• Thank you Kimmie for your contribution since the conception phase of this project, when you made several trips to Berkeley looking at dining halls and hotels as possible venues for our event. Thank you for being so flexible – we know you really wanted to do it in Berkeley but were willing to lower your expectation. Most people wanted the event in San Jose, but your trips to Berkeley didn’t stop. You continued to go there to pick up little art & craft supplies, gifts and prizes. The people did not want to go to Berkeley, so you brought the Berkeley atmosphere us. You spent countless hours with restaurant staff, negotiating and working out detail, to the point I’m not sure they want to see your face anymore And you’ve kept your eyes on the budget “like a hawk”, making wise decisions and yielding a surplus of $2 to pass on to the next Ban Mua Việc. Hooray! One other thing, if anh Phú is the designated historian of the VSA, then Kimmie is the social hub. It was the friendship that she has kept with “most” of the alumni over the years that made this reunion event a success. Thank you Kimmie.

• Thank you Hà (Super Woman) for teaming with Kimmie on several of those Berkeley excursions. Your artistic touch has helped make people feel at home as soon as they stepped into that restaurant. And thank you for your infectious mua việc attitude. Anything we dumped at you, you’re willing to take – designing flyers, making phone calls, selling tickets, constructing gallery stations, recruiting photographers, setting up photo booths, writing name tags … anything! Too bad you were locked up during the college years. Otherwise we would have made you president of the VSA for several years in a row
• Thank you Diễm for willing to be the bad cop, hardening your “cutest cheeks” into the “thick face” of Ban Mua Việc. You put yourself out there to call people, collect money and keeping our cash flow positive. Personally I think treasurer is the most difficult and least appreciated position in any organization. Now I know why the Boy Scout troop in your area is doing so well. With you in charge of their finance, they’re in good hands. Thank you for lending your hands in this event.
• Thank you Bích Du for the stunning Campanelli cake. With it you have brought our beloved UCB Campus right to our restaurant that night. We understand you worked on it for 2 straight weeks. Thank you for your dedication. Are you sure you didn’t attend architecture school?
• Thank you anh Hải Nguyễn, Thái Anh, Cẩn, Thắng and many others for capturing this rare moment together on images and video clips. We know your work is not over because there’s still so much to be done, with consolidating and editing and publishing. The reunion event came and went but your work will continue to remind us the blessing of friendship we’ve all experienced.
• Thank you Thắng & Tùng (Diễm) for lugging your TV and LCD screen to display memorable images of the past (and helped us sell a few DVDs too). Thank you Thúy for supplying us with those 3 VHS tapes. It’s amazing you still have those priceless videos.
• Thank you Thắng, Khánh, Tùng Mai and a few others who helped with set up, reception, crowd moving and body bouncing. Your subtle job as “an ninh chìm” helped prevent a few mishaps before they occur. Thank you for providing a safe and pleasant atmosphere for us to mingle in.
• Thank you Thăng Củ for pulling together an all time classic with the Văn Nghệ program. You have given a heart-felt thank to everybody else in the entertainment team but you forgot the most important person – you. There’s so much work behind the scene to ensure such an entertaining program, to include all the participating classes, to bring back good ole memories, and to keep within the time limit. Thank you for your hard, selfless work. And thank you for your thoughtfulness, always coming to our meetings and practices with those delicious snacks and drinks.

Cho dù còn tóc hay không,

Cho dù thẳng tắp hay cong vòng vòng,

Cho dù anh mập hay kòm,

Vẫn thương Thăng Củ đến mòn tim em.

- Kẹp Tóc

• Thank you Thụy for giving birth to this project. Yes it was your idea originally. Thank you for yielding to the crowd and hold this event against your family plan. You are the other social hub of the alumni. This event is not possible without your Blackberry and its phone book. You are an inspiring leader and the master of bán việc. Whenever you have a job to sell, we’ll line up to buy it.
• Thank you to the picnic team: Thanks to Mai (Huy) for insisting on the idea and for your willingness to finance it. Without you we’d be too chicken to dream of having a picnic. Thank you for singlehandedly buying and bringing most of our picnic supplies. Thanks to Trực for going the extra mile (more like 100 extra miles) to ensure we have the authentic TopDogs. Thank you for not accepting imitation from Costco. Thank you Hà for storing the dogs and for working up our appetite to the edge of starvation before delivering those juicy dogs. Thank you Minh for coming out early and setting up a perfect charcoal fire. Your BBQ is still the best. Thank you Diễm for hăng say mua việc with bánh mì thịt nguội. Thank you Kimmie for extending the Berkeley feel to the picnic area. What a welcome sign to see those blue and gold table cloth from a distance. And thank you many others for helping out with cooking, serving and adding to the fun.
• Thank you to Ban Mua Việc of the 2007 Reunion – anh Chiến, Thắng Quản, Câu, Thụy, chị Misa, Thúy and others. Thank you for starting the momentum and giving us a valuable experience.
• Last, but not least, thank you ALL OF YOU who came and participated in this event. Your presence made it historic! Many of you had to cancel or change family plans to be with us. Some deserted their family at a campground to be with us. Some canceled their son’s graduation party to be with us. Some ditched a family wedding to be with us. Some made a special trip back from Vietnam to be with us. A lot of people traveled from Southern Cal to be with us. Hoàng and his bride flew in from Seattle. Hùng Hawaii from Colorado. Many had to rent hotels for the weekend. Others slept on the floor somewhere. ALL OF YOU sacrificed something to participate in this event. Your spirit, the Bezerkeleyian spirit, was what made this event special. For that, we thank you! When someone commented to Hùng Hawaii and Ninh Khanh that they were better than Nguyễn Ngọc Ngạn and Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Duyên, Hùng Hawaii said, “you know this crowd is so high spirit and easy to please … you can just put them together in a room, without any entertainment or food, and they’d still have a good time. Even if you charge them $100.” To the future Ban Mua Việc: take note!

Thank you EVERYONE!

Tôi xin từ chức

===============================

My dear friends,

Couple days after our beautiful and memorable event, my soul is still glowing, warmed by meeting old friends and your whole hearted enthusiasm in contributing to the program. On behalf of Ban Mua Viec and as the coordinator of the musical program, I express my sincere thanks to all of you for making our gathering such an emotional party for all of us.

• Bao Khanh, please relay our thanks to your friendly husband for playing the keyboard for us, rescuing us from our lack of knowledge of the song Ga^`n Nhau Trao Cho Nhau, and then be the main leader during our songs of the dance event.
• Big thank you to anh Tai Huynh and your friend Khuong for yoursefless effort, driving from San Diego the day before the event, encountering tornado wrecked roads, tired, hungry, and still joined us for the final rehearsal in the last hour. Your being there gave us a boost and the confidence that we will be just fine. Your keyboard playing and DJ’ing contribution is a great part of our success.
• Thank you, anh Hu*o*ng, the guitarist. You have helped us at many Van Nghe events during our college years, and once again be a big part of our “biggest” event in 25 years.
• Thank you, Thu’y Dung for your gutsy performance even just coming out of laryngitis and still “game” enough to sing Truc Dao… and was not discouraged when I “axed” your original Bang Bang song.
• Thanks to Kieu Lien, Rosanna, Hiep, Mai Thanh Tung, for joining the gig, 60 Nam Cuoc Doi was lively with your participation. You were lightening quick in response to my recruitment. Your enthusiasm gave us additional excitement. Rosanna (Hoa`), Hiep, Tung… did you say you will organize the next reunion?
• Thank you, Ti, for bringing us once again the heart warming memories of Ma^`u Ky? Nie^.m. We really miss Li and seeing both of you laughing at our corky jokes.
• Hoa` and Die^.u Thu’y, for bringing us laugher, a funny and true reflection of our once romantic and dreamy poems to today’s reality. Hoa`, you are still a great performer. Thu’y, I admire your stage presence, still glowing since the days of Miss Ao’ Da`i.
• Thank you to James, our young, talented, and the newest member of our Van Nghe group. We were apprehensive whether James, only 25 years old, a young grad of UCB, could fit in with our “old” crowd, whether he could even speak Vietnamese… well, James proved me wrong. Not only could he speak Vietnamese, he sang most difficult Vietnamese song of the event, and to top that, the best voice. It is not easy to be an outsider, having the courage to join our crowd. We are very glad he came to us.
• Thanks to anh Phu Bui, our appointed historian. You brought our true past back once again. I wonder, sometimes… how did you collect these valuable bits of memories, in words, sound, pictures; how do you archive them. How do you remember who’s whom, who did what, our complete names, days, and events. Wow, I truly admire you.
• Thank you to Thu* and -Da?m, for coming to the rescue in the last minutes. As Thuy Dung was coming down with laryngitis, I scrambled to find someone who could fill the spot. Despite that I had turned Thu* and -Da?m away previously when the program was full, you came back to the rescue… even more so, the song you duet together was so romantic, we should have voted you for the HOTTEST UCB COUPLE.
• Thanks to Frank (Tha`nh), who overcame his initial reservation, then dedicatedly came to EVERY rehearsals. Such warm voice that escaped our school years Van Nghe. You came through and received well deserved flowers.
• Thank you, to Song Xuan; despite not playing the drums in ~25 years… she bought the new drum-set, committed to practice, hosted all the rehearsals, listening to Youtube to learn the songs, be the girl in the band. That was really awesome. I’m sure your husband, son, family and friends were impressed and proud of you.
• I thank my buddy Thu.y Ho, for helping me out during the event, tracking down the performers, reminding them of their slots, distributing programs, lyrics… You are a big part of making the show so smooth.
• Thank you, to the MC’s… unforgettable Hu`ng Hawaii and Ba?o Khanh… what more can I say about you. Everyone were excited to have you two mastering the ceremony. You were both as smooth as sweet ice cream. We love you.
• Hu`ng Pham, you are our great leader. Your insights, your direction, suggestions, humble and not-so-humble opinions are always inspirational. We had our disagreements in the event, but you always had the ways to settle and have everyone fall in line. You brought us together for this most memorable event. Keep on blogging, I need that addictive fix.

I treasure working together with Hu`ng Pha.m, Hu`ng Hawaii, and Ba?o Khanh. Khanh made up the original program, the four of us bounced it back and forth, and with contribution from Hoa Do, after 15 revisions… up to the last minute… we had a program that was thoughtful to the band, the singers, the MC, the flow… it couldn’t be any more perfect. I thank other BMV members, Kim, Ha`, Die^~m, Thu.y, Tru*.c, Die^.u Thu’y, Tu`ng Mai, Tha(‘ng Vo~, Ho`a -Do^~, for their tireless dedication to the event and let me Mua Viec, be part of you. It is truly a task I thoroughly enjoyed.

I can’t wait to see the photos and movies that you made.

Tha(ng cu?

(The winner of the best forehead).

PS: I hope I didn’t miss anyone… do let me know if I did.

In fact, Kimmie found enough left over money to refund Hung Hawaii half of his registration fee. If you noticed, he didn’t sit down for dinner and the restaurant didn’t charge us for his meal. So Hung Hawaii “only” had to pay $30, plus the cost of his plane ticket and the agony of leaving his wife alone with 5 sick kids, to entertain us that evening (on an empty stomach). Talk about dedication!

At the beginning of the project, we set the goal of finishing it without having any left over cash. We failed. There is a remaining balance of $2. It wouldn’t be right to divide this lump-sum among Ban Mua Việc. We don’t deserve it. Please let us know what to do with this money.

Below is a break-down of our incomes and expenses :

Do you remember feeling welcomed by Hội Sinh Viên Việt Nam back in those days? This weekend we welcome you back, friends! It’s a rare chance to reconnect with people who fell to the same pickup lines many years ago. It will be special, we promise you, just to be with each other again.

To make this the best experience for you, may we suggest these 2 things?

1. Make sure you arrive at the banquet early, around 5:30pm – no later than 6:00pm. Reason: so you have more time before the sit-down dinner to enjoy wine and appetizers, connect with old friends, browse the different gallery and video stations, participate in some light & fun activities, and take pictures at the photo booth when your faces are still “fresh.” We have carefully planned this “mingling” time to be a very special experience for you, so don’t miss it!
2. Make sure you plan to attend the picnic on Sunday. If you don’t, you will regret at the end of the banquet, because you will want more time together. It’s an opportunity to continue reconnecting and recounting the special time we had at Berkeley. Bring your whole family and enjoy some delicious TopDogs (yes – those authentic Dogs) transported from Berkeley this week just for you. Quantity is limited so first come first serve!

Reunited and it feels so good!

(PS. We have reached capacity so registration is closed. Thanks to all who have registered. You are in for a treat!)

While I can’t wait to attend the 25 year reunion banquet, I am also very anxious about what to wear. What kind of attire will make my old flame regret for dumping me while signaling to my new flame that I am still hot hot hot?

Flameless

Dear Flameless,

At your age, I would recommend cover yourself up as much as possible and leave room for their imagination. I hear that there’s good wine served at your party, and you know a little bit of wine can do wonder to one’s imagination.

Here are my specific suggestions:

• If you’re a girl: At least a nice dress or áo dài, if you can still fit in it.
• If you’re a guy: At least dress up business casual, so both your flames can be proud of you.
• Dress to Impress. Bleu Ginger‘s elegant atmosphere is the perfect setting for photo op with both flames, if you can stand the excitement. (and I read that there will be professional/paparazzi taking pictures for Báo Tàu Magazine)
• Best if you can wear Blue & Gold, the color of the California Golden Bears. Absolutely NO Reds! Don’t want to give your rival Stanford any free promo.

Good luck. Remember to write & tell me how things go.

Abby

• When: Sunday May 25 2008, from 11 am to 4 pm. It’s the Sunday after our reunion banquet.
• Where: Spring Valley Group Picnic Area, in the Ed Levin County Park near Milpitas. This beautiful park is already reserved for our group. (a map will be provided for you at the banquet)
• What: Just a lot of unstructured time for old pals to reconnect, for the young at heart to compete over a few games of volleyball, soccer or football, and for the kids to catch some fish (kids fishing only).
• How much: You will need to pay $6 per car for park entrance fee. In addition, we may ask you to contribute a few bucks toward the reservation fee.
• Hungry? How about some TopDogs? That’s right, we’re ordering a limited number of fresh dogs from our college favorite just for you. First come, first served. Again we will ask you to contribute some money to help cover the cost if you take the dogs. Because the supply of TopDogs is limited, you are encouraged to bring your own food for your family. We will keep the charcoal hot on the grill for you to BBQ meat if you need it. We will also provide plenty of dưa hấu, ice, drinks, plates, cups and utensils for your convenience.

So … book the date, bring your family (please, not the other way around – book your family, bring your date ). But do re-live the memory you see in these pictures:

Thắng demonstrating the spread-eagle position

Can Đoan Tâm still do this?

Hùng Râu đang lùa heo về chuồng!

While it is true that Hùng Hawaii recently had the honor of co-MC’ing with Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Duyên, if you ask him about the opportunity to work with our MC #2, he would say, “there’s absolutely no comparison my man – 2 người một trời một vực … how can you even compare the two?”  We feel confident that, after reunion banquet, you will agree with him too.

SO … who is our MC #2?  Sorry, don’t have permission to reveal it yet!

Trống Cơm by Tí & Toe

Ly Rượu Mừng

Rước Tình Về Với Quê Hương (part 1)

Rước Tình Về Với Quê Hương (part 2)

BTW we will have more video like this available on DVDs at the reunion banquet. Come and get it!

Personally I can name only 10 people on this second picture. Please help me out! Who are all these good looking people?