I spent my Sunday night realigning Vietnamese Typography. I stripped the site down to just black text on white background. I am heading toward a much more minimalist approach with the focus on readability. I find colors a bit distracting, but I still use red for the hover state.

I also decided to give the site a dark-mode experience for those who prefer reading white text on dark background. To accomplish dark mode, I had to re-export all the SVG files and embed them directly into the pages instead of linking to them using the img tag. The process was a bit tedious, but it was worth doing since Adobe Illustrator improved its SVG export with responsive support and cleaner codes.

I still love this site very much even though it was published six years ago. My original intention was to treat it like a book: publish it and forget it. The site has moved beyond the book format as I continue to add new type recommendations for Vietnamese. The traffic continues to go up and I get more requests for reviewing Vietnamese diacritics. Vietnamese Typography remains one of my favorite projects and I am very proud of it.

I enrolled Đạo and Xuân to private lessons with a Japanese-American coach who competed in the Olympics and worked for Disney on Ice. I had observed her giving private lessons many times and her meticulous methods caught my attention. She didn’t just focus on the techniques. She made sure that her students had correct postures, forms, and hands.

I watched her giving Đạo a private lesson on Thursday and she showed him how to do forward crossovers, which he had learned a while ago. His form didn’t look too good. She showed how to lift up his chest, how to push his leg correctly to get the power, and how to move his arms in accordance with his legs. I appreciated her attention to the details. Even though she was strict on the forms, she had a friendly approach to teaching them. She didn’t make him feel intimidated. Đạo liked her coaching style too.

Xuân is still young and he has a solid foundation. It is important that he learns the proper techniques, forms, and postures. He started to cry when I asked him to go into the rink with her. He didn’t want to go in without me. I asked Đạo to accommodate him for a bit and five minutes later she completely put him at ease. After their first private lesson, he asked me when he could take it again. I said, “You were crying and now you want more?” He replied, “I was fake crying.”

She is a great coach; therefore, her rate is quite high. I could only let each of them do half an hour each week. Not only do we have to pay her fees, we also have to pay for the freestyle time on ice. She is no longer working at the Fairfax rink that we normally go to. We have to drive thirty minutes to a different rink. Is it worthwhile? Absolutely, if money isn’t a concern. When I discussed with my wife the reasons I chose this particular coach, she asked me my end goal for them to take private lessons. I just want them to learn proper skating techniques, to develop an appreciation for how our bodies perform on figure skates, and to enjoy ice skating.

My wife suggested twice private sessions a week if they are doing to do it. Hell no! I already am worried financially with once a week.

I haven’t been to the skate parks since my last falling off the ramp. The pain in my sacroiliac joint is fading away, but I am feeling a bit intimidated to get back into rollerblading.

My helmet cracked when I fell the previous time and blacked out. If my head were hitting the ground instead, I don’t know if I could have survived. That helmet saved my head, but now I need a replacement.

I need to get back to the park to rebuild my confidence, but I will not get near the high ramps. I need to be more mindful of my age and my health. I am no longer a young man. The pain took way too long to subside.

I have been spending more time ice skating. The ice rink is much safer than the skate park. I don’t want to give up rollerblading though. It is still a fun sport I can do whenever I want and not have to wait for the rink to open. Maybe I just rollerblade on the bike trails instead of the skate parks.

My thanks to Tommy for supporting my blog. I appreciate his generosity and I am glad to hear that he enjoys reading this blog. This is definitely a motivation to keep me going.

As a blogger who blogs my life away, I really miss reading personal blogs. Even people I don’t know, I love to catch a glimpse of their life. They don’t have to be famous and they don’t even have to write about grand topics. I enjoyed something personal about their life that are willing to share to the public.

Whether blogging about their kids, emotions, or passions, they are invited the readers into their mind and I felt like I get to know them a bit. The other day, I saw a group of Vietnamese-American mothers who used to blog met up and posted their photos on Facebook. I was told that they are still blogging, but mostly in private. I wish they were still open to the public, but I am glad to hear that they are still blogging.

I am exciting to see my sons (Tinygui and Lilgui) started blogging. I hope they keep it up to practice their writing.

As a financial worrier, I am concerned about our summer spending spree, particularly on our kids. Xuân is continuing his academic tutoring for three days a week. Đán is taking private tutoring for reading and writing twice a week. Đạo is attending a writing workshop twice a week.

For sports, we already sent Đán and Xuân to a week-long figure skating camp. Đán will start the NHL/NHLPA Learn to Play program this Saturday. Yesterday, I signed up Đạo and Xuân for private ice skating lessons. I also am taking group ice skating lessons myself.

To offset these expenses, I am taking on freelance projects. I am currently working on only one website and the pace is slow as I am waiting for my client to do its part. My advising service for Vietnamese diacritics is going well. I have clients all over the world asking me to review their typefaces. I am really happy about those gigs.

As I am paying for all of these tutoring services and private lessons, I am thinking of offering my own services on web design, typography, and graphic design. Anyone interested?

Although I have more than I can use for my personal projects, I keep acquiring new typefaces. I recently bought a complete web license for Captura Now, designed by Anita Jürgeleit. Captura Now is a friendly, flexible sans-serif family with a variable font and Vietnamese support. I haven’t had a chance to, but I will put it to good use one day.

I invested in Lang Syne, designed by Stephen Nixon, from Future Fonts. Although Lang Syne is still in its early development, I trust that Stephen will complete it with a variable font and Vietnamese support, just like what he is working on for Name Sans.

As much as I have been excited about Future Fonts, I have refrained myself from making purchases. Except for Name Sans, a handful of fonts I have invested in have no future. Some of them aren’t going anywhere. With the exception of Name Sans, none of them supports Vietnamese, which is not too useful for me. As of this writing, only five typefaces on the entire Future Fonts catalog support Vietnamese.

I am still a long-time member of the Font of the Month Club. I am really happy that every font David Jonathan Ross each month comes with the Vietnamese language. I still highly recommend this club for students and font enthusiasts.

Adichie’s Notes on Grief is a beautiful, lyrical tribute to her father who passed away caused by a kidney failure. His sudden death during the global COVID-19 pandemic devastated her. She lived in the U.S. and he died in Nigeria; therefore, she could not be with him. My father passed away in Vietnam during the lockdown as well; therefore, I felt her pain and sorrow. The book is 67 pages and I read it in one sitting.

Today, Đạo and I learned the waltz jump, which is the last technique for my Freestyle 1 lessons. To pass Freestyle 1, I have to complete forward inside pivot, two-foot spin, arabesque, backward edges, half flip, and waltz jump. Now that I have all the technical down, I just need to practice my form for the test, which will be the second week of August.

I like this new learning method. Instead of focusing on nailing down one technique before moving on to the next one, I am learning all the techniques first then taking my time to refine them. Practicing several techniques seems less monotonous than just one at a time.

When I was making the transition from hockey to figure, the toe picks kept getting in my way. I tripped on them. As I am doing more jumps or hops (in my case), I begin to appreciate them. They are my new favorite tool for techniques.

After Freestyle 1, I will be done with group lessons. The pressure is both rewarding and stressful. I am the oldest and the only guy in the group. The girls are much younger and they can do the techniques with ease. I am too old to keep up with them.

I like to learn using Coach Julia’s YouTube videos and some encouragement from Đạo. He is keeping me motivated as we are trying to learn new techniques. The process will be slower, but I can learn at my own pace. I don’t need to take any test and I don’t have to keep up with my skatemates.

Đạo had written about our time together.

Đán, Xuân, and their cousin Khôi just wrapped up their five-day Sky High Skating Development Camp at the MedStar Capitals Iceplex. Based on the program’s description, I signed my boys up to develop their skills based thier levels. For example, I wanted Xuân to work on his backwards and Đán to work on his freestyles. I expected the coaches to test each individual skater and then grouped them together based on their level.

Unfortunately, there was one coach for eight kids in different levels. The coach was a seventeen-year-old girl who could skate, but didn’t have the experience to teach. She showed a few techniques for all the kids regardless of their levels. For example, the waltz jump is for freestyle level; therefore, Đán could do it, but Xuân and Khôi couldn’t. They need to learn the bunny hop first before they could even try to do the waltz jump. They ended up skating just for fun most of the time.

It was not the coach’s fault. She had the tough job of overseeing eight kids for four hour straight each day. In fact, she was very patience and cool with them. The kids had fun, but I was hoping they had developed some solid skills as well. The program was over promised, but under delivered.

I have been blogging for almost 20 years and I haven’t stopped. I find the freedom to write exhilarating. When I immersed myself into reading, I couldn’t stop. I find the pleasure of reading liberating. When I set my ear on jazz, I was hooked. I find the history and the art of improvisation to be hypnotizing.

I must have an issue with addiction or obsession. Once I hooked onto something, I just wanted more or to go all the way. I am not sure if it is good or bad. I don’t take the moderation approach. Go hard or go to hell. Fortunately, I never started smoking or using drugs. I don’t think I can dig myself out of those holes.

I had an issue with alcohol, but my gout, which is a curse and a gift, put my alcoholism under control. If I were with one or two drinking buddies, I could drink until my body couldn’t take anymore, which caused everything to come back out. Fortunately, those friends do not live close by.

I never wanted to go skiing, but my wife wanted me to do it with the kids. On our first skiing trip, I didn’t go because I refused to pay almost two hundred dollars for just one day. On the next trip, I gave it a shot to get my wife off my back. Then I was hooked. Skiing felt like flying even on a bunny slope. I ended up taking my kids on a ski trip every weekend in the winter right before the pandemic hit. I felt guilty because we blew five hundred dollars each day on skiing packages and food just for Đạo, Đán, and me. My wife, however, brushed it off. She encouraged us to go for it.

Then the pandemic hit and we were forced to stay home. We did some biking, but that quickly got boring. My wife suggested rollerblading. I thought she was out of her mind. Falling on concrete and getting hit by the cars on the streets seemed to be too dangerous for rollerblading. Then she bought us rollerblades. We started on the basketball courts when no one was playing. Then we discovered skateparks. I didn’t realize there were skateparks for skateboarding and rollerblading. I got hooked. I fell several times trying to do the drops, but I loved the vibe.

I used to ice skate a few times back in the days. I enjoyed it, but didn’t take it seriously until my kids and I started lessons. Ice skating is all about techniques. The more I learned, the more I wanted to build up my skills. Needless to say, I am also hooked on it. I felt like a little kid discovering a brand new world, except I am not a kid anymore. The learning curve is much steeper for me, but I am not competing against anyone else other than myself. I don’t have a goal, but I refuse to skate recreationally. I wanted to learn as much as I could just to prove to myself that I can do it.

I write because I enjoy expressing myself even if no one else would read it. I read because I enjoy gaining new knowledge and getting into someone else’s head. I listen to jazz because I enjoy the musical expressions the musicians created on the spot. I skate because I enjoy the feeling of being a kid again, something I missed when I was a kid.

Life is too damn short and I will leave this temporary place one day to meet up with my mom and dad. So just live it. YOLO!