In Vietnam, you always learn all the subjects. There is Math for every semester in every grade; so are Literature and Foreign Language (mostly English), which altogether constitute the trio of basic subjects that are often taken as the point of co... Read more 11 Oct 2023 - 16 minute read
It has been roughly a year since I wrote this post on the Nobel Prize. The reason why it is coming up again in my life probably marks the beginning of what I call the Nobel season. I actually felt very conflicted internally when I published the or... Read more 01 Oct 2023 - 8 minute read
When asked what some of my red flags were, Joon told my new friend, “Linh went to this insane high school and he won’t shut up about it.” We laughed it off because my friend already had an inkling of how my high school were quote unquote insane, a... Read more 05 Sep 2023 - 12 minute read
Twice have I purchased something online and found the packaging the most impressive. The first time was in my sophomore year, when I bought a very expensive ensemble from Orttu. Of course the clothes were decent, but its elegant enclosement made i... Read more 02 Jun 2023 - 6 minute read
My new favorite Twitter commentator is @dieworkwear. His rise to stardom originated from his quote tweets of other Twitter accounts, most often male politician-wannabes touting imagery of alpha malehood as their brand of anti-woke counterculture. ... Read more 31 May 2023 - 5 minute read
I am fighting an uphill battle. I become worn out from writing anything after each part, yet painfully wised up to the reality that the fine print of each semester will fade away the longer I procrastinate. For a journey brimming with joy, I do no... Read more 11 May 2023 - 30 minute read
The first part of these series took way longer than I thought. I owe it to my ability to pick up unimportant details really effectively; perhaps I should work more on the retention of actual valuable information. The saga continues after I had a v... Read more 23 Mar 2023 - 26 minute read
I arrived back in the U.S. at the end of January, after three weeks spent reconnecting with the homeland that I have not seen for three and a half years. It is hard to say if I ever settled back into the modalities of living that are redolent of m... Read more 13 Mar 2023 - 7 minute read
Some time this past week marked the six-month anniversary of my move to Santa Cruz, my work, and my workout journey. I think a lot has happened, mostly for the better, especially the chance for me to go home soon for the first time in three years.... Read more 15 Dec 2022 - 5 minute read
Santa Cruz has been raining a lot. And when I say a lot, I do not mean the good kind; it is a ceaseless state of precipitation that leaves every ground surface a trip-and-fall hazard. I feel like I should be at the level of gratitude for rain of D... Read more 11 Dec 2022 - 12 minute read
I wish I had started writing diaries since first grade. I feel like my previous selves, one in fourth grade, one in eighth grade summer, and one during my preparation for the ACT, had different operating systems that I no longer have any idea how ... Read more 07 Oct 2022 - 2 minute read
When I was making school visits as complimentary of their PhD admission, one of my peers asked a professor: “What is the ultimate goal of your professorship? Is it to win a Nobel Prize?” I remember giggling, in my mind, a bit. First, the concept... Read more 06 Oct 2022 - 8 minute read
Nowadays I do not consume much fiction. There is a negative correlation between the frequency of my use of the English language and my rate of reading fictional works. Many reasons can help illustrate the interdependency, but most notable among t... Read more 11 Sep 2022 - 4 minute read
Two of my most favorite activities in college are ranking random things and listening to Korean Pop music. Supersaturated as the industry has become with aspiring groups boasting slightly different aesthetic variants, debuts mark an emotional mile... Read more 30 Aug 2022 - 19 minute read
I have been watching Modern Family after getting home from the gym every day, in some way as part of my journey to establish a calming routine. I have been aware of the show much earlier. Every year, I seem to pick a TV series for which snippets o... Read more 19 Aug 2022 - 6 minute read
As an international student applying to a college in the United States, in addition doing everything that domestic students would have to do, I had to prove my proficiency in the English language. Such proof comes in many forms, but as my high sch... Read more 16 Aug 2022 - 12 minute read
For a long time I did not know what it means to be homesick. I know what it means to be carsick Chained to cushion, afraid to motion as I fret another swerve would tumble my stomach. My eyes locked on the morning dew imprinted on the window as th... Read more 17 Jul 2022 - 2 minute read
“The Opposite of Loneliness” is a celebrated essay from a Yale alumnus, whose story and words touched me deeply when I was formulating, commemorating, and reflecting on my Yale experience. It is hard to trace back the bursts of joy and moments of ... Read more 04 Jul 2022 - 8 minute read
My parents moved to Hanoi at most a decade before I was born, but both have racked up a boastful list of people that they knew one way or another. During Tết (Lunar New Year), when our family would back to Hanoi from our grandparents’ provinces, w... Read more 26 Jun 2022 - 7 minute read
I have been on the move constantly for the past few days, and have only got some time to unwind with an intent to write tonight. A lot has changed in my life: I moved away from New Haven! As I finished parts of my research, I felt a relieving ... Read more 15 Jun 2022 - 2 minute read
I posted an edited version on Facebook. The original one can be found here. (0) “Trong giây phút bối rối, tôi tưởng chính mình vừa khám phá thấy cái chân lý của sự toàn thiện, khám phá thấy cái khoảnh khắc trong gần tâm hồn.” [In a moment of stu... Read more 23 May 2022 - 6 minute read
When Joon, Elliot, and I lived off campus during the first full COVID academic year, we had very distinct cooking styles. I loved exploring ingredients, and did not mind tossing counterintuitive hodgepodges of items into the same pot. Elliot made ... Read more 18 May 2022 - 6 minute read
(I) Happiness is a Butterfly by Lana Del Rey can be broken down into roughly two equivalently structured sections. Though not in the pop sense, there is a repeated section that can be considered its ‘chorus’, in which the midpoint resolution for ... Read more 17 May 2022 - 4 minute read
This ten-part series will take the theme of semesters that I have taken classes, and thus gained intellectual capital, from Yale over the course of the last four years. In most cases, classes are foundational to my growth; also in most cases, it i... Read more 03 May 2022 - 28 minute read
In high school my parents stopped caring about exactly what I do. To be more precise, they gave up on deciphering what actually it is that constituted the daily schedule of someone who was member of this gifted high school model and also intent on... Read more 19 Apr 2022 - 6 minute read
At long last, I managed to put my website up! To minimize the initial effort while maintaining the functionalities I need, this is the visual format that we are working with. The most important features I need are a place to write and a place to u... Read more 16 Apr 2022 - less than 1 minute read