Wow! I spent 50 days skiing/snowboarding this season. Most of my time, however, I spent teaching.

Today, the whole family left around 7:30 am. We arrived at Whitetail almost 9:00 am. I didn’t get to do much before heading over at 9:30 am for our morning meeting and line up. I wanted to teach in the morning and I had 6 adults. The lesson went well. We got on the magic carpet at 10:30 am and took the the chair lift around 11:00 am. At 11:30 am, one of the students decided to sit out. She couldn’t take it anymore. The five reminding students continued on with J turns. They were able to do some S turns by the end of the class at 12:00 pm. I was happy about it.

After lunch I went back to the line up knowing that I would not have an afternoon class. I was done at 1:15 pm. Changed out my uniform and went riding with Đạo. We went to the back side and did several runs. The snow was getting sticky and heavy. At around 2:30 pm, we called it the day.

We left the resort around 3:30 and got home around 5:00 pm. Next weeked will be our final week for the season.

Last Saturday, our lead snowboard instructor asked us if anyone wanted to teach level-2. I raised my hand, but he ignored me. Then I raised my voice, but he also ignored me. After he told me that he couldn’t give me the level-2 lesson because he saw me riding with my open-body position. I need to align my body with my board.

I tried to explain to him that when I taught, I only demonstrated close position. When I rode, however, I opened up my body so I could carve better. He didn’t buy it. I guess I will be teaching first-time guests for a while, which I don’t mind.

When I first learn snowboarding, I rode in my duck stance and kept my body align with the board. As I progressed and wanted to learn carving. I came across Lars Horstmann’s The Justaride Snowboard Channel and tried out the posi-posi stance with an open position. I stuck with it and I had been riding with it eversince.

I had been debating whether I should go back to the duck stance or continued with the posi-posi stance. Yesterday Lars released a video addressing the controversy between the two stances. I found the answer I was looking for. I’ll stick with posi-posi and continue to hone in my carve. I am fine with teaching first-time snowboarders.

Sau nhiều năm Giang Trang trở lại dòng nhạc Trịnh với giai điệu mới đậm chất blues, rock, và jazz. Giang Trang cũng thay đổi cả cách hát. Lúc trước cô hát nhẹ nhàng và đơn giản như kể chuyện. Giờ đây cô kéo dài và dùng chất run (vibrato) hơi nhiều. Cô trình bài “Vết lăn trầm” nặng và não nề không phù hợp với điệu blues rock. “Còn ai với ai” cũng thế. Cách hát của cô hơi bị nhựa và bị gò bó. Đáng tiếc thật vì những phần nhạc rất thú vị. Phải chi cô hát tự nhiên như xưa.

Trump goes after universities. He cuts federal funding on grants, contracts, and researches. Across universities, PhD students have been cut. He hates the highly educated and loves the “poorly educated.” Of course he loved the poorly educated because he fooled them to vote for him. The highly educated saw right through his lies, incompetencies, and stupidities. We understood the danger he posed to our democracy.

I didn’t know who Jeremy Pelt was, but the lead-off track, “Prologue: Invention #1,” from his new album, Woven, pulled me right in. Pelt played an astonishing vibrato on him trumpet. With “Rhapsody,” Pelt had woven vocals, electric guitar, and synthesization into a mesmerizing fusion. His trumpet was clear and swift. It’s a great album and I will be looking for more of his work.

I am down with boycotting Target for 40 days starting today. Anything I need from Target I can get at Costco. Fuck Target!

I finally had a chance to catch up on this book from the defunct A Book Apart. It was published 8 years ago, but most of the information is still relevant because Laura kept the code to the minimal. I enjoyed getting some refresh on accessibility practices. Since the book was light, it was a good transition after reading a heavy novel.

The weather is getting warmer. In the morning, the snow was still soft at Liberty. I snowboarded for about an hour and a half. My legs got tired from trying to tilt my board on its edges. I switched to skiing. My feet were so heavy in my ski boots. I could only do one run and had to take them out to give my feet a massage. They felt fine after that, but the snow turned mushy. I almost fell on the double black. It was too hard to carve, even on ski. Nevertheless, I had some good runs.

I recalled Joon-ho Bong’s Parasite won some Oscars a few years ago. It definitely deserved all the accolades for such a dark, twisted work of art. From the outstanding storyline to the superb cast, this is one of the fucked-up Korean thrillers that I enjoyed. Just watch it if you haven’t.

Hôm nay lật lại quyển sổ tay nhìn thấy những chữ chính tay tôi đã viết: “Thiếu má $28,925”. Đó là tổng số tiền phí đại học tôi đã mượn mẹ. Năm 1997, tôi học ở La Salle University với học phí khoảng $25,000 một năm. Sau tiền học bổng, mỗi năm tôi phải đóng khoảng $7,000. Hai năm đầu, tôi vay nhà nước và ngân hàng. Hai năm sau, tôi vay mẹ. Sau bốn năm, tôi mượn thêm mẹ để trả hết nợ cho nhà nước và ngân hàng. Tôi hứa sẽ trả góp cho mẹ.

Tôi ra trường năm 2001 không tìm được việc. Đến một năm sau tôi mới bắt đầu có công việc chính thức. Việc đầu tiên tôi làm là mở một tài khoản riêng của mẹ và mỗi tháng tiền lương của tôi đưa thẳng vào tài khoản $500. Tôi nói với mẹ, “Má cần tiền thì cứ nói với con nhé”. Mẹ “ừ” nhưng chẳng bao giờ bảo tôi rút tiền. Sau 5 năm tôi trả hết số nợ.

Một trong những ảnh hưởng lớn nhất của mẹ với tôi là cách xử lý tiền bạc. Mẹ dạy tôi rằng, “Có vay có trả.” Mẹ xài tiền của mình kiếm được bằng mồ hôi nước mắt và không bao giờ dùng tiền người khác. Mẹ đã sống rất đúng với câu: “Nghèo cho sạch, rách cho thơm”.