My brain's too small for blogging!

The last few days I've had thousands of things swimming around my head that I want to put down in blog form. Ok, not quite thousands but sometimes I feel like it. So, I'll do a roundup of what's been on my mind. This is what I call a weak-sauce attempt at being a blogger:

• First of all, Triết posted a great analysis of the improving/declining relationship paradox between Vietnamese Americans and Vietnamese in Vietnam. It sparked a lovely banter between us, which resulted in some great perspectives being raised and dissected. Instead of blogging it on my own, I'll just "blog ké" with his: A Tale of Two Peoples. Update: another good discussion I'm a part of can be found at OnlyBlue.org.
  
• I've started uploading videos - ok, only ONE video - to Google video instead of trying to stream my own. I like the flexibility of doing my own, but trying to encode and script and stream my own flash videos when Google can do it all for me is like trying to make and kneed and bake my own pizza crust when I can buy one that's already done. Oh wait, I do that too. Anyway, here's my first video, or just view it right here.
  
  
• Mitt Romney - I posted a while ago about him, and I've tried to save my breath whenever I feel like asking myself (on the blog, of course) "Is he serious?" Evidently, I'm not the only one thinking this, and it happens to be a somewhat-famous someone who's asking the same question. See Orson Scott Card's view of Romney as President (which I actually find quite entertaining, and a decent analysis of the whole "Mormon" issue)
• I've been planning a post on my garden - spring sure does wonderful things to those ugly plants out back. Ugly during the winter. But not as ugly as Utah, at least mine stay green. The jasmine is bursting with white flowers and filling the air with its sweet fragrance, the blueberries are actually turning blue (which I thought wouldn't happen because I didn't think bees flew up to the second story), my first try at quế, tía tô, kinh giới (Vietnamese herbs) are growing like weeds (see guys, we were right!), and the banana tree just sprouted another leaf. Ah, spring... here are other posts about my garden.
• My mommy just started her blog, which she is totally stoked about. She's a writer, so this should be a cool blog once she gets a good base of posts. Go, mom!
• Much has been happening in Vietnam as of late. I can't put it all here, but here's an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal. This is a copy-and-pasted version of the article made on Google documents, which deals with the democracy movement currently taking place there. It's a good read.
• Last month, a news story resurfaced about a handful of Chinese nationals - supposedly spies - who were accused of passing US defense secrets to the Chinese government. I don't know about that... the articles I read sounded too much like something from the movies. Police tapping phones, installing mini cameras in peoples' houses, arresting them right as they approached the terminal at LAX on the way to China... it's hard for me to believe the charges fully, especially considering the current mentality of America towards terrorism and China's rising economic dominance in the global market. See what you think: it happened in Anaheim, so here's the first article from 2005 from the local newspaper and the next from 2006. Also, another site with more detailed info and a whole gaggle of news stories.
  
• I started a post on immigration, since the issue is getting hotter with the presidential election nearing and Jim Gilchrist losing his Minute Men to "hijackers," but it's turning out to something more like a senior thesis than a blog post. I'll see what happens. In the meantime, here's an interesting article about illegal immigrants, namely American citizens in Mexico who refuse to learn Spanish, assimilate or even watch soccer.
• And last, something I feel necessary to address since it's such earth-shattering news: The Virginia Tech shooting. I'm sure anyone reading this will know more than I about the shooting, but along with the sorrow that is felt in connection to this incident, there is pent-up anger and even hate. The first thing I thought when I heard it was an Asian gunmen was "Oh, please don't be Vietnamese." If you thought something similar to this, then you already know that it is because once the ethnicity is named, that community becomes the first target of any hate crimes, violence or retaliation. I fell across a blog post today that compiles many articles addressing this very topic: it's ironic that it's called "Angry Asian Man."
  

That's all for now.