writing

Tidbits

I feel like I barely got any work done today. Yesterday I started an essay that I was supposed to type up today, but the day just totally disappeared. I did at least pitch an idea to another magazine. Then I just remembered I wanted to do a blog post today too.

My essay for Smart Pop Books Dollhouse contest didn’t win. Oh well! Here it is in full if you’re interested, and a list of the winners.

I finally got a hair cut. Now MB can stop calling me a “dirty hippie.” Even my hairdresser was like, “I think you waited too long to see me.” Charles is great! He’s French and a total scifi/fantasy nerd. We always talk about movies, and today he basically critiqued all the C.S. Lewis books.

I ran eight miles today. I ran four, rowed for a couple of minutes, and thought I’d run two or three more, but at three I knew I could do another. Hence, eight! Hopefully that will make up for having cheese at nearly every meal yesterday (breakfast: cheese toast, afternoon snack: cheese in a pita, dinner: pizza).

This weekend will be a nerd extravaganza. Tonight are the season premieres of Stargate Universe and Merlin on the SyFy channel. Tomorrow MB and I are going to WonderCon and seeing Clash of the Titans.

My mom changed her mind AGAIN. Now the cruise is out, and coming to SF is back in. But they’d only come for a few days because it turns out they don’t have to be back in L.A. the following weekend to take care of my grandmother. My aunt volunteered to skip the wedding (sure she’s crushed) and come up the weekend my grandmother needs care instead.

My parents will take care of their own flight. We just need to find them a hotel. A possibility is seeing if one of the furnished apartments in our building will be vacant at that time. That would actually be ideal.

MB wants to go to G&L Guitars in Fullerton while we’re in L.A. But how will we get there? We don’t drive!

rant and/or rave / writing — 2 Comments
31
Mar 10

Now that all I do is write, all I think about is writing

Except of course when my mom’s driving me crazy.

Now that I have a couple of articles out there, in addition to my blogging at The Nervous Breakdown, I get some kind words from people, which I really appreciate. I also get haters, which is kinda fun.

I’ve written before about the risks of writing about my life, especially in such a public forum like the internet, where you can get immediate feedback. I have to be careful about writing about other people, changing names and other details, and I have to really think about what I want to put out there about myself. I don’t mind making myself look bad, but there are some details that are TMI, even for me.

Recently I received a comment that I need to “put things in perspective and get over it,” that “life moves on” and that my need to write about the past only hampers my “inability” – I think she meant “ability” – to move on with my current “happiness” (cuz I’m not really happy now you see).

If you’re familiar with my writing, you know I write a lot about the past. Why do I do this? Number one, it’s a good story. Number two, it helps to put it behind me. Number three, writing about the past helps me see the lessons. It puts it at a distance so I can see meaning and events more clearly.

I’m not interested in making myself look good. An important goal of my writing is to own up to my own faults and mistakes. Plus how boring is a “heroine” who’s perfect? You might as well read a romance novel.

An essay is a smidgen of the real me. Even this blog is not the “real me.” It’s what I choose to share. You can believe I’m happier than I’ve ever been, more in love than I’ve ever been, or you can not. I really don’t care. There are other things for you to read; no one forced you to read anything of mine.

Recently I attempted to write a piece about one of my favorite childhood authors, Madeleine L’Engle. In my research, I found a fascinating write-up about her. I had always assumed she based her books on her own family, and that her family was pretty much perfect. Turns out her kids hated her books because they felt she had appropriated their lives. L’Engle wrote a memoir, but there’s nothing in it about her troubled marriage, or the troubled relationships she had with her kids.

I feel like I can’t help but write about myself. I blab and blab, probably too much. Maybe because I’ve always had a diary, and when I was kid, would force myself to write about upsetting things because I thought it was “therapeutic.” (I think I watched too much thirtysomething.)

But, I could only write about my marriage and ex’s affair after we divorced. I couldn’t bring myself to face it while it was happening. It was simply too painful.

“Is this good for you?” a clueless guy I once dated asked me of my memoir. “Should you be writing this?”

In a way writing about the past was like reliving it, but the only way I could write about it well, was to have enough distance. It’s like watching a movie or reading a book: you’re completely wrapped up in it at the moment, you laugh, you cry, you’re scared, upset, happy, but you know it’s not real. Clearly I was calmly sitting there writing, not sobbing or tearing my hair out or sucking my thumb in the corner; yet this guy still thought writing my memoir wasn’t “good” for me.

So why not just go to therapy? Why do I feel a need to share my “pain” with the world? One, it’s cheaper. Two, I’m a writer. The way I express myself is to share through my writing. If you don’t want to witness my pain, then move along, there’s nothing for you to see here. Go watch Dancing with the Stars (though that seems pretty painful too). I’ll still be writing.

family / travel / what i'm reading now / writing — 2 Comments
29
Mar 10

Yawn

So I was up till two last night because, like a dumb dumb, I had a strong coffee late in the afternoon. I couldn’t help it! I love Philz.

Update on the cruise saga: I found one that fits the dates my parents are looking for, and departs from Los Angeles. I gave the info to my mom, and also let her know that I don’t want to go.

“I thought you wanted to go!” she said.

“For about a second,” I said. She laughed.

My parents understand that I find cruises really really boring. Of course they’re disappointed that we won’t be joining them, but they won’t make us do anything that we don’t find fun. Now they just need to decide if they want to do that cruise.

Because I had decided not to stick around the week after my cousin’s wedding, I could make our flight arrangements. They were pretty cheap – less than $300 round trip for two people. Makes sense. The flight’s just an hour, but over Thanksgiving the tickets were almost $400 per person, I guess because we were flying into a different airport and it was the holidays.

We were going to stay with my brother but then thought the hotel would be easier. The wedding’s right downstairs so we don’t have to worry about transportation. I thought the hotel was $150 a night, but it turned out my cousin had a discount code, so the price was cheaper.

I love getting a good deal.

In other news, I’m officially addicted to the Harry Potter books. I read my first, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (out of order because I picked up a free copy from the “library” in my building’s laundry room), and I loved it! I was surprised. Although it moves fast, it doesn’t feel like a kids’ book. I’ll try to get the others from the library. Now I’m reading Persuasion, which is no Harry Potter but still enjoyable.

I have an essay to hand in today, as well as possibly some more ideas to another magazine. I’ve decided, since my writing site is static now and I have essays that I’ve written that don’t necessarily fit anywhere, I’m going to start posting them on my writing site. The first is a write-up of my experience at the Korean spa with ES back in February. Enjoy the naked reading!

writing — Comments Off
26
Mar 10

My novel is snores-ville

In addition to the short pieces I’ve been working on, I’m trying to rewrite my NaNoWriMo novel, which was a murder mystery set in the corporate world, but now may be just a mystery set in the corporate world.

I “finished” the novel in November, but I wasn’t happy with it. I felt like something was missing – a strong voice, distance from my real life (not that I’ve experienced a murder mystery, but some of the characters were based on real-life people) – and so I’m giving it another go.

I’ve added an element of mystery about the narrator. She has her own dark secret that unravels at the same time as the present-time mystery. I like that, but actually writing the novel has been so incredibly boring.

I don’t know why. I’ve written book-length works before. Besides the NaNoWriMo ones, I wrote a YA novel, two (unsuccessful) literary novels, and my memoir. Why am I slogging through this one?

Maybe I’ve become used to writing in short bursts. Even my memoir was written this way – I wrote it as a series of episodes from my life, then melded those episodes together in a continuous book. With this novel, I’m tackling it as a full-length piece, chipping away at it like it’s a giant rock.

Of course the novel is broken out into scenes and episodes. Maybe I just have a psychological block. Of course I don’t want to believe the book itself is boring. In my gut I don’t think it is. I foresee much weirdness coming afoot.

I struggled with the mystery aspect of it. I haven’t read many genre mysteries. But I decided I want it to be more of a non-genre story that has a mystery, sort of like The Secret History. I want the narrator to be seduced by a seemingly cozy world that turns out to be really bizarre and, ultimately, dangerous, and that reflects her own darkness.

Easier said than done.

awareness / weekends / writing — 1 Comment
08
Mar 10

External validation

I realize I need it. I wish I didn’t, but I do.

I had pitched a couple of ideas to magazine, but hadn’t heard anything. All week I had a vaguely blah feeling, which I attributed to not knowing what I wanted to write about next. But in the back of my mind, I knew I was feeling rejected.

It’s something I have to get used to, and in a way, I am. I feel the sting for a few moments, then move on.

Of course it’s easier to move on once you get an acceptance of a new idea. Yay!

At least it’s incentive to keep thinking of new ideas, to keep trying. MB had suggested when I follow up to follow up with a new idea or two as well. So smart!

Yesterday I worked hard on my latest post for the Nervous Breakdown, which is about the 100th episode of Ghost Hunters. I know I won’t get too many comments – it’s a long essay about a niche topic – but still I want them! I want lots of comments! I freely admit it.

In other news, I looked at my NaNoWriMo book from 2006 for the first time. Some parts aren’t bad, but I’m not sure what to do with it. Right now I just want to read it, and see if it’s salvageable at all. *Maybe* I’ll post it to my writing site, and see what you guys think.

The book isn’t about me, at least not overtly, but is about the brutal murder of an older couple, set in the midwest. The couple’s son, who to everyone seems “off,” is the main suspect, and is basically coerced into confessing. The novel deals with unraveling the mystery of if he really did it or not, and if not, who the real killer, or killers, might be.

I got the idea when I heard some story on NPR about coerced confessions and implanted memories. Some poor guy got coerced into confessing to the murder of his parents, and even started to “remember” details because he’d heard them so many times from the police officers.

MB and I spent the weekend working on our projects and hanging out in Union Square. People watching was fun. One guy kept taking off and putting on his shoes and socks. Some Asian chick fell as she tried to go down the steps in her four-inch stilettos (idiot) so that the people who were photographing her (why, I don’t know – was she a model? paying for headshots?) had to run off and buy her a pair of flats because she couldn’t walk in her heels anymore.

This couple had the most adorable miniature terrier named Stella. How do I know the dog’s name? Because they kept calling it as they tried to photograph the dog. Of course Stella was more interested in stalking pigeons.

There was the cutest little Asian girl in sparkly pink jacket and sparkling pink ballet flats. I would have KILLED for shoes like that at her age!

The highlight though was this group of Kim Kardashian-lookalikes who took pictures with these random gay guys like the guys were just another tourist sight. Look, kids, it’s two gay guys again!

So not motivated to go the gym today. Will probably do an easy workout.

friends / writing — 1 Comment
05
Mar 10

A break and gossip

Took a break from the grind yesterday by hanging out with a blogging pal.

We arranged to meet in the Mission for lunch. Normally I’d have taken a cab, but when ES was here, she got me to “practice” taking public transportation and so now I feel more confident.

I needed to get to a BART station, the closest of which is Civic Center. But I wanted to avoid that area. I should have just walked to Powell, but like a dummy I walked all the way down Van Ness, thinking I’d hit Market. I would have eventually, but way out of my way.

At the Powell BART station, I bit the bullet and put $20 on a card (which seems to be the only option when using your debit or credit card – have I mentioned SF public transit sucks?). As I was finishing, a homeless guy appeared out of nowhere and asked me for money.

Hello, you don’t do that to a woman by herself with her purse open! You spring up on her out of nowhere, of course she’s going to dart away like a quarterback with the ball and you’re a 300 pound line backer. As I walked quickly away, he said, “You’re fast!” That’s right, mofo, get away from me.

As I was riding the BART, I realized that I could take it out to Richmond the next time I get a hankering for good Chinese food. A whole new world! Don’t you DARE close your eyes.

My friend and I met up on the 24th and Mission platform, and walked to Papalote Mexican Grill. Apparently it was on Bobby Flay’s cooking show, and I suspect the prices have been jacked up. The burrito, while tasty, was about $8, which is steep for the Mission, and my friend said her small bottle of water was $2.50. That’s movie theater prices!

I got the chili verde burrito with pork and it hit the spot. I was glad there didn’t seem to be any rice. Too much rice in a burrito fills me up.

Afterward, we walked down 24th Street, stopping at Dynamo Donuts. Unfortunately they were out of bacon donuts (yes, donuts with BACON), so I made do with spicy chocolate and lemon pistachio. I had the chocolate one this morning, and I have to say it wasn’t that great. I expected it to be much richer. Maybe the lemon one will be better.

Eventually we made our way to Dolores Park, which I’d never been to before. It was such a gorgeous day just to sit and hang out. At one point, another homeless guy approached us and offered to sell us – what? a homemade bong? I wasn’t sure as I had turned away, but apparently that’s what he said. For the rest of our time there, he wandered around, bothering people.

It was great to get out and get some sun. In fact, I think I’m both a little sun- and windburned. Should really invest in a hat.

Today it’s back to work. Working on an essay with the theme of “family and friends,” due April 1. Want to send query letters to some agents for my memoir, four in San Francisco and a couple in New York. I pitched a couple of ideas to a magazine and am waiting to hear.

While doing some research on literary agents, I found this helpful list of “bad” agents, and one of them, Mark Sullivan Associates, was a place I briefly worked for in college! He’s on the list because, like other “thumbs down” agents, he charged up front fees. An agent really shouldn’t charge authors anything.

His reasoning, according to a discussion board, for charging fees is:

The book must be read carefully, and a written evaluation proving the agency’s attention and effort should accompany a contract or a rejection, in either case. We provide this.

You know who provided the written evaluation? Students like me.

He mostly hired graduate students, but he had no problem employing me, a mere sophomore. It was pretty thankless work. I’d have to read most of these giant manuscripts, and type up a page’s worth of evaluation. Needless to say, I didn’t do it for very long.

I remember the guy being kind of a jerk. He was one of those arrogant nerds, a know-it-all and full of himself. He had a Japanese girlfriend (from Japan) who I guess didn’t know any better.

So funny to see him on a worst agents list.

writing — 2 Comments
12
Feb 10

Neglect

I’ve been neglecting my blog this week.

I finally finished that Dollhouse essay. I kept thinking I was done, but then would mull over it more, and come up with more ideas. I’m glad though. Some of it was weak, and I think I was able to improve it.

Basically, I compare the Dollhouse to a corporation, not too much of a stretch since it’s part of an actual corporation, Rossum. I liken the dolls to corporate workers, and write about the truth-teller in the workplace – like Tom Cruise in The Firm. I do some comparison with Metropolis, which I’d never seen before so I took some time to watch it. Luckily I found a bunch of clips on YouTube, rescored with modern music. It was very interesting.

There’s another contest deadline on February 15 that I’m going to try and enter. This means writing like crazy all weekend.

I got my first official writing assignment. I pitched an idea to this online women’s magazine, and they liked it! I couldn’t believe it. I’d never pitched an idea before, but as I was reading their stuff, I had a visceral reaction to one of their pieces. Plus I’ve had this idea for a while, and it all just clicked. They’re paying me a bit of dough and I’ll have a contract and everything, Yay, I’m a real person!

I’m totally losing interest in writing those dinky web articles. What’s annoying is that I’ll pick a topic, do some research, and find the almost same exact topic already written on the very site I’m writing for. For instance, my topic will be, “The Advantages and Disadvantages of Laptops” (I just made that up), and I’ll find, “The Advantages of Laptops” already written. Wtf?

I’m not sure how they come up with these topics. I suspect they’re based on key word searches, hence the slight, almost indiscernible differences.

The one good thing about them is that they pay on time, though the amount is so small. All the time I put into these dinky articles, I could be writing higher quality, possibly more lucrative essays, and doing research on where to submit.

writing — 3 Comments
09
Feb 10

Writing machine

I’ve been working like crazy on this essay about the TV show, Dollhouse. Over the weekend I found a contest online. The deadline was February 1, but it got moved to Feb 15. Just in time!

It’s much harder than I anticipated. I thought I had some good ideas, but then I realized they weren’t too original. I finally settled on something. Who knows how unique it is, but at least I have to give it a try.

For some reason, there are a slew of contest deadlines for February 15. For one I have something ready that I wrote for earlier contests, but there’s another for which I’ll write something new. I’m just a writing machine!

Otherwise nothing too exciting has been going on. Over the weekend, MB and I did our usual working/writing/eating thing. We also saw The Shinjuku Incident, a Jackie Chan movie in which he does no kung fu. Crazy! It’s pretty much a straight crime drama though it does contain some ridiculousness.

I didn’t watch the Super Bowl. Who dat? Who cares.

Random note: our upstairs neighbors are incredibly noisy sex havers.

Okay, back to work.

what i'm reading now / writing — 1 Comment
29
Jan 10

Books

I thought I’d take a little time to give an update on my progress on the BBC 100 Books list. I’m SLOGGING my way through.

The books crossed out are ones I’ve read in the past, and the books crossed out in bold are the ones I’ve read since I started this project in the fall. (You’ll see I took some liberties with the first one and put all three titles, and that I’m a procrastinating machine.)

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
1a. The Fellowship of the Ring
1b. The Two Towers
1c. The Return of the King
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie

So I’ve read a total of five books! WOW! Right now I’m reading Cold Comfort Farm, which shouldn’t take as long as Midnight’s Children, that’s for sure.

What did I think of these books I read? Just to be snarky, here are my six-word reviews.

The Lord of the Rings
Too long, watch the movies instead.

Little Women
Very Christian, still sucked me in.

Midnight’s Children
Like Heroes on crack in India.

* * *

In other news, I’m sure you’ve heard by now that J.D. Salinger died. He was 91 and since Catcher in the Rye, a total recluse.

I read Catcher in the Rye for the first time in junior year English. Although I was in honors English the year before and always did well in creative writing, I was put in the non-honors class, ie, with the dummies (or so I felt). This was all because I hadn’t done well on the grammar portion of the SATs, which I didn’t try very hard on and didn’t know would be a determinant of my placement the following year. (I smelled bullshit, and still do.)

I was angry because of this and for a shitload of other reasons, and so when I started to read Holden’s sad, angry voice, I thought, That’s me.

One of our assignments was to write the “next chapter” of the book in Holden’s voice. I remember my classmates writing about their own piddly problems. That pissed me off. Did they seriously think Holden would care about a physics project and curfew? Did they get the point of the book at all?

People were phonies. At my school, the teachers and administrators were nice to the smart, well-dressed kids who’d get into ivy league colleges and make the school look good. The poor kids who smoked and took shop were a lost cause. I actually heard one of the teachers say that. “She’s a lost cause,” dismissively of some girl with frosted hair and a Slayer T-shirt.

But I still wanted to succeed. I still wanted to fit in. The next year I got into Advanced Placement English (suck it, Ms. Palmieri!) and Advanced Writing. I got a 5 on the AP test and the school award for creative writing. I had friends and was going to my first choice college. Maybe I was a phony too, but it was definitely easier than being angry and trapped on the outside.

The voice of the book continued to haunt me for years. One of the first great things I wrote was a novella about an angry Asian American girl who more than anything wants to leave her parents and seek her long-lost grandparents. What I liked about the piece was the voice. I could hear it – her cadence, the snap of her voice, reluctant tenderness – and only now I realize that was Holden Caulfield, reborn as Doris Tanabata Lee.

Lately I’ve been thinking about giving Doris another visit. Maybe her voice – watered down Holden’s – is worth it.

sick / writing — 1 Comment
19
Jan 10

Next Nervous Breakdown post + cold

My next Nervous Breakdown post is up.

Before I moved to the Princeton area, I live in a town that was mostly Jewish and Italian, ie, not too many Asians, which messed with my head in terms of standards of beauty. Despite all the stereotypes of Asian women being trophy wives are whatever, my experience growing up was that Asian girls were not pretty. Or at least that’s how I felt.

In other news, I have my first cold of the year. It came on all of a sudden. On Friday I was perfectly fine. Then that evening I had a tickle in my throat. By Saturday my throat hurt, and by yesterday I was sneezing and stuffed up. Usually colds creep up on me very slowly. Hopefully this one will disappear as quickly as it started.

Trying to get my butt to the gym today. Will attempt a short run and then yoga. I usually feel better after a light workout when I have a cold.

In other other news, we saw The Lovely Bones this weekend. Two words: it sucked. Very boring and lame. So much of the book was glossed over or left out entirely. The only good thing was the acting.

Angela Tung Oversharing on the internet since 2005.