Feeling down

A tear was shed yesterday, today. I said goodbye to a friend. Thanks for the memories, KF. I still haven't finished moving my crap to the upstairs room. Not feeling well. Rocky ran away and a Lost Dog sign is up. Where are you, Rocky?!

In the meantime, enjoy this lovely classic:

Truyện Kiều

Trăm năm, trong cõi người ta,
Chữ tài, chữ mệnh, khéo là ghét nhau.
Trải qua một cuộc bể dâu,
Những điều trông thấy mà đau đớn lòng;
Lạ gì bỉ sắc, tư phong,
Trời xanh quen thói má hồng đánh ghen.

Those are the first six lines of this narrative poem I've been reading. Here's the text in Vietnamese. The epic poem is written by the 18th century writer Nguyễn Du. I'm on page 8 in over a week. There are 3,254 verses. It has taken me so long to read one whole page and re-reading it so that I can understand what's going on. The tale is really good thus far. It talks about the life of a girl, Thúy Kiều, and the sacrifices she makes for her family. The rhythmic of each line is really cool. I shouldn't dwell too much on each stanza because I will never get to finish the book. If you can read Vietnamese real fast, come sit with me. I'll make organic (Trader Joe's) hot cocoa :-)

Really, if you have time, check out the book.

Brain freeze Friday

You Are Emerald Green

Deep and mysterious, it often seems like no one truly gets you. Inside, you are very emotional and moody - though you don't let it show. People usually have a strong reaction to you... profound love or deep hate. But you can even get those who hate you to come around. There's something naturally harmonious about you.

What Color Green Are You?

"Moody and deep hate from people", haha. Even I admit that is true. Doomed. Unloveable.

Oh well. For your viewing pleasure, here's an aurora over Iowa, taken last December '06:
Stunning.

Mucho busy

TN accidentally locked me down in the basement this morning. She thought that I had gone to work, so she locked the doorway down to the basement. Neither of us has the key to open. One can only unlock from one end only. So once again, I climbed the barbed wired fence to the front door to open the passage way. That was fun with all the ice and snow on the ground. Our dogs thought my act was amusing.

In a couple of weeks, four strangers are moving into the tiny house. I have to haul my tables, beds, drawers, bookcase, etc. up the stairs into a tiny room on the main floor. My back is killing me. Brother in Black is a huge help. Listening to Dam Vinh Hung while re-organizing my stuff. Brother in Black is sick of DVH's voice, so I have to put in some devil music. He likes Avenged Sevenfold and something calls Burn the Priest. They're metal and rock music.

Gosh, my back hurts. I gotta come up for air some time soon, I hope.

Flowcharts of science and faith

(Click chart to enlarge)

This post is dedicated to my theologian friend, ThP. Just for fun, you know amusing and meaningful. The science chart’s got twists and turns, and it is constantly changing. Faith chart is so much simpler. If you add the social, political, and financial element to the science, that chart would be much more complicated. At that point, I wouldn’t blame you for choosing the faith path.

(Stolen from Omnibrain.)

Happy 4705 Lunar New Year

Chúc mừng năm mới! This is the Year of the Boar (year 4705). Based on the moon and sun movements, this new year falls on the 18th of February (Western Calendar). Tết, as we Vietnamese calls it, begins with the New Moon on the first day of the New Year and ends on the full moon 15 days later.

For millions of Asian throughout the world, Lunar New Year is very important. It is a traditional time of the year and also a chance for everybody to meet their relatives, friends, and of course par-tays! We prepare heaps of different foods and sweets, candies, beers (yum, Heineken) and soft drinks. My American friends and newer generation of Vietnam-americans don’t like the traditional cakes very much. The square cake, Bánh Chủng and Long cake, Bánh Dày are symbols of Land and God. To learn more, go here.

I went out to Eden Center to get some of them cakes. Got some plastic mai flowers for the family. Bought a few Tết cards (good gawd, they were so expensive, $3/card with envelops that don’t fit well) to mail out. I was looking for some firecrackers, particularly the braided string-of-50 Doughboy, but they don’t sell them anymore because of bodily injuries when explode. I asked the vendor, in Vietnamese, if he sells the powder so that I can make my own firecrackers. He gave me a weird look, so I walked away. I realize that there are illegal ways of obtaining firecrackers; I just don’t have the connections, so I ask random people, that’s all. I also realize the danger of handling the explosives. I hear that kids light up the noisemakers, throw them in the crowd then run away, leaving the unfortunate victims with burn degrees. Speaking of which, if you go to Chùa Giác-Hoàng this Tết, be careful of them irresponsible kids, and I mean my cohorts of 18-30 years of age. They’re stubborn and annoying.

At any rate, Happy Lunar New Year. I really want one of these t-shirts, the "What the (con) heo?!" one. Kid size, please, tee hehe. Below is a poem I stumbled upon, written by Trần Tế Xương:

New Year Tết
Anh em đừng nghĩ Tết tôi nghèo,
Tiền bạc trong kho chưa lãnh tiêu,
Rượu cúc nhắm đến hàng biếng quảy,
Trà sen muô'n hỏi giá còn kiêu,
Bánh đường sắp gói e nồm chảy,
Giò lụa toan làm sợ nắng thiu,
Thôi thế thì thôi đành Tết khác,
Anh em đừng nghĩ Tết tôi nghèo.

Here is the English translation:

Friends, don't think I'm poor this Tết!
I haven't yet withdrawn money from my safe
My chrysanthemum wine, they deliver it late;
And the lotus tea, the price is still bargained for,
For my sweet cakes, I'm afraid they would run down
At the heat, the same as my pork pastes.
Come on, never mind, let's wait until next year
Friends, don't think I'm poor this Tết.

Cung chúc tân xuân, năm Đinh Hợi, oink oink!

Update (2/18/2007): I went to the Zen Buddhist temple and got my blessings. Then I went gambling at a friend's basement and lost a lot of those blessings. Here's to the new year. I had fun though. Ya'll be careful out there. Drive carefully in the snow storm if you must. Watch out for the ice as you walk. I fell already, so I'm good for the rest of winter.

(Insert hiatus excuse here)

Anyone who knows me in real life and has stumbled on my blog has recognized me after reading about four posts. It is funny how all these connections get made. I have only once had a blogger out me by giving someone else my real name (with disastrous consequences), but I've outed myself through my ranting any number of times. It's always interesting to watch how this process works – the ways in which people figure out who I am. The day after my last post, Trynn Diesel's identity has been exposed at the workplace. After agreeing to help with restoration PR, BlogSpot has linked my pseudonymous name to The DC Pope Branch. Subsequently, all Trynn Diesel’s plans to take over the world brought to a standstill.

I have decided to keep this blog and re-evaluate what I say on future posts (…not!). I've never looked at blogging as being a way to communicate with people I actually know. Brother in Black doesn’t read my blog. In fact, he teased me about it. I often vocalize my angst about work, family, friends, work for Brother in Black to listen. He said so long as I don’t write what I say on blogger, I’d be fine.

Again, it's always fascinating what connections are made. The emails I get from people I know and don't know, and what some blog entries lead to. It's like a backstage reality. Although I think people who know me know me better if they read my blog than just the "in person" stuff. I’ve tried my best to carefully guard my secret identity. Apparently, I’m not very good at it. I’m ashamed to explain the flaws in my secrecy attempt. I honestly don't care one way or the other about my blog identity. The revelation of who I am in the blogosphere and who I am in real life mean crap diddly to me -- so long as you don't put me in a compromising position.

In the meantime, check out my newly introduced blog links on the sidebars. Very interesting reads.