With two country-leaning contestants, American Idol Finale should have named Country Idol. So Scotty and Lauren battled it out tonight for 2011 Country Idol. As I had expected, the two went the opposite direction. After watching the show, I find it really hard to cast my vote. From the beginning, I have always rooted for the country boy for his hypnotic cello-like baritone, but tonight, Lauren convinced me on both Carrie Underwood’s and Jimmy Lovine’s pick. Her final performance won my heart. So sorry Scotty, my last vote for the season has to go to Lauren, but then again one vote for American Idol doesn’t really make a different. Now if Haley was up against Lauren, it would have been a very exciting competition.

Poor thang. My future ex-mistress Hoang Thuy Linh has fallen into a sophomore slump. Luu Thien Huong has made an erroneous move by replicating the success of Hoang Thuy Linh’s debut. Dung Voi Vang ended up sounding like leftover junks from the first album.

Dance-pop formula once again applied, but way less effective on Dung Voi Vang. The productions are still high quality, but static even the club joints. The lyrics are banal with no punchlines. The heavy use of Auto-Tune makes Hoang Thuy Linh sounds more like machine than human. It also exposes her weakness: limited range.

Whereas the previous album has three solid, addictive slow jams (“Cam On Vi Da Yeu Em,” “Anh Co Nho Gi” and “Cho Nhau Loi Di Rieng”), this one has none. “Lai Lan Nua” is just slow and boring. On “Em Se La Giac Mo,” she sounds as if she was rather sleeping than singing. The English hook, “I wanna run,” on “Chay Tron” can get really irritating. The closing “Giau” is the only tune that she’s actually feeling the beat.

While we were on the road and a truck passed by, Dao said, “Xe truck chay nhanh” (The truck runs too fast).

As he was crawling down the steps, he stopped and realized that he left his Thomas train upstairs, he said, “Dao quen Thomas roi” (Dao forgot Thomas).

I carried him out to the car and didn’t put his shoes on, Dao said, “Dao mat giay roi” (Dao lost shoes).

Dao sure loves my iPod, but he loves my sister-in-law’s iPad even more. He refers to iPad as “iPod bu” (big)

We were in DSW looking for shoes. He kept wanting to be carried. I took his hands and danced to distract him, but he demanded, “No nhac, no nhay, no dance.”

My sister-in-law, her husband and I took Dao to our friend’s party in Maryland. Dana didn’t feel well so she stayed home. I didn’t really wanted to go without her, but I figure, we should give her a bit of time to herself. During the ride he asked, “Mommy dau roi?” (Where is mommy?) two times before we leave the house and before we leave the party.

Those are what I could recall for this weekend. We also mowed the lawn together. I used to despite cutting the grass, but now doing it with my little boy is actually fun. He apparently loves to mow the lawn with his lawn-mover toy. Dana bought it for him when he started to walk and it is still one of his favorite toys. It’s the best $5 she spent at K-Mart.

Emil Ruder:

Typography has one plain duty before it and that is to convey information in writing. No argument or consideration can absolve typography from this duty. A printed work which cannot be read becomes a product without purpose.

Ruedi Rüegg:

Typography must be regarded as the sum total of various aspects. These concern the content, intention, sender, receiver, language, design, technique and the economic point of view.

Typography is not a free, independent art like painting, sculpture or music but, like architecture and graphic design, it is connected with a definite order. Its aim is the impartial transmission of thoughts, ideas and facts.

With Haley voted off last night, the American Idol Finale won’t be as exciting. Haley has a much wider range than Scotty and Lauren, but most importantly, she is an interpreter of songs. She made the tunes her own with such a sexy, raspy voice. She has sung jazz, pop, neo-soul, country and even rock on the show. Her rendition of “I Who Have Nothing” was phenomenal thanks to Lady Gaga’s psychotic advice. Her version of “House of the Rising Sun” were just hauntingly beautiful, especially the accapella beginning (a great tip from Sheryl Crow). She did a fine job of covering Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep.” She also rocked out Led Zeppelin’s “What Is And What Should Never Be.” My personal favorite is her take on LeAnn Rimes’s “Blue.”

With the result last night, I won’t be looking forward much to the finale. Both Scotty and Lauren are from two different spectrum. Scotty dominates the low notes while Lauren commands the high register, but they both come down to country music. So the winner depends on which side you prefer. My pick between the two would still be Scotty, but my prediction is still going to be Lauren.

When we got home in the evening yesterday, Dao noticed an army of ants marching in the house. He showed me the spot and said, “Daddy kien (ants).” I took out the vacuum and sucked them up. As I turned off the vacuum, he spotted more ants and said, “More kien.” Once he didn’t see anymore ants, he said, “diet kien roi (got rid of the ants).” After I was done vacuuming, he told me “cat lai (put it away)” and pointed to the closet where I usually keep the vacuum.

He pooped after dinner so I changed his diaper. I opened the diaper and said, “Oh Lord!” Then he kept on repeating “Oh Lord! Oh Lord! Oh Lord!” Ms. Tam as school told us that Dao is like a recorder. He would repeat anything the teachers say so they have to be careful what they say around of him.

Around 9:30 p.m. we tried to get him to sleep, but I wanted to sneak out to watch American Idol (Go, Haley!). Every time I stepped out of the bedroom door, Dao would ask him mom, “Ba dau roi? (Where’s dad?)” It’s very intriguing to hear him say new words almost everyday.

Yesterday after work we stopped by Korean store to pick up so groceries. As Dao and I were playing the game of naming the fruits, a Korean boy who is a bit bigger and chubbier than Dao ran up to us. He pointed to the Thomas train Dao was holding in his hand. The boy was also holding a Thomas train on his hand. He wanted to play with Dao, but Dao was holding on to me tight with his left hand and holding on to Thomas tight with his right. I said to him, “Choi voi ban di con. Ban muon choi voi con.” (Play with him. He wants to play with you.)

Dao sort of wanted to play, but he was probably still being shy. The Korean boy was quite friendly to Dao. He ran off on his sisters and mom to be with two strangers. So I took him to find his mom before she gets worried. After we found his mom and he waved goodbye to us. Dao waved back and said to me, “Ban di roi.” (Friend has left.) I responded, “Con khong choi voi ban thi ban di thoi.” (You don’t play with him so he went off.)

Last Sunday, we dragged home a Panasonic VIERA 50-Inch Plasma HDTV from Costco just out of the blue. We meant to get a new TV three years ago, but we kept on pushing it off because we don’t really watch much TV. The decision was made simply because I was too tired after two and half hours of driving and a cup of margarita from Chipotle. I hope we made a good choice.

After setting it up and test it with Curious George, Dao said, “George bu quaaaa.” (George’s too big). His reaction was just hilarious. I watched Three Kingdoms last night through Netflix and was very impressed with its high quality streaming. Sorry Redbox. I am now rolling with Netflix.

I was wondering how the teachers, staffs and students at JCCNV could say Dao’s name with correct Vietnamese tone. Almost everyone gets it right whenever they greet him. I finally found out the person who is responsible for it. Yesterday I dropped Dao’s off as usual and he was greeted by quite a few new faces in his class. His new classmates said, “Hi Dow.” Ms. Tam quickly corrected them, “It’s not Dow. It’s Đạo.”

Isn’t it nice to have a Vietnamese teacher around? I think Ms. Tam plays a big role in his Vietnamese speaking. Dao will be moving up to an upper class at the end of June and he won’t have Ms. Tam around anymore. That’s going to be a big disadvantage for us.

Dao is picking up a lot of words now and he uses them in unexpected moments. Last Friday, we stopped by Pho Hoa Binh in Maryland on our trip to Lancaster. As I was feeding him pho, he kept asking for more (“nua”). I gave him a spoonful, but he spat back out and said, “nhieu qua” (too much).

He used to be able to watch his favorite “Curious George” in the minivan without the sound on so I can listen to music while driving. Now if he doesn’t hear the sound, he would say, “hong (no) work” or “hong tieng” (no sound).

Now he no longer wants to ride the old car. As soon as he sees the minivan, he would say, “Dao di xe moi… Xe cu nghi” (Dao wants to ride the new car… Old car is resting.”

Out of the blue this morning, he said to me as I tried to buckle him into his car seat, “May, May, May o nha May” (May stays at her house). I responded to him in Vietnamese, “Of course, May stays at her house. Where else could May be? Do you miss May?” He nodded his head, “Dao nho May” (Dao misses May). Let’s hope that he won’t be too attached or too emotional when he grows up or else the girls going to break his heart into pieces.

On Saturday, Dao and May met up for another play date. Many things have changed since the last time they were together, which were about three months ago. For the first forty-five minutes, May seemed to have forgotten Dao or she was overwhelmed that a bunch of strangers just marched into her house. Dao, on the other hand, called out her name, gave her a hug, a kiss and then helped himself to the toys as if he was at his own house. Then May felt comfortable again and they were back to normal.

Dao held May’s hand when we went outside. They walked and laughed together. We went to Fuddruckers for lunch and the cutest moment when May fed him. Whatever she puts to his mouth, he just took it, even with chip dipped in ketchup. After lunch we headed toward Port Discovery.

This time I took Samantha and Eric along. Not sure about Samantha, but Eric enjoyed the place. I was glad that we also get to hang out with these two who I love like my own kids. I have many memories with Samantha because I was around when she was born. I shared with her what I could remember when she was a little girl. It seems like yesterday that I was holding her in my arms. Now she’s all grown up. Twelve years have gone by.

Eric is seven now and still in his kid zone; therefore, he still likes to hang out with us. Every time I come to visit my mom, I try to take him out and spend time with him. Dao also loves Eric. He now does everything Eric does. Yesterday, I was sitting on the coach, Eric came, gave me a hug and said, “I love you.” He melted my heart. I really I wish I could spend more time with him and Samantha.

Back to Dao and May, the two that are opposite of each other, but get along so well together. I was looking forward to many play dates in the future, but May, Linh and Son will be moving to the West coast at the end of June. We’re very happy for them, but a little bit sad that we won’t have the convenience of meeting up anymore.

Thanks to Dao and May, Dana and I have found a wonderful couple that we could hang out with because we all happy to see our kids enjoy each other’s company. In a way, Linh and Son are our first friends together. Not that we’re unsociable, but we’re just not a very exciting couple who enjoys each other’s boring company. Unlike us, Linh and Son isn’t a boring couple. They just happen to share the “twin” with us.