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.