Hôm nay là ngày cuối lớp hai của Đạo, ngày cuối preschool của Đán, và ngày cuối nhà trẻ Teddy Bear của Xuân. Tháng Bảy Xuân sẽ đổi qua nhà trẻ của Đạo và Đán ngày xưa. Cái daycare hiện tại của Xuân cũng tốt. Các cô giáo cũng rất thương nó nhưng vì cái Jewish Community Center đã quá quen thuộc và có nhiều lớp thể thao như bơi lội cho nó học.

Xuân đi học ở Teddy Bear mới mấy tháng nó cũng mới bắt đầu quen. Cô giáo dạy nó biết diễn đạt bài “The Wheel on the Bus” rất dễ thương. Hai hôm nay đi học không còn khóc nữa. Mai mốt qua chổ mới phải tập lại. Hy vọng nó sẽ không khóc nhiều nữa. Rất cám ơn những người cô đã thương yêu và ân cần với nó những tháng vừa qua.

In his concise yet insightful memoir, Levy reveals the strategic success behind Pixar. As the chief financial officer, Levy worked closely with Steve Jobs, renegotiated its deadlocked contract with Disney, nurtured the creative team, and looked out for its employees. His contribution played a major role in transforming a potential-yet-unprofitable startup into an iconic animation studio that balances storytelling and technology. A required read for business students.

Đán: Do Vietnamese people respect nature?
Dad: Of course, we do.
Đán: Then why did you cut down the trees?
Dad: Oh! My bad.

Dad: So, are you a boy or a girl?
Đạo: I am both.
Dad: How?
Đạo: I act like a boy, but I scream like a girl.

Last Saturday, we threw a small party for forty members of our family to celebrate my mom’s 80^th birthday. In a fun, love-filled mood, I wanted to have some spirit. My two drinking cousins were there as well so we needed a little reconnection. One of my cousins has gout just like me. As a drinker all his life, he rather lives with the pain than giving up drinking. He now has a huge ball his hand and he still won’t quit.

In reminiscing the good old time and the suffering with gout, I broke out a bottle of Rémy Martin XO. With not too much food in my system (I had to follow Xuân), I finished the bottle with my two cousins. With beer and saké and XO, the two cousins got knocked out. I only limited myself to the XO; therefore, I was not as bad as they were.

At around one in the morning, I was drunk and dead tired, but could not sleep. The hot liquor was flowing through my body and imageries were streaming in my head. All the personal thoughts I would never reveal started to play out in my head. I don’t know if that process is hallucination.

I was half asleep and half awake. I could see the lights coming in the window, but I could not get up until Xuân woke up and wanted to go outside. The XO didn’t give me a headache, but I could feel the hangover. It was a beautiful Sunday morning. I held Xuân’s hand and we walked together out of the house. It was peaceful and I watched every step that he took. I marveled the way he walked carefully off the porch and the he we picked up dead flower from the lawn. In my fucked up head, I almost choked up witnessing a young, innocent kid who is curious about little things in life.

Hard liquor changed my mood. All the vulnerabilities and regrets were fucking with my emotions. Why am I getting myself into this state of mind? It allows me to access the deep secret part of my life that I can not do when I am sobered.

In her thoughtful memoir, Stamper sheds the light on the life of a lexicographer. From the complexity of defining a simple word to the controversy of adding a new word to the challenge of reviewing an existing word, she provides eye-opening insights into the process of producing a dictionary. It’s a fun and fascinating read that will make you appreciate the art, the science, and the hard work invested into the lexicon.

Sáng nay Xuân xách đôi giầy cho tôi và đôi cho nó. Ra dấu hiệu bảo tôi mang giầy vào và ngồi xuống bảo tôi mang vào cho nó. Mang xong nó dắt tôi đi ra khỏi nhà. Thằng nhóc này thích đi ra đường.

Khi cho nó vào xe thì phát hiện cái loa nhỏ dùng bằng bluetooth của tôi đã mất. Lục soát lại cả xe nhưng cũng không thấy. Cái compartment ở giữa cũng bị mở ra. Khi đến chỗ làm thì vợ cho biết cái glove compartment trong xe minivan cũng bị mở và mất cái bao nhựa đựng mấy đồng lẻ và mấy cái CD.

Không ngờ khu nhà an toàn mà cũng bị ăn trộm. Chẳng lẽ phải đổi nhà?

In her inspiring and musing TED talk, “12 truths I learned from life and writing,” Anne Lamott shares her number two:

[A]lmost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes—including you.

Đán: Daddy, you are illustrated.
Dad: What is illustrated mean.
Đán: It means you don’t know anything.
Dad: I think the word is illiterate.
Đán: I don’t like that word so you are illustrated.

In eighth grade, I graduated from ESL (English as a Second Language). My wonderful ESL teacher proudly sent me off to a real English class. It felt like an accomplishment to be able to sit in with the rest of my classmates instead of going off to my ESL all by myself.

My new English teacher was a middle-age white male. He was a very nice guy. Being new and proud, I wanted to participate into the class discussion. One day he asked the class a question about what we do at home or on the weekend. I can not recall the exact question, but my classmates’s hands went up and provided all sort of answers. I raised my hand as well. When he called on me, I replied, “Teach a bitch a new trick.” Everyone looked at me shocked and puzzled. The teacher asked, “What?” I replied, “You know, teach a female dog a new trick.” He shook his head and moved on.

Although I knew I had looked up this word in the past, I still felt embarrassed. It had an effect on my ability to participate in class discussions from then on. I felt like I would saying something stupid. As I am reading Kory Stamper’s Word by Word, her explanation of the bitch brought back the good old memory. I was not wrong since I did not use it in a derogatory way.