New Site

Im working on a website/photoblog for my photography so Im going to be moving visionDYNAMIX.us over there as well.

http://KHDPhoto.com/

http://visionDYNAMIX.us/ will take you to the visionDYNAMIX pages there.

November the First.

As of midnight, sales of Scoobies for Boobies merchandise, for the most part, closed. So pleased to announce the total Proceeds to the ACS from my sales totaled to $1051.84. This is from my sales alone. I will update with numbers from the other vendors if/when I get them.

Im extremely proud of the community. Subaru's slogan is "Share the love;" NESC's is "Come for the cars, stay for the people." It is truly amazing that as a community we can all come together to help a great cause. I saw this with Heartboy, err..Tom @ Kartboy when he had his quad(?) bypass with his t-shirt sales. Ive seen this a few other times within our own community. I see the brotherly (and sisterly) love ALL the time at various meets and enthusiast events I attend. But the monetary amount Im able to see personally puts all of that into perspective. I mean..really..we raised over $1000 selling STICKERS. This is one community I hope to be a part of for a long time, regardless of Subaru's offerings and my needs.

We can only truly hope that with the funding we're able to help raise, that one day maybe we'll find a cure for this horrible disease.

Its been an honor being a part of a project, and hope to be a part of projects to come.

Thanks a lot guys!
Khanh

It was originally my intention when I got this blog post up to immediately start with daily updates, both in text and with my Project365 and Photo-A-Day projects.

However, since the post has gone up, life has been an emotional roller coaster. Among other things, I went through another relocation.

But everything seems so insignificant now. On Thursday, Oct 14, 2010, my family lost a close friend to Breast Cancer. (Yes, the same cause that Im working in fundraising for!)

Mrs. Maria Tang started working for my mother's nail salon back in the late 90s. I soon became friends with her daughters, Kim and Cathy. Soon after, she had opened her own salon, but we had moved in down the street from them. I remember her telling my mom, "Anyone can loan someone some money for some time. But it takes some pride to teach someone a trade."

Fast forward a couple years. My family was in the middle of buying a new construction home in California. Shortly before the house was scheduled to be ready for move-in, we sold our business, packed our possessions, and moved. We were living with my uncle until our house was completed. Delay after delay, we eventually gave up and were going to head back the NorthEast. We were able to buy back our nail salon, but the apartment my father found for rent was not ready for move in for another 2 weeks.

Mrs. Tang and her family had recently purchased a home. They offered my family a room in their home while we got our crap together.

Now, youre probably thinking to yourself..what the heck is he going on for? Well..acts of kindness like these were the norm for Mrs. Tang.

A few weeks ago, after I had come home for the week from my apartment in Boston, I had visited her in her home. Though she was not able to converse with me, she did know that I had come to visit.

I saw her on Wednesday. Lying on her bed, breathing from an oxygen machine. The sight absolutely broke my heart. I had wished there was something I could do..but what? What could I do? I felt so helpless. I was watching someone's last hours, in front of my eyes.

Thursday morning, I took the train to class in Boston. On the train home, around 2pm or so, I sent Kim a text. "How's mom?" Her response: "Mom passed away shortly after noon today." At the young age of 49, Mrs. Tang lost her years long fight with Breast cancer.

There I sat, on the train, phone in hand. My eyes immediately filled with tears. Wow..the world just lost a wonderful person. Try as I may, could not get the thought off the my mind for the rest of the ride.

My dad had picked me up from the train station. We were going to work on a project at home. I said "Dad. Di 10 (thats what we called her in vietnamese) passed away." You could immediately tell his mood changed. We headed to their home.

Mrs. Tang layed in the same bed. So peaceful. My first thought was, "At least she's no longer in pain. At least she's no longer suffering." In light of that, emotions could not be held back.

Mrs. Tang's elderly mother sat by her side, weeping. In the last minutes before the funeral home had arrived, she finally broke down. She said words that are now stuck in my brain. No mother should have to lose a child.

When the 2 women from the funeral home came to take Mrs. Tang away, I watched Mr. Tang, Kevin (Mrs. Tang's only son), Kim, and Cathy say goodbye to their mom, along with some other family members. It was an absolutely heartbreaking sight. Everything Ive been upset about the past few weeks, things that I complained about earlier that morning, meant nothing. These young people have just lost their mother. Kevin, who's in Middle school. Kim, who's 6 months pregnant. Cathy in medical school. Will never see their mother again. The home was filled with family and friends who came to grieve. With Kin's grandmother in my arms, we followed as the 2 women pushed Mrs. Tang out of the home and into a van. We walked back inside as the van pulled away, I looked back, and my father had Cathy and Kevin in his arms, crying. "Kids, you no longer have a mother," he cried.

My father and I went home soon after. I immediately thought..how can I help? What can I do? I started working on memorial decals, but couldnt get anything I could come up with to cut. I gave up. Woke up the next morning, started working again. Eventually, I got something to work.

Note that the decals are not for sale. They will be forwarded to Kim and she will distribute them as she feels appropriate.

Mrs. Maria Tang, we'll miss you. You were a wonderful woman. You faught strong, but you have to fight no longer. No longer will you be in pain. Forever in our hearts you'll be. RIP.

visionDYNAMIX.us now forwards to here.

Scoobies for Boobies fundraising is live today. http://scoobiesforboobies.org/

YAY!

This has been a long time coming, and hopefully I can get this to stay up. In my mad dash to get projects ready for the weekend, I was not careful with moving my web server and dropped it. I believe the Hard Drive in it failed, but the main thing is it's not running. Hopefully, I can get it back up. But for now, this will have to do.

Today is the 27th of September. That means October 1st is only 3 days away.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. This year, Im proud to be working with the wonderful Sarah Taylor and scoobiesforboobies.org to help with fundraising efforts. Be sure to check out scoobiesforboobies.org in the next few days!
(www.subiegirls.com; www.scoobiesforboobies.org)

Robert Champion, founder of MySubie.com, this year's Wicked Big Meet mastermind, is at it again. Tuner Social is being held this weekend down at New Jersey Motorsports Park, where the 2nd Rally America Rallycross event is being held at the same time. Partially tarmac, partially dirt. 500HP, cars running side by side. Big names such as Travis Pastrana, Tanner Foust, Dave Mirra, Rhys Millen, and more are competing. Its nuts. Wish I could make it this weekend. Next weekend, Rob is also running Subiefest2010. Dude's a nut. Subiefest is the west coast Wicked Big Meet, kinda, but bigger? Meet #texas of enthusiasts, All Subaru car show, All Subaru road racing shootout. In the middle of all this, he's working on launching DRT Components. I believe his first products are Urethane Mud Flaps, competitively priced.
(www.mysubie.com; www.wickedbigmeet.com; www.tunersocial.com; www.rallyamerica.com; www.subiefest.com; www.drtcomponents.com)