Took three minutes voted for James Walkinshaw. He’s a Democrat. I can’t vote for any Republicans because they only work for one man instead of this country. So fuck them.

In the construction
of the chest, there is
a heart.

A boat
upon its blood
floats past

and round or down
the stream of life,
the plummeting veins

permit its passage
to admit no gains,
no looking back.

One steps aboard,
one’s off.
The ticket taker

signs the time allotted.
Seated, amorphous persons
see no scenery

but feel
a chill about their knees
and hear a fading cry

as all the many sides of life
whiz by,
a blast at best, a loss

of individual impressions.
Still I sit
with you inside me too—

and us,
the couple thus encoupled,
ride on into the sweetening dark.

Robert Creeley

Last night, the second automatic sliding door from our 2011 Toyota Sienna XLE broke. The first one broke about six months ago, but I hadn’t fixed it. One auto shop quoted about $2,000 to replace. That would cost $4,000 for both. Obviously, I am not going to replace them. I have no problem with using the manual sliding doors. My only concern is that the kids my get their fingers jam or their face smashed since the doors would slide very fast with the cables to hold them.

In addition, the back lift gate has no hydraulic. It keeps falling down and hit my head. The interiors are falling apart. The shock front driver side is gone. The steering post makes clicking noise every time I made a turn. The AC is out. The milage is about 210,000 miles. The only thing that still works well is the engine—for now.

Since I will be driving an hour and a half each Saturday and Sunday this winter to work, I will need a reliable car. I am not sure if it is worth it to fix the issues and keep it or buy a brand new Sienna. The price tag for 2025 hybrid Sienna XLE is around $50,000. I don’t want to spend that much money on a car. I want to see how much it will cost to fix the shock and the steering post. If it costs too much then I might need to get a new car.

First world problem, I know. Nevertheless, I still hate owning a car, but I need it.

From Vail Resorts:

Hello Donny Truong,

Congratulations! You have completed all Pre-Boarding steps for your role at Vail Resorts. You still have a few more actions to complete… Look for this message within two weeks of your start date, which we tentatively have scheduled for 2025-11-01.

Thank you,
Vail Resorts Human Resources

I am excited!

Stephanie Saul, writing for the New York Times:

The Trump administration has made attacking universities central to its agenda. Higher education leaders argue that their institutions are the pillars of fact-based scientific inquiry and freedom of expression. President Trump and his supporters have argued they are elitist and focused on indoctrinating new generations into liberal ideologies.

But George Mason stands in stark contrast to the exclusive institutions Mr. Trump has targeted. It offers admission to 90 percent of its applicants. Many are middle-class students from Northern Virginia.

It is also among the most diverse campuses in the country.

I wish I can tell Dr. Washington in person to stand strong and not to back down. We have his back.

Vail Resorts:

Hello Donny Truong,

Welcome back! We are excited to have you return to the Vail Resorts team as a Ski School (Non-Cert) at Whitetail. Before you can begin your Experience of a Lifetime, we have some preboarding activities to get started.

I just can’t wait.

I had been sick since Monday and had to take off work pretty much the whole week. First it started with a sore throat, then a migraine, then a lot of coughing, like a dog. With all the medications I was taking hoping for a quick recovery, I felt miserable. I was lying in bed, listening to music, and reading. I finished writing a personal piece that I needed to get off my chest for a long time. I felt much lighter afterward.

As I become older, I don’t mind reducing unnecessary dramas in my life. I used to give a fuck. Now I give a fuckless. I don’t need all the needless stress. When I was young, I was too emotional. I worried too much about what others think of me. I was having a conversation with one of my sons as he’s going through this stage as well. I feel him, but it is also frustrating that he refuses to take my advice. I have been there and done that. The quicker he gets over what others think of him, the better his life will be.

There is no point trying to hide his flaws or avoid uncomfortable circumstances. He needs to learn to be comfortable with himself, to recognize his talents, and to focus on the positives instead of the negatives. No one’s perfect. I even gave him an example of myself. I am full of flaws. I don’t hide my bald head. I am not ashamed of my yellow teeth. I am not running away from my erratic emotions. I speak my mind and write what is in my head. If people can’t accept me for who I am, then fuck them.

Until he can embrace himself and appreciate his uniqueness, he will continue to be miserable. He just can’t sit around and feel bad for his sorry-ass. He needs to take care of himself first. He can do anything when he puts his mind to it. He has the talents, but he needs to put in the work. Unlike him, I don’t have the talents, but I have a relentless drive to accomplish my goal. Whatever I set out to do something that I am passionate about, whether designing, skiing, snowboarding, skating, writing, I will keep doing it until I accomplish something. I am in my mid fucking forty and I am still thriving. He has plenty of opportunities and he just needs to take advantage of them.

The prostitutes in Kabul tap their feet
beneath their faded burkas in the heat.
For bread or fifteen cents, they’ll take a man to bed-
their husbands dead, their seven kids unfed-
and thanks to occupation, rents have risen twentyfold,
their chickens, pots, and carpets have been sold
and women’s flesh now worth its weight in tin.
Two years ago, the Talibs favored boys and left the girls alone.
A woman then was worth her weight in stone.

Aliza Griswold

The front holes in the toilet on the first floor kept leaking water. I decided to replace the old one with Everbilt’s 2 in. Universal Complete Toilet Flush Valve Repair Kit. It was a quick job even though I had to remove the tank. For my future self, unscrew the two nuts from the bottom of the tank first in order to remove the tank.

Even with a brand new flush valve, the holes were still leaking water, not as much as before. I am just going to leave it like that for now. I’ll deal with it later.

Update: no more leaking. Yay!

All this work leads to holding both
At once. In the midst of the crowd
A woman services two men, serves

Might be a kinder word but we want this
Precise. Pressing a way through
To some bed or stage or platform is what

We do. And as she rises her body against
Each of them this makes the argument
Of resolution, of unlike moving into like

Until finally everything is the same.
We keep in time; this is not elsewhere.
Nowhere is the center more not the point,

What hand belongs to whom and where.
And to take turns and to bear
That someone goes first, which can never be

Exact or equal, is how faith must come
Into all that touch. Do not be astonished;
She has placed herself to be lost,

To be eaten while eating, a darkening
Bruise of too much, a guide of
Figuring which door to push against,

Already open. We watch for the ending
Not wanting it to end. What to know
That we did not before, save the ungodly

Angles. To do while being done. Polite the mirror
With anything possible; it is not about
Who wants whom more but you cannot help wondering

What happens to she who has been caught
As if between slides of glass—her body so useful.
What comes of each entrance given

Like bread to taste, to begin each day
As if starting over, considering what she has made
Of herself for herself by herself; and how

You could never have been her, until now, quiet
As a church, holy as a trinity, until just
Now the noise of trying to get it right.

Sophie Cabot Black