Somehow I had mistaken Việt Thanh Nguyễn’s The Refugees as a collection of non-fiction short stories. After reading the first piece, which is about ghosts, I quickly realized that this is a work of fiction. Nevertheless, I went on to finish the whole book. Nguyễn’s narrative writing is understated yet emotional. From a young gay refugee to a Vietnamese professor who suffered dementia to a half sister who used an alternative career, the short stories are beautifully crafted and imagined. My only pet peeve is that Nguyễn omitted accents for Vietnamese words. For a Vietnamese author, not using diacritics is inexcusable.

Ai thích nhạc trữ tình nghe sến nhảy sẽ khó mà quên.

Where can an orangutan turned president pee?

Nick Babich:

When it comes to minimalism, don’t think it’s easier just because it’s simpler. Because there are fewer elements, you must provide the same level of usability with less interface elements.

For over 15 years of practicing minimal design, I still am in love with it.

While taking a bubble bath together, Đạo said to Đán, “Did you know that girls don’t have cu (penis).” Đán did not say anything as he was busy playing with the water; therefore, I asked Đạo what do girls have. He replied, “Something like a half butt crack.”

Ricardo Magalhães:

While Mathew chose to leave behind the practical bits of the digital and technical world of web design, Donny Truong has done an epic effort at crafting yet another beautifully and knowledgeable guide to Professional Web Typography that no one in the web design world should miss. Apart from touching on the fundamentals of type, Donny presents very clear and by-chapter best practices on how to deal with fonts on the web, how to put their features to best use and how to craft efficient UIs using type.

Thanks Ricardo!

A couple of weeks ago, I stayed up to one or two in the morning for a few days to wrap up a freelance project and got sick for a whole week. The extra money that I made did not pay off for the illness. I won’t be picking up any freelance work anytime in the near future.

At home, I try not to open my laptop if I can help it. As a result, I haven’t done too much personal work other than blogging, which I now do on my phone. Getting old is catching up to me. By 9pm I would be completely exhausted after giving the kids a bath and brushing their teeth. I just wanted to go to bed.

For the past few months, I have turned off email from work on my phone. It works out well. Other than when the server goes down, which I get notified on my personal email, nothing is urgent that could not wait until I come into the office.

I have once again deleted Twitter and Facebook apps off my phone. Twitter, which I have used mainly to keep up with web design, has becoming too political. It’s not a complain. I just need less Trump in my life. Facebook is too addictive, which has become a distraction. I want to use Facebook and Twitter like LinkedIn. I just have a presence, but don’t have to do anything else. Distributing my blog posts on these platform allowed me to do that.

My goal is to do less in this chaotic digital world. Rebalancing my real and alternative lives.

Mariam Aldhahi:

The blend of impatience and insecurity that has pushed Heller throughout his career hasn’t stopped, but it has matured. Heller now has a vision for how things could and should be.

An overview of the basic concepts of CSS grid layout written by Rachel Andrew for MDN. Bookmark it for future guides.

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