As you may (or may not) know, I recently started volunteer work as an ESL teacher for Vietnamese people in the Bellaire/Alief area. I will admit that the first week was a horror show, but I have (somehow) managed to pull myself together. It's all good. This is the first time that I have ever taught anything and it is also the first time that I have ever been considered a teacher, so I'm just embracing this challenge and taking it one day at a time. I feel that I am making somewhat of a reconnection with my Vietnamese roots, which have been in disarray ever since my days as a Cy-Fair ISD student. Yes, this is the longest period of time that I have spent among my people (outside of my family). I have to confess to all of you here... I cannot speak Vietnamese. I understand it, I can string a few sentences together, but if you're expecting me to have a conversation in Vietnamese, forget about that. Well, if I'm teaching these people English, then I could learn a little bit of my mother tongue in return. I have also heard quite a bit of Burmese, too, since a couple of my students are from Myanmar, which is another country in Southeast Asia.
The one thing that I truly expect to accomplish during my time as a volunteer teacher is to make a difference in these people's lives, and the way that I'm attempting to make a difference in their lives is by teaching them the English language. I hope that comprehending the basics of English can give them at least a fighting chance to be able to carve out a new life in a new country. You cannot begin to fathom the challenges that these people, who in many cases have not been in the US for very long, are facing. That, however, is me getting completely off topic. For what it's worth, the challenges they face are far beyond my understanding as well, because although I'm Vietnamese, I was born in Phoenix. I have never had to face such challenges, and I can admit that I am extremely fortunate to be born here in America.
With all of that being said (and then some), this commitment has taken a significant amount of time away from my ability to maintain this blog. I had originally intended to include a short post with sub-varsity scores, and some standouts for those games, but since I teach on Thursdays and sub-varsity game night is usually Thursday, this is impossible for me. So, I want to apologize to everyone for the state of neglect in which I have left this blog.
On a personal level, though, I think this hiatus of sorts has been great for me. I deserve this break. I deserve a break from all the nuttery that ensues after every Cy Woods loss. Yes, I know nuttery comes with the territory of having a blog about a sports team, and the Internet is the stage where anyone can have an opinion, no matter how awful it is, but I just simply needed a break. At some random point during this break, I realized that there will be a time where I will no longer be able to hang around to watch this team. That day is inevitable, and I am at peace knowing that.
In the year+ that this blog has been active, I have stayed up until daybreak fishing around for statistics on games that occurred seven years ago and trying to find some random fact about a backup wide receiver that only I know. But... my efforts are somehow working, because people actually read this blog, which actually bewilders me a little. Sometimes I read this blog to myself and think that these are the ramblings of some moron who thinks he knows football but really, he doesn't. I guess as long as people read the blog, I'm doing something right. Right?
Which (finally) leads me to this. I really, seriously, you could say desperately, need some help.
Twitter is nice and all, but if you can devote 140 characters to your thoughts, then I believe that you have the ability to elaborate on those thoughts, make them more coherent, and then expound on them even further. This is a possible avenue for you to express yourself. And, as a result, you will learn to become a better writer, and probably a better speaker. Trust me, you are going write A LOT in high school and college. I believe that if you have the ability to put your thoughts on a computer in an effective and coherent manner, you will find putting thoughts on a piece of paper to be significantly easier. In other words, you will know what you want to write about. Writing is a challenge, and I struggle with it every time I try to post something on this blog. There's a lot of aspects to writing that I worry about, like whether the sentence I just typed is grammatically correct, or if it sounds odd when I read it to myself. Other times, I wonder if there is a better word that could be used in place of one of the words in that sentence... like, I'm an adult who has acquired a vast vocabulary... I should be utilizing that vocabulary instead of some noun that I learned in grade school. Writing may very well turn out to be a huge challenge for you, but... the more you practice, the better you'll become at it. In a way, it's sort of like football. You probably don't know it yet, but chances are you're a far better writer than I can ever dream of becoming.
The following is for players only: If you are interested in contributing to the blog, please send me an email. My email address is on the right side of the page, under "Links." Or, send me a message on Twitter. If you plan to send an email (which is the option I prefer), please attach a sample of your writing in your message, preferably something you have done in school.
Thanks a lot for bearing with me, and I have never said this before (shame on me), but I truly appreciate each and every one of you for taking whatever scant time you have during your day to read my nonsense. Thank you for being my audience. An audience is really all I was hoping for when I started this blog over a year ago.
Go Cats. 212 and all that good stuff.
Dustin Nguyen
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