Vere dignum et justum est

Good morning, greetings and welcome ! I would like to start with thanking everyone for their gracious comments about the last blog " The summer adventures of travelling", unfortunately since I am back at work I need to save up again for another holiday so I can write about new adventures. Unless Lonely planet, or I can start my TV series called Panda Gryills.

Phew what a busy fortnight with St Valentines day, wedding invitations, early mornings and late nights. Don't know if you can keep up, but of course you can! live life to fullest.
Alright lets begin, after reading Anh Do's book "The Happiest Refugee" I am super excited about reviewing it! Lets begin with what the title of this blog means. "Vere dignum et justum est", this literally means "It is truly right to give Him (God) thanks and praise!" I believe that Anh Do's book really incorporates this well and how we are so lucky and grateful to be in this country Australia. If it weren't for Australia I wouldn't be here writing this blog, and marrying the greatest beauty in Terra Australis. (Yes Lucy)


So Anh do, story starts in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, his parents have just fallen in love on a train heavily controlled by the new regime, his uncles are in prison known as reeducation camps. One of these uncles actually has his intestines taken out for malaria treatment. My dad tells me he is living in Sydney now. The first chapter is full of love and drama, finishing with their narrow escape from the Vietnamese border patrol, and two, yes two pirate attacks complete with bearded Thai pirates.

However throughout this ordeal only one young man commits suicide, but the rest of the group of 40 survive and get processed offshore and await a country of asylum. Lucky for them Australia being such an awesome country accepts them. Like Anh, our family was in a processing camp in Thailand for 2 years and my parents were able to see Pope John Paul II how wonderful. As you are aware, Anh Do family is extremely Catholic, like many other Vietnamese refugee. For some reasons through out history the funniest boat people have come from Catholic backgrounds, like Ireland. I've always believe in my heart that if you had a Vietnamese and Irish family coming together it would be like comedy central.



As Anh grows up he talks about his many experience, his first love, his first fight and how it was a struggle financially to keep up with the Jones at Joey's. But financially they were never poor because, his mum a would be nun, would always shelter even poorer people in their home to show how well off they were. Wow, at this point I was almost in tears, yes a big guy like mean almost crying because like Anh we were never poor and created our own adventures which generally ended up with me being hit with a cane because growing up with 3 sisters they would copy me and end up with many cuts and bruises, thus my dad would take down the ring leader.

Now Anh is in uni and meets the love of his life, however she doesn't go out with him for 5 years but get engaged only after 3 weeks of dating. That's right Anh is the man!, no point in wasting time, because he quotes after his dad "If you meet a girl you like, marry her, don't wait. Because there is now and there is too late!". I just love this attitude to life, you've got to hand it to Anh with his never give up attitude.
It must be something with the combination of Vietnamese man marrying a White girl. The white girl really makes it hard for us, poor refugee blokes, gee whiz. Unlike myself, Suzy's parents take to Anh like white people to spring rolls. I guess I'll be bringing more spring rolls to the will be in laws in the near future.(hehehehehehe)




Anh and Suzy marry and live happily ever after how nice. I won't review any more of the book because I want you to read it because it's such a wonderful book. For me Anh Do's book made me understand why my dad always says " I am in heaven now, in Australia".

So at this point you're thinking where is Truong going with this blog, well please pardon me at the moment, my mind is totally distracted with getting married so I am so nervous and jittery like a jitterbug. But please bear with me, the main point of this blog is what to do as Australians with our superpowers.


Well as you all know the "Fair Dinkum" or "Give everyone a go" attitude is derived from the Latin dignum et justum est, so what is" just and right"? Simple, next time you go to the supermarkets just take your items to the check out chick instead of the machine. Because you are using your powers for good, keeping someone employed and using human interaction as opposed to a machine. We want to keep Australia from becoming a machine state where greed prevails, we want more Anh do's who gives up a high power coop orate job at Macquarie bank, to serve the community with his laughter. But if you haven't got a funny bone in your body keep the latter.


Things to do in Sydney

Gee whiz, i should stick to my day job and not explore human philosophy because my analogies don't sound like Plato at all, however I am good at Friday night dates. Lets me tell you what to do in Sydney.
The place to be is, Darlinghurst on a super post St Valentines date. OK so you did wake up enough after 4 early morning alarms on Valentines day, and couldn't make it to the flower markets to buy cheap roses, so you had to buy one from the man at the traffic lights.
You didn't get a booking at her favourite Japanese restaurant, and ended up at the Yerros shop in Marrickville and your card was a tad cheesy from the servo, because it was a Tuesday and being a Tuesday you had to get petrol, so to get a further discount on the fuel you needed to spend 5 dollars in store.
What to do now? Don't fret just make a booking at the Victoria Rooms in Darlinghurst, because if you really stuffed up big time this is the place to take your girlfriend/fiance/wife to, because generally men stuff up and you really need a trump card to make it up. This will surely get you out of the, does this guy even love me book, into the fancy diary with love heart lock book.



At first, the front entrance of the Victoria Rooms was very hard to find, and it was next to a restaurant that was closed down due to health regulations. In my head I was thinking, this place is really Victorian with sub standard neighbours, but as you walk up the stairwell, you are invited by a friendly guy called Jeremy who takes you to a booth. The lightning, the mood, the ambiance is all here for a "Oo, ahh, you are the best darling!" response because this time nothing is going to go wrong. The main reason are; the ambience, there are guy called Jeremy, they have fondue, and remember to wear a dark shirt just incase you spill chocolate on your shirt embarrassing your date.
As you approach your seating area, you are presented with wide variety of drinks and a shared menu. This is a great way to spend the evening looking into each others eyes over sweet or savoury fondue. Another friendly tip here for men who are not fondue specialist, remember to dip, dabble, drain, then slowly place the fork in your mouth, drawing it out slowly. Splendid don't you think, if you're in trouble for not doing anything for Valentines day, don't go sour puss on me, get out there to the Victoria Rooms.



Deo gratias.