Jaden’s up on stage with her best friend Sara. They’re both 8 and their feet dangle from chairs like string beans trying to escape a bowl. All four of them (3 girls and a little boy ages 4-10) holding hands firmly as the overzealous crowd continues screaming. The trimmers held by volunteers start and the girls begin to cry. At this point, it hit me how ginormous this gesture is…

This piece is not going to be about the millions of people who are affected by cancer or the hundreds of thousands of children (I believe classified from 0-19) who won’t even get to live to go to college. In all honestly, it’s amazingly sad to me to consider the idea of anyone affected by such a disease and to have this wonderful life ripped away from your control. Instead, I’d like to focus on the energy that often surrounds such a disease. Specifically, I’d like to share a moment that truly moved me last Friday (March 11, 2010). I agreed to go downtown to support a friend and her wonderful daughter, Jaden, who I’ve loved since the first time we met. Jaden has always impressed me with her spunk and endearing nature. She must get it from her mother, Aurora, another amazing woman who I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know.

I came up and met the mother and daughter duo and was immediately covered with love and affection via hugs and smiles (my favorite!). There they were, Jaden and her other “Little Monkey” homies with the littlest one sporting a mohawk. I find out who these so called monkeys were and it happens to be Jaden and her best friend, Sara. They go to the same school together and are both sooooo cute. They decided that they wanted to shave their heads for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, an organization with the mission to help fund the latest research in childhood cancer treatment. The freshly shaven locks would then go to Locks of Love, to financially disadvantaged children suffering from any disease leading to hair loss.

Back to the story: Their dangling string bean legs hang from chairs. As they sat there anxiously, the natural move was to hold hands with one another. The buzzers start and the excitement turns to nervousness and then into heartbreak. At first, I mistook the looks for doubt but then realized something. These kids are only 8 and younger. What are their peers going to do to them at school? A girl with buzzed hair?!!! Surely, this is more brave to do at their age than it would be to do at my age. Then I realized something else. It’s not doubt, it IS heartbreak. Or maybe a little bit at least as these girls, I’m assuming, are so use to brushing their hair in the morning, hiding in the hair when they feel shy, putting it up when they’re chasing boys (boys named, Coby) around the playground, and making funny mustaches and laughing at each other. Their hair may be more of an extension to them than I originally thought which makes it that much more difficult for girls to shave their heads than boys… maybe.

The Little Monkeys are greeted with roars and cheers from the crowd as they get their final touches done. They walk off the stage and are embraced by emotional and proud mamas and papas. The gesture alone created by these kids, I’m sure saved at least another child. A child that none of us may ever meet and maybe it may be only for a day or two (hopefully more) but I hope they feel the security and fun and responsibility that comes with the new hair piece.

The art of traveling includes letting yourself go to the culture around you. It includes embracing the unfamiliarity around you and taking in the richness that makes up other people’s lives. I’d like to share a moment…

Stranded on Phu Quoc Island for three days due to high tides, Amy and I decided to get off by way of fishing boats as seen in the photo above. It’s an illegal form of getting off the island but when you pay an official of a country such as Vietnam, things tend to slide. One by one, the boat fills to capacity. One by one, the boat over-saturates with occupancy. As foreigners, we were offered the best seat on the boat; towards the back and enough room to dangle our legs. When I insisted that the new mother on board take my spot, she refused almost to the point it felt like she was offended for such suggestion. So she lay beneath our dangling feet with her new baby girl. I’d look down every now and then to see that she remained fixated on her newborn. She loved that child although she’d only met her a few months ago and yet she refused to take my seat. I also remember the newlyweds snickering in the back corner of the boat. Well, the playfulness lasted for only about an hour or so until one of them found themselves puking her newlywifed head off the rear of the boat. To my right was Amy and to her right was a Canadian. I forget his name but I remember his smile. He was a nice guy and about our age. We exchanged stories for most of the five hours we were on board the fishing boat only to be stopped midway when the boat ceased to move.

This is not good. At this point we were half way back to mainland Vietnam. I thought, “Well, I guess we’ll be on this boat longer than I thought. Hopefully, we don’t get hit by a hurricane.” This thought was only broken when one of the passengers started stripping down. Then the thought quickly turned into curiosity, “WTF?! I know he’s not about to swim somewhere?!” The withered Vietnamese in his whitey-tighties jumped into the ocean. Tick tick tick… it seemed like forever that he was under water. He jumps back onto the boat creating a salted pool around his feet. Apparently, there the propellers were stuck with seaweed. Apparently, the passenger felt it was his civic duty to jump in and free the blades of netted ocean vegetation… And off we went.

Another 2.5 hours later, Amy and I found ourselves on motorbikes being taxied back towards Can Tho. We had 50 kilometers to free our minds and enjoy the Mekong Delta’s countryside.

At the time, we were unsure if this was a good or bad idea. At the time, it seemed more like a bad idea so why did we venture to go with taking some sketchy boat in the first place? Looking back, I couldn’t imagine getting back to our flights any other way. I realize this may seem like it has little to do with embracing the culture and whatnot but you see, the newlyweds, the newly mothered, and the passenger in his underwear were all taking this trip like it was nothing new. The remaining 50+ passengers all reserved their frustrations, their impatience, and their bladder space for over 5 hours. You don’t need a watch in most places, nor a cell phone, nor the internet. This boat just happened to be one of those places.

This week, I’ve decided to leave these personal things at home with limited access to my email. I’m doing this to feel more connected with the world around me b/c I think WE industrialized nations get lost in all this technology. We forget how to communicate with one another. We forget to snicker as newlyweds, or forget to just stare at each other with nothing but contentment for the moment, and we forget to sacrifice our own comfort to help get others to shore.

THAT I did always love,

I bring thee proof:

That till I loved

I did not love enough

That I shall love alway,

I offere thee

That love is life,

And life hath immortality.

This, dost thou doubt, sweet?

Then have I

Nothing to show

But Cavalry.

Something is changing inside. I feel it and it feels goooood with a path ahead that looks oh so promising. However, looking back , the realization of my lack of direction is obvious. How is it now, that I’m continuing to doctorate school in a field that gets so many things wrong so frequently? How did I get here? It seems like a whirlwind, these past few years.

I got an early notification of my acceptance to the University of Oregon a couple weeks ago. It is the first school to respond to my application as I expect that most of the results will be out in March. Man, that email was nice to read considering no one in my family preceded in graduating from high school.

Now it’s official, I’m finally ready and will be leaving this state I love to unfamiliar territory in pursuit of something bigger than I understand it. I’m pursuing the knowledge in a field that is wrong often because field experts constantly challenge one another to be better at finding the truth. I’m pursuing this study b/c I’m innately curious about society and the individual. It’s philosophy and math; a combination I find mentally sexy.

It looks like I’ll be out of Colorado in only a few months with Baxter to write a new chapter.

That’s what you get for reading an Asian’s blog… Equations and terrible grammar. For those of you wondering what the solution to this blog’s title: Sit x 1,000 = Baxter learned how to sit, today! Boo-yeah!

It took half a bag of treats and it’s all downhill from here. Up to date, Baxter has mastered:

1. Come here
2. No
3. Sit (Intermediate actually)

Next command: Baxter, jump through this flaming hoolahoop!

In other news:

“Shark attacks rose in 2010 to highest in decade”

Baxter n’ Truong appreciate you and your smile.