Một ngày đẹp trời, tôi ra sau nhà nhổ chút cỏ dại. Đạo cũng theo phụ. Bỗng nhiên nó báo tôi biết có đôi chim đang bị nhốt trong cái máy lạnh (HVAC outdoor unit). Tôi vội vàng tắt máy quạt khổng lồ và lấy đôi đũa gắp đôi uyên ương ra. Tuy vẫn trong vị trí ngồi bên nhau nguyên vẹn, bọn chúng đã chết khô từ bao giờ. Chỉ còn lại thể xác giòn rụm. Bọn chúng chết một cách thê thảm.

Không hiểu sao bọn chúng có thể chui vào đó được mà lại chui ra không được. Cũng may là bọn chúng chưa bị rơi vào cái quạt. Hậu quả chắc đã bị chém ra nghìn mảnh. Thế là bọn chúng chỉ có thể ngồi yên một chỗ cho đến chết. Làm tình cũng nên chọn chỗ nào ăn toàn. Chơi kiểu này quá mạo hiểm.

Đạo cũng xót xa cho cặp tình nhân dại dột nên đề nghị tôi chôn cất bọn chúng.

He’s not a dictator. He’s a dicktator. He needs attention and he says outrageous shit just to get you outrage. The angier you get the more coverage he gets. The media needs to stop focusing on him. I don’t give a fuck how many lies he told. I am tired of reading how dangerous his rhetoric has become. I am sick of seeing his tweets being quoted like they are some prose shit.

We fall into his trap every time he makes a ridiculous comment. After two years, we should know by now. We need to ignore his stupidity and focus on the real policy. If he doesn’t get the attention he craves, I am sure he would go crazy. Imagine no one is paying attention to an incompetent president?

In a way, the Republicans are brilliant at ignoring him and just focus on their agenda. They know damn well he’s a fucking moron. They just don’t say it to his face or in public. They just use him as a mouthpiece to distract the public from paying attention to the laws they want to pass.

The shits he says don’t surprise or shock me anymore. I don’t need the media to remind me his non-sense. Calling him out on his stupid tweets and keeping track of his lies are not working. He continues to get away with them. From grabbing women by the pussy to shooting someone to praising the white supremacists, nothing he said could sink his presidency.

What we can do is ignore his dumb shit and vote him the fuck out starting next Tuesday. I can’t wait to see the turnout and the takeover. I still have faith in America. We can’t let a dicktator run our great nation.

Sáng thứ Bảy, Đạo và Đán tự thức dậy đánh răng rửa mặt. Xuống bếp hai đứa lấy trứng ra chiên cho ba ăn. Còn hai đứa tự lấy cereal và sữa luôn cho thằng em. Ba đứa cùng ngồi chung bàn ăn rất dễ thương. Ăn xong bốn cha con chơi múa lân. Ba đánh trống, Đạo đánh chiêng, Xuân múa lân, còn Đán quây phim. Tuy ồn ào nhưng vui. Xuân dạo này mê múa lân lắm.

Chơi xong tôi cùng Đán đọc một quyển sách thiếu nhi. Đạo đọc sách Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Xuân tự chơi một mình. Đọc xong cho mấy đứa chơi iPad. Tôi tranh thủ dọn dẹp nhà cửa và giặt đồ.

Trưa đến đưa ba đứa đi ăn mì Nhật. Đạo và Đán thì mê rồi. Còn Xuân chắc hôm nay đói quá nên ăn cũng khá. Ăn trưa xong đưa hai đứa lớn và thằng cháu đi học võ. Trong lúc chờ đợi hai tiếng đồng hồ tôi ghé qua quán café Starbucks làm 3 shots espresso, đọc quyển sách hay tuyệt, và nghe nhạc jazz nhẹ. Tiếng hát nồng nàn của Louis Armstrong báo tin mùa giáng sinh đã sắp đến.

Đáng lẽ ra hôm nay định đưa Xuân đi picnic ở nhà ông Dean nhưng có người đổi ý không chịu đưa tụi nhỏ đi học võ nên phải thay đổi kế hoạch. Tuy hơi bực bội nhưng vẫn là một ngày thứ Bảy tuyệt vời vì không cần phải la hét bọn nhỏ.

In The Library Book, Orlean weaves together investigative journalism, personal introspection, operational insights, fascinating characters, diverse culture, and social openness to tell engaging, riveting stories of the evolution of libraries. Orlean who writes for The New Yorker is both an excellent storyteller and reporter; therefore, this 300-page book is a breezy read—Carly Loman’s exceptional typesetting helps as well. If you love the library, you will appreciate this book. Here’s one of my favorite passages:

In Senegal, the polite expression for saying someone died is to say his or her library has burned. When I first heard the phrase, I didn’t understand it, but over time I came to realize it was perfect. Our minds and souls contain volumes made of our experiences and emotions; each individual’s consciousness is a collection of memories we’ve cataloged and stored inside us, a private library of a life lived. It is something that no one else can entirely share, one that burns down and disappears when we die. But if you can take something from that internal collection and share it—with one person or with the larger world, on the page or in a story recited—it takes on a life of its own.

1. The Book, by Keith Houston, explores the fascinating history of bookmaking that dates back to more than fifteen hundred years ago.
2. Decoded, by JAY-Z, is part memoir, part lyrical analysis, and much better than what I had expected.
3. The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank, helps put me into perspective at a time of a global pandemic.
4. The Library Book, by Susan Orlean, weaves together investigative journalism, personal introspection, operational insights, fascinating characters, diverse culture, and social openness to tell engaging, riveting stories of the evolution of libraries.
5. These Truths, by Jill Lepore, told the naked truth of our great yet flawed nation through the concoction of illuminating politics, fascinating biographies, arresting journalism, and sprawling technology.
6. Time is a Mother, by Ocean Vương, is beyond my comprehension for poetry. I need to re-read these poems again in order to understand everything he has written; therefore, I bought myself a copy. Gotta support our Vietnamese-American talents.

I refuse to jump on Mastodon and Micro.blog because the last thing I wanted to do is keeping up with more social media networks. I am tired of them all.

I never joined Instagram, which was a good decision. Google+ shut down and I didn’t even bother to download my content. I lost interest in Pinterest. I could not get into Dribbble. I no longer care about Medium. I still have a presence on LinkedIn, but I don’t do much with it. I still check Twitter every once in a while, but I hardly tweet anymore. Facebook is still hard to let go because I still want to keep up with family and friends. I did quite a bit of cleaning up on Facebook and also turned on privacy.

I still read blogs via RSS. Free blogging platforms are ridiculous. WordPress.com, in particular, is filled with ads. My kids’ dentistry keeps popping up on the blogs I read on WordPress.com. It is irritating that I just want to take my kids elsewhere.

It’s funny how social media comes in full circle again. Not so long ago, social media is a skill that most professions, web design in particular, most have. Now the less noise the better. I don’t even bother to cross-publishing my blog to other platforms. If you want to read it, you’ll just have to come here or subscribe to my RSS. I am not being cocky or anything like that. I just don’t want to creep you out everywhere you go.

When we bought the house, I imagined our basement as an entertainment space where the kids and I watch movies and play video games. We hired an electrician to put in fancy track lights from Ikea and we painted the rooms dark purple. Needless to say, it now turns into storage space with tons of shit. The track lights have been flickering on and off for years, but I refused to change the fixture.

When it comes to electricity, I am shit scared. I got shocked three times for simply replacing the switch. I got shock again yesterday even though I turned off the breaker. This afternoon, I shut off the entire breaker panel just to replace the fixture. I rather be safe than sorry because I am such an amateur.

After about an hour, I successfully replaced the fixture. Turning on the lights that worked felt great. You’re probably laughing at such a trivial task, but it is a huge accomplishment for me. I am starting to like doing small home improvements.

Being a cheap-ass has its advantage. It challenges me to do more things that aren’t just related to the web. Besides, I can’t hire an electrician to do small jobs like this. I can ask my brother-in-law, but I also dislike bothering people unless I absolutely have to. I might as well do things on my own. I can read and follow directions. YouTube has been a fantastic resource. Home Depot and Lowe’s have anything I need. All that I need is a bit of self confidence.

When my father-in-law was still living with us, he tried to teach me how to fix things. I appreciate his efforts and I miss him terribly, but I was not learning much. I need to figure things out in order to learn. I always messed up the first time, but I learned my lesson quick. The second time is always better. There is no shortcut. I just need to do it unless I could depend on my wife.

I envy my neighbor whose wife does everything. I hardly see him outside the house, but I always see his wife outside shoveling the snow in the winter and mowing the grass once a week in the summer. She even patched up and sealed her driveway, something I need to catch up on.

Back to the light fixture, my wife brought the Hampton Bay’s 3-light white ceiling spotlight. It is easy to install and it is perfect for storage area. The design is simple and you get lots of light.

Total cost: $25

Hạnh phúc nhất của tôi là mỗi đêm được nhìn thấy mấy đứa con an giấc. Trái lại với những giây phút chúng nó sống động, được nghe từng hơi thở nhẹ nhàng trong giấc mộng của nó thấy lòng mình ấm áp.

Đạo thích được ba ôm và vuốt lưng. Đạo hứa sẽ ngủ với ba đến suốt đời nhưng khi Vương chào đời thì Xuân phải ngủ với ba. Thế là Đạo với bà ngoại. Tội Xuân lắm. Lúc chưa có em Xuân chỉ ngủ với mẹ và được bú lúc trước khi ngủ và trước khi thức dậy. Chúng tôi cũng lo ngại không biết chừng nào Xuân mới chịu bỏ vú. Thế nhưng khi có em, Xuân nhường mẹ là cho em và bỏ vú luôn. Xuân chỉ ngủ với ba.

Đán là được ôm ít nhất. Lúc trước Đán thích ngủ với bà ngoại. Giờ đây Đạo dành bà ngoại nên Đán ngủ với bà và Xuân. Xuân không chịu chia sẻ ba với anh nên Đán ngủ một cùng cả chục chiếc gối. Khi Xuân ngủ yên rồi thì tôi cũng đổi sang ôm thằng con to lớn.

Đêm qua Xuân không thèm ngủ. Cứ nằm ca hết “ABC” đến “Old McDonald” đến “Quăng tao cái boong.” Tôi bảo thôi con ngủ đi thì nó lại nằm lên người tôi và nói, “I love you, daddy.” Rồi ca tiếp, “I am crazy about you. I am crazy about you.” Đến gần 11 giờ khuya mới ngủ. Sáng đi đến nhà trẻ thì than, “Daddy, I am too sleepy.”

Người ta bảo phải tập cho con ngủ riêng nhưng tôi chúng tôi cũng chẳng nghe theo. Buổi sáng con đi học ba mẹ đi làm. Chiều về chỉ còn được vài tiếng ăn ngủ nên không đủ nhiều thời gian với tụi nó. Thôi thì ngủ chung cũng là cách được bên nhau. Sau này không có tụi nó bên cạnh chắc chắn là nhớ lắm.

Tới lúc đó hai khỉ già có còn tái ngộ hay không. Hay khỉ cái vẫn chê khỉ đực ngáy to quá nên cho khỉ đực ra rìa luôn. Lúc đó thì chắc phải tự ru mình với nhạc phẩm “Đời tôi cô đơn.”

Nellie Bowles published three articles in The New York Times on kids and screen time that are worth reading.

Bowles on “A Dark Consensus About Screens and Kids Begins to Emerge in Silicon Valley”:

A wariness that has been slowly brewing is turning into a regionwide consensus: The benefits of screens as a learning tool are overblown, and the risks for addiction and stunting development seem high. The debate in Silicon Valley now is about how much exposure to phones is O.K.

Even though we are limiting screen time to weekends only, Đạo (nine years old) and Đán (six years old) are quite addictive. Đán is still struggling with turning it off when time is up. He is so fearful of being banned from the iPad; therefore, I am using it as a form of punishment when he misbehaves. I am tired of yelling at him and I don’t want to spank him. The only way he would listen is to ban him from his iPad. It is terrible, but it works for now. On weekends, they get 3 hours the most each day because most of the time we go outside unless I have to do work around the house or the rain prevents us from going outside.

Bowles on “Silicon Valley Nannies Are Phone Police for Kids”:

From Cupertino to San Francisco, a growing consensus has emerged that screen time is bad for kids. It follows that these parents are now asking nannies to keep phones, tablets, computers and TVs off and hidden at all times. Some are even producing no-phone contracts, which guarantee zero unauthorized screen exposure, for their nannies to sign.

We need a similar contract with our family as well. When we get together, all digital devices should be put away. Sure, I don’t have to give my kids iPads, but then they would hover around kids that have them. Most of our vacations together always ended up in screen time rather than family time.

Bowles on “The Digital Gap Between Rich and Poor Kids Is Not What We Expected”:

Lower-income teenagers spend an average of eight hours and seven minutes a day using screens for entertainment, while higher income peers spend five hours and 42 minutes, according to research by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit media watchdog. (This study counted each screen separately, so a child texting on a phone and watching TV for one hour counted as two hours of screens being used.) Two studies that look at race have found that white children are exposed to screens significantly less than African-American and Hispanic children.

Why didn’t the studies look at Asian children? I am sure Asian kids, Vietnamese in particular, are exposed to screens even more than African-American and Hispanic children.

Honor Jones writes in The New York Times:

You’re fully conscious, but nothing hurts. You might as well not have legs for all you can feel them. A sheet hangs from the ceiling, covering everything from your chest down.

But while I was removed from the pain, I wasn’t removed from the experience. If you believe people have souls, a C-section is probably good preparation for the afterlife. Your body is completely out of your control, but you are not your body.

Your partner holds one arm down. A nurse or maybe the anesthesiologist — some stranger toward whom you feel a desperate sense of gratitude — holds the other. After digging around your organs for a while, the doctor says from behind the sheet, “Now I’m going to apply some pressure.” And then suddenly there is another person in the room and both you and your baby gasp the new air and begin to sob.

I was holding my wife’s hand as well until I got blacked out.