A Christmas Week In Montana

You may have noticed that there was no post last week. It’s because Arwen and I went to Montana visiting my family for a week. The week went by really fast and now I want to look back and see what we did during that week. I haven’t done diary-style posts like this for quite a while so click on! There are pictures too!

Day 1, Wednesday

We flew the whole day. At first it was nice and Arwen thought her snacks were interesting enough and took a picture of it.

Then it got really boring and tiring, so we decided to take some funky pictures together. Here are some:

After 7 hours, we arrived at Bozeman, MT at 8 PM. Howdy, MONTANA!

Then Mom came pick us up. Then us being tired and sleep.

Day 2, Thursday

The second day was a shopping day, since we didn’t finish our Christmas shopping yet. My brother Holden drove us to three different stores then we had lunch at Burger King. Good time.

Then we went to Petra Academy, my high school, which was now much different: huge building, many more students and teachers, and there was a new huge gym.

Arwen liked the dog Remington very much, so she took many pictures of him. Here is one:

  

In the evening we went to watch The Hobbit pt.1. Three hours was a bit too long for one third of a mid-size novel, but oh well. The character of Bilbo Baggins was quite likable, and the Dwarven prince was majestically heroic. Saruman’s straight hair went so well with his mushy beard (sarcasm!), and Gandalf looked somewhat older than his 60-year-later counterpart. Arwen had hard time staying awake but it’s all good.

Day 3, Friday

I spent a rather peaceful morning reading The Hunger Games and finished it. A cat liked to seat between me and the book but I didn't mind much.

Meanwhile, Arwen prepared a dinner with Vietnamese style chicken curry, a specialty of hers. It was pretty well-received. Too bad there was no picture taken. Next time she makes this dish, I promise I will take some pictures and share.

After the dinner, we went to church to see my little sister Shadiah performing in a Christmas concert. It was nice. Then we went home and I was surprised to find out Shadiah played Star Craft II! So I played some games with her and it was really fun. Ah, she reminded me of myself 10 years ago!

Day 4, Saturday

It was the time for us to finish wrapping gifts and cards, so we did that. We also went outside and enjoyed the snow.

Chelsea, my twin sister was home that evening so it was exciting. We had a nice Italian dinner with a family living downstairs. Afterwards, we watched Ice Age 4 together. It was very well-made and I enjoyed it truly.

Day 5, Sunday

It’s a church day! I missed this church for a long time. I could still recognize some people though they seemed to not knowing who I was. Then we went home and made an Indian lunch with some family’s friends. Then Mr. Brian went home and we all drove straight to Lewistown. The day was very fast-paced like that.

Day 6, Monday

Christmas Eve! It’s Christmas Eve! And there was baby Eaton – the child of sister Paige. He was so cute! Dinner was with lamb and pork. I found out I didn't like lamb much.

Gifts were distributed by the end of the day. Arwen had all the chocolate she wanted and a very nice cook book from Chelsea! Yeah! Merry Christmas!

Day 7, Tuesday

It’s time to drive back to Bozeman. Then Holden, Shadiah, and Chelsea went to see La Miserables whereas Arwen and I stayed home and played Phase 10 with the parents. We lost, but it was fun!

Then of course, we packed our stuffs and went to bed.

Day 8, Wednesday again

The flight was early, so we woke up at 4:30 AM! Holden sleeptalked and sleephugged me before falling back to sleep. Good bye, family, and off we went! At the airport, BTW, Arwen tried to catch some fish.

And that concluded our week in Montana! We did so many things, did we not! 

My Awesome Birthday Gift

I love books. In fact, when I am no longer nomadic I would acquire so many books and stare at the shelves and feel excited. I also like collectibles – the “cool” things from this and that; statues, swords, stuffs. And I like video games a bit too much. At the moment I am enjoying Blizzard Ent.’s Diablo III, a fantastic game about the eternal conflict between the Burning Hells and the High Heavens and the struggled humanity living in between.

And this is what Arwen gave me for my birthday: Diablo III Official Strategy Guide, Limited Edition! The perfect combination of books, collectibles, and Diablo III! How awesome is that? I was speechless. I am such a lucky person to have a girlfriend like that. Here is the picture of the gift:

(From left to right: the hardcover strategy guide, the bonus binder, and the sculptured metal bookmark)

Just so you know, I don’t usually get collectibles of any sort. Those always are the things I would drool on forever and never buy. Diablo III for some reason is different. Recently I purchased a lore book of the game (unintended-ly), and now I even have the limited ed. strategy guide.  This may be a good chance for me to show my collection of Diablo III. Here we go:

(From left to right: the copy of Diablo III, the lore book Diablo III: Book of Cain, the strategy guide, and the exclusive bonuses)

So what do you think? Like my collection? With all of this being said, I don't do so well in the actual game since I don't have much time to invest on. If you want to add me in-game, leave me a comment and we'll figure things out! 

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Related topic(s):

StarCraft - Forever more...

An Old Essay

As I was looking through my old documents of the past, I found this short essay. I wrote this for my ICAP class in Summer 2010. I do not know what the assignment was about, but I chuckled when reading it again recently. I share it below here and hope you will find it funny as well.

I spent my twelfth grade year in Montana as an exchange student. One day I came back after school and felt starving. It was when a smell coming from the kitchen got my attention. I had never smelled anything like that before, but it was one of the most delicious smells ever! So I walked to the kitchen, determined to find the source of the goodness. 

There I found some newly baked cookies in the yellow cookie jar. Though cookies were popular, and I had watched the movie “Over the Hedge,” but that was the first time I ever saw them in real life. With the round and crunchy shapes, the delicious smell wandering in the air, the reflective dark brown color of the chocolate chips, the cookies were unbelievably tempting. It was when I started to believe in the reality of “love at first sign.” No one was around as if everything was destined, and I did something without any concern of future consequences: I took a cookie out of the jar, and ate it.

It changed my life forever. It was the day that I found my new passion in life of eating cookies. Even right at this moment, the memory is still vivid inside my head. I never know what the future lays ahead, but as long as I have some cookies with me, I would be able to overcome any situation. That’s a story of me becoming a better person.

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Related posts:

Class Assignment - ICAP 4357 - Self Reflection

The Way of Happiness

Good News: I am Back!

Yup, I'm back! How have you all been?

Long story short, I have started doing my Master's Degree and also working so I have been quite busy. I have failed to keep up with blogging, I know. I have also failed to work out, to draw, to make manga, among many things. But I love this blog, and I love my readers, so here again, I am back.

Thanksgiving this year was wonderful to me. Arwen and I were invited to my professor's house to have dinner with his awesome family. The meal was fantastic, and Arwen enjoyed hanging out with the baby and the two huge dogs they had.

That's all I have for now. I will try to do this once a week as before and share with you the most exciting things I can get to. I think Arwen is gonna have her own blog so it's just me here. It's good to be back. Thanks.

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The Thanksgiving posts of the years past:
And So I am Thankful
Dark and Cold
"You Want to See Miracles?" 
A.R.K.

Origami Extreme - Part 09!!!

I am back!!! It’s another Origami collection (Wohoo)! It’s AIRPLANES this time (anyone feels excited?!) Airplanes are awesome, you gotta admit that. This time, most of the models are from Gary Hsu’s Origami Airplanes that Fly – a book filled with great models and bad instructions. I was certainly happy folding them nonetheless, but come on, Mr.Hsu, try making clearer diagrams and your Origami will be much more popular! The keynote this time is a model by Marc Kirschenbaum – what a fantastic designer! Oh so that means this time all the models are American (where did the Japanese go?)!

One more fun fact: the model for the cover picture this time, it’s Bluebell (Yay)! :D OK I am done. Posting something on this page again really makes me happy and excited.

PART 09: AIRPLANES

FIGHTER by Gary Hsu – What a fun model, but can it really “fly” with this much weight?

FUTURISTIC FIGHTER by Gary Hsu – Can you spot the differences between this model and the previous “non-futuristic” one? :D

DOUBLE TAIL FIGHTER by Gary Hsu – Another “fighter” model. I think it should be “double-tailed” instead but whatever.

 INTERCEPTOR by Gary Hsu – Interceptors are always fun: they can… intercept stuffs!

FLYING WING by Gary Hsu – I wonder if this one even exists in real life. It’s still one of you favorites.

SPACE SHUTTLE by Gary Hsu – Say hi to Mr. Armstrong!

FUTURISTIC SHUTTLE by Gary Hsu – So this is what a shuttle in the future looks like. I wonder how many missiles it contains!

DART PLANE by Gary Hsu – It’s a dart, baby!

JET II by Gary Hsu – “Where is Jet I?” Well it’s very similar to this model, just not as fun to work with. Same thing, right?

And here we are presenting…

BYPLANE II by Marc Kirschenbaum!!! What a classy stud! This model was made with a two times bigger square than the rest, yet the final product was smaller. It’s a whole new different level, a leap on the Moon which would change mankind’s history forever… or not. But I was still so happy when it was completed.

This concludes another Origami post of mine. Special thanks to Bluebell, you were a very cute model! And thank you all for reading this post. I hope to make some more Origami soon!

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Related topics:

Origami Extreme!!! – Dinosaurs 

Origami Extreme – Part 02!!! – Convention 

Origami Extreme – Part 03!!! - Dragons 

Origami Extreme - Part 04 !!! - The Winged World 

Origami Extreme - Part 05 !!! - People of Humanity 

Origami Extreme - Part 06 !!! - Dogs 

Origami Extreme - Part 07 !!! - Cats

Origami Extreme - Part 08 !!! - The Little Birds 

It's Hard to Share!

I like to share. It’s not like donating stuffs (it’s good too) but more like… introducing to other people what I find interesting. So actually this post’s title should be: “It’s Hard to… Introduce”, but it wouldn’t sound as good. So there you go.

Songs, books, movies, games… Whenever I find one interesting I’d love to show it to another person – like a “maven”*, if you know the term, even though I am not as specialized and valuable. It’s pretty much become a hobby of mine. “Hey, you want to hang out? Come to my place and I’ll show you this awesome video clip I found last week!” And one day I finally realized the ugly truth, and I am sharing it with you right now.

Well, the title exposes it: sharing interesting things is hard. It’s very weird, really, because when I share with someone the stuff I found, it’s not as interesting as before! Almost always, when I play a movie or the song while introducing about it super-enthusiastically, I will feel that the movie or the song is rather plain and not worth-telling. It’s no longer funny or exciting or innovative to me (because I have just experienced it). In some cases it turns out to be straight-out disappointing. The other day I tried to get my girlfriend Arwen into some Japanese show called Boukenger. Somehow the beginning was strange, confusing, and slow-paced. I felt like I was wasting her time.

Why would I still like to share, then? Why is it that when I find something fun, I have that urge to tell others? It’s because occasional successes are rewarding. When a song I introduce makes a sad friend feel better, I am the most happy. When I find a fun game and successfully get my friends into playing it me, I am the most glad. Guess what, it happened to me today! Arwen said she enjoyed the musical movie I brought out today. It was made by my favorite Vietnamese singer. Happiness can be so simple like that.

So sharing is hard. I get the idea and try to write a post about it to tell my readers. But it’s not as easy as I thought. Now, how should I start? What do I write so people would read it? Oh my, sharing is so hard…!

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*Mavens: information specialists, who love to study the market AND sharing what they know to other people. More casual interpretations are welcomed, however.

That Joe Roelle Guy

There is a Canadian guy names Joe Roelle. He works for UNICEF in Vietnam (yes, Vietnam), and his Vietnamese is absolutely phenomenal. Living in Hanoi, Vietnam for roughly 10 years, he’s become a very popular blogger with his (of course) Vietnamese blog. His two published books, one of which just came out this February, are two top-sellers in the Vietnamese market. Having a chance to enjoy his new book, I was put to awe. Knowing too well of how difficult Vietnamese can be to Westerners, I can say that Joe has archived something extraordinary.

Learning another language is usually challenging. Someone who has been interacting with English since forever like me still has his incompetencies, and that makes me believe that it takes a life-time of effort to master a second language. Now I am trying to get to Korean, it gets even tougher. Will I ever become tri-lingual?

Let me tell you a secret about that Joe Roelle guy: he started learning Vietnamese when he was 25! Twenty-five years old! It means one thing: You don’t need to be a child to learn another language. If we are committed enough, we can be as good as Joe in any language. True enough that I am not living in Seoul for the next ten years (which would really make a difference!), I can still try it on my own. And guess what, 10 years from now, I may speak Korean fluently with a unique accent. : )

Oh, and he has a website. Try him!

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Related post(s):
The Ineffectiveness of English

My New Artwork! It's Colored!!!

(click on the picture for a bigger resolution)

The newest artwork of mine, celebrating Arwen's successful GMAT result. This is the second time I tried coloring my works using Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 (the first time was that silly comic poster). The characters are in Vietnamese high-school students' clothing.

"You are to be loved by me", 2012.

Em Là Để Yêu

Duyên hồng phận nhỏ Trời thương

Nhìn em muôn kiếp nghìn phương mơ màng

Phút giây ngoảnh mặt quên nàng

Hồi lâu thức dậy, ngỡ ngàng: anh sai!

Dẫu mai tháng cạn ngày phai

Dù thương dù giận nào ai vô hình?

Nắm tay, nắm trọn chữ Tình

Vì em là để cho mình anh yêu!

How I Draw Dragons

I like drawing dragons. Today I am gonna share with you how I complete a dragon picture. It’s been awhile since the last time I posted something tutorial-like, so I am pretty exciting. Should be fun. Here we go.

What have been going on

More updates if you will:

1. We finished a brand-new comic!
I may have said this before: whenever I don't have to go to school, or to go to work, I will be... extremely busy with self-appointed projects. About 4 weeks ago, I decided to join force with my best friend DO to participate in a huge Vietnamese comic competition. We worked hard on that, and the result was satisfying. The comic is in Vietnamese, regrettably, but here is the link if you want to take a look. : D As the competition is still going on, I am only allowed to post the poster (title page) of our comic here.

2. My brother has a fundraiser
My brother Holden is entering the Nashville St. Jude Country Music Marathon, and he is trying to raise some fund for his school New College Franklin in TN. Here is the page. Please take a look, vote for him or support him with donations.

3. Bluebell is back
Bluebell, once was the co-writer of this blog, is now back! Let's hope that we'll see her new posts soon. :)

4. I have finished reading the Bible!
Yes, the huge book of Holy Bible! The book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was read in an afternoon, but the Bible took me roughly a year. When I saw the last page of the book of Revelation, I was super excited. Amen! :D

That's all the updates I am sharing this time. Next week I'll post something rather new and special. : )

Another break announcement

I am taking a break. As I recently stopped working for BofA I was switched to "doing nothing" mode. The apparent freedom turns out not to be the case, as I am finding myself swimming in various self-made projects. Life is good, though, but I currently am quite busy.

So I will be back, because there still is a lot I want to share! My experience as a teller for Bank of America; maybe the 2012 Lunar New Year moments; maybe some pictures or fun stories about Vietnam; maybe a brand new music video; or maybe some more Origami!

So yeah, I will be off for a little while. You may want to check back in a month: I'll definitely be back by then.  

One Interesting Thing to Share

How popular is this blog? Shouldn’t be “very”, because I never receive more than five comments for a post, and the like/dislike button doesn’t seem to help with getting feedback from my visitors. I am not really concerned, though, it’s just that I have this interesting thing to share today. 

I didn’t find out about this myself. My cousin shared me a link one day: LINK. I clicked. It’s just a Vietnamese article about various “interesting” café places for young people. I scrolled down and I saw this: 

O... kay… so it was a picture of mine! Moreover, it’s from an Origami post in this blog! As you may guess, neither that Origami post nor myself has anything to do with the café which my picture demonstrates. And to say, if it’s not because of my cousin, I might never get to see the article. So this is what I decide to think and do:

- Hey guess what! I am on newspaper, and this blog of mine is popular!!! :''D