The first time I heard Ngọc Lan’s voice, I flipped the fuck out. Huỳnh Anh’s “Rừng Lá Thay Chưa” had been covered before, but never with such elegant, effervescent, emotional touch Ngọc Lan brought to it. It was love at first sound. I fell for her angelic alto immediately. I was in awed with the effortlessness she maneuvered her way around the rumba rhythm.

A couple of days ago, I came across a CD of Ngọc Lan’s recordings I made for myself ages ago so I could bring with me on roadtrips. Upon re-listening to the collection, I realized that my personal favorites were arranged in rumba. Ngọc Lan was a versatile vocalist who covered a wide range of styles, including Vietnamese lyrical songs, translated love melodies, ballroom-dance tunes, and French romantic ballads, but my personal preference has to be the rumba flavor simply because she had the flow.

I can listen to “Chuyện Phim Buồn,” “Yêu Đến Muôn Đời,” and “Dòng Sông Quê Tôi” again and again just to hear her soft, sweet, and sensual voice floating like crystal clear water over the hypnotic Latin rhythm arranged by Quang Nhật. With “Chuyện Phim Buồn,” in which Phạm Duy translated into Vietnamese from Sue Thompson’s “Sad Movies (Make Me Cry),” Ngọc Lan sang like she was the main character in the film. One could hear the sadness of betrayal from a lover as well as the clever cover up of emotion when her mother asked her why she was sad: “Dối má tối nay rằng / Đã lỡ trót xem phim buồn / Và xem đúng ngay một phim thật đỗi buồn / Làm lòng con xót xa.” (“And mama saw the tears and said ‘what’s wrong?’ / And so to keep from telling her a lie / I just said ‘sad movies make me cry’”). As for “Dòng Sông Quê Tôi” I didn’t realize the song was translated from “La Playa” until I searched it up. The Vietnamese lyrics, again masterfully translated by Phạm Duy, fit the harmony so well that I thought it was a true Vietnamese ballad. No less impressive was “Yêu Đến Muôn Đời,” which was also a foreign ballad translated by Trung Hành.

Another outstanding rumba recording was “Giáng Tiên Nữ,” which based on the theme of “Black Orpheus,” with Vietnamese lyrics written by Phạm Duy. Again the flow was just impeccable, as she brought some sensuality to the lyrics: “Vùi trong hơi ấm nồng nàn / Thịt da thơm ngát tình nồng / Cùng chăn gối ấm tình hồng / tình ôi ngất ngây.” (I am not even going to attempt to translate.)

Ngọc Lan’s rendition of Lam Phương’s “Xin Thời Gian Qua Mau” is still one of the best interpretations I’ve heard. The heart-rending saxophone, the crisp snare drum, and Ngọc Lan’s swag made the tune so damn intimate. I could almost feel her breath as if she were singing into my ears: “Ta đã quen, quen từng hơi thở / Quen tiếng cười và sóng mát đưa tin / Tám mùa đông cây rừng khô trụi lá / Chưa bao giờ một phút sống xa nhau.”

How did Ngọc Lan sing the rumba so damn good? She embraced the rumba, caressed the rumba, and made lucious love to the rumba.

Updated June 23, 2022

Yesterday I came across an old casette I have labeled, “Don Ho’s Collection.” To my surprise, I couldn’t even play the casette inside the house. The only tape deck I have is in my car. I played it on my way to work and the songs brought back some fond memories.

I started to become one of Don Ho’s biggest fans when I watched him performed “Say You Will” on Asia production’s first video. Later on I found out that a friend of my sister also really digged him. She let me borrowed a couple of Don Ho’s tapes and I was thrilled. One of the tapes was Don Ho and Ngoc Bich’s Yesterday. I was impressed with his part on the album; therefore, I only taped his songs to a blank tape, but not Ngoc Bich’s.

I couldn’t remember the exact date, but it had to be between 1993 and 1994. I came to the US around 1991 and at the time my English was pretty bad. I had no idea who the Beatles and Bee Gees were. Don Ho’s rendition of “Yesterday” was probably my first exposure to American pop music. To kill time, I transcribed “Yesterday,” “Something,” “Here Comes the Sun,” “To Love Somebody” and “You Can Do Magic.” I didn’t understand some of the American words so I wrote down the tone in Vietnamese and just sang along. I spent quite a bit of time listening and remembering the lyrics. I loved his Vietnamese part of the songs and wished that he only sang them in Vietnamese even though he did quite well in English.

Listening to the songs again takes me down to memory lane. Something about the effortless in his phrasing and the warmness in his slightly smoky timbre that got me every time. I can still remember clearly the opening lines of “Yesterday”:

Mới hôm qua
Buồn phiền trong anh như đã bay đi xa
Mãi đến hôm nay tim còn thấy hoan ca
Ôi lòng ngỡ như là ngày hôm qua.

Boy, the good old yesterdays.

Dao’s new adjective: beautiful.

As we were walking to our car yesterday after I picked him up from daycare, he said, “It’s a beautiful day.” As we drove home and parked the car, he gave a compliment on our neighbor’s ride, “It’s a beautiful red car.”

Before bedtime, he sang a song he learned at summer camp: “Where are the penguins? Mighty mighty penguins. Wobble, wobble wobble…” He laughed and said, “It’s a beautiful song.” I said to him, “You are so hilarious.” Let’s see when he’ll start using the word “hilarious.”

If we continue the way we live now, I am sure we could become pretty damn rich.

Lil Dan refuses to take formulas, which is a great saving for us. He only prefers his mom’s fresh milk. Unfortunately his mom can’t produce enough for him to consume. He’s eating quite a bit nowadays.

Dao doesn’t eat anything except white rice and sauce made from thit kho (Vietnamese Caramelized Braised Pork Belly and Eggs) and he would eat any vegetable with ketchup. So we don’t spend much on him either.

As for me, my wife has been packing lunch so I don’t have to go to Eden Center anymore. I haven’t have lobster for two weeks in a row and it has been on sale for $13.99. At times I just pull out a 28-cent instant noodles and get it over with.

Once I kick my Starbucks’ addiction and with all these cost savings, I am pretty sure we can paid off the house in a couple of years. LOL!

These days the kids go to bed early so I got a chance to catch some stand up comedies on NetFlix. Here are the ones I digged:

Jim Gaffigan’s Mr. Universe: He has me stop going to Subway.

Lewis Black’s In God We Rust: He’s a veteran in the game. He’s masterful despite showing is age with the iPhone’s frustration.

Steve Byrne’s The Byrne Identity: Being half Koran half Irish, Byrne lead off hilarious racial jokes. Very impressive.

In choosing a CMS for a client project, I was debating between WordPress and MODX. These two systems could do what I need for the site; therefore, my selection was based on flexibility (for me to develop) and usability (for the client to maintain).

WordPress would have been an easier choice since I have worked with the system for quite a while. WordPress would have taken less time to implement because I could use a starter theme and run with it. WordPress’s admin interface is very easy to use. It would take me less time train the client to use the system. The most impressive part about WordPress yet is the ability to upgrade the system with just one click. Client won’t need me to do anything in the future.

MODX Revolution, on the other hand, would be a bit of a challenge for me. I have not implemented a site from scratch with MODX; therefore, it would take me much more time to develop. In addition, MODX has no existing template to get me running. Everything has to be built from scratch and the biggest advantage of this is that I can create the site exactly the way I wanted. There’s no shortcut to get me started, but the end result would be quite satisfying for someone who likes clean codes and semantic markups. One can argue that you can start WordPress from scratch as well, but getting all the functionalities back in takes much more time. As a CMS, MODX’s template variable allows me to create any piece of content anywhere on the site. Now that’s truly flexible. In contrast to WordPress, MODX’s manager is not as easy for client to use. Training will be required. Upgrading the system would require my involvement.

After careful consideration and discussion with my client, we decided to go with MODX. It is a perfect opportunity for me to learn the system. With the reference of Bob Ray’s MODX: The Official Guide and online documentations, I am quite impressed with MODX Revolution. Its power allows me to create a dynamic, CMS-driven web site just the way I wanted no more no less.

I’ll share the site once we launch it. Stay tuned!

There I said it. I am suck at parenting. Unfortunately you would never know until you become a parent. I love my two kids more than life itself, but that doesn’t make me a good parent. Then again I am learning and improving, because I have no choice. For the past year, I literally didn’t know what to do with Dao. I tried various methods and nothing worked. It goes in his one ear and out the other. I wasn’t sure he was not comprehensible or he simply doesn’t want to. Fortunately, I think he’s getting it.

Dao could be such a lovely kid if he wants to or be such a pain in the ass if he chooses to. The past week his behavior had changed a bit. I still have to make him to do his daily tasks, but his resistance level had dropped. As I assured him that if we could take the shower and brush his teeth quicker, we would have a much better time. Once he listened, we were able to enjoy reading and playing before bedtime. I am confidence that we can still reigning him in.

As for Dan, what a lovely boy. He makes me feel like parenting isn’t so bad after all, at least for now. He’s a happy little baby despite all the eczema bothering him. Love it when he smiles and showing his rabbit teeth. Definitely not looking forward to the terrible two and terrifying three stages. Who knows he’ll give us less grief. We’ll see.

It’s inevitable that George Mason plays a major part of my life. I work for the Law School. I live right by the main campus. I’ll take classes this coming fall in the School of Art. All I have to say is I am loving George Mason.

The job is fantastic. I couldn’t ask for a better supervisor. Working home on Fridays has been very rewarding for me. On lunch break, I get to drop by the campus’s Starbucks for coffee and browse the main campus library. What I really love about this library is that it always has latest books on tech and types. Like today I checked out six brand new books on typography. As a member of Administrative/Professional Faculty, I get to check out books for a whole semesters. My books aren’t due until September. Of course I return them as soon as I am done with them.

So far George Mason has been a fantastic place for me to live and grow. Now that we have a new president, I hope that Mason will prosperous even further.

Our little family getaway to Atlantic city is over. Three days of relaxing, eating and some gambling went by quick. In the morning, Dan woke up the earliest (around 5am) so I strolled him around the boardwalk. At noon we jumped into the big-ass bath tube in our room. Dao and Dan loved it. We didn’t even have to go to the beach. Dao is still in fear of the waves. We hit the swimming pool once. Lil Dan loved the water. As soon I put him in, he kicked his feet and splashing his arms froggy style. Then we took a long-ass nap and headed to dinner. After dinner we headed out to the carnival.

Once the kids got to bed around midnight, I went downstairs for Pai Gow. The first night I won $30. The second night I won $50. The third night I lost $100. Pai Gow is the only table that I like to play. I only bet the minimum and only the Resorts has the lowest minimum at $15. I am not a big gambler and I hate to lose money, but I like to play for fun. On the second night, an Italian guy pulled out $5,000 and lost it all in just an hour. He seemed tired as hell, but kept on playing until he lost it all.

I also chatted with some Vietnamese dealers for a bit. On all three nights, an old Chinese guy who spoke no English was there sitting next to me. One of the dealers told me that he and a group at another table took the bus there every night until 4am. Imagine that, playing the same damn thing every day.

In any rate, vacationing with two small children isn’t quite relaxing, but it was definitely worth the bonding time. The two boys are growing amazingly fast. I am not sure how a single parent could handle it all. I certainly can’t do it without Dana.

Back in 2000, I spent a summer month interning at Trump Maria, which now turned into Golden Nugget. What was nice was I had a hotel room and three meals a day for employees. What was suck was I didn’t have anything to work on. I didn’t learn anything except clipping path in Photoshop, which is quite a useful skill to have. My internship was supposed to last three months, but I resigned after a month a half, which was long enough to satisfy the college’s credits.

One of the things that I loved was whenever a co-worker took me out to a bakery that baked fresh, delightful baguette. I am not sure if the place is still around, but I couldn’t remember exactly where it is. I remember faithless that it is a few blocks from the Taj Mahal toward AC express way. My mission in the next couple of days, a last-minute getaway, is to find out if the place is still around. I used to love the smell of that fantastic French bread.

Anyway, I am going to be on the road today; therefore, I’ll missed the Euro 2012 final. With the way Spain play, I doubt that it’s going to be excited game so I’ll just catch up with the scores afterward. Peace out!