Unbelievable! This past week I hit the lottery for 3 million ... Vietnamese dong. Nailed all five numbers in order. Phuong was shocked. Her dad was jealous. Her sister-in-law congratulated me. Phuong's mom collected the massive payout for us ... which converts to $131.93 U.S. dollars. OK, it's not the 3 million I wanted, but I'll take $131.93. That's a decent amount of money here. I buy from three different ticket sellers who roam the city on bicycle or foot -- an older guy, a middle-aged guy, and an older lady. I don't know which one sold me the ticket, so I gave each one of them 20,000. Why not? I can afford to be a big spender now. Honestly, I need the money since my employer scheduled me for three classes over two weeks.
The heat has been unbearable since I've gotten back. Phuong, Joanna and I take a walk twice every day around our neighborhood and down to the park. It's about 88 degrees with 75 percent humidity at 6:30 a.m., so I return from the first walk sweating like the proverbial pig I am. So I shower, take a leisurely walk downtown in 95- or 96-degree heat from around 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., sweat some more, and shower again. Then, around 5 p.m. when it's cooled off to 91 degrees, Phuong and Joanna and I take another walk. When I get home, I'll exercise, shower, eat and go to bed. Welcome to the tropics. God bless air conditioning and Willis Carrier, the man credited with inventing it in 1902.
Joanna had another vaccination on Saturday -- this one for meningitis, I think. The nurse warned us that this one would hurt. The needle was fairly long. Three babies got shots before Joanna, and all three burst into tears and wailed for a good minute or two after they got stuck. Phuong always has me hold Joanna for her vaccinations (so she associates pain with her father). The long needle went in her beefy thigh, Joanna's face went into a scowl, and she glared at the nurse. But she didn't cry. Honest to God, that's how it went down. She toughed it out. Even the other parents at the clinic were impressed. Some parents around our 'hood ask us if we give Joanna a special diet that makes her so big. Well, she's not that big, really. She's approaching 10 months old (May 9), weighs about 23 pounds, and is 32 inches tall, which is quite tall. There's no special diet. Just steroids. Seriously, I'm one of the biggest guys in the city, and now that I've gotten so incredibly fat, I scare people. Most likely, Joanna gets her size from my genes -- and Phuong is no shrimp either, although she's very thin these days.
Joanna has become a little possessive with her dad since I returned from the U.S. She wants me to hold her, and that's basically it. Dad, dad, dad. She clings to my pants when I cook or make coffee, smiles at me constantly, and, except at bedtime and meal time, wants me to hold her or play with her. But that little rascal says "mom" as clear as an azure sky, and teases Phuong and Phuong's mom by clinging to me and smiling at them. Funny kid.
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