Dinhternet

My new cousin Tillie L was born about two weeks ago. Gio Linh and some of my Min­nesota cousins were going to sneak into the nurs­ery and dec­o­rate it before Cau Dung and Mo Natalie brought her home from the hos­pi­tal, and they asked every­one for a mes­sage they wanted to leave for Tillie L.

I told Gio Linh I would think about it overnight and get back to her in the morn­ing. Unfor­tu­nately, I couldn’t think of any­thing good before the dead­line. My sis­ters were con­vinced that I would do some­thing weird. Gio Linh sug­gested that I would ask for Pedobear to be drawn on the wall over­look­ing the crib. Dong Ha thought I would want the mes­sage “I want to eat your baby in a bowl of deli­cious phở.”

Those are a lit­tle too bla­tantly creepy for my tastes, though. I like to be more sub­tly awk­ward, like this:

(from Dinosaur Comics.)

I just crossed #66 off my bucket list. Well, I didn’t call it that at the time, but I sup­pose that it is the accepted nomen­cla­ture now, so that’s what I’ll use. Just in case you are too lazy to click through or have trou­bled with num­bered lists, #66 was a hot air bal­loon ride. Since my dad’s, Dong Ha’s, and my birth­days are bunched up together near Mother’s Day, we usu­ally do some­thing nice together as a fam­ily. (And jok­ingly call it the “Every­one But Gio Linh Party.”)

Since my par­ents will be mov­ing away this sum­mer and I’m not sure we’ll be able to do this in the future, I wanted to do some­thing spe­cial this time; prefer­ably some­thing high­light­ing Cal­i­for­nia awe­some­ness for them to remem­ber when they are in Min­nesota. At first, my sis­ters and I planned on a wine tour in Napa, since the scenery is awe­some and my par­ents enjoy wine. We checked out reviews on the best vine­yards to visit and pho­tog­ra­phers in the area who do out­door por­traits. Also looked into the Wine Train, since dad does love trains.

But then I found some­thing even bet­ter… a deal on a hot air bal­loon ride over Napa Val­ley! At first, both sis­ters were appre­hen­sive. (I did not real­ize Dong Ha has a fear of heights!) But I bit the bul­let and booked us any­way, since it would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Man, was I right to do so! The flight was awe­some. And that’s despite hav­ing to wake up at 3 to get to Napa slightly before dawn. Our pilot was really funny and enter­tain­ing, and our bal­loon was first up and (almost) last down. The scenery was amaz­ing! And we had quite an adven­ture at the end as we almost landed on a church and then almost some trees as we were try­ing to land.

After­wards, Dad said he loved it and com­pared it to rid­ing a motor­cy­cle in the sky. I men­tioned that I was excited that I could cross some­thing off my bucket list now, and Dong Ha said it was on hers, too. (Gio Linh says she hasn’t made a bucket list yet, but I’m sure it would have been on there for her to cross off now.) Mommy didn’t know what a bucket list was, but basi­cally described the same thing in Viet, so con­sider it crossed off her list, too. Score! The post title may be a bit eerie or mor­bid, but it is quite fitting.

I highly rec­om­mend the expe­ri­ence to every­one. And if you are scared, don’t be. Dong Ha said she was scared of falling, but the bas­ket is four feet high, so you’d have to be actively try­ing to fall over­board. There is absolutely no risk if you are just stand­ing around. Also, there was no motion-sickness, either. The bas­kets do not sway in the wind at all, and the sen­sa­tion of going up and down is lighter than it is in an elevator.

So I got a good chunk of change back from the gov­ern­ment today when my fed­eral tax refund got direct deposited into my bank account. Now, I have to decide what to do with it. I’ve been con­sid­er­ing a few options…

First, I’ve been think­ing about get­ting a car for myself. The Civic is a good daily dri­ver, but I’ve wanted an RX-7 for long time, and I can for sure afford a 2nd Gen now. I’d be giv­ing the Civic to Gio Linh, who is about to go off to col­lege. How­ever, she is going to UC Davis now, so she won’t have much use for it her first year, any­way, unless she shells out for a year-long park­ing per­mit. And a 2nd Gen RX-7 would def­i­nitely be more fun to ride around in, but I’d be spend­ing more in gas and maintenance.

Sec­ond, I’ve also wanted to get LASIK for the longest time. My eyes have been sta­ble for a about three years now, so that shouldn’t be a prob­lem. Of course, I tell myself that it’s for the con­ve­nience of not hav­ing to deal with glasses, but I can’t deny that there is a cer­tain amount of van­ity involved this pur­chase as well.

My third option is the “smart” albeit bor­ing choice of invest­ing my monies. It’s a pretty good time to get into the mar­ket, espe­cially for the long-term, which is what I’d be doing. If I go this route, though, I won’t have any­thing to play with.

Oh, and I also thought about just set­ting the money aside for now because some friends and I have talked about doing either a Europe or Asia trip this sum­mer. I don’t know who is still down for that, though.

So… what do you think I should do?