I-Huei Go

I jazzed up Vietnamese Typography a bit. The homepage now has several cover designs loaded in randomly. For chapter header and small text, I switched to Adapter, a brand new typeface designed by William Montrose and Sláva Jevčinová for Rosetta. It’s pretty neat. Go give it a visit.

I snatched up a ticket to Typographics next week. The speaker lineup looks amazing. I am also looking forward to meeting up with some friends. Let me know if you’re attending.

I am reading Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight. I am only about 100 pages in, but the book is so good. I also ordered Ocean Vương’s debut novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. It’s one of my summer reading list.

The kids will be done with school next week. I am looking forward to the summertime.

This letter from Susan made my day:

Hello Donny,

I’m Susan and I’m a college student from Louisiana. I’m emailing you to give you my thanks for creating your online book, Vietnamese Typography.

How I found your webpage was accidental so I’ll explain it to you. I’m a Vietnamese-American and my parents were refugees from Vietnam. They worked hard for me in so many ways, one of them being providing me with the tools to learn Vietnamese from a young age so I could be as fluent as possible. Watching educational videos from Thế Hệ Trẻ, going to Sunday School at my Vietnamese church, attending summer school for even further learning, and talking with my extended family are some examples of how I learned to read, write, and speak so much Vietnamese as an American-born.

Now fast forward to June 2019. My boyfriend, a Filipino-Canadian, has requested that I teach him how to read Vietnamese. He searched up some alphabet charts while I went to find some sort of guide to teach him about dấu. Your website appeared first on my Google search. Initially, I was completely unaware that this site was meant to help typographers, as the Google search only directed me towards the “Tone Marks” page. Upon further reading though, I can see that this site offers the utmost respect to our language and simultaneously teaches typographers how to create optimum designs for its use on the screen. My boyfriend casually remarked that he wanted to know the history of the Vietnamese language. I couldn’t impart such knowledge because I was never taught about it, and yet, there is a chapter dedicated to this subject readily available on your website. This is a wholesome page.

I’ve also reviewed your portfolio website. Your work is beautiful and your passion for our language is quite inspiring. I have never seen this sort of appreciation for Vietnamese by a Vietnamese person before. I’m glad to have found Vietnamese Typography and I’ve donated $5 via the support page. I wish you all the best, Donny.

Keep up the good work,
Susan

My response to Susan:

Dear Susan,

Thank you for supporting my Vietnamese Typography book. Furthermore, I appreciate your wonderful story. I am glad that your boyfriend wanted to learn about our beautiful language. When someone is willing to go that far for you, it’s true love. Congratulations!

My hat off to your parents. You probably didn’t appreciate their effort then, but you must be pleased now that they had instilled Vietnamese into you. I am encouraging my kids to learn Vietnamese as well and it is not easy; therefore, I understand and respect what they had done for you.

Reading your letter has confirmed that I made the right decision, which was to make this publication online for free. I am happy that it has reached you.

Thank you,

Donny Truong

I want to root for this Asian-American rom-com, but I am not feeling it. I love Ali Wong’s work as a comedian, but not so much as an actor. Randall Park is OK. As far as portraying the lives of Asian-Americans, they got the details right, but I can’t relate to Sasha and Marcus. My childhood was different because unlike them I did not speak English; therefore, my experience growing in America was much different. Not that a film has to be about me for me to like it, I just thought the chemistry was off and the story was predictable, which most rom-coms are like that.

On November 2, 2011, I wrote about my love ones:

I also missed my wife even though we only communicate with each other on the basic level. These days if we go any further than that, we would ended up arguing. If we talk to the point where I started to feel comfortable, I would bring up my problems and she is sick and tired of hearing them. I am sure you’re pretty tired of hearing them too if you follow this blog. Carrying the baby is already hard enough; therefore, I try my best to keep my own issues to myself and not giving her anymore burden.

After reading my blog post, brother Hải sent me the following email:

Hey, Doanh,

How goes it, lil bro? Long time no see. :o)

Hope you don’t mind me saying this, but the highlighted above raise all kinds of red flags in my head: I was there.

I know it’s tough: new job, a business on the side, a toddler, a new baby coming, mom being sick, etc. I was in a similar situation, and—had I known to prioritize things—I would still have a family.

Can’t tell you what to do, or how to fix it. However, I think you would agree with me that it needs to be fixed; or—at least—not get worse.

Again, hope you don’t mind me saying the above.

Please give my best to everyone.

Thank you big brother for saving our marriage. May your soul rest in peace.