A couple of days ago, I’ve watched the first part of Vietnam Idol through TTO. I am personally glad that they actually have the show, because Vietnam Idol is crazily hilarious. Yeah, if anyone feels bored and has nothing fun to do, Vietnam Idol is highly recommended, good stuff. I always have fun time watching those clips.
The part I have watched was in Hanoi. This year, there is a huge bunch of contestants - several times more than last year, which is pretty intense. The thing is, anyone in there was full of ambition, of hope and great love for singing. These made them have their own styles, which I should say, really really weird. But then, that’s how fun the show is. Another thing to be concerned is, since when Vietnam has had that much people who strongly want to be famous singers? It seems like we can find a person like that among any three random people. That’s really strange. If they were all going to succeed, which means Vietnam was gonna have thousands and thousands of singers, who would go to any concert, and who would know which CD should they get? Really chaotic and confusing :D. I would say, we are living in the period of Vietnamese sentimentalism, just like America couple decades ago. It’ll be interesting to observe. Anyway, for those who are contestants or having someone participate in Vietnam Idol, please tell. We will support and cheer wholeheartedly. I have some stuff to do these days, so this entry is not gonna be long or interesting. But I am up to something bigger, which hopefully I can start posting next week, and it would probably last for a month or two. However, it will be written in Vietnamese, so for those who’d prefer my English entries, I deeply apology. So there, it’s it for this week. I hope everyone would have fun time watching Vietnam Idol, and have a great semester. Thank you.
How are you doing on your readings in general and more specifically in developing your vocabularies? Recently I started reading a book for my Finance class called The End of Wall Street by Roger Lowenstein. In the very first chapter of the book – a short 6-page prologue, there were many words that I did not know, and I am listing them here: destitute somnolent bulwark scrutinize (to) prick quiescent laudatory salient fervent (adj) frothy parlance umbilical (cord) placate carnage plenitude opiate dictum stupendous I was so surprised to see so many new words in such a small amount of pages! How is this Roger Lowenstein guy? You would think that while reading a finance book, the only words you would stumble upon are technical terms or lingos. Or maybe I am just bad. How many words in the list above that you already know?
Fei is a Chinese guy at work who is socially awkward. He does not hang out with others, nor does he talk to anyone beyond “Good morning” and “How are you.” It’s not that Fei doesn’t want to: he’s unable to. But he would bring food to us as gifts – Chinese cakes, Chinese candies, Chinese snacks – for Lunar New Years and other Chinese festivals. That’s what people do in Asia as a way to maintain relationships. A social obligation. The Mid-Autumn Festival is near. No one at work besides me, another Asian, knows about this festival. Fei brings mooncakes, a type of round-shaped pastries, to work and gives each of us a box. The packaging looks gorgeous: a red square box with gold patterns depicting a lady dancing next to the moon. Inside is eight round pastries, about two inches in diameter. “Thank you very much!”, I say, as Fei hands me a box. Every day since, Fei comes over to my office and asks if I have tried the mooncakes. I have not, but I will soon, I tell him, feeling slightly guilty
I have interacted with English since kindergarten, and for the last four years I have been living in the US, using solely English for daily communications. Despite my effort of continual self-improving, I can’t quite understand the language. There have been explanations, of course, such as how it’s not my first language, how cultures and traditions get in place… Only recently, it strikes me with a more understandable reason: English is an ineffective language. There are so many disadvantages of English. First of all is the way one person talks to another. You can only use “I” and “you” no matter if the person you’re talking to is an earthworm or a high king. The same with “he”, “she”, “it”, and “they”. All the languages that I have ever associated with, which are French, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Cantonese, they have different words to address different people. I believe this should be the way to talk, since each person requires to be treated with respect, order, and
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