My Dearest Vương,

Our little King turns seven today. It’s hard to believe. Time flies by so fast. It has been a joy watching you grow in the last 2,555 days.

Congratulations, you have finished reading a 189-page book. That’s quite an accomplishment for a second grader. In the past few weeks, I had been looking forward to reading The World According to Mister Rogers with you. I treasured those 15 minutes together each night. I chose this book to see if you would take on the challenge of reading a text-only book instead of a picture book. You protested, but you kept on reading. I was also hoping that you would remember a few words of wisdom from Mister Rogers. Even though I read this book before, the following passage stood out to me as we were reading together:

It’s not always easy for a father to understand the interests and ways of his son. It seems the songs of our children may be in keys we’ve never tried. The melody of each generation emerges from all that’s gone before. Each one of us contributes in some unique way to the composition of life.

I am glad that you have picked up reading so fast. Though I am not surprised at all. You will accomplish anything when you work hard at it. When I first taught you how to ski, you simply lay down on the snowy bed in the middle of the terrain and refused to get up. Then when you had decided to ski, you went all over the mountains and even in the woods. At the end of last season, you told me that you wanted me to teach you snowboarding next season because, as you said, “You are the best instructor.” I am flattered. Of course, I am the best instructor and I don’t even charge you. Snowboarding will be more challenging to learn, but you will get it. I can’t wait for us to ride together.

Being the youngest boy in the family, you get all the love, especially from mama queen. She would do anything for you, but I can see that you like to do things on your own. You want to be independent like your older brothers. I definitely encourage you to continue to do that, but don’t be shy to ask for help if you need us. We’re here for you.

You have a strong mind. You don’t let anyone deter you from doing things you want to do. You do whatever makes you happy. As you grow older, don’t lose that strength. Your confidence will carry you through life. Listen to your own voice. Think for yourself. Make up your own mind. Stay true to yourself. Don’t let anyone else define you.

I have confidence in you. You will turn out fine as long as you continue to be who you are. I wish you a wonderful birthday.

Love,
Dad

Only after 2 years of replacement, the heating surface element on our Whirlpool’s stove burnt out. The issue was that one of the female disconnects burned out. I replaced it with Utilitech Fully Insulated Female Disconnects (16-14). The heating surface element also needed to be replaced. It cost $107 (tax and shipped included). Let’s hope this will last for a while. This YouTube video was a refresher to open up the top.

Swelling out of the ocean like a bad feeling,
heard before seen slouching toward Miramar
over Venice Beach, it’s the Bell Boeing V-22,
not sleek but versatile, able to launch
from Al Asad, fly to Mudaysis, perform pickup,
then return, all within the golden hour,
fast enough to outrun a difficult past,
the budgetary hurdles and crashes in R. & D.,
the $72-million price tag, flyaway,
its many modes, and we think moods;
you remember its namesake in another state,
fled from some outer dark, gliding above
the diamond, from left field to center,
where it made its home up in the stadium lights,
a crown of wooden swords for its nest,
hovering in the swampy air like forethought
as the crack of a bat sent a tiny moon
into orbit, a wave rippling through
the crowd, the lights on their tall stems
powered on, day powered down,
and you had no team, you did not know
whom to root for, home or away.

Hải-Đăng Phan

Tôi chơi bạn rất ít nhưng khi đã thành bạn rồi thì tôi chơi hết mình. Yếu điểm của tôi là khi đã thân nhau thì tôi mất đi cảnh giác và không còn dè dặt nữa. Cứ ngỡ rằng mình hiểu được bạn mình.

Chuyện xảy ra vài ngày qua tuy rất nhỏ nhoi nhưng đã đánh thức tôi. Có những quan hệ không đơn giản chỉ qua rượu chè hay đùa giỡn. Tôi chấp nhận mình đã sai. Đã dùng lời lẽ vượt bậc cấp. Tôi chỉ nghĩ đơn giản đã thân nhau rồi thì bậc cấp không quan trọng, nhất là khi đã sống trên đất nước bình đẳng (you & me) bao nhiêu năm qua. Hơn nữa, cả đám vẫn thường hay đùa giỡn ngang ngang nhau.

Tôi thừa nhận mình đã vượt qua bậc cấp nhưng nếu cho tôi bất kính thì hoàn toàn không. Tôi luôn kính nể bạn bè. Nếu như tôi không kính trọng bạn bè thì tôi chẳng bao giờ giữ mối quan hệ cả, không chỉ ở bạn bè mà luôn cả người trong gia đình.

Tôi luôn tự nhắc nhở mình phải đề phòng trong những mối quan hệ nhưng rồi không thể kiểm soát được cảm xúc của mình. Lần nào cũng như lần nấy, tôi quá tin tưởng cảm giác của mình mà quên đi cảnh giác để rồi chuyện mất lòng xảy ra.

Bài học chẳng bao giờ rút kinh nghiệm. Người ta thân thiết và đối xử tốt với mình không có nghĩa là không có ranh giới. Bạn bè chơi sòng phẳng không lợi dụng nhau là đủ rồi. Đừng để cảm xúc tiến xa hơn nữa. Tôi rút kinh nghiệm và rút lui lại một bước.

Có những lúc chỉ muốn quay về với thế giới của riêng mình nhưng cũng có những người bạn rất nhiệt tình như anh bạn nhậu và anh bạn nhạc của tôi. Đi chơi chung lúc nào cũng cảm thấy thoải mái mà không cần phải cảnh giác.

The return of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is a testament that our free speech is still alive. Freedom of speech is worth fighting for. This is not the left nor the right issue, but I am glad to see some conservatives speak out in defend of free speech. Even Ted Cruz stands up like a man and speaks up for free speech.

America is not America without the freedom of speech. Let’s review the First Amendment Fundamental Freedoms in the Constitution of the United States:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The government can’t take that away from us. No authoritarian can take that away from us. Since they can’t go after our free speech, they go after our jobs. Many people had been fired for speaking against the opposition. I was a bit worried of losing my livelihood too, but my employer had put out the following advice:

As you review the social media policy, you will see that it highlights a widely recognized business best practice—including a disclaimer on personal social media profiles. DHRM encourages employees to note that the opinions expressed are personal and do not represent George Mason University and the Commonwealth of Virginia.

I put a disclaimer on every page of my website years ago to make absolute clear that all opinions are my own:

Opinions expressed on this personal blog are my own. My views do not represent those of institutions or organizations I may or may not be associated with.

There’s still hope for America. We need to speak up against authoritarianism. We need to fight like hell for our democracy.

Introducing a brand new visual identity for the Institute for Consumer Financial Choice at Antonin Scalia Law School. Typeset in Nickel Gothic Variable, designed by David Jonathan Ross.

Vừa đọc xong truyện tiểu thuyết Điều bí mật của tác giả Hân Như. Không biết sách trên giấy thì bao nhiêu trang, nhưng trên iPhone là 1010 trang. Lúc ban đầu, tôi ngần ngại có nên đọc hay không vì tôi không mấy thích đọc sách dài trên màn hình. Tuy nhiên khi đọc thử vài trang thì tôi bị lôi cuốn bởi lối viết nhẹ nhàng, thơ mộng, và truyền cảm của Hân Như, tuy tôi chưa đọc sách của cô trước đây.

Đúng với tựa đề, Như Hân câu đọc giả từ bí mật này đến bí mật khác. Đương nhiên, trong chuyện tình cảm thì phải có kẻ lành kẻ ác, kẻ thắng kẻ thua, và kẻ hạnh phúc kẻ đau buồn. Bên cạnh những mối tình éo le, tác giả để lại trong đầu óc người đọc cái đẹp của Hà Nội, tuy tôi không biết gì về Hà Nội cả. Thú vị hơn là cô cho đọc giả nếm những món ăn độc lạ của Việt Nam. Chẳng hạn như món “bốc mả”, Như Hân diễn tả:

[Ông] chủ quán đặt lên bàn, ngay trước mặt ba người một cái mâm, sau đó đặt tiếp lên mâm một cái rổ tre lớn, vốn thường để rửa rau sống. Cuối cùng, ông tiến lại bếp, nhấc cái nồi lớn để đun nước dùng lên, bê thẳng ra phía bàn và đổ mọi thứ ở trong ra cái rổ tre. Đồ trong nồi vẫn nóng nên khói bốc lên nghi ngút. Chút nước còn sót lại chảy hết vào mâm ở bên dưới.

Ông chủ quán đặt cái nồi xuống đất rồi ngồi xuống cạnh người đàn ông đạp xích lô. Đại cười và lại rót tiếp ba ly rượu nữa. Tường Vi nhìn vào trong cái rổ đẩy hơi nóng bốc lên, chỉ thấy bên trong rất nhiều xương, đủ các loại mà cô cũng không phân biệt nổi là xương của con gì. Ba người đàn ông cụng chén và uống rượu, trong khi Vi vẫn ngồi nhìn đống xương đã rũ hết cả thịt trong cái rổ ấy, lóng ngóng một hồi cũng không biết phải làm gì.

Không chén, không đũa, chẳng lẽ là dùng tay?

Đây là lần đầu nghe món “bốc mả”. Dĩ nhiên nếu có cơ hội tôi cũng sẽ thử cho biết. Quyển tiểu thuyết này đã đồng hành cùng tôi hơn sáu tuần. Buổi sáng thức dậy cũng đọc. Lên xe buýt đi làm cũng đọc. Ăn trưa xong cũng đọc. Lên xe buýt đi làm về cũng đọc. Trước khi đi ngủ cũng đọc. Tôi đọc chậm để được thả hồn mình vào câu chuyện hư cấu chứ không muốn đối diện với đời thật. Nhưng truyện hay nào thì cũng đến lúc phải kết thúc. Cũng may là ngày mai lại vào thư viện tìm truyện khác.

I used to change oil in high school, which was more than 20 years ago. Today, I changed oil for our 2011 Toyota Sienna XLE at 210,000 miles. The last time I took it to the dealership, they charged me almost $150. When did oil change had become so expansive?

Of course I watched some YouTube videos to refresh myself. Here are the parts:

• Oil Filter Wrench for Toyota: $30 (It’s a great tool for removing the oil filter)
• Toyota OE Engine Oil Filter 04152-YZZA1: $8
• Kirkland Signature 0W-20 Full Synthetic Motor Oil 5-quart, 2-pack: $30 (Only 6.5 quartz are needed)

Without the oil filter wrench, the parts cost less than $40. It saved $100 and 3 hours waiting time. I spent about an hour on it, but it will be faster the next time because I will know exactly what to do.

Nowadays, I have to do as many things as I can. Everything is so damn expensive.

A newly refreshed brand identity for Simplexpression is typeset in NaN Druid and NaN Druid Sans, designed by Anna Khorash and Reymund Schröder.

Simplexpression, a small jewelry design studio based in Fairfax, Virginia, is created by Dana Nguyễn. With her background in chemical engineering and her passion for design, Ms. Nguyễn strikes the balance between structural precision and natural beauty to elevate her craft in jewelry design. Her love for organic shapes and pure colors, both in her work and in her life, presents a simple expression on any occasion.

She who never wanted children who took pills not to have them who took pills when she feared she would she who waited for the right job the right partner the right moment to even open to the idea of them she who carried them she whose organs went two- dimensional to make space who grew a new organ whose own body bowed to the needs of the idea of something she who vomited every day for eleven weeks who travelled with sour candies in a bag until her tongue bled she who bled calmly on the phone with the doctor she who slept on the floor of an empty office she who lowered her doses of all the medicines that made her want to live in the first place she who fed the body that fed the body on nothing but raw corn and vitamins she who grew forty pounds and carried it to and from the bus to the subway to the walk to work and back again she who took a course on labor and labored for days she who heard the nurse say perhaps she has a low tolerance for pain and thought back to when a mirror shattered her body and her father unsure of how to stop the bleeding put her in two pairs of sweatpants until they soaked through she who knows punishment is always a negotiation of tolerance she who lost consciousness when the epidural did its job too well who stomached three shots of ephedrine to breathe again so the child inside could breathe again she who they raced into surgery whose abdomen was sawed through and stitched up she who held the baby covered in her own insides who itched for days from withdrawal who loved the baby instantly who fed the baby until she passed out who gave up sleep and time and mind and heart she who gave so generously of her body over and over only to have them say it was never hers to give

Lizzie Harris