Lebensraum Nicht Liebesträume

[Vung Tau, 5/21/24]

I had a headache yesterday, so slept through most of it. May 20th, 2024, then, is in the book with next to nothing to show for it. My fretting over lost productivity betrays my Protestant work ethic, of course. Picked up that guilt trip during my decades out West. I once roamed the streets of Philly, Camden, New York, DC, Atlanta, Chicago, New Orleans, Denver, San Francisco and LA. I’m a Westerner.

Forgive me, Lord, for I wasted much of yesterday. I doubt the Buddha gives a shit. A terrible Protestant if not welfare bum, fatso’s famous for sitting still with his eyes closed. Tomorrow is his birthday celebration in Vietnam, so a festive stage has been set up just five minutes from my door. Among the singers are two “outstanding artists” [“nhạc sĩ ưu tú”], as recognized by the government. Japan has Living National Treasures. Each gets just $12,788 a year.

Before collapsing yesterday, I overheard a woman coo to her grandson, “Oooh, all you do is eat and sleep! You eat, then sleep, eat, then sleep! Take it or leave it.”

Referring to an upcoming trip, she said, “You’ll sleep all the way to Xuân Lộc! People can do whatever, but you’ll just sleep, all the way to Xuân Lộc!”

That’s where the last major battle of the Vietnam War took place. Still in Saigon, I heard about it on the radio. Though the NVA won, it suffered at least 4,000 casualties. The South Vietnamese had 2,056 dead and injured.

The woman and baby were just outside the cheapo restaurant where I regularly get grilled beef wrapped in piper lolot leaves. Though back in Vung Tau for half a year, I’ve had to stay away from banh mi, rice vermicelli with grilled pork, rice cooked in clay pot and other favorites. Before you’re killed off, this and that are taken away, but at least I haven’t dropped dead suddenly.

The best Vietnam-born visual artist, Dinh Q. Le, did just that on 4/6/24, at age 56. Having escaped Vietnam by boat, Le ended up in Los Angeles. Even with his works in major museums and his main gallery in NYC, Le had been living in Saigon since 2005. Life isn’t just about hobnobbing and networking.

On 5/18/24, a 44-year-old Vietnamese-American model and actor, Đức Tiến, collapsed in California. One news outlet remarked that he had a “Western appearance, with a full beard,” but this dude was just a good looking Vietnamese. Why couldn’t the announcer leave it at that?

White worship among Orientals shows up in whitening cream, hair dyed blonde and surgeries to have larger eyes and higher nose bridge. Life Changing Products of China has a Nose Up Straightener Lifting Shaper Clip. Though this piece of plastic costs $17.32, shipping is free worldwide, so it’s a bargain to “achieve your desired nose shape” without “pressure of painful feeling.”

If my nose was any flatter, I’d be a chimpanzee, which must mean I have more chimp than human DNA, but the whole point of living and definition of wisdom is acceptance of biology. I don’t even believe in deodorants.

When a friend of grandma showed up, she, too, babbled to the baby, “Aren’t you a golden nugget? A golden nugget for the whole house!”

Addressing grandma, she said, “I was just at the plastic surgeon!”

“To do what?”

“My face got too wrinkly, so I had some silicone pumped in. Cost me just 2 million [$78.56].”

Talking about grandchildren, they noted how many boys are born now. “Before Liberation,” Silicone recalled, “there were all these girls. Remember Mr. Bộ? He had eight girls!”

Bùi Quang Bộ was a South Vietnamese master sergeant. He’s among at least 38 ARVN soldiers who committed suicide at the end of the war.

“He said, ‘I ran from them in 54, and now they’re here.’ What he did was bad.” Silicone frowned. “Why didn’t he hop on a boat and go to America? Instead, he shot his whole family,” meaning his wife, eight daughters then himself.

Grandma had no reply, so Silicone turned to the baby, “Oh, you are a golden nugget! A golden nugget and a diamond!”

After she left, grandma said, “Now you’re so sad because no one is talking to you! You’re so sad you must sleep,” then they disappeared.

Though I woke up later than usual this morning, I still felt well enough for a swim. Front Beach had too many bodies, however, so I just snooped around the promenade to sneak photos. There’s a lovely lady who sold tofu pudding with ginger syrup, a breakfast treat, so I snapped her. Her vermilion blouse and conical hat luridly painted with lotus flowers and leaves are updates to traditional clothing. She also wore a metal bracelet with “LOVE” in English.

In nearby parks, women were dancing or exercising. Just yesterday, 14 women in Kiến Xương, way up north, were fined $4 to $8 for doing yoga in the middle of the road. People are going nuts everywhere, man. On 5/6/24, some 30-year-old asshole in Hanoi stabbed a stranger in a pho restaurant because the latter had looked at him funny. I have written about a bizarre outburst from my friend, Giang, whom I’ve known for 45 years. Are Jewjabs changing behavior?

It’s past noon, so time for a swim. Hopefully, there’s no one there. Why shouldn’t I have the entire ocean to myself? If even a clown like me needs more space, you can imagine what the biggest boys are thinking. With them, it’s not about shoving more trinkets down your throats, but killing you outright. To massacre without consequence is the ultimate expression of power. They’ve been doing it, man.

[Chinese made Nose Up Straightener Lifting Shaper Clip, as advertized online]

[Vung Tau, 5/21/24]

[Vung Tau, 5/19/24]

[Vung Tau, 5/20/24]