Blog #10 My dad, my hero

"I'm going to write a literary profile about you, and you cannot read it." I told my dad through the phone.
"Great." He laughed. "But why?"
"Because it's embarrassing." I mumbled.
He started laughing for ten seconds or so, his common laugh, the one that I will never get used to. I told him it was lame sometimes, and I got scolded. I wasn't going to push my luck again.
"But I want to read it." He said. "Is that the reason why you've been calling and emailing me randomly this week?"
"Yes boss." I said. "And no you're not going to read it. Even if you buy me."
"One hundred bucks?"
"No."
"Two hundred?"
"Dad!"
"Okay okay." He laughed. "But I expect it in my inbox next week, if you want your ticket back to Vietnam this summer."
"Are you blackmailing your daughter? Seriously?" I said.
"Well, obey your dad then." He laughed again.
He always cheated when he knew he couldn't persuade me.
"Two hundred." I said.
"You missed your chance."
"Or I'm staying here over the summer."
"Fine. But it better be a good one."
"It will be. And now I want to talk to mom." I said.
I could hear his laugh still going on over the phone even after handing my mom the phone. I just love my dad.
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The money feature might seem negative, but it's just how it goes in my family. We are a business family after all. My dad taught us about the value of money since we were young, and I started working at sixteen. Small jobs. And no it's not illegal. He said if I couldn't make money, I had no right to use it. And I believed so.
Why would I write a literary profile about my dad? I'm not trying to show him off or bluffing about my family, but he is the hero in my life. I mean, god I was close to hating him a lot of times. Don't you feel that way too about your parents sometimes? Every time I was separated from them, I missed them till the point of crying, but one week of sharing the same roof could drive me crazy. I hate how I love them.
Of all the people I've met in my life, my dad has the hardest life. I never noticed them before last year, but since I started understanding what he's been through and still going through, I love him more and more each day. He's my motivation to move on in life. So why not write a literary profile about him, the one I love and admire the most?
"I love you dad." I said, after mom handed him the phone to say good bye.
"You better." He laughed, and hung up.

Blog #9 Vietnamese Anonymous Vent Chat: Leeches in food

I had late classes on Tuesday, so I just went back to my room and took a nap, then when I woke up, it was midnight already. I wouldn't want to take a bus or go to the UC at that hour, so I asked my friend, who was an admin of a Vent Channel called Vietnamese Anonymous Vent Chat, to let me join the channel and listen to people talking.
Vietnamese Anonymous Vent Chat is a Vent Channel created by a Vietnamese Facebook Paged named Haivl, which in English is (this is a terrible name to translate to English, so I'm trying the best I can) Comedy till you piss you c*nt off. So from the name, basically the conversation I was about to hear wouldn't be really formal with nice and clean language.
As I joined a channel, I realized people were talking the issue when China was buying leeches from Vietnam and mince them, then mix them with dry food to sell back to Vietnam (yes Vietnamese people have a thing with China). There were a lot of people talking, so this is what the part I could write down.
"This is so bullshit."
"It's good so edible."
"That's so disgusting!" A voice screamed out.
"This is false, stop accusing China just because you dislike them." An old voice from the background responded to all the yelling.
"Bullshit."
"True or not, it's a warning. China has a bad reputation from long ago and everyone knows why. And you never know, leeches can regrow from only a small part of it, not the whole body, so watch out before you eat is still a good option." A girl said.
"No Made in China food. Done."
"It's all Made in China now. What else do we even have?"
Someone started a weird and long laugh in the background.
"Yes even if you burn the leeches into ash, if they meet water, they will regrow back. This is reasonable. So don't say this is bullshit. Watch out before you eat, I've heard a lot of news about this issue."
"God."
"Disgusting."
"Why there are so many evil people in the world."
Okay I should stop here since they started talking about politics and I wasn't that interested. But it was a scary conversation that I heard. Personally I hope it wasn't true.

Blog #8 Talking to strangers

I'm not good with starting conversations, so this is a very, very awkward task for me to do. So as I walked into the UC, I glanced around for the friendliest face I could get a hold of. And maybe I cheated a bit, but I noticed that my friend's roommate was sitting alone having her dinner at a corner of the UC. I never really spoke to her before, but at least I had the confidence that she wouldn't give me the stalker look.
She had her hair tied up and was wearing her grey shirt and black pants. She didn't notice me until I came over and stared at her for 30 seconds. After the awkward silence, I started the conversation.
"Hi" I said.
"Hi" she replied, confused.
"So my professor gave me this task" I continued awkwardly, "that I have to pick someone I'm not familiar with and strike a conversation with."
"Okay" she replied.
"So..." I continued, "if you can be any animal, what would you be?" I asked.
She started thinking for awhile, chewing her Mongolian grill, then looked at me and said:
"Cat."
"Why?" I asked.
"Because it's cute." She replied, then looked down at her Mongolian grill and continued to eat.
"Oh okay" I said. "Thanks for your time" I smiled.
"Nope" she replied.
As I walked away, I had this extremely awkward feeling rising up my chest. God I suck at striking a conversation.