In Memory of Phong Minh Vu

August 18, 2011

IN DEDICATION TO PHONG MINH VU

My future brother-in-law passed away this morning. He was an interesting guy who lived an adventurous live. He contracted a kidney disease when he was young causing him to lose both of his lungs which he has lived without for the past 12 years. He has struggled valiantly and he has lived (in my opinion) BRAVELY. He has enjoyed every moment of his life without regret and sadness, and he has left behind a legacy of laughter, fun, and warmth that will be missed.

I still remember the first time I met him; his disease has caused him to be treated regularly with dialysis creating a malformed shape on his arm. His body is drained and withered under the harsh condition of the treatment forming an allusion of a man 30 years his senior. When I first met him, I had thought that he was my wife’s dad so I greeted him so (in my culture, we have words that depicted older people and really old people as a sign of respect). He was upset in a humorous way, as my wife’s family laugh while letting me know that he was only in his early 40’s. I was surprised when I found out that he was my wife’s eldest half brother. People still mistakenly see him as an elderly man; his strong spirit will not allows anything to hold him back from what he wants to do.

His life left a great legacy to his families, friends, and all the people he knows. He will be missed, and we know that he is happy where he is now after going through years of struggles and hardships. We will miss his smile, his humor, and his laughter.

Be peaceful Anh Phong

A Di Da Phat

Long Time

It has been a while since my last blog but boy there is so many things that are happening not only around the country but at my local state too. Our state right now is shut down and it has been for atleast a week because the democratic governor and the republican leading legistation cannot come to a compromise.

I, however are in support of the governor position. I do want to tax the rich because my girlfriend works for non-profit and if the state is not running then she does not work. I do believe that some spending should be cut but so must tax be raise especially for the richest. Ofcourse coming from a person who is not rich are 2 totally different ideas.

INDECISION 2012

INDECISION 2012

Well, this is a little late, but Donald Trump, and Mike Huckabee has officially announced that they will not be running for president in 2012. I do not know whether this decision by these candidates will affect the GOP greatly, or not at all. In the case of Donald Trump, however, nothing will change much because let face it, he is not a potential candidate at all. America think he a joke (well he is) but if there is one thing he does, and that is he brought the election and the GOP candidate to forefront of mainstream media. Let's face it, all the GOP candidate don't have the drawing power, or the personality (whether he is good or bad) to draw the attention of the media. I am not talking about the news outlet but rather the power of entertainment. Trump makes the other candidate looks good. His egoism and attitude are those of a showman, and he is good at being a showmanship. However, people (liberal, democratic, and dare I say republican?) can (does) says that he is a representation of the GOP: dumb, stupid, and idiotic view. Whatever the case, I believe that he is doing the GOP a favor, now it's all up to the candidate to step up and show America just how good they are as a candidate.

P.S. I am a liberal and democrat.

Taking the GRE

GRE STAND FOR GRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday (Sunday) I was at Barnes and Nobles, and a book caught my eye. It's a study guide for taking the GRE, and what I found was extremely heartbroken and demotivation. I found that it was a four hour long test, that encompasses written analytical (essay format), verbal, and math examinations. The longest is the written analytical examination which has two essay question and is 75 minutes long. I can tell you right now, that I am completely demotivated about taking the GRE. My grammar is definately not up to par, and I still struggle with the word order, sentence structure, and sentence agreement. Not only is my grammatical errors below sub-standard, my vocabulary list is also there. I took a look at the book vocabulary lists, and it was extremely difficult. I probably know less than 1% of the list, and the GRE used many vocab extensively for the whole Verbal test section. I am a little more confident on the math section, although I will review it vigorously over the next couples of months especially my algrebraic, and arithemetic knowledge. However, I will not study for the GRE until the new study guide for the new test is out because the EST assocation are revising the GRE in major way as compare to the last revision in 2010. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh.......................There goes my summer.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOOOST FIFTY BUCKS!!!!!!!!

Yeah it may not seems much to many of you, but it is to me. Fifty bucks could afford me a new game, a dinner for two at a good restaurant, or I could save it to earn more. What worse is the fact, that these were fifty new $1 bill. Hopefully, I lost them in my car, but I am afraid I lost them either at my work place or somewhere in the street between my work place and my car, and it has been 3 days since, so I am sure it's gone if it is in the street. This really really suck for sure.

First Blog

WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!

I have officially just created my first blog. This is something that I have wanted to do for a long time. In this first post, I will explain why I have started a blog of my own. I am a Vietnamese immigrant and I am very proud of my culture and ethnicities. However, I have dreams, big dreams, and in order to accomplish these dreams, I have to work hard. BUT!!! I am very lazy and have encounters many challenges. One of my biggest challenges and a reoccurring one at that, is my grammar. I have lived in the United States for 18 years, and yet I still can't master the language that is English. Surprisingly, the English has improved but not because of all the English class I have taken, but rather thanks to Spanish. As a requirement to graduate from the University of Minnesota, I decided to take Spanish, and because of Spanish, I have gradually improved my English. Spanish, and its simplistic language and grammar have taught me the essential point of languages, and further my understanding of the English language. With that I want to further my improvement of the English Language. This is the reason why I have started a blog. The more I read, and the more I write, will (hopefully) improve my understanding and my grammar of English. So forgive my grammar, and sometime my spelling mistake but I will improve with each blog I post. As such so end my first post.