Who the fuck named a band Dinner Time. It turns out the group is made up some of the most innovative musicians today including multi-instrumentalist Terrace Martin, saxophonist Kamasi Washington, and pianist Robert Glasper. For a group of superstar artists, the music on Enigmatic Society is super spare. Its style is a fusion of jazz, hip-hop, and R&B. I prefer the instrumental recordings such as “Watts Renaissance” and “The Lower East Side” over the vocal recordings. It’s a pretty chill album nevertheless.

This evening, autumn arrives with its seasonal wind
This evening, the far sky in a light mist of cloud dreams
A small boat on the river gently floats
Like a melody of love,
gently plucked with the heart strings.

The trees covered in autumn’s foggy breath
its cool wind blows through thousands of branches
From afar, the wind’s lyrics resonates across the forest pines
The song of a bittersweet love, a golden dream has died

Rushing along with the wind,
the little boat follows the bright moon.
In the Love river,
water flows in different directions.
Boat, o boat, to which destination
are you drifting towards?

Floating on the Love river,
Who knows how deep it is or how shallow.
Remember those foggy evenings,
when feelings of the heart are shared…
So much sadness since then,
the boat’s dreams flows with the river currents
Although the dream harbor may still cherish love
O Boat, do not have expectations or hopes.

The soft moonlight
A boat in the dark night
On the vast waves,
dreaming of a harbor
some place?

Translated by Vương Thanh

Con thuyền không bến

Đêm nay thu sang cùng heo may
Đêm nay sương lam mờ chân mây
Thuyền ai lờ lững trôi xuôi dòng
Như nhớ thương ai chùng tơ lòng

Trong cây hơi thu cùng heo may
Vi vu qua muôn cành mơ say
Miền xa lời gió vang thông ngàn
Ai oán thương ai tàn mơ màng

Lướt theo chiều gió
Một con thuyền, theo trăng trong
Trôi trên sông thương,
nước chảy đôi dòng
Biết đâu bờ bến

Thuyền ơi thuyền trôi nơi đâu
Trên con sông thương,
nào ai biết nông sâu?
Nhớ khi chiều sương,
cùng ai trắc ẩn tấm lòng.
Biết bao buồn thương,
thuyền mơ buồn trôi xuôi dòng

Bến mơ dù thiết tha,
thuyền ơi đừng chờ mong
ánh trăng mờ chiếu,
một con thuyền trong đêm thâu
Trên sông bao la,
thuyền mơ bến nơi đâu.

Đặng Thế Phong

and a stone in your body. Your job is not to kill the bird with the stone.

Victoria Chang

I have been blading regularly. On my lunch break at work, I would hit the skatepark with my aggressive skates then hit the bike trail with my three-wheel skates. The big wheels make blading on bike paths comfortable. I blade as fast as a jogger and that’s my exercise for the day.

As for aggressive skating, I haven’t elevated my skills. I pretty much stayed in my comfort zone. I can stall, but I can’t grind. I only drop in at a certain height. I had no motivation to pick up more advanced skills. This afternoon, I realized that I should focus on learning to blade backward. My backward skills definitely need improvement. I haven’t thought much about it.

I still practice snowboarding in my basement. My focus is on my posture, particularly my stand for carving. I just can’t wait for the winter again so we can go skiing and snowboarding.

Lauren Henderson is a sultry jazz singer with an ear for interpretation. Her reimagination of “That Old Black Magic” in a bossa-nova groove is just intoxicating with the help excellent accompanists including Joel Ross on vibes, Sean Mason on piano, Eric Wheeler on bass and Joe Dyson on drums. Other featuring instrumentalists including Gabe Schneider and Nick Tannura on guitar and John Chin on piano. In addition to covering standards, Henderson pens her own lyrics such as the title track. It’s a beautiful tune. The ten tracks on Conjuring are perfect for relaxation after a long, exhausting day.

One of my sons had a long field trip yesterday from 7:00 am to 6:30 pm. The entire family, including grandma, came to pick him up. Once he got off the bus, I told him, “We’ll go to the skatepark for a bit and then we’ll go out to eat.” He flipped out, “No, I want to go home. I haven’t played yet.” I replied, “We go out as a family.” He said, “Family is no fun.”

I was not sure if he meant what he said, but his words felt like a knife stabbed right to my heart. I canceled our plan and took everyone home. I made damn sure he didn’t touch his PC at all for the rest of the evening. If that behavior isn’t a sign of digital addiction then I don’t know what is.

Am I the only antediluvian dad who is too concerned about digital addiction with children? Maybe I should be the one to get counseling for having an issue with kids using digital devices from morning until dawn even when we went camping in the woods. They ate with their device on. Some of them were spoonfed while glued to the device. They took a shit with their device. They didn’t want to do anything else and I was too frustrated to suggest anything else.

Aren’t digital devices worse than smoking? With smoking, at least you get a break for a few minutes. I am fighting a losing battle because I am the only one who seems to be overeating. Maybe I should just chill out. We were in the woods. What the fuck can the kids do other than playing on digital devices? Why didn’t I come up with activities for them to do? Taking them to the skatepark is all about what I wanted, not what they wanted. It’s all about me.

I didn’t want to take them fishing because I find it too cruel. I just can’t imagine spotting something delicious to eat and biting into a sharp hook. One time, one of my sons caught a fish and I had to unhook it. It was just so damn gruesome. I am not god nor buddhist, but why would I treat living creatures that way when they don’t even harm me? Then again, I eat fish and meat; therefore, I am as hypocrite as fuck.

In retrospect, I should have pulled my kids away. Just let them sit around, relax, enjoy nature even if they were bored out of their minds. I tried not to intervene, but that didn’t do any good. I am failing my responsibilities if I turn away and allow them to sink deeper and deeper into the digital abyss.

A sad evening creeps into my heart
I seem to hear the sounds of autumn leaves falling…
Falling in the rain,
rich and warm like the voices of yesteryears,
singing the verses of a bygone era…

A feeling of desolation’s in the air
It silently creeps into my soul
Looking at the sad dewdrops falling in the sunset,
I suddenly miss my long ago love

Feel like I’m going crazy with yearnings
Alas! Where are you now? Where were our times together?
We keep waiting for each other
in a dream, My Love.
But will we ever,
ever see
each other again.

An autumn so long ago
seems to come back tonight
My Love had gone far away
Who will return to visit the streets of yesteryears?

We keep waiting so long for each other, My Love!
A sad mist covers the source of life’s happiness
We promise, in some distant future lives, to be together
But I will miss you so much, forever and ever…

Time’s like a bird in flight
The same months and days keep passing by
When was the season of serenity and joy in my heart?
When will my love and longings for you ever subside?

Translated by Vương Thanh

Hoài cảm

Chiều buồn len lén tâm tư
Mơ hồ nghe lá thu mưa
Dạt dào tựa những âm xưa
Thiết tha ngân lên lời xưa

Quạnh hiu về thấm không gian
âm thầm như lấn vào hồn
Buổi chiều chợt nhớ cố nhân
Sương buồn lắng qua hoàng hôn

Lòng cuồng điên vì nhớ
ôi đâu người, đâu ân tình cũ?
Chờ hoài nhau trong mơ
Nhưng có bao giờ, thấy nhau lần nữa

Một mùa thu xa vắng
Như mơ hồ về trong đêm tối
Cố nhân xa rồi, có ai về lối xưa?

Sương buồn che kín nguồn đời
Hẹn nhau một kiếp xa xôi,
nhớ nhau muôn đời mà thôi!

Thời gian tựa cánh chim bay,
qua dần những tháng cùng ngày
Còn đâu mùa cũ êm vui?
Nhớ thương biết bao giờ nguôi?

Cung Tiến

I made 8 cents in 7 days with display ads. Adsense doesn’t make sense for this blog. I removed it without anything else to promote. Let’s keep it minimal for a bit. After all, this blog is nothing but personal; therefore, I want to get back to just write.

I thoroughly enjoyed Mammal Hands’ Gift From the Trees on a beautiful morning. The album is relaxing but also exciting thanks to the hip-hop backbeat Jesse Barrett. His rhythmic work on “Labyrinth” is riveting. Nick Smart’s keyboard and Jordan Smart’s sax duo reminded me of Dave Brubeck’s and Paul Desmond’s on the classic “Blue Rondo à la Turk.” In contrast, “Deep Within Mountains” is so fine and mellow. Of course, Nick Smart’s ostinato is catching as hell on “Spinner.” A perfect album to release your stress early in the morning with coffee our late at night with cocktail.

Taking the 50%-off deal, I licensed Kaius Text, designed by Lisa Fischbach. Of course Kaius Text supports Vietnamese. I did not advise Vietnamese diacritics for Kaius, but I had worked with Lisa on other typefaces for TypeMates. She nailed the diacritical marks. I added Kaius Text to the recommendation page at Vietnamese Typography.