My wife, her mother, and our youngest son went home after we checked out of the hotel. I took the three older kids back to Seven Springs for a few hours.

The crowd today was as bad as yesterday. We waited at the Polar Bear Express for almost 30 minutes. We took the green trails to warm up. Xuân got hungry so we took the North Face Lift up to Tahoe Lodge for lunch. The wait was about 15 minutes. We didn’t want to go back down and have to wait for another 30 minutes at the Polar Bear Express. We did a run on the North Face, but the boys got bored waiting. We waited another 15 minutes to get us to the top and we skied back to the main base.

Before heading home, I got them to take Cortina for a run. We spent 3 hours (including lunch) for 4 runs. We headed out around 2:30 pm and called it the day. I don’t like weekend skiing. Way too crowded.

My mother-in-law, wife, and kids joined me today at Seven Springs. I wanted my boys to experience the night-skiing scene; therefore, we didn’t need to get up early.

After having breakfast at the hotel, we headed to the resort around 10 am. It was snowing. Our mini-van struggled to get up the mountains. We were going around 15 miles per hour with a few cars tailgating behind us.

At one point, I thought we would just skid backward. I prayed to my mother from above to save us and her respond was immediate. Just a few minutes later, a snow-plowing truck pulled out in front of me and cleared the way for me to drive all the way to the resort.

I skied with Vương at the bunny slopes. After the disappointing all-day group lessons at Stowe, I decided to teach him myself. He could now go straight down hill and pizza to slow himself down. He did a great job today.

I skied with Đạo, Đán, and Xuân on the blue and black slopes. Around 4 pm, I called it off. I didn’t want to risk driving back in the dark with my whole family in the back.

We went out to have dinner at Ruby Tuesday and went back to the hotel to chill out. I am debating whether we would go straight home or go ski for a couple of hours before heading home.

Damn, I am exhausted today. Spending 10 hours a day on the slopes is wearing me out. I have been running on coconut water, croissants, smoked salmon, and instant noodles. I had Nantucket Cod at Eat’n Park two nights in a row. They were pretty good.

I started out skiing this morning. I finally figured out how to carve. I practiced carving and fixing my inside legs on the green trails. I also tried to keep my legs closer together and parallel. My new skis make carving a bit easier. I enjoyed skiing today.

I only did a bit of snowboarding before I had to leave to meet my family at the hotel. They came a bit too late for night skiing. Hopefully they’ll get to experience it tomorrow.

I am running out of steam. I hope I will be able to recharge tonight and hit the slopes again tomorrow.

Around 10 am yesterday, I headed to Hidden Valley to check it out. It only had 5 trails opened. Before I put on my ski boots, I gave my feet a good massage. I also skied gently for the first couple of runs. My feet were less in pain than the day before.

At noon, I went to Seven Springs. I took a short nap in the parking lot because I had trouble sleeping the night before. I put on my snowboard boots and hit the trails. I only did 3 runs and decided to switch back to ski. I started to get a hang of my new skis. They are a bit longer (159 cm) and faster, but steadier and easier to turn. Seven Springs was pumping lots of snow all day long and I could ski on blues and black terrains easily. I am going to spend more time honing my ski turns.

Around 7:00 pm, I was exhausted and a bit sleepy. I was going to call it the night, but I switched to snowboarding and did a couple more runs until the North Face lift closed.

After I showered and changed, I fell asleep immediately. My wife and kids are coming later today. Can’t wait to spend a whole day with them on Saturday at Seven Springs.

Yesterday morning I drove Đạo to school and headed toward Pennsylvania for a few days of skiing and snowboarding. My first stop was Laurel Mountain. I arrived around noon. Laurel only had four trails opened and the conditions were very icy. I started out skiing with the Rossignol Experience 88 TI, which I just bought brand new.

My skiing skills are getting rusty. I couldn’t parallel on both feet. Worst, my boots were hurting my feet. After the first run, I sat on the lift as if I had two dumbbells under my feet. I couldn’t wait to get off the lift. Once I was off, I had to go into the lodge to take my boots off and gave my feet a message. The second run was still still painful. After the third run, I was done with skiing. I switched to snowboard and did three runs. My feet felt comfortable and snowboarding on crunchy ice was not as bad as skiing.

Around 3:30 pm, I wrapped up at Laurel Mountain and headed over to Seven Springs. Unlike Laurel Mountain, which only had half a dozens of skiers and snowboarders, Seven Springs were a bit more crowded. I imagined weekends would be worse. Seven Springs had better conditions and more trails. I didn’t know where I was going. I just followed the lift to where it took me. I went to the green slopes and landed on the terrain park. I took the North Face lift and headed into the North Face Black Diamond trail, which had moguls. I stayed there for a while trying to learn to snowboard around the mogul terrain.

I loved night snowboarding. The vibe was just awesome. I left around 8:30 pm to a hotel about half an hour a way my wife had booked for me. Isn’t she just great? She let me enjoy the last few days of my vacation before I go back to work next week. I hope she and the boys will join me on Friday for a weekend of skiing and snowboarding. I am pretty sure they will enjoy Seven Springs.

Two years ago, my oldest sister blocked my calls and my messages. I still don’t know why she shut me out of her life, but I respect her decision. I stay out of her way until she lets me back in.

She and I haven’t been close. She’s my half sister and she left Việt Nam when I was a kid. Our mother was the only reason she brought me to America. Our mother wouldn’t leave Việt Nam to come to America without me. Regardless, I will always be thankful to my sister for giving me the opportunity to live and thrive in America.

It’s such a shame that our relationship had fallen out, but I hold no grudges against her. I do take issue that she didn’t bother to attend our mother’s death anniversaries. Our mother had given birth to all of us. The least my sister could do was to burn incense or show respect.

I am disappointed to witness my sister has turned cold and heartless. Well, you know what? Fuck her.

I read 92 books this year, which is 45 more than last year.

The volume jumped almost double because I read quite a bit of poetry books. I wanted to delve deeper into poems, particularly in English. In the last month or so, however, I picked up a handful of poetry books in Vietnamese. I enjoyed reading poems because they were shorter and I could finish a poem when I had a few minutes here and there.

I continued to attempt switching from fiction to non-fiction. I read quite a bit of Vietnamese-American authors including Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, Việt Thanh Nguyễn, Mai Nguyễn, Beth Nguyễn Cường Lư, Tranh Thanh Trấn. I also read Vũ Trọng Phụng’s classic novels.

For 2024, I want to return to thicker books and less poetry. Then again, it doesn’t really matter as long as I am reading.

Check out my reading record.

My favorite sports start with an s:

• Soccer
• Skating (figure)
• Skating (aggressive)
• Skiing
• Snowboarding
• Sex

Each sport needs dependency. Soccer depends on the team. Skating (figure) depends on the rink. Skating (aggressive) depends on the weather. Skiing and snowboarding depend on the snow. Sex depends on the partner.

Nicki Minaj has some kick-ass flows and she can ride any beat. On top of all, she raps with clarity. She goes hard on “Barbie Dangerous” and “Fallin 4 U.” With “Super Freaky Girl,” she gets too nasty. Pink Friday 2 once again suffers with her singing.

After losing the 2023 Fischer RC Fire SLR Pro Skis with RS 9 SLR Bindings ($215) at the Stowe Mountain Resort, I just purchases the 2020 Rossignol Experience 88 TI with Look SPX 12 Dual WTR Bindings for $255, which seems like a great deal. I am looking forward to skiing in it.

The Black & Blue Them 909 Marius Gaile Complete Pro Roller Blades arrived a week ago just after we left for vacation. I tried them on last night and they seemed to fit well. Can’t wait to hit the skate park on them.

I enjoyed snowboarding on the 2023 Salomon Super 8. The board served me well at Stowe on all the green and blue terrains and under different conditions. I am super satisfied with the purchase, which I found a great deal for $265. I also like the 2021 DC Men’s Laced Lace Snowboard Boots. Its firmness helps tremendously with snowboarding. I got the pair for $164.

I got myself some Christmas presents.