Summer '13

Summer time’s over. I guess a lot of you have gone on exciting trips to the beach, to the mountain or whatever wonderland of your own. I had my journey too. Actually, it’s a long one and not over yet. I’ve been through Lemonade Lake, Chocolate Mountains, Minty Meadow, Salty Canyon, visited Candy Town  and Peppermint Palace, just to name a few. LOL, now you know what I mean, right? I am on Candy Crush Saga (CCS). I spent almost 3 months of my summer for this game, managed to reach level 140 and I am not sure I’m gonna stop. CCS is way too popular on Facebook. When I played some first levels, I couldn’t believe this game was a real phenomenon that engages millions of monthly players. It was just the old concept of Jewel wrapped in a new look. But as I played on, I found myself automatically addicted to it. Playing CCS was supposed to be the first thing I did in the morning after waking up; even when I closed my eyes, all I could visualize is colorful candies stripping, exploding; all I could hear in my head are: “Sweet”, “Delicious”, “Divine”, … I was obsessed!

My current crush ;)

What I want to say in this blog is not how addicted I am to CCS, but rather some interesting unusual thoughts I have about this game. CCS somehow possesses many qualities of my dream work, i.e. I’m gonna make a comparison between CCS and work.   

The first quality lies in goals. In CCS, there are hundreds of levels, each of which has a specific goal. It’s what keeps you going and achieving. When you work, you need to know what you want to/must achieve. The power of goals should never be underestimated.

Secondly, think about what engages you in CCS. In working, you need the same thing to keep the bond between you and your job.

i) Interesting and changing activities: CCS is fun to play because it can become really challenging and it offers a wide range of tasks, from clearing jelly, moving ingredients to the bottom, collecting orders, to getting X points in Y seconds/moves… In a similar way, we don’t want to do the same boring job every day. If we aren’t lucky enough to get an exciting job, we at least need a breath of fresh air now and then.

ii) Progress: In CCS, once you complete a level, you move on to the next and go a little further in your saga. You like the feeling of accomplishment, don’t you? In a work, we love to see things done and progress, too.

iii) Bonus: In CCS, often when you’ve just unlocked a new episode, you will be given a useful booster. I always enjoy this special gift, not because it helped me out a lot, but because I feel content when rewarded with something.  The same method of motivation can be applied to work. A job would be more attractive if you know you can draw something from it ;)

The next important characteristic that a workplace should have is the motivating environment. CCS gives me a sense of solidarity and emulation, both of which are crucial to development. Solidarity is when we send lives, extra moves and ticket pass to our CCS friends while emulation is when we strive to overtake our friends in the CCS adventure. It’s bittersweet to be in glory one day then wake up the next morning just to find out we have already been left behind! An ideal working environment needs to comprise co-operative yet competitive colleagues so that we are always propelled into exertion. CCS has taught me well about “give and take”.

After sometime, I’ve drawn some lessons for myself as to how to succeed in CCS. I think these elements of success are also true to your professional life:

i) To start with, just follow the rules. For almost a third of CCS levels, it works! You just need to keep in mind which ingredients make which combination and how that combination would help you clear the candies. For most entry-level employees, I believe the process is somewhat similar. Doing what you are told to and respecting the rules, you are playing it safe.

However, there are times everything is not so easy to work out. Then you have to try something different.

ii) Plan your moves. When I first play CCS, I didn’t really think it was a brain game because I literally swapped two candies randomly and still nailed it. But there came a day I was stuck in a level and couldn’t play the random game anymore. This was when I decided to start planning my moves. Of course I couldn’t calculate all my moves, but planning did help me pass that level. The further I go in CCS, the more I realize the importance of using your brain instead of relying on some kind of luck to put you through difficulty.

iii) “Failure is the mother of success”, what an old saying, but it’s always true. You have to try and try again before achieving something. Sometimes, I spent nearly a week to pass a level. I played it again like 30 times per day, which makes over a hundred times per week. But I am glad I didn’t give up.

When I started writing this, I admit it was for fun and I would use it as an argument to make excuses for my lazy bygone summer days spent on games and all. But it turns out that when I look deep below the surface, I discover things that really make sense. CCS is not a merely entertaining, time - wasting, famous-by-chance game but a platform where you come, play and learn.

Just Like Heaven (2005) Review

Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Romance

Director: Mark Waters

Actors: Reese Witherspoon, Mark Ruffalo

Yet another Rom-Com. But out of thousands of Rom-Coms (most of which are just average) ever produced by Hollywood, this one definitely deserves its own foothold. When I saw the actors, I gotta feeling that this was gonna be a tender, sweet romance. Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo are both adored by their genuine acting with no trace of overdoing.

In terms of plot, this film is just a familiar story about a spirit roaming on Earth or in other words, getting stuck between earth and sky [1].This spirit is a young single workaholic. Elizabeth had worked like 26 hours back-to-back at the hospital just before an accident on her drive home that put her in a coma. Her spirit was separated from her body and totally unaware of the person she used to be. She kept living in her now-for-rent apartment until David, a landscape architect appeared. He was somehow among very few that could see her. They had sometime fighting over the ownership of the apartment, but then sat back together and tried to recover her memory. In a very natural way, that single lady and that widower fell in love. Of course, there was something happening along the way that challenged them but without fail, they overcame it with a touch of magic that we often see in fairy tales.

What I love about this movie is its pure love with no need to cram some kind of sexuality to attract viewers. It offers both entertaining sights and moving scenes – a pleasure to watch. In this film, comedy and romance are perfectly blended. The film needs not to bring on obscene language or over-ridiculousness to get us to laugh, nor does it make people feel like they are watching a cheesy chick flick. And don’t we forget to mention the fantasy elements: from the movie title “Just Like Heaven”, the stunning garden to the miraculous way Elizabeth was brought back to life. There was a little surprise at the end when Elizabeth revived but forgot all her time with David. At that point, my heart sank a little bit but you know, Mark Ruffalo always plays such a nice guy that no one wants to see him end up being alone. 

(Just to my own liking) Allow me to cite this line from the movie (Elizabeth to David): “You are not dumb, David, just a little crazy. Cute. Lazy”.

As an inevitable happy ending for a Rom-Com, Elizabeth remembered everything and the lovely couple was back together after all.

Talking about supporting roles, I must say I love them all, from sister Abby, her ex-boyfriend JJ to the freaky man from the bookshop, Darryl [2]. Every of them fits in the flow of the film and brings us some very funny pleasant moments.

As a closing, I highly recommend this film to those who enjoy romance. Soon enough, you will find yourself landing from heaven after finishing this film ;)

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[1] The film’s Russian title is "Between the Sky and Earth"

[2] The actor who played this role, Jon Heder, was nominated for the Teen Choice Award’s  “Movies - Choice Actor: Comedy”.

Faces In The Crowd (2011) Review

Director: Julien Magnat

Actors: Milla Jovovich, Julian Mcmahon, David Atrakchi.

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery

Sidenote: I have to forewarn you that I’ve never been and never will be a good critic, largely because I have such a short-term memory and I am kinda slow in connecting the dots. Anyway, this is the first time I've had a crack at writing movie review. So, may we say it’s worth a shot to read a newbie's work? ;))

Oh, and this is the movie link for those who don't watch it yet : http://ffilms.org/faces-in-the-crowd-2011/
The review below contains a lot of spoilers, so please make sure you watched the film first.

When I first decided to watch “Faces in the crowd”, I honestly admit that it was because I saw this movie title in Julian Mcmahon’s filmography and that was inducing enough to make me jump right into the search (although the film’s overall rate on IMDb is only 5.5). Right now when I am sitting down to write this review, I can safely say that it is not for hailing Julian or something but seriously to comment on the film itself. So here we go…

The film opens in a way that is really to my liking – it gives us a little time to get acquainted with the main characters and quickly unveils the main plot. Anna was diagnosed “prosopagnosia” or “face blindness” after the survival from a serial killer’s attack. The killer may be around her anytime without her perception. In fact, the whole film revolves around the scenes where Anna lived in terror, disturbance and her own obsession with the killer. The film’s rhythm is just appropriate – neither too quick nor too slow – so that viewers can  keep track of what’s happening.

Actually, the face blindness idea is pretty good and it creates a necessary confusion and complexity to keep the viewers curious and engaged. One thrilling but funny-as-it-turned-out episode is when Anna didn’t recognize her dad and took him for the murder after her. The film uses face-changing technique to its advantage to somehow distract viewers, thus hides the real face of the killer. Even I myself had difficulty recognizing characters sometimes. 

Also, this face blindness issue gives us food for thoughts, which was delivered by a character named Dr. Langenkamp. She helped Anna struggle with the latter’s problem by learning distinctive marks to tell people apart. I find it interesting and cute how Anna used the cravat as a tip to recognize her boyfriend Bryce. Back to my point, Dr. Langenkamp appeared to remind not only Anna, but also everybody that we are so used to recognizing people by their faces that we almost overlook other features that can help distinguish one from another. It may be people’s gestures, their mannerisms, or as Dr. Langenkamp said, the “melody” that you can hum to and “sing at the top of your voice”. By the way, I wonder why the writer didn't let Anna recognize people by their voices. It is the first thing that a person with facial recognition problem should think of! There is a saying of Dr. Langenkamp that I like very much. That is: “Out of a thousand faces, one might miraculously linger”. This was better enlightened when Anna burst out in surprise on recognizing Kerrest’s face (the only face she could recognize, actually).

The plot is logically developed and details used to support it are quite believable. The serial killer’s moves are clear as the story goes from the death of one of Anna’s best friends – Francine to the manipulated meeting between Anna and Bryce. In my mind, from the beginning of the movie, there emerged 4 suspects:

- Kerrest

- Lanyon

- Bryce: the suspicion was cleared out after the DNA result came out suggesting that he wasn’t the murder.

- Some man on the street à this option sounds the most irrational because if the murder were a total stranger, the film would be a huge disappointment.

So the investigation was left with two police officers! The face-changing technique once again tangled me and I decided to wait for the real murder to show up (at least that way I can enjoy the sentimental moments till the end of the film ;P) And the truth about the serial killer proved me right. He is Lanyon, the quiet but dangerous police buddy of Kerrest. He was well-disguised but the movie itself from the beginning had already revealed a hint about his suspicious mental background. Like any other horror-thriller, here we have a chasing scene between the murder and the victim. Well, I must say David Atrakchi did a not bad job. And his lines are somewhat poignant and creepy-sounded, like: “This, Anna, is why I like blades so much” [when Anna’s gun ran out of charges], or the sentence he said to Kerrest [just a minute before Anna learned that Kerrest had been accidentally shot by her]: “I guess you will never take her to the police ball”.

Anna, the leading role, appeared as a beautiful and gentle teacher, but became extremely vulnerable after the attack. This image shows us a totally different Milla Jovovich - worlds apart from her tough personality in Resident Evil. She expressed well the confused, frustrated and insecure feeling of a woman under constant threats and meanwhile struggling with her own syndrome. She played a lovely role but I still think her character needs a little more profound affection when it comes to love. As in here, I see almost no true chemistry between Anna and Kerrest. 

About Kerrest, my favorite character for you-know-why, he appeared with an impression of a cold and rude man (by the way he shouted at Anna) and he was even suspicious after he met with the hobo shortly before the latter’s death. But his good nature gradually unfolded as he was the one that Anna would always turn to when she was in danger, and there was “something” between them. The romance bloomed when they were in Koel Island but just save that part for those who are greatly interested in romance :P The tragic part when Kerrest came to rescue Anna from his evil colleague is quite remarkable. He died with his eyes open. Rain poured down on his face, wiping out the blood… But his perpetual image seems to pass on to his little daughter with Anna.

The ending warms our hearts with the bright, peaceful scene in Koel Island, where Anna and her daughter lead a happy life. And the last line goes: “And just when I thought I’d lost everything, I found a face, one face in which I can always read,…love”. Truth be told, I don’t quite believe this line came out of Anna’s mouth, who had a short-lived unremarkable romance.

In one word, the movie has some necessary merits of its genres – sentimental, thrilling and fascinating. The cast are quite good and the script is well-written. I barely have a complaint about it but others may ask for more. It’s up to each person. For all I’ve watched, I would give this movie a 8/10 (don’t be surprised, I am usually that generous in rating ;)) And once again, Julian didn’t let me down after all :))

And if you want to look at this film from a bit different viewpoint, you can try this review: http://www.28dayslateranalysis.com/2011/10/faces-in-crowd-and-laughing-at-kismet.html

It's by far the most acceptable review according to me. One thing is it doesn't belittle this movie like some others. Another thing is it has a neutral perspective which I can possibly embrace.

P.S. I would be very glad to read your reviews if you've got any :)

Truly Enjoyable Time (T.E.T)

My family actually planned for an unusual Tet Holiday this year. Normally, we would stay at home like many other families, make a special Last Year meal, wait for New Year’s Eve then pay visits to relatives the following days. But the trend is that more and more families are travelling abroad during Tet Holiday. So somehow my parents have disposition to have itchy feet and explore new land. The last time I heard them discussing on this, I caught some key words like “Thailand”, “cheap ticket price”, “shopping”… I was actually dreaming of my first overseas journey ever.

I am literally amazed at how it is possible that in virtually any situation of our life are there buts. We were excitedly looking forward to our a-different-Tet, BUT the flight ticket to Thailand went up by nearly 25%. So we all accepted to enjoy a traditional Tet at home. You can say I am not a traditional type, in fact, I find the old same way celebrating Tet rather boring but custom is kinda hard-and-fast rule and you have no other choice but conform to it.

In general, although we often have 2-3 weeks off for Tet Holiday,  Tet is intense during 4 important days: from the last day of the old year (which is called 29 or 30 Tet) to the third day of the new year (3 Tet). Basically, it’s like: tell me about those 4 days and I’ll get the whole picture of your Tet Holiday :)

I spent several days before 29 Tet tidying up the house. This work is supposed to be the most arduous and tiring among all Tet activities as a result of me “letting the house be” all year long with a little flick-off-dust once in a while. However, to my surprise, this year, I find the clean-up thing quite easy and agreeable (compared to previous years). Besides, I followed the advice from “How to save an hour everyday” and courageously threw away some rarely-used and inutile stuff, which helps my room far from being a pigsty =))

Flashback #1: In 2010, my house needed some repair right before Tet. As you can possibly imagine, after the repair was done, paint marks, brick debris and dusts left everywhere in the house and the yearly cleaning activity became more challenging than ever!

29 Tet

Morning, my parents were both on duty at their offices so my sister and I had a “duty-free” morning :P All we did was watching movies online until we were “summoned” for a year-end lunch at my uncle’s house next door :D

Not until afternoon did we really get down to work. I helped my parents prepare food to make offerings to our ancestors. The cooking process went on smoothly given my fish-sauce-splash fault not counting :P

Flashback #2: Life could be either easier or harder if you had a know-how-to-cook father but one thing I can be sure of is there are indeed more voices in the kitchen. My parents hardly agree on how to cook a specific dish; therefore a little fuss is no surprise. Sometimes, this got on my nerves and ruined the holiday atmosphere but not this year fortunately :) 

I sat down with my family to dinner then watched the end-of-year comedy show, which gave us all a good laugh. Unlike recent years, I didn’t feel like celebrating Tet on Facebook at all. I just wanna glance through the news feed, ‘like’ some things and post a status or two wishing tout le monde a happy Tet holiday.

Flashback #3: Over the past 2 or 3 years, I would always be online until New Year’s Eve, write a long status wishing everybody a happy new year, then post on each of my close friends’ walls saying a just-for-you message which never repeats itself every year.

This year I am fed up with this activity and find it not rewarding enough so I decided to spend the last 15 minutes of the last year writing my “2012 report” summarizing all memorable events and making several resolutions which are hopefully more feasible and realizable than last year’s. In the meantime, outside, the firework show had started.

 It was almost 1 am in the first morning of Year of Snake and I closed my eyes, falling asleep…

1 Tet

I went to my dad’s home village (not far from Hanoi) along with my dad and my uncle’s family. I slept most of the time on the car. Every time I opened my eyes, I looked out the window and enjoyed the tranquil scenery along the road with green fields and very little traffic, which you don’t often see in everyday life. Having parked our car in a yard, we headed to the nearby pagoda, did some ritual activities then went on to visit our relatives. They all welcomed us with a warm and cheerful attitude. Stopping by at each house, we were treated to many kinds of sweets, cookies and tea. That’s one of the things I love about country people.

2 Tet

It’s time for maternal relatives :) My family rode to my grandma’s house. On the way, we passed by Sword Lake. It always looks so beautiful during these days with thousands of flowers arranged in different shapes and letters. A few people were walking on the lake shore. Some were taking photos. Oh, mentioning photos, I forgot the camera at home :(

We arrived at my grandma’s house but it seemed that almost everyone had gone to the countryside. There were only my two aunts. Auntie has just had a baby so she had to stay at home taking care of the baby girl. The baby looks way too cute and pretty. She didn’t cry at all, she just lay sleeping and sometimes opened her big eyes looking at us curiously :3 We stayed for the lunch then went on to visit some other relatives. We also went to a pagoda where my grandma’s uncle, who was also the supreme bonze, is buried.

On the way home, we spotted a super funny scene. A man was literally riding a…dog on his motorbike (not to the dog meat specialty restaurant of course!). The dog “sat” still on the motorbike (in a very human-like posture), being as docile as an obedient child. What a unique entertaining sight!

Late that night, at about 9p.m, my doorbell rang and we’d got a special guest – my 14-year-old cousin. She stayed with us for a night so that my parents would ride her with us to the Temple of Literature the next morning, as we promised to her mother. The girl takes a keen interest in books so she spent the whole night reading and reading before falling asleep by the books.

3 Tet

We set off to Temple of Literature and Quoc Tu Giam – the first university in Vietnam. Many students strongly believe that visiting this place at the beginning of the new year will bring a lot of luck to their studies that year. I do, too. That’s why I am here with my sister and my cousin. We went to all altar rooms and watched traditional scholars performing calligraphy. I even considered taking a calligraphy course once but I never made it.

I backed home, had lunch and watched US Masterchef season 3 on TV. This was the first time I’d watched this show. It was more interesting than I thought. I soon realized there was a Vietnamese contestant in this show. She is Christine Ha, who won the Masterchef title in the end.

In the afternoon, we prepared a hearty meal to offer to my uncle’s family (kinda reciprocation to his year-end lunch the other day) and my cousin’s family who would also come over to pick her up. When we set the table for dinner, it was such a huge meal with delicious dishes which I am sure will please even the most fastidious guest. After the dinner, I am mainly responsible for clearing up the table and washing the dishes. You can tell how hard the task is from the meal’s size I mention above. Fortunately, I got great assistance from my mom and my sister :D

A travel-abroad dream shattered but a lot more joy unfolded. I’ve drawn some conclusions about this Tet holiday which may be true to many others :P

Plus points:

+ Long holiday, a valuable break from all kinds of responsibilities and duties. You can also take advantage of this plenty leisure time to pursue your hobbies, or to hang out with friends…

+ Yummy food

+ Nice weather

+ A “bailout” just-in-time =)) (from lucky money, you know ;)

Minus points:

- Gained weights

- A developed fear of returning to work/school (it does take a lot of courage to walk up to your desk again and open the textbooks, I guarantee)

- Uh oh, my mind’s gone blank, maybe Tet is so wonderful that I can’t even point out one more disadvantage of it

Even though Tet may seem like a traditional holiday that grows so colorless to certain people that they try to find a way to ‘flee’ abroad, it remains an indispensable feature of Vietnamese culture and should be preserved forevermore. When I look back on my four Tet days, they are certainly not new and memorable experience, I may forget about them after sometime but what stays is the spirit that it passed to me, a truly enjoyable time in its own way, something you can only have once every year so hold on to it and treasure it at least as long as you are on your homeland.

A day at Vietnam Museum of Ethnology

I applied to be a volunteer at Vietnam Museum of Ethnology for the event of Mid-Fall Festival, which is expected to take place on August, 15th (according to lunar calendar). There are various activities for volunteers but I chose to be on a team whose work is making hand-made toys from leaves for children. We are to learn how to make the lovely handicrafts, perform before the crowd in the fest and present to people how to make them step-by-step. The organizers arranged a training session today for volunteers before picking out the most excellent ones for the days of performance.

When I decided to take part in this activity, I just follow my heart's call. I've taken a keen interest in hand-made toys since I was little. That doesn't mean I am dexterous or things like that, but in this case, it is actually the opposite - I was totally clumsy - more than you can imagine. For instance, when I was in primary school, there was a subject in which pupils were taught how to make some paper-and-glue crafts. As a matter of fact, I was always stuck in some step and far from completing the works, so I, very often, asked for my mom's help. Understandably, a mother would do her best to help her child in school thing like this. Thus, I always get good grades in this subject, which I really didn't deserve at all. To add more illustrations to my gawkiness, I have a staggering record of breaking things. I've broken virtually anything vulnerable in my house: from glasses, bowls, plates, to vases.

Getting back to my volunteer work, I ventured to apply to the handicraft team not because I am confident with my ability, but because:
(i) I love hand-made toys. That's me, I will go for anything I like, regardless of  how inept I am in that field.
(ii) I thought this craft work wouldn't be so hard to learn. Maybe most of other volunteers have the same start as mine: they don't know how to make toys from leaves and expect to learn about it. Plus I have some faint ideas how these toys look like and I reckon it doesn't take so much effort to create such a thing. The most popular leaf toys are grasshopper, fish and flower.

Morning, 8a.m, I set off upon my journey to the museum. As usual, I went by bus. No sooner had I found a seat near the bus window than I discovered a little grasshopper on the window's edge. I got so delightful and interested in seeing this green creature while no one else on the bus ever seemed to realize its presence nor did they mind watching it if they saw it. So basically, I was the only one to enjoy watching the grasshopper from the first moment I spotted it till the time I got off the bus. One reason why I felt so excited about this insect is because my volunteer training session would be about making the grasshopper from leaves! I even gotta feeling that this was a sign sent from God that I would be "the chosen one" for the performance. I tried taking photos of it from many angles and even recorded a video ;)

My companion on the bus

I arrived at the museum and had trouble finding the "House of H'Mong people", where we were supposed to gather. I then returned to the main yard and consulted the museum's plan.

I have never been good at reading map or plan (even though we can learn it easily), but this time I was very satisfied to find the right place by reading the plan. This is indeed a useful and easy-to-navigate plan! When I entered the house, I was told by a girl in charge of the place that my group had moved to another gathering site nearby. I hurriedly left the house, heading for that other place, murmuring to myself that it was a pity I wasn't be able to have a stroll around the museum in this nice morning.

Everyone had seated themselves already and the instructor was about to demonstrate the making of a grasshopper from leaves. We all listened to her attentively and observed carefully every single manipulation. Attentive as I was, I could hardly remember the very first step and even when I'd got the help from a dexterous affable girl beside me, I still couldn't make it! :'( I felt like a complete idiot. The girl who instructed me was incredibly kind and patient to be able to stand my dullness! She just kept on demonstrating every step, explaining in the most tender voice I've ever heard and never showed a smack of irritation. Oh, god bless her. May she come to the next round.

I felt a profound sadness and despondence as everyone else had completed their own products. The memories of my failures in the past kept haunting me. And this time, mom isn't beside to help me through. I sometimes felt like giving up and I was even on the point of telling the instructor to eliminate me right off :( But I wanted to make a grasshopper from leaves so badly that I continued trying. At last, I got the hang of it, although I was left far behind by other people and my grasshopper doesn't look so nice. Anyway, I'm glad I did it!

Palm leaves - the material

My group

My work

 After a long training day without a nap, I was kinda fatigue. I handed in my product, 100% sure that I would be ruled out. There ain't miracle here in this story so yeah, I was K.O :P But I feel there's no need to be disappointed. From this, I learn about my true ability and learn how to stand on my own feet.

Before leaving the museum, I had the chance to fulfill my little wish - taking a tour around the museum. Here are some photos I've taken. Enjoy! ^^

After all, I have come down to the fact that I've got no talents in drawing, music or handicraft... My parents often say the only way for me is studying academically. But taking part in these activities now and then is a lot of fun, isn't it? ;)

A two-task list

During the continuous rainy days, I made a to-do-list for the day the sun generously scatters its luminous light all over my region again. That sounds-great list is actually composed of two entries:

1. Clean the house

2. Wash the stuffed animals

The time had come. It was Thursday and the sun shone brightly in the sky, signaling it was time for me to become more diligent and active, be it for a day!

Task 1: Clean the house

It went smoothly as I have done this job quite often. The only difference is this time, I could beg for no help from my mom and my sister. It turned out that doing this job without mom by my side instructing me to clean this or that, or reminding me to watch out for breaking her vases was more comfortable. The only observer was perhaps the dog which ran about in the yard when I was rinsing the mop and sometimes looked into my house with his tongue sticking out.

Mission 1 completed!

 Task 2: Wash the stuffed animals

The work of washing stuffed animals is nothing different from washing normal clothes, at least that’s what I learn from my experience observing mom doing it back to 4 or 5 years ago. Yeah, I last had my stuffed animals washed that long time ago, and virtually left them untouched for as long as 2 years or so. I remember making a pledge to the little innocent, unable-to-talk animals that I would never leave them, but now it is painfully true that I spend too little time for them. Fearing that people would laugh at me on discovering I am still playing with stuff animals is one reason, but having so many distractions is another, which is also the major, I admit.

I didn’t ask Mom for instruction on how to wash those toys, and I just went for it, doing everything I reckoned was right. And I pumped the water into the washing machine, added some detergent, eagerly dipped the little things into the drum, and started the automatic washing process. When mom came home and checked what I’d done, she went furious for I had used 1½ cup of detergent while I should have done with only one-third of that amount. She shook her head disapprovingly and explained to me how many clothes could be washed with that lavish amount. To her, waste is a sin. I felt somehow relieved when she stopped nagging, and all I could do next was pray that no more trouble would occur until the washing process was finished. But…

I was washing the dishes when I heard some noise upstairs. My sister accidentally became the victim of this mess, just because my mom thought anyone who ever played with these animals must be responsible. And the problem was, the biggest stuffed animal (a big panda) is so heavy that it sank to the bottom and absorbed all the dirt from other animals. As a result, his fur transformed to a dirty dark color and my sister had to wash him by hand. I must be grateful to her a lot for she had done the job I was supposed to do. My mom was much angry about this unexpected second wash for a single toy! So she decided to let the machine perform the task “spin” only. You know, the washing process must go through several stages and if you want to jump to a certain stage, you must operate the machine in some way. My mom, she sure knows how, but not me. However, she was too out of patience to help me solve the problem I had triggered off. This means I have to do this all alone despite the fact that I risk making another mistake. Hell, yeah, I did cause trouble again and did drive my mom crazy, too :( I hit a button repeatedly as if I weren’t aware of what I was doing, and this made the machine malfunction, I guess, by looking at the timer. Discovering my guilt, my mom hit “stop” button and pulled the big fat panda out of the machine, threatening me: “That’s enough. You’ve ruined the washing machine. Let’s see what your father will do about this.”

 I held the animals and went straight to the terrace to dry them under the sun. I kept thinking why mom reacted like that. It seems like the properties should be valued above all, even her daughter’s childhood souvenirs. These stuffed animals meant the world to me when I was small. In other words, they are a part of my beautiful younger years. Isn’t it wonderful when you have an animal kingdom of your own, and you can put the lovely animals in a setting and pretend that they are starring in a movie? Adults are usually apathetic to the little things especially if they don’t bring about any physical benefits. I am afraid I will grow to think that way, but I will try not to. Nevertheless, after thinking for longer, I concluded that both sides have faults. And the tense atmosphere broke out when one was too assured that the other was wrong. Anyway, we will come to peace. Thinking so, I clipped the animals by the ears on the clothes-line, kissed them goodbye and let them sunbathe for a while. 

Sunbathing animals :)

An unforgettable concert with Simple Plan

Epigraph: Craziest night ever! Everybody’s gone wild!!!

As I said in a status just some minutes before the show time, the way to this MTV Exit Concert was actually not paved with roses. At the reportedly gate-opening time (4p.m), I was still at home, grieving at my bad destiny: why I “fought tooth and nail” (no injury, even the slightest one, has been caused in fact :P) to get the ticket but ended up staying at home, watching the concert in my imagination? My dad was skeptical about my safety if I attended the concert. I guess he was thinking of something like a stampede? Or fainting because of the lack of Oxygen or of hysteria? My hard chance of going to the concert was also attributed to the torrential rain, which had been lasting for nearly a week. Does any father ever want his daughter to get soaked in the rain and catch a cold? A lot of reasons AGAINST my wish Y___Y While I was “sobbing”, my phone didn’t stop ringing as there were messages coming from my buddies who got the luck to attend the concert. They reported to me they were standing outside the stadium, waiting to get in. Oh I can’t stand this pain! Gotta show my daddy I am dying to go there to have the moment of my life that I will never get the second chance to enjoy.

- Daddy, it stops raining!

- No, it doesn’t and never will

- *Silent, coming back to my room, shaking head to my sis*

A few more messages … I must “reload” my courage to talk to my dad again

5 minutes later…

“Yayyy! I made it! Let’s set off. My Dinh Stadium, here we come!”

If you are curious about how I had turned the tide then, well…it’s all about the art of negotiation (me bragger! :P)

Some things seeming bad had happened, like: I was in such a haste that I couldn’t prepare a raincoat/umbrella in case the weather was back to the soppy mode; I bought bread thus missed the bus; my sis left the ticket at home… But I don’t want to go into details of those “trifles” because after all, the problems had been solved and we only had one more mission left: storming into the stadium to reserve the slots for our own. After getting ourselves through the crowd, we finally settled down in an area large enough to put both feet on the ground. Some drops of rain started to fall and although we proudly said to each other that “Rain? That only adds to the crazy rocking ambiance. Yo!”, I must confess that it did bother me. The security forced us to sit down while waiting for the show time. Meanwhile, I ingested a bread to get the calories for rocking the night away. The camera went around recording the overview of the stadium before the concert. They said this video would be shown on TV later and I rejoiced at the fact that the camera didn’t reach where I was sitting because: (1) I might look kinda slovenly then as the result of the hurry, (2) it would be humiliating to be caught on the camera while chewing the bread briefly.  

Well, skipping all the trivia to the main content. Despite a couple of rumors, the concert began sooner than I had expected, 7.15p.m or so. Here is the show in my summary:

1. A hiphop dance by a Vietnamese crew.

2. A performance of several young Vietnamese singers. They sing a song specially written for the cause of this concert, which is Ending Exploitation and Human Trafficking.

3. Some rap songs by a musician called Karik. I think this guy is somewhat influenced by Eminem.

4. Kate Miller – Heidke, a singer from Australia impressed the audiences with her soprano voice and her special cover of “Toxic”.

5. The Vietnamese rock band “The Wall” appeared, turning up the heat with their uptempo sounds. I love the way they have carried and passed the flame of rock through some generations of we students.

Let me stop here and take a deep breath….

From this moment on, the atmosphere had got hot, stuffy, and the air started to be filled with an unpleasant smell of sweat.

6. A lot of screaming and shouting. Guess what? Brown Eyed Girls – the Korean girl band showed up. This was of no interest to me as I never follow the trend of K-Pop fever. So I stood still. But this seemed to be a bad decision as waves of young K-Pop fanatics kept hustling forwards. This time, I was really annoyed by the screams of the fans. You may wonder why I didn’t feel the same when it came to Simple Plan’s performance with the noise manyfold, then my answer, which I have discovered by myself, is the difference lies in whether you scream along with the crowd or not :D During that crazy K-wave, a fellow standing next to me “kindly” gave me one hit or two in the head without an apology. But I was fully aware that I couldn’t expect a polite demeanor in this chaotic scene, plus the thought that I might do the same “innocent” thing to someone later when Simple Plan performed, so I didn’t react furiously; instead, I kept being silent, waiting for the time come for me to “explode” :P

7.  The next performance was of Mỹ Tâm – a well-known Vietnamese female voice. She sang well and got the big support from the crowd.

8. The most-wanted performance of the night..The reason I am present here…Yeah, that is SIMPLE PLAN!!! The whole stadium looked as if it were going to explode! The band opened their show with “SHUT UP”, a boisterous song. Everyone had gone crazy already! They jumped, screamed and sang along. I wasn’t the exception, of course. I felt breaking free! The show went on with more than 10 songs! They sang their hearts out and really burnt up the atmosphere. Everything, from singing to playing guitar and drums, is PERFECT! I thought I must get ADDICTED to their songs. During the intervals between two songs, Pierre said a few sentences. He reminded us to join the fight against human trafficking, he told how much he was in love with our country and the people here. I guess the band was much surprised and amazed at the exploding ambiance, the zealous supporters…That’s why he spoke out something like this was the biggest show they’d ever made in Asia! Pierre was very humorous when he tried some Vietnamese phrases :P As for me, I jumped up and down like a coil, both to immerse in the musical mania and to see the band on stage. I CAN’T KEEP MY…eyes OFF YOU, Pierre, David, Chuck, Sébatien and Jeff ! I wished I were much taller so that I wouldn’t have been weary trying to jump and crane so hard. That effort made me sweat a lot and my body felt sticky. You should also know that when everyone was shouting and jumping, someone splashed the water from a bottle to the crowd where I was standing. This is a little dirty, but in a crazy night like this, that shouldn’t be a big deal. When it came to Simple Plan’s songs in the new album, I felt so proud because around me, there were not many people knowing and singing the song. I know I would only be a greenhorn supposing I stood among the Simple Plan’s FC members, who had already gathered near the stage, but in the current position, I had my chance to show off a little bit :P  

Oh, I forgot to tell about my sister. If I go crazy about the show, then she must ...lose her mind :P She is a much more dynamic person than I am. Besides enjoying the music, she had a super important task to do: recording the performance of Simple Plan ;D

Even when I was in the midst of my most ecstatic moment, I could remember clearly I gotta go home before it was too late and I might got stuck in the crowd trying to make my way out until after midnight. So I, together with my sis, reluctantly left the show when there were still a few songs left. My father had waited outside to ride us home. On my way home, I continued to ramble with my sister about the show, about our wonderful experience. Going back from the concert, my arms (raising up and beating nonstop in the air), legs (jumping), neck (craning) and back (keeping straight during the whole show) were all aching because of weariness.

We didn’t make it to the end of the show, however, we felt satisfied. After all that I’ve experienced: standing in line waiting to get the ticket, begging my father for permission to go, standing the heat as well as the suffocation among thousands of people …. it has been indeed a long way to the night of true music, to the SUMMER PARADISE.

This is the second time I’ve attended a concert and I feel that I have been a keener concert-goer. Hoping so much that the next concert I attend is MLTR’s :)

Thank Simple Plan and other performers for a superb music fest.
Thank daddy for believing in my promise that I will be back safe and sound.
Thank sis for accompanying me the whole journey and leading me through a sea of people.
Thank all the audiences for the frenetic atmosphere.
Thank the organizers for letting us enjoy great music while raising our awareness of human trafficking.

The poet in me ;)

It was about 40 degrees Celsius outside when I got off the bus, “rolling in the”… heat. Long before, I found myself in a lovely small garden in front of a university right near the bus stop. Tall trees (shades), some kinds of unknown wildflowers, neatly trimmed grass… My mind got a breath of fresh air thanks to just a-few-step walk in this garden (the reason why I couldn’t linger is that I was “conscious” enough to catch sight of the bus which will take me home approaching). On the way home, that short yet pleasant moment “haunted” me and I, as a result, came up with an impromptu poem. Truth be told, this is the first time I have had such kind of literary inspiration! I like writing prose, but I have failed many times trying to come up with a poem.

I think it will be not fair to tell you all about how my first English poem came into existence then refuse to show you the poem :P OK, to avoid being labeled “mean”, I will show you my “masterpiece” ;)

"In this damn hot weather
The tree gives me a shelter
To escape from the temperature
I feel happier than ever
Oh thank you, Mother Nature!"

Hanoi, May, 3th, 2012
Signed,
Chi (maybe another Chi with dreamy eyes, the one that you didn’t use to know)

One thing I must confess after all is: In fact, on my way home, I could only think of two or three lines of poem and some words to fit in the rhyme. Not until a few minutes ago when I composed the draft of this note did I finish the rest of the poem :P
--> Conclusion: I have no gift in writing poem, so don’t ask me for more until another poetic thing catches my eyes :)

Dilemma

It has always been said that people have to make a lot of choices throughout their life. Some can quickly make up their minds but some may take hours, days, or even weeks before they come to the final decision. Me, I fall into the latter group :P Standing before choices, I can’t help scratching my head: a part of me tells me to do this while another induces me to do that, and so on. Coincidentally, yesterday morning, I encountered a series of dilemmas (I mean the difficult choice between two things), so I can take this as a good example for my above statement.

Everything had started since I walked into the bookstore with the intention of buying “A walk to remember”. There are literally many foreign books imported overseas so I was allured to linger at every bookshelf and viewed as many books as possible. I must confess that I am attracted by a book’s cover and layout virtually as much as I am by its content. And there were some catchy teenage books with beautiful covers that I couldn’t stand fixing my eyes on. Suddenly, I asked myself: “Should I purchase this teenage book instead of “A walk to remember” because I have read the translated version of it already?” That question puzzled me for almost 1 hour (meanwhile I kept picking the book up and putting it down over and over again) before I eventually decided to buy “A walk to remember”.

That’s not all. I was also interested in two dictionaries I came across. They are useful for my English study but a part of me said: “Are you sure you’re gonna make the best use of them or are they just destined to lie untouched or rarely-used like many other books in your bookshelf?” Yes, I have the habit of going to the bookshops and buying any book I love at first sight. Sometimes I wish I could buy the whole bookstore, but long before, I realized I’d never been a real bookworm. Back to my decision on buying the dictionaries or not, I had chosen an option which is something between yes and no, which is procrastination :P I need more time to consider and may come back another day when I am ready to buy them.

Going out of the bookstore with only one book, I headed for the bus stop. A thought flashed in my head: “Grant myself an ice-cream”. How come? I don’t know but I felt like eating one, esp in this cold weather ;) I was nearly on the point of storming to buy one but I resisted myself and memorized: Last week I ate an ice-cream; the week before, the same … I have eaten a lot since Tet holiday. Not so good for a physically-lazy person like me. OK, stop my ice-cream desire here.

… I stopped at the intersection and carefully watched the vehicles before crossing the road. On looking down at the ground, I spotted a 10,000 VND note. For many people, they don’t need a single second to think what to do when seeing it, but as for me, a “thoughtful” person (:P) I must ponder over whether to pick it up or not. I reckon that it is a shame to take the money which doesn’t belong to you before people’s eyes. And I will feel guilty using that amount of money for my personal purposes. Coming between those thoughts of mine was my sister’s story just a few days ago, that she came across a dropped note on the street and she took it with delight. She said it wasn’t a sin. We can never find the right owner and return the money. If we don’t take it, someone else will do without fail. So why waste such a “chance”? …But guess what? I didn’t take it after all.

Thereafter, I got into no more dilemmas and I feel lucky about that because irresolution has made me sick enough.

No less than one time did I try to explain this awkwardness of my mind. After the first semester at the university, I’ve learned some things useful which can somehow help me answer this question.
In terms of philosophy, there always exists contradictions or conflicts within us human but it is very natural because it is the impetus of development. I don’t understand how this can be applied to my case, so I must turn to another subject to seek for a more appropriate explanation for my problem. And I found what I need in Economics. According to it, we always face scarcity, thus we have to make choices. Once an option is chosen, we know for sure that we have paid an opportunity cost for that choice.

I know I have to make my choices for as long as I live, so I had better learn how to make wise choices instead of complaining how hard it is to make one :))

Me playing soccer (?!?)

Haha, it’s real. No kidding. My old classmates who studied with me for years may know well how bad I am at physical education but this time, I have, seriously, taken part in a soccer match!
I have watched soccer for 5 years but not until 5 hours ago did I have a chance to play soccer. And I must say, it is amazing, ecstatic, exciting to play the sport you like.

Here is the summary of my first experience being a soccer player for 40 minutes:
Note: This is the soccer team of my class established a week ago to participate in the school’s tournament.
- I was unexpectedly called into the team simply because it was in short of players and the monitor confirmed that no professional skills were needed and our motto was: Play for fun! :)) And I agreed to join just a day before the match.
- I was given a 10 minute-or-so training before the match.
- I started the game as a substitute :P
- I was a defender (Lahm’s position ;) but I guess it just didn’t suit me :(
- I really admire my teammates: vigorous strikers, careful and calm goalkeeper… unlike me - a clumsy defender, who was responsible for at least 2 conceded goals of my team.
- During the game, I felt very excited and my spirit was really high. I played without fearing that I might be injured (In fact I had stumbled down twice). Sweat, accelerated heartbeat… I was really into the game. But you know what, as people often say: Enthusiasm + Ignorance = Destruction :D LOL
- The outcome: my team lost the game, which also means “This is where our journey ends”. However, on the bright side: I had a lot of fun, enjoyed the so called teamwork spirit and knew more about my friends.

After that experience, I wish to attend another match. I need more training and I will show that I can be a good player! =)

A special Sunday

Usually, Sunday is not my favorite day of the week but today is an exception. I’ve had a wonderful day although it didn’t seem to go well at the beginning. Here I list the most 3 outstandingly interesting events of the day:

1. From the crack of dawn, I heard my parents talking about something so noisily downstairs that it almost woke me up. It turned out that they were worriedly discussing the sudden disappearance of the dear cat of my family. As usual, he should have been there waiting for his breakfast or tried to wake the family up with his familiar sound “meow… meow”. But no such things happened today simply because …he’s gone! After the all-out search in the whole morning, we all concluded that the cat had been officially missing! This had been the third time he left home (in secret!).
About 8 p.m, we heard a sound from behind the house, which we were quite sure was his and we couldn’t be wrong, it was exactly the troublesome cat. He got stuck somewhere between the ceiling and the roof of my neighbor’s house. So it meant that another rescue should happen… again. I know, last time, he pushed us into a kind of dangerous state to rescue him and now I guess “this guy” is challenging us with LEVEL 2! But the rescue went more smoothly than we thought. Again, my brave sister was the hero and took the naughty cat to where he belongs!

2. 2 days ago, I received a message informing of the so-called “offline event of MLTR’s fanclub”. I was really, really excited and a bit nervous ‘cos this is the first time I’ve attended such an event. Wow, imagine, this is a good chance to meet those who share the same idol as me, so I am sure we’ll have plenty of things to chat about. And to tell the truth, I’ve never met any real fan of MLTR…in real life! This could be a promising meeting. But the first hindrance was my parents’ permission. They gave very little credence to this event. They have heard too much about the deceitful and mischievous online friends and they didn’t want to take a risk. But as for me, I believe those people so I tried so hard to convince my parents. After all, my effort led to a good result – I was allowed to go, but with my sister as the companion. It is still OK for me, yay!
As I once said, my memory was so bad and today it really caused me a trouble. I mistook the bus and was 20 minutes late for the meeting. Fortunately, when I arrived, those people from the club were still waiting for me. After a short introduction, I’ve made acquaintance with them all and I felt that they were interesting and kind people. Then we marched on to a food stall to fill our starving stomachs. While eating, we had fun chatting with each other. It was so nice to know more about these MLTR’s fans. We even discussed a plan of setting up a fansite for MLTR fans in Vietnam. One of the club members had made a draft for the website, which was so cool!
Then there came the most exciting part of the meeting – going to sing in karaoke club. No sooner had I walked into the karaoke room did I receive a call from my dad. His voice was serious. He told us it was time to go home, but I begged him to let me stay for another 1 hour for karaoke-ing. Suddenly he talked like commanding through the phone in a kind of vexing voice: “Go home, now!”. I was so scared that I decided to leave without hesitation. That was the end of the party for me… yes, an end in regret. I want to stay…you know :’( But I understand how my parents felt. I should go (rather than I must go). Anyway, the offline meeting left me with so nice impression and a lot of fun, too. I can say I am satisfied with it. Can’t wait for the next!

3. The last event of the day is also the work I should have done much earlier today: saying happy birthday to one of my best friends on Facebook – Amira. Actually, I prepared a special gift for her a week ago and I can’t wait to show it to her. I have waited the whole week to do this. The reason why I was so excited was because I made the gift by myself using some techniques I’ve learned. Though I posted the gift pretty late today, I hope Amira fully enjoys it!