ARGH!

I was wrong. I was wrong. I will have to make my sister another pie. But not for another week. There isn't even an excuse. Once again, just sheer stupidity and procrastination gang up on each other. I will be staying with my friends Tim and Mag and I will not have to blog. That's right. I will be spending time with real people so I do not need to spend time with the computer. I MIGHT blog. But I do not have to blog for this period of time. I decided this is because the purpose of the blog was so I wouldn't isolate myself from other people, and so while I'm visiting my friends, this purpose is moot.

But keep an eye out for August 4th when I have to blog again.

I'm Not Making Another Pie

I've been hard up for blog material lately, but today I bought some empty bottles for my toiletries since I'll be doing a lot of traveling. I may have bought more than I needed, but the Legend of Zelda fan girl in me can't resist an empty bottle.

20q.net

If you need something to waste time one, here's a website that plays 20 questions with you. The classic 20q couldn't guess when I was thinking of a monkey, but the People 20q did guess when I thought of Colin Firth. However, it could not guess Neil Gaiman. Shame. So I remained to be impressed. The picture above is a toy from what I'm guessing is the same company. Though why anyone would want to buy a toy for something they could do for free either online or with another bored person is beyond me.

Interesting Legend I Found

I saw a book in the bookstore called Pope Joan. Apparently there's a medieval legend of a female Pope that to this day people aren't sure if it was true or not. The book said it was soon to be a major motion picture. Sadly, failed to mention the movie was in German. Looks cool though. I'd like to see it if they get some subtitles.

Also, on a cool sidenote, the guy who plays Faramir from Lord of the Rings is in this film.

Doughnuts and Economics

I had a craving for doughnuts today so my sister and I went down to the grocery store to get some because I've never seen a doughnut shop around here. My sister lives near a really ritzy mall that seems to have everything else. But to be honest, I only ever see doughnut shops in economically depressed or, in the very least, slightly sketchy areas. Why is that? And before you say that's because rich people won't eat fried dough, there are TWO pretzel stands in the mall.

I Want This Shirt

In case you can't read it, the Scarecrow's saying "Brains!" Run, Dorothy, run! I found this by clicking on a gmail ad. Sometimes it's uncanny how well those things know me...

If you're interested, and have more money than me, you can buy the shirt here.

Lost in Austen Review

I finally managed to get Lost in Austen from the library a few days ago but hadn't gotten around to reviewing it. I sent my thoughts to a friend though so, for the spoilers review, it'll be exactly what I told her because I'm lazy that way.

But first!

NON-Spoilers Review (This review does not contain pride, prejudice, or spoilers)

The premise of this British TV series was a modern woman got sucked into the story of Pride and Prejudice and her presence throws off the entire plot. She even discovers that some of the villains aren't as bad as she thought and some of the good characters aren't as perfect as she imagined. I had a good time watching it even if a few aspects did bug me. If you're looking for a retelling of Pride and Prejudice, and you're able to turn off the little voice that says "That's not how it's supposed to go!", this could be a fun watch. This show even made me like Mr. Wickham. So if you're curious to see how that could happen, I recommend it. It's a nice imaginary frolic through Austen's regency England, but don't expect anything profoundly deep.

Spoilers Review

I liked it but I wasn't nuts about the ending. I felt really bad for Charlotte and that was never resolved. Going to Africa is arguably better than life with Mr. Collins but she seemed to believe that she had been abandoned by her one friend. Plus I never can completely buy a time travel romance where a modern person stays in the past. I can't imagine that they wouldn't quickly regret this decision with the lack of indoor plumbing, medicine, and as we saw in this one, toothpaste and brushes. But, still, I did find it amusing. One of my favorite phrases in French translates as "I passed a good moment." I think that defines this movie well.

Happy Birthday to Me!

When I was 16 or 17 people who run those guess your age booths at fairs always got my age wrong. They always thought I was older. One of them told me I looked 24. Today I am 24. Here's hoping I don't now look like I'm 32...

My mom made me some very pretty hairsticks (pictured above) and cooked me lots of yummy food. So I am a well-fed and nicely accessorized birthday girl.

Hilarious

I spotted this display in the Whole Foods by my house. This brand name is awesome. What an apple? Ask a yeti!

Harry Potter and the
Obnoxious Bike-Tire-Puncturing Plant

The following review DOES contain SPOILERS and non-verbal spells.

So my sister and I went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince last night. I will address that far more pleasant part of our escapade first. So, we had a pleasant ride to the theater because we went at night so it wasn't the unbearably oppressive 101 degrees it has been in the day. It's possible it got as cool as 80 degrees which was very nice. I also got to see a very quick trailer to Percy Jackson which was awesome. I'm really hyped to see that.

Now, a review of Harry Potter:

I would like to establish that I did enjoy this film. The trouble is I always complain more in reviews than remark on positive things.

That being said, none of the Harry Potter movies have been able to include everything from the books, nor would I want them to. But ever since the fourth film I've had the sense that they're very disjointed visual cliff-notes versions of the books. This film did not improve on that. The pacing is so off at times that I can often be completely unaware how much time is supposed to have passed from one scene to the next. I was frequently confused and wondered if I'd missed something vital whenever I would look away from the screen for a few seconds to glare at someone on their cell phone. (By the way, I officially hate anyone who cannot sit through an entire movie without using their cell phone and wish I had X-Men super powers to short circuit any phone opened within several feet of me. Yes, even those expensive iPhones. Especially the expensive iPhones. Would serve them right...). Anyway, the point is, the pacing was off.

The characters, however, were all right on the spot. With the exception of strange nameless twins brought in (possibly to replace the Patils?), I loved all the characters, both big and small. Snape, of course, is always great, which was particulalry important in this film. Got to love pwning Harry too. Snape just flicks his wand and Harry goes flying. Brilliant. Though I wish they'd had the "Don't all me a coward!" line.

Even Dumbledore was great, though. That's saying something for me because, while I liked Micheal Gambon's performance in the third film, his portrayals of Dumbledore in the fourth and fifth film struck entirely the wrong cord. He was alternatingly too aggressive or too weak. But in this film, ala Goldilocks, he was just right. A shame it's the one where he dies. But at least he finally got it right. Maybe someone just needed to tell him Dumbledore was gay a long time ago. Perhaps that was the breakthrough he needed.

As for Harry, I found him to be a bit funnier in this one than the last two ones. Not that he's been without humor but I felt like I laughed out loud more in this one than I have in a while. I found his comment about Aragog's pincers and subsequent miming to be particularly amusing. I think they wasted a bit of time on having him flirt with a waitress, and that part seemed a little off and unnecessary. But otherwise Harry was fine.

I've never cared much for Hermione's character but I feel Emma Watson's acting has improved immensely. At least, I didn't have to watch her amazing dancing eyebrows this time. I even found myself enjoying several Hermione bits. I was actually really looking forward to the bird scene and was very glad they kept it in but I do wish more of the birds had actually hit Ron....

Speaking of Ron, he was also right on the money for how he was in the book. Which means he continues to be a disappointment to me as a character. Ron was my favorite character for the first four books, one I even related to. But he started going drastically downhill the last three books to the point where, even though I don't like Hermione, I think she deserves better. Why? He's insecure, jealous, and possessive. Besides that, he and Hermione don't share any common interests. Yes, there is the possibility that they can balance each other's personalities--Hermione giving Ron some sense and Ron making her relax more. But I always felt that Hermione became more relaxed over time on her own and didn't really need Ron. Anyway, we won't go too far down that road. I'll just say I'm NOT a Harry/Hermione shipper either. I just got really annoyed with Ron in the end.

Lavendar was perfect. Breathing on the window. Priceless.

So getting away from that controversial topic, I will also say Horace Slughorn was great. My sister felt he was even better than in the book, but I felt he was just as good. The armchair thing was well-done.

I was disappointed about them skipping the end battle in exchange for using their wands for what looked like lighters at a rock concert. Strange as well that Aragog got a funeral and Dumbledore didn't. I also wish the waitress scene could have been exchanged for Merope Gaunt's scene. But overall I had a good time and all the really important things were there.

------

Now for the adventure that commenced after the movie. Preceeding the movie we had pushed our bikes over a place without sidewalk. It was dark and we couldn't see well and ended up pushing our bikes through the sticker bushes of doom! My sister had encountered these many times before but we couldn't see them in the dark. They flattened the tires on both our bikes and we had to walk two miles home at 2AM.



GAH! Crush! Kill! Destroy!

Parasol

My sister bought a couple parasols from the Renaissance Festival and gave the one pictured above to me. Some of my friends may find this hard to believe, but I don't often like being singled out of a crowd for being weird. But for the parasol I'll make an exception.

Ghost Month

I had forgotten to mention previously that while July is my birthday month (on the 20th for anyone interested) it's also Ghost Month in Taiwan. I suppose it sounds scary, but I felt it to be very beautiful. I did NOT make the video above, but I felt it was a pretty good description. Still, it can't replace being there, surrounded by vats of paper money, watching the ashes float up towards the heavens like so much black snow. I do not personally believe in ghosts, or think they would need money, but I think this is a beautiful way to remember.

Heat

Time to start worrying about this: http://www.medicinenet.com/heat_exhaustion/article.htm. Didn't actually have any of these symptoms but definitely felt overheated today.

California Pizza

Before I left Michigan someone asked me if there were California Pizza Kitchens in California. I didn't know at the time but now I do. The one pictured above is only a block and a half away from where I live.

Lost in Austen

My friend Amber recommended this show to me. It looks fun, but I wasn't able to find the whole thing on YouTube, despite the misleading title of the clip below. Just a lot of clips which are almost the whole thing but with bits missing. I'd prefer to watch it all together, so I was going to get it from the library today, but it was checked out before I left the house (I couldn't put a hold on it because it's too new). But I'll keep trying.

Dexter

No spoilers or blood spatter.

I know I already reviewed the book, but after watching all of the first 2 seasons on DVD, I officially like the Dexter television show a lot better.

So the basic gist, if you didn''t read the book review, is that Dexter is a blood splatter analyst by day, but by night he's a serial killer--of serial killers. He only kills other killers. The first season closely follows the first book but the second deviates greatly. I enjoyed both.

First of all, Dexter's a far more likable character in the TV show. In my opinion, in the show he's more like a very unconventional superhero whereas in the book, he really does just seem psycho most of the time. They created a more likable Dexter by making a lot more people matter to him. By doing this, they also improve the character development of all the people around Dexter because we get to see them from the perspective of someone who cares about them. Then we see the characters in situations Dexter doesn't know about which additionally expands on their facets.

The appeal of Dexter's character, which is far better utilized in the show, is that he holds a dark mirror to ourselves. All while he claims not to understand other people, his normal thoughts, amusingly, are often the wrong thoughts we don't share with others. Clever, funny, but still deeply thoughtful, I highly recommend it if you're not too squeamish.

Naturing

I went out on a bike trail with my sister today in search of harlequin bugs. Here's one pictured above. My sister took this pic and not today. She got good pics today too but I'm too lazy to transfer them to my computer right now. All I got were some lame pictures of wild turkeys. I mean. The wild turkeys were cool but they really didn't want to be photographed.

Truth or Fail

I've been enjoying these YouTube games. Probably just shows how easily amused I am and that I currently have too much free time on my hands. But if you're the same, you may enjoy them too!

I did really well at this one.



I was kinda spectacularly bad at this one.

Punishment: Cherie Makes a Pie

Gloria

Here's another character sketch I did of the main character from my novel. As always it's not exactly what I think she looks like. I imagine her face being a little fuller, her eyes and mouth a bit smaller, and her nose a bit more pert. But I quite like the picture and it's a good general gist. You may be wondering why I didn't just make the adjustments I mentioned but he reason I'm a writer and not a visual artist is I've never had the patience it takes to make my pictures as perfect as I want them to be.

Still, it's nice to be complimented and two little girls in the airport shyly sidled up to me while I was drawing (before I colored) and said they liked my picture. Then two people on the plane said the same. Always nice, even though I've known enough real artists to know I'm not one. Maybe I should draw in public more often, though. It's a great ego boost.

I Really Don't Want to Make a Pie

Gah! Why is it so hard? Why? Blog. Blog once a day. I could have written anything. I could have even just copped out and posted a picture.

But I forgot.

The frustrating part is I didn't even completely forget, and I have no good excuse. I remembered at some point of the day. Had a blog all planned. I meant to do it during the day and that didn't happen. Then I spent the evening watching Dexter with my sister. Not a bad pastime. I completely enjoyed it. I just wish at some point I'd made a freakin' blog post!

Anyway, I know you guys don't all read this far so here's the deal. I NEED a punishment. Otherwise, I have to do my sister's punishment which is to make a pie for her. I hate making food. Even though I'd probably get some of said pie, I hate the idea of making it. So please, if you love me at all, you will all think of alternative punishments that don't involve cooking! I will choose only one as mentioned before. If you're all clever meanies and just give me more cooking punishments, I'll just do the pie because, as mentioned above, at least I might get some. Or in the very least, someone nearby can and will enjoy it.

But I really don't want to make a pie.

Some of you might be thinking, Cherie, you're in a rough spot right now. You can't be expected to blog everyday.

And you'd be wrong. The blogging keeps me connected. Staying connected keeps me sane. I can't let this slide for now even if it is hard. And so far I've blogged on far harder days, so there's really no excuse. If you feel bad about thinking up punishments, just know that I really hate making my own food, so almost anything else will seem like a breeze by comparison. You'd really be doing me a service.

A Little Brother At Work

I go on a plane today to go back to Sacramento, but I hope my little brothers always know I love them. I am, of course, responsible for consistently reminding them. So, that, at least, unlike so many other things in my life, is in my control.

Independence Peaches

This is a peach tree I found in my father's garden, a small scrubby thing, more a shrub than a tree, with branches bowing under the weight of the peaches. Yet still it thrives.

My father's garden has never ceased to amaze me. Every time I explore it, I find something new. Usually something edible. Quite impressive since, outwardly, it just looks like a small, dry patch of land with a few random patches of green, usually around the fence. My father was good at plants but not so much at landscaping.

Today is Independence Day. I don't feel much like celebrating. But I do know my father loved it in this country. He was pragmatic, so mostly he loved this country for what it could give him. I think that's the same reason that, when I was younger, and I would mention being Asian, my father would always correct me and say "You are American." I think he just wanted to be sure I knew I was entitled to the same things as everyone else.

I have trouble with simple patriotism because I think the things I am often asked to be proud of are more ideals than realities. Yes, my dad had a good life here. But he still faced racism and the standard rudeness of the ignorant. I find myself wishing I'd told more people off when I knew they were being rude to him on purpose and because they thought he wouldn't understand. Of course, if it was any kind of customer service situation, my dad generally got them back one hundred fold in the end. They'd eventually give him anything just to get him out of the store. Funny, yes, but one of the things I always admired about my dad was his persistence.

Still, my dad also thought it was beautiful here. It's been a long time since I've really looked at the world around me, but lately I've been appreciating the mountains in the horizon more, as well as the small and simple things right in front of me, like peaches.

January 28 1954 - July 3 2009

Darkly Dreaming Dexter: Book Review

The following review does NOT contain, egg, dairy, nuts, or spoilers.

My sister recently became very interested in Dexter, a TV show on Showtime. She doesn't watch TV but happened to see the DVDs in the bookstore. Following this most literary discovery of a TV show, she decided to read the novels they're based on as well. Since I haven't had much opportunity to go out recently, I asked her to leave the first one with me to read.

I knew the premise going in. A serial killer who kills serial killers. The idea reminded me vaguely of one of my favorite mangas, Death Note. Except I got the impression that, to some extent, at least, Dexter was meant to be more likable to the non-serial killing reader than Light Yagami. At the same time, he's also not exactly a crime-fighting vigilante. The book is written from Dexter's perspective and he's portrayed by himself as an emotionless person who is compelled to kill due to a traumatic experience as a child. Still, he does feel a deep fondness for his foster family, and thus lives by a code of killing laid out for him by his foster father.

I don't entirely buy this premise because I don't think one event, no matter how traumatic, can turn you into a serial killer. Otherwise, every single holocaust surviver would have been a serial killer. I don't think it's 100% nature, either though. I think it's a mix of a person's natural predisposition and the way they're nurtured. Still, I do think the theory is interesting. It posits a situation where people do not have control over their need to be killers, but they do, at least in Dexter's case, have control over who they kill.

The style of writing is quite good as contemporary American fiction goes. I wouldn't call it poetry, but I wouldn't call it Dan Brown bad either. My sister was annoyed by the frequent alliteration with the letter D, but that didn't really bother me. All in all, the major plot point struck a sour note with me, and I felt a couple major issues weren't entirely resolved at the end, but it was still intriguing and well-written enough for me to be interested in reading the next one.

A Use for Twitter

I am not the type of person who communicates well in 140 characters or less. I'm just not. But for the well-meaning friends and family who have chosen to follow me on this new devil contrivance, I thought I ought to think of some useful content to give them. So, voila! I announce here the launch of my Twitter Daily Word Count! This will keep all those people who feel they need to know everything about me up to date on my most exciting news: how many words I write in my current novel per day.

For anyone who hasn't been keeping up (truly blasphemous!) my current novel is a children's book about the tooth fairy. For about a decade I've kept a word log of all my novels. It's a way of measuring my progress in some quantitative way. I try to write about 500 words per day. When I don't succeed, I seriously stop and record everything I wrote before the 11:59 marker and then I often continue after midnight to complete the quota, but I don't count it for the previous day. Therefore, if I don't write 500 words before 11:59, I have not completed the day and usually feel a bit annoyed with myself. It probably sounds stupid and overly literal, but I find the strictness helps motivate me to at least get a certain amount done by a certain time.

I think all this attention to numbers which are generally unimportant is a way for me to cope with the inability to measure quality. Anyway, I find it helps me feel psychologically that I'm getting things done. So now I'll just share that word log with the world! (The world being my mom and the two friends who have, to their vast misfortune, chosen to follow someone as boring as me). All my standard word log entries feature the number of words, the date, and the time I finished. This will note my daily progress, but since I often finish around 11:59PM, the actual tweet may not be officially the same day. Just putting that out there. These otherwise unexciting numbers will also give you some small insight into my psyche. On the days I write 500 words or more I feel, if not happier, at least more accomplished and productive.

Of course, I'll still post the monthly counts here in my blog. Speaking of that, the monthly count for June is 7,944 words! Not great, but better than I've been doing. And I'm almost to the end of the novel with a current grand total of 69,817 words.

But you'll have to tune into my Twitter for my daily counts! Why? Am I trying to force you to follow me? No. As a matter of fact I wouldn't blame the friends that do follow me if they abandoned ship now. As tantalizing as I'm sure the prospect of word counts is.

I'm doing this because I feel sorry for Twitter and its utter uselessness in my life. At least as far as communication goes. Is Twitter useless to everyone? It seems not. I'll acknowledge it has uses. I'm subscribed to a job posting feed that's quite useful. But for me using it to talk to you, this is as good as it gets. For everything else I still refer you to this blog (which now even has a handy feed to my YouTube channel on the sidebar!)

Anyway, thank you all for your interest.