Today is the birthday of the person who is very important with me. That is my grandmother.

I still remember this day of last year we was very happy in?your birthday party….All members of big family…together…jolly, happy, full of laugh sounds…..that day had a big cake for u, a warm meal and happy… That day my sister and I gave u a small gift, a moss-green headscarf. I was so happy coz that day u also worn a green jacket….very nice….

You did too manything for me and my family. Since i was born u always take care and care for me and beside me . When i was ill, u was the person worry for me much. In all of members, i am the weakest person so u always worried and find all way to cure me…u found many remedies for me, taught me many things in life.

I still remember the days i lived with u during few years when i learnt in primary school, that days i lived in ur house, not with parents. I still remember the time went with u to Pagoda daily or sometimes…When i grow up a little my parenst brought me back home to live with them. And since that day i lived with my parents , not with u, not in ur house. My house is very very far from ur house, but weekly or monthly on Sunday my family still went to visit u, And i really felt happy when was with u.

I still remember when i went to work, too far from house so u let me live in ur house. Once more time i lived with u, my dear and respect Grandma. U took care for me , feed me. I still remember u sit there and waitted for me come home everyday from office and University…

… Too much memories i cant and will never forget. You are really is very important in my family.

Now, u gone from this world but forever u live in my mind and my heart. Grandma,I miss u very much. I love you very very very much Grandma. Are u fine there in Heaven? Do u live comfortable ? Are u happy? and.. pls dont forget me , your granddaughter.

( by the way i want to?show with all of u an other blog of mine in rediffiland i wrote last year too, pls click to this link : http://blogs.rediff.com/beethoven2000)

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round

Or listened to the rain slapping on the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight

Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down

Don’t dance so fast

Time is short

The music won’t last

Do you run through each day on the fly

When you ask “How are you?” do you hear the reply?

When the day is done, do you lie in your bed

With the next hundred chores running through your head?

You’d better slow down

Don’t dance so fast

Time is short

The music won’t last

Ever told your child,

We’ll do it tomorrow

And in your haste, not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch,

Let a good friendship die

‘Cause you never had time to call and say “Hi”?

You’d better slow down

Don’t dance so fast

Time is short

The music won’t last

When you run so fast to get somewhere

You miss half the fun of getting there.

When you worry and hurry through your day,

It is like an unopened gift….

Thrown away…

Life is not a race.

Do take it slower

Hear the music

Before the song is over.

“If u need more love from someone… do love that someone more first…”
“Love don’t need to be pretentious. Express it!!”

Tree
The reason people call me “Tree” is because I’m good at painting trees. Overtime I started to use a tree on the right hand corner as a trademark for all my watercolors painting.

I had dated 5 gals when I was in Pre-U. There’s one gal who I love a lot but never dare to go after. She doesn’t have a pretty face, doesn’t have a good figure, and doesn’t have outstanding charm. She is just a very ordinary gal. I like her. I really like her. I like her innocence, like her frankness. I like her cuteness, I like her intelligence and her fragility.
Reason for not going after her is because I felt somebody so ordinary like her is not a good match for me. I’m also afraid that after we are together all the good feelings will vanish. I’m also afraid other’s gossips will hurt her. I felt that if she’s my gal, she will be mine ultimately & I don’t have to give up everything just for her. The last reason, made her accompanying me for 3 years. She watched me chase after gals, and I have made her heart cries for 3 years. She wants to be a good actress and I’m a very demanding director.
When I kissed my 2nd girlfriend, she bumped into us. She was embarrassed but smiled & say, “Go on!” before running off. The next day, her eyes were swollen like a walnut. I purposely didn’t want to think about what causes her to cry but laugh at her the whole day. When everybody went back home, she was alone crying in the classroom.

She didn’t know that I returned from soccer training to get something. I watched her cry for an hour or so.
My 4th girlfriend didn’t like her. There was once when both of them quarreled. I know that based on her character she’s not the type that will start off the quarrel. But I still sided with my girlfriend. I shouted at her and her eyes were filled with shocking sad tears. I didn’t care about her feelings and walked off with my girlfriend.

The next day, she still laughed & joked with me like nothing has ever happened. I know that she’s very hurt but she didn’t know that my heartache is as bad as hers. I was hurt too.
When I broke up with my 5th girlfriend, I asked her out. After going out for a day, I told her that I have something to tell her. She told me that coincidentally, she has something to tell me too. I told her about my break up and she told me about her getting together. I know who’s the guy. He has been going after her for quite a while. A very cute guy, full of energy, is lively and interesting. His pursuit for her has been the talk of the school. I can’t show her my heartache but could only smile & congratulate her.
When I reached home, the heartache is so strong that I can’t stand it. It’s like a heavy weighted stone on my chest. I couldn’t breath.

Wanted to shout but can’t. Tears rolled down & I broke down & cry. How many times have I seen her cry for the man that doesn’t acknowledge her presence too? During graduation, I read a sms in my cp. It was send 10 days ago when I broke down and cry. I haven’t read it since then.It says,
“Leaf departure is because of Wind pursuit.
Or because'
Tree didn’t ask her to stay”

Leaf

During Pre-U days, I like to collect leaves. Why? Because I felt that for a leaf to leave the tree she has been relying on for so long it takes a lot of courage.
During the 3 years of Pre-U I was on very close terms with a guy. Not 'B-G Relationship' kind but as buddy kind. But when he had his 1st girlfriend, I learnt a feeling I never should have learnt - Jealousy. The sourness in the heart can’t be described by using a lemon. It’s like 100 rotten sour lemon. Sourness to the extreme limit. They were only together for 2 months. When they broke up, I hide my strong sense of happiness. But after a month, he got together with another gal. I like him & I know he like me. But why won’t he pursue me? Since he loves me why he doesn’t want to make the first move?
Whenever he had a new girlfriend, my heart would hurt. Time after time, my heart was hurt. I begin to suspect that this is a one sided love. If he doesn't like me, why does he treat me so well? It’s beyond what you will normally do for a friend. Liking a person is very heart wrenching. I can know his likes, his habits. But his feelings towards me I can never figure out.

You can’t expect me a gal to ask him right? Despite that, I still want to be by his side. Care for him, accompany him, and love him. Hoping that one fine day, he will come & love me. It’s like waiting for his phone call every night, wanting him to send me sms. I know that no matter how busy he is, he will make time for me. Because of this, I waited for him.
The 3 years were the hardest to go through & I really want to give up. Sometimes, I wonder should I continue waiting. The pain and hurt, the dilemma accompanied me for 3 years. Till the end of my 3rd year, a 2nd year junior begins to go after me. Everyday he pursuit me relentlessly. From outright rejection to a point in time when I felt that I’m willing to let him have a small footing in my heart.
He’s like a warm & gentle wind, trying to blow a leaf away from the tree. In the end, I realized that I didn’t want to give this wind a small footing in my heart. I know this wind will bring this badly battered leave far away & better land. Finally I left tree, but the tree only smile & didn’t ask me to stay.

“Leaf departure is because of Wind pursuit.
Or because'
Tree didn’t ask her to stay”

Wind

Because I like a gal called leaf. Because she’s so dependent on tree so I have to be a gust wind. A wind that will blow her away.
When I first met her, it was 1 month after I transfer to the new school. I saw a petite person looking at my seniors & me playing soccer. During ECA time, she will always be sitting there. Be it alone or with her friends looking at him.
When he talks with gals there’s jealousy in her eyes. When he looked at her, there’s a smile in her eyes. Looking at her became my habit. Just like she likes to look at him. One day, she didn’t appear. I felt something amissed. I can’t explain the feeling except it’s a kind of uneasiness. The senior was also not there as well. I went to their classroom, hid outside and saw my senior scolding her. Tears were in her eyes while he left. The next day, I saw her at her usual place, looking at him. I walked over and smiled at her. Took out a note & gave to her. She was surprised. She looked at me, smiled & accepts the note. The next day, she appeared & passes me a note and left.

“Leaf’s heart is too heavy and wind couldn’t blow her away. It’s not that leaf heart is too heavy. It because leaf never want to leave tree”

I replied her note with this statement and slowly she started to talk to me & accept my presents & phone calls. I know that the person she loves is not me. But I have this perseverance that one day I will make her like me. Within 4 months, I have declared my love for her no less than 20 times. Every time, she will divert away from the topic. But I never give up. If I decide I want her to be mine, I will definitely use all means to win her over.
I can’t remember how many times I have declared my love to her. Although I know she will try to divert but I still bear a small ray of hope. Hoping that she will agree to me my girlfriend. I didn’t hear any reply from her over the phone. I asked,
“What are you doing? How come you didn’t want to reply?”
She said, “I’m nodding my head”.
“Ah?”
I couldn’t believe my ears.
“I’m nodding my head”
She replied loudly. I hang up the phone, quickly changed and took a taxi and rush to her place & press her doorbell.

During the moment when she opens the door, I hugged her tightly.
“Leaf departure is because of Wind pursuit.
Or because'
Tree didn’t ask her to stay”

Vietnamese new year

Lunar New Year ( Tet) is a biggest traditional festival in Vietnam . Time : 1^st to 3^rd on the first month ( Lunar calendar). On the occasion of Tet, families usually get together to visit with relatives and friends to share and express their best wishes for the new year.The days nearly before New Year , they send greeting cards to relatives and friends

Tet and indispensable features :

Homage to Kitchen God Tao
Tet rites really begin a week before New Year'Day. On the 23^rd day of the 12^th Lunar month, a ceremony is held at home in honor of the Tao Quan( Gods of the Hearth).

Nguyen dan, the Vietnamese New Year is the time to pay homage to the kitchen God Tao. The custom associated with the kitchen God is observed a week before the New Year. Vietnamese believed that there are three gods represented by the three legs of the cooking equipments in the kitchen. The middle God is a woman and the other two are her husbands. In earlier times, it was customary to provide a carp to the gods on which they can travel. The carp symbolizes the second last stage of the process by which animals were transformed into dragons. Keeping the old custom alive, people buy the carp from the market and place in the bucket of water and placed on the altar of the house which was later set free.

Vietnamese New Year Food
Vietnamese New Year food includes a special rice pudding called banh Chung or banh Tet prepared beforehand. The pudding contains mung beans and pork. Other New Year delicacies include preserved sweets, chicken, fish, oranges, beef, grapefruits, coconuts and some seasonal fruits.

New Year going out, gathering luck and visit:

The time of the Xuat Hanh ( Going Out Ceremony), which usually takes place on the night of the New Year'Day or the second day of the year, is carefully chosen at the propitious hour in accordance with one 's birth date. Young men and women go to a nearly park or forest or pagoda to " collect luck" ( Hai Loc) , a branch of young leaves which symbolizes hope and good fortune.

Another dispensable feature is Xong Dat. The first visitor to the home on Tet morning is very important. Ideally, that person should be a happy, married and sucessful man, a man of virtue.

A tray of five kinds of fruits:

According to the ancient Oriental people, the universe was taken its shape by five elements_ called Ngu Hanh : metal, wood, water, five and earth.Ideology as well as the image of Ngu Hanh entered into the meterial and spiritual life of the Oriental peoples with many features. The Vietnamese people's custom of worshipping the Tet fruit tray is one of these features.

The fruit tray in the North is , as a whole, smaller than that in the South. It must have three kinds of fruits: banana, grape fruit, mandarine ( or orange) while a pair of water melons, and four kinds of fruits: custard apple, coconut, papaya, mango cannot be misssing on the fruit tray in the South. For Southerners, this fruit tray means the popular wish for a comfortable life _ the commonest demand of every Southerner in the new year.

With its multicolor, original shape and profound meaning the fruit tray makes the Tet livelier and more sacred. Morever, it shows the aesthetic, religions, philosophical meaning as well as optimistic expectation which every family brings to start a new year.

Mung Tuoi:

This is a custom of Vietnamese to congratulate someoneon advancing in New Year: health, lucky, learn well , work well, grow up fast, happy .. That is a present or money, but money is usual , that s why it is called Tien Mung Tuoi ( Mung Tuoi money). Usuall, Tien Mung Tuoi is given to children . Any adults people come to relationship'house or friends'house on Tet should Mung Tuoi children there.

To understand much more and detail about Vietnamese Tet ( New Year), you can view this link :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%E1%BA%BFt

This year Tet will be started from January 25th to 31th in Sun Calendar ( international Calendar)