It was a Sunday with a blazing sun—maybe one or two showers earlier were just a dry run for the rainy season ahead. Even as a dry run, they were pretty solid. Lucky for me I still haven't gotten sick on any of those days. That day I'd set up to meet the Hong Kong guy at the park in front of Independence Palace—the spot where I usually sit with my college friends about once a month to catch up. This time I'd invited everyone out with the Hong Kong friend too, though one person in the group felt a bit shy and didn't come along.

My buddies showed up later; the Hong Kong guy had already been there since around 9:15, with a woman who looked a bit older than me. I didn't ask her name—it felt awkward—but from her manner and the way she spoke, she seemed more mature than me. At first I planned to sit outside in the park, but it was too sunny and neither of them had eaten yet, so everyone agreed to go into Casa nearby. I ordered a bowl of beef pho for nearly 100K—expensive, yeah, but it was decent and the space was acceptable, except I was right by the entrance. Every time someone walked in or out, a blast of "refreshing" air from outside hit my scrawny back.

After we ate, my friends arrived. They'd been waiting in the park, but the sun wasn't letting up, so the whole group decided to move into a café to talk. The woman with the Hong Kong guy is Vietnamese but had lived in Canada for a few years, so her English is really good—and because of that, everyone spoke English the whole time. At first she'd spoken Vietnamese, but to keep things smooth, all English was the least problematic option, especially with a foreigner in the group so he wouldn't feel left out.

The conversation was fun and ran from around 9:30 until noon, when they had to leave—the Hong Kong guy was heading to the airport to fly home, and she went with him since they were going the same way. We mostly talked about simple life stuff: hobbies, food, how long he'd been in Vietnam, and his impressions. One interesting thing: he likes combat-related topics—martial arts, boxing, MMA, WWE. He'd competed in various tournaments and even won a few. His dream was to be a firefighter, but he was nearsighted back then so that didn't work out; he switched to becoming an electrical engineer. Meanwhile, the woman is an English teacher—pretty open-minded from living abroad and soaking up a lot there. She's a bit wild too: she once went nude at a Vung Tau beach, but at 2 a.m. I'm not one to judge; I'm fairly open-minded myself, so I thought it was an interesting, wild move. No real issue—just a little surprised.

After saying goodbye to those two, we headed to lunch to meet the friend who'd skipped the morning hangout because he was too shy to chat. It was a ramen place down an alley—still packed when I got there, with only one four-person table left. The four of us ordered four different ramens, and when the food came out we asked for four small bowls. Why? So we could scoop some of each bowl for everyone else to try. Honestly hilarious—I had a great time. The food was pretty good and affordable; we guessed the rent was cheap because it's in an alley, and that made sense to me.

Four bowls of ramen and four little bowls to share and taste each other's :))

We finished eating around 1:15 p.m. The plan was a music box where we'd sing until we dropped. The walk was about 5 km—long and hot—we went through what felt like a million alleys and lanes before we finally arrived. If I remember right, it was pretty close to Bach Khoa University; I'd been on this road before for a friend's graduation. They had plenty of stuff to put on your head for singing vibes—golden rubber chickens that squeak when you squeeze them, or shakers loud enough to deafen you. The room was big—at least bigger than the first karaoke room I'd ever used (this was my second time)—and the gear looked full and modern. Then we kicked off a five-hour singing session. Two of the guys sang really well and went all in; me and the other guy mostly followed their lead. Even so, the mood was great—I still had a few songs that are basically my brand.

We even got to K-pop—you know it was lit!

We sang until we were wiped out, and by then night had fallen—6:30 p.m. I could barely breathe; I just wanted to go home and sleep. But we'd come this far, so we had to grab dinner first. The group decided on pizza at a place deep in an alley—tables and chairs set right on the walkway, no parking, just a sign with the owner's line "selling out of passion." She stood by a small oven that could only bake one or two pies at a time, it seemed. When we first arrived there weren't many customers, so we still had seats at a pretty prime spot: middle of the road... They sold half-and-half pizzas—one pie, 50% one flavor, 50% another. We ordered two pizzas for four flavors total. When they came out of the oven they looked tempting, though a bit light on toppings. In my opinion the best was the seafood one with shrimp on top; the rest were fairly average. As for pineapple—forget it. I thought it was meh; maybe I'm just not a pineapple-on-pizza person like the internet loves to roast. While we waited and ate, more customers kept showing up. I was surprised so many people came to a place that looked this tucked away. I also felt a little bad for them—long waits, no seats. Well, first come first served—no need to worry too much hahaha.

Road pizza...

When we were done eating, everyone headed home—closing out a really fun day for me and for everyone (though karaoke did tire me out a bit sometimes). Still, we don't see each other often, and I don't want to stay indoors all the time, so I still think this is a good thing—and I like it too. That said, at some point I'll probably enjoy it more if I'm out with a girlfriend I actually manage to catch—something I've never managed to catch so far... Oh well, whatever's meant to be. I don't have many problems with life right now besides getting bored now and then because things repeat a lot. Either way, everyone got home safe and sound that night—marking the end of one week and the start of a new one, a week where I'd picked up a new little joy. I'll tell you about that in the next entry. Thanks to whoever read this far—honestly sometimes I should call this a diary site, not a blog, but lately I've been busy with new stuff and plans, so the simplest thing is still to write a diary. Meanwhile I've finished part one of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and the chapter "Character" in Write and Live; I've also started going back to the gym. Overall things are moving in a pretty good direction. Money and love are the two things that always give me a headache, but it's not unbearable yet—things will get better. I try to keep that mindset, and I hope you, whoever's reading this, get better too—better and better. I'll sign off here—take care of yourselves!