My bucket list

Original blog post on 26th Nov 2013.

1. Fly in a hot balloon.
2. Wingsuit flying.
3. Hang gliding.
3. Get the scuba diving certificate. Oct 2015
4. Become a blackbelt.
5. Diving the Great Barrier Reef. Nov 2015
6. Swim with a dolphin.
7. Go sailing.
8. Have my book published.  Apr 2015
9. Have my second book published. Oct 2016
10. Publish a best seller book. Apr 2017
11. Learn to dance.
12. Playing a guitar. Jun 2015.
13. Play piano.
14. Spend a night in Colmar.
15. Play drum in a live show. Learning soon.
16. Play soccer in a match, again.
17. Giving an inspiring speech. Aug 2015.
18. Have wedding on the beach.
19. Ride a horse in a farm.
20. Hike the Alps.
21. Road trip in the US.
22. Being a yoga teacher. Sept 2015
23. Visit all 7 continents.
24. Have a master degree in writing.
25. Give an inspiring speech for over 1000 people.
26. Design my own course and earning good money teaching it.
27. Go deep sea fishing.
28. See a whale.
29. Swim with sharks.
30. Be someone's successful mentor.
31. Publish a novel.
32. Read The wind in the willows to my children in English.
33. Visit Santorini.
34. Eat pizza in L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele in Naples.
35. Find the love of my life. March 2017
36. Milk a cow.
37. Visit Bilbo's house.
38. Have a pen house.
40. Live in the US.
41. Visit my friend Coline.
42. Have a Labrado dog.
43. Learn to ski.
44. Learn to windsurf.
45. Learn to surf.
46. See the north light.
47. Camp in the Atacama Desert and see the Milky Way at night.
48. Visit Bora Bora island.
49. Go to Givota, Greece.
50. Spend a night in Zakynthos, Greece.
51. Live in Hoi An for several weeks.
52. Be a guest speaker in Frankfurt book fair.
53. Have a book published in English.
54. Conduct a writing course.

Second month at boot camp

Things changed a lot since the first day I joined the boot camp.

First after I posted the note on Facebook about free places to exercise, including the boot camp. Then Sheldon created the fan page. And phewwww. The class got real crowded.

I didn't know why. Maybe a lot of my friends and readers joined. Even Giang (my friend at Di va Song fanpage and a really experienced traveler - who usually guide the tour to Nepal and north India) also joined the class and asked his fellows to join.

So it got really crowded. Previously only 3 - 4 people each time. Now 16 - 18 people. I know most of them. And I feel good. Feel proud that I partly contribute to the growth of the class and the physical development of people.

Maybe people don't feel so. But it's ok. The fortune teller told that sometimes in life I wouldn't get the result or appropriate appreciation for what I do. It's ok then. If that's my karma then I will have to accept it anyway. But I'm proud here that I helped to build the boot camp class. Built a community, caring health. That's good to talk to people and see how they're progressing and all.

And Giang. Previously I didn't have much impression with him, even if we worked together in an event of Di va Song. But now having more chance to talk with him, I feel he is a cool guy. Really really strong. I'm impressed with his physical condition.

Shel teaches the class really passionately these days. He really likes the new guys coming. Ti, Tao's cousin; Giang; Hoa, the girl coming back from the Malaysia trip on a yacht. He seems really like Hoa. I feel a bit surprised there.

Anyway many people came were my friends or friends of my friends. I talk to them, getting to know them better and feel good. More people, more competition, more fun. I really like the boot camp now.

There are several really good people out there. Especially the girls. If you see their bodies you will faint away. So hot, six packs and very strong.

I wan to note about the teacher. He organises the class really well and comes up with the idea how to teach really quick. The sessions from monday to thursday are flexible with many rounds and things so we don't get fed up. I got to talk with him more and he seemed to be nice. And he seemed to be deeper than the appearance. I don't know. Just need to figure out. He once told: "Don't drink". I laughed, he appeared to drink a lot. He told: "No I don't drink as much as people think I do. I just mixed up with fruit juice. At the end I didn't got drunk but people thought I did. No, I was just happy". He was really cool when he said that.

Anyway I appreciate what he is doing. Teaching the class for free from monday to thursday, while in California fitness you need to pay 25$/1hour for the PT. That is more than enough. He is nicer than enough.

Only 1, 2 months since the first time I joined then I already feel the difference. First my back got real real hurt. My sacrum got scratched, and scar came after that. Then around 2, 3 days not doing boot camp, it started to heal. But then when I did again the the scratch came again. Real hurt, especially when bathing.

Today also hurt, but way much better. Not that much painful. And I feel that the more we do, the better we get.

Then I feel my body much lighter now. Flat belly, strong feeling when I walk. Very little fat.

And when I went to camping in Ba Den mountain, I just kept walking and I felt not much tired. In the previous trips to Ba Den I was so exhausted after coming back. But I do boot camp frequently now and I feel the benefit of it.

Every time I do sprint then I just lie down on the ground, feeling intolerable in my glutes and the hamstring. But I know it helps.

Every time I run I feel terrible but I know it helps.

Every time I repeat and repeat and repeat the workout I think of EBC, of Kinabalu, of Kilimanjaro, and I keep doing.

OMG I'm so sleepy I don't know what I'm writing.

Uh oh or the story of how I became unspeakable

So how is everything up with the presentation class, you may ask.

Well everything is going on pretty well and I had many chances to practice my skills in August. Beside the details in the events I participated, there were other things going on in the class that I want to note down here because I'm going to be 28 year old next month and I soon will be diagnosed with Alzheimer and these memories will soon go away just like my teeth.

Remember the first time I attended the class, I couldn't resist the strange feeling of staying in a class again with all of the people younger than me, and even the teacher was also younger. I was like a kid out of water (is it kid or fish, I don't know, I guess Alzheimer strikes me now. Anyway kid seems to be a good word here).

Then I got used to the lovely youngsters of the class and then things went really really well. Except for the parts when I stood up and didn't know what to say and wanted to commit suicide after that.

Vu taught really really well, did I say that in the previous post. If I did I'm sorry, now I don't remember a thing. And he wouldn't mind if I say this again anyway, yeah he was an excellent teacher. Except for the parts that sometimes in the class I didn't want to talk to him. That was when I felt embarrassed with his comments. It was not his fault. I was a stubborn headstrong bottomstrong (even my toes are strong) girl and I didn't want anyone comment on my performance unless he/she says one of the words like excellent, good job, well done, and best if they say all of these three.

Just kidding, for the record sake, I would say the class was organized in a friendly and casual environment as most of the students are well connected through Your Club. If a new person comes he would feel a bit bewildered at first, and perhaps embarrassed with the criticism if he is a head-to-toe-strong like me. But I'm sure Vu would have appropriate amendment when the class goes public with different types of students. I would then highly recommend it to my brother my father my mother my relatives my friend my sister in law even if now my brother doesn't have a girlfriend yet. And I would 100% guarantee the quality even if I'm not the teacher, hahaha.

Ah, having the TA noted down the comments and sent to the students were a good thing. Especially good for people having Alzheimer like me. And it would be best for me if the teacher kept the comments in written form only and just simply gave the comments in silence, hahaha. Ok ok, I guess I'm a bit more self - conscious than normal people. Well, I'm a highly sensitive person lah. That's my strength although sometimes I feel that strength bothers me more than helping.

I found out gradually that all the students were very lively and lovely and nice. We liked to make joke of each other and of the teacher specifically. Many funny activities went along in the class. One day Ngoc Huynh made up a poem in her presentation and then it turned out to be a surprise birthday party gift for Dy and Hien. The other day we just played and didn't want to continue the class and we finished it fast then called pizza to celebrate Miu Miu's late coming and Vu and Thao's absence. And another time Cam Le was so so sad at us all and the world that she burst into tears during the class. I didn't think it was funny at that time but you know when you get old as 82 (82 or 28, I'm confused) then everything in the past was funny.

Then with the class full of youngsters like that I revealed to them my real identity: a solemn witch eating young adult. Just kidding, I revealed my other part of a child disguising in the body of a 82 year old woman. I remembered the time when I always got the first prize in the story telling contests of my primary school and I wanted to recreate it in the presentation class. So I told the story of the pig happy with his life and I played the pig sleeping on his feces. Then the children tv program with the squirrel and the raccoon MCs. The other time I just stood up and told: "I am a worm living in a manure hole" and I laughed to my ears and watched other students rolling on the floor until Vu told me that my performance was a disaster and I went down with pleasure. Anyway I felt more comfortable with the people and exactly as Vu said they liked me more that way than being a solemn 82 yr old woman with the face of a witch going to eat children.

What impressed me the most during the presentation class was one time I told a totally terrible story about the writer named E. B. White with his isolating lifestyle despite his fame and I wanted to be like that, not being talkative showy flashy. What Vu commented after that struck me with its integrity and it's still in my head now: "Well you don't learn to change yourself but you just need to learn to reveal your true self, to stand up and be your best when and where your readers, your audience and your supporters need you". And I still learn to do that these days. In fact, we never have to change ourselves. Just be our best.

Well the course is going to finish and sometimes I feel like missing the time I had with them all, even though when I attended I was torn with pressure of going to the class and submitting the homework on time and I cursed and screamed.

And tomorrow will be the rehearsal of the final presentation of the course, in a studio. And today I just did my first practice. And I discovered that I spoke like a foreigner speaking Vietnamese for the first time. Or an infant child. Or both, a foreign infant child trying to speak Vietnamese. All I could say for a while was just: uh, ah, oh.

That was just 1 month after my last event and my skill went down this much. Still a long time before I can master it to speak without proper preparation.

Boot camp again

Hello world

So I'm again not confident to post my new Facebook note, and I again write here as a means of reducing guilt, hahaha.

Last week my two friends joined the training for the first time. I looked forward to seeing the teacher so he could give my friends proper training. But Sheldon (the badass teacher's name) was not there. I heard he was back from his trip to the north. But there were some reasons that he didn't show up in the class.

Hoa and I were a bit surprised and disappointed. As Hoa also expected him to come. Nevertheless Hoa gave the new guys the necessary training and pushed them as much as he could. He did a good job to keep the schedule and I appreciated that.

My two friends were pretty good at the boot camp. They showed no delay or hardship finishing all the required exercises, even if they were in the most intense night of the week, thursday. I did the workout very slowly and sometimes appeared to resist the instruction. But I tried to finish it anyway and went home pleasure and tiresome, hoho.

So Sheldon was not in the training field for 2 weeks. Needless to say, the q'ty of people attending the training decreased significantly. Only 2, 3 old students were there, and our spirit also went down.

It's the truth that I now deeply realize. When the teacher is not there then you don't want to practice either. If the teacher doesn't keep the discipline then neither do the students. That's why I skipped the class all nights last week. Hahaha. It was a very good excuse don't you think?

Just kidding. I don't want any excuse here and I don't want my future students to do this to me. So I promise to my lovely blog that I will be back to the field tomorrow. Another important thing is that when I don't exercise I feel my mood down. So I need to do workout everyday to keep the energy up constantly.

Phew, after just some time not writing, I already feel my words not flowing smoothly now. Gotta practice daily lah.

Keep it up keep it up. Kick your ass if you have to, but move forward.

The second week with boot camp

Hey it's me and I continue to practice the boot camp this week.

This whole week the teacher is not here so he gave the exercise to some the old students to take care of the class.

Yesterday only Hoa, me, and a friend of Sheldon (the teacher's name), who joined for the second time.

We did the warm up, then sprint 50 rounds, then 20 laps of push up, mountain climb and sit up for 10 times each.

The new guy was tired and moaned throughout the session, he ran for only 5 rounds then lied down on the ground, then did around 3 laps then gave up. Hoa was in charge, so he pushed the new guy continuously.

The new guy told he was going to throw up but he didn't, and I felt a bit pity for him. But I just smiled and stood to breathe and felt good all along, hahaha.

Maybe because there was no teacher so it seemed to be less pressured than usual.

Today Hoa was busy, but some other girls went, and they were all strong.

A girl called Minh led the class, and she made us run for 2 laps, then do 50 push ups, then running 2 laps, then 50 sit ups, then running then 50 squats, then running then walking lunge.

At the first place I thought 50 push ups and sit ups were somehow too much. But I managed to do the whole thing, even though I'm feeling a bit painful now in my muscles.

When I did the running I thought about the workout, I thought if I kept being patient with this then I would be better day by day. Then I thought about when I would become a personal trainer. I thought what I I would expect from my students, I would want them to practice with true grit and tenacity.

Then I thought about my yoga teachers. I had the feeling that they were a bit of disappointed at me as I didn't show up as much as they wanted and didn't commit my full devotion to yoga. They also only wanted me to show my true grit and being persistent with it. Because they hoped I would progress to reach my best.

Then I pondered on other things in life. Almost everything comes the same way, writing, guitar, English, Tarot....The more we practice, the better we get. There is no shortcut. We just need to work on it from day to day, step by step, keeping patience and working through pain and sweat.

After the running, we stretched out before leaving the stadium. This is new to me and I should do it more often. Minh told I was the only one showed up for 2 days continuously, others just disappeared for 1 - 2 weeks after the first class. Another girl told: "Yeah, after my first time here I even couldn't go to stool or pissing normally, so much pain when walking or sitting down/standing up". I could understand the feeling. When I first did my mountain climbing to Ba Den, I stayed in bed for 2 days afterward.

But this is good. No pain no gain it's said. Just need to practice daily, especially through lazy days.

Look at the big picture and work your ass off Rosie.

TriipMeet@Saigon with Triip.me

August was full of events. I attended the presentation class and all of the sudden many events came to me. That was good since I had many chances to practice my skill in reality.

So the TriipMeet@Saigon was invited by a friend of a friend. And it was totally different from the others.. Because I had to present in English and together with another speaker. He is very experienced in public speaking, talking at TedX Singapore and other barcamps quite often.

Kim, the girl from Triip emailed me before the event to set up the outline for the talk and arranging other things. I was really impressed by her English and professional working style. Until then I was already very confident with the talk show or workshop type. But I was not confident in presentation and public speaking for a long time like 30 mins. And especially in English, it's weird but I'm not 100% confident with my English speaking.

But Vu helped me a lot. He told me to practice and practice, and he spent time to listen to my talk and gave me many useful ideas to make my talk more attractive. He then taught in the class how to prepare for the presentation. Only then did I know that we had to prepare so much time before each presentation. 30 mins rehearsal for 1 minute on stage, means a talk for 10 mins would take us 3 hours to practice. I didn't know if it was by chance or Vu meant it but that class was so helpful to me.

So I got the idea and I went to practice. I already practice before, but I then did again the whole thing that Vu advised. Reading out loud 2 times, speaking in front of an object 1 time, speaking in front of the mirror 1 time, speaking in front of a friend 3 times. Huy told it was good, Tao told Ted Ben Thanh should have invited me to talk (he really liked my talk), Vu told it was fine.

So I was confident to go to the event. I came there 3 hours before the event to do the rehearsal as Kim - TriipMeet informed. When I reached the place, only the other speaker - Preetam - was there. He talked to me and he told a lot of jokes and seemed to be very humorous and funny and I immediately had good impression with him. We waited for others to come but they didn't show up until 4PM.

Kim and other people in the organizing team were all students, very young and nice. But their arrangement has some problems there. The MC showed up late, the technical guy showed up late, the cafe didn't have the projector so they went back to the office and took it. Then we didn't have much of the rehearsal.

Then the MC and me discussed about my talk. On the contrary with the plan, she suggested me to talk all along without her interfering with the questions. I also wanted to stand up to talk to use my body languages so I agreed. But I didn't prepare my power point. I thought for a while and I decided to make some simple slides to divide my talk into small parts, so the audience could follow it.

And then my brother showed up and brought flower, wow, and made me embarrassed (if it were my book launch event it would be more appropriate). And showtime, I went on stage and delivered the speech. And unlike my prediction, the audience didn't laugh at my jokes, only a few times. And there were some foreigners that made me feel like what I talked wouldn't benefit them as they already had many travel experience. But some of the audience looked at me and smiled and I felt good and I continued. At some time of the talk I forgot one or two points but I got back and finished my talk.

Then came Preetam. He made peple laugh at every sentence, and his talk was full of useful tips. A really really skillful guy with much of travel experience. And in the panel discussion he also replied very appropriately with good insight. I was a bit serious with my answers though. But then it was ok, I asked the travel quizzes, handled the gifts I brought and we finished.

We went down to talk with the audience. Some told they liked my talk, a girl asked if I was shaking because she felt my voice not natural. But I felt I didn't tremble, then Huy later verified it. Then other people started to ask me some travel tips and I got to know that they were just newbies. In my talk I omitted all the basic guides because I thought that part was boring, but in fact it would be very helpful for them. Then I felt a little fail.

Anyway, we finished at around 10pm. Preetam suggested me to go dinner with him and his friends, before going back to join Triip.me people in another dinner. I actually wanted to go to with Triip because I wanted to say thanks to Hai - the founder of Triip, I didn't talk with him before the event. But anyway we would go together, I thought, and I joined Preetam and his friends for the mushroom hotpot.

Preetam's friends were university students, later I knew that most of them had travel experience, they went to Japan, Cambodia, New Zealand, etc... and were quite outgoing. I smiled with them and didn't ate much, the food was not healthy. Preetam ate everything and talked about food in Korea and Japan, and spoke Vietnamese and other things in Saigon. Then I knew he was really a local expert. He went around Asia and traveled back and forth among Taiwan, Hongkong, Japan, Singapore, Laos, Cambodia, and he went to Saigon every 2 - 3 months. He had many friends here and he knew the places in Saigon that I even didn't know. He managed to go around and sharing this and that and organised barcamp and reading camp and etc. It was a cool lifestyle. But when he talked about happy pizza in Phnom Penh (containing marajuana), and the way he integrate with the local culture made me wonder who he really was.

It was late at night, Preetam called Hai Triip.me and they were about to leave, so we wouldn't go to meet them. A little pity here, still no chance to talk to Hai and got to understand Triip startup more. Then other friends of Preetam decided to go to a bar. And I said goodbye to them then. Reached home at 11.30 or something and felt really exhausted. Kim sent the message to me, saying that some of her friends really liked my talk and told they were inspired to travel after hearing my sharing, and Preetam shared really nice and useful tricks to them. I didn't know if what she said was true because she was a really clever and diplomatic girl. But anyway I just left it. I felt the talk was ok, not best but not bad.

The next morning I went to the presentation class, still feeling so much tired. But the class was so fun and at some points it helped me to get back my energy. And Cam Le was back to be nearly normal and that made me feel good. Then I went home, feeling tired for the whole day. And I kept thinking about Preetam. His lifestyle was cool, he was really skillful, humorous and intelligent and all. I was curious about him and I was thinking whether to follow him or not, but I felt also something wrong with him and I didn't know what and I just kept thinking. Then I told my brother and he told: "No, his style was totally different with you. He is about small tricks and tips, and you are about inspiring, he is about broadness and you're about dept. You can't imitate him and you shouldn't imitate him. Just do what suits you, that would benefit more people". You see, how nice it is to be around with wise and insightful people. So I just took my brother's advice.

Then Triip sent me the thank you card, which was the first one I received after attending so many events. Their working style was really professional and considerable, I really like it.

So that's all for now. What Vu said was right, I just need to spend an amount of time to practice one skill intensely, and don't have to worry about it anymore, and move on to the next skill.

August almost ends. Come September, with Tarot and my English speaking and integrating with international friends. I want to be fluent & confident with my speaking and social skill. I don't want to get nervous when I stand in front of a native speak and speaking something wrong in grammar.

Thank you em Kim, em Vu, Preetam, all the audience and God.

The second time

Hey it's me again.

Guess what. I went to the boot camp again today.

When I decided to go, my heart shouted: "What? Yesterday was not enough? I almost died. Do you want to kill me again?"

My mind shouted back: "What? You said you wanted to be a health coach. What kind of health coach you wanna be if you can't overcome these small obstacles?"

So I was there in the class. My only strategy was trying not to throw up afterward and staying alive.

Before going I had sipped some water as I did a little research on how not to throw up and it suggested that.

There were more people this time, 4 other girls and 1 boy, Hoa couldn't join this time. The teacher showed up at 7PM.

And then we did it, warm up running and sprint. I did good and reached second in the group.

Then Sit ups, Push ups, Sprints for 20 minutes. I hated the Sit ups thing, my lower back was weak and I had never come up to sitting position with my legs straight on the floor. My result was bad and I finished only 6 rounds while others did 8 or 9. Then I had to do 400 rope jump as a penalty.

Then pairing up, running for 2 rounds while the other person doing burpees, sit ups, push ups, rope jumping. I did bad again, 60 times in total compared with 100 or more from other people.

When I thought it was going to finish, the teacher told we needed to do other things: Plank, Squat, Crocodile, Boat for 1 minute each pose. And repeat again. That was not too difficult for me except for the Crocodile one. It was intolerable.

You know why I'm writing down all of this? I want to memorize and keep track of my progress.

The teacher told I did a good job, better than other people when they first joined that boot camp. (Well, I had 2 years of yoga with me sir).

Luckily it didn't rain this time. And I kept sipping the water during the workout, plus breathing deeply to my belly to calm my heartbeats.

And that was good. I finished achieving my goal: not feeling like throwing up, still smiling and talking with people, having a little chit chat with the teacher.

He's been doing this workout training for more than 10 years. It is a hobby and he is doing it for free. Besides he also does some professional training for athletes, and owning several companies. Well he is kind of a real badass, tough and straightforward, liking dirty jokes and showing off. Not polite and gentle and spiritual like my yoga teachers. But I appreciate his goodwill to teach for free. He is giving values to the community. That's good enough.

So to conclude, the second time at the boot camp was better. Now I have sore in my legs, I have sore in my bump, but I feel good in general. Tomorrow and Thursday I will be joining the yoga class and the presentation class, so I won't be able to witness what it's like to be more brutal, (as Hoa told me Thursday session would be the most intense). I'll keep you posted if I go there next week.

Techniques corner: How To Avoid Throwing Up When Exercising

• Drink at least 2 cups of water (400ml) 1 - 2 hours before working out.
• Drink 2 more cups before you start exercising.
• During your work out, drink 1/2 cup (100ml) for every minute you exercise. (I didn't drink water during yesterday workout and I felt really drained after that. My body craved for more and more water although I drank a lot when going home. It's said that if you don't drink enough water during workout, your cells will start to die).
• Never gulp water during exercise, take small sips.
• Have a light meal 2 hours before exercising (this would be good for people who have low blood sugar like me)
• Drink a power drink like Gatorade during your workout.
• Do not drink cold drinks or carbonated drinks before, during and after your workout.
• Do not close your eyes when exercising (it's to prevent motion sickness)
• Breathe slowly and consistently during the workout (breathe to your belly).

Ahhhh, you're good to go.

Notes on public speaking

Until now I already had a few talks in public. Combining with the books I read and the theory in Vu's class, I would like to note down here some ways that work for me on how to calm myself and prepare for a good speech/presentation.

On mental preparation:

I strongly believe in God so the mantras give me more strength and energy

• Mantra: I can do all things through God that strengthenth me.
• Mantra: God is with me, God is helping me, God is guiding me through.
• Mantra: I'm doing this in Love and Service for God. Some mantras work some times but not the other times. Choose what works best for a particular time.

On public speaking:

• You're here because you have something to offer, give it all to them and let the result decided by God.
•  Understand that you are imperfect, you may make mistakes, but be brave, throw your heart out there and be seen, be transparent.
• Your English may not be perfect, your accent may not be native. But leave your fear and speak your heart out.
• You have many stories to tell and your stories are worth sharing.
• You're a human and you're vulnerable, don't be scared to reveal it. Share your success, but remember to share your struggle, share your pain, share your emotion and feeling too.
• You are here to inspire people and make them step out of their comfort zone, so be the role model.
• The audience want you to succeed. They want to have fun and they want to love you. So why not showing them who you are and what they want to see.
• You're going to be in the UN General Assembly one day to present your ideas to save the world. This event is nothing compared to that.
• Always be your self, but be your best self.

On practice:

• Brainstorming the speech using Vu's technique: understanding the audience, focusing on the target, preparing the speech on a paper and write down all the ideas.
• Practice the talk in front of the mirror to see my face expression.
• Practice in front of a close person to get feedback.

At the event:

• Look at the audience deeply to increase the connection.
• Using the PREP to explain the ideas or answer to the question.
• Take a long pause before giving speech, using that time to recite mentally the introduction of the speech.
• Begin and end the talk impressively.
• Focusing on the Energy, the Speed, the Volume and the Pause in your Voice.
• Make people laugh, people cannot hate the person who makes them laugh. (Need to improve my humor in the long term and collect more comic materials).

Practice makes perfect. It's not rocket science.

My talk at the Paradox's workshop

Vu has suggested that I write all my experience regarding public speaking, and my study progress and interaction with other students in the preparation class, and my application of the theory into the reality, so then I would have a little book of "How did Rosie learn to speak" to give away to readers. It was a very cool idea. So now I'm sitting here to note down my thoughts with the latest event: Paradox's workshop on traveling.

Tai, the guy who organised the event this time was an inexperienced university student. So I worked with him closely and gave him the info. & pictures for the power point and revised the agenda and added the contents plus questions for speakers and asked him the attendant lists. Just to make sure that the workshop would go well. I also invited bro Khoa to join the event as I thought his experience would benefit the audience.

And I came then early. I talked with Tai, I thought with Phuc, Paradox's chairman. Then I talked with the MC, and I had a look at the MC Script. Then I was astonished to see that the directing questions I gave Tai so that the MC could lead speakers into the topics were not there. Then I called Tai, and he explained that if the MC gave the questions it would be like a talk show more than a workshop. But I have attended other workshop before and the MC also needed to ask opened questions to navigate the talks to the planned topics. If the speakers just talked it through for 1,5 hours without the MC directing then it would be graceless and the audience would get lost.

So Phuc told me that he was searching again for the questions. And I gave him the questions I had downloaded before into my iPad. Then he told that he would lead the first part of the workshop with these questions as the MC was new and she might not be able to handle the talks well.

Then I was assured and went back to prepare my speech. And bro Khoa came, I had a little chat with him and with the power point operator to warm up at bit. Then music was on and people started to show up. And I swung my head and I took a nice breath. I felt comfortable with the atmosphere around and the music and the people. OMG, I looked at myself had a step back from the inside. When did Rosie start to like the event environment and meeting new people? Wasn't she the shy and isolating girl who wanted to spend most of the time indoor? I smiled at myself and whispered: Things changed so fast.

Then the workshop started with the first part of travel stories. And it was nice. I had no trembling moments. I was able to say what I needed to say, made them laugh and, say, inspired them a bit. I looked at the audience to the eyes with confidence and I really liked it. Seeing the young and lively faces, sharing my stories, giving the useful information. I felt I was doing all of this in my love for God, and I was there to serve these people. So I did the best I could.

Phuc did a great job to direct the show, cheering people up and leading the first part of the workshop really well. Bro Khoa also did not lose a beat in the talk.

The second part of travel planning was not as I expected, as I had to stand up and gave the presentation based on the slides. Although I felt that I could make the presentation more lively and made the audience laugh more, I also felt good and finished it well. Unlike the presentation at TAT's event, this time I felt the connection with the presentation, and only with looking at the pictures on the slides, I was able to remember all the details and talked through them nicely.

And bro Khoa didn't make me disappointed this time. Unlike the Jailbreak event, here he had more space to act. I realized that he also did a good preparation and he showed us all the person I used to know, humorous, generous, adorable and a naturally good man. Some girls wowed when he had the quiz games and gave away three lovely multipurpose scarfs. He totally won the audience. I felt good for him. I felt good about myself too, for inviting him.

With the discussion of the audience and the trial planning for their future trips, the workshop was a bit out of time and it ended pretty late, at 1PM. They even gave me 500,000 VND as a gift for speaker. But I gave it back to the club's fund. I only took the money from selling my 10 books. I was reluctant when Phuc asked me to bring the books to the event, as I just wanted to share and not make it a place to sell book. But I thought it through and said why not. Then it turned out to be good. People bought all and asked me to sign on their books. It was the first event that I brought my books with me to advertise.

Notes for the future events:

• Ask the event organizers to take the video clip of the talk. I asked this time but they seemed not to do it.
• Ask for all the necessary information: The attendant list, the agenda, the slides, especially the MC script.

OK that's it for now.

Thanks to Tai for inviting me to the event. Thanks Phuc to deal with the unexpected problem nicely. And so much thanks to em Vu.

I'm feeling so much grateful and happy.

The boot camp with….. what’s his name? Agrrr, I don’t give a damn

I don't know since when I stopped being scared of trying new things. Perhaps since I knew Vu, hahaha. I now feel eager to step out of my comfort zone. I'm not hesitate to do different and crazy things. I now have much more action capacity than before.

So that's why I when yes when Hoa told me about the boot camp he was doing with a Portuguese guy. A personal trainer, who had trained the US army before. Wow. It's exciting. Oh yessss.

I had done PT (personal training) with Natalie, my yoga teacher before.

The first time I did it, I vomited right after the sprint. The other times I still felt bad. But gradually I got better and I started to like it.

Thanks to the training I knew how weak a typical Vietnamese person was. Not only me but another healthy looking boy also nearly fainted away just after a few minutes sprint. We Vietnamese were just not familiar with that kind of training. Our body condition was generally not ready for that.

But my body condition was better than a normal girl and I wanted to push myself to a higher level. And Natalie's PT was terminated 6 months ago because she basically was not interested in that intense workout anymore. So I was excited to join the Portuguese's boot camp.

And today was my first time with him.

And guess what? It was fantastic.

There were only 4 people in the class. A good looking girl who had been doing boot camp for a long time, Hoa, me and another girl, who was also Hoa's friend and first time in the boot camp.

After the warm up running, the new girl already breathed like crazy and quit the training. The three of us left then did the continuous workout sequence including burpees, push ups, mountain climbers, bicycle crunches, 10 times each for 5 rounds.

Then it started to rain and the trainer was like: "Oh rain. I love it I love it. No one left in this stadium, only us alone. Great. Keep doing it". I knew it. How would you expect that kind of guy to stop training when it was raining.

Then it was raining cats and dogs and we continued the workout anyway. I gave my best effort to finish the 4th round.

And I knew it wouldn't finish there. And there came the part I hated the most.

Sprint again. When I felt like no energy left.

But there was no turning back.

I was paired up with the trainer to sprint for 10 rounds in the competition with the other couple. I kept my pace but then lost the last round so the other team won. I couldn't care less. My temples hurt and I just sat down and breathed like hell. But I stood up at once as I felt like going to throw up. I applied the yoga complete breathing technique and I could hold the puke for sometime.

Hoa asked: "How are you feeling? Are you ok? This is only a warm up". The trainer told: "You're good. You won the old girl in the first sprint. She was impressed. I was impressed." I just shook my head. I barely breathed, let alone talking.

He continued to talked anyway: "I know you feel bad, but this is an easy day" (Yeah of course I knew it was easy, I just hadn't done it for a long time and I was not ready for it). "If you come tomorrow, you will feel worse. But I want the type of person like you in my boot camp. I hope to see you tomorrow". (No thanks). He turned to the new girl and said: "I hope to see you tomorrow too". I bet she wouldn't come back.

Then people left. I went into the toilet and decided to throw up. But my last meal was 7 hours ago and there was nothing left in my stomach to throw up.

I lied when I said it was fantastic. It was terrible instead.

My poor heart. It was fatigued and still didn't get back well.

I dragged myself to the parking lot, soaking wet and extremely cold. Then I dragged myself home. I drove there at 40km/hour and I drove back at 20km/hour. I went there with excitement and I went back with exhaustion.

But it was really good. Really. I bet anyone persistent enough to follow the program will witness his endurance doubled tripled whatever.

If you want to give it a try, bring a plastic bag. What for, you may ask. To have something to puke into. I'm not sure how you feel after the session, but I assure that you will puke. So bring your sickness bag. Yeah, you're welcome.

For me, I don't think I will ever see him again.

Badass.

Ups and downs

It wouldn't be honest if I just note down the times I do well and not the times I fail, (or lets say: the times I need to improve, according to positive thinking :))) ). So here it is, my up and down experience.

There were 2 talk shows on the same day last Saturday. Since I had a trip to Con Dao right before the events, I was a bit worried that I missed out something important and couldn't prepare well for the talks.

But I read The power of positive thinking by Dr Norman Vincent Peale (known as the father of positive thinking), and there were the quotes in the Bible that I really like: "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" and "Christ is with me, Christ is helping, Christ is guiding me through". I did as the author suggested, whispering the sentence (replacing Christ by God) and I did feel stronger and more confident. So I kept repeating the words, felt the strength in my heart, and thought about positive things.

And to make sure that I would do well, I stayed much time indoor to prepare for the speeches. I answered the questions in the Jailbreak event. I wrote down the map for the travel event of Thailand Authority of Tourism (TAT) as The Guide Happiness Vu had taught, understanding your audience, beginning, ending, content.... Then I imagined in my head that the two events would go smoothly and everybody would be pleased with my performance.

Then came the events' day.

I landed at the airport at 8.30 and went to the first event at Jailbreak exactly on time. Then the introduced our talks. That was quite an experienced MC, a student from UEH.

I started off well and was confident to deliver my thoughts throughout the event. Another speaker, anh Quy, also talked really well. He was always impressive in front of the public, his skill was so good.

But I was surprised with bro Khoa in that event. He looked down a lot and didn't keep eye contact with the audience or other speakers. He was not funny, talkative and lovely as he normally acted in previous event. I didn't know what happen to him. Anyway, the event ended, some people went to talk with me, including some journalists and I felt quite satisfied. Anh Quy and his friend also commented that I spoke like a poet, including many quotes and stories and useful information.

And we went to the second event. Anh Quy had the rehearsal on the stage and so did I. People started to show up and I saw my friend Vu. 

Then there was the showtime. Anh Quy's presentation was quite long,  but he did well with his usual energetic gesture and his humor. I felt a bit nervous, but kept repeating the words: "God is with me, God is helping me, God is guiding me through". 

Then came my talk. And I didn't know why but I lost my spirit. I didn't forget my speech, but my words became to rush and I felt my voice trembled. I wanted to take a deep breath and calmed myself down but I couldn't. I started sweating. I heard people talking loudly. I thought they were all laughing at me. I laughed along just to hide my embarrassment. "This is bad", I thought. "Where are you God?" I asked.

That was a catastrophe, I told to myself. I was very good at the talk show - asking and answering type - in the morning, but I felt not very comfortable with the presentation and all the slides. I didn't feel the connection with the slides at all.

But I was glad it ended.

It was stressful and rushing working on that event. And people called me out for meetings suddenly. One time I had to cancel my cooking with the yoga teacher to attend the meeting and I felt a bit bad about that. I usually have my work scheduled way ahead and I want my appointments to be planned beforehand.

Anyway, I was grateful to anh Quy and TAT for inviting me to his event, although I didn't do very well. I was grateful to know more techniques of presentation from my class, although I didn't apply well. I was grateful that things could have been worse.

What happened, happened. There was nothing I could do about it. I went to the thank you dinner with TAT with a bit of shame still. But I tried to show my thankfulness to the head of TAT (I really liked her, I liked Thai people), and talked friendly with people to create good atmosphere.

Then I went home and slept with peace.

August 2nd 2015

I want to note down this day. A day to remember. A day to remark.

Because it was the first day in my life that I felt so happy to stand in front of people.

I attended a seminar as a guest speaker. A small seminar, the audience were mainly high school and university students. I was there and shared my journey, my stories, my thoughts with young people. No panic, no shaking, no scare. I was able to deliver all the ideas that I had prepared, made people laugh sometimes, and said what I needed to say most of the time.

Two other speakers were also very talented. There was a girl who was famous and very experienced in public speaking, being an MC and all. I was quite nervous in the morning of that day when seeing her vlog, as I thought: "Wow, she is really a showbiz girl" and I was not sure if I would feel inferior and draw myself back in front of such people as I usually did. But it was ok. Her talk was impressive, with some techniques to draw intention and some nice jokes. But I felt proud of myself that I answered the questions better and focused right at the points that the audience wanted. And when I replied to the questions, I looked down and I saw the face of the people, with thumb up signs and happy faces, I just knew that I did a good job.

It's not because that the other speakers were not good. They were very talented and their lives were full of successes. But because of that they didn't quite understand the feeling of having a boring life, of feeling fed up with the self and wanted to change. But I did. I led a boring life in my youth. I had been a quiet and normal girl, wanted to change my life but didn't know how. I was through the struggles that the audience had. I understood how they felt, what they wanted. I knew how to change, to improve, to become better and have a fuller life.

When the seminar was over, people were around me, asking more questions. I was in the middle of the crowd, seeing young faces, listening to their stories, feeling their struggles, their lost, their dreams and their thoughts. It was a good feeling. They reminded me of my youth.

And I was there, sharing my story, sharing my independent learning process, sharing my experience. The little girls nodded and their faces glowed as I spoke my heart out to them. The person who organised the seminar told me that audience was impressed with my talk. And when I went home I saw new Fb friend requests and I saw a post of a boy quoting my words, saying: best quote of the seminar. I knew my words could make changes.

It may not be a big thing for other people. But it's a big thing for me.

Because public speaking has never been my strength.

When I was in primary and secondary school, I was strong and confident, my mom was a teacher and she taught me that attitude. I went to story telling competition, I sang in the conference, and I was not nervous to stand in front of people. But in high school time, my teacher discouraged us to raise our hands in the class, maybe not his will but by his attitude. Whenever we stood up to reply to his questions, he made jokes on us and made us feel bad. I felt humiliated sometimes by his attitude. So I didn't grow the habit of standing up in front of people and speaking up my ideas.

Going to a university with full of talented and aggressive people, I then drew back to my shell and became an introvert, quiet and shy girl. During the years working in corporate world I also hardly had chance to give a public speech.

But now being an author, a health coach and a life coach wannabe, public speaking is a necessary skill for me. I want to share my thoughts, share my dreams, share my ideas to young people and inspire them to live up to their passions and aptitudes.

I have attended a presentation class from my dear young friend Vu. I was tired with the homework and felt so much pressure. But I knew I had to make it. I have big dreams and I need good tools.

Perhaps it's because of the good teacher. Perhaps because I had prepared so well for the seminar. Perhaps I was passionate with the topic. Perhaps because of all these reasons. But I had the first good seminar ever. And this is only the beginning. This is the turning point. I want to note it down. So much joy and love.

I'm so much grateful.

To teacher Vu for helping me with my presentation skill.

To em Chau for inviting me to her seminar.

To the audience that listened to me and sent me their lovely messages to share their feelings.

To life that has been so good to me, that I have the chance to live in this world as a human.

And to God that gave me my aptitude. I feel so lucky to find out my talent, to know my passion, to work and to live with it. 

So many people out there don't know what their passion is.

A day in my life

It's just a normal day in my life. And I'm sitting in a cafe, writing the article that I promised to write.

And Passenger's songs whispering to my ears, and green flowering vines outside of the cafe window.

And I tell myself, what a beautiful day. And I feel the impulse to note down.

The freedom that I have fought for. The moment that I have been longing for. The time of my life.

To get out of the office room, to do what I love, to spend time with the people I like, to step out of my comfort zone, to try new things, to bring more values, and feeling alive.

Not quite sure what the future will hold. But quite a few things have been coming to me. Like meeting new people, receiving new co-operation offers, having more connections.

I'm going to spend the next 6 months to work from home.
In order to do that, I need to arrange scientifically to make the best use of my time, which will be noted in my notebook. And I need to consistently stick to it.

A new journey ahead.

Keep your head up, your smile bright, your heart open. And work. 

Value is what matters the most

Hey it's me again.

It's been a while and there have been a few things happening a long the way.

I resigned finally. After so much struggle.

My direct boss tried to keep me as long as possible, 45 working days, equal to more than 2 months. I was quite angry at that as normally it's only 45 days, means 5 weeks. It's a waste of company's money and employee's time, as you know once the person doesn't want to stay, trying to keep him/her only makes things worse.

Anyway I just let it go and do what I can to make the transition as smooth as possible while still enjoy myself.

I don't feel afraid of the future or anything.

Although I know that things will change a bit or maybe I will get frustrated about what to do next and I may stumble on the way. But at the point of time I just regret only one thing: I should have left the f*cking company earlier.

Tony Hsieh walked out of Oracle just 5 months after joining as a newly graduated student. Leaving a high paid job and building his own company.

After reading his book I just realized that I prolonged my resignation for so long, much longer than I should. I've been through many days walking to the company and then walking back home like a zombie.

But I just talked to myself to try through one and one single day, thinking to overcome the challenges and hardship and not quitting so easily. And I didn't really do anything effective there. I was just simply wasting my time to get some little money to survive.

Sometimes persistence kicks back.

So to correct my words, the company is not f*cking bad, it's only f*cking bad for me.

Frankly speaking, that was once a very good company and my position was once my dream job. People felt like a family and I felt like home being there. Every weekends we would gather together and go picnic in somewhere far away from the city. Man I miss that time.

Things have changed. New people came. Departments got conflict. A lot of dispute and back talk and tiring meetings. There is no fun left. Sometimes I look back and wonder what actually happened. What actually went wrong.

Until I read Tony Hsieh's book again. It's the culture. No one there to keep the culture up. As the business gets bigger people tend to forget the core things. They tend to focus more on profit, forget to have fun and build the culture.

And I was wrong too.

There I've been working so hard to be effective. My SCM KPI was the highest among the whole region. But I forgot to communicate with people. And in the end people don't remember what I did, they only remember how I make them feel. In the end my boss doesn't remember how much I devoted my time and effort to make things well. She only remembers that I didn't talk to her much and what I didn't do and my mistakes, etc. That's a hard lesson to learn.

Applying it to my future.

Now I'm building my own business. It's not a big one, but it's growing with faithful customers.
Sometimes I got lost, got envious with others. Sometimes I got lazy, don't want to grow it.

But I have built it well up to this point. Differently, focusing on values and niche market and interaction. Sharing useful information and values and having fun together.

So I have to focus on how people feel. By applying yoga philosophy here: respecting all people and treating them all the same, regardless of age, appearance, social status or religion belief...

I have to be more friendly and accessible. Being easy to talk to and let people feel welcomed being with me.

I have to listen more, seeing the positive things in people, building up friendships and real connection.

I have to focus on the values I can bring to them. Not doing the tricky things like scandal or something to get attention.

I have to lower my ego and serve more people.

I have to make things attractive, up to the current trend so the values I bring can spread more to potential customers. Without attractive forms, values cannot go very far.

Value is what matters the most. And how we convey the messages are as much important as value.

Love yourself

(For a friend who is having a broken heart)

Hey dear

Remember the time when you were up all night long, tears in your eyes, pain in your heart, thinking about the one who made you swept. Remember when everything you thought of waking up in the morning is the one. Remember the time when you almost couldn't have anything tasty in your mouth 'coz every dish reminded you of that one, and you couldn't feel the taste of the dish and you just wanted to throw up. Everything around you reminded you of the one, the corner when you had walked together hands in hands, the street when he told you to shout out loud, the restaurant you both loved, the placed the one gave you that sweet kiss, and many many things else, and your head just always spin around. And you just couldn't stop crying.

My dear.

Seeing you like this just make me so bad, and I can't stop hugging you. I've been there, and I understand your pain. And whenever you need, just let me know, I'll be with you. But no, I won't let you have more than 7 notes to moan about the one, we won't be. I will just let you have some time to let your heart cries out. And then no more. I will tell you about the movie about life that I love, about the little silly birds quarreling in my yard every morning. And you're gonna tell me about your little favorite thing, "Raindrop on roses and whiskers on kittens. Or bright copper kettles and warm woollen mittens. Brown paper packages tied up with strings". And here you go, off you go, feeling better now?

My lovely dear.

Please, please, please stop thinking about the one. And start loving yourself. While you're crying your heart out and sleepless and in anorexia, what is he or she doing? Sleeping in peace, enjoying life, or laughing off leaving a fool like you. Yeah it's you, everyone is a fool in love. But don't be a fool for so long. Love yourself as you are the only person on earth who is fully responsible of your own life. If you don't love yourself, then who else will do it? Give your heart a break, and give yourself sometimes to be friend with yourself.

I've been there, my dear. And I'm still alive, doing fine. You will be fine too my dear. As long as you start loving yourself, think about your need, your feeling, your future with or without the one. What the hell, you'll be doing alright.

Love.

Got lost and got back again

Hey diary

How are you? Good? Nice to hear so. Me? Fine fine, yeah, just fine.

Yeah diary, I got lost. But not got lost in the PR things and felt myself more important than real, or feeling like a super star and having big ego. No, I got lost on the way up.

The thing is there are so many books releasing at the same time with mine. And these books were PR and sold really really well.

And that's where I got lost. In envy.

I was worried that my book wouldn't be known by many people. That it would lose its game in competing with others. That I wouldn't have a good book launch event. And many other things.

But when you get lost, that's when you should get back to the root.

And the root is my friends.

The younger friend who helped me for the book launch: "No sister, book launch should be fun. You're writing because it's fun. You're doing this for fun. So relax and be happy. All iz well"

My best friend: "Well, at the first time you have defined yourself different from other writers. You have chose quality not quantity. You have been different on this road. That's how you made your book. Differently, uniquely, and approaching a niche market but not mass market. Like Le Cat Trong Ly. She is not the best known artist, and her music is different, and a bit weird. But you see, how she gained her fans and her fame. No need to be the most famous one. You just need to be yourself. Stick to what you chose".

My friend in Ha Noi: "I'm no longer interested in travel books and travel writing. But your book is different. I think it's best used for new independent travelers, it brings new values and knowledge. Many books got hot at the first time, but won't stay for long, because they don't have real values. But I believe your book was written to last. It takes time. So be patient".

So I got back, again. Being myself, and again believe in my books. Those haters will hate, just let it touches those who will love it.

I write this to remind myself about the root. I'm a slow but strong person and I reach this far anyway. So does my book. Let it be slow and firm. Let it go at its own pace.

Rosie, never forget your book's values. Never forget the reasons why you wrote it. Never forget, you wrote it with love, so be filled with love. Always.

A note to self

Hey diary

How are you?

I know I know, I've been silent for a long time. And there is no excuse for that. People say that they are busy, but one can never be busy for what he wants to do.

So I informed my book launch yesterday on my Facebook, and got a bit satisfying result. I also started my fanpage yesterday. It was a good day :).


In the next few weeks, there will be PR and marketing and advertising for my book launch. And there will be more things to release and I'm ready for the next step. Yet I don't want to get lost into these frivolous things. Before going further, I feel the need to note down something.

- Remember to keep my words straight, honest and sincere. I become who I am now as people came and supported me, so remember to treat them like friends and be grateful. I owed them that.
- Remember who I am, what my values are, and what I can give to those in need. Remember to work hard, to be humber, to serve for a higher cause.
- Remember to enjoy the moment and cherish life. Let things come and go, let only peace remains.

So, keep things simple:
- Wake up early and continue to work hard. There is no reason to stop working once I'm done with the first book writing.
-  Keep reading books for 20 pages a day.
- Keep writing 1000 words per day. See how other people start to expect from me more, so think how I can serve them more.
- Jogging is good for my health. Elizabeth Gilbert, Stephen Kings, Murakami Haruki and many more I don't know had proved how jogging and running worked for their minds and body. I need to follow the path.
- Pray and meditate. And thank god every day.


Yesterday I met a very interesting guy, a travel blogger. What he told was amazing. He had pretty awesome ideas about blogging and making a living with that. And I felt it's pretty cool if he can do that, making a network between Vietnamese travel bloggers, supporting each other, making us live comfortably from blogging, and inspiring more people to travel. So why not.

But working on ideas is always a big part. I feel people around me all are struggling to do the same thing, quit their jobs, work for themselves, living well. But very few managed to do that.

Why, the question struck me. Not working hard enough, I can say. It's non sense to say: I'm busy so I can't do that. It's a big lie. There is always time for doing anything we want.

I have worked persistently and diligently for the last six months to finish my book. And I had a full time job during that whole time. If I continue like this, I can achieve any goal I want. Otherwise, being sluggish and lazy will bring me back to the starting position.

So, next challenge coming up. Work for myself. Serve more people. Experience a bigger life.

I'm filled with love.

Time for reflecting

I've been chatting with a new Facebook friend lately. As you know I don't normally talk to strangers. But he seemed to be kind and polite, so I kept chatting. And the more I talked with him, the more surprised I was. He was super good at reasoning and debating. He paid good attention to every word and reason, and he seemed to have a broad social knowledge.

The guy was working in Australia. Which made me feel interesting, as I was curious about what Vietnamese expat life was like and how they felt about Vietnam and Vietnamese people back in this country, and about all what was happening here. And he was free to talk. He shared with me some articles on professors and researchers on the same topic that I recently mentioned, with the same as my view. And he went meticulously on how he disagreed on these articles, what wrong methods of reasoning the authors used, and what fallacy they were.

That guy didn't mention a word about my writing. But he made me startle. He told me some people had good knowledge and went deep to search on what they were interested in. But when they found out the truth, they didn't want to admit that they were wrong but instead using some fractions of the truth to prove that they were still correct, just because of their egos. He concluded that it was extremely dangerous for young people, who didn't know about the truth and kept following these guys.

I told him I was thinking if I made that mistake anytime, then he replied: "maybe yes, but your readers are mostly young people who always say wow and share what you write instead of thinking and judging". That's when I thought: "Shit, should I keep writing when there are people like him reading what I post". I knew I had a lot of mistakes in writing, and I was not strong in debating and reasoning. That was not what we were taught here in Vietnam. As I kept researching and studying myself, there were a lot of things I needed to learn along the way. But if someone kept criticizing every word I wrote, I was not sure I wanted to hear it, or to keep writing.

But now I'm clear. I know I'm not what he talked about. I like to dig deeper to the subjects I'm into, and I have my own stance. When I find what's different from what I believe, and if I think that new thing is right, I won't hesitate to admit the truth. What may happen is I find something different, and I don't think it's correct because I'm a headstrong person, so I won't accept it. But other people may think that that thing is right and they judge me wrong. But what the hell, how can you be sure about what is the truth and what is not. And I'm not the type of person who cheats myself and my reader, who is too stubborn to correct my mistake and just keep doing what is wrong because of my ego.

So that's it. I know I'm weak at some points, and there are many things to improve, especially about arguments and fallacy. And there are many people better than me at these areas, and other areas, who will point out my weakness. That's what happens to the road of moving upward of any individual. But it's not the reason to give up. As long as I believe my writing still helps, even if just to a small number of readers, I will keep on doing that. I will do my best to make sure what I write is correct, and verify my information. But after releasing, I leave it up to my readers to judge.

Upward.  

Langkawi and my sense of photography

Hey diary

How are you?

I've been doing good, and I'm finishing the book to meet the publishing deadline. Many things to go, but I keep going.

I've been to Langkawi lately. It's a lovely and relaxing place, my friend and I rented a car to roam around the island. Car renting cost is the same as motorbike renting, and petro cost is dirty cheap. The trip was nice. But when you've been traveling around and you've seen more beautiful places, there are fewer things that make you wow. Langkawi is nice, but if having another chance I would choose Philippines or Bali instead. These places are awesome. It's hard to beat Philippines islands, No. 1 in Asia in my opinion. And Bali, oh nothing's like Bali. 

What is interesting in the Langkawi trip and I want to make a note here is my photography sense suddenly gets better. Now I can know better which is a good photo and which is not. 

Look at this photo

Not bad right. But what I did wrong is I put the skyline at the middle of the picture, it's like to cut the picture in two halves. One of the basic rules in photography, especially in travel photo, is the rule of 1/3 or 2/3, which means don't put the object of the photo right in the middle of the picture, but on 1/3 or 2/3 of it. The Polar Route blogger has a better explanation here. 

And this:

I thought it was a nice picture as I knelt down to choose a good angle (which was also mentioned in Polar Route post) and shot it right. But I forgot to keep the line straight. We always need to find a line to base on, in my above photo, the line is the road. 

And this

It's a nice scene, and a nice picture too, although my hair looks crazy. But my friend would have made it better if he'd moved the object (which is me) closer to the shore so my head wouldn't cut the skyline, and moving the camera a bit to the shore so I were at the 1/3 of the pic. If he sat down to make the sea 2/3 of the picture and the sky 1/3, that would be perfect. Sorry bro, you're not as pro as you thought.

I feel a bit sad that I haven't known about such thing until now. And I missed many great chances for great photos on my way, as I travel quite a lot. Other traveler buddies around me always show the beautiful pictures that make me so jealous. 

But never mind, more travel to go. And I'm in the game. Watch out babe.