Replaced four brand new Michelin Primacy Tour A/S Tires for our 2018 Toyota Sienna SE at 40,000 miles. The tires were purchased from Costco for $970. Then performed wheel alignment at Ourisman Fairfax Toyota for $140. Another day, another grant spent.
Total cost: $1,110.
In this painstakingly beautiful novel, Elinor, half-white-half-Asian model-turned-writer, returns to her hometown, North Dakota, to cover the oil boom for a magazine article her professor who she had an affair with passed on to her. She set out to interview the workers in the small town and unearthed deep layers of classism, racism, and sexism. Yun’s writing is engaging, compelling, and devastating. She taps into the unmistakable American story—a heartbreaking, breathtaking read.
I was frustrated with my regression in learning figure skates. In the past few weeks, I could not even begin to attempt the toe loop jump. Even yesterday, my right inside 3-turn was so bad that I could not gain enough speed to initiate the jump. I was about to give up the whole sport. Figure skating isn’t for me anymore. My kids already quit. It must be time for me to throw in the towel as well. I told my wife I was done. She didn’t have any reaction. She knew too damn well that I was just venting out of frustration.
After skiing season over, I was a bit depressed because I need to be constantly learning or progressing. Before taking up skating and skiing sports, web design was my professional as well as personal development. I used to sit in front of the computer as much time as I could have to myself. These days I haven’t kept up with the latest technologies. I just picked up whatever skills I needed to do my job and to continue my passion projects. I rather spent time with my family when I was not working.
My kids and I used to go ice skating rinks and skateparks together. These days they only like going to mountain resorts for skiing, but spring is here and the snow is gone. Now is the perfect time to get back to rollerblading and ice skating, but my kids have moved on. I knew the time would come when they started to have their own interests. I am still glad that we had spent a chunk of time together learning these sports. I will always treasure those moments, including all the ski trips we had taken this year.
Even though I no longer have my kids to motivate me, I am still holding on to ice skating and rollerblading to keep myself active. If I don’t do these sports, I would become a lazy-ass old fart. Today I hit the ice rink again to give the toe loop jump another shot. Instead of using the right inside 3-turn to initiate the jump, I switched to the backward crossovers to give me more speed. That was all I needed to complete my toe loop jump. I still needed more practice to refine my jump, but I am thrilled to be able to get myself inspired again.
Calling it theatrical all you want, but I am continuing to mask up in public. I encourage my kids to do the same, but I don’t force them. Fortunately, they still want to mask up on their own. Đán wears his mask almost everywhere, indoor or outdoor. Đạo and Xuân only wear a mask in class and anywhere they feel necessary. In fact, Đạo has been the only ice hockey player who still wears a mask on ice. As long as he’s comfortable with it, I am fine with it. I wear one on the bench as well. Vương wears a mask when he sees all of us masking up, but he also takes it off whenever he feels like it. We’re cool with it.
It is such a damn shame that wearing a mask has been politicized and become such a divisive issue. Has masking worked? Maybe we’re lucky thus far, but our family has not contracted Covid and masking might have played a huge role in that. I spent weeks with Covid victims and stayed in the same room for hours with my mother when she had Covid. Masking had saved me from contracting the virus.
As masking has relaxed and most people have dropped their mask, we do not want to let my guard down. Covid is here to stay and we have to live with it. I don’t even know how long we can go before we get infected, but we do the best we can. We continue to mask up in public places.
I understand the hypocrisy of masking up and then taking it off when eating, but I am cool with it. Not everything has to be yin or yang all the time. On his show, Bill Maher keeps repeating his irritation about outdoor masking. People wear masks outdoors not just solely for Covid reasons. They may want to prevent dust and pollution. Nothing wrong with wearing a mask outside. He doesn’t want to wear it, that’s fucking fine. People want to wear it, let them be. Just fuck off.
Let’s keep it real. Ye has issues. No, scratch that. Ye has some serious fucking problems. Over the years, his abnormal behavior has become more erratic as his music has become more expressive. It gets to the point where his life and his art are inseparable.
As a fan of his music, I tried to focus only on his work. I didn’t care that he said, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.” It didn’t bother me that he hijacked Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech. His support for the Trump presidency, however, was the last straw for me. I was disappointed. I didn’t want to hear his music ever again like I wouldn’t listen to R Kelly (sex predator) or Nguyên Khang (another dumbass Trump supporter). For a while, I stopped listening to Ye’s albums altogether.
These days, I gave in and went back to his catalog. I completely tuned out of his relationship dramas with Kim and Pete. With his breakout debut, The College Dropout, Ye proved to be a conscious rapper with bangers such as “All Falls Down,” “Spaceship,” “Jesus Walks,” and “Never Let Me Down.” I always get a kick out of “The New Workout Plan.” The testimonials are hilarious as hell, especially Ella-May from Mobile, Alabama who had been able to date outside of the family after listening to Kanye’s workout tape.
His sophomore Late Registration follows up with so many gems. The soprano sax in “Drive Slow” is so damn intoxicating. Etta James’s voice is so addictive in “Addiction.” JAY-Z steals the show in “Diamonds From Sierra Leone,” with the line, “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man.”
With Graduation, Ye tightened up the album experience by leaving out skits. Right from “Good Morning (Intro),” “Champion,” “Stronger,” “I Wonder,” to “Good Life” are all solid tracks. In “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” Ye reveals, “I feel the pressure, under more scrutiny / And what I do? Act more stupidly.” “Big Brother” is such a beautiful tribute to JAY-Z.
808s & Heartbreak is such a unique album. He can hide his voice behind AutoTunes, but he cannot hide his soul. “Coldest Winter,” a tribute to his mother, is just soul-crushing. I love the entire album, except for the live recording, “Pinocchio Story,” which felt out of place.
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy starts strong right out of the gate. From “Dark Fantasy,” “Gorgeous,” “All of the Lights” (I love the interlude), to “Monster,” there’s so much beauty in darkness.
Yeezus is ten solid tracks from beginning to end and they are hard as fuck. “I’m In It,” in particular, is not even quotable. If there’s any doubt that Ye is not a lyricist, this alum is a testament that Ye is a lyrical genius.
Watch the Throne, Ye matches JAY pound for pound on the lyrical front. I hope that they will follow up the second album in the future.
Let’s face it. Ya is a flawed human and a music genius. Once I separate the artist from the asshole, I can enjoy his work.
Ski season is officially over. Liberty, Roundtop, and Whitetail had closed this weekend. I am feeling nostalgic already. Skiing has been so much fun, especially spending time with my boys, but it is time to put our gears away. What will keep me active in the spring and summer?
I want to get back to figure skating. My skills are getting rusty. I am still stuck on salchow and toe loop jumps. I need to nail these jumps to move forward. I don’t have too much confidence and passion like I used to; therefore, I don’t know how further I can go. Then again, I am not competing with anyone but myself.
I am still rollerblading at skateparks. I am not advancing much. I am still working on my pumps and riding the half pipe. I have gained confidence in my drops. I fell once yesterday from dropping down a high curved ramp. I felt fine until I went to sleep. My right shoulder was in pain. My body shows its age. I am starting to feel as if aggressive skating isn’t for old men like me. My kids no longer have any passion or interest in rollerblading; therefore, I feel lonely skating on my own. I still do it. I don’t want to give up yet.
Besides these sports, I should be focusing more on housework. Over the years, we have accumulated much more stuff than we need. The more I push off, the more overwhelming I get. I need to spend more time getting rid of things we don’t need. Tidying up the house has been a challenge with four kids. They leave toys everywhere.
As much as I despise home maintenance, I have to do as much as I can on my own. Not that I can’t afford to hire handymen, but I just can’t justify paying for everything around the house that needed fixing. Truth be told, maintaining our house is one of my sources of stress. Then again, what can I do? I am just going to face whatever hits us.
In her latest Netflix Special, Tomlinson shares the loss of her mother when she was eight, the struggle with her mental health, and the challenge of her religious upbringing. Tomlinson definitely has a dark sense of humor because she believes “if you can laugh at the darkest stuff that’s ever happened to you while it’s still actively happening to you, sometimes that’s what help get you through it.” Tomlinson is a fantastic writer. Her materials are thoughtful and her delivery is on the beat. I highly recommend streaming it.
On Saturday, we had a surprise snowstorm with the temperature dropping to the teens. We were to cancel our trip, but I took Đạo and Xuân with me to Liberty in the afternoon. The conditions were a bit icy, but still decent for skiing. We skied mostly on mogul terrains. The blue moguls were fun and manageable. The double-black moguls were tough, but I loved the challenge. I hadn’t conquered them yet, but I was more comfortable with them. I understand why many skiers don’t like moguls, but I am starting to appreciate them.
On Sunday, I took my kids and my brother-in-law took their kids to Roundtop. The conditions were great and the lifts weren’t too crowded. The younger kids skied in blues with one of my brother-in-laws and I led the older kids on the double blacks. In the afternoon, Roundtop held a Pond Skim competition. Participants dressed in customs and skied or snowboarded over a pond of cold water. After watching the first few folks dropping into the pond and only one of them made it, I headed over to the double black slopes to do a few runs down Gunbarrel, the steepest slopes out of the three resorts: Roundtop, Liberty, and Whitetail.
I shared a lift with an older woman and we had a short exchange. She shared with me her personal story about her late husband who used to work at Roundtop as a mechanic. She lost her husband over pancreatic cancer. She also revealed that she was wearing his jacket. I was touched. She was such a sweet woman.
After three runs on my own, I met up with my three boys (Đạo, Đán, Xuân) and their cousins (Hân, Khôi) and they all wanted to do Gunbarrel. My three boys and Khôi made it all the way down. Hân plowed down just a quarter of the slope and freaked out. He didn’t want to go all the way down, but he couldn’t go back up. His only option was to slide down on his behind. The second time, Khôi plunged into a tree. Thank goodness he didn’t fall on rocks. After that we went home.
This weekend was probably our last ski trip for the season. The resorts will stay open until next Sunday. Looking at the forecast, the weather will be warm next week. I am not so sure if we can take our last trip next Sunday.
Sedaris’s diaries from 2004 to 2020 are filled with humorous stories he had seen, heard, or encountered. His observations are the money shots. The “balls” joke is just too hilarious. His entries on the 2020 election are moving. Against all odds, his father beat Covid at age 97. It made me wonder what if I never made that 911 call to get my mother hospitalized. Could she have beaten COVID as well? I can’t turn back time now.
What prompted me to read this book was that I wanted to write my blog posts like he writes his diaries. What I had discovered is that Sedaris hated writing about feelings. He thinks feelings are boring and no one gives a fuck how you feel. I finally understand why he is a successful writer and I am still an amateur. Then again, Sedaris does Sedaris and I do me. I will continue to write about my feelings and the things I want to write about. Even if no one cares, I do, and that’s all that matters.
This winter, I skied from green to double-black-diamond slopes without taking any group or private lessons. I learned everything from watching YouTube.
Unlike figure skating, skiing has no standardized curriculum, or I could not find one; therefore, I had to do the research on my own. Now that I had done it, I wanted to share my experience. If you want to learn to ski on your own and want to take your journey to the next level, you may find the instructional videos helpful.
If you had taken skiing lessons and were taught how to plow (pizza), you need to unlearn it. You need to move from plow to parallel. Janus Hecht’s “Two Keys to Parallel Skiing” has unlocked my parallel skiing. It took me a few days to make the adjustments. Once it was clicked, I hardly went want to plowing.
Once you can parallel, the next step is to learn the hockey stop. Again, Janus Hecht is the man to watch. Hockey stop is not only an essential skill, but it is so much fun to do, especially the hop to stop technique, which Hecht also covered in the video.
Once you’ve mastered the hockey stop, you can make the transition to short turns. I find the step-by-step video from miromiro for short turns to be helpful. In addition to short turns, the instructor (I can’t find his name) shows the jump-turn technique. I love jump turns and use them all the time to ski down the double-black-diamond slopes. In this video, “How to Ski Steeps,” Warren Smith shows how step turns and jump turns can help you navigate the steep slopes. It is incredible to watch.
Skiing moguls appears to be intimidating at first, but it is so much fun maneuvering around those bumps. Like anything in skiing, you want to go with the flow rather than against it. In this video, Darren Turner shows how to ski moguls with ease. I find his instructions to be approachable. I learned “How to Jump on Skis” and basic carving technique from watching him. I am in the process of learning advanced carving from this video. I can’t find the name of the instructor, but her technique looks amazing.
I hope these tips will help open up your skiing journey like they had done for me. Happy skiing.