Wow.
I can't believe it's October already.

1. Mama. What's wrong with the economy?


The economy! For all of you people that have been living under a rock, there was a 700 million dollar bailout proposal from the Bush Administration that was rejected by congress. However, another buyout has been approved by the Senate. What does this mean? It means we are screwed. We do not have enough money to be bailing out these corporate losers who are recklessly mismanaging our money. Without going too much into it, basically we are in tough times right now. The stock market has been taking a dive, etc. It will be hard in the future to get student loans, car loans, home loans, etc. The economy will take a big hit from this. This will affect a lot of people. Sometimes I wonder what jobs will be available to college graduates in the future. I guarantee it will be a lot more difficult to obtain a decent job. Many will not be able to pay for college, and the end of America being the top economy will start to happen. Who is to blame? Well I put blame on the Reagan Administration for starting this trend of total  Government  deregulation, free markets, etc. No rules lead to chaos, and greedy people recklessly managing money. Along with Reagan, the trend has continued with Bush Sr, Clinton, and the current Bush's Administration. No wonder we have a 3 trillion dollar debt. Kiss Goodbye to Social Security for my fellow peers.

2. October.

Yesterday, as I was typing up some short papers at school, I suddenly realized that it was October already. 2-3 more months and 2008 will be over. I remember blogging about the plans and goals that I wanted to accomplish in 2008. I won't say that I've done all that I wanted to do, nor have I reached the goals that I wanted to reach, but there are a lot of things I've done, which I can gladly pat myself on the back for. October. Man.  Time does fly. Henry Austin Dobson says" Time goes you say? No. Time stays. We go". What did I do last October? Hmmmm....Time flies yo.

3. Follow the Leader Bitches!

Haha. So I signed up for a leadership training program at my school. I never knew that our school offered one until my professor told me about it. It was free, so I figured why the heck not? I did not know however, that there was a lengthy interview process that came along with it. They only take a small amount, so I had to  interview for it. During the interview, I think I played my cards very well. I felt like a seasoned politician in a debate or something, I kept recycling the same things over and over. I guess it worked! I got accepted, and I will start next week! Follow my lead homies!

4, Golf and Anthony Kim > Baseball

While many of my friends, classmates, internet girlfriends, etc. are Angel or Dodger Fans, I don't care for either team. I don't care for the sport, nor the teams or players. Baseball is very boring to me. I don't find any interest in it at all. There was a time in history that I rooted for the Angels, but it has been at least 3 years since I watched more than 2 innings in a baseball game. I can't tell you who the best players are or anything like that.

My interest has shifted towards Golf. I am interested in golf more and more. Of course  I love Tiger Woods. He's my favorite half thai/half black person that I know. Actually, he's the only half thai/half black person that I know. Ok. I don't really know him, but I pretend that I do.  Anyways, with Tiger away, Anthony Kim has become my favorite golfer. He'll be the next big Thing!


5. Cafe Sua Da.


Hi. My name is Tim Pham, and I'm an Caffeine-holic. It all started one day when I pulled an all-nighter to finish my essay for my political law class. I went straight to work the next morning without any sleep at all. I was so tired that I decided to drink some Cafe Sua Da. ( vietnamese coffee with condensed milk). I have never taken ecstasy before, but I would imagine that it felt something like that. It gave me such a spike in energy. My body was shaking, my mind alert, and I felt like I could take over the world! Ever since then , I have been drinking a lot of it. I need caffeine to function. It gives me such an energy spike. Everytime after I consume some caffeine, I feel like there is nothing in the world that can stop me. Please help me beat this addiction. Thank You.

Chào các bạn thân mến!

This is probably going to be one very long entry. I just feel like writing a whole lot, because I probably won't write anything for a while. Be Prepared!

Like Oh My Gosh! I can't believe people from the Ukraine read my Xanga. I do consider my writing to be somewhat interesting to me, but I don't know how interesting it would be to a Vladimir Rashpinksyslov in a Ukrainian coffee shop. Oh Well! I'm sure my Momma is proud! When she gave birth to me some odd years ago, I'm sure she didn't envision her boy as a doctor or as an engineer, but rather a Xanga Blogger who sometimes receives a couple of anonymous views from countries like the Ukraine. I told ya I'd make it as a star Momma! Haha.


( Tim Pham. Professional Xangerer)

Speaking of writing, I think I'm doing an adequate job of  maintaining my goal of writing whatever that is on my mind for at least a couple of times a week. I can still hear my school's Creative Writing Club Program saying, " Practice a lot in the Summer. You need to improve your grammar, your creativity, and you will have a better shot at making it in the Fall". Yep, so that's what I've been trying to do lately. In between my 10 hour job helping my moms,( Don't get it twisted. I only have one mother. I just like to add an s, like how rappers say it) hanging out with my friends, completing my weird self -goals, etc., I have been practicing my writing. I heard that practice makes perfect, but if it doesn't, I guess it'll be close.

1. Can you still be manly while watching The Hills and The Teen Choice Awards?

( Seven Things I hate About You is a Catchy Tune.)

( Selena Gomez. Wizards of Waverly Place. NO! I don't watch that. Somehow I just know.)

So last night me and some of my old high school male friends decided to have a " Guys Kickback". I was expecting lots of beer, a lot of testosterone filled games like Arm-Wrestling,Watermelon seed spitting contests, or simply beer pong, but it turned out nothing like that. Has this ever happened to you before? You are with a group of friends, and no one has any clue on what to do? You stand there and waste 2 hours, and you still can't decide on anything. I always end up being the guy who decides everything. Not that I don't like deciding stuff or planning stuff, but if you are the guy that has been the decider since the Junior year of high school, it gets a little tiring. So once again, I had to do something, before we ended up sitting on the couch for 5 hours. A little annoyed, I thought of something that would force them to choose places if we ever hung out in the future. I decided we would order pizza and watch The Teen Choice Awards. Wow! I'm shocked that they were pretty content with watching The Teen Choice Awards. In between watching Miley Cyrus, The Jonas Brothers, Vanessa Hudgens, and Selena Gomez,( how the heck do I even know who she is? I'm scared for myself) we kicked it like men. As a good friend, I naturally had to make everyone drink some beer and wrestle( no homo) in between the commercial breaks to still keep some masculinity for ourselves. After the Teen Choice Awards were over, we clinched the night with Season 1 of "The Hills". Now that was all me. I forced everyone to watch The Hills, because I simply dig Lauren Conrad. I love her style. She is so graceful, so elegant. Now to let my masculine side do the talking:, " Shawwtty Is A Ten Yo".


( Lauren Conrad. The Dream Would say " Shawwty is a Ten")


2. Donny Hathaway's "A Song For You "and Sam Cooke's " Change Gon' Come"

I have many songs that I consider to be my favorite, But After spending some time listening to my music while running at the track, It just hit me. There isn't any songs that  stand out to me like those two songs. I love Michael Jackson's " Thriller"  or " Billie Jean" like the next Michael Jackson die-hard, but these two just stood out to me. I would probably say that they are my two favorite songs of all-time in no particular order.

I was born by the river in a little tent
Oh and just like the river I been a runnin' ever since
It's been a long, a long time coming but I know
A change gon' come oh yes it will
 - Sam Cooke " Change Gon Come". Those lines just are so deep.

And " A song For You" is so soulful.

3.  Trường Việt Ngữ

(Here are some of my former fellow Vietnamese School Classmates. I bet they learned nothing in Vietnamese School as well.)

( Left: Thomas Pham.)
(Middle: His sister Liz Pham)
(Right: Thomas and Liz's Cousin David Diep. David was supercool. He was like 19 years old in a class full of 10 year olds.)


Yes. I have been practicing my Vietnamese as well. For all you guys that don't know, I work as a Bilingual Translator for The Garden Grove Unified School District. I somehow got lucky and was hired, despite barely knowing how to read or write Vietnamese. Like any natural Vietnamese boy, my momma and my pops made me attend Vietnamese School. But besides having many fond memories of playing football, basketball, or ditching to go play arcades, I don't think I learned much of anything. Especially during my Junior High to High School years, I was kind of ashamed to speak Vietnamese. I'm not sure how it is now, but back in my days of schooling, the biggest derogatory word used was " FOB". "Fresh Off The Boat". Oh how I dreaded being called a "Fob", or having anything associated with the term " FOB". I think I consciously made the effort to disassociate myself with the language, culture, etc for a while. However, as I got older, I kind of realized how ignorant my thinking was. God made me Vietnamese, and I'm proud of my culture, my language, etc. Though I'm more American, I do want to learn as much Vietnamese as I possibly can. Plus I was born in America. It's stupid how I was scared of being called a Fob. Which is a stupid term anyways.


( example of Fob Gangster in my days.)

So........Xin mấy bản đừng chọc mã gọi tôi là FOB.

4. Tình yêu mùa hè - Ann Nguyễn

...Tình yêu mùa hè is literally translated as " Summer Love". I love summers. Go listen to that New Kids on The Block song " Summertime". Describes the feeling of Summer Love perfectly! Now to talk about my Justin Timberlake like " Summer Love", which happened in the 5th or 6th grade, I don't quite remember. It is so embarrassing haha. But I like telling embarrassing stories. It brings good memories and good stories. I love stories!

Puppy Love. I still can remember her name. Her name Was Ann Nguyen. She had long black hair, brown eyes, and a soft voice that sounded so sweet.
She was probably my first real "crush". Out of a class of 30 or so students, she was probably the only girl that didn't make fun of me for my imitation Nike Shirt that read " NKIE". ( Blame the parents who thought it was Nike. and bought it for me at some swap meet!)
HAHA. Nike was the "in" thing when I was a little boy. So we became sort of friends. I would be playing basketball or something, when she would ask me to join her at the monkey bars. We probably did some monkeying around, when I realized that I liked her. I wanted to write a letter that said, " Do you want to be my girlfriend? Circle One. Yes, No, ". I then just hid my feelings from her, and sort of let it go on for a while, when I learned that Ann Nguyen was going out with some dude named John. Wow. It crushed me . I then went out and bought a valentine's card and wrote on the back of it " Dear Ann. This Is Tim. I'll love you Forever and Ever". LOL. It was the end of the year, so summer break was there. I knew where she lived( no stalker), so I put it in her mailbox. A week or so later, she returned my letter and I was so nervous. I opened up the letter, took it out, and let the butterflies in my stomach subside. I then took the letter out, and it was surprising. She didn't circle YES or NO. She wrote " MAYBE". I was thinking " Wow. That's better than a NO". However weeks went by, and  I never heard from her again. I bet she was thinking as a fifth grader, " Damn.  Ewwww..This Guy is super creepy. I'll write "maybe" so he doesn't do weird stalkerish things to me." So Summer Lovin'...always makes me think of this incident.


__________________________________________

5. Golf.

The smell of the green grass...the sun..It's incredible. Heaven on Earth is on a golf Course! Once I make enough money, my goal is to travel Asia and play some golf on a beautiful course! Paradise Indeed!





Tạm biệt bàn,

Phạm Minh Hiền
( my vietnamese name yo!)

       Dear Friends,

I am finding it more and more difficult to write for 15 minutes everyday. That was my goal at the beginning of the summer, but now it's becoming increasingly more difficult for me to maintain this goal. Sometimes I just don't know what to write about. If I could be granted a special ability, I would want to possess the skill of perfect writing. I've always been intrigued by words. Words are powerful. I guess it's the same way that some people are intrigued by numbers, but for me it's words. Words can tell a story, and I love stories. Words can console, words can make you laugh, words can bring pain, words can cause anger, etc. I guess when it comes to writing, it can basically convey any emotion that there is. Anyhow, I guess I have to re-structure my goal into something that is a little more easier to attain than my current one.

1. My Grades Are In. - Similar to the paranoia some people may feel when they are driving at 11pm in a South Central L.A. neighborhood, I was feeling the same way this past week. My summer school classes have been over for about 2.5 weeks now, but my grades haven't been posted until a couple of days ago. I guess it's sort of like the moment after you(a female) or your girlfriend takes a pregnancy test. You know how it is.... You're just standing there crossing your fingers standing at the bathroom mirror, sweating profusely and hoping that it turns out negative, screaming out " I'm too young to be a daddy!". Or maybe you want it to turn positive. Anyways you get the point. I finally received my grades and whew! I did better than I expected. I got an A-. Sweet. I'm glad I get a break from school until the fall. I wrote my final essay on Barack Obama. I guess I scored extra points with my professor!

( Waiting for my grades is like waiting for the Pregnancy Test Results)

2. Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles-

      Maybe it's just hype, maybe it's not, but I really want to eat some chicken and waffles. I've heard about it for the longest time, but never had the chance to try some. Since I will be in Long Beach this weekend, this will be at the top of my itinerary. I love me some soul food.


3.  Frisbee! -

 I've been playing frisbee with some friends for the last couple of weeks. It is becoming a cool hobby for me. It reminds me of the times when I was a kid with my first frisbee. I still remember it like it was yesterday. I was about 10 years old or so at the time, and I saw this commerical for a frisbee on television. I had no allowance at the time, so I had no way to purchase a frisbee. My parents wouldn't buy me the frisbee, because they thought that I would play with it for like 1 day, and then get tired of it. Oh how I wanted it so badly. One day I came up with a scheme though. One day as my family was shopping at Target( I love Target), I told my parents that I needed to go pee. So as I went to go "pee", I took a sharp detour to the toys section. There was the toy I coveted for so long. The Frisbee! I still remember that it was blue and white. My heart was pounding, and my legs felt like they were jello. I was scared of being caught, but the feeling of the thrill excited me. It's like the rush you feel when you go on the roller-coaster. Anyhow, I looked to see if anyone was looking, and I tore the cover of the frisbee, and hid the frisbee under my sweater. Imagine that. A 10 year old kid with a breast plate looking thing under his chest. I thought I was such a smooth criminal that I did a moonwalk or two. As I walked past the metal dectectors of Target, I felt something slip. Oh Boy. Right before I knew it, the frisbee slipped from under my chest and dropped on the floor. Needless to say, my ass was not happy with my decision that night. I guess that was the end of my theft days. Well maybe not. I guess I still steal girls hearts. I love how "still" and "steal" are put next to each other. Sorry. Arrest ME!

( Way better than Wal-Mart)

4. Camaraderie
-def. " Goodwill and rapport among friends."
I've been feeling that vibe with my friends and others lately. I must say that is a great feeling for me to see the people around me vibing and connecting with each other on that level. Subconciously I've always felt this little happiness or joyful feeling whenever my friends had rapport with one another. Yes. Let it continue!

5. American Graffiti

- Hands down one of my favorite movies of all-time! Yesterday as I was a little bit sore from working out late at night, I just layed in bed and watched American Graffiti for the gazillionth time on my laptop. Despite knowing almost everything there is to know about the movie, I still enjoyed it as much as the first time I've seen it. For those of you guys who have never seen American Graffiti, I advise you to go out and rent it on dvd, or be gangsta' and download it illegally on the internet. Without spoiling the movie, the basic premise of the movie is about a group of friends who are spending their last night in their city in the summer of 1962, before heading off to college. This movie is set in 1962, right before the turbelent 1960s in America. Before the escalation of the Vietnam War, civil rights movement, JFK assassination, etc. The movie is great to me, because the feelings and thoughts of the characters still resonate with me and my peers today. The feelings of not knowing what the future will be, the unknown, etc. It is also a semi-tragic story of how the characters will lose their innocence. Though the movie is mostly happy-feel good days at the drive-in diner, etc, the movie ends with us knowing what the rest of the 1960s will be like, and what the characters would be facing in the future. Top 10 in my all-time favorite for sure!

6. Time Is Poem.

I really enoy this poem by Henry Van Dyke

7. Yogurt Shop-Hoppin'
-Club-Hopping? Nah. I yogurt Shop-Hop Baby! There is literally 10-15 yogurt shops located within a 5 mile radius from where I live. It's literally insane. This is like the new fad or something. That and crawfish. So anyhow, I've been trying to outdo my friend in a bet on who can eat at the most yogurt shops within a week. I don't think she'll win. I visited Heaven's Delight 10 times in a span of one week, and got a free drink. The workers were even amazed at my multiple daily visits. So I will try to eat at every yogurt shop that I possibly can. Heaven's Delight, Yummie-Yo, Yogurtland, PinkBerry's, Passion Berry, and every other Asian Knock-off yogurt shop that there is. My Quest Continues...


( This place is okay. Not that great.)
Have a good Day!

Tim.