Thursday, March 24, 2011

Stone wall,


Hello, salutations, and welcome. We have come to another end to the working week. It has been such a marvellous week, marvellous because I am still here writing to you all. We better spare some prayers for our neighbours in Japan and the middle east where they are all suffering. You may have wonder why I have taken so long to write a blog. The simple answer is there has been a mental block. This mental block is like a stone jammed in between a brook and ranging torrent. You can see that even a small stone can block a mighty river, but for only a small amount of time. Well here comes the tide of thoughts that i wish to express.

If you have been following my life at the present time, you are aware that I will be married soon more precisely in May. I must add now it is a wedding with all the bells and whistles. This includes a solemn high mass in the Tridentine rite, can you believe it Truong. An immigrant from Vietnam, coming to Australia marrying the, most! beautiful girl in Australia, in Tridentine rite. The Tridentine rite is the mass for kings, queens, fl etchers, coopers and seam tress all are welcomed, when one decides to be joined in Holy matrimony. In summary it is just breathtaking and transcending. You are lifted by the angels to new internal heights and bought right down again with a thump and clump clump as you stubble your way with the Homily. I must say sometimes a Homily can even break ones leg in two places.

Well moving along, it is crunch time now and I have discovered a reoccurring trait that men all suffer from. It is the effect of building a wall, ever since God created man, men have always like to build. I was pretty sure Adam in the garden of eden was making a stone table and chair to sit on while he spoke to the animals. He would have even made a bridge so that he could cross the river dividing the garden, because no body wants soggy wet feet, especially if he had to carry even across all the time. In the modern sence all men like to build, a cave for our spouse, or that shed to gather our thoughts and sometimes a cubby house.
Generally our buildings shelter and nourish relationships but sometimes our buildings can be made to deter, and entrap feelings. These include building a wooden fence, a colorbond fence, a stone wall, or even a re-enforced concrete wall like that of the Berlin wall.


Let me spill out a situation here, David here likes to avoid conflict since the day of his wedding is coming up, and he knows to keep Sarah happy he will do everything he can to make her happy. For instance it is a beautiful Sunday afternoon, they have gone out for a lovely pub meal followed by conversation by the bay. Like always David, being a man always has little blemishes and tends to stuff up even a flawless Sunday. Sarah goes all out on him. I mean like a NATO air-strike, followed by long range toma hawk missiles. So what does poor David do? He puts up a temporary boundary, only a temporary one, a couple of mounds of dirt with a row of petunias to set up a small fence.


Over the week, communication has stopped so he decides to spend his time putting in wooden stakes into the ground. He pulls out the old Wattyl Solar guard and slowly paints the fence Federation green, with brown tips. It is a wonderful fence and he is happy with himself.
Sarah allows this to happen because she knows that if she waits long enough David will start to apologise and it will be all love and kisses. However she doesn't see the fence because she lives on the other side of town. On the other hand David is still admiring his handy work, he doesn't understand what had upset Sarah and to maintain the peace he ignores the situation.


As time moves on, David has made a few trips to Bunnings and the local flower power. He is ready to move onto the next stage of fence making, a brick wall. This is going to take time and poor Sarah hasn't heard from him in weeks. This is not a good situation, because once things are set in mortar then that spells the end of any relationship. So when you are at flower power don't buy the bricks David, buy a beautiful bouquet.

Gosh Truong is full of nonsense you probably are scratching your head. If you are then you must have dandruff, a great way to get rid of dandruff is to use Brylcreem with anti-dandruff protection. On a serious note here I want to address the issue of building up a boundary to avoid conflict, resulting in poor communication. In general, it might sound like a great idea at first to smooth things over but it has no fruits and your relationship is worst off. Men need to be explorers not to hide behind fences, we need to see what is the problem and hit it head on with carbon steel spear.

In this situation concerning David and Sarah, where David had already started building a fence there is still hope because a pickled fence always has slits. Beams of radiating love will always shine through and if David can see this, communication will resume and the exploration of the new territory will begin again. So let us not build fence or boundaries at all, because it is much better to live a life without regrets then to leave things to chance.

I know in my heart as I enter into marriage a part of me is very scared. It is like I am a sailor on The Santa Maria voyaging to the ends of the earth. I am so afraid, that looking beyond the horizon I can only see the edge of the water. Who knows where this journey goes, and building up fences, or a temporary dam can only stop my journey for a short time. It is only a matter of minutes, hours, days or if I am smart I can anchor for while, but in the end the boat will surge to the edge.

I thank everyone for their support of this blog without your patronage I would not have the motivation to really peel back the layers of my brain to express in blog form. Now everyone is wondering what on Earth there is to do in Sydney on the weekend? Gosh the list is endless but I have a few ideas that will be appealing most people in Sydney.

We are now officially at the end of summer day light savings time , Autumn is well and truly with us, the temperature is dropping and the south easterly winds is blowing at our sides. This is the perfect weather to head out to the Blue Mountains. One of the most beatutiful roads I have ever seen would be Falls Rd in Wentworth Falls, located 1 hour from Parramatta. The colour, smell, and feel of this area reaches into the soul. It drives a rusty nail into our broken human nature, we are only but children reaching out to hold onto the last part of summer, and when we grab it in our hands it slips away. We sometimes cry when this happens because happy memories are only just that, growing up and understanding change is another. So why not head up to the mountains for the last piece of warmth before the summer is gone. If you haven't been lucky in love lately maybe it's a chance you do not want to miss.

On the other hand the NRL season has just begun and pledge my support to the Parrmatta Eels. if you are a happy camper why not go out to a Friday/Saturday/Sunday or Monday game to support our national sport. Hear the cries, shouts, tears, and bones cracking as your local gladiators take to battle.

So enjoy the break, because I know everyone deserves a mini- holiday every 5 days.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Act 1 Scene 2?




Good morning, one and all, greetings and hello. If you have been waking up early lately you have realise that it is very dark, this is due to the sun being tired from it's hard work through out the summer. Providing sunlight to brown our skin and grow our barley. To make our bones healthy and our Abbey rich fragrant. So it's time for the sun to have a bit of a snooze.
That's right, Autumn is upon us once again and as we prepare ourselves for the winter and for the most holy season in the Church's calender, Lent and Easter. Goodness me, it was only Christmas last time I looked at my Vietnamese Ao Dai calender. Gosh, you have probably realise i can write a lot of rubbish, and there is much hot air that comes out of my mouth. But I can assure you this blog entry is worth it's weight in Vietnamese spring rolls. The information is jam packed and everyone will read it and go, yup good on ya Truong! , you do have some interesting insights on relationships and how to resolve conflict.Well you are probably wondering what this blog is going to be about, don't worry it's very simple. Act 1 Scene 2.

Act 1 scene 2, have you ever participated in a play, musical or choir? Well if you are a guy and haven't been in one, it's best to understand the concept, of "lets react that scene or re sing that verse!" because quite recently I have discovered a perfect way to resolve conflict. It's so simple and I wonder why I didn't think of it before. I am going to promise results here.

So here a typical situation, you are walking in a park with your beloved,you are both eating healthy carrots and apples. Since you are trying to look super fit for the big day. (Yup finally, the wedding invites are out!). The guy in this situation is Mack and his a very clumsy fellow, with arms like the stump of Huon Pine. Well Mack here has finished eating his apple and wants to dispose of it thoughtfully in the bin. So on the way to the bin he brushes past Felicity. Felicity is the total opposite of Mack, she is smaller in stature but loud in volume, she is generally correct and never loses an argument. Be that over directions, the temperature of the kettle, or where to put stamps on the envelope.
Here poor Mack is trying to keep his country neat and tidy, but a tidal wave (cause by underground seismic activity due to weeks of annoyance) of mistrust, and insecurity Felicity is out ranged because Mack acted as though she wasn't there. Felicity was just part of the trees and bushes along this park as he slightly brushed against her to maintain the current walking speed while trying to put an apple core in a bin.

You can see from the picture above, Mack is totally oblivious to how Felicity is feeling. Felicity is totally annoyed and it shows. However, he has a cool jacket.

Noooooooo the afternoon stroll has turned into a battle about, insecurity, love, selflessness, noticing me, ignoring me. There are two sides to this lovers tryst, on Mack's side of the fence, the straight and narrow with the classical "sorry darling i was just trying to do the right thing", and "I'm sorry", and on Felicity's side, you never notice me, I am just part of the scenery, don't you understand my feelings, the list goes on and it deepens..
I am sure each and everyone of us have gone through this situation before, where the man, in this case Mack, is doing the right thing for his country, but accidentally knocks his beloved out in the process. Sure his clumsy that's his nature. But to avoid crossing over the line with Felicty he sympathetically apologises. In Felicity's eyes this isn't good enough.

Well that's when Truong comes in to help poor Mack out, it's very easy, Act 1 scene 2,
Go back to the bin, reach in, take the apple out, go back to the point where you are about to put the apple in the bin, walk hand in hand with your beloved, then say " Sorry Floss, can we just pause a minute so i can put this apple in the bin" or if your short for words, sorry doll face, I am just going to put this apple in the bin, excuse me"

Simple, done, no arguments guarantee, this shows that Mack really loves Floss and he will do anything to not take the plunge into Mt Doom, to go battle with the Balrog, lets face it Gangdalf ain't here so you are in between a rock and a hard place, most likely inbetween a diamond mine and a volcano. These places are best to avoid unless you want to end up with burnt pancakes on Shrove tuesday. I for one, would like my pancakes with a dob of butter and Lyle's golden syrup.
So lets follow the simple rules of Act 1 Scene 2, mistake, unhappy beloved, rewind, replay, and resolved. Smiles all around.



Arrrrhhhh what to do in Sydney this weekend? It's going to be a big weekend, it's the last weekend before the no alcohol, no meat and no pleasure season of Lent, where we as Catholic try to give up something we like. So I am going to give you permission, for a four day assault on the senses to knock you silly and prepare yourselves for 40 days of fasting. with a 4 day feast a thon beginning on Saturday and ending of Shrove Tuesday.

Saturday, the big breakfast, Traditional English style. If you are a fan of the big breakfast, or the big fry up, or anything that is high in flavour and taste just head down to Ivan's deli, in Chester Hill for your supplies of Black Pudding, pork Sausages, bacon, eggs, beef sausages, baked beans, and polish bread. Then drive to a bottle store, get yourself some strong milk based alcohol then go onto a local park, put it all on a BBQ and eat away.
A great place to do this is Homebush park, because you can go for a stroll afterwards.



Sunday lunch. Have you ever walked home from the city via Petersham? Have you noticed wafting on the airwaves, the burning hickory smoke mixed with paprika, then your mouth begins to water. It is due to Petersham Portuguese chicken, this Sunday head down to any of the Petersham Portuguese chicken and feast till your Portuguese pot belly is puffed.

http://www.streetfood.com.au/2010/09/frango-petersham-charcoal-chicken.html



Monday, in the Truong Tradition for the love of Korean BBQ, catch a train to Strathfield head to Korean BBQ place near the Commonwealth bank, and get ready for a feast. Remember to buy lots of Soju, and bring lots of friends.



Tuesday, pancakes, crepes, and cognac. This is going to be a knock out combination so be prepared to be repented on Ash Wednesday. I like my crepes savoury and my pancakes sweet so Banh Xeo, would be an awesome addition to this.



Now friends, I hope you have a beautiful weekend and I look forward to hearing about your four days of feasting, for forty days of fasting.
Goodbye, fair well and until we meet again.