This Netflix Special was my first time watching Andrew Schulz. Like Ronny Chieng in his recent special, Schulz shared details of his IVF experience with his wife. Schulz digged deeper into the details than Chieng and he found dark-yet-hilarious nuances in his story. This guy is real good. I’ll definitely check out more of his specials.

Bret Stephens opines in the New York Times:

Democracy may die in darkness. It may die in despotism. Under Trump, it’s just as liable to die in dumbness.

Let’s smartened up and defend our democracy.

Michael Patrick Lynch writes for Psychology Today:

Democracy depends on citizens being informed. People need accurate information about climate change, for example, in order to know how to survive its effects. They need to know which country invaded Ukraine in order to figure out which side to support and why. And they need to know what The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is really doing in order to know whether to be frightened by its actions.

That much is obvious. Democracy suffers whenever a government actively deceives its citizens or just prevents them from having access to accurate information.

Unfortunately the Orange Toad flooded the US with lies after lies.

I was jamming to the title track in Lee Morgan’s The Sidewinder and imagining snowboarding on Sidewinder at Whitetail. The soul-jazz vibe was so damn addictive. With Morgan on trumpet, Joe Henderson on saxophone, Barry Harris on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums, each musician had a chance to improvise and each played his heart out. The rest of the album, “Totem Pole,” “Gary’s Notebook,” “Boy, What a Night,” and “Hocus-Pocus,” were holding up as well. This is a classic album that stood the test of time. For some reason, I hadn’t paid much attention to Morgan, but that will change.

I am reading poetry again to get away from politics. I picked up Frederick Seidel’s So What because the typesetting was beautiful, and yet Mr. Seidel brought me back into politics right off his opening poem:

There’s nothing on earth as beautiful as a Purdey
Over-and-Under, or as urbane, or as insane,
Except Volodymyr Zelensky,
The incredible president of Ukraine.

Then again, I loved Mr. Seidel’s takedown of the Orange Toad:

I’d love to hear you in your roaring mode
Denouncing vividly and lividly the Orange Toad—
Our president (the Donald)—

And his incredible regime of fraud.

Here’s a funny one:

Who did more for Black people than anyone since Lincoln,
Isn’t Trump
But liked to have people around him when he took a dump.

And one more:

The prep for a colonoscopy,
The emptying out that leaves the colon clean and free,
Is what the nation needs so it can clearly see
The malignant Trump presidency.
How many years before the Trump malignancy
Untreated means the United States will die?
What’s the life expectancy, how long can we live with this lout?
Well, as Philip Larkin said, in another connection, we shall find out.

I also find his poetry simile hilarious:

Diarrhea and constipation-precious pair of poets—
Sing their stanzas tunelessly.

Mr. Seidel also writes about aging:

Every morning when I shave
Is one day closer to the grave.

And another one:

I’m not as old as I used to be.
I’m getting young.
I find myself making child nonsense sounds
Doing my exercises
When no one’s around.
I find myself shouting at the floor.
I explode with rage and age.

I had to look him up and Mr. Seidel is 89 years young. His mind is sharp and his poems are sharper. I wish him well so he can write more poems. We need more people like him in this time.

I don’t own a Tesla. I am not in the market to look for a new car. If I were, I wouldn’t even consider Tesla. Fuck its CEO.

I didn’t get a good sleep last night. In addition, I had to wake up an hour early because of the daylight saving. I didn’t participate in the ski clinic.

I didn’t have a morning lesson; therefore, I joined the snowboard clinic. The trainer went over torsional flex, which was fine. I had to discipline myself to stay in the close position so my body would align with my board. I wanted to hear his take on open position, but he didn’t have much to say.

I didn’t have class in the afternoon either; therefore, I joined another snowboard clinic. This time the trainer went over rotation, which was almost the same as torsional flex. Again, I stuck to the program and keep my body closed. I brought up open position again and we had a bit discussion. The trainer didn’t see the benefit of riding open position. I didn’t want to take up too much time so I let it go.

After the clinic, I went riding solo. At 3:00 pm, I was so tired. Next week will be the final week.

Wow! I spent 50 days skiing/snowboarding this season. Most of my time, however, I spent teaching.

Today, the whole family left around 7:30 am. We arrived at Whitetail almost 9:00 am. I didn’t get to do much before heading over at 9:30 am for our morning meeting and line up. I wanted to teach in the morning and I had 6 adults. The lesson went well. We got on the magic carpet at 10:30 am and took the the chair lift around 11:00 am. At 11:30 am, one of the students decided to sit out. She couldn’t take it anymore. The five reminding students continued on with J turns. They were able to do some S turns by the end of the class at 12:00 pm. I was happy about it.

After lunch I went back to the line up knowing that I would not have an afternoon class. I was done at 1:15 pm. Changed out my uniform and went riding with Đạo. We went to the back side and did several runs. The snow was getting sticky and heavy. At around 2:30 pm, we called it the day.

We left the resort around 3:30 and got home around 5:00 pm. Next weeked will be our final week for the season.

Last Saturday, our lead snowboard instructor asked us if anyone wanted to teach level-2. I raised my hand, but he ignored me. Then I raised my voice, but he also ignored me. After he told me that he couldn’t give me the level-2 lesson because he saw me riding with my open-body position. I need to align my body with my board.

I tried to explain to him that when I taught, I only demonstrated close position. When I rode, however, I opened up my body so I could carve better. He didn’t buy it. I guess I will be teaching first-time guests for a while, which I don’t mind.

When I first learn snowboarding, I rode in my duck stance and kept my body align with the board. As I progressed and wanted to learn carving. I came across Lars Horstmann’s The Justaride Snowboard Channel and tried out the posi-posi stance with an open position. I stuck with it and I had been riding with it eversince.

I had been debating whether I should go back to the duck stance or continued with the posi-posi stance. Yesterday Lars released a video addressing the controversy between the two stances. I found the answer I was looking for. I’ll stick with posi-posi and continue to hone in my carve. I am fine with teaching first-time snowboarders.

Trump goes after universities. He cuts federal funding on grants, contracts, and researches. Across universities, PhD students have been cut. He hates the highly educated and loves the “poorly educated.” Of course he loved the poorly educated because he fooled them to vote for him. The highly educated saw right through his lies, incompetencies, and stupidities. We understood the danger he posed to our democracy.