Unfortunately we didn’t ski or snowboard today. It has been raining hard all day and the area where we’re staying is flooding.

Let’s hope the water will subside tomorrow and the snow start to fall. We already missed one day of skiing and snowboarding.

We stayed in the house all day. The kids played Monopoly and spent most of their time on their devices.

What else can they do. I really want to hit the slopes.

Since it was our first day at Stowe, we didn’t know what to expect. The older kids explored the mountains on their own. My wife took her time learning to ski at the bunny slopes. We sent Vương to an all-day group lesson.

I joined the older kids for two ski runs on the blue terrains. My ski skills were rusty. I needed to learn to turn smoothly instead of quickly.

I switched to snowboarding and went on my own for four runs. I also wanted to learn to turn smoothly instead of abruptly. At this point, I like snowboarding a bit more than skiing.

When I picked up Vương after his all-day lesson, I learned that he spent all day in one tiny area playing with snow. He didn’t make it to the magic carpet. I was so disappointed. I thought he could at least make it to an easy green. $300 went down the drain. I was planning on taking snowboarding lessons myself, but didn’t seem like it would be worthwhile.

Damn, I am falling asleep trying to write this post. I am exhausted.

I haven’t listened to Stacey Kent for a minute. She has a beautiful voice, but her meticulous pronunciation has me hanging to every word. Her rendition of “If You Go Away” is just splendid. Her French version “Ne Me Quitte Pas” is just lovely. I enjoyed both languages of her singing in this album. This is a perfect vibe for the holiday season.

Tập thơ mới của anh Cao Nguyên được thiết kế với rất nhiều khoảng trắng (white space). Mỗi trang dàn trải (page spread) chỉ có một bài thơ. Mỗi bài thơ gồm có ba dòng, chẳng hạn như thể loại haiku:

cao nguyên rộn ràng quá
sẽ thức giấc nàng thơ, nàng thơ
còn ngủ trong thơ mưa

Nhưng anh không chỉ dừng lại ở haiku, có bài chỉ có ba chữ:

chút vu vơ
chút ngu ngơ
chút thơ thơ

Hoặc năm chữ:

gió mùa xuân màu xanh
gió mùa đông màu đen
gió mùa thu màu em

Cách chơi chữ của anh rất thú vị. Thí vụ như cách anh dùng tiếng Anh cùng tiếng Việt:

an apple a day
keeps the doctor away. thôi
ăn apple. em ôi!

Với những người xa quê hương từ nhỏ như tôi muốn học lại tiếng Việt, đây là quyển sách lý tưởng để đọc và tập làm thơ. Làm liền ba dòng bốn chữ:

đọc tới đọc lui
đọc xuôi đọc ngược
đọc mãi vẫn được

When someone from a high-profile organization reached out to me for a potential consulting project, of course I was skeptical. I assumed they tried to spam me—it was too good to be true. I ignored their message, but they followed up. Their email seemed legit; therefore, I did some research and they turned out to be who they claimed to be. I took on the project. Although I cannot share anything, I am excited about the opportunity to work for a company I have admired and respected.

Grato Marker, designed by Teja Smrekar, is a playful hybrid of geometry and informality. Although it has a casual attitude, Grato Marker is serious about supporting Latin, Greek and Cyrillic languages. Reviewed by skilled experts, it supports more than 270 languages including Vietnamese. Yes, I was consulted on Grato Marker’s Vietnamese diacritics. Big props to TypeMates.

Nghe tên tưởng tác giả là phụ nữ nhưng là đàn ông. Tập thơ phát hành năm 2005 có được bài “Về gặp lại em” ấn tượng:

Ta về em gái một con
Đường xưa cỏ úa lối mòn êm chân
Nằm đêm ngó ý bâng khuâng
Tay ôm em bỗng châu thân rã rời
Giòng xuôi nước ngược chia đời
Tám năm ai có trách lời đợi mong
Má xưa sắc vẫn nắng hồng
Mắt xưa mi vẫn nét cong tuyệt vời
Thì thôi cũng một nụ cười
Kệ đời mưa gió tả tơi bước về

Còn nhiều bài thơ khác đa số là về người mẹ còn ở lại quê hương. Đọc cũng được nhưng phải phê bình rằng bìa sách thiết kế không được ấn tượng nhất là cách dùng chữ.

I went to Bryce yesterday to kick off our skiing/snowboarding season. I also wanted to test out my new gears to make sure I can ride them. Since we are getting serious about these sports, we might as well invest into new equipments.

Over the past several months, I sold my used gears and replaced them with new ones. Although they were brand new, they were at least 50% off. I took my time to do my search.

For snowboarding, I bought a 2023 Salomon Super 8 board ($265), 2020 United-G1 Rome bindings Rome Bindings ($110), and 2021 DC Men’s Laced Lace snowboard boots ($164). The whole set was $539.

For skiing, I bought 2023 Fischer RC Fire SLR Pro skis with RS 9 SLR bindings ($215) and Lange RX 120 ski boots ($355). The whole set was $570. Both set for just a bit over a $1000 is not bad.

Since Bryce is running an early-season discount on lift ticket for $40, I decided to drive an hour and 45 minutes to test out my equipments. Unfortunately, the condition was icy hard yesterday. I couldn’t initiate or turn my board at all. I was falling on my ass and knees. Fortunately, I had my Soared 3D Protection short pants on, but my knees were brutal. I need to put on my knee guards. The board performed well despite my horrible skills—I couldn’t get my front-knee steering down. This will be the technique I will learn this season. The DC boots worked really well. The stiffness held up well. I didn’t feel any pain at all.

I also tested out my Fischer skis, but I couldn’t do much under the hard-ice condition. They worked. I can’t wait to spend a week at Stowe starting this Saturday.

Out of the Chainz-Wayne duo, the veteran flows far more superior than the rookie. Right off “G6” and “Big Diamonds,” 2 Chainz can’t keep up with Lil Wayne’s virtuosic deliveries. Wayne maneuvers his way around the beats with effortlessness. It’s easy to enjoy the way he raps than what he raps. On the other hand, 2 Chainz has a few hilarious punchlines like, “I went to paradise with a pair of dice with a pair of dykes.” Unfortunately the album loses its momentum halfway in. “P.P.A.” is just misogynistically horrendous.

Nắng đi
để lại chiều tà
Người đi
để lại xót xa một đời
Đêm đi
để lại sương rơi
Tình đi
để lại giọt vài khoé mi…

Thương Anh